![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
day 2 network (late afternoon)
Good afternoon, everybody. I hope you're faring well today, or at least better than before.
I'm pleased to announce that as of now, Mister Mystery's Menagerie of Magecraft Miscellany (MMMMM for short) is up and running. What that means for you, good folks reading this and stranded alongside yours truly (Caster/Mister Mystery/Mister M/just M), is that I'm offering my services to take any materials you may have gathered, from demons or otherwise, and use my magecraft to, well, craft you something more usable out of them instead. Within reason, of course.
I won't bog you down with boring details, but the main thing to know is this: One of the core tenets of magecraft is equivalent exchange. I can't make something out of nothing, so you'll need to provide the proper materials while I handle the rest. Regarding what counts as "proper", here's an example.
[ Merlin starts the video feed, which shows a table with two things resting on it: what looks like a clump of red leaves, and a small tub of medicine. ]
In legend and folklore, the Mandrake is a poisonous plant that's also used as an ingredient in potent healing potions and other restoratives, when used properly.
[ With the hand not holding the COMP, he points to the left side of the table, a clump of Mandrake leaves. ]
So naturally, the test product I thought of making—and succeeded in making—from the leaves of one of them was a medicinal salve.
[ He points to the right, a tiny tub of faintly reddish medicine, the tiny container itself pilfered from the hospital. The lid is off, allowing people to see the topical salve inside. ]
Another example... Perhaps, tired of all those pesky wind spells messing up your perfect hair, you want to make that the demons' problem instead? Then, obtaining some feathers from those helmed goose demons strutting around should be enough for me to create a condensed wind spell mini-bomb of your very own.
[ He pans the camera and points, momentarily, to a small, unnaturally green stone resting on the table as well. It's hard to capture on video, but an extremely faint breeze is wrapped around it, rustling the nearby papers ever so slightly. ]
In the end, it's mostly about the elemental properties of whatever you've got, really.
[ With that, he shuts the video feed off. If he sounded somewhat winded while presenting all of that, it's because he is. Guess who spent most of his day trying to figure out his limits and ended up expending a lot more magical energy in the process, for far less than he'd expected, than he's used to? This guy. ]
Got all that? Don't be shy about asking. Like it or not, we're all in this sticky situation together, so I don't see much point in me keeping these capabilities to myself. My workshop's in the church, the rightmost small study in the corner among the other rooms.
[ Yes, he claimed a corner room. ]
Just don't overwork me, okay? There's only so much I can do right now in terms of both magical energy as well as complexity. If I die of exhaustion, YOU'RE the ones who'll have to go down to the underworld to pluck my soul and bring it back to the world of the living ☆ Or something.
[ ooc: TL;DR, item synthesis unlocked. Sidequests unlocked. Characters do NOT need to thread things out or even have CR with Merlin to utilize this; it can be handwaved. Merlin will generally be perfectly fine simply taking provided materials and synthesizing whatever basic items your character might need (as long as it isn't eyebrow-raising), no questions, no muss, no fuss, regardless of whoever comes knocking.
For stuff from demons, the materials also don't have to be demon parts wholesale; getting bits and bobs from negotiation (e.g. asking a demon for some of their hair in exchange for something) work just as well as procuring said bits forcefully. ]
action (church);
I'm pleased to announce that as of now, Mister Mystery's Menagerie of Magecraft Miscellany (MMMMM for short) is up and running. What that means for you, good folks reading this and stranded alongside yours truly (Caster/Mister Mystery/Mister M/just M), is that I'm offering my services to take any materials you may have gathered, from demons or otherwise, and use my magecraft to, well, craft you something more usable out of them instead. Within reason, of course.
I won't bog you down with boring details, but the main thing to know is this: One of the core tenets of magecraft is equivalent exchange. I can't make something out of nothing, so you'll need to provide the proper materials while I handle the rest. Regarding what counts as "proper", here's an example.
[ Merlin starts the video feed, which shows a table with two things resting on it: what looks like a clump of red leaves, and a small tub of medicine. ]
In legend and folklore, the Mandrake is a poisonous plant that's also used as an ingredient in potent healing potions and other restoratives, when used properly.
[ With the hand not holding the COMP, he points to the left side of the table, a clump of Mandrake leaves. ]
So naturally, the test product I thought of making—and succeeded in making—from the leaves of one of them was a medicinal salve.
[ He points to the right, a tiny tub of faintly reddish medicine, the tiny container itself pilfered from the hospital. The lid is off, allowing people to see the topical salve inside. ]
Another example... Perhaps, tired of all those pesky wind spells messing up your perfect hair, you want to make that the demons' problem instead? Then, obtaining some feathers from those helmed goose demons strutting around should be enough for me to create a condensed wind spell mini-bomb of your very own.
[ He pans the camera and points, momentarily, to a small, unnaturally green stone resting on the table as well. It's hard to capture on video, but an extremely faint breeze is wrapped around it, rustling the nearby papers ever so slightly. ]
In the end, it's mostly about the elemental properties of whatever you've got, really.
[ With that, he shuts the video feed off. If he sounded somewhat winded while presenting all of that, it's because he is. Guess who spent most of his day trying to figure out his limits and ended up expending a lot more magical energy in the process, for far less than he'd expected, than he's used to? This guy. ]
Got all that? Don't be shy about asking. Like it or not, we're all in this sticky situation together, so I don't see much point in me keeping these capabilities to myself. My workshop's in the church, the rightmost small study in the corner among the other rooms.
