Amulet of Bolli Part 2

72 comics.
by on February 4, 2023 at 12:00 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

“Is Dwag in?”

Halladr blinked, startled by the familiar voice coming from the absolutely stunning sylvari standing outside his mentor’s abode. Gripping the door handle, Halladr simply stared, trying to make sense of what—who?—he was looking at.

The sylvari was dressed in the most revealing evening gown he’d ever seen. It was like the sort of thing a showgirl would wear: ruby red, shiny, and with tasteful slits up the side. Except whoever made this dress had decided to take “tasteful” and move it straight to scandalous; making the slits reach even higher and the neckline plunge even deeper. There wasn’t a single safe place to rest his eyes without turning as red as her dress. He gulped audibly, trying not to eye the black bit of lace peeking out beneath the red cloth on her thighs.

“Uhh…” He wracked his brain trying to figure out who among Dwag’s many clients and associates this could be, but came up short. It was the middle of the night, which frankly wasn’t unusual for clients of Dwag, but it was definitely unusual for them to come dressed like this.

Well unless…

Unless they were…

Please don’t let it be—

“Fer fuck’s sake, Hall, we doin’ this again?” The sylvari grumbled impatiently.

 Comment 
by on February 4, 2023 at 12:02 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

And suddenly a heavy weight found its way to Halladr’s stomach. Only one person called him Hall.

“B-Bandi…?” Halladr squeaked.

The plant didn’t speak, only responding with a wry grin that didn’t reach their eyes.

“Wh-Why are you dressed like—?”

“She in or not? Dwag.”

“Right uh, she’s in but…” Before Halladr could stop him—her?—Bandi made their way through the door. The sylvari’s waxy skin brushed against Halladr’s chest for a brief moment, their slight touch transforming the weight in his stomach into frantic butterflies. Despite being at least twice Bandi’s size, he found himself shrinking against the wall. Dwag’s foyer suddenly felt small, far too small for a full size male norn and a sylvari at least.

“Sh-She’s a bit busy right now!” He’d meant to say that normally. He did not say that normally.

Personally, he was kind of hoping to chase out Bandi as quickly as possible. The plant made him… very anxious, to say the least. Besides, he wasn’t lying, Dwag was pretty much always busy. As one of the best engineers in the city, her services were highly sought after. It was why he’d sought her out himself to be her apprentice after all.

In fact, right now she was deep in the midst of a difficult commission for a local business, one that Halladr was helping her with just moments before the doorbell rang. They really were busy! And the deadline was coming up… in a week? Or something? And it wasn’t exactly crunch time but it was definitely busy. Too busy for whatever weird nonsense Bandi was up to at least, right?

…Right?

“Halladr? Who’s at the door?” A surly high-pitched voice rang from a nearby intercom. “Tell em we’re not buying anything.”

“Who the fuck sells shit at this hour?” Bandi snorted.

The norn gave a nervous laugh in reply, then hastily edged his way to the intercom. He pressed down the talk button, keeping his back to Bandi as much as possible.

“Dwag? Ma’am?”

“Did you chase them away? We got work to do.”

He took a deep breath.

“It’s Bandi.”

Within seconds he could hear something like glass shattering from the speaker and prayed to the spirits it wasn’t their last power stone. What followed was a long series of

 Comment 
by on February 4, 2023 at 12:04 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

CLICK HERE FOR THE START OF TODAY’S UPDATE

muffled cursing and a drawn out sigh.

Halladr chanced a glance at Bandi while he waited and found the plant casually dusting off their dress. They caught him looking and waved, sending the norn’s attention back to the intercom with newfound haste.

“Okay. Okay uh, Halladr?” Dwag finally responded.

“Ma’am.”

Please send Bandi away, he prayed. Say that we’re too busy.

“Can you keep him company for like five minutes? I gotta clean up a bit.”

He gulped audibly. Five minutes?! Alone?! With-with—

“C-Can’t I help?” He tried.

Please don’t leave me with him! Her? Them?!

“No, I got this. Watch him and make sure he doesn’t steal anything.”

“B-But—”

“What’s the problem? It’s just five min—is he wearing something weird again?”

Of course he is!!

“Yes!” Halladr hissed.

Dwag sighed, exasperated. “Halladr, you can’t keep freaking out when he—whatever, I’m not asking you to make conversation with him, alright? Five minutes!”

She hung up.

Dejected, Halladr dragged himself back to Bandi’s side.

“She said to wait five minutes…”

“Aight.” Bandi simply shrugged. They weren’t half as bothered as Halladr was. They never were.

Bandi started appearing at their workshop roughly half a year ago. Apparently Dwag hired him for a job once and they’d been business associates ever since. Dwag gave Bandi information and Bandi somehow got them supplies for their work in return. Halladr didn’t know the details beyond that. He wasn’t allowed in on their meetings and neither Dwag nor Bandi felt obliged to share much about their transactions.

You don’t have to make conversation with him.

He held onto that thought like a lifeline. It’s not that he disliked Bandi particularly, he just didn’t really know how to talk to them, and Bandi certainly didn’t make things easy for him. Not when they kept showing up dressed weird!

