Getting the lead out

by **Kuvarakh** on July 14th, 2012, 8:58 pm

1st day of Summer, 512

"Well, Mr. Kuvarakh, you get to begin your schooling in the alchemical arts by changing the toilet into something I would be willing to eat off of." Wanda lilted with a smirk. "Your founts shall be a brush and some bleach; your filters...well, you can probably imagine what those shall be. I will be in the lab, let me know when you are done."

First week on the job. Wanda wasted no time letting him know where he stood. But Kuvarakh took it in stride. His whole approach to getting this job had been his stated willingness to take on the mundane tasks, thereby freeing her up to pursue more exotic, satisfying explorations in the art. And, after all, what could be more mundane...

He called back as he got into his shop clothes, "Please, Miss Wanda, it's just 'Kuvarakh'. that is my first name, not my last."

"As long as you insist in calling me MISS Wanda, you shall remain MR. Kuvarakh. Are we clear on that?" Her stern tone was underlined by humor.

"Very clear, Wanda. So, shall I employ the same elements on the floor to eliminate any remaining 'radiation' from this grand experiment?" Kuvarakh replied, digging through a cabinet for the necessary supplies.

"That IS the usual 'clean-up' step, yes. Now quit stalling, Kuvarakh, or you WILL be eating your lunch there."

Kuvarakh grinned, not bothering to mention that Nuits don't eat. He knew she was only joking with him. He was actually quite pleased with himself, only a week on the job and already her attitude was brightening noticeably.

He got to it, giving her a call one time when a customer entered to place an order. She would normally have had him take this order, but this was not a job easily stepped away from in a condition suitable to present a professional face to a prospective customer. Who would wish to shake his hand right then?

He finished a short while before she did, so he waited in the back, hoping he could assist her in an activation. He had not yet done so, her wish leaning more to him learning the aforementioned 'mundane' tasks. 'So be it' he thought. He had time, that much was certain.

She came back when the order was taken and smiled at him, "All finished?" He nodded, so she continued, "Well, you're in luck then. This order can be processed at once! I will need you to do something for me."

Kuvarakh blurted out, "Can I do this activation for you?"

Her eyes widened a moment and then her look turned slightly sympathetic. "No, Kuvarakh, I'm sorry, not yet, give it time." At his disappointed acceptance, she turned again to light sarcasm to lift his spirit. "I'm not yet finished shamelessly exploiting you as my housemaid."

He chuckled and she grinned. She was getting to know HIS moods better as well.

by **Kuvarakh** on July 16th, 2012, 4:14 am

"What do you need me to do, Mi-...uh..Wanda?" he shook his head at his own difficulty shedding his ingrained habit.

"I'd like you to change the floor pad." she answered.

Kuvarakh's puzzled silence made it clear that he was unfamiliar with the term. He looked around, unsure which floor she meant. "What? The rug by the front door?" his tone made it clear that he didn't really think it was what she had meant.

"Under the ring?" she said helpfully, rolling her hand as if to aid his thought processes with a sort of 'come on' gesture.

"OH!" Kuvarakh suddenly got it. the transmutation ring was bolted to the floor through a thick pad. The pad had holes that aligned with the bolt holes in the floor. There was a shallow recess in the floor that the pad sat in. He didn't realize it was meant to be changed. "Change it with what?"

She walked over to a locked door in the corner of the transmutation chamber and opened it, revealing several tubes with what looked like rolled-up rugs inside them. She crooked a finger at him to call him over and waved her hand into the closet. "Floor pads." she said, as though it should all be clear now.

He walked over and looked in. Every rolled-up pad sat in its own upright tube. Each tube had a label on it. Things like "Wood Strength" or "Liquid to Solid", there was "Metal Defense" and "Metal Attacks", "Flexibility" and "Lightweight". There must have been a good three dozen of them.

One was empty. The label on the tube said "True Target". He looked over at the pad currently beneath the ring and recalled that Wanda's most recent order was for two full cords' worth of hardwood from which to make arrow shafts. She had employed both eyeballs and talons from hawks to enhance the wood with a greater nature to strike its target from an airborne approach.

The ring was not nearly large enough for the entire stock of provided wood. It had taken her a good dozen transmutations to finish it all. She had been exhausted every day for a week completing the job.

