Carry On My Wayward Song

Uta had meant to invite people to the shiny new musical conservatory in Eas, an institute to celebrate Song in the world of Yamato, the result of an obsession that consumed her for weeks. The Palace Landers, alas, had other plans: Eas had to be evacuated, so not only the Conservatory closed down, but also the Library of Eas. The Slime Labs is effectively disbanded, with the slimes that survived slaughter currently stowed away in Scale's Monster Menagerie. Uta herself had to seek refuge elsewhere, along with new occupations.

These days she's seen around Aincrad, either active around Scale's Monster Menagerie, or, like today, in the Clinic of Tolbana, as part of the staff of Doctor Prophylaxis, to help with the increase in patients brought by the recent refugee crisis.

This might be why she has managed to secure a large enough meeting room at the clinic, with a capacity necessary to accomodate all the people she's invited to join her hunt for Songs and Song-related lore.

Someone has prepared everything that's needed for today: a table, seats, a chalkboard, a stack of briefcase-sized wooden boxes (can't have a meeting without those!). Uta herself is already sitting at the table, flicking through her notes and cross-referencing a few notebooks.

Truth be told, Jazz had intended to be here even before the news about Uta's recent turbulence had reached her. She'd been invited, after all, and Uta's is one of the people to whom she seems to always respond.

That's why she is presently seated here, floppy hat casting a shadow over her perpetually bang-covered eyes. It's all very anime, you know.

She doesn't say anything, at least not for the moment. Songs re something she's behind on, so this is just a 'listening' mission for her. So far.

Kauchemar is of course already here. You don't deal with Song and interactions with such without the Nightmare Bard's attention. Of course, she has other reasons to also be here. Speaking of the results of obsessions...

Several sheets of musical notation are plopped on the table next to Uta. "It's not a recorder, but until we've got full access to the Conservatory back, this is probably easier to store. And use. I may of wrote it for Eas, but right now pretty much everyone can use a boost in moral now and again."

While many might associate Kita more with her artistic ventures, the young woman is also known for her interest in music, even if that comes up more rarely. She hasn't particularly looked into the music of Yamato all that much, perhaps because it hadn't been something that directly served the people of Tolbana. Still... with the new refugee crisis, it seems time enough to look into all avenues.

The blue-haired Imp is clothed in her usual black mage dress, having brought her guitar which was a custom commission. It's leaned up against the table at the moment, with Kita's hands occupied by her sketchbook and a pencil. As usual, she seems to be sketching and taking notes, almost like some sort of strange version of a court-reporter.

Her eyes flick over to Kauchemar, giving a nod of agreement to her comment about the need for moral boosts. But, for now, the Imp remains quiet, her tail flicking, waiting to see what chaos Uta will bring to the floor.

    Fukaziroh doesn't understand everything about how song plays a role in the Land, but she's been in a few conversations on the subject. Revolving around Uta and Prophylaxis, for the most part. Uta's been interested in songs forever, and of course the Doc has been interested in bizarre conditions of the body and mind. The two intersect somehow, and Fuka's got the impression that the intersection means that music and song is somehow far more fundamental to this world than it would seem on the surface.

    Of course she's also interested in music for the sake of music too. And because Uta nerds on about it endlessly of course. Not that Fuka minds the nerdery. She loves seeing things her friends are into, and it makes her want to be into those same things as well, if only to observe and encourage.

    At this point Fuka's in a nice forest-green dress, missing her customary armour and weapon. She looks entirely suited to a formal discussion on musical theory in fact, which should probably worry those who know her well.

Schneider is a Scaley, himself, so knows the area well and is known around the area. He's also worked with Uta before on some projects, to a limited extent, too, so he's invited himself along to Uta's symposium, and no one's really questioned him. Though he's been up for a day and a half with war preparations and is dragging kind of hard. But he's here for the moment, for what support that might bring.

He knows nothing of singing, but is starting work on researching the songs. It's too early to know whether this will even bear fruit, but he's spoken to Uta about his plans. Maybe only a couple sentences in passing, but now that can be rolled into whatever master plan Uta is plannng. For now, he will sit and watch quietly.

His wildly fanciful coat, lace and gilt and fancy buttons and collars, looks a bit rumpled, as if the last time he slept he slept -in- the coat. He's been running hard.

The investigation into song was a newer development for Haru. Between the conversations at the beach festivals that led here and adjustments to his own growth with the Diamond Drillbeat, it is an opportunity to not pass up. He does enjoy making things that put more good vibes out there an a good song is good vibes. Literally.

The human realizes the space here isn't optimal for a large form and opt to stand along one of the sides for a moment. Good posture and an outfit makes him look like he fits in this kind of board-room lecture-hall style meetup. Haru takes his seat last when the game of musical chairs comes to a close.

Erufu has slowly become more and more of a batd. Song in the end is becoming more and more a pat elf's life. She had some ideas and was always toying with a ballad of a certain goblin slaying lander. However that's not why she's here today Uta had needed some help with something. So here she was this might be a last moment of respite from the invasion of the people of Palace Lands. So she was here with bells on, more or less. She'd find a spot to sit down and give a wave.

"Hello!"

She's also got a very nice forest green dress. She may have had some help from a certain Priestess with this, which makes her owe said woman a big favour later.

Uta closes her notebooks, and with maniacal care, she stacks them one over the other while the other people have their round of words in.

