Road Trip: The Birds and the Bees

    Elly doesn't really seem to care much which place Uta wants to go next. As serious as some of this has been, it's also been fun. And more than fun, really. They seem to be -more or less- on the way to... you know, Elly really isn't terribly sure. There is a lot of meandering and no hurry is evident. Which is why they are camping and yes, setting up the yurt. It is time to take it on its maiden voyage!

    "You know, Uta, it occurs to me that this might be a good time to have a conversation about decorum." That sounds waaaaaay nicer than protecting one's self from various kinds of assault.

Uta looks up from staring at an unrolled scroll. The merchant the Yurt was purchased from also provided a thorough setup-by-step guide to its assembly, guide which involves a detailed list of parts, and a purely pictographic style, so that even illiterate travellers can easily understand the steps.

"Decorum? Sure!", she exclaims, apparently glad that the subject is shifting from one where she's admittedly out of her element (she has no skill in either Construction, Woodworking, or Tailoring) and back to a more socially oriented one. With a wide smile, she continues, "It's always great to learn more about Etiquette from someone as skilled as you in the field."

    Elly has been keeping an eye on Uta quite closely these past few days. Trying to understand at a deeper level what seems comfortable and what does not. In fact, since the intense conversation between Uta, Haru, and Elly, it's been as gentle and low key as possible.

    "Now some of this you may know already. You are, after all, a medical professional, so I don't have to tell you how babies are made, where they come from, or about cycles." She says it so comfortably. There's no struggle or discomfort with any word on this topic.

    "I would like to focus on relationships, instead. What do you know about how relationships start between two lovers?"

    Tae is smiling as she peeks over Uta's shoulder, looking at the directions. She's busy laying out the parts of the yurt to match what the picture shows.

    It's a kind of dance, really.

    Elly is handling the serious conversation. Tae is moving to provide the support to make the yurt activity as simple as possible. Has anyone here setup a yurt before? Yes, but that's a secret.

Uta takes the question seriously. In an academic manner. She frowns a bit, rubs her chin, and with her eyes slightly crossed, she gives it a long, deep thought.

"I cannot claim to have any direct, first-hand, real life experience on the matter," she finally admits. "Sure, I can tell a lot about how the subject has been the subject of works of literature over the centuries, across cultures, but..." She makes a circular gesture with one hand, while looking for the next word. "...but I get the impression that this is not the angle you are interested in." Inhale. "I, personally, have never felt any interest in anyone and, well, the feeling seemed to have been reciprocated, so..." By the time she trailed off, Uta had cast a slight distracted glance down and away, before returning to look at Wake with a little shrug. "I had my books, my routine, and... that was it really."

    "I see."

    As Elly expected, there are a lot of paths to go from the first answer. She is, if she thinks of it, a bit rusty. It has been a year since she dove into care for someone in the patient/therapist sense. What Elly did not expect is that this progression of her abilities in the game would be so helpful.

    "There's nothing wrong with having other priorities. You mention that others appear to be disinterested in you in that way, as well. How do you know?"

    Slowly, delicately. That is how the conversation is going to go, it seems. All the while, Tae is working. She is starting to raise the lattice. It's the next step according to the directions. And there she will wait for the others to assist in getting the frame of the roof up where it belongs.

"That was before the Apocalypse," Uta points out. "And I said 'seemed'. I just... noticed no cues in that direction. It might be just a matter of me having failed to pick them up. And as far as this world is concerned..." She raises her hand and wobbles it a bit. "I think there might have been... at least hints at one possible case of 'In another life... in another time...', but that's debatable."

Silence.

"Well, plus there's the fact that, you know..." She flicks her wings once, glances at them silently, and lowers her voice. "As far as the Landers are concerned... even with the Adventurer Privilege, Spriggans don't -exactly- rank first in the their list of favorite people."

    Elly watches Uta's expressions as the spriggan answers her. It's the usual, gentle but thorough attention that the baroness is known to provide those she is speaking with.

    "I can understand that you probably run into some difficult situations due to race." Being a prominent white woman in Tokyo, she certainly is accustomed to bias. "And while most might not realize that Landers can make... advances, I assure you, they can." But this is about Uta, not her!

    "Since you have not experienced a situation where someone was very interested, I think I should shift gears a bit." And get into a bit of a lecture before opening things up.

    "The particular etiquette rules I would like to discuss are based on sexual interest. Most commonly, between men and women, but not exclusively, by any means."

    As Elly says this, she is working on roof placement. Or she will be, once Uta helps her. Sure, the priestess is strong enough to lift the roof, but that's not really the point of doing things together.

