No Man Is An Island

...but there is an 'Isle of Man'? My life is a lie!

Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

Uta staggers out of the library of Dol Dona. She could compete in a drunken meandering walk competition, only to be disqualified at the end for being sober. Her eyes have massive bags underneath, and the only reason she doesn't bump into people is that she's surrounded by an aura of malodor, and her stomach growls menacingly in the general directon of anyone who's foolish or noseless enough to approach anyway.
Pela Clarpuff
Dol Dona - Main Square


     Really, Dol Dona felt more like home to Pela than many of the other cities in this world had been. Strongly nature-oriented and literally just a hole in the ground with a small bit of structures outside of it. Once she found the place it had become the center of her explorations to seek out herbs and spices of the region, many of which she was quite pleased with the findings on. This would expand her repertoire of cooking ingredients and let her make more things and possibly provide Hifumi with more options on her return. She'd made sure to preserve many of the seeds as best as she could as well, so they could possibly be grown in gardens or farms back in Yamato for when she returned.

     Right now, however, Pela was on a return trip to Dol Dona, with her pack full of freshly gathered herbs and various low level monster drops to examine and get to know. Really she needed to stop neglecting all of her various non-combat skills. Her tailoring in specific is something she should use more. Her outfit could probably do with an upgrade, for instance! Or she could maybe make a pretty dress for a friend! Or something. Ooh. She could make new uniforms for the Pelapuff girls too!

     Her inner musings are paused when a certain smell... sound... and sight catches her. And her eyes focus, flitting towards the person. Ah yes. That was a familiar sight. One that she had encountered many times before. And so she doesn't hesitate in approaching her friend, reaching into her inventory to pull out several items. A flask of basic fruit juice, made from some local berries, along with a small wrapped loaf of bread that smelled delicious and was packed full of all sorts of dried fruits, nuts, and seeds. Everything someone needs to keep going. "...Hello, Uta. You need to eat. Here." She says simply, approaching her and holding out the drink and the Pela Brand Travel Bread.
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

Oh no. How could this happen?

It's not that Jazz has been avoiding people ...

...Okay, actually, it's totally that she's been avoiding people. She's been hiding in the Palace Lands for weeks now, exploring supposedly, but mostly just avoiding ... things. All of the things. And her first day back in civilizationin ... a while, and she's got Pela and Uta right in front of her. Who arranged this?!

Jazz is staring at both of them. Maybe if she slinks away, she can find some place to hide before they notice her.

She backs up slowly. One step after another.

Sneak sneak sneak...

... and then she goes end over end, having backed into a raised gardening box of flowers. THUMP.
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

It takes Uta three or four attempts to finally manage to focus on Pela. "Oh. Oh!", she finally exclaims. She rubs her eyes, sniffs, lets out the mother of all yawns, stretches, and finally sniffs again. "Hi Pela," she says. And sniffs again. "Oh, man, building an underground city was a terrible idea. They have a serious ventilation problem here." Sniff. Grimace.

"Oh, food? Uh. Thanks," she says, not thinking much about it, and as soon as her teeth sink into the first bite of bread, Jazz's rovinous fall sends a catastrophic cacophony of cataclysm her way.

Uta stops her biting, opens her mouth, and glances down.

"...This bread makes a strange noise, are you sure it's normal?"
Pela Clarpuff
Dol Dona - Main Square


     Hiding. From Pela. Nope. Not happening. Pela is always watching. Always sniffing out her quarry! Actually no she just has a knack for finding people at times really, it's mostly just coincidence, she doesn't even have any tracking skills. She does, however, have better senses than a rock. So when Jazz backs up into a gardening box... she Notices, and glances towards it.
     Oh! Hey. It's Jazz. Being Jazz, of course. "Hi, Jazuhanzu." Pela says, giving a small smile towards her. She isn't rushing over to her or anything though. She was fine. And Uta was not right now. Prioritizing people in minor predicaments goes towards the person who is hungry and doesn't look like they've slept in a week, instead of the person whose pride is mostly the only injured thing.
     "...Actually they have pretty good ventilation, you just have poor ventilation right now." Pela responds to Uta with a little nod. "...You ... might... want to run the hygiene command button thingy." She adds. Pause. The mention of the strange noise just gets a soft little giggle from Pela. "...It's not normal, but it doesn't make sounds. That was Jazz failing her stealth check over there." A-hem. "...Anyway. What are you working on? You seem like you're in a fey mood, and those are always caused by interesting projects." Now that Uta has taken the bread, of course, Pela starts making her way over to Jazuhanzu to hold out a hand towards her and help her up.
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

Jazz lays on the ground for a moment with a groan. Her hat is picked up, brushed off, and placed over her face. Mortified.

