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RP [Civilian] The Walk of an Ivuori Scientist

Cordinarr

Inactive Member
ON, Mazerin
Southern Ghoroun Province
Ruh 16, 941
9:00, Commonwealth Standard Time

Othal Mohar had made his way away from the Ivuori enclaves of the inner edge of the mountains in the Hashida Peaks Region where he lived to go to one of the renowned scientific institutes in the Southern Ghoroun Province of Mazerin, just West of the Ivuori enclaves. It was there that he worked on a new form of a particularly important metaloid to the Iromakuanhe, a race that lived in the Astral Cluster, far flung and protected from others by tumultuous space. The metaloid he sought to replicate was called Veyrinite and it could be used as an amplifier for space compression as well as conduct high-energy fields. It was used in MASC drives of the Iromakuanhe that gave them long-range interstellar faster-than-light travel and their weapons were often doped with it. It was important to them for many reasons, and Othal Mohar hoped to make their dwindling supply of it multiply a hundredfold by creating a true form of it in the lab.
Naha Hoshen, a co-researcher and his sparring partner, looked at him with her green eyes from a distance away outside of the institute before running towards him. She bumped him with her shoulder and smiled at him in greeting.

The pale purple Ivuori was busy on his IroCom PC that he would have been knocked aside dropping the PC if not for their training. Looking up from the screen, and adjusting his glasses that skewed slightly, Othal smiled up at Naha. "Hey now, let's try to keep the action for the ring. Unless you're that anxious to start sparring."

Naha smiled demurely in response and peered over his shoulder at the IroCom, wondering what it was he was doing on it.

She asked in a quiet, almost inaudible voice, "Looking into work already? Or is it something else you're doing on there?"

Tilting the pad slightly over so that she could have a better look, Othal chuckled slightly to his own embarrassment. "Yeah, getting a head start on work today. Right before I fell asleep, I had a bit of an epiphany and wrote it down before going back to bed. I'm going over it now to see if I can make sense of it, hahaha." He was mostly wearing a dark purple shirt with a neon green trim that his sister made for him, along with some slacks and comforatble shoes.

He continued on, "I think it has something to do with the instability that we had run into." He used his finger to pull up what he wrote down as he talked, "I think it has something to do with the fact that it's not cooling quick enough. If we were to add a jacketed condensor or a dewer filled with liquid nitrogen, that would solve the problem. That's probably what 'colder than ice like a jacket' means."

"Hmmm." Naha murmured, "I can see where you're going with that. If we can add the jacketed condenser, perhaps we can cool it faster than we have been able to in the past. Hopefully Sheftz sees what you're seeing, as well."

Othal shrugged a bit, "I mean, I hope so. It doesn't seem too far out of a solution to our problem. If anything, it'll be a small speed bump in the development cycle." He turned back towards the direction he was walking before the sudden stop, and gestured in the direction, "Unless you had other plans, want to join me?"

With a slight tremor in her voice, Naha said, "Of course I do," before following behind. "Othal, do you want me to help you with something after we spar today? I noticed you still wear glasses. I can give you a symbiotic pair very easily. I'm sorry for never offering before."

Othal turned to regard her, and couldn't resist quirking an eyebrow at her offer. "'Easily'? And, no problem. I suppose I haven't done it yet half out of laziness and half out of sentimental value for the pair I have now." He turned back forward and continued, "Not terribly valuable, only that they've served me well these many years. But it's probably time for an upgrade and they deserve to be retired from service. Sure, why not?"

Satisfied, Naha nodded and followed him in to the institute. They were greeted in the lab by Master Atah Sheftz, who lifted a hand and spoke out in a booming voice to the both of them.

"My dreams smile on me when I get to see the pair of you!" Master Atah Sheftz then moved away from his work station and went to retrieve a mug full of coffee from the pot brewing. "How is your day going thus far?"

Naha meekly replied, "Good, Master Atah Sheftz."

Othal smiled, and wave a small wave, "Our day is going quite well, and if fortune would have it, I would have that Jarin's fortune would happen upon you as well." He looked over his IroCom and brought up a few rough sketches that he had made of the dewer and jacketed condensor apperatuses, then turned it to show the Master.

"Ah, I see some headway is being made in that head of yours, Othal," the Master said. "I can tell you are looking for a way to cool the Veyrinite faster and make it less volatile. I like the work you've been doing. But, I must warn you, don't go changing your profession; you're a scientist more than you are an artist!" With a hearty laugh, he put a hand on Othal's back and then removed it to hold his mug with both hands as he brought it up to his lips. "I would like to see this implemented as soon as possible. When can we have it operational?" He then tapped an associates back and when their attention was drawn to him, he pointed to Othal's sketch and said, "Seiahu Burgan, when can we have this operational?"

