Making the Shell (Tock)

[Kaeson Dakano]

9th of Summer, 512 AV

It was a hot day in Zeltiva. An extremely hot day.

Walking outside of the famed University of Zeltiva, Kaeson was instantly greeted with burning heat and heavy humidity. It was an unfortunate weather combination - Kaeson's clothes stuck uncomfortably to his skin, forcing the young animator to pull off to the side of a house or a pub in an awkward attempt to reposition himself. Wiping his brow, Kaeson paused momentarily, wondering if he had just cleaned his forehead of his own sweat or from the humidity condensing on his skin.

He had only just started walking towards Tock's house, a good 15 minutes from the university by foot, and the mixed combination of the Zeltivan heat and heavy humidity had him panting. Taking a swig from his waterskin, dumping some of the cool well water over his own head, Kaeson considered taking a brief refuge in one of the many bars that laid the way to his fellow animator's home. He briefly stopped in front of the Kelp Bar before hurriedly passing through the rest of the docks, his memories of the foul beverage were enough to keep him moving.

Taking another swig from his waterskin, Kaeson slowly made his way to the small cottage. Standing before the wooden door, Kaeson quickly unstuck his clothes and rearranged his pants -- hopefully it wouldn't be so humid inside the home.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Through the door, Kaeson would hear Tock's voice calling out to her newest creation. She had only just finished Animating him, after a full week's work. "'Andy," she called out, "come 'ere." Kaeson would hear a light pattering of wood on wood, as the hand rose up and crawled across the floor on its fingertips. It passed by Bitey on the way, and the spider crouched down and raised his fangs and forelegs. The hand, which possessed a child-like intelligence that far surpassed the spider's simple mind, crawled around him to get to his mother. When he got to Tock's feet, she called out, "Climb up." The hand reached up and gripped her leg, wrapping its leather tail around her ankle for leverage, and started pulling himself up. It was slow going, and he slipped a few times, but eventually he climbed up until he had a grip on her belt. Tock was grinning and giggling with glee. She lowered her right arm, holding her wrist next to the Automaton. "Attach," she told him. The hand whipped its leather tail around like a whip, slapping it around her wrist. It slithered around until it reached its belt buckle, and slid itself through, attaching firmly in place. Tock then held her arm up, the leather belt strapped around her wrist like a bracelet. The new hand was held parallel to her own hand, flexing his fingers idly while he awaited a task. She grinned at him and said, "Who's a good boy? You are!" She reached out with her other hand to pet him, running her fingers up and down his. Then she cackled with mad glee, feeling... powerful. Once again she had brought new life into this world, and as far as she was concerned, it was magnificent. She was a mother. A creator of life. This must have been what the Gods felt like. Creating life with their own will. Shaping it. Bringing it into existence from nothing more than raw, physical matter and pure determination. She held up her left hand and clenched it into a victorious fist. Handy saw the motion and mimicked it, and Tock cackled in pure, megalomaniacal joy. She held the hand up to her hair, and he brushed back a stray strand, running his thumb lovingly across her skin. He was superior, in some ways, to all of her other babies. The Animated hand had actual intelligence, his mind akin to that of a small child. She kissed his palm, and felt the need to give him something to do. She turned to the door, and held Handy before the handle. She had taught him a variety of basic tasks, so that he could perform the most common things a hand would be needed for. He gripped the door handle, knowing that was his purpose as a hand, and twisted it. Tock opened the door and saw Kaeson there. "Oy!" she called out with a grin, waving her right hands, the artificial one mimicking the waving motion of the natural one, both jutting out from the same wrist. "Lookit my new baby!"

[Kaeson Dakano]

"Oh, He-," Kaeson paused, momentarily confused by the sight of Tock's two hands briefly wondering if the heat had effected him more then he had originally thought. "Aren't hallucinations a sign of heat exhastation?" the young animator thought lazily to himself. Feeling Volos stir on his neck, Kaeson looked down to see the animated scarf lift it's end, Kaeson watched as Volos slowly moved his 'head' focusing on the hand. "Oh!" Kaeson said, smacking his forehead with his palm, "The HAND is your animation," Kaeson added, smiling at the automaton. "Nice to meet you, uh...?" Kaeson voice dropped off, signaling Tock to give Kaeson the automaton's name. Kaeson would then stick his hand out politely for the automaton to shake his.

