Tailors of Eld

Gwen had been on the side hunting for traces or hints to where one might find things related to Moonlight Tailors past. There was a war on to be sure, yet when Gwen had finally found a credible lead she sent out messages to people on her friends list.

THe location was an old long-abandoned village in the hinterlands away from the city of Breg Epona.

It was near the border where the sands turned into rock and the coast. It had been a fishing village long ago so far as Gwen knew.

Gwen was at the lead and heaven help you all she's in her desert outfit /again/ then again given the terrain and when one was not in a fight? It wasn't a bad idea to keep from overheating like she would in full armour. It was interesting bright red, it was was not indecent but seemed more suited to a dancer than a Holy Knight like Gwen. OOC https://imgur.com/lnE0PI7 the outfit)

She'd made sure to cover the supplies though as she slowed down looking out a formation on the coast.

"I think that's it."

The towering woman clasps her hands together bouncing a little in place with a happy look on her face.

"Now the question is where might this tailoring workshop be?"

She'll give her companions some time to take in the rock formation and get ready for the climb up.

"Just think what we could find here!"

Gwen has stars in her eyes more or less she's very excited and for once it's not about putting people into new outfits. Though if she succeeds? It will lead to new outfits in the end. For now, though it's not something on her mind.

Haru has been on the hunt for that prime adventure. He has heard many tales about what Moonlight things-and-stuff entails, but it hasn't occured for him. Yet. So figuring out what other people are doing is a great help. Plus its Gwen, he'd help out even if it was a quest to sit at the Yamato Department of Peko Vehicles Administration to fill out forms. He doesn't have the full dress down effect, but he is sans his typical navy blue Jacket and has his button up rolled up to have Noodle Arms primed at the ready. Who is ready to go to the Ramen shop? These guys.

"Follow the plot thread," Haru intones as he rolls his Wave Arte orb from one hand to the other. Now is not the time to ponder. Or is it? "Or literal thread. Workshops need supplies, yeah?" Unless they are air dropped by eagles. He considers this. He also considers the rock formation. He considers what he had for breakfast. Finally he considers Gwen's outfit for climbing, "What is marching order?" Important.

Would Gwen be one to stop at -one- desert outfit? Mwhahahahahahaha. You innocent little soul. Of course not! Uta has been assigned one too, and guess what she's wearing right now? That's right! Her very own variation of a desert outfit!

https://i.imgur.com/O32lX8q.png (but with short hair)

There was some embarrassment and blushing at the beginning of the trip, but by now Uta has been suitably easily distracted. "I think the marching order goes February, March, April?", she offers, lost in thought as usual as she takes a look around the area. Usual gaze lost in the distance, usual tapping of an index finger at the lips. "I wonder if this will help me in my own quest as a Sage of Song... was it something about following the footsteps of those who came before you?", Uta asks Gwen.

Shiruba isn't here for the fashion. It's only by the necessity of location that she's wearing the desert attire that was made for it. She's here to support her surrogate sister, and potentially seeing a historical site. That was enough to get her to endure whatever insanity Gwen was going to think of after all this. "This isn't so much footsteps as it is a stair climb, but we'll manage. But while we find our way up." Shiruba sends a scout ahead, instructing her peregrine falcon to fly farther up the formation and take a look.

"What we could find here is all I'm thinking about." Because then she doesn't worry about future Gwen shenanigans.

    Gwen wants help! She's saved Mizuki from harm a couple times, and she wants help with making clothes... Both of these are things that the ninja catgirl has some weird feelings about.

    She's surprised to see the tank... dressed like that, though. Her own desert outfit is white and full-body-covering. It's not unlike her ninja outfit, aside from the color... Although she remembers when she had to make do with the armor that didn't include pants, back when they first explored floor 2...

    Also, Uta is here! She gets a hug. "Uta! ...You cut your hair." She looks over the outfit. "Between that and Gwen's veil, getting kind of an 'I Dream Of Jeannie' vibe going on here, haven't you?"

    "So this is a... legendary tailoring workshop... hidden in an abandoned fishing village?" She considers the rock formation. "I guess I should be scouting, right?" She sniffs the air, and the rock, for recent passage of creatures, and then begins leaping up from rock to rock.

Yeowang has joined as well, arriving late, and at a rush, but appropriately attired in desert clothing, for survival purposes. It's known to her that the proper clothing aids in many things, and so she was careful about her selections and the tailoring she had done on the side, but she was a bit too meticulous, so she's arriving late and at a run. "I apologize for my late arrival," she says calmly, her long hair still down as a measure of her unreadiness. She normally wears it up when adventuring to keep it out of the way. It's wasit-length when down, and as she approaching the group, she's at least tying it back into a pony tail.

    Fuka's here for a combination of fashion and fun. And helping friends naturally. Dressed for the occasion, she's wearing flowing harem pants and a bustiere which provides both support and lifting emphasis where she really needs it, and exposes her midriff showing off the well-toned abs of a sylph with a great deal more core strength than one would typically suspect from her slender frame. She's notably not wearing her usual armour, so if things turn messy she's probably not going to be doing much tanking, but when in rome dress in a toga and all that.

    She snorts at Haru's comment. "Plot thread." she echoes, grinning. "Yeah, I'm on one of those quests too, Songbird! And let me say you look like you'll swing soooo sweetly now~!" she teases, continuing the theme of picking on Uta by being nice to her. Fuka herself is utterly shameless when it comes to her own desert outfit, quick to show it off in subtle and not-so-subtle ways especially to those admiring it.

    EARLIER:
    Mizuki is provided a 'desert outfit' and equips the item. "Oh... Isn't this a bit revealing?" She checks the stats though, to see if it provides good armor despite the appearance. "I need a mirror... oh right." She opens the menu to look at herself, and hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmms. The haze of mixed feelings is too much to sort out right now, but she does seem slightly melancholy about switching back to her usual desert outfit. "Thanks... I'll give it another proper look later, alright?"

BUT NOW:
    Rock climbing.

Haru has always known Uta in the Short Hair version. He takes a moment to stare a long time at the Kung Fu Nurse to envision what she would look like with it longer. Down to her ass? Tied off at the end with a kunai? A SLIME Kunai? Did a slime eat her hair? He points a finger up to the sky as if to go 'my point it' "Excellent. Gregorian Calendar knows how to /march/. Also how to April May and June." He thinks about that for a moment. "Wait, months are more season based here, aren't they?" It is one of those things that you 'get' but also 'dont get' when shifting cultures. Alv culture is one of them.

He slides his gaze a bit to Yeowang when she arrives, giving a shrug. It is more important that support is here, not the terms of which they arrive. Finding some sort of old tailor is going to be easier with Yeo here. Thought is lost pretty quickly when he admires the Fuka outfit. When the Palace Lands thing is all solved, this group and outfit set needs to go to Lumina Cloth like this. Bwa ha ha.

If this was an anime this would be the harem outfit episode. Gwen would be a terror had she got her original dream before Pluto's kiss. She looks over to Haru and laughs a bit.

"That one is great Haru. As for marching orders? Head to the ruins fan out and start looking for signs of the of where the workshop might be."

Gwen is beaming at this flaring out her wings a little bit, she'll start moving up the rocky hillside to get to the top.

"To glory and lost crafting patterns!"

With that Gwen's trying to get on ahead.

Roll Physical vs 10 for brute-forcing one's way up.
Roll Evasion vs 8 To use one's ability to get up the hill.
Roll Searching vs 7 to seek away up the hill.

Shiruba sighs and rolls her eyes a bit as Gwen rushes on. "And she's not even in the 'strange' mood yet..." But a shake of her head and she gets to work. Getting up rocky slopes is hardly a new thing for her, and it doesn't take long for her avian companion to squawk as she perches on an rocky outcrop near one of the slopes. Shiruba walks over, takes a look, and nods. "Yes, this will do. Thanks Windburn." Shiruba uses her Earth magic to give herself additional traction on the slope and makes her way upward.

Uta shrugs at Haru. "I've always heard the months called the Gregorian way... admittedly, I haven't checked if the Landers use some other system." Or she has, and has forgotten now. A possibility.

"No problem, Yeowang, it's all cool," she reassures her questmate.

Uta is startled at Mizuki's sudden hug! Not used to those. They're more of a Western thing? She thinks? Luckily she realizes quickly enough that it's Mizuki who's engaging in such displays of affection, and manages to withhold the evasive and punching-follow up that'd come from being jumped by a monster.

