A Cut Above.

[Faith Augustin]

2nd Cylus, 717

It was fair to say that her Padraig knew how to make an entrance. As he put the bag down on the table then went and took off his coat and hat and scarf, Faith looked at him with interest. He'd come in, announced that he'd got a private commission and then moved with the kind of determined purpose that she hadn't seen for a while. Watching him as he shoved his gloves into his coat pocket, Faith gave a prayer of thanks to Vri for the love they shared.

"Well, a private commission is good. Well done." Faith looked at Padraig with a smile and then raised an eyebrow. "This involves me somehow?" He had a look on his face which she knew. He was pleased to have been hired to do this job, whatever it was, but there was also something else. "If it involves an obnoxious child, it isn't amusing or well timed, just so that you know. What do you need?" Even if it did involve an obnoxious child, of course, she would be more than happy to help and was quick to reassure him of such.

However, as he opened up the magic bag and started pulling out bolts of very beautiful cloth, what he might want her help with became slightly more obvious. "You've been hired as a seamstress?" Faith quirked an eyebrow and grinned at him then pulled herself up to standing. She was less awkward each trial in her movements and she was rested, too, which really helped. So, her movement to standing was much more fluid. "Are you going to make me something pretty to wear?" She couldn't quite help but tease him. He looked excited, pleased and she grinned at him. It was nice to be in the place again where they could tease each other. "Or are you pandering to my sudden desire for frilly things and lace?"

Still, teasing him would only last for so long before she had to try and be actually helpful. "What are we doing?" She asked and moved over to get her sewing supplies, which she put down on the table next to the growing pile of apparently random stuff. Her attention was mostly taken by the material, of course, as it was her trade and hobby, but as he pulled out one thing after another from the bag and then moved to get his chemistry kit, Faith frowned. "Have you met that strange woman Alex again? She had a thing for you, you know. I didn't like it one bit. Snorting at you like some kind of seductress, all fluttering eyelashes and appraising glances." Her grumbling was good natured, but then her head lifted and she checked with a much more serious expression on her face. "It's not her, is it?"

[Padraig]

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It might be that a private commission wasn't exactly what it was, though Padraig would have liked to believe so.

But the request had come through his boss at the apothecary where he was earning his wages for the season. The task would certainly benefit him, and them, no denying. But it was also a source of profit for his boss. What he achieved during his time there, if he achieved it, was also of interest to the shop.

His boss had supplied the materials he'd need or at least those he didn't have already, and he might in return receive a share of the profit. Mirror dust, chameleon, stone dust, just to name a few. And the interested party had herself supplied the fabric, and even a cloak of her own as an example to go by. "It does involve you, if you're interested?" he said while setting his things down and hanging up his coat.

"And no, not a single, sticky, bothersome kid in sight." They might thoroughly enjoy it in fact, working on this project together, side by side.

"I can't darn my own socks or put on a button," he reminded her with a chuckle as he began to empty his sack. "Turning me loose with a needle and thread wouldn't be wise. And no, not Alex," Padraig reassured her. "But the project is somewhat similar, and the client more agreeable. Or so my boss tells me." But also very discerning, which meant he'd need to get this right, or not do it at all.

So, the client was a local woman with more money than she knew what to do with, Padraig explained, even while moving into the study with the things he'd brought home. She wanted a cloak made from the fabric she'd supplied, and she'd even sent a finished cloak of her own, hoping for a similar design. But where he came in as an alchemist, was that she wanted a cloak that would keep her warm in winter, cooler in summer, and one that would change color in response to her other clothing or surroundings. "Still interested?" he asked with a smile.

[Faith Augustin]

"Always. You can assume I'm interested in most anything and interested in everything to do with you." Faith responded, doing what was best described as poking around in his stuff. His reminder that he couldn't darn a sock or put on a button led to a sidelong glance from her and a wry grin. "How did you manage before? Did you pay someone to darn your socks or just buy new ones?" They each had their roles in the relationship, and anything to do with needle and thread was most certainly her purview.

Apparently from nowhere, she looked up and asked, "Padraig? Once the baby has come and I'm able to. Can we go sledding? It looks very exciting and I love the idea of careering down a slope so fast. I've never done it and I'd really like to." The jump from sewing to sledding was entirely logical to her, although she recognised that perhaps it seemed random but that was fine.

