Chapter 11: An Umbrella under Light Rain

[time skip: one week]

After visiting his father, Livre, with a lighter heart and newfound conviction, aranged for a meeting with a clerk working in the Chemin de L'Espoir regarding adopting a runaway child. Having to give them Carman's information felt like a small betrayal to Livre, but he had to in order to know if he was related to anyone who could claim guardianship of him.

After finding that he was an orphan dropped off at the Maison du Debutant and had been reported missing half a year ago, in suspected relation to the House of the Hearth, Livre was supprised that Carman had survived on his own that long, and also concluded that the House of the Hearth has also had inclinations regarding his potential as well. This did not deter Livre, because while the Fatui had a bad reputation throughout Teyvat, the house of the Hearth had made a change in its observable behavior since it's head had changed to Lord Arlecchino, refered to simply as "Father" by members of their house.

Livre asked for the paperwork necessary to adopt Carman, and was informed that he would have to convince Carman to visit Maison du Debutant, in order to get the papers signed by the director who was currently Carman legal guardian.

After receiving the papers, Livre went back to his regular schedule. As he hung around Carman, Livre found it difficult finding the right time to broach the topic of adopting him. He wasn't sure how or when an appropriate time would be.

While Carman noticed Livre's discomfort, h thought it might have had something to do with Livre's parents. He didn't put much stock in it and focused more on learning more about clockwork engineering, and after a lot of trial and error, he managed to level up his skill's level twice, bringing it to Lv. 4.

It was convenient for Carman that he earned xp for the skill as he completed tasks related to gaining knowledge in that field, and even when he failed to properly construct a component, he still gained some xp. With every success and failure he learned more and as he leveled the skill, he felt new information that would have taken him more time to research just pop up into his mind.

Despite not being an overpowered system that would beam all the information on a subject directly in his mind, Carman felt that he perfered this as these trial and errors let him train in coping with failure, learning from mistakes and correcting them. He wasn't arrogant with his knowledge, as he could see there was plenty of information he hadn't learned yet, and that he had worked to earn every bit of information he has.

Finally, halfway through the week, Carman came up with an idea for a toy to sell in Livre's shop. He realized it as he was absentmindedly spinning an isolated gear in a project he and Livre were working on.

Why didn't I think of this sooner? Those were all the rage back in the day. They are cheap and easy to make, and I can are a ton of different designs. I guess I'll have to take a page from 2016.

Taking some scrap parts, Carman constructed the toy as he waited for Livre to come back from lunch, as Livre walked in he saw Carman sitting on a chair looking at something I. The desk, it was an odd assembly of gears, meshed together to form a strange almost triangular shape. As he walked closer, Carman tilted his head back and spoke to him. "Hi Livre, welcome back. I hope you don't mind that I used some of the scrapped components to make a prototype for a new toy idea I had."

"That is a toy? It looks like an alternating drive system." Said Livre, not sure how this toy would entertain children.

Carman carefully grasped one edge of the contraption, and pulled it quickly before releasing it with a flick of his wrist, causing it to start spinning along the center gear attached to an axis with a flat circular plate attached on either end of the gadget.

"I noticed that I, and other children, sometimes get transfixed by watching the movement of clockwork, so much that a few seconds to us were actually around five minutes to everyone else. I wanted to create something that achieves that effect, while still being portable. So I started off constructing this." Carman said as he pointed at the toy on the desk.

"I used some of the oil in the back to make it turn smoothly, and the larger gears at the ends cause it to continually spin for a few minutes of time with relatively little initially effort. While messing with it I found that it also works as a handheld gyroscope" Carman said as he picked it up and balanced it on one finger after spinning it again.

Livre was surprised by the simplicity of the toy, and it's enchanting effect. He felt like it wasn't just kids who would find enjoyment from purchasing these toys, he suspected that a few grown ups would as well. The simpleness of the gadget made it an ideal object to fiddle with while contemplating things, or while bored.

