Magic Lessons

Gwen has been rumored to start training in magic, by using it foreverything that could go wrong, right? She's still producing orders so nothing is wrong right but why is there the sound of small explosion and someone cursing in a very unlady like way, with some crazy (Texan) accent!?

As one of the designated teachers for Gwen's magical advancement, Uta is ready to intervene in case anything goes wrong.

"What is it now?!", she asks, holding what looks like a fire extinguisher. It's actually just a metal can with a pipe and a funnel-like opening at the opposite end -- likely containing an enchanted Water crystal inside, or something like that. "Did someone mess with Texas?! EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!", she pants, terrified of the consequences of such a foolish action.

Shiruba was outside, combing her peko's plumage to make sure he doesn't get mites or anything else like that. Her ears flick up briefly at the explosion, and then a soft sigh follows. "Sorry, I better go check on that." She gives Tradewind a pat on the cheek before heading inside to see just what happened. "Okay what piece of furniture do I have to fix -this- time?"

    Asuna arrives with her usual level of poise and grace. Which is to say she's just gotten Tomoe stabled-up (she did it right this time!) and is entering the area without knowing just what is going on. She wanders in just after Shiruba does.

    Sensing a bit of interesting activity is going on, she will be cautious. After all, shopping is a dangerous thing!

    There's a moment of studying the scene. Hm. Uta is here. Gwen is here. There's stuff going on. But, she has a tight schedule today. So she spots a way out!

    She'll just work with someone else. It's just a pick-up, after all. A pick-up of new cosplay. Faye Valentine and Chun-Li outfits! It's really fast, money changes hands, and the Flash is out in.. well, you know. Quickly.

Someone has indeed messed weith Texas and it was Gwen perhaps who knows but there's smoking comming from the kitchen. So what's going on there as there's more cussing yes it's Gwen, she does not seme happy maybe people should go in to help her? As something is going on that much is clear.

Uta goes in and will find one Gwen in a very modest and cute Witch outfit with a massive hat and the stove top is on fire and she's trying to put it out with water spells but she's looking tired...

"Oh, that," Uta says, relaxing. She shimmers her 'extinguisher' out of existence, into her inventory, replaced by her Heartsong Staff. "Sorry, no cheating. It's all magic, all the time. If you can't handle the heat of the kitchen, you shouldn't be casting fireballs." Silence. "Or cook. I mean. Mana. Lesson nunber one: Magic is all about Mana management. Literally. It's right there. At the beginning. 'Mana-gemenet'," Uta spells out, moving her hands left and right as she speaks. "Sorry Gwen, but unless it's an emergency, I cannot intervene. And this is not an emergency. Yet." Then, slightly more concerned, she adds, "But I seriously advise you rest as soon you have put out the fire..."

Shiruba just raises a brow at Asuna in passing. But doesn't ask, because she probably doesn't really want to know. Instead she walks over to the kitchen, stopping to stick her head into the doorway. "You two okay in here?"

Gwen is flailing and casting more water spells she looks at Uta. "UTA!?!" Uta being a hardass? What? You can see Gwen's ears droop oh lord, she does see Asuna speed by outfront leave her money, get her items and go. Gwen is flailing as she cast another spell and she puts out the fire. "I can't I have orders I have to fill Uta but I can take a break, how are you both doing and I'm TOTALLY FINE! SITUATION NORMAL." Somewhere Morri can be head laughing and then Uther joins in...

"Some sacrifices have to be made," Uta agrees. "Morri can cook, right? Or was it Uther?", she wonders, tapping her lips and looking away. "I definitely remember Uther barbecuing, so he must have the Cooking concept." But back to the issue at hand. "What did I say about Mana-gement? It's all about that. And Delegation is an important part of management. Have someone take over. Hire a maid. There are ways to get around this. Money? Items? Asuna?", she offers.

Then she returns to tap her staff in her other hand, a bit like the stereotype of those old-timey strict teachers from boarding school.

"Oh, hey, Shiruba!", She looks at Gwen. "Gwen is here and accounted for. Me, uh, I'll have to get back to you on that."

