[Living Quarters] Home Alone (Minerva|Satevis)

[Yvera]

86th Day of Spring, 512 AV

Yvera sat cross-legged in the middle of Satevis' floor with a bowl of fish noodle soup that he smuggled from the cafeteria. She wasn't even sure how the combination was supposed to work but, hey, food was food. Satevis was out today to do some obscure thing at the market place. He must have told her what it was at one point, but she probably wasn't paying attention...

Satevis stood at the door to the dorm and looked sternly at Yvera. "Now," he said. "I am going to go to the market because blah blah blah blah. Remember, don't let anyone in because blah blah. I would appreciate blah blah don't blah blah Glyphing homework blah. Blah blah blah soup blah counter." Yvera yawned and waved goodbye as he left. When he was gone, she locked the door (at least she remembered to do that) and went back to sleep.

Maybe now that she thought about it, she really should have paid more attention to his lecture. But the bed looked so soft and it was cold and the blankets were so warm... She sighed as she inspected a sheet of paper with glyphs all over it. This was probably the glyphing homework that Satevis had mentioned. When held up to the light, it made very pretty patterns.

"Well, I know he said something about this..." she said to herself. "I probably went along the lines of: Yvera! Feel free to look at my glyphing homework! I think you'll find it quite pretty!" She attempted to speak in Satevis' voice and ended up going into a giggle fit. Tevy was so weird sometimes.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCI LIKE you! Satevis' "lecture" made me LOL! I can already tell we're gonna get into ALL KINDS of trouble together! Tock had spent the morning working down with the construction crew, then gone to her Animation class in the afternoon. She'd finished early, however, and now had the rest of the afternoon and night free to work on her puppets for the show that her and Satevis were putting on. But before she went home for the night to work on them, she realized she had forgotten to get Satevis's book about Sanny and Leth, or whatever their names were. She was trying to make the puppets look as much like the Gods as possible, but she wasn't really familiar with them. She needed to check a few more pictures to get the details right. She headed down the hall, riding her magic crutches. The four-legged contraption lurched crookedly with each step, and drew plenty of stares as she passed, even though she'd been riding it around for a good week and a half now. When she got to Satevis's door, she tried the handle, only to find it locked. Great... she thought. If it was locked, there likely wasn't any point in knocking. He was probably at class or something. But she didn't know him well enough yet to know his class schedule, and thus had no idea when he'd be back. She briefly considered trying to pick the lock, but even though she had a basic idea how a lock tumbler worked, she couldn't be sure she could pull it off. So how was she supposed to get that book? Maybe there was another copy down at the library... but for all she knew, the one Satevis had was the ONLY copy the library had had! Plus it seemed simpler to her to find a way to break into Satevis's room rather than piloting her crutches alllll the way down to the library wing. She considered it for a moment, then came up with an idea. She piloted her crutches down the hall to the door that led outside, pressing her thumbs against the spring-mounted metal discs that controlled the Automaton's movements. Once she got outside, she rode the crutches around the building across the grass (having to use her good foot to keep them balanced a couple of times when the crutches caught in the soft ground). She counted the windows until she found which room was Satevis's, and tried the window to see if it was open. Bingo. The window opened easily. Satevis must have forgotten to lock it. She peered into the room, not noticing the figure on the bed under the covers. She spotted the book lying on the table. She grinned, knowing just what to do. She adjusted the crutches until the legs were stable, then took her hands off the controls. She was held suspended in them, off the ground, her arms propped on the supports, and with leather straps across her chest and over her shoulders. With her hands free, she pulled Grippy, her extendable arm Automaton from the crude leather holder she had strapped to her right hip. She held the device with both hands by the wide handle, and aimed it into the room. Pressing her finger at a particular point on the handle, she activated the reaction that would extended the device. The 'arm' was made up of a series of criss-crossed metal strips, which when moved by the large gears spinning on the handle and the end piece, extended by folding over each other until they widened into X's, pushing the metal hand at the end forward. She carefully guided the gripper until it reached the book, then dragged her thumb across the back of the handle to rotate the gripper on its pivot. She made careful adjustments until the hand turned to orient with the book, then slid it forward. Once it had the book in its grip, another thumb motion on the handle clamped the hand down on the book, and she started retracting the arm back towards her.

[Yvera]

CRASH!

...was the sound the soup made as it fell to the ground, the bowl shattering right on top of Satevis' glyphing homework.

SQUEAK!

...was the sound that Yvera made as a strange contraption flew in from the window above her.

Yvera clamped both her hands to her mouth as she remembered that she wasn't allowed to make any noise. If anyone found out that she was there, it might not turn out well for Satevis. Maybe whoever was outside would ignore the crash and continue on their way.

Wait... What was their way?

Currently, whoever was outside had half scared her to death by inserting a strange contraption into the window directly above her... That was moving on its own. Yvera was both terrified and intrigued at the gadget that was currently making its way across the room. But to what purpose?