"Oh, hi Mizuki!", she greets, with a huge smile. And then pauses. "So... you're not mad at me for bringing up the time when food tasted like soggy crackers? I'm glad we're over that." Uta blinks. "I cut my hair? I... I think I got a haircut, yeah... was starting to get a bit long."

Uta blinks all around. "What's wrong with stairs?", she asks. Physical 3, she doesn't mind them really. She hops and skips enthusiastically all over the place like a mountain goat, "But yes! we might uncover items or locations of historical significance! Moonlight Tailors must, by their very definition, have changed the world in some way or other, so whatever whe unearth (or un...sea, I suppose?), shall be of the utmost-"

Uta misses her step, trips, and almost falls over at Fukaziroh's quips. "NOTHING IS GOING TO BE SWUNG THIS WAY," she blushes, "unless it's a fist directed at a monster. But I hope we won't find any monsters." She resumes at a regular pace, serious, and then huffs, "Who am I kidding? It's a quest. There -always- is a monster, isn't there?"

Yeowang's tailoring she had done to the outfit includes quite a bit more cloth to keep the desert sun off her shoulders and belly, though it's been added with as much elegance and style so as to seem a natural part of the outfit, because when she retains a tailor, she pays for a very good tailor. And she's fishing out a burnous from her inventory, putting that on her head and adjusting it. The very end of her ponytail is visible from behind, now, and the rest of her head is covered by the light cloth head covering, and a dust-mask is wrapped around her face to keep the dust out, so all that's visible now are her eyes. So while she doesn't match the harem look at all, it's quite good in the desert.

When we approach the rocky hillside, Yeowang nods grimly and will start to climb. This is a bit like the faux rock climbing wall at the gym, in that it requires both physical fitness and an eye for where there's a good handhold, but she's done this in the gym many, many times, so it's not a problem here, and she makes it up with little problem.

    "Wait, we're marching?" Fuka asks, seeming puzzled. She shrugs, and begins to pace forward with a stately stride, making long and exaggerated swings of arms and legs to play along.

    She 'realizes' what's up though when Gwen tears on ahead. "Oooooh! Hey no fair wait for me!" she cries out, rushing forwards to make her own way up, using her wings also to provide her a little bit more mobility. And possibly to flirt with Haru, given how she keeps glancing back to see where he is, and even going somewhat out of her way to maneuver to give him a particularly good show. If she's going to be dressed in an outfit he approves of, she's going to at least make sure he gets an eyeful! Even as she enjoys looking at all the outfits, not just his. Hey, she may be dating Haru but she still has an appreciation for fashion! And prettiness in its many forms, naturally. Like, say, Uta. She was puzzled a moment at Uta's stating nothing would be swung this way. Fuka doesn't, in fact, swing that way. Well, probably not. But that wasn't what she'd... oh. OH! Yes, she supposes she did say that! "Did I say swing? I meant sing!" she laughs. "Sing sweetly! Freudian slip! Or in this case would that be a Freudian harem outfit?" she adds, laughter still bubbling in her voice. Maybe she meant it as innuendo, who knows? But the teasing, it seems, isn't stopping.

Haru is on team 'lets climb this sucker'. Sleeves are already rolled back. Noodle arms are out. Tan is theoretically possible with the sun and heat out. "Thats what makes Gwen endearing. We all get to keep it weird before the world makes us weirder," says the eccentric Accessory Forger as he heads after. "Stairs are for those who don't want a challenge! Onward. Upward. To find those that have come before, we must /climb/ like Adventurer's before." That said he is keeping in step with Uta. Fortunately Haru is pretty flipping nimble. It is surprising for an Enchanter clothy dude who is neither a monk, ninja, nor pugilist. Earth magic. Cliff. It starts to click as he launches up along the way like one of those water spiders, but on a rock surface.

"No judgements, Uta," Haru asides, jumping, "we support you the way you are. Even if it involves a monster, a fist, and swinging." A sagely nod, made whole by the monocle, "There is always a monster. Always. Sometimes. Monsters."

"Look if we are lucky we can just beat the big bad via nosebleed. We have a lot of talent for a combo attack here," Haru says, giving a short laugh as he finalizes magic assisted climb mode.

Things are going very well for the party as Gwen is showing a shocking amount of agility. Well, she's not in plate armour and that might be why. Still seeing someone a large as she hs move up as hill it sem she's found a way up and she calls out.

"Let's do this!"

Well the good news is Gwen isn't shouting out her own name, right?

She'll find her way up and would look down to watching her friend as they make their way up. At Uta's command about monsters, she looks concerned for half a moment. Then again? If there is a monster she is not afraid she's got some of the best people in the world at her back today.

It also seems everyone's having a grand old time. She makes note of Fuka and Haru, she watches as Yeowangs on the ascent. Shiruba and Mizuki have little trouble.

Finally once the group has reached the top it would be little issue to get to what was the town square, the place is pretty ruined and people would have to fan out to seek out where the tailor had set up shop so long ago.

Gwen will start looking about as the wind picks up a bit blowing dust and sand about the old ruins. Some look to be intact others not so much, there's also a Well in what must have been the center of the settlement.

Roll Searching vs 10 to seek out a clue,

Roll Transformation vs 8 to sniff out anything of note.

Roll Earth vs 9 to try and sense the region and what might be hidden.

    While Fuka would normally have little issue searching around for clues, once she's reached the top of the climb she has little incentive to go further running around frantically for a path. Instead she heads over to Haru, well aware of that mage's specialties and tendencies. "Hey, H. Let me give you a hand." she offers, deciding at this point there's nothing worth competing over, instead deciding to cooperate, Enchanter-style. "Triangulation!" she suggests instead, then breaks away a short distance to attempt to track in on the same sort of signal his own magics generate, to offer a little more perspective on it. He's very likely to be able to determine direction. With some luck and skill, she'll help determine distance!

Yeowang has made it to the top in good time, and since we're not being attacked, she dusts her hands off, looking back to see if anyone needs help or a hand up, then taking a look around to see what there is to see. She's a hunter, but strangely that doesn't come with the eagle eye she would have expected. But she does have a preternatural feel for the lay of the land, as it were, and she conccentrates on that instead.

Scanning the distance as much by feel as by sight, it's maybe more like a sort of echolocation. She can sense the world through her feet, perhaps the way some children in cartoons do, though she never had the chance to watch cartoons herself and doesn't see it that way. She just ... feels that this or that may be off in this direction, and she has come to, if not entirely trust those senses, to rely on them when she must.

The top has been reached. Haru is on top of the woooorrrllllddd. Disclaimer: Not the top of the world. He makes his way through the ruined town square with an appreciation for the designs, even the mundune ones. It is the little things that can be found in accessories. How they can assist in composition and draw a visual narrative. How people accomplish this is always fascinating to him. He picks up what appears to be a handful of polished stones from the ground. "Lets see what a seismic inquiry reveals," he says as he tosses the rock off to the side and chants out a Wave Art to summon out Terra, "Terra. Vocare. Terebro. Numerus. Terebrare. Hostis."

The orb that Haru carries around gains a ring of script with each word, circling like rings of Saturn in earthen browns and reddish hues before rumbling around the tossed stone where a huge Earth Sprite begins forming via the loose rocks and boulders of the area. "Thanks," he turns to Fuka with a thumbs up. "If we set up there. Here. Here and here," the Earth Master motions to various points in the ruins. "And Terra, put your beats to the ground," which the hulking Earth summon kneels down and puts the big ole subwoofin drills to the ground. "We should find any empty space in the town," he assesses, hopping onto Terra's back to read the output through his relic monocle. Triangulation! Unz unz unz.

Uta begins to blush further, "I sure hope you mean nosebleed by PUNCHING!", she snaps to Haru. "You'd better. Or the monster will not be the only one nosebleeding. BY PUNCHING. Better be explicit. In the use of launguage, I mean! AS IN, exceptionally precise. Not as in, you know, utilizing a vulgar register," and as she digs in deeper and deeper, her complexion veers further and further towards a luminous carmine.

"SINGING I CAN DO!", she hurries to reply to Fukaziroh, swipes her menu open, materializes her staff, and, intoning a melody, she flips the gem to point downawrds; tendrils of light and magic, dancing in sync with her voice, focus on the jewel, and she sweeps the staff left and right, to work as a metal detector of sorts.

