The Chained Watcher

Backstory: Free Time

Backstory chapter!

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If you were to ask any creature any one question, and had to use its answer to judge that being's personality, what would you choose to ask?

Some might ask questions of morality, seeking to know what compass they live their lives by. Others might ask after the hypothetical, and weigh their worth by what they believe they would do should tragedy strike. Yet more would seek to know their allegiances, lest they consort with the enemy unknowingly.

But none of those are being asked today. No, today is for a rather simple question, yet one that reveals a surprising amount of truth about the real personality of a being.

Given time to spare with nothing of import in need of doing, what would you spend it on?

Lazing about in his workroom, the one we would ask this of would shrug, and gesture to his tools and projects. Incomplete enchanted tools litter the various tables and racks, some few functional, yet most remaining inert where they lay. These were his little pet projects, things that he did not because he was told to, but simply because it was what he desired to do.

His latest failed modification spun aimlessly upon the low table in front of him, the quill trying frantically to record every single sound it could hear and ending up scratching meaningless scribbles into the page. The irritating object had even shorted out its magical off switch, so he would have to manually stop its manic dance.

Knocking it over with a half-hearted wave, he turned away from it. Staring mutely at the failed tool wouldn't miraculously grant him an epiphany, and he'd only end up grumpier the longer he watched.

Casting his gaze over his various little experiments, his fingers drummed restlessly on a desk. Several small fans pointed up at an angle endlessly buffeted an aerodynamically folded piece of parchment through the air, keeping it moving in swooping arcs as the gusts of wind kept it out of gravity's grasp. A small cube floated mindlessly as the proximity-activated repulsors on all six sides detected when they were pointed at the floor, imitating the null-gravity of space.

Eyes settling on an oddly shaped crystal projector, he debated if he was really that bored. Normally he would much rather work on refining a useful new enchant, but nothing was really calling to him right now. The thought of going out and doing work momentarily crossed his mind, but was banished almost as soon as it appeared. 

Free time was often hard to get, and he sure as anything wasn't going to sacrifice his just because he got a little bored. Plopping down on the comfy couch set in front of the projector, he trailed his fingers across a small crystal ball placed next to the couch, and the projector flickered to life.

Suspended in the air were several two-dimensional images, each showing different scenes from places he'd been before. Let's see... It's currently night time over in that Elven kingdom, so nothing there, the dwarves are just drunk again, several of the human kingdoms only have scenes of burnt or pillaged throne rooms, and oh? If his eyes don't deceive him, that looks like a war council. Those are usually pretty interesting.

Fingertips tapping on the crystal ball again, the two-dimensional panel expands, creating a fairly decent three-dimensional feed of the location it showed. This little contraption of his was a hodgepodge collection of jury-rigged scrying spells crossed with a holographic projector he'd disassembled from a derelict spaceship one time. Sure, he needed to set up the visual and auditory inputs for each location, but it really didn't take much effort, plus it had the added bonus of lingering nearly undetectably for quite a long time.

Finalizing the visual syncing process, the projector started filling the room with noise from all the talking councilors and generals. He scowled. Had it really been so long that there had been another lingual shift? Honestly, that one kingdom just couldn't make up its mind, could it. Well, at least he'd made some adjustments after the last time this had happened.