Scenario:Cagliostro - Starting Small

Starting Small

Teaching alchemy to the senseless Clarisse turns out to be no easy feat. Cagliostro opts for a more hands-on lesson and summons a horde of goblins for Clarisse to decompose.

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Cagliostro trains Clarisse in alchemy so that she may help reconstruct Cagliostro's body.

But teaching one as forgetful as Clarisse proves to be an extraordinary challenge.

Cagliostro: Equivalent exchange!

E-qui-va-lent ex-change!

Don't tell me you've never heard of it!

Clarisse: Fweh... I don't know what to say; I just don't get it! Now what's with this equal exchange thing?

Cagliostro: How should I put it... Alchemy is essentially the decomposition of matter to be reshaped into something else entirely.

Cagliostro: Meaning that if you have no matter to begin with, you can't make anything.

Clarisse: Mm... Okay.

Cagliostro: Did you even get any of that?
Ugh, this couldn't be any more tiring...

Clarisse: So... How do we get alchemy to work again?

Cagliostro: ...

Cagliostro: Maybe I just need to take a different approach...

Cagliostro: All right, enough lecturing. It's high time you got some actual hands-on practice.

Cagliostro unleashes a bright white light with some sort of spell.

Clarisse: ...?
What are you doing?

Cagliostro: I'm gathering material to work with. Just shut up and watch.

Clarisse: Okay...

Clarisse bends down and observes Cagliostro's every movement.

Cagliostro: There we go! I'll show you the steps for reconstructing these things later. Decomposing them into super tiny particles comes first!

Clarisse: You got it! One blast of my magic and bwoosh!

Cagliostro: No! Absolutely no heat! And don't lay a finger on any of their armor or weapons!

Clarisse: Whaaat?
What a hassle...

Cagliostro: Any iron mixed in with the material is going to lead to some nasty results.

Cagliostro: Here we go, Clarisse!

Starting Small: Scene 2

Clarisse imitates Cagliostro's steps in decomposition and reconstruction, but she fares poorly. Cagliostro recalls that her first alchemical success resulted largely from the fear of death, prompting her to threaten to chop off Clarisse's legs as an incentive to do well.

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Clarisse: Huff... Puff... Will this do?

A huge pile of goblin dust lies before them.

Cagliostro: Hm...

Cagliostro scoops up a handful of dust and observes it intently.

Cagliostro: Not bad. Next step...

Cagliostro: Get ready for Cagliostro's personal home cooking class!

Cagliostro: We'll start by practicing the creation of a new bodily vessel for Cagliostro!

Cagliostro: Here's the material, as prepared by Clarisse; shredded goblin bits!

Cagliostro: First, take the exact amount you need and put it in a separate pile.

Cagliostro raises her hands, separating the dust into a few neatly organized piles.

Cagliostro: Once you're done, imagine the most amazingly, fabulously, ultra-cute Cagliostro you possibly can as you move on to reconstruction.

Cagliostro: Ta-da! Just add some heat and you're good as done! Revel at my beautiful replica!

The skin color appears to be a bit off, but it is no doubt the body of Cagliostro.

Clarisse: Wow! You're amazing, Cagliostro!

Cagliostro: I cut through a few details, but I hope you get the idea. Transferring my soul to this body would complete the process. Did any of that make sense?

Cagliostro: Enough from me. It's your turn to try it now. Just follow those steps and you should be all right.

Clarisse: Um, okay... I'll see what I can do!

Clarisse decomposes Cagliostro's replica into dust and begins the reconstruction process anew.

Clarisse attempts the process again and again but fumbles at the very last step each time.

Clarisse: This isn't working... It comes apart no matter how many times I try...

Cagliostro: Don't stop now! Keep those hands moving!

Clarisse: I'm tired...

Cagliostro: Huh?

Clarisse: Tired, tired, tired! I'm t-i-r-e-d! Let's take a break. I don't think I'll last a second longer!

Cagliostro: Gah, stop complaining already! You haven't even done anything yet!

Clarisse: Grr! What's that supposed to mean? You mean to say you started out doing things this hard? Psh, yeah right!

Cagliostro: I won't argue that... It's true I had a lot of trouble creating a new body for myself at first.

