10-41

    It's an arbitrary time of day. Probably closer to morning. Asuna is in Tolbana, trying to keep a low profile after her dueling time in the tournament ended. And other things happened which she does NOT want to talk about. Dueling. Yes. That was fun.

    But she knows that Uta was out getting a slime. She walked her through that which begs the question. And demands a chim.

    "Breaker, breaker! Flanfiction Writer, it's Red Panda One. You got ears on me? If so, what's your 20?"

    Yui, who is drawing pictures nearby, looks at her mama in concern. Perhaps Mikage's poison has impacted her brain? She hopes this doesn't mean they are going to have pasta for the next month. Again. She quietly imagines a strategy where Klein might cook for her instead. This almost inspires her to make a picture of the kitchen on fire. But she thinks better of it and focuses on rainbows and clouds. With slimes riding them. Because slimes should ride clouds.

"My... 20?" Uta asks, confused. One moment she wasn't there, the next, BAM. Surprise Spriggan. Right behind Asuna. "Flanfiction Writer to Red Panda One. I am not sure of what my 20 is. I might need a refresher on the jargon, over." After a short hesitation, she adds, "Did we even go over the jargon in the first place?"

It is to note that the Spriggan is carrying the glass and metal trap originally provided by Asuna -- most importantly, there is the coveted Angeling within it.

At the moment, she has not interacted with Asuna and Yui directly. She's too busy frowning while focusing on her chimlinks -- despite the fact that she's standing up close to the duo.

    "Mama, I let Uta in!" says Yui, proudly. "She has a slime! Do you think it can ride on a cloud like this?" At which point Yui holds up the picture of happy little clouds (complete with smiley faces) with happy little slimes on top of them (completely will yet more smiley faces, and a few helpful 'boings' indicating bouncing).

    "Your 20 is.." Asuna begins, then turns to see Uta has been let in while she was busy being a dweeb and making cute chim comments. "Our house, apparently. I mean location. Wow! And yes, we should cover appropriate chim communication techniques. I met an American who was very enthusiastic about them. It's funny how people just want to teach me stuff." A pause for consider and Asuna makes the sage observation, "I think it's because they find me attractive. Sometimes in a creepy way." Hey, if you got it, you got it. Asuna just doesn't see it herself.

    "Ohhh, and look at who you brought with you! It's the angeling! Great work, Uta! You did it perfectly! So, what are you going to name it?"

"20. Location. Appropriate chim language! See, I've been doing it wrong all this time!" Gamer inside tips! Upping one's game! Uta's SO going to fit in with the rest of her gamer friends now! "Gonna take notes...", she says, and after whipping out a notebook, she jots down the equivalence. 20 = Location.

She looks up. "Oh. OH. Yes. People finding you attractive. Possibly in a creepy way." Uta shudders. "See, there were many words that could describe me outside of ETO, but 'attractive' was not one of them. Then I got the Random Avatar Generation Makeover, and..." Uta sighs. "I guess I've joined the club now."

Uta rubs her eyes. "It's still so hard to pick up the signals correctly. Sometimes I fear I'm overreacting. Other times I'm probably underreacting..."

Yui to the rescue! "Oh, it might fly over the clouds. Angelings have wings, so they might be flying slimes. I'll have to experiment with it." And with a smirk, she adds, "I'm glad to see you've been practicing your poetry."

At the question about naming, she tilts her head at the creature in the cage. After a little thought, she replies: "Dr. Ling."

    Yui is always the one to get the attention of people first. Which Asuna appreciates. She's got a very charming little girl. When she's not hamstrung with shyness or put on the spot by catboy announcers. She's going to smack him for that sometime soon. But that's another matter, for another time.

    "Hello, Dr. Ling!" blurts out Yui. She practically dances around the slime in excitement. Which is probably not shared by the captive slime.

    "She's been practicing a lot. I'm going to need to get Klein to build me a larger house so we can hang up more of her art. There's just not enough wall for my liking."

    Asuna is not joking. She's got Yui art all over the place. She imagines it'd drive her mother crazy. Hm. But maybe that just makes Asuna love it more. Anyhow, the Flash gets back to the point!

    "I see your slime is lovely and rare. Wow. An Angeling! Never saw one of those before. It's pretty cute, isn't it?" Yui definitely thinks so! Asuna doesn't even try to hide her own excitement. "I suppose it's time to get that critter out of the cage and teach it some manners. Have you worked with it at all yet, or is this thing still completely wild?"

The slime... well... wobbles about its cage. There's not much it can do. But still. Halo, wings. Quite the show to enjoy.

"Hmmm. You should have periodically rotating exhibitions. To keep the audience engaged. Store the rest of the works in a safe place in the meantime." That is totally serious art gallery curating advice. Totally.

