Fallen Star

It's been... a long wait. 24 hours ticked past without the fox making an appearance since she vanished through the mirror. Then it passed 30, 35, 40... 48.

Half past that long, final mark, however the Altar finally lights up and astral tails begin to curl and flick along its stone. There's a sleepy little sound, like Estelle was stirring from a pleasant, peaceful dream - and one of her hands reaches up and out, as if to grasp something that slips through her fingertips... and then she's blinking awake, fully, silver eyes staring up at the ceiling of the church. Staring at her hand as if she isn't sure why it's raised.

The next step is for her to rise upright, and begin to turn into a seated position, legs dangling down towards the floor as she looks over the room; it's been a long time since she's been here, after all, for any reason.

It's a perfect position to ambush her, though too much force might send both her and her 'attacker' tumbling off the altar entirely.

Jazz has been here. She has been here the whole time. Oh, certainly, she's gotten up and moved around a little from time to time, but she hasn't *gone* anywhere. Thank you, menu options. She's spent a considerable amount of that time buried deep in parchments and scrolls, scribbling on them with sticks of charcoal or quill and ink. Her fingers, similarly, are black with a mixture of both.

But thjen there is light. Light! She looks up, quickly, the flash of it reflecting off her amber-colored eyes as she all but sprigns to her feet, a flutter of papers around her. "Estelle!"

Cyrus was hardly looking to ambush anyone. Especially what with this being a Root Town, and Estelle's kingdom. The Guardians would surely massacre anyone immediately. The young man slowly rubs the bridge of his nose, waking up at the bright light of resurrection, and gets up from one of the few seats in the place and notes that it is indeed Estelle this time. "Good... so the Resurrection magic is working after all." He offers, relieved, his shoulders lowering as he relaxes a bit at this revelation.

He doesn't interfere with Jazuhanzu springs to her feet and approaches. "Don't think I've ever seen you that animated." He teases Jazz as he puts his hands to his pockets and slowly steps forward. "Glad to see you are back alive and well."

Estelle does not get ambushed. Not by this particular visitor, at least. Prophylaxis has /dignity/, he does not simply /tackle hug/ people, especially not the recently undeceased. His presence in Dun Loireag should not come as too much of a surprise. Estelle's disappearance was concerning, as was the fact that she /didn't/ return a day after her sojourn to the moon.

Did she actually survive a full day up there? That's... Kind of amazing, honestly.

Regardless, he has been waiting for her reappearance, a notebook full of scrawled text perched between his fingers. He glances up as the telltale sound of a resurrection fills the air, and when he finds her...

"Estelle," Prophylaxis says, patiently. "I'm relieved to see that you made it back to us in one piece. I'm sure you have quite a story to tell."

When Estelle went through the mirror, Proteus didn't spend much time on the problem. They had other issues to attend to at the moment, the encroaching threat of the goblins continued to demand their time.

But she remembered. She quietly made the note and attended to business. Shortly after leaving Mac Anu, putting in some inquiries, and began travelling. She arrived in the chapel and has waited quietly since, quietly alternating between reading and fidgeting with a brass-colored puzzle box, sliding the pieces about and then back into place with increasing practice. She has not bothered Jazuhanzu, leaving her to her mediations and writing. She doesn't bother Cyrus, but she does note his increasing concern silently... And Proteus' expression mirrors that of the Alchemist's own.

It's when Estelle finally arrives that she stands, enfolding herself in her cloak as she watches her arrival solemnly. She waits for the initial greetings to die down, letting those closest to the star-struck fox to address her before she approaches. "Welcome back." She says quietly. "I am glad that you returned. Are you doing all right?" She asks, tilting her head and looking over Estelle for a moment. "How do you feel?"

Kotono heard through the grapevine about what happened, and she took off as quickly as she could to see what was going on. Of course, she also was able to convince Miyako to come as well, although how she managed to do so is anyone's guess. Nevertheless, the two of them arrive just in time to take a moment before Estelle returns, and it's at this point that Kotono smiles a little.

"Welcome back," The acrobatic girl says with a slight smile of relief. "I'm hoping you're all right?" She asks.

    Miyako mostly followed along because, well, Kotono *asked*. Normally she'd be back in Shibuya at this point, poring over maps of the catacombs or writing down old folk songs or something. Or singing in a pub somewhere. But she's here, instead, because her friend asked her to come.

    She reaches up to pat Kotono on the back, then flashes Estelle a grin. "So, cool light show. First time I got to see a respawn. Hope it was worth it."

There's a surprised blink, at all those gathered there for her; it's obvious that Estelle wasn't expecting it, for all her divinatory talent. Her silver eyes are briefly wide, before she gets them back under control and she slides to her feet, tabi soft on the stone floor. That trio of tails flicks and curls behind her, and one hand pulls out her fan to hide her expression behind it... especially when Cyrus calls Jazz out on the undine's reaction, and the emotion in her voice.

