"Nope, but the occasional important ones are a big deal, like the superconductors. That's why we set-up full time teams at the major cities."

"Do they need espers shepherding them in?"

"Sometimes military personnel will suffice in place of me."

"And is there intellectual property all over this or not so much because it's a discovery of a... natural-esque... thing?"

It's so complicated! Mostly because different countries had different opinions on this and people also tried to patent all sorts of fairly straightforward applications and it's a mess but mostly it works out to the basics being public domain and various complicated dynamics to make that the case that amount to rewards for finding new stuff in practice but legally speaking are the result of lawsuits constantly being settled out of court. Turnaround thinks this system is a decent idea and other people disagree with him and think he should have gone with something simpler and.... he admits he is failing to do better but it's not all bad, you know?

She's sure he's doing his very best.

He doesn't know why she'd think that given the state of things but perhaps she should move on and talk about something else, such as uses for superconductors in transportation.

Sure, she would have been more competent to remark on this topic as a tinker but it's not uninteresting now.

Eventually the dungeon wraps up and Venture emerges, covered in sand but otherwise unharmed . She is wearing the mildly subdued smile of someone who knows it's not an appropriate time to bounce excitedly.

"Hi! Sorry for taking so long - the dungeon was a bit of a maze."

"No skin off my nose."

"Plan is for Lorica to come and at my place a bit - I was figuring we drop her off on the way to my silo,"

"...I can feel my bones and our silo is two hours away so I want to make out on the ride home, is that going to be awkward?"

"I don't really care."

"I. Um."

This would be so much easier if Lorica weren't really hot!

"Do care?"

".... Yeah I think so."

"We can get you an Uber to my place if that works?" Lucien asks Lorica who he is certain is imagining him kissing Lia right now and it's a very uncomfortable certainty that is mayyybe downstream of backlash.

"I don't know what that is but probably?"

It is apparently a taxi they call with an app on their phone to give Lorica a ride.

And that just works? Okay! What should she do if she gets there first? (Are the medics all done with her arm or does she need followup at a real clinic soon?)

Lucien can text his parents to unlock the door - they live across the street. He is going to be a couple of hours because he needs to go to his silo with Venture. 

Okay. She'll get in the uber once the medics release her with whatever followup instructions she needs about Nikki's her fucked up arm.

She is evidently going to need a follow-up on that - though not urgently. The door is unlocked - Turnaround evidently has a rather nice two bedroom apartment. It is decorated in the style of someone who was trying to restrain their best friend from filling the place with soft and cozy objects with only mild success.

Does he... have any books.

Yes! Quite a lot of books - they are organized according to the Universal Decimal Classification system (with corresponding spine labels) and cover a wide enough range of topics to make this decision not completely indefensible.

Cute. She will pick out something about espers and sit on his couch and read one-handed.