Of Cameras and Creator Spells - RPLOG
Participants
Date
19/4/477
Log
A normal enough day in the maritime, a sea breeze carrying the scent of the ocean into the bustling district as a wolfess sits inside as she usually does, working on goodness-knows-what given the hiatus on her other project. Every so often, she takes a moment to glance out her window just in case, as though waiting for someone.
Flora is well on her way, having snared Matthews into carrying the heavier part of her equipment, being the tripod she uses to stabilize the camera enough for a proper picture. In her own hands is a simple, yet elegantly crafted camera, with round angles and the LongTech Industries logo tastefully embellished on the side.
Matthews doesn't offer much protest as he keeps the tripod balanced on his shoulder as he walks, a thick hat shading his face as he humms and twitches his tails with each movement. "I think the last time I saw you do this was with the king... Hm. Ever think about designing a lighter tripod in the future?" The tomcat keeping the simple conversation flowing as always.
Selena blinks as all of a sudden the pair come into view, the camera giving them away before anything else. Quickly re-shuffling her papers, she grumbles quietly and writes up another before the door is thrown open ahead of the pair's arrival. "Flora, come in." She calls over the bustle. "And your friend as well."
"What, is Matthews suggesting he can't carry the tripod?" Flora asks with a raised brow, before tapping the wood. "Flora contemplated metal, but metal would be heavier, yes. And better to have a sturdy tripod, yes yes," she mumbles, slinking into the room and smiling lightly.
Matthews sighs and shakes his head, bouncing the tripod on his shoulder with ease. "Hardly, it's as light as a spring morning... But you'd think with all the people whom love to innovate, somebody would've worked on it." He bows slightly, still carefully balancing the tripod with his hand on it, before heading inside. "G'day Ma'am, a pleasure to see you once more."
Selena chuckles quietly as the pair discuss tripods, closing the door behind them. "lighter materials? Wood work just as well as anything." She comments. "Anyway, Flora. Your little contracts did make me consider writing up my own for this. It's not that I don't trust you personally, but what goes around..." She replies, gesturing to a piece of paper with a neatly written contract on it, and another with a slightly rushed looking version of the same thing. "I don't really want the creator spell to be in my living room while I have a picture taken, so I'm going to ask to have it done in the storage room I have."
Flora flips through the contents of the agreement, nodding, and passing it to Matthews. "Flora already uses wood," she mumbles, gesturing towards the wooden tripod Matthews was carrying for her. "Contract seems fine. If Matthews agrees, Flora will sign, yes," she mumbles, tail flicking behind her.
Matthews takes the contract in his remaining hand, gently reading it outloud to himself... And fromt he speed of him reading to himself, it's evident he doesn't get much practice. Never the less he nods his head and sets it on the table before looking for something to sign with. "Fair enough if you ask me."
Selena nods, offering out a somewhat old-looking quill. "Unless Flora brought her pen with her, I've still got a quill." she replies simply. "And I noticed, Flora. It works well, but that is as light as you're getting at the moment. Stone's too brittle, and metal's a lot heavier - as you said." she replies.
Flora grins and pulls out her prototype-pen, quickly signing the document, before offering it to Matthews. "Stone also tends to be heaver than wood, yes," she offers as a comment, her tails flicking behind her.
Matthews is quick to sign as he then returns the document to Selena as he straightens his posture and adjusts the tripod. "Fair enough, fair enough. Was merely a thought it all, anyways where did you need me to set this up now?" The tomcat's tail swaying gently behind him as he looks around the home to get a feel for it all.
Selena nods. "All right. With that out of the way..." she notes, ushering the pair down a short hallway, through a door then down a set of stairs that were probably not part of the house when it was originally bought - then into the wolfess's storeroom. It's a little dark at first, being underground, though the lighting issue is quickly alleviated by braziers ignited easily with some fire magic. "The spell is just at the end by my other work bench. I still need to work on the floor in here, it's a bit uneven." She mutters, leading the pair through myriad odds and ends ranging from commonplace reagents to the increasingly rare, with a large chunk of creator steel placed in one corner next to her highly-touted spell in all its incomplete glory.
Flora flicks her tails lightly as she looks around, ears flicking a she looks at all the various mathematical formulae. Some look familiar, others... Not so much. Again, she rumbles lightly, silently peering over the various chemicals and materials Selena has somehow managed to accrue over the years. "Flora thinks...This is impressive. Flora understands why friend Selena would want to keep this secret, yes. People would come and steal things."
Matthews lets out a low whistle as they descend into the room, looking quickly for the empty spot to set up the tripod... "Oh yeah, people would make a game out of trying to break in here..." He looks to the math, not really understanding what he was seeing, but it seemed important indeed! "So is right here good for the tripod?"
