Solo Hear No Evil Part II

[Switch]

Hear No Evil Part II

17th Summer 514

Switch found himself sitting in Lab 22A, his back was facing the door as he was working on a scrap of what appeared to be parchment and the charred edge of a wooden tinder used to light candles for night use. “No no... Not effective.” He grumbled and tore the piece he was scribbling on and balled it up. Grunting as he tossed it over the edge of the table Switch sat his rump hard on the table.

“The holder needs to be deep, but not too deep...” Putting tip to parchment the pycon appeared to be concentrating as he drew a relatively wide shaped 'U' on the scrap. There was no clue as to what the item was suppose to be made of, but that wasn't what Switch was trying to do. He was trying to figure out what sort of shape he wanted and how to go about creating it... That was the first step, determining what he wanted it to do. That goal was simple... Switch wanted a movable machine that could hold a heat bit of coal. A portable heating source.

Putting the unburnt end against his lower lip the clay animator chewed on the bit of wood absentmindedly as he pondered the next step in his endeavor. The basic holder was on paper, the idea was in his mind... But the need to put idea to paper, well... That was proving difficult for Switch. “Legs... Legs... Need something that it can use to climb, move and... Well, stand. Legs... Legs...” Tapping the stick someone against his lip the pycon frowned, “Legs...”

He looked down at his own two, they stuck out like little twigs, stability was required and he knew that two little wooden ones just wouldn't do. As he had a general idea of wanting to use metal for the coal holding apparatus. So the legs needed to be made of metal, or at least metal close to the apparatus.

“Hmm. Legs must have points on them, to allow for easy traction and the ability to climb if needed, yet if it needs to be climbing it needs to have a lid. Yes yes, a lid to keep it from getting cold and going out. Heat must be kept heated... But heat needs flowing air.. Yes yes...”

A flourish of the charred bit of wood and the pycon as made a quick note on the sketch about needing airflow in the coal holder. A few more flicks of his wrist and the pycon drew out two angles on the base of the holder with a note that there were suppose to be two more on the other side. Nodding at that bit Switch sat back up and looked at it.

“Something missing...” A frown graced his facial features. “What's missing...”

[Switch]

The lacking item was obvious after the animator took his time to look over his poor drawing, the lid! He forgot to make mention of the precious lid. A flick of the wood and Switch had a quick drawn lid placed on top. Pausing once more Switch stared at the image. The image was just one view, a side view and a poorly excuse of a scribble called a drawing at that. It couldn't even be declared a sketch or a doodle! For the sake of the gods Switch was satisfied with something an infant could scrawl out using daddy or mommy's charcoal.

On the open space to the right of the sketch the pycon made notes of materials he knew he needed to procure to make sure it was correctly built. The body must be made of metal as wood would just burn and that wouldn't do. The body needs to be deep enough to hold a bit of hot coals and when in motion can be kept within and there needs to be airflow. So a thimble might work, but holes being poked into it are going to be problematic. Maybe I can find a mesh or maybe a discarded tea strainer. The gods know there are some odd pulsers on this island that drink that awful liquid. So Switch scribbled down:

• Tea Strainer or Mesh for body.

He already knew the legs needed to be partly metallic and he needed four of them. Yet they needed to be jointed. Joints were important for moving, he watched the Nuits as they got closer to needing their bodies replaced walk around stiff legged and that made climbing stairs near impossible for them. The Pulsers were far easier to copy in movement, but their joints were numerous and Switch had no time nor place to study one up close. Let a lone a willing subject.

Instead though Switch knew what he wanted to copy for leg formation, he found that spider legs would be a perfect example of what he needed and he saw them enough in the walls and his housing to see how they walked, so imitating them wouldn't be too difficult.

“Yes yes, spider legs. Spider legs work well for climbing and skittering. Four of them oughta do yes yes...” He twittered and beside one of the 'leg' drawn in his sketch he made a point to show a possibly joint design, the part going upward was hooked and fed into what appeared to be a hole in the part going down. He nodded to himself, his drawing was starting to make more sense once he included the needed conceptual material criteria.

“Top top... need a top. Heat proofed, or at least not flammable. Yes yes... Hmmm.” The lid need to be easy to get a hold of, attach, and open and close. This left the three inch pycon a bit perplexed in thought as he tapped on his chin with a finger, “Maybe an inkpot lid? I mean they are pretty sturdy and the mages use them close to heat... Sometimes their candles to get close enough. Yes yes, that should work.” And so the pycon animator and gadgeteer scribbled down:

• Inkpot Lid, one that can be attached to the body.

