Fulfilling a Request (Tock)

[Rayage]

The nuit watched her reaction to the money offered at first she seemed a bit off put, but then he could see her mind working. The hand opened the bag and brought out a gold piece, but it seemed not to have the coordination to do what it wanted. He wondered if she could ‘upgrade’ their intelligence as she got better at her craft, if she would eventually scrap her ‘babies’ for the new and better ones. Though it might be the case with his pendant which he always wore, unable to give it up because of the emotional attachments towards it. The nuits one weakness, over time his heart turned to that of gold, and it was hanging around his neck concealed by all his cloaks and clothing.

Then she said they had a deal. Perfect. He smiled, he really couldn’t wait. It was fifty gold well spent, especially when she guessed what he wanted them for, ”Oh, don’t jump to conclusions.” he said, the room growing silent for a moment, ”Though sometimes safety can get in the way of ones goals as some directives can be interrupted in multiple ways. I am sure someone like yourself will be careful in animating these so there are no malfunctions.” the last word would hang in the air for a while, not wanting to dissipate to nothing once more.

”Very well,” he said, ”I will acquire you a snake from the university.” again, it shouldn’t be hard for him to obtain one after all. He just needed a viable excuse to borrowing the creature and trust would come from his position as a professor of the university. It was interesting, he had found that throughout the history of the university the teachers there were mighty helpful to each other. It was a nice support structure of caring and dedicated staff. All Ray had to be is to pretend to be just like them and he would fit right in, be supported, and get what he needs.

With that he was out telling the animator that he would be back soon enough. Now making his way to the university, his pace was hurried because the sooner he could get the snake the sooner he would have his scarves, he thought of how he would acquire the snakes. Though, anything would do really, especially when dealing with the animation teachers. He could make promises… Though usually those bound him more than he would like.

Arriving at the University he made his way through the building and to the animation labs, which were close not too far away from where he taught alchemy. He hadn’t had the time to properly get to know the animation instructor, but he was sure he could acquire the animal. He was a professor after all, and if he needed it to study, to ‘borrow’, he was sure that the professor would be ok with that as long as he returned the snake back exactly how he got, no extra head or anything fun like that.

Knocking first, then entering the classroom he noticed that it was empty, even the professor was out. Strange, but understandable, the staff did have lives of their own too. Peeking in he found what he was looking for among a variety of other small caged animals. Though the rest were no interest to the nuit and so he went right over and looked into the cage, the thing hissed at him and he grinned, perfect. He was about to pick it up, arms outstretched, when he heard a voice behind him, ”Delightful creature isn’t she?”

The sudden voice startled the nuit and froze him in his tracks. Turning around he nodded, ”Yes, magnificent.” he said.

”What brings the alchemist to an animation classroom?” she asked. A female animator, someone new. Ray didn’t know her. ”Not to marvel at the animals I would hope. They get enough agitation as it is.” she commented before Ray got a chance to answer.

”Actually, Professor,” the nuit started, ”I would like to borrow this snake.” he said gesturing to it, ”Im studying the structure of them, their movements, and they have always fascinated me since I was a child. Seeing one up close, well, its like a dream come true. When I heard the University had animals like these here in the labs I just had to see for myself.” he lied, and continued stringing his influence, ”If I promise to bring the snake back just how she is, may I borrow her for a while?” he asked, ”Ive always wanted to study a snake, but never wanted to train it myself. The ones here, well, they have been handled and are used to being touched and so are more tolerant.” he explained his reason for wanting to borrow that particular snake, ”Just a couple drawings, and some observation outside the room.” he said, nodding, turning back to the cage like a child at the candy store, ”Please?” he asked, almost choking on the word. That was about as much as she was going to get out of Ray.

--

After much explaining and compromising Ray had obtained the snake. Knocking on Tocks door again, ”Miss Zipporah” he called, ”Professor Rayage, I have the snake.” he said announcing his victory, cage in hand.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