"Hi Erufu! And Kauchemar, as far as the Anthem of Eas is concerned, I would love, with your permission, to have it recorded, and available as an exhibit in our Conservatory. And thanks to Baroness Wake's foresight..." She walks over the stack of wooden boxes in the corner, and takes one. "...we have salvaged a number of phonographs. We had better time, resources, knowledge, and quality standards than when I had originally built my prototype. They are unique pieces, rather expensive, but they are there." She places one box on the table, opens it... to reveal a mechanical device with a grooved shellac cylinder. "Thank goodness. I wasn't looking forward to rebuilding them all over again." Uta whimpers, "...so much Accessory Forging..."

She pats the notebooks she's recently stacked, and begins, "You do have a point that musical notation will still be indispensable, but perhaps not for the reasons you're expecting. In any case, I would like to establishe once more that what I am trying to start is a group of researchers who share anything they find with each other. This, I believe, is our road to knowledge." She fiddles with the Phonograph, the shellac cylinder begins to turn, and the notes of the First Song fill the air. "I will start by playing recording of the low-numbered songs we have managed to find. Where by low-numbered... well, in this case I mean 'below 40'. I have transcribed the notes here for you already, you will be given a notebook."

What follows is, as Uta promised, a recording of Landers singing some of their songs, in their Strange Language. "I believe everyone, by now, knows that these songs are sung in the tongue of the Alv."

Once the songs are over, Uta asks, "Any questions? Anyone knows of a song with a number below 40 which we haven't acquired?"

    "Sharing information is important. Especially with something as fundamental as song." Fuka notes almost casually. "Both for those of us who plan to live here, and the rest too, I'm betting. What're the odds that Aincrad Tower won't have something fundamentally song-related at some point? If it's actually part of this world, I think the odds are basically zero."

    She pauses, then ahems. "Oh right. Questions. So, the songs are sung in the tongue of the Alv, but we don't actually have the words for all of them, right? Not the ones the Landers don't regularly sing at least?"

Raising he eyebrows, Kita looks on with some measure of wonder at the sight of the phonographs. Among those here, she's likely one of the more isolated individuals, with much her focus having been on the tower. Still, at least the notes to the First Song are familiar to her. The others...

She waits and follows along with the notebook, fingers following the notation. The young woman clearly knows how to sight-read music. She makes a few notes, mostly things about the timing of the different songs, but then looks towards Uta and the others. "Admittedly, I haven't done much investigation about the songs here, but this is... fascinating."

Her tail twitches. "We had talked, at one point, about getting together some performances in the amphitheater in Tolbana. Perhaps we could encourage some landers to play additional songs that haven't been studied yet?" She offers out, tapping her pencil on the page.

"Well well, I was honestly expecting them to just be locked away for safe keeping, so this is a pleasant surprise!" Then Kauchemar shakes her head. "Not here or now though. The recording would be terrible, background noise clutter from the numbers present. There's a reason you only play in the club, not try to record there. But when a time presents itself applicably I shall do so."

Then Kita speaks up, and she snaps her fingers. "Aha!" Then turns to point at the imp. "You have an amphitheater her as well? How fortunate! That would produce much better quality... though I'll have to give it a once over myself to test it's acoustical layout." Followed by tapping her chin thoughtfully. "That's also not a bad idea. Even just getting them together for something like that, were they can find some peace and enjoyment in familiarity, would do great for the afforementioned moral."

So much accessory forging! Haru understands the very basics of music theory and advance working parts of phonographic accessory construction. If they break he can repair it. While he is here, he could stand to get a better understanding of what it going on. Like someone who understands Algebra stepping into a Calculus course four weeks into it. "Maybe its a tuning fork. Keeps the rest of the world on key," he offers with some of that solid everyman logic that works on smurt shows.
    he comment comes with a surprised look over to Fuka. Really a third of his looks to Fuka are surprised, so it should come no surprise that he is surprised. It is standard face number 3 of 'Who is this person and what did you do with Fuka?' "No idea. When doing a capture the flag or crypto style challenge, there is usually an 'entry point' like an invitation to solve a deeper puzzle." He goes to listen to a few of these, "Don't mind me, I think I'll be doing catchup for a bit back here unless the phono needs fixing." A bit. One can expect pixelated blood to be out of his nose or ears before its done.

Erufu pauses for a moment "You are more than welcome to use my song of Heroes if you wish though it's really not mine anymore when I think of it." She seems to be in a good mood. she's not sure why Uta wanted formal wear, though the elf may have been confused. Either way she has a formal outfit which she'll need again at some point. "Can I buy a Phonograph and copies of the People's song at some point for the Green Dragon Inn?" Personal wants aside we need to keep translating them so we can better understand them as well as preserve them?"

Haru's point. "To filter out those who don't have the drive to see it through then?"

Uta begins by addressing Fuka's question. "We have a 'phonetic' transcription of the lyrics, but we do not know how to write most of those words in their proper script, only a small handful of them, and last I've heard, we sure do not know what all but one of those words mean. The Alv language is not the main subject of today's meeting, but for those interested, we have a separate research group, based on similar principles of cross-alliance cooperation and open sharing, which deals specifically with cracking the secret fo the Alv language. Please let me know if any of you is interested in joining that one as well."

