'Magic?' Robbie was pacing in his lair. Thinking about it, what he did was more like magic than not but… How could he do magic? He never even realized it. No one had told him it was magic, his father taught him what he knew and had always just called it "inventing".
He shuddered, after working with that blasted elf he'd developed a distinct dislike for magic. He couldn't describe it, but when he looked into that elf's crystal this intense feeling of wrong filled him. The same happened whenever he touched his walls now.
But he'd been using magic all along? How could that be when magic had that effect on him?
Robbie shook his head. There was only one person he could think of to ask about this. There was one person he distinctly did not want to ask about this.
"I'm not going to that blasted bouncing blue elf for advice!" He angrily told no one in particular, crossing his arms over his chest. But there was no one else to turn to, and he hadn't found any books on it in a language he spoke.
'Where did my grandmother even get all those books?' he thought to himself uncertainly, biting his lip. Most of his living relatives either wouldn't know or he didn't care to get into contact with, not that they'd be likely to know anything.
"Not right now," he announced, again to no one, it was a habit one got from living alone, "I will not think about this right now."
No, instead, he would bake a delicious cake using completely mundane means. Or, hopefully mundane means. He wasn't really sure which was which now.
"The only magical thing about baking is the taste," he reminded himself firmly, walking into the kitchen determinedly.
A half hour or so later, Robbie settled down into his chair, several layers of cake in the oven, a timer set, and everything he needed to top it ready. All he had to do now was relax. Maybe take a little nap, the timer would wake him up.
And, indeed, the timer would have. If he had not instead been woken up by someone falling out of the pipe and onto him. As one could imagine, this was not a pleasant way to be woken and he immediately shoved the intruder off.
Rather than a satisfying thud, which he'd been hoping for, this was met by furious stumbling and a shout of "Don't break my computer!"
"What are you doing?" Robbie demanded furiously, wincing as he did, his ribs aching from the blow.
"You need to fix where that thing comes out- that's really dangerous!" Pixel replied angrily, holding a laptop in his arms.
Robbie simply stared at the boy for a few moments, rubbing his stomach. "Don't you know that you're trespassing right now?"
Pixel looked down, "Um, well, you didn't answer when I knocked and I really wanted to get my bat back."
Robbie looked at his tool desk, where the electronic bat now lay. He looked at the boy with a sigh, "I doubt you'd ever go into another person's house just because they didn't answer the door. Why is it okay to enter mine?"
The boy fidgeted, a large knot forming in his stomach, "It… you… I… it isn't," he admitted, dropping his head.
"You, that blasted elf, that pink girl… I might as well declare this public property. Make it a proper town center," Robbie grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Pixel said. Robbie looked up suspiciously. He was not going to change his home into a public place, surely the boy understood the idea of sarcasm. "Elves"
"What?" the man asked, something twisting uncomfortably in his stomach. It was just the growing bruise, surely.
"Well, after earlier, I talked to Sportacus and—" Pixel was interrupted by a loud alarm that caused him to jump and look around, frightened.
"Cake's done!" Robbie announced, happy both that his cake would soon be finished and also that he had a distraction. He rushed off into the kitchen before Pixel could continue what he was saying. Robbie hummed to himself as he got to work and tried to figure out how to pretend to be busy while the cakes cooled.
Pixel sighed and walked over to the table where his bat was sitting. He ran a hand over it gently. It would be scrapped for parts soon, it was a poor excuse to be here, but he had really wanted to talk to Robbie.
The man glanced over at what the boy was doing while pretending to be busy and paused. Pixel's shoulders were slumped, his head still hanging down. Robbie felt guilt stir in him and walked over. "So," he asked, crossing his arms and trying his best to appear aloof, "What was that about elves?"
"Oh, um, right…" Pixel sighed, "I should just leave- I shouldn't've come in in the first place."
"It's fine," Robbie said quietly, "that bat is amazing- I can understand why you wanted it back so badly."
Pixel looked up at him. "You think this is amazing?" he asked.
"And it works! That's better than anything I've made," Robbie pointed out, frowning to himself.
"My mom's the only person who's ever said that about something I made," Pixel placed his laptop on the table and picked up the bat, "And this is something to be scrapped for parts."
The tall man stared at him in a mix of disbelief and sympathy for a moment. He shook his head, "I've seen the things you've made- they deserve praise."
The boy shrugged, "Not according to anyone else- it's just a waste of time."
Robbie snorted at that, "You can see why I live underground, not really anyone up there worth getting to know."
