Adventurers in the Morning

Roosters crow. Tradewinds blow. Who is at the tavern in the morning? Haru. Haru is. There is no rhyming in the morning. One of the local taverns in Carmina is where the Artificer finds himself, haven taken to looking presentable after rolling down from the second floor to the first to get in the first meal of the day. A plate of breads and meats lay half eatten before him as well as a finished bowl of something. The Artificer is easy to pick out in the half-empty tavern, with the white hair. It is as close to an 'open office' location as makes sense for the nomadic sorts. "Should field if we establish a branch in Carmina now that it is officially the Realm of Uruk," he rumbles to himself, looking at a window and thinking of the days when the most pressing thing on his mind was if the market had sapphires in or freshly minted silver ingots.

Viviene had been sitting at one of the corner tables kicked back and asleep with several empty bottles of booze infront of her for several hours. It is a wonder that no one has tried to steal her gold. She eventually stirs awake though, shaking her head and yawning loudly as as she looks about, then to the bar blearily, she simply says "Water, please. Big glass." she recongizes Haru after and adjust herself and her hair a little to try and be more presentable, and bows to him. "Good morning, Haru - wait what time is it?"

"Six to Seven," Haru replies to Viviene. The blue eye looks at the window for where the light is. "Probably closer to Seven," he considers with a mental warmup of things like lightbreak and other shenanigans. The human turns to face Viv and all those bottles at the corner table. "Good morning. Had a particularly good time last night?" A motion to the previous table with one hand as his other snags a muffin off of his plate to gnaw on. It isn't menu crated food, but it isn't going to get five star reviews either.

Viviene looks out a window briefly and squints, rubs her eyes and then a large glass if water is set down infront of her and she chugs it. "Not quite, this merc has some vices, you could say, that they sometime need to indulge in to actually get some sleep." Viviene says, but she relaxes as she drinks her water, resting agaisnt the back of her chair when she looks thoughtful. "If I remember right, you do appraisals? Got a rare opportunity here, to appraise something beyond rare- infact, upon aquiring this piece, it immediately told me it was 'no-trade'."

No-trade Uniques? That sounds like a relic to Haru. There are many of them throughout the land but at the same time they are increasingly rare. "Sounds like whatever it is, you are stuck with it," he gives a short laugh. Not a full one. Its too early for full laughter. The Artificer taps the table and says, "put 'er in view and I'll take a look, free of charge." Normally he wouldn't go into the terms of coin for most of what he does, but it bears making clear what currency is being exchanged. In this case it is information. "Been keeping busy with the Hunter's Guild and odd escorts," he asks on the topic of vices and supporting them. "Im sure the Landers and the trade roads need plenty of them these days. A detachment led by Shiyang struck a line once. It wasn't pretty."

Viviene from within her Kimono, she pulls out a pendant that wraps around her neck. It is a pendant with multi-tiered rings, some slowly rotating the central rings similar to a gyroscope, it has a faint hum of a song-like noise to it. "Helps me figure out all sorts of strange things. Has another power that it calls 'overdrive' but I never used it." If Haru has seen a relic like this before, he might know it as a 'Decoder pendant'. "I just recently got back from helping Wake and others rescue some refugees the palace landers were hunting. You let me know if you ever need some muscle to help with that, yeah? I'm no stranger to war, and I could use the income."

The human is fairly young looking. Twenties, maybe. Yet he looks wizened when he runs a finger along the silver lining of his monocle like an old man putting his reading glasses on. The amethyst lens glows with a faint backlighting. Thin white circles form from the center, breaking as incomplete semicircles that begin to rotate around the center like clockwork. CyberHaru. "Wake often pays for that in goodwill, though she has the deep reserves otherwise. A great lady to know and to build a relationship with," Haru idly notes as he stares at the necklace and the Spriggan's chest. "We all have our own currency we are accumlating, right? Though I imagine goodwill and clout doesn't pay the tavern tab. I manage the War Ops for New World as of late, so if there is an Op that needs force, you'll be on the top of my chim list. Hmm."

