Rain.

Erin let out a sigh, staring down at the old broken computer she'd yet to fix. The shop was quiet, echoing with the whirling of computer fans and the mini fridge in the break room. Neither Will nor Brent was around. Something about Will's car being flooded with the rain and Brent… well Brent never stayed around long regardless. Rainy days kept most people out of her shop - no one wanted to carry their units through the rain - but the torrent of water falling from the sky was decidedly closing them for the day.

The juke computer sitting on the rack taunted her. She'd plugged it in, let the power supply reconnect with electricity, and she got nothing. No motherboard light, no fan spin, not even a chirp. It had been there forever, a relic of some former clerk who bricked it in such a way they simply comp'ed the customer with a new unit. Or so Will said. It was her hell mary of broken computers and she'd never gotten it to work. Now with a slight more idea of magic, and her own kinda, sorta, maybe abilities, she was trying again.

She changed out parts, she reconnected things, she scrubbed the heck out of the motherboard, and nothing. Nada. Zilche. Erin blew air out of her nose and turned from the dead computer to her counter where a very particular letter sat.

It had been shoved under the door to her apartment this morning, slightly damp, and confused the hell out of her. Now, she had an idea of what was going on; Jeremiah had thankfully given her something to go off of, and filled in the gaps her memory the plane shift had left. Problem was, she wasn't quite sure what a fetch was or even how to go about finding the items at all.

"Casting a new Charter, huh?" she said, looking over the sheets of paper once again. Steam rose from her tea cup, an almost subconscious habit of keeping her tea warm with magic now, and she sipped it. A small part of her began to speed through the possible outcomes, wishing for a grand hand in the casting of the Charter. Her, at the center of it all. Erin finally having /significance/ in something for once.

The young woman gave a soft bark of a laugh. Hah. Her, significance? She was nothing more than an overqualified technician with a knack for making parts work together at this point. She had no power, no real magic. For all intents and purposes she was mundane and ordinary and boring. Even if she did help, what could she possibly do? She should just let those far more powerful handle it.

She pursed her lips, reading the letter again.

If I do nothing… and the Charter is not recast… what happens then? If I do nothing and someone dies…

Erin looked out over her tea cup.

Maybe it was time to be a little more than just a overqualified PC technician.

[ WC: 507 ]