The banter at the shrine feels lively now, thanks to shared interest, Nowa and Marisa are currently bantering. Marisa began, voice mixed with childlike delight. "Hey, can it copy my voice? Make it say 'I'm the strongest!' No, wait, 'Reimu is lazy!' Hehehe!"
Nowa shook his head. "Nah kid, it wasn't built for that. This is the most single handedly, ultra complex Framework rune creation I've made." he paused looking at the sky. "I used to tease a little gremlin with it." His voice was low, laid with nostalgia as he dryly chuckled.
Marisa's grin softened. She leaned in, intrigued. "A little gremlin, huh? ...What were they like, Ze?"
He shrugged. "flirtatious and ultra Annoying when she's with a known figure." the nano figure shifted back to flowing state and returned to his inner sleeve clothing. "Anyway, you wanted to see a projectile, right? Let's stick to the schedule, Mushroom Kid." He plucked a gem out of his rune pouch. "imma recalibrate this into a toy version, that way it's fair for later."
Marisa took a note and pen from her pocket. Nowa stopped, stared at her. "Uh. didn't i warn you that one wrong schematic will result in not so good ending even if you reverse engineer it?"
She nodded. "Yups, but I want to try it using my own magic and my stocked up knowledge, I'm just taking a reference out of you old-timer, hehe." She grinned.
Nowa looked at her for a long moment 'She kinda reminds me of Chris, innovative, creative, and well, loud but hers is kinda and annoying. Minus the lack of profanity in every sentence.' He looked away briefly. The sobering feelings hit him. 'Why do I have to be reminded of him…' he continued his work session, as he crushed the gem.
Marisa gasped in worry. "Hey! Wasn't that attached to you or something with that symbiotic thingy?!" She scanned Nowa for any sign of harm.
He dryly chuckled. "Chillax, it's true that there are my extended vessels, but there's two types actually." The crushed gems are now glowing and now shifted into a form of a Dual gatling gun, Marisa was in awe. He began. "This one just only needs mana and reality to take form. The other is using those three fundamental principles I mentioned. That's where a soul to a vessel takes damage if it was brokened." he didn't glance back at Marisa as he is continuing where he left off on the dual gatling gun.
"O-okay?" Marisa quieted down as he channeled his mana with a rune framework and began editing the components. "What is that by the way, Old-timer? A... a double-complex-stave? I've never seen a focus with so many barrels."
Nowa blinked, momentarily forgetting where he was. "Huh? Oh. It's a dual gatling gun. A type of gun from where I'm from." He continued his modification.
Marisa's worries were replaced with awe and confusion. "A... Gat-lingun?" Marisa repeated the foreign word. But then her eyes widened as the implication of all those barrels sunk in. "Who cares what it's called! It's a non-stop danmaku machine! That's so cool! How fast does it shoot? Can it do a full circle spray? Can I hold it, Ze?!"
Nowa shook his head. "Nuh uh, no touching yet. But you can help me modify it." he glanced at her, momentarily stopped working. "Say, what's the best projectile to annoy the living shit out of my opponents? In a good way of course." He grinned.
Marisa gasped in awe, eyes widened with sparkles and childish joy. "ANNOY THEM?! Ooh, ooh! You asked the right person for it! I've got a million, Ze!" She leaned in, counting on her fingers. "How about ones that split into smaller bullets after they're dodged? Super tricky! Or ones that make a really loud PYOI! sound to make 'em flinch! Ooh! Even better, sparkly ones that leave a glittery trail so they can't see anything! Reimu hates that!" She shot a gleeful glance towards the kitchen. "Or—or—ones that look like big, scary skulls, but when they hit, they just go 'boop' and turn into a little flower!"
He dryly chuckled. "Alright, glitter bomb like a fireworks display it is then." He began, the rune glowed until it manifested a hand hammer, and began hammering the gatling gun.
Reimu who's 100% listening to the entire conversation in the kitchen, spoke aloud, sharp and clear from the kitchen. "If either of you gets glitter anywhere in my shrine, the next 'Spell Card' I use will be my 'Fantasy Seal' on both of your heads. And it won't be the non-lethal version."
Nowa let out a full giggle with no cynical pretense, Marisa was sticking her tongue out in the direction of the kitchen, and giving Nowa a triumphant thumbs-up.
