Going All Inn

It is a story as old as time.

A Spriggan walks into a bar. People think it's a joke, but it isn't. Or it is. But if so, it is too early to tell. Spriggan would normally raise more than a few brows, but this one is an Adventurer. Landers seem to somehow know this, so only few brows are raised. Even with the Adventurer privilege, a Spriggan is still a Spriggan. And some people just like raising their brows.

"Stop raising your brows, Jake," one Lander at a table snaps at the fellow sitting across him.

"But it's a -Spriggan-!"

"Normally, I would understand, but for one, this one is an Adventurer, so she gets a pass; for two, the one before was a -Sylph-, and you were still raising eyebrows!"

"...Okay, point. I just -love- raising my brows! Look!"

At this point, Jake, whose bushy monobrow would make Jim Henson proud, waggle up and down like some sort of crazy ferret.

"...Jake, I swear to the goddesses..."

Meanwhile, Uta has walked all the way to a free table, from under which she's pulling the chair she's planning to sit on.

It appears that in the years Lunaris stuck to the forest, she for the most part had mostly forgotten how social interactions worked, and was rarely surprised by how people treated her, or stared. After all, if you've seen one particularly zoomy Cait Sithe, then you have seen them all. There wasn't too much different about this vulpine, overeager as ever and incredibly cheery, so any eyelids batted were all rather unsurprising to her. Or to the compatriots she hung around. Big, unwieldy weapons often caused that too, and that pretty much sums up every adventurer.

With that in mind she paid little attention to those she didn't recognise, darting around the Inn like she usually did, badgering the bar for something a little too alcoholic for this time of day. One good thing about her promotion at the hunter's guild? She now had some money to blow. So with a cup she span around, finally spotting Uta and darting over to her table, taking a looong swig, "Heya Utas! How you been? More slippery slimes?" Sitting with an outright flump.

"Hi, Lunaris!", Uta greets with a smile and a wave of her begloved hand. "Fancy seeing you here! Want to join me for lunch?", she asks, gesturing towards a seat at her table.

"The slimes are up in the tower menagerie, as safe and sound as we can make them under the current circumstances," comments Uta. "I'm just done petting them..." A serious, concentrated frown, "...and somehow considering a seminar on the subject of 'Monsters are not Pets' with Setsuna for no reason I can think of. *Achoo*" She scratches her nose after sneezing. "No, no, right now I am just relaxing, thinking about dinner, and looking forward to help turn Carmina Gadelica into a new kingdom. What about you?"

Lunaris doesn't need to be asked twice, though doesn't bother ordering food and instead enjoys the alcohol she had, wincing at the burn that follows each and every sip. She hadn't had any alcohol in a long time, and her tolerance was almost certainly lacking in that regard. "Sure! Lunch sounds good. Wait you have a menagerie in a tower? Isn't that a bit high up?" The mention of the lecture getting an outright laugh from her as she relaxes back into the seat after pulling the sleepy Pecan into her lap.

"Relaxing sounds good though, lots to plan. Plenty to do, you know? Want to go after Squea-.. A kobold after everyone decided to kill them rather than let me catch 'em.. Totally had it," she grumbled, though the words sounding far too fond to actually be upset about the turn of events. "Other than that working on inking my first card! Wanna see it?" A pause then a tilt of her head in thought, "Ohh, Carmina? Heading that way myself.. Soon."

"Well, not /me/ specifically", Uta specifies, not without a bit of embarrassment. "I have a Slime Laboratory, which doubles as headquarters for the Royal Society for the Appreciation and Study of Gelatinous Creatures, at the Quick-Feather Peko Ranch, near Carmina Gadelica Marina. Which, confusingly, is relatively far from Carmina Gadelica, as far as placement on the Isle of Beginninngs is concerned."

Uta shakes her head. "Anyway, uh, no, I had to evacuate my own lab. The menagerie belongs to the Scale Emblem Alliance. That's why it's inside Aincrad." She gestures in the general direction of the Tower. "They're kindly letting me store my slimes there, and I help them as a Monster Veterinarian."