 Comment 
by on February 18, 2023 at 12:00 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

He chanced another glance at Bandi who was in the midst of reaching down for something in their boot. Without meaning to, Halladr’s eyes followed down the length of their leg and heat rushed to his cheeks. He watched, transfixed as their slender fingers pulled out some sort of long cigarette holder, rolled a cigarette into it, then placed it between glossy full lips—were they wearing lipstick?

“Yer starin’ mate,” Bandi said plainly, and Halladr looked away with a face that felt like it was on fire.

This was by far the worst outfit yet! Worse than the time they showed up dressed as a clown, or a lionguard, some sort of mascot shaped like a quaggan, a doctor, a janitor, a lost “noble” complete with tragic backstory, a prisoner (which maybe wasn’t actually a costume, Halladr wasn’t sure), a farmer, a butler—the list went on!

That wasn’t even counting the more… inappropriate attire Bandi had shown up in: sexy doctor, sexy “noblewoman” but this time with a happier backstory, sexy quaggan? (HOW?), somehow sexier doctor, sexy prisoner (again not sure that one was a costume—the handcuffs looked very real), sexy journalist, sexy scientist, sexy witch (okay that one maybe gets a pass, it was Halloween), another somehow even sexier doctor, and a sexy maid!

And now they were in this: a sexy showgirl or something? An outrageously revealing dress at the very least. It was maddening! Why were they dressed like that? Why

 Comment 
by on February 18, 2023 at 12:02 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

couldn’t they show up in something normal for once?!

And why did they have to look so damn good in it?!

“Damn it.” Bandi sighed. They’d been trying and failing to light their cigarette with their pistol’s flintlock. They didn’t even look at Halladr when they asked, “Got a light, Hall?”

It took him a minute to register the question before hastily searching his pockets. He didn’t really smoke but they did use a lighter for their work sometimes. Scrambling a bit, he fished one out of his tool belt and held it out as far from himself as he was able.

The sylvari snorted. “Ya think I’m gonna bite ya or somethin’?”

“Huh? N-No I just—”

Bandi leaned in to light the cigarette and grinned.

“I might,” they purred and Halladr almost leapt out of his own skin.

He snapped the lighter shut, and spun away to stare at the wall as Bandi chuckled through puffs of smoke.

This was the longest five minutes of his life.

Dwag had told him he was too focused on this, that Bandi was a strange little plant with strange hobbies and he should just let it go—but how could he?! The outfits were one thing, but when they started showing up in ones like these—were they a boy or a girl?!

Dwag said they were a boy and he thought that at first too, but they definitely didn’t look like a boy right now! And besides, they were a sylvari, right? How did sylvari work? They apparently copied humans who were like tiny norn as far as Halladr was concerned, but how far did that copy go? I mean they were plants too and plants could be both, right? Boy and girl?

If they were a girl… well it didn’t matter: he was a very very very straight norn man interested in norn women. He was only interested out of intellectual curiosity, that was all. But you can’t just ask that, right?! You can’t just ask if someone’s a boy or a girl, right?!

 Comment 
by on February 18, 2023 at 12:04 am
Chapter:
Location:

CLICK HERE FOR THE START OF TODAY’S UPDATE

He caught a glimpse of Bandi letting out a long wisp of smoke. The ceiling’s lantern flickered above them, sending waves of light dancing across the glossy fabric of their dress, glinting around their neckline and rolling down across their—

INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY.

He felt like he was going to burst into flames and discover an aptitude for elementalism. He was going to burn up like tinder in this stupid way too small foyer from embarrassment or confusion or both or—?! It had to have been five minutes by now. What was Dwag doing? What could be taking her so—

“Halladr?” The intercom buzzed and he jolted to attention.

Oh thank the spirits!

“Send Bandi in.”

 Comment 
by on March 4, 2023 at 1:41 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

Dwag growled the minute she saw him enter her workshop, sauntering in with the sauciest garbage she’d ever seen. Her apprentice hung uneasily by the doorway behind him both mesmerized and panicking. She shooed him away before slamming the door and turning on Bandi.

“You crazy bookah, you came dressed in that?!”

Bandi didn’t even respond, just raised an eyebrow at her. She knew as well as he why he dressed the way he did. It was usually a “the-less-you-know-the-better” situation.

She sighed, exasperated. It had been a long day, and this was the last thing she needed. “Look I get your… line of work gets you in some pretty odd getups, but can’t you cover up or something before you show up here? You’re confusing my apprentice.”

“I’m confusing your apprentice?”

“Every time you come around dressed like you’re attending some trashy costume party, I have to deal with him asking stupid questions for weeks on end after.”

 Comment 
by on March 4, 2023 at 1:44 am
Chapter:
Characters:
Location:

Dwag waddled across her small studio space towards her desk along the far wall, kicking boxes of tools and gears out of the way as she went. “Things like ‘how does sylvari anatomy work?’ ‘What do they have down there?’ ‘Can they be a boy and a girl at the same time?’ Can they have se—” Before she could even finish she was interrupted by peels of laughter and spun around to find Bandi buckled over, laughing so hard he was shaking.

