Personally, I think that one has to touch the elements whose properties
he wants to transfer, at least that´s the way we play this serenade in
my group. I would make a close definition of the ability you want to
transfer, otherwise this serenade can be too unbalancing for some
situations. Also, this serenade can be very stylish if you use it as a
kind of ritual. I mean, in essence, this is what alchemy always tried to
achieve (hence the name), so my players take some time to use it and I
think during combat there´s not enough time to use this (you would also
have to touch the bullet - kinda difficult, isn´t it?).
In the old first book of powers there was nothing written that
prohibited using this Serenade multiple times on the same object, so
according to that edition, I would say that there shouldn´t be a problem
with your t-shirt. With the new rules I´m not that firm, perhaps someone
else knows.

André

jbeckmann_1999 schrieb:

> I'm curious about how to define the characteristic of the elements
> being borrowed from one element to be placed in the other.
>
> My example is a locked door and a glass of water. I want to take the
> fluid motion of the water and apply it to the door, so the door will
> just collapse and I can walk through.
>
> If area is a concern, I would only go after the door knob to assume
> that I could push open the door since the looking mechanism fell apart.
>
> Do I have to be able to touch both elements in order for Khemia to
> work? The examples with fire seem to imply that I only need to be
> 'close' to make this work properly. (the power gamer in me sees using
> this serenade to make the squishyness of a marshmallow be applied to
> the sword attacking me - or the low melting point of water to be
> applied to a metal gun firing at me).
>
> (since ODP is on this forum) How close of a definition of the
> characteristic do I need to make?
>
> And finally, assuming that I can get a semi-permanent effect. Can I
> use the same target item for multiple effects? I want the flexability
> of a shadow for my shirt, but I also want to apply the 'anti-ripping'
> nature of kevlar to make a lightweigth bullet proof shirt that's stylish.
>
>