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Star Chaser Interlude

Scene details

  • Start date: Jan. 15, 2022, noon
  • End date: Jan. 15, 2022, 6 p.m.
  • Location: Granse - Zerhem Kingdom
  • Participants: Reize Seatlan, Ivo Galvan, Priel

Setting: The plucky trio reflect on their adventures thus far.

Log

"Now, behold--"

Steam rises into the refreshingly chill late morning air as Ivo pours boiling water from a small canister. Three bowls filled with what appear to be unpleasantly dry and brittle noodles begin to soften until they appear almost edible, odd flecks of green and orange expanding miraculously into recognizable scallions and carrots.

"I use water aether crystals to freeze it," the Cosmopolitan amiably explains, "and a refined wind aether gem to suck out all the water content at once, so the ice instantly vaporizes. The noodles remain undamaged by the process and can stay in this state almost indefinitely -- perfect for rations."

He grins at his friends.

"My old metaphysics lessons from the Lyceum coming in handy. It seems like our journey in search of the Star-Crowned is taking us further and further afield in Granse, so I figured that, now that we have the lab in the aqueduct, something like this would be useful. But we're halfway to our goal now, right?"

His grin softens into a smile.

"We'll find answers soon... I'm sure."

The lodging provided by the Vanguard Assocation is nice. Overall, the Vanguard HQ is a nice spot to see the ongoings of Ivo's science in action.

Reize is staring at the three bowls gain what was once lost, it's essence as the water, previously sucked out, is restored to become an edible state.

"Whoa...." Reize's eyes widen in marvel over the current state of their food. "Wow, this would be great for rations!" He brightens considerly. He lifts a head up, musing thoughtfully. "How many of those are you able to keep on hand?" He considers, "We may not have to take too much, but it's good to know how many restoratives we can have on hand."

He looks at Ivo. He offers a faint smile, "...Yeah. We can restore Lily back. ... Hopefully soon." He closes his eyes. It won't be long before his friend is back to normal. ... That is something that he is looking forward to.

  • Character: Priel
  • 1 year, 6 months ago

"Hummm... Something like this would be pretty useful for Vanguards out on the road for long missions." Priel muses, looking over the results of the process. A wry smile forms as she thinks. "And I guess we can't rule out the obvious military applications, huh?" A careless shrug.

She crosses one leg over the other, leaning back in her seat languidly. "You say 'we', but I feel like I've been kind of a stranger recently." An amused chuckle follows. "While you guys are out spelunking your way across the lands, I've been busy with guild stuff pretty much since I got back here." A shrug. "Still, I'm glad to know you people are that much closer to getting Lily's whole conundrum wrapped up. I can allllllready see her sassing people like she used to, hah."

"We don't have the facilitates for any sort of mass production," Ivo responds to Reize cheerfully, sitting himself down at the table with his friends now that his demonstration is complete, pulling one of the three bowls closer to him and sniffing the broth. "Hmm, the seasoning could use some work, though... Maybe if I put them in separate little satchels or packets..."

He's disturbed from his reverie by Priel's musing, the young man looking faintly startled and then a little uneasy.

"You're right, of course," he murmurs. "These sorts of magitechniques are spreading all over the world at this point, I suspect, and that'll occur to someone if it hasn't already. Now that Cosmopolis has been unsealed, it won't be long before some nation with sufficient productive capacity takes advantage of the leap in science that has allowed..." Quietly, Ivo reminds himself to keep these sorts of displays among his trusted party members. His curiosity and sense of wonder can get the better of him sometimes, but he doesn't want to be responsible for introducing some sort of dangerous weapon to an unready society.

Soon, though, the reminiscing has gotten him grinning again.

"Imagine what Lily would think of these noodles," he chuckles. "She'd probably insist on making them herself with her ice and wind magic, and then complain to me when she ended up with little noodlesicles. But she'd figure it out eventually, I expect... and she'd be so proud. Will be proud," he then amends, with a soft smile. "Soon enough."

