Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
May 16, 2008 - Serena Pov.
The harmonium cubes/grenades were all the upgrade I really needed and more. The remotely created time bubbles were a lifesaver. For starters, it solved my ingredient shortage problem, which I was starting to notice.
Potions were becoming more popular, especially the healing ones—after all, I wasn't selling poisons, at least not the most exotic and expensive ones. But I suppose that without Phenex's Tears, healing magic was exceptionally difficult to master, so there was little that hospitals in certain places could do, so they bought large quantities of potions.
Easier and faster.
Now, there was a great need to increase potion production. This quickly strained my plant and animal supplies. However, with remote time bubbles, I can now accelerate the growth of plants and animals, so they are fully ripe for harvesting within a few days.
The good thing is that my dolls weren't yet fully conscious and intelligent on their own. So Devola and Popola, the dolls in charge of the island's flora and fauna, weren't worried or bothered by the passage of time in any way.
They were able to create time bubbles around the island and the Vivarium, and they would enter and exit every few seconds, calculated to keep their respective targets safe and healthy. They would even stay inside the bubbles for days or weeks without any worries.
Now I could easily build up a stock of ingredients above what was needed with ease, which was a joy for my experiments, and I obviously let Maomao and the other two use larger quantities of ingredients to practice their potions.
The three of them were quickly improving at making potions, so they were also freeing up my time from the simpler potions, as they were the ones in charge of supplying the potions.
Even after forcing them to sign even more NDAs, I gave them cubes to use in making the potions, which also helped a lot. The cubes were too limited and enchanted to be misused or stolen, so they could only be used within the labs.
On the other hand, there was Jester. I'd built the joke shop and placed it in the center of the island near the apothecary. It wasn't open to the public yet, but it was only a matter of time. This time, there wasn't a book on creating magical sweets. Luckily, TheCompany's website had a whole section on recipes to accompany the Faery Feast benefit.
And since there were no apparent benefits to magic candies, all the incantations and methods for creating them were online. Which was fantastic. I was able to replicate all the magic candies we'd brought, and more. But… nothing had prepared me for what Jester was showing me with both hands.
"Aaahh! Aaahh!!!" I blinked once more as I looked at the Cheesecake in my hand.
"Why... is the cheesecake screaming?" I asked Jester, confused. The cheese took advantage of the moment to form a sort of monster head, with a mouth with teeth and small eyes, and scream once more. After the scream, the cheese flattened again, reverting to its original form as a simple cheesecake. I'd seen this damn cheesecake somewhere else, I could bet on it.
"I call it Scream Cheese!" Jester said happily as she looked at me expectantly. "So what do you think?! " Jester asked as she bounced in place. I... how? It hadn't been long since I'd started teaching Jester.
And to my surprise—or maybe I shouldn't have been surprised—Jester learned really quickly. Perhaps pranks were her motivation, and she excelled at them. It was as if Critical Role's own deity of deception and joy, The Traveler, had blessed her across the universes.
Any kind of magic, recipe, or design involving pranks, toys, or even magical food, Jester was a prodigy. But try teaching her a loosely related spell at the same level, and she couldn't learn it. Which, she didn't really have a problem with.
Jester didn't want to do anything more than get her joke shop up and running. So she was happy with her own mastery of pranks.
I looked at the cheesecake one more time before shrugging and taking a bite. I hummed softly at the taste. The cheese reformed into its screaming head, and I took a bite, decapitating the cheese monster without hesitation.
"Not bad. It actually tastes good." I praise it without a doubt. Jester's smile grew wider.
"Yay! I asked one of Mom's cooking friends for help; it's her recipe for Cheesecake with a little Jester in it!" Jester said happily. I giggled lightly before continuing to eat my sandwich.
"How's the image collection going?" I asked curiously. Jester gasped slightly and ran to one of the shelves, grabbed one of the relatively larger boxes. She hauled it over with difficulty, almost tripping, and dropped it on the floor. I walked over and looked inside the box.
"I have a lot!" Jester said happily as she showed off her loot. "You said you wanted pictures of famous people, and well, I thought the most straightforward way was to place an ad! Enid helped me place an ad online and used your name—something about speeding up the process. Within a few days, I had hundreds of pictures in the mail!" Jester said happily.
