Summary: Where do magic nerds go to meet and mingle? Why, the same place as everyone else, of course.
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The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.
Questions should be directed to staff.
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Skeeve is sitting at a table not too far from the bar, a small pair of spectacles perched on his nose, and appears to be reading through some kind of law book. There's another heavy-bound tome, really stereotypical magic stuff, on the table in front of him, entitled 'Faire Folke Customes and Lawes', and all the way at the corner of the table is a forgotten sandwich.
The door opens, and, with a yawn, Zelan enters. The red-head makes her way towards the bar without really looking around her surroundings, and takes a seat. She momentarily lays her head down on the bar top, though this is rather breif as she sits back up again and orders a cup of coffee from the bartender. With that done, she turns around to get a look at the people out in the restaurant, a fairly bored look on her face. She tilts her head as she spots the man reading what appears to be law books. "'Faire Folke'? 'Lawes'?" She pronounces 'lawes' more like 'laywes' as she tries to sound the word out quietly.
Skeeve, although he does often get quite absorbed in his reading, is fairly distractable at the moment, and there are a few almost sure-fire ways to catch his attention. Zelan has touched on just about all of them. Chuckling lightly to himself, he sets the book he's reading down - it appears to be a copy of some local statutes - and offers a wave over to Zelan. "Good afternoon."
Zelan waves tiredly as her coffee arrives. "Oh... sorry, don't mind me. Just... a long day trying to get something to work when I just... don't have the information I need to do it. Trying to figure the way things work in this place from scratch can be frustrating... So I'm a bit loopy, I suppose."
Skeeve nods sympathetically a few times at that, taking the spectacles off of his nose. "Trust me when I say I know *exactly* how you feel some days. I'm Skeeve, Skeeve Plowse. It's nice to meet you."
Zelan's heard of him! "That stuff I've been trying to figure out is how all the magic here operates!" She flicks her eyes about oddly for a split second. "I was told you might be able to help me out with that."
Skeeve has never seen anyone's eyes light up quite that way, and he looks a little taken aback, if somewhat pleased, by Zelan's reaction. "I see my reputation precedes me... and for the better this time. I do know a fair bit about magic, yeah..." He gestures lightly, and one of the chairs at his table slides out, and he moves the books away from that side of the table. "Please, feel free to join me if you'd like. What are you working on?"
Zelan takes the invitation to take a seat at the table, bringing her coffee with her. "Well..." she says as she pulls out her cell phone. "I've been hired on as a... well, I suppose as a one woman design and build team. My specialties in my home universe were in the field of utilizing both magic as well as conventional technologies, typically in a military contractor role.. Oh, do forgive me. I am Zelan Darkflower, former head of Design Team Petal of Magus Spaceworks. Currently working under Raven von Tilsen in a more or less freelance setting. My first goal, however, is to update my current sensor suite-" she taps her cell phone "-with the full array of magics that occur here. I keep getting error messages as it is, due to the amount of magic that doesn't seem to exist where I'm from."
Skeeve blinks a few times at that, trying to take in the enormity of the problem that Zelan has just presented. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zelan, you know, I think Raven's mentioned you once or twice..." he says absently, his mind already whirring with the possibilities. "So... essentially... you're looking to catalogue every possible extant system of magic? That's one hell of a herculean task. You might be better off looking for commonalities and then adding in exceptions when and where they pop up."
The wizard fishes a spiral bound notebook out of his stack of books, plucks a pen literally out of nowhere, and says, "Why don't you tell me a little bit about how magic works where you're from? Just the broad strokes."
Zelan nods to Skeeve as she takes a sip of her coffee. "Well, yes, that was more or less what I was thinking as well... Raven's mentioned me to you? And forgot that she suggested I find you for this purpose?" She sighs, shaking her head. "Well, at any rate... For the most part, magic in my universe works through a process many teachers liken to, well, baking. You have six primary ingredients, but it's the quantities and the methods used to prepare them that cause the different things to happen. For instance..." She makes some quick motions of her hand, and the image of a fighter craft appears over her palm. "An illusion like this... Just light? No... There's a significant amount of shadow, as well as traces of wind, fire, and water. Were I to add earth in just the right way, I could make the same illusion tactile." She closes her hand and the image vanishes. "This is the primary method of spellcasting used in my universe. There are a couple of other ways of teaching magic, but I've still been able to analyze the work and found that the underlying principles are the same, if the exact methods aren't quite. I'm still able to analyze it using the same methods... But here, I feel like there's dozens of unknown elements."
