Fun with Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

The Morbid Socialite - Mementomori Malodrema - had been traversing with the Shuck for some time, passing by wild and overgrown swathes of Parabolan forest, the Cosmogone sun shining down and lighting their path endlessly between the leaves of the trees, many of them a solid mass that only appeared to shift and move as real trees might. The Shuck would often bound ahead, leading the way it somehow knew.

The Shuck took the form of a large, black dog with violently green eyes, preferring this shape for intimidating anything dangerous that dared come close. It spoke, but it's words did not come out as words, but as ideas, concepts, mutual understanding. It reminded Mori that it found distaste for the idea of leaving Parabola. It didn't like being so weak and fragile. If it was to meet this Chimeric Professor, it would be done on this side of the mirror.

Mori chuckled. "Yes, I remember. You don't have to cross to the other side, if you don't want to." As they walked, he looked over his small sheet of paper again, looking over the details. He'd taken so long to decide and had even made some changes after the events of Saturday. He hoped it was all well...

The Shuck inquired in a sing-song tone if it might tweak the Professor's reality just a little.

"Not unless they directly invite you to."

The Shuck pleaded, whining and exaggerating its body language to appear so dejected. It asked even nicer if it might be able to temporarily change Mori.

Mori sighed, but considered the option. "Just to show what the adjustments might look like. That's it."

The Shuck was practically bouncing along the forest floor, excited for the opportunity to show off its fine detail work!

"We're coming close. Maybe take a form a little bit softer? Ángel isn't easily frightened, but we still want to make a good first impression."

The Shuck leapt and landed on Mori's shoulders as a sleek, black cat, same green eyes staring. It inquired teasingly if this was good, knowing both Mori's affection for Surface felines and how the weight and angle nearly knocked him over.

"Y-yes, fine, this is fine. I think I see it up ahead." And Mori trotted forward.

Comments

Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Chimeric Professor has been working in Parabola for a while, judging at how the environment has changed around them to form a lab-like structure in which they're examining some esoteric schematics. From the Socialite's and his Outlaw's side, there's two silver strings stemming from them, tense and stretching far away...

Then they notice them both, and turns towards them. Apparent worry in their face receding in favour of a warm, welcoming smile, welcoming them both with open arms.

"Greetings! It is a pleasure to see you, Mori. And you must be the little editor turning our realities upside down... Incredible work, I am happy to see you more at ease."

Then they turn towards the closest mirror, big and with an adorned bronze frame, letting the Cosmogone light seep into what the Socialite would easily recognize as the Professor's home library.

"Here, come with me. I've set all ready for you. Have you brought your amber? I'm eager to know what ideas you have brought to this session."

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori smiled and leaned in for a hug. "It's good to see you Ángel! I've brought plenty of amber and the ideas in question. Also, this is the Shuck or the Grim, my Outlaw."

The Shuck supplied its chosen identity, along with generations worth of information about the Black Shuck or the Grim in the span of a single second. A harbinger of death, or perhaps just change and transformation. It hopped from Mori's shoulders and wound between the Professor's legs. It was making a request, but it refused to say what the request consisted of.

"Grim," Mori reprimanded, "don't overly pester them. Remember what we spoke of."

The Shuck grumbled inaudibly and stepped aside. It prompted Mori to show the list. Were they going to do this or not?

Mori sighed. "It wants me to let it show you the change ideas physically, on this side of the mirror. Do you mind staying here for a moment?"

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor accepted the hug, closing their arms and tail around the Socialite. It is warm, and fond, but also clings like they needed support, to hold onto something or else everything around will fall. They were finally done, separating a bit with a sigh.

"Shuck?" The Grim Outlaw casts Infodump. "Ooh... Fascinating! Such thought on a chosen identity, and quite fitting! Both for you and our Mori." They remark with an amused grin, looking at their friend. "It's good to meet you."

Then Shuck starts acting catlike, to the perplexed amusement of the Professor, until the Socialite explains.

"Oh? Oh! Yes of course, I'd love to see. Please, proceed." Observing the process with fascinated curiosity.

