The Excellent Adventures of Jane and Sunny

[Sunny]

Well, she certainly hadn’t been expecting THAT! Sunny felt her mouth fall agape as the tiny Guardian leapt from the back of one sputtering Adventurer to the next. Once she was able to gain her composure, the Ritualist grinned, folding her arms over her chest in a happy, impressed gesture. How spontaneous! And it worked too! Sunny liked creative people like that. They made life interesting.

It took a bit for Jane to return. Sunny wondered if she were able to find out anything, a thought that discouraged her. Maybe the event host didn’t need anything from Alchemists after all. It sucked, but again, what would a chef need from a craft like that? She couldn’t really think of anything off the top of her head. Aw, well. If they weren’t able to contribute to the event then they’d just have to find something else to do. The possibilities were endless in a place like this.

At Jane’s return, the Swashbuckler leaned forward, clearly interested in the Guardian’s news. “Mana ice crystals?” Those were those things from earlier, the things Jane had mentioned having trouble with. How were they going to manage making and maintaining something like that?

Hmm. It was definitely worth figuring out, though, and who knew? Maybe they’d come up with some serendipitous solution. Two heads were better than one, after all, you know?

“Sounds interesting.” Sunny brought up her clenched fists and pumped one towards the sky. “Well, then. Let’s get started!” Oh. She tilted her head, something coming to mind then. The Ritualist reached for the small grimoire at her hip and presented it to Jane. “You think this might help some? It’s supposed to have some basic spells in it. Maybe there’s something on ice magic in it.”

---

words: 294
Jane

[Jane]

Jane cautiously accepted the grimoire from the Swashbuckler and carefully flipped through a few pages. She'd never seen one of the magic books before and wasn't used to reading the kind of magic mumbo jumbo that would probably appear within. She wasn't that surprised to discover however, that upon reading the script she understood a few of the basics and could probably use it to fire off a bolt of mana at a target, much as the interface explanation of the item explained when you read its description. Sadly there wasn't anything about an ice spell or anything as such, it just looked to go on and on about magic, forms of magic, and how to magic over and over again in varying detail. It wasn't like she'd been able to read through the whole book however, neither Cedric's attention span nor Sunny's patience would have been able to bare with that, but viewing the book on the inventory screen did give the chibi Guardian an idea.

"How about we try something like this for storage?" she asked sunny, holding the book and firing a mana bolt up into the air, probably giving a few of the adventurer's around her a start, and not just because it was a guardian using a caster weapon. With that minimal amount of mana used a tiny crystal like object fell from the area of the magic and into Jane's outstretched hand. Jane hardly noticed because of how quickly she was trying to put the object into her inventory but the item didn't start melting on contact with her gauntlets, instead sitting there for the few seconds it took the girl to open up her inventory tab and slip the little crystal in there.

"Well, I guess that works." Jane said in awe, using the interface to send Sunny the mana crystal sitting in her inventory. "It's just one, and it's not even ice, but at least it's a start? If we get a bunch of these I bet we could start experimenting on how to make them ice aligned, what do you think?"

It really wasn't much, and it was the vaguest of vague starts, but Jane was just happy that the experiment had worked out. If Sunny agreed to the idea all that was left was to move the pair to a safer location where they would (hopefully) be able to alchemy and fire off random mana bolts where no one would get hurt. For everyone's sake.

W: 415

[Sunny]

As Jane skimmed over the contents of the grimoire, Sunny entertained the thought of prizes. What could they be? Would they be ultra rare items? Maybe they’d get to attend whatever banquet was being held! Fleetingly, she wondered just what or who the banquet was honoring, if anyone or anything at all. She knew that the world had a mind of its own now, but the Swashbuckler still had to question the actions of the NPCs.

When the mana crystal appeared in her inventory, Sunny gave a happy, toothy grin, scratching the tip of her nose as she took back the grimoire. Step one was already well on its way. All that they really needed do was figure out how to create ice. To this, her grin widened, a joke of sorts coming to mind.