Skeeve scribbles down a few hasty notes, nodding a few times. "So, an elemental based system, then. Thank god it's one of the sane ones - you can always tell when a universe's magical system was intelligently designed, because they're invariably this mish-mash of unconnected elements that are supposed to be a coherent system somehow."
Chuckling lightly, he takes a sip of his water. "So, I'm guessing then that your scanner here analyzes the levels of those six elements present in a spell, and extrapolates effect and power from known principle? Alright, then, question two: where do these elements come from? How do you draw on your power?"
Zelan nods to Skeeve. "Exactly, an elemental based system using Fire, Earth, Water, Light, Air, and Shadow." She then nods to Skeeve's deduction. "More or less, yes. There's more t it than just the elements, of course, but the sensors primarily detect those levels." The last question, however, gets a frown from Zelan. "Honestly? No one has figured out just where it comes from. I suppose if we did, we'd call it 'the so-and-so effect' and stop referring to it as magic. Or are you talking about Laylines?"
Skeeve waggles the pen a little bit. "I might be talking about force lines, or laylines, not sure yet. I mean where does it come from on a local level. When you cast that illusion of the fighter, you said it was primarily light and shadow, with traces of fire, water and air. Where'd you get those elements from?"
At some point during the conversation, a lone figure must have slipped inside the restaurant with nary a sound. Nevermind the dark sunglasses, the woman's hair makes her stick out like a sore thumb no matter where she goes. Plucking said sunglasses by one hinge, slowly pulls them off, her eyes narrowed as they scan the place from her own place by the entrance. Obscured from view by a gaggle of entering patrons as she folds up her shades and tucks one of its arms into a jacket pocket, to emerge wearing her usual specs. That done, Azusa suddenly finds herself at a loss, undecided as to where she would like to sit. She's haunted the bar several times by now, but she doesn't care to be seen sitting alone at a table or booth. Hrm, self conscious. She taps a finger to her chin impatiently, frowning at her own indecision. It would have been easier if she'd broght a sister or a niece along. Maybe she should have asked Ayika if she felt up to an outing. That girl needs a holiday, she thinks.
Zelan nods. "Like I said... Laylines... this place seems to be covered with them. I mean, with your own metabolism you can generate the energy, but it can really be exhausting if you don't have a layline to draw from nearby, as well. Finding convergences of laylines is actually a part of how we get... nevermind, I'm getting ahead of myself there. But there's always the nexus of both Light and Fire lines in any system's star, bodies of water usually have a water line flowing through them, areas of high tectonic activity tend to be crawling with fire and earth lines, a jet stream is typically a planet's strongest air line... but those are just the predictable ones." She frowns. "Magic is... Not quite the science that engineering is. There's far too much we don't understand about how things work. We just know it does." The platinum hair by the door does manage to catch her attention, however, and she turns to look in that direction. With a flickering of her eyes to confirm, she waves a hand to see if she can get Azusa's attention.
Skeeve nods a few times at that, making a few more notes, idly chewing on the end of his pen - it's not the first time, either. "Well, this definitely - and fortunately - sounds pretty compatible with a lot of magical theory out there. Mana flows from the astral plane, and its resonance is determined by the material echo that helps generate it - as you say, fire and light for a star, water for an ocean, etcetera."
He grins a little bit, adds, "One of the nice things about magic, at least around here, is the conservation of detail. A lot of times I'll find that magical systems from two completely unconnected universes are nonetheless operating on pretty much identical principles." As Zelan waves over towards Azusa, he asks, "Friend of yours?"
Azusa is not too distracted by her own thoughts and indecision to not notice that somebody seems to be waving at her, and she recognizes that head of red hair right away. Her sudden wide smile indicative that her attention has been thereby claimed, she is then seen making her way over towards the two magic users comparing notes. "Hello, dear," she tilts her head as she regards Zelan pleasantly, "Fancy meeting you here." Skeeve, without the hat, though, she has a little more trouble recognizing. "I hope I am not interrupting."
