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[alchemistake]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, VARIAN. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 018.07.154.55 *** CHARACTER NAME/ALIAS has joined 018.07.154.55 <thealchemist>This thing is SO COOL okay- hey, hi, Varian here! If you're seeing this then you've reached my channel for messages. Leave me one if you need something!

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[yellecaster]

Well, you can always come here if you'd like. I'll try not to make six-person pots anymore... but I wanna start tryin' to make things like stews and porridges, too.
Curry's more of a lunch, yeah? So it's only right to figure out breakfast and dinner, too.

[Not that... she knows how to make literally any of this. She'll figure it out though, she believes in herself.
Somehow.]

Next time, though... what kinda things do ya like? I'm gonna look into gettin' the recipe even closer to how it is back home, but Galarian curry's pretty flexible.
I can add just 'bout anythin' to it.

[alchemistake]

Me? I mean...pretty much anything. I actually did more of the cooking back home than dad, usually...cooking and alchemy aren't that different, after all. Cooking is just alchemy with instructions.

[Varian snorts, finishing off his curry finally so he can put his bowl with Ruddiger's. Ruddiger, meanwhile, is taking advantage of the new empty space to pull himself up heavily into Varian's lap for a nap.]

This one here loves apples, though.

[yellecaster]

Apples it is, then. 'S actually pretty common to grill a couple apples and add'em in, from what I know... a lot of'em drop back in the Wild Area, so they're cheap and easy to get.

[She's used a couple herself, at this point! ... Of course, Morpeko went bonkers for it.]

Maybe next time I'll call you up before I start cookin', too? Wouldn't hurt to have extra hands around here.

[alchemistake]

Sure, if you want! I could probably do with a break from working, because I'm definitely not going to want to stop on my own otherwise...

[He's a damn workaholic, this one.

That reminds him, though...]

You should come see my lab sometime, too! It's still a work in progress, but Mana put a lot of good beginner stuff in it, so I've already got some things in the works. I'm on track for a test-run of my new prosthetic in just a few days now, once I iron out a few kinks.

[yellecaster]

Prosthetic? Like... for your arm?
You're just buildin' yourself a whole new arm?

[Sorry, the rest is interesting too - but this is more important.]

[alchemistake]

[Varian nods, looking over at his right arm, the sleeve of which is currently tied up against what's left.]

Everything else grew back just fine. ...except my arm, which I kindof need to work.

[His ire isn't directed at Marnie, though he sounds plenty frustrated. He's had to relearn everything, using his left arm only.]

So, I'm doing what I usually do to fix problems...I'm building a solution. I just don't know yet what I'm going to do to get the fingers to move, but I'll think of something. Having something there is a start, you know?

[yellecaster]

... Wicked.

[There'd be a smile on her face if it, like, could do that.]

So you really are some kind of genius about all this stuff, then. I'm glad I've got you around; I'm useless when it comes to tech an' all that.
I could probably tighten some bolts on somethin', but that's 'bout it.

How long d'you think it'll take to finish? Yer arm, I mean.

[alchemistake]

If we're talking just the arm without any moving parts...it should be ready in a couple days.

[He's hoping the sling he's devised to attach it to himself will work, but he'll adjust that too as necessary. It shouldn't be visible beneath his clothes either way.]

But getting it to work like an arm should might take another month, unless I can figure out a more graceful solution than some sort of pulley system. I might ask some people here who know more about circuits and things than I do...there's probably an easier way.

[Another reason he wanted a car to take apart: so he could study circuits and connections and things himself.

What Varian doesn't yet know is that fresh with his next round of changes, he'll be gifted his first bit of luck from the Fog God in the form of instinctual knowledge of a spell that should achieve what he wants...just maybe not perfectly at first.]

[yellecaster]

I know you can figure it out. All ya gotta do is learn how to do it, right?
You sound like a proper genius, the real deal.

And I'll support ya however I can, too.

[Mostly by, like, gifting him with scrap technology she finds while scavenging for decor...]

[alchemistake]

...thanks. That means a lot.

[Like geeze, way to flatter him...

Ruddiger would have probably rolled his eyes at that if he weren't already asleep thanks to a curry food coma.]

What's the junkyard like, by the way? I haven't had a chance to head there yet myself.

[yellecaster]

[No flattery intended - she just calls it how she sees it!
But his question gets a shrug.]

Dangerous, mostly. Lots of sharp metal an' broken glass juttin' outta piles of trash.
But there are a lotta big, broken-down machines, too. Think I saw a couple of robots?
I dunno - I confused'em for Pokémon at first, but they're not that at least.

We can go there together whenever you wanna check it out, if ya want? Wouldn't mind pickin' through for a bedframe or somethin'.
The sleepin' bag's nice, but kinda hurts after a few nights...

[alchemistake]

Hm, yeah...sounds like a junkyard alright-

[Can't have "junk" without the danger of cutting yourself on jagged metal or broken glass or something.

But that causes Varian's thoughts to come screeching to a complete halt because wait a minute-]

There are robots there?!

