Senecio adn Tide II

[VisAnastasis]

It seemed like, in order to not have to have them both open at the same time, Being adjusted passwords just a little. One reacted to " The sun is a star", the other to " The sun is a star too", opening soon after the other. Falcon, who was distracted by his feelings, almost jolted them from his hands with the surprise as the pendants that seemed nothing alike any pocket suddenly opened up, but with the admirable instinct of a beast gasping for the last morsel of meat he desperately caught them. When he breathed out in relief, he was mesmerized all the more with the sight.

In the silver star-shaped pendant, there was a surface that looked like a mirror, but was of dark hue and seemed full of stars, and in the sun shaped one was a reflective bluish surface that felt like it was filled with soft stirring clouds.
Those were openings to the dimension, of course, but Falcon didn't know that, as they seemed like paintings that twinkled and moved, and he was inspecting them, and gasped suddenly when one of his fingers just passed easily straight through the starry sky in the pendant as if passing through the air.
" Svarik? " he asked slowly. " What... art form is this exactly? Logically, my finger should have reached the bottom of the pendant a distance ago, but I can't reach it, and it is sort of creeping me out, not in a bad, but in a curiosity-killed-the-cat way... "

[Mirach]

Svarik chuckled and tried putting a cookie into his pendant and then retrieving it. "Pocket dimensions, like that bag of holding Hans has," he explained. "They've smaller, of course, but can hold up to 30 reasonably sized items. I didn't know they would look like sky though, that's a lovely detail..."

[VisAnastasis]

The cookie easily disappeared through the sky and appeared back - it seemed like the entrance and exit was seemingly stretched bigger when the function was used, bending space around them in similar way Janus's bag did when someone was entering the space in it. Falcon's eyes widened with that, and he immediately, in the spirit of experimentation, tried putting a pen from the table into it, grinning like a fool when it worked with ease - Janus indeed judged well, that Conrad seemed really into pocket dimensions and immediately without filter began putting small things back and forth with childish excitement.

" I... I see. Hans's dimension opening seems fully transparent, so I was also surprised by the details od sky. And I didn't know dimensions could be woven into things like jewellery," he said in astonishment. " Well, I definitely can't push a sword into it, but I can still put so many useful things, without it changing the weight of the object - that's so amazing! It isn't endless like Hans's, but getting a pocket dimension was a long term Janus related plan, it is an unexpected surprise to already have one so soon! "

[Mirach]

Svarik was smiling broadly as he watched Conrad's experimentation. "I wouldn't ask for it, but he suggested it himself," he said. "Anything you put there is perfectly safe, and it only opens with password that can be changed if you ask him." 

[VisAnastasis]

" Well, since it seems like we have almost identical passwords, it will be amusing to have them open at the same time, but I can live with that for a while. It is really lovely password, though, so I am keeping mine, so you can change yours when you feel like, " Falcon teased greedily, playing with his pendant like with a toy, looking around the room to push new things in it, eager to sate his curiosity to the limit of the size of objects he can use - it was a strange experience to look at him like this, excited but intellectual in the same time, and above all, free in his words and inquisitive spirit, unexpectedly, seeming rather young in this moment, his expression more fit for his years, unusually so, as if the weight of the past could not reach him right now. " What should we try next? Oh, I have such a mighty desire to try to push one pendant into the other and see if it fits, but I also have a mighty feeling I shouldn't randomly mess with dimensions like they are jam and bread... But the temptation! " he laughed. " Oh, I will really have to ask Janus what happens if I try that, or I would die! Until then, I think I am just about to try putting every small thing into it, how about you? "

[Mirach]

Svarik laughed with that. "I really wouldn't try putting one pendant into another right now. To be honest I wouldn't even get that idea on my own, but it's definitely worth asking. I'd like to see if it actually has a bottom, though." He looked around the room and finally found a thread that he tied around the pen and started lowering into the pocket dimension like a fishing rod.