When Rayage left, Tock set to work. She still didn't bother to put any pants on; she didn't need to leave the house today. She tucked away the payment Rayage had given her, moved over to the table, and grabbed her tools and some of her wood. What she needed to make wasn't complicated. She just needed to attach a clip to each scarf in a permanent way, making it a part of the creation without damaging the iron silk. She laid out the scarves and took some measurements, then grabbed some small pieces of wood. With a sharp gouge she etched a simple design across the surface of both wooden blocks, the design simplistic enough that she didn't even need to bother with actual blueprints. The shape wasn't much different from a belt buckle, round and narrow, with slits that the scarf could thread through. She shaped the buckle like a snake's head, just because it was fitting to the design. She braced the wooden pieces to the table and cut them, doing it left handed since she didn't trust Handy with a saw just yet. Then she started carving the wood, holding the chisel carefully with her left hand and letting Handy swing the mallet. She'd taught him the motions when she made him, and the gentle tapping of the mallet was a simple enough motion to be within his capabilities. He still needed some extra direction, and Tock had to tell him, "Stop," and, "Tap," now and then, commanding him to pause when she needed to adjust the chisel. But Handy was the smartest of her golems, and had just enough intelligence to pick most of it up on his own. When he saw her left the chisel away from the wood, he knew to stop tapping with the mallet, and when she placed it back down, he knew to start up again. It was a massive improvement over Choppy and Cutty, who couldn't figure out a single thing on their own. She had to give them verbal commands every single step of the way. She chiseled out the shape of the snake's head, and when Ray returned with the live snake, she started using it as a visual template. She watched it as it slithered around its cage, though mostly it just sat there and stared at her. Snakes were often lazy creatures. She didn't mind though, it made it easier for her to get a good look at its head. She spent a few hours on the carvings, wanting to add an artistic touch. With the general shape of the head complete, she used files and gouges to add in details to mimic the appearance of scales. It was a long, detailed process, and for this part she only let Handy hold the wood while she etched in the designs with her left hand. Dozens upon dozens of tiny lines were worked across the wood in the sinuous pattern of scales, much of the work done simply by scraping a sharp pick delicately across the surface, occasionally blowing gently on the wood to clear away the dust and shavings. She intentionally varied the design from one 'head' to the next, wanting to make sure each one would have its own personality. She had some ideas that would give each scarf an ever so slightly different personality and set of Directives. She had limitations on her magical skills so far, and thus couldn't design one Automaton to do everything she might need. But if she gave certain abilities to one, and certain abilities to the other, she could be sure to cover all the bases. They would still have a lot of the same overlapping programming, but the minor differences would both make each creation unique, and increase their overall versatility. OOCAs discussed with Rayage, I'll be doing several posts in a row here as a long montage sequence of the Animation process. Ray will rejoin the thread to collect the scarves once I'm done.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock carved in little impressions where she could attach the eye gems and the thin leather strips that made the ears. The first snake, she placed the eyes a bit closer together, the oval-shaped pieces of gem-like glass fitted vertically. It gave the snake a wicked look, its eyes looking like the narrow vertical slits of a predator. The first snake also had a tighter set of scales, the lines etched much closer together. For the second snake the scales were larger, the head a bit broader, and the eye pieces were larger, rounder pieces of glass. She set the eyes further apart, and the resulting design looked a bit more like a venomous snake. Poisonous snakes had diamoned-shaped heads to allow room for the venom sacks, whereas constrictors had narrower heads. The first head she had carved was thus more accurate to the snake being used as a source, whereas the second looked more like an asp. Once the carvings were complete and each had its own unique appearance, she smoothed out the edges and started on the other pieces she'd need. From the end pieces she had cut off the original scraps of wood, she carved out two thin wooden beads. Each was about the thickness of her thumb, and she drilled a narrow hole down the center of each. She also drilled another smaller hole horizontally into them, just above the vertical hole. With this done she threaded the scarves through the slots in the snake head buckles, feeding it through first from back to front, looping it through the bottom, and feeding it into the back again. She then threaded the beads from the back end of the scarves and pushed them up until she could fit them over the 'neck' of the snakes. A careful knot was tied at the base of the neck, and then pulled taut against the beads to ensure everything was nice and snug. Finally, she took out a couple of pieces of thin copper wire from her supplies, threading it through the horizontal hole in the beads and then slipping it through the tightly looped neck of the scarves. The end result was each long piece of iron silk had the wooden heads firmly attached to the tip. The attachments were firm enough that there was no chance of the heads slipping off, but the majority of the silk body was left free to allow for full mobility. The snake heads were decorative enough to pass for jewelry, especially since the glass gem pieces Tock used were originally made for costume jewelry. Ray would be able to wear the scarves if he chose and have them pass for purely decorative pieces, but in truth the attachments would allow the snakes to see and hear.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Now it was time to add some extra touches to impress her customer. Tock reluctantly pulled on pants and a shirt, and headed out into town for some supplies. She wandered a bit until she found what she needed, since she normally didn't buy weapons. Eventually she manage to track down a selection of various blades and started sorting through them. The first one she let Handy pick up, he ended up slashing the air with it as if attacking someone. She'd programmed him with some very basic idea of how to use a knife, though in truth she didn't know the first thing about using one properly. She knew how to fight, but she didn't know proper techniques with a blade. Still, teaching the hand how to slash with a knife had seemed like a natural thing when she was instilling him with knowledge from her Sunberthan youth. She got a look from the shopkeeper as her third had was clumsily waving the knife around, and she told Handy, "Awright, put 'er down." He dropped the knife and she lowered her arm, using her left hand to sort through the merchandise. She passed by daggers and knives, shaking her head. They were all too big. Eventually, after a short search, she found a pair of tiny blades tucked in the back of one shelf. She took the blades up to the counter and Handy pulled a couple of copper mizahs from her pocket. He was smart enough to know what money was in a very very basic way, since she'd programmed him with memories of her handling coins along with a variety of other tasks she did with her hands. He didn't, however, know the difference between the types of coins, or have any concept of the value of money. To the simple mind of the Automaton, coins were something to be handed to someone the way a hammer was something to be swung and a door handle was something to open. He only knew enough to perform the tasks, without understanding the real meaning behind them. "'At's not enough," Tock told her baby, reaching into her pocket with her left hand to retrieve more