Acquiring the Taste of Kelp Beer (Open)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

59th Day of Spring, 512 AV
The common room of one of Zeltiva's taverns, frequented by working-class citizens.

Minerva and her coworkers were finishing up a long day repairing houses, one of the many tasks that was needed to get the city back in shape after the storm. The perky redhead walked into the tavern at the head of a line of a dozen men, all big, muscular, sweaty men who were still wearing clothes stained with sawdust, paint, dirt, and the general signs of a productive day. They were all laughing and chatting amicably, piling into a couple of tables near the middle of the tavern.

One of the men waved at the tavern maid and said, "Wench! A round of ales for me and my friends here!" There was much laughter and eager pounding on the tables as the men awaited their drinks.

Minerva smacked the one man hard on the arm and said, "Oy, don't call 'er a wench, ya filthy biter! Didn't ya Mama teach ya no manners?"

The man sputtered for a moment, then after the drinks were delivered, took the tavern maid's hand and bowed over it as if he were some fancy gentleman in a king's court. "My humblest apologies, my lady!" he said, struggling to keep a straight face. Minerva just rolled her eyes at him, and turned to her drink.

She could NOT get used to the fact that the beer was green...

"Foul swill," she muttered, pinching her nose and holding her breath and she forced the whole mug down in one draught. Her coworkers cheered her on as she gasped for air, making faces at the nasty, salty taste. She had learned that the only way to tolerate the filth was to choke down at least the first two drinks, so she had a nice little buzz going. That made it easier to tolerate drinking the rest at a normal pace.

As she was finishing her second, one of the men at her table raised his glass up high and began to sing. Soon they were all joining in, Minerva doing her best to keep up, though stumbling over the words since she didn't know the song. The song was a bit raunchy, and she found herself blushing and snickering at some parts.

I came home today
To see my gal
Walked a long way
So I could nail
Her every which way
Then sleep a spell
After a long day
That dragged like a snail

But to my shock
What did I find?
My good friend Chuck
I near went blind!
He had the pluck
To ask "Do you mind?"
That crazy fuck!
He's one of a kind!

I pulled him back
And beat his ass!
My gal on her back
Still gave me sass
She said "You're a hack!
At least his are brass!"
I was taken aback
So I let it pass

Now my gal and Chuck
They are a pair
And while they fuck
I sit in this chair
Drinking away my luck
And losing my hair
I'm drunk as a duck
And I don't care!!!

Minerva was red in the face from laughter by the end. She let one of the men buy her a drink, giggling to herself the whole time.

[Kaeson Dakano]

59th Day of Spring, 512 AV

"Sounds like they're definitely having a good time over there" Kaeson chuckled to himself. While not he wasn't much of drinker, Kaeson hadn't had a decent meal all day and the bar seemed as good a place as any. He knew he shouldn't be expecting anything fancy, but at any rate it should be cheap and that was more then enough to help him overcome any worries he had about the food right there.

As soon Kaeson opened the door he was slammed by a wall of sound and smell. Mixed scents of sweat and alcohol were shoved up his nose, and his ears were bombarded by the singing and laughter of a group of very drunk men. Kaeson thought about leaving and looking for another place to grab, but his stomach quickly and loudly reminded him that he was starving and here was just as good as a place as any.

He quickly sat down, and tried to get one of the waitresses attention as politely as he could, and proceeded to asked for a glass of whatever was the cheapest and a slab of meat, well done, to accompany it.

Once the waitress returned with his order, he became confused and mildly alarmed at the color of the whatever was in his cup. It was green, and while he assumed it was liquid he didn't know if anything he ever drank had so many chunks in it.
Kaeson quickly turned to the redheaded girl on his right, and after deciding she definitely wasn't as drunk as the rest of room was and asked "What the HELL is this?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Minerva looked over at the man and laughed. "Oy! 'At's what I asked!" The men at her table laughed, a few of them making jokes about weak-stomached foreigners. Minerva raised her glass, her third of the night and the first one she'd be able to handle sipping instead of chugging, and clinked it against the strangers glass.