"Actually!" Pixel said eagerly, opening up his computer. The squirming returned to Robbie's stomach, but he ignored it. "I talked to Sportacus today and he told me that he's an elf and his family's from Scandinavia- I guess different parts- so I looked it up, and…"
He turned the computer over to the tall man, who gulped. He bent down to read the screen- 'Elves in Norse Mythology' was the page title. He looked up at Pixel, who was actually bouncing, making it impossible to read any more.
"I think this is it. They have light Elves and dark Elves- I think that's what Sportacus is, a light elf," Pixel went on, eagerly, turning his computer back to himself and reading it to confirm what he'd read, "Light elves come from, according to Norse Mythology, a world above our own- it seems more likely that they just like living high up. Because they've got magic, if they wanted to make cities in the clouds- I'm sure they could've, so it'd seem like they lived in a world above ours."
"Which explains the stupid airship," Robbie said, trying to keep up with the boy, who was going a bit faster with excitement.
"And you living down here," Pixel added.
Robbie gulped at this, "Oh?"
"I said there are also dark elves- their world is below ours," Pixel explained.
"You think I'm…?"
Pixel paused at this, "Sportacus said that humans can't use magic. But it seems like a union between an elf and a human is possible, so maybe you're just part elf."
'That would explain the books,' Robbie thought to himself, 'Sportacreep will probably be intolerably delighted to know they weren't stolen.'
"I, um, I kind of figured that if you were a full elf… you would know," Pixel said quietly.
"Can't argue with that logic," Robbie agreed with a sigh, "I take it dark elves and light elves don't get along?"
"They aren't really in a position to interact," Pixel said, "I think they mostly leave each other alone, there's nothing about wars or anything. Well, not that I've found. Eurgh you seriously can't get internet down here, how can you live like that?"
Robbie pretended to know what that last bit meant, "I suppose that would be why I can't stand Sportakook's magic."
"Huh?" Pixel asked, looking up from his vain attempt to find a wireless signal.
"Touch the wall."
Pixel did in confusion, "I guess it feels a little tingly. Why?"
"I can't stand touching it, it feels wrong."
"Interesting," Pixel furrowed his brow thoughtfully, "Then that may be part of why your plans fail- his magic doesn't agree with yours, and overpowers it."
"Exactly!" Robbie agreed eagerly.
"That and, well, a lot of your plans just aren't thought out very well at all," Pixel added, earning a dirty look from the man. "What? Like that one where you kept Sportacus from sleeping- if you'd only done that the day before the game, he'd've been exhausted enough and we wouldn't've had time to figure out what was causing it."
Robbie crossed his arms stubbornly, "I didn't know if just one lost night of sleep was enough."
"Have it your way," Pixel replied, rolling his eyes as he went back to the page, "It's hard to find good information on it, though, since it's just considered mythology. I don't even know how much of it is exaggerated to make a better story. You need to find a better resource. I don't think anything online will be of much use."
'I have better resources,' Robbie thought to himself bitterly, 'Just not in a language I know.'
"Better than nothing," Robbie said with a shrug.
Pixel gave the tall man a pointed look as he closed his laptop, "We both know who you could ask about this."
Robbie glared at him but Pixel just glared right back. This went on for a few moments.
"Fine," Pixel said, "You know- if you weren't so proud you could just ask him and get it over with," an idea popped into the boy's head and he shrugged, "or maybe it'll just come up in conversation. He looked pretty upset that you told me his crystal was magic. It's really only fair for me to tell him that the way you make things is magic, too."
Robbie snarled. He was being blackmailed by a child, "Fine, tell Sportacreep whatever you want. But I won't be."
Pixel raised an eyebrow, "Whatever I want?"
"Anything that's true- I'd hate to think that my bad influence was making a liar out of you," he corrected, feigning horror at the idea of such a thing.
The gizmo guy chuckled, "Yeah, I'm sure that's the last thing you'd want." He picked his bat up and carefully lodged it under his arm above his computer. For a moment he paused and looked down at what he had, "Will you, um, let me know if you find out anything interesting?"
Robbie raised both of his eyebrows in slight surprise, "I suppose… If you let me know if you make anything interesting."
"Sure thing," Pixel said with a grin. He paused for a moment, "Oh- next time you do a scheme involving magnets, can you tell me? They interfere with electronics. You may have messed up my wrist computer."
The tall man's face paled slightly, "I had no idea."
The boy shrugged, "I figured you didn't- it's no big deal, I'll just fix it when I get home."