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori caught the sensation of the hug and decided it would be best discussed after the presentation, pestered for by the Shuck. He handed over the list and stepped back.

The Shuck stood as a humanoid person, features unidentified save for the black hair and green eyes. It seemed it enjoyed this little theme it had, but it drew a paint brush from nowhere and, like any good artist, posed its model.

"I had listed out some small adjustments to toy with, test the comfort level. Sharper teeth and slightly notable claws may be both fun and functional, in addition to tapetum lucidum, though I hadn't thought on pupil shape at all. My Dinah suggested pointed ears, as I'm already wildly expressive, it would only aid in the clarity. I can't help but agree, in addition to better hearing, but I ask that it be subtle in size. Nothing overly drastic. No, the real, dramatic change stems from here. Only about this long, flexible."

As Mori spoke, the Shuck worked, finely adjusting features and traits like a painter at a canvas. The results were somewhat uncanny, done with a limited cut of various realities, no single one solidly attached. It apologized, more used to wider areas and one change at a time. But it did its best and settled into a goat at Mori's side, its glowing Correspondence legal script more visible under the illusion of shorter fur.

Mori blushed as he remembered. "Oh, and ignore the one at the very bottom. It was late, Enoch thought it was funny, I find it rather inappropriate and a step too far... yet. We may consider that area of the body another time. Just the rest for now. What do you think?"

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Chimeric Professor admired the changes as they happened, appreciating both the choices themselves and the way Shuck was capable of making them apparent at its strange way.

The first set of proposals prompts nods of approval, even a lack of eyebrow raised to reflect on the best way to shape Mori's eyes. When they read about the tail, their hair curled upwards forming a tree of heart shapes around their head. Then the last part had them opening their eyes a lot, looking at Mori's reaction, and laughing in good mood.

"Oh, you truly have an idea in mind! And good Enoch as well has some as well..." They can't help but comment. "I truly like this future image of you. And it is curious, how uncommon animal-like traits are even among Starved. I hope this art-form becomes more widespread as time passes."

"I have a good idea now, good work Shuck. Don't worry about the last part, I plan for you to learn enough to do it into yourself if you so wish, in as much intimacy as you prefer." A warm smile reassures this.

"Now, shall we proceed?" Offering pass through the mirror.

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori looked away at the halo of hearts, blushing and biting his lips together. The Professor was adorable and he could not resist smiling except but physically.

Mori seemed to step out of the 'paint' of chosen realities, his body as unchanged as before. He smiled as he followed the Professor onward. "I had been thinking long and well about such things. Are we not all animals in Creation? Mammal and avian and reptile and insect, all sharing in a path of development; it makes sense to me to borrow from what nature has already made use of."

He smiled as he spoke, looking at the Professor fondly. "Inspired by you. You draw from reptiles while I file more closely with mammals, but you still inspire me."

The Shuck wished them both luck and ventured back through Parabola to wait.

Mori blinked as he passed through the mirror and sighed. "You... Are you quite alright? You seemed unwell when we found you."

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor smiles, flattered, matching the Socialite's flattering smile.

"Is that so? Thank you so much! I know you'll do an amazing shapeling!" They say as a full compliment, of course.

Then they cross the silvered threshold, it closing and becoming just reflective glass again. The pair finds themselves back in the Professor's personal library and curiosity museum, which seems to be partially upturned by the way in which so many documents and objects have been perused and scattered, as if performing some sort of feverish research. There's also a a new addition, placed in a holder for more comfortable reading and covered in annotated leaves of paper and observation tools. Seen from the distance it looks like some esoteric anatomical map.

But the Professor goes beyond this room and into the corridor, turning then to the left to a locked door, getting their keyring.

But before opening, they turn towards Mori. Their face a tired one, of a person who wished not to be asked this because they know too well they won't lie nor deny an answer.

"I.." They sigh, slowly, shaking their head. "Tene's life is ending. Ne doesn't have much time remaining. Our gathering tomorrow is likely to be nir last event. And I am trying to find a way to prevent it. In Parabola, where the impossibles roam. I have an hypotheses I couls try only once, and was trying to refine it with as little time as it remains..."

