[Flashback, Blue Grotto] Resting in the Grotto (Velarian)

[Nisana Curare]

Velarian's confident, and complimentary, words brought Nisana's smile back to her face, and she nodded in agreement. Now calmed, she gave a light laugh at the comment about his brother, "Do not be too hard on him, not everyone is equally skilled when it comes to hunting," there was the distinct sound of pride in her voice and eyes, clearly indicating where she felt she was in that regard.

"I am done for the day as well," she replied to his question, bringing a hand up comb at her dark, wet hair. She was finding herself wondering if perhaps Velarian had some other interest in her... but how would she even approach such a topic? It was best to just go along and see what happened for now.

The invitation to see some animation, even basic animation, brought an eager nod and an energetic smile to Nisana, "I would really enjoy that. Whatever you feel comfortable with," she paused and listened to his suggestions of her telling a story, and gave a small shrug in reply, "If you wish to hear some stories I could share them, but I am not much of a teller. Perhaps after you have shown me what you can do?"

With that she climbed out of the pool in a smooth motion, bringing herself up next to Velarian with the splash of water falling away from her back into the pool. Shaking loose some of the little water her body wrap maintained after leaving the water she smiled up at the still taller boy and asked, "Where shall we go for this demonstration then?"

[Velarian Zantedeschia]

"Ah, he is not that bad," Velarian said slowly, frowning when he saw her self-sure smile. He didn't have want to say it, but the words slipped from his lips still. His forever rivalry with his older brother aside, he was still family. Envy would not change that little fact of his life, no matter how much he liked to make fun of the young man himself. The boy shook his head.

"I would be most grateful for some stories. Do not care so much when you tell them, now or later," he smirked, turning away when Nisana climbed from the pool. He doubt there would have been a lot to see at a girl her age, but he still remembered his manners and those demanded him to respect her modesty. Belated he realized the thin bandages wrapped around her body like a second skin and he couldn't help but feel silly. Had he really expected her to go entirely undressed among the other wanderer in the grotto? No wonder swimming in the basins had never come to his mind.

"Hmn, I have nothing with me I need for animation," Velarian admitted, patting down the pockets of his robe. His search only found the wooden button he knew he should have fixed onto one of his coats half a season ago, but always forgot. "I wont come around a visit at home, seeing what I can find there. So we could meet at my web's place?," he suggested one eyebrow risen. "Of course my family will be there. So it might be better if we go to one of the empty buildings." Of those the city had enough, turning parts of it into a quiet ghost town only visited by adventurous minds and those who had something to hide. As a child he had sometimes explored them, always anew surprised there was nothing to find in the depth of unused cocoons. Today he knew few of them had ever housed life aside a rare few cave dwelling critters who had made their home there.

"Do you know the small one not far away from the Nest? It is not to far from here either." A moment he waited to see recognition in her face. "We could meet there," he continued with a light shrug. "It gives me time to get the things I need and eventually you want to dry your clothing," Velarian smirked. While his father would not look kindly on him knowing he was about to animate just for the fun and the appreciation of a child, but he would be even more enraged was his son accountable for said girl falling sick.

"That is unless you want to make another suggestion." Velarian stretched, looking up the entrance of the grotto so far above them. Already the young man continued over to the wall one hand resting against the stone, his eyes darted back to Nisana, searching her face.

[Nisana Curare]

Nisana gave Velarian a quizical look as he turned his back on her, wondering what he was thinking. When she did realize what he must have been thinking she cast a quick glance down, but finding nothing out of place, she gave a small shrug. Perhaps he was a shy boy, unsure and nervous around girls. It would certainly make sense of some of his actions and words...

When he suggested they meet at one of the empty buildings she felt her heart give a little jump. It would be just the two of them there... and that thought made her very much more aware of her less than elegant appearance. While her hair certainly wasn't a mess, it could use a good combing, and drying off certainly couldn't hurt.

"Yes I know that one," she responded with a quick nod as she made her way over to the wall at a bit quicker pace than she had been keeping so far, "That sounds like a good place to meet," she gave him a smile as she started to quickly scale the wall, "I will see you there."

Trying to move quickly, without looking like she was moving quickly, she made her way out of the Grotto and to the strand that would take her back to her Web. If Velarian was flustered and unsure around her now, she could not wait to see how he acted once she had cleaned up.

[Velarian Zantedeschia]

Head tilt to the side Velarian watched the girl climb past him. Without being able to tell why, he had the nagging feeling there was something going on he did not know about. A strange mysterious something, he was not quite able to fathom and which had unknown to him troubled a lot of young and not so young men in the history of the world a great deal. Starring after Nisana one moment longer, he shrugged in ignorance.

