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RESPITE GENERATOR - AFTERNOON
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Maybelline is working with a soldering iron to seal on what appears to be a... terrarium off to the side of her usual working space. A bit of a side project, but with the weather shield finished save for the final testing, and Louma home taking a lot of worry off her shoulders, she's got a bit of free time now, and wants to make Mayfeld a bit of a home away from home, as it were.
Vix peeks into the window of May's workshop as she takes a slight detour from her usual town wandering. She lightly taps the window with her claw and waves.
Maybelline glances up at the taps, removing her protective mask before she waves back, double checking the safety's on her devices before she walks to the door to meet Vix with a much brighter smile than the last time they talked. "Vix! Good to see you!"
Vix smiles back at May and leans into a quick hug. "Heya, May! Just thought I'd stop by~"
Maybelline returns the hug with a short laugh, "With more bread? Or did we finally manage to finish it all off?"
Vix opens her pack to reveal a bundle of golden biscuits. "Uh, almost bread~"
Maybelline giggles, "Still cooking eh? Come on in if you want, I'm nearly done with a bit of a side project."
Vix follows May into the house. "Er, some sorta box, right? Anything special about it?
Maybelline walks over and taps the protected glass, "Well, it's completely magically shielded, though I'm not entirely sure how necessary that'll be? It's... still a bit hazy, and I'm not entirely certain how comfortable I am with testing him..." She blinks, "Oh! It's going to be a playplace for our new pet." She walks closer to the area, retrieving a bottle inside which is a stoat-like creature made up of magical fire and electricity. It trills curiously as he looks up at Vix. "This... is Mayfeld."
Vix blinks and tilts her head, not quite processing the reveal. "I didn't know you and Louma had a baby."
Maybelline blushes brightly, "Ahh! N-no! He's... we um... adopted?" She shakes her head, "That is, um... he was gifted to me, and he certainly seems to get along with Louma, so... we're keeping him. He's a pet. Just... a magical pet. Which looks like a stoat."
Vix giggles. "Ah, I see! What a little cutie~"
Maybelline nods, setting the jar back down with a grin. "He is! But he needs a bit bigger play place than just this jar." She motions towards the mostly finished terrarium. "So, this! I'm going to add an excercise wheel, some toys, um... I don't really know what else? He hasn't had anything to eat since I got him... but he must eat something, right?"
Vix traces her finger along the side of the jar to see if the little stoat will follow it. "I dunno...he looks magic, so maybe he eats magic too?"
Mayfeld indeed follows her finger, chirping playfully as he chases it around happily.
Maybelline hums, "Maybe? He seems like a normal animal in most regards, other than appearance." She thinks a moment, then walks over some of the parts and supplies she'd been working with alongside Jennica, having earlier made note of the missing pieces... and the damage done to the wall nearby. She picks up a small flashlight, clicking it open to remove the mana crystal. "Shall we test it out?"
Vix chuckles. "If he doesn't eat it, he can at least bat it around~"
Maybelline grins, "Hopefully he won't blow it up..." She pauses a moment, the grabs a spare pair of safety goggles from nearby and tosses them to Vix. "Just in case." She sets the flashlight down on the table, and places the mana crystal near the bottle, peeking at Mayfeld, "You hungry fellow? You didn't much care for the meat we tried earlier, so maybe you can nip on a bit of magic, hmm?"
Mayfeld chirps happily, scampering around in circles eager to be released.
Vix puts the safety glasses on and takes a step back, so her face is at least not right up against the bottle. "Hehe, yeah...magic explosions are no joke!"
Maybelline puts a hand on her side, upon the scars that wouldn't be visible to Vix through the jumpsuit. "Been there... so yeah. Safety first." She lowers her facemask, then carefully uncorks the bottle, still a bit surprised that Mayfeld hadn't burned through it or something yet.
Mayfeld pauses as Maybelline opens the bottle, carefully tipping it to let the stoat out. He slowly pokes his nose out of the bottle, sniffing a bit, then hops towards the mana crystal. It's a small one, just enough for a few tiny tools like May's flashlight. He sniffs it, then runs past it towards the flashlight and in a flash, he leaps inside of it, literally disappearing in a flash of light and energy as the flashlight begins flickering on brighter than ever.
Vix gasps at the unexpected behavior. "Whoa now! Is he gonna break it??"
Maybelline raises a hand in caution to Vix as she watches, waiting as the flashlight flicks on and off a few times, the highbeam unexpectedly bright, but no other strangeness. No electrical output or magical backlash, no unexpected explosions. She takes a step forward slowly and picks up the flashlight very, very carefully. "It's not hot."
Vix scratches her head. "Huh, weird! I guess he's having a bit of fun?"
Maybelline clicks the button off, and the light goes out. She clicks the button on and the light retuns. Slowly, she sets the flashlight down again. "Mayfeld?"
Mayfeld pops its head out of the flashlight, still 'inside' of it. He trills, looking up at May happily.
Maybelline points back towards the bottle. Her tone rather commanding. "Mayfeld, out."
Mayfeld chirps, then hops out of the flashlight and scampers back to his bottle, spinning in circles and then settling down.
Vix hums. "I wonder what that was all about..."
Maybelline slowly lifts the cork and sets it back onto the bottle, examining Mayfeld as he yawns and curls up around himself. "I... don't know. Like you said, he looks magical... I guess he sorta is magic? He was able to slip into the flashlight and act as a powersource, like the mana crystal normally would."
Vix nods. "Seemed like he enjoyed it, too. Maybe he's got some extra energy to burn off?"
Maybelline lifts the welding mask back up to nod to Vix. "Yeah... could be. Sammi did say excercise was important... maybe he builds up energy running about and needs to burn it off? It's less about him eating and more that... he's constantly creating energy as waste? That's... insane. But we just saw it."
Vix takes a look over the supplies May's gathered for the terrarium. "So maybe instead of a wheel, you could build him a little device to power or something?"
Maybelline glances at the pieces and taps a finger against her cheek in thought. "Yeah. I wonder... I can certainly give him a mix of things to do, either to play or power down or... it does give me some more ideas."
Vix picks up the mana crystal. "Maybe you can store that energy too? Still, I do wonder what he eats..."
Maybelline chuckles, "Maybe? It can't be perpetual energy. Louma did suggest it might be 'eating' the ambient mana from nature, kinda like the backup generator does." She glances at the sleeping stoat. "So maybe he's 'eating' right now?"
Vix smiles as she watches the little stoat sleep. "Neat~"
Maybelline removes her welding mask, setting it upon the table as well. "Well, with him sleeping, I could use a break too."
Vix offers May a biscuit, already munching on one. "Here~"
Maybelline giggles, taking the biscuit, "Thanks. Wanna go sit down and snack, then?" She nods towards the old living quarters.
Vix playfully bumps into May. "You know it~"
Maybelline grins as she takes a bite of the biscuit, leading Vix towards the living quarters to talk about the peculiarties of a stoat owning a stoat and other such oddities over a bit of lunchtime snacking.