[Flashback] Thoughts of Contraptions (Minerva)

[Eridanus]

Day 3, Winter of 509 AV
Afternoon
The Stone Gardens

A lone vantha strolled leisurely into the entrance of the gardens. The memorial place for Knights and figures of note, the meditative location was Eri's favourite place in Syliras. It was one of the few places that was not completely cramped with people milling about and doing business. Instead, it tended to be relatively empty, with random people walking about and clearing their minds like him.

There was heavy snowing the day before, but today there was no snow. Instead, the cooling weather preserved the soft icy substance that decorated the statues and trees around the gardens, though someone had already swept the paths clear.

His thoughts had been on magecraft, since that was the primary reason he came to Syliras - to work out a one year internship with his professor's ex-student who was a magecrafter here as well. More specifically, he had been thinking about Intellectual Enhancements.

It was evident that magecraft could not work well with animation, but what about contraptions that used the two in harmony but not allowing them to mix? Instead of magecrafting and animating the same blade, perhaps there was a way to separate the two disciplines but yet allow them to be dependent on each other.

"Gadgeteering?" He wandered aloud.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Minerva was running errands. Rather, she was supposed to be running errands. Except she thought that was stupid. She had just managed to convince this wizard Archimaneus to take her on as an apprentice, and he had her off buying his wine and picking up his new shoes. Which was NOT what she had signed up for! She wanted to learn magic. Not get the old fart his stinky new shoes. Bah! So obviously, she wasn't taking the duty very seriously. She had been distracted when she passed by a trinket shop that, among other books and oddities, sold little clockwork goods and wind up toys. One of the appealing parts about being in the grandest city in the world, compared to back home, was that they had everything you could imagine. Clocks, automated models, astronomical maps that had actual moving planets running around on gears. Of course, such things cost thousands of mizahs in the case of the truly elaborate models, and the shop owner had laughed at her when she asked if she could open one up and look inside. So after staring at the gadgets for hours with great longing, she had decided to root through his garbage. She had fished through the trash, pulling out anything she thought could be remotely useful. Broken gears, bent metal, stretched out springs, pieces that had rust or scoring on them. Anything she could find. She had then begun wandering the city, checking metalsmiths, blacksmiths, weapon shops, and anyplace else that might have old scraps, broken bits, and seemingly useless pieces that she could salvage. She wouldn't be able to build anything good using scraps for parts, but Minerva was a resourceful and innovative girl. She could improvise a fair bit with seemingly useless junk. Especially after a few hours wandering the city when she had a whole sackful of seemingly useless junk. She retrieved a slightly cracked wooden board from a carpenter's shop, and tucked it under her arm. She then wandered for awhile, not having the least clue where she was or what direction she was heading in the massive maze of a fortress they called a city here. She was passing through some stone courtyard or something, trying to balance the wide wooden board on one arm while trying to line up a nail with the other hand. When she started having trouble, she shoved the board in the hands of the pale looking man with the strangely colored hair, and said "'Ere, 'old this." Before the man had the chance to ask what she was doing, she started hammering, nailing some little pegs around different locations on the board, and slipping gears onto them.

[Eridanus]

It happened out of the blue. A woman with short red hair suddenly passed him a board, and out of reflex he caught it before it fell. It seemed that she did not even bother if he caught it or not, for she was now focused on nailing something.

The vantha frowned as he observed her, pushing djed into his eyes. It was a curious habit, that he sought to always observe anyone new both physically and magically. Even as she worked, his eyes roved over the streak of green in her Inartan-like bob, and the bumps and protrusions in her hands that told of a laborious profession.

Her aura was interesting, for it was of a semi-moderate size. It was larger than that of a normal person, but smaller than most wizards he knew. The strange golden cloud that was her aura constantly moved and shifted about, as if hinting at a type of personality. The sound of her aura was a curious ticking sound, like that of a clock, or of gears moving in those strange gadgets.

"It's a little rude, don't you think?" Eridanus prompted, though his expression was of a neutral, if slightly amused one.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Oy, I don't mind, mate," she replied, as if he were apologizing for his rudeness. "Jus' 'old 'er a little straighter, aye?" She lifted one side of the board slightly to straighten it out. She continued applying gears to it, and attached a coil spring to one side. Then she fished out a winding key, stuck it in, and wound it up. The spring tightened, then when she released it, the unwinding of the spring set the other gears into motion. She gave an approving nod, adjusting a few of the gears into better positions, then tried again. With some adjustments, everything moved smoother. She then attached a short metal rod to one of the gears at the end, after straightening out a bend in it. With the rod in place, she rewound the device, laying her hand on the board with her palm facing towards the rod. She released the winding key, and the gears spun, tension building up in the system until the rod snapped forward, slapping into her palm HARD. She yelped, yanking her hand back and shaking off the pain, a thoughtful frown on her face. She looked up to her assistant for the first time and asked him, "Oy, 'ow many pounds of force ya think a cat can take ta the face? Ya know, wit'out doin' no serious damage, aye?" She patiently awaited his answer, a look of complete and total seriousness on her face.

[Eridanus]

She did not notice him, and her response made him consider flaring up. However, even he had to admit that it was unbecoming of someone his age to get angry over something childish like this. Instead, he cocked his head to one side as he observed the girl and her actions in an interested manner.

Turning his djed-charged gaze on to the object that she was tinkering with, he noticed that its aura was weak. That probably meant that it was no magic object, and she was purely relying on her resourcefulness and skill with the tinkering.

Gadgeteer, ain't it?

