Burger Time

Ayame comes to Crescent Burger and runs into Gwen.

Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame waved her goodbyes to a couple of the Crescent Moon, adventurers returning from a duty who went back to their quarters and to discuss things. A visiting Silver Sword member, she wasn't familiar with the guildhall, and she looked a little amused at the decor. Moving to the main counter - and lifting herself to sit on a stool with a touch of difficulty, the fitted skirt of the curvaceous sylph giving a few problems - she smiled across, her shield glittering on her back as she rested and looked over the menu.

Well, she was by herself. The counter was the polite option.

The fusion menu made her shake her head, ordering more or less at random and getting a drink. Then lifting it to hold the glass against the light. Magical bubbles!
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen had been working at the burger joint today and just finished up she was packing meals into her inventory at the moment. For she planned to go find Uta and make sure the poor girl had food on her. Oh, what a mess Uta had got herself into this time, Gwen mused but while but once that was done she placed an order for herself. She would then wander over to Ayam and sit own near her. "Haven't seen you here before? Enjoying yourself I hope?"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta's side of the table is paved in books. Not strewn, mind you. Paved. They alre all neatly tiled for perfect alignment. One rectangle is taken up completely by an order of burger and fries, and Uta, completely engrossed in the books, keeps flipping pages apparently at random, while holding her burger with the other hand. She's chewing, and mostly humming a song. No lyrics, just humming the melody.
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame smiles and nods to Gwen "It's not my usual place, thank you" She explains as she takes a careful little sip. "I'd finished an escort with some of your guild - I had to stay and try the place out. It looks amazing" She nod, shifting on her stool to face and study Gwen, her ears flicking up in pleased surprise on seeing the other Sylph "And - what's the style. Rockabilly?" The word is a little difficult for her to say, as she holds onto the glass with both hands, looking inordinately pleased with herself
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen says "Fair enough and to I hope you had a good run and I'm glad." She pauses for a moment at the question. "I kinda just went off what I recalled from a few diners back home." She looks a bit sheepish at this. She knows what Rockabilly is but wasn't even thinking about it at the time. "I'm Gwen." She'll look over to Uta for a moment and calls out. "Uta you better be eating!"
Uta
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Uta perks up from the books. "Hm? What? ...Oh!" She chomps on the burger, and while chewing, she resumes studying. Of note -- she is dressed up to the nines. A white cheongsam dress with a light blue floral embrodiery, heeled sandals... even matching jade pendant earrings that jingle a bit when she flicks her expressive ears. A bit of a strange outfit to wear while out slime hunting or just visiting the library.
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Gwen?" Ayame thinks a moment, then nods, brushing her hair back behind a pointed ear "Hi" offering her hand to the other sylph "Kuroyuri's my sister. It's good to meet you" She glances around, and back, to Uta, shaking her head a little "I suppose she has to actually listen to someone she works for?" She asks, letting her amusement through "I was fine. I normally just sit at the front and block everything if I'm with a group. Wand and Board" She notes with a small chuckle, and then smiles to Uta "You look lovely today!" She offers to the spriggan "Out of your norm"
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen says "Oh I see so you got family here too and it's good to meet you as well. No she's doing what I did with a crafting project. Uta ... wasn't takening care of herself." She frowns "She also did it for me when I got into a strange mood. Oh your a tank as well? I been doing Tower runs and the Waves. Well when i can do those. "You really make those outfits of my creation work well Uta!"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"It's a strange labcoat", Uta mutters in reply to Gwen, her eyes never leaving the pages she's scanning. "The shoes with built-in stitls help a bit in reaching high shelves. Still not sure what the purpose of the aural counterbalancing weights is."

Ayame's words get a distracted (and somewhat puzzled), "Oh? Uh... thanks," in response, over the rustle of a page being turned. Her eyes never depart the books, not even when she takes the occasional bite out of her burger. "I think I have the same face as yesterday, but I'm not sure I've really checked since the Apocalypse." If not understood, the compliment seems to have been appreciated, at least. "Can't hope to compete with how lovely you look yourself," she adds, while leaning closer to a different tome. She's not even looking at Ayame, but one can at least suppose she remembers her from earlier? Uta, meanwhile, turns pages at breakneck speed, and alternates between humming and mumbling something about 'philological consistency', 'native varieties', 'cross-reference of sources', and 'phylogenetic mess'.
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame nods as ... a plate of peas with slices of hard boiled eggs, along with a burger, is placed before her. Oh well. She begins to eat carefully, tasting them and making appreciative sounds, before looking to Gwen and uta "Do you mind if we join you?" She asks the slime girl politely, rather than keeping talking across the gap "I've been thinking about projects and I might have one" She smiles a touch, and then nods more enthusiastically to Gwen "I am! Wand and Board in Accord, as I put it - shield and magic tanking. It works well enough keeping people safe. I'd love to work with you sometime"

