Clementine is on the Alchemy Section again, trying to figure out what to use source on.
Lud and Otto are sitting nearby, making more of it.
l: "You think this thing could fuel some other shit?"
c: "Like what?"
l: "...a living being."
c: "You're funny."
l: "I'm being serious, Clem. We can probably make something for this, maybe like... the best security system of the outpost? Or just... someone new since Sarah is gone?"
Otto shudders at the thought of Sarah.
c: "...we can try. You know how to make a homunculus?"
l: "Fuck yeah. Let me have a couple of nights here."
[...]
Knock.
Luna leans in the doorframe. "Hello?"
"Hiiii."
"Hey Otto, what's up?"
"Sooo, uh..."
He pulls a mason jar of Dromen blood out of his backpack. He starts to cough.
"Mind if I show you something?"
"Um... d-depends on what you're showing me. And," she points to the jar, "what even is that sludge?"
"Blood from the goop creature we found." He smiles. Cluelessly. "Wanna see what Clem did to it? They wrote it down so I should be able to recreate it."
"Um, sure, but first lemme just." She backs up, like far away from the jar. "Go ahead."
"Aight, so uh..."
Otto starts to pull out a ton of other jars from his backpack, they're labelled with some symbols and shit.
He pulls out a mortar, pestle inside, and starts to crush some... thing.
He then mixes it with the other thing and does a thing.
It's extremely confusing but he seems to know what he's doing.
After a bit, he has a weird, liquid mixture in the mortar.
"See this?"
Luna walks up to the mortar.
"Yeah? What exactly are you doing?"
He opens up the mason jar and drops the mix.
The blood starts to boil, it starts to change color. Black to white. It looks like it's glowing slightly.
Luna steps back maybe 15-20 feet.
After a bit, it stops. Otto stops coughing too.
"I added gunpowder for show." He chuckles. "Buuut, what do you think?"
Luna steps back up. "I have no idea what happened."
"Basically, remember how we found that weird tentacle thing? Clem and Lud went back and got blood from it, mostly to just figure out what it was."
"Yeah? Petal I think their name was?"
"But, after a bit, Clem kinda gave up and started to just mix random shit with it. And after a bit, they got this." He points at the jar.
"I see."
"They call it 'source'. Mainly cuz they think it's the start for something, though we don't really know what that something is. We did test it out in a couple of machines at the outpost and it's almost like it brings them to like, a state of perpetual motion and shit."
He stirs the mason jar, kinda like how someone would stir wine in a glass.
"Almost like they're alive, but I don't think I'm that insane yet. Shit's just fuel so far."
"One thing I know is that Clem and Lud think it could actually, y'know, bring something, or some ONE to life. They're testing it out, and personally, I don't care. I just wanted to show this." He chuckles.
Luna blinks incredulously.
"They're gonna bring someone to life using Source? That's like some Fullmetal Alchemist shiz."
She giggles.
"With all due respect the only piece of media I've ever consumed is iCarly."
"Anyways, uh..."
He scratches his chin a bit.
"Oh, uh, you wanna test this shit out on a knife or something? It kinda adds a cauterizing effect to it, kinda, maybe, hopefully. We tried it yesterday when getting more blood samples."
"Um, that sounds hilariously dangerous, but sure."
Luna snaps one of the generic hunting knives she has in her bag to her hands. She unsheathes it. "Okay that sounds fun."
"Aight, uh, just put it in the jar."
He sets it down on the floor.
Luna does so. Then she steps back a few paces.
"Okay, so, you know what that knife is made out of? Just asking."
The knife seems to be absorbing the source.
"Erm. Metal? I'm not entirely sure."
"Uhh, noted. Should be fine then." He smiles. The blade of the knife is almost fully covered in source.
"Aight, grab it and try it out on..." Backpack. He pulls out an apple and sets it down. "This."
"Okay, let's see here. First I just." She snaps her fingers as two white cloth gloves appear in front of her. She puts them on. "And then." She takes the knife out of the jar.
"And then." She stabs the apple!
The blade goes through as if the apple isn't even really there.
Otto grabs the apple and splits it in half where the cut is. It looks a bit burned.
Shit cut through the core flawlessly.
He eats it. Seed included.
