[Flashback] Magecrafting Like Butter (Azilis)

[Hadrian]

15th Summer, 507 A.V. "Well, it's going to take five days," he explained, "though if you develop a bit of skill and you help me in future, that could really speed things up. Though... there might be restrictions on having help for university projects. You don't count yet, though. You will mostly be Looking for me because your eyes are better than mine." The student laboratory was basic, but perfectly functional. Hadrian set down the bag of equipment and knelt down on the floor, unrolling a big parchment schematic that he had drawn, highly detailed even though it was a fairly simple enchantment they would perform. "So come look at this and tell me what makes sense and what doesn't. You'll learn more from helping than from just watching, so... I'll try to find stuff that you can do." The diagram, complete with notes and a list of the glyphs necessary, depicted a simple butter knife and an enchantment for fire, but the enchantment was weak, which was fine because all it was intended to do was to keep the blade so warm that it would never have trouble cutting through butter. Others had laughed at him when he presented his idea to the class, but Stonemiller had lauded him for finding a functional project despite it being so basic. Surely the cooks in the school cafeteria would appreciate his efforts.

[Azilis Theroulde]

As Hadrian outlined the plan for their magecrafting experiment, Azilis dropped to her knees next to him, peering at the parchment schematic. “You know, when you asked me to help you out with this, I expected we would be working on a...I don't know. Some – some powerful magic object. Like...a staff, or a sword. Or something. A butter knife isn't exactly what I had in mind.” She rolled her eyes. “It's creative, though, I'll give you that.” She studied the list of glyphs and notations, pulling her long red hair out of her face and tying it at the nape of her neck with a ribbon. “So we're changing its...behavioral qualities, right? By making it warmer?” Azilis wasn't particularly familiar with any of the branches of world magic. Although she knew the basic tenets of magecrafting, this project would stretch far beyond her knowledge of the actual procedures one used to produce magecrafted items. “Right, so I know that you start by putting the object – the knife – on a pedestal. And we're going to encircle it with glyphs to stabilize it, is that what this is saying?” She pointed at the list of symbols, her face screwed up with concentration. “Sorry, I'm not so good with glyphing either. But I'll try as hard as I can to do whatever Seeing you need done. And anything else you can think of, too.” She grinned at him impishly. “Assuming you don't mind running the risk of my messing things up and blowing us all to bits. That'd be rather a shame.” “So, if it takes five days, then which parts of the schematic will we carry out today?”

[Hadrian]

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not Areesa Tallshade," he said dryly. "Yet. But magecrafting is really freaking hard and until I really know what I'm doing, simple things are all I'm capable off. They'll be all your capable of for a long time, too, unless you choose to specialize in it yourself. I just thought... someone will actually use it, you know? Even if I don't keep it for my own modest little kitchen. What's the point if it doesn't get used, right?" He took out a wax pencil and made some notes on the schematics, drawing bits and adding more to make it more intuitive for her. They had been mostly drawn with his own comprehension in mind, but now he was attempting to have a partner-in-crime, so he had to bridge that gap too. "Behavioral, yes. It'd be different if one of us was a pyromancer," he explained. "Then we could store a perpetual, low-level reimancy spell into it, but we'll get a similar effect. We just have to go about it differently. And... yes, the knife goes on the pedestal, we complete the circle of glyphs as per the schematic... Some of them get repeated so I'll do one and let you practice on the repetitions. Really, the first day is usually the busiest. You have to set everything up. Everything I've done so far has been relatively simple, so a lot of it is just hurry up and wait once the layout is taken care of. "Don't worry. We're going to set everything up before we put the knife on the pedestal, so just do your best with the glyphs and everything. I'll double- and triple-check everything because I'm insane like that, and then we'll put the knife where it goes and start chiming it with the right hammers to resonate with the djed just so..." He pulled out a sheet with more notes on it, scribbling another thought down. "Any questions before we begin?" He grinned, obviously excited to be sharing this with someone.