Zelan sighs in releif, relaxing her shoulders visually. "Good... I was getting to the point where I was fearing the systems were just... completely incompatable." As Skeeve asks her about Azusa, Zelan gets a slightly pensive look on her face. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. We only met once." She smiles and waves again as Azusa clearly recognizes her and approaches. "Interrupting? All you've done is walk up, Miss Kurihara. We're discussing magic theory, for the most part, as I'm trying to make sense what I'm seeing here in order to properly update my sensor suite." She taps the phone that's on the table in front of her.
Skeeve offers a pleasant smile to Azusa. "Not at all, not at all. Have we met before, in passing? You seem familiar, but I'm afraid I've misplaced your name. Please feel free to join us, though, if you'd like." He waves over a waitress to come clear off the dishes from the table to make room, orders himself another drink. "Anything for either of you?"
"Please, call me Azusa," she insists. She is, on the other hand, fairly certain she has walked into an ongoing conversation, and something reminescent of what she's heard her sisters talk about from time to time, at that. "Aah, magic theory," she then sounds genuinely intrigued, one hand reaching up to adjust her glasses. That explains why the conversation sounded so familiar, setting aside the fact that the talks she's used to are far more technology oriented. Turning her head to regard Skeeve, first taking note that he must be able stand a full foot over her, she would look rather familiar. The face, the mole to the lower right of her mouth. It's Akiya's face, or his other form. Or Akina's, or even Ayika's! Okay, so she is probably related to them, not to mention that Zelan had just addressed her by their family name. "I do not believe so," she answers, however. She has been told about Skeeve by her brother, but again, no hat so no regocnition. "Azusa Kurihara," she smiles, regardless, "Pleased to meet you. And you are...?" Tilting her head as she is then offered a place at their table, she nods graciously, "Ah, thank you." Eyeing the waitress' approach, she is quick to decide, "A Long Island iced tea for me," at the same time claiming the nearest vacant seat at said table.
Zelan tilts her head slightly. "I'm thinking perhaps just whatever soup they have today. I'm not feeling particularly adventurous tonight. At least not in a culinary sense." She offers Azusa a light smile as she takes a seat nearby. "Well then, I'll be sure to do so in the future," she says before taking another sip of her coffee. She pauses a moment, the mug warming her hands, before she asks Skeeve, "So do you think I will be able to continue to use the same general theory here to analyze magic, or are there going to be too many fundamental differences that will require mostly an entirely different sensor suite?"
Skeeve ahhs lightly, smiling a little bit. "That would explain it, then. My name's Skeeve, Skeeve Plowse, it's nice to meet you, Miss Kurihara." To the waitress, he asides, "Just a soda for me, please."
Jotting down a few more notes, he replies, "Well, Zelan, the theory itself is sound as far as the scanner goes, but you may have to drop a level of abstraction. There are more than six main harmonic resonances of mana, so just measuring your levels of the six elements you're used to likely won't be enough here. But the basic principles are sound. The lookup table for all the exceptions and weird stuff is going to be aggravatingly large, though."
Ari strolls in, looking a bit tired or aggravated. Maybe a combination of the two. She sighs, heading right to the bar and ordering a beer.
Skeeve looks up as Ari strolls in through the crowd, picking her out unerringly despite the other patrons. With one sweep of his arms and a hastily murmured spell, he shoves the stack of books off the table, where they disappear with a small *pop* and a puff of smoke. That done, he waves over in her direction. "Hey, princess, over here!"
Zelan nods, frowning. "I was afraid of that. I'll need to... create an exception catcher, or something along those lines. Perhaps some time when I can get together some more equipment you can show me the rest of the common resonances? I've already built a more robust sensor array at the workshop, one that will hopefully be able to get better data resolution out of-" She blinks as suddenly Skeeve clears the table of all the books, clearly not having caught his look towards Ari. She looks off in the direction of the 'princess' with slightly widened eyes, though she returns to a more neutral but happy expression as she recognizes Ari.
