Seeking Focus (Solo)

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

79th Day of Summer, 512 AV Afternoon/Early Evening After making the arrangements with her new client, Tock headed up to the University to start designing the telescope she had been hired to build. She stopped in the library along the way, picking up some books on telescopes and astronomy. Then she headed up to the Astronomy Tower to take some measurements of the telescopes there. Being here put a bit of a bad taste in her mouth. The last time she had been up here had been... had been with Satevis. Not being an astronomy student herself (come on, who gave a damn about the stars, when there was so much to study, right down here on Mizahar!?), she never had any reason to come up here. Until today. She was wearing her new Eyes, not paying any attention to the strange looks she was getting while wearing the contraption in the University halls. Strapped around her head with a leather belt, the device had a pair of spectacles perched on he front, raised above her eyes until she needed to lower the spectacles into position. The hinged wooden frame they were built into made them look strange enough, before considering the six multi-jointed little wooden arms that rose like tentacles from her forehead and temples. For the moment the arms, two of which held large glass sighting lenses, were folded back and awaiting something to do. They'd be quite helpful once she started her studies. Tock was also a bit distracted. Her mind was on her little friend Mikey, in the infirmary. She was trying really hard not to think about him, though. Doing some work would be a good distraction. She needed to stay focused. Concentrate on her work. Not on the sick little boy who... No, she wouldn't think about him. She had work to do. Important work.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

She immediately started taking measurements of one of the telescopes, Eyes lowering her spectacles into place so she could see without leaning so close and squinting. She used a strip of marked leather tape to measure the circumference of the telescope tube at each segment, having Handy, strapped to her left wrist, hold one end of the tape while she held the other in her left hand. This kept her right hand free to take notes and record the measurements. While she was measuring the length and width of each segment and listing all the numbers, a man approached her. He was dressed like a professor, but looked too young to be one. "May I help you?" he asked. "Nope," she said without even glancing at him. She was busy, and not particularly in the mood to chat. "What are you doing to the telescope?" he asked patiently. "Ain't none o' yer business, Guv," she replied gruffly. "I's busy. Git!" She hated it when people bugged her while she was working. "Actually," he replied, adjusting his spectacles, "it IS my business. I'm Professor Cyril... I'm in charge up here." Tock finally turned to look at him, her spectacles adjusting themselves along her new angle of vision. She held up her page of numbers, and Eyes reached out with one of his little wooden arms, snapping the small clip on the end onto the page to take it from her. With the page held off to the side just within her field of vision, Tock studied the man for a moment, then turned back to her work and said, "Ya look younger 'an Satey said..." Satevis had worked for Professor Cyril in the Astronomy Tower, and used to talk about him on occasion. Though this was the first time Tock was meeting the man.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

With her primary measurements complete, Tock started unscrewing the end cap of the telescope to expose the main lens. Professor Cyril reached out to stop her and shouted, "What are you DOING!?" Hated. That. Question. "I's takin' 'er apart!" Tock said through clenched teeth. Didn't this man have more important things to do than bothering her? It was bad enough she couldn't keep her thoughts off little Mikey, but now she had another distraction to deal with. Plus she wanted to get this done and go home so she could sit down. Being on her feet too much gave her serious pain and cramps from her slowly healing sword wound. "You... You can't do that!" Cyril protested as she continued disassembling the telescope. His hands fluttered about like he wanted to stop her, but was afraid he might damage the delicate equipment if he got rough about it. "Course I can," Tock replied in an irritated tone, thinking the man was doubting her ability to do it. She got the end cap off and held it up to the light to examine the design. "Jus' watch me...' "No, you can't!" Cyril said, taking the brass piece from her and holding it gingerly. Tock scowled at