Panic filled the night as the flames licked the across the rooftops, the streets full of noise as the people rushed about with buckets of water to douse the flames. Nicolas casually picked himself off the ground and dusts his robes, "Well now I know the result of THAT concoction." he observes wiping the soot from his blackened face. "Oh well," he sighs, looking at the result of his latest experiment, "another lab destroyed, I really should get out of this habit... Wwoah!" once again he ends up on the ground, this time however soaking wet with a bucket comically hanging on his head.
"What'ra standin' around for? Can't you see thar's a fire going on!?" is yelled at him, Nicolas pulls the bucket from his head and sees his landlord standing over him. The landlord's eyes widen as much as Nicolas's do "YOU!" he roars. "Oh. uh.. hi" Nicolas yelps clumsily staggering to his feet, almost losing his balance again as he does so. A solid grip around both sides of his jacket collar hauls him to his feet and picks him off the ground, leaving him staring into the face of his landlord, his muscular landlord, his landlord that's taller than him, with muscles as thick as Nicolas's body. Muscles that could move a fist at a very fast and painful speed should they decide to. Muscles that he'd rather not be on the receiving end of.
"What. Did. You. Do?", four words spoken that Nicolas hears often and never in a pleasant tone. Nicolas shakes in his head violently in a mild panic and holds his hands up in surrender "Nothing.. nothing.. I mean.. nothing much." taking a glance at what's left of his lab he looks back to see the landlord still glaring, "I mean uh.. I took a couple of my potions. The red one and the orange, err was it orange? Might've been yellow, hard to tell in that light... Anyway! I then mixed in some of the grey powder and uh... boom, heh heh he...", Nicolas trails off the nervous laughter and winces, expecting the inevitable violence.
The violence never came, the landlord dropped him and picked up the bucket, "I don't ever wan' ta see yer face again." he utters in a tone that suggests that bad things would happen if ever did. Nicolas decided that yes, it was time to move on, new town, new people, especially new people, people who preferably hadn't heard of him. He dusts his jacket once more and checks his pockets for his various 'just-in-case' chemicals kept in more solid containers, the kind that can survive a few heavy knocks to the ground with a man's weight on top of them. Yes, new people, new town, but first, looking at the sky seeing it being, ohhhh round about midnight, looking at his hands and clothes, sees the soot, filth and muck on top of the now rather wet clothes, first he thinks, a bath is in order. After all, you never know what contaminants cover such dirty hands. Pointing aimlessly down the street he announces with a dangerous light in his eyes and a grin that would scare the most hardened bandit "To the inn! And then, to SCIENCE!"
On the far side of the town, away from the fire, the commotion and the potentially violent landlord muscles, Nicolas breathes a sigh of relief as he sinks into the water of his bath and the ache of his rather scrawny muscles drowns in the warmth. Reaching over the side of the tub he picks up a small vial and empties the contents into the bath, an aroma of lavendar quickly fills the room and the water of the bath begins to froth with bubbles. Again Nicolas sighs and drifts into sleep.
Fire... flames.. licking tongues... not one building, not two, many buildings, all over, flames growing... people screaming, people dying... fire everywhere... arm pinned, trapped.. burning hot metal.. searing flesh... smell of people burning...agony.. arm, trapped, agony, burning, screaming, pain, fire....agony.
Nicolas awakes with a start, his bath water cold, his candle almost exhausted, breathing hard and heart racing he wills himself to calm down some, but fails, holding the burn scar on his left arm, he sits in the bath sobbing until the candle runs out.
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