Donovan finds little change but what there is seams to indicate darkness and moister is deluding it some, and heat/light seams to dry it out some. Ether exstream seams to help dry heat seams to be better but this planet is anything but dry, but under the city.... explains why they have the catalyst drain there. But the life energy seams to be the general cause for it denigrating away.

Local farmers have there various ways, but most are way over his head. Serious life magics and hypertech are involved that they explain that they are countering the affects of the planet on the stuff they are not growing. Likely would ask why not just replicate the affects some where else, and to that they say whats grown here with the energy poring from the shade realm is far better than anything that could be produced in an artificial life field. But still all the magic/tech leaves little profit outside of special medical/industrial uses and luxury foods, so that tends to be the only kinda stuff grown.

Not to many people know much about the bee's other than to avoid any area there was a hive for many miles.

As for goings on a hunting party from Manatum Tessera was on it's way in.... Edith and Paracelsus had never seen so much meat in there lives. You chop up a bronto and a few smaller creatures and it makes for a rather large shipment. It did bring to question what kinda energy field the transports had that keep them from rotting quickly due to rapid bacteria growth.

Donovan learned what he could and wrote down what he didn't understand- maybe it would make sense after he learned more. For the rest of the day, he worked on writing up his results. It would be a lot easier to just say "lack of light and increased moisture dilute the poison", but Edith had insisted that he write it up "properly". That meant using statistics to show significance, detailed information about lab conditions, and academic terms that had very specific meanings. Apparently, Etherites did a lot of writing.

Meanwhile, Edith and Paracelsus watched in amazement at the size of the dino and how they chopped it up so quickly. Edith asked one of workers how they slowed down the growth of bacteria.

They wouldn't give away to much, trade secretes and all, but they said they set up a field around the downed animal that did it and cut it up on the spot. Loading it onto the better care of the trucks as they cut it. The cutters are the ones to talk about such things as they are quite proud of the job they do, acting like the whole operation relies on there skill and speed. The longer they are there the more the meat is exposed to the elements, and the longer they are there the more likely they are attacked by predators or scavengers.  Of course this is rather the attitude with most the crew.

Gunners say no one would get anything done with out them they are the only ones that can take down the monsters and the only ones that protect them.
Mechanics say nothing would work with out them.
The spotters say they would get over run or never find anything with out them.
ect ect ect....

Generally most of them wanting a better cut for such a dangerous job.

None the lest it's interesting to hear there stories and see where most of the non-synthecated meat comes from.

Donovan will gain 4 trainning points by the time all this research is over.

Edith enjoyed hearing the stories and the good-natured one-upping from the dino hunters. After that, she and Paracelsus continued to explore the city. Edith wasn't looking for anything in particular- just whatever caught her eye.

Outside of the capital, and trade center, Venus wasn't much a popular place to live. Thus the city kinda had the air about it of a small colony, most people knew each other and the like, while it took on the air of a port when shipments like this came in. When she got here things where a bit calmer, it was only a group needing immediate repairs and the shipment down from the mountain didn't have much to do with the city as a whole. With the whole hunting party, besides a small crew left to watch the camp, coming in to the city things where a bit more lively.

People where inspecting the hull working with the hunters to bargain over the price, the mussel where dispersing to bars to drink and women to take to bed, engineers and quartermasters looking to fill the needs of the camp till the next hull. All the things once expected from a long hull trading crew coming into port was going on as the hunters came in from the jungle and the kinda things one expected of a military ship coming into port.... including the news of hunters who died out in the jungle.

It was kinda a sad thing there, but humans aren't ones to live on fish and vegetables there whole life. There were not many orchards or livestock fields on Mars due to the space they took up, and people just wanted good tasting meat.  Synthedic and meat from those big bugs on Mars just did not do it for most people if they could afford anything else.

There was a chance though Edith and Paracelsus got a taist of actual beef or the like once or twice with there teacher or eating with Donovan's parents or the like.... so she could probably understand to a point. Heck maybe she herself wouldn't eat synth meat if she had the chance. ^.^

That people risk there lives for good taisting food was an odd thing indeed though, but it's something that seams to incress the more civilization did... so maybe this was a good sign humanity had recovered from the last fall, at least in the CCG. (Central Colonial Government) Makes one wonder if people are risking there live for the money they get from selling luxury foods back on earth.

Edith had no trouble with synth-meat, but it couldn't match real meat. There was something about the consistency of it, the way it felt in the mouth that the synth stuff couldn't match. She once had a bite of something really expensive. It had seemed to melt in her mouth but retain that "meet feel". Still, as amazing as it had tasted, she wasn't about to risk her life to get some more.

To be fair, though, these people weren't risking their lives for meat, they were risking their lives for money in order to survive. Edith was sure that the actual hunters weren't getting paid in meat; they might eat it as often as Edith had. Instead, they were being paid a lot of money that they used to support families and live off of. It was the people who were buying the meat that were paying people to risk their lives- and that part was invisible to them.

