A Fair Proposal - Talking with Magical Sparklewolf - RPLOG
Participants
Date
27/9/479
Log
It's... Quite late in the evening, the sun has already set, and most beings are already at home. Flora, on the other hand has opted to venture out and is now -quite insistantly- knocking on Selena's front door.
Seems she's alone for the time being, although she has opted to bring her usual golem, Bastet, along for the ride. She's dressed in her standard LongTech uniform, as usual, and there's a bag of paperwork slung over her shoulders.
Noticing the fervent knocking on her door, Selena opens a door from her master bedroom to upstairs, taking a moment to look down at her guest. "Flora, I haven't seen you in a long time." She greets, "Give me a moment, I'll be with you shortly."
Surely enough, the canine emerges not too long after from the main door and ushers Flora into her living room, the space in reasonable order barring (arguably) a number of empty Cider bottles left neatly in a corner of the room, presumably for disposal. Opening another, she flashes a smile. "So, then, what can I do for you today? Of all the people I know here, you're the one I expect to have something in mind the most to have come out this way."
"Been a while, yes. Flora has... Several things, yes. A thought. A project. Two projects, but Flora is already making good progress on the other one, the she-cat notes. Probably unintentionally cryptic, but cryptic none the less.
Her tail flicks, and soon, she's got... Various sketches placed on whatever free surface she can find. Some sort of architectural design. Looks very ambitious, in any case. Then there's a beam-like design of one form of another, and something that appears to be a set of cylinders, perhaps weights. Everything, of course, is annotated with numbers, in typical Flora style.
The final sketch is far more curious, and far less obvious. A cube within a cube.
"Building blueprints off the table, please. I could do without a migraine this evening." Selena asks quickly, keeping her eyes off of the offending engineering. "The whole 'Can't deal with pure math' thing has got worse since I've been working more and more with 3D magic. It's actually becoming something of a problem now." she laments, taking a sip from her bottle. "Can I get you something to drink, while you're here? I don't have juice, but there's plenty of water." She offers, waiting for the blueprints to be removed from the table before taking any further action.
"Water is fine, yes," Flora notes, as she removes the first three designs. "Right. yes... Flora has other versions. Without numbers or annotations or anything," she offers, as she pulls out another set of three drawings, looking at Selena for permission to place them on the table or not. The fourth drawing, of that cube, however, hasn't even been lifted yet.
"Flora was actually thinking about that before, yes... That's what this one is for," she offers, as she points at the curious cube.
Selena nods, quickly retrieving a glass of the liquid from her kitchen, sighing quietly as there are now more drawings on the table. Selena gathers the few of them, turning them over before she takes a look at the diagram she gestured at. "... I don't see what the point of the cube is, frankly. I'm just seeing a cube inside a cube." She replies with a shrug. "If it's some clever metaphor for adding another dimension to math, yes; theoretically possible - I'm fairly sure dedication points operate on it - if you look at the numbers but extremely hard to compensate for. I primarily work in kevinscopes, little known fact, so trying to work with anything that I can't produce physically becomes extremely tedious and representing 3d spells on paper? Well." She shakes her head, picking up a rather large book and putting it on the table. "This is ONE spell. Albeit a fairly precise one, considering it was originally creator-made. This is why people considered 3D magic impossible or impractical. If you can solve that problem... Then I'll happily work on it for you. Otherwise, implementing it directly is going to be near impossible with our current level of technology."
"That was Flora's thought, yes. But maybe Flora can offer some help? Won't help with all kevinscopes, but at least some, yes," she offers, before drawing a simple water breathing spell. Perhaps not quite right, but the intent is clear. "To friend Selena, this is a kevinscope, yes? To Flora, it is a... Graph. A graphic formula. Like how it is a graphic spell to friend Selena, yes?" she offers, before jotting down tha accompanying formula or spell, depending on how it's looked at. "The spell as numbers, yes? Or, for Flora, the formula as numbers."
"When Flora works with three values... Flora needs a three-dimensional formula, or a three-dimensional graph. Much like Friend Selena needs with three-dimensional spells, yes?" she offers, as she draws an extra axis, and turns the line into a surface. "Flora is pretty sure that's not a spell, but the idea is the same, yes?"
"Yes, that would be correct on all counts." Selena replies, walking over to her workbench and producing a convoluted, knotted mess before placing it down on the table. "The problem is when you have to describe something like this on a piece of paper. The more dimensions being described on paper, the harder it becomes to do so accurately - if you were to sketch the surface of this, you'd miss the interior which is relevant as well to the nature of the spell. Depending exactly on what it's for, that could range from benign to catastrophic. Fire magic, especially, is something you should never cut corners with. So unless you're representing that graph like this..." quickly jotting out a simple f(x)=2x+3 for emphasis, "it quickly becomes an issue."
