Beware of Mereks Bearing Gifts

    A camp hospital has been set up close to where Landers and Adventurers battle the undead. Uta is currently tending to a few landers onto stark, utilitarian cots, assembled to serve their purpose without waste of resources. The place is not exactly overstaffed, but people seem to manage for now. Uta is standing at the bedside of what must be an injuried lander, next to a taller medical-looking adventurer, whose finger is pointing at thin air while he chews his lower lip pensively. "...ok, good. No special status effects here either." Uta swipes the air where her own menu must be, and shakes her head. "Same here. No status special status effect." The taller doctor scratches his chin. "Interesting. Besed on status effects and our observations, not one of the bitten or scratched Landers we inspected seems to ever have been in any danger of turning undead themselves."

    When the Lander they were visiting looks relieved at those words and replies, "I, Mr.Patient, thank you Healers!", Uta frowns down at the man. "...Mr.Patient? Do you... get into a lot of trouble? I ask out of mere professional interest."

    Merek wears his casual dark attire at the moment, with the beltcape about the waist and a cavalier hat which he keeps along. There's a shift of the hat while he finds a place to settle in and waits for Uta, and begins placing what looks to be a specialized nice little crate, it looks like a few slimes wiggle and peek from it. "I am bringing you a gift!" A nod along, "When you assisted with the project of mine, I figured I would bring you a few slimes!"

    Setsuna had been going to all the towns near by who have been getting attacked by the undead and interviewing the landers. He was trying to gleam something of value but there is only so many times you can hear the same scripted response over and over. He had heard about the camp and thought if nothing else it may be a good place to regroup. Upon entering the camp he takes himself a seat before actually noticing the presence of Merek or Uta, and the weird box that is being gifted, tilting his head for a moment he watches silently.

    Uta turns away from her exchanges to face Merek. "Oh, don't mention it, Merek." She notices someone entering and starts walking towards where Setsuna is sitting, presumably to ask him what she can do for him. As she covers the distance, she continues addressing Merek: "I am always glad to assist anyone who might be necessitating assistance in their endeavour, particularly when they entail- wait, wait, wait." She freezes in place, her eyes almost pop out. "Rewind just a moment there..." Uta even makes a backwards-rolling-motion with her finger upon uttering that sentence. "...Did you just say-"

    When she catches a glimpse of the crate and of the very distinct possibility that there might be slimes inside, she bites her lower lip, her pupils grow a couple of sizes, and she begins emitting a curious very quiet, yet very high-pitched, squeal of excitement while her fists, held in front of her at abou chin-height, vibrate towards and away from each other.

    It looks like that either someone else will have to greet Setsuna, or Setsuna will have to proactively seek assistance...

    The slimes peek from the crate while wiggling about, the goo shifting along the crate. They each look to Uta, at least it looks like they look to Uta, and begin wiggling at the woman. Merek nods a bit then adds, "Well, the project you made would require slimes, so I figured I'd use a few supplies from my quests to assist in it," he notes. Then he pats the slimes, then he begins to lift a dossier, "I have details on each, and names. They are tamed," he notes, while he smiles. There's a wave and nod along to Setsuna as well.

    Taking as good of a look at the box as Setsuna can from his spot as he tries to position himself to see more of what is in the box. Once the word slime is actually said Setsuna goes wide eyed a little, " I never would have guessed they could be put in a box, I thought they would soak through or leap out or well all of the above." His comment is just as much a said aloud thought as it is actually being said to anyone. The wave from Merek draws his attention back to the people and he looks up realizing his own interest got the better of him. " Hello there, I think we met the other night, though we didn't officially exchange greetings. " He says to Merek before asking, " You really tamed the slimes yourself? "

    Uta is oblivious to her surrounding. She's clinging to the crate, hugging it, petting it and baby-talking to it. "Who's a widdwe adowabwe cwate full of swimes? You awe. Youuuuuuuu awe!"

    The medical adventurer who was discussing with Uta earlier clears his throat. "Nurse Uta. Please. You are on duty. Show some dignity."

