Here Be Pendragons!

January is coming to an end, but it's still quite cold outside.

People have been plowing through snow, walking against the blizzard, wearing snowshoes, taking their dog- sorry, their /canin/ out in the harsh winter, playing fetch with them, throwing balls- throwing balls which, combined with wearing what basically amounts as snow -rackets- on their feet, resulted in the invention of a new, if confusing, sport.

The door of the Chain Mail Bikini +1 opens briefly, and a white gust of wind and snow blasts in, before an imanoid snow figure walks in, and slams the door closed behind itself.

Herself, rather- as is revealed when she pats herself down with her mittens: it's Uta, wearing the black coat Gwen gave her as a present during the first year after the Apocalypse.

"Hi Gwen!", she calls out, while she removes her woolen hat and shakes the snow off her hair.

The month is almost over but With how warm the shop is? She's in a halloween costume the succubi costume she had back for halloween. It seems she's doing some halloween in the winter promotion with a lot of costumes on discount. She turns about from the accounting book she was going over and beams.

"UTA! Hello come warm yourself for a bit!" Heck she's not seen Uta in so long she vault over the counter, attempting tp ick her up in a hug!

"I have missed your my friend!"

To say that Uta is taken by surprise by the hug is an understatement! "Wait- what? How- how do you manage to wear that... in -January-? With a blizzard?", Uta asks, referring to Gwen's skimpy costume.

That said, while not the huggy type, she's been trained by Wake to return hugs, so, probably much by Gwen's surprise, she'll attempt a very careful embrace in return.

"Warming oneself up does sound like a good idea, yes!", she confirms. "You have a fire going?", she asks. The place -is- warm, after all.

Somewhere Morris gets a sense she's missing something she'd would love to see, thankfully she's at least not in the room.

Gwen grins "Yes, you know my elemental restiances I'm a tank after all!" She let the hug go after a moment not wanting to crush Uta and grins.

"Yes in the back room the wood stovee's going nicely I doubt i'll get many customers today soooo how about we head back there and catch up..?"

There is excitement in Uta's voice. "The wood stove? The wood stove you cook food on? The wood stove you cook food on, food that you will probably not have much of a success of selling today due to the lack of customers, and therefore will need to somehow be eaten by someone? That stove?", asks Uta.

"I am all for going in the back where the stove is, to catch up. Where the stove is."

"So, what have you been up to, lately?", asks Uta, as she follows her much taller friends. "Myself... not up to much, really. Mostly alphabetizing the slimes and practicing my musical kung-fu surgery."

Gwen giggles at her smaller friend "Yes, yes to all of that I figure you could help keep the stock from spoiling yes?." She'll walk with Uta into the back room and flop down in a chair near the stove. She grins at her and looks over to he friend "So working on orders honestly designing things, figuring out next years or should I say this years of swimwear and bodysuits!"

    It's probably just a coincidence Fuka enters the store shortly after Uta does. Fuka does everything shortly after all, not just after Uta. She shakes herself off exuberantly, like she's some kind of dog. Hopefully the space around the doorway is clear of things that could be damaged from the cavalier treatment.

    "Aaaaah, such a shame I have work to do in the middle of a snow storm!" complains the little blonde. "I'm going to need more cold weather gear, or maybe mountain gear. Plus warmth and hot food, I suspect! Maybe a little cuddling to get me warm, possibly with other benefits besides!" she adds, sounding not particularly serious.

Uta, who had already removed and hung her winter gear, and was already rubbing her hands in front of the fire, continues to Gwen, "Oh, wow, I did not think you needed that much of a head start." She looks around for a stool, before continuing, "But nice to hear you get orders, and that the business is going strong. I mean, I would not expect anything else from-"

And there comes the unmistakeable sound of a Fuka entering the premises. She might hear the noises of wings fluttering in the distance at her mention about benefits. "Fuka? Is that you?!", comes Uta voice from the other room over.

Gwen did not expect Fuka to arrive but she gets a grin and calls out. "We're in the back and we have food Fuka!" Gwen is still in the halloween costume as she looks over her shoulder. "Fuka get your wings back in here with Uta and I! There's heat and food!" She grinning "Maybe I should change outfits at this rate no need for a sales outfit today no?"

    Fuka earperks at hearing Uta call out, which would probably be adorable to witness given her perky sylph ears. She immediately heads Utawards. "It had better be me! I'm wearing my underwear!" Fuka replies breezily. "It would be terrible if it was somebody else wearing my underwear after all, so good thing it's actually me!" she says, thinking nothing of saying something rather personal and definitely quite weird.

    Making her way into the back, Fuka sniffs the air. "Yeeeesssss~" she singsongs, somehow stretching out the word into a musical melody. She stops to regard Gwen's outfit frankly. "I'm not interrupting a private moment am I? If you two are in the middle of something playful I could come back?" she offers. "Or join in." she adds. Of course she knows Uta and that this is definitely not something worthy of innuendo, but that's what makes it fun to offer lewd comments about!

"Oh, yes. Yes, a change of outfit is a good idea!", Uta comments, finding a chair and settling down there. And looking at her back, then to Gwen and Fuka. "Oh, right. Wings. It's an all-wings party today. Almost a single-race thing. Almost. Spriggans were, after all, artificially created from the Sylph, through infusion of Darkness, if I still remember my Lore correctly."

Uta does look a bit confused at the comments about underwear; but as far as the rest is concerned, in fact, she just groans. "Ok, now you're trying too hard to make it weird. Gotta work on your subtlety," she chuckles in mock-scorn, before offering a beckoning motion. "Nah, nothing playful. Just about to have lunch. And in the case of Gwen, change outfits."

Gwen laughs for a moment at Fuka as she taps a menu causing her outfit to shift to something far more suitable ot ahving guests. "No we're not and even if we were somehow. Morri would find a way to ruin things." She pauses with a sly grin "Sure come join in help yourself to some food!"

    Fuka's first statement, about her being the one wearing her underwear, was meant to play off Uta. The second was meant to include Gwen in the fun. Fuka shrugs and grins at Uta telling her off for trying too hard. "I'm told I'm very trying, yes." she agrees, glancing over at Gwen. "Wouldn't put it past your mom to set such things up. Or, you know, join in. Without you I mean because that's just totally wrong but your mom IS pretty hot you know." Fuka clarifies. "And so's your dad. It's a good thing they're like, committed to each other. Keeps things from getting out of control!" the little Sylph blathers. Making things weirder and weirder.

    "Aaaaanyways..." Fuka takes a breath, reining in her impulses. "I am planning a mountain trip at some point. Going to go skiing! And ... well, look for the Kirin too I guess. Man, it's been a long time." she claims. Since she's gone skiing? Or since she's seen the Kirin?

"Set -what- things up?", asks Uta, pulling back slightly with a skeptical expression. "I mean, they -are- a pretty good-looking couple, but I suspect it is to be expected, what with character generation granting them videogame avatars. They're supposed to look good and attractive. Marketing and such."

At the invite of helping oneself to some food, Uta will not hesitate, and after picking a bowl, she'll look around to see if soup or stew is on the menu today.

"Oh, right," Uta asks Fuka, "you were also going to get yourself an animal companion, right? So, you have decided for the mountains, after all?"

Gwen is now getting up to get some food to hand out to both Fuka and to Uta with a grin "Just some standard fries, dumpling and the like also some roast pork or what passes for it here." She'll tkae some for herself.

"Oh my mom was fairly hot in reality she was ... one of those very showy cosplayers when she was younger it's how she met dad."

She grins "Though not Anime hot lets be honest few of us were that good looking." She grins.

"Sides I was a redhead too."

"That would be something fun to do.

"Hey if someone wants to play a Gonk like char all the power too them! I'll help them look like the best minion they can be."

Gwen also pauses

"Wait you got the hots for my mother?!"

    Fuka nods to Uta. "I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Kirin thing will take less time overall so I'd prefer getting that over with early and then concentrate on doing things in the Palace Lands." she explains, actually offering what sounds suspiciously like sound reasoning. "Though really, I just brought it up because I could really use some comfy winter wear today and it was on my mind, what with Gwen wearing what she's wearing." the blonde leers.

