A Long Forgotten Art...

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  Upon the dark sky is a glittering set of stars. The decorated stars shimmer in the sky, providing a beautiful glimpse of the night time. If one was to stare at the sky, the night offers a tranquil feeling.

  The group have retreated back to the camp, made through the many structural components around the Romancing SaGa. While the camp site is constructed to be like a base of operations to include a lab and a forge, the young man opted to part from the camp site just get a little further out towards the sandy ground.

  It is still a ways away from the shore, but he's sitting on the ground while looking at his large crystal boomerangs. The shimmering light reflects from the stars as he looks at it closely.

  "... The Wings of the First Flight." He muses, recalling Elysia's words while at Cosmopolis. He gazes at the sky, smiling, "... Hopefully the new tree is growing well."
 

• Character: Daiby
• 8 months ago

Daiby's snake friends are laying on a rock near to the central fire pit, all of them with recently stuffed bellies. Don't ask how she fed them! But snakes only need to eat once a week or so, after all, so they should be doing fine. It's been hard work, so they get their reward.

Daiby herself has prepared several fish fillets on skewers, basted in a simple sauce compounded from tangy local citruses, dried hot peppers, and mashed peanuts. Plus salt, of course. She has gone for a stroll while carrying several on a banana-leaf, eating her way through one. Which means she is in position to overhear -

"Hmmm?" Daiby turns her head. "How do you mean, Reize? Oh, and here, if you want one!" The collection of satay-like skewers is held out for Reize's benefit. They're still hot enough to steam a little!

• Character: Iris
• 8 months ago

 It would be pretty easy to think that, now that Iris got the fancy elemental rock she came here to get, it would be 'well, nice seeing you' and then off to build her own boat or raft or possibly an airplane, who knows, and getting off this rock. After all, she didn't *come* here with Reize and company, so presumably there was a plan in place, at some point, for *leaving*.

 And yet, after their return from the volcano, the runesmith founding herself staying at their camp, thinking about things. Specifically, thinking about her grandmother, Fylja... perhaps the greatest practitioner of the dying art of runesmithing that has ever lived, now entirely gone from this world. The person who taught Iris what she knows, who penned the journals that have guided her all this time.

 "There's some joy in making something just to make it," the silver-haired old woman had told Iris, during her tutelage. "In knowing that you can. But the real stuff... that comes from knowing that you put the right tool in the right hands. Weapons, armor, all sorts of trinkets and bits and bobs, just existing is fine. But, well... you'll see. When you're older."

 But the little rain-lashed island of Kjalisvald and its tiny insular community didn't need what she made. Oh, sure, mundane things -- teapots, the occasional sword or axe for handling wildlife and weak local monsters, a fitted breastplate or two, repairing things. But nothing that felt like it was pushing what she knew to make something that someone else could use for something extraordinary.

 All of these thoughts are in her head as she sits well away from the others, holding the object of her trip here -- the pyroclastic ventite -- in her hand. She'd searched it out in order to make it into something worthwhile, but that didn't mean she had a plan in mind for someone to USE it.

 And then...

 Hmm.

 It's in this frame of mind that she is walking slowly toward the fire, ore still in hand, contemplative.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 8 months ago

 The stillness of the star-studded night is punctuated occasionally by the faint crack of splintering glass. It resounds from the recesses of a great seaside boulder, a remnant of ancient volcanic activity, that has been repurposed into a makeshift laboratory. Our heroes are getting somewhat used to making makeshift laboratories.
 "Is it hopeless...?"
 Ivo, tattered sleeves rolled up, frowns slightly over his latest peculiar endeavor. He stands over a byproduct of his and Fabroxo's extraordinary manufacture of hybrid Wind and Destruction aspected aether gems, of the style that are frequently socketed into modern weaponry but with a quality hitherto rare: a sort of 'vacuum element,' derived from the intricate composition of the corrupted wind elementals. That byproduct is excess Destruction domain, formed into perfect spheres of oblivion dark, which seem to repel from any matter they approach.
 "If I could integrate more Creation aspect into the aetherglass... maybe if we still had the Crux..."
 A careful observer would likely conclude that Ivo seems to be trying to reshape those perfect spheres by funneling one of them into some surprisingly complex glasswork. It is hard what to make of the shape, though.
 "...or if there were some other source here..."
 It looks kind of like... a crab?
 "Hm?"
 Seemingly concluding that a break is in order, Ivo emerges from his convenient cavern to sniff at the air and smile.
 "What a lovely aroma," he says to Daiby, approaching the fire as well. He looks at first like a kind of mirror image of Iris, approaching the fire from the opposing direction, equally contemplative, but relaxes at the scent of food and, of course, the presence of his adored senior. Now in proximity, he seems to pick up on Reize's musing, looking over to their fearless leader, his smile broadening. Ivo always appreciated how those strange boomerangs looked in starlight. "I'm sure it is," he calls over. "Now if only those Wings of yours could carry us out of here to go see for ourselves."
 His smile broadens further, into a grin.
 "Soon enough, I'm sure."
 They've gotten pretty far along the Isle quest chain, definitely.