[Azilis Theroulde]

“Well, they say that everyone thought Areesa Tallshade was a total airhead at first,” she mused, squinting at the schematic as Hadrian drew more lines on it with the wax pencil. “'Course, that was before she went and made the Anvil of Souls and nearly upset the cosmic order of things.” She shrugged. “I see your point. Probably better to try to magecraft a butter knife first before something that might upend the balance of the universe.” It was hard for her to read parts of the parchment – it was filled with what seemed like random scraps of notations and runes she could barely begin to decipher – but with the help of Hadrian's explanation, she held a basic idea in her mind of what they would be attempting to do. She wasn't exactly sure what he meant about using hammers to modify the essence of the Djed, but figured she would come to understand that in time. And while she was slightly nervous about making a mistake, since she had no experience in the proper procedures of magecrafting, she trusted Hadrian enough after their previous two magical sessions to correct anything she might screw up. “I'll just follow your lead,” she told him, “since you are the expert, after all.” She glanced around the student laboratory, then back at Hadrian. “I haven't got any more questions, at least not yet. Shall we begin, then?”

[Hadrian]

He smiled and laid a few sheets of parchment around the pedestal, indicating which glyphs would have to be put where. He had chalk to draw them; it would be easy to clean when everything was done and it wasn't like there would be rain or wind within the laboratory. He drew the first glyph, then encouraged her to copy it just there, because this one needed to be doubled the way he had it set up. Watching her work, he made a few minor corrections, gave her an encouraging nod and moved on. Gradually, glyph by glyph, they made a circle around the pedestal, meeting on the other side. "Let's both check each other's work, all right? That way if I made any mistakes on my glyphs, one more pair of eyes might catch what I don't." He wasn't exactly an expert at any of this yet no matter what Azilis said.

[Azilis Theroulde]

Azilis observed as Hadrian lay down pieces of parchment in a circle around the pedestal, as per the schematics he had drawn, then picked up the piece of chalk and moved to the first sheet he had set down. She watched as Hadrian drew a glyph upon its surface, trying to take in the tiniest of details as his hand moved across the parchment. When he had finished, she leaned forward and, after a slight hesitation, bent her head to double it. As she worked, Hadrian made several corrections to the glyph that she was gradually shaping with the chalk. Her version of the same rune looked nothing like Hadrian's; but then, she had heard that that was often the case, as it was the essence of the glyph that would channel the magic. Just to check, she drew a small current of Djed into her eyes so that she could look at her work through the auristic spectrum. Satisfied when she saw that her glyph and Hadrian's gave off virtually the same aura, she moved on to the next scrap of parchment to delineate the next glyph he had indicated. An amiable silence fell between the two as they fixed their attention on their work. She worked more slowly than he did, but eventually Azilis accomplished the task he had set for her and got to her feet, brushing chalk dust from her sleeves. “Well, I'll try my best to find any mistakes,” she said honestly, looking at Hadrian's work, which seemed rather neater than hers. The only way she knew how to tell if a mistake had been made was to look at the glyphs through her auristic vision, as she had done before. She closed her eyes and took several meditative breaths to steady her mind before opening them. As she circled around the pieces of parchment, she saw one or two spots where a glyph's aura seemed tinged with black, and she knelt to alter its form, smudging lines and drawing in new ones until the dark shade cleared away. When it seemed as if each of the glyphs' auras appeared right, she stood back, surveying their work. “There. D'you think that's better?"

[Hadrian]

After they had both gone around and corrected each other's work, Hadrian did one last walk around, blinking his Vision on and off so he could look at pure aesthetics and form as well as how the djed reacted to each glyph and sigil as a potential focus. The second part was really what he relied most heavily upon Azilis for; he looked too, but trusted her judgment moreso on that account. Finally, each glyph chalked onto the ground looked correct, and they formed a ring around the pedestal. He grinned at her. "All right, so be sure not to step on the glyphs once this starts going or... I don't know, the knife might develop sentience and homicidal tendencies and the ability to fly at apprentices mages." Well, probably not, but it would certainly end up an ordinary butter knife if they did not enchant it properly. "Also, we can't move the knife until the end," he warned, redundant, but then, his grade depended on it, and he took his work very seriously. "Anyway, you stand there outside the circle and watch with your magic eyes. I'm going to do the first triple strike with the copper hammer and you can watch what the djed does. You won't see anything with normal eyes." He stood on the far side of the pedestal so he wouldn't block her view. His own Vision was engaged so he could watch what was happening for himself. He had brought a special lens to check things, but he wanted to be more self-sufficient and since it was a relatively simple enchantment, he figured it was best to start here. With an excited smile, he took the small copper hammer and carefully tapped the blade of the butter knife, not holding it down lest his body absorb the vibrations and weaken the enchantment. At first, the only reaction was in the surrounding djed, which hummed and vibrated after an initial burst like the puff of smoke from a small explosive. Looking hard, he tried to see the new pathways of djed form within the knife, but such was too subtle for him. Hopefully he would see them on the morrow when the knife had sit for a while. "All right, don't step on the glyphs, but come here and do what I did. Exactly the same." He held out the little copper hammer.