After minutes of hammering echoed, and finally, Reimu was done with her chore, she walked outside only to see the chaotic magician and the annoying man who just tucked his spell cards he'd just filled out of pattern in his pocket, creating a more headache of a strategy to use for their duel.
She sighed and deadpan as always. "Great. Now two of the most infuriating individuals teamed up." She rubbed her temple as she muttered. She looked at Nowa now, voice sharp. "Beckitzer, what did you install in your 'Weapon' of choice, and the spell card pattern?"
Both Marisa and Nowa looked up to meet her gaze. Marisa scratched the back of her head grinning, while Nowa just smirked, didn't care about the pretense. "Gliters, screaming chicken sound, and most importantly. They all dissipate after a minute." He paused breathing in. "and they don't hurt as much, I dialed it down by 90% of its original output, but it still fires relatively fast." He dryly chuckled after the words, "As for the spell card, we goin to keep it a secret until later on."
Marisa's arm crossed, proudly nodded. "Hehe, yeah, Reimu. He thought of everything! Even my ideas!"
"Right, right," Reimu then pinched the bridge of her nose, as if physically trying to suppress the incoming headache their description was causing. "Glitter. And screaming chickens." She stated. "I'm adding a new rule. If I have to clean glitter out of my hair for a week, you're both weeding the entire shrine grounds for a month. With your hands." She then looked directly at Nowa, her eyes sharpening. "As for you, Beckitzer. A 'test duel' with Marisa is one thing. But if you ever use that... thing... in an actual incident against someone who hasn't agreed to be subjected to your... 'artistic vision,' I will personally ensure you learn the true meaning of 'annoyance.' Understood?"
Nowa's hammer dissipated and crossed his arm and nodded sagely. "Yups, challenge accepted."
Reimu noticed the hammer disappearing in thin air. "Right before we start." She pointed out where the hammer was at. "Is that one of the Framework runes you used to modify your runes?" She lowered her arm.
Nowa smirked, uncrossed his arms. "You're on point," His hand glowed with runes once more and manifested that hammer again. "This is the hammer of creation, as the name suggests. It creates runes or modifies them."
Marisa nodded, smirking as she got the information first hand. "And he said a minute ago that there's two ways to make runes, the other is earlier inside the room he demonstrated and that hammer." She pointed at the hammer Nowa was holding.
Reimu glanced between the hammer and Nowa's face, her sharp eyes looking for any sign of strain. "This 'Hammer of Creation.' It's the other type, isn't it? The one that costs you." She added. "Modifying that 'Gatlingun'... how much did that 'edit' take?"
Nowa dismissed the hammer into motes of light, a faint, weary smile on his face. "The hammer is a focus. It channels the cost, makes it precise. Think of it like... using a scalpel instead of tearing something out with your bare hands." He met her gaze, his expression sobering slightly. "And don't worry, I'm not writing reality with the 50ms Author without your permission. This is just the other, more... traditional way, the expensive way that is. It's part of the package of being an ancient rune forger blacksmith." He shrugged.
Marisa looked at him with starry-eyed wonder. "A focus... So the hammer itself is a rune? A meta-rune that lets you edit other runes safely? That's so cool! Can it make other tools? A screwdriver? A wrench? Can you make me one, Ze?!" She's practically vibrating, already imagining her own set of magical crafting tools.
'She kinda vibe with me, i'll tell you that.' A pause. 'Maybe, maybe I'll extend the deadline a tiny bit, I guess.' Nowa let out a weary sigh. "When the time comes, kid."
Marisa jumped in the air in excitement. "YES! Got it!" She then looked at the glittering gatling gun with renewed awe. "So in other words, you just performed rune-surgery on it... That's way cooler than just swapping spells, Ze." She grinned and a star twinkled out of her.
Reimu absorbs all the explanation with a slow, deliberate nod. She let out a short, sharp sigh. "Fine. An 'expensive tool' for an 'infuriating creation.'" Her gaze swept over both of them, finally landing on the modified gatling gun. "The theory lesson is over. It's time for a practical exam. Marisa," Her voice taking on the formal tone of the Hakurei Miko officiating a duel. "You wanted to be his test target. Now's your chance. Take it to the courtyard. The rules are simple: if a single chicken scream is heard in the village, or if I find glitter in my hair tomorrow, you both lose. Understood?" Both of them agree and the magician is raring to go on a duel with her new favorite person.