There is some silence. "Capturing monsters from quests, though. That sounds interesting. Can you actually capture them? I myself can merely Handle them. I rely on Setsuna for capturing. Hmm. You know? We can always use good Monster Catchers at the Slime Labs- well, when the Slime Labs are operational at least, which they are not, now-, but -"

"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility!", asks a Pooka waitress. "Is there anything in particular you ladies would like tonight?"

Uta blinks at the waitress. "Uh, yes. Why's that guy over there wiggling that concerning monobrow?"

"What's wrong with you, Jake?!", groans Monobrow Dude's tablemate. "Poooka, she's a Poooooka. Totally worth raising brows."

Lunaris starts to look absolutely boggled the more that different locations are mentioned, until with a groan she drops her head on the table with a nice and wooden -thud-. "R-right places are here and there, and slimes are with scales and need to be moved into the ranches at Carmina but also a few miles away. Right?" A grumble raises from her, ETO geography was far from her strongest point, especially with no nearby map to madly gesticulate at. One needed gesticulations for these kinds of conversation. Though her ears instantly perk up at one thing, eyes wide, "Wait! We can be veterinarians? People-- Normal adventurers actually keep monsters around..?"

The talk of capturing monsters from quests make those green eyes shimmer with excitement, nodding madly along with the point, "Yes! I want to catch Squeak properly. Actually extract him after he respawns. I think it's possible. My other way.. And I wouldn't do this on a.. Sentient monster.." Starting to mumble as she ducks below the table, rummaging around in her bag for a small metal box about the shape of a card. Clicking a latch to open it, and inside is a rather beautifully decorated card, inked with what could only be assumed a magic circle, in a flower like pattern. It looks like bits are still missing, but mostly there, "This! Hopefully will be able to capture.. Aspects of a mons--"

Distracted by the commotion she glances towards the waitress, and then over to the other table, proceeds to shrug and just asks, "Enough alcohol to drown out war stuff?"

"Uh... yes? Yes we can be monster veterinarians?", Uta blinks. "When one has both the Handle Mosnter and the Pharmacy skill, it's-"

A pause. "Good point though," she remarks, with a raised finger. "I had never realized I could be a monster veterinarian until the job was explicitly offered to me. I had never really thought of combining the two skills, but having both definitely gives you more information than- No, wait, there's a misunderstanding. It's not normal people that keep monsters around. It's the guys from Scale."

Uta leans over to study the card with curiosity. "...uh, fascinating. Are you looking at capturing the aspect of a monster into a card?" She taps her chin. "I had never considered any special manner of summoning. Maybe I could look into that..."

Uta finally shakes her head and waves her hand in dismissal at the waitress. "No, no, no alcohol for me. One glass would be enough to drown out... pretty much anything." She sighs. "Just bring me a grunty roast with extra potatoes."

"I've always thought about just running a monster ranch, things like electric wool and flexi-scale actually kind of change a lot of things. Lets face it, dragon's blood wine has been a trope for a long time, but things like that may well ex--" Lunaris seems to catch herself as she muses, like it was almost a slip into something other than the person she usually is before breaking back into a smile and leaning forwards, tail swaying in curiousity, "Wonder what else I could do anyway! Not been around Adventurers enough to like.. Know what they need sometimes. Though I'd be a terrible vet, don't know the first thing about medical care!"

Whatever moment she was having gone she cheerily turns her attention back to the card, "Exactly! My first is an ink slime I encountered in Aincrad tower. Planning to imbue the card manually with it's ability. It's a.. Uh.. Prototype! After I've proved it there will be a better way. But this is how I wanna do my summoning. Rather than getting Pecan to beat everyone up."

A giggle raises from her at the refusing of alcohol, "You could have a small glass you know. Buut I don't need the food today. Just the alcohol while I pretend crowns don't exist." And with that she makes pretty good on her decision, downing the rest of her glass in one fell swoop, then squeaking with a wince at the proceeding throat burn.

"Good luck with anything having the word 'dragon' in the name," Uta laughs. "As for medical care, hey, one can always learn. We've discovered adventurers can learn new skills through sheer work and application. If you ever want to learn Pharmacy, or anything else, just hit me up."

"Let me know how your prototype works. It might be something interesting to try." A pause. "I... I guess I -could- try a little glass."