[Azilis Theroulde]

“Yeah, well, death by murderous butter knife doesn't exactly sound like the most pleasant way to go, so rest assured that I'll be as careful as I can,” she told him, the corners of her mouth turning upwards in a grin. She crossed carefully to a corner of the laboratory so that she was in no danger of upsetting any of the glyphs. When he had finished giving her instructions, she blinked several times, calling back her auristic vision. As Hadrian reached down to tap the blade of the knife with the copper hammer, she focused on the two objects so that she could See the interplay of Djed between them. When the hammer made contact with the knife itself, a small bright bolt sparked out from the knife into the surrounding air. Eddies of Djed roiled outwards from the blade in roughly concentric circles, and Azilis leaned forward, entranced. She could just see slight flickers of light running the length of the knife, but they were obscured, like minnows darting through a murky pool of water. Perhaps, she reasoned, she could see them better when she got closer to the pedestal. When Hadrian held out the hammer to her, she stepped forward, gingerly picking her way around the scraps of parchment holding the glyphs. “You know, I really did mean it when I said I was going to try not to step on the glyphs,” she said, teasing him slightly when he warned her again. Yet she was beginning to understand what he meant; clearly the calibrations of the experiment were so delicate that the slightest mistake would render everything they had done useless. She took the hammer from his outstretched fingers and grasped it tightly in her right hand. Bending down close to the pedestal, Azilis struck the blade and watched again as the aura of the butter knife surged like a miniature storm. While she continued to focus her vision on the knife itself, the interplay of Djed over its surface grew clearer to her enhanced eyesight, and she could pick out several larger currents of Djed enveloping the blade; no doubt there was more to see, but she was not yet talented enough to pick up on it. Azilis tore her gaze away from the pedestal and looked at Hadrian for approval. “How'd I do?”

[Hadrian]

"You did fine," he said. His own Vision of what happened was vaguer than hers, but he held a special lens in front of his eye and looked over the knife, nodding. "When you take classes in magecrafting-- well, if you do-- you'll learn what to look for, but I think with Auristics, since it's so intuitive, you'll just know something's off... and when you get better at it, you'll know better where the problem is. But this all looks good so far." He took the hammer from her and tapped the knife again, one, two, three. First he looked through the lens, and then again with his Vision. He nodded again. "That's basically it for today. When we come back tomorrow, we'll be able to see some real changes in the djed flowing through it. Not just patterns, but you'll see where some things are permanently changed from the way they were when we started. Well, permanent once we douse it at the end, but first thing's first." He stepped carefully over the glyphs. "And you know, something like this is useful, like I said, but in more ways than one. If this is a success, then someday, with more experience and more time and resources, it'll be easier for me to make, say, a sword that can light on fire at a word... Basic principles have to be mastered, and then we can innovate upon them and who knows what we can come up with, you know?"

[Azilis Theroulde]

Azilis nodded, glancing at the butter knife once more. “I suppose that's why auristics would be so valuable to a magecrafter, wouldn't it? Since one can tell so much more easily where the problem lies...” She had no idea what one would do to correct such a problem, but was thankful they hadn't experienced one so far; after all, this was Hadrian's project, not hers, and she didn't want him to go empty-handed to Professor Stonemiller. She watched yet again as the hammer collided with the blade, once again Seeing the same Djed reaction occur between the two magically-charged objects. With each strike the aura of the butter knife had grown larger and gained complexity, a marked change from the dull and lifeless aura it had possessed ten minutes ago. As Hadrian finished his work and picked his way around the glyphs, she followed him out of the circle, once again careful not to tread on them. “Yes, I saw several places where the Djed was beginning to change, but nothing specific...” She shook her head. “Well, tomorrow, I suppose.” She stopped with her hand around the knob of the laboratory door, listening to him. “It's like when we were practicing with the Flux...once I understand the basic precepts, I'll be able to build on them. And I do appreciate your letting me help you out with this. You didn't have to do that.” “I have no doubt you'll be crafting flaming swords someday soon, though.” She grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “Until tomorrow, Hadrian.”