    Then she blinks. "Got the hots for? No of course not!" Fuka claims, shaking her head. "I mean she IS hot, and if someone more our age looked like that and acted like that I'd definitely be thinking with my other head if you know what I mean."

    Of course it's not true at all, but it's funny, so Fuka goes with that. She's a firm believer in two heads are better than one, and all that, but she doesn't possess two heads, metaphorically or otherwise.

    At mention of past selves and physical appearance, Fuka lets out a rough growl. Well, not that rough. Kind of puppy-like really, given her size. It's meant to be fierce, no doubt. "Now that's kind of hot. Me, I was pretty hot too." she brags. "Cute, fashionable, and a figure I worked super hard for!" she says with a grin, running her hands over her own body in exaggerated fashion to demonstrate. Not that she has much to demonstrate. Gwen, being Fuka's tailor, would know she's got some curves at least... but most of that is hip and waist.

"Grunty, likely," Uta says, while receiving her plate. Chopstiks, the mandatory 'Itadakimasu', and time to dig in.

Between one chomp and a bunch of compliments to Gwen, Uta manages to say things like, "A redhead? That explains so much..." (yes, it's not the first time she's heard this story. The shock is over. Until the next time she forgets) and "Definitely wasn't that good looking, no..." (but distractedly, without sounding sad about it or anything. Just a 'thing that is'), and "...one of these days I should take you up on that offer to learn Cooking, Gwen..."

"That sounds like a logical course of action, Fuka, yes. Split the tasks. Complete them in the optimal order. Organize. Get things on your mind while looking at Gw- NO, NOT THAT ONE!", she wingflails, waving her hands in desperation and almost choking in the process.

Gwen is now eating some of the food for herself, she looks to Fuka for a moment.

"Oh good I can never tell with you."

THen there is a disturbingly Morri like grin on her face

"I mean she is physically 20 something again like most of us."

She then fades away on that as she looks over and laughs.

"I sure would be a light house when I hit the beach also I was combustable."

"Well you still got the skills and drive that got you that figure no?"

"What I'm not a Yandari or dangerous crazy."

Just fashion always the fashion.

Gwen looks with Concern at Uta

"Are you all right...?"

    Fuka gazes thoughtfully at Uta, an expression that probably looks a little odd, or at least different from her usual playful grin. Finally she shrugs. "You really do remind me of Kohi." she says, rather wistfully. She's mentioned the nickname at least to Uta before. Her best friend, in that other world. Karen always was painfully shy, and had no idea how amazing she truly was. Smart, kind, generous, athletic... hella cute too, naturally. Maybe Fuka's a bit blind when considering Uta, but she still considers the comparison apt.

    She's shaken out of it by Gwen's roguish grin and statement however. "Oh... oh ew." Fuka smirks playfully. "Look, she's totally hot, but she's got major mom energy!" the little sylph claims, holding up her arms to form an X before her. She presses the X forward, making sure Gwen takes note of it, before relaxing the arms again, gesturing back at herself. "I was a lot taller back then, you know. Like, fifteen centimeters at least! And no matter what I eat here, my boobs don't grow any more than my height does!" she complains good-naturedly. Don't get her wrong, she likes her appearance. It's comfortable... in some ways more comfortable than her original body. Not that she disliked that at all! But there are definite perks to being cute rather than hot. "Got to admit, the abs are nice though." Fuka claims, patting her belly with a muffled clank. Abs of steel? Well, not exactly. Just plate-and-chain worn under her coat. But she does have good physical stats, and a nearly fat-free body to match. Nearly everything-free, some might say, but that would be rude. So rude.

Gwen says "Kohi sounds like a good friend from how you talk about it."

Gwen gets that morri grin again "Some people Are into that, I know Uther is."

She goes back to normal as she blinks "Oh tall for Japan then! Ah I see I was.... decent there before."

She looks down

"Not with these titans I have now but I don't complain."

She thinks back to her first day here when she and Shiruba saw some poor soul who likely regretted their avatar's figure.

"You are very much the sort to not be judged by her size!"

"Major mom energy," Uta confirms with a vigorous nod. Uta notices the arm-X and extends her arms diagonally, palm straight, in a sort of an action pose, with a confused expression that seems to ask, "Are we a sentai team now?"

"Hm? Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?", Uta inquires Gwen, between bites of food. "-wait, am I in a strange mood again?", she asks, worried. And then pauses. "Wait, no, I'm eating, so obviously I'm not in a strange mood."

Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

"Wait. Am I in a -cooking- Strange Mood?"

Nevermind that she doesn't even have the Cooking skill to start with.

"The apocalypse was a strange time. It took us all by surprise, and yes, many Adventurers were thrown for a loop. Still thinking of poor Jazz." After a moment of silence, Uta reprises, sort of casually, "The Random Avatar Generator has a strange way of giving people what they either want, or need. It seems to have picked well for you." And after some silence, she adds, "You must miss Kohi a lot." Another somber moment of silence. "I wish I could help you find her, if she's still around. It's been- wait, wait."

Her hands shoot in front of her face. She performs some quick finger arithmetic. "...Three years? Three years have passed since the Apocalypse already?!"

    Fuka nods. "Well, above average anyways!" Fuka nods, cupping her hands before her and grinning, making it kind of obvious she's not quite talking about height. Meanwhile as Uta poses in what appears to be a letter Y, Fuka raises her arms again and begins to pose along. M, then C, then finally bringing her arms up and hands together to complete the A. Playing along, but not as a Sentai pose. "Kohi is an amazing friend." Fuka agrees cheerfully as she completes the sequence, waiting for Uta to join in... or fail to understand, whichever. "And, while I can't see anything ever changing our friendship, it HAS been three years." she observes, sighing theatrically. "In another world, our friendship surely continues, perhaps even reaching new heights! Or is that new depths?" she claims, thoughtful and dramatic. Does Fuka miss her old friend? Certainly. Does she want to share this adventure with her? Of course. "I, however, have *other* adventures and entirely new friends!" she claims. "It would be silly for me to resent no longer being Miyu, wouldn't it?"

    That, it seems, is one of Fuka's own beliefs. That she's no longer Miyu, or at least that she can't resent the past.

Gwen says "Yes yes she does. No your not"

Gwen inspects Uta to be sure and shregs at the mention of how long it's been.

"I don't think about Earth mcuh for the most part anymore I admit. Though i may try dying my hair red."

There's a grin on her face as she looks back to Uta and says

"We're not alone in this at least right?"

"Just pick up where you left off though i'd love to do outfits for someone like her!

"Yeah I'm Gwen Pendragon, Paladin and fashionestia."

Uta chuckles at Gwen. "Dyed red? That wouldn't be the most outrageous you've looked," she says, before chomping down on more roast. And then she stops. "...I don't think about Earth much either, no....", she says, as if she just realized that (which she probably did). There seems to be no sadness, no regret, no particular negative emotions in that utterance. Merely stating a fact, in a "uh, that's funny" kind of way.

"We are what we are, and that's all that we are, as some sailor-philosopher once said. I think it may have been Hemingway, but I'm not sure." She chuckles.

"We're not alone," Uta confirms. "We may have lost friends..." she glances toward Fuka, "...but some of us have found a better life here," and she glances towards Gwen. "Me?" She picks up her mug. "I'm glad to be among friends. To friends!", she says, as she raises the mug in a toast, regardless of whether it contains a beverage suitable for toasting, or just water.

    Fuka goes quiet for a time. No, not out of any sort of social sensibility, but to enjoy hot food. Okay so she's not totally quiet. She's not exactly a delicate eater and isn't above the occasional moan of pleasure when something's particularly juicy. Or, for that matter, exclaiming determination when a morsel threatens to escape her one way or another. She doesn't react overmuch to talk of her old friend, not with sadness certainly... but perhaps there is some melancholy there that's contributing momentarily to the mood.

    Not that such things keep her nonvocal long. "Any paladin is a pala mine!" she expresses cheerfully. It's true enough. She quite likes Gwen and Curtana, though it seems to be more about how a person chooses to live than an actual class for Fuka. Actual paladins might be a bit zealoty for her, but she's okay with those who embrace the lifestyle. "They get up to the right kind of things... Knightly!" Fuka adds with a playful grin.