Uta gets a second glance "Nonsense. You look sweet as a picture. The dress is lovely and you accented it just so. I suppose it keeps you from going off and getting yourself into trouble?" With just a bit of teasing
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen looks at Uta for a moment with this confused look on her face but she just sighs and says nothing else on it. She seems pleased that Uta is eating at they very least. "Also don't forget to have your clothing repaired." She makes a note of this and just gives Uta a look. "mmm I'm used to my face now and the rest of me." She grins at this as her order comes in and she looks over to Uta gain. "Yeah mind mind if we join in? "I think Uta's middle name is trouble. Though it's never intentional I find."
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Join? Uh? Sure. Be my guests!", she says, and pushes her plate of fries towards Ayame and Gwen. "Oh, projects! I'll take all the help it'll need. Locating the Lost Compendium of Slimeology (actual name unknown) is not an easy undertaking, let me tell you. I had to drop everything I was doing, from trying to achieve flight to figuring out why all those high ranking church members politely pretend never to have time to meet me about my questions," she grumbles. Another bite to that sandwich, and down she goes again. "I like the Wand and Board thing. Hmmm. Maybe... maybe one could create some sort of safety screen to hide beihind, based on that concept..." She picks up her pencil, and scribbles something on a nearby notebook. "Of course, of course. Clothes repaired. Important. Don't want to suffer a sudden wardrobe malfunction." Too bad that... she seems to have completely forgotten of late, and Gwen barely saved her from such a wardrobe malfunction just the day before!
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame nods, picking up her things and moving to join Uta, settling at her table politely, and keeping her dishes away from the spread papers "I would be surprised if it was intentional. She just seems to be the type to invite it unthinkingly" She notes, before looking back to the spriggan

"Sounds like you have your hands full. You should find someone to keep track of the less important things for you. And possibly keep you on reins to stop you running into trouble" She suggests with a touch of a sly grin
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen sits fowna nd looks at Uta. "This is all about slimes huh? Well for me it's sword and board. It's second nature really I used to be into it before we arrived here." She ntoed to Uta and she look to Ayame "Are you looking to fill that job for Uta?"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Trouble? I never get in trouble. What gives you the idea I get in trouble?"

"I have Setsuna for keeping track of the less important things, but the problem is, who keeps track of Setsuna? Could use someone to do that..." Another chomp. "I think he could use some help at the lab while I'm busy."

"No, it's not all about slimes. Look what I found!" Uta replies to Gwen. She flicks her menu open, and materializes a sheet of paper: yellowed page, ripped out from a larger manuscript, which she promptly holds at arm's length, unfolded, for the others to see. "I'm not the first! There was another! Someone who came before me!", she exclaims, with reverence. "I must locate this book, find out who wrote it!" This is the first time she averts her gaze from her books, and looks straight at Gwen and Ayame. "I must find this giant whose shoulder it is necessary I stand on!"

She glances under the table. "...I might want to remove these sandals first, tho'. The pressure generated by my weight discharging through stuch a tiny heel surface might damage their ligaments..."
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Oh, I don't think I could handle Uta to that degree" Ayame tells Gwen as she eats slowly, savoring it "Though it's a tempting idea. You need someone more patient than I am, and possibly who can avoid burns from slimes" With a helpful, cheery tone.

And one hand gently covers her face as Uta talks. And talks. And she sighs a very little "I think any giant will be able to handle your heels, Uta" With a tone of less than infinite patience "But it sounds wonderful. You'll need to let you know once you have it"
Gwen
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Gwen looks at Uta with this blank expression for a moment she just staring at her friend. "I keep wondering about the previous eras of Adventuerrs I start to wonder if back in Fragment and SAO we were tapping into this world but ... it feels like their could be more than that. Look I'll get you some lower heeled boots then Uta." She nods ot Ayame. "Well so long as it gets handled. That outfit was jut intended as an ad for my shop... which Uta was helping out with. It's her's now mind you."
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Definitely. Definitely gotta get you to keep an eye on Setsuna, Ayame. It's the one less important things I have nobody I trust to take care of properly. Not even Setsuna himself. ESPECIALLY Setsuna himself. That guy could really use someone who looks after him," she rambles, as she folds and disappears her yellowed sheet into her inventory. "I will be traveling a lot and I could use some help there, Ayame. Just swing past the Slime Lab and make sure everything is running smoothly. That slimes get thier kibbles, and that their enclosures are cleaned. Honestly, Setsuna worries me. He has been neglecting himself. He looks like he doesn't get enough sleep."