[VisAnastasis]

Falcon assisted him, looking curiously for the result, immersed into sensing what is going on and trying to figure it out.
They were lowering the threat for quite a while, but it didn't seem to touch something firm on the other side. Unexpectedly though, the pen that they lowered with nib down, appeared with the nib at the front - it was a surreal experience, to hold a thread that was lowering the pen with one hand, but to have the pen-pushing upwards while you were *lowering* it.
" Do you think it works in a loop sort of way? " Falcon asked curiously. " There seems to be some circular thing going on, but it's probably that when the dimension reaches capacity, or when you push the too long thing into it without folding it, that it will peek out of dimension... But it sort of makes sense that it doesn't have a hard end. If it had, fragile things in it could break. "

[Mirach]

"Huh..." Svarik muttered when the pen peeked out. "Yes, it seems so... Well, it's a full dimension, so it makes sense it has no bottom. It's just wrapped into itself..." He made a knot on the thread and then pulled it out and measured it to see what's the longest thing that can fit there. "You know, I think the 30 things limit is just semantic. Janus had to make some adjustments to have it recognize a heap of coins as one object. So it can possibly fit more things, but 30 is how much you can withdraw instantly. I imagine you put in more and you'd have to fish it out with a rod... We could also test the volume limit of how much it fits by pouring water inside, but I suspect we will need more than one pitcher..."

[VisAnastasis]

" So you mean to say that dimension in itself is... lightly stretchable? " Falcon asked curiously. " We would definitely need more than one pitcher, judging by the length of that thread... But we can't just do it in the open, so we'd have to bring water here. Still, this is something he does with his own magic, so maybe just how stretchable it is might depend on how much of his own power he puts into it when making it? " he theorized. " Perhaps if we use reasonably sized small items, it could easily fit up to 30, but if we put really tiny items, we could easily put up to 50 without overwhelming it? Maybe volume is indeed an important variable, but the dimension, in order to exist for a long time, has to be powering itself on some way, right? So maybe trying to push way above its limit would be overwhelming for dimension, so instead of writing us a kilogram limit, it's easier for him to give us a reasonable items number that can fit? But there has to be a limit he set to, like, not have a dimension overload - like with the pen that had unreasonably long thread tied to it, it just left dimension on another end when it got too long. It is likely if we put too much water, it won't keep accepting it until it breaks, but will just throw up the excess water, so that could be a good experiment indeed to check most comfortable volume, as a stream of water should count as one object... "

[Mirach]

Svarik played with the thread thoughtfully. "I think it has a volume limit of what can fit inside. If you make a circle from that thread, I'd guess the volume would be a sphere of the same diameter," Svarik said. "So you could probably store as many small items as would fit there. But 30 is probably the limit for easy retrieving. I guess it's how much the dimension can remember."

[VisAnastasis]

" Yes, imagine if he told you how much kilograms can fit in, and you had to manually measure the weight of every single item you fit in out of fear you'd reach the limit? That would be a pain, " Falcon concluded reasonably. " It seems Janus took part in building on the mansion, too, since it also has a lot of *rules* built into it, like an arbitrary number of items he gave us, 30. You can give reasonable orders to rooms that can be made true if it fits in the list of premade rules, and unless your name is written down in a list of trusted guests or employees, if you are stranger, or if you are not let by insiders, some corridors tend to loop and be confusing... So 30 number seems an orbitary number indeed, a limit not set by exact volume of dimension, but by outside rules. So... " he grinned a little. " What do you think about putting 30 really small items, and then putting 31th just to see what happens? Maybe we can figure out a loophole. You should still use proper number count for yours since it's easier to not get lost, but if it's possible, I think I will try my best to calculate and use up all comfortable volume. "

[Mirach]

"I think what happens if you put 31 things in," Svarik said slowly, "would be that you won't be able to retrieve it, unless you retrieve something else first. We could test the theory, I just hope we don’t break something. It would be awkward to go to Janus to tell him we broke it so soon..."