"It's good to see you all. Far more faces than I espected..." She trails off, briefly, before shaking herself out. "I've got recon data, as it were, yes... and some samples to play with. It was a very productive half hour or so - and I can't imagine the rush you much have put in, Doctor, Proteus, to reach here in a day. Did you pull one of Merek's tricks?" There's a touch of teasing to her voice, but also some honest curiosity. Her gaze does stray back to Cyrus, though, as his comment on the magic 'working' causes a brow to raise. "... was there some temporary failure of the system, for a comment like that? I tried to use an interface there with its error message, but I didn't think it had any effect."

"As for how I feel... 'normal' is perhaps the surprising answer. At least to me. A bit frustrasted, admittedly; I was so close to the tower we saw in the distance, through the mirror. But the machina hunting me finally got its shot in, despite my attempts to throw its aim." Her free hand rests across her stomach, hand supporting the elbow of the other arm. She keeps that fan up, though the obvious concern for her has her a bit misty eyed, even if she's beating it back.

Cyrus nods to Proteus, recognizing her amongst the many here. "I guess everyone must be rather curious about what happened beyond that mirror." He pauses, then adds; "Are you aware you are twenty-four hours later than expected. Did you manage to survive for the whole day and get killed in your sleep or something?" The Cait Sith inquires with Estelle.

Pause.

Half an hour.

"You are indeed way later than expected then. It's been fourty-eight hours since you died." He expresses to Estelle, looking concerned. Pause.

"Wait, Machina? On the Green Moon? What else was there?"

Cyrus' words to Jazz make her pause, give him a sidelong look, and then proceed to clasp her hands together in front of her. "I wouldn't call it animated. Relieved, however." She's still approaching Estelle, though a degree of immediately more measured behavior has been reinstilled to her. She's still left behind her assorted papers, however, as she arrives closer to her.

She stares up at her.

"It sounds like quite the adventure and I will pepper you with plenty of questions about it later. However," she says, "I am going to also yell at you for doing it even if I understand completely why you did it." She jabs a finger at her. She doesn't look even slightly menacing even if she marginally wants to.

Erufu has been worried that Estelle had been lost, she's been waiting but those closer to Estelle get the first shot but the Elf is soon come crashing i8n.

"Estelle I didn't think anyone else could be as crazy as Orcbalg!" She has clearly been very worried, the elf has also brought some food with her from somewhere.

"So what happpened..."

Giving a quick glare to Miyako for her remark, Kotono looks to Estelle and smiles again. "I'm... I'm just glad you're all right..." Her words don't come easy for some reason.

    Miyako nods, "A lot of people were worried about you, especially when you didn't show up after the first day. Machina, though?" She shrugs. "All we saw in the mirror was greenies."

Proteus is here too. Of course she is. Even within that off-colored Impish body, she still has a heart full of concern for a fallen comrade. Well. Once-fallen.

He's pretty sure she's here for the intel, too. But more importantly...

>Half an hour.

"...Yes, it's been about two days," he says, agreeing with Cyrus' temporal estimate. "You've been gone for... Quite a while, Estelle. Unless there's some other strangeness at play, of course. Would you mind letting me record some of what you've witnessed? I think it'd be a good idea to put such things to paper."

"Here I am!", declares Uta as she crosses the door into the church. "Fort Ouph, the home town of Estelle, exactly twenty-four hours after her disappearance, according to the data I've been given!" A brief wave of pride passes over her solid foundation of concern, "And look! /Just/ in time for the respawn! I am /finally/ getting good at this." She basks in self-satisfaction, then scoots over.

"Estelle! Are you-" Uta, still a bit far away down the aisle and probably speaking too quietly to be heard (it is not polite to yell in a church, after all) is interrupted by Estelle mentioning that she is, indeed, feeling normal. So she just politely joins the group and otherwise keeps quiet.

"No. I am bold on occasion when needed, but I am hardly as lacking in self-preservation as Merek." Proteus smiles, toothily. "Not that I don't appreciate his efforts to protect others, of course. He's a good man, just... I wish he loved himself as much as he loved others." She pauses for a moment, and rubs her chin. "Though... it's been longer than a day, Estelle. We were concerned when you didn't return after 24 hours." As she concurs with Cyrus. "That is the reason why we were more worried than normal. Perhaps it was an artifact of you being outside of the normal World space."

There is a pause. "So there are machina on the Green Moon. I shouldn't be surprised, after seeing a glimpse of what was there. Clearly there is something more advanced than we know involved... Albeit apparently something that isn't killing Goblins." She frowns, disapproving of the latter issue clearly. "I respect your choice to sacrifice for knowledge. I just wish that it wasn't so... telling. We might return after we die, but we don't have unlimited lives. Make the most of it. It's..." She pauses for a moment, a strange look on her face. "... Important."

She glances over to Prophylaxis and then gives a little nod. "It's good to have a doctor attending." She quips with a little smile, and then looks back to Estelle. "If you would, please recount what you have experienced. I think all of us are wondering about you and your adventure, even if we know the unfortunate ending."

    Merek walks along and into the place, on the tail of Proteus' statement. The man looks to the people, and nods a bit to Estelle, "It is good to see you back. I was going to go in and look for you if you took a lot longer than that," the man offers. There's not a lot for him to generally add to the conversation while he begins adjusting the gloves which he wears.

