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PLUME'S CLINIC - LATE MORNING
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Maybelline has been focused on her work the past day or so, trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong, but mostly just trying to keep her head together. The little tempermental issues that the generator's been exhibiting since have been quite enough to keep her busy, but still... she can't forget about Strix, and so made it a point to come visit first thing today before work. She walks into the clinic, heading back towards the beds where Strix had been initially been laying.
Strix was sitting in the bed, legs crossed underneath her as she reads a book, leaning against the wall the bed is put up to. Her ears twitch when she hears the footsteps, and she looks up, and gives a cheerful wave, and a smile to May "Oh! May! Good to see you. I was worried you'd been avoiding me.."
Maybelline forces a laugh, scratching her head awkwardly, "Strix! No! I uh... well... a little? Not on purpose, just... no, look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to avoid you. I've just been worried, and struggling a bit and... Ah! That's not important! What's important is making sure you're okay!"
Strix: "Oh! I am! I'm getting used to the whole everything" She gestures at herself "Everything. I've even gotten out a few times, and well, it's crazy how much nicer people are" She pauses, and amends slightly "Not that they weren't nice before, but before it was because people knew they should be nice me, and now it's because people want to be nice. It's noticeable, that's for sure" She tilts her head to May "What about you though. How are you doing?"
Maybelline frowns, slumping a bit. "I'm glad you're getting used to it. I'm guilty of that myself, when we first met, not treating you like I should have, once I'd gotten to know you." She shakes her head. "I'm... fine. Been running tests, trying to figure out why the generator rejected the amplifier the way it did. Somewhat inconclusive so far... but you were right about the shielding, I'll admit."
Strix: "Of course!" She taps her head "Still Brilliant~ Which reminds me. I wanted to prove to you that I still got it, sooooo" She pulls open a small drawer, and takes out what looks like a chicken drumstick that was hacked to pieces, leaving just the bone, then some of the meat and tendons wrapped around it "I did a thing!"
Maybelline smiles at Strix's self-analysis, then turns to look at the drumstick. "Oh? Oh! You built something!" She does perk up, slightly more excited by the prospect of a StrixShiny than she is off-put by the mangled chicken drumstick. "What's it do?"
Strix: "Watch!" She palms it for a moment, before squeezing it between her fingers, her fingers glow softly, before the drumstill hums, and the entire thing lights up with a sizzly crackle "It's a plasma cutter!" She demonstrates, awkwardly swinging it to lop off a piece of spare wood nearby (She'd picked it up for this purposes earlier), and slices a few more times...before the entire they crackles, and burns out "Entirely from a piece of chicken!" She beams, waiting eagerly for praise.
Maybelline blinks, having expected... not this. "What...? How? It's... I mean, yeah, no, that's exactly the kind of thing I'd expect from the old you..."
Strix: "Okay, so. Magic flows go through nonliving stuff faster than living right? Inherent life energies providing a resistant element So, if you wrap the meat around all the tendons like so, and force energy through, balancing equations mean that power has to equalize in the meat, and the tendons at the same time, buuuut meat is mostly just fat and bulk, where tendons are active living matter. Much higher resistance. Upshot, naturally being that you need a waaaay higher energy density in the tendons to make everything balance and flow right. Magic levels go way up, basic transfer to heat. A small resistance spell etched into the bone to keep everything from instantly failing and to act as a handle, and you get a very short lived plasma cutter, powered from..well..me, because I'm like..low key a giant battery now" She pauses "Cool, huh?" It was like..the uncanny valley of tech speak. Everything she said technically made sense, and was using all the right words, but...it all sort of failed to come together in a rational way.
Strix: "I'll take that as a compliment, by the way!"
Maybelline tries to follow along as Strix explains, analyzing the chicken bone. "Wait but... how does it..." She sighs, that familiar exasperation in trying to understand Strix's means is the same at least. "It was meant as a compliment, yeah... Strix, you're amazing."
Strix brightens. Literally. The glow in her eyes increasing. "Still got it!" She smiles "Of course, it has to be chicken, or else it wouldn't work. Or turkey, but I don't like turkey" She considers May again "May, I..I know you're worried, but..it's still me. Still the same person, but..I want to try and make the best of this. I could probably undo it if I really wanted to, but everything is just integrated now, and..well..It's much harder to go backwards with magic. You know that, but" She gets serious a moment "If you think I should. I will. I'm sorry for asking this of you, but I think that I need to do this, for you. If you think I should go back, I'll agree with you, and I'll find a way"
Maybelline hesitates, watching Strix's eyes, not just because of the concerning glow, but because she owes it to her friend to take this seriously as well. She slowly nods, thinking. "You're right... I know that a lot of times, magic is a one-way deal. It's like baking. You mix in the eggs, flour, sugar, and you get a cake. And the cake is really good! But you can never get the sugar back
Maybelline to the way it was before... I... I liked you for you, Strix. You were... You are such a good friend, who helped me out in some dark times. Part of me is scared that friend is gone. But I think you're right, you're still you, just... you're cake now, you know? So, no. If you want to figure this out, then I'm with you in this. I- I'll help you however you need."