As a result, he did not have a hurry making his way home. The cocoon like structure his web called their own hung forlorn from the cave's ceiling when he arrived, no light heralding the presence of a family member, the place entirely quiet. A brief moment the young Symenestra hesitated, remembering the words of warning his father was so generous with. One did not fool with magic unless one wanted magic to return the favor. Velarian shook his head. Pushing away from cold stone, he dropped down his web's entrance, making his way to the medium sized room he called his own and which not only served him as a bed chamber, but also as work and study room. Notes and a few drawings covered a small table, designs of his father's toys the old man let him draw again and again to understand their inner workings. He rarely got them right. His eyes wandered over the other things he kept in his room and he started to pick out seemingly random items to throw into a leather bag. A piece of cloth. Thread. A bone needle and a number of sewing supplies. A piece of calk and a stick of coal. From a small wooden box the boy took a few buttons in various sizes and from the table he picked a few empty sheets of paper. Giving the little collection a thoughtful look, he turned to make his way to the place he had told Nisana to wait.

It was not a large building. In fact it was one of the smallest one he had seen in the city and the boy was not sure if it ever had been inhabited. Entering the building the boy noticed the thin layer of dust laying over the place like a veil. Every step made, no matter how light would result into a small cloud of dirt rising into the air. The sight made Velarian wrinkle his nose. He had forgotten how dirty the empty places could be, with no one to clean them out. The idea made him feel uncomfortable. It shouldn't be that way, he thought almost stubbornly. Homes needed people to live in them and buildings needed to be used. What else was the point to have them in the first place?

Breathing out the young man headed deeper into the building, trying to find a spot more fitting his taste for cleanliness. Belated he remembered the girl he was supposed to meet. "Nisana? You here somewhere?," he called out, turning around himself one time.

[Nisana Curare]

Rushing back along the strands to her Web, Nisana was breathing a little heavy when she arrived. Not even paying attention to the other rooms she quickly made her way to the one that was hers, and quickly went about her tasks. First was wrapping up in some fabric to help her body wrap to dry more quickly. Normally she would simply change clothes, but the long process of undoing and putting on another body wrap would take to long. Speed as well as results mattered here.

Once she had the fabric wrapped around her she moved onto her hair. Snagging her brush she quickly turned to the mirror and began running the bristles through her hair. A few times the comb caught on a knot or a snarl, causing her to hiss in surprise and pain, but each time she pushed through until her slightly damp hair was smooth and in place.

With hair now settled, and her wrap mostly dry, she dropped the fabric on the floor and quickly returned to the strands to make her way to the meeting place. This time she moved at a slower pace, not wanting to mess up her hair after having just fixed it.

When she finally did arrive at the small building she dropped down into it, and then crinkled her nose at the puff of dust that came up. She'd never really been inside one of the empty structures before, but she had not expected them to be so dirty.

Hearing Velarian calling out her name, and seeing his footprints in the dust on the floor, Nisana got a playful idea. Crouching slightly she followed Velarian's steps in the dust, hoping to come upon him by surprise. When she did find him she had to stifle a giggle as she quickly moved up beyond him before saying, in a voice just slightly louder than a whisper, "I'm here Velarian."

[Velarian Zantedeschia]

The boy hissed in surprise, turning before the girl had even ended. Instinctively his hand had closed around her underarm, nails digging into pale skin. One second, two, he starred at her before he let go, backing away in sudden bewilderment. His hands clasped into a tight fist, he swallowed. "I- I am sorry," he muttered between his teeth. "You are alright, yes?" If at all possible he had grown even paler and he seemed a little unsure if he should keep his eyes on the ground, or rather on Nisana.

"I... you surprised me," he started weakly. "I mean, you should know better than sneak up on grown men like that." His voice was laced with stubborn defiance not quite fitting an adult, but his face showed concern. Velarian knew he did not possess the same strength some hunters his age called their own and still, he was older than the girl before him and most likely stronger. "I did not mean to hurt you," he said quickly, taking another step backward. "I, ah, got what we need accomplish our little feat," he continued, rubbing his own arms. To his relief, he could spot no trace of red on the grayish white fabric of his sleeve. He would have, had he grabbed her hard enough, but at least in that regard he had been lucky.

