Private Rebuild Rome Redux

[Vashti]

In the wake of the attack on Finweald, everything fell apart at the seams. Large facilities like the Embertorch had fallen to shambles, destroyed by the machinations of the renegade Magia. MIT's laboratories were also compromised. Many citizen's lives were disrupted. Despite that, Astorea as a Nation had decided to continue harboring those who elected the Magia race, even when the wave of protest battered them. The resulting mass Exodus of Landers left Finweald woefully understaffed to do anything about it. Her misgivings about involving herself with perhaps the least beloved group in modern politics aside, Vash wasn't the sort of person who saw people in need and ignored them.

"You're not wanted here!" Screams from the angry Landers who lost loved ones, their homes, and all the unthinkable worse broke out as she pushed through lane toward the facility she had volunteered her day to help. Vashti could see the nervousness of a woman just beyond the small but vocal crowd, and it earned a growl from the Foxgirl.

"Now I don't know where you learned your manners, but you're entitled to a full refund," she didn’t wait for her presence to register or for the offender to respond. "I don't know where you need to go to redeem that, but it's not here, and you shouldn't be, either."

"This city is my home! I've lived here for years! These things-"

"Nope. Nuh-uh. See, what you're not gonna do is dehumanize someone and relegate their existence to something lesser than your own because you're upset. You lost everything- that's so sad, and I empathize with you, but these are people too."

The man was ready to boil over as he stared back at her, red in the face. Clearly, the point was one he was unwilling to contend. "I got a right to be here," he said, puffing out his chest. "As much right as anyone else. Public property."

He planted his feet and folded his arms defiantly.

"Sure do. Outside these doors, you've got as much right as anyone else- but what you don't have a right to do is violently harass the people here and disturb the peace."

"I'm not leaving until they're all gone. You can't make me."

"You do what you want," Vashti said to the man, her fingers splaying as she called forth a small, albeit sinister looking firearm that sizzles as she took it in hand. "But if you harm so much as one person, or you step through those doors, I'm going to take my time cooking your-"

A feminine voice loudly interjected. Clearing her throat, the lady spoke: "You must be the new volunteer. I've heard you wanted to help with cleaning up some of the lab space and maybe organizing the files so we can get research moving again?"

"That's me~" Vash smiled sweetly at the researcher who instructed her to follow 'right this way. The Beastwoman glanced back toward the disgruntled man and pointed with two fingers toward her own eyes, then turned said fingers to point toward him.

He gulped audibly.

"For now, we don't have a lot of interesting work, but I do have someone who shares your interest in rudimentary robotics and automation," the woman smiled to Vashti, who returned it brightly. "Since we are going through hard times, I thought I might take the liberty of pairing you with someone who just might be able to convince you to join the Institute. It's fine if you don't want to make any commitments, we completely understand-"

"It's no problem, I get it," Vash chuckled, but in reality, hearing that they were in such a bad way was heartbreaking.

"And right in here, we have Miss @Ronja Bubblyfoot , she'll be supervising you for the day while you get things in order. If you have any questions, she can probably answer them."

Vashti turned to give the woman a respectful bow, but after placing a file on the desk in front of her, she quickly hurried back to her work. "Everyone here really is so busy," Vashti mused. "Uhm, Miss Bubblyfoot? My name's Vashti, and I'm here to help you~" she called out the greeting in case the woman was indisposed and couldn't see her right away.

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Returning to Terrasphere turned out to be the most arduous task Ronja could've ever expected. If it wasn't for the efforts of her friends, and even MIT and the Lions, she would've no longer be welcomed to Astorea. Angry stares, distrustful expressions, and Ronja had to bear with the shame she not only had worked for the enemy, but she also had sent several of her colleagues to a terrible fate of becoming a magical battery for Szofrit's wicked plans.

The fact she was down there, and that at any moment she could go rogue, also wasn't tingling right in Ronja's heart.

