shellphones | [open]

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Type: Video
Sender ID: hasapoint (Lashan)
To: Public
Subject: waterproofing charms
Warnings: none!

[FIRST: You get a very close shot of Lashan's eye as she squints at her shellphone. We have here that double-doozy of a medieval and an old person and while she's pretty sharp, these devices are not intuitive to her.]

'S it working? The bead's glowing.

[aka 'the light's on'. The video pulls back a bit but like, it's still pretty close and the angle is unflattering. This whole thing feels completely unnatural to her and the lines between her brows are deepened in a frown.]

I'm Sister Lashan. I'm a lay sister, not a nun. I've made some charms for waterproofing. They're not well-tested though. If you help me with that I'll give you one. Want to know their tolerances and if I have to tweak anything before I start selling them. I'm on Elrut.

[yeah this has made her feel ridiculous and stilted. She prods at the phone with a finger.]

...How do I- [she found out how to end message! this was Not guaranteed.]

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Not to my knowledge. The wildlife that dwells in it has proven to be a rather effective deterrent.

[Alhaitham has no real opinions about swimming since its just something that needs to be done to get from point A to B. ~~The perils of being a character from an open world game.~~ He isn't fond of getting his clothes soaked though, but if these waterproofing charms work as well as claimed then that might soon be a thing of the past.]

Ergh. [Another of the reasons why she doesn't like the idea.] Well, you're the one going in.

So part of the use of these is that they've got to be sort of 'taught' what to work on by touching them to whatever it is first. They don't 'know' otherwise. They don't work as well on living things because that's better than if they worked too well and dried them out. You can see how that would be a problem.

[Alhaitham is indeed the one going in, and he can deal with one set of soaked clothing if that's what it takes to make this charm work the way its intended to. Which, considering what has just been explained to him, sounds fairly important.]

Yes. [He returns, without any other fanfare, seeing their destination coming into view now.] Is there anything else I need to keep in mind?

If your mouth or eyes itch, tell me.

[Lashan is fully confident that her waterproofing charms won't cause injury, but if her calculations are off one might dehydrate Althaim slightly, enough to irritate those wet, sensitive regions. She's working alone and with slightly different materials, in a place where the rules are different, and is too cautious to assume that won't make any difference.]

What do you want kept dry? Clothes, skin, hair, gear? I'm going to stand where I can see. After I give you one and show you what to do.

[There's a small hum and nod to her answer before he goes on to respond to her question back in turn.] Clothes and gear, mostly. We can focus on that if its the inorganic that's easier to work with.

[He can just dry himself out if its skin and hair so it should be fine... hopefully. Won't know until an attempt is actually made, but that's what this is for.

There's not much distance left between them and their destination now, so it only takes a bit more walking for them to arrive. It turns out to be a pound that's... maybe on the outskirts of a park? There may or may not be some sheep roaming about, but they're all far enough that it won't pose any sort of issue.]

[Ah, sheep. Lashan takes a second to look their way, having a mingled fondness and exasperation for such animals. These are bigger than the ones in her Sisterhood's herds or those kept by the clans, as she'd seen while warding off those flying sheep when she first arrived.

Anyway. She gets two talismans out and gives Alhaitham one, keeping the other and hooking thumb and finger through gaps. It's a circle of heavier wire with a letter-like shape made of lighter wire within, with four-ply wool thread wrapped and tied around and through it. It feels slightly heavier than it looks, but not by much.]

Here, to set it, you'll want to squeeze these two closer together, like this, and run it along what you want to protect. Let's say I wanted to keep my tunic dry, I'd do this.

[Lashan touches the talisman to her breastbone, dips it down almost to the hem, back up to the upper edge, down one sleeve and back, then transfers it to her other hand to run it down her other sleeve and back. The two elements that had been held together ease back apart into their previous configuration.]

Then you'll want to keep it on you or it'll wear off quickly.

[Alhaitham easily takes the talisman that'd been offered to him, and he studies it for a moment before he turns his attention over to her hands, gaze turning sharp as he watches what she does, also making sure to pay full attention to her words at the same time. That same level of attention persists when she goes on to demonstrate what to do, gaze fully affixed to the movement of her hands, only breaking when it becomes clear enough that she's done.]