Still, he explained the job and Faith's face showed her answer before she spoke a word. Her eyes lit with delight at the prospect. "Oh that sounds exciting! Let me see the cloak, please?" Looking at the piece, she cast a professional eye on it, considering the hems, the size of the seams allowed, how well the pattern matching had been done, that sort of thing. "This is good quality, Padraig. I can do better. Oh." She looked at him and her expression was slightly more shamefaced. "You see what I have become? I am growing fat and complacent and now, I am becoming a person with an overinflated ego. Freedom is ruining me." With a waggle of her eyebrows, she added, "But I could make it better quality. I will if you want me to? So."

Putting the cloak down, she nodded over to what he was doing. "This is going to require layering effects, yes? The heat, the cool and the changing of colour?" He was genuinely so much more advanced at this than she was that she had to have it explained in a straightforward manner. "For the colour change, how will they activate it? Like you did with the mirror, except that won't work will it. Come to that, how will they activate any of them? The temperature could be triggered by the ambient temperature, couldn't it? Below so much, above so much?"

Faith realised something suddenly and she grinned at him with pure delight on her face. Working together like this? It was simple to her. "I feel like I've come home. Come on then, how're we going to do this?"

[Padraig]

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"I bought new ones, of course," Padraig said with a grin, a shrug when Faith asked about socks that had come unraveled before she came into his life. As for missing buttons, depended on where the button was missing, he'd added. Sometimes he'd gone without. Otherwise he'd bought a new shirt.

Her request to go sledding however took him by surprise. She'd never mentioned it before and he couldn't imagine what caused her to think of it now. "You want to go sledding?" he asked, just to make sure while he was arranging what they'd need for the project on the small table. "I did it a couple times when I was a kid. If you really want to, we could build a sled. You're a good hand with carpentry and while I'm not an engineer, I'm sure we can come up with something." Now he thought about it, it did sound like fun.

The cloak, he handed over and watched curiously while Faith examined it. "Well of course you can do better, and I told my employer as much," he told her. "And since price is no object apparently and this woman had access to more money than sense, she wants the very best. And that's you." It helped of course that they could work together much more easily than he could have worked alongside a stranger. The process after all required both of them working at once. So yes, he told her. Make it better.

But yes, the enchantments would need to be layered, and it would need to be done at the same time the garment was taking shape. "The color change is an easier problem to solve," Padraig considered in the wake of her questions. "Mirror dust, yes, but it won't work in quite the same way as the mirror. In fact it's a simpler process, it will reflect color." But that wasn't exactly what the client wanted. Reflected color meant that the cloak was more likely to reflect the nature of its surroundings, rather than what gown the client might wear on any given evening.

"So I've got this to combine it with," he said, holding up a small bottle of powder for her to see. "Chameleon gland to pick up the most pronounced colors in her clothing, mirror dust to amplify it." That was an enchantment that wouldn't really need to be activated, it would occur more naturally.

The shifts from warm to cool would be trickier. "Stone stores heat or cold quite well, and amplified, any good stone might work. However, when it comes to activating it, that's one puzzle to solve. But it gets trickier still when you add the option of warmth, or cooler. Making sure that the two enchantments don't act in conflict with one another, or cancel each other out. Ideas?" he asked, wanting to hear her own thoughts on the topic.

[Faith Augustin]

Sometimes, the differences between their lives before they became so intertwined that it was impossible to determine where one ended and the other began were very apparent. Often, these differences were obvious but other times they snuck up in things like socks and buttons. Faith re-used everything, many of her clothes being made out of other items and the thought of just casually disguarding something was a complete anathema to her. "How the rich folks flaunt their socks," she teased.

With a nod of her head and a grin she confirmed that yes, she'd like to go sledding. "When I got the stuff for the crib, there were some children doing it." She'd seen them, thought it looked like fun but recognised that perhaps now wasn't the best of times. Her grin told of her delight, though, when he agreed and she nodded eagerly at the thought of making and designing them together. However, in the now they needed to get on with this job so she turned her attention to the cloak. That would be easy enough, relatively speaking. The fact that he had access to the money to get the best really made her job as a seamstress easier.