Silence.

"What was that about Asuna and cosplay again?"

Shiruba sighs softly as she steps in, and leans against the wall. "This is why I prefer to use magic -and- tools for some tasks," she mururs. "We heard the explosion or whatever outside, good thing no one was hurt."

Gwen looks to Uta for a moment "They can but I have to do my..." She trails off as Uta is actually being a hardass and is getting through to her for a momehr sigh sighs a bit and she looks to Shiuba for a moment "I'm training... and I only took some chip damage from it don't worry about it and here let me..." She'll use another spell and will pull out a chair with it then BORF something goes hay waire and now Gwen's go bright blood red hair...

"A wise plan, Shiruba. But here we are training. Pushing the limits. Go beyond the norm!"

But back to the Sylph. "Indeed, don't be overdramatic, Gwen. You are a Tank, act the part!", she encourages. "You-"

Uta's eyes pop out at the sudden color change in Gwen's hair. "Oh, no...", she wheezes. "If I remember my Anime Tropes 101 course from college, red hair indicates a character with a fiery temperament and prone to unpredictable bursts of shenanigans."

She takes one, two steps back, in worry.

"Her Oni side is showing," Shiruba remarks, bringing up her old nickname for Gwen when she gets... tempermental.

Gwen looks to Uta for a momena nd nods sagely at her and smirks. "Always was a Red Head, so are my parents, well on earth." She grins like a shark at this. She looks to Shiruba "I guess guilty as charged I am a Red Oni...on EARTH!"

Did somebody say EARTH?! Haru, resident Earth GrandMaster and Poobah of various enchanting and forging things, appears like a sitcom series. "How is everybody doing?" the silver haired Artificer asks with a slow roll across this... scene. Lively!

"...That explains so much..." Uta stutters, still stepping back. "I thought Oni were creatures of legend, but now- now I am no longer sure! In fact-"

She has to grab onto a chair to avoid tripping. "Ok, ok, I think that we've crossed into the 'emergency' territory right now. Time to take a break from the magic." She turns to Shiruba. "Would you agree?" Without leaving her time to answer, Uta turns to Gwen. "Yes, she agrees. And if you want a second opinion..." She turns towards the Local Wolfgirl again. "Shiruba, should we interrupt?" Back to Gwen, once again without waiting. "Yes she agrees. Three out of three people agree. You should take a break now. Seriously. According to my Sitcom Writing 302 course, this is where the weird neighbor shows up- oh, hey, Haru!" she waves, enthusiastically, with a wide smile.

There is laughter in the background. But no, it's not a laugh track. It's just a bunch of boisterous adventurers that rolled out from the local inn and passed by, outside the shop. They're gone now.

"It is important to pace yourself," Shiruba agrees despite not really getting a word in between Uta's back and forth one-sided conversation. "Even if our bodies in this world are accustomed to magic it takes time to adjust to increased flow of mana that you're trying to work with." She raises a hand to wave to the newest arrival. "Hello Haru."

Gwen turns to face Haru, "I'm making my meals explode and causing random transformation effects..." She looks heepish and she sighs at Uta for a moment and looks her over. "I was only slightly shorter on earth too." She admit and she now looks backl to Haru with a grin on her face as she looks over and says "I'm going to do this and get even stronger magically one way or another right?! It's not like I have blown my clothing or underwear off yet..."

Haru raises one hand to Shiruba. The two haven't talked that much in recent months. The relationship has been chilly for no particular reason, but it is clear in their body language that there isn't a lot going on there. When he shifts to Uta, the raised hand waves around, "Hello, Shiruba, Uta, Gwen." A brief 'take' as he looks over his shoulder for the laughter. Shenanigans! Then back to Uta, "Am I interrupting something sensitive?"

Slloowww turn of the face to Gwen when there is the talk of exploding meals. Sweatdrop. "What?" he asks. Its a fair question. Also Why is Gwenmora?

Laughter comes on cue! Those Adventurers clearly have had one too many beers and one too few maps of Alne. They're going around in circles, and somehow find this hilarious.