"Incorrect." The Cait Sith's ears rather sensitive. "This is Dun Loireag... how did you even make it here with those instructions? Also, it's been fourty-eight hours." The youth rubs through his hair and lets out a bit of a sigh. "Damnit Uta..."

He agrees with Proteus on the most part, though he makes a confused sound as Proteus speaks of revivals not being infinite. "I know a few guys who've died easily over twenty times. So at least we've got quite a few deaths to be safe from whatever number you've got in mind." He proposes to Proteus.

"Indeed!" Prophylaxis says with a smile. "I've brought some medicine with me too, in case there were any unforeseen after-effects from your trip," Prophylaxis is a good doctor indeed. "In fact, if you don't mind, I'll do a brief checkup now..."

Between that and the taking-of-notes, Prophylaxis may be a little bit... preoccupied for the next little bit.

"... two days? Really...?" Her voice is soft, and the fox squirms a little against the side of the altar. And that's before she has a No-Fun-Dine poking her and threatening to tell her off! "... and as long as the yelling is later, Jazz? Maybe not in front of so many people...?" Estelle's voice is leading, even as she reaches out to squeeze the woman's shoulder. Her friend doesn't look menacing, but since she does care about her opinion... Well. There is some worry, there. Even if she's touched by the reaction to her arrival.

Still, there are plenty of other questions and well-wishes, and she nods her way to everyone that falls into the second category; Erufu, Miyako, Merek, Uta. As for the questions and suppositions... Well, best to just move away from the altar, find herself a seat, and start talking.

"... So. The first point of interest is that the Mirror was tied into a Chaos Gate. If we can get the network working, the Green Moon might be a viable target. It was whirling and whirring behind the Mirror's box shape." Her hands, even the one holding the fan, sketch out the square. "The second is that said gate was on the alcove of... I want to call it a factory of some sort? I found a door, and it flashed an orange warning at me when I entered. Whereupon I was tracked by /minigun turrets/. The inside was producing green egg-things. I've got goop from a failed one in a bottle; they broke them to let the material... probably go back into refinement. Or maybe waste management. I'm not sure." She shakes it off after a moment. "But the factory had two paths in it that passed under and by the various egg-machines; orange and green. If I tried to step off the orange path, like the colour is flashed at me, the turrets fired warning shots. There were also sooty chim around, resonating with a song that... came from a mural on the wall. They were doing repairs on a machine."

"Y--yeessss," says Jazz.

She's looking around. There's so many people here. There's a brief, flighty fidget that just screams her wanting to get out of here and into the fresh air, but instead she tightly jams her fists into the pockets of her long coat and steps back to listen to Estelle, just openly staring at her and her story. Openly. Staring. She commands all of her attention.

...well, except for the arrival of Uta. That has her hand go over her face and a hefty sigh escapes her. She moves back from Estelle to give her space, instead taking a position near the Spriggan.

Cyrus leans against a nearb pillar as Estelle begins to speak. He's not one to approach into such friendly quarters. His Japanese standards on showing emotion making him feel awkward about the fussiness happening. Even if he's a bit hypocritical on that point as of late.

"Geez." Is all he manages at first, as Estelle finishes speaking. Another run of his hand through his hair. "That sure is... a lot. An egg producing factory. Goblins on the moon. Miniguns... chim-chims? What the hell were the Devs thinking? Or... Alvs? I don't know." He's really not so sure anymore on that whole 'game or reality' discussion these days.

"Seriously just..." He motions forward. "What do you say to that?" He looks to Proteus. "Does that make any sense to you? Is this now some... experiment? Is the moon there to observe our reactions to monsters?"

"If there is a number, I am not aware of it." Proteus shakes her head. "It's something L'Arc said... And after he killed me, I felt like I lost something important. I don't know what. Also, there's the matter of other evidence provided from the predations of the Undead. One of the Adventurers was turned, one was not. The difference might have been the number of deaths, as the one who turned was known to have died many times." Proteus glances to one side. "But we can discuss this more... another time. This is Estelle's time."

She looks back to Estelle and listens attentively. "A Chaos Gate. So there are ones that still function. The mirror..." She frowns. "Could it be a portable Chaos Gate of some manner? I never considered that since all of the Gates I remember had a uniform appearance."

She looks down, her expression growing more intense as she begins considering the knowledge provided. "A factory. This makes sense... But we'll need to investigate the material you recovered in order to determine the nature of what these 'eggs' are supposed to be. Could it be a source of monsters? Maybe that's why the place is full of Goblins? But the appearance of advanced technology continues to indicate we're not as limited as we theoretically continue to be. We just need to find ways to get around the barriers in our path." She mutters, "Thrice-damned tech trees. It's not as fun when you have to do the work in real time."

She then looks back up and folds her arms. "Chim... So they're up there as well. I Wonder if they're some kind of caretaker entity. How they relate to the advanced technology, I still can't tell. The way they respond to songs is important. That's something we observed when Uta helped track down some Chims earlier as well. They seem... mostly harmless. Is there anything else that happened?"

She looks to Cyrus, and nods. "There's something that seems to fit together. Whatever it is, it might have been something that has been working for a long time. If the Green Moon is actually manufacturing monsters I can only wonder... /why/?"