    Uta still thinks it's about being reminded of soggy crackers? Mizuki sweatdrops, but now's not the time and place to clarify. "Of course I'm not mad at you. I wasn't mad before, I was just... you made me realize something else that was pretty big. We can talk about it later... Wait, you *remember* that?! Is your memory getting better??"

    There's a town: "How long ago was this place abandoned?" Mizuki does, indeed, begin sniffing around for signs of habitation -- both the air in general, and around doorways, since if anyone's still here they'd presumably enter and exit buildings through doors.

Everyone else is focusing on the ground level, so Shiruba sticks to getting a bird's eye view. In both literal and figurative senses, as her falcon is circling over the former settlement Shiruba takes out the Relic that allows her to sync with an animal's senses. Since her bird can see a lot more up there, but it needs her actually knowing what sort of clues they're looking for recognize any potential leads.

"Interesting that a fishing settlement would be on such high ground," she idly muses while searching. "Maybe the waters reached farther and higher in the past? We're only on the edge of the desert after all, it might of been underwater at some point." Then gets back on track. "Check the standing buildings first, we don't want to dig through rubble unless we have to."

Gwen is like many in the party she's using earth-related magic to figure out the lay of the land or if there might be something under the old village. She would kneel down hand on the ground as everyone else who is using their abilities they do have some pretty good idea of what's going on. There is a network of tunnels and caves under the place that's great news. The bad news is Gwen's on the thinnest most unstable part of it.

With those searching and using Werefang abilities? Will find an old building mostly intact and air coming through a crack there are some signs it might be might have been a shop there's rotted wooden display dolls and other signs it might have been a tailor shop. There's nothing left of worth though the passageway down they find? That's going to be of use why?

The ground under Gwen gives way and she goes falling into the darkness below with a surprised cry.

Gwen's lost somewhere down there. Once people get down by either following after Gwen or the stairs would have the party in a large cave the's some strange glowing fungus and some oddly glowing crystals in the wall.

Gwen has landed in the lair of something which likely has an exit somewhere away from the town as she's on her back looking up at some kind of big insectoid monster which has taken up residence in it and it's clawing at her with its massive talon she's rolling and has no time to get her weapons out.

Roll Physical vs 10 vs the giant bug,
Magic vs 10
Ranged vs 8

Yeowang hasn't quite sensed the sinkhole that Gwen has found, but she'd avoided that partcular patch of ground as less stable in her reconnoiter. But when Gwen falls, she'll head closer warily, calling out, "Gwen, are you allright?" She will look for a route down safely, but when she does so, she will see what else Gwen has found.

/That/ calls for a different solution, and she leaps down, using the momentum of the descnt to amplify the already high velocity of the kick, which comes around and slams into the monster hard enough that Yeowang is propelled sideways from the force of the impact, to land beside Gwen. It seems planned. She will offer the larger woman a hand up if she needs it and face off against the monster together.

    "Oh hey you found it! Great going, Gwen!" Fuka calls out, seeing Gwen going tumbling into the darkness. "Hey wait for us! That looks fun!" she cries out, rushing to the site and launching herself after Gwen.

    Fortunately for the little Sylph, she's got wings and the headlong rush into darkness doesn't immediately wreck her. Unfortunately they aren't alone in there. Well, this is going to be awkward. "And me without armour. US without armour!" she cries. Still, there's a good answer to that. Equipping armour is a timely process, but drawing a weapon from your hotbar is quick! She's quick to brandish her mighty Chopstick, wading into battle in an attempt to protect her fashion pusher.

    Fuka is not, as mentioned, armoured right now. She's quite a bit frailer than she usually is, and is likely to get heavily bloodied in her attempts to enter melee. She's tough though, even without armour, so maybe it won't be too bad. Hopefully she doesn't lose any limbs! And if she does, hopefully Uta can diagnose the injury successfully!!

"Oh, my memory is just fine," Uta comments to Mizuki, as she keeps sweeping. "It's the wires to the memory that sometimes just don't gain traction." She makes gestures with her fingers to underline what she's saying. "Stress tends to be particularly bad for that, but regular meditation and the occasional crystal-."

Plummeting Gwen noises! Uta interrupts her discussion to go rescue her friend. Without thinking, she jumps into the hole- and sighs. "-There- it is... there always is a monster." Hand rubbing bridge of nose, eyes closed.

Eyes open. Intense stare. Staff clenched. "You know what happens now?" She tap-tap-tap rushes the monster. "NOSEBLEEDING!", and at the last minute, she switches a feinted staff technique for a straight-up punch to the face.

Eventually Windburn glides down to perch on the edge of the building roof, marking it in a way as Shiruba ends the sensory link. "I think we found something Gwen." Pause, as the only response is the sound of ground crumbling. She turns to glance over her shoulder. "Gwen?!... Stay here, Windburn. So we don't have to find the building again." Then scampers over to the edge of the pit now in the middle of the town and peers down. "Well I think we found why the people abandoned the place," she mutters, even as she grimaces and draws her longbow.

One of the special conductive arrows is drawn from her quiver, nocked in and pulled back on. Arcs of lightning crackle up the bow arms and down the string as she does so, and takes aim into the pit. "Keep your head down Gwen!" she shouts in warning. The arrow charges with so much storm energy that it's starting to glow slightly red-orangish color, which is when Shiruba finishes aiming and fires.

The arrow's armor piercing tip sinks through the giant ant's carapice with little issue. Followed by a crackling *THWOOM* not unlike thunder as electricity is released from the arrow with the intensity of multiple strikes of lightning, the piercing arrow allow it to channel past the insectoid endoskeleton and directly into the creature's softer body tissues.

We have seismic reading in A1, B4, and C3PO. Haru puts a hand to one ear even though there is no comms device there to get into the feel of being a researcher of archeological nature. "Breaker breaker we have readings in the Bravo Echo quandrant." Then there is the rumble and there goes Gwen. "Alpha squad, our battleship has been sunk. I repeat, battleship S.S. Gwenikins is sunk. Search and Rescue required, over." He hops off of the 4 meter tall Earth Sprite and dismisses the big gal back to whatever reruns she was watching. Days of our Sand. The Golden Clay. Unz unz unz. Away she goes.

"Yes," Haru replies to Uta in a slow roll of 'of course' look to her, "nosebleeds by 'punching'." Nothing to be said about loose clothes and gravity as he hope off. Beeeewwooop. Down he goes.

Haru's descent is slowed by landing on a big ole bug. "None of this, no sir," he says, drawing up a foot and slamming down with a frosty Wave Art that sends crackling ice along it's body that allows him to slide off of the beast Flintstones style. Also debuff the thing's defenses. "Always a monster, right?" he grins to Uta, feeling validated that there is a monster here. As far as the armor sitation goes, "Look cloth is a /kind/ of armor," as it is his go to armor of choice. Because. Enchanter life.

    Uta is blushy at the thought of giving enemies a nosebleed and is okay walking around in a harem outfit. HMMM.

    Mizuki is too clueless to notice such things, though, and besides, she's focused on a different sense right now: Scent. "The air smells weird around this building... and it looks like a tailor's shop!"

    Gwen falls, though! "Gwen! Are you alright?!" Mizuki rezzes a rope from her inventory and ties it to something, muttering: "Lucky for you to have a Well-Tuned Murder Engineer in the party... And the one who actually thinks about what should go in an adventuring kit, at that... 'm the one that keeps the engine running..."

    She climbs down.

    And there's a bug.

    Gwen has saved her from similar situations... now it's time to do the same for Gwen! Mizuki runs up silently, and tries to leap on the monster's back, stab it between the head and body segments with her daggers, and then breathe a plume of intense fire at its face when it reacts!

    "Gwen! Are you okay?!"

somethings go better for Gwen now she's got back up the monster seems less intent to kill her as more people are piling on to it. The bad news is it sprays Gwen with some sort of webbing or something else which ends up trapping her against the floor almost cocooning her in the process. She's going to need a hand after this the good news is whatever this thing was going to do after it captured Gwen? Isn't going to happen now.

Yeowang gets a muffled shout from Gwen. She's alive but going to need help a good deal of help.

Fuka engaged it in melee and the bug doesn't even know what to think of this. Well if it could even think like that right? Uta catches the thing in the face and it's very not happy with this as Shiruba opens fire on the creature Gwen has sadly not been able to heed the warning of her adopted sister. Things are not over as Haru freezes a good portion of the Bug and it howls in pain. It's never known cold, it should have never known cold before.

There is just more and more muffled shouting from the currently entombed Gwen.