"It's metaphorical giants, Gwen," Uta continues. "I don't think I'm going to literally stand on anyone's literal shoulders. Although, weirder things have happened."
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta returns to focus on her tomes, and trails off "You're giving me this outfit, Gwen? But I already have another outfit... What does one do with, like, two outfits? I'm not sure I'll be able to properly keep track of them..."
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Uta advertised your store wonderfully" Ayame tells Gwen with a little grin "She jumped up in the baths in a bikini and twirled around, then yelled about your place. I'm sure it got a lot of customers interested" There's a faintly teasing hint, there "I'll have to visit, though. I don't usually need separate clothes - I've a relic that produces outfits for me - but being able to actually choose my own on occasion, instead of whatever it turns out, might be a change" She sniffs

"Oh, you can too!" She tells Uta "If you can keep track of all these papers, you can too handle two separate sets of clothes!"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"They are outfits, they are not remotely related to slimes. HUGE difference!" Uta replies. "No, no, I solve that issue by going the tech CEO route and owning only one outfit. Saves a lot of trouble."

Ayame's comment about the bikini makes Uta flush a deep shade of red. Tongue-tied, her attempts to retort all fail. "It's a bikini- but slimes- but it's a bikini- but... /slimes/!", she stutters, as if that meant anything; judging by her expression, she's about to divide by zero.
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame just laughs, finishing her meal and smiling "It's okay. Take all the time you need" She tells Uta with an affectionate nod "And there's nothing wrong with it. You looked cute as anything, and I'm sure you advertised for Gwen wonderfully. I mean, I'm thinking of going there, so it had to work well enough, right?"
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen has been eating her burger and fries for the momen with that finished up and pauses. "No don't wear slimes as a swim suit Uta. Please just don't it will end in tears..." Gwen is also turning red for some reason at the mention of that. "Oh you did a great job I had severral customers come in and place orders from what you did."
Uta
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"...I'm glad I've fulfilled my responsibilities to the best of my abilities!", Uta says, unable to stay away from her books further and digging in again. "But now my contractually obligated week of modeling is over, so I can finally go back to full time slime research without having to look elegant." She apparently has already forgotten what she's wearing.

"You won't regret it, Ayame, the CHAIN MAIL BIKINI PLUS ONE is the tailor-made solution to the exacting Adventurer's outfitting needs! Waste no further time, show up today!" -- Wait, did she say that on autopilot? She certainly looked like she was not paying attention, once again engrossed in some bit of scripture, when all of a sudden, she pushes her card back and springs to stand.

She sniffs the air. "...There is one. It is here. I can... I can /smell/ it!"
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame looks between the two, and just shakes her head "Well." As she sips her drink, finding it empty, and she gives them both a slightly uncomfortable look "It looks like you're both busy, so I'll let you both be. Go slime hunting or whatever it is you do" She smiles a touch, standing
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

THE DOOR IS PUSHED OPEN WITH A SLAM!!

...Which is weird because the person doing the pushing took great care not to actually slam the door, because he's a nice person like that. It actually seems like the SLAM-noise came from an unrelated cabbage cart being knocked over somewhere across the street.

In steps... a man in a mushroom-shaped hat. "Uta," Prophylaxis says, ominously, "I was told you were here somewhere. It's time for your checkup...!"
Gwen
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Gwen says "You did good and don't worry about it Uta you seem to be hell bent on this until..." She pauses as Prophyalix enters and she looks ot him for a moment and she gets up. "Just the man I was hoping to see as I waished to talk to you about Uta!" She'll head over to him whisper. "Inspect her something is wrong it might be what happned to me a while back."
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta holds a hand up to Ayame. "No, no, there is a slime in this general area. I can sense it." More sniffing around the air. "Probably outside the store. I might need all the help I can get to capture it. I... I don't have the Capture Monster skill. Do... do you?"

