say bye to kris kringle, it's a mingle!

[geonomy]

Who: The Vanquish crew and visitors!
Broadcast: Nein?
Action: On the Vanquish lollipop, and around it maybe!
When: During the month of January

[Hey crew! It looks like there's some new changes that have come over the ship as well as a couple of new crewmates from the past shuffle or two! Have you been enjoying the planet, or is it too cold for you? Have you caught a nasty cold like your poor captain a few posts down, or are you a Vanquish member and are fine? Come along for a mingle, let the viewers see what you're up to! And also meet the tiniest, cutest crew member too!]

Comments

[thebloodseal]

[Al could be found performing various chores around the ship and experimenting with his alchemy over the days before they leave... and playing with Cosmic the fox, of course.

In the cargo bay, Al could be found trying to manipulate the walls with alchemy, because he wanted to see if he could make and rearrange small temporary storage areas for food and supplies- it would be wonderful if he could make and break down things as needed. However, he was still figuring out the chemical composition of the walls, so he wasn't having much luck.

Otherwise, he could be found at the kitchen table with some paper, sketching mysterious-looking circles. Some of them were scribbled out in frustration, some had smudges from being erased, some were heavily drawn over, and others were clean.]

[geonomy]

[At some point, Clay enters the kitchen for some much needed munchies. Al is who he sees first, then the drawings, so he comes on over with a smile as he studies them.]

Hey Al! What're you drawing? [Some of the ones that he can make out look pretty geometrically precise, like this wasn't just playing around with circle drawing.]

[thebloodseal]

Oh! These are alchemic circles. [He indicated the incomplete one.] I can normally clap my hands to transmute, but most alchemists need a drawn circle to perform alchemy. The circle contains the power of the transmutation, and the runes written around the edge are a little like instructions that tell the material what to do. Like... [He sketched some more, then pressed his hand to the edge of the circle, making the paper turn into an origami bird.]

[geonomy]

... Whooooa.

[Clay puts his hands on the table and ducks down so that his eyes are over the edge of it, just to get a good, close look at what just happened.]

Something like that would take me ages to do. [Because origami? Yeah, no, he'd rather make paper airplanes. Or little stars.]

[thebloodseal]

Alchemy is really handy for this kind of thing- taking shortcuts and the like. It has limits, though- if you want to gain something, you have to lose something in return. That's why I have to be careful when I transmute, and studied chemistry when I was younger.

[geonomy]

[He blinks, then looks up at Alphonse, though he doesn't straighten up to a stand just yet.]

So... When you did that, did you lose something?

[thebloodseal]

This one is on too small of a scale for equivalent exchange to come into play... it would be the same as folding the paper. Now if I were to, say, try to make a sword from the metal in the wall, it would thin out the wall and leave a dent. I couldn't just conjure one from thin air, do you see?

[geonomy]

Oh... yeah, I see! [He straightens up now, carefully taking the origami and letting it sit on the palm of his hand.] That's really stellar. I've heard of alchemy before, but I didn't think it was something like this...

[And with that in mind, he glances down at the circles Al's working on.] So is there some kind of alchemy project you're working on right now?

[thebloodseal]

In some worlds, alchemy never did much- it was people trying to find a way to turn metal into gold. Our alchemy began that way, but it developed far beyond and went into changing all forms of matter.

[He nodded, hating that he had to lie to Clay, but having prepared a story.]

I'm trying to figure out how to transmute the walls of the ship, in fact. I wouldn't dare do it while we were out in space, but I thought it might be handy to be able to rearrange the walls or make repairs in case we suffer damage. But I'm having trouble with it, since I don't know the chemical composition of the walls. I thought that maybe if I wrote down my ideas, I might get somewhere.

[geonomy]

Hmmm... That sounds like a good idea. Would the walls stay that way for long, though? I just don't think Atroma would approve of having the walls of one of their ships all rearranged for something.

[He doesn't sound disapproving, because it is a good idea. He's just not sure if it would work for long.]

But I like it. [He grins, reaching up (and up and up) to clap his shoulder approvingly.] If you can get it to work, I think it'd really help out our ship.

[thebloodseal]

That's a good point. I wouldn't do anything drastic, but I'm sure they like everything being the way THEY want it.

[Al wished he could smile at Clay, but he has to be content with nodding.]

I think so, too- and I want to do what I can to earn my keep here. "He who does not work shall not eat". ... not that I need to eat.

[flickerflash]

[Oh. OH. She knows this kind of drawing--!!

She pops up on the other side of the table out of the blue.] Are you drawing devil's traps?

['kind of' being the operative words here.]

[thebloodseal]

Devil's traps? No... this is alchemy, a science from my world.

[flickerflash]

[Her nose wrinkles at the word science. Alchemy? That's... that's very old, isn't it?]

It doesn't look very science-y. How does it work?

[thebloodseal]

I can change things from one form to another. Watch... [Al places a small pile of salt in the middle of a completed circle, shaping it into a small cat statue.]

[flickerflash]

[She draws back a little cautiously at the appearance of the salt. But the resultant light show pulls her forward a bit to watch curiously, and what he chooses to make has her smiling in delight.]

What a much better use for salt! Do you like cats, then?

[thebloodseal]

Yeah, I do! Brother and I couldn't keep a pet because we traveled so much back home, but that didn't stop me from trying to sneak kittens every now and then.

[flickerflash]

[INSTANT FRAND.]

Did you ever get away with it?

[thebloodseal]

Never... Brother would always find out, or I'd feel guilty and put the kitten back where I found it. We never stayed in one place for along, so I knew it wasn't fair to try and keep them.

[flickerflash]

[Aw. :c]

You just need to find a travelling kitten who's willing to plot with you! I have a kitten who loves to travel.

[thebloodseal]

That would have been nice... I'd hate for the kitty to get lost or something, though. Or hurt- Brother and I ended up in fights a lot.

[flickerflash]

Who do you fight? Are you a knight?

[thebloodseal]

My brother works for the military, actually. Sometimes he's called upon to act as a soldier, and I help him, since I know how to fight and my body can't get injured the way flesh and blood can.

[flickerflash]

[She had thought he felt a little weird, but...

She squints up at his helmet.] You don't have a body?

[thebloodseal]

No. [Al slowly lifted his head, revealing that he was indeed hollow inside.] The problem with alchemy... is that it's not always good. There was an accident when Brother and I were younger, and my body disappeared. Brother sealed my soul to this armor so that I could stay with the living.