Looking back at Tock, Kaeson grinned, "And this," Kaeson gestured at the animated scarf, "Is Volos -- I named him after his model." Taking a moment to smile at his recent creation, Kaeson said to the automaton," Can you say hello to Ms. Tock, Volos?". Smililing as the scarf waved himself back and worth as and attempted 'wave'.

Walking into the small cottage, Kaeson passed by the posted notes and sketches that covered the wall from top to bottom, immediately noticing a very realistic statue of a man. Kaeson quickly went up to investigate the statue, glancing back at Tock with a smile. "Did you do this?" Kaeson asked eagerly, staring at the statue in detail -- it was so life like!

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"'Is name's 'Andy," Tock said, her tone implying that it should have been obvious. The wooden hand shook Kaeson's, bobbing up and down on the wrist hinge. Then when Kaeson called her 'Ms.', Tock raised her hand up towards Kaeson's head and said, "'Andy, smack 'im!" Obediently, the wooden hand smacked Kaeson upside the head. "Shake a fist at 'im!" she told it. While the wooden hand curled into a fist and shook at Kaeson, Tock said, "I thought I don't told ya, ain't none o' 'at 'Ms.' stuff, aye?" She hated being called Ms. or Miss or anything along those lines. At hearing the scarf's name, she frowned, and raised Handy to her head. He scratched it, without her needing to command him to, since he was just smart enough to figure out on his own that that's what she wanted. He then stroked her hair affectionately, just because he wanted to. She had programmed him with enough of his own personality that he was mostly free-willed, albeit with no more than a child-like mind. "Volos?" Tock asked in confusion. "What kinda name is 'at? S'at Vantha o' somethin'?" She would have named the scarf 'Scarfy.' When Kaeson entered the room, Bitey scurried away and hid under the bed, while Naily rolled up and started nuzzling Kaeson's ankle. When Kaeson asked about the statue, Tock snorted and shook her head. "I wish, mate," she said. "'At's magic-made. Were a real person, 'at were. I's studyin' 'im, tryin' fer ta figure out 'ow she's done, aye?" As she spoke, Handy made gestures towards the statue the same way Tock herself would have when describing it. He was programmed from her own mind and her own memories of the ways she used her hands, so the movements were instinctive to him. He would mimic Tock's own hand gestures in almost any situation, right down to her favorite lewd gestures.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson laughed, rubbing his head where the automaton smacked him. It had been harder then he had expected, coming from a wooden hand, but Kaeson was far too amused by the automaton to say anything. Instead he managed a quick apology to Handy for insulting his mother, eyes slowing fading to a soft pink as the wooden hand shook himself angrily at Kaeson.

Steeping inside the small cottage, Kaeson let out an audible sigh of relief. It was much cooler inside the house then it had been outside, as well as much drier air.

Kaeson shrugged his shoulders at Tock's question, indicating he didn't know where the animated scarf's name had come from either. "I dunno, could be. I don't know any vantha. I convinced a local petstore owner to lend me one of her pythons as a model for Volos, and she said I should name him after the python that was his model, so I did." Kaeson paused, wondering why he hadn't asked the Konti for more information regarding the name. It wasn't exactly a common name, at least not in Zeltiva. "I'll probably go back and ask, I mean, I should know where Volos' name comes from."

Feeling the animated hammer nudging his leg, Kaeson bent to pat the automaton lile would greet a friendly dog. "Hey, Naily, it's good to see you," he said, scratching the automaton behind his hammer head.