Cyrus shrugs at Proteus, after having agreed not to talk too much on the topic of death. "Why? I mean... if this was just a game, I'd say to help Adventurers level up." He motions his hand. "But that seems a bit simplistic of an answer at this point. Not to mention, if you have an MMO where you can make monsters just... stop spawning. What kind of MMO is that?"

Uta blinks at Cyrus. "...uh. That..." She scratches her head, and a few seconds later, she continues, "...that would explain why I could get in without teleporting this time. I was kind of bummed that I had found a bypass around the teleport. I like the teleport."

She thinks hard, then offers one of those standing, static shrugs where the hands are kept at a level above her shoulders for a few seconds. "...I don't know. Can I claim subconscious correctness instead of dumb luck? Actually, scratch my question. I'm going to do that. Unilaterally."

"...who's Orcbalg?", she asks Erufu.

"...the chims were... they got the chims to... ARGH!", Uta exclaims in frustration, as she begings to storm in circles around the room. "I spent /days/ in that blasted cave trying to get them to communicate with me. Even tried to make up a musical language. sing songs to them. But no. They'd just /sing their own thing/ and refused to react to anything else! How do they get them to resonate to something els--" She stops. "...did you inspect them?", Uta asks. "Do you know the name of that song?"

"...who's L'Arc?", she asks Proteus.

"A monster... egg... factory? Can't monsters make eggs on- wait. Wait a minute. Let me think. This is important. Can monsters make more monsters on their own, or... do they need someone to manufacture them?"

Hands shoot to her temples, where index and middle finger on each side rub against them, in concentration. "Think, Uta, think! Have you ever seen the slimes lay eggs? Or a larger slime divide into two smaller slimes? It's important now!"

    Miyako hmms to herself, taking notes as Estelle tells her tale. "Green eggs. No ham? Goblin eggs, maybe?" She hmms softly, reaching up to brush her hair back, then has more questions. "What did the warning say? What language was it in?"

    She keeps on writing notes down while the conversation continues. "Probably not devs. Unless it was meant to be another new expansion down the road. I blame the Alvs, myself." She shrugs. "Maybe the monsters were for fighting something else and the control systems broke down?"

Kotono is also taking notes as well, wanting to keep this in mind. She would make a comment to Miyako about her joke, but now is not the time. "When I'm done with this," She whispers to herself, "I should have a word with.... on second thought, she wouldn't be Miyako if she didn't do those." Kotono chuckles.

Erufu listens with great interest her ears twitching all tehj while at Estelle's tale. She stares "Firearms ... in this world?" She seem stunned at this. she htink for a moment more on this.
FR "Chims...."

She stares soime more this is big,

"High tech things, goblins on the moon?"

The mental image of Orcbalg with a Minigun now comes into mind and she starts thinking about a certain western shooter.

"Could the factory be the source of goblins?"

"What about some of the wars in Yamato's past, Proteus?"

"...so a lot of that lost me," mutters Jazz after Proteus speaks out. A nod towards Erufu, though, "Something like that. Past and future seem fairly interchangable at times," she adds, pinching th bridge of her nose. Her lost expression is no doubt the result of a critical amount of time spent on the road instead of with her fellow players. Then her gaze turns towards Uta. She just stares at her. Unblinking.

    Merek nods a bit to Estelle, while he seems to think about it. "Well, I think it's been noted before we have a lot of general technology that Alv made," while he will take a look about the place, "I think it's important to note Estelle, you were off the Alpha Server. Meaning that the Moon isn't part of this world technically, not part of... Yamato, the server."

"The warning didn't say anything; it was just a flash of orange light and pointed guns. Some goblins tried to follow me and got red light and /firing/ guns." As for Uta, and her talk about the chim=chim songs? Well; "I didn't inspect them, no. Sorry. And all I know about the song is that it was coming from a sword-like mural on the wall. Here, let me sing a snippet of it. It made my spine crawl, for some reason..." The fox offers, before closing her eyes and spending a moment just... dredging through her memory. She did try to memorize it while moving through the building;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sgRKBot5bs

"... As for what the eggs were, it could be monsters? Like I said, I have a sample. We'll have to split it up, test it, and see what we can get." A vial of Green Goo is produced, and offered for people to look at. Any attempts to uncap it for now, though, get a glare from Estelle's silver eyes. "But. I couldn't follow the other path; the miniguns shot across the floor in an obvious warning shot when I tried." There's a sigh, there, her ears wilting a little. "... so I followed the orange one. It took me into another room, with a screen frozen on... this." She holds up her journal, displaying some Alvish writing;

https://imgur.com/a/noMerRN

"I couldn't get it to do anything, and so looked around more. It turned out it was a hanger of some sort. There was a buggy like vehicle in a green square, and benches of tools. Screwdrivers. Some hammers. Spanners... and /this/." From her inventory is brandished a /laser cutter/. The weapon-like implement is aimed at the ceiling, of course. "I had to use Earth Artes to drag it over via magnetism, since it was off my path, but. Look at it! It's fantastic! Pity we don't know how it works."

She does /not/ hand this example around for other people to handle, yet.
    "... And that's good to know, Merek. I guess that might tie into the earlier talk of why it took me so long to revive, too." She hums, thoughtfully, tails twining and curling behind her.