The monster at this point from all the arrows magic and other assault is pushed over the edge by Mizuki's final assault with the Dagger and the fire now causes the things currently frozen segments to shatter as they suddenly get hot and a moment later the thing explodes in a cloud of light shards.

Now there is the matter of freeing Gwen and moving on, right?

Yeowang finds that freeing Gwen isn't as easy as she'd first hoped. On the other hand, she's a Hunter, she comes prepared. In this case, a machete is taken from her inventory, and is used to carefully cut away the webbing. Why she doesn't use it to fight with is ... well, it's down to her training. Twelve years of unarmed martial arts, so this is not really the time to try out a sword when a kick can hit as hard as a swordstroke. It's not like that in RL, but here, it's quite effective. But anyhow, cutting the webbing with a mechete is careful, close work, but she's got a very steady hand.

    Giving and taking in melee, Fuka is fortunately surrounded by friends so she doesn't suffer the full consequences of rashness. She's still injured, but apparently not too badly. Fortunately force and magic save the day. Picking herself up, wiping away some sort of disgusting bodily bug fluid from exposed skin, she makes her way over to Uta.

    "Songbird, I have a nosebleed." Fuka claims, grinning (and possibly leering) unrepentantly. "Help me out? I mean, Gwen needs help too but... hm. Anyone got any booze? That dissolves webs I hear!" she suggests. Well, it dissolves glue, which is kind of on-point. But really, she has little idea beyond using fire, and that... would be bad.

    Mizuki, having been in this position (atop a monster that's about to die) many times now, sees the death effect starting and pushes off with her hands to do a flip in the air and dramatically land in the middle of the polygons. Yes, she's cool! She sheaths the daggers and kneels by Gwen, then re-draws one of the daggers, trying to cut the webbing. But if it doesn't cut -- or after it cuts if it does, something occurs to her: "What IS this stuff? Hey, silk is a material you can use for clothing, right?" And she tries to Identify the webbing.

Haru does a quick check of the area. Fuka, Uta, and Shiruba? Check. Mizuki and Yeo? Check. Gwen? He looks at Gwen in her current outfit and current goo covered state. "Four oh Four error, inappropriate commentary not found," the white haired Artificer observes. So that he doesn't get in on the rush effect to free out Gwen from her screenshot worthy state of affairs, the Artificer goes and collects a bit of the goo. With an idle whistle he starts going through his inventory and some alchemical preparations to work on a dissolvent so that when Gwen in un-webbed that the tonic can address the sticky residue that may make things less... nimble.

"Yes, I think after this Gwen will need a drink," Haru notes, hand turned upwards as a little flame brings a vial to a higher temperature, then an air spell spins it like a centrifuge to seperate the elements.

It's the same as why Shiruba rarely draws her hunting knife in combat. It's made for skinning, deboning and cleaning game not fighting.

She also has the adventurer's staymark of ROPE with her, because only a foolish person doesn't have that sort of thing at hand... Which apparently Mizuki isn't one of, because she already has a climbing rope ready. Shiruba mmms softly, and puts her coil away. How did she miss that? We'll just say because focused on saving Gwen. Yes. Good enough.

"Nice to see other people actually think of the simple preparations," she muses. There's enough people working on getting Gwen free so she's just keeping watch to make sure nothing else turns up to harass them.

Uta walks around Gwen. Pensive, with the gravitas one would expect form a healer examining a particularly puzzling medical case. She rubs her chin, other hand under her elbow, furrows her brow, and mutters little, "mh"'s and, "mmmmmmmmmh"'s. Finally, with a deep nod, she declares, "There's only one thing to do at this point. I was hoping it wouldn't have had to come to this, but-"

She reaches into the cloth satchel dangling from her side, she unlatches it, and extracts a glass bottle, which she uncorks. "Gwen? I prescribe-" She pours the contents onto the webbing. "-A SLIME!", Uta exclaims, smiling from ear to ear.

It seems that this is Uta's idea of 'Adventurer preparations'.

It's a tabby slime, whose acidic, blobby body begins to corrode the cocoon upon contact.

"It is vital that, at this point, the creature must be controlled by a skilled monster handl-WAURGH!"

Uta exclaims, with a massive blush that causes her to lose her magical grip over the monster. It will probably end up slithering over Gwen's face.

"FUKA! DON'T STARTLE ME LIKE TH- wait, do you really need something for a nosebleed? Were you punched by the bug?"

    "Punched would imply fists. More like clawed. Or mandibled. Or ... gored? Hmmm, yeah. Gored." Fuka muses. "Not that you aren't worth getting a nosebleed over but I'm mostly serious this time! Just don't neglect looking after your slime! I'll be ... over here a moment, until you're done." she says, sidling over to Haru, grinning at Uta. Really, teasing her was the point. Fuka's used to wounds, and these aren't terrible. Just annoying and messy.

    "Soooo...." she drawls softly. "No inappropriate comments?" she asks suggestively, nudging Haru. "Catgirl got your tongue I see?"

Haru shake shake shakes his tonic, his tinture, his concoction. He looks at Fuka during the next shake shake shake. "Its missing something," he observes, rubbing the vial against Fuka's cheek. The one above the shoulders. "There we go. A bit of Fuka thought to make the magic happen. Like carbination." This should work! Though he asides to the Gwen situation. "I'm going more with the inappropriate commentary database has been corrupted by," he motions to Gwen's sticky situation, "that. Going where crafters have gone before can't be entirely 'webbed with goo to the ground while in a plus two charisma outfit.'" He pauses. "Well. Maybe it can. Either way, I approve." Sidelong glance to Fuka with his one visible blue eye, "Its definately giving me ideas." Eyebrow waggle. Waggle waggle.

Gwen is all tied up some might revel in such a fate for Gwen but said people are not here today right? Some like Yeowang wi=ll work to cut away the webbing. Fuka will try to dissolve it in turn and some progress is made.

Mizuki would find the silk is worth a decent amount of gold and could be used in crafting if it's not all taken out. While Shiruba lens her a hand on that, right? Haru's hard at work he's got the right idea Gwen will need a drink. Also, Gods help Gwen if her mother Morri /ever/ finds out about this situation, then comes Uta'a master a plan a slime? Wait a slime? Yes, and the thing is soon eating the threat and soon is on Gwen's face which causes very much panicked Gwen sounds.

Thankfully with effort Gwen is freed and there's some of the silk-like stuff left as a drop.

Gwen bolts up as soon as she can move gets the slime off her face which then latches on to her torso which she's then forces to shake off. She'll leave it be once she's free of it and pops open a menu. Swiftly she starts quick repairing her outfit before something goes wrong.

She shakes it off soon enough.

"It had to be guarding something right?"

Gwen's getting chipper about it as the thought of someone telling Morri hasn't entered her head just yet.

Gwen leads the party onwards and they will find the glowing gems that lead to a closed door, it's opened easily enough and ... behold there's a workshop with hundreds of various bits of clothing. In the center of this room are the following a loom, a spinning wheel and a desc covered in design sketches on fading parchment.

They're going farther underground so Shiruba leaves her bird topside as a lookout. Windburn doesn't really like enclosed spaces. She follows after Gwen, and while not here for the fashion aspects, her eyes still widen at the sight of the ancient workshop. "Wow.." Pause. "Wait, we should try to verify that this is actually the ancient crafting shop you're looking for."

She's saying nothing. Saying anything to Morri would mean admitting that she saw it, looked at it, and that's going to put more ideas in Morri's head than need to ever be there.

Instead she plunges her attention into the aspects ahead of them, walking over to examing the loom and spinning wheel with a scrutinizing inspection that is more than just your standard Appraisals...

    Uta prescribes slime. "You were hoping it *wouldn't* come to this, huh?" Mizuki asks, dryly.

    Haru and Fuka banter. Mizuki looks at them, and then at Gwen, and her ears redden. But the cat has HER tongue for a moment, it seems, as too many thoughts run through her head at once and sort of wedge in there preventing any one from getting out her mouth: 'Ugh, come on, guys' 'How do you think SHE feels?' '(Is he really into that? I've seen some stuff... oh no, it doesn't help that it's that color...)' 'Ugh, BOYS' 'Wait, I'm a--' 'Wait, am I?' 'Maybe? I dunno?' She's left kneeling by Gwen with her head spinning ^@_@^

    Gwen being face-slimed finally jostles a thought loose: "Well, that could have gone worse..." She continues cutting Gwen free.