Now he understood the purpose of the pad. Even though the target of every transmutation was rinsed to remove the residual djed, there was still djed radiation that lingered which posed a long-term risk. This was why all alchemy labs employed shielding and lead linings in every way they could. Many labs had shields for the floor as well. But he had never seen one that was interchangeable.

All of the transmutations on the wood had left residue on the floor pad. This residue could have a slight detrimental effect on the result of an upcoming transmutation if the target effect was in a drastically different direction than the activation preceding it. For instance, if the next target was metal to be used in swords, having a lingering bit of 'airborne attack" enhancement djed imbued in the metal might just make the swords have a tendency to slip from grips to go sailing across a battlefield.

Wanda made sure to always employ pads that had beneficial residual tendencies for her transmutations. It also dawned on him that having a pad with like-aligned djed residue may even grant a slight additional edge to whatever result was being intended.

Kuvarakh looked at Wanda with a new respect at her innovation, nodding in acknowledgement of another lesson learned. But now his brow furrowed, "So how do I change this?"

by **Kuvarakh** on July 18th, 2012, 2:16 am

Wanda pointed to a wall with a number of metal hooks for hanging equipment, "Gloves." was all she said. Kuvarakh knew she meant the lead-lined gloves for handling djed-irradiated items. Once in hand, Wanda pointed to the cabinet under a workbench, "Toolbox."

Kuvarakh tried to repress a grin as he opened the cabinet and pulled out the toolbox. "Let me guess, 'Wrench'." he said, with a look like he had strained his brain to arrive at the conclusion.

"Smart." Wanda tapped the side of her head, her face deadpan.

Kuvarakh went through a series of pantomimes, "Bolts....Turn....Loosen....Lift."

"Floor pad."

"Change."

She mimicked his previous motions, but in opposite order. "Replace....Bolts....Turn....Tighten....Done."

"Understood." he said, putting the gloves on and starting in on the bolts. He laid the bolts on the floor in a pattern to show which had been in which position, in case it made a difference. He lifted the ring and moved to roll up the pad. He almost fell on his face from the resistance.

"Uldr's Breath! How much do these things weigh?" he said propping himself back up on his knees and starting again.

"Oh, I don't know...Fifty pounds? They have a lead core." she said, as though it was known throughout the land.

"Couldn't you have worked them for lighter weight?" he said with a grunt as he hoisted it upright and carried it to its tube in the closet.

"Crybaby...I already worked them for flexibility. Do you need me to come and do that for you?" her sarcasm was ripe.

"No, I've got it." he spat back with mock exasperation and exaggerated wheezes of exhaustion. "So, which one do you want?" He asked this normally, a genuine question.

"Lighten'. it's just to the left of the back right corner." she said, with a laugh at the irony.

"It figures." Kuvarakh mumbled, struggling to lift it from its tube.

by **Kuvarakh** on July 19th, 2012, 5:51 am

He hoisted the pad over to the recess in the floor. he tried now to recall whether it was the black side or the white side that had been up or down. The way it was rolled up, it MUST have been the white side down. At first, he thought the white side was on the outside so that Wanda would have a better background for the label written on the pad. But, no, rolling it and unrolling it would always result in the same side up or down as well as the same side facing out while stored. It was too heavy to flip it just on a whim.

"White side down?" he called, nonetheless.

"Yes, just like all the rest." she called back, in voice denoting a tolerance for stupid questions.

"Just out of curiosity, why? What difference does that make?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't KNOW that it makes ANY difference. My master back in Zeltiva used to do it. He said black absorbs energy, whereas white reflects it. So, not only does the black hopefully absorb the residual djed to some degree, which serves us several different ways, But any djed that has worked its way into the floor over the years, will hopefully be reflected back, away from the ring, during an activation."

"Hmm...Yeah, he may have a point there." He rolled the pad out, filling the recess, working it just a little to align the holes with the bolt settings. He reset the ring, replaced the bolts and tightened them. Such a simple idea, such a simple task, yet he felt a surprising degree of pride for having done it.

"All done." he called back to where Wanda was coming up from the basement. His anticipation spiked for a moment thinking she might be bringing up some of the exotic founts or filters she stored below. His enthusiasm waned considerably as he saw she was carrying....

'A Snow Shovel...'

"Now for your next wondrous task....." she began...

by **Mirage** on August 4th, 2012, 9:48 pm

The Truth Within the Reality

Kuvarakh :

The Truth Hidden by a Mirage :

Completed Getting the lead out