Making the Shell (Tock)

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson looked over the various tools, frowning, realizing Tock was right. One, the design wouldn't be efficient; it would take too many arms to place even half as many of the tools Tock had shown him and two, the design wouldn't be practical; too many tools would leave the automaton lacking in maneuverability, meaning the automaton wouldn't be able to help create and build future automatons and golems, assuming Tock agreed on giving it that specific purpose.

"Nah, you're. It wouldn't work with all those tools and attachments, better to just teach it how to use them." Kaeson paused, considering a variety of suggestions and ideas fluttering about his mind. "Maybe...maybe we could do something about the waist? Remember what we did with Anne? With the joints? Maybe instead of this," Kaeson said, gesturing to Tock's design, "We could add a sort of 'waist joint'," Kaeson suggested, drawing an uneven circle at the wait of his own design. "It should allow for some, uh, bendability," Kaeson added, unsure of his own word choice.

"What do you think?" Kaeson asked, adding,"I'm ready to start whenever you are!"

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock sucked on her teeth for a moment as she considered the proposed waist. She was envisioning serious balance issues. With the upper body having such a wide torso and four arms, it would be falling all over itself. They needed something to help ensure that the golem would be able to support itself better. She tapped on the waist he sketched and shook her head. "Ball joints won't be no good on somethin' this size. 'Ey's good fer what wee stuff, aye? But fer somethin' bigger, ya need more strength. Maybe a nice spring..." She added to the sketch, noting a thick spring in the interior. It would help support the weight while allowing for some more mobility. There were a few other issues to work out, but it would be doable. They'd also have to metalsmith the spring from scratch, seeing as the size and design wouldn't be close to something they could acquire on their own. She wondered if Kaeson knew anything about smelting metal. For now, though, they were working on the wooden parts. She gathered up some wood from the pile out back, covered to keep the rain off it, and started sorting through the pieces to find some close to the right size. She braced the wood and carried Cutty over to it, lining him up by hand, since she still couldn't trust him to walk on his own. She then leaned down really close to his leather ear and shouted, "CUT!" He jumped in place as if startled, and started sawing through the wood. She took another, smaller piece and started working on it with a hand saw. She made measurements based on the sketches she'd drawn up, etched the lines onto the wood with a gouge, and set to work cutting out the basic shapes. Each wheel would initially need four angular pieces, which would be carved down to a proper curved shape before they were assembled to form a complete circle. "Ya gots a saw?" she asked Kaeson. "O' chisels? O' any tools at all?" Tock was rather particular about her tools, most especially her woodworking tools, which had belonged to her Granddad. Kaeson could burn in hell before he touched those, same as anyone else. She might consider letting Satevis touch them, but she was more hesitant about him touching her tools than about him touching her private parts, which said something about her priorities. Plus even if she might consider letting Kaeson touch her tools, she only had one set, and there were two of them. There was a great deal of assembly work for them to do. If he wanted to help, he was going to need some way to do so.

[Kaeson Dakano]

"Springs," Kaeson repeated, looking over the newly modified design. It was a smart idea -- a very smart idea. Kaeson wasn't so knowledgeable about gadgeteering, or really any kind of crafting, which is why he was so glad that he was able to work with someone like Tock. Going off Tock's short explanation and his own limited knowledge to how things should work, Kaeson figured the spring would give the hip ball joint the strength to support the top half of the automaton and allow for more mobility then the original designs.

"Yeah, a spring would work. Do y'know where we could get one of 'em?" Kaeson asked, still reviewing the designs. They were far more detailed then anything Kaeson could've drawn at the time, and hopefully he could pick up a thing or two about gadgeteering from them.

Kaeson carefully eyed Cutty as Tock walked the automated saw over to a pile of wood. He knew from previous experience it was better not to say anything, but didn't mean he didn't feel a little unsafe with the corrupted automaton. Eying the automaton warily, Kaeson briefly entertained the idea of offering to help Tock re animate the saw, only to quickly decided against the idea. He doubted very much that he could do anything Tock wouldn't be able to do at this point.