Uta keeps sniffing the air, still humming the same song she's been humming the whole time.

The cart across the street happened to be full of slimes; that is probably what Uta was sensing. "There!", she points, and moves to dart out of the door. "Doctor! Gwen! Don't worry about me! I've never felt better! It's been an uninterrupted stream of focus since I've started focusing up to and including now! It's... I've kind of lost track of time, to be fair, but however long it's been, it's /glorious/!"

Seems like some tactical tackling is in order.

For the good of the patient, of course.
Ayame
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Ayame shakes her head. She is not, it has to be said, about to go charging after the spriggan - lifting a hand after slipping her glove on (a notable lack of a snap - it's stiff cotton, after all - and giving the group a slightly worried smile as she goes to make a separate, and far less frantic, exit
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Indeed, I came after hearing from Setsuna," Prophylaxis says to Gwen as Uta reveals just how deep in she is. How far have you gone, Uta? Are you humming that song because you already /know/ that song, or would you have done so even if you hadn't learned it before? Prophylaxis does not know. What he does know is that his patient is trying to escape.

Uta goes to run away, and--

Something snakes out from Prophylaxis' left wrist. A long tendril wrapes around the slime-mistress' waist and pulls tight! "Nope, you're going to stay here. At least until I can..."

Prophylaxis...

Boops Uta's nose!??!

Please wait warmly, Medical Inspection is underway...!
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen waves to Ayame as she heads off while Gwen will settle down to wait she's got somethings to give to Uta. However the Doctor is in so it's time to wait for that is it not?
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta is yanked with a welp, jerked back and pulled to back to a place where the medical procedure (possibly known as rhinopalpation?) is carried out.

Uta stares as she's booped.

And stares /after/ she's booped.

And /stares/.

"Doctor...", she finally says, her voice lowered, a tinge of worry in her voice. "...I think we both have been hanging around Setsuna for too long."

For now, no special effect seems to appear on Uta -- except that she's a bit low on HP, but recovering. She was, judging by what's on the table, in the middle of a meal.

...and some bibliographical research? There /is/ a lot of tomes neatly tiled (as opposed to stewn) on that table...
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Prophylaxis stares right back as his nose-boop is rewarded with... nothing? Just an empty status list and a mildly depleted HP bar. But that's not right, she's got to be IN THE THROES OF MADNESS!

"No, I think this is probably something a little more than that," he says, tugging his patient back over toward those tomes. He glances at the titles, as he...

Continues booping the snoot, repeatedly. Eventually something's got to give, right!?
Gwen
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Gwen is still trying to inspect Uta while Prophylaxis is at work here but she keeps ending up short she's not a doctor first. She's a Paladin more or less the healing is a bit of a side thing in the end of it honestly.
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta looks increasingly confused at the repeated booping. With the utmost sincerity, without the slightest hint of snark, she says, "...Doctor, all of a sudden I have developed this strange symptom where I feel like a jammend vending machine, and I have no idea why..."

Finally! The jackpot!

Prophylaxis's obstinacy is rewarded with a status effect one doesn't see every day:

<< Mujou >>
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"It's alright, Uta. Sometimes I have observed that mild bruising is a side-effect of particularly in-depth medical investigations. You might want to consider a cold treat to help deal with these symptoms," Prophylaxis prescribes, as he finally gets the diagnosis he was honestly kind of expecting. But...

No flavor text? That's odd. Very odd. Almost as if... he needed to go even deeper...?

Hm, but this will do for now, at least. "It looks like you've got a fey mood, alright," Prophylaxis huffs and withdraws his medical tendril from around the Spriggan's waist. "Well, it should probably be fine once you get it out of your system. Still, someone will need to keep an eye on you while you work through this, make sure you get fed and such."

...Honestly, the books and behavior together probably should have been an obvious tell, but the official diagnosis is still good to have on-file. It's Mujou again this time...
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Uta is clearly having trouble focusing on Prophylaxis's words at this point. She's trying. Oh how hard she's trying. But her glance keeps darting to either the slimes that are now done being re-loaded on a cart, which is leaving, or her books.

In a final, superiman effort, she manages to reply, "...Mujou? No, Mujou is not a Fey Mood. At least according to current data, a subject in a Fey Mood will resonate with the Primordial Song and results in a Moonlight profession. A subject in a state of Mujou will resonate with the Earth song and result in a Novasphere Pioneer profession."