She didn't argue too much about it, however. Knowing the very same friends that had rescued her, and the same institute that accepted her back despite everything she did to it, were the ones willing to keep her.

The thoughts fogging her mind, however, were soon interrupted by one of her superiors approaching. Ronja turned to face her, holding her clipboard close to her chest before giving a greeting nod. "Hello professor, this is the lady you wanted Ronja to accompany then?" Ronja asked, turning to face the beastfolk.

Ronja tilted her head looking at the girl, leaning in as her eyes widened, clicked twice and retracted twice, like camera lens adjusting and going back to stand-by mode. "Just Ronja is fine. It is a pleasure to meet you, Vashti!" She greeted, overtaking her previous sad state with a bubbly smile, offering a handshake and turning to the researcher.

"You can leave her to Ronja then, professor. She will take a good care of her." Ronja reassured, then peeking at Vashti and gesturing for her to follow.

"Come... Things are a bit of a mess right now, but all the students and faculties are working on fixing everything." A small, awkward smile covered Ronja's lips. "You could say that everyone is a temporary Technical Support right now." She gestured to a couple students struggling to carry a machine over their shoulders, but they were doing it so with all their determination and hope to gain some recognition.

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

"Technical support," she repeated. The idea seemed way above her pay grade, but if everyone was doing it, Vash figured that she had to at least make an attempt. "Well, I won't promise to be of much use, but anything I can do to help, I'd at least like to try."

Despite her almost brutish behavior when dealing with the man earlier, Vashti seemed much more comfortable and warm when she spoke to Ronja. She'd always been much less abrasive with women than men. With a smile, she regarded to Magia woman no differently than she would anyone else.

"Okay, Ronja," she said, delicately lacing her fingers and tilting her wrists to one side as she leaned all of her weight onto that foot. "I'm in your care. Let's get along~"

That was the hard part over with. Or at least, the part that should have been hardest. When it came to socializing and getting to know people, the Foxgirl had an affinity for it. It was everything that followed that would prove to be the bane of her existence.

"What kind of stuff are we going to get into, then?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja rose her hand, as if gesturing for Vashti to interrupt her thoughts. "Oh, don't misunderstand! You are here to help, for sure, but don't worry your mind with being of 'much use'." Ronja said, softening her expressions before elaborating: "Above anything, Ronja wishes you will learn while being in here, so do help us, but focus on learning what you are seeing, so you can help us, and those who need, even more in the future." She clasped her hands, with her eyes clicking twice in excitement.

Being far from the chaos the landers were trying to create, Ronja could afford to be as affable and attentive to the beastfolk as possible. "Ronja will take a good care of you." She nodded, continuing to guide the girl through the hallways, pushing through a few of busy bees, that looked like drones in a big swarm, bzzing around while they exchanged information between each other in a rapid speed, being rather complicated to understand, even if you focused on them.

"Ronja was more focused on working on producing Magia designs. She is rather skilled at it, since she has been working on this kind of thing ever since she joined Terrasphere... But Ronja supposes she can't let you in these areas yet." She turned a corner.

"But that doesn't stop us from working on some machinery. And by machinery, Ronja means..." She reached for a door, pushing it open, revealing a wide and large workshop, filled with all sort of constructs: Magitech Golems, Mechas, Automatized Turrets, Drones, and many others... Yet all of it looked partially destroyed and damaged, and many other MIT students and teachers seemed to be working on it.

"These are the automatized defenses we have at MIT... Needless to say, they are less advanced than Magia, so they are easily outperformed... Still, they managed to bring some of them down, and they did save a lot of lives... But the costs were big, and we will be fixing some of those." She said.

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

She really liked that. Rather than focus entirely on what was needed, Ronja wanted to ensure that Vashti benefitted from the experience with new knowledge. She wanted to be sure to increase the woman's social capital, making her more able to benefit others going forward. That was the type of mentality Alana loved to see in others. She was so used to people breaking each other down, not building each other up.

