《Artifice: Iysinfyr》Chapter 14: Birth of a Media Empire
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Nal tapped her foot nervously. The last few weeks were quiet, and she had enjoyed several nights a week with Iysinfyr and El, but tonight Iysinfyr had requested Davanvia to come too.
Nal and El were in the front room sitting on a couch and were talking when Davanvia arrived, with Syl leading Davanvia into the front room and then moving off to the side.
As Davanvia approached the two girls, El stood up from the couch she and Nal sat on and took a step back while gaining a submissive posture. Nal stood up and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there.
Davanvia stopped in front of Nal and El and then looked around, “Where is Iysinfyr?”
Nal looked towards the door that led to the bedrooms, “Um… She… she said she is staying in her room but will use the TV thing she made to talk to us.”
Davanvia turned to the door where Nal had looked, “Hmm, I would rather talk to her in person, but I am curious what this tee vee invention does.” She turned back to Nal, “Have you seen it yet?”
Nal shook her head, “She seemed like she wants to surprise all of us at the same time.”
Davanvia smiled, "I can sympathize with that.”
The door to the bedrooms opened, and Deko came into the room. She pulled in a cart behind her that had a thin cloth draped over the long, bulbous looking object that sat inside.
Deko stopped next to the girls and pulled the cloth off the cart, revealing the object underneath.
Nal didn’t know what to make of it. One end of the object was entirely glass. The glass had no color and its make showed a high degree of workmanship, considering how few flaws were in it. On either side of the glass were two horns that attached to the rear of the object. On the side opposite of the glass there was a handle attached to a cylinder that stuck out with a round hole that looked like something went inside. The case of the object was copper with nothing interesting about it.
“This is the tee vee?” Davanvia leaned forward and looked through the glass.
A bright smile appeared on El’s face and she ran over to the TV, forgetting her fear of Davanvia.
Nal watched the two as she had more fun watching their reactions than looking at the thing. Iysinfyr would tell them more about it soon, anyway.
Deko pulled a storage crystal from a small pouch at her waist and put it in the cylinder in the back of the object. Next she pushed the cylinder in and twisted it. She then pulled a communication crystal from the same pouch, turned it on and then off, then put it back in the pouch.
An image of Iysinfyr appeared in the glass on the front of the object. She sat on her bed and was looking to the side at something before turning towards them.
El and Davanvia both started speaking over each other when Iysinfyr interrupted them, “Um… uh… before I start you should know I can’t hear you.”
El and Davanvia stepped back, though neither seemed too disappointed.
After a pause, Iysinfyr spoke again, “So, making the TV was not as hard as I thought it would be, just expensive. Oh yeah, do not try taking it apart. I made it so the glass breaks if you try to open it.” She paused and seemed to consider something, “I have one that is not finished here in my room if you want to come look. I’ll also show you the camera, the real secret behind the TV.”
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Davanvia and El both looked to the door to the bedrooms.
Davanvia took off towards the door at a quick walking pace, but El dashed to the door.
Davanvia scowled as El disappeared through the door far ahead of her and slowed her pace to her usual graceful step.
Nal looked from Deko to Syl and smiled. She hoped Davanvia and El might finally get along now that they liked the same things.
Syl stifled a laugh when she noticed Nal looking at her.
Nal looked back to the door just as Davanvia reached it and decided that she should follow them now or she’d miss out on more fun memories.
By the time she entered Iysinfyr’s room, Syl and Deko slipping in behind her, she found that El already had her head inside an object similar to the one Deko had shown them, except the copper casing was missing, showing several sheets of glass.
Davanvia seemed to want to join El, but glanced between the unfinished TV and a strange box mounted on a tripod.
Iysinfyr slipped off the bed and stood next to the strange box.
Everyone looked at Iysinfyr, with El excitedly hurrying to stand next to the box.
Iysinfyr touched the left bell on her head and fiddled with it, looking uncomfortable being the attention of everyone, “Uh, um…” she pointed to the box, “this… this is a camera. This is what we will use to show things on the TV.”
Nal looked closer at this ‘camera.’ The back third of the camera was of wooden make and had what looked like the back part of a looking glass sticking out. The front had some sort of cloth covered in a thin layer of tar and a hole filled with glass in the front. On the side there was a knob that looked like it adjusted something. The camera connected to the tripod with a swivel joint that allowed the camera to move without moving the tripod.
El and Davanvia looked the camera over.
El looked through the looking glass and swiveled the camera around, “Wow, I can see where it’s pointing.”
Davanvia looked slightly upset that El got to the looking glass before she did, “Let me look through when you finish.”
El jumped back from the camera, looking embarrassed, and bowed to Davanvia, “I’m sorry, Lady Davanvia. I should have let you go first.”
Davanvia looked slightly sad for a moment, but then composed herself and pointed to the camera, “No need to be so polite. You were faster than me so you can look at it first.”
El looked from Davanvia to the camera and back several times before her curiosity overcame her fear of Davanvia and went back to the camera.
Davanvia watched El, a slight smile on her face.
Iysinfyr nodded to Deko and then moved a small lever on the camera.
Deko reinserted the storage crystal into the TV, turning it back on.
A blurry image of the dresser El was pointing the camera at appeared on the TV.