His gaze flickers to Priel.

"Never fear, Priel, I know your game," he quips, "and I assure you, your absences have been making my heart grow fonder, just as you planned."

Looking at Priel, Reize cannot help but crack a grin, "I agree, the Vanguards could find this useful as well. It would make some tastier rations to be able to whip up on the go." He looks at Ivo, furrowing his eyebrows, "...I suppose that now that Cosmopolis is no longer dealing with their crisis, advances like this could spread, huh?" He runs a hand over his chin. However, Reize can see the uneasy look on Ivo's face. He tilts his head over as Ivo looks more thoughtful about his statement.

There is a bit of a faint smile at Priel as she comments about being the stranger of the group. "I suppose that our adventures together was out of necessity, but I am still glad that we met you in the end." ... Even if their initial meeting was not that great, considering that she was one of their first adversaries. Nevertheless, the boy smiles wider, "Yeah, we'll be able to figure out how to re-awaken Lily and..." He looks over towards Ivo, "I trust that she'll remain in good care at Cosmopolis."

He gives a thoughtful look, frowning, "...Hopefully the meeting between her and Rui won't feel awkward." Ivo's scenario regarding Lily's handling of the noodles brightens Reize. "I'd like to see that."

  • Character: Priel
  • 1 year, 6 months ago

Priel casually elbows Ivo in the arm. "Uh-huh. You figured me out. My grand master plan, out in the open. What'll I do now that you know?" She rolls her eyes, then sits up to look over the bowl of noodles before her. "Hmm..." Picking up the accompanying fork, she sticks it in and gives the noodles a cursory sniff. "... Smells a little weak. Might need to intensify the flavoring a bit." She brings the fork to her mouth and slurps up some of the noodles. ".... Yeah, tastes a bit weak too. But for a test run, I guess I can give you a little credit. She smirks at Ivo. "But only a little."

Putting the fork down, the redhead glances Reize's way. "Hm, yeah. I guess it was kind of a necessity thing. You and Lily traipsing about the jungles and ruins, getting caught up in all that stuff." A shrug. "I still remember the look on your faces when we met in that ruin, ahahaha!" Reaching out, she ruffles the boy's hair. "Good times, right?" Yes. Good times not taking them seriously in a fight at the end of the ruins. Lovely. Reize has gotten better since then though.

"Well." Priel leans back and crosses her arms behind her head as she looks up. "If you guys really need my help, you know where to find me. But it sounds like you've got things well enough in hand."

She doesn't account for Corrine making her go out to fulfill the guild's interests. Of course.

Ivo nods to Reize, turning his lively grin back to his younger friend. "I'll be curious to see how the city has been changed by trade in our absence," he says. "I imagine there will be some disagreements between those in power over whether to profit by promulgating Cosmopolitan magitech or to hoard advancements for themselves. I expect profit will win in the end. Maybe the balance of power will even shift away from aristocrats and toward those inclined to trade rather than hoard their wealth and status... one can only hope." His grin widens. "But we'll see for ourselves when we return in triumph to Lily."

He has no doubt that his fellow scientists are taking good care of her in the interim. Though he does wonder, depending on what means are required to revive Lily, if the party's activities upon their return will be tolerated without complaint by the city's notoriously idiosyncratic and iron-fisted leadership. That, at least, is impossible for him to anticipate.

He tries and fails to hide his wince as Priel elbows him. "Whenever you're ready to confess your undying love, I'm ready to hear it. No, who am I kidding? I'll faint on the spot in sheer delight." He's grinning again at the dragonkin's judgment. "I'll take it!" He actually does sound pretty enthused about getting any sort of credit from her.

"Hmm?"

He brightens at Reize's unexpected concerns.