"Uh, no," Kaeson said, shifiting uncomfortably in his seat. He had been meaning to buy a woodworker's kit for a while now, especially since he had gone out with Tock and Nai'shee to gather materials. Kaeson had all the wood he had needed for any automaton he could think of now, all he was missing were the tools...and the skill to make them.

Kaeson looked over hopefully at Tock's tools, but his face fell as he realized there was only one set. "I suppose...I could always go out to buy some," he mumbled, still quite obviously hoping Tock would lend him hers.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Gonna 'as ta smith 'er from scratch," Tock said about the spring. "Ain't somethin' like what ya can done find at the store, aye? None o' what we use 'ere will be..." The parts they needed were far too specialized. Luckily Tock was skilled in a variety of crafting methods. Cutty finished cutting through the wood, and kept going through the sawing motions. "Stop!" Tock shouted. He just kept cutting. "Stop stop STOP STOP STOP!" By the time the saw froze in place, he had cut a bit of a gouge into the floor. Tock sighed and leaned down to kiss his blade lovingly. She stacked the wood up on the table and said, "Awright, let's go! I need some stuff anywho..." She didn't know or care whether Kaeson had meant to go right then, but she wasn't one to let people procrastinate. She scooped Bitey up in her arms, prompting Handy to shove the wooden spider, wanting to claim sole rights to being held by Mommy. "Be nice!" Tock told him. Bitey in her arms, Handy on her wrist, and Naily trailing at her heels, she headed out the door to lead Kaeson down to the market. While he was getting some tools, she could pick up a few things she needed of her own. Humming to herself and with a skip in her step thanks to the project she had to work on, she led her partner off to get his tools. As far as she was concerned, he should have had them years ago. She'd had her first tools of her own when she was just a wee lass. It was like a part of growing up. Something personal. She had warmer feelings about the first time she'd held a hammer than she did about her first kiss (not that she would tell Satevis that). She wondered if Kaeson even understood that. Thinking about explaining it to him was almost awkward, like having to explain the birds and the bees. Tools were something personal. Intimate. Special. Not something to be shared or touched by others. Touching Tock's tools without permission would be like copping a feel, and would earn him a good hard slap across the face.

[Kaeson Dakano]

Kaeson determinedly kept his eyes to the designs, not wanting to offend Tock in any way -- he had made it out of one argument with the her, but didn't like his chances in her own house. Kaeson knew about several, if not all of Tock's animated 'babies', and he knew all of them could double as very violent animations. "Shyte," Kaeson thought to himself, still pretending to doodle some addition to their design, "Some of them ARE weapons," mentally referring to the walking axe, saw and hammer.

Grabbing his stuff, Kaeson quickly followed Tock outside and to the market. He was visibly annoyed at having to reexpose himself to the heat and theoverwhelming humidity of the Zeltivan summer. Kaeson pulled the animated scarf from his neck, pushing Volos towards his waist. The automaton quickly repositioned itself into a makeshift belt. Walking through the marketplace, Kaeson shot an annoyed glance at Tock as he made his way towards a crafting stall in hopes of finding some tools.

Almost immediately, a gadgeteering toolkit caught Kaeson's eye. It was bright red, hexagonal in shape and shiny. Mostly it was shiny. Gears, metallic springs, and new tools laid the inside of the toolkit, making itself all the more desirable to Kaeson. Truly, Kaeson couldn't care less what the toolkit itself contained, he just happened to have a large bag of mizas that were screaming to be spent. Kaeson brought a woodcarver's kit as well as some as some leather strips for animations.

Eagerly, Kaeson returned to Tock to show her his purchases. Kaeson could care less about the tools he had just bought -- to him they were just a means to the end, to another animation.

