Riyeko Lionward; The reserved and nervous inventor (thebesttoys) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-08-31 17:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, cian wilde, riyeko lionward |
Stop the music and go home, I repeat stop the music and go home....
Who: Riyeko & Cian
What: Test run 1: Projector.
Where: Riyeko’s shop → The Sewers
When: BACKDATED: Thursday - 8/28/2013
Rating: PG(?)
Status: Complete!
It wasn’t as if she really knew much about the sewers. Certainly, Riyeko could draw conclusions, make educated guesses, and theorize regarding the current state of such area. It would be damp in most places, the smell would be horrible, some spots would be wet, the stones and paths she always assumed uneven but perhaps that wasn’t entirely the truth. It would make sense that through the use of these tunnels, and the flow of running water - or even dripping water - that the roughness would be worn away over time from the stones. Then there would be the patrols, and the monsters as sewers hardly seemed the place where things would be necessarily calm. If they didn’t get attacked or chased out of the tunnels before they were done Riyeko would view it as a miracle…. You know, assuming those existed really. Even with all of these thoughts flowing through her head, each being mulled over to the point of insanity for some, it was the only way to really keep herself calm. Even if by producing calmness through over analysis, she was beginning to get slightly antsy. Today though, today! She would venture down into the sewers and test her second model of the picture projector for the first time. The excitement felt over this over shadowed the nagging worries of being caught by the EKP, or fear of running into a monster down there though. The idea that her invention was so close to being functional was amazing, exhilarating, thrilling in a way that no one else aside from another inventor could possibly ever really understand. So, with that, Riyeko had packed up the more portable recreation of the picture projector into a bag which had been slung around her shoulders, and say impatiently. Soon Cian would be here and he’d know how to lead the way down to an appropriate opening in the sewer so that the fun of their day could really get started. Cian arrived right at the appointed time, dressed in worn, dark clothing and with his leather jacket slung over his shoulder. It was too hot for it up here, but it tended to get cool in some of the tunnels, and it would provide some much-needed protection, if they got into it with a toad or a flan. The EKP had schedules. The monsters weren’t so predictable. Fortunately, she seemed to be ready to go, and she hadn’t dressed in a wholly inappropriate manner (He still told the story of a former employee who, in an effort to impress him, had decided the sewers were a perfect place for heeled boots. She hadn’t lasted long.). “Got a weapon?” he asked before heading out. The last thing he wanted was to end up in the role of unlikely bodyguard. “Might not need it, but better safe than dead.” “Weapon?” Riyeko couldn’t help but blink for a moment in response at the question, it would almost seem, for the briefest second, as if she felt like he was speaking an entirely different language from the common tongue they so clearly shared. “Oh!” Sudden, and sharp realization of the question struck her like a ton of bricks and the machinist jumped up from her seat. “Oh! Yes! I wasn’t sure what might be needed, and what might not be needed though so I wanted to check with you before I packed anything too extensive.” There was a pause as she turned, flipping open the doors of a cabinet before shuffling around the contents inside of the dresser like set up. “I have a gun, but I also have a chainsaw, a drill, a soundblaster, then there’s a cross between a gun and a crossbow I’ve been working on, and ummmmm… Grenades! I have grenades, a couple different types, but I was thinking if those were handled improperly they may damage the structural integrity” of the sewers, and ideally we may not want to bring them because of that. Though if we get chased by some big bad wigglie-wobbly things then they might come in useful to collapse part of a tunnel for ease of escape, but we’d need to be careful not to make the rumble in the tunnel come down on our heads too, which could be a little tricky.” The shuffling around in the storage cabinet in front of her stopped for a moment as her head turned to look at him over her shoulder, hands still firmly grasping something of the gear in front of her. “You don’t magick, do you?” The sheer number of words that came out of her was equal parts impressive and ridiculous. He followed it -- mostly -- so at the end he could say, shortly, “Take the gun -- got a silencer? -- and something you can use in close quarters. Couple of grenades can’t hurt, though they’ll be a last resort. Skip the soundblaster -- we’re supposed to be quiet down there.” Just because he knew where the EKP would be didn’t mean they couldn’t change course if they started making a racket. “Let’s try not to collapse any tunnels. Wouldn’t make us the guild’s most popular members.” Might even get them killed, if someone was pissed enough. To her question, he shook his head, told her, “Not in the traditional sense.” He’d packed three pairs of dice, but they were riskier in close quarters. Like the grenades, they’d be methods of last resort. “Shouldn’t need it. Come on, then.” He waited for her to gather her weapons of choice before heading back out into the street. There was an entrance not far from here, behind a bar that would be deserted this time of day. It