    Contemplatively, Fuka turns her gaze to Uta. "I think that was Descartes, who was a horseman, not a sailor." she says, quite wrongly. "I'm glad to be among two friends as well! Two friends!" she toasts cheerfully, raising her mug and indulging with enthusiasm.

Gwen says "Might was well try some Oni inspired outfits if I do that." She seems aware she'd fall under the idea of the Red Oni when you get down to it. "Talking about the ship of Thesius?"

Gwen seems to be happyh eating her food.

"I have my own business here I have a measure of success you knoiw and humm? You two are great friends and we'd never met if not for ETO, no?"

"Three Friends!", exclaims Uta, in response to the toast (especially Fuka's), and chugs down her drink. She lets out a chuckle, and after commenting to Fuka, "I mean... uh... Descartes probably -did- ride horses, but... I don't think that makes him...", she says to Gwen, "Theseus ended up on Morri's shipping wall? Why am I not surpr- oh. OH. No, you mean- Hm."

"I once discussed this with Elly," Uta begins. "Our situation as Adventurers is not quite like Theseus's Ship. It's more like Theseus's Inn."

She leans over, and begins to explain, "Let's take Theseus's Ship. Except that it doesn't get replaced. One day, the crew just can't find it. Is it gone? Destroyed? Impounded? Nobody knows. Where the ship was docked, there's land and an inn that wasn't there before. And turns out they're the owners. So, like, a good chunk of the crew decide to open an inn, called 'Theseus's Inn.' Not all of the crew stays though -- some simply leave; new staff with appropriate skills, conversely, joins the enterprise."

She clasps her hands together, "Question: are "Theseus's Inn" and "Theseus's Ship" the same thing?"

    Fuka is quite a philosophist, which is derived from the ancient greek words philo, meaning love, and sophist, meaning one who sounds clever while spouting lies. Fuka does love to sound clever and spout lies, as anyone who knows her can surely attest to. She nods thoughtfully to Uta's question, and responds with her own rhetorical question. "Does the inn float?" she asks thoughtfully. "Can you ship with it? Morri probably could, she could ship anything. But I think you can adventure on a ship, where an inn is like... the end of adventuring OOOOOOH!" she suddenly bursts out, hopping up and down on her seat like she got bit by a fire ant. "That's the solution, isn't it? The adventurers were ready to retire so they gave up their fine adventuring ship and took up inkeeping! A noble profession, if one I'm not looking for any time soon. Still having too much fun adventuring with friends! But if I were ever to give up my ship, metaphorically speaking, I could think of worse fates than being stuck with you two!" she claims, in something of a backhanded compliment. It might well have been intended to sound a little less grudging, in all fairness.

    She looks over at Gwen speculatively. "Though if you're looking to dress up as an oni, be sure to let me know. I might have a thing for busty tall women who are ho... who have horns." Fuka claims, with a smirk that suggests she knows exactly what she almost said and that the misstatement was no accident.

Gwen says "No I don't think that ship would end up on the wall."

She laughs for a moment and she looks over to Fuka again.

"Yes she could, ever notice though people who are paired up are left alone or even taken off the wall."

She thinks "Getting my folks to Run an Inn?! A genius!"

She grins

"I think I could pull it off."

She looks to Fuka she looks real hard.

"I have to wonder if somehow you are distantly related to my mother."

Uta you have given Gwen an idea about what she could lean into her parents to do...

"Wait, are we starting an inn on a ship now?", Uta asks, sweeped into the discussion between Fuka and Gwen and... taking it in her own direction, as she is prone to. "So the adventure can begin, take place, and end right in the same place? Your one-stop-shop for all your adventuring needs?"

She frowns. "It... it's not that -bad- an idea, to be fair. Unless the adventure is on land. Then it might be a problem. We'd need something like my traveller's wagon, but... for an inn."

She quirks an eyebrow. "So... my only hope for being taken off the wall is to get paired?"

And then, a side squint to Fuka. "Now that you mention it... she might."

    Fuka generally approves of the conversation wandering. It goes such interesting places, and for once it's not just her making it go weird! One of the reasons she likes Uta, naturally. Fuka simply approves of weirdness and going to interesting places. "I guess your mom's just into friend-shipping!" Fuka says agreeably. "Which is of course exactly what we'd be doing if we got a ship together." she adds. "Friend-shipping that is, not the outcome of being shipped by your mom. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course!" she grins.

    She looks a little confused by Uta's mention of the wall, but as realization dawns she breaks into a grin. "The only way off the wall is to let yourself get taken out!" Fuka claims. Then frowns. "Or is that taken off? Hm. Taken out sounds better and can result in a lot of fun, unless of course one means THAT version of being taken out, which would imply the only way off Morri's wall is to be dead, which kind of tracks doesn't it?"

Gwen says "Could do an Inn on a ship, ha that's a good one i'll have to keep it min mind."

Gwen nods sagely at this. "Yup but worse thing than to be on a shipping wall as for Morri she's working on a manga a magical girl one....with all the chars based on people she knows..."

She looks over to Fuka for a moment.

"Be taken, Fuka. No no taken as in romatically taken. If you notice the Wake's off the wall now mmmm? Same with Asuna and Klien."

She winks.

"yes Magical Sailor Harem-chan is the working title at the moment...."

"The inn-ship does takeout?", Uta asks, confused. "I mean, it makes sense. Maybe you don't want to go all the way to Mysterious Island to battle the Fallen King. Maybe you just want to have some nice stew with your family. And if it takes off- does that mean it's a flying ship? That'd solve the problem of accessing adventure on land. A flying ship that does takeout. It's so crazy it might actually just completely fail to work." She scratches her head. "I don't think our enchantment are at the level where we can create airships. Or Earthships. Or fireships. Darkships, tho'... those might work." She nods at Fuka. "And of course we'd operate it with friends. Although we might need to hire a few deck hands. I'm not sure we have enough friends to operate a full-rigged flying ship-inn that does takeout."

Uta manages to keep a relatively smiling expression at Gwen's terrifying words. "Oh, that's... that sounds... interesting. I didn't know Morri had the Artisany skill." A short pause. "She doesn't, right? So she... can't really get that done? Which means it'll never see the light of day. Pity. Literature has been deprived of such a masterpiece. But such is life. Cruel, and merciless."

    "Oh believe me!" Fuka exclaims dramatically, a sure sign one should not, in fact, believe her. "I'm TRYING to be taken! But there's an unacceptable shortage of smoking hot men who are willing to take me if you haven't noticed!" she says, as if that's the only goal she has on her multi-track mind. Her multi-track drifting mind, of course. "Maybe your mom's manga will help! Oooh I hope she includes me in it, and makes me even more amazing and beautiful, so I get fans!"

    Yeah, Fuka's response to the idea of a Morri Manga is entirely different from Uta's. She leaps up and strikes a brave Sentai pose, which may well be the start of a misspelled YMCA dance. "Shipping Power, ACTIVATE!" she calls out. "Wait no, if it's shipping power it has to be a combo move! Yeees! Power-ships!" she calls out enthusiastically, probably loud enough Morri would hear, if she's nearby. "I wonder what would happen for our power-ship combo?" she asks, not sure if she means comboing with Uta or Gwen. Possibly leaving it vague enough that either might be horrified.

    And speaking of horrified, Fuka gasps when Uta suggests Morri might not be able to create thi work of ... something. Possibly art. "If she can't draw it herself then we need to get her some help! Artists to draw her ideas! Hot men to ... inspire her!" Fuka claims bombastically. "It cannot stand that this masterpiece would fail for a lack of ... well, of anything!" she insists. "And if that fails maybe we should retire to the inn-ship. We might need to invent something, you know. And if Gwen invites her family it'll become a Kinn-ship!"

"I will keep think that in mind Uta I haven't thought of that but we have to deal wit the flying monster problem first. As for my mother yes, yes she does belive it or not. She's got the first few issues done but not mass printed. I don't think a fire ship would be a good idea."