"What's the matter, Reize? Every young hero needs a good love triangle. Reize!" Suddenly, Ivo's tone becomes demanding and defiant, an eeriely similar tone to Lily once she's made up her mind. "What's a 'blood pact' and why haven't we done one!?" Does Ivo know about the pact? Not necessarily, but he has been reading up on vampires quite a bit. "I knew you first, so our pact has to be even better! What other fluids can we exchange!?"

Is he trying to get someone to spit out their noodles? Maybe.

There is a glance towards the noodles. Oh right, Reize had not had a chance to try them out! The boy decides to make good on that by following suit of Priel. He takes the fork and scoops the noodles to take a bite. A frown stirs a bit, then he furrows his eyebrows. "Hmmm..."

He looks over to his satchel, procuring a few herbs and other bits of spice to season it up. He starts putting some of the mixture into the noodles until there is a bit of a visual change. He decides to try it again. ... Good enough. Evident, given the steps that Reize had to do to make it edible, some more work needs to be done.

Looking back at the redhead, Reize furrows his eyebrows, "Well, it was our first adventure!" He thinks over, "... Lily was apparently just... alive when I met her. I am the first person that she met."

Frown. Reize squints at Ivo regarding the 'love triangle'. "... I am not certain if that is something that I need." He grimaces. "... Uhhh...." Blood pact. Reize instinctively reaches over towards his neck, touching underneath the scarf and he starts looking more nervous. "... I ... I don't think that is a good idea..."

He squints, "Besides! There is La Crima..." He looks around for a person to deflect the topic on, "Or Prie---okay maybe not Priel, but..." Reize is failing at this. "... Please don't tell Faruja..." Reize hangs his head low. "... You /know/ how he gets and well..."

As if a bit of exhaustion, Reize does lower the scarf to reveal the vampire bite mark that is on his neck.



"...And no, I am not a vampire. She already had a talk with me on that." Which involved a less than pleasant biting.

  • Character: Priel
  • 1 year, 6 months ago

Priel senses something weird in this conversation about 'love triangles' and 'blood pacts' once Ivo brings it up. She blinks at Reize's weird reaction, and then puts two and two together. "....Aha." She grins. "So you and that girl have a pact, huh?" Her grin widens to shit eating levels. "....Wow, Reize. You've got a thing for girls with gems embedded into their bodies, huh? Who would've known!"

She teases him, laughing lightly. "Ahaha, well... that's a thing." A shrug follows as she sits herself up. "Also none of my business. If word gets to Brave Sir Rat about this, then it didn't come from me, that's for sure." With that, she gets back to those noodles.

Ivo, even as he jokes around, keeps an appraising eye on the herbs and spices that Reize employs to render his freeze-dried noodles more palatable. He makes a mental note to enlist the boy's help next time they're in the lab together.

"That explains his romantic luck," Ivo asides to Priel, gesturing toward Reize as though he isn't there. "He meets these girls who've never met another boy in their lives, and then they imprint on him. Seems like a bit of an unfair advantage to me, being the only man in the world so far as they know. But I wouldn't say so to Reize. You know how delicate he is." He's right there, though.

Ivo has got all kinds of jokes lined up for the possibility of a love triangle with Ruidosa and Ruidosa's mother, none of which are for children's ears, and the possibility of a love triangle with Ruidosa and Priel, all of which involve someone dying horribly. But they all die on his lips, because he's staring at Reize's neck and thinking about what Faruja would say to him upon finding out. The color drains from his face, as though a vampire just sucked his blood.

"Yes... let's... keep this to ourselves."

He pauses lingeringly.

"Why do I have this feeling of deja vu?" he then murmurs. "Must be the gems... yeah." He has this odd sense that this is yet another occurrence of Reize overcommiting himself quickly to a tempestuous woman. But that's never happened before. Has it?