"What about the air there? I imagine you were having trouble breathing. Maybe you mentioned it earlier. But how'd you manage to survive for half an hour in... too much oxygen?" The youth rubs his head. "How does that even work. It's not like we see clouds or atmospheric motion on the green moon. Yet there's an overabundance of oxygen." Cyrus grimaces, trying to make sense of anything that is being said. Sure, somet of this is starting to add up. Proteus certainly paints a rather understandable, if frightening picture. But still...

"The Doctor caught on to the problem, during the fight - he noticed the effects that proximity to the Mirror was causing, especially when the Champion swung its weapon and set gusts through the room." The vixen points out, there. "It let me know what the problem was, so I was able to modify some of my air shields to... thin the air around me, basically. It didn't save me entirely, I got an 'Oxygen Poisoning' debuff after awhile, but..." She shakes her head, spreading her arms. "That work wasn't what failed me and killed me."

Cyrus nods. "The Machina you mentioned, right? I imagine that must have been a very short fight if you met one of those things." The young man offers Estelle.

"The way monsters work had changed with the Black Wave." Proteus replies, shrugging. "Now they actually begin to act like they exist in an ecology, they can be removed from locations with enough effort... Though the appearance of Dungeon Hearts seems to..." She pauses, trailing off.

"... Could it be that monsters are arriving because Dungeon Hearts act as a link to whatever is creating these creatures?" She says, blinking as she ponders this. "But then who is seeding them, and why?" She closes her eyes, thinking again. "It could be an exceptionally complicated plan to keep Adventurers being challenged within a specific framework. It would explain why we all lost our powers with the Black Wave and are being forced to develop all over again, it was a reset in order to cause us to grow and experience things from a new context without being able to simply overwhelm everything with the power we had before."

There is a pause, and her eyes crack open. "I am /still/ annoyed about that." She growls. She begins speaking normally again, then. "This isn't about just being an MMO anymore. There's too much that points to this being intended to be more than just a game for some time, even if it continues to hold the trappings thereof. But that brings up even /more/ questions."

Uta asks who L'Arc is. "L'Arc Sickle, the Scythe Hero." Proteus replies. "He is one of the forces working to attack us with the Waves of Calamity via World Transfer. He, along with the other Heroes of that world, believe in a prophecy that Heroes from another world are going to come to theirs and destroy their world." She shrugs. "I posted about it on the Olympus communications network some time ago."

Erufu asks about the wars of the past. Proteus tilts her head. "There's been a lot of them. Which ones in specific do you think are related?"

Merek mentions that Estelle was not on the server, which causes Proteus to squint again. "World Transfer... Again. This really is causing a lot of trouble." She facepalms for a moment, rubbing it.

Estelle continues to describe what's going on. "A sword-like mural... We really need to invent cameras again." Proteus grumps. "Cameras and sound recorders." Estelle begins singing what she can, and Proteus shakes her head. "That is a very ominous song... I wonder what the significance is. The Alv language is something of a mystery." This only is added to when she produces another sample of it. "Deciphering this language is something of a ridiculous prospect. If we could only find some kind of Rosetta Stone for it..." She sighs.

But more details come. "Advanced tools, machines..." Her gloves creak as she clenches her hands again. "Gah. If we could only work out how to get more of it..." The laser cutter is produced, and she stares for a moment. "Now... /that/ is a very, very interesting acquisition, Estelle. Good work. Maybe with some effort people could find a way to replicate it?" She picks up the vial of goo, and looks it over... Then frowns for a moment as she tip it upside down, watching it flow, then tips it back. "This might be your department, Prophylaxis." She mentions, gesturing to the Doctor of Shenanigans.

The elf has pulled out a small notebook and is writing in notes like this. "So the systems there flagged you orange? Sounds like a caution where the goblins were kill on sight." She looks at the journal entry for a moment and pauses it oddly calls to her for a moment.

"I think...."

She pause for a moment as she looks over the words again the strange alien words and she starts /to sing/.

She does it pretty well all things considered but if people are paying attention. It's creepy and soon all the nearby Landers are looking very creeped out, then they get the heck out of the Chruch. They just /go/ even when Elf finishes up. The lenders don't seem intent on coming back either after that little ditty.

    Merek looks to all of the people that are taking up to go home, while he crosses both of his arms. "Not the most pleasant song, I wonder if they know what it all means. Estelle." He then points to the woman, "I am glad you enjoyed it. Still, you worried everyone including me. I don't really think that's any different than what I do generally. All the same, I'm glad you are alright."

"No eggs. Never saw a slime egg," Uta mumbles to herself. "A few divisions, but is's... a surprisingly uncommon event. Rare, even." She lowers her voice and looks at everyone in turn. "But when it happens, it's epic! You should see that!"

She shakes her head to clear it. "Anyway... uh... I was saying... yes. This is kind of suspicious." She rubs her head. "I should run some numbers to make sure, but... can those rare divisons account for the infestation of slimes in the sewers? Hmm."

She moves back to sit where she was. Alv script is produced, and Uta materializes some writing implements then hurries to scribble down a copy. And does a double take. "...oh, hi, Jazz! You're here too?"

