Seeking Focus (Solo)

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 24th, 2012, 2:58 am

She got no work done on the telescope the next day. It... was a bad day. The day after, on the 81st, she was distracted all day. But she forced herself to get up early anyway, and head down to prepare some of her parts before work. She hadn't slept much anyway, so she was up before sunrise, with several hours to kill before she was due down at the construction site. She couldn't bear the thought of spending those hours sitting around, stuck with nothing but her own thoughts. She needed to work, and so that was what she was going to do.

She headed across town to the blacksmith she occasionally worked with, Harold. Up even earlier than her, he was already there, stoking his furnace and preparing for the day's work. He smiled at her and gave her a nod when she entered.

"Morning, Tock," he said. "Everything alright? You look..."

"I's fine," she protested, cutting him off. "Need fer ta make some brass, if'n 'at's awright? Gots me a few 'ours, lend ya a 'and 'round the shop, if'n I can smelt somethin' up what when we's done? I's pay ya fer the ore, 'course. Jus' needs ta melt up a few bars o' brass."

Harold nodded, clapping her on the shoulder. One of the reasons she liked him was that he was quiet, he minded his own business, and he never pushed her about things she didn't want to talk about, like emotions. He was also patient and considerate, and sometimes reminded her of her Granddad.

"Always glad for a spare hand," he told her. She helped out from time to time, in exchange for making use of his forge. He always had a lot of work that needed doing, and Tock was more than willing to get her hands dirty if it meant she could squeeze in her own project on the side.

"I'm running a bit low on iron bars," he told her. "Got some crates of ore in the back, just haven't had the time to smelt it. Been working on a new, big order. Dunno if you heard about the expedition passing through, but they sent some riders ahead of the main group to put in some requests for supplies. Busy few days..."

Tock knew a little about the expedition, but she was too distracted lately to care much about the details. She'd gotten into an argument yesterday with the Purple Knight, but she was only vaguely aware of what the expedition was after. Something about some God-stuff that Rice-all wanted, and they were trying to get there first, or something. It wasn't important enough to her to ask around and get the full details.

"I's git right on 'er," she said quietly. She headed straight into the back to haul out the crates of raw ore Harold needed. She'd left all of her babies at home, since it wasn't safe to have them around the heat of the forge. It was just her, Harold, and a whole load of metal that needed to be melted down into bars.

LedgerParts for Seven Xu's telescope: >5 lbs metal x 5 sm/lb = 2.5 GM

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 24th, 2012, 5:00 am

Work.

Work was good.

Work kept her busy. Kept her mind off things. Even if she was in a bit of a daze. And too sore to handle much in the way of shoveling. But she did what she could, working alongside Harold, if moving a bit slower than him. He noticed the stiffness in her movements, and how she wasn't bending over very far or lifting much coal at a time, but he said nothing. She preferred that. She didn't much feel like relating the story of how she'd gotten cut open while trying to murder someone.

Before long the fire was hot enough to start the first stage. "Looks about ready for your copper," Harold said. Tock silently nodded. Copper melted at a lower temperature than iron. Thus they'd be able to start melting the copper and also the zinc for making brass before the fire was hot enough for the iron ore. She threw a few bars of copper into the smelting pot without really paying attention to how much it was. As she was grabbing the tongs, Harold stopped her gently with a hand over hers. "Gonna measure that first?" he asked her.

"Oh," she replied. "Aye..." She shook her head, shaking off her distant thoughts. She needed to focus on her work. If she wasn't paying attention, the alloy wouldn't come out right. She used a small set of scales to weigh out the copper, trying to remember what the ratio was. She hadn't done this since... since Ravok, now that she thought about it. "What's she... three fer two?" she asked Harold. He gave her a nod, and she weighed out the proper proportions. The two pounds of zinc she set aside for now, and she filled the heavy iron smelting pot with the copper fragments. Then she used a long pair of tongs to place it inside the furnace to heat.

They continued shoveling the coal awhile longer, Tock having to take breaks a bit more often than usual due to the building pain. She was so stiff around her abdomen that she couldn't bend over properly. Soon a harsh, blazing heat was coming from the furnace. It made her skin feel raw, and her hair was plastered to her head from sweat. The heat felt good, in a way. Almost cleansing. Like she could sweat the pain and sadness right out of her.

"Looks about ready for the iron now," Harold said. He kept the talk restricted to the work, not asking about what was making Tock move so stiffly, nor what was giving her the haunted look in her eyes. Silently, they filled the remaining iron pots with the unprocessed ore, and set them one by one into the furnace. After that, it was just a matter of waiting for the metal to fully melt.

"Can you tend the fire for a bit?" Harold asked her. "I've got to work on this order. Just watch the color of the pots," he pointed to the glowing pots inside the furnace. "Don't let them get white, or the whole pot will melt and be ruined." Tock nodded silently, taking careful note of the coloration. The smelting pots were thicker and stronger than the raw ore, and thus wouldn't melt as easily, but if the fire got too hot there was the chance of ruining them and losing all the ore.