him, and would have snapped if not for the fact that he was a professor. "Whazza big idea, Guv?" she asked, reaching out to try to retrieve the piece. "I's studyin' 'at!" Cyril held it away from her, cradling the brass in both hands as if it were an egg, instead of a piece of metal. "No, no, no!" he said. "Are you even a student here?" He took a closer look at Eyes, who kept adjusting his lenses to keep focused on the brass piece with every move Cyril's hands made. Then he looked at Handy on her wrist, who was fiddling with the measuring tape as if bored. Finally Cyril met her eyes and said, "Oh... you're her..." Tock folded her arms beneath her breasts, glared at him through her magic spectacles, and asked, "Oy, what's 'AT s'posed ta mean!?"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Cyril was still cradling the detached part, and seemed indecisive between placing it on the nearby table, or trying to reattach it. But while he was no doubt skilled at using the telescope, he didn't seem to know anything about its construction. He held it up gingerly for a moment, afraid of knocking the lens loose, and started trying to figure out how to screw it back on without damage. Tock growled and snatched it away from him, causing him to inhale sharply, his hands spreading out wide in a vain attempt at protection. "Doooon't!" he hissed. "I done asked ya a question!" Tock said, waving the end cap in his face. She was getting impatient. "What?" he asked, so focused on the telescope that he didn't seem to be paying attention to her words (which wasn't fair, because that's what SHE wanted to be doing). "Whatcha done means, 'yous 'er'?" she demanded, staring him down. "Oh," he cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "Just that I've heard of you. From the other professors... and around the city. There's some rumors about..." he waved his hands at Eyes, "these..." Eyes adjusted the sighting lenses to focus on Cyril, until Tock's eyes were comically magnified as she glared at him. "'Ese," she said in irritation, while Handy waved hello at the man, "is my babies! Ya done oughta treats 'em wit' respect, Guv!" Cyril cleared his throat, seeming to take a moment to remember that he was the professor here, and she was just a student. After a moment he said, "Yes, well, that's all well and good... but I have to insist that you reassemble this telescope at once! Have you any idea how much it cost!?" Tock muttered, "If'n she's more'n two 'undred, I's gettin' ripped off..." She turned back to her notes and started tracing the end cap onto a page to ensure she had the dimensions right. Cyril stared at her for a moment, no doubt used to students listening to him when he gave them a command. Tock, of course, wasn't a typical student. "Miss..?" he said, trying a softer tone. "Tock," she said, while using a pair of calipers to measure the width of the metal itself. She jotted down some more numbers, taking measurements from multiple angles. She also checked the tread depth by measuring inside the thin grooves. Those would take some careful work to duplicate. "Tock," Cyril replied. "Yes, that's right..." Tock glanced up at him with a frown. THAT wasn't usually how this part of the conversation went. "Well, Tock, you realize you're damaging University property, and--" "Ain't no damaged nothin'," she muttered as she continued her measurements. "An' I's 'as her back together by now, if'n ye'd leave off an' quit botherin' me." She just didn't see what the big deal was. "Be that as it may," Cyril continued, "students are NOT allowed to disassemble University property. I insist that you reassemble it at once!" Tock took another moment to complete her measurements on the end cap, then rose to look the man in the eye. She tapped on the side of Eyes's frame, and he raised his arms and the spectacles out of the way so she could look at Cyril clearly. She stared him down, and he stared right back, firm in his authority here. Finally, Tock asked, "What if'n I promise not ta 'urt nothin'...?" Cyril crossed his arms and said, "No. No absolutely not. This is delicate equipment, and should only be handle by experts..." Tock crossed her arms and glared at him, opening her mouth to say, "Now jus' a--" "And if you insist on continuing to be difficult," Cyril interrupted, "we can continue this conversation down in the Administration wing..." Tock shut her mouth. She ground her teeth, irritated that this man was interfering in her work. But there was nothing she could do about it. "Fine," she said, screwing the end cap back on, though she was NOT happy about it. "You can examine it as much as you want," Cyril told her, "without taking it apart. Understood?" Tock sighed and nodded. "Aye," she said. "Fine..."

