[Lucis and Lucis] Maintaining the Mechanical Beast

by **Savis Maren** on August 2nd, 2018, 9:20 pm

15th of Summer, 518 - 7th Bell

Savis Maren couldn't help but be somewhat excited by the prospect of working for the great Edward Lucis. The kindly gentleman gave her a job when most others would turn her away. The contraption the Gadgeteer created for her worked wonders and the Nuit was content with the golem that resulted from it. In truth, to call it a golem was perhaps an overstatement. Certainly, it was an animation and worked on similar principles, but the specialized tool that Savis created was meant for a far more precise use than most automata. The fog no longer troubled the Nuit as she made her way towards the collection of buildings that was Lucis & Lucis. She maneuvered with ease and adjusted her course only when it was necessary to avoid the path of others. Her step was eager, her posture tall and right despite her diminutive size. When she passed through the threshold of buildings, she made her way directly to the Gadgeteer.

Edward Lucis was a sprightly individual considering his age. His face was somewhat hidden behind a pair of spectacles. On one side, they looked to the Nuit to be perfectly normal, and yet... there was a second lens an inch from the frame on the right side. The glass seemed without purpose until the Nuit examined it further. With the Gadgeteer distracted, it seemed the perfect opportunity to indulge herself. There was a greater thickness to the second lens, which gave to the Nuit the impression that it was meant to make objects observed through it... larger? Savis saw magnifying glasses when she was in Sahova, often used by the Nuit on specimens that required closer study. Satisfied with her assessment, the Nuit tapped on Edward Lucis' worktable, which gave the gadgeteer a start.

Edward raised his head to meet Savis' sight and was for a moment stunned by her appearance. However, it wasn't to last. Quickly, the gadgeteer recalled that he had summoned her there and immediately adapted to her presence.

"Oh, it's you... Savis, right? Did you already make use of the gadget I sold you? I'm curious to see what you made of it..." he added, and the Nuit was elated to share with the old man. Savis Maren was eager to attract this man's attention, for reasons both personal and professional. Immediately the Nuit was taken by his mastery of gadgeteering and it benefitted her to be on good terms with him. However, she was also taken with him as an individual. He was amicable by nature but also incredibly astute, which created a kinship in the undead woman. She nodded quickly, a small smile set upon her visage as she produced the Voice Box. Savis Maren held the gadget in both of her hands before she pressed her fingers to two of the grooves on the surface. The golem was taught to receive the command 'ON' and as such, came to life. It did not move or show signs of activation but nonetheless, Savis continued on.

I D-I-D. T-H-I-S I-S T-H-E V-O-I-C-E B-O-X. Savis' fingers worked nimbly upon the grooved surface of the automaton and after a tick of inaction, the animation's voice came to life. The tongue within it worked in motions as the lid shifted to let the sound escape. Leather scraping on the surface in the proper rhythm allowed the vibrations to surface and form the thought accurately.

"I did. This is the Voice Box," the gadget spoke for Savis. She couldn't help the delight that set upon her features and the gadgeteer's hands stilled. The gadget he was working on was set down as he more closely examined the Voice Box and Savis gladly continued to press into the grooves to show the gadgeteer how it worked.

Fingers moved somewhat rapidly, and Savis was relieved for the agility that the wild djed imposed upon her. It made her wonder if she could employ the use of this golem properly if she hadn't suffered from the effects of such djed. Another tick of inaction and the golem spoke anew,

"The Voice Box uses tactile commands to express words. Input is on the surface and the words spoken correspond to letters on the surface."

The manic working on the Voice Box was somewhat inconvenient, but Savis needed to sacrifice much in order for her current understanding of Animation to produce the desired results. Edward Lucis seemed intrigued and let his hands forth to receive the Animation. Savis was glad to surrender it, letting the Gadgeteer do as he pleased.

"Do you mind if I take a good look? You won't need this while you're working. A dear, long-time customer of mine is also an Animator and she'll come to see to the progress of an automaton I'm creating for her. Your work today will be tightening up the existing screws and oiling the automaton. When you're done, please come see me," he added before returning to his seat and fiddling with Savis' device. Surprised by the independence afforded to her, Savis was pointed to an adjacent room and she made off to that room without any further prompting from Edward.

by **Savis Maren** on August 2nd, 2018, 10:01 pm

With Edward Lucis' gentle guidance, Savis Maren was off to do as he asked. The Animator wished to ask for questions, particularly as to the nature of the task ahead but without her device she wasn't able to articulate her thoughts. Instead she moved to the adjacent room, where a toolbox and some rags were present. There was also a long sheet of rolled parchment, which Savis moved to take first. Without looking around the room she was in, she unrolled the scroll and began to read it, curious as to what it might advise her.