"Within the next day or two, I would presume," Seiahu replied. "Good work, Othal. This looks good." She then turned to her own PC and began issuing the commands for getting the apperatus made. "Mind if you send me those sketches?"

Chuckling at Master Atah's remark, "Hahaha, don't worry, science is my truest passion. I don't mind sending them at all!" He said, already bent over and was already working on sending it over the OGNEIR to her. "And...done! Thank you both for working with me on this, I've been learning more than I would have otherwise."

As Seiahu nodded tersely and went back to setting about getting the apparatus made, Atah said, "The thanks is all ours, Othal, Naha! We thank you simply for sharing your dreams with us! As for what you can do today, I see nothing to be done until the apparatus is completed. Would you like to stay and go over some old work or go home early for the day?"

Othal looked over at Naha at the mention of going home early, before turning back to Master Atah "Well, Naha had offered to help me out by getting me some sybiotic pair of glasses." He touched the ones he had to demonstrate, "These are getting pretty ancient that it's time for an upgrade." Then regarded Naha once more, "That is if you're still up for it of course."

"Saravni. But first, we're going to spar." Naha said, using the common phrase for an interjection to prephase her statement.

"Oh hoho. Sounds like fun. I haven't practiced in ages, my Hundredfold Palm is more like a Quarterfold Palm at this point," the Master said. Naha nearly replied to invite him, but the Iromakuanhe man had turned and gone back to his workstation before she could muster the words to ask him to join. "Have fun. Touch divine, until we next meet!" he called from where he sat before busying himself with proposals.

"Touch divine, until we next meet," Naha reiterated so quietly that Atah Sheftz couldn't hear her farewell.

"Touch divine, and until next we meet Master." Looking at Naha from the corner of his glasses, "So, downstairs to spar then? It seems we have the day off, and I'd like to repay the shoulder bump from earlier," he said playfully as he started out of the Masters' office.

"Sounds good to me!" Naha said in he rown jovial way. They made their way to the basement and put on their meil robes and met in the sparring ring, which was made of a padded wooden floor that had a hollow layer underneath it for extra spring and bounce. They went through a series of warmups, starting at the feet and moving upwards, until they were blocking and striking at the air to Othal's count. When they had readied themselves completely, they both were ready to spar.

"Let's begin," Naha said to Othal as she brought her hands to open blocking positions.

Othal nodded at her statement, gathered his breath and then exhaled as he adopted the Gimel form. Eyeing her for a second to get a read on her stance and mood, he moved forward to execute the first step and strike of the form. She blocked precisely but not with ease, as Othal was noticeably stronger than her. She always had to strive to protect her stance and not be knocked off balance by him. She took a step back and blocked as he inhaled to glide into the next step. This part closed the gap between them and made her a bit more vulnerable to attacks from him, but if he wasn't careful she could easily get the upper hand on him. While she blocked and defended, she found herself looking for openings in his defense to exploit. If she found an opportunity to do so, she didn't act on it as she wanted him to go through the sequence of steps unhindered.
Exhaling, he shot out his hand as if to strike, however pulled back on the force, only laying a hand on her body where he would have hit her. Bringing his hand back in, he inhaled once more, focusing on his breathing, since that is the purpose of the form. She took another step back as he struck again, and before his tenth step, slid across the floor to face what would have been his back, if he had not turned quickly. In one swift action to face her, while striking out, he completed the tenth step and was ready to essentially start the process over.

The scientist inhaled and exhaled once more to relax and prepare himself to go over the steps again as he readied the starting Gimel form. "You're getting better Naha; definitely improving on the ducks and dodges."

"I'm here to do just that," she replied with a small smile as she prepared for the next step. Exhaling, he moved forward to execute the first step over again, bring his palm forward to strike from his waist. She expertly blocked it, having refined her stance over the time that it took to complete the first ten steps. She had brougt her forearm out to impede the direction of Othal's strike and when he brought his hand back to his side, she did so as well. When next he struck with his other arm, she blocked again, and so it went for the next round of movements, until Othal broke the mould of the first twenty steps of the Gimel form by dropping into the sub-form of Gimel.