Thief! she thought as she saw the "thing" grab onto a book on the table.

She started looking around the room in a frenzied panic as she tried to find a way to stop Morwen knows who from stealing a book from Satevis. Her eyes landed on his soup-soaked glyphing homework and then decided that it would be of no help to her current situation.

I'll clean it up later with a cloth or... or... THE CURTAIN!

Yvera's eyes flashed purple with her "Eureka Moment" and she had to stop her self from yelling in joy. Satevis had unusually dark and heavy curtains that would be perfect for her plan. Scooting forward from the wall, careful not to reveal herself to whoever was outside and not to cut herself on the broken ceramics, she prepared her self to close the curtains when the book was in the best position for her to grab it.

When the book was just a little behind her, Yvera drew the two curtains together, hoping to obstruct the burglar's view along with slowing him down. Then, she jumped up and grabbed the book from the contraption, sliding back down to the wall beneath the window.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCLMAO! When you said "THE CURTAIN!". My jaw dropped and I went, "OMG! What's she gonna do!?!?" When Tock heard the crash, she cursed under her breath. Shit, she thought, I 'ope I didn't break nothin'... She couldn't see, from her angle at the window, what had fallen over. Oh, well, she shrugged. She had what she came for. Until suddenly she didn't. "'Ey!!" she cried out, wondering what just happened. Thinking she had dropped the book, she extended the arm forward swiftly, the gripped snapping several times in rapid succession in an attempt to snatch the book back. She reached out with one hand to shove the curtains away, peering into the room. There was no sign of the book. She retracted Grippy, and pushed the controls on her crutches to step closer to the window, peering in. She looked to the left, then to the right, then straight down. Satevis had a girl in his room. Ohhhhhhh.... Peering down at the girl who was right below her on the floor, Minerva aimed Grippy at the book again and said, "Oy, I need 'at! Satey'll be back soon, aye? S'awright. Gimme..." She thrust the device forward, though with the girl being right under the window, she could easily have just used her own hand to reach the book. That didn't occur to her, however, and she instead used the arm, extending it the foot or so needed to reach the book, clamping the metal hand down on it, and trying to tug it from the girl's grip.

[Yvera]

OOCTock is really fun to rp with! I NEVER know what she's gonna do! XD Yvera was presented with either one of two options. She could (a) calmly hand the book over to the scary lady while explaining the entire situation, or she could (b) run as fast as she could to the other side of the room while screaming like a maniac. At the moment, the second option seemed to make the most sense. Yvera shrieked and ran to the other side of the room, holding the book close to her. Her speech had reverted back to Vani, her mother tongue, like it always did when she was alone or completely terrified. She tossed the book down onto the bed and picked up the pillow. "Back! Back!" she yelled in Vani as she tried to drive back Grippy with the pillow. The woman had mentioned Tevy, so did that mean that they were friends? She had used a nickname so Yvera assumed so. "Satevis! You have the weirdest friends!!!" Yvera grabbed the book and then dived underneath the bed, using the pillow to close of the exit. She considered writing a note of last words but decided against it, realizing that she was being overly dramatic. Overly dramatic or not, it was still completely terrifying. ...And also strangely intriguing... Yvera peeked out from underneath the bed, trying to figure out whether or not the scary lady had any bad intentions. OOCP.S. Yvera is speaking in Vani throughout this post

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

oocI'm having a blast! Tock, on the other hand, is grumpy "Oy!" Tock protested, yanking hard on the book as the girl ran across the room. Grippy couldn't hold back the girl's full body weight, and so when she hurled herself away so firmly, he lost his hold. "Oy, bludger, give 'at 'ere! Whazza big idea?" As Tock was retracting Grippy, the woman started rambling in some strange language. The only thing she recognized was Satevis' name. So when the girl jumped under the bed, Tock shouted, "Oy, Satey said I could 'as it, now 'and 'er over!" She extended Grippy forward, and snatched the pillow, yanking it from the girl's grip. She retracted Grippy and tossed the pillow across the room. Now she was getting annoyed. "I ain't got all day, mate," she said, taking careful aim. She dragged her thumb across the back of Grippy's handle, and carefully adjusted the angle of the metal hand. She didn't want to hurt the poor girl, after all. "Now give 'er 'ere!" She swiftly extended the arm forward, the gears spinning frantically as the animation magic caused the hand to lash out, and then she clamped the metal hand right over the girl's ear. "Now, bring 'er 'ere, an' play nice!" Tock demanded. She slowly started retracting the metal hand, tugging on the girl's ear. She likely would have little choice but to crawl out from under the bed, unless she wanted her ear ripped off (though Grippy wasn't strong enough to actually rip the ear off... but the girl wouldn't know that!).

