The Contraband Caper [Quaggan]

[Whim]

"Well we got a comb. Liam does anyway. But his hair always curls right back, kind of, see?" Kana twisted a little, bringing Liam forward for inspection which prompted a scowl. "But we have the same sort of hair. Its kind of weird, like a combination. I even got some blonde now! But how long do you need to brush? I always hear girls saying they do it for hours but that seems ridiculous.

"Do you have any, um, suggestions on what to start? I don't really know anything about hair oils, or soap, really." He asked hopefully, earnestly excited by the prospect of beautification. He seemed quite shy and nervous, unusually so, for a loud young male who enjoyed wrestling and fist-fighting.

Liam gave Kana a side-long glance, looking a little surprised. It was strange but almost charming to see Kana actually be fussy about something for once. Though Liam resented the notion his grooming was somehow subpar. "Anyway, I guess it really doesn't need to be authentic. More a matter of looking sinister, you know? So you think you can manage?"

"Ugh! We can talk about that stuff later. Let's just relax now, alright? I wanna hear about this stuff!" he offered Rianharr an eager smile.

"Well we're all here to plan this." Liam mumbled, "And my hair is fine." But was it?

[quaggan]

 "It does look like a magical effect" Ria' commented sagely. Hair dyes were forbidden at Wyrdwood, but accidents did happen that affected the victim's appearance. Ria's own royal purple has been owed to what the bureaucratic jargon termed 'overlong exposure to a Windham Mandrake extract'. He did have to do detention for messing up the potion, but it has been worth it. The rules rarely stipulated that the student had to be turned back to their previous appearance, and some instructors even preferred that they had to do it on their own, claiming that having to live with an ugly scar or a frog head should motivate them to do better.

Of course, that left the Wyrdwood beauty community meticulously cataloguing every incident for the benefit of its members - both to protect those who weren't altered, and to ensure anyone who wanted a change of hair colour, or an 'accidental' change knew what to do.

"I like this double hair colour you two have!" Ria' declared. "It's subtle, but completely changes your look! Perhaps I should try it out later too- but I'm getting ahead of myself. We're here to discuss your hair! I'm glad that you two seem to have the same texture- the same type, as you said. I cannot imagine how much of a pain would it be to have a mix! You'd need some kind of a selective spell to ensure optimal care..."

[Whim]

"R-really? Oh, thanks!" Kana felt his face flush. Preening fingers ran along his hair.  "I guess It just takes getting used to, you know, when its not your usual hair. Mostly mine, still. What's it called where there's just a tiny bit of Liam's blonde? in mine"

"Highlights." Liam corrected, tilted his fork to bat the knife Kana was holding. "Hey!"

"Sorry," Kana smiled, and began sawing the hunk of fatty, salted meat added to their stew. Ordinarily hunger got the better of him and took precedence over chat, not that he didn't like talking a lot. "Your color is nice too. Were you born that way? I know some Serenians are blue and green and pink and all that. Does it mean you're more, uh, magical for it?"

His other head, meanwhile, quirked a brow at Ria. Their new acquaintance had dropped a few hints but it was clear he did some experimenting with magical cosmetics and beautification. Such frivolities were forbidden, especially for students, who were made to sweep and mop by hand rather than waste magic on mere comfort. And if it was an accident - well - it was surely a very lucky accident.

[quaggan]

 "My 'natural' hair colour is a secret" Ria' announced. "I think people are too hung up on 'natural' nonsense. I got this purple last years, after graduating from my previous class. The robes I had to wear were charcoal green, so my previous hair colour, burnt orange, wouldn't work as well. Fortunately, my contacts found me a convenient alchemy elective, gave me a tip on which ingredients should 'not' be mixed, and it worked excellent. The teacher kicked me out for being careless and I got a fancy new look out of it."

Ria's stomach growled. Now that was just rude, no one was inviting it to join the conversation. Annoyed, he scanned the cafeteria for appropriate food. It was tempting to just grab whatever was in the area, but it was hard enough to avoid breaking out. Sometimes, he just hated his skin. Why couldn't he have been born a dwarf? He's never seen a dwarf with acne.

He grabbed a plate of salad and some sandwiches off a nearby tray. "Eating is so inconvenient" he grumbled. "Why can't I just use a spell to keep my body alive."