"If you find -this- fascinating, just wait until you hear the rest!", Uta replies to Kita, raising her eyebrows in that "Oh boy do I have a treat for you" fashion. This particular setting seems to somehow relax Uta's war-related worries. "And if you can get them to, Kita, I would -love- to be there to collect more songs, with the Landers' permission, of course."

"Not here and not now, that is absolutely what I had in mind. Besides, we have to get you a proper ensemble of instruments, don't we?" The discussion of the amphiteater ensues, and Uta cannot but confirm that boosting morale is probably what people need the most at this point.

"The Conservatory sells high quality hand-made phonographs, one-of-a-kind pieces, to finance itself. Shellac cylinders as well. If you are using this for private purposes like playing it at an Inn to attract business, we will of course be charging for it. But if you use it for the cultural purpose of advancing the knowledge of the Songs of Yamato, or to preserve and spread Lander culture, you can probably borrow the equipment of the Conservatory itself. We have some equipment set aside for this specific purpose."

"On to the next subject. I believe all of you, at this point, are familiar with Strange Moods, but for those who aren't: sometimes an Adventurer will enter a status of absolute focus, and devote their whole being to a project to the point of neglecting everything else, including, but not limited to, nourishment, sleep, personal hygiene, and self-care. They will pour themselves into some game-changer project, and once it's complete, they usually receive a notification where they've been noticed by a goddess, and are offered a quest. After accepting a quest, they receive a new profession on their stat sheet, and their stats increase."

Uta inhales, before launching into another long speech: "The first discovery of these strange moods was done by medical inspection: if one medically inspects a person in a strange mood, and the inspector is lucky enough, they will get what, at the time, was an unkown as a status effect. We have since determined that there are three possible status effects: Fey Mood, Mujou, and Yuugen. If the inspector was even luckier, they would obtain the flavor text for the corresponding status effect. They all read something like 'This individual is Resonating with the Primordial/Earth/Eternity' song.', where the Primordial Song is associated with a Fey Mood (and results in a 'Moonlight <something>' profession), the Earth Song is associated with a Mujou (and results in a 'Novasphere <something>' or 'Novasphere Pioneer of <something>' profession), and the Eternity Song is associated with a Yuugen (and results in a 'Sage of <something>' profession)." A short pause. "Any further question? Anyone else here here has any additional information on the medical side of things?"

    Language aspects of the Alvs. So there's song and language. There's also, if Fuka's not mistaken, enchantments of the Alvs. Relics, in particular, another 'lost' knowledge. That one, she's particularly interested in... but this isn't the place or time to bring that up. Maybe she'll grab a few Enchanters and discuss it sometime, or maybe helping this group out will lead her towards some enchantment secrets too. Yeees, that'd be great!

"I'll see what I can do, but right now, there's a lot of stress in Tolbana." Kita explains, tapping the end of her pencil against her cheek. The woman pokes her glasses up on her nose with her other hand, thoughtful. "Most of the population are Spriggan refugees from Ezzo, and the new wave of refugees from Eas have everyone on edge." Her eyes flick to Kauchemar again, knowing she'd had this discussion with the Nightmare previously, "But maybe some music could help."

Then, she quiets, listening to what amounts to an Uta-Info-Dump. Her pencil stills in tapping and she turns to a blank page of her sketchbook, starting to take some notes. These aren't, perhaps, exact details of what Uta says, but rather her own thoughts and questions.

"Mmm. I went through one of those strange moods when building the statue in Tolbana's main square. I... think you tried to help me back then." Kita replies to Uta, though her memory of those events is shoddy at best. "It does seem to be some sort of strange quest. I'm afraid I don't know anything on the medical side of things, but... mine asked me to follow in the footsteps of those who came before, and lead me to finding artwork by an Alv artist."

Her shoulders lift in a shrug, uncertain if that has any meaning to any of this, "Not particularly helpful, I'd imagine."

Kauchemar half shrugs at Uta. "I wrote it to be able to perform minimally with my voice so it would be suitable to use on the go. No need to drag an entire esemblem onto the field... but yes, the full true art of the song will only be told with a proper accompaniment." Then rubs the back of her head with one hand. "I tried conjuring possessed instruments, but lack the capacity to conjure an entire band so far.... But if we have Landers or other Adventurers skilled in the instruments we can bring together..."

Uta's ongoing explaination draws her attention back, and hand thoughtfully clasp to her chin once more. "I was in one such mood during composing the anthem for Eas... Because it was creating something that did not yet exist, but was brought to be by Adventurer intentions. Much like Eas itself... and Tolbana as well." Her eyes narrow slightly, but if there's any more musing on the matter she keeps it to herself.

    Talk of the quests brings a comment and question to Fuka's mind. "Oh yeah, I have that quest too. Follow in the footsteps or something weird like that. No details though. Like, who writes that quest anyways? No clues, no pointers, nothing. Is this some sort of riddle?" she asks.

Erufu says "We'll work something out as it would be a bit of both if I'm being honest." She doesn't mind feeding Uta money for pushing more of her resarch. She will kssp listening now her ears twitching from time to time. "I ended up as a Sage after my own strange mood. I also wonder about these they just seem to strike when one has an idea to do something like this...My own mood was when I was working on doing a song of heroes of Yamato."