Ari thanks the bartender for her beer, then smiles as Skeeve calls her over. She heads over to the table to have a seat. "Hey guys." she says, relieved to see some happy faces.
Skeeve nods a few times at that. "Yeah, I'd be happy to take a look once you get your gear set up. I'm actually really interested in magical technology, I just... don't really have the background for it. I've studied a little bit of physics since I got here, but that's really about it. I'll warn you now, some of those exceptions are real infuriating." He smiles cheerily at Ari, and conspicuously does not pull out a chair for her, just holds a hand out in her direction. "Hey yourself. Everything okay?"
Zelan nods. "Well, that's why I need some sort of way of... catching the exceptions. Maybe to be filed later with manual classifications?" She frowns, then looks over to Ari. "Hey, how are you doing, Ari?" she asks after a quick flickering of her eyes.
Ari stretches a bit, then takes Skeeve's hand, setting herself down in his lap. "Not bad. Started training my employees today and already fired someone. On the first day!" she sighs.
Skeeve chuckles a little bit at that, slipping his arm around the half-elf's waist, the one without the pen. "Sucks to have to be the one that's the responsible adult, doesn't it? What happened?" Settling back in his chair and getting comfortable, he replies to Zelan, "Some of those exceptions are just infuriating. Remind me to show you the spell that has been utterly mystifying me for years one of these days. It's just the dumbest thing ever."
Azusa's eyes blink with recognition just then, at the mention of the name, "Ah, yes! I have heard much of you from my brother. As he recalls to me, you were all quite the team back in the day, and just Azusa, please. No need for such formalities." Very distinct British accent there, by the way. Smiling again as she returns her attention to Zelan, she takes to listening for the time being while she waits for her drink to arrive while listening to the ongoing conversation. Quite fascinating, she thinks to herself, at that moment wondering where her particular subsection of magic would fall. Mm, perhaps a question for another time. This is sounding to her more and more like something akin to a software issue, which of course makes perfect sense in the sense that Zelan's scanner software is in need of a definition update, so to speak. Like a virus scanner, only a magic scanner. Now she truly wishes she had brought her sister Ayika along! Her attention redirected towards Skeeve's table clearing gesture followed by Ari's arrival, she then turns to smile politely to the new arrival, "Good evening," then glancing to Skeeve with the expectation that they will be introduced. It seems like she and Zelan have already met, at least.
Zelan nods slowly. "Sure, when we meet up for the analysis later. It'll be a good test of an updated system, I suppose." She looks over to Azusa and says, "I do hope the conversation isn't boring you?" Though she's guessing from the look on her face that it isn't the case, and Zelan smiles. She then tilts her head to Ari, curious about what as well.
Ari takes a sip of her beer before responding. "Well, Raven's going to be helping with operations for a bit until everything is up and running smooth. I told the bartenders that if they need help, they call me, and Raven is not allowed behind the bar during open hours. Then this smartass responds 'It's not our job to look after your alcy sister.' Guy lasted an hour." she sighs.
Skeeve grins a little bit at that. "Alright, Azusa, I'll do that. And yeah, we certainly got into some scrapes back in the day." As the waitress comes by with drinks, he adds, to Zelan, "Honestly, if your scanner can decipher this incomprehensible mess, I'll... I'd say 'buy you a beer' but it seems pitifully insignificant compared to how much this has been aggraving me." He pauses for a moment, then says, "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Ari, this is Azusa Kurihara, she's Akiya's sister. Azusa, this is Ari Icara, nee Von Tilsen." He shakes his head a little bit at Ari's story. "Man, what a jackass. He couldn't resist mouthing off to the boss for an hour?"
"Not at all, dear," Azusa's features soften, a hand reaching to brush a lock of hair from her cheek that was threatening to hover over one eye. There, much better. Her eyes returning to Skeeve and Ari, taking particular note of the former's accent, she nods cordially to Ari as they are introduced. Ahh, another Von Tilsen. "A pleasure." She doesn't feel the least bit guilty, given the slight turn of the conversation, about having ordered an alcoholic drink. In fact, her player might indulge herself with some hard cider in a couple of moments. Speaking of moments, she takes one or two to sample her newly arrived drink. This brings her to realize that she has been drinking a lot of iced tea in its many forms as of late.
