[Infirmary] Long Day (Iggy)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Not bad, mate," she said, holding his work up and checking it. It was a simple enough design, so there wasn't much he could screw up. "'Ere, now make a dozen o' 'ese," she said, holding up a thin, round stick of wood that would serve as one of the spokes. She showed him how to mark the size, so that he could carve down each rectangle of wood, trimming the corners down to create curves. She left him to work on that while she made some adjustments to his wheel, making sure it was perfect. Once all the parts were made, she showed him how to assemble them, drilling small holes for the spokes, and more in the ends of the wheel pieces. Small wooden pegs fit into these holes to hold the four curved pieces together, while the spokes were fitted into holes drilled in the central hub and the inner rim of the wheel. Then she started carving an axle, and set another block of wood before Iggy. "Now, ya gotta decide if'n 'e's gonna 'as some personality..." she said. "We can make a spot fer the axle 'ere," she marked some points on the bottom of the block, which could be drilled through to make a hole for the axle to fit through. "An' the eyes up 'ere," she pointed to some spots along the top. "But it's up ta ya if'n ya wanna put a face on 'im, o' anythin'..." There was no reason they couldn't simply assemble it as-is. Many of Tock's earliest Animations didn't have much in the way of personal features. Her crutches and Grippy were purely functional, without any sort of face or anything. But as she had progressed, she had started adding more details. Naily and Choppy, while mostly functional, had little eyes and shapes to their bodies that gave them some more personality. Then Handy, one of her greatest works, had deep detail right down to the intricate shapes of his knuckles. It all depended on how much 'artistry' Iggy might want to put into it.

[Ignotus Everto]

The spokes were a little more difficult for Ignotus. His first one was about as straight as a yew branch, but after a couple more tries and a lot less hurry, he was slowly whittling his way to a nice set of spokes. After about a bell or so of carving, he clumsily fitting the spokes in with Tock's guidance. Finally, he turned his attention to the block of wood. "Now, ya gotta decide if'n 'e's gonna 'as some personality..." Ignotus rubbed his chin thoughtfully, drumming his fingers on his cheek. Yes, he decided it would only be fitting to give his creation a bit of flair. Besides, he may as well also get an art lesson. "Hmm... Do we have any long pieces of glass? Perhaps we could put three of those masks you see in theaters on him. Hopefully, we can just have three long eyes instead of six round ones." He'd have to pay for glass, after all. Regardless of what Tock's answer was, he smiled and began to trace a stylized, slightly crude image of a happy face. It was nice to have something truly shaped by his hands from the ground up, instead of shaped after the fact. Of course, dead wood didn't present any challenge.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock shook her head and said, "All I's gots is 'ese." She pulled out her bag of glass pieces, each one only about coin-sized, designed to look like fake gemstones. "But, looksee 'ere..." Not sure if she had the right idea about the 'three long eyes,' she sketched out a long, visor-like image on a sheet of paper, and set one of the gems in the center. Positioned like that, the length of the eye looked like it was peering at you wickedly, with the gem forming the pupil. It would give the image a nice look, with a single, long eye stretched above the face, which she sketched with an evil grin. And the eye in the center would still give the functionality they needed. "'At 'bout whatcha 'ad in mind?" she asked. She couldn't be sure if the image was the one he wanted, but she thought it looked pretty bad ass.

[Ignotus Everto]

Ignotus leaned over to see her design, then chuckled and nodded, "That's quite an improvement on what I had in mind. That's one face. For the other two..." he sketched out a pair of similar faces, one glowering sorrowfully out at you, the other snarling. "That's quite a clever solution, Tock... I'm impressed." It was amusing how easily he could pull her along with nothing but a string of compliments. As easily as luring a mouse with cheese. Ignotus smiled admiringly at Tock and got to work replicating the faces on the golem body. This was where obsessive attention to detail came in very handy, though it wasn't a full replacement for artistic skill. Half an hour later, the grinning face was done. The work was a little clumsy, but it was chiseled out with a vast number of minute scrapings, and as a result it wasn't too shoddy unless you decided to examine it closely. Finally, he fitted the glass eye snugly in place, and started chipping at the golem's "body." Two scaly arms with three fingers and small claws on their hands held a simplistic plate. Later on, that plate would be home to stored spells. "I wonder... Can we allow it to turn?" It wouldn't do at all for its front face to be depleted, and the other two to be unable to face a foe.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock nodded and said, "Aye, 'at's simple 'nough... 'Ere..." Since they hadn't done the slot for the axle yet, she grabbed another piece of wood and did some spot measurements, then began cutting. She cut and carved out a base with a long slot for the axle, and a circular section atop that the head would fit into, holding it like a neck. With quick and practiced motions she carved out a round peg that she fixed in the center, then drilled a matching hole in the bottom of the head. Then she carved a narrow groove around the base of the head, and cut two semi-circular pieces of wood to match the size. She worked her chisels around the inner rim of the two pieces, adding a matching groove that would fit over the one on the head. The head was slid onto the wooden peg, and the two 'collar' pieces fixed around it, then nailed into the base. The collar held the head in place, but loose enough to allow the head to twist in either direction, rotating on the peg inside. "'Ere we go," she said with a nod. "Now 'e can turn an' look in any direction ya need."

