Sinoa/Stories
Quotes
Adventurer Story Episodes
Another Failed Experiment
Euden: It sounded like an explosion!
Ranzal: Well, that's a piece'a bad news. I'm gonna go check it out.
Sinoa: Please stay back! If anything was damaged, I'm happy to pay for the repairs!
Euden: Uh...where did she come from?
Sinoa: I know my room is a little smoky—er, and filled with rubble and a couple of fires—but I have some VERY important equipment in there, so please stay out!
Ranzal: All right, all right. We'll stay back. Er, but what happened here, anyway?
Sinoa: Oh, just a little mishap with one of my current experiments. All I was doing was trying to distort time and space, and then...boom.
Euden: Sorry, did she say she was distorting time and space?
Ranzal: Don't ask me—that stuff's way too far from swingin' steel for my taste.
Sinoa: *sigh* I knew you wouldn't understand. No one ever does. Anyway, all it means is that the experiment failed this time, too. It's not a big deal.
Ranzal: A huge explosion like that seems like a pretty big deal to me. So this is somethin' you've been trying over and over?
Sinoa: This was only the sixth time, so I wouldn't quite say ＂over and over.＂
Euden: The sixth?! That's probably enough, don't you think?
Sinoa: No it is not! This explosion is proof of that.
Euden: I...don't really follow that at all. Still, I'm glad you weren't hurt.
Sinoa: *sigh* My body might not have been, but I can't say the same for my heart or wallet. I dread to think how much it's going to cost to repair this room. Or to replace all the damaged equipment...
Ranzal: Yeah, I imagine all them science-y gee-gaws cost a fair bit'a scratch.
Sinoa: They certainly do. I used to do my research as part of the Institute of Magic, but once they kicked me out, I was forced to buy all my own equipment.
Ranzal: Hey, if ya kept blowin' all my crap up, I'd wanna kick ya out, too.
Sinoa: Alas, you're probably right...although it still hurts to hear it said aloud. *sigh* I suppose I'll be kicked out of this room as well. Wherever am I supposed to go now?
Euden: Well, you COULD come to our castle. Er, provided you don't blow anything up. How does that sound?
Sinoa: You're incredibly kind to offer. But I must warn you, I'm a magical scholar first and foremost—and quite useless at nearly everything else. Honestly, I'm not even that good at research—but I'm still MUCH better at it than physical labor or...whatnot. Knowing all that, do you still want me to continue my research in your castle?
Euden: Actually, being able to create an explosion of that size IS a talent...of sorts. Regardless, welcome aboard. By the way, what's your name?
Sinoa: Oh, thank you so much! I'm Sinoa.
Ever Heard of a Wormhole?
Sinoa: Urgh. I'm... I'm sorry.
Cleo: Is that you, Sinoa? Are you underneath all of these?! Hold on! I will dig you out!
Sinoa: I'm so sorry... I was completely engrossed in reading, and before I knew it, all the books on the shelf were falling on top of me!
Cleo: Hmm. You really do need to be more careful. Honestly, you seem to have your nose in a book every time I see you. What kinds of books are you reading?
Sinoa: Oh, I read all kinds—but the topic I have the most interest in is space-time physics magic. Those books are my greatest treasure.
Cleo: Space-time physics magic sounds... complicated.
Sinoa: Have you ever heard of a wormhole, Cleo?
Cleo: Not unless it's in an old apple.
Sinoa: Theoretically, it should be possible to create a kind of hole in space-time that connects the past, present, and future.
Cleo: Really? So you could use this thing to travel backward or forward in time?
Sinoa: Yes! Exactly! The possibilities of such a thing nearly boggle the mind! Why, you could go back and watch key moments in history unfold—or maybe even try to change them!
Cleo: That's a fascinating thought.
Sinoa: Isn't it just? But rather than just wait for someone else to discover one, I want to create a wormhole for myself.
Cleo: Do you really think you can do that? You can't even say for sure that it exists.
Sinoa: Weeeell...
Cleo: Yes?
Sinoa: I don't know if I can make it happen or not—but if I'm successful, there's something I want to do... I want to go back in time and tell my younger self how to make a wormhole!
Cleo: So you'll teach yourself how to invent it... yourself? This is very confusing.
Sinoa: Exactly! Of course, I have no idea if the universe will permit such a thing or not. But one thing I can say for sure is that I've never met my future self. This makes me relatively certain that I'll never even travel through a wormhole, much less create one.
Cleo: In other words, you already know that your research is going to be fruitless?
A Necessary Sacrifice
Sinoa: I'm SO sorry! I was so certain I had finally built the perfect space-time distortion device, but it wasn't to be.