money. "Five mizahs," the shopkeeper told her. She looked up at him and snorted. She held her hand up and said, "Oy, don'tcha even try ta pull 'at stuff wit' me!" Handy obligingly made a fist and shook it at the shopkeeper, which made the man step back in fear at the sight of the magical monstrosity. Handy knew the tone of his Mommy's voice, and she was using the same tone now she had in the memories of fist-shaking she'd transferred into him during his creation. "'Ese's so tiny, 'ey ain't worth more'n a mizah total, an' ya done knows it!" Nervously eying the hand, the shopkeeper licked his lips and said, "Quality products demand a quality price, err..." He never took his eyes off Handy, so distracted by the Automaton that he couldn't focus. "They are, umm..." "A mizah. Aye," Tock said, pulling out a gold mizah. The shopkeeper finally pulled his eyes away from the hand and looked at the coin on the counter. He cleared his throat and said, "No, err... One and a half a piece, at least. I couldn't, err..." His eyes kept darting back to Handy, and it was really throwing the man off his game. Tock rolled her eyes and held Handy near her pocket again. "Git a gold one, baby," she told him. The shopkeeper's eyes bulged as he saw the hand obeying her, fishing into her pocket and pulling out a coin. "Nah, 'at's a silver, silly. Gold. Gold." It took a few tries for Handy to get the right coin, and when he did Tock smiled proudly. "Good boy," she said. "Now give it ta the man..." She raised her arm and Handy obediently held the coin out in his wooden fingers. Tock deliberately tucked her left hand in her pocket and told the man, "'At's two. One fer each o' 'em. 'Less ya done needs my baby ta fetch ya another one?" Handy started shaking the coin at the man, not able to understand why he hadn't taken it yet. His programming made this seem like a straightforward thing; he handed something to someone, and they took it. His simple mind couldn't understand why the man was just staring at the coin. Tock cleared her throat, and the man jumped. With a shaking hand, he took the coin, then licked his lips and nodded, "T-two will suffice," he said. Chuckling to herself, Tock took the blades and left, while Handy waved goodbye to the distraught man behind her. OOC-2 GM spent for two "Wrist Knives". IC Negotiation just brought the price down to standard list price purely for RP reasons.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Back at home, Tock took out her toolkit, and worked on some modifications. She used a pair of snips to carefully cut off the small hilt of the blades, leaving only the tang behind attached to the blades. Then she used a pointed rod and her mallet to pierce small holes in each, the same way she might when making a gear or other moving part on one of her gadgets. She used one of her finest tipped files to smooth out the holes with great care, making sure there were no rough spots or burrs. Next she took the asp's wooden head, and with a very thin blade began cutting out a thin slit in the mouth. She worked slowly and with great care, making sure the slits were just the right width to slide the blades into. She'd chosen the smallest, thinnest blades she could find so that they could be easily concealed. Measuring carefully, and holding the blades up on the bottom of the snake head, she lined up where they would fit and drilled two tiny holes through the bottom of the snake's mouth. The next step took great precision, for which she was glad she'd bought herself a proper gadgeteering toolkit. The blades were carefully slid into place, along with a tiny guide piece fit between them that attached to the tang on each blade. The tiniest of gear screws attached the pieces, the way the parts of a clock would be assembled, the work so precise she needed to use an magnifying eye piece from the toolkit to line everything up. It was only a single moving part, but even then, precision was key. With the guide and blades slid into place, she screwed tiny screws through the holes she'd drilled in the bottom of the mouth to hold everything in place. The end result was a pair of retractable blades that would act like fangs. Unlike true snake fangs, they wouldn't retract like pincers. Instead, when the guide was pulled back, it caused the blades on each side to rotate outwards from each side and snap into place, the twin blades pointed past the mouth. They would then fold back into the head, the left one counter-clockwise, the right one clockwise, both moving in unison thanks to the guide. In a proper gadget, the snap-blades would need a spring or some sort of winding mechanism to fold them and allow them to snap back out. Instead, she'd be having the magic do that. The snake would be able to snap its fangs out and fold them back in at will. The other snake, designed purely like a constrictor, wasn't getting fangs. It was one of the distinguishing touches she was putting in to make sure each one was distinct from the other.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Once the construction was complete, Tock began the Animation process. It would take days a piece to Animate each of the snakes, though she could cut down the time somewhat with the use of Glyphs to aid the process. After Satevis helping her with the Glyphs when they made the puppets, and her using them again to make Handy, plus her recent time spent in Glyphing classes, she was starting to get a better idea how they worked. At first she had only mimicked Satevis's use, not understanding the process enough to change it. It was the same as it would be with any crafting project; she needed to learn how to do it the way she was taught before she could learn to make her own designs. She wasn't yet confident enough to start experimenting with her own designs, but she could at least put more thought into how it worked. Had she seen the Glyphing work Ray had done on his alchemy circles, she would have been overwhelmed by the number of Glyphs he could work into a pattern. The design she'd been taught had only three types of Glyphs. First she had two balancing runes in the center, but she paused in thought before she sketched them. They were meant for equality between the two circles, and she thought of them as making one circle the mirror image of the other. So instead of simply etching the runes, she carefully measured the space and aligned them, then sketched the first one so that the bottom of the rune faced the connecting lines. She then turned around and etched the other rune with its bottom facing the same way, towards the center. The runes were now like mirror images of each other. That should aid in the sense of balance. Next were the runes on the connecting lines. They directed the energy flow from one circle to the other, accelerating the rate of transfer. After studying her sketches of the runes in her notes, she felt they looked somewhat like arrows. So instead of making them mirror images of each other, she sketched each Glyph to be aimed towards the circle where the Automatons would sit. Since that was the direction of the energy flow, it made sense to align them that way. It should improve the transfer rate further. Last were the runes that went on the circles themselves, holding the energy inside. They helped form a barrier that would keep the Djed from leaking out into the room, improving efficiency. But Satevis had only used two on each circle. That seemed insufficient. Ideally, she would want to surround the circles with them. But as it was, it was taking her a long time to carefully copy each rune from her notes. She also didn't think she could precisely balance that many. So she decided on three. She laid them out on an equilateral triangle whose tips touched the circles. Everything was carefully measured and aligned. The top tip of each triangle was exactly on line with the balance runes in the center, the directional runes on the connecting line, and the line itself. Those six runes made a perfect straight line, with the other barrier runes framing it on either side, all laid out in geometric precision. Precision would increase efficiency, and after she grew more skilled, she could graduate to more complex designs than straight lines and triangles.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