"Whoa. That was amazing!"
"Watch this though." He tries to grab the knife from Luna.
It's taken.
"Okay, let's see what you got."
Otto holds the knife and looks around the front yard. He seems to have locked sight on something.
He turns around and fucking THROWS the knife straight at a tree that's pretty far away. You can barely see it after it hits, only being able to see a bit of the handle.
He takes a bite out of the other half of the apple. "It's pretty weird when it comes to air resistance."
"Holy crap."
Otto runs to the tree, pulls the knife out, and runs back.
It looks relatively intact, some bits seem to have worn out or lost a good portion of source.
"So, now the main theory about this is like, what's that blood made out of? Cuz all that was added was some aqua regia, a bit of sulphur and salt, and... uh... a gram of mercury?"
"Without the blood, it's basically mixed trash, so it's clearly something in it."
"Hmm. I mean when I was talking to Petal, I felt sick. A lot of coughing and gagging. And it was specifically with the topic of Ivory."
"Yeah, happened a lot to us. Basically everyone near the alchemy branch started to have a lung collapse or something. We banned smoking from those areas cuz of it."
"It's possible they're a Dromen?"
"Like I said, I've only ever seen iCarly. What's that?"
"It's not anime stuff. A dromen is a creature that feeds on emotions and when they're feeding, they make people sick. They also have various powers and stuff."
"...huh. Interesting. And so the blood does the same thing? Just make you sick and shit?"
Otto starts to think. "Fuck..."
"Yeah... hence why I kept backing up from it."
"Makes sense... uh, okay, so are all dromen like Petal? As in big and bad and shit."
"Nah, they vary greatly. Some want to be villains, some just wanna live and feed in peace. And according to Catacombis, one is a rapper named Yeat?"
"The Tonka dude is a dromen? Fuck, is that why I throw up any time I listen to his shit?" He sounds serious.
"Probably. Or it might be that his music kinda sucks." Luna chuckles.
"...you think someone can just make a dromen? Kinda worried about the others now-"
"Not sure how any of it works honestly. There's also something called nemuru which are basically servants."
"Huh. Fuck. I'm sure they'll be fine, even if they make some new weird tentacle shit."
He flips the knife and chuckles. "I mean, we got away thrice now."
"I guess. Just, I admit, I worry about y'all. You guys have been nothing but excellent to me."
"Likewise, I mean, first time I ever came here I broke into this house and shit- Shocked I'm not dead."
Luna sighs. "We're used to people breaking and entering, mostly actual threats though. You're fiiiiiine."
"Damn. If you guys ever need some security shit just ask us, we got a couple extra."
She nods, "Of course. Also you can keep that knife. I'd rather not have dromen blood in the house, if you catch my drift."
"Oh, fuck yeah. Thanks Luna!" He smiles.
Luna smiles back brightly.
"Uhh, I should get going, I gotta go tell the dromen stuff to the others and shit. Thanks again for the knife!" Otto gets up, grabs the source jar and the other shit and packs it up.
"Of course, take care out there Otto!"
Luna returns inside after waving bye.
[...]
Otto walks back to the outpost and is quickly greeted by Clem and Lud.
c: "Come with us, you'll fucking love this."
o: "...sure? I gotta tell you guys something after though."
They head to the Alchemy section, and the first thing Otto sees is an egg.
l:"That right there? Project Gaia. We're gonna try to bring her to LIFE!"
Otto is in awe.
l: "We've never actually SEEN Gaia, we just know she exists. This way, we're gonna be able to give her a vessel to, y'know, be around the world and shit!"
c: "And if it doesn't work, Lud works on next months LSD batches instead of me."
They giggle.
o: "Uhh... I can see where this is going, and hey! I like it! But, uh, don't you think it's a bad idea to make what's basically our god out of the blood of something that has attempted murder against us?"
c: "It gives her more personality and strength. Something like that at least."
o: "My fucking- If this shit goes wrong, I'm going to just..."
l: "Don't worry dude, if it goes wrong, we'll be dead! And then we hang out in hell. Hey, maybe we can find Myla there."
c: "Stop being so immature, it WILL work. Otto, don't worry, okay? We tested it out already."
o: "Ugh, fine. Now can I just go to bed?"
[...]