Uta quirks an eyebrow in disbelief at Gwen's mention that she was only marginally shorter outside of ETO. But then...

"GWEN! WHAT HAVE WE JUST SAID ABOUT SITCOMS?!!?", Uta blurts out

No particular reason. Just with Shiruba being more of a in the field type and Haru more of a manage from the base type the two have come together less often. Especially when Shiruba is often over helping their efforts with the Uncrowned resistance in the Palace Lands. Which she does knowing she has people like Haru she can rely on, even if they don't see eye to eye on every matter. "Well now that you jinxed it," she snorts. Uta's reaction is a lot more energetic on the matter. "Gwen is working on improving magical prowess," she explains to Haru.

Gwen says "no you could help with the training Haru!" She beams at this with a wide smile and she looks to Uta.

"I sell propane and propane accessories..."

Oh she's gone full American Anime. Oddly though King of the hill made it to japan! She is resting for now but her urges to do something are strong what could ever go wrong, with this right?

Haru offers a low and long 'ahhhhhhhhh' that persists from Shiruba's statement over towards Gwen's. Ah, reversed is Ha. And can't spell Haru without some Ha! Haha. Ha... "That is not the intended application for accessory forging, Gwen," he informs sadly, "as we don't have propane yet." Its possible he didn't get the King of the Hill joke. Its more likely that if he added his intense amount of Fire ability to propane that the city might explode and unlock the Explosion skill. "I am rather magical. What is your current training circuit look like? Healthy diet of mana rich foods along with deep wells of patients and energy circulation to deepen reserves and regeneration of reserves?" Serious Haru is serious. He pushes up his half-glasses. Srs.

"Prop-what? Gwen. Gwen. Have you inaled gas?" Pause. "Do we even -have- gas? Propane, at least?" She says, with a frown and scratching her head. "Gwen, you are making no sense!" With concern, she swipes her menu open, and selects the option for medical inspection. "Gwen? Do you have a fever?", she says, inching closer and extending one hand to feel her friend's forehead.

Shiruba cups a hand to her forehead briefly. Granted she only gets half the things Gwen is saying because they have history together even before the game. "She's rambling," is the only thing she can really offer.

Gwen smirks. "I was making a joke about a show, It's about a man and his family in part of Texas.": She grins. "I'll tell you about it lately. Yes I'm doing that, that's the most simple part of things. The rest I'm working on..." She looks embassed for a moment. She giggles more "One day I'll teach you the art of pocket sand." Which might actually be useful.

"Pocket sand?" the earth master asks as he looks to Shiruba and then back to Gwen. He even looks to Uta for support. "Please, full health report. Perhaps Gwen was not meant to have this level of mana in her system and is suffering from manastotic psychosis," Haru huffs as he crosses his arms over his chest. "I've seen it before. People popping energy potions like energy drinks. Four Mana plus rings on each hand. They run too close to the edge and fall over it. There might still be time." Pretty sure Haru just became the prophet of Cyberpunk 2077. Except William Gibson managed it first so its a timey wimey meme reference now!

Well between the two of them Gwen at least has plenty of attention to look after her. Shiruba does most of her 'magic' channeling it through her weapon or create shields so she's not as versed in the direct usage methods despite her strong rating as a Spell Fletcher. "I think she just tried to use it too much for something she normally doesn't use magical applications for." Or maybe it's just because of familiarity she's more attune to when Gwen is just joking around.

"Pocket Sand?", Uta asks as well.

But there is no time! Nurse Furore, reporting to Capt.Haru, "Level 1 and 2 bruises, expected to heal in a matter of hours. 50cc of health potion recommended. A serious case of Mana imbalance." The latter confirms Shiruba's hypothesis. "Debuff statuses to Physical, buffs to Magical, according to expected parameters. Fashion set to stunning. Polarity as of yet regular, but ready to be reversed in case of plot wormholes," she rattles out. "Reality warp level 3. Technobabble factor at 72% and rising.", Uta rattles out to Haru, caught up in the heat of the moment. She turns to look at her brother, and pleads, "What are we going to do, Captain?"

