Solo Locks, Lines, and Dolls, Oh my!

[Alric Wilmot]

69th of Fall 513 AV. Alric had slept well last night, dreaming of future plans and plots coming to fruition. he had also dreamed of riches, glory, and a world free from pain. In short, he dreamed of success, and found it sweeter than he had ever thought possible. He knew it was because of his accomplishment the day before, small as they truly were. He had animated a small doll, barely big enough to fit in his hand, and with only the ability to follow Alric. It was such a small thing, but its creation was a milestone for Alric. To him, it was concrete proof that he was moving closer and closer to his ultimate goal of peace amongst Mizahar. Not many would understand what he was truly planning. But that was fine. Often, Alric found, the less you understood something, the more magical it seemed. And nothing quite beat the sheer awe of magic. It helped that that was literally what he was doing of course, though he almost never thought of magic as magical anymore. Which was a pity. He'd have to change his outlook. He opened his eyes to find that the sun had not yet risen. He thought he could actually hear Miro or Lessom in the other room, though whether either was sleeping or working at something he could not tell. Truth be told he wasn't even certain Miro could sleep anymore. And if he could he did not know if he would. He got up carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible, and shifted in his straw bed. He put his feet down gently onto the wood floor, careful not to make it creak. He looked over to the corner and was a bit saddened to find that he had woken too early for Lessom to have put out the basin where he could wash. He supposed he could go back to bed, but he didn't feel like wasting any waking hours. He quickly relieved himself in his chamber pot and got dressed. He would seek to learn Animation in the morning, as Miro had finally made him relent. Miro was to teach him reimancy in the evening, while Alric was free to pursue Animation in the morning. After he was properly dressed in his everyday clothes, Alric went to the corner of the room as he had been doing these past couple days and retrieved all the necessary items to preform Animation. He picked up the book he had purchased, the chalk, the knife, and though he probably did not actually need the doll, chose it as well. He was growing fond of it, and wanted it around while he animated other things. He thought it might prove inspirational in case it proved more difficult than Alric assumed. He walked over to the door of his room and drew a circle around the door lock, and then drew a line down the door, across the floor, and a larger accompanying circle big enough for him to sit in. He sat criss-cross and closed his eyes. He had spent near four days animating his first object. This time, he was hoping to do it all in one sitting. He concentrated on- Alric opened his eyes, and slapped his forehead. He had forgotten the blood! Just when he thought he was really progressing he forgets something so basic, it was just shameful. Shaking his head in mild disbelief he pricked the tip of his finger to let a drop of blood flow freely. It fell down onto the chalk below and Alric felt the djed enter his mind once more, connecting him to the door handle. He saw within his mind's eye visions of what he thought the sensations felt like, as he did with the doll. Within him was a bright burning sun, and in the handle cold emptiness. Alric took that sun and carried a small fire over to the Handle. A small fire blossomed there, and though it was small and weak, it banished the emptiness that was once inside. Alric smiled, glad that the Soulcore had been given so quickly.

[Alric Wilmot]

He moved on then, to the directives. He opened both his eyes and his book, to re-read the example about the door-handle from before. He did not have a lock, but he thought he might simply keep it from opening after Alric gave it some sort of command. The book however did not provide Alric with any sort of hint of short cut. Alric it seemed would have to figure it out on his own, as he normally did. Alric gave a wistful sigh at that. He decided to go over again, what exactly he wanted. He wanted the handle not to move or allow the door to open after a specific signal was given. But what signal? A word, maybe? Or a sequence of numbers? It did not have to understand language he realized, only connect whatever he said to "do not open" With an idea, Alric went back to concentrating and sent over the concept of opening. He remembered that he needed to give the object the concept of opening first if he wanted it to know what "not opening" was. He sent over images of the door opening and connected it to the word. He then did the same with not opening. With that he moved onto the phrase he wanted to implant. What should it be? Something simple like Lock? or maybe something that another person couldn't guess? Alric thought for a moment before deciding on a phrase. He sent in his first directive, and then his second. Directive #1: When the words "Do not open." are spoken, do not open. Directive#2: When the words "All is clear," are spoken, open. Alric then decided to enter a kill-phrase, as his book suggested he do with all of his animated items. He sent in the ideas of ceasing to react, by attaching the concept of reacting to the previous directives. Directive #3: When the words "10037211349," are spoken, cease reacting to Directives number 1 and number 2. Alric opened his eyes then and severed the tether of djed. It was time to see if this worked. Alric cleared his throat before speaking. "Do not open!" he said, and reached for the handle. It opened. Alric frowned at this. Why did it not work? He had gone through every step... Except one. He chastised himself for overlooking the Astral Body. He had overlooked the blood, now this? He shook his head with embarrassment. He wasn't even a competent Animator yet. With a growl of frustration he sat back in the circle and reconnected himself. He focused on the shape of the door handle and created a replica within his mind's eye. With no small amount of effort he forced it into the handle. Though Alric did not truly hear anything, he imagined a click as it snapped into place. Once more, Alric rose to his feet, ready to test if it worked or not. "Do not open!" He said, and reached for the handle. To his immense delight, the handle did not move. He pumped his fist in celebration and went to cleaning the mess. This was a huge step for him, being able to do the whole process in one day. He couldn't wait to move on to bigger and better things. But, until then, he had several smaller ideas.