A Path to Gold: The Alchimia Immortal Dynasty (Latest Update: 12/9/14)

[Deme]

Aww, thanks, guys! I hope to get the next chapter up soon. I like this house a lot, myself.

And the front door does not lead into a bedroom; however, what you might be looking at when you say that is Aurum's study/bedroom (the octagonal one), which leads out to a small porch, which at the moment just contains a beehive. It may be a slightly too-small porch, to be honest.

Edit: It may take a bit longer than I expected, to be honest. This is mostly just due to personal stuff.

[Deme]

Part 5: Alloys

^{From the personal accounts of Aurum Alchimia}
After…That oddness at the party… I…I just wanted to get back to work. I will return to the matter of that… experience when I have made more headway.


For the first matter of business, I take up a career ghost-hunting. I hope to understand the human spirit via capture and careful analyzation. Maybe dissection – if the spirits are still active, one would assume it to be vivisection, but that requires life.  I wonder if I could create life by stripping the vital essence of the spirit, perhaps with some sort of acid bath! And infusing it with a few of the ingredients from my life-alteration elixirs, and attaching this all to some manner of base material.
(… I wonder if that is the path to takwin, the path that led my father to me.)
Well, with actual spirits, the skies will be the limit, I am sure.

I return feeling inspired, and use that energy to advance in my studies. They are coming along quite well; I believe I will have exhausted the ability of my small alchemy station and meager experimentations to teach me.

I celebrate (or, perhaps, merely put aside my dread) by practicing some chess, to get ready for the sort of logical thinking I will need to capture ghosts.

I was called upon to do my first job that evening, and I quickly began working. While capturing spirits was difficult, I began to suspect certain commonalities were present within the spiritual echoes left in certain locations. I will document these at a later date, but am pleased to report that I have received my first promotion!


It got a little bit tricky to finish all three jobs in just one night; had I been four minutes later at my final location, it would not have occurred. My excellent turn of speed (and close finish) earned me another promotion. I proceeded to donate my finds to a local science facility, at the request of the local ghost hunting office. They said it was for study, and this is a truly meritous thing…Though I am not sure why this additional facility is needed. Surely my science is sufficient…Think of what some nitrous acid could do to those spirits!

In the meanwhile, other members of the household were settling in…

Enjoying each other’s company…

The usual sort of thing for those two. They’d talked it over and decided to hold off a bit longer on having a child; Darren’s architecture reviews weren’t going across terribly well, and Darleen was still looking for a purpose, and going on maternity leave wouldn’t help that.
Besides, Darleen was building her grand apple-pie-in-the-sky schemes with Aurum and Jaycen, who she’d noticed coming home with blushing faces, and to her that could be a sign of nothing, absolutely nothing, but true love. True love like the love she had for her Darren, just in case the level of painful shipper sweetness wasn’t high enough for you to understand the contents of Darleen’s head (60% hearts and butterflies). So naturally, she wanted to see where that would go, make a nice extended family of it, since there wouldn’t be space for her initial plans of having loads of children.



Darleen finds an unusual specimen.
“Is this not the cutest thing, Aury? It’s like a little hypno-teddybear or something!”
…I am not sure how I feel about being called Aury. I am not sure how I feel about teddy bears, though I suppose hypnosis does have constructive psychological usage.
“…Out of deference to your opinion, I will study it further.”
”So we can keep it?”
“…Yes.”
It does not seem to melt under industrial-grade heat. Good to know.


I made purchase of the gypsy caravan and a neighborhood playground, and upgraded the latter. I am pleased, and it leaves our finances free for further additions and objects.
I receive a request from the local officers of the law to assist them. They do not refer to it as a Black Op, which puzzles me, but I believe it qualifies.

My studies in alchemy continue quite well. I have, in fact, reached a level of skill that satisfies my requirements for immortality! That said, when it comes to certain.
I will not say I have completed my studies; all I know is petty elixir-making, after all. The true knowledge of alchemy, the true entirety of the soul, the transmutation of the physical to its teleological end…
This still eludes me. However, even my study of this mundane alchemy of elixirs eludes me somewhat; there are challenges I’ve yet to meet. But I have also managed all the elixir recipes I can without outside reading, so I will call my progress excellent!