Selena nods. "It's also why I asked Sveta not to mention it in public. Better to maintain suspension of belief than have everyone hear how I keep a creator spell in my house." She replies, nodding back to Matthews. "That'd be fine. I'll light up the spell when we're ready. Having the creator steel should keep some beings from expecting it to be here as well. It's no undertunnels, but it's better than an empty room or somewhere visible."
Another tailflick, another rumble as Flora looks out over the room, nodding lightly as she sets up the camera. "Friend Selena should keep in mind the image is black and white... Colors are still not a thing Flora can do, no," she mumbles, even as she seems to almost... Browse the crystals and metals on the shelves? Not that she's taking anything, but still.
Matthews takes a few steps back as he clears his throat, moving gently into the area behind the tripod as he raises his hand. "Quick question, on a scale of one to ten, is there a chance this spell can harm up?"
"Why, what do you expect me to need color for? as long as the lighting's good, the lines will be intacts and visible." Selena asks curiously, keeping an eye on the browsing being just in case, looking over her shoulder to address Matthews. "It's a creator spell, but as far as I can tell it shouldn't be able to function." She replies. "The warped and melted section is completely unusable - hence why I couldn't just finish my work using it."
"Flora isn't sure how it looks when properly lit, no. Needs a good contrast, red on blue wouldn't work, for example. Needs light and dark parts, yes," she mumbles, still browsing the crystals and metals mentally, while continuing to set everything up proper. The camera has been modified so the slides are inserted sideways, rather than from the top, allowing the photographer to look through a primed camera without straining his neck.
"How... How did it melt? Isn't creator-steel... Unmeltable?
Matthews frowns as flora brings up the point of curiousity, after all how -did- it melt? "... Perhaps a creator weapon hit it? Or it... Somehow got hit by every fire math spell in exsistance?" He shrugs gently and looks for a spot to sit and ponder as he waited for the answer.
Selena nods, taking a few moments to produce a fire above the spell, casting the ridges and marks of the kevinscoping into shadows while the face itself is kept bright. "Would that be enough contrast, Flora?" She asks, then shaking her head simply.
"I have no idea how it got into the condition it's in, Flora. My guess is as good as yours, and I honestly think the only answer is another of the creator's bits of technology."
"Flora thinks... About fifteen minutes of exposure per picture, yes," the cat mumbles, looking at the fire. "Can Friend Selena keep the fire going for that long?" she adds, before pulling out a slide and slipping it into the photo-paper slot and adjusting some settings... It seems the camera has a few more runes and a magical indicator on the top. It really does look like a more finished product now.
Selena takes a few moments to consider the question before nodding. "It's a simple spell. I can keep a flame burning for a long time as long as it's not too large, and this is a fairly small one." She replies. "In the worst case, I can just reduce the intensity of the fire a little without too much trouble."
Flora shakes her head. "Lowering the intensity means a longer exposure. Not a good option, no... Ideally, Flora would have a short, powerful burst of light, but... Flora isn't sure how, and how much light... We can try a few of those, though, yes."
Selena nods, tapping her cheek. "Something bright? Well, I know of a few electrical spells that do make bright flashes, but I'd rather not try something like that at the moment. Maybe later." She replies, keeping the fire burning steadily as the camera continues to develop the image. "And even then, I'm not sure if it'd be appropriate to use near beings. Electricity is nowhere near as easy to control as fire or wind alone."
Flora nods and twitches her tails behind her again, her ears twitching. "Flora will... Contemplate some things. There must be a way to do it proper, yes," she mumbles with a flick of the ears.
Soon enough, she's triggered the camera, which silently sets to work. No bang, nothing. Just a red rune lighting up to indicate it's working.
"Flora made it silent, yes."
Selena tilts her head, "Well, it depends on where you want the light just as much as how it's being made. I'm not sure how you'd go about doing so, but then again - you're the one with the camera."
The wolfess looks over the camera for a moment again, then shrugs. "I'm not sure if that's so much of a problem. It wasn't particularly loud before. I suppose it's nice, though?"
"Flora... Recalls the guards jumping at the bang, last time, with the King, yes. Flora would like to avoid beings jumping for cover during their picture, yes," she mumbles, her ears flicking lightly atop her head. "Flora has been thinking of payment for the pictures... Flora would like these gems, shaped like lenses, if possible," she mumbles, gesturing at an emerald, ruby and sapphire on Selena's shelves. "We have enough chemicals right now, and these three could help LongTech expand, yes."