Hmm. [A hum, mostly out of acknowledgement, and Alhaitham looks at the talisman in his hand for a second more before he follows after what has just been shown to him—holding the talisman in the same way as she'd done and then pressing it to his clothes to drag it across the fabric.] Do I simply have to keep the talisman on myself in some fashion? Or is there a specific way in which to do so?

Might have to stand on one leg to get your trousers and footwear, depends on how flexible you are. You can do it to things you haven't put on yet, too. I think of it as sort of painting these things with wax.

[Hard to say if it feels like anything's happened. Maybe a slight prickling in the wake of the talisman, but it's faint enough to possibly be imagination.]

I'm partial to necklaces but I don't think it really matters as long as it stays put. Things can end up falling out of pockets underwater, can't they?

[While there are certain things which Alhaitham is sensitive to, enchantments and such don't really count in that, so he doesn't really feel anything beyond the sensation of his own fingers pressing down into his skin through his clothing. Speaking of which...]

I see. [That kind of makes sense, though having said that he's going to make a note of doing his shoes last now. It's just better that way for everyone.] And they are reusable?

[That hasn't been addressed yet but given its material it does seem to suggest some manner of long term usage... and if not it would be a bit of a shame to see these things discarded so soon.]

They are, but they'll come to pieces eventually and won't be good for anything then. I have the feeling full immersion and salt water will wear them out faster, and being damaged does that too, so make sure you check.

[she folds her heavy forearms over her chest, thinking back.]

My aunties taught me how to etch or stitch that word into things. The stitch would break or the lines would fray when it was exhausted. But we always put these things on the inside to keep them safe so that meant if you forgot to look...

[Reusable to a degree, then. Not the most ideal, but its better than the alternative of needing a new one every other time, he supposes. Far be it from him to comment on such a thing anyway, given how useful this will be if it does work.

He hums again as she continues to speak, crouching down while this goes on in order to run the charm down his legs over his pants on the front as well as the back, ending with his shoes.]

—if you didn't check then you could pick up the wrong one, I suppose.

[He surmises as much once she'd mentioned putting words onto things. Naturally, when you tuck it into something else then it only makes sense for the carving to be hidden, and from there its simple common sense.

He finishes rubbing the charm all over his clothes and then straightens back up, making sure to tuck the charm into his pocket. It should be safe enough in there, seeing as how snugly they fit on him. A brief dip shouldn't do much, especially if this charm works as well as it claims to do so. But with that in mind...]

Is there a time limit for how long it lasts?

[Yes he doesn't want to get his clothes wet here, but they're going to have to be able to be washed, and that requires them to be able to get wet.]

Or else you might not notice it was broken and then you'd have to get blood out of your gambeson the old fashioned way.

[she's talked about this being for rain, and that is a major feature, but there's a lot of uses for a waterproofing charm.]

Do you mean... ah. If it's more than a few feet away the effect wears off pretty fast.

[he's not rubbing at his eyes or nose so she's going to assume that if they're drying, it's slowly enough not to be too big of a deal.]

[There's a brief blink and glance at that first bit, but Alhaitham doesn't let himself linger on it since it doesn't really pertain to the conversation at hand. But its certainly something that he's going to keep in mind.

He nods though on getting the answer to his question, patting his pocket one more time to ensure that the charm is there, then turns to the pond and starts making his way over. Since the application is done he sees no other reason to hold it off—time to see if this works as well as it claims to do so.]

[Lashan posts a fist on her hip and settles back to watch. A pond isn't enough to stir that dread she has of the sea, of course. She's going to have to work on that.

It will be a little hard to tell if it's working, because the water will still wrap coolly around him and waft cloth about. But while there's still the sense of cold the fabric he's wearing won't darken or wick or grow heavier, and it takes longer for the water to actually reach his skin, infiltrating through gaps like between shoe and pant leg. And any fabric that has touched water comes out dry, with the water streaming off and beading on it, like the back of a duck.]

Well?

[Stepping into the water is very much a strange experience—one that Alhaitham will examine after and find himself unable to decide what he really feels about it besides 'different'.