Then she's slowly gettin back to her feet. Uta hasn't noticed her! Wait...

Uta hasn't noticed her. Of all the things that mean Uta's not okay, it's her NOT noticing Jazz.

"Uta?" she calls to her, finally.
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"Mh?," Uta mumbles, in the middle of chewing through some fruit peculiar to the Elder Tale world which has no equivalent in the Real World(tm).

She stares at the air, where some window that only she can see must have appeared, as per personal menu mechanics. "Oh. Oh, right, no water. I should go look for a fountain or a public bath or something," she mumbles to herself, as she takes another bite of fruit.
Pela Clarpuff
Dol Dona - Main Square

     Poor Jazz, so mortified by all that's going on. Presence of friends. Falling over near those friends. And one of those friends noticing her after she fell over. "I'm pretty sure she's in a strange mood, from how she's acting and looks." Pela comments towards Jazz.
     Uta, meanwhile, was at least eating now. And at least seems to be heading towards bathing herself. "...Yeah, that's probably a good idea, you, uhm. ...Probably haven't bathed in a few days from the state of your clothes." Pela says with an awkward chuckle.
     "...At least I don't have to force you into a bath." She comments absently to herself, glancing towards Jazz after that comment.
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"....yeah," says Jazz after a lengthy pause of staring at Uta. "Again. I didn't even know you could get in one twice, but I guess if anyone could..."

She jabs a finger at Uta. "I guess I'm going to be busy for a bit, huh?" She glances towards Pela, shrugs her shoulders at her, and then brushes by her to get to Uta's other side.
Pela Clarpuff
Dol Dona - Main Square


     "...Why would you not be able to get into one twice? It seems to just be tied to major breakthroughs, so it's not really surprising." Pela says thoughtfully. "...But anyway, I... actually should go back to working on my own project. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up in a similar mood soon." Pela says, brushing back against Jazz lightly, before starting to meander off. This totally isn't just an excuse because she's sleepy. Nope. Not at all. "...So you're definitely going to be busy, mmhmm~." Pela nods as she starts to walk off, absently pulling out and chewing on one of her travel breads for herself.
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"We must preserve the Songs of Yamato!", Uta finally bursts out in explanation. "Adventurer bards are bringing in songs! The phonograph has been invented! The Pandora genie is out of the cat's can of worms, and it's only a matter of time before a music industry is established! We must act fast!" She takes a big inhale, and blurts out, at breakneck speed, all in one breath, and oddly enough, hitting a note on the chromatic scale at each syllable, "The Landers seem to only know of 42 songs which apparently used to constitute the soundtrack to Elder Tale Online before the apocalypse they appear to be sung in a language which was unknown until recently but we are now pretty sure it's Alv oh and by the way no lyrics or translation was ever released by the development team nor those songs never made it to CD and the only way to get them was through covers also of note is that they are not all equally as common, some like the first song are ubiquitous some like the second song are sung only in agricultural areas and then up up to the high numbered ones which are super rare and above forty-two the landers probably don't even known of them! Oh! And did you know that apparently their language is instrumental in making relics?" Uta turns to Pela specifically. "Schenider has joined our little group of Alv language crack linguists!"
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"..."

Jazz stares at Uta, nodding. "Yeah, I heard that. About the sogns, I mean. Preserving them? Yeah, sure. That's a good idea. If I can hep with the language nerd stuff, I will. I'm not so great with that kind of thing, though, was more Benji's kind of thing. God, I wish he was here so much, he'd be so much further along in figuring out what's going on than anyone else i know. No offense, Uta."

She lets out a breath. "Okay. Well. Yeah. Sure. I'll help out."
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"I don't know this Benji, but I have no reason to doubt you," Uta mumbles. "Yes, yes. That's part of why we need to preserve the songs. And understand how they tie into this world. That's a thing this institute I'm working on will deal with. Along with, of course, offering a workshop and music school to prepare the next generation of maestros and virtuosos. And instrument-makers. And- hm." She taps her chin. "Hey, you're the historian here, have you found anything interesting in the local lore about the Songs? Find anything in your explorations of the Three Kingdoms? As far as I could tell, the songs that are sung here in the Palace Lands are pretty much the same we have in Yamato."
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"... I'm an out of game historian, not an in game one," complains Jazz, shaking her head. Her hair wafts along after, lifting like it's in the water before settling back on her shoulders belatedly.

