Supply and Demand [Hozxi]

[Sivan]

Zef was ignoring them now, remembering his younger days, perhaps. Sivan followed the Mortallen and leaned up against the wall nearby so he could converse, but also keep an eye on the door lest someone enter and also need his assistance.

"Ah, yes." He considered. "If you bring in your wares, I can purchase them from you in the event Master Jacun isn't present. I can't guarantee prices until I've seen the quality and all, but once you have developed a working relationship with the shop, it's likely he can tell you how much of any given thing he might need and how often. Of course, if you are bringing exceptionally high quality or rare reagents, he will want to oversee the exchange. He trusts me, but there are limits." Sivan offered a little smile at that.

"We move dragonshards quickly," he continued. "Herbs, raw metals, and such. Also, if there's ever anything you can't sell here..." He nodded meaningfully toward Zef. "The Tower of Lore likes to stock up on things, as well. They do a lot of business with Master Jacun and he with them, but we don't always know what the other is out of unless we ask.

"Do you have any samples with you at the moment? Or would you like to set up an appointment to bring your wares by? I can give you some idea when Master Jacun would be here if you prefer to work with him. I would not be offended. I am but an apprentice. And, as I said, there are things I can do without his express permission, but some things would require his presence." He paused. "And you never know... you might have something I need for a personal project and I might buy it from you directly for a better price."

[Hozxi]

"I have one thing."

She reaches into her satchel. From underneath a few personal effects, she draws out a small phial. Small by giant standards. It would fit evenly in the palm of Sivan's hand. A dark black liquid sits inside. Pitch black. It is hungry for light.

"Shimmeroil, from the extract of glass pears."

Uncorking the bottle, the room is filled the the aroma of a fresh rainfall, the smell of a crystalline lake's vapors, a pleasant but very subtle odor. Hozxi pulls a cloth from the same satchel, a very rough looking washcloth with several dark black stains, almost like ink were it not for the way the cloth had stiffened at the spots where it was stained.

Pouring some of the shimmeroil on the cloth is tricky, for as soon as the oil leaves the phial, it turns from black to... well, it's hard to say, because it vanishes. It vanishes for those who rely on sight, but for those who See, it is aether manifested and controlled.

The cloth where it pools gains a hole. One can peer right through the spot as if the washcloth had been cut, but without the tattered edges of a fabric knife's handiwork.

Hozxi takes the cloth and rubs the outside of her teacup. As the oil transfers, the cup is banished from sight, leaving only the tea inside as a brown fluid suspended in air. She takes the cup and sips again. The cinnamon stick shifts around the bottom of the cup and sediment scatters. The tea leaves the cup, but returns to its resting place as Hozxi's hands right themselves and one assumes the cup levels off.

"I would be grateful for any work Master Jacun may offer." She pauses, her smile evidence that if Sivan wanted work, she would also be more than willing to help. The man was growing on her. His polite smile presses her to desperately know what more he has in his arsenal than the orbs of element and the meek manners of an apprentice.

"The Tower... well, I have met few Circle mages." Fewer still that she would want to deal with personally. Each was barely accountable to their own passion projects, much less for their contracts for work from non-Circle alchemists.

[Sivan]

"Interesting," he said slowly after her demonstration. He looked to her lips, but they remained. Apparently there was either a time frame in which the shimmeroil could effect this change or it had been diluted enough that by the time it reached her lips, there wasn't enough to effect the change. He didn't reach for it; magic was dangerous, especially magic one didn't understand. In order to better understand it, he opened his senses through his rune and could feel the aether of the objects unchanged except for a definite shimmer.

He didn't know if that was how the thing had gotten its name. Semblance was a little different for everyone as different minds tried to translate what it sensed through the rune. And while he thought he recognized the resonance of that same rune from her, but he didn't think he could sense the sort of glamour that came with Masquerade, though there was plenty of magic that was beyond his ken for all his years of study.

"We do not have that in stock," he admitted. That meant Master Jacun was likely to want a steady supply of it if it wasn't something someone could easily get around here. "What is your wholesale price for that?"