Haru is not very familiar with Strange Moods, unfortunately. He has heard the term used before and had a brief explaination about its manifestation. It resonates with him about the same way a Mood does, like getting into a funk, inui, and other things. He makes a mental note of catching up on that topic as well at a later date and gives an appreciative nod to Uta who covers the important parts for context. He splits his focus between the songs and the moods, being at least smurt, just not knowledgable on the topics. It clicks around the time of 'resonation'.

He is an Enchanter, that Haru. The ideas of how an Artifice or Enchant angle to it spins around as he absorbs all this new information. "Has anyone tried to amplify or dampen resonation?" he asks. His fingers make the gesture of a sine wave, making the wave taller and smaller by the literal term of Amplitude.

"Of course we'll do what we can, Kita. But yes, if you need any help, let me know. I care deeply about the refugees and... well, the Spriggan in particular. For obvious reason." At Kita's mention of the Strange Mood, Uta replies, "You were in a Fey Mood, resonating with the Primordial Song, which I expect resulted in a Moonlight profession, right?", Uta asks. "Sages of Songs (Yuugen status effect, resonating with the Eternity Song) seem to have a similar quest. And yes, Fuka, they are frustratingly vague." She taps her lips, looking up and away. "Oh, speaking of which, did you know that some of the statues in the Church of Lumina Cloth were sculpted by Alv? The other were sculpted by Gnomes..."

"It will be recorded the way you believe is most appropriate, Kauchemar. After all, it is your composition. Our mission is to preserve and carry over the Author's intention."

Uta bites her lower lip. "What makes you think it is only Adventurers that can undergo Strange Moods?", Uta asks Kauchemar, with her eyebrows raised.

"Excellent question, Haru!", she says, even snapping her fingers as she points at him. "Yes, I have. I have located people in strange moods, and I have sung the corresponding songs at them. Guess what? Their focus intensified. They even started humming the song, and they weren't even -realizing- they were humming the song. Turns out that it's far easier and more efficient to detect a Strange Mood, and which one, by singing these songs at people than medically inspecting them." She turns to Haru, "And researching how all this plays into crystal and enchanting resonation would be my next step. I would love to speak with you about this after I'm done sharing my findings." She turns to the rest of the team. "Oh, anyone else who is interested in this subject is welcome to join the discussion as well. Just... one thing at a time."

Uta stares into the void for a moment. "Oh, right, did I mention that I've managed to locate and record the three songs, Primordial, Earth, and Eternity, which are associated with the Strange Moods? You might know them as the 40th, 41st, and 42nd... which is interesting, because they're actually the First, Second, and Third songs to be sung, in reality."

Uta changes the shellac cylinders, and the three songs begin to play. This recording of the 40th song has no lyrics it is being 'cooed' by a choir of... it sounds like small creatures. Those who were there might recognize it's a choir of Chim Chims. The 41st is a 'studio reconstruction', sung by Uta. This one has lyrics. People who have been at the New Year's celebration in Alne will recognize the Eternity song as the song that was sung there; there was this unusual phenomenon where the people in the audience who were versed in Song spontaneously broke out into singing the lyrics along, even if they had never heard them before. In fact, the recording is exactly from that point in time, complete with fireworks and all.

The prospect that there were other artworks from the Alv catches Kita's attention. Afterall, she had been sent to follow in the footsteps of the Moonlight Artists of the past. This may be just another step for her to progress her own talents within the game. So, there is a quick scribble in her notepad about it. Then again, the prospect of going to Lumina Cloth seems... unlikely at this point.

"It... may be dangerous to be in one of those moods with the war looming, but if I end up in one, you have free reign to do whatever experimentation that isn't physically harming to try and see what impacts the songs might have." She offers herself up as a guinea pig. It wouldn't be the first time. She'd been one of those who offered herself up to Prophylaxis' test vaccinations, too.

There is a brief hesitation as Uta goes on to explain higher numbered songs, and this seems to remind Kita of something. "Have you recorded or heard the 44th song?"

Haru gives a enthusiatic thumbs up with a smile on the topic of enchantment. He may not get all of the fine details, but is more Musical Design Team's magic engineer at the moment. "The forty second song being the most important," he nods sagely. Hey, maybe whomever constructed this thing was a fan of Douglass Adams. Or he was a visionary. Deep thoughts from the Artificer.

"Likewise the third and the fourth for me. Unless the third is the forty-second, not a remaster or revision," Haru says on the topic of missing the singles in the album. "The numbering is interesting," he says, thinking back to his life before this one.

Erufu says "It seems like music is a foundation of our world for all we know it was sung into being." She has a big old grin on her face at this. "So we can find people effected early on byu song? Interesting!" She seems very interested in this new bit of information. She takesa note of the songs playing with interest.

"I did not say that," Kauchemar replies to Uta with a waggle of her finger. "That is, however, the only experiences I have witnessed it in."

Erufu looks to Kita for a moment with a bit of a haunted look. "Yes I have monsters were using it. It caused pain my mark twisted red glowing through my clothing and the one time i hummed it it caused the Landers and Adventurers great distress..."

"Indeed, Erufu! Just like you can find out if an item is menu-crafted or properly manually crafted by licking it and checking if it tastes like item or like nothing. You don't even need appraisal!", she blurts out, in excitement. Realizing what she's done, she straightens her posture. "Not that... I recommend doing that without first... ensuring the surface of the item has been properly sanitized. Licking unknown objects can be a health hazard," she mumbles, embarrassed. And then her eyes pop open. "Wait... I think..." She rubs her chin. "That gives me an idea. I'll have to look into it..."