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  Upon Daiby's arrival, Reize faces her with a bright smile. "Oooi! Daiby~!" He brightens while she offers a skewer his way. The young boy carefully takes the pre-offered skewer, "Thank you!"

  The young boy looks up at the sky, becoming more reminiscent. "... This was before your arrival, but while Cosmopolis was still in a crisis, we found out that the World Tree, Elysia, was suffering. ... A powerful eidola... The First, Adrastus, was the root of Proliferation.

  He furrows his eyebrows at Ivo, "If only! And I am not leaving without my scarf!" He quips. He does give a thoughtful look, "... It's been a long while since I had these." He holds the twin boomerangs up for Ivo. "These were part of my first adventure, after all."

 

• Character: Daiby
• 8 months ago

Daiby is glad to let other people help themselves to cooked fish. "Oh, Ivo, you always say that," she replies to Ivo as he approaches nearby. Her eyes turn towards Iris as she strolls past, meditating perhaps, contemplating, *imagining*. It's really quite inspiring to Daiby on several levels, the greatest of them being, perhaps, that she knows she can be something of a dilettante.

(When will Daiby find her true consuming passion, and why will it be snake husbandry? Find out in the DaibyLodable Content, available on St*am for --)

"They've held up very well," Daiby remarks. "I know looks can be decieving, but they seem like artistic pieces, even now! They haven't been leaving you short or anything, have they, Reize?"

*munch munch*

• Character: Iris
• 8 months ago

 While she wasn't particularly paying much attention to Ivo discovering antimatter in his lab (probably for the best), Iris was at the very least aware that he was working, and does look vaguely surprised to see him effectively ariving 'out of work' at the exact same time as her, functionally speaking. Ivo and Daiby get little waves of acknowledgement, before the smith's eyes track over to Reize.

 Reize, about whom she knows very little, other than 'kidnapped by birds, that one time, but appears to have returned unharmed'. Iris HAS seen him fight, however, both with spells and the weapons that he's holding in his hands, and as she feels her fingers closing and unclosing around the ventite in her hand, ideas start floating around.

 Course correcting away from the fish (it probably is delicious, let's hear it for peanut-based sauces), Iris starts walking toward Reize and Ivo, and makes -- suddenly -- to hand the pyroclastic ventite to Ivo, with a 'would you?' gesture of the head. If he takes it, the rock is pleasantly warm to the touch; surprising, since the volcano situation is long since over.

 But Reize looks like her focus. "Hey... can you let me see one of those? Just for a moment."

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 8 months ago

 Ivo looks momentarily flustered at Daiby's reply.
 "Do I? Out loud? Uh, that is-- I just say that about food, right? Because--"
 Fortunately, Reize interrupts him to, in a role reversal, make a quip himself. Ivo, grinning again, looks back to the boy.
 "I hadn't forgotten," he lies. Granted, the magitechnician has had a lot of other priorities besides Reize's aesthetic, important though his branding is. "But if those wings worked as named, maybe we can get a bird's eye view of things."
 He pauses, contemplative again, reaching up to tap his chin.
 "Say, I don't suppose Kernunnos left you still able to turn into a bird? Now that we don't have to worry about the vultures, if you and the vampires in bat form teamed up to comb the environs..."
 And thus the Star Chasers Air Force was born.
 "This really is marvelous," he then says, more seriously, as he gamely takes the pyroclastic ventite from Iris to take another look at it. "It makes me wish I were more of a metallurgist myself. Sometimes I fear I am overinclined to distill the materials we find into their aetheric essence, due to my own limited ability to make best use of them as they are... but if we can find more minerals like this, now that we have a proper forge, repairing the SaGa's engines is entirely within the realm of possibility."
 'Proper' is stretching things, but regardless. Ivo busies himself reevaluating the ventite, such as he can, and does not remark on Iris's interest in Reize's weapons.