Strix does a little hop over, and gives May a hug! And a squeeze "Thank you!" She looks up, with a grin "However, you've just agreed to help me. You know what a cake needs, to finish it off? Dressing~ I can't just have plain stuff the whole time" Strix is dressed in a very simple dress, and there's a pair of functional, if uninteresting boots by the bed "I've never really had any reason to dress up, since I wanted people to ignore me, but now..well..." She flicks her tail "People are paying attention in a nice way, and I want more of it!"
Maybelline blinks, "You put dressing on cake?" She stops herself, then hugs Strix back, "Err, yes! Of course! I... am not good at dresses! But I'll do my best?"
Strix: "It's fine!" She untangles herself, rocking on her heels "I just want someone to check what looks good, is all!"
Maybelline chuckles quietly, "I have... no idea why so many people think I know what looks good? But we'll figure that out. ...I'm still going to worry, for awhile. Maybe longer. No promises. I'll try my best though."
Strix: "That's fine!" She gets up "Think we can go now, or do you have other stuff today?"
Maybelline giggles, "Nothing pressing... making sure my friend is doing alright comes first right now, so if Plume is okay with you going, then let's go."
Strix: "Oh, I'm super healthy!" She gets on, and puts on shoes. Shoes! She wiggles her feet, still happy to have shoes! Before getting down "Okay then, so..uh..Dresses, and stuff. Do you know any good spots?"
Maybelline giggles, "I actually do? I've bought a few outfits for myself that Louma seems to like, and done some shopping trips with others. It's not... necessarily my forte, but I can at least tell you what colors would go good on you. I think."
Strix: "Right! If it helps, I'm still working stuff out, but I think I might be able to change the glowy colour bits..but..I dunno. I feel purply" She's ready to go "I'm thinking..well, I don't know. I don't want to go too cutsey. I'm still planning to do all my work, but.." She's been overthining it, obviously "Maybe a bit? I want people to notice me..and..well.." She actually gets a bit bashful! "Not you! Don't worry!"
Maybelline raises an eyebrow, a little clueless about that last part, "Ah? Okay? Well, I'm not good at 'cute', but so if I pick out stuff that I'd want to wear, you should be fine!" She leads Strix onwards out of the clinic and starts to head towards the Marketplace, for further adventures in clothes shopping!
Strix: "I think a friend of mine wants to come with us for the shopping. I'm hoping if I look around..." She looks about the Marketplace "Maybe I can spot her?"
Maybelline peers around as well, though she has no idea who she's looking for. "Well, that's fine by me. Take a bit of pressure of choice off my shoulders. I hope... who are we looking for?"
Melia wanders conveniently into view, not that the slightly glowing naked lizard elemental is terribly hard to find. The bouncy being is clearly in a good mood, waving at anyone who she thinks would return to gesture, clearly missing that a lot of them do out of confusion more than anything else.
Strix: "Melia! Over here!" Strix calls out, in case she needs more guidance
Melia spots Strix and that clothesmaker she once met, waving excitedly: "Oh! Hi!" Then she is already a puff of green smoke, coming towards the pair.
Maybelline takes a step back in surprise as the green lizard thing smoke puffs up towards them, "Gah! Um, hi? ...Melia, you said?" She glances at Strix, then back at Melia... This checks out, honestly.
Melia appears behind Strix and hugs her: "Nice to meet you again!" She looks at Maybelline: "Also hi again!"
Strix nodnods approvingly and makes "Get to know each other hand wavey motions"
Maybelline averts her eyes a little from the naked lizard, "Well, uh, guess I can see why you think she needs to go clothes shopping. Um... hi? Again? I don't think we've met? I'm May."
Melia blinks: "But I met a Mae? She said, I mean, you said that I need pants, and then was a bit huffy when pants don't really stick to me, so we're like-" she looks at Strix: "-trying to fix that, if we can, yeah?"
Maybelline nods in understanding, "Oh. Huffy Mae? That's my sister."
