blastiafreak | [video]

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...

[And slow and steady!]

[Rita thinks it's a bit of a pain, too, but she shrugs.] No. Heat alone won't compress the materials--we need them to be dense. But a simple core like this won't take as long as something like your bodhi blastia.

[ Of course!! ]

[ That makes sense, he guesses, for something to go from one state to the stone-like state he thinks of cores as having, they'd have to be compressed. ] Of course.

...How long did this take anyway? [ Lifting his left wrist. ]

[As always-!]

[Glancing at his blastia, she easily remembers the time necessary for that. Her response is quick and casual.] About twenty-four hours.

[ Safety is what she strives for! ]

So this new core will only take about twelve, right? [ Twelve hours doesn't sound so bad. They could go to bed and it'd be done when they get up-! ]

[It's something she's always conscious of-!]

Less. It doesn't need to be as dense and complex, so three or four hours should be good enough. So let's get started. [She offers him a bit of a smile, then moves towards the first machine--the condenser--and a tube sticking out of the side. She attaches the flask, then opens a valve to allow the mana to flow in with a hiss. Like a thick, heavy gas, it flows into the flask, slightly luminescent and pale blue.]

[ Without fail! >:< ]

Okay. [ That sounds even better to him. Maybe later on he'll wonder if she's sleepy, but right now, he's just interested in working. He watches the gas flow into the tube in a dumbstruck sort of manner. It looks weird, and he thinks about how it's always in the air so...it shouldn't be dangerous even though it almost looks like smoke. He can't look away. ]

[Without error!]

[Since her eyes are fixed on the piece of red paper within the flask, she misses the expression on his face. Mana continues to collect for a few seconds until the tip of the paper shifts to purple. As soon as it changes, Rita closes the valve, and the colour continues to creep up the rest of the paper.] There--you saw, right? This shows that we have enough.

[ Without explosions! ]

[ He nods quickly. ] Yeah, I saw it. [ And it's still cool to see it change colours. If she hadn't explained earlier, he'd think it was just like dye. ] Now do we use the binder, or...

[Especially without explosions!]

Yeah, that's right. [She smiles, then passes him a measuring cylinder. Since he decided to get it, she's decided he should have no problem pouring it out, right?] We need fifty millilitres. Oh, and we need an aer crystal, too...

[ So careful!! ]

An aer crystal?

[ She didn't mention that before. He glances up at her before returning his attention to the binder and cylinder. He doesn't have any problem taking off the lid, but he's still really slow and careful about it. ]

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action; ♥! And time for sleeeep~ Good night!

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