Clarisse: I've love to hear more on that. Maybe I'd even learn a thing or two.

Cagliostro: Fair enough.

Cagliostro: I was born with an extremely fragile body. I came to the brink of death so many times as a kid.

Cagliostro: That's when it all started—I figured if I could just somehow find a new body for myself, all my problems would be solved.

Clarisse: ...

Cagliostro: Transmutation with a person's body was too sophisticated for me at first, so I started out trying soul transferral with smaller things.

Cagliostro: It was largely trial and error: I kept chucking one abomination after another.

Clarisse: Isn't that kind of like me right now?

Cagliostro: Hm, I won't deny that.

Cagliostro: So I tried everything I possibly could... And then accidentally—unintentionally—I made some sort of tiny worm.

Cagliostro: I looked back at everything I had done until then and finally understood the secret to life... I'd say half of it was instinctual though.

Clarisse: Impressive... So you never gave up, huh?

Cagliostro: I'd be dead if I had. I was desperate.

Cagliostro: Ah, I think I get it now...

Clarisse: Hm? What's that?

Cagliostro: Something you're going to need.

Clarisse: Something I'll need? What is it, what is it!

Cagliostro: Haha! New material for you to work with! Break time is over, and Cagliostro's home cooking class is back on!

Cagliostro: Mess up again, and I'm gonna chop your legs right off to use for my own body! Just try me!

Clarisse: Wha—

Clarisse: Eeep!

Cagliostro: That's the spirit! Go on—panic! Panic is what you need more of!

Cagliostro: Here we go!

Starting Small: Scene 3

Praised for her triumph in alchemizing a bizarre yet stable lump of meat, Clarisse gains the confidence to see this lesson through. Meanwhile Cagliostro wishes there were things other than alchemy that she could leave behind.

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Cagliostro: Aaargh! No, no, no! You need to consider the physical properties of the material!

Clarisse: Mm... But I am!

Tears well up in Clarisse's eyes as she desperately fiddles with the material. She appears to finally get the knack of it after some time.

Clarisse: Ah! You mean like this?

The dust piles up like never before. She adds a smidgen of heat with accompanying sparks for the final touch.

Clarisse: ...

Cagliostro: ...

What appears before them is a most bizarre-looking lump of meat unrecognizable to even Cagliostro.

Cagliostro: What the... You better not tell me you were imagining me when you constructed this.

Clarisse: Um, well... Ahem...

Clarisse: Eeek! No, please, Cagliostro! Won't you forgive me just this once? I really, really prefer my legs to be intact!

Cagliostro: Haha, I was only pulling your leg... Whatever it is you concocted here, it's still holding up after this many seconds... Not bad at all.

Clarisse: Ah, now that you mention it...

Clarisse: Hip, hip, hooray! I finally did it, Cagliostro!

Cagliostro: Hehe, how naive you are.

Cagliostro: Listen, Clarisse.

Clarisse: ...?

Cagliostro: Never just shrug off a success. Even a small one could be the spark you need to do something much bigger later on.

Cagliostro: The worm I mentioned earlier... It gave me the idea for creating Ouroboros's core.

Clarisse: Huh... You mean to say you were talking about Ouroboros before?

Cagliostro: Uh-huh... I spent so much time tweaking him to get him just right.

Clarisse: Hey, what kind of tweaks—

Cagliostro: It's a long story, so maybe I'll tell you some other time... On with the lesson.

Cagliostro: Always remember to paint a very clear mental picture of what it is you want to create. You'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Clarisse: Of course! I'll do my best!

Cagliostro: ...

Cagliostro: Come out, Ouroboros.

While watching Clarisse intently, Cagliostro seats herself on a materializing Ouroboros.

Ouroboros: ...

Ouroboros, in turn, stares at Cagliostro's face with intense curiosity.

Cagliostro: Teaching her the ropes is a serious pain in the butt, but it not's so bad if I think about what she might be able to do in the future.

Ouroboros: ...

Cagliostro: But you know... There's so much more than just my name and alchemy that I wanted to leave behind...

Clarisse: Hm? Did you say something, Cagliostro?

Cagliostro: Nope, nothing at all... We're moving on with the lesson.

As headache-inducing as it can be sometimes, Cagliostro continues to watch over Clarisse with a smile.