I’ll never be done studying. In fact, if I succeed in my efforts to produce this limited elixir of life… I’ll be able to study for all eternity.
I feel so happy.



However, there are ways in which my time is limited. Compared to other people, my life will be very long…So the time I have here and now, relative to the length of my life, is very short.
Jaycen will only be in this world for a small portion of my total existence. Whatever time I have to decide what to do about….what happened… is, in fact, no time at all.
Perhaps the movement of time according to relativity that felt so wonderful at the moment of that kiss…Is actually sad.

And it’s interrupting my studies, too.


I mention this to Darleen over breakfast
Breakfast seems to have been the only time in early days where Aurum would be not at work, and the schedules of various members  of the house would sync. That, and the nightly potion-tossing.
“Since that party…
I suffer from shortness of breath, increased heart rate and an accompanying increase in surface temperature…Distractability…Obsessive thoughts...About him.”
”You’re in love!”
“…I am?” That was such a swift diagnosis. I’m startled, to be honest.
”I knew it! Oh, you’re so cute together. He’s like the wandering womanizer who’s finally learned to love through the failure of his charms on a beautiful but emotionally-detached scientist, who learns to understand the mystery of the human heart.”
“…I…am?”
"Well, you're working on it! Isn't that what alchemy is? Nothing purifies and actualizes the soul like love!"
“…I would like…” My voice is a whisper. “I’d certainly like to try; I think it may be necessary for my studies.”


We watch Jaycen for a moment, Darleen sizing this up.
”Ok, you need to make a move. A big one. Jaycen’s kinda flighty, from what my girlfriends tell me; he’ll wander off if you don’t get his attention.”
“How do you do that?”
”Well, let’s start with a date! And maybe an outfit that doesn’t have a welding apron.”
“My apron is very useful for keeping stains and dangerous materials from my person…”
”Yeah, but it also keeps your person from his person, and that’s a no-no on the dating scene! Come on!”

She dragged me to my wardrobe and flew to work assembling a new outfit.
”And let’s lose these!”
“Ah. Please, I need that…”
”It’ll be there. For your other outfits. Let’s see a little of that pretty golden skin!”
“B-but my legs…”
”It’s all about experimenting! Now, it’s fall, so we’ll want a little jacket… And let’s let your hair down.”
“Aaaah! What are you drawing on me with?”
”It’s called make-up sweetie.”
“I’ve read about this. Isn’t there lead in there? ”
”Not since the 1800s, honey…And anyway, white makeup would not work on your skin, anyway. If he loves you, then trying to change something so, so Aury isn’t good!”
“Is that so?”
”It’s so. Love you get by changing yourself too much isn’t real love; you’re not going to be able to keep it, and you certainly won’t enjoy it.”

I’m very startled. I feel kind of exposed, but… This is an experiment. I am gathering data.
This. Is. SCIENCE!

”He’s going to love it, sweetie.”
That, too.


What a sage woman…

…I think.


”Wow, Aurum. You look…Great. What’s the big dress-up for?”
“I request your companionship on an excursion…If you’d like.”
“…Are you…?”
“….” I do not say anything further.
“Yeah, ok! Hey, I know a hangout for you magic-y sorts; wanna check it out?”
I nod, gladdened. I have never asked someone out before. This was a triumph; I’m making a note here, “Huge success.”


“How have you been?”
”I’m not sure I’ll be able to figure out how to sculpt with that Ice-9 stuff of yours…At least not before your next birthday. Real ice is hard enough…But I think I can get it.”
Ah, yes. Ice-9. It’s a polymorph of ice that doesn’t melt until well above room temperature, capable of everlasting storage. Also, freezing a person’s bloodstream. It’s largely unfeasible outside of science fiction…However, through the power of alchemy, a miracle like that’s possible. I’ve been crafting some, but it’s hard to take a chainsaw to, it seems.
“I have every faith.”
”Heh, yeah.”
“How’s Sheila?”
”…I’m juggling a lot. But it sounds like she’s doing well. I hope to see her soon.”
He really has grown a lot. I hope he’s not worrying over-much on my account.
“…Go see her.”
”But then the sculptures –“
“They can wait. Thank you, though…But it’ll really be OK.”[/b]

 However, while it allowed Jaycen to have some lunch, there was really nothing there…So we moved on…

To the beautiful botanical garden, home to a lot of beautiful plants. They are largely desert natives; I am interested in taking cuttings for our own oasis.
“Why’d you want to come out today, Aurum? It’s…Kinda unlike you.”


