Lop, Uta: Castle In The Sky

Fort Ouph.

A miracle of engineering, a marvel of magic, a pinnacle of achievement. A city suspended high in the air, which Adventurers can reach only through teleportation, if one does not count respawning.

A legacy of the Age of the Alv which, long gone, still leaves some fragments lingering around, and this particular fragment is massive, not to mention proud, looking down upon the land it seems to claim as a birthright.

For an unknown number of years, it showed all the signs that marked it as being populated by a superior race, one which did not need concern itself with trivial matters such as gravity. The Alv were winged, so they needed no railings or other such protections, they could likely just step off the edge and fly their way around, free as birds, light as air. As for the Adventurers, there was pretty much only one way to describe how the city appeared to them: a massive safety nightmare.

Unless, that is, one had wings and could slow fall.

Enter Pela Clarpuff, who, with the help of a handful of fellow Adventurers, undertook the task to build railings and other life saving measures all around it (and within it).

The works have been completed about six months ago, but Uta still seems enthralled by the recent construction. "I've always been so buys with so many things I've forgotten to stop and smell the flowers," Uta says, mostly to herself, distracted.

Then leans over to smell the railing.

"That's the strangest flower I've ever -- wait, no, I'm mixing metaphors and reality again."

She stops, looks left, looks right, and smells the railing again. "Smells right. Good. It means it was proper, manual work, not rushed menu craftmanship."

Natsume, for the most part, liked to keep her feet on firm, solid ground.. So it was kind of a shock to be this high up in the air... Infact she had almost a death grip on the railing that Uta was smelling.

"I would very much like to back away from this railing overlooking the death defying drop beyond sight down into the land below please..." She mumbles in a somewhat terrified tone before she bites down on her lower lip and releases the railing to spring backwards. Flipping head overheels from the momentum to land - quite firmly on her feet several feet away from the edge before she flops over backwards with a pomf as her backpack of alchemy supplies catch most of her weight.

"I am... Very glad you are enjoying yourself though Miss Uta. And that those railings are extremely well constructed..."

Yeowang was involved in quite a lot of Pela's machinations here, having provided quite a lot of funding that paid for things like railings to be installed. It's not wise to try the safety features, but Yeowang sees it's Uta and relents. If anyone knows about flying, or at least gliding, it's Uta. Though she does wonder if the railings, which were probably built in a rush on the cheap, will stand up to a serious threat. Looks like we will find out.

"Hello, Uta," she calls from somewhere deeper in Ouph. She's dressed more formally, like a minor functionary might, so perhaps she's been chatting up the local leadership on some topic or other? She's been honcho-ing the push to blaze a trail down to Shibara, but it seems like progress has stalled on that front. As Natsume expresses reticence about the drop, she muses, "They ought to install nets, I think. For additional safety. The original designers did not have a workplace safety program, that much is clear."

There is the briefest moment of concern at Natsume's not-quite-perfect landing, but is followed by the faintest sight of relief as soon as it is clear that no harm was done. "Your backpack makes an interesting sound, and you can call me Uta, not necesarily in that order," the musical kung-fu Nurse comments with a chuckle. "Sorry if this makes you nervous, but it's time for the bi-yearly Census of the Slimes, and Fort Ouph's sewers provide quite an interesting biome. If this makes you uncomfortable, I will endeavour not to prolong the experience further."

"Oh, hello, Yeowang!", Uta greets with a bow. "Looking fancy, today!"

The Spriggan thinks for a moment. "To be fair, since they installed these bad boys," she comments, patting the railings, "the number of adventurers who have experienced the death defying drop beyond sight into the land below while screaming 'Leeroy Jenkins' has plummeted," she remarks casually, as she crosses her arms and leans angainst the railing. "So, I would call that a success already."

After looking up and away, and considering a little, she adds, absent-minded, "Nets would be good though, yeah..."

    Natsume pauses at the new voice, the appearance of a new person seeming to calm her quite a bit, or at least take her mind off the situation as she get sback to her feet and curtseys politely.

"Oh! ... Hello, I don't believe we've met. I'm Shiroibara Natsume. A pleasure to make your aquaintance." She states affirmitively before she smiles, glancing back to Uta where her eyes expand slowly at the sight of the edge again, but she doesn't seem to immediately panic again.
"Oh, no, no Uta it's fine. It's... not ideal, but I can handle it... .. and um.. The "Bi-yearly Census of the Slimes"? I've never heard of that.. What's that about?" She asks politely while brushing off her skirt and backpack cautiously to clear any debris or plant clippings that might be stuck to her.