The alchemy though? There, they switched places in terms of skill; she could manage the equivalent of sewing a button on, alchemically speaking, but that was about it. She was at least correct about needing to layer enchantments, and she was pleased about that. In terms of the chameleon affect, that made sense and she nodded. The heat or cold, though, that was more tricky.

"Maybe..." Faith frowned slightly and held up her hand, showing her wrist with the tattoo like pattern on it from the blessing Famula had given her. It regulated her temperature, after all and it did it via her blood. That made her think that perhaps the thing to do was to look at it differently. "Maybe rather than trying to link it to the outside temperature, consider that comfort comes from an internal regulation of body heat and mimic that. I won't feel hot in summer, I regulate my temperature, inside. So, could we..." Faith chewed her lower lip for a moment, thinking. "Determine the optimal temperature which is comfortable, no matter the external conditions and have it make her that? So, rather than reacting to outside, it's keeping her constant. Also."

Lifting the cloak, Faith showed him that it was lined. "I could make the lining detachable, easily. Could you have it so that the cloak, the main bit of it keeps her at a temperature which is comfortable, but slightly cool, so she wears it in warm seasons, but then the addition of the lining raises that core temperature just a little so she feels snug?" She shrugged slightly, sure that it wasn't the right idea but it might lead to something which might be useful for him.

[Padraig]

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"And don't forget their buttons," Padraig teased her when she commented on his lack of skills with needle and thread. Of course the trade off was that he could, in a pinch, fix a leak in the pipes or re-hinge a crooked door.

"I sledded a little when I was very young," he told her then, in light of her interest in the pass time. "We could, between the two of, design and build the fastest sled around. A thing of envy. Then all we'd need is a good steep hill." Yes, it was a diversion. But diversions were good, and they were useful. Besides, things had been serious for quite a long time. A little fun was in order and he'd like to spend a lifetime providing her with experiences she'd never gotten as a child. Which every child should experience and many adults took for granted.

So, back to their project. "So we know how to create the enchantments for the color shift. Powdered in this case, layered into the creation of the cloak," he explained. "The mirror dust needs no trigger, and since chameleons shift color almost instantaneously, the gland extract needs no accelerant." Therefore, Padraig added, with a good binder to get them working together as one enchantment, the trigger and accelerants were already there. And in fact, would serve the same purpose for the layering on of the second enchantment.

Which was somewhat more complicated. Maybe. So, determine the optimal, comfortable temperature no matter the external temperatures, harness that and create the enchantment. It was a clever idea. Very clever, and he told her so. "If we were to manage that, then the lining oughtn't be necessary, would it," he reasoned. "Reptiles, like frogs and snakes, come equipped with somewhat of an ability to regulate their body temperatures. But only to the extent that they can survive the extremes. However in the case of freezing temperatures, they do that mostly by going into hibernation, suspended animation."

But, she'd mentioned Famula's blessing, and it got him to thinking. "You know, in alchemy, divine magic can be used as a very powerful reagent. Say, if one was to gain a sample from one of the Immortals themselves, like a strand of hair or drop of blood. You mentioned your ability to stay warm in the cold, and cool in warm weather, due to Famula's blessing," he reminded her. "That means that divine magic runs through your own bloodstream, would be present in your hair and so on."

If she suspected he was considering a little experiment, she'd be right. But, he was quick to add, "It's a cloak, not a living breathing, thinking thing. So if a sample was used to create a temperature regulating regeant was created, it's not very likely that cloak or its wearer would begin to see ghosts or experience any of the other gifts you've been given." Maybe she was curious too? Enough perhaps to provide a strand of her hair for the purpose of learning?

[Faith Augustin]

That the idea of going sledding delighted her was evident on her face and she leaned forward to kiss him. "I always think that's much more eloquent than my words. But I'd like that very much, thank you for pandering to my nonsense." It was nonsense, she knew, but equally it wasn't and he understood. In so very many ways, even taking into account how many things he didn't know about her childhood, he understood at what seemed like an instinctual level. Plus, it sounded like fun.

