"Those of us present here are mostly here to learn whatever we can be taught, dear Beatrix; we would like to prioritize learning of magic, but have no strong preferences otherwise save that we likely should speak to Certu about what he prefers in minions."

"...When it comes to long-term planning that's mostly her job.  Ooh, what are you - oh, right, fungus with some herbs for flavor.  ...Or possibly tentacle."

Myria then realizes what she just said, and blushes just a bit.

"That whole thing is probably not ever going to get any less itself, no matter how many years go by, is it?  I mean.  You'd know, I presume?"

"Hm, he doesn't really do the...minion thing. He has employees, but you can stop working for him when you want. I can too, but we have a close relationship, so I'm not going to. And yes, that's pretty much what I have for lunch most days."

She blushes too, and angles her face away a little.

"Nope. Still the same. Tentacles are tentacles."

She leaves for an hour to go eat, and then knocks on the door to Myria's room afterward.

("'Minions' was a hyperbolic overstatement, anyway; if there's something sapient involved we've done something wrong.")

The faint buzzing sound audible through the door stops, and there's an indistinct agreeable noise that could be "in a minute!"; a few minutes later, Myria's able to open said door, blushing just a bit.

She waits patiently for the door to open.

"Hello again, Myria, Beatrix. Certu said he's ready to talk to you now. If you're ready, we can go down to the basement to meet with him."

"That seems quite reasonable," comes Ophelia's voice from a still-wobbly Myria's lips.  "I've done what work I can without that input already, as has Myria."

She leads them down two flights of stairs to a room in the basement. She opens it, and it's a wide open space that's pink and fleshy. The moment the door opens, however, chairs appear in a U-shape, with a box in the 'center'. The center has a mouth.

The mouth speaks!

"Hello, Myria and Ophelia. I would normally communicate by telepathy since you are fine with it, but this is easier if there are multiple people. I only have to speak once. Beatrix has told me about your plans. I would love to talk more with you about organic machines, or magic tutoring. Which one would you like to discuss first?"

Ophelia - it is clearly Ophelia operating this body, just from the way she moves, it's a strikingly controlled, poiseful set of motions, contrasted against Myria's almost-cartoonish springy exuberance - sits that body in one chair; another Myria turns up from somewhere to seat herself as well.

"I think the organic machines go first because that would impact availability-for-tutoring?  And we can already do any magic, anyway?  Whereas organic machines aren't something you'd be able to do yourself?  I'm guessing you don't have flesh or blood magic, because I would have turned to 'create bundles of instincts' were I in your position with the magic I have."

"I do have flesh and blood magic. I use it on Beatrix to prevent her from aging. However, I admit that I haven't done much experimentation on it. The thought simply hadn't occurred to me before now, but now that you mention it, it makes total sense. I have always associated that form of magic as being about enhancement to sapient beings, when really, I should treat it as an organic equivalent to metal magic. And yes, it would make it easier for me to tutor you if I need to spend less...thought managing things, although it is not a strict requirement. I've tutored others before in this state. 

Beatrix told me you have all the runenodes available to you, does that apply to flesh and blood magic too? Do you know how to use it? If you don't, then I can tutor you in it. It's harder to practice with it, since it requires something alive, but we can work on thoughtless lumps of flesh to start."

"Yes and not-anywhere-near-well-enough respectively, though Ophelia has greater intuition for it just based on...intangible and unquantifiable vibes."  (And probably something about her character archetype supporting it, Myria doesn't say.)

"Neither of us have cast a flesh magic spell before."

Beatrix leaves her chair and then moves to a far corner, where she sits instead. A chair materializes for her.

"...I'm reasonably certain that there's enough - implanted procedural memory - that we aren't going to somehow give anyone all the cancers just on accident by casting.  If that's something worrying anyone."

Certu also moves his speaker-mouth-tower.

"I would normally have tutoring be done in the magic workshop, but for flesh magic, it's easier to do it here. I'll produce some flesh for us to work with. Give me a moment."

Slowly, a cube of pinkish slightly wriggling flesh starts to rise from the fleshy floor. The whole process takes a minute.