The circles stop for a moment. Haru takes his Wave Art focus out. At first it looks like a small orb, something you could palm in your hand. Not as big as a 'I read fortunes with it' crystal orb, but larger than a softball. "It is definately an Alv relic," he says as he works, the orb floating out of his hand and spliting into fourths as if the orb was just a pool of mercury to be redistributed. The stones pulse softly in Viviene's direction. "If you have a hangover, this isn't going to help. May want to close your eyes for a few seconds." Pulse Pulse. Pulse Pulse.

Pulse. The light show stops and the orb reforms. Haru tucks it back away into his navy jacket. "Appraisal lets me ready the object's 'flavor text' and hidden entries. It is good for lore, utility, and occasionally mystery. I'm getting a 'processing' bar on the later. Think of that as, heh, decryption of encrypted data time. The other parts I can go into now in detail or the just the functional highlights. Which would you prefer?"

Viviene doesn't close her eyes, preferring to observe, if anything, the potential of insight into the nature of her pendant has her intrigued and focused., she squints at the light but shows admirable discipline despite her discomfort. "Funny, as this thing basically lets me decrypt that sort of thing found within the world. Strange gylphs and the like I'd like all the details I can get. I like to know what im dealing with" Viviene stated then nods. "Wakes a guildmate, I help out guildmates. Its a pretty standard thing. Us Sleeping Knights stick together hm?" She does open a menu and send a friend request to Haru. "So you can contact me about a job, even if its a hunters guild job."

"We is the shared 'me' as they say," Haru says as he accepts the friend request. "So, the full version of this is that it was born from the corpse of one of the greatest Heroes of all time. It does not specify their name. When you wear that pendant it will aid you in decrypting things. Puzzles. Riddles. Its the phenomenom you mentioned. Scripture generally handles 'what does a word mean'. This is more Cryptography, getting the hidden or protected behind a logic control to be accessed. Old school hacking." The Artificer grabs his water and takes a sip before moving on. "You'll know when its activated when those multi-tiered rings move around. That means magic is flowing through the relic's circuit and granting the effect. It produces sound, which is pretty key to Alv lore, and symbols. That is what the Appraisal is taking some time to sift through and I wont understand that until hours to days later." Just how it works. "It will help you focus on truths. Now, Overdrive is particular. It will take a day to recharge but it effectively stops your perception of time. It isn't that time has stopped, per say, but rather your brain is clocking so fast that all other stimuli hits you in lower intervals. So, slowed time. You should consider training in it's use. Not only is that useful for solving key problems when time is a premium, but it also means adjusting your battle strategy to turn the tide. One hell of a find for an Adventurer or Merc."

Haru reclines back into the chair, "So why the focus on coin? Have some big expensive dream or is it a lifestyle thing?" A lot of what Haru comes off as is someone who 'comes from money'. The same value and notions of financial gain doesn't register the same way.

Viviene looks thoughtful for a moment, taking in the information, the overdrive has her mouth agape. "That sounds freakin dangerous." her better spoken composure fades some. " Our brains move at the pace it moves for a reason, Ay? I'm a bit afraid to mess with something like that, but training its use is.. also a good idea, damnit. Thats such a dangerously powerful ability. Do you know what power that is in the heat of battle? insane. Its like cheating.." Viviene mutters.

The tiny spriggan mutters to herself for a few moments before Haru's interest in why she wants coin comes up. " Oh, well, its kind of embarassin, but. " She opens her stat menu and turns it to face Haru, and its on the physical stats section. Most are near maxed, with strength being completely maxed. "Even with efficent use and good durability, I wear my gear out fast because my str stat outpaces my melee skill alot." she grumbles. "If only if what i Know on the other side mattered more."

Haru taps a finger on the table as he consider the long term effects of overclocking your brain. "Better to know what your personal limits are with it, in my opinion. And thats much the same as training any other tool. However it is very much worth checking in with Uta or someone versed in Pharma for a regular checkup. Mental symptoms do not easily manifest to the eyes." There is a sort of draw on that statement. A history there that weighs on him like a full backpack that even when fully composed can make its weight known. A change of topics.