Zelan offers Azusa another smile before lookin back to Ari. "Is it not... rule 1 that you don't insult clients or new supervisors? What in the arm where they thinking?"
Ari smiles at Azusa. "Nice to meet you, too!" she raises her bottle a bit then nods. "I set him straight about Raven's allergy. He apologized profusely but I wasn't going to put up with it."
Skeeve shakes his head a little bit, sipping at his cola. "Not the wisest of choices for him. Hopefully he learns, but I'm not going to hold my breath, if we're being honest. Hopefully that was the only real setback today?" For the others, in case they don't know, he adds, "Ari's opening up a nightclub on the beach, called the Kraken. You should check it out once it opens."
Zelan grins lightly. "I'm already planning on it."
Azusa returns Zelan's smile in earnest, most of her attention gravitating towards her now, as does her proximity as she moves her chair closer. Continuing to listen it, she takes a nice, long sip of her Long Island. Okay, they can make decent drinks here, at least. Something has to keep the patrons coming back, given this establishment's... volatility. She has been told that the bar is indestructible, too. She purses her lips in brief thought, wondering what must have possessed someone to badmouth their employer, and she resists the urge to just shake her head. That poor, insolent fool. Mention of Raven's allergy does bring her to ever so slightly raise an eyebrow, but she makes no inquiry on it. She's just barely met this pair, after all. Then comes the mention of a nightclub, and the first thing that comes to mind is how her sisters will want to flock there to check it out, "Oh? I certainly shall." She glances sidewards towards Zelan.
Ari grins a bit. "It's definitely unique, thanks in part to this guy." she kisses Skeeve's cheek. "But yeah, that was the only real hiccup today. The others seem pretty good so far."
Skeeve flushes just a little bit at that, ducking his head a little when Ari kisses him. "Ah, I just put a couple of simple wards down, it's not like I did any of the hard work."
Zelan catches the sidewards glace with a smile. "It would be nice to go dancing. I may not be... particularly proficient in it, but sometimes that doesn't matter." She blinks at the mention of uniqueness, and looks between Skeeve and Ari. "Oh? Did you set up an array of illusions or some other such special effects?"
Ari chuckles. "I could tell, but it would kind of ruin the surprise." she grins. "It's too good to spoil."
Azusa's own smile only brightens at the mention of dancing. "Not at all," she quietly asides to Zelan, then peering at Skeeve and Ari from over her glasses. "I am quite curious, now," she admits, "I shall have to see this for myself." Ideas dance through her head as to what would make such a place unique, and when it comes to magic, there are simply so many possibilities. It does sound to her that it must be something special, and this intrigues her all the more.
Skeeve, on the verge of launching into a highly technical explanation of what exactly he's done, clicks his mouth shut before he can spoil said surprise. "Like she said, it's a surprise. All I'm going to say is, it's a beach club.... so bring a swimsuit."
Zelan recoils ever so slightly. "Swimsuit? Uhhh... Great." She frowns slightly, but smiles again with another quick glance at Azusa. "Well, I may have to invest in a new one, then. I've not been much of a swimmer for most of my life... I didn't have one in my suitcase when I arrived."
Ari takes a sip of the beer, nodding. "Even if you don't have one, it'll still be fun." she smiles, snuggling into Skeeve.
Skeeve nods a little bit at that, sipping his drink. Matter-of-factly, he adds, "Yeah, it won't be *necessary*, thankfully, but it will be more comfortable. There's a mall just north of the boardwalk, you should be able to find one there."
Azusa, on the other hand, brightens at the mention of swimsuit. Oh, her sisters are really going to be interested, now! Seeing that Zelan doesn't appear nearly as thrilled about the idea as her, though, she tilts her head towards her, "That will not be a problem, dear. I am sure that we can help you find one," nodding to Skeeve in agreement. She imagines that it's something the likes of Akina or Natsuki would jump at. It's sounding more and more fun, the more she learns about it.