[Yvera]

Okay, bad. Very, very bad. Yvera shrieked as she was pulled from underneath the bed by her ear. This meant war. By this point, she didn't care if Satevis did say the lady could have the book. Yvera would not let her have it after she had fought so hard to protect it. What she needed was a plan of action. Yvera looked around, taking note of her surroundings and how to use them most effectively. Currently, the only available "cover zones" in the small room were the bed, the desk, and the washroom. The enemy was stationed at the window which therefore ruled out the nearby desk as a cover zone. The bed was also proven ineffective by the enemy's extended reach. Operating under a defensive strategy, the best plan of action would be to first get herself away from the thing that was slowly yanking her ear off. To do that, Yvera would need to switch the enemy's priorities from her to the book. However, she could not do anything that would risk its safety. After the book was safe and out of enemy reach, she could then switch her strategy to offensive. Offensive basically translated to doing anything that would annoy the enemy. At the mention of handing the book over, Yvera stuck her toungue out at the lady. "Do you want it?" she asked, reverting back to common. "Here! Take it!" She feigned tossing the book at the lady, dropping the book behind her when she pulled back her arm. She then proceeded to remove her ear from Grippy, struggling with the gadget for a few seconds. When she was free, she picked up the book and ran into the washroom, hiding it in a closet. Then, she picked up a pillow and hid behind the desk. "There are better ways to pick up a book, you know!" she called out, peering out from behind the desk cautiously. "I might just decide to give it to you if you ask politely! ... With something sweet as a bribe!" Yvera gave the enemy the customary chance at surrender before she decided to attack.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

When the girl dropped the book, Tock immediately released her and aimed Grippy for the book. "Ha!" she said, extending the gadget towards her prize. The metal hand lashed forward, but as soon as the girl was free, she had snatched the book up again and placed it out of Grippy's reach. Grumbling, Tock glared at the girl. This was getting personal. Now it was war. She shook a fist at the girl and said, "Oy, I ain't gotta ask fer nothin'! Satey done said I could has it, now give 'er 'ere!" She didn't submit to anyone's authority. She came from a city where no one had power over anyone else. This little twerp wasn't going to get the better of her! She quickly unstrapped herself from her crutches, and extended Grippy towards the desk the girl was hiding behind. She clamped the metal down on the desk, and used the grip as leverage to hoist herself into the room, using her other hand to climb up over the window ledge. Once she was inside, she hopped on her good foot, leaning a bit on Grippy to use the device to hold onto the desk for balance. Once she was stable, she shifted her grip, and yanked back hard on Grippy, using her body weight for leverage. She yanked the desk over onto its side, then hit the control to extend Grippy forward. The hand pushed, and shoved the desk up against the girl, pinning her against the wall. "Ha!" Minerva called out again, releasing the desk and retracting Grippy back to her again. She then started hopping towards the washroom where the book was hidden, holding her broken foot up off the ground and extending her arms to either side for balance.

[Yvera]

OOCMy sister's asking if you want Satevis to come in later? It would be funny if he walked in and his room is in ruins. Yvera struggled against the desk. She was trapped. Trapped! Of all the endings to a war: trapped. She tried to push the desk away from her but it was too heavy. Thank goodness there wasn't too much on the desk or Satevis would have thrown a fit. Then again, Satevis would still throw a fit. The lady was now making her way towards the washroom and Yvera was running out of options. She could toss something at her, but Yvera didn't really want to hurt an injured person. Injuring and injured person would just be taking it too far. Perhaps negotiation would work. But then again, what was there to negotiate? "Why do you even want the book?!?" she asked the lady. "How to I know that you're not lying? You randomly show up looking for a book and scare the living daylights out of me! And then you ATTACK me! I don't know about you but that seems pretty suspicious to me." She banged her fist on the desk as if hitting it would cause it to magically move away. It was true though. The past few minutes had been some of the most terrifying in Yvera's life. Well, this is turning out to be the liveliest stay-at-home day ever.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCOf course! She should come in at the MOST AWKWARD POSSIBLE MOMENT! "I done needs it what fer ta make my puppets!" Tock shouted, waving Grippy at the girl angrily. "An' I ain't no damn liar! Geez, it's a dagnub library book, fer Gods' sakes!" She hopped over to the door and opened it, then aimed Grippy inside and extended him to snatch up the book. Then, as she was retracting the Automaton, she lost her balance. "Gah!" she cried out, waving her arms in the air, Grippy hurling about dangerously with the book in his grasp. She fell backwards with a crash, screaming in pain as she banged her injured foot on the ground. "Ahhhhh! Petchin' goddamn pain in the-- Ahhhhh!" She ended up flat on her back, cringing with her injured foot lifted limply off the ground, Grippy extended several feet above her holding the book over her head, wavering back and forth as she had trouble keeping the extended device balanced. Her vision spun a bit, and she rubbed her free hand across her face, taking a few deep breaths to try to get a hold of herself. Maybe checking the library for a second copy of the book would have been easier after all...