    Uta blinks, snapping out of her rapture. "I... I am sorry doctor," she says, mortified, head facing down and avoiding eye contact. She turns to the crate, and continues. "Most esteemed container of creatures, I politely inquire about the identity of a most endearing receptacle of gelatinous entities. I can even bring official forms that need to be filled in in triplicate?" She fidgets with her fingers as she sheepishly glances down at the crate.

    Are those tiny slime eyes one sees through the cracks? D'aaaaaaw!

    "They even have names? Oh, interesting. I'm looking forward to learning everything I can about them." She finally seems to notice Setsuna. "Oh. Oh... I mean... sorry, I got kind of sidetracked for a moment. Hello... Setsuna it is, right? Welcome to our camp hospital. Do you need medical assistance?"

    "Well, not so much that as I used special equipment to do it," Merek notes along then to Setsuna, while he nods a little bit. Then he takes a look to Uta, "Well, it's all been managed in registry, so you should be pretty fine to take them with you to your slime ranch." He then would begin adding a name, "Merek," to the man. He picks up a slime he keeps for himself, "Anyway, it should be pretty useful for when you are prepared to begin your ranch in full. If you don't mind me keeping another as my own. It would be nice for my gardens to have a slime around in it as well."

    Setsuna watches the slime of Merek's choice, these creatures seemed to have some level of cuteness, but he couldn't understand the mass want for them that others appear to have. Looking over at Uta he nods his head, " Yes Setsuna is right and no I don't need medical attention. If anything I am here to pester your patiences it would seem nurse Uta." He grins impishly as he looks at a few landers before turning back to Merek and Uta, "However the reaction to the slime box was so interesting you pulled me right in to the excitement right along with you."

    "Oh, no, I'm contagious!", Uta mock-worries at Setsuna, sounding amused. She stands up. "Go ahead, Merek! I understand perfectly, nobody should ever be without a slime!" She reaches in, and pulls out a rather generic slime which seems to have no special properties. Just blobby and smiling. "Just... look at this thing. Look at it!", she says, while petting it.

    She stops. She blinks.

    "Wait a minute."

    Pet again.

    Pet.

    "...it doesn't... uh..." The exact words to articulate 'deliver damage upon physical contact' seem to escape her at the moment, so she goes with "...feel spicy!" instead.

    "You can pester me as much as you want, Setsuna!", she says, sitting down with the tame slime on her knees. And squealing a little, before resuming, "...I'm always happy to..." Blink. "...do whatever it is that I am doing."

    Merek looks to be content with nodding along to Uta, while he thinks about it, "Well, it is tamed, best that I am able to manage," he would note, while he would nod a little bit to Setsuna, "All the same, I'm glad everyone looks to be doing well," he then states while he takes a moment to look along the place. He pets the slime which he has with him as well.

    The slimeless Setsuna watches the new pet owners, " They kinda remind me of cats." Again his thought is said without really thiniking of the implications. At the offer to pester Setsuna simply responds, " Just really trying to understand all the undead stuff happening as of late. I guess you could say I have voluntarily been out of the loop till recent." Turning his eyes slightly to Merek, "Which is why you having tamed the slimes is rather fascinating, I chose a profession to do such a thing but hadn't ever tried it."

    "There still is a lot we do not know about the Undead," Uta chimes in to Setsuna while petting her unprimed slime. "The medical side of ETO is currentl running an informal study on the long term effects of getting wounded by the Undead has on Landers. Up to now, it would seems like they are just like any other monster, no undead-specific status effects."

    "Given the choice, and knowing what I was doing at the time, I would probably have chosen to be a monster handler instead of a nurse," Uta says to Merek. "But as you probably know, I did not choose what I'd be in this world. And in the end, I think it is for the best. I get to help people this way, and really, there are wonderful friends like you and Fuka who tame monsters for me..."

    "The Undead change was a ritual," Merek notes, "It's not transferred with that." A nod along to the both of them while he thinks about it, "Anyway, I think it will be useful to learn a lot about the world." A look to a dossier while he would exchange the slimes with the woman, nodding along to Uta while he yawns a little.