[yellecaster]

I said I think... could'a just been big toys, too. I don't know.
But they sure looked like robots.

[That's a fun fact that gets overlooked a lot - Bavan has robots, they're just... rare in the city itself.
So for a spare few to end up in the junkyard isn't completely unheard of.]

... I take it you're a robot kinda guy?

[alchemistake]

[I cannot BELIEVE nobody told me this!!]

Well, I wouldn't call myself an expert exactly, but...back home we unearthed an automaton protecting an underground part of Rapunzel's castle sometime last year- [Or maybe it was somewhere else, I can't remember exactly but the details don't matter.] -and after we stopped it from killing us, I was able to take the parts and reverse engineer them to build my own, new and improved versions. They were...pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

[He also used them as murder robots, but. Again, more details that don't matter.]

Basically what I'm saying is if I can find one mostly intact, I might be able to do the same here.

[yellecaster]

Now that's somethin' I'd wanna see. You'd make me one too, right?

[There's almost, almost a cheeky tone to that. Almost.]

I can't imagine you won't end up with too many of those things if you started buildin'em, though.

[alchemistake]

Assuming I found more than one? I'd be happy to work on a couple.

[Varian doesn't have quite the extensive robotics knowledge some people do here, so he can't just jump out there and build his own without any base to work with. Now, if he gets a little toutoring, that may change...]

As much as I'd much rather be back home, I gotta say...this place has some weird benefits I wasn't expecting. I mean, I at least have all of these technological breakthroughs to keep me busy.

[yellecaster]

...

[Her face goes a little soft hearing that, for some reason.]

Y'know... maybe somethin' I should ask Mana for is a Rotom.
I think you'd go nuts havin' one of those around; I've never had one myself, never even had a Rotom phone or somethin'... but they sound like the kinda Pokémon that's right up yer alley.

[alchemistake]

Rotom...?

[What's a PHONE...]

Well you can't just say that and not tell me what they're like, you know.

[yellecaster]

They're Pokémon, of course... but more than that, they're kinda part of everyday life, back home.
We'd use'em to power all sorts of things - phones, computers, you name it.
Every Pokémon Center would have one in the corner; a Rotomi, there for trainers to use if they need it.

But outside of that...

[She brings a hand up to her chin in thought for a second. How do you really describe a Rotom?]

... Well - they're Electric and Ghost types. They can possess stuff like ghosts, but power stuff like electricity?
I dunno how it works, exactly... but they can talk when they're doin' it, too. Dependin' on the machine, I guess.
I guess it'd be like if you made some kinda battery anythin' can use and gave it a personality to boot...

[alchemistake]

Wow...

[Look at that, he's already daydreaming about them. How come Marnie's world gets all the cool...technology creatures?

Or Pokemon, he guesses.]

I wouldn't want you to spend your coins on something for me, but they sound so cool. It must be convenient, having creatures like that around.

[yellecaster]

[Another slight nod.]

There are lots of Pokémon like that... some of them are even ancient, but still feel so modern, somehow. Like Toxtricity; it's got these things on its chest that it strums to generate electricity, they sound like guitars and look like punks...
But they've apparently been around for forever.

[Absently, she decides to reach out and start scratching Ruddiger behind the ear.]

I dunno how it is in other regions back home, but Galar's gone pretty far ahead when it comes to tech and usin' Pokémon to help us out, though.
Stuff like Corviknight taxis and Poké Jobs... we really live right alongside'em however we can.

I'm really missin' it.

[alchemistake]

[She might find the way Ruddiger's back foot kicks when she does that to be funny, even in his sleep.]

Mm...in that case, you've got to get Morpeko back.

[Like again, there's a moral dilemma to maybe be had about forcing people- or Pokemon- you care about to be in a place like this with you, but...Ruddiger is happier with Varian specifically, so it just made sense to him. He's sure it makes the same level of sense to Marnie.]

And then after that, the rest of your team. Since the coins show up every so often pretty regularly, I doubt it'll take long.

[yellecaster]

Yeah... I'm not sure what Morpeko's gonna do without me, you know?
Poor thing kinda relies on me...

[... And then something seems to dawn on her.]

Oh, man - what's everyone else gonna do with Morpeko?
I'm not there to keep it under control...

[alchemistake]

[Who's gonna tell 'em that it doesn't work that way.]

Uhh...I'm sure it's probably fine...? Ruddiger I think was okay until he got here...

[He'd ask him, but he's still unconscious.]

Is it usually a handful?

[Cause she said, like..."keep under control" not "watch over".]

[yellecaster]

[Her hand freezes in its scratching, the whole effect making her look like she's staring both at Ruddiger and nothing at the same time -
She actually ends up snapping up to look at Varian again like she'd been lost in thought.

... Probably imagine Spikemuth on fire with the news ticker saying "thousands dead" --]

- Uh, "a handful" might be a little... kind.
It's somethin' all Morpeko go through, not just mine - but usually, with their trainers, they're easier to maintain?
The thing is, though, when it's hungry...

It gets really, really mad.