Yeowang smiles to Uta and smirks about looking fancy. "I had a meeting," she explains. Since Wake helped her polish up her social skills for this world's noble ways, she's been doing more of that. She gives the impression that she is not new to the task, though. She points out to Uta, "I think the number that scream 'Leeroy Jenkins' is about the same, maybe reduced just a bit. I assume those are the ones that jump intentionally. I'm not sure who they're calling out to. Is he someone who lives on the outer edge of the city? It's the number that scream in terror when they go over that have mainly been reduced, they're the ones who didn't /mean/ to go over the edge, I would think."

She smiles to Natsume, and bows slightly. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Shiroibara," she replies formally. "I am called Yeowang here." In the game, she means. "I believe I've seen your name on a Guild roster, but it's nice to meet you."

"It's where I go checking on the population of the slimes across the lands of Yamato," Uta explains to Natsume. "To keep the scientific data at the Slime Labs accurate and up to date, I regularly embark on a journey to collect rigorous figures on the presence of the various strains of slimes across the whole continent. Kind, species, subspecies, variant, any alterations in behaviour worth of note and, most importantly, tactile examination."

'Tactile examination,' an expression which, despite Uta's protests to the contrary, those familiar with her will recognise as Uta's way to masquerade 'petting the slimes' as a serious scientific endeavour.

"I don't know what 'Leeroy Jenkins' means, to be honest. I suppose it must be this world's equivalent of Geronimo or thereabouts. 'Leeroy' might be related to French 'Le Roi', i.e. 'The King'. Possibly meaning something along the lines of 'For King Jenkins!' Or maybe it's some ancient tribal warcry that means 'For Glory'. Deciphering that one has not been very high on my list of etymological priorities, to be fair," she comments, with a dismissive flick of her hand.

"Oh, I see... That's really smart Uta!" Natsume replies with excitement before she clasps her hands. "I would never have thought about that.. But then I normally just focus on collecting herbs. I haven't been tending to collecting slimes much lately." She says before she pokes her hat to recenter it on her head. "I was going to start herding some but I really didn't see a point without having my shop constructed, yet..." She says before she slips her hands into her pockets and then turns to look at Yeowang.

"Oh goodness, just call me Natsume, please. There's no need for such formalities and at some point in the near future I hope my name to be familiar on everyone's lips as the premier place to purchase alchemical mixtures, enhanced through slime refinement!" She says before she smiles and nods. "Yes I did apply with the guild, and i've completed a few asignments, but my primary focus has always been alchemy.. I really do need to start doing more jobs to bolster my funds and resources to start construction on my own shop and brewery...." She admists with a slightly heavy tone.

Yeowang ohs as Uta explains her lack of investigation into the topic of Mister Jenkins, or possibly King Jenkins. "It seems strange that they would make their king live outside the city," she observes. "But yes, perhaps it was a tribute to a king of old, or possibly one of the Alvs who liked to fly?"

She can only sigh at Uta's Petting of the Slimes event. "At least you're not losing health as badly as you used to." Lack of Monster Handling's not a bar to slime love, but it costs HP if you don't have the skill.

She smiles as Natsume introduces herself familiarly and states her goals. "That's quite admirable," she says. "I wish you success in your goals, of course, and I may be able to help you with funding. It's not free, of course, but the Ninetails Bank is much more reliable and with far better rates than the occasional player loanshark you may encounter. And there's quite a lot to do, still, though I've observed things have slowed down recently. I'm not sure what to make of that."

"The Mystery is likely lost to time. As in, I don't have time to ask Adventurers. They'd likely tell us. Maybe we should ask," Uta offers to Yeowang. "And... uh... yes. Yes, learning how to Handle Monster benefitted me substantially. You seem to have progressed a lot in your commercial endeavours as well."

"You would be surprised at how many people do stumble, unbeknownst to each other, upon the idea of counting slimes," Uta begins to explain to Natsume. "The snag is, when they try to run the scenario in their head, most of them somehow tend to fall asleep and the idea is lost before it can be written down. It is quite fascinating. Anecdotal evidence indicates it might be a workable remedy for insomnia, but I would like to run more rigorous tests before recommending it as part of my medical duties."