"Ahh yes, thats right. When we talked before you mentioned how you crunch through your tools like they are little more than reinforced tree branches. That would certainly put pressure on your day to day expenses, I imagine," Haru recalls with a vivid smile. "Depending on your personal style and aesthetic, a natural weapon may be another idea beyond mastercrafted or enchanted weaponry. Or, perhaps, a very dense material. With your strength I doubt wielding it would be difficult. Or a Hammer?" He looks upwards with his one visible blue eye. "Enchanting is a lot like solving puzzles, similar to that Crypto relic. Brain tends to wander that way. Great for utility. Not great for people. I only recently solved a particular problem of having my hands free with my Stones. Before that I was holding it in one hand. That might not seem like much but Wave Artes get pretty sensitive about somatic motion and monsters or duelists don't care much for that fragility."

Viviene groans "don't get me started on wave arts I have access to a bunch of them and they are such chore to use, though I do keep a few at the ready, they're annoying to use, let me tell you, people who manage them as well as some do in the heat of battle are made of something else. Then theres the duelists like Yuuki that move so fast they can clone themselves. How does being fast make clones?! Bah, this worlds too much for me at times." She rants, only to be offered another drink of water, which pauses her ranting, perhaps saving Haru from an earbending. "I dabble in weaponsmithing, which is why I'm not totally destitute." Viviene says after her drink. "Can do my own repairs, but that requires materials, and i have a bad mining skill. Besides, the kids at the orphanage could better use the funds than I can." Thus Vivi's dillema, needing more and more money to afford improved gear that will last. "Sort of just counting on finding a super rare drop weapon that has the unbreakable trait. preferably a sword. I can use other weapons but swords just feel right in my hands."

Haru counts off with his hand, "Replacing or repairing a near endless supply of trade tools. Donating to an Orphanage. Vices." The hand closes with a grin. "Sounds like a triple threat right there." The bit about mining is a little surprising to him, "With all of that strength I would imagine you would fit exceedingly well in mining. I ran into that same problem when I started. I didn't get deep into Adventuring until the war. A 'call to action' so to speak. Before that I spent my time crafting. As you can imagine my stats do not favor the whole 'action oriented' angle like strength. Pretty much dumped that, not that I don't find it amusing to try to use the physical attributes as much as the magical ones." He chuckles at a memory of him punching a fist. That fish had it coming.

"I am sure Gilgamesh and the newly minted Realm of Uruk will have plenty of use and coin towards mercenary work. Hunter's Guild, always. Though," he considers this for a moment. The blue eye looks at Viv. Thought. "Why not make your own weapon? You know you best. Sure, luck can land that perfect weapon in your lap, but I always find it easier to not let luck rule the future." A short laugh there. "Which, being an Enchanter can be rather funny. We make clones in other ways and are on the far spectrum. Love me some Wave Artes. Its all I use." Or even can use. "Plus my summons, of course. Little bundle of friends with drills for arms or flames for wings."

"I thought so too, but what usually results from me mining is 1: I shatter the tool in a single use, and 2: reduce the rock to rubble. I actually got kicked out of a mine once for destroying too much ore. I need to actually get proper training in mining if I want to make something of it." Viviene said, with a chuckle, but adds "Still, breaking the rocks was fun. But apparently there is a lot more to mining than just raw power, I recall that lander foreman saying something about knowing where to hit and how hard to hit."

"I want to make my own weapon, infact, all the broken weapons you saw last time -were- made by me, it is cheaper to make them than it is to buy one made, after all, but my smithing skill isn't the highest, and I still need to find the right materials. Something that feels right.. It'd be -real- cool to make a sword styled after my favorite videogame character, though."

She regards Haru for a short moment, then adds. "Stats aren't everything though. A lot of my success as a fighter loans to having real-world experience as a fighter and soldier. Practicing the very basics of fighting will go a long way, and I wouldn't mind instructing you sometime. I'll be teaching some of the kids at the orphanage in the future, as they're getting to about the age they might be ready to adventure."

Haru's answer to mining is an amusing, "For me if I need to mine I bring out Terra. Big four meter tall Earth Sprite with diamond drills. Not great for veins but good for clearing to and around. Often times I source my metals from the market, though. Accessory crafting is plenty profitable if I wanted to turn a coin." He doesn't, though. There is a different currency he is tracking. The man doesn't stay long on the topic, but the next one isn't much sunnier. "Always up for a spar, though you may want to make sure you are in the Duelist League as they release stipends for participants. Entertainment and training budget, I believe." A hand roams across the table to grab his mug of water. He drinks it slowly. "Kaydon is also a soldier. Have you met them? They finished up a weapon design recently and you might have a few good topics in common there."