The image was starting to have an impression on the Pycon's thought process, he could almost visualize amongst his tangle of scribbles what he was going to need, the legs were the last tricky part, he had a feeling a bit of tinkering was going to be in need and some mental thinking. But that can wait until he had the rest of the body completed and the lid attached. His pack was sitting next to him, it finally dawned on the scavenger that it sat there.

Deep inside it was a three inch bit of wire he had to fold up carefully and without any care to his well being, or his pack – it did have a torn strap after all – Switch crammed the wire into his possessions.

“The wire can hold the lid on... Yes yes... The wire can hold the lid in place and still allow for opening and closing. Yes yes...” Rubbing hands together he twittered to himself in a soft giggle of sorts before standing. “Yes yes Lid... Body. Yes yes. Must find...” The pycon nodded as he repeated himself again, “Yes yes... Lid... Yes yes... Body... Find... Find Body. Metal, mesh or holy... But must be metal... Yes yes. Wood no good. Wood burn. Burn bad... yes yes...”

“Heh. Yes yes... Portable heat... Yes yes... Body metal... No wood... Yes yes.”

Bad Paint.NET drawing I did to illustrate what Switch drew :

[Switch]

Standing Switch had realized then he was in the Lab, not in his room and therefore was already out in the 'field' and therefore most of his material searching would involving digging and tossing aside the trash of others to find the materials he had a need for. First was the body, it needed to be metal and be able to hold stuff within... That ruled out the nearby discarded spindles used for sewing thread as well as the square glass bottles used for storing ink.

Instead of remaining on the tabletop Switch decided it was time to go digging amongst the materials on the floor, if he couldn't find it there he knew he could go in search in the other labs nearby, after all he was pretty small he could squeeze through the gap between the door and the floor and find himself out in the hall, a few ticks of scurrying across the open floor plan and Switch could find himself in another lab... He just hoped it wouldn't come to that. Oh no, the pycon got lucky so far, he was able to find what he was looking for within this very lab so far, why not keep searching it until its reservoirs were in need of being replenished?

Using his elasticity the pycon shifted his body so he was twisting around the table leg and onto the ground unharmed, he didn't need his pack nor the contents within it just yet, later he will... When he found what he was in search of that is. Right now he had to find it. Looking around the lab he realized he might have to squeeze behind the table and squish against the wall to search for the body, so that was a good place to start. It was a quick stroll around the table, he felt no need to hide or sneak around as he was alone currently and therefore a leisurely stroll was all he required. Once he found himself at the back end of the table he leaned against the wall, his head leaning against his shoulder and pressed hard against the wall, peering into the gloom he could see glinting bits of some sort of metallic objects, but he couldn't quite tell what they were.

“Hmph.” Switch grumbled as he found himself getting on his hands and knees and start to crawl under the table, as he disappeared into the murky dark Switch half wished he had a portable light source, Yes yes... Portable candle... Yes yes. It was an idea Switch had to slide away into the back of his nexus and hope to recall it up later when he had more time to think at it thoroughly. Right now he had to find out what those metallic objects were. The closer he got to the first one it was clearly nothing of use currently, a bit of metal shavings that found their way discarded over the edge, the pulsers and undead were such slobs sometimes it appeared.

Without a care for the shavings Switch moved on, several more inches deeper into the murky dark and he found himself confronted with a small ball of cloth that was stuffed with something and within it were several sewing straight pins and needles, apparently a nuit's body repair kit was lacking and Switch grabbed a hold of it before he tugged it closer and then pushed it out behind him, leaving it behind where it rested until he had to turn around and retrieve it later, Pins and needles... Hmm, possible legs...

The rest of the objects that glinted were all pretty useless to the pycon and therefore he left the discarded shavings and quill tips be for now and instead struggled to shuffle himself in a poor attempt to turn around and then head back the way he came, pushing the pins and needles out as he got to them and the pin cushion.

[Ink]

Back in lab 22A the scene had changed in Switch’s absence. A ghost struggling to carry a tea-tray had stopped for a rest, her soul mist control still in training. The tray now settled precariously on the precipice the very table Switch had been using. The tray had not only a teacup and saucer but a little metal teapot with a customized hinged lid. Practically a gold mine for the industrious Pycon infiltrator. The steam fled the little kettle through its spout while the ghost girl regrouped.

The spectre flittered about the lab observing as she rested with an effervescent smile upon her mien. Curiously inspecting objects much like the Pycon would in his venture for materials, only her intentions were only to look. Her little slippered feet appeared to walk but the way she moved was too smooth to match actual steps and not the proper speed. Still the attempt was more than other ghosts might bother with.

After a few moments of these sporadic observations she absentmindedly returned to the tray. Pale tendrils of blanched hair wriggled on the non-existent breeze. Looking down at the table the ghost noticed a project in progress, she found the little drawing. Her ghostly fingers trailed the lines as she tried to unravel this strange new puzzle in her ethereal mind. It would be several chimes before she moved on unless someone or something interrupted her.