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  Reize takes in the aroma of the meat offered by Daiby. He can smell the nice fragrance of the citrus, peppers, and peanuts. He takes a bite out of the fish. "Mmmm!" He brightens considerably. "This is wonderfully made, Daiby!" He compliments her.

  The subject of the boomerangs is added with a grin, "They've been reliable in my adventure so far!" He considers, "These weren't my original boomerangs. ... They broke when I fought against a Great Beast." He mutters, "But he remade them... They feel much lighter to swing and are extremely durable!" As an example, he clanks the boomerangs together, a shing echos from the clank.

  Ivo's question about the gift is met with a headshake. "Since we parted ways, that part of the blessing left." He pauses, sweat running along his face. "...Even though I can still somehow communicate with birds." Evident from his companionship with the vultures.

  When Iris makes her way towards him and Ivo, the boy takes a curious glance over towards the rock that the woman is handing his older companion. However, he can't form much of an opinion on the rock.

  Upon the inquiry about the boomerangs, the boy grins at Iris and he nods. He extends his hand not on the skewer to offer one of the crystal boomerangs her way. "Sure! Here you go!"

  Once held, it'll feel as light as a feather, almost weightless to hold. The crystal is merely dull due to the night light, but still in great condition.
 

• Character: Daiby
• 8 months ago

"Oh thank you! It's a family recipe."

After this Daiby keeps eating, her eyes turning towards Ivo with a somewhat-flirtatious little lowering of the eyelashes.

"What kind of bird did you turn into?" Daiby asks Reize. "I've thought about trying to go up that line of studies but I believe it's mostly theoretical, and frankly I'd be concerned that if I turned into a snake, I might not want to ocme back!" of course it's a snake

Her attention returns primarily to Iris as she solicits Reize for his treasures. Daiby's head tilts when she can intuit the relative weight in the passing. THAT seemed to surprise her. Those things don't look light!

• Character: Iris
• 8 months ago

 At first gingerly, but then with more confidence, Iris holds the boomerang in her hand, testing the weight, adjusting her grip on it to find the right place to grip it for throwing, or even for melee use if need be. While she wouldn't stand up to someone who's been using them all their lives like Reize, it's obvious that she's familiar with the boomerang as a concept, which would make sense. You can't make a weapon without knowing how it works first, after all.

 Perhaps surprisingly to all involved, however, she tilts her head to the side somewhat, brings the boomerang up toward her face, and then -- with her free hand -- flicks the blade with her finger. The result is a surprisingly clear tone, like someone striking a semi-full wine glass in the same way.

 "I see what you mean about using aether gems with this. Even if you could hack a socket into this, I doubt it would work in the same way a metal sword would." She turns and twists the boomerang in her hand, looking at it. "Aetherial conductivity is different, material wise."

 There's another pause, and then she turns and offers the boomerang back to Reize. "I think..."

 A beat. This is it; do you commit to this, or not? There's no taking this back once you've said it, Iris.

 "I do think it could be improved, though. Pretty sure I know a way. Or, well, my grandmother did."

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 8 months ago

 "Well, I am grateful for that," Ivo is saying to Reize regarding the Whole Bird Situation, sounding almost consoling. "They have been very helpful. Who was your new friend -- Volt?"
 It doesn't seem to Ivo that Reize has ever been entirely thrilled with his strange affinity with avian kind, but unlocking Fast Travel has been quite helpful. Idly, Ivo considers for the first time if this affinity has anything to do with the naming convention for Reize's Arts, and open his mouth to ask.
 "Oh, uh, really?"
 But he takes a critical hit from Daiby's charming gaze.
 "I would very much like to know more about the meals your family enjoys-- er, not that I mean to invite myself to-- but if--"
 As well as this seems to be going, Ivo, believe it or not, has at least one priority higher than increasing his Affection Rating with Daiby, and that's satisfying his scientific curiosity. When Iris makes her pronouncement, Ivo stops short with his very eloquent statements and looks over, eyes widening in genuine surprise.
 "Really? I've seen what you can do," he says, in earnest interest, "and I have no doubt as to your abilities, Iris, but those artifacts remain utterly beyond my understanding. Granted, I have only a passing familiarity with relics of the old era of enchantment, but such refined crystal hardly seems wrought by human or beastkin hands..."
 He doesn't think she would say something like this if it weren't actually possible, though, and turn his full attention to her.

