Closed Craft and Conjour (Evalin)

[Vel]

85th Winter, 512 AV

The sun had long since set below the horizon, leaving the port city of Zeltiva cloaked in shadow and darkness. This was when most of the mortal inhabitants of the city were busy nestling into their beds, preparing for another night of near comatose behaviour that left them vulnerable, weak, and unprepared...not to mention decreased any productivity that could have been made in the eight hours of darkness. It was no secret that Vellus despised the coming few hours, as he was forced back to his modest dwelling to pretend to sleep and keep up his charade as human; however, Vellus decided to take a chance and stay a bit later this night. When the last Bohrnn & GoldWoerth employee was on his way out, Vellus gave him a smile and promised he would lock up and leave in a few more moments and that he was on the edge of a break through with a rather important part of his experiments.

An outright fabrication that was.

There was no breakthrough to be made, not this night. There was however, an opportunity. The only secret Vellus was more protective about than his identity as a nuit was his ability to use magic, and for good reason. Being a Nuit and being a mage were bad by their own rights, but being both at once was something that most found appalling and terrifying. Over his many years of life, Vellus found out, the hard way, that having people terrified of you can be somewhat beneficial, but in the long run, would only serve to set back any scientific progress that would be made. So it was his decision to hide his skills away and use them only in times of need or great scientific discovery. Tonight was a night that he was going to use his magic, though for neither of the listed reasons: tonight was about practice, after all, even the most skilled and talented individuals needed to practice from time to time in order to maintain their edge.

Taking one last look around to make sure he was alone, Vellus walked over to one of the many shelves that lined the walls, where he lifted a box that was hidden behind a row of row of bigger boxes. From within the box came a sudden movement and series of loud squeaks, though Vellus ignored the noise, as no one was around to hear the cries. The Nuit placed the box on his desk, and lifted the cloth that covered what could now be seen as a small cage that contained a rather lethargic rat.

Vellus had seen the critter scurrying around the shop, and had set a trap with a small piece of drugged cheese. Once the rodent ate the bait, the drugs took effect, and now it was nothing more than Vellus' play thing. With a rather dark grin befitting a Nuit, Vellus took a piece of chalk and began to scratch on the wooden surface of his desk, drawing to what some mages would recgonize as an Animation circle.

It was a very simple diagram, a set of circles connected by some more lines. The larger circle was the source and the smaller circle was the destination. It was a shape he had memorized several years ago and had put to use a handful of times. With a look of grim excitement, Vellus retrieved a small and strange machine from another shelf. The metal skeleton was a minature version of a human skeleton, and was built to a perfect 1:100 scale. With a gentle and steady hand, he placed the model in the "destination" circle, making sure that all the pieces were in the right place and functional before proceeding. Opening the cage, Vellus reached in and grabbed the mentally hindered rat, and placed it in the "source" circle.

Stepping back, Vellus bit into his finger, and let a single drop of Ichor fall onto the circles. He began to repeat from memory a chant that he had learned long ago. As he began the Rat began to shake, its eyes grew wide and its breathing became labored, from its throat it tried to issue a loud squeal, but its muscles would not obey, and soon it began to twitch and flail, trying desperatly to hold on to the soul that Vellus was tearing from its body. Most Animation Mages would make a fake soul, using the source as a template, but Vellus did not have time for that. Instead, he wanted to do a simple test, and he looked on with wonder as the Rat fell silent.

With the words of his practiced chant, he took the rats soul, reshaped that into the mental image of the mechanical human that sat on the table, and fed the reformed soul into the humanoid form. It was by no means a complex structure, in fact it only had a total of 10 moveable joints, much less than the rat was accustomed to, and he hoped that with the simple actions Vellus laid out during the transfer, the test would be a success.

Several chimes passed, and finally the figure began to move. It twitched and began to lift a leg, adjust its center of gravity, and take a full step.

Then another.

And yet again.

Finally, the machine was walking, to and fro across the desk, stopping at the edge, doing a clumsy about face, and repeating. In a burst of joy, Vellus let out a rather loud "HA!" and clapped his hands together once. It had worked! No matter how many times he used this magic, he was always amazing at how well it worked; however, the Nuit's joy was short lived as the small machine began to slow down, and without warning collapse on the table in a mass of twitching and seizing.