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

The argument had actually been a blessing in disguise, for it had kept Tock's mind occupied for awhile. Once it was over and Cyril returned to his work across the room (albeit while continuing to keep an eye on her from afar), Tock's mind started to drift. She continued taking measurements, as best as she could without disassembly, but soon there wasn't much left to measure. She sat at a nearby table and started sketching the telescope, drawing the whole device this time instead of just the individual parts. She wondered if Mikey liked the stars. He had never mentioned anything about it, but he was rather fond of the story of Syna and Leth. So maybe he liked to look up to the skies. For a few more days, anyway. She forced her mind off him, and continued her drawing, carefully sketching out the full length of the telescope. Then she rotated it on its stand to draw it from another angle. After a bit of time, her quill stopped moving on the page. She noticed a blurry drop on her spectacles, and realized it was her own tears. "Everything all right, Mi--... Tock?" Cyril asked, stepping over when he noticed her shift in behavior. "Aye," she replied, pulling out a handkerchief to clean Eyes off. She shouldn't be crying on him. She touched his side to command him to raise the spectacles out of the way, so she could wipe at her eyes. Then she realized her handkerchief was covered in ink, and she was smearing it across her face. "Here," Cyril said, stepping forward and offering his. She took it without a word and cleaned her face off, then blew her nose. She silently handed it back to him, then just sat there and stared. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about?" he asked her. "Nah," she said. "I's fine..." She just needed to get back to work.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Under Cyril's watchful eye, Tock spent some time learning about focus. Referring to the books she'd brought with her, she fiddled with the telescopes, grumbling under her breath about how she wanted to take one apart. But even when he was helping other students with their astronomy studies, he kept glancing her way, and she had no chance to disassemble anything. So (for now), she contented herself with figuring out how the lenses adjusted. It seemed relatively simple. There were two types of focus devices she found. The first was a simple rack and pinion setup, with a knob positioned alongside a line of gear teeth on the telescope's spine. A simple twist of the knob adjusted the tube slightly in and out, adjusting the position of the lenses relative to each other. She measured and sketched the knob and gear teeth, taking notes on how far it could adjust and how much difference each adjustment made in the overall focus. She used calipers to measure the gap between the gear teeth and the precise diameter of the knob. Then, when Cyril had his back turned for a moment, she quickly unscrewed the knob and palmed it. When Cyril glanced back her way, she was standing there innocently. The knob was a small enough piece that, from across the room, he didn't notice it was missing. She sat down for a few minutes, standing a book up in front of her on the table to block sight of what she was doing. She carefully measured the dimensions she couldn't reach when it was attached, and laid it down on her paper to trace its size and shape. Once she had everything she needed, she stood back up, wincing at the pain brought by the motion due to her stomach wound. She waited until Cyril stuck his eye to a telescope to check some star or another, then reattached the knob and continued her study.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

The second focus adjuster was an even smaller, finer set of teeth on the same line as the first. These were adjusted by an even smaller dial, allowing for minute adjustments. It took Tock awhile to collect the second, more difficult set of measurements, as well as working through how the two focusers worked in unison. Moving the first caused the second to rotate along with it, but moving the smaller focuser had almost no effect on the bigger one. After fiddling with them a bit she found their connect was similar in principle, if not in the actual mechanics, to the minute and hour hands of a clock. You could rotate either the minute or hour hand, and the other moved in unison, but at a different speed. It took twelve full rotations of a minute hand to equal one full rotation of the hour hand. With her notes updated, she took a look at a collapsible telescope. Her client was a traveler, and would no doubt want to keep the device portable. She spent some time studying the multiple segments of a collapsible tube, studying the way they fit together, how far they could extend, and how cleanly they slid to a closed position. She took more measurements and sketches of this design as well, drawing out the details of the shape, the size differences between each segment, and the design in both extended and collapsed form. "Are you done?" Cyril asked, interrupting her train of thought. He stared at her oddly, probably because she had Eyes holding two pages of notes on either side of her head, with her quill stuck through the hole at the end of one little flexible wooden arm, and Handy sitting on the table holding her book open for her. She just gave him an irritated, "Meh," in response. It was getting late, and while she was done about as much as she COULD do for now, she didn't have everything she really needed. She needed to take one apart! "Because I have a night class starting," Cyril explained. "That means the Astronomy Tower will be closed to all other students for the next two hours..." "Feh, fine!" she replied, grumbling in irritation as she packed up her things. She was irritable, which was in no small part due to the fact that she had promised to visit Mikey tomorrow night, and her heart wasn't ready for 'tomorrow' to come yet.