"Of course, yes. But... It's possible to store much more information than normal," Flora notes, as she draws the same line as before, besides the original picture, but this time, carefully using a sequence of pens to color in each segment based on its height. And then she draws the same line, one-dimensionally. "Same spell. Same formula. But the two-dimensional graph is now one dimension. And color. And while it's not easy on paper... Flora is sure friend Selena can -think- of color, yes? Draw it in her head?"
"Doesn't work for 'filled' graphs, no. But for simpler three-dimensional spells... Improvements of two-dimensiona ones. Not the ones that are fully three-dimensional like that one," she notes, as she gestures to the knotted object.
Flora quickly jots down two separate formulae, one being a simple Z = x + y, the other a more complicated one, describing a filled sphere...
"The first one would be an improved two-dimensional spell, yes? The latter would be a purely three-dimensional spell, yes. But the first... The first can be done with color," she adds, before sketching a sqaure, and partially coloring it in.
"Flora isn't sure if friend Selena had thought of this yet, but if not... Might make the basics more accessible, yes?"
"As a representation of depth, yes, but you'd then need to ensure that the scale is provided and that the colors are all well-represented in the image in question." Selena replies. "The other difficulty being that we would still be examining a fourth-dimensional spell as if three-dimensional, and piecing together a coherent model of it in one's head becomes... difficult, again. Using numbers is more efficient in that respect because it directs the graph, rather than the graph being reduced to numbers in post if you will."
The former, yes. We use that for teaching students the concept behind more advanced three-dimensional spells. I'll definitely consider taking it on as a learing aide at the minimum. Kevinscopes were once considered a novelty as well, after all, so it would be remiss of me not to consider."
Flora smiles and nods lightly. "The same can be done to improve a three dimensional scope, though it limits to... Three dimensional projections, yes," she notes. "But Flora has more things to discuss, yes. Flora is working on two projects. Big projects, yes."
"Yes, though it retains the caveats of being difficult to represent in a two - or three - dimensional space. I'm not sure how applicable it would be for them, relative to 'normal' kevinscopes." Selena replies, brows knit for a few moments as she considers. "Well, let me know what these things are then. the sooner I know, the sooner I can give you my take on them after all."
"Of course, yes. But more information stored in the same space is better, yes? There are... Other tricks Flora is thinking of, but Flora isn't nearly far enough with that to give any certainties."
"As far as Flora's projects... Flora should say Sweetwater's projects, yes. Flora will still need to talk with Lord Strongheart and the King, but Flora is working on that, yes," she notes, as she points at the number-less design of a building. A larged, domed building of sorts. Although there are no numbers or measures for scale, it does look like a rather ambitious design.
"Flora will need the King's permission to use the land and expand the walls, of course... But Lady Solacious and Lord Blackback have already pledged their support, yes... If Lord Strongheart agrees, all of Sweetwater's Houses will be in favour, yes. Well, except for House Ironsoul, but... Flora is having trouble contacting Miss Lady Kilsa, yes."
Selena shakes her head, setting her cider down. "Information density is only useful when the information is useful." She replies, sitting herself down as the feline explains the situation - the designs being given cursory examination and then summarily flipped back over if engineering-inclined. "House Ironsoul?" Selena asks, amusedly. "I'm surprised, most people completely forget about Kilsa's house since she went into seclusion. I can try to get a hold of her if you want, but I might be able to represent the house because in her absence - I've been managing her unit, the Ironsoul's defenders, for the last three or so years. We've been something of an extension of her house's power since its inception but I'll have to check the paperwork she left behind before I commit. The last thing I want is to be accused of unlawfully supplanting a noble; that tends to piss off the powers that be." she shakes her head, sighing. "Honestly, I hope she does show up for a while. I need to discuss some things with her anyway, so it would be a good opportunity to get her back up to date proper."
"Of course, yes. But often, there's always something of use to be described, yes?"
"Even if miss lady Kilsa isn't around, that doesn't mean she's not a noble, no?" Flora offers, before nodding lightly. "Mostly, Flora is trying to arrange funding for the project. Lord Blackback will be matching Flora's share, yes, and serve as the main sponsor. Flora was hoping the crown would fund, maybe, fifteen to twenty percent, yes. The other houses, ten to fifteen percent. Flora and Lord Blackback would make up the difference, yes."
"Still, even if the Houses unite behind the project, the location still needs to be built as well, yes. And the site needs to be safe before, during and after building... A lot of logistics to consider."