[Whim]

It took a few days to gather the materials. Ria, of course, was tasked with creating an appropriately sinister bag. Meanwhile Kanaliam had set to work assembling the remaining components. It was quite a bit of painstaking work to assemble the spells needed for such a heist. Soon enough, the trio sat in Kanaliam's drafty dormatory, hovering over a desk with various assembled items. A fourth young male, with wispy blonde bangs, was perched atop one of the bunks. Dylan was meant to place the purse in the Library after dark where an imp might spot it. Several things were assembled:
-A pickle's mouse's tail for Meromir's Miniaturization.
-A snakeskin shed during high summer for Meromir's Gigantism. This was, of course, extremely tiny.
-The skull of a dog, which could sniff out the location of a named object over any distance. Miniaturized.
-A brass rod capstoned with a mist-filled glass, made to temporarily sublimate minerals. Also very small.

"Well, this is everything! This here will let us shrink down, hide in the Thanati soul back, and grow back up. I don't know what to expect in the drawer but the skull should locate our things. And most importantly there's this rod!" Liam preened, running a hand through his hair, uncharacteristically chatty now that he had a chance to explain his plan. "I'd suppose for something as mundane as student contraband if he is going to ward against magic its going to be doors or locks. This rod can temporarily turn minerals into gas. We ought to be able to bypass any containers he'd got them kept in. No one thinks to protect the walls of a safe against intrusion.

"Have I forgotten anything?" The question was only a courtesy. Of course he hadn't!

"Nope!" Kana grinned broadly, giving a thumb's up. It seemed very unlikely he was paying much attention at all.

"Well I've never broken into anything before. Have you? It makes sense. I'm just leaving a bag on a desk." Dylan offered only a shrug, though his lips were twisted into a dubious frown.

[quaggan]

 "Not my finest work" Ria' admitted, staring at the bag with his most-discerning critical eye. "I should have ordered some proper Thanati hemp from my supplier. I know, the local variant is almost indistinguishable by sight, but the difference can be told by touch-"

"You think Skrudge is gonna check the seams?" Dylan groaned. "I'll bet you a week of homework he's not even going to touch it, just in case it's cursed."

"It's the matter of principle" Ria' argued. "If I allow a lesser product here, how am I supposed to boast superior tailoring quality?"

"Dude, it's a fake bag to trick Skrudge with, not the Queen's gown. It doesn't have to be a fashion revolution."

Ria' was about to launch into an entire rant to defend himself from such a glaring denial of his life, but thought better of arguing, took a deep breath and turned to Kanaliam instead. "Your hair looks so much better!" he praised. "It's sleeker and shinier now!"

[Whim]

"Come on Dylan! He's just trying to be, what's the word? Precise?" Kana shot a look to the blonde boy, who sat smugly atop one of the bunks. "But you did a great job Ria! Its the best Thanati bag I ever saw!"

"But you-" Liam added in a small voice, biting his tongue. Kana had no idea what anything Thanati looked like, besides Aahva. "In any case let's get started. Here, we'll put the bag on the ground, and Dylan can make sure Skrudge gets it."

They went on to make the final arrangements. Their miniaturized equipment was placed securely in the hidden compartment and the sinister-looking Thanati spirit bag, or whatever it was meant to be, placed dutifully on the floor. Then he poured the brine from the pickled mouse's tail into a censor, and began wafting it both toward Ria, Kana, and himself. It smelled terrible and the trio began to get very, very light-headed. The room around them swirled and suddenly there was blackness and the sensation of being swaddled in cloth.

"What?!"

"Where are we?! What did you do?!" Kana flailed, striking at the linen walls to no avail.

"I don't know! You do this all the time! You move my arm when I'm doing a spell and it messes up! I think we teleported or something..."

They sniped back and forth in a panic, flailing and tumbling about in the dark. Finally, Kana and Liam saw light and scrambled free. The boys were met with a cool rush of air as their predicament became clear. Liam had made them smaller, certainly, but not their uniform. Across the room they could see a similar pile of empty clothes. And tower above them, high as the moon, was Dylan. Liam yelped and darted to the safety of an empty sleeve to cover up.

[quaggan]

 Ria' held his arms out slightly as he was gracefully shrinking. The Wyrdwood-issue robes billowed out around him, falling to the floor as they were no longer held up by his body. He quickly kicked off shoes and socks - being trapped under his own shoe was not a part of his schedule.