    "Oh, the silk looks decently valuable and can be used as a crafting ingredient, if you can figure out how to unstick it from the floor."

    Guarding something? "Oh... right, this isn't even the treasure..." She stands up and follows Gwen to...

    A tailor's workshop!

    "Wow. You could make a lot with this, huh...?"

Yeowang finishes hepling Gwen to her feet, stowing her machete, and will follow her as she leads the way to the place this monster was guarding. That's another bit of game theory she's only now coming to grips with. Monsters don't just live someplace because they need a place to live. And anything valuable -must- have some sort of monster living nearly on top of it. She can't help but think in that context, being very much a latecomer to games. Her little brother would love this game, and be much better at it than she is.

Luckily for Gwen, it wouldn't occur to her to tell Morri anything, and as she follows into the workshop, she looks around, hrming. "A clothier's workroom?" she guesses, looking around. "We should have brought wagons, to take this all back," she suggests. "Or are you opening a new branch of your clothing store here?"

Haru watches as Gwen gets up to it fast and onwards. His alchemical mixture both is useful to clean the webbing residue off of clothes and skin, but also smells pretty nice. A jasmine scented perfume to mix it in, subtle, with a hint of spiced apple to go with the desert theme. Accessory Crafting some scents while he is at it. When he is done, he sneak attacks Fuka into a dab of it on her forehead. "Next up, grape scented debuff remover," he cackles. The tall white haired human is having a good time. Adventures are always best enjoyed with quality people and thats the case today.

"I imagine learning techniques is the important part, no?" the Artificer asks as he walks through the workshop. Fine instruments here and there, appraised by his purple monocle lens and captured for later. "A lot of these I could just reproduce with the right materials. Needles. Machines. Its all precision instrumentation," until he motions to the big honking things like looms that are probably a woodworking activity. "Not those," he notes.

    Teasing Gwen is basically the same thing as teasing Uta, for Fuka. She wouldn't tease the woman if doing so would be hurtful. That's just not her thing. She does giggle though at Haru's silliness. And of course he's helping too, both to lift spirits and to ... distill spirits. Or something. "I don't expect this sort of thing to lead us to where Enchanters have gone before, no." she agrees. "Though speaking of enchanting..." she muses thoughtfully, gesturing vaguely. "Plus two indeed!"

    "Hmmmm." she continues to contemplate, this time regarding Shiruba. "Well, this *could* be a clothier's shop. We've already found silk!" she claims brightly. "We just need to find wool, or cotton, or ... uh, whatever polyester grows on! That would tell us for sure!" she adds, following along as the group proceeds to what the bug was guarding.

    Only to spot a whole bunch of equipment that seems vaguely like stuff you might find in an ancient temple dedicated to clothmaking. Or, you know, in an actual crafting shop dedicated to clothmaking. "Yeah, something tells me we found it! Just a gut feeling, I think." she babbles meaninglessly, looking around for the punchline. Or guardian. Or sudden trap about to explode on them all. It's too easy!

Uta gives a sideways glance at Mizuki. The "Uhm... er... not at all, honest!" kind of look you'd expect from her.

Managing to somehow navigate the innuendo (not without effort), after Gwen is freed, Uta proceeds to turn to attempt a cure for Fukaziroh as well, but- "Oh, seems like Haru got this, Fuka. I'll leave you two to it. Let me know if you need me."

"It's valuable?!" Uta exclaims at Mizuki. Ka-ching! ( $_$)

The Spriggan is quick to collect the silk-like material (and bottle the tabby slime again for safekeeping into her pouch), making the occasional affluent Spriggan noise every now and then at the thought of the gold that could be made from such a drop. Or possibly armor. Maybe this thing will be one of those things that have the strength of steel, but are super-thin? Nanotechnological wonders found in nature?

As the sight of the workshop appears in front of Uta, her mouth turns into a small oooooh of wonder. "This is impressive...", she exclaims. She turns to Yeowang, and hazards a polite, "A third possibility could be to preserve this historical place as-is. This is a landmark discovery. I wonder what sort of marvels could have been woven here..."

"Oh, Shiruba, good point. I could try to try and learn any significant events that took place here, but... there's a time limit on how far back I can go without straining myself. Before trying it, I'd rather you could give me a rough ballpark of what to expect." She looks down and mumbles, "Last thing I need right now is a headache and a sore throat," with her arms crossed.

    Whatever Polyester grows on.

    Mizuki looks at Fukaziroh with that same look she just gave Uta. "Polyester's a synthetic." And then she blinks and looks thoughtful. "Although... if we've got oil refining, maybe we CAN find a way to make it in the Scales?" Another memory comes to her. "Synthetic stuff once existed in this world, so... it's probably permitted by local physics, at least!"

    Uta is here! "It really doesn't bother you wearing that...? Or do you only have comments about the girl from the menu wearing it?"

Yeowang hrms to Uta, as she suggests something she had not previously considered. "Are any of us Archaeologists, then?" she wonders, recalling that it was one of the options for starting profession. Not the one she took, though. "Perhaps, then," she suggests, "Someone should sketch the room now, as we find it, before we go disturbing things and looking into what's here? To record how things were as we found them? But resources are meant to be used, just leaving them sitting here may appease intellectual curiosity, but if it can be used to make the world a better place, it should."

    "Jazz is the archaeologist, isn't she? Are there any others...?" Mizuki replies.

Gwen looks at Mizuki for a moment "It could have been worse...trust me much worse." She looks about the room now as her mind shifts gears. Those inspecting it with powers would find yes this is very much the place Gwen has been seeking. She start to look very excited like the first time she met you and gave you an outfit level excited. Thankfully it's on the thing here which Gwen is checking out things. She's also moving at high speed as she checks things out. She's babbling in full tailoring jargon too herself as she does this.

As people keep talking about this place.

"What's wrong with what I made Uta!? Do you know how much environmental heat protection it has?!"

Gwen gets back to work and notes

"I think we should leave this place as intact as possible it might be looted to the ground otherwise and I'd like to see I'm not the only tailor who benefits from it if we can."

Shiruba catchs glimps of a Salamander hard at work over the desc.. at the loom.. cranking the pedal of the spinning wheel with their tail when their foot gets tired...

Using the power still gives her a bit of a head rush and she has to step back after a moment, removing her hands from the loom. "This is it. I saw the craftsman at work... This shop was built under the town for protection, and to keep from being bothered by the fishing town traffic... This is what you were looking for Gwen. That insectoid was probably the spawn of ones the crafter kept to spin thread from that cacoon silk."

Motions one hand vagely at Mitsuki's question. "The main reason I'm here. And I agree. We should take the information you need but not disrupt the location any more than necessary.... it could collapse considering how easily that other section fell."

Haru observes thoughtfully, "Could just as well replicate the properties of the material with natively sourced parts from this world," on the topic of polyester. It was all in good jokes, but the idea of magewave silks sounds a lot more interesting to the Silver Sword Artificer. On the note from Shiruba there is the idea of, "Though ranching those silkbugs would be part of that for this, no? I have a sample though I don't know how generic this kind of material is. Arid environ and all." Fauna nativity and ecosystems are funny things like that.

"Oh, cool! If you've seen the Craftsman at work, we're golden!" Uta exclaims. And then frowns. "Dang. Now I regret punching that silkbug. It was not a random murderbeast. It actually was -useful- for producing raw material. I wonder..." She taps her chin and looks around. "I wonder if there are others... and if we could learn more about them..." She shakes her head. "Ah well, too late now, I guess."

"Jazz's in-game profession is Maid," Uta corrects Yeowang. "The only Archeologists I can think of are Lin and Proteus. There might be others, but if so, I cannot think of any at the moment."

Uta blinks at Mizuki. "Wearing what? Sorry, I don't actively think of what I'm wearing most of the time. It's like... when you're wearing socks, are you consciously aware of wearing socks? And if so, what color are they?"

She stares into the void for a bit, then adds, "Oh, right. Gotta check what I'm wearing today. I'm still not sure." A nod is given to Gwen. "All I know is that it -is- super comfortable giving the hot weather. It's amazing. Anyway, Let's see..." She looks down at herself. "Uh," she comments, puzzled, brow furrowed, scratching her head. "Wait, something is not right about this. Don't tell me, don't tell me, let me guess..." Uta says, waving at Mizuki as if for shushing her. She lifts one foot. Then the other. She pokes at the pendant of her necklace (which is smooth and mechanical-looking); this act activates a holographic mini-map, visible to everyone. Distracted by the shiny hologram, she completely forgets about her outfit. "Ooooooh, look. A map of the place," she points.

