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It has never done anything wrong. In fact, none of the air in the patch has, even when it has been in other patches. It's so innocent.
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Rithka looks consideringly at the beads, and then goes and gets a wooden box that looks like it will possibly hold them all.
greatestgift
Sable helps scoop beads into box. They are all of an exactly uniform shape and size, little and perfectly round with a hole through the middle.
"These are perfect sewing beads," says Rithka. "How do you turn them colors? Will they be all mixed up? I could get more little boxes from when we bought cups."
greatestgift
"I have magic things to turn things colours," she says. "If you get little boxes I can do them by the little-boxful."
"Okay!"
Rithka goes and gets a dozen boxes. They will not individually hold all the beads; more like two thirds if each little box is brimful.
Rithka goes and gets a dozen boxes. They will not individually hold all the beads; more like two thirds if each little box is brimful.
greatestgift
Sable has to fetch her backpack; she rummages in it and comes up with a lot of tiny vials of liquid in various colours. Many of them raise the question of how a vial of liquid can even do that - the stable gradients, the stable split colours, the sparkle effects...
"Which ones do you want beads of?"
"Which ones do you want beads of?"
"Whoa, how are those... colors?" she asks, pointing at the weird ones.
greatestgift
"Magic, of course. Do you want to see what they look like on the beads? I can use them as many times as I want and they don't run out."
"Yeah. I might need more boxes."
greatestgift
"Let's see some of the weird ones first."
She picks up a vial of pale sparkling blue liquid and turns a little-boxful of beads pale blue and sparkly. They're very pretty - the pale blue is swirled with darker streaks, and the sparkle effect is made of little magical glints that fade in and out.
"That one is called Stardust," says Sable.
She picks up a vial of pale sparkling blue liquid and turns a little-boxful of beads pale blue and sparkly. They're very pretty - the pale blue is swirled with darker streaks, and the sparkle effect is made of little magical glints that fade in and out.
"That one is called Stardust," says Sable.
"Oh gosh," sighs Rithka.
greatestgift
"It's part of a set of five," she says, and picks out four more bottles to do four more boxes, naming each colour as she deploys it.
Nebula is a deep magenta with dots of white streaking across it like tiny shooting stars. The dots always travel upward, no matter the orientation of the surface.
Vortex is a dark green with paler streaks that always seem to swirl toward the center of the object no matter how you turn it.
Solar is a shiny, vivid orange-yellow with a faint pulsing glow.
And finally, 'Celestial' is a combination of all four: the background fades slowly from green to blue to purple to blue to green to yellow, glowing faintly all the while, and tiny points of light fade in and out as they chase each other across its surface in a slow whirling dance. It's a bit much, but in a pretty way.
Nebula is a deep magenta with dots of white streaking across it like tiny shooting stars. The dots always travel upward, no matter the orientation of the surface.
Vortex is a dark green with paler streaks that always seem to swirl toward the center of the object no matter how you turn it.
Solar is a shiny, vivid orange-yellow with a faint pulsing glow.
And finally, 'Celestial' is a combination of all four: the background fades slowly from green to blue to purple to blue to green to yellow, glowing faintly all the while, and tiny points of light fade in and out as they chase each other across its surface in a slow whirling dance. It's a bit much, but in a pretty way.
"These will make such pretty things," exclaims Rithka. "I bet Daddy will want you to dye more stuff."
greatestgift
"I can do that! Let's see, how about Midnight Rainbow next?"
Waves of intense colour sweep across a dark surface.
Waves of intense colour sweep across a dark surface.
"Wowwwww." Rithka is practically vibrating out of her skin with excitement. She turns into a sparrow for a closer, beady-eyed look at the colors and so she can hop from box to box.
greatestgift
It is so cute.
Sable dyes the remaining six boxes of beads in interesting named colours:
Shifting Sands is a shimmery pale yellow with a fast-moving pattern of lighter and darker sparkles.
Shifting Pearlsands is the same thing but slower, and pink with blue undertones.
Twilight is a dark, dark purple with a moving pattern of dim clouds and occasional bright starry sparkles. The whole boxful of beads presents a unified pattern; the violet-white stars seem to dance from bead to bead, darting between the drifting clouds.
Hades is a few shades darker than Stardust, and surrounds each bead in translucent ghostly white flames that entirely decline to catch on anything.
Living Ocean is a dark blue with slow waves of lighter blues and blue-greens.
Phase is dark grey with a fast-moving pattern of purple streaks that zoom all the way off the object's surface and keep going a little before fading out completely. Like Nebula's dots, they always travel up.