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Sore and tired, Tock didn't make it all the way out of the University before she needed to sit down. Her stomach wound was bothering her, and she didn't have the energy to limp all the way home just then. She found an empty classroom, and decided to rest for a bit in the big, comfy leather chair at the front of the room, which was normally reserved for the professor. She settled in, finding it was even more comfortable than she expected (how come the professors got these lovely chairs while the students got crappy wooden ones?). Before she knew it, she had fallen asleep. She woke from her nap a couple of hours later. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She'd been dreaming... dreaming about her dream. She had Mikey there with her, in her magic city. Except he was fading away, and taking the city with him. It crumpled to dust around her, and all she could do was watch, helpless. Her heart was pounding when she woke, and all she could do was sit there, covering her mouth with one hand, staring at the ceiling. Finally she shook her head and got up. Sleeping in the chair had left her sore, and she groaned, leaning on the wall for support. She decided there wasn't much choice but to head down to the infirmary for a bit, and have one of the nurses apply a salve to ease the ache from her wound. After the salve was applied, and the nurse was covering it with a bandage to keep the wound from getting dirty, she told Tock, "You need to keep off your feet the rest of the night. Go rest, and don't get up until morning." "But it ain't even midnight yet!" Tock protested. She didn't like sleep. It was a waste of time. She rarely slept more than six hours a night, and it was still far too early. "Then if you're not sleepy, sit and read a book or something," the nurse told her. "But no straining activities. Understood?" Tock nodded and groaned, hating it when she had to obey orders. But she decided there was some room for... interpretation within them. Rather than going home, she headed back up to the Astronomy Tower. The class should be out by now, she figured. When she got there, she found the top level empty, except for a single student. She grinned. Let's see 'em stop me now... she thought. She grabbed the telescope that was most like what she wanted to design, and sat down at one of the tables. She used Grippy to pull a second chair over so she could put her feet up and rest. Tock didn't read books... well, on occasion she'd pick up one of the Adventures of Jillian Smythe, Lady Adventurer! So instead of resting and reading a book... she'd rest and take apart a telescope. It was a low-impact activity, and wouldn't strain her any further. As she was beginning to take it apart, the student across the room hurried over and asked, "What are you doing?" Twitch. She slowly turned and raised her head to glare at the girl. It had been a long day. She was sore. Tired. Achey. And her dream, the thought of losing her magic city, had left her in a foul mood. Eyes adjusted his sighting lenses to follow Tock's line of vision, right onto the girl's jugular. Grippy could hold the knife. She wouldn't even need to get up... "You're not allowed to do that!" the girl continued, gesturing to the telescope. Tock looked down at it. She frowned. Blood would take awhile to clean up. She shook her head, clearing out the dark thoughts. "Whazzit ta ya?" she asked the girl, continuing to pull the pieces apart. She carefully set the glass lens aside, and started pulling off the different collapsible segments of the tube. She took careful notes, and traces each part as she pulled it off, jotting down notations about which parts went together in which order so she could reverse the process. "I'm one of the student teachers," the girl said. "Professor Cyril's assistant! And you... you can't take apart the telescopes!" Tock glanced up at the girl once more, staring at her through Eyes's spectacles. She sucked on her teeth for a moment, considering this unexpected problem. Then after a moment's consideration, she looked back down to her work. "'E said s'okay," she lied. "What long as I does 'er 'ere, an' don't take it outta the tower. An' 'as 'er together 'gain 'fore next class starts..." She kept her eyes on her work, pretending she was just concentrating on what she was doing, but really she was avoiding meeting the girl's eyes during her lie. "Oh..." the girl said uncertainly. "Well... maybe I should go ask...?" Tock shrugged, pretending it didn't matter to her. Worst case scenario, if the girl left, she could study as much as possible before she got back with Cyril. "Whatever, Sook," she said. "I think 'e jus' done left. I talked ta 'im 'fore 'is last class, done told me I 'ad ta wait til 'e were done an' come back. Ain't 'e gone 'ome by now?" "Oh... true..." the girl replied, touching her chin in thought. She surely didn't want to go bother the