Flashback First Attempt

Kamilla's first actual attempt at Animation

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Center of scholarly knowledge and shipwrighting, Zeltiva is a port city unlike any other in Mizahar. [Lore]

First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 9th, 2015, 10:49 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


57th of Summer, 513AV

Today.

Today was the day that Kamilla would make her first real attempt at animation, something she'd been itching to try since she'd learnt about it but had never had an idea of what to create until now. Her idea wasn't great, nor was it remarkable, but it was an idea none the less and therefore a reason to finally put her knowledge to use. She felt slightly doubtful about trying something she had never done before, but her grandmother had assured her, all those years ago, that Animation was all about the process, meaning knowledge was more important than most of the other requirements. In preparation for her attempt, Kamilla had written the steps down on a piece of parchment and was eager to begin.

The idea had come to her, a few days before when she had seen a bunch of kids running around and catching butterflies in a jar. She'd been absent-mindedly doodling on a sheet of paper when it happened and with a bit of thinking, she'd transformed a doodle of a butterfly into what she hoped would soon be her own tiny golem.

First of all, she'd paid one of her neighbour's kids an entire gold miza to catch a butterfly for her, completely unharmed, which the young boy did with ease. It seemed that 'Catch-The-Butterfly' was one of his favourite games to play and he had done it well. With her specimen ready, Kamilla wasted no time in getting to work and creating her soon to be golem.

A quick glance was cast at the simple drawing from the day earlier, a picture of a key with wings hanging from a thread. For the body she'd decided to use the old rusty key from her shack back in Sunberth, which was probably less than a pile of ashes by now. She'd had it with her when she fled the city and for some reason had never gotten rid of it, even though it reminded her of what she'd lost on that night...her family.

Now finally putting the old key to good use, Kamilla sat at her table, giving the rusty item a quick look over before placing it on the wooden surface and grabbing two sheets of blank parchment. She placed them over one another and, using a pair of scissors, cut out the shape of a large butterfly wing and once complete, she separated the pages to reveal two identical wings of parchment.

With the 'wings' cut out, Kamilla simply needed to thread her needle, something which took several tries longer than she had anticipated, and join the wings to the key by puncturing each wing twice, and wrapping the thread around the key. The pattern was simple, from the upper hole of one wing, wrap the thread twice around the center of the key and into the lower hole of the other wing and from there around the key and to the first wing's lower hole and so one.

When she'd finally finished the trivial child-like attempt at creating a makeshift butterfly from a key and parchment, Kamilla held the object up for inspection. The wings were far larger than the key and flopped around unenthusiastically as she bounced the object up and down to simulate flapping. It was unimpressive, but functional. With that done, Kamilla had only to wrap a thin piece of leather around the key ring hole of the key and fasten it in order to complete the mundane creating phase.

Once complete, Kamilla acknowledged that the object was nothing more than a key with parchment wings attached to it, not interesting in any way or form, at least for now at least. With a short sigh of disappointment at her simple creation, Kamilla went to get herself a drink of water, stepping over to observe the little butterfly the young boy had caught for her. The yellow winged insect flapped around in it's jar, searching in vain for a way out of it's glass prison.

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First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 9th, 2015, 11:48 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


The entire creation process of the butterfly object had taken her about half a bell from start to finish but there was still a lot to do before her little project was complete. Having taken a short water break, Kamilla returned to the task at hand with growing excitement, it was time for the magical part of the process, which she decided to do on her dining table rather than at her desk.

Quickly clearing the few objects that were spread across the regular sized wooden table, Kamilla closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focusing on releasing the djed inside of her. A few moments of silence passed in the quaint cottage before she released her breath and began to produce glistening lavender res from the palms of her hands. She gathered the slowly growing ball of liquid res between the palm of her hands until she felt it was large enough and spread it across the surface of the wooden table as evenly as she could before transmuting the glistening substance into a smooth thin layer of stone.

The thin stone sheet that covered the table would serve as her workbench as Kamilla went to retrieve the makeshift butterfly, the sheet of paper containing the list of animation processes, a pin and a stick of charcoal, all of the things she'd need for the experiment. A short pause in her movements indicated that she'd forgotten something before she quickly retrieved the jar holding the butterfly from her desk and placed it on the stone top table.