"I see." I said as I looked at the box. I pulled out a picture, and it was a slightly blurry photograph of Roygun. Hmm, wasn't she number two in the Rating Game? There should be a better picture of her. "Did you get permission to use the people's likeness?" Jester nodded.
"Yes! Mr. Malfoy helped with that! In fact, he said it was fun to get the rights to use the image before they knew how famous the cards would be, and he managed to make a huge profit!" Jester chirped. I snorted. Of course, Lucius would be amused by that. On the other hand, it was interesting how she called Enid by her name, but then again… it was Enid.
" Well, did he tell you who we have permission to use? " I asked curiously.
"Oh, I have a list." Jester said as she shuffled through the pictures and pulled out a small notebook. She looked for a particular page and handed it to me. I quickly glanced at the list.
Mmmm, the Satans were there, as well as the top 10 of the Rating Game. There was also permission to use images of the old Satans and the extinct pillar clans, specifically images of the first-generation pillar devils, those who are the first devils created by Lilith.
Of the pillars who were still alive, most were there. The few I saw who weren't were those who remained in Lucifaad and were part of the old Satan faction.
But the good thing is that there were plenty of people available for a sort of first batch. I kept looking and quickly found a permit to use the images of the different factions. Hmm, there was a note in Lucius's handwriting. I scanned it and snorted. Apparently, there was no law against using the images of the other factions.
While we're neutral and "allies" with some of them, there was no law prohibiting the commercial use of their images. It was good to know. I kept looking and blinked slightly when I found a drawing of mine.
"Aaah! Don't look at it! " Jester said as she snatched the book from me and closed it. Her cheeks flushed and turned slightly bluer. I raised an eyebrow at her and reached out.
"Give it to me." I said simply. Jester hid the book behind her back.
"No." she said childishly, puffing out her cheeks. I rolled my eyes, created a portal behind Jester and one next to me, reached in, and easily snatched the book away from her. "Aaah! No fair! " Jester complained, embarrassed.
I started looking through the sketches. While there were some of me, I wasn't the only one. There were sketches of Maomao and Maria, of Marion, their mother, and of other random succubi. Sometimes they weren't even people, just landscapes. There was one of my island from the lakeside. Then they got weirder. Zombies, zombies kissing. And— I blinked slightly.
"Are these... unicorn hamsters?" I asked, confused. To my surprise, Jester didn't blush; in fact, her eyes sparkled. Apparently, her only embarrassment was finding my drawing.
"It's a bunch of little unicorn hamsters wrapped up in their blanket!" Jester said adorably. I snorted. Amusedly. I flipped the page, and Jester looked up at him. "Isn't this the cutest baby manticore you've ever seen?" Jester asked excitedly.
"She's dead," I said tersely with a small smile.
"I know!" Jester chirped. I shook my head. She was outstanding. I'd forgotten that, canonically, Jester was also a painter. And that gave me an idea. Jester was capable of excellent portraits. The images of people in her sketch drawings were really good. Well… when she wasn't getting creative and drawing people melting. I turned the page.
"Tell me, Jester, do you want to continue drawing portraits as part of your profession?" I asked curiously. Jester seemed to panic slightly.
"What?! Why?! Are you taking me out of the joke shop?! I swear I only ate a few magic candies!" Jester said quickly. I snorted.
"Of course not. I was saying it to add a portrait creation service, then they would love for them to act like the images we had planned." I said playfully, Jester sighed in relief before looking at me.
"But… can't we use the images?" Jester asked, confused. I hummed.
"Moving images are created with a potion. Normally, they're just images on an infinite loop, created in large quantities. But a portrait... I'd better show it to you." I said with a smile. I grabbed one of her mother's drawings. "Sorry about this," I said as I tore the drawing off.
"Hey!" Jester complained indignantly. I raised a finger in her direction as I handed the rest of the book back to her. I quickly conjured a miniature portrait for the drawing and placed it on it, and then it began to float in front of us. The charms weren't really that difficult, and it was something I'd read recently; it was in the same book as the magical photographs.