“Too bad we don’t have a fridge, eh?” She said with a chuckle, lurching forward to nudge Jane in the shoulder with her elbow. The Elder Tale lore made for an interesting storyline, but man what she wouldn’t give for some of the real world luxuries! Harnessed electricity, now that was magic!

At any rate, the Ritualist was raring to go. Finding her place at the side of her small companion, she’d start to scout for a place to work. Perhaps they could follow the scattered groups of Adventurers to a workplace.

“Y’ gotta place where we could figure this out,” she’d ask. The Guardian had mentioned something about work stations. Maybe she knew where to find one.

---

words:  253
Jane

[Jane]

Jane couldn't help but crack a smile at the fridge comment, not because it was a funny joke, but because of how into her own bad joke Sunny was. There was something about bad jokes that people really laughed at that just made them good, in a bad sort of way.

"Thinking of fridges, maybe they can give us an idea of how to do it. What if we tried to cool down the fragments we can create? We'd end up with cold fragments if not ice ones." the chibi Guardian thought out loud, "We might be able to just create them via the interface if it's a proper event though."

A couple of quick hand gestures would show Sunny that Jane was checking up on her crafting list to try and confirm her idea. The investigation was ended by a curt nod before she closed it all down and looked back to Sunny. "That can be a fall back idea at least." she confirmed, glancing back the way they'd walked.

"Well we can go around to St. Pancras Station, that place is chock full of crafting tables, only problem with that is its bound to be crawling with people who had the same idea. I don't have a better idea though, so it's out best bet." Jane looked around for any familiar landmarks with which to direct the pair from without much luck. "You wouldn't happen to know how to get there from this part of the city, would you?" she asked the swashbuckler uncertainly.

W: 256

[Sunny]

Jane seemed to take to Sunny’s super lame joke, which just made the college student’s grin even wider. The Guardian brought up a good point that got the Swashbuckler’s juices flowing. She tapped her chin in thought. “Hmm. Maybe dip them in water and let them freeze?” It was something worth trying at least. At this point, the pair was going in completely blind. They had to start somewhere.

As far as finding St. Pancreas Station went, that wouldn’t prove to be much of a problem. While she didn’t know how to exactly pin-point its location, Sunny had explored the streets of Londinium enough to recognize surrounding areas and whatnot when she saw them. It’d been her project back when the Catastrophe had first occurred and she’d been too lazy to do much of anything else.

Sunny’s face contorted in slight displeasure at the prospect of so many Adventurers crowding the Station, but she eventually nodded. Like Jane, she really had no other idea of where they could go to craft. It wasn’t exactly ideal to carry around an Alchemist lab in one’s inventory. Shoot, she wasn’t even sure how to go about obtaining one even if she wanted to.

Briefly, she pictured desperate players going PVP for a turn at a crafting station. The thought was amusing, albeit kind of troubling. She sincerely hoped that wouldn’t be the case for Jane and herself. They weren’t exactly the highest leveled gamers in the area.

Anyway, they’d be on their way. It’d take a while before they’d come across their destination. A couple of times, Sunny would have to stop someone for directions, just to make sure that they were where they needed to be, but eventually, the old railroad station would come into view.

Like Jane had predicted, the place was crawling with Adventurers; although, it could’ve been worse. Many of them were paired off –like the Guardian and Swashbuckler themselves- or grouped together as parties. It took some scouting and a little bit of patience, but a crafting table did open. Sunny elbowed Jane again, this time with more enthusiastic punches, and pointed at the available spot.

“Let’s go! Hurry!”

---

words: 361

Jane

[Jane]

Jane had to agree that anything was worth a try, even something as seemingly silly as dumping the mana shards or crystals in cold water. Alchemy was all about changing things and magical technology, none of which really had a real world example to follow, so guesswork and the like was a majorly important part of the craft. "Water isn't ice, though I guess it is an alternate form of ice. In some games water and ice are the same element but I don't think that's how it works here." Jane mused for a moment, before shrugging and following after Sunny.