Hesitantly he walked over to a corner of the room, starting to spread out the things he brought. Regularly Velarian glance over to the girl, as if to make sure she was there. "It is, in the end, not complicate," he began, looking down on the assembled materials, apparently glad to be in his element once more. "What one needs in an object to animate, something lifeless. And, of course, it has to be able to move the way you want it. You can't get a stick to bend in the middle, it would break. If it had a joint however it would work, but its hard to make one of those. So, instead we are going to use fabric, as cloth can be bend in almost every direction without a lot of strength." Demonstrating what he meant, the boy picked up a piece of fabric and crumbled it into a ball, folded it and twisted it in a short thick rope before letting go, straightening it out. "On the other hand, it is not the most stable material to use. If you put something heavy on it, the sheets gets compressed. Or if there is a strong wind it might fly away."

Taking his knife Velarian started to tear the cloth into strips of equal width, laying them on top of each other. "What we are going to do is a very basic cloth flower," he continued, starting to wrap a piece of string around the lower half of the cloth, forming a simple stem. Carefully he knotted the end before pulling the loose ends of cloth on the other side apart, forming the blossom. The boy gave his creation a critical look. The steam was a little crooked and the petals were too long, yet it had enough of a flower for the sight to please him.

"That should be enough, hm?," presenting the flower to her, Velarian smirked, only to watch her more curiously a moment later. "Did you do something to your hair?"

[Nisana Curare]

Velarian's sudden reaction to Nisana's surprise caught her off guard, and all she could do was gasp as he grabbed her arm. Startled amethyst eyes met with staring ruby eyes for the space of several heartbeats, and then she was released. Releasing a breath she had not realized she was holding Nisana rubbed her arm, he was stronger than she had thought, and gave a faint nod in response to Velarian's question, "I... I am alright."

Still shocked by his response, she simply nodded a couple more times in response to his comments, and then gave a faint smile, "All is well Velarian, you did not hurt me," it was true enough, her arm was a little sore now, but it was something she could easily deal with.

When Velarian moved over and started to speak of animation, Nisana quietly followed, though made sure to keep some distance between them. She wasn't sure why he had reacted the way he had, but she wasn't eager to cause it again. Maybe it was something as simple as he did not like being startled, but she wondered if there was something more to it.

Soon enough these thoughts were moved aside as she watched him work and listened to his explanations. As he spoke she slowly approached closer, wanting to see what he was doing better, and also slowly feeling more comfortable around him. The way he spoke confidently of his craft was pleasant, and helped ease the tension of earlier.

"It looks wonderful," she said with a warmer smile as she looked over the flower he had made of cloth, a bit of wonder in her voice that he could make something like that from simple cloth. When he followed that up by mentioning her hair she felt her face warm slightly and she quickly replied, "Yes, well, I just brushed it out some..."

She felt a thrill of excitement that he had noticed, but at the same time she was displeased with her reaction. He was supposed to be the one flustered, not her! Despite the mental reprimand though, she was eager to see more, and to do more than just listen to what Velarian said. Giving a faint clearing of her throat she asked, "So you first make the object, or have it made so it can move in the way that you want, and then you animate it so it can do what you want?"

[Velarian Zantedeschia]

"Basically that is the way it works, yes," Velarian agreed with a nod. "You can break down the Animation process itself into several steps, so depending on what you plan to do... it could take weeks, months... even years to finish." Suddenly he smirked. "But since this is a rather small piece of work and I am lacking my father's skill in the field, we will hopefully be done in an hour or two."

With the piece of chalk he brought the boy started to paint two large circles in the middle of the room. He put effort and care into the process, each circle drawn with one line, thick and dark. Finally he drew the line connecting the two with each other. The circles got a critical eyed until I pleased smile spread on the boy's face. Careful he placed the flower into the middle of one drawing, stepping into the second one himself. "Fabric has neither memories nor muscles. Even when you could teach it what to do, it has no means to perform what you demand of it. That is the reason why every object to be animated depends on a soul. It can feel and think and remember and it can makes things move." He shrugged. "At least the advanced ones can do that, ours will be less complex."

Carefully Velarian reached over the chalk line, taking paper and charcoal stick. "One can not just create a soul however. Instead we will reflect a piece of mine and transfer it into the object." With a scratching sound the coal started to dance over the sheet. "If you are skillful you can instill in it part your memories and personality, yet for what we plan to do there is not need for such complicate matters." He drew some more figures. "So here is me. The soul and our new core. In the subsequent step I would usually declare some basic rules of behavior. When it was a larger object it would be good to tell it to not hurt anyone. Or to defend itself. But the flower can do no one harm so we will instead go on convey some basic concepts. Open bud. Close bud. And wind."

He tilt his head to the side and looked over to Nisana. "We want the flower to open when you breath on it, while the bud should be closed when there is no wind." he explain, patting the ground before him. "Fundamentally - and given the right proficiency – you can convey any concept you can reproduce in this circle onto the item in the other circle, you just have to concentrate. Of course it is helpful when you have the concept to mimic at hand. So... actual wind would be much appreciated for this to work," he grinned.