"That's fair, Kauchemar. I'll just say that I've heard stories of Landers also undergoing strange moods. Just so we know"

Uta nods with somber composture at Erufu's explanation. "As Kita and Erufu have pointed out, there are more than 42 Songs. The Landers seem to know only 42, but there are more." A sighs. "Unfortunately, it seems that as we go higher with the numbers, they get more concerning. The 44th Song, which I have written down here..." As she says so, she passes around some music sheet for people to read, "...we will not play right now because of the effect it has on some people," Uta gestures vaguely to Erufu. "It is named 'Artosh's Anger'. What I found out about it is that it is "an expression of the Deus' hatred of the non-Alv races.", and if anyone has more on that I would be glad for it, and it apparently could be heard during the Crystal Tower Rebellion. Again, there is no time to go more in-depth into the subject, today, but when someone who was there when the song was heard, I would love to get together in a separate round and learn all the details."

Despite the distress the mention of the song seems to cause some people, Kita doesn't seem ashamed for bringing it up. They were, afterall, trying to gather information, be it good or bad, about the music in Yamato. "I haven't tried playing it, myself. I don't usually try to experiment with the effects on the Landers." Unusual, for someone from Scale Emblem, Kita tends to treat the people under her protection as if they were just as human as Adventurers.

The concern is certainly noted, however. "Still, anything I hear in regards to it, I'll be more than happy to pass along. Though..." She motions her pencil around, "I'm not going to be doing much traveling for the time being, so I can probably only assist as much as I can from within and around Aincrad." The Imp is, at least somewhat, known for her role within the city of Tolbana, and is rarely seen elsewhere.

With so many people crammed into an examination room, it'd be a surprise if the doctor didn't make an appearance at some point. Really, he should have been here much earlier, buuuut...

Well, as it turns out, he's been sort of running himself ragged between managing two different cities, an entire transportation network, his clinic, the deployment of vaccines, and a front of an international war.

So he's been kind of... passed out on his desk for the past few hours. Yeah.

But then the door creaks slowly open and the doctor finally makes his appearance... nursing what looks and smells like an extra large mug of coffee.

"I suspect that the songs that go higher in number than the official ones were added later, after the fact. Potentially by the Scrapped Princesses, or by whatever mechanism brought them into the world."

Erufu does not have more to add on the matter its doubtful the elf will try to sing that song ever again. She looks to Kita noding a little bit at her.

"It was not inetional on my part sometimes I get a song in my head." Or was the elf confused thinking of another song? It could be that. "There's still so much we do not know Doctor...which means we need to find out."

Kauchemar tucks the songsheet into the songbook. "Wonderful. A musical version of the Hate Plague." There's a reference only 80s kids and a few other kinds of nerds are going to get. "Right, no actually singing this one." Unless she finds a use for doing so, of course.

"That is exactly why we are here," Uta replies to Kita. "I had, in fact, already planned to present and share the 44th song after the 43rd, and that is why it was already written down in multiple copies for you to have." A short shrug, followed by, "There is not much to say about the 43rd. We've heard it sung by the Chim Chim when we tried to calm them. I did not have a phonograph at the time, so all we have is the melody, written down by memory." Uta switches the shellac cylinders on the phonograph, and plays the recording: it's Uta's voice, vocalizing only the melody, no lyrics.

Uta notices Kauchemar's concern. At first unsure what to say in response, once Erufu utters "It was not inetional on my part sometimes I get a song in my head," Uta glances sideways to the Nightmare and Fuka, then smirks, "Hey, maybe we could practice Earworm together."

Uta seems to show zero surprise at the Doctor's state. She's probably used to it. "Oh, welcome Doctor." She rubs her chin at the Doctor's theory, and after some thinking, she replies, "It is a sensible possibility. I'm still confused at why the First Song to be Sung is numbered as 42, though..."

"Anyway, please allow me to give you a quick summary on what we've discussed, and... if you want to chime in about the medical aspect of the Strange Moods, you are more than welcome. Perhaps I will learn something here." That said, she takes some time to summarize the meeting until that point to the Doctor.

    Fuka grins broadly, and in that mischevious grin the 'normal' Fuka definitely makes a return appearance. "We can sing Earworms together." she agrees. "On and on and on and on~"

    Abruptly she pauses, closes her mouth, then reopens it. "Say. Might the songs be numbered in the order they were given to the Landers?" she asks. "So if they were the first songs *sung* but not given to the Land until later, they were presumably only sung by ... what? Alves? Gods?" she adds, shrugging. Pure speculation perhaps, but interesting.

"I'll admit, I'm not terribly familiar with the 'Chim Chim'." Kita inquires, her pencil tapping. "I don't get out much." As if that wasn't obvious by now. "I'm assuming that's something we should be aware of?"

The Imp's tail twitches again as she sits forward, curious.

Erufu looks over as the doctor arrives and she heeds him with a grin. She then pauses for a moment "A plague of hate I once heard of a race of golems effected by such on a distant world. I thought it was a just a tall tale." She looks back to the matter at hand.