Then they look up at Mori again, hopeful. "But life will have to follow. And this is what I intend. With you, here. With everyone, tomorrow."

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori followed the Professor through the room, looking around at the paraphernalia until they left into the hall, nearly bumping into his guide as they stopped at the door.

Listening, his face fell. He recalled their conversation when Tene was first introduced and he was struck with dawning horror. "Oh, no... No, Ángel, I'm so sorry... I can- I'm sorry to take you from this, I can certainly go. You should focus on Tene, ne'll need you right now. I remember when my little girl passed... I'm so, so sorry. If there's anything you need, anything at all. In fact, I can- I'll- Oh, I'll figure it out. I'm sorry."

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor's face showed conflict, but mostly pain and weight. Of course they remember the conversation they had about it. They still feel that way. Their heart just wants to jump from their chest and cry out loud just how unfair the world is- No. How unfair they are.

The Professor seemed to freeze, for some instants, until they finally said, urgently.

"No, please! Don't go..." They say reaching for Mori. "Tene... Doesn't want to be by my side now. Ne left, wanting to enjoy the little life ne has remaining. And I... Please, I don't want to be left alone. I don't want to think and think and never forget nor never forgive..."

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Had Persephone been just a little older, a little stronger, knew her last days were coming, she might've chosen to spend them living, too. And Mori, at that time younger and more afraid, would've wanted nothing more than to escape his own mind, just like Ángel. As it was, her illness and slim chance of survival kept him by her side. But Mori looked at Ángel and saw a parent afraid, alone, and desperate not to be. He knew the feeling well.

He took the Professor's hands and squeezed them, giving a soft, reassuring smile. "Okay. If company and distraction are your medicine, then I am your doctor. Come. Let's continue." The face he looked up at the Professor with expressed a profound feeling of understanding and love. He couldn't help getting a bit weepy, using the heel of his palm to wipe away the budding tears.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor looked at Mori, finding his understanding expression, and felt their burdens being eased, relieved somehow. Tried to ignore the piercing voice saying Mori's expression would have been very different had they told him the entire truth. No time for this. There are things to do, a friend to tend to, a future to be prepared for.

The Professor returned the squeeze, and a less sad smile, despite the salt crystals ringing their eyes. "If you are my doctor, I won't doubt of my relief. Thank you so much."

"Now..." They say, finally opening the door. "Let's celebrate life as it lasts, and not cry for a loss that hasn't yet happened." Trying to convince both Mori and themself.

On the other side lays a windowless room, completely dark but for a few candles, the faint colored glow of amber stored against the walls, and a rubbery dragon calmly laying within a big enclosure. The Professor steps inside and beckons Mori to follow and close the door.

"The shaping works better in faint light. Not total darkness, for dread can take over, nor a light bright enough to see the changes taking place, thus preventing anxiety or restlessness from altering the results. Come here, get comfortable. We will start when your eyes have adapted enough to distinguish the irregular relief of the walls. Meanwhile you can start undressing, to prevent the cloth getting tangled with the flesh, and showing me what amber you have brought, so I can identify what life essences they hold."

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori closed the door behind and first opened his bag. Within was a warm sachet of around a thousand nodules of amber and- oh, there were two nodules of trembling amber in there as well. "I wasn't certain how much or what kind, but with as stark an addition as a tail, I thought it was better to have too much than too little."

Careful not to bump into anything, Mori began to strip, slow and deliberate, giving his eyes time to adjust and the Professor time to prepare. He breathed slowly, letting his heart settle and his mind calm. He needn't be afraid. He trusted Ángel.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor nodded to the Socialite, smiling in approval and a bit of surprise at the great amount of amber. If all goes well, there will be enough surplus for another round, at the very least. There was a greater surprise at the trebling amber. That gives them an idea, but not to be performed this time. Step by step.

The Professor's eyes glowed in the dark, already adapted at this level of ilumination. They put on metal mesh gloves and start picking up pieces of amber, examining them while the Socialite prepares.