 “…Is that bad?” He shook his head when I said that.
“Nah, I’m happy. I mean, I was starting to think if I didn’t make you, you’d just stand by your alchemy table all day.”
“I would also play chess. And meditate on the universe, as a matter of recreation.”
“….Riiight. I’ll be honest, I was kind of worried.”
“…But…You did make me come. You made me go to a party….And…You kissed me.”
“Aw, geeze, you didn’t … I’m sorry. I just thought you…I just…” He fumbles for words. ”It was a heat of the moment thing, I guess…Because I really do like you, Aurum.”


I listen to my body’s signaling. Sometimes, that’s the only way I can understand what I am feeling. It knows… It knows things I am not prepared to understand. In that moment, my body feels sore and aching; most likely, I am sad. And what I also feel is…


 “…I liked it. But…Because you did such a thing…I can’t sit still anymore. I can’t focus. I can’t think, knowing there’s just a wall between where you are and where I am… “
Am I more base…Or less? I do not know. However…My data shows that I am happy here.
 
“The best diagnosis is… That I am in love with you.”
”Well, that’s good. It makes it a lot less awkward…When I do this.”




“May I ask you something?”
”What is it?”
“Do you intend to leave? Darleen said…That you were a wanderer.”

”Heck no!” He paused, and seemed to give it a more accurate assessment. ”...But I did. I was just going to, you know. Do the usual…Wine and Woo you…And then when I was bored I would go home. It’d have been a fun little vacation…And that would have been all of it.”
“I see.”
”B-but that’s…I don’t know when it happened, but the more I saw you, the more I got to know you…The more it felt like I’d have no fun if I left.” He rubs the back of his head; it appears that honesty is a bit of a challenge for him, and adds ”I gotta warn you: I don’t know how to do a real relationship, or anything. But…I’d like to learn.”
“It will be a new field of study for both of us.”

We stand there for a moment, happy and flushed. My heart’s a butterfly that’s still unpinned, a study in light motion.
”What do we do now?”
I think I know what I want to do now, without anyone to tell me. After all, while it may not be required for an immortal dynasty, from what I understand, it is the traditional thing to do…And as it has proven successful, I believe it is the correct path.
…And anyway, it’s what I want.


“Well, perhaps…You could marry me?” I do not think I have gotten this custom right; well, I suppose if I wanted to practice, I could break up with him and try again.
”Yes. That sounds just like what I want to do!”

We embrace. A light rain begins to fall. I feel resolved and balanced as an equation, there in his arms.

[Dextra2]

... The contents of Darleen’s head (60% hearts and butterflies).

So, what's the ther 40%? Sunshine and rainbows? Sugar and flowers?
Great job on the chapter! (Have to say, I was a huge fan of your last dynasty. And this one is just as good, maybe ever better.)

[RaiaDraconis]

This has to be my favorite chapter yet! You had me seriously laughing with the "Still Alive" reference, and that description of Darleen's mind was just hilarious! She reminds me of that old song "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows".

[cathyknits]

It appears to be hard to overstate Aurum's satisfaction with her date. Congrats.

[MarianT]

What a lovely update! The conversation between Aurum and Darleen was great, and it's sweet of Darleen to give up her wish for a large family. I hope the heirs get Aurum's skin color, but they'll be good-looking no matter what.

[Rhoxi]

What a fantastic update! I love Aurum's strange exploration into what it means to be human. Her date/proposal with Jaycen was quite sweet. I loved Doreen helping her with the makeover and giving Aurum dating advice. Also: This. Is. SCIENCE! Haha! Sure honey, whatever you need to tell yourself. Well, sometimes babes like Doreen do speak wisdom--even if they go right back to playing with their dolls afterward.