Investigating the stone statue, Kaeson pulled his hand away in disgust hearing the statued man had once been alive. "What do you mean, alive?" Kaeson asked, clearly not grasping what had actually happened. Looking over the statued man, Kaeson began to fray of his shirt, the scars that adorned the stone man's skin -- things a sculpted would never put in a statue. Kaeson found the statue disgusting, but at the same time he found the magic involved extremely curious. "Reimancy?" Kaeson wondered aloud, thinking to his own earth based magic. Could he do something like this? The idea excited him, having so much power. Keeping his eyes on the statue, Kaeson asked Tock, "Do you have any idea who do this?". If they had a name, they might be able to figure out what magics were used -- after all, it was obvious no novice would accomplish this.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Ain'tcha a Vantha?" Tock asked, waving her fingers at Kaeson's face. "Wit'cher eyes?" She didn't know the first thing about Vantha, except the thing about the eyes, and she had no idea where they came from or if they looked human. Other than the color changing eyes, she had no idea what they were. She turned back to the statue and said, "Nah, ain't no reimancy, least, I don't think 'at could do this. Dunno. I ain't 'as none o' 'at fancy, flashy magic. I think she were alchemy. I's studyin' some o' 'at, an' Teach done says 'is's stuff 'ey can do. But aye, 'e were alive. Done attacked a friend o' mine," she patted the statues shoulder with Handy, grinning. "Fortune Teller Man. Some bloke came 'long an' turned 'is chap ta stone. Saved Fortune Teller Man's life, 'e did." She wouldn't tell the rest of that story, though. It was a secret. She didn't trust Kaeson to keep his fool mouth shut, if she told him about the pearl. "So," she said, changing the subject and tugging his sleeve to pull him away from the statue, "wotcher, mate? Ya 'ere ta chit chat, o' ya 'ere ta talk shop? Maybe 'as my baby an' yers wrastle, see which one wins?" she chuckled, reaching out with Handy. The wooden hand grabbed at the scarf, and Tock reached out with her left hand to give him a light smack. "Be gentle, 'Andy," she scolded him. His fingers drooped for a moment at the reprimand, then he started petting the scarf gently. "Good boy," she told him, petting him with her left hand while he petted Volos.

[Kaeson Dakano]

"No," Kaeson said, "My father was, er, is a vantha. That's what I was told anyway, I never met the man." Kaeson shrugged his shoulders, turning back to the statue. Growing up, his parents had always been a sore subject with his grandmother. Not knowing his parents had never truly bothered Kaeson, he was perfectly content with his grandmother and the life she provided for him. It HAD bothered him that she never could be bothered to talk about his father or his mother, her daughter. All he knew was that his father was a vantha, a foreigner to Syliras, and his mother left Syliras, leaving Kaeson with his grandmother.

Poking the statue, Kaeson wondered if the magic could somehow be reversed. If they could bring the man back, maybe he could tell them what happened.

Kaeson turned around hearing Tock mentioned 'Fortune Teller Man'. "Anselm? The n--, uh, the man covered in black?" Kaeson said, hoping Tock hadn't picked up on what he had almost said. "Why would they attack him?" Keson asked, looking back to the stone man. Perhaps the man should stay in stone. If they were able to cure him, they could always put him back should he prove himself dangerous.

Kaeson looked over his shoulder, feeling Tock pull on his sleeve. "Yeah...yeah, let's talk about golem designs. I have a couple ideas I think you might like...," Kaeson said, going through his pack, pulling out a small sketch book. Flipping through various designs Kaeson had made for yet to be animated designs, Kaeson finally arrived on the page he wanted, he handed the small book to Tock.

The design was fairly humanoid, aside some modifications. The fingers had been drawn longer, and more delicate then human hands -- Kaeson had written several notes aside the hands, saying why he had done this. It was his belief that the thiner, finer fingers would allow the automaton to better manipulate future projects. Kaeson had also modified the right arm to function more or less like, Grippy, careful to note the source of his inspiration. Kaeson had also added two more arms, indicating Eypharion physiology. Kaeson also noted the use of four eyes, two in the front and two in the back for a full 360 vantage point.