Davanvia and Nal both looked from the TV and to the camera.
Davanvia’s face lit up, “Oh! So this camera has the other part of the communication crystal in the TV.”
El looked from the camera and to the TV, then looked back into the camera, “Why is it blurry?”
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Iysinfyr took over the camera from El and put her hand on the knob on the side of the camera, “You need to focus the image using this.”
Iysinfyr looked through the camera and turned the knob until the image on the TV cleared up.
Iysinfyr moved to the side and El looked through the camera again. She then moved it to the bed and adjusted the image slightly to remove the blur, “This is fun!” El stepped away from the camera and moved to the TV, “So you have things like this on Terra?”
Davanvia moved to the camera and started pointing it at things.
Iysinfyr moved next to the TV and watched whatever Davanvia moved the image to, “Yes, but they do not make them this way since there is not magic on Terra.”
Nal got excited at the opportunity to talk about Terra since Iysinfyr usually avoided the subject, “How do they do it if you do not have communication crystals?”
Iysinfyr scratched her cheek, “That is… well… I think I know some basics but… communication crystals are easier.”
Davanvia looked up from the camera, “So you made these without knowing how to make the Terran ones?”
Iysinfyr shrugged, “Magic makes things easier.”
Nal, El, and Davanvia all looked at each other.
Nal knew she wasn’t good with magic at all, El was a commoner so probably never trained in it, and she had never seen Davanvia use any either. It’s not that they couldn’t use any, but as none of them were Melche born they would never have an exceptional ability in magic.
Davanvia looked to Syl, “Bring my personal maid in.”
Syl nodded and left the room.
The room became quiet.
Nal watched Davanvia as she waited for her personal maid to come. They had invited her here for help with the TV thing and she wondered if what Iysinfyr just showed them was enough to get her to help, “Um… Davanvia.”
Davanvia looked from the TV to Nal, “Yes, Nalulthyn?”
Nal swallowed, “Will… will you help us?”
Davanvia looked at the camera, TV, Iysinfyr, El, and back to Nal, “Help you entertain people with this tee vee?”
El and Iysinfyr were now watching Davanvia.
Davanvia gave a slight smile, but said nothing and turned to the bedroom door.
The tension in the room increased and no one said anything else.
The door opened after a minute and Syl entered with Davanvia’s personal maid.
The maid held a large wooden box.
Davanvia walked towards the maid before turning to look at the three girls and smiled, “I want to help you, but I have one concern. We do not want others to know who we are, right? Well, I have an idea that could not only be fun but also help us hide our identity.”
Davanvia turned to the box and took the lid off, revealing a brown rabbit mask.
El and Nal both moved next to the box to get a better look.
Iysinfyr looked interested, but she was too short to see what was inside the box, even if she moved closer.
Nal looked like she wanted to pick up the mask, her hands hovering near it, but after one look at Davanvia her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and she stopped herself, “It’s so cute! Where did you get it?”
El nodded in agreement, “Cute!” She looked at Davanvia, “How much did it cost?”
Davanvia picked up the mask, revealing a black rabbit mask underneath.
Now that Davanvia held the mask, they got a better look at it. The mask was wood, but painted brown with exaggerated rabbit features. There were holes for the eyes and mouth with carvings of eyelashes filled in with lacquer around the eyes for accents. The back of the mask had two straps near the eyes for tying it on to the wearer.
Davanvia handed the white mask to Nal, the black mask to El, and pulled out a golden mask that she put on, “I made these masks to keep people from knowing who we are.”
Nal looked into the box, “Did you not make one for Iysinfyr?”
Davanvia frowned and looked at Iysinfyr, “I… I did not think a mask would work for her. Just looking at her body it’s obvious she is a Terran.”
Everyone looked Iysinfyr over. It wasn’t difficult to tell her body type was out of the ordinary from the normal person.
Iysinfyr sighed, “I guess you are right.”
Nal felt bad for Iysinfyr and walked over and put her hand on her shoulder, “We will think of something.”
El turned to Davanvia, she didn’t look happy, “You should have made a mask for her too!”
Davanvia’s posture looked taken aback by El, but it was hard to tell because of the mask.
Davanvia straightened herself, “I apologize, but I only had time to make these three. I will make one for you too, Iysinfyr.”
Iysinfyr brightened up.
Davanvia got more serious, “So, how are we going to do this tee vee thing?”
Everyone looked at Iysinfyr.
Iysinfyr took a step back at the sudden attention of everyone in the room, “Well, I was thinking we would each be in charge of different areas. I will build the new TVs, Davanvia will handle performances and finding guests, El will operate the camera and handle the money, and Nal can handle the news. We will hire people to sell the TVs to make it harder for people to find out who we are.”
Iysinfyr had already gone over the plan with El and Nal, but Nal still wasn’t sure she could handle her task.
Davanvia nodded, “I have some ideas too.”
***
Syl smiled as she walked back to her room. This plan was amazing. She felt confident that Iysinfyr and Davanvia were up to the task, but El and Nal worried her.
Still, she looked forward to seeing the cute bunny mask wearing girls do their best.
She also knew how dangerous could be. Not only would people in high places want to get involved if they succeeded in the plan, but she would have to fight off the pedophiles that a bunch of famous young girls would attract.
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