“Oh you think that’s funny do you?!” Scowling, she crossed her arms and glared. “I’m an engineer, not a sylvari biologist! And discussions on your race’s hypothetical mating practices are hardly a favoured topic!”

“Mating practices?!” he wheezed.

“Bandi!” Her ears were as red as his dumb dress.

“Sorry!” He coughed, trying to stifle the laughter, but failing. At least he was standing upright again. “Sorry. Did wonder why the bloke was so jumpy all the time. Didn’t think it’d be that. Wow.”

“You didn’t—?! You flirt with him every time you’re here!”

“Aw come on, I flirt with everyone! Don’t I tell ya yer pretty enough?” He took a long drag from that weird cigarette holder he always carried, no longer giggling but still managing to be irritating regardless.

Rolling her eyes, she dragged out a stool for him before plopping herself in her desk chair. “Well do less of it,” she said. “I’m Halladr’s mentor, not his parent. I don’t feel like walking him through a sexual identity crisis.”

“Fine, sure.“ He said but clearly didn’t mean. With a shrug he followed her, but didn’t sit, casually blowing trails of smoke behind him. She snarled at the sight.

“And put that shit out. You know how I feel about smoke in my workshop.”

Bandi sniffed the air and winced. “Apparently ya love it. Work not goin’ well?”

Her latest job was a cooling container for a local brewery. She’d been placing a power stone in its circuitry and the whole thing blew out when it smashed, making the small studio smell thickly of burnt wires and chemicals. It wouldn’t have even happened if a certain someone hadn’t shown up with no warning again!

The tired asura sighed once more, long and drawn out. She knew she wasn’t being fair.

“Work’s on hold now. Broke my last power stone.”

Without a word Bandi slipped a hand into his gun holster, and pulled out another power stone about the size of his thumb. He flicked it onto the table for Dwag to observe. She grinned despite herself. That sly salad.

 Comment 
by on March 4, 2023 at 1:46 am
Chapter:
Location:

CLICK HERE FOR THE START OF TODAY’S UPDATE

“You can keep smoking.”

“Thanks.”

The two chuckled a bit.

“So?” The asura leaned back in her chair to look up at him. He still hadn’t taken a seat. “What do you need this time?”

It was Bandi’s turn to sigh.

“Honestly I was hopin’ I wouldn’t need yer help.” At this, Dwag snorted, but Bandi ignored her. “But I got no leads, and yer the best at this so—”

“I am the best!” She settled back in her seat with a smug glow. “But flattery’s not gonna make this cheaper you know.”

“Can’t hurt to try,” he laughed but it was somewhat joyless. The plant sounded as tired as she was. He looked it too, now that she was getting a proper look at him. Guess he broke his last power stone too, in a matter of speaking, she thought.

The salad slipped his fingers beneath what little fabric covered his chest and pulled out a small piece of folded paper. It was a swift enough action and it wasn’t like he had much choice for where to store things in that ridiculous getup, but she was grateful that Halladr wasn’t in the room to see it regardless.

Frowning, Dwag took the paper and unfolded it.

It was a poster asking for help retrieving a lost item:

The Amulet of Bolli.

“Huh. You got an asuran client this time?” It was more a casual remark than anything.

“Human, actually. Says it was an heirloom from their grandfather.”

“Human?!” The idea was ridiculous. “Sure if he’s a thief maybe. This is clearly asuran made.” She smacked the poster to emphasize her point. There was a drawing on it clear as day showing the amulet itself. “That angular design is asuran, no doubt about it. Even the name Bolli is asuran!”

Bandi didn’t even seem surprised. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

“Bolli though, huh? Bolli… Bolli…” She tested the name, rolling the syllables across her tongue as if the taste of it would stir her memory. Shuffling in her seat, she reached for her keyboard and powered on her personal computing device built into the desk. A series of holographic screens hovered into life before her. She set about to searching her data banks, typing “Bolli” into the filter.

 Comment 
by on March 18, 2023 at 12:00 am
Chapter:
Location:

Bandi sat on the edge of her desk. Of course he wouldn’t just use the stool. The plant seemed allergic to sitting properly in any setting. Ugh whatever.

“Does it ring a bell?” He asked.

“Maybe. Bolli’s not a common name nowadays, that’s for sure. Old-fashioned.” He’d said it was from his client’s grandfather. If they were talking human ages, that meant this Bolli character existed at least a century ago so an old-fashioned name made sense. She scoured news articles and government documents but there were too many entries for just any Bolli.

“What’s the client’s name?” Dwag asked. A shot in the dark maybe, but if the human wasn’t a thief, then they might have a relation that would narrow down the results.

“Alleman. Is this necessary?” He looked almost bored, but she knew him better by now—the salad was as curious as she was. He just didn’t like showing it. ”I’m just stealing the thing back. I don’t think I need its history.”

“Oh foolish bookah,” she huffed, content. “You should always know what you’re stealing!”

He snorted at that but didn’t argue. She scratched her ears, thinking, before she continued, “You may as well tell me whatever leads you got though and whatever else you know. I’d rather not waste my precious time.”

 Comment