Riyeko Lionward; The reserved and nervous inventor (thebesttoys) wrote in emillion, @ 2014-04-06 20:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !log, ofelia zhou, riyeko lionward |
Touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, Turn it, leave it, start - format it.
Who: Riyeko & Ofelia
What: Designs & Info.
Where: Riyeko’s house
When: BACKDATED: March 14th
Rating: PG
Status: Complete!
It had been a while since they’d met, and surely the other woman had had the time to speak with her doctor. Within that period, Riyeko had settled into gathering up the parts which she believed would be required for either of the braces, laying them out, measuring them, and beginning to assemble them in her head. Putting them together physically could potentially be a waste of time, and materials, but… Then she’d started assembling her own brace, combining it with the dragoon jump boots, and the hover pads. It was almost startling how easily it all connected with each added bit of metal, and each new bolt. Though, her continued building of her exoskeleton wouldn’t be the point of this meeting. No, this meeting was to discuss what Ofelia needed, what she’d decided on, and how she could be of use to Riyeko, as Riyeko could be of use to her. The meeting likely would be short but… One could never be too sure. With that in mind, the machinist had begun to making tea, and after setting out some small snacks - gyoza, tempura, edamame - and waited for the door to ring. Back again. It had been a month and some change since their last meeting: enough time for fire elementals to batter the city (or so the muttered news went), for Ofelia to wrap up the Lemach case, slouch her way through St. Namorados Day without any fanfare, and finally find herself on Riyeko Lionward’s doorstep once more. She rang the doorbell, a folder of notes tucked under one arm, mentally running through the details of what she’d found out so far—which wasn’t much, but at least it was a start. She rehearsed the details like an orator might practice lines, touching on each factoid and date in her mind while she waited for the girl to answer. With a sound at the door, Riyeko bounded over to it, quickly reminding Ratchet to be on his best behavior - the dog simply remained laying down, only raising his head briefly when the Machinist spoke to him before letting it fall back to the floor again after - before opening it for the other woman. “Hi!” The word was a bit breathlessly chirped as a smile was offered to the other woman. “Please, come in.” Stepping back, Riyeko closed the door behind the other to assure her comfort. “I made tea already, and if you’re hungry, I have a few snacks too.” A beat fell for a few seconds before she piped up again. “I don’t know what you like to eat, so there’s options! I think you should be able to have at least one of them. If not, I’m sure I can find something else.” Though, the machinist was preeeetty sure, that shouldn’t be an issue. “Oh!” Riyeko moved off to one side, positioning herself next to the couch which had something wrapped in cloth on it. “I also have a prototype. Not for you, but just as a general test of the design if you want to see it?” Ofelia breezed into the house as if she’d been here a hundred times before (though it had been just the once). “Oh, I love Sako cuisine, so no worries. I wasn’t aware that food was part of the bargain. What a perk.” She gave a twitch of the mouth that could have been a smile. But her attention was immediately drawn to the wrapped prototype, like a fly trapped on sandpaper—much more interesting than the stack of dumplings and battered vegetables. “I would love to see it, obviously. You show me mine, and I’ll show you yours?” Ofelia dropped her folder of papers onto the table, then hovered by the sofa, hand fluttering at the cloth. The machinist couldn’t help a smile at the easy response from the other woman. Offering food, and drink to a guest in one’s home really was only polite. Even if the person ate little, or nothing, it was better to offer than not. “You’re welcome to eat as much, or little, as you like.” Though the attention - and interest - paid to the potential prototype was far more enthusiastic than anything else offered to this time. “You’re welcome to open it up. It’s something I’ve altered the scheme a little bit for more of a personal project, but the idea will be the same.” With that, a nod would be given as she waited for the other woman to go ahead and unroll the exoskeleton-like brace - much larger than Ofelia would need, or probably desire - but it worked well for her current needs. “This piece is being incorporated into a larger framework, but can be slimmed down, and made of lighter materials with less bells and whistles for you later.” “Isn’t that the nature of things,” Ofelia mused as she moved the cloth and slipped it off the contraption. “Start off big and clunky, whittle it down later and make it more elegant. The earliest hovercars were huge, horrible machines…” Her voice tapered off as she took in the fruits of Riyeko’s handiwork, eyes roaming over the device. The girl was right: it wasn’t beautiful, but then again, Ofelia didn’t need it to be. It simply needed to work. Her hand trailed over the soft leather, the occasional gleaming metal, the smooth hinges. She could see the lines of the brace that were meant to follow her limbs, the curves and support that ought to wrap around her knee. It was like an outline of a leg. Of her leg. “Should I try it on?