She does think about this idea for the future, it could be fun right?

She now looks to Fuka.

"Its not that your short few have my father's troll wrangling skills and he's taken."

She smirks for a bit then pauses.

"At least my mother is equal oppertunity o...."

She spit takes at Fuka starting at her friend.

"Oh. Right. The Guardians. I forgot about those. Hm. They are, indeed, a problem." She looks at her back and grumbles, "Stupid lack of flight...", as she flutters her wings as if attempting to fly.

But the flight never comes.

Folding her wings back in place, she pales at Gwen's revelation. "A-a-a-", she stutters, raising a finger. Fukaziroh's encouragement of Gwen doesn't help.

Quick, Uta, QUICK, say anything, ANYTHING to divert the discussion from the current course! What was Fuka saying earlier? Just... just follow up on that! Whatever it was!

"Oh, in my case there has been an eligible bachelor who asked me out-"

NO UTA! NO! ABORT! ABORT! WRONG DISCUSSION!

Wingflail mode activate!

"MEREK TELLS ME YOU HAVE FOUND INFORMATION ABOUT RELICS AND COSMOSPHERES!", she screams, eyes popping open and sweating. "PLEASE TELL ME MORE ABOUT THAT!"

    Look Fuka is just weirdly encouraging of ... things. Particularly weird things. And she thinks the whole idea of Morri creating a manga particularly fascinating. Rizadoman wrote a kid's book, which Fuka helped promote and fund. Could she do any less for a manga which probably involves a ton of embarrassment for some of her favourite people? No, no she could not.

    "Are you saying few men could handle me? Well, I guess I could see that. I am pretty amazing after all." Fuka brags good-naturedly, being quite agreeable. "Not that I'd object to being, you know, handled. By a hot man." she says with a nudge and a wink. And probably another nudge and a wink just for emphasis and for the proper cultural reference. Say no more.

    She perks up when Uta accidentally admits to being asked out. THIS is good gossip! Cue panic time when Fuka takes full notice. "There was an eligible batch of lard who asked you out?" she asks excitedly. "Did you say yes? Did you have fun? Did you have..... FUN?" she asks, more nudging and winking incoming. And then Uta changes the subject. "Oh yes, we found some ClayPads from the site that was originally used to create the Cait Siths and like Spriggans and such. They had strange writing on them, not Hymnos, more like runic enchantments. I think they were illustrating the method of reading and writing. Maybe copying and pasting actually. Taking one concept and writing it somewhere else, something like that. And I'll tell you ALL about it if you promise to tell me about the batshit lord!"

Gwen is watching Uta and Fuka with some level of intrest and then tilt her head for a moment at the mention of Relics and Cosmosphere. She gets a bit of a what look. she looks to Fuka for a moment.

"So some actual archology huh? Wait batch of Lard?"

"COSMOSPHEEERES!", Uta stretches out, while straining every muscle in a valiant, conscious attempt to neither armflail nor wingflail; attempt which is only partially successful: while she manages to restrain her arms, the slight trembling at the base of her wings propagates through their whole length, and due to the lever effect, is amplified, hence visible, revealing Uta's true mood, kind of like a dog's wagging tail.

In other words, the tips don't lie.

"IT WAS A VERY SERIOUS MOMENT!", Uta blurts out, at the suggestion of there either having been fun, or FUN. "I mean." she clears her throat. "It was a serious moment and I had to pass mainly due to my own not being ready to be in a relationship yet. The matter has been postponed until the times are ready."

"Has June been involved with that?", is the first thing Uta asks about the ClayPads. "She's our resident Language and Scripture expert. Unparalled skills. And I'm sure you've already done your part to try and decypher the enchantments, right Fuka?" She chintaps. "We should probably notify Li Gan as well. He was -very- interested in hybrid monsters in Yamato. He sent me to capture a Manticore specifically for this reason. You from New World have a special connection with him, don't you?"

She begins to pace around. "Cait Sith... -Spriggans-..." Turning to Fuka and Gwen, who happen to both Sylph, she adds, "I've always wondered about the link beween our races..."

    Fuka is of course aware of who the eligible batch of lard in question is, or at least has a solid guess. It's not like Uta could possibly hide his identity. And, well, he's a bit of a wierdo but Fuka's the last person to hold that against someone. If Uta is ready, when Uta's ready, what kind of friend would Fuka be if she didn't let her friend's choices rule? If she didn't trust that, should she be making mistakes, she's strong enough to make them and come out ahead in the end?

    So she shrugs as if that means nothing, and continues with something actually important. "Yes, the cosmosphere tie-in is a bit odd. But we found this dive crystal thing which is supposed to be used for swimming around inside someone, which is probably not quite as lewd as it sounds. But Merek seems convinced that diving into his cosmosphere is a way he can recover memories of his past, and that he needs to get to the moon to do so. I offered to try to synthesize rocket fuel, but supposedly there's some other way to get there or something?" Fuka notes. And that's about all she really knows on the subject. "I'm rather inclined to help him, both because it must really suck to lose a part of yourself like that, but also because he behaved himself super well and wasn't even close to the most offensive person in the group there dealing with Frenemy Hotpants. And the worst wasn't me either in case you're wondering! One of us probably isn't even in the top three!" she claims. Which of course suggests one of them probably was. Eheh.

    Fuka tilts her head, considering. "June and Leg of Ham? Okay I'll see if we can reach out to them. This wasn't an alliance-exclusive thing, so there shouldn't be any problem getting them involved. I did what I could, sure, and so did Shiba. But we could use some more experts, particularly on languages I think. I got ... something, but I think it was the translation effect. I don't know if another enchanter might get more from it, especially one with a specialization that's different from mine."

    And with all that lore dumped, it's time for Fuka to be a horrible person again. "Sooooo... who's the lucky guy anyways?" Fuka asks slyly. "Morri will definitely want to know to update her wall after all. OH! And maybe it'll make it into her manga!"

Gwen is just watching this madness play out before her she looks to see Uta is just .... yes she's hyper about this. Like when Gwen gets a new fashion idea. She tilts her head for a moment almost like a confused dog as she watches her.

"June is also in on this?"

She seem to be paying attention to the bits about Cosmossphere pretty intently given her's was violated by the floor ten boss.

"Stop encouraging MOTHER!"

"Swimming... inside someone?"

There is a short pause of reflection on Uta's behalf. "Orlando Furiouso," she then says, out of nowhere.

"Have I ever mentioned I gad been a college student of European Renaissance literature in my past life?" A short pause. "Well, before... -the accident-." Further pause. "...s". "s", as in, plural s.

"Anyway. Impressive poem. Massive influence on successive literature. It fused the Matter of France, aka the stories involving Charlemagne and paladins such as Roland, with the Matter of England, aka King Arthur and his knights. Think of a massive crossover of the main canons of the time. Also included the classics. A masterpiece."

Uta realizes she's been rambling, hands moving about and all that, so she stops and resumes, more calmly, "As the name implies in the original Italian, Orlando, or Roland as he is known in the original French, goes mad for love, and his friend Astolfo must fly to the moon, where everything lost on Earth is to be found, including Orlando's wits. Which happen to be stored in a bottle." Uta leans over, and continues her narrative, "Once there, however, Astolfo finds out that... there's a bottle with -his own- wits. Because, in the end, we're all insane, even if just a little."

There is a short pause, and Uta leans back. "Still... fascinating. I'm wondering if whoever set up this whole thing was aware of this tidbit... and was inspired by it..."

"I am not aware of June being on this. Gwen, think you can get in touch with her and invite her on borad?"

    Oh don't mind Fuka. She's sitting there enjoying the sight of Uta getting so into a topic that she rambles. Does it matter what the topic is? No, not really. She's enjoying the act of the dump every bit as much as the slightly incomprehensible information.