It was a bit of a letdown that she couldn't access the more interesting areas of the MIT facility, but she supposed it made sense. They weren't exactly on the best terms with the rest of the world right now, and to them, she was as good as a stranger. That they even let her help was a show of good faith. She put on her brightest smile and folded her hands behind her back.

"Machinery? That's what I like to hear!" Vash proclaimed, walking along behind the Magia woman and swaying from side to side as Ronja explained what they would be working on. "I'm no Magia, nor do I claim to be anywhere near as advanced," she said as they drew closer to the machines they would be working on, "but for once, at least, I feel like I'm doing something I know something about."

Vashti took one of the myriad scraps in hand and tested the weight of it. Gaudy metal, shaped and folded heavy for the sake of enhanced defense. It was lesser in terms of mobility, but it was intended to serve a stouter purpose. It was...

"Some of these materials are remarkably well-preserved," she noted, one hand on her chin as she turned the object over and examined it with the other. "Others aren't quite so lucky." She frowned as her gaze settled on the charred remains of some machine, too far beyond recognition for her to place, too blackened to touch and glean any real information about.

If she ran a diagnostic, she might be able to ascertain the raw materials, but they were doubtless unsalvagable anyway. The fact that they bothered to collect those samples stood testament to their decommissioning protocol. "Are we going to be cataloging these?" she asked, almost expecting that to be the entire nature of the day's work. Boring, but maybe not as boring if she could learn more from Ronja.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja peeked at @Vashti, offering her a small smile. "Ronja did hear you are an enthusiast for constructs, your reaction confirms that." Her eyes clicked twice, and she faced forward while pondering. "Being a magia isn't that helpful regarding... Magitech knowledge." Ronja said. "Just like being a human doesn't make you knowledgeable in Biology or Medicine." It may be a strange comparison, but it was the closest thing she could use to make a small analogy.

As they approached the machines, most of them being rather alien looking even for those that were used to magitech, Ronja nodded at the beastfolk's remarks, raising a finger to explain- "We were rather lucky, actually. There were plenty of magia machinery and technology that were conserved and parked in certain sectors of not only the ship, but the surroundings as well. They were holding back a lot of its army so they could continue to spread their dominance across Arcia." She explained.

They did need numbers to create as much havoc as they needed, and to subdue the remaining kingdoms that were existent in Terrasphere so they could win 'the game', in Szofrit's own words.

She then gestured at the less fortunate pieces. "These ones are samples of magia constructs that were destroyed. We need to keep them so we can study the effects of magics and weapons on the material the magia use to construct their machinery. It may sound strange, but not all of the material the magia use is known by us, which is intriguing." Ronja then smirked.

"Besides, MIT loves to keep samples of everything. We even have ancient tinkery machineries from before the Disappearance, when Magitech was non-existent. It is really funny, if you ask Ronja. A mix of steampunk and clockworking, or straight up magical contraptions." She perked up, excited about those things that were incredibly outdated, but very fun know it existed regardless.

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

"Knowledge really isn't a simple concept," Vashti murmured beneath her breath when Ronja drew a comparison about Magitech knowledge and Human understanding of biology. She was a primary example of just what the Magia was talking about. In school, she had never done well in Biology- or any of the sciences, really. Learning had always fascinated her, but due to various learning disabilities, she had always struggled. When she was young, there had been few and extremely limited resources. She lamented that she couldn't become a researcher in the real world.

Which was how she'd ended up...

Shaking off those thoughts, Vashti focused on what she did understand. Well-preserved artifacts were insight into ancient and foreign civilizations, a gateway into the minds of creators who's thoughts may have otherwise been barred to them. When Ronja mentioned that they liked to hold onto not only ruined samples, but archaic ones that didn't actually seem all that mechanical, she smiled. It was nice to think that the things some people considered obsolete or inefficient were still prized for their simple but significant meaning.