She and Paracelsus eavesdropped in on the bargaining, chatted with some of the crew about their machines, and listened to the stories about the crews that had been lost. It was certainly dangerous out there.

They where talking about others they had lost too, from the sound of things seams most people getting killed are just because they weren't careful enough or some one messed up. This time it was a little bit of the later. They spent to long in an area trying to track down a nest for some very large eggs to sell, and didn't notice that a raptor pack had shown up in the area and picked up there trail. It was one that had apparently encountered human hunting packs before and waited till they could pick off one of them and dragged him off, they never saw them just the tracks they left behind. There not the smartest but damn they are smart, fast, and deadly pack hunters. The only reason they even knew they where under attack was there own raptors picked up on them, but not in time to do anything and chasing after them would have been dangerous....  So they where naturally a bit pissed off about it, rather would have hunted down the pack but they need the money and would put everyone's life in (even more) danger doing so.

There was talk maybe they should talk to other hunting groups and look into putting a bounty together, or see if they can get there supervisors to pay them to take them out. The guy buying off them suggested just catching and taming them, but they wanted them dead for obvious reasons.

While Edith was talking, Paracelsus took the opportunity to try to sneak a scrap of meat that had fallen off the trailer. He stalked it as if it was a living creature, then dashed out to grab it and get away. Safety was Edith's shoulder.

Meanwhile, Edith didn't think that training raptors was a good idea. It reminded her about stories of "tame" lions and leopards and other dangerous animals who had killed or mauled their keepers.

Edith tried to find out what kind of material and tools they were using to clear the ever-growing vegetation. It might be something interesting since it had to keep an edge for a long time and be very strong.

A good many of them took notice of the meat falling out but Paracelsus was able to just barely get away with a chunk of fatty meat that was lose enough to pull free from the rest. He almost got caught, one even looking under the trailer for him, but he made it. They had to have keen eyes out there, probably wasn't the best idea but it worked out for him this time.

They used magic or implants to control the 'tamed' raptors making sure they won't attack anyone. They make for good, fast, and smart mounts/trackers in the jungle. This particular group Edith could see the implants in the side of the animal's heads. Watching it seamed to let the animals understand English too (at least to a degree). The morality was questionable.

They typically seamed to have monofilement blades or vibro blades. One guy had what seamed to be a custom job that might have been both, a little more dangerous than useful perhaps and likely less effective than having one or the other, but one up man ship can lead to that sorta dumb thing.

OOC: Did the raptors understand English in the same sense that a dog would? Or do you mean they're smart enough to actually use it?

Edith felt Paracelsus' surge of triumph as he snatched the morsel of food out from under the watchful eyes of the hunters. He scarfed it down, then returned to Edith's shoulders where he proudly started cleaning himself. Edith was relieved; she didn't feel like getting into a fight over a bit of meat.

Edith chatted with the hunters about the weapons they preferred as she automatically looked for ways to improve them. She guessed that mono-filament machetes would be their best bet.

(an exstreamly smart/well trained dog)

The mono-filament ones seamed to be the best suited, they didn't need power like the vibroblade, but they where much more dangerous. Both could cut at the slightest of touches, but you couldn't turn the mono-filament edges off....

They weren't in any hurry to pay exstra for safty measures in the equipment department it seams, it was apparently up to each individual. There was one that spent exstra for something that covered the edge unless they where holding down on the handle, but the rest just had special sheaths for the blade.

Since she still had time before heading to work, Edith found out which bar the miners tended to hang out at and headed there. She was curious about what they were mining and especially the rumors about the land not wanting them to take the minerals.

Meanwhile, Donovan was looking up synonyms for "The results indicate" and "Therefore, one can assume".

They didn't talk about what they where mining nor any attacks, generally seamed to be avoiding talking about work to much till one person said they hurd that another mine got attacked by a dragon. After a bit this talk turned into a sorta argument over which bygone was the scariest. It comes down to the Umkovu and the Cockatrice, while others argued the two where to weak and easy to kill to be scary, they argued that what they did made them truly scary. The umkovu, the soul eater, and the cockatrice who knew the most foul of truths and bite would cause you to birth a new cockatrice from within your body.... and should the egg burst before that the most horridly painful of deaths awaited.

Edith was interested in hearing about the bygones. Were there many of them around? Did they ever attack/enter the city? Did they seem to target humans or was it a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

A few talk with her. "They are out there, more on this world than any other it seams."

"A lot more it seams when mining."

"Yah it riles them up something awful, I think the machines must have some kinda dog whistle like affect on them or something."

"That or the witches are right and there just protecting the planet."

"What ever, it's not like we are driving anything to exstention or anything, I got to get paied I could care less why or what is going on I long as some one keeps them out of the mines."

"Yah but Umkovu are in the mines... just waiting for a minning acident to happen so they can feed on your passing" he shivers some.

"Oh shut the hell up."

Not wanting to start a scare over which creatures were or weren't going to eat miners' souls, Edith and Paracelsus headed back home.