"I'm afraid there hasn't really been much I've been able to learn about Strange Moods from a medical perspective," Prophylaxis answers with a sorry shrug. "Other than the symptoms you've outlined, the obsessive effects of resonance with the various songs is difficult to quantify. But I think I might have a theory that could answer both your confusion about the First and Fourty-Second Song and the external effects of the Strange Moods."

Prophylaxis takes a moment to have a couple of long draws of tasty, caffienated life-blood.

"Now, I spent some time in this game before... everything. And in that time, one bored afternoon, I decided... to listen to the soundtrack. As it happens, that song, the /first/ song, was not only the login screen music, it was also the /first/ song in the soundtrack. Likewise, the Second Song was the second song in the soundtrack, and so on and so on, up until the 42nd."

Another pause, another sip of coffee. It smells heavenly.

"We know a couple things about these Songs. First, that they're not merely music, that they seem to have an effect on people via resonance. Second, that they are sung in a language which has an almost... divine, even admin-level effect on the game. Alvish is the language of the Chaos Gates, and if invoked in the correct manner, can achieve 'permanent' magical effects on the world. We can assume, then, that these songs are somehow... 'integral' to the game-- to the World. That they are more than just parts of the soundtrack. If we assume that the songs were added to the soundtrack in order of completion, or 'slotted in' in a particular sequence that /had/ to be that way for things to work 'properly,' then it could be that the 40th through 42nd song were added to 'finish' the World. In other words, they were 'the first to be sung' because their nature is somehow tied to the founding principles, the very /establishment/ of the natural laws and order of this world."

"Which means," he goes on, this time without pausing, "That when we 'resonate' with these songs, we somehow connect with these foundational principles. This is perhaps why the things we create, the deeds we perform as part of the 'strange mood' have such a powerful impact on the world. For instance, one of the first Moonlight Pharmacists created something which is now ubiquitous to all of us, players and landers both: the simple healing potion. Was it achieved in the grip of a Strange Mood? Well, maybe not, but it'd be strange to me given the longevity and ubiquity of the creation that it was created independently of such an intense creative fit."

"...But, going back a bit," he adds, pausing this time not to drink, but because something seems to have dawned on him just then. "...What if the songs above the 42nd... Were added to the game in the course of the expansion? That would explain why none of us, not even veterans like myself, have ever heard them before. That might also be why the 44th inspires such dread. Perhaps, if these songs are somehow 'foundational,' then the addition of more 'principles' above those with which the world was initially created has caused... distortions, glitches, violations in the Law of the World?"

Another pause, another sip. "Well, that's all just a theory, of course. I don't exactly have evidence for much of it, but it's not an awful conjecture, is it?"

Uta listens to Prophylaxis's theory with enraptured interest. "Fascinating. It... hm." She frowns, and scratches her head. "It is a possibility, but that would mean that they were retroactively inserted in Lore? Remember, the 44th song could be heard during the Crystal Tower Rebellion." She raises one finger, "Oh, that brings me to another interesting point I've been meaning to look into. I've spoken with Adventurers who were gamers, and it seems like the in-world lore of the Elder Tale series carefully lines up with real world events, at a 50:1 time ratio. Like, for instance, the in-world foundation of the Eastal Free League maps to the out-of-game calendar event of Elder Tale Offline being played. Anyway, it appears that Prelude to Song, a mysterious in-world event that is said to be the origin of the 42 songs... happened at roughly around the time of the Flash of Death. I wonder if it's just a coincidence, or..."

"Anyway, about the numbering: another thing that seems to be the case, Doctor, is that they appear to be sorted by rarity. The First Song is -everywhere-, and the three top ones... very rare. I wonder if that somehow correlates as well."

Once done with her exposing her theories to Prophylaxis, Uta returns to address the rest of the people. "Some of you might remember Estelle being involved ifinding a way to travel to the Green Moon, getting killed there, and respawning some time later in her home Church. She had a story of what she saw up there, how she saw sooty chims, and how an unsettling song was sung. It turns out that that was the 47th Song, alias the Sublimation Song." She pushes another set of sheet to each single participant (this one showing only the melody as well), promising, once again, to play the song for those who cannot read musical notation once people like Erufu, who are especially susceptible to the song's negative effects, are not around.

    Merek looks to be about though the man doesn't really say a lot for a while. He seems to be listening to people while he takes the time to relax.

Haru is in the same boat as Merek. He is pouring through pre-existing lore and documents while new theories are being discussed.

"Hmm, well that was only one part of the theory. It could be that the 44th was 'added' sometime in the past as well... Though what exactly is the 'Crystal Tower Rebellion?'" Prophylaxis asks-- then goes absolutely silent when the timeline of the Flash of Death is brought up. "...A large network event that caused massive instability... It couldn't be, could it...?"

He's silent for a long moment thereafter, then: "...Pluto's Kiss... Happened five years after the Flash of Death. What happened in-game two hundred and fifty years after the Prelude to Song?"

    Merek will add to Kita, "The Chim Chim will probably be what you would call a race that is pretty old, technologically advanced. They are small and don't generally talk a lot, though they seem to be the creators of the Elemental Machines, at least able to create the new ones."

Erufu starts to look very confused at a few points such as this being a admin? Admin access? She seems to be very lost for a moment but will keep listening. She seem to start undertanding things again shortly though. "This does expl,ain somethings about the other songs at least in part."