    Fuka tries not to smile at the funny look she gets at her mention of polyester, instead handwaving away the details. "Well, this is all neat. Some sort of special place for making clothing, with a particular climate? I guess that makes sense!" she muses. "We might not be able to use the special properties of this place, but maybe we can adjust some of it elsewhere! There's some stuff I'm looking into that... well, I don't think it's easy, but I understand it's at least *possible* to shift the properties of some things so that they take on other characteristics!" she claims.

    "Of course I have no idea how to do that. Still researching. It's not enchantment though, that's for sure. ONE DAY!" she adds, raising a fist and shaking it.

Yeowang seems to have misunderstood our purpose here, then, and she asks, "Is this then not useful material for current crafters? If it's only of historical value, then leaving it is definitely the best choice. The dry desert air will preserve it, I expect." She smirks to Uta, but wasn't the one assuming Jazz was an archaeologist. "Lin and Proteus? I don't think I know them very well. But I'm sure they can add insights." She looks around, and wonders if perhaps these are associated with any historical figures? She will have to investigate that angle further.

    It's like, when you're wearing socks--

    Mizuki looks down at her digitigrade, bare feet. She wiggles her toes. And then winces in anticipation as Uta looks down and... not the expected reaction. "Did you even forget..." But Uta described it so clearly, before...

    And then Gwen takes her comments as a complaint, and her tail bristles at the thought of Angry Gwen. Her pupils go a bit slitted and her ears fols back under Gwen's ire. "Uhhh... it's not that, it's..." does Gwen know? Is Uta okay with Gwen knowing? Would it just be awkward to bring up now?? Probably!

    She holds her hands up to the sides of her head. "This is all so confusing! Aaaaa!" She turns and runs back out the door to try and calm down out of view.

    A thought does occur to her, and she calls back: "Maybe the silk bug left eggs?"

    Mizuki also hisses a bit at the mention of Proteus's name but these people are mostly not Scales, so she doesn't say anything.

Haru looks to Mizuki and nods, "Thats what I am thinking. Bugs generally have a cycle. I can't imagine they are eternal. Just need to domesticate a new generation in an environment elsewhere. Taking out a hostile one isn't world ending for the species like a bug genocide." He is more familiar with handling monsters than he is animals. And elemental sprites more than monsters themselves. However, its biological concepts. "And as for the tools, I have a good grasp on the ones here. They can be sourced and constructed at a more local workshop while preserving this area for future Moonlight crafters. Adventurers after us may realize things we didn't." A smile towards Fuka, "Like enchantment or means of improving the process through enchanted tools and alchemically enriched materials." Look at Haru, being all serious.

"Can't speak for those two," Haru tells Uta, "but can speak as an Artificer. Tools are important. History is too, if there are any books about on techniques. I imagine Gwen would know best on what 'clicks' for Gwen." Using a bit of the third person there as he looks to the scantily clad Tank. "But if nothing else, it was a lot of fun seeking out new places and learning new things together. Ten out of Ten, would trek again."

"Maybe Haru can replicate some of these tools so we don't have to disturb the site?" Shiruba asks. She was so busy with her own power using that she didn't notice if he already considered that. "Books. Designs. Anything we can copy or recreate without having to move too much." People are talking about the giant bug and it's eggs. "... Or a source of materials, yeah... I think you'll get plenty to work with from here Gwen. Plenty."

Gwen says "You know that's pretty logical Shiruba on both counts there." She grins and will keep looking over the various items being careful not to damage them.

"That might work Haru. I would suspect there are more out there Uta we might have to go find them later if you really want them. Wait ... JAZ IS A MAID?!"

What have you done as Gwen thinks on this.

"Then again..."

She trails off it almost seems like Gwen has /given/ up on Jaz.

"If I find anything for any of the other crafters here I'll be happy to let you know."

She nods for a moment

"This is the sort of place and I hope Haru can do that Shiruba. I also owe all of you a feast later."

"I know, I know," Uta is quick to reply to Mizuki. "Proteus and I have some intellectual disagreements as well, on a couple of... politically sensitive subjects." There is a short pause. "I suppose one the hot one, in your case, might be her stance about scaling the Tower. To avoid any possible misunderstandings, rest assured that at we of Crescent Moon have a strong commitment to official neutrality on the subject of tower climbing, and we do deverything we can to make sure that those who wish to take part in tower climbs can do so."

Uta taps her chin. "Also, Shiruba, correct me if I'm wrong... but if an Accessory Crafter wanted to know some technical detail of some hidden part, you could try to Loremaster it and answer any question they have? So the items do not need be disassembled to be reverse engineered?"

"I agree with you completely, Haru. It's been a great adventure. Preserving history is important. Would do it again. Both preserving history and the trekking."

"Feast?!" Uta's eye light up. "You had me at 'feast'."

Fukaziroh gets the kind of look where one has to tilt their head in curiosity. "Change the properties of items? Uh. That sounds interesting. I'd love to learn more about that when you have time."

Yeowang hrms as the talk changes to feasts, and she sighs. She doesn't really have anything to wear to a feast, and it's annoying keeping track of five kinds of fork. Or ... perhaps they mean something more local. "That would be good," she says cautiously. The technical details of making and examining things are lost on her, she's more of an organizer. The technical details are not her forte. To Gwen, she says, "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know."

Shiruba eyes light up almost as much as Gwen's did on finding the place at the mention of feasts. "Now that's my kind of payment."

Then back at the matter at hand, particularly as Haru asks questions about how her ability works. To which she ums, and rubs the back of her head with one hand. "I'm still learning the ins and outs of using it, so I can't say for certain. But I would say there is a good chance of it, or seeing the history of how it was made. If there was something you want to try it on some time. Especially with my version, which is aspected to analyzing items and artifacts... Though 'item' can be abstract. I've been helping Uta analyze songs, too."

    "A feast!" Fuka cheers, raising a hand and bouncing. A shame she's not built better for that, given her current outfit. "Also quite possibly an outfit made out of bug vomit! We'll have to see about that possibility and let me know if you need any help with it!" she adds.

    She of course agrees with Haru's serious assessment. Playfulness is fine, and both of them indulge frequently, but frivolity only works when you're willing to set it aside and do what needs doing when it needs doing. "I'm always looking for old lore and books, especially on enchanting! And alchemy I suppose, but mostly enchanting! Got to keep up with H somehow!" she grins. "I wouldn't like to see a place like this ransacked for treasure, not if it destroys information. Information is the true treasure! Especially when it's, like, graven in gold books and stuff."

    Uta missing the point again gets a frustrated ARRRRGH from Mizuki beyond the door. "It's not about the Alliances! She said I was only good for being a cat! She took... I was having FUN before then! After so many years of trying to find the optimal move and win and be useful and stressing myself out I was having FUN with being a cat and she made it into a BAD thing! I've never felt as happy as I was before then since!"

    She rushes back into the room and grabs Uta by the shoulders. "IT WASN'T ABOUT THE SOGGY CRACKERS! It was because you described hating the way you look, and I don't--! I only--!" She runs back out of the room to sit just beside the door on the other side out of view. "I like what I have better here..."

Shiruba turns to look between Uta, then Mizuki has she stomps out. That was... uh... "You guys let me know when you're finished gathering up what you need."

Then she wanders over to the doorway and looks outside. "What's this about telling you being a cat is bad?" She only heard part of the back and forth but it was enough to get her concerned.

Yeowang peers at Mizuki stomping off, and frowns. "And that's why you don't rely on others for your self image," she calls after her. "Or at least not /just one person/. I think you're quite useful, and all of us here obviously agree and rely on you. /One/ person's opinion can be dismissed." If /everyone/ thinks you're useless, you might want to consider a lifestyle change, she doesn't say aloud. But that doesn't seem to be the issue.

"My version works best for events. I can usually get a just-the-straight-facts written report on events that are not too distant in space or time, but a few cases I got a vision. I can glean some basic information on items or beings upon I seeing them, but it's really really basic. Nowhere as good as Shiruba's."

There's somet thinking, followed by a wide smile. "Oh, and of course, I will be glad to assist anyone who would like to learn about events. I like learning about Lore myself and-" She turns to Fuka and nods. "Information and old books are the best. It-"

Grab the Uta! Shake! Not stir!

Stare. Blank. Let simmer for a few seconds. Twenty or so.