Sable dyes the remaining six boxes of beads in interesting named colours:
Shifting Sands is a shimmery pale yellow with a fast-moving pattern of lighter and darker sparkles.
Shifting Pearlsands is the same thing but slower, and pink with blue undertones.
Twilight is a dark, dark purple with a moving pattern of dim clouds and occasional bright starry sparkles. The whole boxful of beads presents a unified pattern; the violet-white stars seem to dance from bead to bead, darting between the drifting clouds.
Hades is a few shades darker than Stardust, and surrounds each bead in translucent ghostly white flames that entirely decline to catch on anything.
Living Ocean is a dark blue with slow waves of lighter blues and blue-greens.
Phase is dark grey with a fast-moving pattern of purple streaks that zoom all the way off the object's surface and keep going a little before fading out completely. Like Nebula's dots, they always travel up.
Rithka is fascinated. "This isn't even all the colors! I don't know where to find more boxes though!"
"Ummmm."
Rithka goes back inside. She comes out in squirrel shape, then shifts into her human form and with this change presents a vase, a jar that may have recently held some kind of spice, two mugs, and a flowerpot.
Rithka goes back inside. She comes out in squirrel shape, then shifts into her human form and with this change presents a vase, a jar that may have recently held some kind of spice, two mugs, and a flowerpot.
greatestgift
Sable fills these with magically colourful beads!
Blue Acid and Red Acid have a slow shifting light/dark pattern that moves outward from their apparent center in expanding circles; Pink Gel and Gel (which is dark blue) have a slow 'falling' gradient effect that seems to drip illusory colour onto whatever is beneath them, but doesn't actually stain the mugs; and Wisp turns the beads a bright, pale, faintly translucent turquoise that glows just the tiniest bit.
Blue Acid and Red Acid have a slow shifting light/dark pattern that moves outward from their apparent center in expanding circles; Pink Gel and Gel (which is dark blue) have a slow 'falling' gradient effect that seems to drip illusory colour onto whatever is beneath them, but doesn't actually stain the mugs; and Wisp turns the beads a bright, pale, faintly translucent turquoise that glows just the tiniest bit.
Rithka dashes back inside and comes out with soup bowls. They are, at least, clean.
greatestgift
Is Rithka's family going to miss any of these vessels?
Well, anyway.
Reflective turns the beads into tiny round mirrors that catch the light prettily. Purple Ooze is purple and oozy; its light/dark gradient effect moves in slow, slow arcs. Negative has an interesting effect on the transparent glass beads: now they seem to show a skewed version of whatever colours are behind them, turning light to dark and dark to light and green to purple. Living Rainbow is a more muted version of Midnight Rainbow, one colour flowing into another without any background in between. Shadowflame Hades is like Hades but bright violet. Shadow turns beads into little blots of perfect dark...
"Do you want any of this?" wonders Sable, pulling out a vial with a strangely jittery effect. "I brought it along for completeness' sake, but it hurts my eyes to look at it too long."
Well, anyway.
Reflective turns the beads into tiny round mirrors that catch the light prettily. Purple Ooze is purple and oozy; its light/dark gradient effect moves in slow, slow arcs. Negative has an interesting effect on the transparent glass beads: now they seem to show a skewed version of whatever colours are behind them, turning light to dark and dark to light and green to purple. Living Rainbow is a more muted version of Midnight Rainbow, one colour flowing into another without any background in between. Shadowflame Hades is like Hades but bright violet. Shadow turns beads into little blots of perfect dark...
"Do you want any of this?" wonders Sable, pulling out a vial with a strangely jittery effect. "I brought it along for completeness' sake, but it hurts my eyes to look at it too long."
"Just a little," decides Rithka.
greatestgift
She does just a handful of jittery beads - "it's called Void" - and then puts the jittery bottle away and, after thinking about it a little, pours Void into the slightly underfilled Shadow bowl. Amid the perfectly black beads, the jitter effect is substantially less painful to watch.
There are a few more colour variants of things she's already used, including an entire series of Reflectives - Copper, Silver, Gold, Obsidian (which is a dark shiny purple-black that only reflects faint hints of its surroundings), and a generic 'Metal' that looks most like black iron.
There are a few more colour variants of things she's already used, including an entire series of Reflectives - Copper, Silver, Gold, Obsidian (which is a dark shiny purple-black that only reflects faint hints of its surroundings), and a generic 'Metal' that looks most like black iron.
Rithka likes those a lot. "They match my hair," she says.