Riyeko Lionward; The reserved and nervous inventor (thebesttoys) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-07-28 02:06:00 |
|
|||
The projector project and the modified jump boots had taken up so much of her time this month that she'd barely even been able to think about being social. Not that it was unusual to lock herself in her workshop for days or possibly even weeks at a time, but... It had felt a bit worse than normal this past month. Had she even left for anything outside of running errands for more supplies and food? It was hard to recall if she had... Surely, she had to have gone out to play with Ratchet or walk him but.. Well, that hardly seemed an issue in this moment. Thankfully though, the intiial prototype of the projection system was getting well underhand and the basic outline and some qualifiers had been outlined previously, but it didn't change the fact that Riyeko hadn't ever been in the sewers herself and that meant there was a lot of potential outlying factors that could make this invention entirely useless or potentially a hazard if she didn't get more information about the conditions that it was going to be used in. That was what had prompted the reaching out to her... fellow guild members. It still felt strange to know some days that the person she was looking for, the one she wanted to get back at very well could be one of her very own guild members. It was something she tried not to think of too much if she was entirely honest about the situation. Regardless, Cian had responded and since he had to swing by to grab something or other it sounded like Nate was probably working on, Riyeko had invited him over to share some info. At worst, he wouldn't be helpful at all but with all of his connections could probably direct her towards someone who would be. At best? Perhaps he'd be able to answer all the questions she had about the situation on hand. Either way, she'd cleaned up the workshop a bit, set Ratchet to allow him to wonder back and forth as he desired between the two working spaces and waited. Which of course meant she mostly fidgeted, tinkered and obsessed anxiously over the current prototype. Maybe if she could show him what it could do - even if it was still a bit shaky - he might be able to give her a better idea of precisely what he'd need if he was using it in such an environment in the future. That would get her one step closer to the final copy of the device to be displayed to Lea and one step closer to getting the recognition she'd need to bring her closer to her goals. The amount of community fucking service he was doing lately was strictly incredible. He couldn't help the scowl on his face as he strode purposefully through the Commoners District, taking the now familiar path to the workshop where Nate had been operating for the last few months. At least that seemed to be working out all right; as far as he knew, he was getting on fine with Lionward, and there had been no further dumb teen shit about sharing quarters with a pretty woman. Really, Cian had tried to tell him. From personal experience, he could attest that playing where you worked always ended badly. In any case, if the woman was working on something for the guild at large, it would be in his best interest to help her out. Reinholdt had been quiet lately, but Cian wasn't dumb enough to assume that this meant he had been forgotten. More likely, he was still being weighed and measured. Might as well prove his utility. Besides, he had a pretty good working knowledge of the sewers, both as a getaway route and as a means of moving things that the law would frown upon. Answering a few questions - vaguely, if needed - couldn't hurt. He approached the workshop and rapped sharply on the door, attempting to look less irate than he felt as he waited for the knock to be answered. At the sudden knocking Riyeko couldn't help but startle. In fact, even though she knew the knock would be coming eventually... somewhere, some time, in the back of her head... Kinda. The Machnist had still managed to get herself completely embroiled in tinkering and reforming the idea. Twisting a screw in tighter here, adjusting a mechanism there. Really, this was just a prototype but at the same time she couldn't help but want it to be perfect. Giving herself a few seconds to collect scattered thoughts and pull herself together, a quick trot was taken over to the door, getting up on her tip-toes to look through the viewing glass before she unlocked and opened the door. "Hello." It sounded rather stupid to her own ears, but was the best she was really able to manage. Riyeko had never been particularly good at dealing with people of any sort and trying to handle a man like Cian Wilde? That was a whole different level of not knowing how to cope. "I don't know what you needed to pick up, but Nate's workspace is there." A finger rose, pointing specifically over to the young man's work bench. Cian would know what he was looking for even if Riyeko didn't have the foggiest was her best bet. From there, it might be easier to talk about additional business with at least that part out of the way. When the door opened, he offered the diminutive woman an only slightly wolfish smile. Public relations: something else he was doing too much of. Besides, she was cute, in her way, if not exactly the type he'd go for if he had the choice. It didn't hurt to be nice to a cute girl, especially when he could do something useful for the guild in the same breath. "Hello back," he told her, entering the shop. She looked a little nervous, but then, in their past encounters, she had mostly come across that way. He wondered if he should go out of his way to put her at ease, settled on just trying not to be threatening. Good enough. "Thanks," he told her at the direction, heading over to the desk to pick up the sack which held a store of the