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[VIDEO | un: inkmetal]

[It's disgustingly hot and humid and even with most of her hair pulled up and twisted back away from her face, she's got curly tendrils hanging down and a light sheen on her forehead. Ugh. But at least she's back to finding things to keep herself busy.]

My chair is open at Ursula's again, if anyone is looking for regular tattoos or some runework. Want anything more intricate let's talk and we'll see what I need and what deal works for you.

[Best way to act like nothing is wrong is to go right back to what she was doing before, right? Right.]

Catching up on the insane shit y'all love to get up to, but what little changes, a lot stays the same, doesn't it? Like how I still don't know who most of you asses are. Keeping track of the coming and goings ain't easy. Anyone keeping a list?

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I have to act like I wouldn't think it's the greatest thing in the world! I'm very biased!

[This was just about how Luz reacted when Lexi first mentioned the place to her. Now Luz was having hand in helping to make it become a reality]!

Great! You can tell us what you think is missing, or what we should get more of! We're totally open to any ideas!

[She looks thoughtful.]

I don't read a lot of fiction. Haven't since I was a kid. But I can point you in the right direction, maybe.

Well not just fiction! They're used books of all kinds! We'll try to see if we can get all kinds of books there!

At least, I can help you with books about magic, the blood types, folklore, and things like that. I've been through the Archives a lot. Need to do a run soon, actually. See what's new.

[She's always trying to keep up with what's newly published.]

Yes, exactly! You can help Luca with that too, since he's studying to be arcane scholar!

Actually, I do hope you guys can give us recommendations, so we have a better selection for all of you.

[being stuck anywhere isn't great, but there are bad places to be stuck and worse places to be stuck. and adjacent to hell sounds ...like exactly what it is.

what is backing down? never heard of it.]

Well, every word I can think of so far is pretty nice. People are assholes. A lot. They like to think they know everyone's deal. Like to put everyone in a box.

[she means metaphorically. but it can be literally, too. she's been through that. does not recommend.]

Ursula's. Not a pants optional kind of place. [taps her head] Keeping notes. [she is certainly not going to push here - if saeri wants to keep her pants on, it's a shame vi can't see the work, but it's just going to have to stand.

and now she's gone still, watching intently.]

No problem, Luzi-lu. Now let me set your stuff to the side and we can get back to work. Hoping to be done with all of this today.

Keeping notes without a notebook. I like it.

[Says the girl who writes down nearly everything. She does finally finish removing her shirt though, shrugging it off to hang around her elbows. There's a circular tattoo on her shoulder with runes all around the inner edge and what looks to be three spears crossing through an eye, but she doesn't stop to show that one off.

Instead she turns her body so that Vi can see the inverted triangle on her left shoulder blade with the border covered in what looks to be lightning bolts, hooks, and other runes. The center is arch with what could be tree beneath, sharp and jagged branches extending out from it. The style not unlike all the other tattoos on her body. Except. This one just so happens to be the exact shade of blue as her hair.]

Never use untested ingredients in your ink if you don't want surprise results.

[vi doesn't avert her eyes as saeri's shirt is shrugged off, she flicks her gaze down-sideways-back up and over the shoulder before the girl has turned, but this piece is glorious in its detail - hook and curve and sharp and branch - a burst of vibrant color. this is when vi realized she'd been holding her breath so there's an exhale.]

Results as in "surprise: blue hair"?

[it's not near enough the shade to make her think of ~~powder~~ jinx, but she does pause over caitlin - and the moment her mind swaps that one in, she feels a heat running up the back of her neck and making its way into her cheeks. she slides a hand up to press between her shoulderblades - as if she could force the flush back down. she can't and so she covers with a side to side neck crack. like you do.]

It's cool, though. It's more than cool. [casual, casual...] What'd you use? [what does it do? were the results a surprise too in its powers?]

[Saeri can't even see it, facing away from her like she is, but she definitely can hear something. It's a good thing her skin doesn't blush because she probably would be right now. Instead she rolls her own shoulders, which makes the opalescent shades of the blue ink shimmer just a bit.]

It's a standard AIMs piloting rune. Lot easier than worrying about losing a runestone when you've got it right with you all the time. [She pauses as she's pulling the shirt back up.] Oh right--uh...AIMs stands for Automated Industrialized Suits. Mechs. Think bigger, fancier excavator armors.

[the iridescence is an added bonus - it's like and unlike any bodymod she'd seen in the undercity - both in style and function, oh, it's brutal and beautiful, precise and somehow ? primal. she's sure she can't find the words to do it justice. but she tries to memorize this as best she's able - even if what she sketches later isn't perfect, even if she can't remember every rune in its placement she'll keep trying until she captures the feel of it.]

Piloting rune.

[Like for a ship? the words make enough sense - she thinks of chemguard suits but more streamlined and not fueled by shimmer. what if viktor or jayce had or could design a suit - what would that look like - only funneled through the aesthetic of these runes - her mind is flooded with possibilities. bigger. fancier.]

Okay so. It's over. You won. You've reached peak badass because holy fuck did you say industrialized suits? Excavator armors? [her blush is fading, but her enthusiasm is definitely not.] Do you know Viktor? Lives in Willful Machine? About my height, thin, well-dressed with a cane? I know you said you just got ....back, but I figured you might.