With the runes late out in geometric precision, Tock set the first scarf, the constrictor, into the circle, and sat herself in the other. With a drop of blood she sparked the magic, reaching out into the astral plane where her soul extended past the physical realm. The balancing runes in the center of each circle made her feel a tugging at her soul right away, the spiritual energy seeking balance by spreading across the connection between the circles. A glow suffused her body, expanding, growing, and then shuddering like a raindrop dangling on a leaf before it broke off. The drop of energy drifted across the connection, guided and accelerated by the runes marking the connecting line, landing right in the snake with a splash of Djed. The glowing energy flew outwards for a moment until it reached the barrier runes around the edge of the circle, then bounced off and swirled back to the center, like water moving down a drain, drawn inevitably towards the center. Next she began programming Directives. She usually kept this process very simple, but Rayage had specific needs. She gave thought to the best way to program the scarves according to his wishes. She began with a simple directive of obedience, first to herself as the creator, and second to Rayage as their 'adopted' father. This would allow her to countermand Rayage's control of the creatures, just in case. It wasn't even a question of trust; Tock never once stopped to think that Rayage might be untrustworthy. Rather, she was concerned that she might need to intervene if he was mistreating the new babies. Should it come to that, should he be an abusive father, she could free them from him. The way no one ever helped free her from her own abusive Da. With the loyalty Directive installed, she considered what else Rayage might need. She immediately discarded the idea of including a shutdown command; she considered such things to be immoral. Besides which, a Directive of loyalty was sufficient, since if Rayage had to, he could simply order the creatures to freeze or go limp, and they would have to obey. She considered another possibility however; while Tock herself never, ever, ever made her own babies to be able to obey anyone else, she knew Ray might have different desires. Tock's own babies obeyed her, and no one else. They would completely ignore any commands from any other living thing. But just in case Ray wanted the option, she decided to include an Authentication Directive. She chose a pair of made up words, "Kryshant Mu," to serve as the Authentication. A set of fake words made it impossible that anyone would ever utter it by accident. She would teach these command words to Ray, and if he ever chose to, he could use them to allow another person control over his scarves. If he never wanted to, the words could remain secret forever, but he would at least have the option. With the commands entered, she began programming knowledge into the scarf. This proved the more complex process, and she spent a couple of days on it. She didn't know what Ray would need the scarves to do, so she wanted to make them as smart as possible. She taught them all the parts of the human body, so that he could command them to wrap around an ankle, a neck, or anything else and have the scarf know what he meant. She spent some time imbuing knowledge of basic household things, like doors and windows. She taught them what mizahs were, and various other commonplace goods. There would be limits on how much she could imbue the scarves with, but the more she taught them, the more capable they would be. They wouldn't be intelligent enough to recognize complex things, or tell the difference between very similar things like distinguishing one type of tree from another (Tock knew most people couldn't even tell the difference between a birch and an elm), but they would at least know what a tree was. As well as knowing what rocks, basic animals, and other commonplace things were. The information flowed rapidly across the connection between the circles, aided by the runes that accelerated the transfer. Information that might have taken a week took only a few days instead. Though after imbuing the scarf with everything it needed to know, she still needed to make it into a snake.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock left the circle, and placed the caged snake inside in her stead. The balancing runes helped here, easily adjusting the flow of Djed to the new source. Tock sat cross-legged next to the circles, and held her hands out, one towards the live snake, the other towards the half-programmed one. It was a bit more difficult for her to start the flow again, and she wondered for a moment why. Then she realized; all of her Glyphs were on, or inside the circles, but she was controlling them from outside. They still aided the process a great deal, but she had to search a bit harder inside herself to find her connection to the spiritual realm. Nothing was aiding her in that process. She had to focus, tuning out everything around her, searching within herself. She took deep breaths, meditating, focusing on her inner core. She sought out the warm part inside of her, and when she finally found it, the process could begin again. The glow surrounded her once more, and she opened her eyes, seeing the astral body of the snake, and the still-forming one of the scarf. She began guiding the flow of Djed once more, beginning with the instincts and persona of a snake. She added the snake's own knowledge and experience, limited though it was, to the more advanced memories she'd already applied. Memories of eating mice, of crawling through the grass, of lying in coiled wait, ready to strike when prey came near. Everything in the snake's mind was transferred, guiding by the runes that accelerated the process, until the scarf had the complete personality of a snake imbued into it. Though it would be smarter than any snake, thanks to the extra programming she'd applied. Finally it was time to make the scarf move. She began transferring the snake's memories of movement, and constricting its body around a victim. She spent several hours on the last day transferring the muscle memory as the snake slithered around its cage. Then, after all of the snake's natural movements had been transferred, Tock removed the cage and sat herself in the circle once more. She imagined more movements that a natural snake wouldn't be capable of, moving her hands through the air to mimic the desired movements to make the process easier. She taught it moderately challenging things, like wrapping itself around a post or table leg and pulling itself upwards. She taught it to flick its head forward to use its momentum to cross obstacles, giving it a very limited jumping ability. She taught it to wrap its tail around objects and grasp them, enabling it to carry small items or manipulate simple things like a door handle. Along with the basic knowledge she'd instilled in it about common household things, these movements would allow it to manipulate its environment with minimal intelligence. Finally, after days of work, she was ready to name the constrictor. But what to name it? Her first instinct was 'Scarfy', but then she was faced with the problem that there were two scarves, and what to name the second one? She considered and discarded a few other possible names, until she finally settled on one. She could only hope Rayage would like it. "Crusher," she named it, snapping her fingers and giving the snake its life spark.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