"It's always important to remember where you came from," Vashti affirmed. "Otherwise, how do you know that you're going forward and not back?"

In this case, however, the base construction material did appear to be Carbon based. Whether the Metallurgical understanding was beyond them or not, inevitably, reverse engineering would yield satisfactory results. The scans she continued to do managed to denote traces of Phosphorus and Bismuth- metals that could be volatile, and reactive under the proper circumstances.

That would explain the lack of cleave in the surface area and the bonds between metal. It didn't appear to be forge welded in the modern understanding. That meant there was no danger of the structural integrity simply breaking down- it was a singular mass given form and shape.

"What do we know about the creation process for these?" Vashti asked, thoughtful.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"It never was." Ronja nodded in agreement to Vashti's words, letting out a brief giggle and approaching a table, taking a couple of clipboards filled with forms, along with two blocks of what resembled to be sticky notes. Approaching Vashti, she offered some of the material for her to start working with, with her lips perking up in an impressed grin.

"Couldn't have been wiser, Vash. If we don't understand where we came from, if everything is lost somehow, the knowledge to make everything we can right now will be lost... And honestly, that is our main problem right now." Ronja said, tucking the clipboard under her arm, and reaching for what it looked like to be a carburetter, rather fancy and futuristic looking.

"We can't really know the process of it, because we don't know the historic this kind of thing have. Which fits what you had just said... So all we have going for us, is that we have similar designed things... If not in Terrasphere, we have in Earth." Ronja explained.

"Anyone with minimal mechanical knowledge knows this isn't too far from what we have out there. But the magic part is what makes its energy efficience increases, plus materials that are both durable and light, that allows the machinery to work more on doing its job, than having to bear with its own structure."

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

"Definitely," Vashti agreed. "Modern metallurgy stems from things man has known about for a few thousand years. We've kept many of the same principles that Ancient Civilizations used, just created new, innovative, and faster technologies to make the processes better," she explained. "But this... this goes beyond anything I have on record about Metal fabrication." She frowned, none too pleased that she didn't have an explanation readily available.

Which meant she had to paraphrase to the best of her ability, and Vashti wasn't great at that. "So like... you know how metal sheets get welded together to create thicker, more protective layers, and then shaped to fit the design? That's how we'd work armor plating for knights, right?" The foxgirl's ears twitched as she held her hand closer to her mouth now, tilting her head. "Those have points where they were melded together. The substructure here doesn't show any signs of tampering or melted residual."

Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. That was an irrefutable law of physics. The implications of this made what she was talking about seem even more ridiculous. However... "...sorry, I'm wasting your time talking about something that doesn't even count as theoretical based entirely on a few seconds of scanning." She knew better. She hadn't come here to join MIT as a researcher, because she knew she didn't have the mind for that. Instead, she was happy just to help facilitate the best and brightest minds in research in making new discoveries.

"You said we have things like this," the beastwoman smiled warmly to Ronja. "Are these the samples we're going to be working with?" she asked, containing her excitement.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja rubbed her chin, looking at Vashti with a curious expression as she went on, showing her knowledge in metallurgy that Ronja didn't quite grasp herself. She never studied much about it, outside of the game, relying a lot on information she received from her masteries about it. The girl before her, however, seemed to have some understanding that came from the real word, which was rather impressive.

"Hmm, understood. They have different origins from us, and never really had contact with us, so it is a fair conclusion. They wouldn't share the same techniques." Ronja nodded

An eyebrow then rose when the girl started apologizing, and Ronja shook her hands and head intently. "You shouldn't apologize for sharing a knowledge you consider revelant. Even the most trivial information can prove to be valuable in the future." Ronja said, not being able to count how many times a small detail had a call back in something of greater importance, becoming the key for a successful conclusion of a research.

She then nodded, taking a few of the samples, and peeking at Vashti.