[Saeri kind of freezes at that. Her eyes a wide and somewhat bemused by the reaction. She knows her own skill, knows just how good she is, but she's not used to people reacting like this and it always leaves her feeling like she took a misstep into an alternate reality. Which she did. But not the point. She still has no idea how to deal with that.

She huffs a half chuckle and starts buttoning her shirt back up.]

Heh--yeah--I know. Mobilized construction armor is the shit. My guild builds and pilots them for their reconstruction jobs. [Easiest way to take a compliment is to deflect from having to take it.]

Never heard of this Viktor guy, though. Maybe he got here after I left or right before. He an engineer or a pilot?

[Luz beamed at the name! It was so cute! She needed to come up with one for Saeri]!

You got it sai-sai! I'm still helping you, after all!

[OOC: did you still want to do that stuff where Saeri puts that tat on Luz? The month is almost over]]!

[ Chizuru lightly hums, seeming attentive. Really trying to take in the other's answer here, and consider it - and even more so what it means for her under her own circumstances. ]

Is there some way then to definitely find out what kind of magic you have then? Or.. do you just need to try things out forever until there's suddenly magic at some point..?

[ That sounds difficult. Maybe some people might never find out what their magic is that way.

But on the other hand, Chizuru isn't too sure whether she has a different option anymore at this point. ]

It's nice to meet you too

I'll think about it though, especially since I've never really had one before.

Ugh, don't remind me. I have no idea how to do like, any of that. Buuuut at least I've got Min-Gi by my side now. He almost went to college for finance so like, he's probably got this. Or at least he can gimme all the layman's versions.

[It's totally fine, because he is refusing to worry about it.]

But yeah, good! Looking forward to it! So, other than that are you settling back in okay?

...Yeah. Maybe it is.

[ But there are some things that she knows now that would have made life back home very, very difficult. Like that her mother was a murderer. But things could have turned out better if she'd known other things, like how her closest friend was in terrible pain all along. ]

I miss them, no matter how messed up they were.

[one thing that pushes vi's buttons - one of many things - is when someone obviously does not realize how awesome they are at something. she's not going to blow smoke up anyone's ass, but from everything she's seen - everything she's heard described - this is some a-level shit.]

Maybe. He's an inventor, so yeah, close enough to an engineer? One of you big brains, one half of the team that created hextech. It's like... science plus magic. I dunno how it works, that's not my specialty. But I know what it's like to use some badass gear.

You ...turn yourself into the badass gear. Also industrialized suits, come on. Say it with me: I'm a badass. [she's not going to let saeri freeze on this. nope. nuh uh. no way. and she doesn't care is she's used the word badass too many times, either.]

[Normally, Saeri would laugh and say "Of course." She knows she's a great Runist. She has to be. Anything less just isn't acceptable. But this feels different. The way Vi reacts makes it feel different. Maybe she's just unused to praise, so used to hyping herself up, reminding herself, proving to herself. Or maybe it's because Vi gets it in a way barely anyone else does. They may be different but there's a lot about Vi that is so very, very familiar.]

Takes on to know one, huh. I can tell just by looking at you. You are the badass gear without all the bells and whistles. Your ink isn't the same as mine...but we could definitely start changing that.

[And you know, she's going to take that exact moment to slide her flesh fingers over those knuckles.]

Hey, we don't even have an actual currency so it can't be that bad. Make shit up and who can tell you it's wrong?

[She gives a careless shrug.]

It's weird, but I'm dealing. Getting the place cleaned up. Not the worst re-entry. Not like I was gone a year this time.

[Saeri cannot say she misses her bio family at all. Hasn't in years. Maybe it's because she won't let herself, or maybe it's because there's nothing to miss. Not even Daliah.]

You care about them. Missing them is natural.

Never too late to start. You might find you can't stop with just one.

Might be better off asking another paleblood there. I only know what I've seen and studied, haven't experienced it personally. They could lead you better in how to use being a paleblood thank I could. Darkblood, remember?

[vi grins at the words, she can't not - she's been ping-ponging back between solemnity and smiling ever since she walked in. it's not the worst kind of whiplash - there's a lot happening, and yeah, this is what they agreed to - a sort of i'll show you mine if you show me yours - but. but. this is deeper than that. there are scars here, real and metaphorical, and she thinks maybe saeri doesn't just do this, you know, on the regular.

but it's the unexpected gesture, the brush of the girl's fingers over her own that causes vi to suck in air through her teeth. and blink.]

We could? [why did that come out like a question?] We should. We should do that, because that's why I'm...

[vi's not used to honest estimations in this context either - that kind of praise? it's different when it's after launching a couple goons into the alley air, but here the words have a different weight. it's a weight in her chest that makes it hard to swallow, harder still to find words, so what she does - at first - is cover those fingers with her other hand. why? how are people like this here? she's unguarded in her words now.]

...thanks. We're both badasses, I guess.

[just a couple of awkward badasses, sure, sure.]

If we're gonna do that, I should probably show you what you're working with.

[She doesn't do this. Most of the time her flirting is superficial and unreturned, making it easy to play it up and tease. No harm done, only a little fluster. How did doubling down when someone decided to flirt back turn out like this?

Not that she knows what this is. But she's not backing down. Even if Vi's hand covering her own makes the pinky of her prosthetic twitch just a bit. She smirks, not acknowledging the tell for what it is.]

It's only fair, I'd say. You most me half naked and I haven't even seen most of the placard you've got.

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[VIDEO | un: inkmetal]

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