Terms of Empowerment

[Belle]

Belle picks Corn up at a cafe not far from his bookstore. In truth, she almost picked him up at the bookstore proper. But they both eventually agreed that it would make more sense to be covert about it. And Belle certainly respects Corn wanting to protect his wife. Got to keep those anchors to Earth any way we can.

Pulling into the driveway, Belle walks briskly up to the door and opens it up for Corn. She waits until he's fully inside and then closes the door behind him. "Welcome to Casa Del Belle!" Kaze's apartment hasn't changed much mechanically, though the once vibrant Hallow is now dormant with it's old master's departure. The little aviary is still there; the cooing pigeons providing just a bit of ambience that one wouldn't expect in a suburban West Coast apartment. Belle's mostly made the place her own with choices of color and posters scattered around the walls, and maybe a few more bookshelves.

"Would you like a drink? I've got tea, coffee, even some beer if you want it." ​She doesn't want to talk dry-mouthed about this whole prize deal.
Corn

[Corn]

"It is a beautiful house." Corn said looking around appreciatively. "The choice of pigeons is a bit surprising to be honest. They are known to be not-exactly-clean creatures. Some tea would be fine, Belle. Can we talk openly here?"

[Belle]

Belle shrugs at the mention of the birdies. "A holdover from the last owner. They're cute, in their own flying rat kind of way." She has a soft spot for animals. Well, she has a soft spot for a lot of things.

"Yep. Place is secure. Just try not to scream the mysteries of the universe out the window." She gestures to the living room window, which is curtained. "Or was this more of a 'need to know' kind of sensitive subject you wanted to talk about without being heard?" ​There's mirth in the Warlock's voice, but a hint of worry in her eyes. She's thought Corn was here to talk about guanxi. Was there something else in the Moros' mind?

[Corn]

"Nope, nothing to do with screaming about mysteries or sensitive subjects. I am here to discuss with you what you have in mind for your big reward for being our best-performing neokoros. Also, I am sorry you didn't get the Herald position. I still believe we need a herald and I still believe you are the person for the job. The other councilors disagree. You will find out that it is very difficult to push for change in this consilium. People like things as they are and newcomers with ideas about doing things in a different way can be considered annoying.
Anyway, tea would be fine, if you will Belle. Where could I sit? "

Once directed to a seat Corn would continue, "on the subject of your reward, don't worry too much about making the right choice immediately. I will not release the spell immediately. I will hold it for some time so if you are not happy with your first choice you will have some time to decide on something different.
As I have said and I am now clarifying, you are entitled to a master-level, permanent piece of magic. I am going to create something for you with the intention for it to hold.
If you want an statue of yourself in gold, I can make it. It will be weighting several tons, and sleeper disbelief may bring it down, but I can make it. If you want a self-repairing car, I can also make it, but again beware of sleepers. Permanent is permanent. Which means that car would be in top shape in 500 years unless the spell is dispelled.

My personal favorite, and honestly the choice I suggest for you, comes to what I call "Teddybears of doom". The basic idea is, you get a large teddybear, a scary one with claws. I animate it and it becomes as smart as a dog - which means she can be trained - and quite strong. I also make the teddy self-repairing. You train your teddybear of doom to attack interlopers.
When you become a master of mind, you upgrade the teddy's intelligence and give her a personality and I would jury-rig a gun in her paws."
Belle may notice the "her" in the descriptions, Corn has obviously spent some time thinking about it.

"Something much less cool, more subtle and potentially more useful, is a toy. Same deal, it is animated so it can sneak in places easier. You can then scry on it. Use it like a bug. That way, you are not scrying directly on a mage - which has the danger of a mage striking back through the sympathetic link.
Oh, fair warning here. Please if you are to scry on me, inform me first. If I sense someone scrying on me, I will strike back and it won't be nice.

Or, you can send your little spy to watch and later read its mind, although note that with such low capabilities - unless you enhance them yourself- your spy will not understand much, and honestly, it will take training to teach your spy to sneak in places stealthily.
A toy car, especially one with a small antenna would draw much less attention if it is spotted moving by sleepers but you will have much harder time to climb with it.
Some of the best toy-spy-bugs one can find are... toy bugs, I think. They are small, they are subtle and they can easily be explained as pranks if found by sleepers or as real bugs if someone sees them moving. We were told the Seers use such things, magic scarabs, to spy on us.

