An Utaful Mind

It's another day at the clinic. That is to say, Prophylaxis' desk is piled high with all manner of documents that have absolutely nothing to do with the actual business of running a medical facility, and inexplicably describe things like 'train blueprints' and 'civil engineering projects.' He should really think about putting together an office of public works or something of the sort. Heaven knows they do enough of the stuff.

Guests with the appropriate clearance would not be directed towards his office, though, but to the laboratories on the second floor. It seems the doctor has been busy with... something. Some kind of secret special project that he's been working on for a couple of weeks now. It's definitely not another Moonlight incident, but it's definitely fishy.

...But probably for the best. Probably.

The lab is everything you'd expect to find in a fantasy pharmacy lab. Strange ingredients like the cabinets, with dry and fresh herbs and mushrooms neatly organized in drawers and all set up within spitting distance of the actual workbenches. Right now, Prophylaxis seems to be working on a copper alembic, waiting for its contents to finish cooking.

Uta walks into the laboratory as if in a trance, stops in the middle of it, and blinks, returning to the land of the vaguely conscious looking. "Oh, wow. This place is amazing," She comments. She gapes for a few seconds, as she pivots around and takes it all in. "...Doctor, you really got a nice place set up here. I should set up something similar. I just got a small basic set back at the slime lab and-" She shakes her head. "GAH! I did it again." Hands shoot to her temples, eyebrows are knit, brow is furrowed. "Focus, Uta, focus! You can do this!"

Uta clears her throat, and tries again, "Good morning, Doctor! How is life treating you today?"

"Ah, excellent timing," Prophylaxis says, as if he had been preparing for this exact encounter. "Uta, tell me. Do you have problems concentrating? Related, are you willing to offer your body upon the altar of science?"

He asks, safety glasses gleaming ominously in the light of his alembic's burner.

"...Oh, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Yes, welcome to my laboratory. How might I be of assistance today?"

Uta, caught by surprise by Prophylaxis's question, gasps and, without realizing it, launches into a pretty convincing imitation of a small mammal caught in the headlights of a speeding vehicle. "How did you-"

She grimaces. "Oh, right. That medical text... unlike me, you actually /are/ a physician, aren't you?" She gestres vaguely with one hand, as if looking for words. "I mean... you were out of ETO?" She moves to sit on anything sittable on that might happen to be available nearby. Hopefully a chair. "I guess there's no hiding such things from you. And that thing about offering my body upon the altar of science... I'll be frank, doctor, it sounds a smidgen ominous. But I'll cut you a deal: if you can reword it in a way that sounds less like I am going to be stabbed to death with a wavy dagger while tied by the wrists and ankles to a stone slab covered in beakers, I might consider a positive answer."

Abruptly, she switches to a full on smile. "Glad you asked! See, Doctor, remember when you said you'd have liked to see the lyrics to the Landers' songs written down? I... I think I have come up with a plan so crazy it might actually work. If we have a /lot/ of luck." She leans over conspirationally. "And if we're even MORE unreasonably lucky, there's a remote possibility that we might find out the lyrics to one of the Strange Mood songs!"

She holds her gaze for a moment, to dramatically emphasize what she's just said and await for the Doctor's reaction -- or, at least, she tries to. She breaks that concentration to interject, "...wait, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? It... it doesn't really take a physician to figure out that something is not quite right up here..."

"Mmn, it's more like I've never stopped being a doctor, even after everything that's happened," Prophylaxis answers as he tweaks a few dials here and adjusts a couple of valves there. "I've been one for quite some time. Around... What, ten years? But, yes. Admittedly it's hard to tease out, sometimes, whether someone is just absent minded or if there's something else going on. Still, it's interesting that no physical ailments followed us here, but all the mental and emotional injuries remain."

He sighs, shaking his head slowly. The tragedy of it all...!

"...Regardless, I've been working on a medicine to increase mental focus for a time. I think I'm about ready with the latest iteration, but seeing as the effects would likely be rather less pronounced on me, I was wondering if you would be willing to test it out." The doctor gestures at the alembic, "It'll be ready shortly, I think. If all goes well."