Well, it was to be expected, after all, Vellus tried to take a shortcut and avoid making an actual template. This was his result, and he wasn't suprised. His amusment now faded, the Nuit placed the gadget in his pocket and slid the now dead rat back into the cage. He would dispose of the body in the street on the way home.

[Evalin]

In the fading light Evalin leaned back against the cold stones of the alley way in which she hid. Her eyes were upon those that walked away from a curious little shop that she had failed to notice on her various excursions to Zeltiva, yet now something was drawing her attention to it.

Curiosity it might be, yet if I do not indulge if but this once I might forever question what could have been.

Be mindful, curiosity often leads to the fall of many a fool. Tsenrika spoke from his sealed form, hanging about her neck.

Touching the cold surface of the icy gem Evalin gave the smallest of smiles, Worry you not, for if nothing else I have learned caution in these many decades of existence.

Closing her eyes Evalin would call the power within her to stir, to rise and swell in her body as she began to perform one of her least favorite of magics. Pulling, tugging and calling her power to fill her chest Eva cupped her hands, raising them to her lips as she breathed out slowly. Over her pale and cold lips there flowed a vaporus gas that shimmered light blue as it collected in her palms, flowing and flowing until there was a small dome of the substance in her outstretched hands. Clamping her teeth shut the girl halted the flow, letting her power settle once more within her as she focused on the mass she had collected.

Such a tedious practice this is, yet it does have its usefulness...

Bending low Evalin would let the substance fall over her booted feet, enveloping the leather fabric in an uneven mass that distorted and swayed. Chanting softly under her breath Evalin's fingers worked to mold the substance, to shape it over each boot and sole so that it became like a second layer to the footwear. Taking ample time, a full chime or two, Evalin finally managed to thin out the layer on the bottom of each boot so that it was placed right against the leather. As she worked Evalin's mind filled the shimmering blue shield with a purpose, to block sound or to muffle the sonds of her own footsteps. She imagined the sounds of scraping boots to be softer, called forth imagery of silence while walking to be embedded in the workings of the shield, and finally it was completed. A shimmering blue layered shield, uneven and rather hideous to look at, now rested over each foot, tasked to muffle the sounds of her footfall in the hopes of avoiding unwanted notice. With a sigh Evalin nodded, standing and a bit fatigued at the work. It was tasking to focus so long on the creation of the shield, and with a shake of her head she warded away the strain and instead turned her eyes upon the shop once more.

Let us be off then and see just what secrets this building holds...

Stepping from the shadows Evalin made her way across the street, keeping her staff raised above the ground so as not to cause unwanted noise. Her hood was raised, and from the darkness she stared out at the world with her blood red eyes. Pushing forward close to the shops door, Evalin carefully turned the latch, surprised to find that it was not yet locked.

What good forture, for now we need not task ourselves to find another method of exploration.

A latch undone often tells tale of a body still present... The familiar pointed out.

Certainly so... yet an opportunity wasted is one sorely missed.

Moving slowly, excruciatingly so, Evalin turned the latch and opened the door, trying to make as little noise as possible as she slipped through the small crack and silently closed the portal once more. Evalin then found herself in a most peculiar shop, one with odd devices which Evalin had never seen before, yet still something else caught her attention more than the surroundings. A man who stood at a desk where upon a circle was drawn, a most peculiar circle. With interest Evalin slowly moved forward, relying upon her shielded steps and child size to keep her presence unknown, at least for the moment. Pausing several paces away the girl watched at the process took place, resting her staff upon the ground and leaning upon it as she tilted her head. A smile broke upon those childish lips at the end result, and Evalin found herself unable to keep silent any longer.

"My how interesting that I would find one who can breath life into lifeless." She grinned, the expression ghoulish upon the child's features as her red eyes searched the man up and down, "Speak you now, who are you life bringer?"

OOCEva is novice shielding and stealth, so idk how sneaky she actually was haha. Also she does not know Vel is a nuit just yet so have fun

[Vel]

Fear was a term used to describe a lesser species. It was a word that proved the weakness and ineptitude of an individual. To be afraid was to admit that you are weak.

Prey was afraid.

