video; un: dovahkiin (backdated to early Nov)

[fusrodaaaah]

Um.

[Wow, it's a rare show of video from Melius. The Argonian is sitting on the beach, in the cold, at his little tent. A lizard, in the cold. But he doesn't seem at all bothered by it.]

[He shifts where he sits, and then just. Straight up thrusts a basket of mushrooms at the camera.]

I was - I was um. [He ducks his head, hiding behind the basket.]

I know mushrooms! Really well! I um - if you need! To know! I can - I can tell you!

Goodbye!

[He shuts it off, right there.]

[... basically, Melius is offering his services as a mushroom expert. With a lot more anxious yelling than necessary.]

Comments

[fusrodaaaah]

Oh! Oh um. Okay. I have um - soup.

[He almost always has soup. It's just easy to keep boiling it on a daily basis.]

I um. I'd have to... taste them. To know. How they work.

[droptheious]

Your company and soup? Sounds like an amazing deal to me.

[Buddy please look after yourself better, he has concerns. ]

That's fine. I have some samples, I can bring them with me.

[fusrodaaaah]

Oh. Okay. I'll - I'll be here.

[On the beach. In winter.]

Yes - that would. That would be good.

[droptheious]

Great! I'll gather my samples and be right there!

[And as promised (thanks to the Lamps) it doesn't take Varian long to get there. He's also carrying a basket with him. While the promised mushrooms are in there, there's also some blankets and a thermos of hot chocolate. He knows how to bring the good stuff.

He casts the tent a worried look, buddy, before raising a hand in greeting. ]

Heeeeeey, Bud. Um- you still doing okay out here? In the tent? It's... well, I know we don't feel the cold the same as other people do, but it's getting more wintery. The snow's gonna be a problem sooner or later.

[fusrodaaaah]

[Varian is probably one of two people who don't actually alarm Melius these days. That's a positive step. He probably would have still jumped out of his skin even knowing full well his friend was coming, not too long ago.]

[Instead, he perks up.]

It's fine! Um. It's not... it's not cold. Too cold. And the - the fire helps.

[droptheious]

[Varian's going to take the lack of intense anxiety as progress to be sure.]

Uh-

[He looks around at the light dusting of snow on the ground, then back at Melius.]

It's definitely going to get colder though- and we might end up with pretty bad storms? Are you sure you don't wanna sleep somewhere...safer?

[fusrodaaaah]

I um.

[He hunkers down. Poking idly at the fire with a stick. And otherwise generally not looking at Varian. Safer for who, though? If he's still setting things on fire without the right words?]

[Then it's dangerous to be near him. The beach is always so empty. Isn't that better?]

I don't... know. I don't - I don't want to burn things. Down.

[droptheious]

Well, Buddy-

[He opens his hand, palm-up, fire blooming up there.]

That's...kind of a chance we're stuck with. I made sure there's lots of fire extinguishers in my home - just in case. You just need to prepare, is all.

[fusrodaaaah]

[His head snaps up, startled, at the sudden fire there - but let's be real, that's his default reaction. It settles, fairly quickly, to where Melius ends up picking at his scales.]

What... what is a fire. Extinguisher?

[droptheious]

[Varian's well used to Melius being startled by anything and everything like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. ]

It's a canister filled with either water or some chemical mixture - you aim it at a fire and shoot out the pressurised contents. It puts the fire out quickly. It's pretty clever!

[fusrodaaaah]

So...

It's um. Alchemy?

[Because that's what it sounds like. And if it's really Alchemy, then there's hope.]

[droptheious]

Yeah! Pretty much it's alchemy! It's just the right mix of chemicals and boom, fire out. It's great to have in an alchemy lab too, just so you know.

[fusrodaaaah]

Oh. I um. I don't... work with chemicals.

Is it - is it hard?

[droptheious]

Nah, it's not hard at all. And chemicals are just the same as alchemy- it's just the stuff you'd normally used stripped down to their most basic elements.

[fusrodaaaah]

That... that sounds hard.

[Elements mean things like fire and frost right?]

[droptheious]

Aww, come on, Meli. You can do alchemy, too. You'd be able to figure it out no problem!

[fusrodaaaah]

N... No.

No, I um. I know plants. And mushrooms. Not um. Not elements. You... you can't taste them.

[droptheious]

But Meli! [This is important, this is so important, he's so excited.] Everything is elements. Elements make up our entire world!

Like water? That's- that's just two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Put them together and BAM! You've got water!

[fusrodaaaah]

[He just. Stares. He knows this is important. Varian is so excited, so delighted - it must be important. But these words??]

[These words make no sense.]

... um. I don't... I don't know. What any of that means...

[droptheious]

It's okay! I can show you sometime. I'm sure you'll get it. You just look at it a different way than I do.

[The concept that maybe Melius is HAPPY looking at it a different way does not occur to him.]

[fusrodaaaah]

I... don't know.

[Listen, buddy, he knows plants. He knows nature. In the most basic senses of things. Molecules and chemical components sound more mystical than anything out of the Mages' College.]

[Besides...] You um. You're. Smart. S-so it must... make sense to you.

[droptheious]

You're smart, Melius. You're really smart. I'm sure you could do it.

[Sorry, Meli, he has endless faith in you, how does that feel? But he does, at least, relent. He knows better than to push too hard with his friend.]

But okay, okay. I'll let it go.

[fusrodaaaah]

[His answer is a weird... grumbling noise. Half embarrassed, half uncertain. Like he's trying to make actual words come out, but they refuse. No, he doesn't think so.]

O... okay. Um. Do you... want mushrooms...?

[NAILED IT.]

[droptheious]

[HE'S DOING HIS BEST.]

...Yeah, okay Buddy. I'll come to get some mushrooms from you.

[fusrodaaaah]

Okay!

[Well now he perks up. Immediately, even. And dives for his collection, pulling out a few large hunks of fungi.]

There um. There are puffballs. And... and sulfur shelves.