<div></div><br> <br>Fenris follows Flora into the old loft apartment. It was strange to see the place empty of all the machine bits. Well, not empty, but to see them all together instead of scattered averywhere was remarkable. "What did you have in mind, Flora?" he asks.<br> <br>A soft rumble, and Flora guides Fenris back into her loft-apartment, tail swaying and flicking behind her. Soon enough, she's already rummaging through a large pile of leather, before pulling out an extraordinarily large sheet and placing it in over the the window. "Hold this down for Flora, yes."<br> <br>Fenris takes the sheet and holds it up over the small window, plunging the room into darkness. "Like this?" he asks, wondering what his friend is up to.<br> <br>"Yes yes. Like that, yes," Flora mumbles, blinking a few times to adjust to the low light-conditions. Silently, she grabs a leather-knife, and cuts a hole in the middle of the sheet, a small one. "Now, if Flora looks there..." she mumbles, looking behind her... Well, it looks like something is visible on the wall, but it's very faint, and nearly invisible. Though one could, with some effort, see the clocktower, upside-down.<br> <br>Flora spends 1 common organic salvage to: ruining it. FOR SCIENCE.<br> <br>Fenris's jaw drops. "How? What? I don't. . ." he stammers. This was amazing! "How did you know it would DO that?" the tiger asks.<br> <br>"Flora thinks. Thinks about this thing. Showed how it would work. Helps with the thinking, yes. Flora was right," clapping her paws together excitedly for a moment, tail swaying behind her. "Is faint, but clear, yes. Flora thinks that if the hole is larger, more light gets through... But," she mumbles, pulling up her drawing, "some light comes from thw wrong point. Meaning the image is... Wrong. Flora will test now, yes!" she mumbles, making the hole a little larger in small increments, until indeed, the difference is noticable. The image is brighter, and easier to see, albeit blurred.<br> <br>Fenris looks at the image on the opposite wall. "What if you used something like Siyu's glasses?" he asks. "The glasses he wears make things look less blurry to him," he offers, "What if we tried something similar here?"<br> <br>"Flora thinks... Might work. Needs to work out the equations!" she murrs with a broad grin. "Flora needs to do testing. But Flora will also test something else, yes. Needs to find more of this stuff," she mumbles, rummaging along a table, before holding up a vial filled with... Well, it looks like a fine, white-yellowish powder. "Flora spilled this... Dissolved in... Not water. Had other things in it... This thing," she mumbles, holding up another container.<br> <br>Fenris looks over the materials, lowering the leather curtain from the window. "What are all of these?" he asks. He didn't know that Flora was an alchemist as well as an engineer.<br> <br>"Crystals. Salt. Fluids, yes. Some things should be careful with. Don't uncork that, that, that, that, and that. No shaking that and that," she mumbles, pointing at various vials and beakers as she talks, tail swaying behind her. "And no putting this stuff in the sun," she mumbles, pulling out a small flask, before quickly putting it back in the drawer.<br> <br>Fenris looks back at the wall where the inverted image of the clock tower had been projected. "This would be a great way to get the rough work for a portrait done," he offers, "All the proportions laid out for you in just a few moments!" He smirks a little, "Though I imagine that setting up a dark box for the artist to work in would make it less than ideal," he says. "What are you thinking about with those chemicals, Flora?" the tiger asks, a little lost on Flora's train of thought.<br> <br>"Flora is... Mostly experimenting. But Flora has an idea, yes. Also, why put the artist in a box? Flora doesn't get that," she mumbles, before pulling out a small, wooden box. "Flora doesn't do much with this. But with a hole here," she mumbles, pointing at the front, before opening it. "A mirror here, yes." And then a piece of glass here, with wood for darkness," she mumbles, before drawing the idea out on paper.<br> <br>Fenris looks over Flora's shoulder. "Without putting the artist in the box, how will you preserve the image?" he asks. The little box was impressive, but he still didn't understand what Flora was trying to do. "If it is all closed up and so small," he muses, "How will anyone see the image?"<br> <br>"If it's like this... Paper can be put here, and you could draw it!" Flora murrs with a grin, pointing at the glass pane, through which the mirror (and thus, the image) would be visible. "But... Flora has bigger plans. Better plans, yes." She mumbles, looking up at the image of the clocktower on the wall. "Flora thinks... Thinks she can draw with light," she mumbles. "This powder," she mumbles. "This reacts to light, yes. Or Flora thinks it does," she mumbles, before sitting down. "Flora needs to figure out how to put it in paper."<br> <br>Fenris blinks, taking in the implications of what Flora was trying to do. "That. . . That is amazing, Flora!" he says, breaking out into a wide grin. He had seen captured images in creator ruins that were more realistic than any painting, and it seems like Flora was taking the first steps to finding out how it was done. "Painting with light!" he chuckles, "What if you just soak the paper in the chemical?" he asks, then thinks for a moment. "Or," he offers, "What if you paint it on a metal plate instead? Then you could print copies of the pictures with a press!"<br> <br>"Doesn't dissolve in water... Flora needs to think... Flora made it with... This. And this," she mumbles, holding up two flasks, before handing the piece of black and white paper to Fenris. "No height-difference, no. Not good for printing... But if Flora can make an image, Flora could make an image of the image!"<br> <br>Fenris is completely out of his depth here, so he simply grins. "What can I do to help, Flora?" he asks sincerely. He really wants this to succeed!