She hummed a quiet tune at a haunting melody and swayed. The teapot was nearly forgotten now and the stream of steam was steadily slowing, someone was going to be very displeased with the little ghost girl soon but it was in nature to be waifish and wind-like and so she didn’t seem to have a care for her previous task in the least.

[Switch]

Switch found it was time to turn back around and push his way back out from this cramped location and back into the rays of Syna. Arriving with a pin cushion ahead of himself the pycon stood and groaned a bit as bubbles popped within his body, the tension he had to hold in order to crawl and turn was insanely overbearing for his body and the popping felt amazing. It wasn't until the popping within Switch's body ceased did he realize he was getting cold and realized he was standing within a misty cloud of what appeared to be fog. Shivering the pycon inventor shuffled his way out of the 'fog', a process that took less than a full tick. Once beyond the fog Switch realized that it was a limited fog, not like a typical weather related fog.

Ignoring that for a bit Switch found himself looking around the room. Apparently in his search someone returned with tea and happened to have left it on the table above. “Hmm.” As his racial curiousity peaked the Animator found himself climbing back up on the stool and look about when he reached the seating surface. There by the wall he noticed a human, or at least what he assumed was one, but they weren't looking his way... That worked well for him, the teapot glimmer caught his attention and the scavenger in him wanted it. The spout was puffing out hot steam meaning if he could add something to the spout to act as an oxygen source.

A nod to himself and the Pycon leapt the distance between stool and table, unfortunately he had no real skill in this action and found himself catching the table's edge and crashing into the teacup and saucer. Tipping the blasted thing over his whole being and capturing himself underneath it. “Petch.”

[Ink]

Oblivious to her Pycon trespasser the ghost continued her examinations, that is until the teapot tipped. The ghost girl shrieked, her wail slowly flowed down into a chant, “no no no no no!” Her voice sped and slowed at arbitrary intervals. The actual talking seemed to be an unconscious effect because immediately she gathered her soulmist to retrieve the fallen dishes. The hot water flooding the crevices in the stone floor held no danger for her intangible slippered toes and she moved through it without disturbing the spill. Slowly the tray begin to right itself at her mists insistence. When she was finally able to write the tray, cup, and pot she realized there was a tiny clay figure present. Her no-ing instantly stopped and the ghost girl floated nearer to inspect him as well.

After a moment's observation she reached out her hand to touch the little oddity. “Hello little smidge” she said in the same way one might speak to an inanimate doll. “I have not seen the wizards make things like you before. Are you a toy?” If the pycon did not evade her she would materialize to pick him up. It was her last diversion before returning with the tray because she would soon need more of her Master’s soulmist to complete her task. “My name is Ariela, what is your name? May I call you Smidge?”

[Switch]

A toy... Smidge... The gods have sent me a mentally unstable ghost! Gods why must ye be so cruel! Switch thought as the poor excuse of a hiding spot (as it wasn't intentional) was upturned and his form was visible once more. “Uhh.. No no not a toy. I am an assistant... Yes yes.. I am an assistant to... Uhh..” Think Switch think!.... Who is a wizard you know? Even if remotely?

“I am an assistant to the Wizard Annalisa Marin. Yes yes. She would be very angry if you called me a toy.” He stood as tall as his miniature size would allow him, which wasn't very tall at all. “She asked me to find something. Something like this lovely teapot. She said it was important for her project. Yes yes... Very important indeed.” His fingers touched the pot gently, he could feel the heat but it was dull and didn't effect him much at all.

“She said for me to finds one and have it left here with me upon her return. I been looking all day, no findy until now. I command you ethereal being, in her place, to leave this teapot, emptied of its contents, in my possession.” He nodded, the small man trying his best to hide his nervousness and trying to exult as much authority as he possibly could in his words. It was an utter lie, he was no wizard's assistant, let alone did she ask him to find such a teapot.

The object he was demanding to be left though was for an important project, just one of his own.

“Yes yes, leave the teapot, emptied, and take your leave... Unless you can find me something else? I was also in need of a spider, alive and captured. Unable to move if that is possible. Can you help me with that? Mistress demanded that as well.”

[Ink]

“Oh I don’t know, Assistant Smidge. I don’t know Wizard Marin I only know Master Thomas” The ghost girl replied, concerned and confused. She lifted the teapot and held it to her chest. The very human gesture all but failed for the ghost because the teapot mostly ended up inside her chest rather than resting against it. “I don’t think thats a good idea Assistant Smidge, Master Thomas likes his teapot…”

“A spider? Yes I could get you a spider. That is very easy! No teapot though, you cannot have this.” She began gathering up the tray and teacups, putting everything back in order. “Come on Assistant Smidge I will show you to many spiders.” She turned to leave and then gasped, “Oh Assistant Smidge can a toy keep up?” She bent forward to offer the tray for him to stand on it.