However, they had work to do and they agreed that yes, it was layering of two enchantments. The colour shift wasn't an issue and since it wouldn't need an accelerant or trigger, the binding, the mirror dust and the chameleon gland would be able to work together and it should be instantaneous, or close to. That was surprisingly straightforward and Faith looked at him in some surprise as she said, "Do you know, I think even I could do that. Can I help with part of it?" If he didn't want her to, though, she was quick to reassure him that it was fine either way.

When he said that her idea of regulating the temperature at a constant rather than responding to the external environment was clever she shook her head, dismissing it as obvious and something that he would have come to very quickly if he wasn't so busy trying to solve the bigger problem. He talked, then, about divine magic used as a reagent and how it could be utilised and Faith nodded her head, following what he was saying. Until, that was, she realised just what he was meaning.

Faith let out a sudden but very genuine laugh. "I've got magic hair?" Patting her head with a grin she looked at him as her laughter subsided. "I wish someone would tell it that as I struggled to make those ridiculous victory curls." With a chuckle, she shook her head, "it's the blood, that one. I regulate my blood, so it's my blood you'll need. Intention is everything, after all and that power is the blood. How much do you need?" She didn't seem at all concerned at the thought of him having some of her blood. The people in the Order took it during the pregnancy, after all, to check it. "I need to.. if I'm going to spill my blood, I need to dedicate it to Famula, to ask her blessing and do it in her name."

Faith considered then, her mind ticking over. "Does that mean that, for example, if someone was blessed by Moseke and could heal that you could utilise that power with their hair or blood? Padraig, could you make potions that you drink to heal someone or a genuinely healing salve which heals as you applied it?" The possibilities for this were enormous and so she gave him whatever he wanted, whether that be hair, blood or both and raised an eyebrow. "How are we going to test this?"

[Padraig]

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"Of course you can help with it," he said when Faith asked about the color shifting enchantment. "You can help with all of it in fact." He liked this idea of working together, though it was already a collaborative effort to a degree. But even more of one? Padraig was all for it.

He had all the ingredients he needed for that particular enchantment, he told her. Before he'd come home with his supplies he'd ground and purified them, so they were ready to be combined and applied to the garment as it was put together. As for the enchantment that would create warmth or coolness when wanted, he had with him what might work. But could be, there were much better options. Options that were fascinating, and that he was eager to try out and test.

Padraig grinned and nodded when she referenced her hair. "I guess in a sense you do. But if it's blood we need?" He hadn't been sure how she'd respond to the suggestion. But he shouldn't have doubted her interest, especially when she wondered about the possible use of other immortal sourced reagents to cure any number of ills. "I don't see why not," he responded, with greater interest of his own, now that she mentioned it. "I've been curious before," he admitted, remembering their experiences at the tomb of Treid.

"Do you remember, back at the tomb, when Xiur was killed? I was the first to stumble upon him after he'd been attacked. I stayed with him until help arrived. But ultimately it was another Immortal who resurrected him. But before that, I realized that my skin and clothing was covered in his blood," Padraig explained as he remembered that moment of indecision. Shrugging, he dug into his trunk and produced a small stoppered bottle that he handed her.

"It's a sample of Xiur's blood." And in spite of himself, he smiled a little. After all, the Immortal had been brought back to life. "I like to call it Hope in a bottle." So testing. What he'd suggest was that instead of beginning with the cloak and risking things not going as planned, that they might test the enchantments first on a patchwork kerchief she could put together with remnants of fabric? As she loosely stitched the sections together, they could melt the layers of the first, powdered enchantment into the cloth.

And then having acquired their sample of blood, purifying it and stabilizing it by combining it with a neutral oil and inert powder, they could layer on that enchantment as well. The mirror glass and chameleon gland came already equipped with the amplification and acceleration factors they'd need, and her blood ought come equipped with it's own trigger since she never had to think of remaining warm or cool enough. She just did.

So if she was agreeable? Then they could begin with her starting a kerchief, and him standing by with the first enchantment to be melted into the unfinished seams. The second, already prepared by then, he could then apply before she finished the kerchief completely.