Selena chuckles quietly and shrugs. "Can you balme them for being a little skittish?" She replies amusedly, then looking back over at the jewels mentioned by the cat. "Why not stained glass? It's easy to make colors stronger and consistent in them. Defaulting to precious stones is... Significantly more expensive if you're looking to stabilize funding." The wolfess asks curiously, rubbing the back of her head.
"Stained glass is... Not too clear, no. Has Friend Selena looked through it? Can Friend Selena see what's behind it? A gem is clear. Flora would need gems, at least for now," she mumbles. "Flora needs to get the idea working first, in any case, and for testing things, a higher quality is best... So long as you don't intend to break things, of course."
Selena nods. "That's also true in most cases." she replies. "Though light does still pass through it. I suppose I can part with them, though you'll have to keep them well hidden if you're taking them out of here. Beings aren't aware of what I may or may not have, and I'd like to keep it that way."
Flora gestures at her work-outfit. "Flora carries all sorts of things. Carrying a few more gems around in one of Flora's pockets won't be that odd, no," she mumbles with a shrug, her tails twitching behind her... "Flora would like... The same shape as this lens," she adds, pulling out another one, for Selena to examine and model the gems after.
Selena nods, taking the lens in hand. "Well, if you're looking to figure out how to color your pictures I suppose that's one place to start." She notes. "Just wait until the picture's finished being taken. Trying to do two completely distinct things at once isn't that easy."
"Flora understands, yes. Flora will wait," she mumbles, keeping a close eye on the camera. "Once the light turns green, the picture is done, yes," she explains, simply waiting the required time and making sure that the photo-slide is tucked away properly as soon as it's done. "Are there any other things Flora needs to capture on a picture?"
"I haven't got anything else that I'd need in the picture at all. If I did, I'd have made sure to have told you beforehand" Selena replies with a shake of her head, awaiting the negative's completion, moving the three gems over to her table and looking back over at her creator spell.
"Flora will develop this and make a few positives, yes. Different sizes, too, so it'll be clear what's written, yes," she mumbles, looking over towards Selena and keeping an eye on the three gems.
Selena nods, finally allowing the extra lighting to peter out over the spell to concentrate her attention on the gems, picking up a pair of safety glasses before donning them and getting to work with earth magic, taking significantly more care with the jewels than she had the glass back at the inn, moving the fragments off to a small box with other small pieces of gemstones, buffing the resulting 'lenses' with some jeweller's polish.
Flora smiles as she offers a few pieces of cloth to selena, allowing her to wrap up the buffed lenses properly and protectively. "So Friend Selena doesn't want a picture of herself to hang up in the living-room, free of charge?" she... Almost jokes, her ears flicking lightly.
Selena raises an eyebrow. "Why would you have cloth on you for things like this..?" Sha asks curiously, shaking her head and disappearing briefly into her storage before returning with some empty jewel boxes - little things lined with fabric that look far smaller on the inside than the outside - and places the gems into them instead, placing the lids on and securing them with a slight twist. "If you could return the boxes I'd appreciate it, but you would never want to carry around these wrapped in cloth. I'm fairly certain you wouldn't want to get them scratched if something went wrong."
"Flora has all sorts of things. Gears, cloth, lenses, pieces of glass, needles... Flora could go on for a while if Friend Selena wants, yes," she mumbles, scratching the back of her head. "Flora will make sure the boxes will be brought back, yes."
Selena furrows her eyebrows a little. "I know you're trying to be efficient, but keeping too much on you is a recipe for trouble." She replies a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "Anyway, I hope you have success with what you're trying to do. Just make sure you leave a note at the bottom saying I've leant a hand." she chuckles, affording a joke of her own - well, semi-serious joke at least.
Flora nods and grins faintly as she looks up at Selena. "Flora has plans, yes. Friend Selena shouldn't worry, Flora will make sure Friend Selena is repayed for helping, and once LongTech releases its ideas to the public, Friend Selena will be mentioned on them as well. For now, Friend Selena will have to contend with a gift Flora will be bringing over later."
Selena nods, smiling and leaning back a little in her workbench's chair. "Anyway, I believe that's all we have to do here." She says simply. "I shouldn't keep you here unless there's something else you'd like to discuss."
"Well... Flora would like to know how the plans for Flora to talk to mister Kendrac are going along, as well. But other than that, Flora is doing quite well, yes, and Flora thinks this should be enough."
Selena nods. "Ah, right, that. Sorry, I've been so caught up in my work I haven't had much time to ask proper, but I should be able to arrange something in a few days time." She replies.
Flora nods and smiles faintly, her tails twitching again, before she gets ready to pack up the camera. A... Sleepy-looking Matthews is tapped on the shoulder, and told to carry the tripod around again as she gestures to the exit. "Flora will get things ready, yes."