"Not a thing, but to be honest, I've just been out in the middle of nowhere trying not to die. So far, I've mostly succeeded."
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

Uta gives a nod. Rubs her chin. And lets out another yawn, so sudden and low it startles a Lander who had strayed too close despite the advance warning of the smell. There's always one.

After Uta has sunk into more of the bread, she continues, "Pity, I was hoping..." She taps her chin some more. "I had been doing some research on the subject. As a Spriggan, at the time, I was interested in what the local lore is about races like the Cait Sith, Were Fang, or, most importantly, Spriggans. It turns out, it isn't as filled with strife as ours. Instead, it details various battles between the Rosenheim, Kallamore and Thor Kingdoms, trying to attain land, rights, and other such matters. A common warground was an island at the center in between the three Kingdoms, which now lies in ruins. They seem to have gotten more peaceful over the last few decades."
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"From what I undertand, Undine have a pretty violent history that's only recently changed with them getting their asses kicked or something."

Jazz pinches the bridge of the nose. "Of course. /That's/ one of the reasons he picked it. Why didn't I see that before? Hnghh."

She rubs her eyes, then says, "Three Kingdoms. Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I don't really know my Chinese myth all that well, but it makes sense that they'd touch on that particular foundational epic."
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"Oh, yes, the Undines," Uta replies, once again lost in thought. "That's a bit of history I've been meaning to research. If one cross-references the Real Life and in-world calendars, taking the 50:1 ratio into account, the whole Leviathan thing happened suspiciously close to when, in real life, the internet was shut down due to Pluto's Kiss. That's on the to-do list for later resear-"

Uta freezes for a moment, then resumes. "-hm. They are rumored to have had Libraries with Lost Knowledge. I wonder if... maybe they have material on Prelude to Song. Hmmm."

Uta focuses full-on on Jazuhanzu. "Jazz, I'll have to recruit you for some underwater exploration. We should see if we can find an Undine library that remains accessible enough."

"...and what's that about someone picking something?"
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"Forget about it," says Jazz, "It's ancient history. Fity to one."

She makes a face. It is sadly cute. And sad.

She looks up towards the sky, her bangs falling in a shroud over her eyes as she does. It's very anime. "...ugggh, if you insist. Underwater levels are the worst. And how would the Undine evne have libraries? Do they do cuneiform or something?"
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"It's a possibility. Or stencils. Grab a cuttlefish, squeeze it at a stencil, bam. A full page filled," Uta muses, between more bites of bread and fruit. "After all, ink originates underwater, so it only makes sense that-"

Silence follows, at which point Uta, realizing she's out of food, looks around in panic. "Oh, snap! I've been lingering here too long! I have to get back to Yamato!" she panics, and starts walking towards... whatever direction leads to the surface. "Gotta prepare for the Grand Opening of the Conservatory! To which you are welcome, of course, should you desire to."

Also, she's got to shower, but she seems to have forgotten that bit.
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"Sure, but *writing* with ink underater would be ... difficult. Not impossible. I'm just not terribly imaginative and I don't really see *how* off the top of my head. Also, I -- oh. Well... Yeah.. Okay. Sure. Conservatory. Right." She adjusts her hat.

"That's definitely important." She's staring after Uta as she starts off and then she heaves a sigh.

...and goes after her.
Uta
Dol Dona - Main Square

"I don't know, honestly-," Uta starts off, as she keeps on walking. "It's not my main focus at the moment anyway. The point is, hm. Hey, how would you feel at being given a Phonograph? I could always use more fellow Song Hunters who can help me collect more of the Landers' songs, and given how your exploration journeys seem to constantly take you to places of exceptional interest, I think you'd be a good fit."
Jazuhanzu
Dol Dona - Main Square

"..they do not. Most of the time, I'm just crawling through bushes. And falling down hills."

Jazz lets out a sigh. "My legs are too short." She looks down at the moment, at her boots, and wiggles her toes inside them. Not that anyone can see that. Then she's after Uta again.