The chibi guardian was more than happy to wander after the swashbuckler while Sunny lead the way. She knew a fair few paths through the city, it was half the size of the real London after all, so it was quite interpreting to see the many parts of the world that she'd never known or, more likely, noticed. It was good to know that she wasn't the only one that still had a bit of trouble, with Sunny leading the way it fell upon the much taller girl's shoulders to ask the questions when they came upon an area both Sunny and Jane were unfamiliar with.

Eventually they did arrive at the station, and while there wasn't an immediately available crafting station for the two to jump on, it was curious to watch all the other adventurers working on the jobs from afar. Jane couldn't help but notice the rather evident lack of Alchemists in the masses, not that it made getting a crafting table any easier.

When Sunny did notice one open she caught Jane by surprise, making the chibi guardian jump slightly before she looked where the swashbuckler was directing. "I'm right behind you!" Jane exclaimed excitedly, dashing towards the table and probably overtaking the Swashbuckler if she wasn't in the mood to run.

Jane would all but pounce on top of the crafting station when she got there, immediately pouring over the equipment and intricate instruments of the alchemist's trade. She had no idea what she was looking at but she was more than happy to poke and prod at everything at least once, taking note of anything that felt cold or seemed to have something to do with ice. It didn't matter how vague the relation was, if there was a chance it could be used for what the two girls planned, it would be noted.

"Hay, do you know what any of this does?" She asked Sunny, not really expecting her impromptu crafting partner to answer in the affirmative. "Do you think we should make more mana shards or crystals or something so we can use them for this crafting, or do you want to just experiment with the equipment for a bit?" she asked a few moments later, really wanting to get into it but feeling so rushed and scatter brained that she didn't know where to start.

W: 495

[Sunny]

Sunny made wide steps towards the table, trying to hurry but not hurry, if you know what I mean. A swoosh rushed passed her then, a tail of yellow flying close behind. Sunny blinked at the Guardian’s display but also grinned, quickening her steps until she was at a comfortable proximity to the table and she didn’t have to worry about anyone else claiming it.

Only thing was. . .well, now what? The black girl adjusted her headband as she studied the equipment, bending over to peek through various glass tubings. It honestly struck her as a medieval lab for some evil scientist or something. Sunny opened drawers and found more items. There were cartridges of different sizes stored within, used specifically for storing mana if used correctly.

Jane asked if she knew how any of the equipment worked. Sunny puckered her lips and shook her head. When the Guardian inquired if they should try to figure out how the equipment worked or just keep using the grimoire to produce more mana crystals, the Ritualist shrugged. “Why not both,” she’d say as she brought out the grimoire and shot off another bolt of mana upwards. It struck the ceiling, but its small size kept it from doing any damage. Another small mana orb came floating down, landing in Sunny’s hand; however, it didn’t stay there for very long. The Swashbuckler was already fiddling with the knobs on what looked to be an old-school Bunsen burner settled beneath a glass container. Fire ignited.

Water within slowly began to bubble until it was boiling, and then Sunny dropped the mana fragment into the water. There was a moment when it seemed like the fragment had merely evaporated . . .until it shot upwards out of the water at high speeds. The Swashbuckler ducked under the table out of reflex and only came back up when she realized that she was in the clear.

“Well. . .what do you think?”

---

words: 323

Jane
ooc: Oh my Lord, I hate Alchemy. o.o

[Jane]

While Jane was a little saddened by the lack of knowledge on Sunny's part, she was more than impressed by the other girl's drive and willingness to charge head first into the experimentation they were going to have to take care of. The chibi guardian watched on in awe for a few moments as fire was lit, water was boiled and testing began.

"Well, why not." she thought to herself for a moment, pulling out one of the cold substances she'd noticed and putting them into a bowl before dumping the shards she'd made earlier in with them. The two substances didn't seem to do much just sitting together, so Jane pulled out a mortar and petal and poured the cooling contents into that, grinding ad pressing down on the powder experimentally. Nothing much seemed to happen at all, until suddenly Sunny's water experiment decided to turn into a high speed projectile and Jane dove for cover, spilling her concoction all over the floor. Almost immediately an otherworldly started seeping up from the ground, sinking into Jane's bones and forming ice around the edges of the table, causing Jane to back away with a start.

