ORIGIN - What if: Spire Dye?

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The snake's generous dose of crushed baubles was well-rewarded; the water seemed to churn all on its own, melding pulverized magic and glowing dust into shimmering homogeny. A glow rivalling the Spire's bloomed from the mixture, a veritable rainbow glistening in every little part of it. Where any small bit of light struck it, it lit up even brighter.

Most curious, though, was the dye's aura—a semicircular rainbow halo. No matter the angle, it shimmered and sparkled, encircling the light at the center of the dye. If it were in a jar and turned upside down, the aura would remain the same. It was consistent, and would be no matter the surface it was applied on. Only time and wear would dull its glow (unless properly affixed, of course...)

If Dewberry were flick her tongue out around the dye, she'd find the crackling ozone scent the greater Spire possessed, and a particularly... warm, reassuring scent—earthy, almost like pine needles. It was faint enough to miss; and, it'd fade just as quickly as it was noticed, just this once.

Dewberry has discovered the End's Sky

special dye! This dye is bright aqua with rainbow shimmers and glows slightly. It is reminiscent of the Spire. It has a flare effect, like a sundog.

It is now available for all characters to create; its recipe is available on the Known Dyes and Ingredients List.

Spire pieces Skystone Piece

have been officially made available as a dye ingredient, though handling one is quite dangerous...

@Dewberry

Dewberry began to shift her magic to the pestle again to mix it all together, but there was no need. The dye mixed itself, swirling and churning until it flared with rainbow light, its glow seeming almost holy. She stared, her mouth parted slightly with awe. She hadn't even put any of her own magic into it--! Was so much stored in the Spire piece that it could do this on its own?

"Azure!" she called, tasting the scent of burning magic and... soil? She wasn't sure, and couldn't seem to take hold of the smell a second time. "Azure! Come look! I made something!" Where was her sister? Dewberry had to share this with her!

@Azure

Azure jolted upright, eyes opening unevenly; she came to her feet out of sleep before she was fully awake and almost fell back over.

"SHNGH?" she managed, tongue dried to the floor of her beak. She blinked, pawed sleep from her eye in a quick movement, and then shook herself, ruffling out her feathers.

Then blinked a few more times.

When she came trotting in, it was clear she was just waking up: groggy-eyed, worried-looking, feathers uneven. Her beak was opening and closing a little, as if she were working her mouth back into normalcy from sleep. "What'sit?" she managed, confusedly, obviously worried at the shout--and then she spotted the dye. Her eyes widened, and suddenly excitement flooded away the drowsiness; she paced quickly over to inspect it more closely.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed, peering down into the freshly-mixed turquoise. "That's so COOL! What is that?!" Wide-eyed, she looked to Dewberry, amazement clear in her face.

@Dewberry

Azure came into the room with ruffled feathers and a concerned-sounding 'Whatsit?'. Ah… I woke her up, Dewberry thought, half-guilty and half-amused. The sight of the Spire dye seemed to wake her right up, though, and she laughed softly.

"I made it from a small piece of crystal from Polaris," she told Azure, then hesitated. "Ah... you know the Spire? A piece that looked like that, but around the big Spire instead of attached to it. I got it here with mind magic; it's pretty safe when it's a little piece by itself. But touching the bigger pieces probably isn't as good of an idea?" She was trying to be reassuring, in case Azure worried, but she didn't want her sister to go touching the greater Spire either.

"Anyway! Yeah, a bit of the Spire crystal, and then I put a whole bunch of glow in it. I didn't cast any spells, though! It did the rainbow thing all by itself!" Dewberry looked back at the dye, admiring its shimmering aura again. "Do you wanna paint each other? I could give your head a rainbow halo!"

@Azure

Azure peered at Dewberry as she spoke, then leaned down to inspect the dye more closely. Her head tilted this way, then that as she examined it, wide-eyed.

"Yooooo," she said (though she'd never been to a place where 'yo' was common, nor was she an inner-city sort of bird-moose); "that is awesome, Dew! Look at that! It's gorgeous--uhh... Spire? Have you actually touched it yet?" she asked, looking from the dye, to the snake, and back to the dye again.

"The Spire can burn pretty bad, I've heard. Do you mind if I like, put a tiny dab on my skin, first, before we go outright painting each other? I can probably test it more safely," she added (thinking of how it might affect such a teensy reptile, compared to herself), and after a beat, dipped the very tip of one claw in.

She turned, using her beak to preen away a few of the lighter, fluffier feathers up near the top of her other forelimb. Here, the thick black scutes turned to softer skin, and between the feathers it was a little exposed; she dabbed the spot of dye on, and then waited.

@Dewberry (IF Dewberry would say no/stop her let me know and I can edit!)

"Oh! Yeah, I have," she assured Azure. "The stone felt tingly, and gave me a little zap like static—but it wasn't that strong, so it didn't hurt! Maybe it's being away from the big Spire, or maybe it's that it was such a small piece?"

