Inn Science

"Maybe this one will work. What do you think, Rama?" Cyrus finishes up a potion, lifting it up while seated in the inn room at Fort Ouph. This city is not one of the favorites for people, it'd seem. Perhaps it has to do with the distinct lack of fences. Perhaps it has to do with the teleport required to come here. Whatever the case may be, Cyrus and Mikage and the rest of the crew had an easier time finding a place to stay thanks to that.

The potion comes down, an orange fume lifting from it as he motions it towards the Lynx, no doubt getting a reaction in the form of their paw rubbing over the wood on the ground, trying to bury poop.

"No good huh?" He asks, as he raises it and appraises it by means of his skill with alchemy and pharmacy. "Yes, this does look pretty bad. What do you think, Mikage?" He motions it out to her.

While Cyrus has been working, Mikage has been going through the various pieces of Elemental Machine that she had gained from the tournament. Since then she had been helping Uta in order to track down more signs of Elemental Machines. She is no expert on these things, so Miki has been simply staring at them, trying to figure out how they might be used.

It passes the time, until Cyrus seems to ask for her attention, "Hmm?" Miki looks up, brushing a strand of white hair out of her eyes as she looks over. Her blue eyes flick between Rama and Cyrus, "If Rama won't go near it, I'd say that this is another lost cause. He's pretty good at sensing what sort of things wouldn't be good to ingest."

Her brows furrow, "I wish I could help, but... you know I don't have any sort of skills or knowledge with this sort of thing." She had precious few skills applicable for anything other than fighting and hunting, something that sometimes vexed her.

"Hrrm, I guess it'll work as a... blegh, that stench is horrid. Yep, this is going on the pile of 'maybe as a stink bomb'." Cyrus notes, as he corks the potion and puts in a remarkably tall pile of failed experiments. "Who knew that alchemy and pharmacy would be difficult?" He chimes bemusedly, before running his hand through his hair and leaning the chair back on its two back legs. Something the teachers used to yell at him about.

"Probably not. But we do fill out eachothers' weak points pretty well." He adds, as he draws one arm behind the other and stretches for a moment. "I feel I'm getting pretty close though." The youth adds, before lowing the seat back down and getting up.

He takes a moment to step over and look at what she's working on, and picks up one of the Elemental Machine parts she's got laid out, and turns it around. "Ever since the cart changed configuration a few days back... I've had trouble appraising things as well." He notes. "But I can tell you that this piece is the most expensive one amongst all of them." He notes - some kind of metalic core that seems to move with near-invisible gears when held the right way.

"You could always test it for secondary effects?" Mikage suggests, shifting her legs slightly to sit in an equally awkward position to her previous one. "Wouldn't surprise me if a few of those could peal paint, or remove rust from pans, or kill weeds." Or worse.

"Maybe what you're missing is something up in the tower?" She hesitates, seeming uncertain if the suggestion would be taken well. She knows very well that Cyrus has avoided the tower as much as he can, due to his past experiences. Yet, there were strange and unique ingredients up there. "Might be worth taking a look."

As he picks up one of the parts, Miki explains, "Uta reached out to me about looking into more Elemental Machines. I'm hoping that maybe if we manage to track one down, I might be able to get some additional parts to study." She shrugs then, looking them over, "My sword has always been able to let me channel magic through it. I think it might just be a class feature. The problem is, when I try to channel magic through bows, I usually end up breaking them. I keep thinking these might be the answer."

"Pretty sure some of them could do 'all of the above'." He suggests to Mikage, leaning over her shoulder a bit as he glances at the rest of the items. "Maybe..." He then mumbles as she mentions the tower. "I guess the first few floors are... fine." He's not sounding too happy about those prospects, but neither does he seem extremely upset about it.

He flips the item around in his hand, and then puts it back down. He's been getting rather comfortable hanging this close to her. But then, the Cait Sith has always seemed to have an easy time to adjust and get comfortable in situations.

"I think you are right. Elemental Machines specifically are creations of magic and technology. Aside from the Machina that you found, I think that's the only one that would be proper for what you want to do." He picks up another piece, a glowing orb of sorts. "I think, depending on the magic you use, some of these will help you not only channel - but enhance your abilities."