"It's quite the thing, yes," Uta confirms, pulling the glass case closer to her face. The Angeling turns to look at the Nurse. "As I was saying, it would make a pretty iconic mascot for my business. I'd be immediately recognizable. Plus, hey, Light! And Light is associated with healing!"

Uta looks at Asuna. At the slime. At Asuna. At Yui. At the slime.

"Oh, right!"

She carefully sets the cage on the ground, inhales, bites her lower lip in anticipation and then, pulling her head away, tightening her teeth's grip on her skin, and squinting, she slowly releases the catch. "Here it goes..."

    Now granted, Klein may be questioning just why his girlfriend is encouraging others to release monsters into their comfy home. But he's not here and Yui will only tell if sitcom laws demand it. Which means at the most awkward possible moment. Like when Asuna is engaging in some hypocritical argument!

    For now, though, the vicious slime is released. It doesn't do anything for a while. It seems quite satisfied with its lot in life. Asuna, being an expert handler of monsters, draws upon her wealth of experience to address this problem.

    She smacks the side of the cage until the thing comes out.

    When it does, the Angeling just poings its way out far enough to stop the cage smacking. It looks ready to run back /into/ the cage, until Asuna draws out the most delicious looking old shoe in the world and tosses it near the slime.

    "This one is pretty laid back once it's captured, huh?" she comments. It's little eyes are turned to Uta as the slime starts to absorb the shoe.

    "You know why slimes love old shoes so much, Uta?" asks Asuna. She doesn't wait to land her joke and goes right into the punchline a moment later, "Cause they have no soles."

    Wakka-wakka!

"Asuna... uh...", Uta asks with concern as the cage is treated as a ketchup bottle. "Is this..." A finger is raised, weakly, and promptly retracted. Asuna's the one skilled in Capturing Monsters, not Uta. Let the experts take care of this.

"Italian shoe? To go with your recent Strange Mood?", Uta inquires.

At what point Uta confirms. "It is -very- laid back. I'm thinking I might actually keep it around while I visit patients. Who knows, maybe it'll calm them down and slash or project an aura of reassurance. I mean, if the Landers can call someone like Kumiko, whom they identify as being a Monster, a 'Spider Goddess'..." She lowers her face closer to the Angeling, "...hey, maybe they'll gladly be visited by "Doctor Ling", and let its nurse translate for them."

She turns tu Yui. "What do you think little one? Would you trust Dr. Ling to visit you, if I assisted it as its nurse?"

    Yui looks at the Angeling curiously. She is a bit wary. It is a monster and she's always told to be careful. But Tomoe is also a monster, and other than things she finds funny (tipping over fruit carts and forcing her mama to pay farmers a lot of gold) she thinks Tomoe is okay.

    "I'm not sure if the Doctor knows how to be a doctor. I think it is very good at cleaning up old shoes, though!" She looks to Uta seriously. "Can I pet Dr. Ling? I will put on my gloves!" Cause of course she wants to pet the slime.

    "It shouldn't be too much trouble to keep it around, though Landers in slime-infested areas may be a bit scared. Still, with the right training, I bet you can make this little guy spit out healing spells on command."

    Asuna looks thoughtful. "Considering its disposition, I would likely aim at positive reinforcement. Maybe a certain kind of food. Something light-infused? You know that kind of business. With the capture over, I think you are in your element here, so to speak. You know way more about slimes than I do."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to teach him. I guess he can be a Doctor of Historical Footwear."

Uta looks at Asuna in response to Yui's request for permission to pet. This falls into the Ronin's field of responsibility.

"That is more or less what I was thinking, yes..." Uta trails off as she squats to take another look at Dr. Ling. It seems to really be enjoying that shoe. "Teach it tricks and things. It... it's just the perfect companion for the healer obsessed with slimes."

"What about you?", she asks. "Have you been doing something new of late?"

    "Other than getting knocked out of the tournament, things have been quiet," says Asuna. She laughs softly, then sighs. "I really need to do better, next time." She will have many months to reprimand and criticize her results. So much fun to come!

    "I have a mama doll!" blurts out Yui. She's distracted already. She rushes off to her room and then races back, holding up an Asuna doll. And an Uta doll. Which comes with several little slimes, made by Klein. It's a special version!

    "See! Mama and Uta!" Yui is so happy. Asuna is so embarrassed. She really was hoping that the Asuna doll would not be picked-up. She owes much to Wake for buying /that/ for her daughter.

    "Okay, let's put on the gloves, Yui," says Asuna. To change the subject. For a moment she fantasizes over the Asuna doll getting dropped into the slime. Sadly, Yui sets everything down very carefully. She pulls out her gloves, which are built for monster handling. Clearly Asuna was involved.