[RainBeau]

So sweet, I love the obstacles to romance in this story that are being overcome!

[Louise56]

It is so cute that she see love as a science. I wonder how she will see her first nooboo. Awesome update.

[Deme]

@ Dextra2:
Eh, the remaining 40% is a variety of bric-a-brac including, but not limited, to:
Her Dar-bear <3
Names for her future children and grandchildren
Magical girl animes
My little pony (she liked it before Friendship is Magic, but she also likes it. She is OK with the idea of Alicorn Twilight.)
Showtunes
Art
Brain Functions required for Adult Life

(Also, this is probably better because Aurum has a much stronger narrative voice than Ariel, but then The Editor is not quite Uriel...It's a trade-off, but I do hope to let The Editor grow more comfortable editorializing.)

@ RaiaDraconis: Thanks! I have not heard that song, but I bet it fits.

@ Cathyknits: Aurum does what she must because she can.

@ MarianT: I see Darleen less as giving up her wish, and more as editing it to better suit the situation. Family can mean a lot of things, and in this case, it means having a sort of 'extended family' within the house. Also, yeah, I was hoping for a gold-boo, too. I've just recently gotten to the heir's birth, so you'll see how that turned out a few chapters from now!

@ Rhoxi: I enjoy writing it...Aurum herself is kind of the reason I went with this as my next dynasty attempt. Also, that she can psych herself up with Science.
@ ombradellarosa: There's nothing like it ^^

@ Louise56: Love is science, from a certain perspective. It's a series of chemicals in the brain unleashed in order to create a situation favorable to the passing on of genes, both in the short term and in the long-term.
I won't get too much into spoilers about the nooboo thing, but Aurum's probably better-prepared to be a mother than you might give her credit for. A lot of her struggles with other people  come not from lack of feeling, but lack of experience and a lack of strong, personal models; she's quite young, and her father was a bit of a recluse. Most of that's not too relevant to parent-child relationships: As her bits with Jaycen about Sheila are kind of meant to show off... She has a strong attachment to parent-child relationships, since that's really the only relationship she has a framework for, and has a model for how to be a parent in her father.
That said... She does not really have a model for actual childhood (She was "born" as a young adult) , so that's going to be a fun one, kekeke...

[Deme]

Part 6: Noble Gases

^{From the personal accounts of Aurum Alchimia}
On my return home, I informed Darleen of the results of her advice…

In somewhat unrelated news, I have discovered the upper limit of my hearing range, approximately an octave higher than the normal human ability to hear. I had assumed my anatomy to be mostly comparable with a human, but apparently not.


I requested her attempt in planning a wedding, which is met with enthusiastic response. I know nothing about matrimonial ceremonies – I understand there is literature about this, but there is not a lot of it involving molten metal or interesting chemicals, so it’s all rather dull.
Still, Darleen is happy to help, and I have come to think I can rely on her as a trusted comerade.
Besides, she makes me laugh.
She does appear to have had some infectious cheer, slowly worming her way into everyone’s notes. I’m glad Aurum met someone like her.



She has also found the answer to Quicksilver’s troubles: we adopted a small white puppy named Neon. She’s a very proud little dog, and so I suggested naming her for a noble gas.
She didn’t mention it herself, but I have every reason to believe that everyone stared blankly at her until she spoke at length about noble gases, and then everyone agreed in order to humor her. This is the sort of thing that my notes suggest occurred fairly often.


Darleen also agrees to be my test subject for a number of potions….


Which I am buckling down and creating at a greater pace than before, no doubt aided by an increased understanding in the field. To some extent, this is just meditative practice; I still lose a lot of my potential work through error, through burning and over-evaporation, through excess calcification…And for the purposes of immortality, I need to fix this. I craft 10 a day, and can expect to have completed it by my birthday.


Meanwhile, Darren’s been hard at work in the architecture business, and he gets a call. A call to design a study… For a certain man housing a certain Lina Lancaster and a certain illegitimate Jaycen-spawn.

He does what the man asks, more or less…

And funnels the rest of the funds into some supplies for Sheila. Nothing lavish, all within the budget…But just a little something, to make her life go smoother, at Jaycen’s request.