paralysis potion for his security system, leaving a small bag of gil in its place. Though Nate had told him any generic status potion would work fine, he kept right on buying from the kid. Maybe it was dumb to waste a few extra gil, but at least this stuff - wherever Nate was getting it - was tested and reliable, and the fewer people knew exactly what was in his bugs, the better. Justification enough. He tucked the sack containing the bottle carefully unto his pocket before he spoke again. "Appreciate you letting me come by while the kid's out." He didn't keep tabs on Nate's comings and goings, after all. "You mentioned I could help you out, too. Shoot." Nothing like cutting to the chase when you wanted business concluded quickly, and he had a headache of his own to deal with down at the docks warehouse this afternoon. Hopefully, her questions wouldn't be too prying - or take too long to answer. "You're welcome!" Riyeko couldn't help but chirp back at the man, while she doubted that Cian would try anything there was always a certain nervousness that rose when people she didn't really know were around. Perhaps it would be labeled best as a sort of social anxiety, but then again, even when she was around people she knew - like Peony - there was always a sort of unrest that remained in the back of her mind. Perhaps, it was due to the constant flitting and fluttering of thoughts that zoomed around her brain, or that there was always something else to be done but.... It was so hard to tell that she'd never really fully be able to. "Sure!" A smile rose, at least as much of one as she could possibly manage in this instance and fingers laced together in front of her to assure that there would be no nervous wringing of her hands together or other potentially fidgeting about the area. "Oh. Right! Yes, of course." Releasing her hands, fingers quickly rolled and stretched, before Riyeko turned back to the projector. "I've been working on a picture-projector to help with the moving of materials through the sewers. It's been approved by Councilwoman Cerelia, and I'm trying to work out any potential bugs or issues that might impact the functionality of the unit. Factors that could change the dynamic of the process would be moisture, uneven or cracked terrain, lighting and sound amplification potential of the surrounding area." Fingers flittered over the slightly large prototype she'd began tinkering with. "I'm sure those all could easily be impacting aspects and the more I know about each of them the better I can condition and design a more compact model to assure best ease of use." He looked over the machine, curious. The way she described it, it was a hell of an idea. "The councilwoman's not dumb," he said. A compliment, of a sort. "Her idea, or yours?" He walked over to examine it more closely, though he didn't really know what he was looking at, in a sense. "Is this meant to be carried? Embedded in a wall somewhere? What?" That would change things, too. "Well, it's moist down there, all right. Better near the grates, but overall, not dry," he answered after a moment. These questions were generic enough that he didn't mind answering them. "Some of the passages are more well-worn than others. Barely half of the tunnels are straight. Sound carries, but most of the people who use them to move... shall we say, merchandise, tend to know how to be quiet." He shrugged. "You're not quiet, you get arrested, or dead. That's on your head if you're going down there. Monsters, too." Some people thought monsters in the sewers were a legend, but those people had obviously never been to the sewers. "Mostly just annoying, but sometimes not." "Oh! Mine." It was a simple enough idea really, and while it had taken her a little bit of time to come up with the concept, not terribly long. Really, it made the most sense when trying to cover up a person and whatever possible belongings they were trying to drag along with them. Sure it would have been easy enough to cover the person, but then you'd have magical floating carts and bags and luggage and only heaven knew what else that may be being attempted to be moved through the tunnels. "It will meant to be carried, but not this one. This is just to make sure I can get the proper functionality aspects of it down before attempting to reduce the weight and put it at an overall more reasonable carrying capacity." A hum of thought slipped out for a moment as her fingers smoothed over the top of a metal beam that helped house the machine together. "I'd like for it to be the size of one of your dice in it's final incarnation." Which, really, would be the highest functionality and most compact ideals she'd come up with at this point but... It was still a bit of a far ways off right now. "Moist or wet?" That, as silly as it might seem, was a very important detail. Making a strong external housing that kept moisture out was easier than waterproofing the entire mechanism and potentially each individual gear and cog. "Are the stones and pathways generally cluttered with various items or mostly smooth stones?" The thoughts on noise caused her to take a second to consider the information. "So, I'll need to sound proof the external casing to contain any potential noise and use smooth flow interaction parts." Another hum of thought, her eyes had flickered back to the rather large box like thing in front of her at this moment. Yeah, this was going to take a lot more work. "Not bad," he told her. Definitely a compliment. "Lots of uses for something like this, if you can get it small enough. I wouldn't mind owning one." Maybe she'd be willing to sell outside the Council. Or maybe he could tell the kid to keep an eye out so he could duplicate it later. Lots of possibilities. "Wouldn't mind a demonstration, either, if you're willing." He leaned his hip against the table and thought about her other