"There we go. This cube of flesh is separate from my body, so I cannot work it directly. We'll start with basic shaping. The sensations are similar to working with other materials – I assume you've used other elemental magics before – although flesh is harder. It moves unpredictably, at least at first. After you work with it for a while, you get intuition for where it's supposed to wriggle.

Cancer isn't an issue. You would need remarkably fine control, or do something requiring that and fail, in order to give someone cancer. The riskier part is moving flesh in a way it's not supposed to, and ripping apart organs or something. This is what makes flesh magic harder than other forms of magic. You necessarily must work with something alive. It's fortunate that I can remove lumps of flesh from myself, though. There's no risk to myself in the case you harm this cube."

He creates several meter long tentacles from the speaker tower.

"I'm more familiar with the tentacleperson way of casting, which involves no words and only gesturing. However, I'll teach you the humanoid form, which assumes you only have two limbs available for casting, and are able to speak. The rune for blood is Vol, and the rune for flesh is Lem. Let's begin by practicing making the cube grow and shrink. Beatrix told me that you've been casting spells based on pure mana control! That is very impressive. It's much easier if you chant while doing it, though, and for flesh magic, it's best to make things as easy and safe as possible."

His tentacles make a whipping motion, and he says "Volchirr lemhin." The cube grows with a squishing sound.

"Hin is the mode for growing. It is one of the two modes native to flesh magic. If you have mana control, which I believe you do, you can adjust the way it grows. Volchirr lemhin." The tentacles make a different motion, and a smaller secondary cube appears on the top of the first cube.

"Pes is the mode for withering. Volchirr lempes." The cube disappears, and a divot appears in the first cube.

"Try playing with the cube to get a feel for it. Actually, can Ophelia cast magic as well? If she can, I can create another cube for her to work with."

"I am capable of casting independently, but we shall save that sort of practice until we can reliably cast together."

"We'll begin whenever you're ready, Myria, which is now."  (There is something stirring inside her...)

And Myria spreads all four of her arms wide like she's a conductor, closes her eyes (for entirely psychosomatic reasons), and intones the magic words, as Certu commanded: "Volchirr lemhin."

And so the flesh grows; it in fact grows more tall than long, and Myria even manages to smooth out the existing divot, with a very tense handwiggle.  She thinks that's pretty good, really.

"Volchirr lempes," on the other hand, she has a much more deft hand with, even starting out; then again, it's almost always easier to destroy than create.  She's not incredibly surprised, there.

"What's the list of known runenode command words, anyway?"

"I advise not closing your eyes when you cast, since you ought to see what you're doing. For a first try, it is very good work! Usually, it takes more time for people not to either do nothing or destroy the cube entirely."

He pauses for a minute, and there's a sound of rustling or moving in the walls. The floor in front of Myria splits open, and out comes a tentacle holding a thin book.

"This book has a list of all the modes I am aware of, and what their effects are. Flesh magic is less reliant on modes, however, and more on pure mana control. Biology is complex, and even if you were able to find the correct combination of modes to use for a specific effect, you still need lots of mana control to work on someone alive without harming them. Or in your case, working on an intricate organic machine. Elemental magics are often used in combat. In that case, quick casting is of vital importance. Flesh magic, at least flesh magic used to enhance, is never used in combat. You have lots of time. What you need in that case is patience."

He pauses for another minute.

"Let's try sculpting something more complex to train your control." He pauses for a few seconds, and Beatrix nods. It seems that they talked to each other via telepathy.

"How about you try sculpting this cube into the shape of Beatrix's face and head? Like a bust. No need to figure out color or texture at this time, just shape."

Beatrix's chair moves slowly closer to where Myria is.

"Mmhmm..."

(The whatever-Ophelia's-doing intensifies at this point.)

"...wonder if inducing pluripotence...speculate later, focus now..."

"vol chirr lem hin lo, vol chirr lem pes," the syllables spill forth one by one, and Myria-and-Ophelia set to their work with a passion.

"Sadly, I must return to sorting books. I'll leave you here with Beatrix. I'll return in about half an hour to check on your work, and also to examine your work."

The speaker tower sinks into the floor and disappears.

Beatrix looks intently at the fleshy sculpture. She doesn't have high hopes that she'll be depicted very well. This is Ophelia and Myria's first time doing flesh magic. But still, she's curious as to how it would end up.