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  It is rather peculiar that Reize's attacks are bird-themed. Maybe it's about actually turning into a bird that makes things awkward. The mention of Volt does put a smile on his face, "Yeah! Volt has been very helpful! He's told me a few routes we can take on foot as well."

 "A robin!" Reize chimes out in response to Daiby's question. He rubs his hand on his head, "However, my time as a bird was not exactly fun and games." The boy undergoes memory lane when Ruidosa nearly ate him.

 He looks over at Iris as she seems to be inspecting the boomerangs. Once she hands it back to him, the boy blinks at the statement. "W--wait, really?" He looks pretty excited, leaning forward while looking at Iris with surprise and awe, "H-how?!"

 

• Character: Daiby
• 8 months ago

Daiby laughs lightly at Ivo's words. "Perhaps I should try to remember more of the recipes then," she asides to him, before her attention returns to Iris. Her eyes widen slightly. The dilettante recedes, and the scholar comes closer.

("Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope that flying was fun, at least," she says, to Reize.)

• Character: Iris
• 8 months ago

 "Oh I doubt I could replicate these," Iris says, in response to Ivo's claim that they're beyond his understanding. "They clearly weren't smithed. The same amount of any other natural crystal wouldn't be as pure and would probably weigh about ten times more. So making new ones is out of the question, and even if a socket WOULD work, if you somehow damaged the material in the process you'd be out of luck."

 Doing great building up everyone's confidence so far, Iris. Excellent work.

 "But!" she says, and suddenly there's an animation, a verve, to her words and facial expression that her typically more laid-back personality doesn't normally show. "Because the crystal was simply created, it's extremely pure, which means..." A pause, then she shakes her head. "Alright. Let me start over."

 Pointing at Ivo's Hauteclere, Iris addresses the group, turning to everyone in turn as she speaks. "I'm no scientist like our man, here, but I've seen these weapons and I get the basic idea. An aether gem is solidified magic, more or less. It generates its own power when you want it to work. The thing it's socketed too is just sort of a way to direct the result. Right?" She directs this last to Ivo, for confirmation, but continues on regardless.

 Reaching up, Iris puts a hand to her ear, and takes off something inconsequential, holding it up: a runestone earring, complete with a faint gold-green runic letter carved into it. "Runes work differently. A rune is like... ah, a recipe, for using and conducting magic, in the same way that saying a magic spell aloud is a catalyst for that. Instead of providing the power itself, like a gem, a rune provides a conduit for the user to channel their own magic and get the result, and because runes are carved using materials that are magically conductive--" And here, she points to the ventite Ivo's holding, "--it really reduces the strain and effort required by the user."

 A pause, and then Iris coughs into her hand, before looking at Reize. "Instead of making you *new* boomerangs, we'll... temper a runic pattern into these. That way, you can use your own magic to alter their properties on the fly, just like someone could by swapping an aether gem in or out of a socket."

 Another pause, a deep breath. She's got that face people get when they've suggested a crazy idea and are REALLY hoping the skeptical audience is following along, because that is in fact what just happened.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 8 months ago

 Ivo is nodding along silently. He and Daiby have had formal educations, as yet uncommon outside the capitols of nations specializing in magitech like Hagos and Ashald, and seems to have unconsciously adopted the bearing and expression of an attentive student.
 "Right," he confirms, when prompted. "The primary advantages of aether gems are their consistency, adaptability, and efficiency of production. A well-trained artisan of enchantments can still outdo even the best of them, to my knowledge, and skilled warriors might prefer a weapon suited to channeling their own inner aether. But such artisans are scarce and adding sockets to enchanted weapons that lack them tends to degrade the weapon, so modern militaries like Korotus's have long since pivoted to a reliance on socketed weapons... thereby proliferating them and further reducing the number of enchanters able to create the older style of weapons."
 He's encountered some relics of the older style on their adventures, but this theory that he rattles off is basically unchanged by his experience, seeming confirmed to him in practice.
 "Fascinating," he murmurs when she pauses for breath. "But the pyroclastic ventite..." He rolls it around in his hand, more than happy to hand it over should Iris wish to take it back from him. "Is it... used to temper a specific sort of rune, then? I'm unfamiliar with the process..."
 Imbuing a rune into the crystal boomerangs does seem much more feasible than adding a socket, to Ivo's amateur mind, but still quite challenging.