After some days spent on the first scarf, Tock began on the second. She carefully refreshed the Glyphs she'd used, keeping them all in the same alignment, and simply retracing the carefully etched runes. Once everything was complete, she began the process again. Much of it was the same as the first. A drop of her soul was added and sculpted, and she added the same Directives: loyalty first to her, then to Rayage, then to anyone who was given the Authentication codeword. She made a separate codeword for this one, 'Mykras Ka,' so that they could be commanded separately, if needed. Then she began the programming. Much of it was the same, but she applied some key differences. She also taught this scarf all about the human body, and about basic things it might need to identify: doors, windows, tables, chairs, and so forth. But when she neared the limit of what she felt it could know at this level, she started programming some differences. Instead of focusing on commonplace things, she taught this one to identify more uncommon things, objects of art, and trappings of wealth. She taught it to tell the difference between gold, silver, copper, and other materials based on their coloration. She taught it what a gemstone was, so that it could distinguish them (whereas the other scarf would not be able to tell the difference between a diamond and a rock). She taught it to identify things like candlesticks, vases, and statues. This was a bit complex, teaching it first to identify the material (gold or stone or ivory) then to analyze the shape. There would be limitations, but if the scarf could identify what a man looked like, and it could identify what gold looked like, then identifying a 'gold man' could be associated with a 'statue.' In the end, this scarf had less of an understanding of the things one might find in a common person's house, and more of an understanding of what one might find in a wealthy home. After all, for all she knew, Rayage wanted to train these scarves to rob people. She wanted to make sure they'd do a good job. After extensively programming the scarf with as much knowledge as she could fit into it, she placed the live snake in the circle again, and added the instincts and simple knowledge of the animal. Once again she filled it with the persona of a snake, albeit a far more intelligent than average one. Then she began focusing on movements, teaching it to slither, and imbuing it with all the muscle memory the live snake had. Then it was time for the other key differences. Placing herself as the Source once more, Tock went through the motions she had taught the other snake, including climbing, jumping, and using its tail to grasp and retrieve objects. But then she took it a step further. Flicking her fingers in the air, she mimicked the motions of the snake's fangs flicking out. It took a bit of work to properly instill the ability, since this was neither a natural movement for Tock nor for the Source snake. But Tock had installed the metal fangs, and knew just how they worked. She knew how the guiding pin would pull the blades to flick them outwards, and snap them back in when it was done. Eventually she was able to impart that knowledge into the snake, so that it could deploy or retract its fangs at will. She also added another motion. Holding her hand up to mimic a snake, she snapped her wrist and fingers forward, as if it were a snake strike. She worked the scarf through the movements again and again, striking at different heights and angles. High strikes, low strikes, strikes where it bent its body around to stab at the side (in case it needed to strike around an obstacle). By the time she worked through all the motions, her hand was getting tired, and she took a break to rest and make sure she wouldn't accidentally transfer any of that feeling into the scarf. Once the scarf was sufficiently trained, both in the natural movements and the ones she had added in, it was time to name it. She decided to call this one, "Snapper."