[VisAnastasis]

" Do you want me to wait for one month and then test it? " Falcon inquired innocently, getting more daring and bold with his claim on Svarik's time since yesterday, it seemed. " That way, if it breaks, we would have an excuse to come here and have a little holiday again. I am only planning to keep the most important things right at the start, anyway. Like... this, for example, " he said, and with immense satisfaction, he took out an object from his bag, and took from it three royal seals, and put then in the medallion with ease. " Those three are really important so they are worthy of being counted as 3/30 instead of 1. " he said contentedly, and there was visible relief on his face, not just because he had an easier place to store them - after all, someone other than ruler carrying three royal seals was a grave crime, and on top of everything else he could be trialled with, it was a good feeling to have a full-proof way of never being accused of this one. " What else do you think I should put in it first? " he asked curiously. " Sky is the limit, really, as long as it's cute, tiny enough sky... "

[Mirach]

"I don't know, I was mainly thinking about those as well," Svarik said. "And go on if you want to test putting 31 things in, if we want an excuse to come we can always find one. Without the seals though, I really wouldn't try such an experiment with anything valuable, although I expect if there would be some actual danger of destroying something, Janus would warn me."

[VisAnastasis]

" There is no way that in an endless amount of time he worked with people he didn't come across all sorts of idiots like us, " Falcon grinned. " After all, if you are told you can only use it for 30 things, isn't it in human nature to immediately try to put 31? There is no way he didn't anticipate that. Let's just go for it, then, otherwise, it would probably bother us for a month. " he agreed right away, readily. He did pull out the three seals. Instead, he picked up random small items from the room to do the test, until finally after a little while, he dramatically pushed 31th object.

[Mirach]

Svarik watched carefully, but nothing extraordinary happened so far, it fit into the pocket dimension with no problem. "Now try retrieving it," he said.

[VisAnastasis]

When he tried retrieving it, something surprising was basically spat out instead of the last item - a little folded piece of paper that they never put there. Falcon looked at Svarik wonderingly, before picking it up and unfolding it. It was written in human language, but in recognizable Janus's poor handwriting.

" Message for the future little rebel,

Since you know the password of this object, I hold high hopes you are a trustworthy person. Maybe it is oversight, but it could be this item was borrowed to you in haste, or original holder died and you inherited it, so you do not know all the details of the object. It is set to a 30 limit. When 31st object is placed in and retrieval is tried, the pendant is programmed to first push out this note to inform you. To avoid complications that come from overbearing the locket, I, the maker of the item, put a lot of safeguards, the number limit being one of them.
If you overcounted yourself, please, to keep optimum usability of the pendant, remove the excessive number of items until there are only 30. If, however, your life may depend on hiding something inside that is above the number, I am not without mercy, and I will not hinder your chance to save your life by automatically pushing out items over the number limit. Instead, I set a softer limit, with this informant message.

The pendant will only push out items when it exceeds the physical limit of pocket dimension. When only the 30 number limit is broken, the only thing that is locked for the stability of the item is the most advanced feature - quick retrieval function. That is, you can not pull out your items just by thinking about them and reaching for them. Locket unlocks the quick retrieval when the number is again lowered to 30.

There are two ways of retrieving excess items.
1. The easiest way is to find the Maker of the pendant, or a Star Being with powers over space, and ask them for help, for any Star, it should be possible to pull out things easily.
2. The second way is harder but possible for non-stars. Make a little durable hook on the thread and push it inside, and try to pull out objects by thinking of them intently. If it is just a tiny bit over the limit, it should be relatively quick to fish out extra objects, but if the limit is severely passed, the object is too overloaded and slows down more you add to it, and finishing out the excess items might be harder and cause more headache, but as long as you know how the items look, it should be possible. If second solutions don't work, refer back to the easier solution number 1.

Upon reading this message, please return the note back inside, so in the further future, another person like yourself may be taught the proper way to use this and not lose your valuable things in case of death. The paper is programmed to be automatically pushed out with every 10 more items added, for example, 41, 51 and so on, but I do not recommend that. Go over-limit only in case of emergency.

Under all costs, stay safe, because your life is precious, and an optimally fine-tuned item is always a good tool for your fight against danger,

With good wishes, and hopes you are not in a bad situation or dead,
Janus Eldergod "

[Mirach]

"Future little rebel..." Svarik snorted. "No way are we going to use solution number 1. This room gives you what you want too, so there should be a hook... right in this drawer. Here, you can go item-fishing."