Until then, he mostly lets it pass through him, even taking a breath before he goes to fully submerge himself underwater for a few moments just to really test things out. At the very least the one part about having returned to Sumeru for a year is that he's no longer as affected by his near drowning experience at Norhpip... a trip to Fontaine to swim in their lake certainly hadn't hurt either.

But all in all, Alhaitham doesn't linger for too long in the lake before getting out of it, and its really only then does he feel the difference. Since he didn't have the charm on any part of his actual body he can very much feel the water on his skin, but there's not so much as a lick of it on his clothes. He even wrings out some water from his thoroughly soaked hair onto his hand just to be sure, only to see for himself how it easily slides off the material of his glove.]

It works. [He says as much as he glances back up to her, gathering more water into his hand that he lets fall off just to demonstrate again.] Much better than I expected too.

[He wasn't sure how the parts of his body that are covered by his clothes would fare, but since they're all rather skintight he doesn't really feel anything having soaked through at all. The full effects might be better observed on Kaveh in that aspect, but even then its hard to find any fault in it.]

[Lashan nods, unsurprised.]

It's a talent I worked long and hard to cultivate. Pressing a spell into something and making it actually, flexibly applicable for someone else, that is, not dryness. This is just something for food and, regrettably, rent.

[If he wants to ask what other spells she can do this with - well, some come easier than others.]

Mind you, I expect salt water will be more taxing on it, but I'm sure I can sort things out.

[Alhaitham hadn't thought too much of the idea of other spells, really; at this point he's just taking in whatever has been said to him as it comes. And truthfully he's also the last person to really pry, even if the possibility comes to him. He's never been on to press others on what they're unwilling to share unless the circumstances deem it necessary.]

Taxing on the material, or the power of the charm itself? [He inquires at the second bit. It's hard to imagine why salt water would be so different seeing as they're both still water in the end, but he's hardly the expert here.]

On the charm's power. It's only got so much strength, see. Each application uses up some, and whatever the reason, it holds up longer against sweet water. I imagine seawater's not as bad as blood, but there's a sort of corroding effect to salt.

I really want to get an idea of how long these could be expected to last before I start turning them out to sell. Reputation's important. Overpromising doesn't get a lot of repeat customers.

[Alhaitham would be lying if he said that he isn't intrigued by the exact nature of whatever powers these charms, especially after hearing that explanation. Exactly what kind of powers are these, that they could be affected by a difference between salt and freshwater? Not even the Hydro Vision users back in Teyvat were ever affected by something like this, as far as he's aware. Most intriguing indeed...

With that sort of mystery before him, Alhaitham sees no reason as to why he shouldn't keep up this arrangement. Maybe whatever he gets to glean from here may help with his own things in some form or fashion.]

Of course. [He says, nodding.] If you're willing, I do not mind holding onto this and keeping track of its use, including when its no longer effective.

Please do. If you can tell me roughly how many times you've gone and immersed yourself when it frays that will be informative.

I've made ones that lasted three quarters of a year against rain, sweat, and battle, and ones that only lasted half that but those were messier times. It's not an exact art, unfortunately.

[it can be, magic in Velgarth can be broken down and analyzed with scientific precision, and when it is she - or, well, the thing that has her soul and values - will keep up, but that won't happen for a long time yet.]

[Alhaitham sees no problem with this request, especially after the subsequent explanation, so he nods again in acquiesce.]

Is the difference between regular water versus salt water the only thing to look out for? Or is there anything else you are unsure of.

[Might as well see if there's anything else that can be done, since they're already here.]

It seems there's a lot of types of magic here that I'm not familiar with. It might interact with things I make, or it might not.

Do you have any charms or talismans?

[Alhaitham hums at the answer, easily acquiescing to her point. He's been here for quite a while now and it is still fairly fascinating how the abilities of other worlds work.

At her following question, Alhaitham is about to open his mouth to shoot off a quick 'no', only to pause and consider for a second. In most other cases he would not call a Vision a 'charm' of any sort, but its also not inaccurate considering he does need his close by in order to use any of his abilities, so...

He'll make it down as a 'maybe' for now.]

I suppose Visions work in a way that could fall in line with those things. [He shrugs his left shoulder forward as he says that, allowing the Vision that hangs there to dangle forward, Dendro gem shining a brilliant green as it catches the sunlight.]

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