But then! Uta brings up a very interesting point, and Prophylaxis' lab goggles inexplicably grow even shinier. They even produce an inexplicable *ping~!* sound, in spite of being... goggles. "Oho? Is that so? That would be quite something indeed. Tell me more, while we wait for this to finish distilling."

It is a cross-fire of interesting suggestions being put forward. "...I've been wondering about that for a long time, Doctor. I... I'll admit, I've never said it out loud, but I've always been a bit envious of all those physically crippled people to whom the game has granted a second chance at a working body, while I..."

She trails off. No need to finish that sentence.

"...but then I've started realizing little things. At first, it was just that we could get a buzz from alcohol. That proved that the helmet /could/ mess with our heads. The sanctum of our mind was not as inviolable as we thought" She mumbles, "Getting drunk was a sobering experience."

She stands up, and begins to pace around the room. "So, the game could impair our brains in ways thought impossible. But then-" She turns towards Prophylaxis. "...then the Strange Moods came. And with it, the questions."

She walks closer, and jabs one temple with her index. "Can the helmet /improve/ our brains? Can it /fix/ them?" She shivers. "The ability to shape our minds at will. Terrifying, but with a sweet, sweet aftertaste of hope."

Once again, she remains frozen in that position. A couple of seconds, then she switches gears again. "Right! That. So. First things first. Writing down the lyrics. Remember how you wished you could see those lyrics written down? Inspired by your wish, I've been working on a device to track vibrations of the air, and record them for later study. A Phonograph. Hopefully it will be able to play sound back, but even if I manage something that can trace a waveform on a roll of paper, I'd be happy already. Howver... that is not the kind of work I can undertake alone. I'll need the help and support of someone who is more versed than I in high precision scientific instrument." She leans over. "Think about how much we could learn by studying those waveforms! We could involve a skilled linguist who could decipher, possibly reproduce those sounds! We might be able to come up with our own writing system for it, and transcribe what is actually sung, and possibly translate it if we can decipher it!"

Smile held for a couple of seconds, then, that frown again. "Oh, right! I forgot." Her expression shifts to a sort of reluctant uncertainty. "I'll admit I am not /ecstatic/ at playing the guinea pig..."

She sighs, then raises her head with determination. "But I'll do it. I've wanted this answer for a long time, and I'm willing to take the risk."

"Mmmn," Prophylaxis sighs, "Indeed. Can this world influence our minds? In some ways, it has already done so, hasn't it? Providing direct sensory experience to our brains, preventing us from feeling any sensation from our 'true' bodies. Truth be told, one of the reasons I'm working on this medicine at all is because I encountered a much more potent version in an old ruin not long ago. That medicine can exist in this world that has a direct effect on the mind's ability to focus and think means that there is more than mere sensory input at work here. Though what that might be, I don't know. Regardless, to tamper with the mind... It's a dangerous road, Uta. I don't know if I can ethically excuse the direct 'improvement' of the mind outside of treating anything that I can identify as a cognitive or psychological disorder. Even then, it's something that must be handled very, very carefully."

"Even here, my oaths still apply," he says, attaching a tube from his alembic to a receiver elsewhere on the workbench.

"But, your project proposal does sound interesting. I have some experience with glasswork and preparing my own instruments from back in the Real World, though I don't know how much of that will exactly carry through. It's not like I possess the right <<skills>> for that kind of thing in here, after all." And cooking without the cooking skill has been shown to have rather disasterous effects. "Still, I can probably ask the artisans who helped prepare this equipment to lend their assistance. And if nothing else, I think I should be able to help prepare whatever alloys and vinyls you might need. Probably. Still, the chance of being able to record anything of the Songs is valuable. We might want to try and use Hymmnos in text form if at all possible though. Might be important going forward, but that's a bridge we can cross when we come to it."

"It'll be ready soon," he says of his alembic. "Just need to finish one last distillation."

"Oh, of course!", Uta hurries to add. "...I was just wondering if... you know, the Dive Gear could be used to /treat/ mental issues. Assuming this is just the Dive Gear feeding us a sensory experience... can it also /fix/ our brains, even if temporarily, rather than just disrupt them? It... it would seem the answer is yes."