While Lina’s out (he knows because Lina’s man is flirting with Lina’s mother downstairs), Jaycen takes some time to train his daughter in some of life’s more…Unsavory aspects. To be honest, Lina’s wish for secrecy was a fool’s game; Sheila’s the spitting image of her father.




I was asked to hire for this evening a new form of ghost; they are capable of binding themselves to objects and animating in a way similar to that which I theorized earlier, except it is their original will powering it, and as such, the furniture does not come alive. However, my groundwork is showing great strides!

This is considered some manner of communal service, and the mayor offers me a reward for my efforts. How odd; I’m just gathering information; I haven’t even published it yet. And anyway, I’m denying the fine people of our city excellent opportunities to research these specimens in their own homes.

Neon was not a puppy for long:

She aged up on the very night we took her in. However, this at least allows her to help gather alchemical materials at an early point, so I am happy.



It seems the local alchemists and their so-called committee have not even begun to match my father’s mastery of the subject; I have exhausted their publishing house’s supply or recipes. They consider this, and my own experiments, sufficient to say I know all elixir recipes…And this degree of mastery over recipes is, in its own terms, sufficient for the purposes of my approach to the elixir of life… Still, I had hoped for higher ambitions.
It seems whatever else I intend to make, I shall have to create myself.


Darren’s work in architecture, while it seems to leave much of the town dissatisfied due to their rather small living quarters, is sufficient for some awards of his own. How wonderful!


I worry our dog has self-hatred problems. I am as of yet unaware of therapy for dogs.
Aurum doesn’t worry about herself needing therapy, in spite of some dysfunction and some trauma… But the dog, she worries about. Well, I suppose one can’t blame her for worrying about her dog; it’s in her (family’s) care, after-all.

I am also receiving further accolades for my efforts in…And I believe it is time to place the museum.

I am ill-at-ease with the size of the non-angled rooms; perhaps I can find a solution.

Since it appears that as long as I follow my schedule, I will be able to finish my elixir creation studies in time, I have begun some hobbies to further my efforts, including such things as tending the bees.

…It could be going better.

In the meanwhile, Darleen has decided the time has come…For her to try and have a baby.

I expected her to get out some metals and a bit of [redacted – editor], to get straight to work smelting up her child, but…

It seems not. I wonder if my history might be…unusual, somehow. It seems a perfectly clean and sensible – and fun and creative – way of producing offspring to me. To pour your very soul into such a creation…It’s hard to imagine a purer love.

I have heard that there are new job opportunities for new ghost hunter hires; rather than languish in obscurity, I’d prefer to work the system. I shall quit and get a new job under an assumed name. I will be ‘Aury,’ since that apparently works.

They hired me again at a level higher than that normally given to new hires. My boss gave me a bitter look – I do not understand. I had my hair down and everything, so he could not have recognized me.
A puzzle; perhaps his facial recognition is superior to mine? Perhaps he heard of my plan.

[Rhoxi]

Oh, did she join the science career instead? That makes sense for her character. I like the octagon shape for the museum.

[MarianT]

I had to chuckle when Aurum didn't think wedding plans were interesting because they didn't involve molten metals or chemicals. I'm glad you're getting Darren and Darleen together.

[Deme]

Oh, did she join the science career instead? That makes sense for her character. I like the octagon shape for the museum.

No, she quit and re-joined the ghost hunter profession after it was fixed by the patch... That said, with the wedding and the baby after that, I'm wondering if she won't max it without going to work another day. But still, it'll give me something to mess around with later.

[Deme]

Part 7: Citrinitis
 
^{From the personal accounts of Aurum Alchimia}
One cold spooky day morning, Jaycen and I agree. It’s time. To be honest, I’m a little frightened. I have never made a decision of this magnitude…Or this degree of sociality. However.
I am also certain that I have made the right choice. No, I made the right choice when I knocked on his door that day. I cannot quantify this. There is no repeatable experiment to produce these results. No control – never any control. However, the proof exists empirically.


