Open [Lab 22A] Gears... Gears... Gears...

[Switch]

62nd of Spring 514AV
Lab 22A

Lab 22A stretched out in front of him. The benches, tables, stools, windowsills, and shelves were all littered with materials just begging to be used, removed from their place of dust collection and dusted off properly with a bit of love and care. Everything would eventually have its own use and place in the gadgeteer’s collection – and if it didn’t, well it held things that he could use. His pack settled heavily on his shoulders, the straps biting into his clay flesh was an irritant, but Switch knew he had to keep it tight else lose it. The normal belongings that would normally be in the pack were left in a heap in the middle of his bed, taking up dedicated space for sleeping – they held no place of use currently and the Pycon knew it.

His eyes were busy examining the contents strewn about before him. Rolls of discarded parchments, quills with dried ink, bits of threading and leather, glass vials that still held the dried pools of unused inks or dyes… Mostly junk, but junk still was useful, Switch knew he could repurpose them, give them new life once again. Today though, he wasn’t looking for thread or leather or vials or quills. Today he was in search of something far more specific… Today it was gears, special gears he tried to recall if it was in this lab or another he saw them in.

“That animator had some yes yes…” his hands writhed together before his caved-in chest as he twittered and muttered. “Yes yes… special gears.” the clay man’s pupil less eyes darted about, catching glimpses of shiny made items here and there giving off false appearances. Shimmering mirages of Syna’s rays coming through the dirt streaked windows. It was in this lab, he was certain! “Must look… Must have special gears -- Six of them... Yes yes…” Pausing hands and his speaking he shrunk back into his crack a bit, swishing robes heard from beyond the door.

One tick, two tick, three tick… The robes moved on, therefore their wearers moved on. Switch nodded to himself, “Yes yes… go go…” He muttered before making his first darting move. His feet pittered and pattered across the lab floor. His body hunched over as if attempting to sneak past some unseen being. There was none to be seen or to capture the small man as he ducked behind a leg of an abandoned stool. Reaching up he gripped the lowest rung. The rough-hewed dowel biting into the palms of his hands as he pulled himself. Perching cautiously on the rounded edge before he scurried up the leg and onto the next rung.

Seeking out these gears seemed to be rather important as every ledge higher than the first Switch took pause and surveyed the area he was currently able to see. More parchment and other writing utensils and paraphernalia was all his searching took in. A frown creased the sunken in face of the pycon as he climbed ever higher, this time reaching the top of the stool, the flat round edge was worn smooth and concaved in the middle of the surface. Several larger buttocks than his own graced this stool’s surface. If the pycon took more interest in it he might be able to allow his mind to bring to mind the smells of desolation and fear, despair and anxiety… Sweat, blood, and tears the hopefuls.

Switch, however, didn’t care. His ever-increasing view of the lab produced other objects of interest. Small storage crates and pouches littered the benches and tables, one not far from his current location upon the stool. There was shiny things in them, but without a closer look the small guy could never tell what they contained.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna strode through the halls of the Gug Andjak, her strides long and confident and grey eyes scanning the ancient halls around her this late spring day. Her Glyphs were calling to her, the power in them crying out to be uncovered further by the tall woman. Even among the denizens of the Citadel Anna would have been considered a genius of Glyphing, one with few equals and a mind that many Nuit couldn’t hope to match. She strode down a long flight of stairs, opting for one of the floors below ground as they were often a little more isolated and absent fellow wizards.

The sorceress cut an intimidating and composed figure, her form willowy and formed by her rather lack luster feeding on Sahova though not nearly as pitiful and weak as other lesser ranked Pulsers. She was dressed simply in a brown tunic, trousers, and sandals that clacked loudly against her feet as she walked the ancient halls of Sahova. Dark hair was bound up in a high ponytail, bangs allowed to frame her face however it was controlled and added to her almost regal appearance. Upon her right ring finger was a silver ring with the symbol of a burning scroll on it that signified her rank as full Wizard.

