A Looniversity Education

Schneider has encamped himself in an unexplored tower in Mac Anu because why pay for an inn when you can sleep for free here and there's no one to complain when you leave the room a mess. It hasn't gotten that far yet, but there are a number of old scrolls and documents that he is reviewing, and after review, he puts them into one of two piles. It looks like there might be a place for a third pile, but it is currently empty. After looking thoughtfully over one scroll, he sighs and dumps it unceremoniously on the larger of the two piles, then pulls another scroll from a box of scrolls.

He had chimmed Uta about finding a box of scrolls in Mac Anu, but he was more optimistic when he chimmed because he has not had time to review them. His mood is less upbeat now.

"A box of scrolls, hm? Interesting."

One moment she's not there, the next, BAM. Sudden Spriggan.

"More of your research on the Scrapped Princess war?", she asks, as she circles the scene of the crime- wait, no, who says that the scrolls have been stolen? And even if they are, it's been long enough. It's probably Archeology by now.

"Found anything groundbreaking? Did you have to break any bits of ground to find thing?" Uta asks. "Fought any princesses for their scrolls?"

The amount of dust and grunge in the area and on the box imply archaeology, as does the dust-free square over in the corner and the lines in the dust implying the box was dragged from that point over to where Schneider is working in the light from a once-boarded-up window that shows signs of fresh unboarding. The rotten boards can be found on the ground outside, below the window.

Schneider shakes his head about the Scrapped Princess War, and says, "I think we learned all the significa that there is to learn, the game seems to plant enough information to know a thing, and no more, and nothing on what they've gated some other way, have you noticed?" He hands over a dusty scroll from the pile on his right. It will turn out to be a laundry list. Literally. One shirt. Two pair pants. Three cloaks. Medium starch.

"Nothing groundbreaking," he explains, pointing to an empty space before him. "That pile," he points to the smaller one on his left, "is things we already have in your libraries. This pile," he points to a larger one on his right, "Is things we don't have, but are useless."

Uta slumps on the floor. "Archeology takes paticence. It takes time," she begins. "To find, to catalog, to dig. To hit the really important bits."

Distracted, she looks up and away, then down, at the site. The dust, the recently un-boarded-up window, anything around that likely shows of signs of lack of use. Then looks up and away, again, distracted, "...well, it also takes time for things to turn into ruins, -technically-, so... yes. I would say that Archeology takes a lot of patience." She nods once, gets up again, and approaches to study the new scrolls. "One cannot make an omlet without crying over a few spilled broken eggs," she declares. "Whether it is the game's mechanics, or simply the way things proceed in a complex, emergent system, I agree that progress takes effort." Fist clenched, eyes turned towards the future, she adds, "But that is exactly why we must persevere!"

Schneider nods about patience. "I've heard that," he says. He is not known for his patience. He is known for fire. Possibly making him Uta's mirror. Fire. Outgoing. Dresses fancifully without being tricked. As to Archaeology, he says, amusingly, "I had simply cleared this place out for a campsite while I was in town. I did not come looking for this." He gestures to the scrolls. "I chimmed you before looking through them, which I suppose was premature. But I am perservering," he agrees, and slides the box so that it's partway between himself and Uta. "But I thought that two people could perservere twice as quickly as one." So, he's looking for help going through the scrolls.

"That is now how it works, unfortunately," Uta points out, as she squats and begins going through the scrolls. "Perseverance sets its own pace." She stops and turns to Schneider. "That does not mean we are powerless. We can persevere with twice the intensity. Or twice as long!" A smile appears on her face, before she goes serious again. "The support of someone else is invaluable when persevering."

She picks a particular scroll. She unrolls it. Her eyes scan the ancient writings, mouth moving in sync, silent.

"Hm. Complaints about the wrong grade of copper. I think we have a bunch of these already."

Schneider nods gravely to Uta. "At some point in Mac Anu's Bronze Age history, they were not getting what they wanted out of their bronze. I am not sure what good that does us, but it seems to be a trend. Perhaps the local copper ore had contaminants in it?" What contaminates copper? That's not his department. "Amusingly, my appraisal skill can sometimes date the scrolls. At least approximately. I think these are old enough that they were historical when the game first went live. Or else date from," he mentally calculates the time compression and RL dates, and comes up with, "1977. That's like my dad's age..."

"Sounds like a job for a Metalworker," Uta comments with a frown, while she turns the scroll upside-down, then right-side up again. And then turns to Schneider. "...your dad's 1977 years old?", Uta asks. "Oh. OH. Wait. I get it now." She scratches her head. "I'm younger than him, it seems, but not -that- much younger than him, after all, it seems." She looks down, "I may look like i'm in my early 20s in game, but I'm actually in my- well, very early '30s." She looks up and away. "In fact, I turned 30 not long after the Apocalypse..."

Schneider nods about a job for a metalworker. "I hope they found one," he says. "I mean, I assume they did at some point. Today copper and bronze are historical curiosities and craft metals rather than things people need made. As to Uta's age, he ohs! and says, "Ah, I see," but with the more respectful vocabulary one uses in Japanese for speaking to seniors. Thirty to twenty is a steep divide, when you're nineteen-ish, depending on how much time has actually passed in game. At least he hasn't called her 'granny'. Not sure what to say next, he grabs a scroll at random and unfurls it, reading aloud, "10 pounds rice, five chickens, one rooster." He hrms. "Not sure if this is a grocery list or a statement of assets, or a receipt." The paper is torn, if there is more, it's not on this paper.

"Perhaps it's a recipe," Uta wonders aloud. "A for a potion." She reaches for it. "Who knows. Maybe it's a recipe for Chicken Soup. By the First Moonlight Cook. Or Moonlight Doctor. The two things would overlap here," Uta theorycrafts. And then blinks, and dismisses Schneider's new language with a flick of his hand. "Don't worry, don't worry, just carry one the way you've always done. Everyone treats me the way I look, and to be honest, at this point, it's starting to feel weird otherwise." She proceeds to mumble, "I blame the in-game Etiquette skill," still audible.

Schneider hrms about a recipe. "It could be, but it'd feed a -lot- of people." That's entirely possible, of course, lacking any other sort of context. He adds it to the unknown-but-useless pile, and takes another, hrming about how to address Uta. "You're sure that's OK, ma'am?" he asks. He ohs about the in-game Etiquette skill, and says, "I guess that's all about our characters rather than about ourselves as players?" Schneider, of course, has anti-etiquette. He -is- the Bastard, generally in the context of 'jerk' or some similar connotation rather than the literal one.