Carman continued to discuss the toy with Livre who was on board with making a few and selling them. When asked what to refer to them as, Carman contemplated a before saying, "since they are something to fiddle with, and they rotate around an axis, just call them Fidget Spinners."

Remembering how quickly these toys became popular once it was considered more as a toy everyone could use instead of a tool to help kids with ADHD, Carman inquired weather patents were a thing in Fontaine.

While Livre has heard of something along those lines, he wasn't sure of the details, so he suggested that they go down to the court office to inquire further.

[Three Days Later]

Having gotten the bulk of their orders done for the next few weeks, Carman and Livre went to visit the Chemin de L'Espoir. The city of Fontaine had been experiencing some minor conflicts in Fleuve Cendre as various criminal groups worked to take over the power vacum left by the retreating and disappearing Sinthe dealers.

The prior night, a major conflict broke out, muskets were fired, and some civily were caught in the crossfire the mother of two children was killed, leaving them and their father in poverty since their family needed two incomes to stay afloat.

The criminals who were caught were put to trial today, but because one side were the underlings of a nobleman, it was highly unlikely that the prosecutors would be able to make anything significant stick.

When Carman walked down the pathway from the station to the Court, there was.verry few people out and about, the rain causing many to stay indoors except those who had business to attend to. With his weak Elemental Sense skill, he was able to feel the Hydro energy saturating the rain droplets, and could faintly feel the sadness carried by the energy.

As he neared the Court, Carman saw a solitary figure, the closer he got the more the air seemed to be filled with hydro energy, even with his weak senses, by the time he was close enough to make out all the details of the man, his formal blue clothes, white hair with two blue strips, a simple yet fancy cane, the hydro energy in the man's immediate vicinity made it feel like he was standing at the bottom of a lake.

The man wasn't paying attention to Carman, simply closing his eyes while his face was turned to the sky. Livre, having heard of this particular habit of the Ludex tried to keep Carman from waling too close and disturbing him, but Carman walked over, closer to Ludex Neuvillette, and while standing on his tip toes, barely managed to get the top of his umbrella over the Ludex 's head. Supprised by the sudden absence of raindropps.falling on his face, Neuvillette opened his eyes to see asrerch of fabric a few centimeters from his nose.

A look of slight supprise made it onto Neuvillette's face as he turned his head and came into eye contact with the small boy holding an umbrella over him.

Looking at the boy, he was not only surprised by the boy's lack of fear, but also the compassion he could see in his eyes. Carman indeed felt somelevel of empathy towards Neuvillette, as he had to spend the past 500 years overseeing the judgement of criminals of Fontaine. Having played through the Fontaine section of the game he felt awe and sadness that Neuvillette was able to keep a positive view on humanity despite having to oversee so many trials over crimes from petty thievery to brutal murder.

Having seen Neuvillette, sadly standing in the rain, someone shifted slightly in Carman, there were a few times where you could see Neuvillette standing in the rain, but somehow, seeing him like this in person, and knowing what court proceeding he likely just came out from, it was a sadder scene than Carman expected, feeling the sadness carried by the rain as the Ludex stood alone was pushing against the mental barrier he had subconsciously constructed between himself and the world.

As he did, the hydro elemental particles started to be drawn towards him, causing ripples in the atmosphere around him. Neuvillette noticed this subtle change, and looked at the boy as the hydro element around him started being drawn towards him, but didn't get absorbed into his body like a normal person, instead it seemed like there was a thin barrier within the boy's skin keeping the energy out.

The Ludex was getting more intrigued by this child the longer he was with him.

Finally breaking the silence, Carman spoke with a bit of a childish tone, "I heard you can catch a cold standing in the rain for too long, and the rain is sad today, I don't know what kind of effect that would have."

Both Livre and Neuvillette stared blankly at Carman, Livre because he didn't understand what Carman meant by the rain being sad, and Neuvillette was supprised that the boy could feel the emotions carried by the rain.

To be continued.