Her steps led her to the 22nd floor of the Gug Andjak, and at first glance the communal areas looked fairly vacant and devoid of both undead and living. The occasional observer golem wheeled by her, its old wheels squeaking as it moved past the sorceress. Stormy eyes searched around and fell upon one of the Common Laboratories of this floor, 22A to be precise. She shrugged and walked through the entrance and found the communal lab looked rather empty and vacant, though the signs of work before her showed in the form of gears strewn here or there on the workspace.

For her part Anna walked over to a nearby stool, not bothering to check it for anything being on it before plopping down on it sighing loudly as she noted the space before her with a crinkling nose. Her pale hand swept out before her and brushed the clutter away from her immediate area, gears and other metal odds and ends clattering to the ground heedlessly. She was more interested in gathering the ink and brushes in the area, along with the parchment as was needed for her Glyphing. Anna hummed lightly as she brought the items to her cleared space.

The tall woman would slip her feet out of her sandals, idly crossing her legs and flexing and curling her toes as she pondered over the potential sigil to place upon the parchment. She hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary and had no idea someone might be watching, as far as she was concerned she was alone in the vacant lab space. Alone to theorize and ponder, to think and solve the problem she was currently trying to solve. That problem being how to create weaponized Glyphs via means of Voiding, her more secret and protected of magics.

Dozens of potential designs flashed before her grey eyes, scroll sigils being the most prominent but Anna felt there could be a better way to translate the Glyphs into having purpose. The possibilities her only limited by her own imagination, which Anna most certainly did not lack for. Then of course there was the matter of the Trigger, another beast in and of itself as the wording could very well mean the difference between a powerful sigil or a flawed one. Anna herself was capable of incredibly intricate Triggers; however it was all about finding the right one.

“Questions and answers… maybe you weren’t quite as mad as I though Maelstrom.” Anna muttered aloud to herself.

[Switch]

Switch heard the door come crashing open to the lab he was in. “Uh-oh…” He whispered to himself, he didn’t have time to jump the gap between stool and table, the mage that walked in was moving far faster than he could react, and before he knew it she was towering over him between the table and the stool the small pycon found himself on. She never noticed him it appeared as he watched in horror as her behind started coming down towards him… Shadowing him in a ‘lunar eclipse’.

Yet Switch wasn’t dumb either, he wasn’t going to just sit there and [b]wait for her to sit on him! Oh Hai no! He jumped to the side, reaching back behind him as he cleared the edge of the stool, at first he tried had hoped to grab a hold of the stool’s worn edge, and instead he found himself grabbing something far more… Fluid… It was the mage’s robes! Shyke! Luckily he didn’t weight tons and she was already sitting down so he helped her in that motion… The next action performed though would prove to be Switch’s demise in this situation. He heard the clattering and spinning of teeth as gears met the floor of the lab. “Noooooo!” He dropped with a thud, his legs taking the impact as expected… they sprayed outward before the Pycon pulled himself together as quickly as he could he ran towards the gears.

There were dozens of them! Dozens and dozens of the shiny metal objects! There were springs and counterweights, beads and clamps! The gods were grateful yet he didn’t have time to grab any of it… He had to hide, else get caught. The mental gears within his nexus ground in their fervor to protect the pycon and so Switch dove for the first hiding place he could find… Throwing up the hem of Anna’s robes the Pycon dashed underneath, allowing the natural fall of her body settling onto the stool to hopefully mask his obvious motion of lifting and dashing…

Breathing a sigh of relief the pycon nearly laughed when he realized one thing… “My pack…” the whisper came out a bit gravellier than expected. He left it on the stool’s sitting platform… Luckily he pulled the ladder down with him… That was sadly enough, sticking out from underneath Anna’s robes.

Gritting ‘teeth’ the pycon wound the ladder up as quietly as one could… It was like a small wooden Venetian window shade being pulled up… Loud and clacking.

He nearly abandoned the ladder but instead decided to roll it up even faster. As the spool on top reached the hem of the wizard he hid just beyond he could see several stitch lines before him... They were... Pockets! Holy shyke! He grabbed hold of his ladder quickly and went to his feet. It was now or never the pycon knew and so he dived head first as the hem snapped out as his ladder released it and the pocket folded open before him.