"'Ey make 'er from seaweed, Guv," she said. "Can ya imagine anythin' more foul? Ugh!" She closed her eyes and held her breath and took a long sip. Her face scrunched up in disgust at the taste, and then she shuddered.

"Oy, jus' 'old yer breath an' choke 'er down, aye? Aye." She waved in a motion to indicate he should raise his glass. "'Is like, jumpin' in ta cold water, aye? Ya can either be a frilly lil pansy, goin' in one toe at a time, or ya can be a man, an' dive right in! 'Less o' course ya gonna let a wee lil girl like me drink ya under the table, aye Guv?" She laughed and finished off the rest of her third mug, just to prove a point. Of course, she ended up coughing, choking, and sputtering, banging her hand on the table a few times. But she got the drink down.

Feeling quite friendly and loose by now, she decided to teach everyone a song from her hometown. She stood up on her chair, just slightly inebriated, ordered another drink, and started to sing:

Oy, ol' Mary Sue
Aye, ye know who
She's gone and made a mess!
Aye, Mary Sue
'Tween me and you
I really must confess!
She went down to
See 'er boy Lou
An' 'e got up 'er dress!
Now Mary Sue
An' 'er boy Lou
'Ey've got theirselves some stress!
Not one, but two
Babes, what to do?
Aye, 'ey've got quite a mess!
Oh, Mary Sue
Ye went "Woo Hoo"
But now if I could guess
I'd bet that you
Wish you'd kept poor Lou
From crawlin' up yer dress!!!

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson couldn't help but laugh at the girl's reaction to the drink, and quickly forgetting about the way it looked, he tipped the glass and chugged the drink down.

Kaeson couldn't have regretted the decision more, and after bagging his head on the table a couple times and stuffing his mouth full of meat, to keep himself from vomiting, he ordered another one. "Why not?" he thought, the only problem was that he might wake up with a serious headache -- and there might be a hangover to deal with too. "Besides", he thought, everyone else was drinking the same sludge and was having a great time.

After getting over the sudden shock of seaweed his body had recently suffered, he noticed that the girl was singing and rather loudly at that too. Kaeson wondered how he could've missed it and then guessed that the seaweed drink probably had much more alcohol then he originally thought. He went back to listening to the bar try to sing along, although no one besides her seemed to know the lyrics. Kaeson laughed loudly as he realized how much fun he was having, and started singing along as well.

As the singing died down, Kaeson realized his glass was empty and quickly ordered another. He then turned to redhead and said "I'm Kaeson, by the way. I'm hoping to get enrolled in the university and start taking some classes soon. What's your business in Zeltiva, if you don't mind me asking."

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Minerva plopped back down into her chair and picked up her freshly filled mug. She turned to the stranger with an ale-induced grin and replied, "Oy, ya at the Uni? So's I. I'm Tock. I's gonna learn ta make golems, I am." She said this a little too loud, and drew a bunch of stares and a brief, hushed silence from the crowd. It wasn't every day that an apprentice Animator showed up in a working-class tavern like this.

People turned back to their drinks and carousing soon enough, though. Minerva kept talking to Kaeson, "Oy, ya know anything 'bout Lupine anatomy, the stress principles of gear weight, or 'ow ta simulate muscle tissue wit' tensile wire? I'm gonna build me a mechanical wolf, I am!" She had no idea what field of study Kaeson was enrolling in the university for, but she'd jump for the chance to talk shop with a fellow gadgeteer or veterinary student.

She leaned back in her chair and put her feet up on the table. It had been a long day's work, and she was eager for the chance to relax. Building houses was tiring work. But it would pay for her schooling, and she could learn a lot on the job, too. Woodcarving would be handy for making parts for her creations, one day. Wood was much lighter than stone, and thus would probably make a better body for a wolf golem, allowing easier mobility. Though there was the problem of durability... but she could learn to enchant the body for extra strength.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson couldn't help but giggle a little at the redhead's name, "Tock," he repeated with a grin. "Who, who started calling you that?"