Uta shudders at the ominous chant Estelle relates. "...we need to set you up for a recording session later. We must write this down. Transcribe it. Study it."

Uta scratches her head. "I wonder if the Monstrology equipment I have at the lab will be sufficient to analyze that sample. It's... oddly optimized for slimes, for some reason. I suspect it's probably more like the kind of work for an alchemist though? Or... perhaps a healer, yes. That too." She mutters, "Note to self: add items to to-do list. Item one, hire an alchemist. Item two, broaden your obsession into other kinds of monsters. Item three, find out why the lab only deals with slimes."

Uta just stares uncomprehendingly when Estelle relates the details that lead her to crossing the mirror, and just shudders at Cyrus mentioning a fight with a Machina.

"...how did they get them to resonate to anything else!", she whimpers again, far more quietly this time. "HOW! ARGH!"

"Oh! That Guy!", she says to Proteus. "Yes. Vague memories of him. Do not like. And... I do remember you mentioned the Dungeon Heart at some point over the Alliance chimlinks. They are... big crystals that allow Orc Shamans to act, right?" At the rest of Proteus's comments, she adds, "...aaaaactually....", and proceeds to swipe her menu. She navigates through her inventory, and a small device, the size of a briefcase, featuring a shellac cylinder as its main feature appears in her hand. "...ta-daaaa!" She smiles wide, and adds, "Next up! Find an enchanter so we can work on a mind-link between slimes and a crystal ball. Slime-cam!" She frowns for a moment, then mumbles to herself, "Step four. Hire enchanter."

"Oh, we may have no Rosetta Stone, Proteus, but there's some kind of open network of people who commit to sharing all their sources of Alv script and share back everything they discover. A collective effort to crack the language. You might be interested in that.

She shudders as Erufu sings, and looks uncomfortable. Either made so by the song, or perhaps at seeing all the people leave. "We'll have to record what we know of this song, afterwards, for study purposes.

Jazz listens. Her tentacles twitch. Perhaps she's used to discomfort. Either way, it doesn't really seem to *visibly* bother her as she does. She's gone quiet, though, paying attention. Listening. And then studying Uta and Estelle from time to time. Seems she has Concerns. Capital C.

The alchemist in the room glances at the flask, then back to Uta. "I... could possibly help analyze it if I get some time, I suppose." He proposes. "But I am not sure if we really have the kind of equipment to go analyzing a biological compound like that. Maybe if there's someone who can get information from an item." He motions his hand somewhat backwards at the flask. "What with that being an item - since it went into your inventory."

And then Estelle begins to sing, and he just slowly puts his hands to his ears. "Okay, that's not comfortable to listen to." He declares. "Please stop."

Erufu finishes up the song and stops she gets it may not have been the best idea she will be thinkjing on this while listening to everyone else chatter on this. She just /stares/ at Uta with this very confused look on her face. Uta is a very strange girl and it shows. She doesn't need to be finishe and she muses. "It seems that song had some sort of power. I wonder...."

She starts to get ideas.

"I didn't risk a rubbing, and I don't trust my art skills to replicate it properly... but that's exactly the thing I bemoaned, Proteus. The lack of a camera. If only I could've taken pictures... Shown it all properly, let you see the /scope/ of it all." The vixen shakes her head, sighing. "And the song is ominous; like I said, it sent chills down my spine. An instinctive wariness of what it was and represented." She can just hope it doesn't turn out to be something less dangerous than it seems, and put her instincts to shame. But.

"And... I don't think we have the proper tools, no. Though maybe magic of divination could help. I could try to use as the payload of a Dowsing Rod... see what it has sympathetic connections to." Her tone is thoughtful, before she shakes it off. "Though someone with more indepth abilities might work, as well, if you know anyone who can do more than Appraise."

"And yes, the system there flagged me as orange. I'm probably red to it now, though... because I stole the buggy I mentioned. Used its laser cannon to blast open the door, and tried to reach the Tower. It was /fast/. And a hover vehicle." Ah, that feeling of speed. "The seats were designed for, presumably, winged folk, too. Cut off mid-back... that's what got the Machina chasing me. She reminded me of Spatjahr, except winged. I was so, so close to the tower when she got a firm target lock and blasted me and the buggy together..."

As for the talk of World Transfer... well, Estelle can but memorize that for later consideration. As to Merek's pointed finger... "Oh, it wasn't any different. But I felt the call, and I answered it all the same. And while I wish we had more... there's some answers, from this."

"Uhm, right. Maybe someone with the right skills can just inspect that sample," Uta mumbles, a bit ashamed. "Just like I can just inspect people for their medical status."

"I know the feeling, Estelle," Uta grumbles. "I missed my window to acquire a song for a lack of a recorder." She points at the device in her hand. "So I came up with this phonograph. I would like to thank everyone who helped. Except Needles, so called because that dang slime ate my last needle. I think I'm changing its name to Needless. Step five. Rename Needles to Needless."

"Wings... Wings... hm. Could it be... Spriggans? Sylphs? Imps?", she begins to pace around again. "...or..."

What she says next is hard to render. The meaning people will get over the translation system is "/Wings/." But the word she actually says is German: "Flügel."