Tossing ladder before his body Switch managed to flop himself into the pocket halfway before Anna began to stir... If he was lucky her movements would finish his attempt and it would dump him into her pocket, hidden from view he hoped... Otherwise, it would be a comical sight seeing the little clay man hanging from a hidden pocket within the lady mage's robes.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna heard something loud as she sat down, her rump catching on something a little hard beneath it and she sighed. Likely another gear no doubt, the Common Labs were not exactly what the sorceress would classify as orderly unfortunately. The tall woman stood and gazed on the seat, her brows knitting slight at the odd sight as she blinked twice to make sure her eyes were not deceiving her. A small pack was upon the seat, small enough for the tall human to fit her littlest finger into the straps comfortably. That was not exactly something she had expected to see honestly, it was highly odd.

She picked it up and examined it, finding that it was indeed just a tiny little pack though what owned it was anyone’s guess. Some toy sized golem maybe? But why would a golem need a pack when the animators simply could have just included some storage compartment upon it? It was an oddity to be sure, her fingers accidently tearing one of the fragile straps and she winced slightly before setting it down on the table. Anna opened the thing and carelessly shook the contents upon the table. She was preparing to sit back down and examine it before a loud noise sounded from below.

The sorceress twisted around, raising a single eyebrow as something was quickly being rolled up underneath her robes. This… was more than a little odd and part of her was wondering if she really was awake, or if this was one weird dream. A quick pinch on the arm told her that this was indeed reality and something was trying to hide from her notice underneath her robes. A golem perhaps? That was the only logical guess she could come up with, as everything else seemed a bit too fantastical even for Sahova.

She shifted slight as a weight was added to one of the deeper pockets of her robes, the movement enough to tip Switch into the deep pocket but also enough for the sorceress to note something being in it. The tall woman shrugged slightly and squatted in place, slipping one hand into the folds of her robes and attempting to find the entrance to the pocket itself. Once that was done she started to reach down, long pale fingers searching blindly within for whatever had fallen into the storage compartment of the tall woman’s robes.

“If you are a golem or otherwise, I command you as a Wizard of the Sahovan Citadel to remain where you are.” The woman said, figuring that might gain the unknown thing’s cooperation as golems had directives after all.

If she managed to locate Switch and his ladder she would smirk victoriously and move to wrap her fingers around the thing, the grip would be firm and tight. Now the tall woman was a little curious to know what manner of golem would be clumsy or advanced enough to manage to get into one of her pockets. The Sahovans were eccentric but she hadn’t thought they would devise devices that would actively spy upon people. Perhaps this was what this thing was, a device to spy upon her sent by her enemies. Well, if that was the case it would be in for a rude awakening and a quick dismantling.

[Switch]

Switch tumbled around the interior of the tall woman's pocket as she stood, moved, and eventually squatted down. The animator took this brief second motionlessness to take stake in his belongings and stop the apparently uncontrolled spinning his nexus was dealing with. Gripping head tightly as Switch waiting calmly for the spell of dizziness to end.

The calmness though didn't last long as he watched the thin finger of the owner from whom he was hiding within her clothing from reached in. Shyke! He cringed down, trying his hardest to flatten out into the fabric of the pocket, managing his best but still having to maintain the bulge of his nexus which he placed the ladder on top of as the finger probed the pocket in search of the intruder to her bubble of space.

Even though Anna spoke and Switch nearly obeyed, she did call herself a wizard after all, hedecided he was better off playing it safe and therefore fell silent and as still as he possibly could as he left his ladder for bait.