By this time, Donovan had a rough draft of his paper done. He and Edith sat down to review it and discuss which sections had to be strengthen or refocused. After that, Donovan worked on his paper more while Edith gathered some dirt and got to work on a project of her own. Paracelsus dug out a nest of blankets and took a nap.

Edith formed the dirt into spheres, then turned them into clay so she could work with them more easily. She turned each sphere into something that looked like a small hand grenade with a small handle and without a firing pin. She carved grooved patterns into each to make them look more like grenades- at least at first glance. When she was finished, she turned them into aluminum. A few were put into her jacket pocket and the rest into her bag.

She would have to waste an exstra 30 minutes or more to make it look right, otherwise it's only going to pass for a grenade from a distance, but that's likely all she's looking for.

Edith didn't have anything to do until work started and this was a chance to work on her sculpting ability, so she took her time and made the fake grenades look more like real ones. She didn't have anything specific in mind, but it was always nice to have something up your sleeve.

Paracelsus continued to nap and Dononvan continued to work on his report.

Probably a good thing Paracelsus was napping to, he probably would have fliped out hearing about the Umkovu. Not that they actually ate souls, but people believed what people believed. By the time the grenades where done it was close to the time she should head to work.

Edith picked up dinner for all three before going to work. She knew that Donovan would want to go out and either continue his "research" or just go and sample the nightlife. She didn't blame him- he had done more work today than over the past week. She gave him some pocket-money with a warning to not get drunk again.

After checking to make sure that Paracelsus didn't want to come along, Edith headed off to work. One nice thing about this job was that she had a chance to run into all kinds of different tech- and while she had a well-rounded history with machines, there were plenty of things in the universe that Edith had never seen. Maybe she'd see one of them tonight.

After looking around the building giving some of the machines more time to cool off she was quite disappointing, or many exsighted. This building has been around sense before the fall, and a supersizing amount of things had not been updated, it seams there policy has been a 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' one for quite some time. Then again before the fall places like this often relied on portals to Earth for parts so being cut off from earth it was a good policy to follow, but now Hadies was cracking out all the parts anyone could need there was no reason for it.

She worked out a work scedual for herself of what needed to be done and how she could do it in a little less than an hour, she could fix everything altering materials here or from the mine she was sure of it. She wanted to show off her skill as a willworker and she had her chance to update this place to modern equipment with out ordering out for parts!

Edith was excited about this new project. This would be a good chance to practice a new method of rewiring that she had been thinking about- and she rarely passed up a chance to show off her skills.

She carefully scheduled everything in order to keep downtime to a minimum, and checked with other night-employees to make sure she didn't interrupt their work. When there was time (which there usually wasn't), she was a detailed worker. So instead of her ramshackle throw-it-all-together and work out the details later method, Edith coded everything with standard symbols, used tried-and-tested techniques, and installed standard components. This way others could come along later and know what she had done and how to fix it.

Of course she used magic to make things easier- and delighted in doing so. She missed Paracelsus when she turned to say something to him after making a clever use of twist-ties and again when she fixed a compressor with a handful of sand, but disappointingly, the cat wasn't there to admire- or at least notice her ideas. When she was done with the mechanical aspects of it, Edith documented all the changes and left any new instructions with each machine. Finally, a copy of everything was left on her boss' chair.

Edith wondered if she might be putting herself out of a job, but put that thought aside. If this place needed so much updating, there were surely other companies out there that did as well. And she'd rather work at challenging jobs like this than the same-old, same-old.

Meanwhile, Dononvan set off on his new mission- food. Edith couldn't cook to save her life; she'd eat out every meal of the day. Donovan preferred real food - or as real as he could make it given the available supplies. Sometimes Donovan wondered if Edith only kept him around to feed her- given how much trouble he had gotten into in the past. Well, if that was the way of things, he'd keep cooking!

He started charming his way through the kitchens of the city, picking up herbs here and cooking tips there.

Paracelsus slept in.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Wed 15 June 2016.

The boss seams pleased, no longer unsure of her, now quite impressed. He gives Edith another full 20kc chit to stay a bit and teach them how to use the new equipment and show up early to do so again for the night shift.

Edith was happy to show the employees how the new equipment worked. Some things would be easier, some faster, and some safer. All in all, she didn't see any downsides to it.

Meanwhile, Donovan had finished his evening out and returned home with some new herbs and some new ideas. He also picked up a shot of the honey liquor from the other night so he could study it in the morning.

Paracelsus continued to nap.

They only sold bottles, but he managed to talk them into giving him one that was already open for 5kc, maybe Edith wouldn't get pissed off. lol

The Mead was good though.

Using life magic Donovan only needed a little over an hour to figure out the make up of the mead, he could make his own though he would have to find a way to make something that could replace the honey or otherwise get some himself.

If he could get edith to help though they could make something to separate the honey out of it, making researching it much easier, it would completely ruin the mead they used, but beats having to go buy some in addition to the mead.