"Have you considered that you might be a little obsessed with slimes, Uta?" Proteus asks. "I mean, if you're going to be obsessed with anything, I suppose slimes are harmless enough... And yes, Orcs... And possibly others. I believe Goblins used them before too." She blinks at the sight of the cylinder. "What's... that?" She asks, then squints at the declaration of her goal. "I'm not looking for that kind of camera, though that would be interesting. I more mean something that would allow us to take pictures and make recordings."

There is also a frown. "I have my reservations about being so free about Alv script. Look at the context of what is happening. Misuse of it can cause a great deal of damage if it is used improperly, Uta." There is a grimace as Erufu sings... And she notes how the Landers simply scurry out. "... As you can see." She points out. "This is an instance where knowledge is very literally power. And being unwise with it will cause consequences that will not be able to be controlled."

Pointedly, Proteus turns to Erufu. "Wherever you got that song from, be /very/ careful how you use it."

She sighs, and looks back to Estelle. "Indeed. Maybe eventually we can work out a way to recreate one that works... like a modern one. But I think your wariness is well warranted, Estelle. Whatever that place is, it is a potential serious threat."

There is a pause as Estelle describes her buggyjacking. "You what?" She blinks. "No wonder the machina intervened to kill you. Ugh. You did your best, but in the end, the overwhelming atmosphere situation was going to kill you eventually anyway... And possibly less pleasantly."

There is a little frown as she looks over at Uta. "Nnnh. Wings." She replies, squinting. "What is this Spahtjahr?" Contrary to popular belief, Proteus doesn't know /everything/.

Erufu will still make note of the song even if she might not sing it again without reason. She may wish to track down more to this. "More of these songs may be worth tracking down as well." She also is taking more notes on what Estelle found. "We may want to let some of our more crafty sorts take a look at that later. She looks to be heeding Proteus's advice. "I will that was ... strange I just felt this urge I should sing it." She admits, looking concerned about it.

    Merek does frown a little bit when Spathjar is mentioned publically, "A machina," he then notes, "One we have spoken with, who is... Well, broken a little bit in her link to the world. She does seem to know things about the past and future," he then adds, while he nods a bit. He doesn't mention anything else about that. He nods a bit to Estelle along with the woman's words as well.

    Miyako nods. "It's too bad you couldn't get any parts from there... Spatjahr still needs to make repairs, last I checked. Unless you've seen more, Merek?"

    She does, however, jot down several notes about the song Erufu sang, humming bits of it to herself.

Jazuhanzu looks uncomfortable at the mention of Spatjahr, yes. Jazz places one hand to the back of her head, then tips her hat.

"Yes, I was thinking Estelle and I could plumb what Spatjahr might recognize of what we can tell her about this, though given her attempts to contact things previously, I'm not sure what she'll make of it." She looks up slowly towards the ceiling. "Still, it can't hurt. We're level one friends, after all." Her face scrunches.

The effect is decidedly cute.

Uta says, "You are level one friends, Jazz? I missed that! Congratulations!"

"We do try to take care in the form of involving people we trust," she replies to Proteus. "Knowledge is, indeed, power, and too high a concentration of it in too few hands is the most dangerous scenario I can think of."

She resumes her pacing around. "...crack theory here, courtesy of wild guessing: the Flügel send an army of monsters down from the Moons. Someone else, as of yet undetermined, needs something to counter the monsters with." Her gaze fixes on every other person in turn. "Us." A beat. "We got caught in a proxy war. We're the proxies of our side. The other side's proxies is the monst-oh my goodness!" Color drains from her face. "...I've been fraternizing with the enemy..."

"Given what Spatjahr's threat rating is, I focused on trying to outrun it with shields to deflect some of the blasts. It... mostly worked, until it suddenly didn't." Estelle shakes her head, sighing. "... though, ah, I think the Oxygen Poisoning meant I wasn't quite thinking clearly at that point, either." There's a sheepish little shrug, and a swish of her tails. "Almost made it, though. Managed to use some Air Arts to give myself even more speed... but there was little cover, and she was flying."

The talk of Flügel, and proxy wars, and the like just makes her shake her head, though. Not enough information for a solid conclusion, in her opinion. "I'd be willing to visit her again, though, yes. Seeing her opinion on this, and if she might be able to translate some factors, could be useful."

"You are far more trusting than I am, Uta." Proteus pointes out. "And giving out /that/ knowledge to everyone is going to create nothing but chaos. There is a middle ground that can be achieved. We need to overturn the structures that are keeping us from properly building this world but that doesn't mean we need to be creating /anarchy/. Imagine if everyone knew how to properly sing that song Erufu just used. It isn't killing anyone but it certainly is going to cause problems... And that's relatively harmless as far as I can tell."

She rubs her face. "Relax, Uta. You're learning about slimes in order to take advantage of that knowledge to help people. Right?"

"A sapient machina? And she is damaged?" Proteus asks. "And... where precisely is this machina?" She glances over at Estelle and the others.

"Giving out that knowledge to everyone is going to create nothing but chaos," remarks Jazz, casually, tipping her hat in Proteus' direction. "And it doesn't belong to us. We should remember that we are guests, not colonizers." And with that, she turns to move away.