Uta struggles a bit with the awkwardness of the weight distribution rather than the weight of the roof bit itself -- all that shifting around furniture has paid off. Furthermore, in a way that only musicians seem capable of, she quickly swings into a rhythm, likely with Elly (and Tae?) as well.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding about Landers," is how Uta segues to Wake's discussion about Advances. "They're far more similar to us than most Adventurers are willing to give them credit for. Did you know that, although far rarer, Landers can go into Strange Moods as well? And it was not so long ago that I've realized that, from a medical standpoint, Landers and Adventurers are... pretty much the same. You can't really distinguish them from a medical perspective, unless you go into system-based effects. Inspection. Tombstone or not. Perhaps the pain dampening, but I'd be inclined to lump that one under the system."

Uta stops all of a sudden as the weight of the roof is put in place. "...Sorry, I digress." She dusts her hands off. "Please continue."

    "So as you know, there is a very powerful, biological force that drives reproduction. Not just for men, but for women as well. It manifests in many different ways and in some people, it does not manifest at all. These are all natural things."

    The trio move easily as the conversation goes. The roof is carefully secured to the lattice by Tae, and the framework is shifted to make the ultimate form take shape quickly. In just a few minutes, the frame is starting to truly come together.

    "I will focus, for now, on the situations that concern me. It is all to common for people to misread signals. Statistically speaking, men more often misread or disregard signals in the interest of mating." Elly will watch Uta's reactions carefully, as is becoming the rule with her. Sterile language, she believes, may soften the emotional confusion and fear related to the topic. "This can manifest in sexually aggressive choices that can cause great harm. It is this kind of harm that I want to help you avoid. And there are many things you can do to keep yourself safe."

The timing of Uta's nod of acknowledgement when Elly lists how biological forces manifests strongly for some, and not at all for others is a pretty obvious giveaway that she places herself in the latter category.

As the sterile language ventures into darker territory like a sort of Little Red Riding Hood venturing into the woods with a LED flashlight projecting that cold, artificial blue-white light, Uta does start giving the slightest hints of beginning to cotton on about where this is going. Little things. Shifts in the eyebrows, the sideway glance, the timing of gestures. It's getting personal and the implications behind the aseptic descriptions begin to stir within.

Stirring which is subdued, if not extinguished, by the offer of defense mechanisms.

"For instance?"

Yes, there is a hint of chalance behind that nonchalance.

    Casually, Elly's work brings in her proximity to Uta. Coincidence, certainly, has nothing to do with it. If there is one truth about Elly's master of etiquette, it is that the accidental nuance can be effectively removed. She means what she expresses and flows from action to reaction with utter control.

    A hand is offered. "I'm right here. And squeeze as hard as you want. My hand makes a good stress ball."

    She meets Uta's eyes briefly, but does not seek to hold them. It's a difficult topic. "The first thing is avoidance. For instance, while I completely understand how wonderful it is to travel with friends, you can make yourself a bit safer by making sure that you know those you are traveling with well. Or, if you want to make the trip about getting to know someone better who is new to you, invite someone along that you trust. Like right now, you have a new friend you are traveling with, Dosbox, and you have Tae and I with you as well."

    A pause to just let that be. Things right now are perfectly safe, so no reason to get scared.

    "Travel in general is safer with people you can trust, of course. But I know you are sometimes alone and you've stayed safe. What are some things you have done to avoid danger in the past?"

Uta looks down at the hand. Up at Elly. "Thank you. It's appreciated, but I'm fine for now," she says, serious and polite, with a nod. She may be wary, worried, but at leastthere have been remarkably little signs of her brain faltering. And even when she stopped to think, she looked focused: the genuine article; a proper bibliographical research was going on in her head, not a three-legged chase of greased ferrets through the library.

The brief moment of eye contact will reveal to Elly that Uta is there ready to soak every single word that comes from her.

The last question takes her by surprise. "I... uh..."

And here, dear audience, is the 'perfectly legitimate question that came right out of left field' hesitation. The kind of surprise one could expect from, say, a job interviewer who's asked by an applicant, "And you? Where do you see the company in five years?"

"I... uh..." She scratches the back of her head. "...I've only thought about monsters so far," she admits. "So I always made sure to travel with someone with whom we could take turns sleeping and mounting guard..." She frowns, counts on her fingers. "...and it... -just so- happened that it always was people I had known and I could trust. I had never... really thought about it."

