< A Deathly Vision | Sol Invictus Logs | You're Cute When You're Being Coy >
Varanim tracks down Zee's workshop and sticks her head in with her usual politeness. "You're not an idiot, are you?"
Zahara "Only when it comes to choosing friends, why?"
Varanim "Because I have a thing that needs doing, and you're the person in the area least likely to screw it up." She slouches in, a gleam in her eye.
Zahara sweeps some scraps of sharp metal off the nearest chair to clear it. They rain down on the floor with a rather pleasing ring.
Varanim chooses to regard that as an invitation to sit. "I need a mask," she says. "A really cool one."
Zahara leans back in her chair, toying with a chunk of white jade. "A mask you say?" She half-smiles, clearly finding this an amusing subject.
Varanim "I thought about a pair of floppy bunny ears instead, but it doesn't really work with the chakras." Varanim leans forward, pulling a folded and wine-stained piece of paper out of one pocket and spreading it out. It contains the outlines of a diagram, lines spreading out from a :| face in the center and snarling into a mass of Essence shorthand.
Zahara blinks at the diagram for a few seconds, eyeing the shorthand. "I'm afraid I don't quite speak your dialect here." She gestures to the snarl. "Given a few minutes I could figure it out I'm sure, but why don't you just explain what you mean it to do."
Varanim "This is mostly garbage, but the key points are here," she says, stabbing a finger down in a few places. "It needs to take the regular sensory inputs, shuffle them with the Essence inflow channels, and reinterpret using some kind of focal point. Also needs outflow channels, because otherwise I expect really sketchy feedback problems."
Zahara pulls out a clean sheet of paper and copies down the key figures and some of the more interesting minor lines in her neat hand. She jots down a few notes of her own. "Hmm I see." she raises a brow Orichalcum?
Varanim Zahara may, if she is reading closely, get the impression that parts of the diagram are missing--there are a few connections that seem to go nowhere, and a missing obvious node or two. Varanim spreads her hands on the question of material. "This is why I'm paying you the big bucks. Some of the inputs will be from Netheos, if that makes a difference."
Zahara "Netheos? Are you going to be using it in a shadowland?" She has noticed the missing parts, and is leaving them carefully empty for the moment.
Varanim "Hm, likely but not exclusively. I can already see the spooky side of things, so I want to pull that data in for the reassociation engine." A thought strikes her. "Oh, and it needs a rock socket somewhere."
Zahara "Like right in the middle, third-eye style? Or more like a fancy eye-patch rock"
Varanim "Eye-patch," Varanim says instantly. "That's WAY sexier. Chicks will dig me."
Zahara "What will Imrama say if all the chicks are drooling on you?"
Varanim "I dunno, probably something like this." Varanim does a passable imitation of a comatose drooling person.
Zahara snorts. "I'm sure." She taps one of the blind spots, "So what aren't you telling me about this?"
Varanim "I keep the still-moving parts of my notes in my head, usually. Saves on scratch paper." Varanim's expression is a mix of frustrated and fascinated, absent sarcasm for once. "I've considered a project like this before, but I'm not a builder. So can you do it?"
Zahara "Of course I can make it. But I'll need to use your eyes. It won't hurt, much."
Varanim lifts an eyebrow at Zahara.
Zahara gives her a "what?" look
Varanim "Despite my obvious disdain for violating the temple of my body, I could make a rare exception here. But only for a really sweet design, since it's a pretty key feature of this thing that I be able to take it off."
Zahara grins. "Actually, I was just kidding. But I might come up with something later that could use 'em if you want." She considers, "Has anyone you've loved died?"
Varanim "Neat," says Varanim without obvious irony, then she raises her eyebrows again. "Is this one useful, or are you just enjoying wasting my time because you realized it's my number seven least favorite thing?"
Zahara "Actually, this one is useful. To combine the view of Creation and Netheos I need something that ties them together metaphysically, to make it more effective. There are several options we could go with, of course. My personal favorite is using the tears shed when mourning the dead. You don't really seem much the crying type though, I guess, so if you want you can just think about them real hard while I poke you in the eye."
Varanim considers. "I could probably arrange something like that. Thinking hard is pretty much my thing."
Zahara rummages around in her drawers for a second, and pulls out a largish vial. "Here, take this and go somewhere private, see if you can get something genuine first. If it doesn't work, come back and we'll get with the poking."
Varanim "I think that line is at innuendo capacity, so I won't add more." Varanim takes the vial and heads out, spinning it between her fingers and whistling.
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