Then, Uta suddenly seems to realize something!

"Mizuki, I... I..." Inhale. "I'm never going to remember what I said that day without a little help. Give me a moment." She navigates through her menu, jabs a point, and red, squishy ball shimmers into existence in her hand. She closes her eyes, inhales, exhales, squeezes, repeats a few times.

Breathing exercises. Calming. Focusing. Concentration.

There are a few moments where it's obvious she's fighting with terrifying thoughts. Gasps. Winces. Anxiety. Eyes closed. But as she must soldier on through revelations, uta finally opens her eyes again, and with a far, far calmer voice, she says, "Mizuki, I didn't say I hate the way I look. I said I would imagine that you'd hate the way you look. Completely different story." She walks over to Mizuki and sits down next to her. Stress ball. Squeeze. Release. Squeeze. Release. "To be fair... I -do- find this body weird. I mean-" She looks behind her back. "Wings? Really?!" A shiver runs down her spine, and propagates to the wings. "They still freak me out after one year and a half." A grunt. "ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THEY DO NOT WORK." Uta is not salty. You are.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah." Ahem. "Proteus keeps telling people that they should not climb the tower. He told me I should not share my research findings. Do I listen to her?" She turns to Fuka, Haru, and Gwen. "Folks? Does it sound like I care about what Proteus has to say on the subject?"

Unless the 'folks' give some particularly surprising result, Uta will continue, "See, this is not where you stop finding being a cat fun. This is where you stop finding Proteus's comments fun." She navigates through her menu, and shimmers a second stress ball into existence. This one is not as squishy and red as the one Uta is squeezing -- it's a simple leather one, sewn. It's offered to Mizuki. "Here, try this."

    Fuka peers at the door Mizuki's currently hiding behind, getting the impression that she's missed something. Not necessarily something important in the grand scheme of things, but something most likely important to Uta and Mizuki. "What's wrong with having fun?" she asks. Having fun's the most natural thing in the world. Should anyone make you feel bad over it? Having fun at the expense of others, sure. Having fun irresponsibly... well, that's a thing too. But fun itself shouldn't be shunned, should it?

    She glances over at Uta, having one particular comment on her mind. A harsh one. "Really? You don't like how you look?" Fuka pouts. "I think you look amazing! And I don't just mean the desert outfit!! You're like..." she shrugs. "Always so comfortable in yourself." she says. It's one of the things she looks up to Uta over! The other being actual height difference but that's not uncommon. "I get that you don't care about socks, but tell me you're at least happy with your looks! If not, you and me are due for a trip to the aesthetician!"

    But she remembered the soggy crackers comment... Mizuki's fists ball tighter for a moment. And then she relaxes when she sees Uta dealing with bad thoughts. Not that she wants to hurt Uta, but it shows that maybe they can not talk *around* the issue for once. And then she sort of slumps when Uta speaks again, arms hanging limply at her sides. "I..."

    "...I guess that's true. Wings must be pretty weird, huh. And it's just *unfair* that you can't fly, while my claws and ears and eyes work fine..."

    She takes the offered stress ball and squeezes it. "I've been trying to enjoy it again, but there's always that lingering doubt... and now on top of that I'm all mixed up and don't know what I am anymore..." She looks at her other open hand, extending and retracting claws. "And now I know that Jazz is suffering, and I thought you might be too... or... not?"

    She blinks at Uta. "Wait, if you weren't doing the totally unconvincing attempt to sound like you weren't talking about yourself... I mean if you sincerely meant you didn't know anything about it... then where did you HEAR that??"

Shiruba sighs and lifts a hand to rub the bridge of her nose for a moment. This is going to be one of those times that while she means well, Uta being... well, Uta might not be the most productive to results.

Though the mention of Jaz 'suffering' does help to clarify some of the problem, if not directly. "Mizuki, there is nothing wrong with enjoying what you have in this world." Her own fluffy tail gives a flick. "And no one else has the right to tell you what's fun or not fun or wrong about it. That's only for you to decide for yourself."

A pause. "Besides, Proteus is kind of a stick in the mud. One of those pragmatically minded people. Picking apart puzzles is her thing, not being the No Fun Allowed Police... Err, is that how it goes?" She looks from Mizuki to Gwen and then to Mizuki again, being the two here she knows would better know the American phrases than she would.

Uta squeezes her ball. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. "It's... complicated," Uta finally admits to Mizuki's question about suffering. "The short answer you're probably looking for is 'no'. Not the way Jazz does. But there's a longer, more convoluted and nuanced answer which involves questions that probably aren't even on your radar." Squeeze. Pause. "See, there's a thing you should know about me," Uta says, dead serious. "At times I can be a bit... ah... distracted. Honestly, the amount or intensity of stuff I can forget is insane," she states, before standing up. "What you're trying to investigate is the kind of discussion we should probably have in private at some point. Haru knows part of the story. I've shared details of my past life you aren't aware of. Might probably be the case to spill some beans in your direction, in case it helps." Pause. "Also, socks."

Uta stands up and almost falls down again at Fuka's suggestion. "I... I don't think an estethician would improve things- wait, do we even have estheticians in this world?" Uta frowns. "What... what kind of Skill does that even involve?"

She takes a few steps. "I believe that 'Who am I' is the kind of question that takes a lifetime of work to answer in detail. And it constantly evolves over time." Squeeze, inhale, squeeze, exhale. Walk. "Now, our current predicament throws an additional question into the mix. -What- am I?", she says, looking up and away. "Another one I am tackling. Trying to figure that one out. Lots of people are. You're not alone."

A pause. "You know, this reminds me of the prescriptivist versus descriptivist approach to language codification. Prescriptivists lay down specific rules that language shall conform to. Descriptivists, conversely, let the language do its own thing and merely report what they notice."

There is more pacing, and at this point Uta seems more lost in her rambling, with less need to squeeze her ball or breathe. "See, the former would be the kind of person who sees the definition of 'horse' in a dictionary as mentioning it as being 'four-legged', and the day they see a horse who has lost a leg, they start being assailed by the doubt that they're dealing with a tricycle."

Somewhere in there, Uta shrugs at the comments about enhanced senses and claws. "It's one of those things one gets used to after a while. And, hey, as said, I get a built-in parachute, so, I guess... it's not a -complete- rip-off?"

    Fuka grins at the esthetician remark. Just thrown out there, it seemed to get a reaction. "Maybe it's an ancient lost skill! Just think, transformation potions, cosmetic changes, all those game functions might've been a thing once and it's long lost!" she blathers on. "Or maybe those are all potions and it's something an Alchemist does? Or maybe it's just a specialized form of artisany!"

    Really, don't pay too much attention to Fuka blathering. She's providing low-intellect distractions, keeping things from getting too serious. She does shut up to listen though, and take various things in, and make her own judgments. And slowly, she grins as she listens to Uta nerd out about language. Obviously something the Spriggan's passionate about, or nerdy about at least. She only half understands the explanation, but appreciates it nonetheless. And she slowly grows a goofy grin, which she takes some pains to hide from Uta because she figures it'd only distract her would-be sister.

    "You might change." Fuka murmurs fondly. "Just don't change TOO much! You're great the way you are, and I look forward to seeing what we'll all be tomorrow!" she philosophizes.

    At encouraging words from the others, Mizuki's ears perk up and she smiles a bit. Then her ears focus on Uta. She... really might forget that much? Mizuki's not sure whether that's pitiful or a relief... Also, a word unfamiliar with her but which she can guess the meaning of: "Aesthetician? Like... a style advisor?"

    She stands up too. "Oh... right. Lots of people are..."

    She can't help but giggle at the joke about language proscriptivism. "I hadn't heard that one before! Like 'a featherless biped'... Man, it's weird that people millenia ago were having a dumb forum argument about definitions and we still know about it all this time later, in another world, huh?"

    But then she looks a bit more somber. "But... even if you don't define it that way... things are still described as horses or tricycles. What does it mean to be either one then?" She holds a half-curled hand to her chest, looks down at it and then at Uta, Shiruba, and Fuka. "How do you *know* if you're a boy or a girl?"

"I didn't pick a different gender at creation," Shiruba replies, "So that's a question I can't really give much input on." At least she's honest on that matter.

She glances back at the shop a moment, and then sighs softly. "I am going to go make sure Gwen doesn't try to bring the entire shop home with us." Then back to Mizuki. "The point is, you decide for yourself what you are and how you're going to be it. No one else needs to tell you, how to be you. Now, if you'll pardon me." She slips back into the old shop to go check on her big sister.