"Wise measure, of course, but I won't need all of this unless something goes very wrong. Which I can assure you won't happen. The amber you've brought, as expected, contains mostly human and Rubbery vital essences, with a bit of cat, wolf and fungi. There will always be fungal contamination, but it's easy to filter if unwanted... Very appropriate for your intentions! Specially if we consider that cat life essence covers both their physical self and Parabolan self, allowing for samples of bigger felines as well..." Carefully considering what to do with this, separating amber to be used.

"Now, when you feel ready, please step closer to the middle. Be careful, there's a porcelain basil built in the floor, just in case you can't see it clearly. You have to get in there, to prevent the amber from spilling when molten. I'll explain you what to do then, guide you through the first steps, and if all goes well you'll be free to act on your own under my supervision. Would you like this?"

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Although hesitant, Mori nodded, then thought about how he may not be seen. "That is agreeable, yes."

With each step, he felt for the edge on the basin, eyes not quite seeing the line where the floor gave way yet. When he found the edge, he sat on it and explored the surface with his hands to let his eyes and brain better fill in the gaps. "I apologize, my eyes aren't as they used to be. But I've never been one to be afraid of the dark."

He settled into the basin with a sigh, paying attention to the slowly sharpening details around them. "I think this is about as much as I can see. I'm ready."

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

"Very well." The Professor was likely smiling, but quite difficult to see at this light. They grab a nodule of warm amber and some more normal ones, then sits at the edge of the basin next to Mori, offering him the amber.

"I'll first teach you how to melt your amber. It is easy, only needs a specific frame of mind, but it may be difficult to reach there for the first time. Just hold into it, feel its temperature, how soft and seemingly malleable it is, how there is a very weak beat deep within... If you focus enough, you'll find the amber reaching towards you, and a sudden surge of body heat. Let it happen, that is the amber asking you to melt it. It'll adjust your heat until it can become liquid in your hands, and won't harm you. It may be uncomfortable the first times, though, and may remind you of suffering a fever, but it won't last long."

The Professor's tone is soft and warm, attempting to both teach and not leave anything as a surprise, but also intent on reassuring and reminding this is an act performed for enjoyment, and with friends, in which a mistake won't be serious nor punished, and success will be a joy to cellebrate.

"Once the liquid amber starts spreading over your skin, don't worry. Your body has enough momentum of its own to keep its shape mostly intact, you'll feel more flexible or soft at most. It'll tingle your skin, as if aching to be touched, but beware, for you'll be closer to clay than flesh, and any shaping done could remain. You are free to play with it as the effect lasts, for as easily as it is done can be undone. That tingle will be more intense in the zones you wish to alter, so it serves as a confirmation from your subconscious body towards your rational or emotional fantasies of shaping."

"When you get to that phase, tell me. And we'll get into the shaping proper. I've selected those life essences more likely to help. Human ones are important as they help make malleable all the parts of your body, without finding resistences or intolerances. Rubbery ones allow for the most flexibility in changes, but without any guide, so it isn't the most aesthetically pleasant except for the true master shapers. Other species help direct the shaping to certain traits, like in my case ophidian ones make scales easier to shape, or in yours cat ones will help with the tail and eyes..."

"I'll teach you some day how to identify life essences. It becomes easier as you've assimilated them, so first let's get this first step done." They gently encourage Mori to start.

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori nodded and breathed deeply, taking one nodule of amber. "Starting slowly... I just focus on the amber, hold it, feel it, know it."

Luckily, he'd recently had practice in meditation and awareness. He breathed, holding the amber in his hands, feeling the smooth yet shaped surface, like a piece of obsidian, yet warm as if it has just formed from the molten earth. He pressed slightly and found it soft, malleable, the give and the warmth almost calling to mind flesh. Warm flesh, he knew where to find the pulse, buried deep within, a steady beat of life and essence. He knew soft, warm flesh; knew it from every lover he took and every mourner he comforted and every hand he greeted with his own. He knew how varied it could be and imagined how it might be if all flesh could become different. Soft to hard, tense to loose, rough to smooth and back again.