    Setsuna nods his head slowly as he listens, " A ritual huh ? Thats actually the first useful bit of information I have heard about how this all started. So thank you Merek. You ok by the way you look tired?" He asks before looking over at Uta, " I think if anyone knew what was going to happen we would have chosen things differently. I can definiately say that I regret abstaining from choices when it came to character creation." His friendly smile fades as he thinks of the past for a moment before he rubs his face as if trying to rub away the memories. "So you now have some slimes, whats next for Slime Nurse Uta?"

    Uta replies, "Oh, well, right now I'm helping people here at the camp hospital for a little longer still, but I should pack my suitcases soon. My laboratory should be ready in about a week, so I should be on my way soon if I want to be in Carmina Gadelica Marina in time. Might need Merek's help for the alchemical part of the studies. Still haven't decided what to call the subject I'll be studying, but I'm currently leaning towards Applied Slimeodynamics. It has a nice ring to i-" She sops petting her slime as she seems to realize something, and turns to look Setsuna straight in the eyes, surprised, interested even. "You... abstained from choices? May I ask how... exactly? Because, well, you did end up with... something, so..." She seems to have hypotheses, but she's not yet saying what they are.

    "That is interesting to learn indeed, Merek. And learning about the world is what I'm trying to do, to the best of my abilities, within the limits of what I can do." She thinks for a moment. "...speaking of learning, are you following any specific investigation at the moment? If, that is, you can divulge such information..."

    "Well it's auto-generated if you don't use the scanner, I used a scanner," Merek notes, while he nods a bit along to the both of them. Then he seems to think about it, "Well, I am investigating the undead, you know since their former King is the one who owned my sword before me." He nods a bit to Shadow Eclipse, then thinks about it, "I learned about the general Law of Alba when I met Seliana, and a way to make pacts with the Goddesses for something called Power Paths, the Law of Alba, of course, are the rulesets that govern the world, and anything outside of the code apparently breaks that law," he notes.

    "Well you see when you abstain from a choice..." Setsuna begins but Merek fortunately says something much more interesting so Setsuna goes quiet. Waiting for Merek to finish, just so many questions, so much to unwrap. "So your sword? It's previous owner is the former king of the undead? Now you have or are trying to make a pact with the Goddesses ? What about paths that break the law? " So many questions, much more interesting then Setsuna's choices and lack their of.

    Uta also turns to Merek. "Wait, wait, wait. That sounds like Important Stuff, with a capital I and S, respectively. So, what are these Power Paths, how does one go down them, and... did someone specifically mention 'outside of the code'? So... is it confirmed and official, or just hypothetical? Do we know that this world /is/ coded? That this is still a game, a computer program?" She frowns. "Does that mean that the Goddesses are not... part of the code? Hm. Admin accounts or something along those lines?"

    "Well, back when they were all actual people," Merek would note about the undead, while he nods. Then a look between the two, "I'm interested in your little thing," he notes to Setsuna and seems to think about it. "As for all of that, I don't think that we know what all of these are exactly, we are still learning in it all. I can see about learning and bringing that up to you both."

     Setsuna listens and nods to the level of Importance that Uta is putting to the information Merek gave. It really does feel like the important conversation is being had which is he is confused at the comment of a little thing, it had already slipped his mind for now. " I am hapopy to help your information gathering in any way that I can , even if you just need someone to sit in a library reading for hours on end. Wouldn't be the first time I did that, though I had much better coffee options available then." He smiles at his attempt to humor before it dawns on him what was meant by little thing, "Oh that little thing. My kid chose my class and profession. I'm not normally one for magic casting." He says the last couple of sentences rather flat, as if he is trying to keep emotion out of the facts as his hands seem to be reaching for something that should be on his belt but isn't there. Looking at his empty hand Setsuna frowns and then looks back up at Merek and Uta, "So Paths of Powers, Laws, breaking them, Goddesses or Admins? Much better topics if you do ask me."