No longer able to resist the call of her books she returns to her table at a brisk pace, "Must have been a glitch, Doctor! I wouldn't classify myself in the kind of league that gets Strange Moods. The fact that you had to poke me for so long also supports the statistical error hypothesis..."

Still, the fact that she has a half-finished burger and order of fries and she does not even deign to look at them, returning instead to cross-referencing data from the various books, all while humming the Earth song, speaks volumes.
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"Hm, is it? I hadn't made that connection," Prophylaxis admits, scribbling a few notes down into a handy notebook. "Still, you /are/ humming the Earth Song, aren't you? That seems to be a sort of 'resonance' that would support a diagnosis of Mujou. Well, I'd consider the kind of mood that you're currently suffering to be pretty fey, wouldn't you? Ah well."

There's a beat as Prophylaxis eyes the half-spent BORGAR.

"So, what /are/ you working on, anyway?"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"What? No. I'm not," replies Uta. Who resumes humming the Earth song. "It is Fey, but 'Fey Mood' is already a specific status effect, as reported by the system. I prefer to use the different designation 'Strange Mood' to refer to any of Fey Mood, Yuugen, and Mujou indistinctly. It might not be universally accepted, but that's what I use."

Uta perks up as she's questioned. "I'm glad you asked! Perhaps you can help!" She flicks through her menu, and materializes a yellowed page, which she unfolds. It's a page ripped off from a larger manuscript: it details the unique morphology of slimes, references unusual slime types, and how to best handle them. "I thought there was no bibliography on slimes. All I found was a simple book... but turns out I'm not the first one! There was Another! Someone has gone down the path of Slimeology, and written an exhaustive compendium on slimes! I need to find this book, and find out who wrote it!"
Prophylaxis
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"Fey, strange, same difference," Prophylaxis wiggles the tip of his scribbling pen around in the air. "Well, I'm just glad it's something we've seen before. As long as you don't start trying to make a prosthetic slime-limb or something, we should be fine!" Not that he has any experience with his patients deciding to keep the spookiest peg leg he's ever seen in lieu of getting an actual replacement.

"Hm, so there was a slime researcher before?" Prophylaxis taps his pen thoughtfully against his chin. "Well that's interesting. Maybe not unforeseen though. I'll see about keeping my eyes open, then. Though I'm not sure we're going to have much luck picking through the old tomes that the nobility were willing to hand over."
Uta
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"No, no slime limbs. They'd be terrible limbs. Honestly," Uta says. "There seems to be a lot of misconception about my obsession. I just want to pet the slimes, not /be/ one."

"The tomes the nobles withhold from us might hide secrets, it's true. They do that a lot." She grumbles to herself, "Some day or other I'll have to deep dive into the history of Yamato and figure out just /exactly/ Nobles got to be Nobles. Mercantile power? Military conquest? Other Powers, with a capital P? Possibly by exploiting Secrets of this World?" She shakes her head. "But this is not the most important thing right now. The most important thing is-" she slaps her tome. "Slimes! It's true, I have only the book the nobles might have thought harmless, probably tossed out at a cute inferior being as a manner of amusing themsleves, like breadcrumbs to birds, but still, this early bird is following the trail of breadcrumbs, and will eventually get those two worms with one rolling stone!" She stares at Prophylaxis as if what she's said made a lot of sense.

Head bent down again, she continues, "It might be /more/ than what we've seen before. I've been studying slimes only for a few months. This Wise Author might have devoted a lifetime to them. Who knows what wonders one might have uncovered..."
Prophylaxis
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

Well that's a relief, at least. Though Prophylaxis is pretty sure Setsuna wasn't interested in joining the ranks of the walking dead, either.

Ah well, probably fine.

"I've never been the best with politics," Prophylaxis admits with a sigh. "I'm sure that they made a number of deals with great and terrible powers that are probably ultimately inadvisable in the long-term. If I know /anything/ about politicians, it's that they're prone to taking paths to short-term benefit regardless of the cost. But that's a digression as you say."

Though... He /would/ like to have a look at some of those hidden books at some point, if he can.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck. Maybe you'll be able to figure out something to make them all a little less aggressive overall, eh?"
Uta
Carmina Gadelica Marina - Crescent Burger

"What? No. They just want to cuddle."

There is some hesitation, then she continues, "...If you stretch the definition of 'cuddle' enough to encompass 'eat you'," she begrudgingly admits with a mumble.