Anna's finger would indeed latch onto a hard surface, that being the ladder that Switch had so dedicated days to build. Yet he wasn't going to just be caught by this woman's probing fingers and decided he could lose his prized possession, even if temporary, if it meant surviving a few more ticks. Once Anna's fingers slide from the pocket, if they ever did, Switch would follow suit, staying far enough from the ladder and fingers to being caught as he dropped from the pocket to the floor and found himself a nice little niche in the stones of the laboratory’s flooring to mash his whole body – nexus and all – into. Once hidden in his newfound hole in the floor Switch felt a bit safer, even if it was a bit cramped.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna’s fingers gripped onto the tiny ladder, gripping it firmly as she removed it from the pocket of her robes and placed it onto the table. The sorceress moved to lean over the table itself, staring down at the item with a raised eyebrow. She picked it up carefully and unrolled it, noting that it looked rather like a tiny retractable ladder. Combined with the small pack they were starting to raise suspicions that she was indeed not dealing with a golem. She could not be called crazy to be thinking of such a thing for she was not aware of any golems that used tiny packs and ladders.

The thought of tiny… creatures scurrying about at her feet was rather odd to her, the weight in her pocket had vanished which meant that the thing had likely either run or hidden some place. The tall woman looked all about, going so far to get down on her knees and search along the floor. Honestly Anna felt a little silly doing this, but she knew what she had seen upon the desk and the logical conclusion was that something was small enough to use those. So she was either dealing with an extremely advanced golem or some creature she had never encountered before.

The floor was cracked and old, littered with gears and such along it and it was clear that this floor at the very least received only minimal usage. The tall dark haired woman’s grey eyes scanned over the cracks and niche’s form something small that might be hiding from her, her fingers gliding along the surface as well. Slight curses in the Ancient Tongue were what announced her displeasure regarding having to search around like this, her jaw setting in a line. If she managed to catch this thing Anna was going to give it a mouthful and a half.

“Whatever you are, you could make this easy on both of us and just come out. I’m not fond of getting on my hands and knees to search for something. Besides, how far do you think you’ll get without your little pack and ladder? Certainly logically speaking you can see the benefits to coming out outweigh the drawbacks no?” The woman said, attempting to draw the hiding creature out with logical argument.

“I’m not a Nuit you are aware, yes? I rather like having blood in my veins and a singular body, so you don’t need to worry overmuch about some undead finding you. It’s just me and you here, so come out now and you won’t have to deal with an overly annoyed Wizard.” The dark haired woman stated, lacing a bit of menace at the end there.

Anna sighed and stood, seating herself on the stool if Switch had still refused to come out from his hiding place and instead stared at the floor before her. Her grey eyes were narrowed and her arms crossed defiantly under her breasts as she simply stared at the floor, the intensity of the gaze no doubt would cause many to wonder if she had finally snapped. However while she might admit to being slightly… unhinged, she was perfectly sure that she was not crazy in this particular instance. Something or someone owned those items on the table, something she was very curious to find out what it was.

“Fine! If you want to stay hidden I’ll just have to stay here as well then and wait for you to come out! I’m no undead but I can stay awake as long as I need to and each chime you waste I’ll be getting more and more irritated.” Anna stated, glaring down at the floor and no doubt looking like she was talking to no one.

[Switch]

OOCSorry Anna for taking so long to respond, I will try to be better at not keeping you waiting for so long. >.<

It wasn't until Anna made mention that she was very much enjoying blood running through her veins and having a single body that Switch realized she was not one of the undead, but it was still scary nonetheless and therefore he still kept his mouth shut. When the woman spoke of not having to worry about being caught by the undead watchers of the citadel he lost it. Losing all care in the world to remain hidden Switch sat up and laughed, “You... You funny.” His skull shaped head opening and shutting at the mandible as if he was indeed a small skeleton. “They see all. They watch all. Yes yes... See all... Watch all... heh...” the small pycon's laughing fell off into twittering and nervous gestures.

When the animator looked up at the towering woman on the stool his facade broke into a childish grin, his body's fluidity shifting and forming the face of a small and rather plain face of a child. “Yes yes... They watch all... Yes yes.” His eyes darted around the room, “Yes yes...” He muttered... Eyelids blinking before he turned his attention back to the caster, “Gears. You tossed them... Yes yes. I was looking for 'em.” He nodded if it wasn't obvious this small pycon was determined to get what he wanted even if he wasn't fully aware of how fluid his communications went from one topic to another. “Yes yes... Gears... Yes...”

Standing the pycon brushed dust from his robed form. “You help find 'em?” He turned his attention to her once more.