was a short walk there, and he quickly removed the manhole cover, peered down into the semi-darkness. Once they had descended and their eyes adjusted, he knew they wouldn’t need much additional illumination, but for now, it looked fairly black below. “Ladies first. Watch your step on the ladder; it’s slippery.” “Silencer.” Riyeko repeated the word quietly to herself, brain seeming to tick away at the thought for a moment while eyes dipped back into the cabinet in which she had been digging. “Silencer, silencer.” Quiet repetition of the word seemed almost like a mantra as her eyes moved, but not her hands. However, it wasn’t until he said that he didn’t magick that her hands finally removed from whatever they had been holding in the cabinet, and began to procure the various items he advised her of. A few pre-loaded clips of bullets here, a couple grenades there and a moment of consideration was taken before the drill was plucked easily from it’s holding spot in the cabinet. While the chainsaw might be more effective for close combat, and inflicting high levels of damage, the drill would be quieter, and the last thing they needed was the EKP rushing upon them while engaged with some crazy, gooey, slimy, creepy crawlies. “No silencer.” The machinist would finally come back with after loading up on various other items across a utility belt of sorts. Though, perhaps she could figure out how to make one of those next. She’d heard of them, but had never really bothered looking into how to procure one at this point. A thought flickered across her mind for a moment about how silencers weren’t really as effective as people liked to believe them to be, they only brought noise levels down a handful of decibels, nothing like what was presented in recordings, but….. That hardly seemed an appropriate topic to broach in this instance. Unfortunately, for her, he was a little hard to keep up with Cian as he stood nearly a foot taller than her, and the thought of using her hoverboard - which she never went anywhere without - was deeply appealing but seemed as though it would probably be rather inappropriate for the time being. Waiting for him to pull up the manhole cover, Riyeko couldn’t help the crinkling of her nose, and the pulling back of her lips. Oh dear did that smell horrible. A strained smile was given before she nodded a brief thanks at him, and descended down into the bowels of Emillion….. And boy did it sure smell it. He followed behind her, pulling the cover with him to block out the light and noise of the nearby street. There was some light down here -- kept for the patrols, he guessed, and the people who maintained the place -- and he squeezed his eyes shut a few moments before opening them again. The smell was disgusting but an occupational hazard of a sort. As a teenager, he’d minded it. At this point, he could pretty much block it out. “This way.” He set course easily, knowing this part of the sewers moderately well. “Layout mimics the streets above,” he started speaking softly, figuring that if she was down here for a field test, he might as well give her all the information he could. “Some places it doesn’t, but here’s Oerba Street,” he continued as they emerged from the narrow walkway into the first place where the tunnel really opened up. They could now stand side by side easily without nearing the drop-off to the slowly-moving sludge below. He pulled on his jacket, primed a card to toss just in case. It was quiet now, but that could change. “That way to Red Light,” he said, gesturing to the right, “this way around the park and to Theatre, route to Tenements past there. Pretty frequently used thoroughfare, for what you’re probably thinking, but kind of a hike from here. I’ll get you a map of the route later, unless you want a really long walk. I figure here’s as good a place as any to try out your toy -- the passages more or less look the same, though maintenance is spottier under some of the poorer districts.” It was hard not to gag at the stench, yet Riyeko knew that really, this was the only way she was going to be able to appropriately test run the invention. For that, she’d suck it up. Though, if she did have to come down here for another testing at a later time, a clothesline pin would be required for her nose, clearly. Shifting, the hoverboard was pushed to a more comfortable position on her back, and fingers dug out the map that Councilor Cerelia had provided her with of the sewers. It wasn’t hard to read, from where they were in this moment, but it didn’t mean that it wouldn’t get that way. Regardless, squinting in the low light of their current environment was proving fruitless in the moment, and with a pout, the map was refolded and stashed away. All that would be given was a nod before Riyeko set to following the man’s directions with eyes narrowed, and body tense. When Cian began to speak, Riyeko listened intently, attempting to recall what he was saying in conjunction with the map she couldn’t read, but had attempted to memorize the several days before their excursion down into these tunnels. Though, the idea of how the passages looked similar enough caused a momentary pause. “Taking a picture of one wall and projecting it on the opposite won’t always work then, huh?” As her eyes had begun to adjust she scanned their surroundings. It was hard to figure out precisely all the details, but this did seem to be a prime location for what she had in mind. “How often do the walls from the opposite sides look different?” Pulling around the bag she’d brought down with them, she unzipped it and began pulling out the device. This time, it had been sized down considerably. What