"I think this is a much more dangerous job than it blurb suggests." she said, staring at the two tiny disasters they'd caused. "But maybe we're onto something here."

Getting back up and dusting herself off, Jane grabbed another beaker, pulling the weird substance from her experiment out again and putting it in, then placing it atop the burner. "Another shard please." she said to Sunny, fiddling with the knob on the bunsen burner set and turning it down below what a normal flame would even be able to be lit on.

"If fire can normally only go hot in real life, then why not have it able to go cold in a game?" she reasoned with Sunny, staring at the flame curiously and wondering if it was working. "Toss some in and we'll see!"

W: 330

[Sunny]

Sunny nodded at Jane’s words, wide eyes regarding the layers of ice creeping along the edges of the table. She joined her partner out in the open, crawling out from under the table and resting her hands on her hips once she was standing. One hand moved to her chin as she thought, eyebrow quirking upwards as the Swashbuckler watched the Guardian reach for a beaker and add some sort of concoction to it.

Having been distracted by her own devices, the Ritualist could only suffice that the substance was what had been responsible for the ice rimmed table they were now experimenting on. Jane was speaking then. Sunny blinked away her private thoughts, “oh. Sure,” and brandished her grimoire. Applying a bit more control over the spell book’s inner workings, this time when she activated the spell it produced a smaller and shortly-lived mana blast that faded before it could make contact with the ceiling.

Sunny reached out for the flurries of mana fragments and then plucked them into the substance . . . and then waited, taking her stance beside the small Guardian and crossing her fingers that they wouldn’t wind up blowing the station sky high with their latest experimentation. The good news was that they didn’t blow up the station, yay!

Little-by-little, a change was taking place. The mana fragment mingled with the cool substance. Residue formed on the outside of the beaker before frosting over. Inside the beaker, the mana fragment took a new form, clear and cold. Frozen. Sunny stepped up and examined it closer, noting the puffs of cold air radiating from the fragment. It looked like ice.

“Hey- hey. I think it worked!”

---

words: 278

Jane

[Jane]

Jane waited patiently (or at least with minor amounts of excited bouncing) for Sunny to create and toss in the fragments into the unidentified substance. She really had no idea what she was doing, which made the whole crazy experimentation part of this job so much more interesting. It probably would have been a bit more useful to write down the results of the experiments, or even try and use something other than the exact same resources they'd used moments before. It might not have really mattered in the grand scheme of things however, as for all Jane and Sunny knew their abilities could as easily be manipulated by their desire to make a thing as the actual items they were using for Alchemy. Without that real world basis, who knew how Alchemy actually worked?

It was pretty hard not to reach out and touch the beaker that the reaction was taking place in, yet somehow the chibi guardian was able to resist. There was a fair chill radiating off the equipment at least, which suggested she'd at least got the idea of a cold flame right. Either that or the cold stuff she'd thrown into the beaker was overwhelming the heat just like it had when split all over the still frost-covered ground. Either way, it was doing something, which was a lot better than nothing, which is what she'd expected.

"There's only one way to be sure about that!" Jane said excitedly, reaching forward and immediately regretting it as she picked up the super chilled beaker. "J-just g-gotta put it in our inventory. T-that'll give us the item info, right?" she asked Sunny, unsure if she'd just missed a simpler way to look at the blurb written against each item in the world as it was now.

If Sunny didn't have any advise, Jane would put away one of the chilled crystals and read out the lore behind it, hopefully with positive results, before putting down the chilly equipment and wiping her hand off on the leg of her armour. It didn't matter that they'd only created one or two of the things this way, if they'd been successful it meant they were well on their way to being Alchemists, if not then it was time for more experimentation with the super fun and clear class that was the Alchemist!

W: 392