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder at the machinist. She felt, suddenly, slightly ridiculous, like a customer in a shoe store. There was a nodding along, light noises of agreement when the other woman mentioned early hover cars. “The specs on those were pretty scary in comparison to what we have now.” A glance was given back to her hoverboard briefly. My oh my, how things had changed. “Oh, um, sure!” The machinist easily chirped in response to Ofelia’s question of putting it on. “If you want to try it out, we can see how well it fits, and then I can work on making adjustments on it for our next visit. To get a best fit possible.” It seemed a simple enough idea, and really, it wouldn’t hurt anything. “Maybe take a walk around the block with it and you can let me know how it feels?” That would be the real test right now for comfort and functionality. If they could manage an entire block without anything being too horrible, then they’d have mostly smooth sailing from there as the first battle would be won. The older woman’s excitement was reined in, but still seemed to well up as she snared one of the dumplings from the plate, took a seat, then adjusted her long skirt, rolling it up enough to get to her bad knee. While she worked with the experimental brace, puzzling out how to fit it, she spoke. “As concerns your case,” Ofelia nodded towards the folder on the table, “I’ve been working on it. No definitive leads so far, but you were right about the man being Guild.” No surprise which guild she was referring to: they were both in on the secret. “There’s been reports over the years matching his physical description, and I believe he even started paying dues to our council at some point, which would imply he showed up in Emillion. The trail withers up there, however. Which means he probably jumped ship to a different alias—or, as is more likely, your family’s financial advisor was already a false identity. It’s not a dead case, however. He exists, and as long as he’s still alive, there’s a chance.” There was a small twitch at the corner of Ofelia’s mouth. “Often, I’m looking for family members presumed dead. So this case seems more hopeful. Even though he keeps his head down… well, I’m very well-versed in how criminals try to keep their heads down.” As Ofelia spoke, Riyeko’s anxiety mounted. A lead, a real, concrete, actual lead. It was the first lead she’d ever gotten on the man, the first glimmer of hope at finding out what had happened, and how she could go about fixing it. Maybe her plan hadn’t been so crazy after all, if it could lead her until this point right here, and now. Then… Came the downside of the news. Of course the man had an alias, of course the lead was only a start, of course there wouldn’t be justice served immediately… And she was fool to think there ever would be. That was only the stuff of books and plays, not the reality in which they lived… Though… Maybe she could find a way to fix that too. “Do you think you can find him?” The question was a bit weaker than she intended, meek to some degree even as Riyeko had come to clasp her hands in front of her, watching the other woman for a response, but not fully processing her actions with attempting to adjust the brace. Ofelia looked up, realising she’d been so distracted by the brace that she hadn’t assessed the girl’s reaction. She took in Riyeko’s face now instead: the fluttering hope (always fragile like a butterfly caught between one’s palms), the strained worry in her voice. The woman tilted her head, like a curious bird. “I think so, yes,” she said. “There’s always a chance it might not go anywhere—I have to disclaim that for every client—but speaking objectively, from what I’ve seen of this case compared to others I’ve handled, it seems promising.” It was an inherent contradiction in her work. For all her cynicism, the private investigator provided answers; they gave closure; for all their pragmatism and facts, they essentially dealt in hope. Riyeko did her best to remind herself that with every chance of success, there was always a chance of failure. Her inventions had taught her this well over the years, yet at the same time, she couldn’t help but find her heart instantly filled with hope. Though, the information wasn’t available yet, they hadn’t caught him, hadn’t gotten her family’s money back just yet…. Though, if they could even get the money back ten years after the fact, well… That was another mess altogether. “Oh, um!” A thought flashed across her mind, as her eyes fell upon the other woman’s attempts at working the brace. “Do you need help?” “Mm. Perhaps.” Ofelia said it reluctantly; even here, she was hesitant to admit to needing the extra hand. But she stretched out her leg, motioning to the experimental brace. “I’ve managed to attach most of it, but I’m having some difficulty with the last couple clasps.” With Riyeko’s help, she was able to clamp down the rest of the brace and then take a few steps around the room. “So what does this do, exactly? I know from looking into your past inventions that there’s generally some extra capabilities in them.” The setting it into place was painless, it had - after all - been made to fit Ofelia’s leg exactly. “Oh, um!” Shifting back, Riyeko rested on her haunches for a second a hand rising to point at a knob. “This adjusts to give you extra support, if your knee is giving you troubles.” A pause. “Or, if you want me to make a second one for your other leg, it can be used to increase your strength.” A slight bob of her head was given, as her fingers shifted. “Here,” A smooth panel was pointed at, a specific spot on it. “if you press, will open up a storage compartment. It can easily hold bullets, potions, anything you need.” Pausing a moment, she’d rock back finally, before standing. “I could probably build other things into it if you want.” The storage compartment immediately drew Ofelia’s attention (and approval). “I could think of a few things for that,” she said admiringly, tracing the lines of the near-invisible panel. “Lockpick, cards, a knife… perhaps a small spring-loaded pistol…” Ofelia shook herself out of the daydream. She was already starting to plan. “But otherwise, so long as it allows me to run like a hume again, I suppose I don’t strictly need to leap around the place like some dragoon.” A wry half-smile. “Thank you, it seems as if it’ll work well. If this is the prototype, I’ll gladly take the final version once it’s complete—by then, I’ll hopefully have some more information for you as well.” Riyeko couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face by the potential for information to be present about a goal she’d been chasing for so long. Maybe, she’d be able to put all of this behind her, maybe she’d finally be able to move on with her life, maybe…. Well, They’d just have to wait and see, she suspected. “Sure, I could most definitely work some things like that in!” A pause, as a beat fell. “But why don’t we, um, start small, ok?” She was slightly hesitant, but hopeful, assured that maybe for the first time, her life was really starting to go somewhere. “Why don’t we see how well you can walk in that, okay?” “Done deal,” the gambler responded smoothly. |