Sivan wasn't much of a negotiator, though he knew he ought to be if he was ever going to be his own master and look to his own needs entirely. But Jacun had told him at least that if he saw something new, he ought to get a sample of it for them to study. He figured he could pay what the merchant asked, and if Jacun told him he had been scammed, then either he wouldn't get reimbursed, or he would get to observe Jacun more masterfully negotiate with this large woman and learn a thing or two about business that way.

[Hozxi]

"Wholesale? Of my own choosing? I might be able to part with it for..." Hozxi puts the cup in her hands back down on the table, and with her hands free once more, her left thumb comes to rest squarely over her lips.

"Two hundred fifty a phial. The common man would pay more, surely, but you are willing to buy it in bulk, yes? And sell it in kind?"

Anything less than four hundred was a steal, to be sure. Between the cost of importing the pears and working at the cauldron to distill them the amount she proposed would just about cover expenses and provide a small surplus at the same time. The value here was not in the cash, but in the market access, the goodwill between mages, and the second part she was getting to.

"I would also ask to make myself useful for those things that are in stock. I guarantee once I have seen a thing made I do not forget."

The intricate design of lotus flowers painted on the teacup on the table begin to slowly fade back into vision. That was the symptom of a budding alchemist; that for the time being, she had little control over the half life of the concoctions in her "workshop" on the waterfront, ramshackle as it was. She needed tools. Training. Time.

Those things were for sale at the right price. All it took was a wink and a smile.

"For you, I offer this partial phial as my payment for the tea and the companionship, and for Master Jacun to judge my efforts. The tea was good." Her thumb comes away from her lips, and she shakes her head gently. "Not good as payment in the future, I'm afraid."

Her topaz eyes lock with Sivan's. The man in front of her was a mage first and a businessman second. What an order of things, to be talented before being savvy.

[Sivan]

"We do purchase wholesale and if we sell wholesale, there is a small markup to cover our expenses and make it worth our while," he admitted. That was just doing business. He used the plural, though it was really all Master Jacun's. He was just a student and a worker bee in this little hive. All the same, his mind was turning over the mathematics, though of course, his master was the one who would know whether it was a fair price and how much he could stand to mark it up for wholesale or retail.

There was a light of curiosity in his eyes, though. He wanted to know more about glass pears now, and how to distill them down into this marvel of alchemy.

"In that case," he said, chuckling and heading back to the kitchenette, keeping the Mortallen in his line of sight so as not to be impolite, "I will fix us a pot." He went through the motions again, magical and mundane, pouring the boiling water into a teapot. He brought the pot, a cup and saucer for himself, and a little plate with a bit of several fixings back to Hozxi's table. He sat.

"No, coin in future," he promised, "unless you and Master Jacun work out another deal. If you want him to teach you some processes, I am sure he will." There would be a cost, of course. Nothing was free. Nothing should be free. Nature sought equilibrium. One had to give and take in equal measure in order to maintain that balance.

"I do a lot of the minor work for him, but there are times when he is overbooked with custom work and we burn the midnight oil to meet his deadlines. In times like that, I can see him contracting work out to you, though you will have to persuade him. I was... lucky, I suppose. When my old master died, he sent me here with a letter of recommendation and that was enough for Master Jacun to take me on as his apprentice. I would not say that he is fickle, but he is mysterious. He does respect competence, however. So if you can prove that, he is likely to do business with you."

He offered a small smile.

[Hozxi]

"I have no letter of recommendation. I barely have the writs I need to keep from being expelled from the city," she comments, frowning not at Sivan but inwardly. Hozxi's bitterness was evident. Her hand hovers over the small fixings until settling on what appears to be a square of chocolate and some local nuts (walnuts? almonds? tree nuts?) and lifting it off the plate and towards her mouth. She says a small prayer before biting in.

"Competence, though. I believe I have that through and through. Whether or not I possess much luck remains to be seen. I would hope it matches your hospitality."

Hozxi smiles, but in the corner of her eye, she sees herself in the reflection of the window. A smudge of brown resides on her face, and she wipes the chocolate from the corner of her mouth with the knuckle of her index finger and regards it. Gooey, despite having been baked hours ago. Given what she heard before-

"This is not Jacun's work. You said before that he is no baker, and yet I can feel myself willing to take another of these squares. Someone else baked them. Whomever that is has some spark of Ysa in their fingertips."