The teasing between Priel and Ivo regarding his love for women with gems on them starts to make him feel awkward, "H--hey now!" A large sweatbread appears over the back of his head as he quickly looks at both Ivo and Priel, "It isn't the gem that attracted me, honest!!" For some reason, he can imagine Ruidosa side-eyeing him as she looks at her gem that she needs to 'survive the sun'!

Though, Ivo does bring a good point. He runs a hand over to the back his head, realizing that in a way, both of the had imprinted on him. Lily and him share a bond in on way, but him and Ruidosa share a bond in another sense. The expression becomes more serious a bit. Even if Ivo aside as if he was not there, he has been listening!!!!

The boy gives a thoughtful look, then he furrows his eyebrows, "It's not the gems, honest!" He waves his hands rapidly. He exhales a sigh, "Nevertheless, it has been quite an adventure that we've had here in Granse so far."

There is a pause. "....I ran into the Ringo guy again." He looks a little uneasy, "I don't know what is uneasy about him, but even Kurnunnos was panicking around his presence." He looks at Ivo, "There was that coin that he did tell me to make sure it go to you back at Cosmopolis."

  • Character: Priel
  • 1 year, 6 months ago

"Ahahaha, look at him!" Priel laughs at Reize's expense. "It's fine, it's fine. You're the last person on Rithera who'd have such garbage reasons for dealing with girls." She's still teasing him, but there is a bit of sincerity in there. "Wouldn't you say that girls attach to him so quickly *because* Reize is such a good guy?"

Mention of Ringo is brought up and Priel quirks a brow. "Ah, that guy again, huh?" She crosses her arms and leans back. "I still don't get his deal. Apparently him, or someone sharing his name was the high guidmaster of the Vanguard Association something like one hundred years ago?" She looks thoughtful about it. "Corrine still frowns about that, y'know? Might be something personal, but I've got no idea, hah."

"Unless they attach to him because they sense he's a bad boy deep down," Ivo quips in reply to Priel. "A bad, vampire-bitten boy."

His amused grin finally recedes as Reize shifts the topic to their adventures in Granse, the Cosmopolitan's features softening as he glances between his two friends, eventually raising an eyebrow at Reize.

"This is that gentleman who gave you that oh-so-helpful emblem, yes? I fear to know what that coin represents." He slowly shakes his head. "But I can't make heads or tails of it, so to speak. Why would someone pose as an aged, or more likely deceased, guildmaster of the Vanguards in the depths of the jungles near Cosmopolis? Why, for that matter, would someone connected to the Vanguards have any relation to Cosmopolis at all, let alone a gift for the Sorceress Potentate? If there's anywhere that the Vanguards *haven't* ventured, it would be the sealed-off Spiring City."

He frowns at Reize.

"And now he frightens even eidola? Kernunnos, do you know something about him?" The pendant does not respond, as though to answer in the negative, the still-exhausted eidola electing to communicate via implication. Finally, Ivo sighs. "Well, my curiosity is piqued, for better or worse... I fear almost certainly for worse."

MUCH LATER

"Seize him!" the Sorceress Potentate orders.

A wide assorted of magitech weaponry take on dangerous glows as Ivo raises his hands in deadpan surrender.

"As anticipated... more or less."

NOW

"...almost certainly."

Reize looks exhausted for a moment. He looks at Priel with a bit of a nervous look, running his hand over the back of his head. "...Rui and her mother trusts me, so..." He runs his hand along the back of his head. There is a bit that Reize cannot admit, but he has grown attached to Ruidosa as well. He squints at Ivo. The young explorer stares at the older man.

With the topic of Ringo being present, Reize nods once more. "To be honest, I don't know much about him, but..." He furrows his eyebrows, "He -did- almost get me arrested!" He huffs, then he gives a thoughtful look, "He mentioned that it had been so long."

Upon Kernunnos' response, or lack of, to Ivo's questioning, Reize helpfully asides, "...Kernunnos is exhausted. ... Ringo made sure that Kernunnos took action in our last fight as well." He grimaces, "... Both of us were still worn, but Ringo was just amused... or at least, satisfied." He exhales a sigh.