"If nothing else, maybe some of the Scale Emblem traders have some of the materials from the first few floors? That would save you a trip up there." While she understands his issues with Aincrad on a surface level, there are certain aspects of it that will always seem a bit strange to Mikage. "I wouldn't go up to the new floors, though. If it's taken them this long to make progress, the place is probably pretty nasty."

She watches him examine the various parts, seeming thoughtful. "I keep meaning to try to pin down Miho and show them to her, but I imagine she's pretty busy right now. We don't have as many smiths in our Alliance." Many were recruited by Scale Emblem in order to outfit the tower climbers.

"I'm interested in studying them a bit more, which is why I jumped at the chance to help Uta look into them. It was the first lead I'd had on someone else researching the same thing." She looks towards him, "Do you know much about them from ... you know, before?"

Cyrus makes this long thoughtful sound as she speaks on going up to the new floors. "After I heard about the giant whale in the same zone as the boss, I kind of checked out on interest in going too far in there." He explains. "But I heard the third floor is actually kind of interested. So if you want to go there..." He puts his hands on the chair she's sitting on. "I guess I wouldn't mind going."

He then puts another piece down. "Miho's always hard to get a hold of. At least the Hwyaden folk are nice enough to share their crafting space with us from time to time." He adds.

"As for the Elemental Machines. I've fought a few raids with them in it." Cyrus answers her. "Part metal, part magic. Most of them are specifically using one magic type. So it looks like these sundries are likely from multiple previous excursions. They tend to live underground, in the old Gnome areas." The Cait Sith explains. "Pretty tough encounters."

"Yeah, can't say I have much interest in getting involved with a giant, glitched white whale that could potentially mess with my memories of people." She'd caught enough of the rumors that were circulating to be more than convinced to avoid that area. "I've heard good things about the woods on the third floor, though." She tilts her head back, which learly brushes the top of her head against him.

"Having crafting space is all well and good when you actually have some idea of what to do with it. I think if I tried to piece something together, I'm likely to just have it all explode in my face." She has no confidence in the realm of creative tasks.

"I'm not so much looking to take one on, solo. Uta has us looking for them, so it's possible whatever it is she has that mind of hers set to might require fighting one." Difficult or not, Miki doesn't seem afraid of them, more curious than anything else.

"You and me both." He answers her when she mentions the glitched white whale in further details. "Not that the outside areas seem to be much better. After the damned thing those Goblins did to you, it's clear that we're starting to get surrounded by even more cheating enemies." Cyrus grumps, running a hand along his cheek. "I hear people talk about breaking the Laws of Alba, and all I want to do is find a way to stop that, it'll only lead to trouble." He's a more conservative player, in a ways.

He looks down as she brushes the top of her head against him. His chest warm, and the buttons luckily open - meaning she doesn't get to deal with those firm things on his coat against her cranium.

"Eh - having things explode in your face can be fun. As long as you are prepared to figure out _why_ it exploded." The youth notes. "But yes, you will need a larger party if you are going after an Elemental Machine. Aim for the joints. Some of them have a gimmick to them. Like Gato from Chrono Trigger."

"Honestly, everything that seems to be happening here in Eastal all seems connected." Mikage shakes her head looking up towards him as she speaks, "That same strange person seems responsible for a lot of it, and it all started after that Wave of Calamity that spanned two floor bosses." She doesn't exactly know how to make sense of it all, or how it all went together, but it all seemed a bit too coincidental.

"As long as they don't sing like Gato from Chrono Trigger." Miki replies, shaking her head. Piece by piece, she starts to stow the Elemental Machine parts back into her inventory. "Did you get a chance to look into that strange piece of Engima we found at the last dungeon? It wasn't the same as the one that I passed on to the Mage's Tower. So I'm not exatly sure what it does..."

"I really don't know much about it." Cyrus admits, as he taps a hand on the char for a moment to an unseen melody. No doubt Gato's, playing in his head. He then rises up, his chest leaving her head and he motions his hand towards his inventory interface. Moments later, the item comes out into his hand.