Zelan shudders at the mention of the mall. "I'm... aware of it. Beleive me, I'm aware of it." She sighs dejectedly, but perks up at the mention of help finding one. "Well, that sounds like it could be fun. A... girls night or day out shopping, as it were? I'm not sure I've done that since I was a teenager! I do have the money to spare now, finally, as well."
Ari grins at Zelan mentioning she has money. "Oh! Did my sister get off her ass and finally hire you?" she grins.
Skeeve blinks in confusion at the idea that the mall could be a terrifying and disturbing place. As far as he knows, it's just the Bazaar with escalators. Shaking his head lightly, he adds, "See? There you go. Double your fun."
Azusa is getting the sense that perhaps Zelan might not be particularly fond of shopping. Certainly, it's not for everyone, and there are many girls who don't particularly care for it, despite some stereotypes. Seeing that perhaps she has been able to lend a bit of encouragement, though, she forms a somewhat more foxlike smile, "Indeed." Coupled with the added insight as to why Zelan did not sound particularly in favor of the idea initially. "It will be fun." Quirking an eyebrow at Ari, then, though, she glances back and forth between the two, taking this moment to reduce her drink to one quarter glass left, thereabouts. No sign of tipsyness as of yet.
Zelan sighs again. "Yes... but only when I happened to run into her on my own. She... didn't seem to take the initiative herself... I'm noticing she tends not to do that so much." Noticing Skeeve's confused look, she explains with a slightly pained smile, "I... had to work there to make ends meet until Raven hired me. It was not a good time." With that said, she chugs the rest of her coffee.
Ari wrinkles her nose a bit. "To her defense, my sister has been through quite a bit. So please don't hold that part against her." She finishes her beer and puts the bottle on the table, slipping an arm around Skeeve's shoulders.
Skeeve nods a few times at that, finishing up his own drink, and waving for another round. "Ah, say no more. There are a few kingdoms out there that I can't show my face in for precisely the same reason. But I think you'll find that Raven's..." He pauses for a moment to look for the right word. "...shall we say 'reliability' will be vastly improved going forward."
Azusa's eyes narrow. She hasn't met the elusive Raven, though one of her nieces has, at least, or so she believes. She bites her tounge, though, not wishing to say something untoward, especially of someone she has yet to meet. Especially in the presence of her sister. It is best to keep an open mind for the time being, instead, she decides. Swirling the remaining contents of her drink while she continues to listen, she does offer to Zelan, "It will be alright." See? Even Skeeve's backing her up, on that.
Zelan shakes her head. "Of course not. Not everyone takes the initiative that often." She puts a hand in the center of her own chest. "Case in point, usually. Desperation has lead to it being a necessity recently. I'm afraid I'm playing a bit outside of my comfort zone in this universe." She glances between everyone and sighs again. "Look, there's just one store I don't want to go into, and they don't even sell swimsuits anyway. I'll be fine. Just some stressful memories is all."
Ari thinks a moment. "If you really hate the idea, I can just make you one." she shrugs.
As the waitress comes by with another round, Skeeve replies reasonably enough, "Ari's quite the talented designer, don't let the shrug fool you." He grins a little bit at her, chuckling faintly.
"A solution shall always present itself," Azusa leans back in her seat, setting her old drink down in favor of the newly arrived one. She tilts her head in Zelan's direction, she smiles, "I will admit that I am now rather curious as to what Miss Ari can make for you." Don't mind how her eyes momentarily wander, giving Zelan the onceover, her eyes disappearing for that moment behind a conveniently bright reflection off her glasses.
Zelan sighs in exasperation. "I have no aversion to shopping! I was looking forward to it!" She tilts her head slightly, considering the new option. "I'd... not say no to a custom design, however. It sounds like it could be fun, as well." It does sound like she might be warming up to the idea.
Ari grins at Skeeve, kissing his cheek again. "Flatterer." she chuckles. "Yeah, I can make bathing suits easy That takes, like not time at all really."
Skeeve, noticing Azusa's lightning-quick glance over at Zelan, can't help but grin just a little. It's like he has a sixth sense for these sorts of things. Giving Ari a comforting little squeeze around the midriff, he replies, "Always. And yeah, custom is always nice. Now you just have to decide what you're looking for." On a whim, he murmurs a quiet spell, an illusion, and there's a small image of a female clothier's dummy, more of a black silhouette really, in the center of the table.