"...I don't know much about him, but if Kernunnos was spooked... there is a lot more about him that may be worth noting." He grimaces.

There is a smile that comes on Reize face, even if faint, "... Though Faruja and Raiya are absent, it is nice to have the original team together." He brightens, "We went through a lot together in Cosmopolis."

  • Character: Priel
  • 1 year, 6 months ago

"Heh. That's not ominous at all." Priel says in response to the subject at hand. Sounds like Ivo and Reize both have their hands full with this Ringo fellow. In different ways anyway. But that's going to be a problem for future them. It's definitely not any of her business, right?

Right.

"The original team, huh?" The redhead muses thoughtfully. "Guess we were a team back in Cosmopolis." A playful smile forms. "I miss messing with Brave Sir Rat." She says, and then shrugs. "Alas, he's probably off waving his spear and shouting 'Heresy!' in some dark corner of the continent right about now."

"It would behoove us to determine some method of strengthening Kernunnos efficiently," Ivo notes after Reize's explanation. "Without his worshippers, sources of Creation-aspected aether are difficult to come back. We could discuss constructing a shrine with Cutini Nak and seek the aid of the lizardfolk, unless..." He pauses. "The Crux of Creation was designed to use star matter to convert elemental aether into Creation-aspected earlier, yes? I don't know if two arms of the Crux are sufficient, but... perhaps the relic we're seeking to reassemble would also be a means of restoring Kernunnos's strength..."

Ivo just wants to see that cool summoning spell again.

"Raiya... hopefully she'll be impressed with my progress with my swordplay when we see her next." Ivo sounds a bit wistful. Though he doesn't speak of it much, it was Raiya's stern yet sensitive guidance that helped to shake him free of his anxieties as much as anything on their adventures. "Admittedly, I've been more focused on magitech research, but... I've certainly fought more in Granse than I ever did in Cosmopolis!" And he doesn't regret it. Vivian was scary enough. Help fight Adrastus? Not if he can help it.

He's grinning again at Priel.

"Or shouting it into the bottom of a mug, if he's lucky," he chortles. "Now there's a guy who could use a pact of sorts with a nice lady. Though it would be a great lady indeed who would be worthy of the love of our dear Ser Senra."

Ringo is definitely a mysterious figure that Reize does not have a good grasp on. What may be more important is the connection that he has with Ivo and Cosmopolis in general. In that respect, Reize does not have the full grasp, per se, but there is something lingering in his mind about Ringo's presence. Though, wouldn't Ringo make his presense known to Ivo?

Oh well.

Cracking a grin at Priel, Reize nods, "Yeah! We..." He closes his eyes, offering a smile, "We all had a longing of what we wanted, didn't we? That was why we came up with the 'Star Chasers' as our team." His smile becomes heartfelt, "... I felt something lingering in you as well..."

He recalls the time in the jungle. Faruja, Priel, Lily, and Ivo felt that bit of uncertainty. However, Ivo was the one who inspired it all. Reize recalls it well. To bring everyone together, they became under an umbrella. His hand reaches to his pendant, "... We all have a 'star' that we're chasing. We're all the Star Chasers." A smile grows. "All of us needed a path. We had each other."

Once the reminincse ends, Reize looks over at Ivo. "You're right... We'll have to figure out the source of strengthening Kernunnos." He lowers his head, "As we're finding out, the 'Seekers of the Sun' or the 'Star-Crowned' are not as good natured as we're hoping."

The mention of Raiya earns a smile, "I'm honestly hoping that she's able to settle with her family. I think we helped her out of the debt situation. Hopefully, she should not have anymore issues. Her son and husband were the priority of her life."

The grin at Faruja is noted, "...Hopefully, the adventure with us will help him relax his stance." He exhales an exasperated sigh, "Here's hoping."