Strix: "Yup! But first we need really nice clothing to pick out to magic up so they do stick!"
Melia nods in understanding in mirror: "Ooh, sister? Neat. I'd like a sister." She pauses: "Well, sort of have, except more a brother, except that's not the right word either... what were we talking about? Oh yeah, clothes. Magic ones, or ones we can magic." She pauses, blinking. "Pants."
Strix: "Well. You can have Pants. I was thinking maybe a skirt?" She ponders "Anyway, May! Where should we go first?"
Maybelline nods slowly, "Riiiight. Yes! Well. Pants. Skirts. Dresses? Whatever you like!" She points towards a little boutique off towards the edge of the Marketplace, "That one? Um, Seamestrss Corner? It's a start at least? And definitely more affordable than Ms Lthl..."
Melia nods with a grin: "Show the way! I don't really know anything, but exploring new places is fun!"
Strix: "Okay! I agree. I don't really know how much this stuff costs, but lets start cheap, until we decide what sort of stuff things should look like"
Maybelline leads on, pushing open the door for the trio (with both hands). Once Strix and Melia are inside, she waves to the attendant and leads on towards the back, "Easy enough! They've got the stuff for folks me and Strix's size towards the back corner, we'll need to get something for Melia over in that area over there I guess?"
Melia follows with a bright smile, only getting a bit hesitant at the attendant giving her a pointed 'where are you clothes?' kind of look but she ignores it. She then blinks at May's advice: "Oh, look for something? But uh... I don't really know how? Just pick something?"
Strix: "Hmm. So..maybe something purple to start for me?" She peruses the clothing, taking out the first two random purple stuffs
Maybelline nods to Melia as Strix starts to browse. "Uh, yeah? Just find something that looks pretty? I don't know what Strix's plan is about this whole 'making it stick', but she's brilliant, so, she'll figure something out."
Melia starts picking up clothes on a whim, mostly focusing on dresses despite her earlier talking of pants. Eventually she settles on a particular short-hemmed summer dress that looks neat to her, and could even possibly work with her figure. Now to just try it on, right, and not do the vanishing poofing thing she does without thinking usually... "...clothes shopping is harder than I thought!"
Strix: "Okay, okay" Strix picks out a simple skirt, and blouse combo, both in purple. She picks them up "Oh! Also, I need the stuff that goes underneath all the outside clothing, that embarrasses everyone that I ask more about"
Melia leans over to look at Strix: "Ooh, I've heard about those."
Maybelline walks through a bit idly, watching Strix and Melia pick things out. She picks out a small green scarf that she thinks might accentuate the purple, then turns back upon hearing Strix's comment, "Hmmm? Like... a bra?" She glances at Strix's chest. "Err... and panties too, right? They've got those up in 'intimates'." She points towars the area with a great deal more lacey and frilly things.
Strix: "Yes! Those things" She nods a few times "I don't know why they're so embarrassing, but..ah..I think it's got to do with people being weird about reproductive stuff?" She takes the scarf, then heads to the back to pick out those bits too! Fun times shopping.
Melia holds the blue dress to her chest, admiring herself in a mirror for a moment before poofing after Strix... and then returning right away, walking back to pick up the dress she dropped as she poofed forward. Giving a sheepish grin to the poor attendant, she follows Strix, this time by walking. "It should be good to not have like everyone be weird around me. Cause that's weird!"
Maybelline grins at Melia, "At least a little less weird. You are pretty unique. You both are, now. And oh uh, yeah... for mammals at least, the uh... upper chest is kinda sensitive. Needs extra protection. And the panties between the legs... uh... we'll say same thing? We get a bit weird about reproductive stuff... it's awkward to talk about, I guess? Most of the times the uh, 'intimate' clothing is only seen in... intimate situations. Clothes come off, you make a show of it and uh... hm. Well, you get the point."
Melia tilts her head, her frills swaying in some unfelt wind: "I really don't, but I will believe you." She shrugs: "One more thing to learn about! Onto intimates!" Somewhere in the background, the attendant on shift is becoming increasingly nervous about this whole situation.
Strix: "Right, then..." She nods, and heads into the changing room, and after a bit of squirming and tugging, she comes out! Maecy would probably have some thoughts on 'co-ordination' and 'clashing' styles, but everything works nicely together, and Strix seems to appreciate the look in the mirror "Hey, okay..I can see why clothing matters. I look..nicer now..the clothing makes me look better, and helps" She sort of makes a chest motion "This bit look bigger! Which is good, I believe?"