However, there were times in life were even the predator was afraid. That unexpected moment when the hunter suddenly beomes the hunted. Life changes in an instant, and what was once a life of order and routine became a nightmare of chaos and fear; knowing that a force more powerful than yourself existed and could erase you from the world as easily as time turned even the tallest mountain into dust, though at a much fater rate and probably much more volatile way.

Vellus was afraid.

It wasn't an emotion the Nuit felt often, as it has already been stated, Vellus felt fear was a word that only applied to a lesser species. After all, what did a Nuit have to fear? Death was preventable, so long as the proper preparations were made, and once death was removed from a equation, life in general became nothing more than free time with very few mandatory obligations. Sure work needed to be done in order to make money to have a decent quality of living...or unliving rather, but with infinite time, money had a way of flowing with no issue. So, in a life where fear was a commodity, and not one well sought after, the only thing a Nuit truly had to fear was coming across something that was better than it at magic or wits. An event Vellus had not once encoutered...that is until this night.

The woman that stood behind him had appeared so suddenly that Vellus never had a moment to react, though the Nuit didn't know that the stranger had been there for a while, and with him so wrapped up in his experiement, he never noticed. To be fair, had Vellus not been busy, he most likely still would not have noticed the intruder, but that was a different matter entirely.

"A humble toy maker, Mi'lday." Was the simple response to the mysterious woman's question. Granted it was an over simplification of his overall set of skills, but the answer went much deeper than that. To call himself a simple "toy maker" was to give the assumption that he made interesting items for a child's entertainment, but at the same time, a toy maker had to make something the child would indeed like, and in that sense, the toy maker unofficially worked for the child, taking his knowledge and expertiese and creating items for said child, who in turn would find them entertaining. With that single phrase, Vellus had established the order of this meeting.

"And to call me a giver of life is a rather blatant exaggeration, as I did not give life, per se. Instead I robbed the life from an existing source, and provided it to another. A process called Animation, Mi'lady. Now then, what can I do for you this night?"

[Evalin]

Evalin blinked in surprise, raising an eyebrow at the man, "Mi'lady?" she chuckled, waving a hand at her form, that of a child no more than 9 years of age, "You look upon me as I am now and think first to call me "Mi'lady"?"

Evalin laughed and turned to walk around to the other side of the desk, "My what fun I might have with you, for truly you are the first to adress me as such as I am now. Then again I might attribute this abnormality as a slip or the tongue, or perhaps to your chosen hobby." She would pause and reach up over the table, taking down a half finished toy and turning it over in her hands. Looking up from the odd wooden thing, which had but one wheel, Evalin would talk in an amused voice, "If you be a toy maker, then I be your customer. Might you not craft something for me?"

Letting the toy drop Evalin would move to walk around the rest of the shop, looking at little odds and ends, stopping to pick up this and that as she spoke, "You speak of your other craft as if it might be wrong to call it what it is. You take life from one and give it to another. To some it might seem like such a horrid and cruel act, and yet..." She stopped, turning to look at Vel with those shining red eyes as she pulled that power within her, drew it up and called it to fill her senses. Eyes trained on Vel and colors began to twist and swirl about him, yet as quickly as she began Evalin felt the weakening taking place in her mind as she began to slip toward overgiving. Yet just before she shut off the flow, Evalin caught the sent of damen soil and an upturned grave. With a smile Evalin would close her eyes, turning away as she let the visions slip from her, "Yet those like us know that it is simply the natural order of things."

Those like us... Wizards, ambitious men and women... nuits.

Evalin returned to her progression around the shop, not bothering to look at Vel as she spoke, "Now you do ask a most insightful question my immortal. Indeed, what CAN you do for me?" She took down a doll from one of the lower shelves, pulling at some of its blond hair of wool, "What be your name, and we shall proceed from there I think."

[Vel]

"In this body I am called Vellus. A strange habit of mine, to name a body different from the last. To be fair though, the name always contains the sub-name, Vel. So I would say Vel is a true a name as any."

Vellus was rather impressed that the girl was able to determine that he was a nuit, and was even further impressed that she was a nuit, and able to make a life for herself in the body of a child. A feat which Vel could not claim for himself...though there was a rather difficult bit back in his past where he lived in the body of an animal for a few weeks. It took a lot to convince someone to do the ritual...it was something that the man never wanted to repeat.

"So, now you know my name. Is there anything you require of me?"