♈ Aradia: Have a growth spurt.

[psych0p0mps]

[At the last possible moment, Aradia Megido awoke from strange dreams to find she could fit in her old clothes again. The first sign of this change is a peal of shrieking laughter from Room 2001, which continues into the journal as she whips it open and doesn't even bother to filter because FUCK DA POLICE.]

-hahahahahahaha! Yes! Guys! Guys, I'm going! My loss ended! I'm coming with you!! WOO!

[There may or may not be a moment of singing here, to the tune of "Expediiition~ Gonnafindsome ruuuins~" - but once she's calmed down a little bit, she remembers something and comes back.]

Okay. Status report, everyone? We leave tomorrow at eight sharp! Are you all packed?

- Oh my God, I still have to get packed. UM - tell you what. I'll be in and out of the lab if anybody needs me, but the question stands!

[AND SHE IS LASS SCAMPERING OFF LIKE A HAPPY LASS.]

Comments

[cyan_maid]

I'm nearly packed!

[Jane had to wish up a couple of things for the journey, but the rest she's raided the common areas of the castle for, kind of like a scavenger hunt.]

It's good to hear you're back to normal, Aradia!

[psych0p0mps]

It's good to be back to normal! [CAN YOU HEAR THAT GRIN? IF GRINS WERE AUDIBLE, THIS WOULD BE SUCH A LOUD BOISTEROUS GRIN RIGHT HERE.]

Oh, hey - by the way, do you want to help me out with a thing, if you get some time?

[cyan_maid]

[She can hear that grin!!!]

What kind of thing? [There's some rustling.] I can pop over to help in a few minutes.

[psych0p0mps]

Well, I'm trying to make a portable recuperacoon real quick before we go, but every combination I've tried just makes a huge mess. I wondered if you'd have any ideas to improve it.

[cyan_maid]

A...a what?

[Yeah she knows nothing of troll needs.]

[psych0p0mps]

A recuperacoon! It's what trolls use instead of sleep squares. I don't want to go the whole several weeks without a good night's sleep.

[cyan_maid]

Oh! Gosh, that wouldn't be good at all.

I don't know what one of these "recuperacoons" look like, and I don't know how they work, so I'm not sure how you would make a portable one. Is there really no way a sleeping bag wouldn't work?

[psych0p0mps]

[Probably interpreting the question wrong] I tried that, actually, but I just wound up with a bag full of slime. It was almost as heavy as the actual cocoon!

[cyan_maid]

Slime?!

[Okay she has got to see this thing.]

Where is this lab you said you were in?

[psych0p0mps]

It's at the top of Ortus Tower. There's a transportalizer you can stand on at the bottom if you don't want to take the stairs.

Dictation to Action, then!

[cyan_maid]

Alright, then! That makes it heaps easier.

[It takes her a little bit to get down to the lobby from the Satis Tower, but once she reaches the transportalizer she's brought to the lab. Technology is amazing, huh?]

yes good

[psych0p0mps]

[Indeed! Why, without technology, I woudln't be able to just copy-paste a description of the place instead of re-typing it.

Aradia hears the transportalizer noise and swivels around in her chair to see who it is.] Hello!

[cyan_maid]

[Jane grins and walks over. She wrinkles her nose a little about the failed attempts, but mostly because of the slime.] Hello, Aradia! So this is what you're working on?

[psych0p0mps]

[The slime actually does have a smell to it - not a pleasant odor exactly, but not awful, either. Kind of a sickly-sweet green smell. How do described smell]

Yeeeah. Careful, it's slippery. [She turns halfway back to the machine and removes all the cards she had plugged into it.] It'd be nice if we had a holopad on this so I'd have a preview, but it's already sort of a miracle that we have an alchemiter in the first place. So I shouldn't complain.

[cyan_maid]

[For some reason my mind came up with overripe honeydew. Jane is very careful with her footing, don't you worry.]

Where did it come from, anyway? [She's pretty certain they're only present in Sburb, but she's not going to bring that up just yet.]

shh this is the only equius icon i have atm

[psych0p0mps]

What, the alchemiter? A mechanically inclined friend of mine built it. The transportalizers, too. They're based on some technology from this game we all played once, back in our own universe. It's not perfect, since we still have to wish for the grist to actually make stuff, but...

Aw oh awww

[cyan_maid]

[Jane blinks. Her eyes go wide, like almost owlish.]

So you've actually played - no, you're pulling my leg! How in the world could someone else gotten their hands on Sburb? [She's a little shocked, but she's trying to play it off as jovial. It's probably not working.]

Re: Aw oh awww

[psych0p0mps]

[Aradia blinks, mildly surprised herself.] Oh, you know about Sburb? We called it Sgrub in our session, but yeah, I have played it.

[cyan_maid]

But how could that be possible?!

[Jane's not even sure what to think right now.]

[psych0p0mps]

Well, it's not that uncommon, actually. Every universe that has ever existed or will exist has a session at some point. But it is quite a coincidence that we've both been a part of it! Especially since you weren't in the human session we interacted with.

[She's going a little contemplative now. Could this mean...?]

[cyan_maid]

[Every single universe had, has, or will have a session of the game?

Jane's having a blown mind moment over here and is unfortunately unresponsive at the moment.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

Lab?

[psych0p0mps]

Yes! I need to try and alchemitize some things before we go.