While Harold tended to his other orders, she watched the melting metal, alternating between periods of rest and slow, steady shoveling to maintain an even level of coal and a constant temperature. There wasn't much else she could do while the metal was melting, since walking away for any length of time would risk ruining the process. Which was likely why Harold hadn't had time to do this work himself recently; he couldn't forge tools and watch the smelting pots at the same time.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 24th, 2012, 5:29 am

The copper melted before anything else. Tock used a pair of long tongs to pull the smelting pot from the furnace, and carefully drain the slag off the top. It was like a skim of oil across the surface of water, the thicker substance floating across the molten metal. She move slowly and steadily, though she couldn't take too much time, since she knew every moment the metal was out of the furnace it was already starting to cool. Harold kept an eye on her from where he was working on the anvil nearby, to make sure she was doing all right. With careful hands she tipped the pot just enough to skim the waste off the surface, dumping it into a slag pot that was kept there to hold the waste. Then she set it back in the heat, and retrieved the zinc.

This took great care and most of her concentration, which was a good thing. It kept her mind off her troubles. Molten metal was dangerous, and Tock had scars from past accidents working with it. Her thick leather gloves would offer some protection, but if she got splashed, the metal would eat through the material pretty fast and likely set it on fire.

With careful ease she used tongs to add each fragment of zinc, one at a time, into the molten copper. With the temperature of the molten metal so high already, the added material melted a great deal faster. Bright flames shot up from the pot each time she added a piece, and from a safe distance she used a long rod to stir it it as the zinc melted.

Once it was all in, it didn't take much time for the alloy to be ready. She looked into the pot to check the coloration, ensuring it was all mostly uniform across the surface of the molten metal, indicating the two separate substances had mixed together thoroughly. Then she pulled the pot out and set it down, grabbing a tool that looked somewhat like a slotted spoon. This was used to scoop off some of the thicker bits of slag that came about from the smelting process. She felt the heat licking her face as she reached in to scoop out the floating bits of debris, sparks flying each time she banged the tool into the dumping pot to release the slag. It settled into the bottom as glowing embers, slowly cooling off to form a thick, greenish, glassy substance. Yet even the waste wasn't completely useless, as it could be melted down further as a mixture for glass compounds.

Once the alloy was clean, she carried it over to the workbench and slowly poured it into the stone molds laid out there. For making metal to be used in later projects, especially blacksmithing, the molds were a simple straight hollow in the stone. Once hardened, it would form into long, thin rods. The brass she was making would need to be re-melted at a later time, to be poured into the molds of the telescope itself. For now, though, it could simply be molded into rods for easy storage. Keeping the metal as a thin rod instead of some thicker shape would also make it melt faster, when it came time to do the final casting.

Flames licked the stone and smoke rose into the air as she slowly poured the metal, filling one of the long hollows half an inch deep before moving on to the next. She moved from one to the next, until she ran out of metal, and had several molten trenches filling the grooves of the stone. It would sit and cool for another bell before it would be safe to remove.

In the meantime, she'd work on Harold's iron. That would need to be poured a bit deeper, since most blacksmithing projects started with iron rods of a fair thickness. Thinner rods would melt faster, which was ideal for metal meant to be cast. But metal meant to be forged needed to be more solid, lest it melt in the heat of the forge and become useless.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 24th, 2012, 5:41 am

When it came time to finish with the iron, Harold returned to her side to help, shoveling more coal into the furnace to keep the temperature up. One by one, she removed the pots of molten ore, draining off the top of the slag into the waste pot, then scooping out the rest with the slotted tool. Harold had several racks lined up with rod molds, since he needed to keep a steady supply going for his business. She moved down the line, one after the other, pouring the liquid metal in, her eyes fixated on the stream of glowing heat. Flames danced along the stone, which was long since blackened from many uses over time, and smoke filled the air until it made her eyes water.

By the time the last pot was emptied, the first rods of metal had cooled enough that they were no longer aglow, though Tock knew better than to try touching them yet. Not only would she burn herself, but the metal might still be fragile enough in its heated state that it would bend or snap.

After a bell had passed from the first pour, they were able to pry the metal bars out of the molds. Tock set her new supply of brass aside first, then continued helping Harold remove the iron bars and stack them among his supplies. Someday soon these bars would be forged into tools, horseshoes, or decorative items for the people of Zeltiva. But for now they were just cold rods, awaiting shape and form.

Realizing she was running a bit late for work at her paying job, Tock packed up her brass and headed out. She was limping and holding her stomach, and quite glad that she'd be able to sit down to do her carvings once she got to work. It was a certain advantage she had being one of the more skilled workers on the job site; others had to fill their days lifting heavy goods, hauling bricks, digging holes, or performing other tiring labor. But woodcarving was a more artistic task, and she was allowed to use a stool whenever they were on site. She wished she could drag one of those nice plush leather chairs down from the University, though she doubted either the professors nor her boss would be too keen on that idea.

As she was leaving, Harold put a hand on her arm to stop her for a moment, a concerned look on her face. He opened his mouth to say something, and she just shot him a dark look. He closed his mouth, picking up on the fact that she did not want to talk about it. Finally, after a moment's awkward silence, he said, "Thanks for the help. If you've got free time this week, I certainly wouldn't mind another hand."

She just nodded and replied, "Aye." There wasn't much more to say.

by **Cascade** on July 29th, 2012, 6:34 pm

Adventurer's Loot

Tock's Loot :

Ohoho, the Professor actually had the ability to put Tock in her place. That was interesting. Also, it would be better to note the materials you bought in your CS just so the one who will grade the next threads will know you actually have them and paid for them.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!