He had heard of those types back in Zeltiva University. They tended to be eccentric people, always looking to take things apart just so that they could reassemble it themselves. This was probably one of those types. In fact, her inane question more than justified his assumptions.

"Well," He began, though in a mock serious manner while rubbing his chin in a what he pretended to be a thoughtful manner. "I suppose a light slap would suffice, not as hard as that object that you're making definitely. Perhaps about a third of that strength."

Making sure to engage in proper eye contact with her, he added, "Gadgeteer, aren't you?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Aye," she said with a nod, "good call, mate." She didn't respond to his question about her being a gadgeteer, since it seemed like the same thing as if he'd asked her if she was a redhead; the answer should be obvious. She took out a gouge and started etching numbers into the wood. It was an old carpenter's trick; if you didn't have a quill handy, especially if you were working on top of a ladder or something, you used what was available. She scratched thin white lines in the wood to write out numbers as she calculated the tension on the spring, and how much change in torque it would take to reduce the final force output to a third. She hummed softly as she worked, for the music always helped her concentrate on the numbers better. Once the calculations were complete, she pulled off the coil spring and cut a bit off the length of it, then wrapped it around a wooden rod to realign it a bit. It wouldn't be very precise with these sorts of modifications; if she were making a clock, or anything that needed to be accurately calibrated, she would really need a better set of parts and tools. But she didn't need precision here. If the resulting device was off a few percentages of force, or moved a little slower than planned, it didn't matter. As long as it would still thwack that damn cat the next time it came near her luggage! She reassembled the device with the modified spring, winding it up and testing the new tension levels. When the rod smacked her hand this time, it simply stung a bit. She made some more adjustments, tightening up some gears and working out a kink in the coil, before nodding with satisfaction. "'At'll show the little piss monster," she said, lifting the device from her assistant's hands. She would still need to adjust it to fit into her luggage, but that would be easy enough. "Thanks, mate!"

[Eridanus]

She more or less ignored him, continuing to work on her device until it was done. With that, she thanked him and walked off, leaving the confused vantha in her wake.

"Wait," He began, holding her arm to get her attention. "Are you free right now? I used to be from the University of Zeltiva, and I tried to learn Gadgeteering on my own, but it seemed that it's beyond my knowledge. Can you show me a pointer or two on how to begin?"

He knew that he was probably being a little direct, but these type of eccentric folks tend to be blunt and practical themselves. From what he could draw from analysing her aura, she was a no-nonsense type too, preferring to dive straight deep into action rather than waste time meandering about needlessly.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock paused and turned back to look at the man, caught off guard by his sudden interest in her. But when he asked her about helping him with a project, she grinned. "Sure, mate," she immediately agreed. Anything was better than heading back to deal with that smelly old cat. And Archimaneus would get his shoes whenever she damn well pleased. She looked around, noticing that they were in some kind of courtyard. "Ya wanna get ta work right 'ere?" she asked with a confused frown. "Ain't exactly a proper workshop now, izzit?" She would work wherever, but she looked at the man like he was a little odd for wanting to set up shop right then and there. "Whatcha got in mind, mate?" she asked. "Ain't got much parts fer nothin' big, 'course. 'Less ya got some mizahs ta spare fer parts. I can improvise somethin' up but good, but proper parts'd do a better job, aye? Aye. Ya get what ya pay fer, after all." If she had any money to her name, she'd buy up every gear and spring she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, the life of a wizard's apprentice was a meager one. Aside from the fact that it was like her second day in the city, there was the fact that Archimaneus wasn't paying her. Their deal was for room, board, and education. Which, unfortunately, was in exchange for running errands and cleaning up around his house. It seemed like a fair deal to Tock though, considering she was going to learn magic.

[Eridanus]

He listened carefully to her words, for her way of speaking would be illegible if he did not pay attention. Still, he could not complain when she kindly offered to help, though it seemed that there was a certain misunderstanding.

"Ah... I don't have a project, actually. I'm not in Syliras for gadgeteering. I was asking if you could teach me a little about your craft. I have a free day today... perhaps I could help you in your current project?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Current project?" she asked, frowning in confusion. "I ain't done got no current project. Wait, ya mean 'is?" she lifted the device she'd just been designing. "She's done, mate. Ain't nothin' else to 'er but ta stuck 'er in my luggage and wait for the little piss monster ta come pokin' 'round again..." The device she had just designed was ridiculously simple. Wind the coil, set the bar in place, close the lid on her luggage, and wait. Nothing that required careful coordination or precision like a clock. She'd LOVE to be able to work on something more elaborate like that, but she needed parts. <i>Proper</i> parts, not recycled trash that would require constant adjustments and repairs. She'd likely have to adjust and reset her little 'booby trap' each time it was set off, since something was sure to slip out of alignment after it was triggered. Stupid crappy salvaged parts. She stopped to consider it for a moment. The man wanted a lesson... Tock wasn't exactly competent enough to be a proper teacher, but she could lead him through the basics. She certainly knew enough about how things worked. And if the man wanted to be taught, then she could ask him for something in exchange. She wasn't normally the sort to be motivated by profit, but she needed some way to get some proper parts. Maybe he'd be up for a little negotiation. "Oy, tell ya what, mate," she said, crossing her arms, and holding her creation against her side with one hand. "I's give ya a nice lesson, if'n ya provide the materials. No fee fer lessons, jus' need the parts. Ain't need much... maybe ten mizahs or so. We's come up wit' somethin' nice ta make, I'll teach ya what's what, an' ya can keep whatever ya build, o' 'course. Whatcha say, aye?"