"Do you think we can do this?" Kaeson asked Tock hesitantly. The design was far beyond Kaeson's skill in carving or gadgeteering, but with Tock's help, they might be able to do this.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

When Kaeson talked about his father, Tock waved her hand dismissively, with Handy mimicking the motion a moment later. "Da's ain't no good, anywho," she told him. "Ya didn't done miss out on nothin' important..." Nothing but abuse, neglect, and a life of fear. At least, that was the childhood Tock had had, growing up with a drunkard father whose only daily exercise had been beating her. She nodded when Kaeson asked about Anselm, not being too surprised that he knew the man. He had a stall in the marketplace, after all, where he told his fortunes. But she decided to completely ignore the questions about why Anselm was attacked. She didn't want to get caught in a lie, and besides, if Kaeson pressed the matter, she could just tell him it was none of his goddamn business. Instead she looked over his designs, frowning slightly. His lack in drawing and mechanical skills was apparent in his designs, but they were intriguing nonetheless. She wondered if he had any idea how complex it would be to actually create something like this. She plopped down in a chair, holding the notebook in her left hand, and letting Handy flip through the pages. The Animated hand poked at the long-fingered hand drawings with apparent disdain, seeing as they were different from his own design. Tock considered the possible advantages and disadvantages, sucking on her teeth. Finally she said, "Long fingers done gonna need extra joints. Can't increase the length wit'out sacrificing mobility an' grip. Not 'less ya add an extra set o' knuckles." She pulled over some papers and started sketching some notes of her own, reluctantly using her left hand to write. Handy could write; she'd taught him the motions. But for one, his handwriting and sketching would be horribly sloppy, since his mobility wasn't anywhere near as fine as a real hand. And for another thing, he couldn't read Tock's mind to know what she wanted to write, and she found it easier to write herself left-handed, rather than tell Handy what to write and wait for him to do it. She then tapped on the four arm design and shook her head. "'Is's still a mite beyond me, mate," she said. "I jus' done got 'ands down, aye? Buuuut," she considered for a moment, and started sketching out a new, somewhat more carefully detailed design. She'd have to be an expert Gadgeteer to begin working on a complex, fully human-sized machine like what Kaeson was asking for. Instead, she could simplify the design to fit more within her skill level. She sketched out a design with wheels instead of legs, saying, "If'n we want 'er ta get 'round better, on 'is scale, gonna run easier wit' wheels 'stead o' legs, aye? I done been 'avin' a 'ard time gettin' stuff ta walk when she's wee, let alone when she's big like 'is, aye?" Her puppets were one of the only two-legged, walking Automatons she'd made, and their movements were sloppy and difficult. She didn't think they'd work on a full-sized golem. Bitey was able to walk more easily because he had eight legs for support, and he was small and naturally slow moving. That had been much easier than making something bipedal, where weight and balance became more of an issue. She drew four small wheels around a base, since it would make it easier for the golem to be balanced. It would make it harder to handle things like stairs, which went somewhat against their original ideas, but made the project more doable. Instead of legs she sketched a simple post rising from the base, where the torso would fit. A fully mobile waist was a bit out of her league still, but attaching the torso to a post like that would allow it to pivot in any direction, rotating on the single point. The golem would be able to turn itself in place with ease, it just wouldn't be able to bend over, since a proper, bendable waist was also rather complicated. She adjusted the placement of the eyes, instead of putting them in two pairs, she placed them further apart so that there was a single eye looking in each direction. That gave a more proper 360 degree view, since the two in front and two in back design would have left blind spots on the sides. For the four arms, she made some minor adjustments in order to simplify the design into something more within her skill level. She adjusted the placement of the extendable arm into a more flexible hinge, allowing it to turn forward or back. Then on the opposite side, instead of a fully human arm, she sketched a simpler, folding arm made from straight pieces of wood. They would fold against the body neatly, and unfold to reach out and grab things. Since the Grippy-like arm would have longer reach, this one she sketched to have more mobility instead, designing the joints to allow them to bend double-jointed. It would allow the golem to reach under or over things more easily, such as by bending the arm down under a table. Since the main body wouldn't be able to bend over, the extra joints on the arm would allow it to reach places it otherwise couldn't. Below the two shoulder-mounted arms, she designed two more standard ones, mounted on pivots that would allow the golem to reach front or back. Instead of extended reach or extra bending capability, these would be more normal, with more careful hands to allow for better adjustments of objects. When it was done she pointed out the differences and said, "See? Gettin' four arms what fer ta work together, all in unison, 'at's pretty darn complex. But ya make each one does it's separate thing, 'en each one is doable. I can make an' extender arm," she tapped on the right arm, "I can make a reacher arm," she tapped on the left, "an' I can makes a couple o' normal-like arms. But 'ey's all gotta be independent from each other. Cause I can only makes 'em separate like, she's too complex fer ta link 'em all together. It'd done take months, at least, ta design 'er 'ow ta work all together like. So's as we does it in segments. I can does 'at..."