Maybelline coughs slightly, glancing away when Strix steps back out of the changing room, "I mean... it's not... it's fine. Good. Yeah."
Melia looks at Strix, not having had the mental presence to go try her own pile of gathered clothes yet. "Ooh, nifty! You look good! I guess. Probably?" After staring for a second or two, she makes her way to the changing room herself, this time actually realizing to not poof there.
Strix: "Okay, while we're here..uh..first..." She pauses, reaches into a pocket of her discarded floor clothes, and takes out a small bag of gold. It's about twice what the clothes are worth "This good?" She smiles, and zips back while the clerk is counting the coins, taking out a small glowing piece of bone. "This is..uh..just a mana battery? Pretty basic" Which is fair. Making them is magic-tech 101. Though traditionally one uses crystalline structures. "So, I was thinking, just as a temp fix, make a small little enchantment that tracks Melia's magic signature, and just hops the clothes to her as she goes. Should be fine, I think? Clothing isn't alive, so there's no issues...
Melia steps out of the dressing room, the blue dress fitting her quite nicely and even accentuating her sizable curves somewhat. She grins: "I figured it out! It's not actually that hard after you realize which way things are supposed to go, but thankfully I people-watch a lot!" She muses: "The under-stuff was trickier, but I probably got it."
Maybelline steps back, letting Strix work, but she is watching intently, "I hope the clothes aren't alive at least... so what... are you, Melia? That's probably rude of me... but uh... it sorta helps? I kind of have a sense of what you're saying, Strix? This might just be matter of aligning magical frequencies?"
Melia tilts her head at the question: "What am... I? Like, I've been called a lot of things but... elemental? Spirit? I'm not really I think like a lot of people? I'm err... nature? Or is that more just my thing and not who I am?" She seems at least as confused by this ponderance as Maybelline is.
Strix: "Yeah..." She nods and steps over, and smiles "You look great..now..just give me a second" She pokes Melia a moment, then raps the bone against a wall "Hmm..." She scratches a little bit off the bone, then raps the bone again against the wall again "Okay..okay..this should work...but..uh.." She pauses "We'll wait until after the clothing is bought" She smiles to the cashier "Is that money enough?" She barely gets that out before she's back, distracted by her little project
Maybelline glances back and forth, and then finally sighs, "I'll uh... make sure..." She walks towards the cashier, explaining a bit, negotiating a bit, making a few calming gestures, then returns a moment later. "Money's good. Just uh, don't light anything on fire, create any lightning, or in any other way damage the merchandise or structural integrity of the building, and they said we're fine."
Melia looks at Strix in confusion as she tests her, not really understanding at all. She understands slightly more what May is saying, and smiles: "Oh! I mean, uh, I don't really have money anyway. Or I might? Gotta ask Tarbin." She shakes her head, frills swaying again: "I can't create any of that stuff, no worries."
Strix: "Okay. Okay!" She reaches to the back of the dress, and attaches the bone to it, before going and quickly pulling at Melia's under things and making sure that they're 'connected' in some way "I..think this should work" And..it should! If she's very sensitive to such things, she might feel a bit of extra 'resistance' to the poofing coming from needing to drag along extra stuff, but it would be fairly minor. For everyone else, the visual effect would be Melia vanishing, then after a split second, the clothes sort of hazing after her.
Maybelline leans forward, "That... that's expected right? Like her poofing around before?"
Melia tilts her head: "Do what now? Oh. Try to do..." She focuses, blinks at the resistance she's encountering, but puffs into her usual green smoke rather effortlessly anyway, appearing on the other side of the room with a bright grin... and the dress still on her!
Strix: "It worked!"
Melia almost starts as she realizes the dress is still on, jumping slightly before grinning at the other two: "It did! I now have the dress!" She blinks at Strix: "How?"
Maybelline breathes out a sigh of relief, grinning, "It worked."
Strix: "Uh..I sort of made it that the dress knows where you are, and follows you around! It's that little bone I tied to it. If you put that on the clothing it should work! But..uh..only for clothing, okay?"
Melia tilts her head: "What else would I wear?"
Maybelline shudders as she considers the implications of what Strix has perhaps implied. "Nothing! Nothing... just clothes, yes. Just clothes."
Strix: "Anyway.." She gives a thumbs up, while she does a 'test wiggle' to see how the skirt feels "Oh! This is much nicer! Why didn't I try this before?"
Melia hums, nods, then also does a test wiggle, grinning brightly. "Very nice!"
