Uta Furore and The Emporium of Elixirs

    Uta's work to help set up Merek's potions store has mostly been running errands in the background, securing contacts, checking out potential suppliers and similar tasks; the nature of her work allowed her to carry it out during her recent travels, but now that she's back in the Alne/Gadelica Marina area to take care of Gwen, she decided she might as well drop by, take a look at the newly opened store, and greet the proprietor after such a long time. Who knows, maybe Merek can help with the current shortage of ingredients for healing potions...

    She crosses the threshold and peeks in. "Hello?", she calls out. "Anybody home?"

    Merek had been checked by Uta, and it seems that he is alright, still it's difficult to tell. He's been a little bit distant, and stories tell of that Black Mark, whatever it might be that had appeared upon him. The man seems to be dealing with the shop which the woman had assisted in, and when she comes about, he offers a light smile though it soon comes back to that neutral expression he often keeps. "Ya, I'm about."

    "Thank goodness you're here," says Uta, looking aroun the shop. "Sometime Gwen leaves Morri to take care of the shop and... but I digress. I apologize if the last time could not hang around or chat much after checking you... but now that we, hopefully have a bit more time available, may I ask you about what /exactly/ happened that prompted people to have you checked?" She manages to control her emotions surprisngly well for being, well, Uta.

    Merek looks over to Uta, and seems to think about it for a moment. Eventually, he would nod, and crosses both of his arms, "Well, it seems that the sword which I am wielding was taking character data from me, it felt like I was being pulled apart into pieces, then built back together. It felt like I... Lost something perhaps. I'm not sure what." There's a frown, he doesn't like to even try to remember it, while he nods a bit to the woman.

    Uta notices Merek's discomfort. "It is okay. If you do not feel comfortable discussing it, that is fine. It's just that..." She looks out of the door, while she taps a couple of fingers on a table. "Many people have starte acting strange of late. The amount of unusual happenings has spiked, and I am trying to make some sense of it." She returns to look at Merek, and offers an unusually sedated smile. "...as we've said last time, you're in perfect health, so there's that." She moves her head in an arc to observe the shop, up, and down again, while sweeping her hand around. "...and you've just started your shop here. Looks like you have a really nice selection."

    Merek looks then to Uta, and nods a bit thankfully, "I appreciate it, Uta. You are welcome to shop here, I admit the prices need to be up because of the... Supply lines, I'm looking to fix it by creating a new trade company to import goods, make deals with a noble," he notes, then looks to the place in full, "We sell a lot of things, and if we don't have it, we will make it for you."

    Uta cosses her arms and knits her brows a little. "Don't get me started on that... I make healing potions and antidotes as one of my sources of income. I can practice Pharmacy, but lack Herbology and Alchemy, so... yeah. I have to buy stuff and I'm sure we both know just how bad things have gotten." She starts walking around, looking at whatever is on display, or the equipment. "Glad to hear you're working on that, though. Hit me up as soon as you can find some herbs and starter solutions. "So you do both alchemy and pharmacy?"

    Merek looks then to Uta, "Well, I do potions that will assist in battle, elixirs, none of that is pure healing, though it will, as I've said, keep your HP Bar in the green. I sell poisons, hair dye, name it. I will do a few advanced healing potions if I can learn more about pharmacy," he notes. There's a nod while he crosses his arms thoughtfully, "With herbology, I can at least work on my new gardens. I used to garden, back in real life, and play with chemistry, so I chose to be a full on alchemist in the game."

    "Choosing something you like sounds like the kind of thing a reasonable person would do, indeed," Uta acknowledges. "Hair dye? I didn't know that was a thing," she admits, with a frown of puzzlement. "Is it, like, paint you spread on your hair like outside ETO, or... you drink it, and *poof*, it literally change the color of your hair, which will then grow the new color?" After a short pause, which involves her glancing to each side of her head (possibly to catch a glimpse of her recently severed hair, reduced from mid-back to a much shorter hairstyle), she looks back at Merek, hunches over a little, and asks, conspirationally: "Do you also have hair growth potions?"

    "I think I am able to make either or, although for growth potions like that, I don't know, I'd need to look into it," Merek notes while he nods a bit to Uta, then he would take a moment to check on the workshop, "I might need to make a lot of orders for Adventurers," the man admits, while he seems to think about it. "We will work on it."

    Uta says, "Oh, was just curious. And it's not urgent, no. Hey, shorter hair might actually work better for the season. It's nice to know what's available as an option, though. Might be handy to keep some in one's inventory for emergencies. Not sure there'll ever be any hair-color-changing emergency, so that one can probably wait." She thinks a little longer, arms crossed, concentrated, following some unknown thread of thought.

    "...do you have hair /shortening/ potions? Not haircuts. Like, literally /shortening/ hair. Reverse hair growth."

    "... I don't think, though I can look into it," Merek admits, "That seems to be a bit pointless unless you're throwing it on furry monsters or like, pranking people." The man looks to his equipment within the shop while he adjusts the belt about his waist to look at his potions, "I am able to mix up a lot of things, so we can work with what we got."

Uta looks away, absent. "No... not a prank... just an idle thought..." She shakes her head. "No need to follow up on it. It's amazing what one can do with alchemy. I could listen all day about things that it's possible to do with potions, that wouldn't be possible outside ETO. Do you have any other interesting ones to suggest?"

    "Probably, though it'd take a while to name it all, and we're always managing to then discover more recipes," Merek mentions, while he offers a little sigh, a light arch from side to side with him finding a nice couch to settle in on, "For now, this is a simple shop, will need to work on trade to make it better, all of that, you know."

"...that is something I have been thinking about," adds Uta, a bit downcast. "Before we pure Pharmacists can discover new cure, someone needs to come up with new diseases. I guess we must be the group who is the least thrilled at getting a chance at inventing something new..." She shakes her head. "No, if I have to come up with something new, I'd better do it with either music, acrobatics, or martial arts."

    Merek nods a bit to Uta, "You should speak to Prophylaxis, the man knows a lot, and can probably tell you a lot more," he notes, "The man came up with a vaccine for a floor boss, to protect the whole of the party. Anyway, I should be back to work, though it was nice to see you."

    Uta's eyebrows shot up. "...a /vaccine/ against a floor boss? That's... brilliant. Thanks, Merek. I'll make sure to contact him. See you next time, then!"