"Golems, mechanical wolves?" Kaeson thought about these momentarily foreign words for a couple of seconds. It took him longer then it should've to realize Tock was an animator, prompting him to shout "Like me! An animator!" Kaeson then reached into his backpack and grabbed his toy soilder showing it to Tock with a childlike enthusiasm. "He *hiccup* walks! Watch..." While he wasn't sure whether Tock was impressed or not, he certainly was. The toy solider was one of his first animations, and he took great pleasure in watching the little soldier walk back and forth.

As he watched the toy soldier walk, Kaeson rambled on,"I'm never been good with tools, but that's one of the reasons I'm here, y'know? If I can learn to build the bodies, I could really be an animator." He paused for a moment, watching the soldier more intently. "But I want to learn other types of magic too." He paused again and said, somewhat off topic, "He only walks on flat surfaces, you know. Only back and forth too. I was careful with him." He grabbed the toy soldier and waited for him to stop walking, and then put him in his backpack again.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Nicely buzzed by her fourth beer, Minerva wagged a finger in front of Kaeson's face, ticking it back and forth like a pendulum. "Tick, tock, yer on the lock, mate!" she said. "Don'tcha be makin' no fun o' my name, aye? I's a very predi-... presti--- pregideeous gadgeteerer... person, aye? Aye." She leaned back in her chair again and nodded, certain she'd gotten her point across.

She arched a slender eyebrow when she saw the walking toy soldier the man brought out. "Oy, wouldya lookit 'at?" she muttered. Of course, it wasn't exactly the same style as the sorts of animations she was planning on doing, but she had a fair bit of schooling to do before she could get to work on her own.

"'E needs better joints," she said, pulling out a rolled up sheaf of paper from her tool belt. "'Ere, check 'er out," she laid the papers on the table, shoving some mugs aside. The table was wobbling a bit, thanks to some of her coworkers roughhousing and knocking things about a bit. "OY!" she shouted, shoving a couple of them aside. "What 'er, aye? Let a girl 'ave some room, 'ere!"

She took out her quill and ink, and started sketching. Her lines weren't quite as straight as they should have been, but suddenly having a project in mind had sobered her up a bit. She started sketching a simple mechanical man, like the one Kaeson had shown her, but with some more detailed work in the joints. She added in knee, shoulder, and elbow joints, all with small gears inside to aid in the motion. On the back of the figure she added a wind-up key, which turned a spring hidden in the figure's body. The unwinding of the spring would turn the gears, which would give the figure motion.

"See?" she told Kaeson. "One o' the biggest problems what fer animation is gettin' 'er ta walk right, aye? So ya need proper parts ta provide mobility. 'At gives 'er somethin' ta work wit', aye? Ya can't go 'round makin' 'er walk on stiff sticks, cause that ain't 'ow people walk fer reals. Whatcha got in 'ere," she tapped Kaeson on the side of his head, "is what goes in 'ere," she tapped on the drawings. "So's ya gotta 'ave it able ta move like you move, or else she's gonna stumble 'bout all drunken like. 'Ere, lemme show ya."

The drinking and carousing forgotten now that she had work on her thoughts, Minerva pulled her backpack over and dug around in the bottom for some of the spare parts she was always tinkering with. She really needed a proper lab to make something up right, but she could give a minor demonstration with what she had. She piled some gears and springs on the table, and started assembling a little mock up of a clockwork leg. A pair of straight metal rods, a couple inches long, made up the 'leg bones'. She screwed them together with a flimsy flexible joint to mimic a knee, and then screwed a small gear on top. She then took another gear and attached it to a small rod, which in an actual construction would be hooked up to the winding spring. Just for demonstration, though, she used her fingers to twist the rod the same way the spring would when unwinding. The twisting of the rod turned the gear, which was locked into the teeth of the other gear on the leg. The motion rotated the gear at the hip to lift the leg in something almost like a walking motion.