Othal began to feel his stance adapt to the Gimel form as his breathing took over and queued up his strikes for him. Gliding into the next step, he inhaled as he struck from the waist, this time far more fluid and decisive and delivered a second strike following the first. She blocked the strikes quickly and with ease and, for the first time in the form, struck back at him, eye-level, towards his nose. As she reached out towards him, he exhaled and rose his hand from his waist to block and deflect the blow, before returning back to his form. The male Ivuori inhaled as he moved to the third step, making anothing strike on the exhale. She moved away, sliding to face his left side before she threw out a low strike, aimed at his right hip, with her hand. Othal utilized the strengths of this form to fend off from multiple sides, blocking her attack without moving to face her before exhaling to follow through with an attack of his own bringing him to face her. She side-stepped the attack while also blocking it, moving herself very marginally from the position she had held before his strike lashed out at her. Stepping forward to follow her, Othal inhaled and exhaled with the next two blows that followed in his breathing, making sure to not to deviate from the proper steps of the sub-form. She blocked twice, deferring the blows elsewhere. She then released her hand from her side to strike out at him one last time, aiming for his solar plexus. Exhaling he raised his hand to deflect the blow, then while inhaling he raised both of his hands then delivered an ending blow with both hands while exhaling one final time, driving himself forward.

Because she knew the blow was about to happen, Naha was out of the way of the strike in time and stumbled backwards a bit, making the ending blow all the more believable. She bowed to her opponent, Othal, and smiled at him as he returned the smile and bow his glasses almost falling off his face as sweat gathered. "That was amazing as always Naha, but I'm starting to see the necessity of symbiotic glasses," he said as he tried pushing them back up his nose only for them to slide back down.
 
Naha Hoshen smiled at his comment about needing the symbiotic enhancement, namely glasses. They were slipping off and he was doing his best to keep them on, but it just wasn't good enough to do the job the right way.

"Back to my place?" Naha asked, remembering she had promised to set him up with that enhancement where she did most of her side work. "You've never been. It's quite nice there. At least, I think so. I hope you do, too. Though, it's a bit of a mess."

Othal gave a small nod and smiled, "Yeah, that sounds good. I'm sure it'll be good, I trust your taste. But first we should probably change out of our practice garb. I'll meet you out front." He turned to go back into the locker room to change into his normal clothes.

She went to her own locker and changed into a more relaxed navy dress and tights with a thick, plush beige cardigan and stepped out of the building moments later, ready to go to her home.

He joined her a couple seconds later in a loose long sleeved shirt his sister made for him to "keep warm" in. It was dark brown with a blue trim, he was carrying a bag that held his training clothes. "They're a bit overdue for a wash," he said referring to the bag, "Well, I'll let you lead the way."

She took him up to the Hashida Peaks, where her home was. She knocked before entering, then put her keycard against the sensor and it opened for her with a turn of the knob. A grumbling could be heard from inside a room, an animalistic sound that couldn't be coming from any Iromakuanhe. There was a great many things strewn about the front room, but she soon brought him to her work room, which had a clean desk, manipulator tools, several vats of what seems to be miniature life support systems, organoids, and even a husk of a foot long ship, the substructure tissues of which were pale and nearly translucent.

"Right here, Othal," she said, beckoning for him to set his things in a corner near the door and, then, to sit at a stool beside the desk.

The male Ivuori smiled as he entered and took in his surroundings, "I looks nice," he said as he set down his bag." After slipping his shoes off and setting them near the door, he made his way over to the stool that she pointed him towards and sat down in it. "Can't say I've ever had this done, or been there to witness one in progress, is it painless?" A bit of nervousness beginning to stir in his stomach as it set in what he was getting into.

"We'll be doing one of the least invasive and painless types there is, a barnacle-type. It will adhere to your tissues and push out from your body in the same way your glasses do, just attached as long as you want them. It will mean that you need to eat a fraction more a day than you do now, You will likely notice no difference. Now, to begin." She placed a hand out and took his glasses from his face and studied them, then smiled, "I would assume they're this focal length. I can make this work, but only by taking them apart..." She brought out a small tool and took the lenses out of the frames. Then, she went to one of the smaller vats and got a vial next to it. She took a syringe from a shelf and opened the packaging on it. It was a fresh, sparkling metallic sheen in the low light of her work room. She placed the syringe on the desk and went back over to a shelf near the small vat and brought out a tube.

"Prajna," she said to him as she squirted some on her fingers and rubbed it on either of his horns, near the base. "That should do it. Now to add the symbiote." She put on sterile gloves and then she carefully worked at squeezing the syringe out on either side of his horns. He could feel the tendrils moving into him, but only as a pressure.