It had still held on to enough magic to mix its own dye and create the rainbow aura, though, so perhaps even a small piece was more powerful than it might seem. "I haven't touched the finished dye, though! Good idea to test it," though to be honest, she didn't really like the idea of Azure getting burned from a test either. It would be better than all-out painting without knowing what might happen, at least, and she was pretty sure the glow and water wouldn't have made it any more dangerous.

"Feel all right?" Dewberry asked a bit anxiously, slithering closer.

@Azure

Azure held very still for a moment, peering at the spot, considering--she felt suddenly very nervous for having taken this risk without forethought. But nothing happened, and after a moment she let out a breath of relief. "Yeah, I think we're good," she said at last--and then looked up at Dewberry and flopped down on her belly.

Her tone returned to her usual cheerful self, the nervous moment having knocked away most of her weariness. "Have at it, then! Paint whatever you want--what do you want on you?"

She sounded easygoing, and was trying to imagine all sorts of things they could paint with this dye. It was really pretty, and she glanced over it again, admiring; the multicolored hues were varying, but all similar enough to be gorgeously complementary.

"You really did a good job making this one. You've got an eye for color," she praised.

@Dewberry

Azure's praise sent a shiver of warmth down her spine, and oh how she wanted to bask in it—! But with it also came a touch of worry: she hadn't created the rainbow herself. Wouldn't Azure be disappointed in her, if she tried something similar in the future and failed without the gem's own magic guiding her?

"It was all the Spire crystal's magic, really," she admitted. "I just did the crushing, and the glow." Dewberry looked at Azure, then at the mortar filled with dye. It was a pity there wasn't more of it, but considering the sheer amount of magic the Spire held, using a tiny piece had probably been the safest option.

"How do you feel about some spots on your wings, like some butterflies have?" she asked. Ah… perhaps the glow would make hunting from the air a little difficult, though. Had Azure said she only rarely ate meat? "Or some patterns on your antlers?" There was some flat space for painting, though getting the dye there was another question entirely. Dewberry could only hope her magic wouldn't fail halfway.

"I think I'd like a stripe down my back!" she decided, and in a sudden flash of whimsy: "Oh! And maybe I could make the tip of my tail glow, like glow worms."

@Azure

Azure laughed--albeit good-naturedly; there was no mockery or malice in it. "Oh, yeah--no, I figured!" she replied, agreeably, and stretched out onto the floor beside Dewberry. "But you still thought to make it into a dye and mix it up, right? And it looks great!" There was no lessening to the praise in her tone. She looked around, and then picked up one of her older, loose feathers from her pile, holding it in her beak. She set it down between her forelimbs and spoke. "You can pick! Butterfly spots sound awesome, I'm not gonna lie. But antlers'll work too! Listen, whatever you put on, I'll keep, okay-? So you get to pick. Now, hold still! -And stop me if you change your mind. I can do the stripe, and then you can dip your tail, okay? Oh--and if you want me to make it stay there, I can do that!" she added. "I can always use magic to take it back off later!"

The feather dipped down, touching into the dye, and then very carefully, Azure attempted to draw the End's Sky stripe down Dewberry's back. As long as the snake held still she'd do so--though, of course if she were stopped or corrected, she'd react accordingly.

When she was done, she pulled back and critically examined her work. "I think you can dip your tail, now," she said; "but if you want the line thicker, or want it sort-of-permanent, let me know! What are you gonna call this color, anyway?" she asked, cheerful; "If you invented it, you get to name it."

Note: if you want to have Dewberry paint Azure, feel free; I'll post next round clarifying she holds still and all, if so

@Dewberry

Warm pride bloomed in Dewberry's chest. "Thank you," she said, pressing her nose into Azure's feathers briefly before pulling away and holding still for the stripe to be painted. She felt the cool touch of the dye on her scales and waited for it to dry before coiling around herself to look at it.

It was bright turquoise, like the blue scales she already had, but it retained its rainbow shimmer and flare effect even in the relatively thin stripe. "What about calling it brilliant aqua?" Dewberry suggested. "Or maybe rainbow aqua--but I think the halo part is more unique than the rainbow." She could, of course, put all three parts into the name--but that would be much too long. "Or rainbow flare! That's got the two most prominent parts, I think!"

Dewberry slithered to the 8-rock, pausing before she put it on. "Why don't you pick your favorite option? You did teach me how to do all this, so you should have a part in the naming too!" She wedged her nose inside, then dipped the attached feather into the dye. There wasn't all that much--she'd used a smallish rock, after all--and she didn't want to run out of dye and leave Azure's wings asymmetrical, so she'd have to alternate between wings. It'd take longer, but it was worth making sure.

The oval outlines came first, then a solid circle inside, like a peacock's eye spots. There was just barely enough paint to fill them in; she ended up having to roll her tail over the dye-stained feather instead of dipping it into liquid dye. The effect was several streaks of glowing turquoise rather than a solidly dyed tail tip, but she thought it was pretty anyway.

"All done!" Dewberry cheered, sliding her head back out of the 8-rock. "I think I'd like to keep this for a while--can you please magic it for me?"

@Azure

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