[Faith Augustin]

Hope in a bottle? Faith looked at him and grinned, shaking her head slightly in amusement at his name for it. Her expression softened as she remembered and she handed it back to him. "It was the moment I realised I was in love with you." She spoke in a matter of fact tone, though the memory was both vivid and emotional. "On the roof, when I saw you burning." She smiled at him with a wistful expression as she recalled, "Whillst I quickly realise that what I was seeing was an illusion, I knew that what I was feeling wasn't. I felt utterly hopeless and then really angry. It's why I charged Lisirra. I had to put all of my feelings in to my hands and my hands weren't big enough, I wasn't strong enough to hold it all in, so I had to punch something."

It was a very vivid memory for Faith, that realisation that she felt how she did and yet could do nothing about it. She'd had to push it away, she explained, because she knew that at the end of it, she belonged to Tristan. At that point, she couldn't imagine that ever changing. If the trainers in Athart could bottle that torture, they'd use it, she had no doubt. "When did you know?" Faith asked, curiosity furrowing her brow.

The idea of the blood of a blessed individual being able to do such good was fascinating to Faith and she turned her attention to what they were doing. "Alright, I'll do that then. How much do you need?" If he said enough again, she wouldn't be amused, but she moved to her first aid kit and started pulling out equipment. This was a good thing to do, she knew, yet the blood made it significant in a different way to her. Blood was Famula's domain and it was to Famula that Faith prayed in that moment, dedicating this letting of blood to the Immortal she adored, in Famula's name. May she be a light in the darkness for the hopeless and the lost, as Famula was. May this blood serve the greater good, in Famula's name, she whispered, that she might serve in all things.

Inserting a kidnapper spider fang into a vein in her arm as she whispered her prayer, Faith didn't flinch at the pain, simply kept pressure on it whilst she attached the small vial and then clenched and unclenched her fist regularly in order to make the blood flow. When she had a small vial she removed the equipment, pulled out the spider fang and folded her arm shut, putting pressure on it. "There you go." Faith grinned at him and shook her head again. "Wimp," she teased but said no more than that.

She was quite happy to get to work on a patchwork kerchief. Sitting with the work in her hand on the table and him standing over, Faith explained each thing she was going to do before she did it, so he could tell her when he needed to be involved. Mark out the shapes, cut the material. As she seamed it together, he applied the first enchantment and she carefully made sure that she worked in a regular, rhythmic pattern. Her skill meant that she could go very quickly but she went at a speed determined by him to put the enchantment on just right. It was fascinating to work together like this and Faith smiled in delight. One bit of her wished she had the words to tell him just how much she loved this, and him, but then she knew with more and more certainty every trial that she didn't need to tell him. He already knew and was feeling quite exactly the same.

"Is it working?" Faith wondered, her voice betraying her delight and excitement.

[Padraig]

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"Then?" Padraig asked with a curious smile. "That was the moment you realized?" Somehow he didn't sound incredulous, considering the outrageous nature of that moment, but instead curiously surprised. And then his expression grew more serious. "I don't think I've ever been that angry myself. Or felt quite as helpless."

But when did he know? "I believed it from the first time I met you, though could never had admitted it," he told her. "Not to anyone, most primarily to myself. But the moment I knew for sure, strangely it was the same moment you realized. I looked at you hanging onto the edge of that tomb beside me, and saw you consumed by the most terrible things I'd ever seen." And it was also an illusion, but what he'd felt wasn't. Not in the least. And then the grin returned. "Very romantic moment, I'd say."

So, how much blood. He wouldn't tell her enough. This was her blood, after all, and not a sack of talc. "Just a few drops ought to do it, into this vial if you can," he'd said and handed her the thing. He didn't like looking, so was content to leave her to her prayers and dedications while she got him the sample that he'd need. And before they began work on the first enchantment, he'd take the time to create the second, by purifying the blood and other ingredients, reducing them to a powdered form that they could layer onto the first one.

So they worked side by side, her creating the kerchief and him stepping in to melt the color shifting enchantment into the fibers of the thing. He'd explain step by step what he was doing, and have her help when three or four hands were better than one. And when they were done? He picked up the kerchief and draped it over his own shoulder to see what would happen. Padraig was wearing a green shirt, some threads darker than others. And lo and behold, the kerchief changed color, having picked up the dominant color in from the closest available source.

"I'd say it works just as we've hoped it would. Would you like to try it?" he asked and handed it to her, curious to see how quickly it might change again when placed close to a different color scheme.