Uta frowns. "Hymnos? The ancient language of the Alv? Why should we write the Landers' songs using it?"

"And, yes, that is only the first part of the story. I will disclose more about the second part once the phonograph is complete and we know we can trust it. For now, I'll just say that it's a very long shot, and assuming we get to hear the lyrics /at all/, which we very well might not, we'll have only a very short window when they will be available. Hence why we need the phonograph ready."

There is a moment of confusion. "So, uh... what do I need to do? Roll up my sleeve? Take a swig? Just... wait?"

"As a matter of fact, treating mental illness with this technology is something I was looking into before the Apocalypse even hit. I've seen for myself that it can have an outsized impact on the livelihood and quality of life of people who are physically disabled, and provide a level of protection for those who suffer from anxiety and the like. Putting yourself in another person's shoes, literally, can sometimes help someone put aside their fears and insecurities... But directly affecting the mind is something I'd prefer to be cautious about, for now. As for the medicine..."

"That'll depend! When I encountered the medicine I'm using as a reference, it was a crystal. This might be a crystal, it might be a drink, it might be a pill! We'll see. I'm aiming for as close of a replica as I can manage, though." In other words, MAGIC MEDICINE SCIENCE will show them the way... in a few more minutes.

"Anyway. Given how closely tied the Alv are with everything /else/ in this world, it seems appropriate to use their language. Especially if the two are connected, and I'm not saying they /are/ but... I wouldn't be surprised if they were?" Prophylaxis shrugs. But again, that's something that might have to wait. They don't even know which letters correspond to what, after all.

"Oh, right. Magic medicine. Forgot it does that. You know, doctor, at times I have trouble concentrating...", she trails off, as one hand is taken to the back of her head, to scratch it.

At Prophylaxis's explanation about Hymnos, she continues scratching her head. "Oh, well, that is an interesting way of putting it. But I don't think I have the proper skills in this world. I'll let whatever linguist we end up hiring figure this out."

There is a pause. "Well, yes, I... I didn't know about the whole 'someone else's shoes' thing, this... this is technically my first VR game session ever. But in a sense, we sort of followed the same train of thought there: the whole point of my trying out this fancy new VR game was exactly some sort of self-improvement experience which involved overcoming one's aversion and reluctance to particular circumstances by experimenting with something new and exciting in a safe and controlled environment." She smirks at the doctor. "Just my luck!"

"It's fine, hopefully this should do you some good," Prophylaxis says with a shrug. "That's the other reason I thought to look into it. If it doesn't work out, there are a couple of other, somewhat more experimental methods I can look into, but..."

Soon, the medicine will be ready, whatever it might actually do...

"Oh, so this is actually your first time doing the whole gaming thing?" The doctor asks with a quirked brow that is only barely visible around his safety goggles. "Well, that's certainly some bad luck. Maybe you'll have some good fortune with this new project of yours to balance it out, eh?"

"Hopefully!", Uta replies. There is some silence, followed by an awkward glance up while her wings flatten against her back. "To be honest? I am no longer so sure that this is a game at all anymore. I'm... I'm being pretty much trying to act taking both possibilities into account at the same time. That we are still hooked up to a machine, or that we have actually been transported in a new world."

"I'm also not sure exactly what we're dealing with here," Prophylaxis says as steam begins to whistle out from a spring-loaded vent set up on his alembic. He glances aside and goes to the recepticle, opening the bottle there and revealing...

A small, bluish crystal there. Prophylaxis gingerly extracts the gem with a set of tongs and looks to Uta, "Okay. Ready?"

How is he going to administer it? Is she supposed to eat it? Crush it up and snort it? IS IT A SUPPOSITORY!?!?!?!

No, he just pokes the crystal into her forehead and discharges whatever energy had been stored within it. Poke~~~!

