blastiafreak | [video]

It doesn't overload when you do that?

[ He has noticed it before, but didn't know what it was used for. He can't help but look at it more closely. Does it collect like water or something? How often does Rita make cores that it never overflows? ]

[She's almost glad he asked, and shakes her head. She felt pretty accomplished with herself when she built the condenser.]

Nope. I designed it to operate at a specific capacity, so it doesn't collect when it's full.

[ He smiles a little. For as careless as she can be in other areas, she knows what she's doing when she works. ]

I see... That was a good idea... [ He looks it over again. It's pretty cool. ] So how much does it have right now?

[He'd better think it's a good idea! Rita is the most smug, especially with how impressed she thinks Tyr is.]

It holds five hundred units. That might sound like a lot, but you'd need way more for, say...a hoplon blastia--that's kind of like a powerful cannon. It's plenty for what I usually want to work with for now.

[ He is pretty impressed with her even though he doesn't have any frame of reference for her skills. She became the most impressive person when she sealed his rune. ]

And more than enough for a couple of lights.

[ And more seriously- ] ...Would you ever even make a hoplon blastia here if you could? [ It sounds like something that'd only be used in a war. ]

[And she's proud of what she did there, though in a different way--it actually meant something more and made a big difference for Tyr, so...She's glad for that.]

Plenty.

[She almost goes into the complications but he specified if she could...So she thinks for just a second, and then shrugs.] I don't see any reason for something like that. Hoplon blastia can't really be used for anything but war and outright destruction.

[ And he's grateful for her.

He nods, glad that his guess was correct. ] That's what I thought... Unless we fought the deities, we won't have any use for them.

[ But enough of that. ] So anyway, let's just make this core.

We don't even know if they'd be affected, anyway. [She waves her hand dismissively at that. She might tend towards violence and have pretty powerful spells, but hoplon blastia are on a different level. To Rita, self-defense is only natural, but she has no interest in building those kinds of destructive weapons.]

So...for the core, we'll need the mana, some binder--I have some stored--and then, once it's mixed, we'll put it in here. [Now she indicates another piece of equipment similar to the first, a metal container with a mess of tubes and connections.]

[ Tyr takes the similar containers to mean the mana is basically like water. It's a little disappointing that even a cannon might not work against them, but he doesn't want to launch a war at this point, either. ]

All right... [ He looks around for a second. ] So should I grab the binder?

[Rita doesn't know enough about the deities to determine what would work on them, or if fighting with them would even get them anywhere. She'd rather concentrate on other things.]

Yeah. It's in the fridge over there. [She points to a little bar fridge she's set up a few feet away. And then she remembers to add a casual warning-] Careful, it's toxic. Don't get it on your skin.

All right... [ He sounds uneasy saying that, but he's not clumsy, so...he shouldn't have to worry... But he still walks slowly over to it and opens up the fridge carefully.

But he has to say- ] You should put on gloves if you're going to be working with something like this.

I have them around here somewhere. [She waves her hand in a distracted sort of way as she gathers a glass flask, a thin, hollow tube, and what looks like a strip of coloured paper.]

And it's the bottle with the orange label. [The sealed bottle is on one of the shelves as promised; the label has a name in Rita's near-illegible handwriting.]

[ He sighs. It looks like she's going to start working regardless of what he says, and he guesses she always works this way, so there's no way or reason to change her.

When he looks back at the fridge, he's glad she told him the colour of the label, because Tyr about dismisses her handwriting as being another script all together. He grabs the bottle, less worried now that he knows it's sealed, and walks back to her silently. As much as he wants to know everything that's happening, he doesn't want to distract her even more. ]

[It's likely she will, too...Even though she told Tyr to be careful, she has a tendency to forget some aspects of safety when she's working.

On the other hand, she's very mindful of the fact that he's working with her this time, and she does want to explain what she's doing. As she sticks the paper inside the tube and secures it, she half-turns to him.]

This paper is special. I'm using it because it'll change colour at certain levels of mana, so we'll know when we have enough. [Some of their methods are still comparatively low-tech, but...it works.]

[ She knows what she's doing at least, he reminds himself, and she hasn't injured herself too severely yet. He thinks...

He doesn't judge how low-tech it is; as long as it works, it works. If there was a better method, he figures she'd use that.

Besides, looking at a paper changing colour is sort of cool. When she finishes explaining, he looks down to the paper and watches it. ]

Any colour? Or is it like the elements?

[Not lately...or nothing that a little healing spell wouldn't cure.

As she slides the tube into one of the necks of the flask, she continues.]

Not just any colour. The colour we see depends on the paper's absorption of certain wavelengths of light--different colours correspond to different wavelengths. See how it's kind of red right now? It changes to purple when the mana level gets concentrated enough to cause a reaction in the paper. Basically, it changes into a slightly different material and absorbs light differently.

[ ...Good enough. ]

Oh... [ He sounds a little shocked but interested when she says that. ] That's amazing, though. I didn't know mana could change a material like that. [ If Suikoland knows about colours and wavelengths, it's news to Tyr anyway. And it's cool in that he never thought of it before. ]

[...Sob. She does explode stuff...]

[She nods. It's probably not common knowledge outside of mages and other scientists in her world.] Yeah. It won't react with just anything, so I have to make the paper myself, too.

[ But she's still in one piece afterwards!! Even if...she's still way too close! ]

Really? It sounds like a lot of work to do that, too... [ Everything is interesting. ]

[Y-yeah-!! And she'd totally never do it again, right?!]

Hmm...Well, it's a bit of a pain. It takes up a lot of time, but it's not like I'm going to get this stuff anywhere else. [At least Tyr's interested! She probably wouldn't bother trying to explain, otherwise.]

[ Never! She learns from her mistakes! ]

[ He used to just want to learn purely so he could repay her and...know at least something about blastia if she ever left, but he became really interested somewhere along the way. ] Yeah... I guess you're the only one that would know how to do it.

How is it made, anyway?

[So there's never a second time-!]

[Learning out of interest is better anyway, or so Rita thinks.] This stuff's made from metals, and...

[She trails off, taps her chin, then nods.] I can show you later, if you want. Once we mix the materials for a core, they have to set for a while.

[ Or one where it's right in her face! ]

[ Tyr would agree. It makes him want to learn much more. When she says she can show him how it's done later, a little part of him is excited, while another part of him thinks it might be really dull. ]

All right. That'll give us some time, at least... [ Rather than sitting on their hands! ] Are we going to make both of the cores at once?

[Right! She'd never let that happen!]

[...It probably is pretty dull, but they might as well use the time.]

No, I can only make one at a time. This thing- [and she points to the second machine] -uses temperature and pressure to form the core. It can't do multiple cores at once.

[ Yeah! Careful and distant is Rita's way! ]

[ Tyr's thoughts exactly... He nods along with what she says, somewhat disappointed they have to do them separately. ] Oh... So it's not exactly like an oven, either...

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