professor at home. Uncertain what other sort of lie might help, Tock thought for another long moment on how to distract the girl and get her off the thought of fetching the professor. Finally, she lifted her shirt to show off her bandage and said, "Oy, Sook, I's 'urt, aye? Can't walk so good... think maybe ya could fetch me some water? Doc done said ain't so good what fer me ta get too de'ydrated..." That was a blatant lie, and as far as she knew (not that she knew the first thing about medicine) being thirsty wouldn't hurt her any worse. But the lie served its purpose. "Oh!" the girl said, covering her mouth with her hand and looking at the red skin around the bandage. "Oh, of course! Wait right there, I'll grab you something real quick..." The girl left, and by the time she returned with a cup of water, Tock had the whole telescope disassembled. Since it was too late by then for fetching the professor to even matter, she dismissed it, and left Tock to continue her work.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock continued studying the telescope for the next few hours, until she had sketches, measurements, and dimensions of every part. Then she took the sketches she's made and started working out her own design. It wouldn't do to just duplicate what she had seen here. She had to at at least a little bit of a personal touch. She spent some time working through different designs, sketching out versions at different lengths and with different artistic touches, such as decorative scrollwork on the sides or an end cap etched with the shape of an eye. After a little while, her mind started to drift. She moved from sketching telescopes to drawing people under the stars. Without realizing what she was even doing, she ended up sketching herself and Mikey, sitting on a hill under a starlit sky. She drew his face healthy and well-fed, with a smile gracing his lips. Not the weak, forced smile she saw each time she went into the infirmary, but a pure, natural smile. One of pure joy and freedom. In the drawing, she had her arm around him, holding him close, like... like they were family. It wasn't until she lifted her quill from the page and looked down at it that she even realized where her mind had wandered. She was supposed to be working. She had important work to do, and here she was sketching useless doodles of things that would never happen! Disgusted, she tapped Eyes to raise the lenses out of the way, and snatched the page up to crumple it. She was about to throw it away, then stopped. After a moment's pause, she carefully opened the page back up and smoothed it out. Tears dotted the paper, blurring the ink. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and set the paper aside with her other drawings. Then she laid her head on her crossed arms, and let out a heavy sigh.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Some time later she awoke with a start. She looked around blearily, snorting softly and rubbing at her face. She blinked a few times and Eyes lowered her spectacles into place to clear her vision. She looked around and saw students entering the room. She was still in the Astronomy Tower, and it was morning. "Are you heading home?" a voice asked. It was the girl from last night. "I wasn't sure if I should wake you... When I came over, th-that," she pointed at Handy, "swatted at me. I-...I thought that meant not to bother you..." Tock looked around, her mind slowly clicking all the pieces together. It was morning... she had to go to work soon... and, crap, the telescope was still in pieces in front of her. "Aye," she muttered, grabbing the pieces and checking her notes to begin reassembling it properly. "Aye, I's leavin'... uhhh, izzat, Professor guy comin' back?" The girl nodded and replied, "Cyril? Yes, he's due any minute..." CRAP! Tock worked quickly, sliding the tube segments together, sticking the lenses carefully where they belonged, and screwing everything gently into place. She was just finishing up when Cyril entered. He spotted her right away and walked over. He exchanged brief 'good mornings' with the girl, and she headed off to wherever she went after work. Cyril stopped in front of the table Tock was sitting at and looked her over, frowning. She looked up at him, tapping Eyes's side to make him lift the lenses and spectacles out of the way. After a long moment, worrying she was in trouble, she asked, "Oy, what?" He pulled out a clean handkerchief and handed it to her. "You have something..." he said, gesturing vaguely to his face. Tock frowned and wiped the handkerchief across her face, and found it smeared with ink. While she was sleeping she had apparently leaned on Mikey's drawing, smearing the ink with her tears. When she was cleaned up, Cyril retrieved the handkerchief and said, "I've another class starting. Are you going to be a regular sight around here?" He looked over the telescope, and Tock subtly laid her hand over a small knob she'd forgotten to reattach. "Nah," she said, forcing a smile. "Done gots all I need." Cyril nodded and told her, "Well, if you ever want to study the stars instead of just the telescopes, let me know..." With that he turned to his assembled class on the other side of the room, and Tock slipped the knob back into place. She rose, sore and stiff from the way she had slept, and returned the telescope to its stand. She tightened up a few loose parts, then gathered her notes and sketches, and headed off to work.