"We are going to mostly reorganize it today. Considering the mess that we have right now. And then, we will start 'playing' around with those. Running analysis and reporting what was the diagnosis. Pretty much our 'technical' opinion on what we can benefit from each of these samples, so we can give some vague direction for everyone else to try and put the pieces they find together with ours."

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

She did bite her tongue on the assertion she wanted to make, not out of any disrespect for Ronja, but because she didn't want to put a crazy idea out into the universe while they still had so much to do. It was possible they could explore it later, when they weren't so busy and pressed for time.

"You're right," Vashti admitted. "I'll keep it in mind for a different time, when we can really concentrate on it and see what there is to learn."

All told, it just felt really nice for someone to appreciate what niche knowledge she had. It started as a passion for minerals and materials that were used in fashion, but her obsession went rogue and she started to be pulled toward robotics, toward mechanics, toward automation and things that weren't at all the "girly expectation" that her modeling career had put on her.

Once the money came in, she was able to fund her learning, and that learning was far and away better than anything she'd gotten in the public education system. But it still wasn't a degree, it didn't make up for a GED, and it didn't make her valuable for more than just her looks.

Ronja was one of the first people to value her for her mind, not her face.

That made her smile.

"Well, that sounds like something I can really get into!" the foxgirl clapped excitedly. "Lets start sorting things first then, and we can go from there?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

"Of course, Vash!" Ronja nodded, understanding that while both Vashti wanted wanted to speak more about the topic, and Ronja wished to learn a bit more about it herself, they had other matters to attend at the moment. Besides, Vashti was the one that needed to experience some MIT work and learn more about things, not Ronja that should learn about metallurgy.

"Yes, sorting will be the boring part of the job, really. Wait a second..."

Excusing herself for a bit, Ronja returned, dragging a box filled with compartments. Each of them had a small sign that resembled the surface of an whiteboard, and the magia had two markers with her, handing one of them to Vashti.

"For now, we are going to sort out things between 'broken', 'damaged', and 'conserved'. Broken being out of service and beyond repairing, and Conserved being no need of fixing at all." It was a bit of obvious explanation, that Ronja was sure that Vashti could handle it.

"Also try to keep a broken, a damaged and a conserved sample together. This way we can study the conserved sample, compare it to the broken one, so we can try to repair the damaged one, and learn what is the purpose of each part of the sample. It is better to work with a dismantled damaged piece than risking ruining a conserved piece to study it."

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

Vashti grinned when Ronja mentioned that they'd be doing 'boring' work. "Nothing is boring when you're having a good time!" she proclaimed happily as she took a seat at the rounded table not far from the whiteboard. Standing while sifting through materials wasn't simply arduous, it was also far from ergonomic. They understood the intricacies of conserving energy while performing long, time-consuming processes.

"Since we're going to be dealing with stuff that's not always going to be in good condition for determining composition, I'll enlist the aid of a few helpers," she winked at the other girl, "as long as youre okay with that, of course~"

She didn't wait around to call on them; if Ronja had a problem, she could simply say so and have Vashti dismiss them. With a hand flicking open in the same fashion one might open their UI, Vashti's palm was suddenly filled up with what looked like a makeup compact. Open and with light filtering out from the screen, two floating orbs began to write themselves into existence seemingly from data extracted from her controller.

The first orb turned a red lens in her direction and a light flashed across her face suddenly. "Identity confirmed. Welcome, Controller. Unit Alpha is ready to receive instruction."

When the second unit materialized fully, it wasted no time with the confirmation process. Instead, it seemed to stream data directly from Alpha. "Beta unit online," it chirped. "Standing by."

She looked apologetically in the direction of Ronja. "I'm sorry that their etiquette modules are primitive, they're not exactly well mannered, but I can guarantee results. Alpha is a reconnaissance unit equipped for scans and data retrieval, while Beta is a reactive type that does more with rapid response to dangerous situations."