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson hovered over Tock's shoulder, watching carefully as she flipped through his design ideas. His designs for the automaton was far beyond his own ability in gadgeteering or carving, but he had hoped Tock abilities would've been more then enough to successfully build his model.

"Well, yeah. Why not add the extra knuckles? The longer, finer fingers would allow for more detail in writing, building, whatever, don't you think? Or could we get all that detail with normal sized ones?" Despite growing with an master healer, Kaeson knowledge regarding human anatomy and it's physical limits was pathetic. To him, extending the fingers would allow for a much more functional design. "Or do you think we could build the tools right into the hand?" Kaeson asked Tock. He assumed the automaton's purpose was to assist building other automatons, so why not add the tool's it needed right into the design?

Kaeson frowned as the gadgeteer drew another designed, more detailed then the one he had drawn, but different and simpler. Kaeson hadn't considered the idea he would have to settle on his own design. He didn't want wheels, he wanted legs. Tock's design also didn't seem to have a bendable waist -- something else he wanted. Kaeson nodded as Tock explained her changes. Kaeson sighed, he understood why the changes were neccessary, but it didn't mean he liked them.

Taking his own notebook back, Kaeson opened it to a blank page, taking care to copy Tock's drawing to the best of his ability. His drawing was no where near the complex detail of Tock's but he thought it best to have his own copy of the design. Carefully, Kaeson managed to draw a rougher sketch of the same one Tock had proposed, realizing her own sketch had been much more practical and realistic then his own. Not that Kaeson would admit that.

Kaeson was glad to hear Tock liked his idea about the four arms, and happy to hear she could manage the design. Since it was so close to his original idea, Kaeson sketch four simple arms with a reference to note to compare to his previous design. He liked her idea about working in segments -- it made sense, and made the animation process much simpler then it would've been if all four arms were interconnected.

"Alright," Kaeson said, looking up to Tock, eyes bursting with determination. "What do we start with?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

She scratched her head at the idea of building he tools right into the hand. "'At'd be a fine idea mate," she said, "'cept," she pulled over her box of tools and opened it revealing the dozens of precise, special instruments that were part of a gadgeteering toolkit, "I don't done seen 'ow we's s'posed ta get all 'is in one golem. Better ta specialize," she gestured to Naily, Cutty, and Choppy. Each one was built for a specific function. It made them more practical and easier to build. "'Less ya gots suggestions?" she asked. She'd be willing to change any of the designs, if they were things they could realistically implement. Right now she was mostly limited by her knowledge and skill. Making Golems that walked was hard, and adding things like a bendable waist created balance issues that she didn't yet know how to compensate for. So until she figured out how to get past those problems, or her partner devised a workaround, they were stuck with certain limitations. "We should start at the bottom, an' work our way up, aye?" she suggested. "I's get Cutty workin' on the wood, Naily on 'elpin' assembly, an' you an' me start shapin' wheels, aye?" Between the two of them combined, they had plenty of wood and other materials. Though there were some parts they were going to need to custom make here.