Haru is a man of magic. A man of SCIENCE. Magical SCIENCE. A paradox in a contradiction in a propane accessory. "We have to use," he says with a dramatic pause, taking off his monocle like a glasses pull, "with 'the option'." Now, Haru kinda forgets for a moment that his eyes have a serious case of 'wtf Haru' as his bemonocled eye is red, giving his avatar heterochromia against the blue. Against the white hair its cotton candy eyes. Really hard to take him serious with the toothpaste effect there. "And quickly, once she reaches the Theramin Threshold, her mind and body will be irreversably changed. For the sake of Fashion, we must evoke..." he repeats, only now in reverse by putting his monocle back on, "... 'the option'." Whatever the option is, it doesnt sound optional.

Gwen Says "Yes something from the show." She grins at this. She will be scanned she's not suffering from overload, a few injuries from likely mana explosions whil doing magic for things. Still she takes thing seriously and stops perring at Uta as she goes full Star Trek on her, there are some fluxation in her mana levels, but it's likely because she's pushing things to get stronger. Gwen looks confused now. "The option?!"

"And you call me a nerd," Shiruba remarks with a smirk. "It's like any excersize. Your body gets stronger because you push it past what it is accustomed to. But there is a point where trying to push too hard too soon can become a problem... Or at least that's what I'd think you'd be saying."

"The option?", Uta gasps. "You certainly don't mean-"

But there is another explosion, the kind of explosion that causes the floor to rock and quake along with the rest of the frame, the kind of visual vibration effect that took just a little shaking of a film camera in the 1960s, but these days requires advanced CGI software to nullify the compensation of modern digital cameras' image stabilizers.

How far technology has come!

As Uta, her back arched inwards while she caught on a table instead of falling on the floor, tries to steady herself, she returns to give a terrified look to Haru. "You -cannot- mean... -the option-!"

"...who ever called you a nerd, Shiruba?", she asks, confused.

Haru closes his eyes, or the one visible eye now, as he adopts a stiff scientist stance. Arms crossed over his chest as if rebuking anything that isn't cold facts. Deep introspective face of srs. "Deep down Shiruba has nerdy hobbies like museum curating and making figurines for tabletop games," he informs Uta, "but don't let Shiruba's nerd status distract you, unless." Eyes open. A bolt of genuis! A slap of a closed fist into an open palm which makes surprisingly little sound from a noodle armed Artificer. "Thats right, Shiruba would be the perfect person to lead Gwen through -the option-!" Pride. "Uta, you've outdone yourself. Take the day off. You've earned it. And by transitive properties, so have I."

Shiruba folds her arms. "Are you going to tell us what 'The Option' even is?" Note she's not objecting to any of the 'nerd hobbies' that have been pointed out.

Gwen is looking more than a bit spooked what are Uta and Haru up to? Not even Shiruba knows. She does not move to do anything yet, she just has the most baffled look on her face as she looks between them. "Are you two all right...?"

Once again, Laughter underlines the correct points in Haru's speech, especially the ending. Those Adventurers must really have had a good time. Someone should be making a mental note to ask the innkeeper for the same order.

Someone probably already is.

"Aye aye, Captain!", Uta replies, standing at attention. And then, with a salute, she begins to skip outside. "My first vacation day! I've never had a proper vacation since being stuck here!"

On her way out, before disappearing through the door, she says, chipper, "Sorry, Shiruba! I'm off duty! Captain's orders. You'll have to manage on your ooooownnn...."

Aaaaaand, she's gone.

Haru is on his way out with Uta. He has also earned a day off for this one! "Its 'The Option', Shiruba. You know the one. I am trusting this with your capable, nerdy hands," he marches in exaggerated format out with Uta. What just happened here?!

Shiruba has no idea what just happened. So all she can really do is sigh and shake her head a bit. "Well... it's at least nice to see Haru not being all dour and edgy again." That was at least more like the Haru she remembers.

Gwen is just now staring at Uta and Haru as they leave speaking of the option and the currently redheaded Gwen looks to Shiruba for a moment. "It is but ... what have I gotton myself into?!" Morri can be heard cackling again in the background.