Aurum left few notes about her wedding day; perhaps she was busy, or perhaps… Perhaps it was something she did not want to teach future generations; perhaps she understood with a moment of clarity that the fulfillment of love was something they would have to learn, and not teach. Her notebooks have a few pages missing from this time. Perhaps her words failed her.
As editor, compiler, and chronicler, it falls to me to reconstruct that day, from the stories I’ve been told from the people there, from the scant notes I have from that time, from little newspaper clippings scattered about town. It’s a strange task, trying to rebuild Aurum’s world, so close to and so far from my own. Trying to call from the darkness her heart on that autumn day, with the children out prowling the streets in costume.


The preparation for Aurum and Jaycen’s wedding was relatively simple; they weren’t yet sure how to handle things elaborately with the house set up as it was. They both expected their child to have a better one.

That, and Aurum didn’t really ‘get’ weddings; how else do you explain a wedding where the groom was more concerned with how he looked than the bride?

Honestly, one could expect Aurum to favor a private event over a wedding, elaborate or not. She wasn’t a social creature, nor one given to grand gestures. But… The records show her reasons very, very clearly.

One would normally call those in attendance ‘wedding guests,’ but Aurum called them… ‘Elixir test subjects.’ After a few potions, everyone was called outside…


For the day’s main event.


”Ohhhh! They both look so happy!” Darleen sniffled, between waves of wedding-induced tears.  ”It’s all…so magical…”
“Do you regret our wedding?” her husband whispered to her; he sometimes worried about if this was the ideal marriage for her, as it was for him; his needs were few, and existed mostly in the world of his head. And anyway… A random zombie made it a poor witness.
”…No. How could I? I’m just glad I got to put this one together.”


 ”I came into this world to be an alchemist; I came to this town to practice Alchemy. However…In finding you here, in following my own journey to this place where you live… You led me to an alchemy beyond my dreams. Taking the base materials of our lives, our souls…And melt them together to form a new material….”
Her words fell aside for a moment as he held up the ring.

”And I’m so happy to have found it, to see this wonderful, golden future before us. I promise to never stop trying to perfect this alloy; Your love is my fixed star, the celestial sphere where I can live in order…And Promise I’ll never leave it, not as long as I live. I love you…”

”And with this ring, I thee wed.”

”I’m no good with words like this; that’s just the way of it. When I met you…I felt like I was seeing a beautiful creature from another world. I wanted to take you out of that world, and into mine…And now that I have, I see you’ve brought me into yours, too. You made me something better than I was, and I didn’t even know I could be that. And I… I promise to take care of you. I promise to make sure to show you new things, and to watch over you forever. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything… And with this ring, I thee wed.”


As husband in wife, they kissed. From there, the night begins to fade into hope and faith, into half-memory and mostly speculation.


They certainly cut the cake; that much is proven, and sure, and definite. But after that…
Here is the truth ingrained in my heart, what my fondness for this family would have me believe happened.


Beneath the rising moon, they danced. They held each-other with nerve endings electric, turning the slightest touch into something overwhelming. The world was so vast and wonderful. The world was so small it could only contain within it two people. These two states were completely indistinguishable.


They laughed as lovers, I think, and the noise that escaped her – not her normal dry chuckle, but her real, true laugh that came up from her belly – may have startled her on another day, but today, was natural as air, too true and sure to document.


And in that same way, she understood that night a certain instinct she’d have never known she had another day, and let it guide her. A certain lunacy called love, drawing from the light of the full moon and the purity of a newlywed’s passion.

Or maybe not.  Maybe Jaycen took her gently by the hand, and whispered to her soft things. And uncertain as she was in all things intimate, Aurum pushed through worries for love. They expressed their hearts as smoothly or as clumsily as they could, laughing and comforting and warm.

I cannot call them up, not as they were then, and interrogate their honeymoon. At the same time, in telling this, I wanted to do just that – to find the shadows of their hearts, to let that feeling spread for a moment. To try and attach myself a little to it, for having missed ever seeing it.
I could make one thousand maybes.
All I know is, the family chain would expand outward from that night – the timing of the birth of Aurum’s child says that much. All the details, the warmth and the grace and the passion of that night, are a secret forever, kept only between them and the moon.
Maybe it’s better that way.