"Okay, the first step is... to draw the animation circles."

Number one on the list was the sketch of the animation circles, two simple circles, one larger than the other, with a line connecting them, the idea behind the size difference was that it would be easier for things to move from the smaller circle to the larger one, rather than the other way around. With only a short glance at the page, Kamilla began drawing the circles on the stone surface of the table. She'd chosen a smooth yellowish, sandstone so that the circles would be easy to see. They weren't perfect, but she had done her best and they were at least, recognisable as circles.

Rubbing her hands together in anticipation, Kamilla moved on to the second step, placing the source, the butterfly, into the first circle, followed by placing the makeshift butterfly into the larger second one. Next was a simple pricking of her index finger with a pin in order to draw blood to activate the circle. A slight gasp was all that escaped Kamilla's lips as the pin broke her skin and she squeezed a single drop of crimson fluid onto the circle which immediately began to hum with power, or at least that's what it felt like to her.

Not wasting any time, Kamilla closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the circles and their contents and after a few chimes of silence and focus she could see them clearly in the darkness of her mind. On one side was the butterfly in the jar, still flapping about as it tried to escape, though instead of appearing as it did in reality, Kamilla perceived it as the glowing lavender shape of a butterfly surrounded by the circles which glowed the same colour and in the other was the dull lifeless shape of her creation, which appeared in a stale gray.

Surprised and impressed by her success at getting this far, Kamilla began to focus on creating the soulcore of the inanimate object by trying to pull a fragment of the glowing butterfly shape in the first circle, through the connecting line and into the second. Even in her mind, this task was not simple, the butterfly refused to relinquish even a small fragment of it's soul and pulled at the tiny glowing grain the entire time that Kamilla was dragging it towards the second circle before she finally managed to place it deep within the glowing gray object, embedding it with a single thought.

Live

The tiny grain of the butterfly's soul, which had finally set in the gray husk of Kamilla's object grew dim for a moment, which caused some worry in the young mage, before flaring into what she perceived as a healthy lavender glow and although the grain had grown only slightly larger, she could feel that it had the potential to live and was satisfied with the soulcore.

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First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 11th, 2015, 9:33 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


The next step was creating the persona, transferring of necessary memories and concepts in order to establish directives, which were basically unbreakable laws for the animated creature to live by. Having gotten this far in the process, Kamilla decided to take another short break in order to calm her mind and gather her thoughts, taking a seat on a nearby chair. The next step was extremely important and she only had one chance, so making a mistake wasn't an option. She sat there for a few chimes trying to plot the exact course of action until she could recite it with ease, she would have to stick to the 'script' exactly.

Once Kamilla felt that she had the entire 'act' rehearsed enough, she got to her feet and returned to the stone topped table, placing her fingers at the edges of the animation circle in order to re-establish the mental connection. Yet again, she concentrated on clearing her mind until she could see the circles and their contents in her mind's eye. "Okay, here goes." she said, taking a deep breath in preparation.

Getting started, Kamilla focused on the tiny grain of lavender light within the dull shell of the construct until she felt a direct link to it. First came the concept of beginning, which she illustrated by transmitting an imagined scene of complete stillness before it suddenly jumped to life with an array of movement and colours, tagging the image as 'Start'. Next was the exact same scene from before, but in reverse, an array of colours and movement suddenly turning into an empty stillness...'Stop'. In addition to the concepts, Kamilla made sure to transmit the actual sound of the words 'start' and 'stop' so that the animated butterfly would recognise them when spoken.

Severing the link once again, Kamilla left her work at that and decided to have lunch. The process of 'teaching' the creation certain things may have seemed easy, due to the simplicity of the concepts being transmitted, but the amount of concentration required was exhausting. Kamilla had to make sure that her mind didn't wander, since that could lead to a bit of confusion caused by inconsistent ideas being learned by the soulcore.

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First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 11th, 2015, 10:13 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


Lunch was especially satisfying, probably because it had been an earned moment of respite from the hard work she was doing. It took her several chimes just to clear her mind and concentrate in order to connect with the animation circles. Kamilla made a mental note to work on her meditation skills in order to decrease the time and effort taken to interact with them, being able to call forth a clear mind at will was a skill that would be wildly helpful when it came to animation and magic in general.

