week 2, tuesday

[vigilantics]

[ it's the morning, early enough that stephanie needs to chug down coffee to stay awake, when she walks by the laboratory. she's not too surprised to see varian inside since he's a nerd or whatever.
yawning, she knocks on the door frame. ]

What's up?

Comments

[alchemenace]

[ Varian has his goggles firmly planted on his face, as usual when he does experiments. eye safety is important. but he seems to be collecting things rather than making them right now...? He looks up when he hears the knock. ]

Oh, hey Stephie!

[ stephie. ]

Heh, nothing much, just getting things ready, you know how it is. [ does she. ]

[vigilantics]

[ stephie. ]

Do I? [ she hasn't spent much time in here, mostly because she has no idea what the hell any of this stuff is. ] Are you doing an experiment or something?

[alchemenace]

Ha, I wish. There's a finite resource of things here, unlike the kitchen, so I've kept myself to the essentials.

[ what are those? we just don't know ]

No, no, I'm, um, I'm getting ready to go out. I'm going to go check out the woods today.

[vigilantics]

Oh. That's cool, I guess.

[ wait. ]

No. Hold on, I take that back. Not cool!

[alchemenace]

Don't worry so much! I got my axe, I got some newly made alchemy, and I am not bringing a snack in case of bears. I've got it covered.

[ he pats his pockets absent-mindedly ]

Wait, should I bring yarn again? Just marking the trees should be fine, and it's not a maze...

[vigilantics]

You... have an axe?

[ okay she'll touch that one later. why did the klepto status of our characters switch. ]

It's dangerous! You don't know what's in there.

[alchemenace]

[ he didn't steal it!!! :/ ]

Well, yeah, I know. That's, heh, why I wanna check it out...?

[ don't be condescending about this you fool ]

[vigilantics]

[ he seems to be ignoring the "dangerous" part. ]

Do you know how to use an axe.

[alchemenace]

I cut my own wood, thank you very much.

[ a beat ]

I mean. Sometimes. Most of my machines work a lot better when they're made of mostly metal.

[ this is not the point she is making either ]

[vigilantics]

Monsters are not trees! [ ... ] Usually.

Okay. If I tell you that you can't go, what will you do?

[ she knows the answer but she needs to hear it for herself. ]

[alchemenace]

Wha-- I can handle myself, it's just a forest.

[ that's a "would definitely still go" ]

[vigilantics]

There's a minotaur in the shrubbery!

[alchemenace]

Uh. Yeah, I know? I met him?

[vigilantics]

[ is this what it's like dealing with her... ]

What if something happens? You don't have any actual fighting experience.

[alchemenace]

I have fought... [ guards, automatons. hm. ] things. That's what the alchemy and the axe is for. But I'm not going to get in a fight, because I'm not going to stay around the monster. It's not like I've got a destination in mind. I just wanna see the forest.

[vigilantics]

[ okay, she has to seriously consider this.

1. varian seems determined to go. and while steph can, quite easily, stop his attempt today, she is aware that she can't just follow him around everywhere. eventually he'll be alone and can sneak off to do whatever he wants.

2. can she actually stop him? like, yeah, he's one of the youngest people here. but realistically, she was close to his age when she first started the crime fighting gig. it'll be a little hypocritical of her to tell someone he's too young to do something, considering batman and his everything.

3. shit she's going to have to go with him isn't she. ]

... want to make a deal?

[alchemenace]

[ ......... hm ]

What kind of deal, exactly?

[vigilantics]

You have to take me with you.

[ to babysit, but she does not say that part out loud. ]

[alchemenace]

Oh! Sure. If you wanted to come with, you could've just said so. Stephie and Varian, going on a quest. It's gonna be awesome.

[ is it tho. ]

[vigilantics]

[ she can feel her life source leaving her body. ]

But if anything too dangerous happens, we leave, okay? Like if we get attacked by man-eating deer or something.

[alchemenace]

Yes, of course, absolutely! No problem! It'll be fine, you won't regret it.

[ author's note: it was not, and she did ]

[vigilantics]

Great... we'll meet outside later then?

[ preferably when more people are awake so they can hear their screams for help. ]

[alchemenace]

Sure. I gotta finish getting ready anyway. Oh, oh, I know I said I shouldn't bring a snack because of bears, but I could make ham sandwiches?

[ no. ]

[vigilantics]

[ oh my god ]

... yeah, sure. Ham sandwiches.

[ look she is pretty sure they're gonna get attacked either way so might as well be well fed when it happens. ]

[alchemenace]

Awesome! I'll go do that right now.

[ yay, fun trip :) ]

[vigilantics]

Yeah. I'll go get my stuff ready.

[ she can already feel hikage's lecture incoming rip. ]