"I'm really not sure what to do with it, or /if/ I even want to do anything with it. Based on the appraisal, it's some kind of temporary edit to an object." He explains to her. "But that's it. I guess it could be used to open a door when it refuses to open, or the like?" He offers. "So it may come in handy while we are exploring."

"We investigated this mirror that was stolen, early on when all this started. In a place with a puzzle lock that was seemingly unsolvable, and yet the door was open." Mikage explains, leaning forward a bit after his presence leaves from behind her. She folds her arms in front of herself, seeming thoughtful. "Someone got a glimpse of the thief, and it's the same person the Ogre described."

Which, at least, means that those two things are connected. The fact that all of this has happened in sequence seems like it is too much to be coincidence. Her eyes flick towards him as he pulls out the other strange item that they had found. "It's all about breaking the world in different ways. I gave my other one to the Mage's Tower to study, so I'm not exactly sure what that one did. I figured having Akumeiji owe me a debt was worth more than the gold they were offering."

She shakes her head, "I just don't like it. It's like not knowing what the next thing to break will be. What if it's our resurrections and we don't know until it's too late... we're just..." She snaps, "Gone..."

"It seems like the whole Goblin thing may just be a distraction then." He notes. "I did hear that there were showings of goblins at Mac Anu. Think that has anything to do with it?" Cyrus inquires with Mikage as he slips around and sits onto the edge of the table, his tail swaying up and curling possessively around some of the mechanical bits and bops that lay out on the wood.

He looks back to that strange item. "I think making Akumeiji owe you a debt indeed seems worth more than some mere amount of gold. The Tower of Mages is... quite the secretive society. But they are the source of quite a lot of the Ninetail Dominion's power, from what I can tell." He proposes.

He then returns it to the inventory and turns back to her. His expression saddens a bit. "That is... my concern as well. It's why I don't like relying on it. This world's rules seem to be consistent. But the introduction of such things are... well, they ruin that feeling of consistency. They make it feel dangerous."

"Goblins... in Mac Anu?" Mikage asks, brows drawing downward, "No. I hadn't heard about that. Keeping up with even a fraction of the chaos going on in the world would be a full time job." One hand lifts, lightly running through her bangs in a gesture that must be meant to calm herself. She had a lot of those small gestures, probably drawn from many years with limited physical contact in the real world.

"You've heard the rumors about the Adventurer who was turned into an undead creature during one of the skermishes up in Ninetails?" She looks towards him, that same worry showing in her eyes. "So it seems like our immortality may have some limits to it. Though... no one seems to understand how any of it works, since no one else has been changed."

Then, Mikage tucks her arms back underneath herself, "I'm trying to avoid it, but it feels like the longer things go on, the more likely it is to be inevitable. Dying in the game, that is." Her lips press together. "The goblins, the strange happenings, the waves, the undead... sooner or later, my luck is going to run out. I got dangerously close to it back in that cave."

Cyrus observes her motioning her bangs against her fingers. For her, it's calming. To him, it looks kind of cute. "Agreed. But then, that's how it was back then too. When the viruses cut down the internet, we had to rely on telephones and traveling to see eachother again. That world was bigger, and with more people. But that same sense of size exists here." He notes.

He then shakes his head. "No, I hadn't heard about that. I have a hard time believing an Adventurer could be turned into an Undead." He sees that worry, and he lets out a little sigh. "Maybe someone abused a bug or something. I don't know. We haven't been affected by anything like that luckily." He sighs.

He reaches out as she tucks her arms underneath herself. His warm hand touching against the back of the top hand of hers. His thumb rubbing along her skin. Everything feels so real. "I will do what I can to stop that from happening. And if it does happen, I will be there. The first face you see in the Church." He promises her. "Even if I have to invent a speedboat to get there in time."

"After what I've seen this week, you could tell me that an Adventurer was turned into a talking llama by a potion and I'd probably believe you." Mikage replies with a faint shake of her head, "We don't really know how our immortality works, or if there is any real price to pay for it." Her brows furrow slightly, "You heard Merek's ramblings. He seemed pretty sure it /did/ have an effect." After a pause, she adds, "Though I take anything that he says with a grain of salt..."