    Fuka senses a deeper question behind that of Mizuki, and for a wonder it brings a pause for consideration before she opens her mouth. Fuka has a habit of opening her mouth before thinking, but that's also an undeserved reputation because it rarely happens when it might actually cause someone pain. Fuka's an empathetic person, and while she'll happily blab way too much information she's generally a lot more careful when it's something that'll hurt another.

    She nods to Shiruba's answer, having waited to consider. That's one she agrees with. Still, she shrugs. "I rolled random." she confirms. "And as much fun as it might've been to pick a boy and hit on cute girls, I didn't. Being a boy or a girl? That's about what you picked when you created your character... or I guess some might decide and present themselves otherwise, and that seems fine to me!"

    The little sylph shrugs. She's got nothing against crossdressers, trans people, anything like that. She's well aware of her own oddness, and doesn't judge others for not conforming to a strict definition of 'normal'. "You are what you are. Just because my old self was fifteen centimeters taller and had a bigger bust doesn't make me any less who I am now. Be who you want to be!" she suggests casually, well aware there might be more to it, but passing it off as something casual. "If you think you were something different before, that's fine too. It's what you are NOW, what you WANT to be, that's what counts!"

Uta just lets Fuka talk. She doesn't add much. She's about to add something, when an unearthly (unAlba-y) growl bellows through the silence.

Uta looks down at her stomach. "I... I think it's time for that feast, Gwen..."

    "Transformation potions?" Mizuki echoes. Thinking about the possibilities just hits a wall of confusion. She could change back... Is that a bad thing? Or a good thing? Though the thought of a more directed, customized shapeshifting ability rather than what she can do as a were fang brings back a memory:

The psychologist, in her earnest, friendly way, asks: 'If you could have any superpower, what would it be?' It's a fun question any teen or child would love to discuss, right? Sam's brain even has an answer ready to go: Shapeshifting so I can find out what it'd be like to be a girl. But he knows that that is probably not an acceptable thing to tell ANYONE and nervously lies: 'Uhh... something that could make lots of money. Having lots of money would be nice.'

    Mizuki frowns at the memory. Well, here I am. I found out what it's like. Now what?! What was the point of wanting that, past me?!

    Something strikes her as odd about Fuka's comment. "If you want to hit on cute girls can't you do that as a girl too? Nobody in here care's if you're gay..." She stares off into space. "Shit, I guess I technically am now too... kinda?" Her head feels fuzzy with confusing thought again...

    Mizuki was kind of undereducated about all that stuff too. "Uhh... who I *want* to be? I want to be a cool hero stories are told about... I want to be useful... but when I tried before... it was fun at first, making optimal builds to help the party... being super-effective... I was even part of an e-mail group where we traded character optimization advice for tabletop games, we called ourselves the "Well-Tuned Murder Engine"... and I was proud to be thought of so highly! Heck, I even..."

    Mizuki trails off for a moment, and looks confused. She even what? She was about to proudly say something, but... what? She shakes her head a little. "Anyway... when Elder Tale Online started up... I guess I'd started to lose my touch? Others were always better, even in my guild. I was just... sort of there, trying my best, but... I don't know what went wrong. When I got a job here -- well, in Japan I mean -- I thought it'd be fun to pretend to be a cute catgirl for a bit, and it *was*, but I didn't mean to get stuck this way forever..."

    She looks down at her hands. "Then people said some confusing stuff... about how other crossplayers feel terrible in here... I thought it was like, some kind of psychological *affliction* that hits you after a certain amount of time in the wrong body, and since I'd gone for so long feeling fine I must be due for it any day now, but... nothing happened, still... And then Uta said that bit about people hating the way they look, but I *never* hated looking like this, only the way I looked *out there*..."

    She stares off into space for a moment again, then holds her hands to the sides of her head. "Arrrgh, why is this so confusing?! How am I supposed to KNOW what I want to be?! How can you *want to be* a guy or a girl or whatever, what does that even LOOK like?! How am I supposed to know?! If I was sick or something I could look up symptoms and treatments in a book, why isn't there... All this 'Oh, you just KNOW' stuff is so unhelpful, HOW do you know, HOW?!"

    She leans against the wall and slides down to a sitting position again. More quietly, she asks, "Is it really as simple as liking looking like this and not how I did before...? And if it is... what do I do? I don't know how to be a... It's not like there are teachers..."

    Fuka's comment about being a boy and hitting on girls was deliberate, and yes she still agrees with Mizuki's confused reply. "Oh, of course there's nothing stopping a girl from hitting on a cute girl!" she says. She's done it. Well okay, mostly flirting and never seriously. A part of her would be too scared to really actually hit on anyone that would actually respond to it. She's playful, not a playa... and yet she's now in a relationship far stronger than she'd expected. Admittedly one in which the other person was the first to make a move!

    She's not about to explain all that though. Not to someone she barely knows. Uta or Haru, maybe, if they brought it up. So she just grins. "See, that's the point! Do what you like, who cares if others think it's gay or whatever!" she agrees.

    She listens, only to sigh when Mizuki seems close but still expresses confusion. She continues to listen, being patient... waiting for the cat girl to trail off. "Well, it's not like I can teach you. I guess when the option first came up I thought it might be fun to try being a boy, but I'm glad I didn't. I like being who I am. And it sounds like you like being who you are. Maybe you were unhappy being who you were... I dunno. I think that's something you get to decide. But I think you know what you want to be, you're just confused at what you think others expect."

    The little sylph, probably the last person to be giving advice on the subject (except of course Uta. Never ask her for this sort of advice), leans back to find a wall, careful to not pin her wings uncomfortably. "Maybe you should seek out an esthetician, get really dolled up, be super cute. Maybe you should go out and do adventure, be a super warrior princess cat girl. I dunno, both sound like they could be fun to me! But what I *do* think you need to do is you need to do what's fun. It sounds like you enjoyed being like a cat, at least until some dumbass told you to stop! Fu...rget her! Be a cat girl! Have FUN! When you find other things you enjoy, just do them too! The best teacher I can think of is to do what you want, have fun, and not worry about it!"

"I'm sorry about spewing out that random comment about crossplayers probably hating the way they are stuck," Uta comments. "You seem to have read far more into it than I originally meant."

In a manner that echoes Fuka's last comments, Uta also says, "In any case, hey, you're stuck as a catgirl. You don't mind it. Just... roll with it I guess? Based on some back of the envelope estimates, seems like we're going to be stuck here for quite a few years, yet, so, might as well be happy about the way you'll spend them."

    Fuka's suggested courses of action make Mizuki's ears blush bright red. Is it really okay to do that first one?? 'Super Warrior Princess Catgirl' sounds pretty cool too. "I.. uh... y-yeah..." she nods.

    And then Uta speaks, and she gives a 'well what DID you originally mean?' quizzical look, but what she says afterwards... "I'm not 'stuck'! I like it!" Mizuki speaks out, and then her eyes go wide and she breathes in with her mouth hung open.

    'But if I went back, I'd be stuck like *that*, and I wouldn't like it,' she doesn't say out loud.

    She breathes out. In. Out again.

    And then slowly stands up, as if she's much more tired than she physically is, but also with something of a resolute expression. Resolute to do *what*, though, she isn't entirely sure. But what does it mean, then what do I do? The thoughts surface again, but Fuka already answered: What's fun. Mizuki smirks slightly. "Well... I... guess I need to relax and clear my head a bit first but... what's fun... I'll try, Fukaziroh. Thank you." She takes one of Fuka's hands in both of hers and shakes it.

    Mizuki's not really Fuka's type, and of course Haru is, and he's here and watching. Maybe it's that fact that has the slightly mischevious streak in Fuka tingling... or maybe she just sees a hurting girl and it's empathy driving her. Either way, when Mizuki takes Fuka's hand in hers and shakes, she's not beyond using a surprising amount of force and timing to tug on the catgirl and pull her into a quick hug. "You'll do fine." Fuka reassures her, reaching up to muss Mizuki's hair before releasing her. "A clear head's overrated, trust me!" she grins.

    The catgirl is surprised at the hug, but it's not unwelcome, and she leans against Fuka and returns it. She may need a second or two to realize after the other girl has let her go, to awkwardly also let go and stand yo and step back. She smiles awkwardly at the quip about a clear head being overrated, it's kind of a worrying thing to say but also now is not the moment for that no matter how pedantic Mizuki is.