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Official Automaton Descriptions :

I'm posting these here for Ray, so that once the thread is graded and he adds the scarves to his inventory, he can have a full detailed description.

Crusher and Snapper - A pair of twin Animated Scarves. Controls: Verbal and Nonverbal commands (via glass eyes and leather ears). Both have a rudimentary understanding of language and can comprehend commands with child-like intelligence. Directives: Loyalty and Obedience, first to Minerva (as their 'Mother'), second to Rayage (as their 'Adopted Father'). Authentication: Obedience will also be granted to anyone who says the codewords, 'Mykras Ka,' for Snapper and, 'Kryshant Mu,' for Crusher. Weight: 5 lbs. Construction: Iron Silk (an Alchemical substance devised by Rayage) for the main bodies. Wooden heads with glass eyes and leather ears. Snapper also has a pair of retractable metal fangs. Skill Level: Competent in all building/Animation skills used. Additional notes: Crusher is designed like a constrictor snake, but can also perform more complex actions with his body such as using his tail to climb or retrieve objects. He is programmed with greater understanding of commonplace things, and less of upper class/uncommon things. Snapper is designed like an asp, with retractable fangs and the ability to strike and stab with them, as well as being able to perform the same actions Crusher can. Snapper is programmed with slightly lesser understanding of commonplace things, in order to give him better understanding of upper class/uncommon things (such as distinguishing items of wealth).