She sets the square down and uses some of the freshly brewed tea to wash her throat clean before returning her piercing gaze to Sivan.

"Your old master is dead? I am sorry to hear of this. Was it recent, or have the shifting sands of time covered the ache at his memory with their dunes?"

[Sivan]

Sivan smiled, pleased at the compliment, even if it was possible the Mortallen was just trying to butter him up for his recommendation. He wondered if his word would amount to much in Master Jacun's estimation. The man had taken him on his old master's word, but he didn't seem to regret that. Perhaps Sivan was a decent apprentice. Both his masters were accomplished men and neither had turned him out on his ass. But then, he didn't want to think too highly of himself; pride was the precursor to ruin as many of his ancestors had found out the difficult way.

"Yes, my master passed away while we were touring the Free Cities. He was old and wanted to see more of the world again before his time. It was sad, but not unexpected. I should have expected it more, I think, but I did not want it to be true. This was a year ago in Ash. I found my way to Kalzasi and came to be Master Jacun's apprentice early in Frost. And here we are."

As for the treat the Mortallen was enjoying, he just smiled with what he hoped was a bit of mystique. Zef snorted into his tea, but looked pleased with himself. The regular was a talented baker and confectioner, and Sivan was trying to figure out a diplomatic way to persuade Jacun to let him provide those and stick to tea and alchemy.

"I will share your sample with Master Jacun," he promised. "If you would like to make an appointment to come back, you and he can discuss terms for future purchases and the possibility of an apprenticeship if that is something you truly wish. He might then want a demonstration of your skills in his workshop, to see what you are capable of and whether you have good habits—I was lucky that my previous master had instilled care and attention to detail into me with my artificing, so he was satisfied. And I'm sorry... I did not catch your name for the appointment."

[Hozxi]

"So you are, for all intents, an orphan. This shop and its master are your Tribe."

Hozxi nods with contemplative steadiness. Her eyes close to show respect for the dead, and they open to meet the living. She catches the snort in the background. So it was the old man. It was good to have something that ingratiated one with strangers, and if it was not manners or common courtesy than baking was an acceptable supplement. Her mother used to remind Hozxi that the easiest way to a man's heart was through the mouth and around the stomach. Hozxi had taken it in her youth as a literal lesson in anatomy. In a sense, it was true either way one took it.

"Thank you. I would be eager to make an appointment to return. Should he require a demonstration," she adds, shifting in her seat to find room for her legs to exit the table, "then all I ask is some notice in writing to allow me to prepare my own reagents. I can provide you with the address for a courier."

Hozxi sets her plate and saucer down. The day was passing and despite her very strong desire to stay with this polite man and his sweets Hozxi knew that many more chores had to be completed before sunset. She pulls a small piece of charcoal and some bamboo paper out and scrawls a direction to the waterfront.

"My name? Oh, a thousand apologies, I did not mean to show disrespect. I must have been caught up in asking questions that I did not answer them. You may call me Hozxi, as that was the name my parents gave me. In the common script it uses an 'x' unlike an 's' but you pronounce it softly."

She pushes the side of her mouth tightly against her chin. It was not a name that flowed like Sivan. It was righteous and Tallenese and rather hard to spell.

"I will come again soon for more tea, Apprentice Sivan. Peace be upon you."

[Sivan]

"Ah, I don't know about that," he said hurriedly, coloring slightly. "I respect Master Jacun, but I don't see him as... Well, my previous master was more of a father figure, I suppose. I have made a few friends here, though, unexpectedly. Orphans, as you say. Perhaps they would be my Tribe if pressed. Certainly, I would miss them were I to leave."

Sivan still felt like an outsider in Kalzasi; perhaps he always would. There had never been a place he felt truly at home, except perhaps traveling with his master and IX the Awoken. And now IX was one of those drifters, though it drifted in its own mechanical dreams until such time as he could figure out what was wrong with its mechanics.

Taking the paper, he perused it before setting it down and nodding.

"Hozxi," he said in a decent approximation of the Tallanese. It wasn't perfect, but he was a polyglot and so he was used to working his mouth around unfamiliar sounds. "I will send a courier tomorrow afternoon with an appointment with Master Jacun. You needn't reply unless you can't make it." He rose to offer a slight bow of respect.