The pulse never reached back before, but it did here. Mori took it with a deep breath in, slightly trembling with the feeling. He was warm across his body, as if he were the one being cupped, not the amber. He let the heat wash over him and focused on his hands again. They began to tingle slightly, accepting that amber was malleable, that flesh was malleable. He was amber, he was clay, he was flesh. The tingling spread across his body and he couldn't help gasping in, muscles tensing around bones he was suddenly aware of, covered in skin like a warm cloak. The tingling settled where he last felt the brush of Parabolan reality lay, focused in points and spreading out from there.

"O-okay," Mori gasped. "I'm- I'm tingling. I... It feels... Oh my..."

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor chuckled, delighted with the Socialite's reaction.

"Yes... It does feel like that. And you managed really quick for a first time! Very good meditative skills indeed."

Their delighted smile was coupled by flicks of their tail, reaching close to the Socialite, until the very edge of the basin.

"Now that you can feel it, focus on the changes you wish to make. They'll need more active encouragement later, but if you envision what you wish your flesh to become, it'll start on its own. You could feel the pull in your ears and sacral vertebrae for example. The eyes can almost always be modified only by will, and they answer very well to it. Prepare the foundations of what you'll make, I'll be watching in case something else changes, so feel free to experiment. Ready?"

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

"I've had quite a bit of practice... Meditation was the only way to speak with Stone..." Mori's breathing was slow, careful. He had to remain focused, lest practice accidentally turn him to mossy, graveyard stone. Focus, instead, on warmth and malleability and the subtle adjustment of flesh. Life and softness and the texture of amber and skin.

"Should it be all at once? Or just... just one at a time?" He was already feeling subtle changes, his mind picturing how it looked in Parabola, clarifying and solidifying in his mind's eye. He tried to keep it slow, a little shaky, a virgin to the experience of amber and the ecstacy of change. And, oh, was it ecstacy. Even the first itches of adjustment, of foundational growth, held an intimate, vulnerable warmth, a shaking rapture of anticipation growing, like a stranger's hands were the ones pushing, pulling, tugging at his skin and eliciting trembling breaths. He settled his excitement, but still itched to begin as soon as clarity was offered.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Chimeric Professor leaned closer to the Socialite, feeling he is in the right state for this next step. So they reached with a clawed hand towards Mori's ear, putting deft fingers to work into the malleable flesh, shaping it into a tasteful, expressive pointed form. The feeling of being touched in that way, flesh and skin stretched, pressed, moved... All of this with such a loving, caring intent.

"How do you like this?" They ask in a low tone, once finished with one ear. "Maybe you can take care of the other, and compare which you like the most?"

A little moment of silence to have an even better idea.

"Would you need any help reaching for the tail as well?"

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori gave a shuddering gasp at the feeling, the gentle touch, the soft voice. He had no words. He could only feel.

There was no intention to compare, but there was an attempt to do it himself. Mori reached up and tugged out the ear. He was far slower, imagining each muscle, each sinewy shape reforming itself longer, sharper, stronger. It took some time, but the ear moved on its own, pressing back, as if Mori was frightened, startled.

He was neither. He was nearly blind with sensation. Or, perhaps, that was the amber helping to reshape his eyes. Or both.

As Mori leaned forward carefully, allowing Ángel access to his spine, he began work on the claws. He was careful to tug and reshape keratin rather than flesh, but felt muscles in his fingers reshape themselves to allow the claws to flex: a deeply alarming and highly unusual sensation that drew the breath from his lungs to feel. The amber seemed to already know how those muscles worked, how to form and shape them.

That same amber might make shaping the tail easier.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor understood the Socialite's gesture, reaching for the budding tail at the end of his back now.

They worked silently now, but Mori could feel the praise and care in the scaly touch on his clay-like flesh. Slowly but steadily stretching, sometimes running hands up his back or down his legs to gather more material to dedicate to the task.

The delicate threading movements, strengthening atrophied vertebrae, surrounding them with muscle fibers, matching sinew, soft skin to cover, sowing droplets of cat amber to allow fur to grow... The development of bones is the most disagreeable experience, bringing to mind those moments during childhood in which unexplainable pains seized your body, time spent forcefully in bed while you were broken and healed over and over again... Yet it is much faster, numbed, intermingled with the joy and freedom this newly found flexibility provides.