    Finally Uta seems to be finished, so Fuka decides it's time to contribute. "All I know about Orlando and Astolpho is both were very pretty men." she confesses. Though she's no doubt confusing pop culture characters and references rather than actually thinking of the literary titans. "Interesting about storing wits on the moon though. Sounds plausible. And a little scary. I mean, I can believe some people's wits are stored on the moon, especially someone like you." Fuka claims to Uta, a glint in her eye. "And that's great, because how terrible would it be to be entirely sound of mind? Boring if you ask me. If I do find a bottle like that that's mine, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to open it. Or drink it, or you know whatever. Unless my friends said 'Hey Fuka you're not yourself you need to regain what makes you you!', then I would do it..."

Gwen pauses as Uta brings up they were a student of European Renaissance litature and an eye brow goes way, way up. Good job Uta you have left Gwen the speechless one for once. Though things do cross into Gwens area of intest when it comes to lit.

"The Super Knightly Wars as it were."

She thinks for a moment "Sure I may have to lure her out with the offer of booze but I betcha I can."

Gwen is also now silent at Fuka for a moment.

"We have had someone on the moon once a long time ago, they had to die to get back though."

"Please do involve June, she's our best bet for this operation," Uta confirms to Gwen.

Uta does blush a little and looks away when Fuka gets her glint in her eye. "Yeah, I wonder... you know, given how many aspects of the Mind seem to take some form of literal form in this world, sometimes... sometimes I do wonder if my wits are around somewhere. Possibly on the Moon. And if I can get them back..."

"Estelle," Uta confirms, at Gwen, somber. "There apparently are Goblin Factories on the Moon. Sooty Chims. Being blasted with a terrible Song in order to do things. It's one of the things I've been meaning to try and experiment with. Sing some of the Lander Songs at the Chims in Ezzo. Also the Strange Mood songs. See how they react."

    "If you want them back, I support you 100% and will definitely help!" Fuka says without prompting. Never mind she'd just said it'd be terrible to be entirely sound of mind. It's bound to be plenty of fun supporting Uta in her quest to recover her wits, regardless of the eventual outcome. "Though we might have to figure out a way to get there and back. Seems like it'd be a bad idea to go there to recover bits of our minds if the only way back is to die, and lose those bits again. Hey, I LIKE my bits okay? I don't mind risking death, but I'm not entirely okay with a sure thing!" she claims.

    With that Fuka nods, grinning up at Gwen. "You contact June. I'll make sure some of my alliance reps get on to talking with that other guy and let him know about Chimeras and stuff. Songbird, want the credit for the tip? This guy's like some sort of patron for your loremastering isn't he?"

Gwen says "All right so talk to her about Cosmosphere rearch and you need her help right?"

She tilts he head for a moment andf wonders about the moon.

"Does the Goblin Slayer and his companions know this?"

She starts to think blowing up the moon may be a very good idea time to go full Piccalo. She dismisses this thought and think for a moment.

"Chims are a heck of a thing ain't they? Oh by the way i have something for each of you...."

Uta shakes her head at Fuka. "Most I can get credit for suggesting you pass on the information. It's your exploration team who went and found the actual juicy bits. All I did was pointing you to him."

"And you are right," Uta sighs, and lets her shoulders droop. "Getting to the Moon will be the hard part. I have zero clue of how to get there save for starting a Yamato Space Program, and... we might be centuries away from it. That said..." After a moment of silence, she quietly offers, "...we've been there once. We might manage to repeat the miracle."

"If you -really- want to get June interested?", Uta this time says to Gwen. "Mention we have some language we can't quite decypher on our hands. She might also be interested in Cosmospheres, but I'm not sure how much. So, make sure you mention the unknown, or at least hard-to-understand, language."

"Goblin... Slayer...", Uta ponders , tapping her lips and looking away. "I think I might have heard this name before... he's... he's the Silver Hunter whom Erufu hangs out a lot with, isn't he? I suppose I should ask Erufu." Uta turns to Fuka. "I think they're in your alliance, right? Maybe you could get in touch with them too?"

    Fuka grins in reply. "I meant to give you credit for pulling that legoman guy in on this!" she explains, surely getting the name wrong deliberately. "Since you were the one who knew he had interest in that sort of thing and brought it to our attention, if you didn't tell us to invite him, he'd never find out about it!" she says, perhaps stretching the logic a little but seeing no reason not to tell her alliance to give Uta some credit for the invite at least. If she gets a favour out of it, so much the better!

    The blonde considers the other request. "I could spread the word about goblins on the moon, though I imagine we'll need to find a way to get there before this group of Goblin Hunters can do much about it." she muses. "As for these goblin factories, I guess they might be interested in that, but I'm not sure what our chims have to do with it." she asks, fiddling around with her menu system then pinging Uta and Gwen with a chim request, smiling brightly as she does so.

"Legoman- I mean, Li Gan is the one who gave me Sarla's Pen, yes-", Uta says, showing the fountain pen people might have seen her writing with when trying to Loremaster events. "Glad that I could help him find out more about the world, if he didn't know already. And Chim-Chims, the creatures, are one heck of a thing, indeed. I had started looking into them. You might remember the expedition to the Gnomish cavesin Ezzo. I had other leads to follow to possibly find more interesting things about them, but never had time to follow up..."

Uta accepts Fuka's chim request. "...What are these chim requests for, again?"

And finally, realization seems to hit. "You have something for each of us, Gwen? Is it food?"

Gwen says "It be far better to look into Teleporation than space travel as we know it. I'll let het know that and yes the Goblin Slayer he's a Lander who fights at our level." Lets be honest fear the guy playing on hardcore than the people who can get back up. Sht tilt he rhead.

"Yes she's one of his friends so far as i know."

She looks over to Fuka then to Uta and will tap trade to them both. What's up here?Why combat body suits in their colours, though there are some differnces. Fuka's got some fire restiance wind. While Utas has Acid and posion...cause you know slimes.

    "What, I can't just randomly chim two of my favourite people?" Fuka asks, responding to the question with a few additional pings of Uta's name in her menu. Annoying, perhaps, but how can you be annoyed at someone who made such a heartfelt declaration of affection? Well okay, sometimes declarations of affection *are* rather distressing. Who knows?

    What isn't annoying is Fuka checking her own messages, and accepting Gwen's trade request. "Ooooh~" she hums, holding out the body suit. "Are we a Sentai team now? I'm Ranger Blue!" she says cheerfully. Blue because, presumably, that's her colour. Blue for air, and because the typically sylphy colour of green would either be claimed by Gwen or it'd be the colour of acid and/or slime, right?

As she selects the appropriate option from her menu, Uta's clothes shimmer, and soon her uniform is replaced by a white form-fitting 'combat nurse' bodysuit.

"The stats of this thing are -impressive-," she exclaims, not having lifted her eyes from her menu; given the pattern of her finger's movements, she's likely scanning the stat bonuses from the outfit. "According to this-"

She stands up, takes a few steps back, and practices a few punches, kicks, spins, spin-kicks, spin-punches, spin-kick-punches, and singing. Singing a quick melody which summons a single slime, which she promptly picks up and expertly balances on her spread fingers, pointing upwards. "...I've never worn anything that gets so little in the way of martial arts techniques. Gwen, thanks a ton! This thing is fantastic."

After a moment of silence, just turning her fingers and arm around to accomodate for the wobbling slime, she remarks, almost off-handedly, "...I whonder what it looks like."

She looks down, and that's her first mistake. "....aaaa.....", she utters in quiet panic, before replying to Fuka. "Wait, didn't I say that earlier? The part about a sentai team?"

Gwen grins for a moment at her friends reactions to her gift and will bring up a menu. She watches both fuka and Uta work with their new outfit and then punche in with a suit of her own. Soon she's clade in a black and purple body suit of her own grinning at this.

"We could do a sentai team sure but we'd need to get helmets made for it."

Gwen strikes a pose beaming. "We all make this look good!"

    Fuka is of course not particularly demure when it comes to her body. Gwen and Uta are friends, both girls, and ... well, she wouldn't much care even if they were guys for that matter, but she just doesn't care at all in the current situation. Still, getting menu-dressed is getting menu-dressed. The game effects cover everything needing to be covered, and her quick-change into the bodysuit is entirely non-offensive to innocent eyes.