Of course, there are always the boring and efficient options of a tool that works very very well. If you want a magic sword, get me a sword and I will enchant it to be much better and make it practically unbreakable. Phoenyx would love that. It doesn't have to be a sword, mind you. I can work with a car too, make it much faster and easier to handle and then give it a nice 'polish' so to speak to make it the envy of rich snobs.

If you think something else, we can discuss it. Those are not your only options and if you have your heart set on something or some goal, we may find ways that your reward may help you to attain them. Money doesn't buy happiness but it does buy things that can bring you happiness. So, with the same deal I could glam-up your car or dress, I could glam-up a much of jewelry for you to sell much higher price. Etc. "

[Belle]

Belle shrugs, her smile no less bright but perhaps a little muted by disappointment. "I see where you're coming from there. But hey, I'll give it time. If you're right and the Consilium needs a Herald, then I'll just have to stick around until the pieces fit." She gestures to the living room couch. "Please, sit. I'll grab some tea for both of us." ​The Warlock pours out some earl grey for Corn and some chamomile for herself. She's been trying to cut down caffeine after coming to terms with her more 'energetic' outbursts. ​"And I for one am excited to hear what you had in mind..."

And hot damn did Corn have some options...

Belle's eyes light up like a kid at Christmas as each suggestion grows more and more fantastical. Her jaw hangs loose for several full seconds after Corn finishes up. ​"Wow...just...wow! You really weren't kidding when you said Master-level stuff. And..." She almost says 'you think I deserve that', but she shakes that off the instant after the thought enters her mind. Of course he thinks that. He KNOWS it. This is CORN we're talking about. Honest to God, throws a party at a drop of a hat Corn. "Thank you."

With that sappy moment out of the way, Belle cradles her tea cup and furrows her brow as she ponders her options. "As much as I'd enjoy having a killer teddy bear at my beck and call, I think that's a little too much power to be giving me." She grins confidentially. ​"But I appreciate the thought. Now having a spy toy in my arsenal DOES sound like a sweet idea, especially when you mention using it as a Scrying focus." Especially after her last Scrying scenario. "And trust me, if I ever have to Scry you, you'll be the first person to hear about it." She looks a bit more serious here. "I don't want to put you or your family in danger."

She sips her tea, smile returning to its broad, happy self. "So yeah, Toy Story Spy Drone is totally my pick. Though I'd probably want to think of something a little less conspicuous."

[Corn]

"So, spy toy it is. The good news are you have a large array of choices for spy toys to become permanently animated. Keep in mind that what you can do on that spy toy, others could do as well. So I would like you to not bring it in the Athenaum and you should take care that it doesn't know too much about you. Personally, I would train it to remain nicely in a box unless needed and to avoid drawing attention to itself. Remember how the toys in toy story played dead when people were around? Something like that.
Also, know that you should train it, but with your access to mind, it will be probably easier than for most. It would also spur you to work more on that arcanum.
As for the 'too much power' over the killer-teddies, you should know that I bought a life-sized mannequin for the Mysterium order. It won't be permanently enchanted and I will not put it inside the Athenaum. I would like to see how it does against mages and I have some ideas, but we can discuss that later.

Now, the next step: I would like you to bring me the toys, plural, that you want to test. I will enchant several and then you decide which one you would like to keep. I could, theoretically, animate more than one toy with the same magic, but then the potency would be weaker making it easier to Unravel. Unraveling is an issue, thanks to the hubris of our ancestors.
That "try run" on the toys will leave them untrained once I put the spell on them again.

Furthermore, if you want alterations, like putting a tiny camera on a toy, you should have it done before I enchant your permanent spy toy.
Oooor... you could ask me to jury-rig a camera on the toy using a double spell. Or a microphone. It may take a few tries before I manage to put both spells permanently on with a decent potency, but I am OK with that - if you are OK with that. However, I may not have to use magic for that, if you find a sleeper that can do it. Small cameras like the ones on the cellphones and microphones etc are, thanks to mobile phones... probably small enough, if you get a toy that is a 2"-3" large.
What sleepers may not be able to do, but I am, is to jury rig a 'self destruct' device on the toy. Theoretically, I could jury-rig a gun on a larger toy but then you would go back to the killer-teddies and the recoil of a gun would probably send your toy flying. A large enough explosive device to deal some damage could be put on a larger toy but it could be detected... but I am a master, I can create a secret compartment that would make it nearly impossible for sleepers to detect.
But honestly, I would stay away from explosives that would destroy anything but the spy toy. Bombs are not selective. You don't want in your conscience an accidental explosion that left innocents wounded...
What I could certainly see as useful though, is a secret compartment where you can slip in a note. There's no reason why your toy wouldn't be able to pass messages to people that know how to find and open the comparthment.