[Ignotus Everto]

"And express himself." Ignotus remarked wryly, "Surprised people aren't begging you to design buildings for them." He turned the golem's head so that the finished face was looking at Tock, and got to work on the next one: the sad one. "What do we do after he's finished?" he asked without looking up. He was far too busy carving out the eye at the moment to take his off of the block.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"We calls it a night," Tock replied. "An' ya comes back tomorrow. S'late, an' ain't so good fer ta Animate when yer tired. Can... mess up the programming..." She looked at Cutty longingly, an ache in her chest as she said this. She still hadn't figured out how to repair him. Soon though... soon... Once Iggy had finished, and there was no more carving or assembly to be done, she showed Iggy out, telling him to come back bright and early the next morning. She had some projects of her own to do, and couldn't devote all of her time to her new 'student.' "Prolly takes ya a few days, even fer a simple'un, aye?" she told him. "Figger..." she thought on it for a moment, calculating the time it would take a brand new novice to program basic mobility, responses to verbal commands, the ability to sense movement, and instinctive fight or flight response with a codeword switch. That was quite a lot more than she put into her first Automaton. When she had made Bitey, she had merely programmed him with a spider's basic instincts and movements, nothing more. No understanding, no ability to follow commands. Nothing but pure, animal instinct. A raw novice would have a hard time with even the basics they were planning for this Automaton. Tock would definitely need to be assisting him along the way. After she added it up she told him, "Prolly take ya a full morning jus' ta make the Soulcore the first time. 'En another one fer ta git the directives an' the codewords in real good. Another fer ta teach 'im 'is instincts. An another fer movement. Four days." Tock could likely get it done faster than that, if she was doing it herself. But when she was just guiding her student, it would take him a fair bit longer. "Can't rush genius, though, aye?" she told him with a smirk. She gave him a friendly smack on the arm, and sent him on his way.

[Cascade]

Adventurer's Loot Tock's Loot : Skill XP Reward Puppeteering +2 Teaching +5 Persuasion +1 Carving +1 Carpentry +3 Drawing +1 Rhetoric +2 Lore: Teaching Puppeteering The Feeling of Guilt Ignotus's Offer of Help Proud of the Babies Teaching Animation: Like Having Sex Teaching Ignotus How to Animate Ignotus: Animation Student Being Called a Genius The Color of Pride Notes: Considering Tock's skill in carving, please note that it should be soo much more difficult for her to raise her skill now... meaning she has to challenge herself even more. Ignotus's Loot : Skill XP Reward Persuasion +2 Hypnotism +3 Carving +2 Carpentry +2 Drawing +2 Observation +1 Lore: Zeltiva: The Infirmary Attempted Empathy Mikey the Sick Kid Tock's Magic Puppets Tock: Animator Tock's Home Animation: Programmed Thoughts Animation: Basic Commands Animation: Directives The Fun in Building Golems Items or Consequences: + Golem + 10 lbs iron (5 GM) + Gadgeteering Toolkit (150 GM) + Woodcarver's Toolkit (50 GM) + Hammer (5 SM) + 10 lbs leather (4 GM) + Bag of Glass (10 GM) - 229 GM 5 SM Notes: Heeey Iggy. Just an FYI, but remember that you'll earn more XP with more description. For example, single sentences stating that you popped thoughts into Tock's head will not garner Iggy much Hypnotism XP. Is Iggy proposing to turn Mikey into a Nuit? Interesting, hehe. So, I know Iggy and Tock convinced the shopkeeper to let Iggy put it on a tab, but in the end, you still need to pay for it. Feel free to RP that he paid for it a season later, but you will still need to take the cash out of your ledger. Hope you understand. This was a fun thread. Tock seems to be a great teacher, and I'm sure Iggy learned a lot from her. Enjoy your lores. I put XP where I thought it was fair, but feel free to PM me if you have any questions.