"Pease be upon you as well," he said, a hand coming up to echo the sentiment in the gestural part of Rivach.

Zef watched them as Sivan escorted Hozxi to the door, lips pursed thoughtfully. He sighed and looked out the window to watch the Mortallen leave. The only constant in life was change, it was said, but whereas he used to welcome it, now it made his old bones ache. Perhaps he would come to an understanding with her as he had with young Sivan, who had come to understand that he wasn't awful under his gruff demeanor.

Sivan returned to check on him and to clean up after the impromptu tea with the foreign alchemist. He smiled one of his understated smiles and Zef couldn't help himself; he smiled back.

[Jane Farraway]

Your Review

Hozxi

Lores:
Semblance: Feeling Light, as it Bends
Alchemy: Combining and Coercing Properties
Etiquette: The Proper Way to Take Tea
Negotiation: Quid Pro Quo
Business: The Sample is Free
Divination: Planned Serendipity
Semblance: The Tangent of Two Wells
Alchemy: Working with Distillery
Herbalism: Prophylactic Ointments
Business: The Margin of Profit
Appraisal: Knowing What Sparkles
Etiquette: A Tinge of Vallenor Courtesy
Alchemy: Inspecting Ingredients
Alchemy: Proper handling of potions

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Exp: 1exp Semblance, 7exp non-magical

Sivan

Lores:
Artificing:
Drawing Plans
Recalling Old Lessons
Schematic: Lure Well
How to Make a Wooden Golem
Persuading Aether
Calculating Dimensions
Figuring Out Which Pictographs to Use
Use of Blood
Use of Latent Aether
Use of Dragonshards
Choosing the Best Shard for the Job
Imagining New Uses for Pesticyte

Business:
Offering Refreshments
Offering Service
Making Notes for Commissions



Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Exp: 3xp non-magical, 4xp Artificing, 1xp Summoning

Comments:

The interactions between these two mages felt very genuine in their mutual interests and I can see a lot of potential between Sivan and Hozxi as business partners and fellow alchemists. The way in which you both describe your characters' actions and observations is immersive in building the setting of the understated yet still very magical shop.

Sivan: After writing almost exclusively in Zaichaer, it was so refreshing to see some creative uses of magic with Sivan's summons and his drafting. The way you described his process of studying Artificing really breathed life into the art, however it felt a little rushed to have it all within one post. Something as involved as that deserves to have its own solo so it can really shine, but you definitely made every word count when describing his craft.

Hoxzi: I think Hoxzi is an intriguing character and watching her operate within her element is very entertaining. She has a mysterious air that makes me want to learn more about her, however I could not award you some of the lores or experience you requested. This decision was corroborated by staff. You did have 2 additional lores that could be claimed, so I decided to give you two based on Alchemy related actions that Hoxzi displayed within the thread, however it does not go towards experience.

Many of the lores you requested were for things that happened outside of the thread, such as Hoxzi's past experiences and her creating Shimmeroil. For this reason, magical experience for Alchemy could not be given since magic must be actively studied or used in the thread to receive points. As for Semblance, it was not exactly clear when Hoxzi was using magic and for what purpose; I got the sense that she was using it to look at the potion and perhaps some ingredients, but aside from that it was very ambiguous. Being more descriptive with her use of Semblance, perhaps how she experiences or sees it, would help to clarify and give flavor to her actions. Clarifying the wording for your lores would also help, as it was at times difficult to understand what was being requested in relation to the text, such as "The Tangent of Two Wells".

In regards to Shimmeroil, staff decided that a PC would have to be at least Journeyman in Alchemy to create what was described in the thread. Using it as flavor is acceptable, but if Hoxzi wants to utilize this potion in play then it needs to be submitted in the Community Development forum and put under staff review. This includes the steps, ingredients, and cost used to make it. Glass Pears would need to be submitted as well, since their rarity/cost might affect this. Even beyond this, I think that creating submissions for these objects would be worth doing if only to share your ideas with other players. The way in which you described them both was very vivid and would make excellent contributions to the community.

I know this is a lot to take in, but if you take issue with any of this, please feel free to come to me or speak with staff if you don't agree with these comments or want to make any edits to your lores or post.

Thank you!