"Your body will feel a bit awkward for a day or so after this. I don't recommend sparring tomorrow." She continued her work and began moving the symbiote with her gloved hand like putty. When it was formed around half of his face, she placed the frame within it, then created a bit of the frame that would go over his nose, then moved it even further around his eyes and placed the second frame inside. Finally, she finished the other side, adding a latching mechanism to it so that it may be unclasped and the glasses could be affixed to only one side, in the case that he needed to rb the bridge of his nose, possibly.

"How does that feel?" she asked, when finished.

Doing his best not to fidget or move during the process, Othal sat still while she applied the putty and injected the symbiote. "Well..." he started, trying to gather his thoughts about what just happened, "I'd have to say it feels rather...odd. Not necessarily in a bad way, but different? Is the way I'd describe it. Can't say I'm entirely comfortable feeling the tentacles of the symbiote moving that close my brain." He ended it with a smile, "Who knows, it could become sentient and take me over!" he added the last sentence with weird hand gestures like he was being controlled. "But otherwise, it's fine," lowering his hands once more.

"I thought you wanted something that would take over your brain. That was a organoid natural intelligence I just put into you," Naha told him. "That wasn't what you wanted?"

With a smirk, he tilted his head down and looked up to her through his new glasses, "Nice try, but I know you wouldn't do that to me."

"No," Naha said. "I would not. Do you want me to show you what I've made, Othal?"

He gave a few quick nods, "Yeah, I'd like to see what you've got going on around here." He shift to stand up from the stool.

"I have several things," she began, a bit pleased with herself to have an audience to her work. "Over here, a take on the bioengineered substructure of craft. The only difference is the integration of the NI into the substructure, making it more akin to a sapient and sentient construct. It is still submerged to keep it from hearing too much of what's going on outside of its vat. Here, let me take it out."

She got a pair of tongs and a lipped metal tray and with a gentle touch, got the structure out of the liquid.

"Hello, again," Naha said.

"Who is here?" the structure asked. It had no visible way of detecting light and objects' interaction with it.

Othal followed her as she gave the small tour, looking at what she gestured but also observing his surroundings a bit more. When she brought out her pet project, he bent over slightly, looking at it, and said, "Hey there, I'm Othal. A guest."

"A guest in Naha's home is a guest in mine, as well. It is nice to greet you, Othal. Do you study with Naha?" the sapient NI asked.

He nodded even though the NI couldn't see him, "Yes I do. Naha is a research partner and a friend of mine. She was helping me out earlier, and thought she'd show me around."

"Well, I'm glad she did show you around, or else you wouldn't have met me. I can complete several different tasks for you, if you would like--"

Naha brought the tongs up and placed them around the sapient structure, saying, "Not right now, time for dreamer's peace."

"Dreamer's peace to you both," the NI said to them before being put back into the vat.

Naha said after putting the sapient NI away, "I also have some different things, like a subclass of prajna that prevents injury to the area exposed. But to truly show you what it can do would require beating you up a bit. Maybe we'll save that for when we're sparring next time."

Othal quirked an eyebrow and gave her a sideways glance, "Oh, you think you'll be beating me up that badly huh? Sounds like someone is pretty confident." He followed it up with a teasing smile as he followed her while she gave the tour.

"I have a few other things," she said to him nonchalantly. Then, in a hushed tone that was anything but nonchalant, she said, "But none of them are as interesting as what I haven't shared with anyone before. As a fellow scientist, I think you'll be intrigued."

Putting on a more serious face in response to her changed tone, "Hm? Do share. Being slightly vague only heightened my curiosity."

Her smile brightened at seeing he was taking her offer well. She dimmed the lights further and whispered.

"You have to stay quiet. Don't make any sudden movements. It gets very agitated very easily." Her voice was full of confidence, though her words instilled none. She opened the door to the back of the room and a growl emitted from it.

Naha hushedly murmured, "It's okay, it's okay." A gurgling noise erupted from one side of the room and Naha brought her hand up to sit against Othal's chest.

"Wait," she said. She went into the room and her voice could be heard by Othal as she worked to soothe whatever lay inside. The gurgling and growling did not persist for long and her next words floated to Othal.

"It's safe to come in."

The nervousness that settled in when he was getting they symbiotes attached just flared to life once more. However, since she bravely stepped into the room, and quelled whatever was back there, it should be safe to walk in....right?

"Alright, let's see what you're working on," he said as he stepped through the doorway.

He could see a leathery creature that apparently had a dirhoun's body, but stood on its back legs and had the skin of a gualmyan. It moved to sniff at its cage, towards Othal. The creature would look odd to any Iroma, a strange combination of what could be two animals torturously put into one.

"It's..." Naha said. "It's both."
 
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