I began weaving the charms over Jester's drawing slowly. It took longer than I expected, but I finally finished. The drawing seemed to shudder slightly before starting to come to life. It was still a rough sketch with uneven lines and many smudges, but it still moved as if alive.
Jester gasped and took a step back. Marion's portrait opened its eyes and looked at Jester.
"Hello, my dear," Marion said with a soft smile.
"Mom?!" Jester squealed as she stepped forward and approached the portrait.
"Oh my little sapphire, how is your day going?" Marion's portrait asked affectionately.
"I-what?" Jester stuttered.
"Words, my dear, use them," said Marion's portrait gently.
"You- are you Mom?!" Jester asked sharply as she grabbed the portrait and looked at the rest.
"Of course I'm your mother, my little sapphire," Marion said softly.
"It isn't," I said simply. The portrait barely flinched and continued smiling.
"But-she-how?" Jester asked, confused.
"Magic. They're placed over a painting or drawing to bring it to life. A sliver of that person's personality is magically taken, and the drawing is able to mimic it, as you can see," I said, pointing at Marion's drawing. Jester blinked.
"But… talk!" said Jester.
"Of course I can speak, my dear daughter," Marion said. I snapped my finger, and Marion's portrait stared forward, still alive, but unresponsive to any stimuli.
"And that's the point. The portrait… comes to life,' like I said, it's just a sliver of the real person, not even close to the real personality. It has no memories of the real person. If you have a conversation with the portrait, you'll realize it right away. But… it's still interesting magic."
"The portrait can act like the real person, but more importantly, it's able to interact with people. They're able to see, hear, and respond to people." I explained it slightly. And really, I felt ripped off by fanfics. Portraits were often used in various plots, making it highly unlikely for them to be used in a different context.
The only portraits that had any degree of intelligence or were capable of doing anything I'd read were the directors' portraits. And that was only because the portraits were painted while the directors were alive, and the directors could talk and teach the portraits how to behave and give advice as if they were themselves.
It would still have limits, but they would be more developed portraits than normal ones.
The other obvious exception was the Keeper's portraits. Those portraits had complete autonomy. Exactly as described in the fanfics. Which, I had no idea how to make happen, but I can think of two ways.
The first is to have the living person pour all their memories into the portrait in some way. Alternatively, the second option is to involve ancient magic.
Could you try to recreate those portraits? Perhaps two versions: the standard one and the comprehensive one. Depending on the version, the complete one. I don't think anyone wants all their memories placed in a portrait without some kind of safeguard.
I'd have to keep that in mind when creating them. In the meantime, I suppose the standard version would suffice. While they were rather rudimentary, they were still quite exotic and charming. I'm sure the pillar devils would be delighted and buy them for a fortune.
"That's... incredible. Does it only work on people? " Jester asked in surprise.
"Not really, landscapes and animals can also be animated in the same way." Jester practically vibrated at the news.
"I want to do it!" Jester said excitedly.
"Very well, but we'll start slowly. I need to see if I can get you some new paints, some magical ones, so they can maintain their colors for decades. They also need to be able to hold the magic that animates them more easily. We'll be running some tests," I explained. Jester nodded.
"Of course!"
"Then, we'll release the trading cards first, see if there's really a market for that. If the cards are as popular as we hope, then you can start making portraits."
"I can't wait!" Jester said excitedly.
"We'll have to see how you'll manage everything. If you start painting, it might take a long time. We might need to hire more help for the joke shop if you're going to be busy. If it's famous enough, all the pillars will want magical portraits. You're going to be painting a lot." I said with a grimace. Jester's eyes widened slightly.
"Ah." She said simply.
"Don't worry, I think I can help you with my time bubbles. I've been experimenting with something which might help you buy more time. Don't tell anyone." I said seriously. Jester closed her mouth and mimed zipping her lips shut.
"Okay, let's leave everything for when we finally have more details about the market. In the meantime, help me pick out some good photos. I think we'll need to review them all," I said with a grimace.
"Okay!" Jester chirped as she dropped to the floor near the box and started taking pictures. I did the same. It was going to be a long afternoon.