    Uta bursts into laughter and seems to relax. "Well, yours is a better story than mine. I pretty much mashed on the random button for all the choices. For a moment I was afraid I had found someone else who had been as reckless as me." She goes serious for a moment. "Still, it's very sweet that you had someone you love to support you there." She turns to the alchemist. "And you, Merek? Do you have a love?"

    Merek nods a bit to Setsuna, while he seems to think about it. Then Uta speaks to him, "Ah, libraries are nice," he notes. To the question he seems to think about it, "What, to support my gaming? I don't know, I have... Well, a kitten that I was taking care of. Considering I work for CC, I don't know about who would be taking care of them," he would note.

    Setsuna blinks as Uta explains how she chose her character and now her own skills and profession and has a look as if asking are you serious, and shakes his head at the idea that he may done the same. "No no, nothing like that." And the surprises continue, Setsuna is going to start just keeping a perpetual shocked face on around Merek. " Wait you work for CC? As in CyberConnect?" It made perfect sense really however the small world aspect of it all. "I must have submitted my resume over 50 times to them in the course of my life time. Never seemed to go much of anywhere of course but still." Shaking his head as Setsuna leans back in his chair, " Such a small world this is."

    Uta gets self-conscious and shrinks into a defensive pose when she gets the 'are you serious' look. Even her wings retract together and fold down, like the tail of an ashamed puppy. "...hehe. Well, yeah. I... Newbie mistake, I guess?"

        "Yes, I love me a good library mysel-"

    And the surprises keep coming! By now, the tame slime has climbed its way to slither right onto Uta's face, but the recent revelations make her oblivious to this little detail. "You work for CyberConnect?! It- what other kind of H-bomb grade scoop are you going to drop next? That you were dating The Burning One but dumped her because you can't stand the smell of charcoal?"

    Merek looks between the two, "Yes, well. I was working with them as a Beta Tester, I'm from America. I am in Japan on a work VISA, not that it matters, I only was supposed to test the new update, I didn't think that it would be, you know." There's a nod along to the two, "It's why I try to learn, I want to make up with being with the company that put us all into this."

    "Beta Testing," Setsuna says as it turns into a groan before he adds, "Thats what I should of tried. It would have given me that foot in the door and everything. " Obviously if there was any problem with Merek working for CC its not from Setsuna. Looking over at Uta again he catches her embarassment even if it was to go away and feels bad, really bad. " Hey , no matter what choices you made or randomly clicked you have done pretty well for yourself. A nurse, owning multiple slimes, seems like serendipitous choices were made whether intended or not. Good job." He says with a warm smile trying to undo his mistake.

    Uta seems to relax, even her wing distend back to a more neutral posture. "...oh. Thanks. Well..." She hesitates. "...a musical kung-fu nurse to be precise. It's... I'm... a bit of an odd hodgepodge." She scratches the back of her head. "But, hey, you're right. I got slimes and- Oh." She pulls the slime off her face. "...that explains why I couldn't see as well-"

    Blink.

    "WHO'S A WIDDWE ADOWA-" Sideways glance to the doctor. "...AHEM. I repeat my inquiry about the identity of a morally excellent gelatinous creature."

    "Are you sure it's them, Merek?", asks Uta, while holding the slime on one forearm and petting it with the other. "Because I've been thinking they might actually be innocent. Remember the Sword of Damocles, the Flash of Death, and Pluto's Kiss? This might be the work of a fourth virus..." She frowns for a moment. "...fourth..." and then shakes her head, as if for clearing it from some thought.

    "It's possible, although the man that spoke to us when it all began spoke of people which used his work against his wishes," Merek notes, nodding a bit to everyone while he seems to think about it. "All the same, we will see about what we can do." A look to the two while he seems to think about it, "Anyway, I should be back to what I was doing with alchemy."

    Setsuna nods his head as he stands up as well. " Yes I should probably allow Uta to get back to her nursing duties so she can eventually get free time to go enjoy her new pets. It truly was a pleasure to meet you both and everything. The offer stands to you both as well if there is anyway I can help, let me know. Even if its just slime sitting."