    "Hmmmmm." Fuka muses as she checks herself out in a Sentai Blue bodysuit. It's not the most flattering thing she's ever worn, but it's not at all bad either. She twirls, showing off shamelessly. "I don't think I could wear this over my armour." Fuka observes thoughtfully. Indeed the bodysuit is rather slimming for her, considering normally she wears plate-and-chain underneath a more fashionable overcoat. Not that she needs slimming in any sense, given most of her sliders seem to have been set to minimum or nearly so. "And wearing armour over it seems like that'd be, well, a bit of a shame." she muses. "I mean, it works, but it also covers up everything interesting! Curse you, armour!" she adds good-naturedly.

    She considers, shrugs. "Reminds me, I should get some fashion training." Fuka says. "Not in making clothes, not exactly, but in putting together a *look*. That was always one of my favourite parts of joining a new game, you know? Assembling a look. I'd learn tailoring from you, Gwenny, but honestly for myself I'd be doing armourcrafting anyways and you can't tailor metal! And I just can't imagine how I'd do a lightning-themed suit of plate. Or like... you know, something cute and fluffy with long hair standing on end from static electricity! I could do that, but how do you get that aesthetic with metal? You'd almost have to do it with illusions, and I'm not good enough to sustain magic like that over a long term!"

Gwen Says "I'd more say wear it under your armor I do so with my heavy taking set." She grins for a moment and she loioks for a moment. "I really should learn basic armor crafting the more I think about it... I guess i need to find a teacher don't I?!" Then she can do full fashion goddesses help you all.

Then the sound of the front door opening and Morri enters sticking her head in with the most troll grin ever.

"Why Gwen I didn't know you and the girls were getting vacume packed for freshness."

Morris going to attempt to flee before Gwen tosses a spoiled bit of bread at her mother...

    Fuka scoffs at the very suggestion. "Practicality coming first may save your life, but are you truly LIVING if you do nothing for your soul but survive day to day?" she observes loftily. It's also a rhetorical question, naturally, though Uta's more than welcome to add her own observation. If anything, Fuka'd enjoy it. "In any event yes, armourcrafting's tailoring for metal, but I don't think I could learn Gwen's secrets that way. I mean, I *am* pretty good at armourcrafting. I just have some... trouble making it look as good as it does in my head!"

    With that, Fuka turns to regard Gwen thoughtfully. "If only there was a devastatingly beautiful sylph who could teach you basic armourcrafting. Like, practically right beside you! That would be amazing wouldn't it?!" the little blonde says with more than a little snark. She'd say more, but then Morri makes an appearance. "Oh hey Lady Pantdragon!" Fuka calls out, waving cheerfully and twirling some more. "I'll say I'm packed!" she cheers, slapping her butt mid-spin. That and, well, there's an awful lot of Fuka in a tiny package isn't there?

"So... you both need teachers?", Uta asks Gwen and Fuka, on the subject of armorcrafting. She seems to have misunderstood Fuka as asking Gwen to teach Armorcrafting, rather than the other way around.

"I mean...", Uta attempts to reply to Fuka, raising one finger. "...you...have a point," she finally concedes, looking down. "Surviving day to day was what I was doing before the Apocalypse and- no. No, I realize it, it was not living," she concedes.

"Vacuum packed?", she answers Morri. "What do you mea-" She looks down at herself. "AAAAAAH! THIS IS NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!", Uta blurts out, before armflailing/wingflailing, and then stopping all at once. "Actually, uh, no. This is -exactly- what it looks like. AAAAAAAAAH!", she resumes.

Gwen pauses "That or honestly Song I been having to think pretty hard on that if I'm being honest Uta." It's a hard call for Gwen after all no? As she's chattin and showing off her new outfit one can hear morri again. She opens the door for a moment throws some towls in then close it. Then there's a sound of it being locked and some spell locking the windows.

"Have fun ladies just clean up when your done!"

with a mad cackle Morri then runs off and Gwen just looks totally mortifeed....at her mother's trolling.

    "I wouldn't say I *need* teaching." Fuka claims thoughtfully. "But it's a matter of improving myself in a good direction, in a manner that's fulfilling! If I'm to bring my visions properly to life, I need to do things right! Or at least right for me, which may not always match what others consider right. But who cares about them!" she cackles gleefully.

    Morri throwing in towels and locking the doors makes Fuka confused, but that rarely slows Fuka down. "Are these wetsuits then?" the little Sylph asks, picking up a towel. "And here it's the middle of winter. Ah! Surely she wants us to clean up after being out in the cold! Bath time!" she calls cheerfully. Then frowns. "How do we get to baths then, I wonder? You don't have a nice hot bath in the store do you?"

"I would be honoured to teach you Song," Uta replies to Gwen. "As, I'm sure, would be Fuka. There's plenty of choice for teachers in this room."

"...Oh no..." Uta exclaims, going pale at Fuka's suggestion. "...the private Jacuzzi Onsen I created for Gwen using the Rohana Sphere," she almost whimpers. "...I had forgotten about that one..."

After a moment of reflection, she adds, "...I mean, if we're in wetsuits, uh, it's not really that bad, really. Actually covers more skin than my usual uniform..."

Gwen just is starting at the door and is muttering about her Mother needing to be dumped in a icey ocean for an afternoon. She then sighs as she picks up the towls then pauses.

"Wait the Osen...." She sighs "Might as well relax and enjoy it right?" She looks to Uta for a moment with a grin. She notices the entry way to the hotspring Uta made long ago is the one way out not locked...by her mother.

    Fuka peers at Uta, amused by her statements and intrigued, and of course playful. "It should be a crime to cover such skin excessively!" she grins playfully. Of course Fuka has no nudity taboo and is also well aware that sometimes adding clothing can be more appealing than taking it away, but that won't stop her from teasing!

    She pauses, considering Gwen. "Wait, you mean... she actually just wanted us to enjoy a hot bath? Here I thought she was actually being lewd!" she exclaims. Then shrugs. "Oh well, either way I'm up for it!"

"I... I guess a hot bath would actually be quite relaxing, and help forget about the weather outside," she concedes to Gwen, while she makes vague gestures towards the Great, Cold Outdoors.

Fuka only gets a double blink. "Of course. What else could have Morri meant?"

Gwen says "Well i'd be happy to have you as my teacher then!" It seems everyone around Uta gets into music also the idea of Gwen singiong is an interesting one. Given she likes to but is so off key without any skills in the matter. She tilts her head "They could be..." She will run with Fuka's idea ont he towls nad looks to Uta with a grin as she'll head to the onsen to slip on in up to her neck. "Come on in the water's fine!"

    Fuka's been into music a long time, much longer than she's known Uta, but is quite glad that Uta's circle tends to be a musical one. Besides in this world song appears to be the deepest of secrets, fundamental to things in a mystic manner. Maybe even more important than magic itself!

    Besides, having fun with friends is important, maybe even more important than magic itself! "Oh you know, lewd things." Fuka smirks at Uta. If she has to specify, where's the fun in that? Much better to just allude to lewdness and let Uta figure it out, or worry about it as the case may be. "Now let's all get hot and wet together!" Fuka says cheerfully, and heads for the indoor onsen without a care in the world.

"F-FUKA! NO!", Uta wingflails at, well, at this point it's pretty obvious to guess whom she's talking to.

* * * Some time later * * *

Cut to Uta submerged almost completely in the hot water of Gwen's miniature private Jacuzzi Onsen. It fits within a room!

Uta is submerged almost completely; only her eyes (and, well, the part of the head above it) emerge from the water, and her eyes are closed. On the plus side, she looks completely relaxed. Hot water will do that. Especially in winter. "Aaaaaah.... this is life...", she says. Or attempts to. Eyes and above are outside the water. Mouth is below. There is some gurgling and coughing, before Uta manages to say her sentence, and return to her previous position.

Gwen is curious about where learning song could lead. She'll worry about that later, for she's enjoying the water as she slips into it. Gwen turns a bit red at Fuka's comment and she wonders. Maybe her mother is right and they need to set Fuka up with someone... Gwen is up to her neck in the hot water and just lets out a happy sigh. "This is one of the best things you done for my family Uta...and Fuka? Are you dating anyone at the moment?"