[VisAnastasis]

" Yeah, we are going to use solution number one only if I put, like, 100 items over and retrieval is so slow it makes you want to die. " Falcon rolled his eyes, but he seemed a little spiteful with the educational tone of the note, that despite useful took him away from the chance to experiment the hell out of the item. " Quick retrieval is the best feature, yes, but still, he is underestimating my wits, " he grinned. " What if I train properly and learn to fish out items really quick? First times always suck but let's see how quickly we can get a hang of it. " he beamed again still, as if at a petty challenge, and took the hook and chain that indeed appeared in the drawer, and contentedly, narrowing eyes in full focus, began the retrieval of the excess item.

[Mirach]

"You will still be limited by the actual size of the dimension, which we will find out, hopefully," Svarik noted, watching the attempt to fish out the item with interest. "Also I can imagine it will be really annoying when it spits out the note every time after 10 additional items. I'd say just don't put it back, but it's the safest place for it. I wouldn't leave it lying around, and I don’t want to destroy it either. Janus might find out about that."

[VisAnastasis]

" It's not just the matter of him finding out, though that would be embarrassing. Rather, while I will categorically discard the possibility we may die, what if some crisis arises and we have to borrow lockets to someone but don't have enough time to explain all those details? I will return the note when we fish out the item successfully... just a little bit... " Falcon murmured as he narrowed his eyes at the pendant as if burning his intentions into it. After around a minute and a half, h triumphantly pulled out one small object. " Ha! It's quite trickier than I thought, but it's doable. I think I can get quite quick with more practice. Still, I can see how a lack of quick retrieval can cause quite a headache, you need to really be fully focused on it. Retrieving things quickly will also be useful in medical emergencies, " he proclaimed. " I think I am going to get us a couple of bottles of antidotes for different poisons each, or maybe a bottle with antidote pills - those are more expensive than antidote powders, but if many pills are put in a bottle, they should count as one item. It will be handy to also have a bottle full of painkiller pills... and maybe I could ask Eros if he can make me a bottle of refined pills that hold a lot of nutrients for you, so when you're low on magic you can easily get a lot of emergency calories by swallowing a pill... Sure, we can always keep medicines in bags, but you should always have emergency medicines on your person... We can also add a small pack of bandages as one item... maybe also make couple tiny bottles of water, in an emergency where even few gulps are lifesavers. We will easily figure out an optimal list of must-have items with some trials and error. "

[Mirach]

Svarik nodded. "Medical supplies are really a good use, and it's essential to be able to get them quickly, so I wouldn't overload it unless it's really necessary. Then some money, a dagger in case someone disarms you... I'd still keep a few slots empty just in case, if something needs to be hidden safely."

[VisAnastasis]

" I completely agree, I will still practice fishing out things in free time just in case overloading might be necessary - I want to develop an instinct response to do it quickly. But overload will indeed be only last resort, " Falcon, who seemed to have calmed down by now, but still felt rather content with his little successes, began removing the useless items after the experiment, and putting back royal seals first, as he spoke. " I will come up with optimal must-have items for both of us later. Bigger dagger might be a stretch, but som custom smaller one should fit easily, I agree, we should both have one that can be both used for defence, and for cutting food in emergency cases when we don't have proper hunting tools. What about you, though? What specific items do you plan to put in your locket? " he asked curiously. " And, to say it first, please, don't say you are just going to put like, 30 small jars of cookies... Couple jars are, of course, mandatory, but I am curious about what sentimental things you'd love to keep in your pendant, in general. "

[Mirach]

"I'd say my flute, but I like to keep it where I can touch it. Hm... Symbel's water and a few dried flowers."

[VisAnastasis]

" Hmm, Simbel's water is really useful, and his flowers are good for hurts related to miasma, too, and so it is technically a medicine. Holding a little jar of dried flowers and a little jug of water might be good. And while you can have some main flute on you, we can also order you some nice backup in case it gets stolen or damaged. " Falcon agreed, carefully and with a gentle push closing his own pocket dimension right now." You are a healer by trade, and your flute is your tool of choice - you should at least have one concealed one preserved safely there, and we can pick out some that you really like. Would flute shopping be considered a solid date? It is very unlikely I would meet any of my enemies at a classy instrument shop. "