As for a martial background, Haru leans back in his chair, "Stats are not everything but they are an important factor. My family before here gave me access to excellent self-defense training." After a certain incident. "Yet if we both gave a cross or a hook, even if we hit right on the jaw where it mattered, the difference is some twenty fold. Just the world we live in now." A hand waves to dismiss any ill tidings on the matter, "It also comes with magic and enchanting, so its a fair trade. If you are ever running drills give me a chim. If I am in the area I'll gladly join. Swinging a blade made of magic requires similar technique to a rapier, I've noticed. For magic it varies from javelin, archery, and rifle techniques. I am part of New World so in generally we think less of 'Old' Ways and more new. Its pretty exciting when you think about it that way. Pioneers of industry and technique started by building on the laws of their world. We have a serious leg up in seeing how we did things before and how similar things may or may not work here. Several of my Ranged Artes do not translate well into the somatics of any sport I've ever been in. Then again." A tap on the table. "Enchanting is one of the harder classes to master purely because it is indirect. Like those old fighting games with complex combos but no basic ones on some fighters."

Viviene laughs "Don't ask me about games, the only games I played before ETO was the Devil may cry games... the sword I mentioned? Yamato, a sword that can cut through space itself, so well it can be used to cut -portals- into existence." she said with an enthusiastic grin, but clearly that kind of weapon being created would be an incredible undertaking, and she knew it despite her excited grin. "Its why despite being here for nearly two years..I have trouble grasping some of this world." she said, rubbing a cheek. "This here, our reality now, and yet some of it just goes right over my head."

"I already put my application in for the duelist league. I plan to challenge everyone I can. I don't care about winning or losing. I just want to challenge myself. There is no better of living free than enjoying a climatic fight with another fella, its a way to communicate and learn about someone, and help each other improve in their skills, and yeah. Its adapting to this worlds 'way of thinking' that I'm having trouble with, but.. I'm actually working on a technique, a new sword arte, that might step me in the right direction of how things work, once I perfect it."

"Spoken like a true athlete," Haru says with a manufactured smile on the topic of bonding through the dance of combat. He is familiar with the idea. "It is my understanding that it is how people like Yuuki became so adept at dueling. Mikage, too, since the hold a tournament every year. The war has slowed that down some, but I had a duel with Uta here in Carmina not too long ago. We both go for the dramatic flair so it was as much morale and entertainment as it was honing ourselves." He shakes his head, "I spent over a year not engaging in that sort of thing after some time on the stage as a competive player that was nothing /but/ focus on those things." A tap on the table, "I could do without. I would rather build things, not break them. Brings out a side of me best left alone." A realization and a laugh, "Which now that I think of what I've been doing with the Crown stuff, is pretty hilarious. Still though, they are nasty things. And like the Phoenix, some things need be burned to ash before they can grow anew."

It is too easy for Haru to wander into some pontificated side topic. He smiles, "Good that you are. Always be learning, right? If you ever end up needing a hand with the Earth and Fire elements, or more abstractly Enchanting or Alchemy, give me a chim. And Terra rarely minds practicing the results. She is surprisingly nuturing for taking on a striking dummy role."

Viviene looks thoughtful, and nods. "I can handle air, fire, and earth decently, though my speciality is the arcane and dark arts, if you ever need help in that aspect, but just know my MP isn't the highest, so I'm limited when it comes to bigger works of magic." she said to Haru, and began to rise, stretching her arms. "I better start burning some morning oil and do my morning exercise, or I will be restless all day. Some habits never die." she said. "Maybe I'll try juggling boulders..." is muttered to herself thoughtfully, but she grins at Haru. "Send me a chim when you get results on that apprasial, I'm very curious about it. How is it from the remenants of a dead hero? Were they Alv? What did they do?" she said. "Just more mystries to answer..." she trails off, and quietly mutters to herself. "Can't forget your mission." then turns to leave. "Good seeing you, Haru. Once I'm in the league, let me know if you want a fight!" she'd prepare to depart.

Haru raises a hand for the departure, not as much a morning person and still needing a bit more to get going. "I will. Good seeing you, Viv. Stay safe and lacking that, have fun."