He sauntered from below the fabric to meet with Kana, Liam and Dylan. The only student non shrunk groaned at the sight. "I get that you're going to be hiding inside most of the time so you're not planning on flashing anyone, but do you have to stay naked?"

Ria' responded by casting one of the very first spells he learned. His motivation to study magic fell sharply once he found out that he lacked the power to summon fabric in sufficient quality for his goals. Fortunately, though his size was decreased, his power was not - and he was more than capable of finally achieving his dream of making magical outfits. Why, he needed to expend so little power now, he could even make some amendments!

He settled on a blue vest with bronze pins, conjured into existence over a simple white shirt with wide sleeves. A pair of bracelets held the sleeves in place at his upper arms, matching the outer coverings of the black gloves. A wide scarf that functioned as a belt was chosen to match the purple of his hair, adorned with a jeweled buckle. Beneath formed a pair of short, billowing pants matching the vest in hue and black tights mostly hidden in dark blue boots reaching up to his knees. "Should I have a hat?" he wondered as he finished the bronze adornments on the boots. "Kana, do you- oh right! What kind of outfit should I magic up for you?"

[Whim]

"Hey wait-!" 

Despite Liam's protests Kana, having no such taboo, ran out across the vast expansive of their floor to meet up with Ria. It seemed more like a castle courtyard than a cramped dormitory. "Looks like Liam messed up! Totally forgot about shrinking our clothes!" Kana grinned broadly, studying Ria's garb which looked like something out of a pirate story. Or a swashbuckling novel. Something fancy. "And that looks amazing! You should definitely have a hat. Maybe a pointy one like a wizard? Guess you are a wizard anyway. Maybe a big floppy hat with a feather?"

"Can you just give us our uniform?" Liam chewed his lip, blushing.

"Don't listen to him! This doesn't bother me if its any trouble, but we wear that uniform every day. Give us something fun!" He paused, then asked in a small, hopeful voice. "Maybe like from back home? I don't know if you know what that looks like..."

"Fine. I just don't know if we should do this now that I messed up. What if I forgot something else...?"

[quaggan]

 Ria' frowned. "You have to wear this boring uniform robe all day and you want more? This is just..." He scrambled his mind for a word to express his disappointment, but fortunately Kana spoke up and made up for his fleshmate's lack of imagination. And he even offered to broaden Ria's fashion horizons! What a good friend he was!

"What does that look like?" he asked. He heard Kana was one of the adepts from beyond Serendipity, but little beyond. "I should be able to make something you liked."

[Whim]

"Mostly my tribe wore red silks and gold. Like, um, puffy pants kind of? No shirt or anything, though." Kana grinned broadly, flexing a bicep. "We don't need any of that stupid armor. But we had these short little capes with a lot of color!"

"Why wouldn't you wear armor if you're fighting with spears and arrows? You would have to wear something..." his other head mumbled, dubiously, just to be contrarian. "Anyway, anything is good! Just do it!"

"One, there's no reason to be embarrassed. There are no girls around. And secondly you don't know everything. And why would we need armor? I can turn our skin to ROCKS! Now can you do it, Ria? And put gold in it also." The geomancer was bouncing on his heels, thrilled at the opportunity. He was never old enough to named a proper warrior in his tribe and never given the silks and golden lamellar befitting of the station.

Above them the wind seemed to howl. It was deafening. Though in actuality it was just a very annoyed sigh from Dylan. The blonde-haired youth took a book from the nightstand and paged through it impatiently. Not reading, just a dramatic gesture to show his irritation. 

[quaggan]

 "Red silks, gold. Noted." Ria' conjured a few rolls of fabric in the air, just to get an impression of what it would look like. Wow, that felt rewarding! Perhaps he should move completely onto creating clothes for dolls or very small people.

He fitted Kana with a small cape that would go slightly below his waist, decorated with colourful embroidery of rocks. A lot of Verdan students were wearing their spirit stones under the robes, so he learned a lot about how colourful stones could be. That was all he chose for the upper body - if Kana changed his mind, Ria' could always fit him with a shirt later.

It was time for pants. Ria' conjured whirls of fabric around each of Kana's legs, solidifying them into trousers once he achieved the desired puffiness. "What do you think?" he called, though he had to raise his voice to be heard over the tempest of Dylan. He's so gonna get a papercut.