    "Now don't move fast, just move steadily and gently touch the slime. Uta would know more about slime petting than me, so if she has tips, they would be appreciated."

"Yeah, the tournament..." Uta mumbles. Her arm is already behind her head, and her face pointed away. "Note to self, calibrate size and weight of summoned rock fists versus self before summoning rock fists."

Uta- well, still finds it hard to believe that someone would make dolls out of her, not to mention sell, not to mention -buy- dolls out of her. But kids say, and do, the darndest things. "Oh, you have an Asuna doll?", Uta says, surprised. And then shimmers something into existence. "Pity, I got you one too. I guess this present is superfluous...", she mutters, holding the miniature Asuna. Finally catching up on the dicussion, she continues, "Oh, yes. Yes! Protective gear is vital when handling monsters! Never handle them without wearing appropriate protection!", says the Spriggan who spent her first months in-game petting slimes without gear and without the Handle Monster concept.

"You must make sure it's properly enchanted, study enough, durable enough, and most importantly, that you are wearing it."

She squats down, and points at Dr.Ling. "Now try. But be careful! Always be ready for sudden movements!"

In the case of Dr. Ling... the worst that can happen is probably some blorping. Angelings, luckily, are a kid-safe enough monster.

    Yui looks at the other Asuna doll. And this is where things get really embarrassing. She's excited! "That's the other version, see! That one has the body suit mama wore against Curtana. This one is the regular armor she wore in her duel with Kotono."

    A pause and big eyes. "You.. got that one for me?" She's a kid, she loves presents. It comes with the territory of not having a disposable income of one's own.

    But, redirection here. Asuna directs Yui to the slime at hand. The Angeling does seem pretty laid back, as monsters go. For now, it seems being captured and under the scrutiny of two handlers is keeping it from doing anything dangerous. System rules and all that.

    Yui reaches out hesitantly and then gently rests her hand on top of the slime. She pats it and giggles, "It feels funny! So soft and kinda slippery." She presses a bit more firmly and laughs again. "I see why you like these. They are really cute!" Using the gloves, she pets the slime gently, occasionally curling her fingers, almost like a massage. "And when you train Dr. Ling it will be able to heal people?"

"Oooh. Interesting," Uta says, noticing the differences between the dolls. "Asuna, you have a very varied wardrobe, I see!", Uta says, with a smile. That's a compliment, right?

"And they can do a lot of tricks!", Uta replies to Yui, excited.

"Ok, -technically- most of them can do one trick. But there's so many varieties that each of them is good at somthing." Looking down at the Angeling, who is being quieted with a low-grade magical field (which Uta is generating with the occasional quiet humming of a melody, snuck there between her sentences), she continues, "It is what I am trying to find out. But I have hopes for him! And if not..." Silence. Look left. Look right. "I have Heal Slimes at the laboratory. THOSE definitely can heal people." As if revealing a secret, she hunches closer and whispers, "I know. I tried."

Uta pulls away. "They do feel funny. Soft. Slippery." Sitting down in the seiza position, like a good Japanese, especially if a martial artist. She looks up and away. "There is nothing that feels like this in the world we Adventuers come from..."

    "Do you ever miss that place?" asks Yui. She was listening to everything closely, but like a good student, she was quiet, other than an 'oooooo' when Uta admits she already has a healing slime. Clearly Uta has almost every slime. A slime for every occasion!

    "I know I miss some things that I left behind." A pause and she softly admits, "I lost a doll once. My father made it for me. I was really sad, but then my father made another one! He secretly tried to make it appear just like the one I had lost. I pretended not to notice, because it was so kind. I keep it in a special place in my room, so my first father will always be looking over me, just like my new father does."

    The sorrow has worn down over the few years since her father died, but her eyes still glisten for a moment with tears that start to form, but never quite gather enough pain to flow farther.

    Asuna moves closer to Yui, kissing the top of her head. "The people we love are always wish us. And we are always with them. But still, we miss them. And that's okay."

There is nothing like a child's question to stop you in your tracks and reconsider your whole existence. She lets the little one go through her emotions, she lets Asuna take care of the situation, then, still keeping an eye on Dr. Ling, slow, deliberate, Uta moves to sit down next to Yui, and wraps her own arms around her own knees.

"I left my parents back in that world. I haven't seen them, or heard from them, since the Apocalypse." The Spriggan's voice is level, no emotion is allowed to sneak in. "I have no idea what happened to them, or if I will ever see them again." She then turns to Yui. "However..."

At this point, the corners of her mouth pull into an ppropriately subdued smile. "I found new friends and family in this world." She returns to look away; perhaps on purpose, perhaps subconsciously, she hugs her knees a bit tighter. "Things change." She relaxes her grip, and tilts her both her back and head backwards, looking up. Still smiling. "That is why it is important to always be looking, always be moving." Turning to Yui, she finishes her sentence. "Always be searching. Always finding new good things."