Savis,

Your tasks for today are several-fold. Due to your inability to speak, I won't ask you to run the till or talk to customers. Instead, your task will be to tend to this unfinished automaton. It looks like there are some issues with some of the gears but I have neither the time nor the patience to sort through it in light of other tasks I need to tend to. So, I want you to tinker with it. Consider it a personal goal to, while in my employ, further your understanding of such devices. The best first lesson I can give you, given my limited time to personally educate is to let you at a construct and figure out what makes it tick.

PS: Try not to dismantle the whole thing if possible. If the malfunctioning part isn't visible right away just let it go.

Savis placed a great deal of thought into what Edward Lucis was asking of her. As her mind worked around the letter she raised her head and began to let her gaze drift around the room. There was a large worktable at the center but it seemed the object at hand was beneath her. The automaton was by no means a large one. The Animator raised it from the floor and placed it on the worktable. Tucked beneath the table was a chair and she pulled it out before she shifted again. The Animator bent to pick up the tools she was allotted and walked them to the table. She placed it next to the automaton, which was still shrouded to her sight by a small tarp that covered it from exposure. Once she was prepared to begin, the Nuit lifted the tarp from the automaton's form.

Let's see what we're dealing with.

The malfunctioning construct was no larger than the Nuit's torso. Box-like in shape, the gadget had thin wheels rather than legs. Its arms were longer than its body, with stretched out strings that seemed connected to pulley systems. The Animator wouldn't pretend to know what such devices were called but she was very lucky to find that her toolkit contained a pamphlet within it. It seemed that Edward Lucis was very well prepared and wasn't going to put Savis on a task that was impossible for her. The paper booklet was bound with pins that speared through the left side, the paper clearly new papyrus with ink that seemed somewhat fresh.

Did Lucis have someone copy excerpts out of a Gadgeteering book? she asked herself before flipping the book open. She was very clearly in the wrong. The pamphlet seemed to come as a package deal with the automaton. Complicated but very neat schematics encompassed the first two pages and as she flipped through the book, it seemed that the rest of it contained a glossary of words that were presumably derived from terms used in the schematics.

So... this is what Lucis does for his long-time customers. He explains to them how their purchases works as mundane objects... presumably so that the gadget is easily used when animated... Clever.

by **Savis Maren** on August 3rd, 2018, 9:29 am

Even with the blueprints right in front of her and a glossary to scavenge for answers, the Nuit couldn't begin to understand the principles at play that allowed the automaton in front of her to work. From what she could understand, however, she learned a great deal. Gears fitted together and their teeth gnashed with one another. It was clearly meant to reduce the amount of work relative to the torque produced by such work, but the means of how and to what end eluded the woman. Savis was a creature who benefitted from Gadgeteering's end result and took an interest in the craft primarily to understand her constructs better. But these machines... they were beyond anything she'd personally worked in her entire life.

On Sahova, things were different. Savis was not under the tutelage of an Animator there and instead produced menial animations to tend to the basic needs of her master. Rather than advancing her craft beyond what she imagined possible, the place had seen weakness in her. She was relegated to positions she did not deserve and the fact of it caused the Nuit to see the place in a wholly negative light. She left the place not long after and her lifetime of trudging through Sylira after that did not afford her the luxury of practicing very much magic at all, let alone learning the things she truly wished to learn.

Better late than never, she supposed as she continued to go through the pamphlet, very quickly losing hope in her success in the endeavor to understand what she was looking at. Rather than do that, instead she shifted the automaton. She placed it on its backside and as her fingers nimbly traced over the chassis her eyes wandered the box-like body of the automaton in search of a faulty part. Gears seemed properly placed, with the pulley systems in the arms intact and in good condition. She decided to set it upright again, hoping to gain enlightenment by shifting its position repeatedly. A vain hope, perhaps. Savis found holding the automaton in both hands to be difficult. The metal surface was felt clearly in one hand, but the other gripping it felt but the barest cold from the metallic surface. Her left hand's fingers did not clench but rather loosely held the gadget's arm. Once the weight was on that arm more fully, it began to lock up and it collapsed to the table.

Savis let a sigh escape her lips, one of displeasure as the scene replayed, over and over. Her arm's propensity for erupting into spasms seemed to come about whenever it was most inconvenient for her to do so. How she dreaded going through the change with such a traitorous limb. The Nuit cast the thought aside in favour of musing upon a different matter. To distract herself from the ever-persistent reality that she was out of her breadth with these gadgets, she moved to clean the tool. A duster was no more than twelve feet away, and she retrieved it with ease. Savis Maren was careful not to damage the contraption with feathers, but instead lightly dusted at the surface, slowly cracking away at the dust on the surface until it was fully cleansed of such distractions.

Well, that was fun while it lasted... Let's get back to th- she began before realizing what ttanspired. A soft clang sounded through the room and the Nuit immediately set down the construct in search of what might have fallen.

WC: 586