"You want to work with slime refinement, and earn some coin towards your own shop in the process?", Uta asks Natsume. The Spriggan's pointed ears perk up, as do her wings, making one doubt how good a poker player she'd make. "May interest you in a position as at the Slime Labs? I travel a lot for my research and-slash-or medical practice and-slash-or martial arts training and-slash-or musical tours, and, well, I could use some help in keeping the place running while I'm away. Standard Yamato lab assistant pay per month. Benefits include full coverage health care, free gym in the form of martial arts practice, unlimited bardic music streaming, all of them provided by me personally." Advantages of working for a musical kung-fu nurse. "Also, employee discount on slimes and slime rentals." She glances sideways. "By the way, your requests to rent slimes will have to go through Yeowang. We are cooperating in this, and our agreement is that she handles those."

    Natsume blinks, tilting her head at Uta before she folds her arms at her waist in thought. "...You're offering me a job with full time pay as a lab assistant, benefits, and an employee discount...?" Natsume muses the thought over in her head while closing her eyes for several moments before she clasps both hands and bows to Uta. "That's wonderful! I won't have to work out of a cardboard box infront of Miss Pela's store any longer and I can start putting some of my theories and principals to work in a controlled setting that won't likely result in a random street fire!" The young bun-bun exclaims before nodding her head rapidly. "Yes yes yes this is so awesome. And I'll get to work through miss Yeowang as well? I see nothing wrong with this arangement at all!"

Yeowang nods to Uta about having progressed in her commercial adventures. "My department store in Dun Loireag is doing quite well, too, yes," sha admits. She peers at Uta, and tells her, "I think you have replaced the traditional pasttime of counting sheep with counting slimes?" She laughs as Uta mentions the slime rental business. "That does seem to make a small profit," she admits. "You have found a niche, I will agree." And they're number one for cleaning up a crime scene.

She looks worried as Natsume enthuses about working at the Slime Labs. "Will she make /more/ than Setsuna?" she asks Uta pointedly. "Or the same?" She tells Natsume. "Setsuna is a Scale fellow who Uta somehow managed to cadge into working for free. I'm not clear, myself, how that was arranged."

"Technically, once we've defined the details, it'll likely fall more in the ballpark between half-full to three-quarters-full time," Uta clarifies to Natsume. "If you are an optimist, but we aren't going into the semantics of a glass containing liquid below its maximum capacity."

"But still -- yes, you should earn enough that you should be able to sustain yourself, and you should have enough free time to go on quests for the Hunter's Guild if you want to boost your income. Cannot promise housing -- I only run the Slime Labs in the Peko Ranch, the rest of the buildings are Rylen's, but I will certainly not tell anyone if you bring your own futon into the lab! In fact, I sleep there a lot myself."

"No, no, Setsuna wasn't working for free," Uta explains to Yeowang. "But you are right in that it wasn't a -great- position. He was more of an intern. Also, power over professional underlings might have gotten to my head, back then, but I've since learned my lesson: I am going to treat my employees better now!"

Inhale. "That said, great! Glad to have you on board, Natsume! I'll chim you the details of your first day once I know exactly when I am going to be back at the lab. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to see a slime about another slime."

And that said, she heads off into the distance.

"I can't really be certain how much money i'll make!" Natsume replies before she puts one finger on her chin. "The thoery behind my crafting is sound, but it's untested on a production scale.. that's the part i need to refine." She says before she hums thoughtfully, bouncing on her heels so her ears flop up and down in a rythym.

"However, I can promise that I have an exceptional work ethic and will help out in any way I can to make opperations of the lbas smoother between my tinkering and experimentation!" Natsume says directly to Yeowang as Uta is already walking away.

Yeowang learns something new every day. "Setsuna got paid at all?" she says, surprised. But the news that Uta will be treating her employees better is good news. "Well, that lessens my alarm," she admits as Uta departs.

She considers Natsume, and says, "Your determination is admirable. But let's work on your production technique. Not the actual steps," she adds quickly. "But the processes you use. I may be able to help you refine and optimize them." Because in addition to all the other stuff she's done, she's familiar with process control. She uses it in some of the warehouses she manages for the alliance.

    Natsume nods her head before she bows. "You seem very knowledgable about the process and I would certainly not mind some help refining anything you see needs improvement, ma'am." Natsume then tilts her head to one side. "...Maybe back once we're on solid ground though? ... This ground is still quite unsteady to me and the subtle movement and air around us makes me somewhat uneasy..." The bun-bun admits before she turns and looks around for the nearest teleporter to leave the island.

Yeowang notes Natsume's distress and the looking around, and will take her back to the place where she can teleport to the ground. She wil follow, to exchange friend requests. "So we can chim each other if the need arises. I need to get back just now, but I'd be happy to help you get set up with everything." And then she will zip back up. She seems to have no problem with the altitude.