    Fuka is, of course, enjoying the hot bath. Truly one of life's greatest pleasures, and one she takes advantage of at every opportunity. She doesn't even disturb the peace of the heated pool by being lewd. Teasing her friends is fine, but it's not like she's out to spoil the enjoyment. Uta gets a headpat, but a merely friendly one, as she almost drowns herself. "This is the life indeed~" she sighs.

    Oh, Fuka would be intrigued to note Morri wants to set her up with someone. Of course Morri ships people with just about anyone, but there's a difference between shipping and setting someone up! "Hm? Oh, no. No luck with men~" Fuka observes lazily, clearly not stressed at her lack of success. Not now at least. "Perhaps I should try my luck with women? Why, Gwen? Was that a proposition?" she asks innocently. Well, not entirely innocently. More playfully than innocently. In fact, not really innocently at all...

Uta, in the meatime, soothed by the headpat and the hot water, returns to enjoy the bath. When Uta hears that Fuka has no luck with men, she begins, quiet, "Maybe Gwen could add you to the list of purchaseable dates for the Charity Date Auctions to collect funds for the Red Chain-"

But when the discussion takes a different turn, Uta simply stares. She wasn't expecting this turn of events.

Gwen looks for a moment to Fuka the light in her eyes dims for a moment as Fuka pulls one hell of a counter attack or is she serious? Gwen can tell she's playfl but there is as much innocence in Fuka as there is in her mother. She tilt her head and says "I was just offering to help you find someone. Besides I fear I'd break you and send you to the church if such a thing happned" She's firing back at least then she looks to Uta.

"A wonderful idea! What says you Fuka?!"

    Fuka isn't serious, no. It's probably written all over her face... and if it's not, the way she laughs at Gwen's reaction should clear it up. Not laughing AT Gwen, just finding the whole thing too funny. Had Gwen countered her teasing suggestion that might have been a different sort of funny, but alas. "Hey, I'm tough!" she complains, grinning. "And don't threaten me with a good time!" she adds.

    Still, this is a bit real, and Fuka owes her friends something for the heavy-duty teasing. Besides she's comfortable, and that means her guard's not so high as it might otherwise be. "Real talk... Not interested in finding someone." Fuka claims with a sigh. "Well, I mean I *am* interested, but not to the point of searching. Or having someone search for me. I'd rather have friends and be with friends than go around chasing guys. Seen too many girls who do that, you know? And it just never clicked for me." Fuka explains. "If something happens with a friend that's one thing. And a date doesn't have to be a big commitment or anything. It's just having fun, and I'm always up for that!" she adds. And should it lead to more? Well, who is she to avoid such things?

    She looks back at Uta, considering. "I'd love to join that charity date thingy. It sounds like a lot of fun and you know my feelings on that! It's a great idea! Even if I doubt anyone would seriously be interested in anything serious, I hope there's some people out there who enjoy having fun!"

"Same thing, same thing. Not actively looking," Uta confirms to Fuka, "as you probably know already."

"The way I understand it..." Uta glances to Gwen, whom, as far as she remembers, is involved in organizing this whole thing; then, back to Fuka, "...it's... pretty much 'spend some time with the winner'. I don't think there's any expectations for it to be a proper date. It's just... hang out together? Doing things you'd likely do on a first date, I guess, but nothing says you can do first date things with just a friend. I am not sure of the exact implications, but I expect there'll be dinner, possibly a show. Possibly talking about each other." A sloshing hints at Uta adjusting her posture under the water. "Of course, if you want it to be a date, nobody is stopping you. It's supposed to be fun first, and romantic maybe."

A short pause.

"Ok, -technically- it's supposed to raise money for the Red Chain first, be fun second, and romantic maybe."

Gwen looks at Fuka for a moment longer. "I'll have to be careful with that and find..." She sinks up to her chin in the water now. She look back to fuka fdor a moment "All right I'm not my mother and won't push it at you."

She looks to uta for a moment She grins faintly "The Red Chain is ... off the chain at this point with it's success. As for that we shoud set up another auction soon shouldn't we I bet we can get my parents to be the masters of Ceramonie for it..."

Gwen now turns bright red at Uta and vanishes under the water without another word for the moment...

    Fuka makes a sour face at Gwen's initial offer. She knows Gwen means well, but she's been burned before by boys showing interest before getting to know her well. She may even have certain issues over it, though she's not overly self-conscious of those. Mostly she's just aware that she prefers friends to would-be lovers. She's not disinterested in lovers, far from it, but they're not a priority.

    "If you do find anyone for me, they'd better be hot." Fuka jokes. Because it's just not *her* to appear disinterested, especially when a friend is trying to be kind. "In the meantime yeah, I'll happily take part in the Red Chain thing. I'm all for raising money for a good cause, and fun!" she notes. "Also maybe romance." she adds with a glance to Uta. Fuka's a romantic in all senses of the word, which is something often hidden behind ribald humour and jokery. "Also dating! And let me know if someone's bidding too high for either of you and you don't like it. I'll either outbid them or drive up the price REALLY high! For charity. And for my friends of course!"

"Oh, yes, the Bonded Hearts festival is going to be here soon," Uta comments, more like distractedly remarking on a fact of life than trying to imply anything. "I hope that they will vet potential bidders well for this auction. I mean, the Red Chain has a reputation to uphold. Maybe they can get in touch with the Hunters' Guild? They're pretty good at vetting their customers, I hear..."

Uta watches Gwen disappear under the water. She blinks and wonders about it for a moment, then turns to Fukaziroh, "...Is she up for auction too?", she asks, nudging her head in the direction where Gwen was a moment ago.

She relaxes again, and stares in the distance. "In any case, what will be, will be."

"...And please do not risk too much money in this endeavour!", Uta adds to Fuka, sounding genuinely worried about her friend depriving herself of possibly necessary financial resources. "The step between inflating the bid and losing it is brief!"

Gwen is under water for the moment she can still barely hear what the others are saying she does surface again "Well good to have a friend like that." There was the rare chance of someone creeping but that had mostly been worked out of most people's systems after several years right? Gwen rises from the depths finally "So yes we need to get planning for the next auction..."

    Fuka grins at Uta. "Why? Are you going to bid on her?" she asks playfully. And then scoffs at Uta's worry, having no real head for money. Or at least, not for saving money. "No amount of money is too much to spare my friends from having a bad time!" she declares grandly. "Or if it's really funny. But I suppose I'd have to set aside at least enough for the date itself! No one calls Fukaziroh a cheap date!"

    Does Fuka know what she just said? Who knows?

    "You don't need to worry about me bidding for you though. If I want to have a good time with you, I wouldn't need to buy it! We'd just have a good time!" Fuka says with enviable certainty. Or perhaps arrogant certainty. She nods along to Gwen. "Welcome back." she greets. "And yes, let's plan the next auction!" she agrees. "What are we planning? Who to buy? What we're going to make them do when we win? Oooh, foursome!"

"I suppose people have already planned for me, to be fair," Uta begins to reply to Gwen. "I kinda found myself entangl-No I am not!", she hurries to answer Fuka on the subject of bidding on Gwen. "Besides, are we potential dates up for auction even allowed to bid?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we don't get to. I mean, it would be a conflict of interest. Otherwise, what would happen if, say, someone wins one of us at an auction, and then asks us to bid on their behalf? I don't think that should be allowed, they should do that directly, without involving us: just because we're on a date of sorts, it doesn't mean we have to do their bidding!"

"...I think," Uta finishes, with a confused frown.

As her brain catches up with what Fuka said, she arm-and-wing-flails, which, underwater, causes a certain amount of sloshing. "NO FOURSOMES! CONFLICT OF INTERESTS!"

Gwen says "Who to recuit for the auction actually should be our first plan no?" Given Gwen was the host last time maybe its time for her to go up on auction. She then stares for a moment at Uta her mouth agape. Uta finally has got Gwen to be what the hell for once.

