♈ 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

[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.]