[BECAUSE THAT'S A WORD.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

Alchemi-- What?

[psych0p0mps]

Alchemitize. Verb: To create with an alchemiter.

Which, before you ask, is a machine that alchemitizes things.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Create what?

[psych0p0mps]

Hopefully, some kind of portable recuperacoon, for a start. I've tried a couple of different combinations, but so far it's just getting slime everywhere.

[shrugs_a_lot]

[He's trying to get it, okay?

...
Got it.]

..... Huh?

[Mission failed.]

[psych0p0mps]

[HEY CLOUD LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT HOMESTUCK]

... Do you want to come up and see? It's kind of a mess in here, but realistically it is easier to just show you.

[shrugs_a_lot]

Can I?

[Excuse the hesitance HE DOESN'T LIKE LABS!]

[psych0p0mps]

Absolutely! It's at the top of Ortus Tower. If you don't want to take the stairs there's a transportalizer at the bottom that you can step on.

[shrugs_a_lot]

I'm fine with the stairs. [ it'll probably just take longer right? ]

> Aradia-mun: Provide TL;DR description.

[psych0p0mps]

Okay, suit yourself. [Pretty much. But it's only, what, 10 stories? nbd.]

[So yeah whenever he arrives: The lab is really more like a storage room at this point, since it's been basically forever since anybody cleaned up the piles of useless crap they've made with the alchemiter. The machine itself takes up a bunch of space off to the side, hooked up to tanks of some unidentifiable substance which is actually identifiable as grist. The rest of the room is occupied by desks, chairs, 15 functional computers, and 1 smashed-up computer. Also there's a large window and landing pad on the wall opposite the door.

Aradia herself is kneeling on a chair pulled up to the alchemiter controls, which she is fiddling with. Discarded nearby are several failed attempts at combining recuperacoons, sleep squares, and sleeping bags in various ways. There's neon green slime all over them and the floor, which a single castle ghost has already set itself to mopping up.]

/loves teal deers <3

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Ten stories? That's nothing! The ShinRa building had sixty... Alright he might arrive huffing a little to the last one... Whoa, he needs to cut down the pizza.

Anyway, when he gets to the lab he pokes his head into the room and oh brother, this gives him the willies... Yet he's not so sure why you know? Let's not go there, though. He enters and wanders for a moment before actually finding Aradia. Ah, it's that chick from the camp; he was sure he had talked to her before. A bit.]

He---y! [And as he approaches he slips on that slime... Awesome entrance. Falling on your butt when meeting with a cute ... girl? Or whatever she is.]

yay! 0u0

[psych0p0mps]

[Oh right, she thought he seemed familiar! A little. She turns just in time to see him fall on his ass, though, and lets out a loud gasp! ... Which will turn into a stifled laugh just a second later.]

Oh my gosh. Are you okay?

[shrugs_a_lot]

Yeah... I just felt like... falling here. [ He's so serious one can't even tell if he's joking or not. Gets up trying not to slip again. ]

Let's try that again.

[ ehem... ]

Hey.

[psych0p0mps]

[She can't tell if he's joking with that pokerface, but it's still funny. She restrains her laughter because not sure if serious or just world's greatest deadpan, but some of it sneaks out anyway.]

He-hey! Hi. We met before, right? Your name's... [drawing a blank haha]

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Oh he is kidding, just... yeah.]

Cloud. And you're A... [Aerith? Nah! It starts with A! ... Right?]

[psych0p0mps]

[She waits a second to see if he'll get it, then fills in the rest.] Aradia. And this here is the alchemiter.

[shrugs_a_lot]

I had it on the tip of my tongue. [ Not.

Gives the machine thing a look.] Fancy. How does it work?

[psych0p0mps]

[Aradia grins and produces two cards from her sylladex at random. One bears the image of a plain red dress she never wears, the other a pottery shard.]

Basically, you take two captcha cards, flip them over... [She does, revealing a sort of holographic captcha code on the back of each one.] ... then you plug in the codes here. [types them in on the computer console.] Decide which way you want to combine them, and if you've got enough grist, voila!

[Since she does, she hits the GO button. With a flash of light, a new dress appears over the flat part of the alchemiter, though this one is brown instead of red and covered with patterns like those on the pottery shard. It also looks very old and warn-out, tattered along the hem.]

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Half of the stuff she's saying goes in one ear and out the other, but the visual explanation is good enough.

It is frigging awesome, in fact. He looks surprised.]

You combine things... [Right? She could have said that from the beginning!] What's that recup...thing you were trying to make?

[psych0p0mps]

[BUT THAT WOULD HAVE MADE SENSE. She grabs another card, this one with a recuperacoon depicted on it! Yeah, it doesn't look remotely like a bed.]

"Recuperacoon." It's what trolls use instead of sleep squares. You sleep partly submerged in the sopor slime, and it keeps you from dreaming too much.

[shrugs_a_lot]

[Sopor slime? EEEEEEEEW... Though that non dreaming part, it interests him.]

... Does it work with humans? [Well he's not 100% human but let's not go there.]

[psych0p0mps]

[Aradia shrugs.] I'm not sure! But it's nontoxic, so it probably couldn't hurt. You've just got to be careful not to ingest it.

[shrugs_a_lot]

... Guess I'll pass. [Not fond of experiments, nope.]