    Asuna is watching her friend and her little girl as they talk through parents and things lost. She has little to add. Her own pain is very carefully stored in an iron box in a distant cave and locked with a code only she ever knew. And she forgot it. It's a healthy option, right?

    Yui watches Uta closely. She knows what pain is like. She's very sensitive to the sadness of others. She's small and still a child, so her solutions are limited to help in things like this.

    In this case, Yui waits for Uta to finish speaking. She will then move in for a hug! "Your friendship is a new, good thing for me!" She can't help herself. She does have a little confession to make, though, at some point.

    That hug wasn't only to help Uta fell better. Yui needs it, too.

    "We're family, too," says Asuna gently. "Uta is my bestie, and besties are basically like sisters. Which means..." And here Asuna has to remember the way a fanboy explained this to her. "Your mission, Uta, if you should choose to accept it, is to be the aunt of this little Lander girl!" She turns to her daughter and repeats, "And your mission, Taka, if /you/ should choose to accept it, is to be the niece of the Adventurer!" It's cheesy as can be, but it makes her daughter giggle, so mission accomplished!

Uta is not very much the hugging type, as people who know her are aware of. But exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures.

Uta returns the hug.

"Your friendship is a new, good thing for me as well."

At Asuna's explanation, Uta remains initially silent. Then her eyes widen slightly in mid panic. "...I have just realized that my family tree in ETO has probably, with this addition, officially become more tangled than Morri's shipping wall."

She hasn't said yes or no, yet. Waiting for Yui to speak first?

    "Don't worry too much about it, Uta. I mean, it's not like I am demanding a Christmas present, here. Think of this more of sisters when you feel like you need one than sisters of obligation." Asuna laughs softly, waving it off playfully. "And wow, a family tree, huh? Mine is pretty darn simple."

    Taka is an amazing hugger. She'd consider going pro, but she needs to maintain amateur status for the Huglympics! Wake mentioned this, and while it was probably just an adult being silly, a child has to be ready for anything!

    "I accept the mission!" cheers the child. "Which means I have something for you." She darts away, as she is wont to do, and returns a bit later with a colorful bit of art. It's Uta, Taka, and Asuna holding hands in a circle. Apparently flying in the sky. Surrounded by a rainbow of slimes. Plus Tomoe is there, sleeping on a cloud. Her poetry has broken all bounds.

    "This is for you! It's us!" And she proceeds to recite the names of everyone in the picture. Plus every single slime. Including Dr. Bing. With creative explanations of all their powers and personalities.

    "And this is Yuko, she's a pretty blue slime that can make sparkly lights, but she's kinda shy about it. Sometimes she thinks she's not pretty enough, but we all try to tell her how amazing she is!"

    And on and on until she's done.

    Asuna listens to every name and cannot stop smiling. She turns a curious look on Uta. How will her friend react to this incredibly detailed and story-laden gift?

Uta follows the Massive Lore Drop our Yui is rattling out with the utmost attention. Perhaps she knows how to deal with children. Or perhaps she's just a massive nerd that can be held captivated for hours when one can spin a good story. Either way, she does not miss a word.

And then she bursts into laughter. "Well, that was -impressive-," she compliments, and then, with a more serious, but still amused tone, she continues, "I suppose you have just earned yourself an Aunt." And then she looks at Asuna, with a smile.

    Yui grins up at Uta. The art is delivered and accepted. Her work here is done! Which means she's not become very excited and has to deal with energy. Lots of energy.

    "Can we all go outside and play now?" she asks abruptly. Clearly all the important stuff is done here!

    Asuna sighs softly and shrugs at Uta, "Well, how about you go outside and we'll join you in a bit. Remember, stay near the house. And no sneaking off by Tomoe without an adult family member."

    These are the normal rules, so Yui can call out a hasty, "Yes mama!" as she darts out the backdoor. Which she only partially closes. A moment later the movement of air pushes it fully open.

    "Well, now that you have your Angeling, I suspect you need to be on your way soon. You are of course welcome to stay for food if you like! And run around with us in the back yard." The Flash pauses for a moment, thinking to herself. Finally, she will add, "I really appreciate you stopping by. I tend not to get out as much and I like staying in touch. Plus your niece adores you."

"Out and play it is," Uta confirms, and stands up.

She stops at the threshold when Asuna addresses her. "Don't even mention it. I love to keep in touch with my friends and family. I would not skip visiting you!" A moment of silence, while the Energetic Child Noises from outside urge Uta to move on. "I suppose we can discuss the rest over lunch, yes. Thanks for having me over!", she says, and sisappears into the Great Outside.