After another bit of time, she snaps her fingers. "Oh, yes. And I've been training to become a killing machine since day one. Xander, a former soldier, made it abundantly obvious from day one after the Apocalypse that this whole world was out to kill me, and the only way for me to survive would be to kill it harder." She intertwines her fingers, and looks down and away. "Wait, no, I don't think that counts, really. I... I suppose I was just eager to show I had been taking precautions when, in reality... well..."

    "Of course." And the hand is drawn back. There's no sting. Elly will think about that later. And be happy about it.

    "I think training is a good thing. It definitely helps keep you safer. I would say that what we are talking about here is an expansion of your threat awareness. I don't want to suggest that most people are bad. It's just a matter of mitigating risks. You can't really be perfectly safe, of course, but you can make good choices. Like not wandering around the Eastel forests in the middle of the night and bring a party of tried and true friends when going to a dungeon."

    She pauses, gathering her thoughts. It has to be clear and to the point.

    "In the situation right now, I would say that your new friend was a bit riskier than I think is right for a travel companion. Do you know why I say that, or do would you prefer I explain why I feel this way?"

    With the lattice secured, Tae is already working on the main tension rope, which will hold it firmly in place. At the same time, Elly offers one end of the inner wall cover to Uta, picking up the other.

Uta, after accepting the inner wall cover, stops. Stops in place, and takes some time to reflect on the last question. Guarded, careful, while standing still.

"Please do," is what she finally says, as she begins to move to set up the cover.

    "Certainly."

    Elly begins with her understanding of the situation. "From what I have heard, it seems that you met this man lingering outside Haru's store in Shibuya, where he had apparently been for some time. And that he was, apparently, rather dishevelled at the time."

    She pauses, watching Uta's expression carefully. "From what I understand, you learned that his interest was in being trained by your brother. Which makes sense, since Haru is extremely skilled." A pause again. "So what you knew of Borywick was that he was focused enough to hang around outside someone's shop for several days. Simultaneously, he was too afraid to speak to the person he was waiting for. His appearance also concerned you enough that you thought he must see Gwen before speaking to Haru. Is this all fair?"

    If this is confirmed, Elly can continue smoothly into the next. But first, she must, as it were, get the facts straight.

Uta gives this question some thought. She rubs her chin, she looks down. She concentrates.

"That is more or less the gist of it."

"Granted, there are furhter details: for one, he was involved with Haru in quests, in the past, but, you know, questing and apprenticeship requests. Different boxes." She even makes the gesture of slotting things into two different boxes with her open palms, held parallel and vertical. "That's how he put it."

"Pela was also involved with the measurements," she then hurries to add, with a syncopation in her speech that makes it sound like she cuts herself in. "She measured Borywick and gave me the measurement sheet to take to Gwen." She shimmers the aforementioned sheet into existence, and waves it to prove its existence.

Vague gestures in the air. "But... yes, those... those are but ancillary frills. Your..." she gestures towards Elly. "Your assessment is confirmed."

    The random additional bits of information are noted. Not that they change the overall scenario in consideration, but they are meaningful to Elly. Her tone is calm and gentle as she goes into, well, the meat of it.

    "The assessment, overall, is that you don't really know Borywick. You had just met him, and you did not seem to have much to go by. I want to be clear. I commend you for caring about a stranger. That's a lovely, good thing to do. I would say that taking him along with you, in your wagon, without anyone else, was not a safe choice. What other things might you have done to help Borywick?"

    There were, admittedly, two paths to go there. Establishing trust is certainly an important process to discuss. Elly has opted to tap into a more structured and simple question. She's building a house, one brick at a time, to keep someone she loves dearly safe. And she's going to take her time and be very methodical.

Uta's progress on the yurt is slowing down by now. This conversation is the kind that requires care and attention, it cannot go in the background of some other activity that also requires attention and care to detail. And Uta, as it is known, already has a limited supply of attention. Supply which today seems on a good day, but still, limited.

Limited, therefore, yet devoted almost entierely to Wake. Her assessment of the situation. She reacts with the slight head tilts, barely perceptible head twists, and nodding. Your standard "That's fair" fare. With savoir faire.

It's the last question that stops Uta in her tracks, the one that makes the penny for her thoughts drop; what little activity she was performing on in the yurt is now completely still.

"...What was that, again? That's not how you usually speak. You..." She frowns. "You're starting to sound like my old therapist."

    Elly goes along with whatever flow Uta seems up to. Sure, the yurt progress is pretty limited, but there's plenty of time in the day. And Tae seems remarkably efficient and able to figure out what she can do on her own. Interesting how she only rarely has to look at the directions to manage it.