Ranzal: All this space-time stuff goes right over my head. Just stop blowin' stuff up in our storehouse, yeah? This castle's pretty sturdy, but everything has a limit—plus I'm tired of mistakin' yer screw-ups for some enemy attack!
Sinoa: Y-you're not going to kick me out, are you? Please! Anything but that!
Ranzal: Ain't up to me. Euden makes that call—and between you and me, he's a real soft touch like that.
Sinoa: Oh, thank goodness. Honestly, I'm really not sure where I would go.
Ranzal: Ya came from some institute, yeah? Don't ya ever wanna go back?
Sinoa: Oh, I think about it from time to time. But even before I was told to leave, there wasn't really a place for me there.
Ranzal: How's that?
Sinoa: Space-time physics magic is theoretically sound, but it's thought to not lead to any concrete results. So people who dedicate themselves to it as I do are regarded by their colleagues as... Well, fools.
Ranzal: So nobody took yer side?
Sinoa: There WAS one other student like me. She often helped with my experiments.
Ranzal: Did she get kicked out too?
Sinoa: No. As the experiments were all my idea, I took the blame. Doing so allowed her to remain, so I was okay with it in the end.
Ranzal: Feels like they made ya a scapegoat.
Sinoa: I try not to think of it that way, but I suppose you're right. I mean, all I did was burn three research buildings to the ground! Surely expulsion is something of an overreaction.
Ranzal: Wait, three BUILDINGS? Okay, I gotta reconsider my thoughts here.
Sinoa: Don't let that cloud your judgment! Sometimes sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of a dream.
Ranzal: Yeah, within REASON.
Sinoa: If you let little details like that hold you back, you'll never get anywhere in your research. It makes no sense to be at an institute like that and NOT be able to perform whatever experiments you like!
My Everything
Sinoa: I did. It sounds like a fellow student I knew at the Institute was made a senior adviser.
Euden: Is that an important job?
Sinoa: Oh, absolutely. Any self-respecting scholar of magic dreams of achieving that position. Needless to say, it's a very competitive selection process.
Euden: Well, that sounds amazing! Er, but why don't you look happy about it?
Sinoa: Oh, I am happy. Truly I am. It's just... Well, I guess I'm also a bit disappointed.
Euden: Because if you had still been there, you might have been offered it?
Sinoa: Yes. I'd always quietly hoped to achieve that position someday.
Euden: You still could, right? I mean, it's not like you've been expelled forever.
Sinoa: Technically, yes—but I'm not sure how I could possibly return after everything that has transpired. When I set all of those buildings on fire, I was trying to conduct an experiment to send my voice back in time. Then, when I was adjusting the equipment, I felt like I really DID hear a voice. It said, ＂Put the red pipe onto the blue outlet and everything will be fine.＂ Normally no sane person would ever do that, but I was so convinced the voice was from the future that I went for it.
Euden: So that was how you ended up getting expelled?
Sinoa: Exactly. But do you want to know what message I was trying to send back?
Euden: I imagine you tried to warn yourself about why your previous experiments ended in failure.
Sinoa: Oh no. It was much more basic. I told myself, ＂Stay away from magical science. It's not worth your time.＂
Euden: Well, that's depressing.
Sinoa: I was the only one in the Institute actually chasing my dreams. And all that happened as a result was me getting ostracized and made fun of.
Euden: So did you ever send that message back?
Breakthrough
Euden: Let's see... ＂An Examination of the Transmission of Sound Via Advanced Space-Time Metrics as Exemplified by...＂ Well, my brain hurts.
Sinoa: I'll explain the actual content later. The important part is right here! Look in the special-thanks section! That's my name! Ordinarily it's taboo to put the name of someone who's been expelled in a research paper.
Euden: So how did you end up here?
Sinoa: She must have pulled in a whole lot of favors to make it happen. All this time, I thought she couldn't do anything without me... But the content is really quite excellent! Back at the Institute, I always had to rewrite her papers.
Euden: You look really happy about this.
Sinoa: To tell you the truth, when I first heard she had been made a senior adviser, I didn't understand it at all. And part of me still feels unhappy—and a little jealous—that she's moved so far, so fast. But when I read this paper and imagined her all grown up, I wanted to cry. It would be one thing to feel happy that I was growing up, but feeling this way about someone else is strange, right?
Euden: Not at all. If anything, I'd say that feeling is proof that you are growing up, too.
Sinoa: I am?
Euden: Sure! You're a lot stronger than when we first met—and more positive, to boot. Surely you've noticed this.
Sinoa: Now that you mention it, I suppose I have. And I owe it all to the voice that made me cause that explosion. AAAAAH!
Euden: Whoa! What's wrong?!
Sinoa: It all makes sense now! It really WAS my voice that I heard!
Euden: You really think so?!