There is a lot of information there, not just what Uta had offered out, but what Prophylaxis addded to it. So, Kita falls quiet, tapping her pencil and taking a few notes and doodles onto the piece of paper in front of her. "Seems like there's a lot that I need to learn. Maybe... we can talk about chim chims later."

Kita obviously doesn't want to interrupt the flow of information, and it is in her nature to be more of a listener than a talker in these sort of situations. However, Merek offers out some measure of detail to her, which she nods to, "Huh..."

Gathering the different bits of song information, she starts to page through them, looking over the songs quietly, her teeth catching her lower lip right over a place where there is a scar there. Her eyes look up towards Prophylaxis, as if thinking about what he might be suggesting, but at the moment, the girl seems to shift quieter, taking notes and watching the others.  

Kauchemar rubs her chin. "Music that were somehow added 'later' would explain why the Landers do not know of them. They wouldn't be integral to the Songs that already permutate their life and culture." Then it's followed by a sigh. "As usual we are left with more questions than answers...."

"For... for reasons you are well aware of, Doctor, I was researching the Flash of Death specifically. You can imagine my surprise when it turned out that it correlates to an event so... thematically fitting my avatar." She doesn't elaborate on that. "But you have a point there, we should try and draw a map of events. Mind you, it might be just a clever bit of marketing for a videogame, there might be nothing deeper to it, but... still, it might be an interesting exercise." Lower, more serious, "Or there could be more to it."

"I remember reading of a 'Crystal Tower Rebellion' in the flavor text of an item, once. So I attempted to Loremaster it, and I saw a sudden image of a beautiful crystaline tower. Shorter than the Aincrad Tower itself. A flash, then I saw Gilgamesh storming it, followed by a large dragon and many, many, MANY Landers entering it en-masse, armed to the teeth with magic and equipment. Another flash, then, the sight of a beam firing from the tower at the Green Moon itself, slagging a large part of it, before the beam is halted by unknown means by a great 'turmoil' in the skies." Uta flicks through her menu, and produces a sketch. She doesn't have Kita's artistic flair, so it doesn't look -good- by any stretch of the imagination, but having Scripture, it's decent enough to get the point across. https://imgur.com/a/6o7vyPV

"I don't know how long ago that happened, but what I know is that I reached to the edge of my abilities..." She takes one hand to her forehed, and squints. "Such a headache, such a sore throat..."

Uta gives Kauchemar a nod. "So it seems to be." Uta gives a sigh, and tilts back on her chair. "Well, that was all I had to offer, I believe. Do any of you know of any Song I haven't shared yet? The name of any song I don't know the name of? It's your turn to contribute now."

Kauchemar shakes her head. "I believe we have already shared what we know together. Things are certainly much more in depth than we ever would of imagined when we first picked up those headsets..."

"Then that would have been... I see, the siege of the original Aincrad Tower," Prophylaxis murmurs, then shakes his head slowly. "...Sounds familiar. I recall seeing something similar projected from a certain Alvish relic. But this... is much more detailed than that was. Is the Tower itself tied to the 44th...? Hm, we need more information, but..."

"I don't think it's a coincidence," he adds, of the 'coincidence' of world events and real-life disasters. "All of this... Could this place's creation be tied to all those network disasters? If so... If so, and the ones who created knew, and did nothing, said nothing--"

He closes his eyes, sighs, and takes a long, /long/ draw of his coffee.

"...Well. We should lay out a timeline, regardless."

    "W-wait." Fuka pipes up, her world view somewhat shaken. Somewhat. Some of this still aligns well with her usual beliefs. "We have a well-established rate of time passing that corresponds to our old world, and we can trace back events in this world's history to global networking events in the other world?" she boggles, trying to imagine the consequences. "So like... either the programmers put these events in retroactively on like some kind of synchronized schedule, or both worlds are fully real, and events in one cause events in the other?"

    Merek takes a little sip of the coffee with him, while he thinks about it. "That makes me wonder, what are Harmonics, and why does it seem to empower the music we sing?" the man asks. Then he nods to Fuka, "There are more worlds than we know. The Travelers are from different worlds, when their worlds are destroyed, they move to a new one."

"Doctor," Uta finally hazards, hesitant, almost scared to say it out loud. "What if those disasters -created- this world? What if the data they pillaged from our systems, our libraries, our -brains-, were the proteins and DNA that gave life to Alba?"

As if in shame for even making such a suggestion, she hurries to answer Fuka, "Let's not jump to conclusions. All we know is that the *games* have kept this correspondence. That might be a clever storytelling gimmick. Matching other real world events to in-game events might be just pareidolia."

Uta scratches her forehead at Merek. "I don't know much about Harmonics, to be honest. And yes, there's been talks of otehr worlds, but I don't know much about that either."

Haru seems a little on edge when the conversation starts shifting around all the pain and death that surrounded Pluto's Kiss and potentially the Flash of Death. He focuses on the document in front of him but stops reading it altogether. That one hits home with him. Heavily. "When you think about sensory replication and programming," the white haired artificer offers to Fuka, "think of how a buffer overflow might respond in the sensory system. Or a hardware defect that is exploited on the biological hardware." He taps his finger on the meeting room table, shaking his head, "Harmonics are fascinating, though." Smile.

    "Right right." Fuka agrees placatingly. "I mean, I think this could be multiple things and we don't know which. But we do have some evidence of there being multiple worlds and that these worlds are linked somehow. Maybe causally." she notes, somewhat enthusiastically. She doesn't want to draw conclusions, not to the exclusion of other information unless and until the premise is tested, but it's looking like some speculation that might indeed be plausible and worth a bit of effort to test. Later.

