Welcome to Gaia! ::

This lab is kept under lock and key, largely due to both the incredibly expensive (and occasionally highly volatile) components stored within it. A bookshelf on the wall is stuffed with bound lists of components and formulae and a cabinet contains aprons, gloves, white coats, and other safety equipment. Much of the rest of the room is filled with desks and tables, covered with chemical equipments, drips, vials, and other containers, many of which are filled with brightly colored, sometimes luminescent liquids.
Other strange odds and ends are here and there, primarily components. The walls are papered with various transmutation circles, usually labeled, many partially obscured by other such posters. The smell of soot and chemicals is heavy in the air and the lights are kept low, due to the light-sensitivity of the chemicals the room contains.
One corner contains a glass jar, holding a soot sprite. Much of the inside of this jar is stained black and the sides are murky with its soot.

Matasoga smiled at her, lifted her hat, and pet her head, affectionately.
"What a good girl you've been, running hither and yon and fetching all of these at your own expense... What a busy girl you've been for me," he said, moving his hand down to caress her cheek.
He leaned in and added quietly, "I'll never forget this," before placing a quick kiss on her lips.

Matasoga smiled, sincerely warmed by the comment. He knew how much these things before him cost, and how many other "tributes" just like this she had payed him. He knew just how hard she worked to bring these to him, sacrificing sleep and free time to comb the towns and marketplaces for just the things that she needed, plying her own alchemy for more funds to obtain things to feed his power... The meaning behind those words was great.
Many had sacrificed time to take part in his community. Some had sacrificced sleep and small degrees of well-being to meet his own unusual sleep schedule. However, if it was a question of numbers, no one had ever done for him what his Shandy had... And she asked for so little in return.
He took to his own knees and smiled, placing his palms over the items that were arranged over the circle in the key positions, the way a man might warm his hands over a fire. "Are you ready, dear?" he asked.

Focusing his attention and arcane energies on the objects before him, and tracing the seals lines and contours with his mind, he willed it to take form. A bright light began to emanate from the seal, which slowly consumed the components as it expanded.
With a small puff that filled the room with a brief chemical smell, the alchemical process of creation was complete... But this was a most unusual formula. Plenty of times Matasoga had used small, living things as components, but it was most rare to get a living creature as an end result, but standing before them, just as planned, was what was known as a void sprite, the colors of its composition quite perfectly fitting Matasoga's own. He was delighted.
He stood and the newly formed creature floated behind him, seemingly stationary, but observant. He would have much to learn about this creature in the days and weeks to come.
"Well done, my dear," he said, taking her hands, warmly in his own, ready to both congratulate her and help her to her feet.

Matasoga returned her embrace and pulled back only to give her a longer, more serious kiss. He pulled back from her face, when it had concluded and saw where the greasepaint had rubbed off on her lower lip, giving her lips the momentary appearance of being white.
For just a moment, a split second, boundless draconic fury could have been glimpsed in his eyes that not even his mask could wholly conceal. His lips parted over his sharp teeth for but the duration of a blink, and then were closed again. His fists balled so tightly that his claws threatened to break his palms... And then it was over.
"I'm afraid I got some on you, love," he said with a light joviality that would make it seem even more as though his reaction had been but a trick of the light or an imagining.
He placed one finger under her chin and dragged the surface of his thumb over her lips, but this was largely for show, as a still and silent prestidigitation spell had been cast, just to make sure no trace of that odious color was left on her lips.
"All clean," he said, closing his eyes in what appeared to be happy satisfaction.

"Of course, dear," he said. "Though it may have to wait."
His smile faded thinking of that trip that he would need to be going on. As Matasoga's power grew the number of creatures that he could enchant did as well. He would need to go on a trip with the airship to find locations that looked promising for finding the specific creatures that he was seeking. After seeing them once, they would be easier for him to return to. The trip served the dual purpose of possibly allowing him to obtain a highly rare component that would be needed, later on.
"You remember that trip I'll have to make soon... But don't worry. We'll reach the power that I seek before long," he said as he walked with her to the door.
"Meanwhile, I have a few things to confirm and notes to make, now that I've created my first void sprite. I'll be around the Common Room again, later, if you'd like to chat, some more," he said as he led her out the door.

Matasoga's eyes switched to lowlight vision, immediately and he saw what was before him. It was a circle so complete, so complex and so full, piled high with all the riches that he would need to complete his journey towards the full mastery of alchemy.
An exceptionally rare thing happened then, brief as it was: Matasoga allowed himself an expression of surprise, though it quickly faded to the look of one who was impressed. "You know, love," he began, "I was expecting that you'd probably have some supplies gathered for me, but this... I can say that you have easily exceeded all expectation."
He pulled her close one more and stroked her head. "Such a good girl," he said as he pet her.

"Absolutely," he said, the packages that had still been floating behind him settled slowly to the floor as he knelt down to assume the position.
"This'll be more than a single transmutation, so settle in," he said, smiling.