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[There's a quiet shout in the library this morning; please ignore it. It's just some kid waking up.

The feed clicks on to some kid who clearly just woke up. The angle's a little weird, like he's still flopped over on whatever he slept on (not bedding, by the looks of it; faint red imprints on his cheek suggest books).]

're there any ways to fight Shadows and stuff that aren't too reliant on muscles or supplies? I don't wanna be limited by how much of my formulas I have on me. [And, as an alchemist, he's kind of a squishy noodle-type. So anything that takes much strength won't go too well.

He's a bit sluggish to turn off the feed, but stops for a moment. Maybe if he were less just-woke-up-ish, he'd try to filter this or something. Who knows. Technology is still mysterious.]

Oh and, uh, if you know what happened to me back in winter or on my first day here, can you do me a favor and not tell Simon? I dunno how many people know. Maybe not about the cages, either.

[That's descriptive enough, right? Yeah, totally. Okay, off goes the feed.]

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Well, there's a couple of options.

You can start bulking up a bit with exercise. Basic calisthenics will toughen you up a bit, and are easy enough for your mind to explore other things.

If you've got a pokemon, they can be taught techniques that can aid in defense.

I could probably teach you some formula for offensive stuff that's easy enough to make with the supplies we've got around here. Explosives, flashbangs, that sort of thing...

[Exercise...he definitely hasn't been getting as much here as in the Labyrinth. He was never very strong, though - strictly back-line. The Highlander was the real melee power on the team, though Ricky's gun was probably what brought the most enemies down. A gun would probably be useful, but ammo.

His Joltik peeks out of his hair at the mention of Pokemon and waves her teeny appendages. Hi?] I have Gudrun and Rona. I've been sorta training them, not really for battle though.

[Mostly so Rona doesn't set his bed on fire or anything.]

Are you an Alchemist, too? I still have some of my normal formulas left, but I can't get the reagents from home here. I've got a couple of sonic bombs I've been trying to figure out how to recreate, but I don't have any flash bombs so that's been up to experimenting. It'd be awesome if you could teach me!

Not an alchemist. An engineer with backgrounds in several different sciences. We can certainly arrange some lessons. It's basic chemistry, and I've got the supplies for them.

Would you want your companions to learn some new techniques? I've got the instructional materials from their world that teach them how to use their powers to their fullest.

[He gives a little fingerwave to Joltik.]

Cool! [Science. Sciences of all sorts were always his favorites at the Library. He resonated most strongly with Alchemy because...well, fire.] A friend of mine back home could mow down anything in her path with her gun, but she was pretty amazing in general. I never learned how she did it, and her gun's not here.

And yeah! I bet Rona would love some action. [The barking in the background probably means yes.] You're awesome!

Ironically, the gun is probably the hard part. I was making ammo for people by the box back in the Bastion. We haven't got the precision tools for gunsmithing here. I could probably whip something together, but it would take a fair amount of time. Cutting a barrel is extremely fine work.

[He laughs quietly.]

I tend to wander into the messhall a few times a day. I'll keep the technical machines on me so I can show your kids the techniques. We can also see about getting you some chemistry lessons and flashbang practice.

I wouldn't know the first thing about making one like hers anyway. My home hasn't had technology like that in a thousand years, I dunno how Shilleka did it.

[He had no idea making guns had that much to it. Shilleka was truly a goddess of crafting just about anything. Bring her any scrap of stone, plant, or beast, and she could turn it into something useful.

...He misses her. Not her prices, but her.]

Don't think we've met yet, I'm Arthur! I hang around in there a lot- [He eats a lot.] so I'll see you sometime!

I manage a fair amount using the right weapon and magic... I'm not the strongest, but I can get more leverage out of a naginata or a spear, you know. I'm happy to teach you the basics, if you want that to fall back on!

Some people have had good luck fighting shadows using anything that creates enough light and heat- fire works well as well as strong sources of light.

Is there a way to maybe make carrying your formulas easier?

Carrying 'em isn't the problem. [He pans the video to a large, almost steampunk-looking gauntlet, with glowing panels and sliding plates and a couple pips, and instead of fingers, a number of spouts...] I'm all set to fight with 'em whenever, I just have a limited supply. And it's a lot harder to get the reagents I use here.

Fire's my specialty! I can also do like zap and brrr too, Alchemy's all about wielding the elements! I have a few others but those're my best!

Spears and stuff aren't too different from staffs, right? Mostly I just hit whatever I can't use formulas on, but I'm really not good at it.

[Arthur, what are you doing? Simon will come back to helping with the combat part, but first...]

Not tell me what, Arthur?

[Oh. Oh crap. This is why we don't do stuff like this when drowsy.]

Waaah! N-Nothing! You weren't supposed to see that!

Well, I did. [Arthur can probably sense him tapping his fingers.]

Now. What happened?

[He cringes a little. This is the opposite of what he wanted. But... But it's fine, right? Simon can know he's hiding something. It's just what he's hiding.]

Nothing...nothing you need to know about. It's all in the past, right?

[Totally. He's always been good at putting the past behind him, considering for a long time he didn't really have one. Perks of amnesia.]

[There's a sigh. Arthur has probably heard that sigh before.]

If you want that.

Just, promise me that if you need or want to talk about it, you'll track me down?

[Sorry, Simon. He just doesn't want his history here to weigh on his family.

There's a puff of laughter that's only a little bit awkward.] Me? I'm fine!

Some bad stuff happened, that's all. You...don't need to know the details.

Ok, I'll take your word for it.

Just... Let me know if you need help in the future.

[Oh, is that a feeling of watching his little bro grow up? Maybe. Possibly. Yeah.]

Yeah, of course. [Family is family.]

And same goes for you. If you get in trouble, I'll come running!

I take it that means you don't know magic.

[Not that he's one to talk, as he can't use it either outside of his Dark Bring.]

Nah, I'm an Alchemist. Lots of people back home think it's magic, but what I do is pure science. D'you use magic?

[Magic is cool. It'd be sweet if he could learn magic. It wasn't really a concern back home, but supplies are way more limited here. And magic can still blow stuff up.]

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