    Miyako shrugs. "All knowledge is dangerous. Remember the story of the Radioactive Boy Scout?" She waves a hand dismissively. "What we need is not ultra-secrecy, it's basic safety warnings and a good team to work on translating this. We need more heads on the project, not less."

    "We're not going to give the Machina's location, I will be clear about that. We already did before to one person and they wanted to use her as a weapon to climb the Tower," Merek mentions to Proteus. The man then takes a look to Estelle, "Anyway. I don't think we have the means to fight things like that."

Estelle sighs, shaking her head at the turn in conversation. "... Calm down, everyone, please." She raises her hands, palms up. "Take a step back from throwing around threats of knowledge and shared secrecy, though I will say tht Spatjahr is a person, and she does seem to desire a degree of privacy. A desire I will respect. As for the knowledge of Alv and Songs... there's more to them than merely the song. According to a Traveller I spoke with, briefly, there's a permission component. Without the proper tools or authorization - from the Goddesses or other forces - they're not potent. A fraction of their true strength, if any at all."

Her gaze does, briefly, linger on Erufu there, before she turns it away. She's not going to force the woman to speak on it. "... but no, I didn't even try to turn the buggy's weapons on my pursuer. Both out of a hope for peace, perhaps, and because I wasn't sure if it would help."

Uta seemed about to say something, but Estelle stops her just in time. Instead, she gives Proteus an embarrassed sideways glance. "...the whole Slime Lab thing started because I wanted a vat with a couple of slimes to pet. It... may have gotten a bit out of hand over time, and at this point it's too late to stop." She scratches her head. "I mean, not that I'm complaining, but..."

"...I don't know the story of the Radioactive Boy Scout," she says to Miyako.

".../Flying/?!", Uta exclaims. She says nothing more, but by her glare and the way the bites her lower lip, she's livid with envy.

Back to Estelle, she says, "...that is good news, Estelle. It means that breaking things will... not be as likely."

"Strange, I thought you were New World, not /Scale Emblem/. I thought New World was planning to /live here/. What is that but colonizing? Against our will, no less? So save your smarmy jibes, hypocrite." Proteus' eyes flash as she glares at the sea witch. "And here I was, giving you all this information and context about what Estelle experienced as well as sharing much of my own knowledge on the subject. And you have the unmitigated /gall/ to throw my words back in my face because I don't believe in sharing a literal /language of power/ willy-nilly with people? Pathetic."

Merek also balks. "Merek, I am part of Olympus. Why in the /seven hells/ would I want to use her as a weapon for /anything/, let alone scaling the Tower? Why would I wish harm on them at all? I want knowledge, not a being who would most certainly turn their weapons on me if I transgress against them in some manner. How /exactly/ am I a threat?"

Estelle also declines. Proteus frowns, and shrugs. "And yet you're already beginning to make plans to speak with her about your experiences. If not now, than inevitably later, or another here will. I suppose you lot are happy enough to make use of me when it is to your advantage, but when it is my turn to ask something, you are just as greedy as the nobles you lot disdain. So be it."

Proteus pulls her hood forward further, shadow falling more deeply over her eyes, and she turns away with a flick of her cloak. "A last point: There are always ways to gain tools or authorization... if you are willing to pay the price. There is no such thing as perfect security, as we have already witnessed multiple times. Good luck in the future." She says, as she walks off.

    Miyako shrugs and explains quickly to Uta: "He tried to build a working nuclear reactor for his Eagle-scout project. Damn near managed it, too. All from open-source material." She leans against one of the pillars and sighs.

    "One other thing to think about: The more we try to keep stuff secret, the more people will begin to wonder /why/. And make crazy assumptions and conspiracy theories. I'm not saying publicize everything, but you want to make sure it doesn't look like you're hiding stuff."

    Merek looks then to Proteus, while he thinks about it, "Becaus we think of her as a person, not as just a satisfaction to curiosity. Especially when she's made it known she prefers privacy. I apologize if we said it roughly, all the same, we promised to keep the place to be a secret. Anyway, you be safe," he offers, while he nods a bit to Estelle. "Anyway."

Jazuhanzu stops her own exit long enough to let Proteus' diatribe finish. She waits. And then she waits some more. She listens but declines reponse. She lets the words, stinging as they're intended, hang in the air for the time being. She tucks her hands together behind her instead.

Uta, as well, just... well, not /stares/. That would be rude. But keeps her mouth shut and glances awkwardly.

Erufu says "We're here to live our lives no?" She has no intention of going back to being Nao ever again if she can help it. She loosk to Proteus for a moment sighs and thinks for a moment. "I should get going, I need to drag Orcbalg out to ... actually relax." The elf doesn't seem mad just that she does have to go and pauses as she gets a message. Yeah she needs to get going...

"That went about like I expected," says Jazz after Proteus' departure. There's a look towards Uta, then a nod, and then she goes back towards Estelle. She's going to take a spot by her side for the time being, offering whatever support she needs.

    Miyako nods. "As usual, common sense is the rarest thing in the world. Any world." She sighs and shakes her head. "I've got to get back to Shibuya. Thanks for taking the chance, Estelle."