questions before rattling off answers. "Just moist, unless you jump in the sludge, which, if you're that crazy, you got bigger problems than not being noticed. Mostly no clutter, but the pathways can get pretty fucking narrow in some places. The sewers weren't meant for pedestrian traffic." He grinned. "Depends on how loud it is now, really. Some hum'll be covered up by the flow of water and waste. It's never all the way quiet down there. But yeah, if it's going to squeak or rumble, it'd be pretty useless." he gave her a curious look, queried, "You ever been down there? Easier to show than tell." "Mm-hm!" She couldn't help the slightly energetic confirmation of his commentary about uses. There was such a wide variety it was hard to think the TG would want to keep it entirely secret, perhaps just some of the more questionable uses for it. The mass market would love something like that, if it was to help with building scenery for an ideal viewing point in a garden, projecting a picture of a mother for an upset baby when she could no longer be around or... Well, several of the hundred other uses someone could probably come up with for it. "Oh! Sure! It's still a working model though, so it's going to need a lot of revisions still." Fingers slipped down, a screwdriver being snatched up from the table and being shimmied into an open slot while a switch was flipped. A bright flash went off on one side of the machine, picturing the far wall of the workshop before the whirling of gears and processes rocketed into effect, the machine would never be as loud as a hoverbike, but it was far from as quiet as a gentle buzz. The noise of such falling somewhere in the middle, and it would clearly require being toned down at least some. The snapped image then was propelled into existence against the opposing wall, the image projection aspects still needed a bit of work as it wasn't quite as solid around the edges of the image as it was in the center, but at the same time... That wouldn't be the end of such a piece of work as the opposing wall had the mostly false appearance of the wall the picture had been taken of. "Moist, got it." A firm line was set of her mouth with a nod, the switch was flicked off and the screw driver removed from its slot. Searching out a bit of paper and a writing implement, notes began to be scratched regarding what he was telling her, and numbers and figures started being jotted down along the margins as well. Only when he asked about her personal adventures did her head snap up again. "Oh, um, no. I haven't really." Riyeko couldn't help but bite at her bottom lip for a moment before eyes wandered back down to the page in front of her. She wasn't really sure she'd want to go down there either it just seemed so... Gross... And it wasn't like she didn't get sick often enough already. He watched as she set the machine running, examined the results when she projected the image to the opposite wall. "Okay, so you walk behind that, and... I can't see you?" he asked, fascinated despite himself. Sure, it was rough around the edges, but what a thing to have. Made the walk worthwhile, just knowing something like this was in the works. "Might not be a bad plan to get down there sometime soon," he suggested, despite her obvious discomfort. "I can talk about it for hours but you'll get a clearer picture of what you need." He thought for a moment, then with a sigh made the offer. "You decide to do a field test, you let me know. I'll take you down - or find someone who will. I know how to make sure you don't have unwanted company." Audrey kept those patrol schedules coming, after all. "That's the idea!" Riyeko chirped in response to the question. Really, it was probably months out before a finalized and fully functional model was really street ready, or well, sewer ready, if she were completely honest about the situation but... It was up and running in some form or another after her past month of working on it at this point. Admittedly, she hadn't relied on the guild for materials much at this point, and that was mostly due to this being a demo. The machinist wanted to prove she could make the idea even remotely functional before beginning to size it down and make it field worthy. If she wasn't able to even get the basic principles of the concept down, then really the whole project was doomed from the start. "Oh." He was right. She had known this since before she asked him to come over that maybe, just maybe, she should venture down over there to get a really good image of it all but... Honestly, she'd held out hope that many she wouldn't have to. Unfortunately, that wouldn't seem to be the case at all. "Oh! Um," Riyeko couldn't help but nod and bow her head. "Thank you, I think that might be a good idea." Thoughts flickered and fluttered about fairly rapidly regarding what might be down there but she tried not to think about it too much. Right now, she had some ideas of revisions that could be made and she'd work towards those, trying to build the system up with that information before doing a trail run down in the sewers to see what other tweaks needed to be made. The pencil in her hand scratched against the paper a bit more, finally not making notes or words but really just an absent action to pass the time when another thought struck. "Your ECN device." She let the pencil drop like dead weight against the paper, completely forgotten to its fate to roll off and along the desk forgotten. "I can take a look at that for you still if you want." She tried to smile, this one coming out apologetic. "I've looked at a few today, and they all seem to be working just fine, so I don't think yours will be much different." With that, she'd wait for him to supply her the device and begin to check over it, and realized, before long, that she had indeed been right. Not a single thing was wrong with his device. |