With her recess over, Kamilla was ready and enthusiastic to finish the animation process, eagerly anticipating the final result of her attempt. So far it had proven to be exactly as her grandmother had explained it. The wise old woman had said that Animation was a world magic, which was more reliant on the correct execution of the trusted steps, unlike personal magic which relied on the individual's personal methods.

Assuming her station at the newly covered dining table, Kamilla shut her eyes, taking another few chimes to try and connect with the circles. This time she struggled, taking far longer than her previous attempts to clear her mind, though after almost ten chimes had passed she decided that something was wrong. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to form a connection with the animation circles, it was as if she was reaching out into the darkness and attempting to grasp at something that was not there.

It was only five chimes later, after mentally going through all the processes she'd written down, trying to figure out where she'd gone wrong and becoming quite frustrated that a spark of realisation flared within the depths of her mind. "Of course! I couldn't make a connection because the magic of my offering has faded completely.".

Jumping up from the seat she had taken on her bed with visible excitement, Kamilla quickly returned to her work station, brandishing the tiny pin she had used to prick her finger earlier and doing so once more. The moment the drop of blood hit the circle, it jumped back to life. It was only now, in the presence of the light hum of power that resonated from the (re)awakened circle, that Kamilla noticed the empty silence that it had held before when she had been trying to form the connection.

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First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 11th, 2015, 10:57 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


According to her list of animation steps, now came the shaping of the golem's astral body so that it would have control over it's physical one. She would have to make sure that the astral body encompassed the entirety of the physical or the construct would have trouble carrying out its purpose, another step that allowed no room for mistakes.

Having formed the connection once more and entered her mental 'workstation' beside the imagined ethereal forms of the animation circles and contents, Kamilla began by reaching out with her own imagined dis-embodied hands and gently grasping the small lavender grain of light that represented the golem's soulcore. Once she felt that she had a good hold on it, she willed the soulcore to grow, mentally feeding it mass so that she had more to work with.

As the tiny lavender flare grew brighter and larger, Kamilla used her dis-embodied 'hands' to pull and stretch the soulcore's light, using it to fill the entirety of the dull, hollow husk of the golem in her mind until the astral body matched the shape and size of the physical perfectly. Where there was once a hollow husk of the golem containing a small lavender flare of life, now stood a translucent lavender form that matched that of the real one, along with a bright flare at it's core.

Moving on to the final steps, Kamilla focused first on transmitting the action to be learned from the butterfly in the first circle, to the golem in the second. Luckily for Kamilla, the butterfly was still flapping frantically about as it tried to escape, which she could see through her connection to the circles. The lavender butterfly shape that represented the butterfly's soul flapped about more than enough for her to directly transfer the action to her golem, stretching the movement model out so that it covered the golem's entire astral body.

Thankful for the strict list of steps that she had written down, Kamilla made sure to test the creatures soul and make sure that it was functioning exactly the way she wanted it to. Focusing on the concept she had transmitted earlier, as well as the memory of the sound of the word, Kamilla mentally spoke the word 'Start.' and, recognising the directive, the golem's soul began flitting about like a large butterfly. Upon the utterance of 'Stop.' it lifelessly fell back to the imagined table, not moving at all.

Everything seemed to be in working order thus far and once the action had settled into the, still still, imagined form of her construct, Kamilla moved on to her final lesson. In order for the golem to understand commands in reality, she had to teach it how to use the thin leather membrane she'd used to cover the keyring hole to hear her words. Focusing her mind on the part of the astral body where the leather membrane was situated in the real world, Kamilla spoke out loud while simultaneously linking the vibrating sensation of the words on the leather to the concepts she'd transferred earlier.

"Start."'Start'
"Stop."'Stop'

Feeling that the golem had retained the sensations and could relate them to their respective concepts, Kamilla, satisfied with her work was now ready to awaken her creation, excitement filling her body. With one more mentally whispered word, she awakened the golem and exited her mental workstation, rejoining the physical world.