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  Reize grins over towards Daiby, "It was great flying!" He recalls when he fell from the airship and transformed into a bird. "...It was nearly getting eaten by your fiancee that was not so great."

  This reminds Reize back to a conversation that he had regarding his boomerangs. Unfortunately, Ivo was not able to do anything about them due to the way that they're made.

 When Iris explains about his boomerangs, the young boy closes his eyes, slowly recalling the event before him.

 ~ A young boy, garbed in a green villager outfit, scruffeed up. In front of him is a large wolf-dragon headed being eyeing the pool of water. With a breath, the mist condenses and swallows the broken wooden boomerang pieces. As the pool evaporates, a pair of crystal boomerangs are left behind. ~

 "... I suppose you can say it was blessed by the Great Beast."

  When Iris makes the offer of tempering a runic pattern into the boomerang, the boy has a warm smile and then he slowly nods his head. "... Yeah, let's do it!" The boy is gung-ho for the idea.
 

• Character: Iris
• 8 months ago

 There is... well. Between Ivo's curiosity and Reize's enthusiasm, it's hard to call the expression on Iris's face anything other than 'relief', really. "It's complicated," she says, in response to Ivo's question, reaching out to take the ventite back, holding it up in front of her as part of her explanation. "You can't just draw a rune in plain old ink and have it work. But, well, you saw how this was made. It's elementally aspected material, way more so than other, similar things you could use. The elemental energy in the material gets transferred into the rune, and when the user wants to activate it, it..."

 A pause, a frown. "I don't know how to explain this. It's like getting a leg up, or a boost, so you're not starting at zero. It's not the only way this stuff can be used; I was going to make a sword out of it, alloyed with steel, that would simply make fire and wind techniques stronger and easier to use through it. Different technique, but a lot easier."

 She turns to Reize. "Instead we're going to grind it down, combine it with other materials, and turn it into... a combination of an ink and a lacquer or varnish. Then we use it to trace the proper rune on the weapon. Because it's made of pure, magical crystal, you should be able to activate the rune with almost no effort at all," she finishes, looking at Reize for this last bit.

 The runesmith turns to Ivo and Daiby. "I wouldn't mind some help from people who know their way around magical materials, either. And I don't think I can do the work *here*." Another pause. "AND a lot of this stuff doesn't come cheap or easy. You'll notice I got myself stranded on a desert island looking for just *one* of the things that could be used for it. But I think you'll appreciate the end result."

 If I can properly pull it off, the smith thinks to herself.

• Character: Ivo Galvan
• 8 months ago

 "A runic ink," Ivo is saying to Daiby, as though conferring with his fellow magitechnician. "I doubt I would've ever ventured to try to apply ore like this to such a venture myself, but I'd love to see it in action." His eyes are still slightly widened as he strokes his chin, mind racing. "I want to know more alternatives to reducing materials entirely to their component aether, and eliminating their structural components... if I've learned anything from the aether gems we just made, it's that the complexity of naturally occurring forms like that of the corrupted elementals here are exceedingly difficult to reconstruct once deconstructed... one must take advantage of the forms one finds in nature."
 He's already lost in the sauce.
 "I wonder if Argent could assist us with the desynthesis... given her work with Laineth in herbalism, I'm sure she could limit the process so that we don't go too far..."
 Truly, Reize is surrounded by redoubtable friends and companions. And it is thanks to this that he is blessed with the ultimate fruit of friendship...
 UPGRADES.

• Character: Daiby
• 8 months ago

"I'll be glad to do whatever I can," Daiby says, with a hand to her heart. Or at least the heartlike region. "I'll warn you that this wasn't exactly my major but I'll certainly be pleased to lend a helping hand - or perhaps a helping coil!"

The snakes will contribute nothing to the process, as they are reptiles with no limbs.

They will encourage Daiby, though.

• Character: Reize Seatlan
• 8 months ago

  The young explorer reflects upon their trip in the island so far. He got kidnapped by catgirls, then kidnapped by vultures, which it was to help them. He did make some newfound allies and friends. There is even a chance to enhance his crystal boomerangs.

 Despite the initial misfortune that led to their arrival here...

 It was an adventure that has worked out with great opportunities.