Ari chuckles. "Showoff." she winks at Skeeve, taking out her PDA from her bag. "Okay, are we talking one piece, two piece? Color?"
Azusa feels compelled to suggest that shopping online is not at all beyonf the realm of possibility, but with Ari's offer now on the table, it sounds by far the most favorable choice. "I must say," she must say, "that I myself am a little spoiled. One simply can not go back so easily after going custom, so to speak." She does sound like she has some experience in that regard. "And, yes," her smile brightens, "It can become quite fun.." her words softening towards the end. It looks like a preview is being made possible now, even! Both eyebrows raising in interest, her gaze then falls upon the illusionary doll.
Zelan sighs and hangs her head slightly. "I've not put any thought into it yet, of course. Ummm... well, let's see..." She peers at the doll for a moment, then makes some motions herself to attempt to alter Skeeve's spell to be her skin tone and adding her hair to it, as well. "Well, I suppose if you want to have an interesting design, it's generally more easily done when more material is involved, isn't it? Not that I'm opposed to a two-peice, mind you." She tilts her head slightly at what Azusa says. "Oh, you think it's bad with clothes? I don't think I'd ever own a starship I didn't design myself, anymore."
Ari chuckles. "Well, it's all up to you. I can pretty much work with any idea you give me, honestly."
Skeeve grins a little bit more at that. "Again, always. If you're going to do something, you should do it with style." Sipping his drink, he adds, "No, I think it's that once you have custom clothes made, they'll be so good you won't want to buy off the-" He'd just gestured again, adding a plain one-piece suit in white to the dummy, but his mouth hangs open when he feels the image shift. He turns to stare at Zelan, wonderment and curiosity in his voice. "That's not just a second illusion, you... you... *edited* my spell! I didn't know that was possible, *how* did you do that?"
Zelan blinks, tilting her head. "I... changed the way the light, shadow, and water flowed through it? I mean, it was a simple illusion spell, and you didn't seem to be protecting it, or that wouldn't have worked. The, uh, energy was just out there to be changed?" She actually seems surprised at Skeeve's surprise.
"Oh no. Quite the opposite, my dear," Azusa gives a slight shake of her head, "My sisters are clothing designers, and there isn't quite anything like wearing exactly what you want and made just for you." See? Skeeve can back her up on that. Of course, that particular moment takes a shift for the curiouser as she too seems surprised at, well, Skeeve's surprise. As far as she knew, herself, it is possible to alter others' illusions under certain circumstances. Of course, she and illusions... oh, nevermind that. She looks particularly pleased with the choice of a one-piece on the doll.
Ari takes her PDA, puts it in front of Skeeve's face, and takes a picture. "He doesn't get shocked like that often." she grins, tapping a few things and hitting 'send'. "So enjoy it." she laughs.
Skeeve still looks fairly surprised, enough so that he doesn't think to make a stupider face and ruin the picture. "I mean, sure, you can modify a construct, that's fine, but you did it without assuming control, or disrupting mine, at least as far as I could tell." He shakes his head lightly. "This is like..." He pauses, trying to find an analogy. "It's like that game Jenga, with the wooden blocks, right? As far as my own grasp on the theory is concerned, something like this would be the equivalent of trying to add new layers to the tower... from the bottom up... without touching the tower itself... while someone else is pulling a brick out, and not knocking the thing over." He leans back, mind awash with the possibilities. "If I'd tried something like this without at least bracing the tower against something, I'd have knocked the whole damn thing over. Either there's a trick I'm missing here or you have a *very* deft touch. Either way it's quite impressive."
Zelan pauses a moment longer as she looks about with a blush in slight embarrasment at the sudden wonder at her ability. "Umm... Well, it's more like... inserting a prism to alter light peering through, in this case. That's where the water element comes in on illusions, right? Really, if it wasn't an illusion, it wouldn't have been nearly so simple." She then peers in on the illusion, trying to determine what she would want, hoping to change the subject some. "Well, ah... I suppose high cut on the hip... keep it off the shoulders, or at least close to the neck? Ummm... Ill trust your judgement on color, you're the specialist in this field... I've really not looked into swimsuit fashion at all, so I don't know what kinds of patterns, or if it's fashionable to have, I don't know, openings at the midriff or something?"