"A crystal? Am... I supposed to swallow it? Please tell me I don't have to swallow it. Especially without water. I swallowed a crystal once. During a boss battle. It was an accident. I'm glad it was not a magic crystal, though. Imagine the embarrassment if it was a Light Crystal. I would probably have spooked the Landers when I went around at night. Or if it was an Air one! Even more embarrassing. Water one might have been inconvenient, but at least it'd have took care of regular hydration. I don't even want to think about what a fire crystal would -- wait, why am I talking about fire crys-"

~~~Poke

*** RUSHING ZOOM-IN MOTION TO THE INSIDE OF UTA'S HEAD ***

<SWITCH TO NON-SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE ARTIST'S IMPRESSION MODE>

A large cave, the family-friendly cartoonish rendering of the cavity where the brain would reside (not the medically accurate one), as some sort of large loft office space with squishy pink tissue lining and cave-like doors and tunnels around. The place is teeming with slimes of all colors and morphology: they bounce aorund, slide across the floor, wiggle and waggle about and being their usual gelatinous self, making a mess of the whole place, with all sorts of sheets and stationery toppled over and strewn across the floor. Tens and tens of tiny Utas chase them around, mostly failing to catch them, some managing to catch them but taking HP damage while they frantically look around for where to place them, and finally some tiny Utas just plain sitting down and petting them.

There is a loud rumbling sound, and all turn to look towards the camera.

Two massive openings looking like eyes show a giant blue crystal approaching, with a low rumble. A shadow looms closer and closer, covering the whole population of this Artist's Rendition of Uta's Brain, frozen in place, Utas and Slimes Alike.

A thunderous thud represents the light poke.

As if by magic, the slimes SHATTER in a million polygons, en masse, bunch after bunch in sequence. The place becomes lighter and lighter while a clear chime resonates in the air.

Light returns as the crystal is retracted, and the tiny Utas look at each other.

"...what do we do now?" "...I...I guess we go back to business as usual?"

And so, the Utas go back each to its own desk or place of work, to tidy up and do whatever work they were supposed to.

*** RUSHING ZOOM-OUT BACK TO 'REALITY' ***

Uta blinks. "-tals..."

Silence.

Uta says nothing, but her vacuous stare begins acquiring focus, her eyebrows lower just the tiniest bit. Her pupils resize, and her slack jaw is retracted in a less careless position.

Most importantly, she keeps her mouth shut.

(Un?)fortunately, Prophylaxis is not privy to the inner workings of Uta's brain. He's sure it's quite an Utaful mind, but sadly all he can do is look on from the outside and nod along quietly as the crystal discharges and does its work.

But soon he starts looking... concerned? "Uh, Uta?" Prophylaxis asks, waving a hand in front of her silent, no-longer-so-slackjawed face. "Are you alright? How are you feeling? Do you need to sit down?"

There is a chair nearby, it might be worth using.

Uta blinks. Slowly. "No, no, standing is fine," she says. Her look is now of slightly surprised concentration, as much as the average Japanese would let through in public. "...fascinating...", is all she says. A few seconds elapse, with her pupils darting left and right a couple of times, until she finally turns towards the Doctor. "...Doctor. It... it worked." The announcement is restrained, but sincere. "An astounding success. I am running some personal diagnostic system where I test my own mental abilities, and let me tell you, already getting to the point where I remember to run the test at all would, alone, be a most remarkable achievement. But I'm passing all checks. And... so. Responsive." She turns to Prophylaxis. "Doctor. I haven't been able to think this clearly since the Flash of Death!"

At this point, she glances sideways. In silence, she pulls the offered chair with proper countenance instead of her previous carefree gestures, and sits down. "I think I will need to use this, after all."

Prophylaxis squints at Uta's... response? On the one hand, it's a phenomenal, undeniable success. On the other hand, this is so unlike the Uta he knows that it's a little unsettling. Just a bit. But...

"Good, I'm glad," Prophylaxis answers with a relieved sigh as he sinks into a chair of his own. "I admit I was a little worried, but... Now we look for side-effects and duration. I'd like to figure out how to keep it going for as long as possible, but if that's not feasible then multiple doses may be required. Then we need to worry about acquired resistance and..."

He stops, shaking his head. "One other thing. This stuff... Won't be free. I do plan on providing you with additional doses, but we'll need to figure out a way to keep the supply coming. I'd suggest, depending on how long it lasts, to keep doses on hand for when you need it. We'll need to set a timer and figure out how long the medicine remains in effect."