"It doesn't mean she isn't - but it does mean a lot of beings have forgotten." She replies, then shrugging. "For what it's worth, if you need any assistance with the construction I'd be happy to help when I'm not teaching at the academy; I built this house, among other things, and I'd like to think it at least fits in decently with the rest of the walkway." She shrugs, settling back in her chair. "But one earth mage doesn't make for a complete building, certainly not on that scale. Safety is something the ID might be able to help with, of the few members we have that have lingered in Kilsa's absence. I'm a little worried about a few of them; Bite still hasn't returned from visiting her family and it's been well over a year. Greener pastures, perhaps, or some of the recent attacks might've caused some damage closer to home." she muses, sighing heavily. "Anyway, you have something else to ask, I imagine. It sounded more like a preamble to a question with a name I happen to be familiar with thrown in."
"Flora would like to ask friend Selena for assistance with the building, yes. But the building itself isn't the project, no. Flora is hoping to host a Promise wide fair, yes. Magic, technology, culture... The best Promise has to offer. Which, of course, includes three-dimensional magic, yes," she notes.
"IF Friend Selena is interested in participating, yes."
Selena looks somewhat perplexed, before shrugging. "Certainly, though I've already had copies of my work sent to all of the major countries and allies we've had." She replies; "It's not really 'the new thing' anymore if you will, but I'd be happy to be present for... whatever it is you're intending to show there?" The wolfess finishes her cider, then giving a nod. "The idea, though, I can certainly respect, especially if it's about the methods as well as the end product. I'm really not fond of trade secrets, and if it's all about the product then you lose the value of a conference of minds on a particular subject and it turns into, well, nothing more than an advertising stand for a product that's already been made. Maybe it's a little cynical of me."
"It will be a mixture of the two, yes. Some things shown and explained, other things not. For the common being, it is a way to see everything magic and technology can offer them. For those attending, a way to show their skills, their hard work, yes. And of course, a way to meet and discuss with others in the field, or different fields entirely."
"Like Flora has said before, Flora would much prefer Flora's work be open to everyone. But that won't fund the House, no. But Flora is keeping track of everything. If it's no longer necessary to keep things secret, Flora can make them public, yes."
"Flora has... No intention of a grand theme, beyond showing Promise's best and brightest, yes. Showing everything Promise has to offer on all fronts, yes."
"I suppose we all have to get our resources somehow." Selena replies, though there is still a slight hint of distaste on her voice. "But then, I'm also the person that thinks nobility should be earned on an individual basis and the clan system is unnecessary and serves more to separate the children of an apostate's children from society, but I digress." She replies. "Needless to say the world would be a very different place if some changes I'd like to see were put in place, but I already have a spirit of the dead that wants to kill me; I think I'm set for enemies already." Affording herself a quiet chuckle, she then shakes her head. "Anyway. What I'm getting from this is that I should try to get a hold of Kilsa or look through some of her founding documents, and get together some of my material and see if there are any particularly promising graduates you might want to interview for a job. Does that sound about right?"
"Flora... Can see those points, yes. But the systems are there for a reason, yes? Flora... Flora has no idea if Flora's earned her nobility. As far as Flora's concerned, Flora's still Flora, and House Longtail is... A tool isn't the right word, no. A means, maybe, yes. But it helps open doors that would otherwise be closed. It means Flora can work more efficiently. But it also means Flora has to make some concessions."
"Just like friend Selena can't research whatever Friend Selena wants to research without approval. Unless friend Selena pays out of her own pocket, of course, yes," she adds, before standing up and collecting her schematics.
"Flora would appreciate it, yes. It will be a while before the fair, though."
Coughing politely, Selena replies; "I... actually have personally funded all of the research I've done. It comes off of the back of work for the ID, odd jobs for the Freeswords, and commissioned assistance with other research." She shakes her head; "My personal work has always been to my direct expense, not anyone else's, and it's started more as curiousity and a few good books over a bottle of cider after work. And with that in mind, I'm going to get another." After a quick sojourn to her kitchen, Selena returns with a new bottle, yawning softly. "You did gain your nobility through your invention, if it makes you feel better to hear me saying such. It just so happens that you also fit the bill of being in the right place as a right time as a Longtail without eminently criminal connections and history, and thus an easy candidate for 'restoring' a noble house. As far as I'm concerned, you're part of a new one, and the notion of 'restoration' is... Well, suffice to say I don't think the Good King's intentions with that were exactly pure but that's neither here nor there. Regardless, I should get some rest. It's been a long evening for me already."
"Flora... Doesn't really have the funds available to do that, though," she offers, her ears flicking lightly. "But anything LongTech discovers that is... Too important to be kept hidden will go public, yes. Flora will not deny Promise medicine or things like that, no. As far as Flora's title goes... Flora is aware, yes. And Flora is trying to steer the house in a new direction, in any case. Which doesn't mean Flora won't welcome members of... For lack of a better word, the old family, if they act honorably, yes," Flora adds, a small smile on her muzzle.
"Admittedly, Flora doesn't care much if Flora earned the title, yes. Or if Flora has the title. Flora is still Flora, and that's what matters."