Another thing you could consider, as far as jury-rig goes, is whether the toy should have flying or burrowing qualities. I could make the toy able to burrow in the ground, although delicate equipment on it, might be damaged unless protected - or unless I have increased the toy's durability which requires a different spell.

Now, on repairs: I could make the spy toy self-repairing. But is it something you want? A self-repairing animated spy toy will be around until the magic unravels by sleepers or until dispelled. 'Why not?' you may ask. Well, because if a sleeper sees an insect toy and burns it and then sees it in the trash fully repaired 15 minutes later, we have a breach. But who would be checking their trash? I don't know. You should decide and let me know.

Last but not least: know from Corn the Councilor that you would be held responsible for what that spy toy does. It will be your item. It is a responsibility. "

[Corn]

Sorry forgot a part but I think it is OK with Belle 's player if I post it directly under my post

"As for the secret compartment, it can also be used by the right toy to store things that could create sympathetic connections. If your toy is like a snake for example, it could 'swallow' some some hair and bring it back to you. And as I said, what your toy does is your responsibility and more importantly, what I can do, a Seer can do as well. A live or toy animal could pick up one of your hairs and it can be used against you months later. Be on your guard. The spell to create such things is not so advanced that it can't be cloaked."

[Aeolus]

Chiming in quickly to slightly curb your enthusiasm. The animated thing will have roughly the intellect of a dog so some of the more complex operations you've described require Mind, Fate, and/or Time. A so highly sentient and capable assistant would also require Belle to buy the Retainer Merit.

I like that you're super exited about flexing those Matter muscles, but that's a lot of ifs and maybes you're throwing around. Doing all of that will definitely cost and I want you to know that I won't be the one to figure out precisely how to achieve all that - although I'll gladly look over your suggested course of action.

[Belle]

Already Belle's liking the ring to it: 'spy toy'. Like a regular Jane Bond. "I like the 'Toy Story' strategy and keeping it out of the Atheneum. Unless this thing somehow gets upgraded to Artifact-level status, it should be easy to contain since it doesn't have a mind of its own." ​She looks surprised at the mention of the mannequin. ​"So a little 'Night at the Museum' action to discourage intruders? I like it! Definitely keep me in the loop. Though I'm nowhere near as skilled in Matter as you are."

She sips her tea as she processes Corn's options for upgrading this hypothetical spy toy. "Definitely no bombs. If we need something blown up, it'll probably be magical anyway and I'll just work on having something magical to handle that." And her Spheres definitely gave her some options; some of which were subjectively worse than fireballs. "I like making the most of the toy's utility, but I think I'll probably trade out self-healing for mobility. Maybe a 'Transformer'? I've heard of worse reasons to go toy shopping."

"Also, I guess it goes without saying that this stays between us then? Or at least just Order business?"

I'm definitely game for this being a long-term investment as far as Merits go. Maybe a month-to-month Glimpse or Scene to build progress towards the xp total?

[Corn]

Artifact?
Corn blinked. How powerful did Belle think he was? That was purview of archmastery and probably of prime, not matter. But who knows with Archmasters? Well, the Mysterium should, but he didn't.
"A Transformer eh? Nice idea. Well, if you bring one, I can enchant it. I cannot make it transform by itself though Belle - not permanently. It has to be a transformer toy. And there are nice transformer toys.
But then you will have to train Optimus Space on how and when to transform. If he changes in front of 5 sleepers, you can expect the item to be disenchanted then and there for good. The Abyss is merciless like that.
Speaking of Space and Matter... if it has a secret compartment and you are familiar with it, you could put things in and out of it with space, couldn't you?

I wouldn't inform anyone of Optimus Space, not Mystagogues or anyone. But I think you should, once you have trained the Transformer as it may be of use. But I will leave the choice of if and when to reveal it to you.

Anyway, one rule: No Decepticons! I am a child of the 90s after all..."