'Live'



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First Attempt

Postby Kamilla on March 11th, 2015, 11:39 pm

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Kamilla Circe Gordon


Kamilla was overflowing with excitement and anticipation as she used the long string she had attached to the center of the key that served as the golem's body, to hang her creation from one of her wall shelves so that it was suspended in mid air. Even now, after all her hard work, the golem appeared to be nothing more than the lifeless creation of a child, hanging limply as it awaited orders.

This was it, the moment she'd been waiting for, the final test to see whether her creation was functional or not. Kamilla moved toward the limp object, bringing her head closer to it as she eyed the makeshift butterfly curiously. She hoped that she'd done everything right, followed the written steps perfectly and created something living, animated something. Finally, with her patience unable to hold out any longer, Kamilla spoke, ordering her creation to spark to life and fulfil it's purpose.

"Start."

Kamilla watched the object curiously as she spoke the words, eagerly anticipating it's movements which, for some reason, did not come. She waited a few ticks before repeating the command, her voice more stern this time, though somewhat permeated by worry, and once again, nothing happened. The golem simply continued to hang there, limply, the key slightly twisting a few degrees in each direction as it's lifeless paper wings flopped downward unenthusiastically. It was only after her third try at awakening the creature(by shouting) that it finally responded.

"START!"

The lifeless object suddenly, and finally, jumped to life and began flapping it's wings frantically as if her word had scared it awake. The golem flapped about with a rushed urgency, as if it was frightened of the world and did not know what else to do and on top of that, the long floppy wing shaped parchment was far louder and more annoying than she'd expected. The desperate manner in which the golem flapped it's noisy wings was not unlike the way it's source, the butterfly, had been doing as it tried to escape the jar. It was clear that she'd copied the action of flying exactly from the source and ended up with an undesirable result.

Kamilla had been hoping for a creation that flapped it's wings with the gentle calm that one usually witnessed when watching a butterfly float by. Her disappointment at the unfortunate result was made evident by the large sigh that escaped the young mage's lips. "I'm going to have to remember to pay more attention to the source's behaviour next time." she said to herself, making another mental note that she'd turn into a physical one when she added it to her grimoire later.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the constant frantic flapping of her creation, which sounded like someone was running around, madly whipping sheets of paper about as they went. She quickly grew tired of the frustrating sound and spoke the second and last directive that she'd taught her amateur creation.

"Stop."

The golem, as annoying as it may have been, responded with an endearing obedience that Kamilla couldn't help but appreciate. A small pool of pride gathering within her as she observed her feeble creation. "Well, I suppose it was a successful start to my..." her words were cut off by the sudden frantic flapping of paper wings once more, something that elicited a loud groan from Kamilla, "Stop!" she commanded, forcing the creature to return to it's lifeless state once more.

It wasn't the work of a god or even an experienced animator, but it was a fairly successful first try and she was proud of it, although she was already considering giving her creation to one of the neighbouring children as she realised it was going to jump to frantically flapping life everytime it heard her or anyone else say the word 'start'...whether they intended for it to begin or not. It had been a bad choice of word, she would have to remember to pick less common command phrases in the future.

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First Attempt

Postby Perplexity on March 20th, 2015, 2:31 am

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You have played well, but the game is at an end.

You have been bested. Beaten. Checkmate!

However, here is a consolation prize: a wealth of Experience and Lores! If you have any questions or concerns regarding this grade, please do not hesitate to send me a PM. I'll be more than happy to assist you!

 
Kamilla
XP
  • Sewing | +1 EXP
    Reimancy | +1 EXP
    Animation | +3 EXP
    Teaching | +2 EXP
LORES
  • Animation Principle: The Concept of a Soulcore
    Animation Principle: Shaping The Astral Body
MISCELLANEOUS
  • I am not at all familiar with Animation. I strongly recommend that you communicate with Ink, DS of Sahova in future Animation trials. She can provide a great deal of insight into the discipline, much more than I can. I apologize if this grade is lackluster but the whole concept of Animation is difficult for me to grasp. If you have question, feel free to approach me at your earliest convenience.


Until Our Next Match,
-Perplexity, DS of Zeltiva
.
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