[ Yes, he claimed a corner room. ]
Just don't overwork me, okay? There's only so much I can do right now in terms of both magical energy as well as complexity. If I die of exhaustion, YOU'RE the ones who'll have to go down to the underworld to pluck my soul and bring it back to the world of the living ☆ Or something.
[ ooc: TL;DR, item synthesis unlocked. Sidequests unlocked. Characters do NOT need to thread things out or even have CR with Merlin to utilize this; it can be handwaved. Merlin will generally be perfectly fine simply taking provided materials and synthesizing whatever basic items your character might need (as long as it isn't eyebrow-raising), no questions, no muss, no fuss, regardless of whoever comes knocking.
For stuff from demons, the materials also don't have to be demon parts wholesale; getting bits and bobs from negotiation (e.g. asking a demon for some of their hair in exchange for something) work just as well as procuring said bits forcefully. ]
action (church);
[ True to his word, Merlin has monopolized a small study room in the corner of the church, the rightmost room among the other abandoned rooms in the church that BB cleaned up the other day.
Honestly, there isn't much in there at the moment. There's only the mage himself, his staff propped up in the back corner alongside a small cushioned armchair (especially monopolizing this), a set of drawers, a table in the back where a stuffed lion plushie, and his bag and its assorted miscellany sits on, a table near the entrance, and two regular chairs to accompany the latter. The bookshelves containing the local scripture have been untouched, for the most part. In normal circumstances, the current setup would be considered a poor excuse for a mage's workshop (and to the Holy Church, heretical at that), but these are certainly not normal circumstances.
The door's open. ]
no subject
Yes. That one.
no subject
[ Merlin shoots Kate a friendly smile, before it fades into something more neutral, and he tugs the hood over his head, stepping back to reposition himself, steady himself. He taps the floor of the church with his staff with one hand, and holds out his other, gazing firmly at the ceramic bowls laid out on the table in unbundled cloth.
It's but a moment later that the mage chants an incantation to himself, kickstarting the process. Faint, pink glowing particles dance at his fingertips as a similarly-colored magic ring with 13 notches per segment appears on the table (without the inner floral pattern), only big enough to surround the ceramic. Power rises from what seems to be under his feet, enough to make his hair and robes sway slightly, and the chipped ceramic bowls begin to glow pink as well, faint magical particles rising from them like smoke, circling around.
The bowls are then engulfed in a pink glow as his body becomes the conduit to trace, transform, and actualize the phenomenon. What used to be finished ceramic starts to meld together within the light, as the bowls are broken back down to their simplest, most basic building blocks, the clay it used to be, before re-sculpting it to what's desired by channeling his own magical energy as the fuel. The pink glowing mass rapidly stirs, shifts, and shapes itself right before both of their very eyes, not unlike clay in a master sculptor's hands. A mask that both hides and serves as a face in and of itself.
The mage lowers his hand when it's finished. The pink glow and its accompanying particles dissipate into the air to reveal a ceramic mask of the bunny design that Kate chose, the eyes being eyeholes so she can see through them, the X-shaped mouth a gap for further mouth ventilation. The mask's surface shines as if freshly glazed and baked right from a kiln.
As for the finishing touches... Merlin lets out a quiet exhale, still unused to basic magecraft taking this amount of exertion for him. He then sets his staff aside to lean against the table, picks up the stray strips of cloth he brought over to the table earlier, having been magically twisted and woven into proper, sturdy, but soft strings during the whole thing, and ties them to the holes on the sides of the mask.
Comfortable ear loops to hold the M*ffy mask up with. ]
no subject
Incredible... I've never seen a power like that before.
[ She watches him attach the strings, and at last takes the mask and holds it up over her face. ]
... How do I look?
[ The question is really do I pass for a human like this, but he can take it however he wants. ]
no subject
As dwt [ "Cute"; a smidge of Welsh in there, why not? ] as can be, if you ask me.
[ Despite his flighty words, the underlying meaning of her own didn't escape him either, his own hood covering his pointy ears a reminder of the more pertinent question, Kate's presence drawing from him thoughts and feelings that he thought he already discarded. The girl reminds him more of Ana than he'd expected, and not simply because of her apparent age. Her behavior, her aversions, her cautious tendencies. He straightens his back, the hand on his chin falling to his side once more. ]
...Covering the unmasked parts as well [ The other more visible, non-light-refracting parts of her on the sides, that is. ] should fend off most unwanted attention.
[ A hood, a ski mask, some sort of neckwear or full headwear, and so on. ]
no subject
It will be all right, I think. So long as I have this...
[ She lifts her chin to face him again. ]
... Thank you. This truly means a lot to me.
[ She doesn't have to be afraid of being around people anymore. Of being mistaken for a monster. ]
no subject
For a moment or two, the mage—no, Merlin, he can't hide behind his role for this—stares at Kate with an obvious dumbfounded look on his face. It's not as if he didn't know how much this mask meant to her at the outset, a way for her to communicate with others without shame or fear, a face for someone who doesn't have a physical one like the other humans here. But hearing it said out loud, those simple words with pure feelings behind them manage to catch him off guard, a rarity in his 1500+ years of life. ]
Um...
[ He brings one hand up to his hood to tug at it, and then lets out a small, awkward cough into the same hand, glancing away (in...mild embarrassment) before he meets her gaze once more and responds in what he hopes is a smooth recovery. (It is not.) ]
Ah, I mean... It was my pleasure.