    "Uta, my dear, I had my doctorate in psychology. I also have found that becoming better in my skillset of choice here in Yamato has made me better able to ask questions that help me as I try to help others. I am quite sure that my questions will frequently sound like that. But more importantly than all that, how do you feel about it? Is it okay that I talk to you this way?"

    Yes, she does sound like a therapist. Possibly the most pain-in-the-butt version of a therapist. The mom kind.

"I..." Uta begins, her brow knit.

"...I don't know, really. It's just... strange. It sounds... medical. Professional. Brings back memories of circumstances rather different from the current ones. It sort of creates a dissonance-"

Once again, Uta.exe has stopped working.

After two or three seconds spent completely still, she rubs her forehead, and squinting, she continues, "...Then again, I suppose that after going around and injecting people with experimental medicine hardly gives me any right to talk."

She bursts into a quiet, resigned laugher. "It's funny, thinking back about that time made me forget I'm medical staff now, not a mere patient anymore..."

"You talk however you want," the kung-fu nurse finally concedes, in a sort of amused resignation, flicking her hand in dismissal. "At least for now. I'll tell you if it gets weirder."

    "Just let me know. I will do my best to only be weird as seems necessary. But if you are ever uncomfortable, please let me know. Just because I love you doesn't mean I'm going to do things right and you absolutely have the right to tell me I'm doing something wrong. Cause I'm sure I will."

    Elly can deliver all of that casually. There's not much left that can make her uncomfortable, it seems. Her tone is even, gentle, and even a bit playful at the end.

    "So, other than dragging the gnome off to visit all the corners of Yamato, what might you have done to get him the help he needs?"

    Elly is also remarkably persistent. As some have noticed, Elly falls in (platonic) love with people pretty easily. When Elly is in love, she's unstoppable.

This question brings lead to a longer, more careful, guarded kind of thinking.

"Call Human Resources and have a trained professional deal with the issue?" Uta offers, possibly leaning into Wake's latter jocular strain, or perhaps offering a jocular strain of her own. "They will take care of calling gnome control, ensuring that the speciment is caught and released into its natural environment where it can... I don't know, mine accessories or whatever it is that gnome craftsmen do?"

She sighs and rubs her forehead. "But out of metaphor, I suppose this is where you imply I should be calling an adult."

    "Well, as one of the only licensed human resource professionals in Yamato, I do offer a 24 hour a day chimline service. My rates are fair and affordable." A pause. "Or was it fairly affordable?"

    She takes on a thoughtful expression, with just a little dash of confusion as she seems to ponder this mystery carefully. It is all dispelled with a grin and a laugh.

    "But yes, it's important to talk to people you trust. Hmm, but this brings up something I've thought about. Ever since I spoke with Haru. You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself. How do you feel, though? I mean, do you ever run into situations where that you don't feel prepared to handle?"

    A playful grin, then, as she clarifies her question. "I don't mean like that one time I pulled half a dungeon at once because I didn't realize those lizards had social aggro."

    Hey, kiting a boss out to the entrance was a viable strategy before the Apocalypse! Not her fault there was a patch.

"Oh, all the time," Uta beams. "Remember? World is out to kill me," she gestures around. "Outside root cities, the place teems with monsters. Inside root cities, we risk having the Guardians' loyalty flipped and get murdered. I never really played videogames before the Apocalypse, and now I'm effectively trapped into one." Pepped up with this realization, she sprints to lay the inner cover of the Yurt, at a brisky pace. "If I only acted when I feel confident, I'd get nothing done."

    Elly walks along a high wire made of spider silk. That is, after all, the nature of parenting. She watches Uta's excitement burst to the forefront and smiles. There is a sigh, but it's relaxed. It's not wrong of the baroness to let herself just enjoy a moment.

    For a few minutes, she just watches as Uta works on the yurt. Tae is there, to provide an extra set of hands whenever needed, of course. And yes, she knows what she's doing. She's been secretly studying yurts ever since she caught wind of Uta wanting one.

    After watching in silence for a time, she gets to work helping with the yurt. She's not nearly as expert as Tae has become, but she is able to contribute and, most importantly, soak up every moment of Uta being excited about a yurt.

    She does have one thing to say, though, that will hopefully be productive. "Once you are sure you like this one and have an understanding of how it is put together, I'm going to take it to your brother for one last modification, if that's okay. I'd like him to enchant it, so that you can use air artes to set it up easily whenever you wish."