"Needs an escapement mechanism fer what ta do a proper back an' forth motion," she said, adding one to her sketches and jotting down some notes and numbers on the side. "An' o' course, ya gotta coordinate the motion 'tween both legs." She continued sketching, scratching her head and squinting as she tried to focus on the page in the dimly lit tavern. When someone almost spilled a drink on her work, however, she snatched the pages up and scowled.

"Oy, it's way too noisy in 'ere fer this..." she muttered. "Be better back 'ome, wit' the rest o' my parts 'n such..."

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson, fascinated by what Tock drew, listened quietly to what she had to say. She definitely seemed to understand machines, something he had always struggled with. While the actual magic used in animation had always come easily to him, Kaeson had never felt confident with the mechanical aspects. He frowned a little as he thought about all the accidents, all the apprenticeships he had left over the last couple of years. Kaeson wondered whether Tock was just naturally gifted with mechanics or if she had just simply had a better teacher.

Coming back to their conversation, Kaeson noticed that Tock was digging through her backpack. As she began to take out various scrap parts and gears, Kaeson couldn't help but wonder what she was building but before he could ask, she had almost finished what was clearly becoming a leg. Fascinated by the leg she created from scratch, Kaeson couldn't help but be a little jealous. Why couldn't he do that?

Finishing the last of the Kelp Beer, Kaeson stuck his tongue out at the aftertaste. "I'll get used to this sludge one day," he said, mumbling it more to himself then to anyone else. Looking around, Kaeson agreed with Tock. The more the men drank the louder they got, and if they tried to get anything done there was a good chance one of the men might ruin in in their increasingly drunken state.

He paid a waitress 4 sm, 2 for the poorly cooked meat and 2 for the ale. Kaeson then turned and looked at Tock, "You-...You have a laboratory or somethin'?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

The leg was just a sample, of course. She would need to sit down at a proper workbench to make a fully functional one. And even then, anything beyond the most basic movements was beyond her current skill. She wasn't even sure if she could get something to stand upright. She needed to take some measurements of real legs to do a comparison. And that was before she started thinking about feet, and ankles, and calf muscles and... Starting small had never been easy for her. She was going over in her head what to do next when Kaeson asked about her workspace. "Oy, good idea, mate!" she said with a grin, shoving the designs and parts back in her pack. "'Ere, we'll swing by my place. 'Course, I ain't got no proper lab yet. But I can improvise somethin'..." As soon as she could afford it, she was going to get herself a decent set of gadgeteering tools. She couldn't make anything really complex without them. But, there were always workarounds. She had a few ideas already how to make some functional legs without the right tools. They wouldn't be as GOOD, of course. But she figured she could make them walk. If you didn't have a hammer, after all, you could always pound a nail in with a brick. Of course, she HAD hammers. What she didn't have was small or precise enough screwdrivers, pliers, or calipers... But she'd cross that bridge when she got to it. Meanwhile, as she was bending over to pick up her pack, she felt a meaty hand pinch her posterior. "OY!" she yelped, turning around to find a sleazy looking drunk with a big grin on his face. "Whazza big idea, bloke?" she yelled in his face. "Just being friendly, Red," he said. "Oh, aye? Tock replied, scowling at the man. "Be friendly wit' 'is!" She pulled back her arm and swung right for the man's drunken face.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Almost having reached the door, Kaeson turned around in time to see Tock land a punch dead center of the large man's face. Confused, Kaeson ran over to Tock to see what had happened.

"Wha--," he started to ask, but before Kaeson could finish his question a large hand grabbed him by the collar. The large man, now accompanied by another two very large men, stared threatingly at Kaeson for several seconds before saying, "Your friend just punched me." Nodding meekly in agreement, Kaeson looked around for something, anything that could help him get out of his current situation.

Looking around, Kaeson noticed that the tavern maids had yet to pick up his glass and plate. And the plate was in his reach.

Quickly praying to any god that would listen, hoping this wouldn't be the stupidest thing he had ever done, Kaeson grabbed the plate and swung widely at the man's head.