Beta had at one point, she recalled, sprayed someone in the face with healing salve mid-combat. She had done some fine-tuning to be sure it wouldn't happen again, but between the two of them, this was the machine that gave her the most anxiety.

What Ronja didn't know couldn't hurt her, though! And what were the odds Beta would have a reason to do that, anyway? "I'll have Alpha work on scans while we sort, and keep Beta on standby just in case something unexpected happens. Is that okay?"

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja took a seat to herself, letting out a brief giggle. "Ronja wished she considered sorting out samples as a good time. She is more fond to studying them." Which was why she intended to at least skim through each sample she held, to at least have a pre-analysis of it. "It isn't the end of the world though." She shrugged.

At the mention of helpers, however, Ronja glanced around quickly, trying to spot someone else that may have been free. "Ronja is okay with that, but she thinks..." Her eyes then trailed back to Vashti, noticing the girl was quickly working on summoning magitech allies.

"Oh! So you also use materialized data for your constructs." Ronja clasped her hands together.

"They are very cute helpers. It is nice to meet you, Alpha, Beta." She waved with a hand while the other already reached for a well conserved sample, shaking it gently in front of Alpha to test it out.

"Ronja thinks that is okay, for sure. It won't hurt to have extra hands on it, if in the end, the result is the same or even better." She nodded.

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

"Ohhh, you work with data analytics and object materialization? That's so cool!" She hadn't met anyone else who decided to build their character in the same way she had, not even remotely. Granted, Ronja had gone a bit more full dive into the mechanical body than she had, but Vashti had chosen her looks based on looking completely different from her actual self. She figured a Foxgirl was about as deviated from the original as she could get. "I see a lot of people who use Magitech, but you're the first person I know who shares my enthusiasm for Substantiation Theory."

The hypothesis where Matter could neither be created nor destroyed, but through a direct application of Aether, it could be reconstructed into a desired form. It was detailed in several studies, but there weren't many Scientists or Researchers in MIT that she knew of who wrote about it in detail. She had chosen constructs and weapons as a medium, but there were other things she wanted to do- other applications of magical power that could make strides in healing and regenerative science...

Oh, she was starting to let her thoughts run away with her.

"Beta unit query: the Magia unit has called us 'cute.' Please advise."

"Unit has indicated that these units have qualities that can be found endearing. Threat level nonexistent."

". . ."

Vashti turned to look the two over. "Now now, where are your manners. Please greet Ronja properly."

"Salutations, Unit Ronja. These units are at your service."

"Ronja is not a unit. Ronja is a sweet girl, and you will address her that way."

"Affirmative. Applying corrective measures to greeting protocol. Hello, Miss Ronja. It is a pleasure."

"That's much better Alpha. Beta, why haven't you greeted Ronja?"

"H-hello..."

Vashti blinked, but quickly shrugged. It was good enough, and they had to get to work. There was no use in scolding Beta when nothing wrong had been done. "Okay, so we have several samples that we'll need to sort according to Ronja's specifications. Good condition, poor condition, and unsalvageable. Make sure we sort them according to composition, so Alpha, I'll need you to be on top of scans."

"Understood."

"Beta, you'll help Ronja and I sift through the samples so that Alpha can scan them."

"Orders received."

"Good!" Vashti offered Ronja a smile. "Tell me, tell me... what are your thoughts on the Theory? What have you learned from your field testing the experimental Magitech?" Her eyes sparkled like lights on a Christmas Tree.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja blinked at Vashti's enthusiasm, showing a small smile and nodding briefly. "Ronja considered it to be the most practical approach." She said, then pausing to watch the dynamics between the beastfolk and the drones, that brought a small smile to her lips, along with a faint flush when she was called a 'sweet girl'.

She gave a brief nod to Alpha, and smiled to Beta after their greetings. "Ronja will be counting on both of you." Ronja said, then looking at Vashti. "You too, sweeter girl." She returned the compliment with a wink, before Vashti showered her with excitement and a couple questions.