Maybelline giggles, watching the two spin. "I don't do dresses. Skirts can be nice, but I just prefer pants." She glances down at her mundane work uniform. "Pockets. I need as many pockets as I can get."
Strix: "Can't you put pockets into skirts?"
Melia muses: "Pockets could be... I guess nice?"
Maybelline: "I only buy skirts with pockets."
Strix: "Well, I'll work out what to do after wards" She goes to pick up all her stuff from the ground, inadvertently displaying to May an...issue with skirts that doesn't arise with pants, re: Bending over.
Melia looks at Strix's rear side, not really seeing anything odd about it. She then shrugs: "I like the dress."
Maybelline coughs, turning aside, "Oh um, S-Strix... bend with the uh... bend with the knees, now, when you can..."
Strix makes a thoughtful pause "Oh right..I suppose that makes sense" She adjusts her stance, so she's no longer displaying her new purchases quite as much. In any case, she picks up all her stuff, and puts it into a small bag "Anyway! That was very nice! Uh..shoes! Shoes are next"
Melia pauses: "Shoes?" She looks at her claw-feet: "I suppose?"
Maybelline giggles, "I Prefer sandals? Or reinforced steel-tipped boots, but that's just for work."
Strix: "Oh! I already have booties!" She shoes them off. They look Very sensible "But I want something for not-work, ah..I know nothing about shoes. I didn't wear them up to now"
Melia tilts her head: "I've never felt shoes." She pauses and shrugs: "Well to be fair, my experience with clothes is pretty limited overall..."
Maybelline: "I know a lot of hooved folks don't wear them. Guess that's the same for reptile folk?" She glances at Melia's feet and shrugs. "Still though, I'm sure they have something nice. I don't like heels or anything like that though. I guess that's just why I stick to sandals, when I bother to wear shoes. They're easy and comfortable."
Strix: "They might be harder to make work with your poofing..I'd need to...like..have straps? To connect them to your dress or something..."
Melia blinks, thinking: "Hmm... might get tricky." She shakes her head: "I want to connect to the earth, anyway. No shoes!" She smiles brightly, happy about the dress regardless.
Strix: "Okay! So, shoes next! I've heard of these heel things..they make you taller, right?"
Maybelline leads on, double checking with the cashier before the trio heads out to back to the market to find a cobbler, "Yeah, well, they do, but they're kind of a pain to walk in."
Melia follows happily, swirling about in her new dress, both doing the elemental poof and not doing it, and just legit being happy about the pretty little blue dress!
Strix follow May, also happy with the new look! It's nice to feel pretty, it turns out
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RESPITE GENERATOR - AFTERNOON
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Jennica peeks into the generator room, having entered with the spare keys she's gotten some time ago in case of emergencies. "May, are you here?" With no answer, she wanders in, resting her hand upon the generator's side.
Jennica sighs softly, having hoped to the find the stoat today, to bounce some of her crafting thoughts off her. Rhask is great company, but for this she needs someone who's familiar with magitech.
Jennica steps around the generator, her hand touching various parts just out of habit. She finds herself rather attracted to feeling, looking and listening to the machine's soft hum as she slowly walks, as though making sense of how the generator was built and how it functions even though she is relatively familiar with the build as it is due to numerous talks with Maybelline.
Jennica gives a soft sigh, knowing her own crafting ability is not remotely able to reach anything quite this big - and admittedly that makes part of her jealous for it - that she hits relatively hard limits of scale when it comes to enchanting.
Jennica wanders to a more hidden corner at the far end of the generator and sits down, leaning on the machine. She suddenly feels like she wants to steal a moment of relaxation while touching to the warmth and the soft hum of the machinery. Things like that have always calmed the cow, and heavens know she has enough twitchy nerves to smoothe most of the time.
Jennica finds her thoughts wandering, thinking about the generator she is leaning on. If she were a generator, what would she want to work with? She did hear that the magic poured in by Elizabeth wasn't the stablest of things, but functions... perhaps a more solid, more determined source of magic would work better? Or at least, a way to process the wilder magic, some kind of adapting mechanism...
Jennica chuckles to herself, closing her eyes. The machinery next to her feels... well, not soft to the touch, but soft to her mind even though that makes no sense. She whispers with a smile: "I think I get you... always something to improve, but limited amount of stuff you can do about it, hmm?"
Jennica continues: "Or like... being able to tell what you need, but no one listens? Boy do I know that feeling..." She gives a soft sigh, leaning her head back again.
Jennica continues musing her thoughts out loud, leaning on the generator for quite a while before falling asleep there, to the softness only she seemingly feels on the hard metal.