"Maybe you could fan some, when I tell you later," he suggested. "The last thing to do is form the astral body of the new item, it allows the movement of the object animated, leading it like a puppet on strings."

Glancing at the sheet a last time he handed it to Nisana. "Any questions so far?" He looked at her critically, not sure how good he was at explaining. He had to admit he had got carried a little away. He smiled. "Animation is not hard to do. It is mostly creativity and patience. And some talent for craftsmanship," he admitted. "Compared with other forms of magic it is relatively save for mind and body. Just try to not step into one of the circles."

[Nisana Curare]

Nisana stood back quietly and watched as Velarian worked. She knew the importance of concentration when working on something, and she could only assume that what Velarian was doing needed such concentration. Amethyst eyes followed his hand as he traced the circles and line, her head tilting slightly in curiosity. While what Velarian was doing so far was interesting, it didn't seem incredibly complicated. It took some craft of course, she doubted she could have easily created the fabric flower or the circles as well as Velarian, but she had expected more complex matters to be involved.

Of course as she was thinking such things Velarian began to speak of souls, and that certainly complicated things. When he mentioned a piece of his soul Nisana's eyes widened in surprise. That was not only more than she had expected, but it sounded dangerous as well. Stepping closer she watched as he drew on the paper, her eyes following his hands as he worked smoothly and swiftly. Working like this he seemed much more graceful than she had initial given him credit for, and she found herself watching his hands almost as much as she was watching what he drew.

Giving a small nod to Velarian at his glance she returned her attention to what he was saying. It would not do to be caught not listening, and it was interesting to hear. When he mentioned providing wind she glanced around to find something to help act as a fan, but not finding much in the empty building she figured she'd use her own hands when the time came.

At his warning about not stepping into the circles Nisana took half a step back, glad she hadn't moved too close earlier, and then she gave a soft, slightly embarrassed laugh, "I think I understand most of what you're saying, though some things are difficult as I've never thought of them before," giving a small tilt to her head as she asked, "Is it dangerous, reflecting your soul as you said? Is it like with a mirror, where it is just an image?""

[Velarian Zantedeschia]

Velarian smirked. "My father says magic is always dangerous to those handling it careless. Done right, you do not put your own soul at risk. In Animation you do not use a part of your soul you merely take it as a model for what you create."

The boy frowned a little. "Actually I probably told you too much already," he admitted when he put the charcoal away. He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Father likes to keep some knowledge secret. Especially when it comes to individuals who don't know about the arcane." Had the old Symenestra known what his son was doing, Velarian was sure he would have been in trouble for getting carried away like that. There was only hope the man would not find out some day. The boy breathed out.

"In the first step I will create the core of our new soul. I am afraid it does not look very spectacular, but it is an important step." Crossing his legs Velarian closed his eyes, relaxing, concentrating on himself and the flower laying not to far away, the task a head. Without opening his eyes be pressed the nail of his right hand into his left palm. His lips twitched slightly when making a fist, drops of dark red mingling with the gray dust on the floor. "Blood activates the circles," the boy explain absently, rubbing his palm.

"Now we can start working on the three concepts to teach our object. For that we try to think about the flower and picture it in our mind. The rough cloth leaves, the crooked stem and the cord wrapped around it. Think about the material it is made of, so soft and flexible, without strength itself. Think about the surface and the little hairs of the linen, the threads." Velarian's voice was still low, his mind focused on the mental picture of his creation, a small smile showing on his calm features. "Can you see the bud of our flower? The petals are closed, pressed so tightly against each other there is no room for anything else but more pedals within." Rising his left hand the boy formed a fist again.

"Do you have the picture still in your mind? Then lets add wind to it. Envision how the wind caresses the fabric, the little hair on the surface moving with the breeze. They are sensitive, like the little hair on your underarm and what they feel the flower experiences as well." Velarian lifted his fist a little more, breathing against the closed fingers, thinking about the warmth, the feeling. "Now picture the bud blossom," he murmured, concentrated. In his mind the petals of the flower opened, one by one. He spread his fingers. "Can you see it? The blossom is lush and full, pedals moving softly in the wind. Try to hold the image for a while."

Lowering his hand the boy fell silent for a moment. "Let the wind ease now until it is gone. The bud is closing. Recall our first picture, how the petals snug against each other...," his voice faded and Velarian made a fist. Once again concentrated on the physical flower, laying on its blanket of dirt before him. In his mind the two pictures melt into one and the boy opened his eyes.