"It does help to make things even more compact. This and nanomagitechnology." Ronja said, turning to look at Vashti and pondering for a moment. "If anything, Ronja would say that her time being under the control of the magias proved that they also use something similar to it. It does make technology look... Even more magical than it already is. But the best part is how compact and flexible it is."

Ronja took a deep breath, closing her fists and then opening them, making her palms glow in a cyan tone along with her eyes, that released beams of light akin to holograms, with fragments and parts of her rifle materializing and eventually getting together to build up the complete piece, that soon rested on her arms.

"Quicker than using the inventory too." Ronja said, finally placing her rifle aside, not really bothering to sent it back into its data compact form.

"The weight is null too, but... There is one weakness. Being data, and more abstract, it is more susceptible to be affected by anti-magical fields and these sort of things. Which can be quite disastrous. Also, if lost in data form, it can be extremely hard to retrieve." Ronja rubbed her neck, knowing that she had lost a handful of things after she was corrupted. But eventually she would work around at least reconstructing everything.

@Vashti

 

[Vashti]

"Ohhhh," she watched as the Magia woman reconstituted her weapon piece by piece, utilizing a more pragmatic, step-by-step approach to the process, but one that held untapped possibilities for Vashti. "I hadn't considered a piecemeal substantiation process, but in smaller pieces it would be quicker to form each of the items. This is fascinating stuff, Ronja! I'm so happy to meet someone who uses similar techniques to mine!"

She held out a hand, a disc like a powder compact now visible in her open palm. "I've been playing around with pocket space, a tangential subset akin to dimensional magic that I threw together while watching a presentation of Astramancers about folding space. It requires some dedicated, tangible elements to function properly, but..."

With several beeps and a flash of blue light, a beam started to write code in the air before Vashti. variables shifting to form a tiny rift in the air. She reached into the pocket and withdrew her weapon, a Dedicated Marksman's Rifle and held it out for Ronja to inspect. "I think I'm going to borrow some of your theorem if you don't mind," Vash said with a snap of her fingers. "I think I just got some ideas for how to accessorize with some peripherals."

Since all of their weapons and tools were machines, they functioned basically like computers. Everything you added to them or enhanced them with that wasn't software? Peripheral.

Alpha made several beeps as Vashti scooped up some older looking parts and handed them off. "I haven't run into much in the way of magical interference yet, though. Is that fairly common?" she asked. Ronja had seen frontline combat far more, probably, than Vashti had. The foxgirl had spent most of her time in Terrasphere on theory rather than practicum, and she was ready to change that.

@Ronja Bubblyfoot

 

[Ronja Bubblyfoot]

Ronja shared the same joy as @Vashti, it was indeed wonderful when one could share similar interests, and knowledge about it as well.

"Ronja agrees. It is great! Besides, it is convenient, especially when some enemies have the terrible habit of interrupting your access to the User Interface... Locking you away from the very convenient inventory it has." She sighed, the peeked at the rifle that was handed to her, and Ronja, after receiving a proper permission to do it, took the weapon and analyzed it closely, with her eyes clicking and zooming in to see the details.

"It is perfect. The pocket dimension you have didn't affect your weapon's integrity at all, even if it was fully kept inside of it!" Ronja beamed, it was probably far more complex to do it without ruining something with complex mechanisms such as fireguns. "You are free to use anything as reference, yes. As for accessorizing... Hmmm... Perhaps- It would be good to make it adaptable for each type of enemy you will find." She considered it, then shifting to the question at hand.

"Not fairly common, no. The big problem is that when it happens, it renders you useless unless you have non-magical backup." Ronja explained, reminding herself of the few times she had to deal with enemies immune to magic, or worse, enemies that completely disabled her abilities. A shudder went through her as she remembered the anti-magia patrols that had ambushed her... If Harper wasn't there in time...