Gemstones and Homunculi [Savna]

[Savnarae]

Savna smiled as Decimus pressed a gem into her skin. It always felt strange when someone else did it. Her arm was very warm, but far from burning. The pewter of her skin didn't heat up quite as quickly as normal metal did. The fact that it covered her arm raised its heat capacity quite a bit.

"Perfect," she said of the gem, looking down at it and smoothing around its edges as she continued to listen. She smiled as he mentioned his tendency to irritate. Didn't surprise her in the least. She'd noticed that some of the homunculi that had been born of living or formerly-living matter tended to express more than just physical traits of their life-force objects. Terrezen had been...a handful, to say the least. She was glad he was warning her now, she'd make sure she was battle-ready at all times.

"If you have any suggestions on that front while I prepare myself, I'll be more than happy to take them in to account," she told him. "Perhaps I could study your scale pattern in your true form for ideas?" She'd never actually decked out her face in gem armor, let alone the area immediately around her eyes. Heating her face was dangerous, strictly because of the thinness of the pewter. She'd of course try though.

She selected another shard from the pile of emeralds, and began to complete the starburst. "What do you intend to have me dress as, Master? It might affect where I place decorative gems..."

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

"Hmn, a scale pattern would work... But your face is thinner than the rest, correct? Which means we'd have to worry about melting. Perhaps if we use a more controlled way to heat the pewter a bit, and heat the gems as well... As long as we can get your skin somewhat softer you would be able to smooth away any bulges the warmed gems might cause, right?" He didn't want to injure her over this, but if her face was the only unarmored part of her body of course people would single it out for attack. "We'll try it out later, I won't force you to try melting your face your first day here. I should be safe enough for a few days while we figure out the best way to do it."

He paused from his sorting to watch her work for a moment, taking his time before he answered. "If you'd like, I can bring you shopping tomorrow. I don't know too much about women's fashion or your own preferences, and your body type is a bit unusual for a female... So to have you able to pick things out and try them on to make sure it all fits would be better than just ordering you some clothes. So perhaps just decorate where it is more likely for it to be seen when wearing the types of clothes you prefer."

He picked out a few more smaller gems, giving a soft sound as a particularly vibrant ruby was placed aside. "I have all of tomorrow afternoon free, we can check out the shops around here then. I'll do some research to find out the better shops." At least he wouldn't have to worry about accessories for her- she didn't need any jewelry the way she was. "I'll find something for you to wear when you wish to sleep, and I'll find you some shoes to wear as well... Do you know what size your feet are?"

[Savnarae]

Savna smiled at the "melting her face" comment as she picked up another gem. She appreciated his thoughtfulness. In her case though, bunching of the pewter might be useful, especially if she was to coat her entire face with gems. She imagined that just heating the gems would be useful in this case. Further reinforcement.

"Seven or an eight, but I don't particularly need shoes, Master." Size sevens fit very tightly, which she liked, but she was probably an eight. "Do you mind if I wear something rather..." she searched for a word, "...small? I don't care much for clothes, and I prefer things that are small and will stay in place. I don't need anything at all to sleep in." She didn't sleep in clothes.

She was almost done with the first starburst at this point, and was eyeing the colors to see which next set had the most longer shards in it. A particularly lovely ruby caught her eye, but it wouldn't quite fit with the theme of this arm.

[Decimus Aemilius Lepidus]

"Do you prefer to be with or without shoes? Do rougher surfaces wear away at your feet?" He didn't have to worry about her discomfort, since he doubted they would be walking anywhere that would pierce through her skin. "And you'll need to wear shoes when we're out of course. But around here I don't mind what you do, I'm not terribly fond of shoes myself." He felt all clothing was restricting to a point- part of why he refused to wear underwear.

"And small is fine with me. Whatever you feel most comfortable in.. I'm sure we'll be able to find you a suitable wardrobe tomorrow." He continued to watch her between sorting out gems, curious about what she was going to create. The starburst was rather pretty, but he wasn't sure what it was supposed to be... Still, he trusted her to be able to make something beautiful like she had with her other arm.

"When you want to change your gems, what do you do? Heat up your arm and pry them loose? Does it harm you to do it?" After all, it was making a hole in the pewter, wasn't it? "Do you prefer to just keep one design for a long time because of it?" If she did he wasn't too concerned- seeing a woman decked out in gemstone skin was impressive enough that she didn't have to worry about constantly changing.

[Savnarae]

"I suppose...I prefer to be without shoes on softer surfaces, but hard floors tend to be cold and harden the soles of my feet," Savna replied, really giving the matters consideration. She looked down at the floor around them. She'd probably need some sort of barrier between her foot and the floor, particularly a closed on that would keep her body heat in.

Finishing up the emerald burst, she looked for diamonds, and movied the pile a bit closer to her, selecting a long, rectangular diamond and appraising it. She looked up at Decimus. "Sorry, this might be a little loud," she apologized between his sentences. She brought the gem to her teeth and bit it in half. The stone cleaved apart with a crack like a muffled gunshot, and she looked at the two pieces, now less geometric and more shard-like.

"Sorry," she apologized for the noise. "Yes, I do have to pry them loose. Usually if I want to do it carefully I heat my arm nearly to melting. Heat doesn't hurt me unless the pewter actually pulls away from the muscle underneath, so I if I can, I try to actually pinch the stone out. I lose a little bit of skin that way, but it grows back or I can just peel it off the gem and stick it back on. I do like to keep them there, though. They're not something I typically swap out every morning." She smiled, hoping he'd understand as she reheated her arm over the fire. She was capable of changing them rapidly, but she needed a large quantity of free, molten pewter as a sort of band-aid.

"It's a lot like metalworking," she continued, aiming one shard of the diamond on the underside of her forearm this time, close to her elbow, and sinking it in gently. Unlike the emerald, it gained a sort of reddish glint as her skin parted around it and it directly touched blood. "If you're careful and thorough, you can remold a sculpture many times, but I need time to recover the lost skin. It takes a few days to replenish an open wound as long as the bleeding's stopped."