Wisking away without further ado or theatrics, Ariela floated a reasonable clip down the hallways.It was up to Switch to keep up or hold on. She took several flights of stairs downward and twisted through not a few hallways. When they passed a wizard or slave she made sure to keep the tray from being bumped but paid no mind to rest of her form.

WHen she finally slowed she nearly forgot to open the door for them to pass through and bumped the tray against it. Belatedly she opened the wooden portal and brought them both into a laboratory that Switch would never before have seen. With jarring force Ariela placed the tea tray down on an open table.

Although from the outside there had been no untoward noises, inside was a small symphony of animal sounds. Scratching and braying and a hiss or two for character. The majority of the iron cages were empty though they varied from small enough to contain a mouse to large enough for a bison. Laying sprawled out on top of a number of papers was an enormous grey tabby cat. the feline had rolled about on the fresh writings and gotten several splashes of black ink clumped in his fur. Notably the insides of his ears were deathly pale and his body had little fat. All waxy skin and emaciated flesh.

As the tray hit the table, the cat opened a patronizing eye to see what had entered. As much as he might enjoy a catnap it was against his nature to sleep. Slowly the cat got up on his white paws and hopped off the desk to amble over to the ghost and Switch. Notably, around his neck hung on a leather cord was a Wizard’s ring of rank.

“Master Thomas” Ariela announced, “The tea spilt, I am sorry!” This was all a strange ritual given that Master Thomas was in fact unable to drink the tea. Ariela had come to suspect he usually only sent her out to make her leave him for awhile “But I found something you might like! Master Thomas, this is Assistant Smidge, he works for Wizard Marin.”

The cat’s whiskers twitched and his tail flicked back and forth as the name Marin echoed through the room. Jumping up onto the table, the cat began to inspect this strange new toy.

[Switch]

Switch found himself being carried away by the ghost, the tray seemed to float through the air with ease and as the doors reached the small man had to squeeze his eyes shut as they kept getting closer and closer, each door didn't last long as they were opened and the two went through them. Yet when he was sat down on a table with the tray he looked around the room. It was filled with cages – empty and filled with animals – yet that wasn't exactly what caught his attention.

Petching Shyke... The cat must be either the Wizard in some animal form, or he was looking at some sort of advanced form of a golem that would alert this... Master Thomas, of having a visitor. Yet the way the ghost spoke, he wagered the cat was the wizard. When the ghost leaked that he was 'the assistant to Wizard Marin' the cat leapt to the table, nearly knocking the little clay man over.

Shyke shyke petching triple shyke in a pile of Nuit shyke. Why? Why Switch did you just doom yourself! Think...

“Uhh...” Nothing, he was a small toy for this Wizard. “Uhh...” Switch gulped.


“Hi...” He waved meekly, hoping to the gods he wasn't about to be eaten.

[Ink]

After Switch offered his hesitant greeting the Cat pulled back into a stretch that rippled the length of its undead body. He laid down, his muzzle on his front paws to look at the Pycon at eye level. After several moments of silence and seemingly utter inaction from the horribly intelligent cat he yawned and rolled back on to his paws. He let out a most horrifying yowl and trotted across the table to a drawer. He pawed it open to reveal a flask. Ariela flicked and appeared a meter away by the cat. She eagerly reached for the flask and twisted it open. WIthin was the pale misty liquid known as soulmist, with intense greed she absorbed the majority of the the flask before the wizard-cat swatted at the ghost to stop. Ariela dispersed after replacing the flask.

Thomas returned lazily to the Pycon, his movements were strange and disjointed for the first few steps before they fell into a comfortable rhythm. The tom stared once more at the Pycon before Ariela returned this time leaking out of the cat’s black-fleshed ears. Ariela nodded maniacally. “Wizard Thomas sends his salutations, and would like to ask why you choose to serve an inferior wizard such as the human Annalisa Marin? In a periphery way Master Thomas is aware of the history of your people Smidge and finds that a work of such significance should not be squandered as a lab assistant to a reimancer.” Ariela had gained these words directly from the cat’s mind through possession, they often worked in tandem this way. “He admits there are pitfalls to being a Pycon on Sahova, but if one is smart Smidge you could secure a place as an assistant to a powerful wizard. Why have you not done this?”

Ariela wandered for a moment, lost for a few chimes before Thomas hissed. “Oh, right. Master Thomas as offered you a spider specimen if you answer his questions in full, he finds your kind very interesting.”