There's a beat, he fixes her with a look. "...The Flash of Death? Did that induce... Did you suffer brain damage as a result of the... feedback?"

Uta turns to Prophylaxis. A simple nod is offered. "Understandable. Resources are scarce in this world. And we all well know the imbalance between supply and demand that has been going on with medical herbs, the consequent spike in prices, et cetera et cetera." She bites her lower lip and looks down, while, at the same time, she stands up and begins to pace around the room. "As nice as it feels, it will probably have to be kept for extreme circumstances." Her gaze falls on various objects as she walks by, and she appear to study each and every one of them with interest. "I could already recover some focus, temporarily, but it usually cost me a lot of active concentration, effort, and resulted in a focus crash afterwards where I would just..." she gestures vaguely. "I am confident you remember how much my IQ dropped after the battle with the Elemental Machine that time we went to study the Chims, right?" A sigh. "So, we will have to see if this approach has the same drawback." She squats to align her eye level with a bottle resting on a low cabinet. "Still, it's impressive that I do not have to /actively/ focus to keep my head clear enough. You... you have no idea how much easier this makes things."

( Cut to artist's impression of the previous Brainscape, with a bunch of Tiny Utas shoveling slimes out of a window. "KEEP SHOVELING! KEEP SHOVELING!", urges the only one of them who is not shoveling, but waving a pair of fans instead. )

Uta rolls her tongue in her mouth. "It is a bit of a complicated story with extra steps, but... yes. Yes, I have suffered brain damage as result of the Flash of Death." She trails off. "...could you elaborate on the feedback part?"

"I can imagine," Prophylaxis answers with a shake of his head. He turns and adjusts his alembic again, shutting the little alchemical assembly down for the night. Don't want to leave something like that running overnight!! "I'm fairly confident it shouldn't have too many side-effects... But it's best to be more careful than not. By and large, you seem to have little trouble maintaining executive functions. You're high-functioning in general, which is good, but it must have taken... quite a bit of time and effort to get to that point."

Uta confirms his suspicions, and the doctor sits back with a frown as he strips the goggles from his face. "...Well. Fate really is a fickle mistress, isn't it...?" He sighs and steeples his hands in his lap, "I'm sorry. I know first hand how awful your experience must be. I can understand why you were interested in using this world to 'fix' brains, now." Regarding feedback, he shrugs: "It was one of the ways the Flash of Death caused so much damage. Bizarre visual signals broadcast to computer screens across the world. Epileptics died almost instantly, and countless more suffered permanent neurological damage. Many of them died in triage, and even those who survived... Well, you know."

He goes quiet, then. Withdrawn, perhaps. "I'd rather not dwell on it if we can avoid doing so. For now... We should discuss a treatment schedule, and figure out a payment plan."

Uta comments, "Thanks. I generally was pretty high functioning out there, and yes... it took regular physical exercise, medication, meditation, and a strict, fixed routine which involved as little stress as possible." And no matter whether people are trapped in VR-MMORPG while wearing helmets, or actually transported in a new world... one or more of those are no longer available. What changes is possibly /which/ ones.

"And what is that, but another way of saying 'a life as boring as it gets'? To be honest, what I was trying to fix by playing a VR game, was actually the meaningless rut my life had fallen into." After a moment of embarrassed silence, she adds, "And my aversion to computers. You know, get out of your comfort zone! But don't stray too far. Just chill on the porch for a while."

Hands behind her back, she continues her pacing around. "I agree. We should not dwell on such matters. Discussing that schedule and plan sounds like a more productive way to use our time. Shall we head out and do it in front of something to eat? My treat." In a gesture reminescent of Old Style Uta, she looks up and taps her lips with one finger, while her gaze is lost in the distance. "All those fungal preparations in your laboratory kind of got me in the mood for some shiitake. Do you know a nice place in the vicinity?"

"I think they at least have mushrooms at the Dragon's Larder," Prophylaxis answers with a nod, glad that they're not going to be dwelling further on difficult subjects. "Might not be shiitake, though."

Mission... success?