    She blinks as Haru addresses her. "Oh, uh..." she ponders a moment, then shrugs. "Sorry, I don't think of that. Like, ever." she claims. And then smiles at Haru, a mirror echo of one of those smiles he gives out so easily. Has she practiced that smile? It looks really quite fake on her.

"Well I shall leave the deeper mysteries to you all," Kauchemar replies as she stands from her seat. "And I shall attend to matters I can take a proper hand in. Like keeping our people from falling into worry and despair." She gives a nod to Prophylaxis being the one Scale leader currently present. "And if we are going to use your amphitheater to perform for said people, I best take a look at it beforehand. Every stage has it's own little quirks one must suss out to ensure the performance is unhindered."

"No, that's exactly what happened," Prophylaxis answers Haru with some... hollowness in his voice. Almost as though he'd really prefer to /not/ remember the facts he needs to answer with. "The Flash of Death was so-named because of the visual signals that the 'virus' generated on visual displays. Epileptics died almost instantly, and the vast majority of other victims suffered severe neurological damage purely as a result of visual stimuli. I've always thought that the damage was... suspicious. Purely random flashes of light could never do anything as catastrophic as the Flash of Death. But if the signals were somehow keyed in such a way to activate certain regions of the brain..."

"...To do that would require extraordinary knowledge of CNS functionality. It'd need to... stimulate the brain in very specific ways. If the Songs are able to generate behavioral changes... What would happen if someone were to resonate with multiple songs at once? What if they resonated with /all/ of the songs simultaneously? What would that do to the brain?"

He's brought out of this potentially terrifying reverie by Kauchemar's question. Prophylaxis nods, "Feel free. You are all guests of Tolbana, it's only right that you have the opportunity to make use of the amenities."

Something so very isolating about the state of things. A sense of exclusivity that Haru can't penetrate and, recently, can't hide when called out on. He gives Fuka a slow blink with his blue eyes. A deep breath. Exhale. "Its all been very enlightening," the young man says as he looks to Uta, "and I appreciate the invite. Lets collaborate more on the enchanting part another time." He pushes himself out from the table and stands, grabbing one of the documents. "Do you mind if I take a few of these for myself? There are some great people here who have made some great strides and I'll need some time to go over and process it all at my pace," he inquires to not assume these are not sensitive documents.

To Proph, Haru looks over and says, "Yes. I'd love to pick your brain about that sometime, too. They feel connected, don't they? If you break down a song, its not too different than a subroutine. It calls out libraries in our sensory that knows what notes are. It evokes sequence that can come to harmony and a sheer number of musical terms I'm not that knowledgeable on. But its really interesting stuff if its connected to the metalaws of this place."

"Oh, before you go, Haru...", Uta calls out. She then points in a corner. "This is for all, not just Haru: I would like each and every one of you to borrow a phonograph from the Music Conservatory. They can be wound up to operate while we're busy doing things like fighting. As I've said, I've missed my one-shot chance at writing down the 43rd song because I had no phonograph at the time. The more people have one and are able to just switch it on when a song is encountered, the better. And another thing..." A pause. "This is for you specifically, Haru: Wisteria mentioned resonance in enchanting magic. I'd like to see if it's possible to modify a phonograph to record the vibrations of enchanted crystals. Or, alternately, to play out the vibrations of enchanted crystals as sound. Or turn sounds into enchanted crystal vibrations. You... you get the idea. A sound/enchantment transducer. Think you could be a liaison between me and Wisteria, and apply your skills to such a project?"

"We also know that pharmaceutical techniques stored in crystals can affect the brain," Prophylaxis adds to Uta's request. "I've created a particularly useful example of such a thing."

Uta would know it quite well, for that matter.

"If you wish to discuss the physiological effects of in-game or game-tangential phenomena, I'm always available to do so. Usually." The doctor shrugs, "As long as I'm not in the middle of something else, or in a Mood of my own."

"Happily," Haru says to Uta as he holds a stack of documents in one hand, "I was thinking of working on a project that may help with augmentation and control the same way that a studio records and modifies sound for playback." He pauses, "We may have that already, but in the event we don't it'll be fun to put one together. Working with Wist and yourself on the phonograph will really help with that, yeah? Recording and Playback, the foundations before modification. Read and Write." He starts to smile and thinks better of it, having a sort of resting thin lipped expression instead, "Fortunately accessories and enchanting are things I'm good at. I'll help move the needle forward, one voice in the chorus at a time. Speaking of which." The young man looks over to Fuka, "You are good at enchanting. We'd fare better working together on this one, if you are game."

A head turn to Proph from Haru as he nods, "Thanks. I will take you up on that."

Uta nods at Doctor Prophylaxis, taking particular care not to betray any emotion at the Doctor's mention of the Crystals Uta knows so well. "I will, Doctor. As you know, it is a subject I have a special interest in."

Uta tidies up her documents, and after ensuring everyone got a phonograph and the appropriate song transcriptions, she offers a final, "Thank you everyone for attending. And please, I shared all I managed to find out in the last year and a half. If anyone ever hears of any song that wasn't dropped as part of today's session, please, PLEASE let me know. Let -us all- know."