章 704: Science is fun!...?

After Reima had spent most of the morning with Luna he left her with the Unicorns and headed to Nerissa, wishing to see what her and Moka planned to do about Akasha.

Once again entering Nerissa's room he spots Moka meditating on bed with Snuffles watching from the side. The rabbit leapt off and transformed back into her human form as he asks "What's up?"

Nerissa points at Moka, "They are talking." she says.

Reima "Who're talking?" he asks, confused.

Nerissa "Moka and Moka."

Reima has a lightbulb illuminate in his mind, "Ah, Moka and Other Moka?" he asks, Nerissa nodding at him. "How long have they been at it?"

Nerissa shrugs, "Hours?"

Reima "Hm, what do you think about all this? Worried about Moka?"

The vampiress shakes her head, "No... She's strong." she says, when suddenly her eyes light up. "Ah... Present..."

Reima raises a brow, "You want a present?"

Nerissa walks over to her bottomless box and reaches inside, retrieving many vials containing what look like organic samples. "No, for you."

Reima receives them, and analyses them for a moment, "So you did remember? I'll have to find some way to reward you then Rissa." he says with a smile.

Nerissa thinks for a moment before pointing at Moka, "Help her."

Reima "I was going to do that anyway... Think of something else, actually, do you want to see what I'm going to do with these?" he asks, the young girl nodding. "Then, let's head to the labs, hopefully Quelina and Vesemir aren't busy in there." he says, grabbing Nerissa and teleporting them both to Kaer Morhen's lab.

Inside there was only Quelina working on a small batch of potions, she dexterously cut up ingredients while gingerly placing them within a bubbling cauldron, the fumes given off by it being sucked into the ventilation system Reima had forced them to add.

Reima and Nerissa watch for a couple of minutes, not daring to interrupt the focussed potioneer, any mistake could potentially reduce the lab to rubble...

Eventually, Quelina sprinkled some ground Thestral bones into the concoction, the cauldron stabilising as soon as the substance contacts the surface.

Quelina "Haaah, what a relief..." she mutters, using a titanate reinforced ladel to spoon the contents into many vials that she delicately puts into a small box.

Reima "Nice work." he says after she's finished, causing her to jump and spin around.

Quelina "R-reima! How long have you been there?!?"

Reima "Around eight minutes?" he guesses, taking a glance at Nerissa who nods. "What're you making there?"

Quelina doesn't seem to react to his question for a moment, her face blank for a couple seconds. "Ah!... I was making a potion..."

Reima raises a brow at her, "Er, I know... I asked what potion you were making."

Quelina shakes her head, "No... I mean, I was making, a potion..."

Reima "Oh, what kind of potion?"

Quelina straightens up, obviously looking forward to talking about it, "If all went well, then it should simulate death!"

Reima gives her a weird look, but she continues.

Quelina "It doesn't kill you, or even put you into a death-like state... Instead it diffuses your magical signature into the ambient magic around you, allowing you to go noticed by those fluent in magical detection."

Reima rubs his chin, "Oooh, that's really useful."

Quelina scuttles closer to him, "It is isn't it!"

Reima gives an awkward smile and pats her head, "Calm down Lina, its an impressive feat but I think you need some sleep..." he says, only now noticing the bags under her eyes.

Quelina shakes her head, "Sleep is for the weak and unmotivated." she states before changing the topic, "What're you two doing here anyway Reima?"

Reima grins, "Rissa managed to snag me to unique organic samples, I need to process them into Mutagen and see what effects they'll have."

Quelina eyes them, "Can I watch? Its been a long time since I've seen you at work Reima."

Reima snorts, "Whaddya mean? I'm always working nowadays." he says semi-sarcastically.

Quelina puffs her cheeks, "I meant with Alchemy."

Reima "I know, I know... Let's get started then, no time like the present." he says, walking over and placing the separate vials in the distillery. "Quelina, you know how to work this thing?" he asks, pointing at something Vesemir had cobbled together with a few others help.

Quelina nods, "Uncle Vesemir called it a "Catalytic Quickener", it's supposed to quicken the rates of reactions."

Reima raises a brow at her words, "You mean it doesn't currently?"

She shakes her head, "It does... Sometimes."

Reima shakes his head, "Well, I'm not waiting three days for it to complete, so lets just use the thing." he says, gesturing for Quelina to activate it.

She does so, channeling magic into a small hole while pressing a large button, immediately the sound of the distillery becomes choppy, like a car that won't start.

Reima's about to ask if its alright but Quelina's confident look alleviates him of his worry.

With the Catalytic Quickener the three-day process is reduced to three hours, allowing Reima, Nerissa, and Quelina to play Gwent as they waited for it to finish.

Vesemir popped in to retrieve some supplies, but that was all that happened...

Eventually a sound akin to a "Microwave ding" was heard, Reima immediately storing the Gwent game that wasn't going in his favour.

Nerissa "Cheater."

Reima "I don't know what you mean, look, the Mutagen Samples are done." he says attempting to change the subject.

Quelina "You've always been a sore loser at Gwent Reima..." she adds further insult to injury.

Reima "Right, enough about Gwent... Let's have a look at these samples, shall we?" he says, pulling out the hot vials and placing them on a rack. "So, Rissa, what samples are these anyway?" he asks, the vials only having letters on them to indicate what they are.