LEDGER- 200gm for the woodcarver and gadgeteering kit, - 9sm 3 pounds leather,

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock sighed and rolled her eyes when Kaeson just grabbed the first set of tools he saw and thought that was that. Didn't he know anything about tools? "Oy, whatcha doin', bloke?" she demanded, looking through the box of tools. She frowned, pulling out a chisel and testing the grip in her hand, while balancing Bitey in the crook of her arm. "Nah, nah, nah," she protested, shaking her head. "'Ese's no good..." She took the box of tools from his hands and shoved them back on the shelf. The shopkeeper came over, stepping around Naily. He was familiar, if not exactly comfortable with the Animated tool, considering Tock had been in the general store more than once before. "Excuse me, Miss," he protested, but I can assure you, those are quality tools!" Tock didn't even look at him and just said, "Don't start wit' me, mate! I ain't in the mood..." She ignored his further protests, and started looking through the rest of the selection, checking the feel of the grips, the sharpness of the blades, and the oversold quality of the construction. One of the first things her Granddad had taught her, when she was barely old enough to look over the top of the workbench, was that you needed the right tool, the perfect tool for each job. When she finally found a set that met her standards, she shoved a hammer and chisel into Kaeson's hands and said, "Feel em, mate, aye? 'Ese tools is gonna be yer life. Ya ain't no novice what's gonna make yer pay an 'en leave, aye? Buildin' stuff, she's in yer soul," she pressed her hand over his heart. "I done seen it." She had, literally, when she watched the Died flow from his soul into Anne during her creation. "An' I ain't done gonna letcha not what takes 'er serious. You's done gonna make yer children wit' 'ese tools. Yer gonna make yer life wit' 'em, aye? Done think what as I made my babies wit'out love?" she held Bitey up to her cheek and nuzzled him, the spider clinging to her with his programmed desire to be near her. She looked deep into his eyes to make sure he knew she was serious. There was little in life she took more seriously than her tools. Everything she did depended on them. "Now don'tcha done buys 'em, less 'ey feel right, aye?" She pressed her hand firmly against his heart, hoping that he understood. Once she felt sure Kaeson was confident in his purchases, she picked up some leather and iron for her own supplies, as well as a whetstone so she could give her beloved baby Choppy a nice sharpening. Ledger10 lbs common leather -3 GM Whetstone -2 CM 10 lbs iron -5 GM

[Kaeson Dakano]

"Buying tools?" Kaeson responded, confused by Tock's question. "That - that's what we came her for, to buy tools," the young animator repeated, watching Tock curiously as she dug through his newly bought toolkits. Kaeson's features scrunched up in confusion as the fiery redhead as she tested several of the tools - including a brilliantly made chisel, or so he thought.

"Wh - what? No, I just bought them, of course -- ," Kaeson sighed, massaging his temples in frustration. There was no point in protesting Tock's decision, she had already placed both the woodcarver's and the gadgeteer's toolkits back on the shelf and she had already moved on to the other side of the store. Frowning, Kaeson made his way past the protesting manager following Tock through the rest of the tool selection.

Kaeson only paid so much attention as Tock continued testing the various hammer, chisels, and whatever else the gadgeteer could get her hands on. Tools were of little interest to him, only another way of getting to a particular mean. Kaeson couldn't care less if he was using a hammer against a nail, or a stone to bludgeon it. Frankly, he could use his foot as long as it would get the job done.

Still lost in his own thoughts, Kaeson was brought back to reality having a hammer and a chisel thrust upon him. He quickly found both tools in his grasp, as well as Tock talking about building stuff being in his soul.

Kaeson smiled sheepishly, feeling the blood rise to his cheeks. He had forgotten Tock had shared in his animation process, which would have allowed her certain glimpses of what made Kaeson, Kaeson. He had volunteered his own soul in the creation of Anne's soulcore, giving the doll bits of himself -- it shouldn't have surprised him, the way Tock answered, but it had.

Nodding, Kaeson tested the tools. The chisel seemed fine, which was fine by Kaeson, but the hammer seemed...off. Kaeson placed the chisel in the toolkit before returning his attentions to the hammer. "It's a little small..." Kaeson murmured to himself, not really executing a response. Returning back to the selection, Kaeson tried out a few hammers before deciding on one that seemed to fit perfectly in his grip. Kaeson chuckled, considering the possibilty that maybe there was something to the way Tock looked at tools -- maybe they were more then just that.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