It's the warmth of Cyrus' hand that draws her attention back. An all too unfamiliar sensation, and yet she makes no movement to pull her hand away, she just sort of looks down at their hands before across towards the feline Cait Sith. "Well, I respawn in Eastal, so at least we're close by at the moment." Her lip quirks ever so slightly, "But I'll try to make sure you don't have to deal with that, just yet."

She turns and looks towards where Rama is sitting at her side, "I've been working on some new techniques. Things that should help me do a bit more damage in combat. I could really use some better defenses, but... defensive play has never been my strong point."

"Yeah, please take anything that man says with a grain of salt." Cyrus rumbles as she brings up Merek. He gives her a bit of a look. "He appears to be a bit damaged in a ways." He comments. "Largely because of the sword mess." He adds.

"And yes, please don't do so too soon. I don't think I can invent a makeshift speedboat that fast." He adds as he leans forward a bit on the table and traces his finger along her arm for just a little longer. She hasn't pulled away, but the Cait Sith does eventually withdraw to get himself more comfortable. Or maybe because he's not a hundred percent certain when the touch would get awkward.

"Defensive play largely has to do with watching someone else's moves. Understanding their patterns and making sure your own skills are up at the right time is most important." He then looks to Rama. "So... are you Mikage's new Technique? Are you the fierce catte that will up her DPS?"

"I do." Mikage confirms, sighing to herself. "But I do have to wonder, with all the strangeness in the world, if it isn't possible for there to be negative side effects we just don't know about yet. Shit... you heard about the White Whale in the tower and how it fucked with people." Her worry draws out that colorful mouth of hers.

Her eyes shift down to follow the path of his hand, but there is only a faint shift of her lips when he draws away. The girl offers little in the way of comment or feedback. "I think we've got several technology leaps to go before you get anywhere close. And let's be honest, our Alliance isn't really pushing technology." That seemed to be left to the Olympus Alliance, these days.

The lynx puts his paws up on the table, then twitches his nose at Cyrus, as if that were somehow an answer to his question. Then, Miki runs a hand down along his back and there is just a flicker of her magic which seems to flow into Rama. His eyes glow blue for a moment and then... he sneezes. A sneeze that apparently freezes part of the surface of the table.

Sheepishly, Mikage laughs. "We're... still working on it."

There's a quiet nod when she mentions the White Whale. He rather not talk about that. He just mumbles a quiet; "Tower." Before leaning back properly, one hand on his leg, his other rubbing along his own neck for a moment - pressing against his muscleature.

"And yes, you are right. Our Alliance isn't big on technology. Not that I mind, to be honest. I am wary of the day someone figures out how to invent a gun... or cars. It'd completely ruin the system out there." He mutters while shaking his head.

He then looks back down at the Lynx as those paws meet the table. "I see. Yes." A pause... then a loud laughter as the kitty ends up sneezing a part of the table. "Haha. Nice." He remarks, even if it did fail.

He looks back at Mikage as he steps up and runs his hand along Rama's head. Giving him the best headpats. "You'll figure it out. I believe in you two."

"Well, they kept most of the guns in FM World." Mikage comments, shrugging her shoulders. "Since all the servers are built on the same base, I would imagine that there has to be some kind of way that guns were balanced." Not having ever played there, though, she can do little more than guess at how things worked.

Miki, too, reaches out to pat Rama, but when she sees Cyrus' hand there, she allows her own to fall back, offering a smile. "Maybe we can brain-storm later about some defensive techniques. You've got more experience there than I do." That said, she sighs to herself and pushes up, "I'm going to grab a nap, I think. Then it's back to looking for signs of those elusive Elemental Machines."

Cyrus nods his head. "Yeah, but they were seperate servers before. There's no guarantee they were balanced with a connection in mind before the Apocalypse. And who knows if they patch properly went through." He proposes to her, as he notes her hand falling back.

"I'll see you later then. I'm going to keep trying to make this potion, but I'll head to the other room and close the door. I'll see you later for dinner, alright?" He chimes, as he grabs a few of his things and smiles at her in a 'farewell' kind of way.