once had nearly been the size of a half a crate now resembled a box that would compare much more closely with that of a large shoebox. Kneeling down, she began attempting to set it up. He was still keeping an eye out for trouble as she began her setup. It took him a few moments of thought to consider how to answer her question, though what he finally came up with was a very unsatisfying, “Haven’t really paid much attention to whether the walls look the same.” It hadn’t ever come up in all these years that he’d been using these illegal routes, and by now, he was navigating by memory, not by landmarks. “I guess it’ll depend -- whoever’s patrolling down here won’t necessarily have every stone memorized, either. But if the… boundary,” he finally found the word, “of the projection doesn’t match, I guess that’d be pretty fucking suspicious.” He watched curiously as the projector was assembled. It definitely looked different from the first model. “Might be worthwhile to take sample shots under a few districts, have them available to switch out, depending where you use it,” he suggested. “No idea how viable it is -- you’re the machinist here, not me -- but it could solve some of your issues, probably.” That could toss a wrench in her plans. The idea was that most of the sewers were probably made out of similar, if not the same types of materials. While it could be possible that a patroller stationed down here long enough could possibly recall differences between pitting in the stone or structural aspects, it was unlikely - especially under the current lighting - that it would be likely. However, if the types of stone were completely different, or if there were huge changes between the structures of the tunnels between districts, the whole plan could be an utter disaster. Thankfully, it would appear his ideas aligned fairly well with her own in this instance. “It might be a better plan.” Came the low, and thoughtful words. Instead of taking a picture of one wall and projecting it onto another, the concept of storing ‘slides’ inside of the projector that could be switched with a dial and projected on demand might just be the better answer of this eve. Riyeko’s face scrunched up for a moment as eyes scanned over the area where they stood, and she attempted to locate the best option for the test. After a few moments of pointed frowning, and attempting to figure out the positioning, she finally began flipping switches and turning dials. Hopefully, this would work. “You show me what you’re recording those images on, could be I can get the shots for you,” he offered. Lea was going to owe him at this point, which was more or less what he wanted, what with the guildmaster’s less than friendly behavior and one of his councilors out for Cian’s blood. “My people get down here often enough. Just tell me where to sample.” Should be easy enough. The little machine whirred to life. A bit loud, he thought with a grimace -- not thunderous by any means, but he could hear it over the flow of water and waste, which meant others would hear it, too. “Let me check something. Just stay there.” Twenty paces -- he counted -- before the sound was indiscernible. He came striding back, told her, “You’re probably gonna need to quiet that down. Maybe --” A rather loud pop sounded, much louder than the whirring had been, then a fizz and a crackle. A light stream of smoke began to rise from the projector. “Guessing it’s not supposed to do that?” Then -- a thump from somewhere to the left, way too loud to be anything but -- “We got trouble.” If Cian could arrange for all of the shots to be pre-taken, and Riyeko could upload them as a slide exchange, it might make the whole process that much simpler in the end. In fact, it would assist in reducing the weight of the machine probably by half too. In fact, maybe she had been going about this wrong the entire time. Really, getting more acquainted with the sewers was probably what she should have been doing all along for this project. As the projector turned on and sprung to life, Riyeko felt a sense of glee shoot through her. It had worked! Was working! And it was seeming like a high possibility that it would -- Oh. Oh no. No, nonononono! The machine made a series of sounds that it most definitely should not have been making, and what signs of life it had previously shown sputtered to a dead stop with that single stream of barely visible smoke rising up out of it. “Oh no, oh dear.” Riyeko began to mutter, her entire being seeming to fall into something almost defeated. Well, that was at least until Cian spoke again, and immediately diverted her attention. “.... Trouble…?” Though, the next sound instantly caused her eyes to go wide, and a quick drawing of her gun had it raised with the hammer being pulled back. This really wasn’t going to be a very good day, was it? “The slimy kind,” he growled, as the enormous toad came into view. They got massive down here, probably two or three times the weight of the tiny machinist, definitely heavier than him. They were slow, if you managed to get them on steps -- he’d gotten away from his share of the things over the years -- but in a fairly open space like this, where they could move with relative ease… He let the first card fly, aimed at the thing’s eye, and put himself between the projector and the monster -- damn it all to hell, he was not starting over with this if the damn thing got squished -- before telling her, “Start shooting.” With the nearest exit five minutes away and the ladder leading up to the manhole so flimsy, not to mention the broken projector still assembled on the ground, flight was pretty much out. Fight it was. |