    Fuka already knew about Uta's... entanglement. Not that she considered herself entangled exactly. That's news. But that she had been approached and had ... said she wasn't ready. "I don't know, I hope we're allowed to bid. It's more fun that way!" Fuka muses. "And besides, it's still money going to the Red Chain! Why restrict who can put in a bid? Oh hey, I could get a harem of hot guys to date! I wonder if Ryguy's going to join... mmh, have you seen him shirtless? Wait what am I asking, OF COURSE you have. EVERYONE has seen him shirtless." she scoffs.

    "Anyways, yeah. We need to get people to volunteer as tribute. And like... get each of them up on stage to do a little dance or something, show off why they should be bid on. All in fun!" Fuka states enthusiastically. "You know, a talent show, make sure all the bidders know who's going to be fun, who's sexy, that sort of thing. Get the bidders hyped! And then... profit!" she beams. "Maybe a bit of hype, some announcing, a big show. And then who knows? The rest's up to the participants I guess!"

"Oh goodness, don't encourage Gwen to do that!", Uta rubs her forehead. "Knowing her, to cater to the videogaming nerd playerbase, she'll like, not only put the date up for auction, but set up some character-generation like stage to present the date on, and even bring out a corresponding rack of outfits and accessories to pick from with like, two or three available for free as part of the bid, and the others unlockable as DLC to encourage people to pay more after winning the bid. And knowing her, I would't be surprised if she actually kept the DLC ones locked inside glass cases!"

Uta sighs and slides deeper underwater. "Good thing she's not around."

Gwen says "Yes that should be the plan find who we can get to sign up. Get my folks to host it Morri will be gleeful for week from that..." She pauses for a moment she looks at Uta and Fuka as an idea fills her head. Gwen grins widly about this "Oh thats a wonderful idea!" What have you done what have you done.

"What about also bidding on outfits for the date to wear....!?"

    Fuka looks between Uta and Gwen, somewhat puzzled but willing to go along with the flow. Besides, if there's one thing anyone should know about Fuka, it's that she loves encouraging anything that her friends are enthusiastic about. She's not sure if Uta's having a plausible deniability moment in definitely not encouraging Gwen, or if she's just having an Uta moment. Either way though, Fuka sees nothing wrong with catering to the videogaming nerd playerbase. Because, of course, that's herself personified.

    "Yes. It would be a shame if Gwen were to cater to video game nerds." Fuka deadpans. "So Gwen, definitely a bad idea to treat the whole stage presentation as some kind of chargen system, or maybe even a dating sim where you can configure options for your date setup. Imagine the chaos!" Fuka says happily. "Of course both daters have to play along. You can't just force your date into something scandalous. Unless they're fine with it of course! Yeeees, this sounds absolutely terrible. Gwen, don't tell Gwen any of these ideas." Fuka observes keenly.

"Gwen! When did you show up here?!", Uta asks, surprised, as the larger Sylph speaks. The shock looks authentic. "N...no! That was meant NOT to encourage this idea! It was meant to nix it in advance!"

The sudden increase in forehead could be due to the hot water, but more likely, it's worry. "Fuka, no! Just because we're trapped in a videogame, it doesn't mean we should start acting as if we were trapped in a videogame!", Uta continues to Fuka.

"...wait, no, NOTHING SCANDALOUS! I thought we had established it's not THAT kind of date!"

Gwen says "no no it's an amazing idea and i been here the entire time Uta! Your at my shop and home!" She grins to Uta, and as this happens one can hear a muffled sound of Morri victory from outside the room. Someone's been listening in and Gwen has just saccepted it. "Oh it would be things you could wear in town." Given this was a world fashion standards one is sitll in danger. "I'll need to find an enchanter to do the effects...."

    "Nothing scandalous." Fuka agrees. "Unless that's what people want." she adds, because of course she does. "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me!" she adds, entirely randomly. Yes she's having fun.

    The little sylph flashes her bright grin at Gwen next. "Oh yes, I think it's a wonderful idea. Uta's a genius!" she claims, warmly and sincerely. "We'll have to ensure Uta gets full credit for the idea. And as for enchanters, hmmmm. If only you knew someone DEVASTATINGLY BEAUTIFUL who was a RENOWNED ENCHANTER right here who would be happy to do that sort of thing out of pure amusement!"

"G-Gwen! What are you doing here, in your own house and shop!?", Uta asks, shocked.

And then frowns. "...oh, wait." And the Mother of All Facepalms takes place. Morri's victory sounds do not help reassure the Spriggan.

"...What... what would the enchantments be for?"

Gwen says "for doing the chracter creator visual effects for the acution!" She beams there's no malaice she just really thinks its cool and is sometime slike a giant 6 4 puppy at times. This is one of those times. "Yes Uta should get the credit for this amazinfg idea!" She then looks at Fuka "Wait don't you enchant?"

    "Oho! Video game character creator visual effects!" Fuka says with a dangerous glint in her eye. She's not sure what to think about Gwen being so apparently slow when it comes to realizing Fuka's assets. No not THOSE assets, the enchanting and video gaming skills. On the one hand, Gwen might be teasing Fuka and fair game for that. On the other, it could just be thick density, and there's nothing wrong with that either. It's not like Gwen's the most obtuse girl in the tub after all.

    Well, best to leave no doubts as to her intent in any event. Fuka turns to face Gwen fully, leeeeeeaning in to her personal space until the only reason there's any actual space between them is due to the difference in their heights. "I will be deeply and personally offended if you don't accept my help in creating these magical effects!" insists Fuka aggressively. Then smiles in a way that's equal parts amusement and threat.

"There's no need to credit me for that, really. I didn't come up with the idea. The little imaginary Gwen that lives in my head, did," Uta blurts out, pointing at her own cranium. "Well, okay, the not-so-little Gwen that lives inside my head. It's just what I'd have expected Gwen to do. Even if I hadn't said it, I'm pretty ready to bet that Gwen would have come up with it anyway. Or Morri. Or Morri and Gwen together. Sometimes they conspire. I can't say for sure when it happens or not, but you know how you can guess it's going to rain when the birds fly low? Well, I'm guessing that Morri and Gwen are conspiring when Uther sneaks out of the shop all infiltrator style."

"Oh, yeah, Fuka is an amazing enchanter! Have you ever seen Frank, Gwen?" After a short silence, Uta continues, "Please do not show off Frank while we're bathing. I get 'appliance near the bathtub' vibes."

Gwen says "Yes thats what I'm thinking for the auction I'm going to get you on board for this if you want it." Gwen may indeed be playing with Fuka but it seem she's on baord and she pauses as she now ahs Fuka in her personal space. "Careful you might set off something getting close like this...so you want the job if so say yes!"

She looks ove to Uta for a moment. "No your getting credit, I'm not a theif heck morri will be proud of you for this idea i bet!"

    Fuka backs up without the slightest bit of self-consciousness. Or the slightest fear of what Morri might think of her and Gwen pressed together like that. Hey she might have a dirty mind, but proper place proper time and all that. Her getting aggressively physical, in this case, had nothing to do with ... well, with that sort of thing.

    "Well since you asked nicely, of course I'd be happy to help make enchantments to support Uta's plan to promote the dating auction!" Fuka says happily, once she's back on her side of the onsen. Making sure to credit Uta appropriately, naturally. She glances over at Uta, raising an eyebrow. "I wouldn't summon Frank in the onsen, you've made it clear you're not interested in foursomes." she says teasingly. "Frank is a wonderful weapon, but he's really quite big, and this is wonderful but a bit crowded already! I'm sure if Gwen wants to see my weapon we'll have opportunity to do so some other time." she states, with enough eyebrow movement that even if Uta doesn't see the actual innuendo, she'll probably get the idea that yes it exists.

"We could just... you know... not give credit? Really, I don't- I don't like to attract attention to myself," Uta attempts to Gwen

"It's not- it's not really -my plan-...", Uta protests, kind of weakly, before Fuka launches in a full-on fusillade of Innuendo which might or might not be the cause for Uta's progressive blushing.

"...no Frank. Good." Uta finally says, before disappearing underwater once more.

Gwen is very afraid of what Morri might say if she sees this. thankfully. "Please don't I'd not want my home to explode!" She nods "I can see it another day ye...." She pauses and peers at Fuka. Did fuka just imply ... no that's how her mother would think. "It totally is your plan!"