<br> <br>"Flora needs to think... Needs to put this into paper... Needs to think," she mumbles, before looking at the chemicals again, silently. "Hrmmm. Flora needs to make this combine /in/ the paper, Flora thinks... Coat it in one, then add the other, maybe. Flora will need to think..."<br> <br>Fenris watches quietly. "Um," he mutters, "Should we be wearing masks? Or open the window maybe?" He knows very little about alchemy, but does know that it often goes wrong in experimentation. . . <br> <br>"No no. No masks. Making this," she points at one of the two vials "this does need extra safety. But it's pre-made," she murrs with a grin, before pulling out a sheet of paper. "Flora needs water. And a brush, yes. Brush is there," she mumbles, waving her paw in the general direction... Of the rest of the room.<br> <br>Fenris looks despairingly around the room for a brush. Any brush. "Um. . . give me a moment," he says. Chewing his lower lip, he glances around, then decides that the most difficult place is probably the most likely and he crawls under a table to look beneath the room's little wardrobe. JACKPOT! Or brush, at least. Exercising a touch of air math, Fenris pulls the brush within reach of his fingertips, then inches out from beneath the table to hand the brush over to Flora. "There you go," he puffs, a little breathlessly.<br> <br>"It's all dirty," Flora mumbles with a frown, before cleaning the paintbrush on her jacket, and rummaging through the cupboard until she has a beaker of water. Soon enough, she's prepared a small layer of water on the bottom of a glass, before dripping the first chemical into it. "Flora first spilled this one and cleaned it up.<br> <br>Fenris watches quietly as Flora starts mixing chemicals, a bit of air magic at the ready. Just in case.<br> <br>Silently, Flora seems to be brushing the paper with the chemical-laden water, making sure everything is covered properly. "Flora laid it out to dry. Dry things are usually more stable, yes. Not always. This thing should be underwater. And that thing... Needs not-water. And not air, either. Otherwise, it explodes, yes."<br> <br>Fenris looks uneasily at the indicated chemicals. "And you're certain that this is all, well, moderately safe?" he asks. "What are we expecting to happen here?"<br> <br>"Flora knows which parts are unsafe, yes. This is safe, yes yes," she mumbles softly, before dripping a bit of water into a second glass, and adding a bit of the first chemical. "Dissolves, yes. Now if Flora adds the other," she murrs, demonstrating by dropping a little bit of the other chemical she was working with in there. Moments after, the color shifts from white to a bright yellow color. "This one reacts to light, yes. If Flora's right, yes yes. Can fenris help dry the paper? Needs to be good and dry so that one doesn't get out of the paper," she mumbles, pointing at the first again.<br> <br>Fenris nods and steps up to the table. The tiger flexes his magic muscles and draws the moisture carefully from the paper, and blowing it away out the window with a touch of air magic. "Like that?" he asks, nodding at the bone-dry bit of parchment.<br> <br>"Flora... Flora meant with warming it and blowing air over it. Flora also thinks it's a bad idea to just throw away water like that. What if there was a dangerous thing in the water?" she mumbles with a frown, before looking at the paper. "Flora will see if it worked, yes," she mumbles, pulling out a flat beaker and filling it, before, again, adding chemicals and dipping the paper into the resulting solution for a moment.<br> <br>Fenris watches nervously. He probably should have asked for clarification beforehand. "I'm sorry," he says, "I didn't think." Alchemy is certainly not the tiger's strong point.<br> <br>"Dry this, yes," she mumbles, before looking at the paper and grinning broadly at its slightly yelowish tint. "It's in there, yes, Flora thinks," she mumbles, scratching her head lightly and grabbing a small knife. "Flora spilled some other chemicals. Will need to test those, too.<br> <br>Fenris utilizes a careful flow of fire and air magic, effectively blowdrying the new piece of treated paper until it lies flat and perfectly dried on the table. "There," he says, "That should do it!"<br> <br>Soon enough, the paper is cut into several separate slabs, each marked in a corner, while Flora collects a few more chemicals, and quickly works to blot some of each of the chemicals on the papers with one mark, and all of their combinations on the other, before using some cotton, fresh for each paper, to remove the excess material. "Once done, Flora will know which one does it, yes. But... This is expensive, yes yes. Both of those are hard to make," she mumbles, pointing at the two chemicals she used. "Flora... Flora will need to see if another one behaves the same, later, yes."<br> <br>Fenris looks at the bits of paper that Flora has prepared. "Flora," he says, "If this works, I doubt that you will ever need to worry about funding for your projects ever again." The tiger slips a bag of coin onto the table. "But for now, I want to see where this goes," he says, "Let me know if you will need more."<br> <br>Another grin, another flick of Flora's tail as she pins each of the papers to the wall, making sure each is over a defining feature. The clock of the tower, a tree, a bench, a building. Everything has a landmark to be captured. "Still, if Flora makes this, Flora doesn't want to spend too much, no. Needs another substance that is cheaper to make."<br> <br>Fenris nods and walks over to sit by the covered window, gazing at the image as Flora prepares her test. The whole idea was really quite remarkable. "Do you want me to ask around for anything?" he asks, knowing that he will barely understand the answer if she does want anything. Alchemy.<br> <br>Another flick of Flora's tail, another rumble. "Flora needs to know about chemicals that change with light, if people know of them, yes," she mumbles, before looking at the wall. "Flora will stay here, watch if they change, yes. Doesn't need to... What's the word Flora wants? Expose them too long?"<br> <br>Fenris nods. "I will keep my ears open," he promises. "Good luck with your light pictures!" he says, then stands to slip quietly out the door.