Skeeve, maintaining the illusion but now making absolutely no moves to alter it, shifts his perception into the astral plane. Still staring at the image, he says in a distracted, almost distant voice, "Show her what you mean on the doll. I wanna see exactly what you did there."
Azusa can't help but be increasingly amused by Skeeve's reaction, despite herself, and Ari taking a picture is total icing on the cake. She does not laugh, though, instead managing to preserve her manners, and that energy is instead redirected towards pride for Zelan's ability. Very, very promising indeed, and she does fail to catch notice of her own noticeably more suggestive smile turned her way. So much that she nearly misses the suggestions being put forth. Her head nods in approval at the high cut. Yes, very good. Close to the neck, yes. As for color, she thinks a spash of green would look lovely. "I myself prefer to keep it simple," she actually adds, finally. Glancing back towards Skeeve, she begins to think his attention may be elsewhere at the moment.
Zelan frowns slightly at Skeeve's request, then peers down at the illusion and starts to alter it. Shifting the body form now to more match her body shape at first, she then raises the cut at the hip to show the side of the legs, and at the top changing the straps over the shoulder in towards a single peice of cloth that rises to the neck. She can't seem to figure out even what she meant with the showing of the midriff, however, and gives up after just a basic circle being removed around the navel. "I don't think that worked as well as I was thinking..." Concentrating on her spellwork, she completely misses Azusa's look again. "Yeah, forget the cutout, I suppose," she says in response to keeping it simple. She's not changed the colors at all, however, unsure of where to send that direction. "Well, that's what I've come up with, I guess?" she says as she sits back in her chair, looking slightly tired again. With a breath out, she shakes her head. "I think... I'm going to head back to my apartment, though, and get some sleep for tomarrow's work." Before she does that, however, she flickers her eyes about slightly, and another illusion appears over her phone, which is still on the table. This is, however, a contact number. She looks at Azusa now with a light smile. "You left so fast last time... I don't think you caught me trying to get you this."
Ari looks over to Skeeve with a 'are they doing what I think they're doing?' look, smirking.
Skeeve's sixth sense is, regrettably enough, otherwise occupied for the moment, and as Zelan alters the illusion again, he tilts his head a little. "Well, fuck me sideways, it really is that simple..." Shaking his head, he misses out on Zelan passing her number over to Azusa as he snaps his perception back to the material. He looks a little confused at Ari's look. "Hm?" A quick glance back at the other two, and enlightenment crosses his face for a moment. Apparently, enlightenment looks a little like a smirk of his own. "Well, I must say it was nice to meet you, Zelan. We'll have to arrange a time to look at your scanner sometime soon, talk shop."
Observing the changes being made to the illusionary doll, reminding her far too much of the holographic version that she's more used to, she nods softly, visualizing not only an opening over the lower abdomen, but another to match on the other side, although she decides that would best be left for another time, another suit. Tilting her head back towards Zelan, she blinks, noticing the fatigue, "Are you alright?" She is then reminded to look at the time, and is surprised at how it has just slipped away so quickly, "Oh dear. I should take my leave, as well. The hour has become rather late." Her attention redirected towards Zelan's phone, though, she is suddenly overcome with a bit of embarrassment, "Ah, yes. I do apologize for that. Thank you." No later is her own phone in her hands adding this new contact. Ding!
Ari waves to Azusa. "Nice to meet you!" she smiles.
Skeeve nods a few times at that, offering a polite wave as well. He'd stand, but, well, lapful of Ari. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Azusa. Don't be a stranger, okay?"
Azusa rising from her seat after watching Zelan go, smiles appreciatively to the pair, bowing her head politely, "It was lovely meeting you both. I hope that we shall cross paths again soon, as well." Straightening and making sure everything is in order, she nods her head one more time, "Have a good night."
Skeeve, with a bit of squirming, pulls his wallet out, flags down a waitress to take care of the bill. "You too, Azusa." Leaning in to give Ari a light kiss on the cheek, he adds, "C'mon, let's head home, hm?"
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