The process finishes with a gentle pinch on the end of the tail, closing it. Then hands fondly running through the new appendage's full length, measuring it to ascertain if it's enough and not too much. Deemed perfect, it is left free.

Crawling closer to the Socialite, lips close to freshly made ear, they spoke. "How are you doing, my dear?" Looking at the claws in formation.

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori choked on the sensation, a mix of pleasure and pain coursing through his nerves. He could barely breathe and was careful not to let the newly formed, clay-soft claws rake against the bottom of the porcelain basin. He didn't want them deforming, forcing him to reshape them again.

It was almost too much. Even with the numbing, the pure stimulus was overwhelming, causing him to grit his teeth and gasp for breath.

(He did take the opportunity to change his teeth, pulling a mirrored set of them subtly sharper.)

Mori was blind with feeling, drowning in the lighting of his nerves across his body, even as loving and gentle as it was. His golden eyes stared wide at the bottom of the basin, but saw nothing in the swimming lights of sensation. He craved comfort, but feared that hugging himself would worry Ángel and deform flesh he didn't want shaped. But he needed something, anything, any sort of comfort in the dark when touch would only bring more electricity across his nerves.

The amber primes itself on thoughts, it had been said. Tingling in the neck and chest, familiar now and not unwelcome, but curious and confusing. Until the subtle rumbling started. Mori was, at first, startled, until he recognized the rhythm with his own breaths and couldn't help laughing breathlessly.

His ears twitched at the Professor's voice first, the eyes following after. He gasped out a breathy "I'm fine." It both was and wasn't the truth. It was far more complicated than that, but to describe it in words when he could barely define how he was feeling to himself would be another feat entirely. "I'm fine" covered it well enough.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

The Professor nodded audibly at the confirmation, albeit they themself knew how complicated the true answer actually was, being reminded of their own first experiences, now so far away, by means of Mori's reactions.

"You are doing so well... You are almost done." They speak in a very low tone, the ears are very sensitive, a normal conversational tone would be startling, even painful. "The remaining changes can be refined outside, so we can finish here, if you wish." They offer gently, trying to steady their friend towards a more solid and cold yet less lonely state.

"You only need to will the amber outside your body. It will feel cold, as it crystallizes back and falls from you, but you'll become fully cohesive again, all changes fixed for the time being. Any imperfection can be corrected with a small localized application of amber, nothing this overwhelming."

Their explanation is once again spoken softly and without any expectation beyond Mori doing what he prefers, with full knowledge of how to do so and the usual consequences.

Re: Fun With Amber

[themorbidsocialite]

Mori nodded, fixing his eyes on a point in the middle distance. The tears of strain pricked at their corners- no. No, when the "tears" fell, they made a slight ringing sound against the basin's bottom. Focus. Focus.

He breathed through the feeling, willing the amber to leave him. He felt it pool from his pores, fall from under his claws, drop from his eyes, all crystalizing as they fell off his body. Where the almost familiar heat of sensation once sat, now was only cold. The air itself, previously tepid, now sent him shivering. Brought back into himself, he could feel the nerves cease their constant alarm, numbing underneath the surface. Skin and muscle and bone became cohesive wholes again. The spots in his vision slowly subsided and he found he could see better. Not clearer, he wasn't sure how to fix his vision so he wouldn't need reading glasses at times, but more details and shapes were visible in the dark.

When the final beads of amber fell away, Mori looked up and around, arms holding himself as he refamiliarized with the room he was in. He was... very cold.

Re: Fun With Amber

[ticktopis_observatorium]

As soon as most of the amber got out (The remnants will still linger, harmlessly, under the skin, being slowly but surely released in time) the Professor closed the distance separating them both, wrapping their arms softly around their friend. They knew how hypersensitive one could be even after coalescing again, so so it was at first just to show him they are there, for him, he is not alone, share some body heat, ground him back into the solid flesh, just relenting enough to be pleasant for every part involved.

"Good... Very, very good Mori."