"Oy, see?" Tock said, slapping him in the shoulder and continuing about her own purchases. "We's done gonna make a proper craftsman outta ya yet!" Then she shoved a finger in the face of the approaching shopkeeper, cutting him off before he could even protest what was going on in his store. "Quitcha whinin'," she told him. "I done left 'em better organized 'an 'ey was, aye?" As she had been digging through the tools, instead of putting things back where she found them, she had sorted them by size and type. She hated a messy workspace, and the shopkeeper had had things strewn about with no apparent organizational system that she could see. "They were alphabetized," he protested. Tock snorted and said, "Well now 'ey makes sense." Before the ended up spending the rest of the day in the store, Tock led Kaeson home, along with their new purchases. She immediately started sorting through the wood that Cutty had cut earlier, lining up a selection of small pieces. "Now," she told Kaeson, "we can done tries ta tackle legs next time, once we's better what at doin' 'er an' can done does 'er right. But til 'en, ya ever made a wheel what from scratch 'fore?" She gave him a very serious look, "Cause we's done makin' everythin' from scratch, aye? Only way fer ta know she's done right, from 'er 'ead down ta 'er wheels..."

[Kaeson Dakano]

Following Tock back to her place, Kaeson had refused to let go of his new hammer. Walking alongside the gadgeteer, Kaeson casually twirled the tool between his fingers, swinging the hammer as random intervals -- still obviously getting used to the whole idea of using it. The young animator grinned gleefully as he brought the hammer forcefully through empty air, maybe Tock was on to something; hammer in hand, Kaeson felt powerful. He felt useful.

This hammer was meant for his use and only him.

Kaeson helped as much as he could, organizing what pieces of wood he could find. Seeing Tock take out the smaller cuts of lumber, Kaeson slowly shifted through his own part of the collective lumber, doing the same.

Lumber in tow, Kaeson shook his head, "Nah, I don't think I've built anything like that before -- be lying if I ever said I built anything before Anne," Kaeson shrugged, looking at Tock. His previous mentors had never consider building their own shells, so Kaeson hadn't put much thought into the idea himself, at least not until he met Tock.

"But whatever you say, I'll do, Tock," Kaeson said, adding, "You're the boss," playfully.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOCYay! Kaeson is learning to be like Tock... Come to the Dark Side. We have cake... "Darn right I am," Tock replied. If only everyone else in her life could see that she was the boss. "Awright, 'ere she goes 'en," she said. "Done gots the dimensions right 'ere, aye?" she tapped I'm the sketches, which included numbers for all the measurements they needed. "Now, wheels, 'ey done goes in four parts fer the rim, another fer the hub, an' 'en the spokes. Done gots ta been identical, aye? Ain't no good what if'n ya gots wheels what ain't all the same size." She set Cutty on cutting up some more wood, keeping a very close eye on him so she could stop him at the right moment. Her floor was sliced up in several places from times he had kept on cutting after she'd told him to stop. She really needed to figure out how to fix him, but she didn't have enough understanding of Auristics yet. Soon, though. Soon. While he was cutting the next set of wood, Tock showed Kaeson how to use a gouge from his woodcarving kit to etch the design onto the wood. "Gotta 'as 'er right onna wood, aye?" she said. "Makes 'er what so's as ya can see right whatcha doin' the whole time." Since Kaeson was new at this, she double checked his measurements, the send way her Granddad used to when he was teaching her. And just like her Granddad, she wouldn't try to take the tools from Kaeson if he made a mistake; instead she would just show him how to correct it himself. Once all the pieces of wood were marked, she lined them up, showing Kaeson how the blocks, currently cut in an octagonal shape, would form a circle once they trimmed the corners down and curved them out. "See?" she said. "Now, ya take the wood down wit' a chisel til she's done 'bout 'is close," she demonstrated chipping away a slice of the wood until there was only a thin space between the wood's edge and the line they'd etched on. "Don't go no closer, else ye'll done petch 'er up but good. Once she's down that close all around, we's filin' 'er, aye?" "Oy, an' put 'at down," she pointed to the hammer in his hand, "an' getcha one o' 'ese outcha box," she hefted her wooden mallet. "Done been gotta used the right tool fer the right job, aye? Metal 'ammer's too 'ard fer this. Ye'll crack yer 'andle..." She had bad memories of the last time someone she was working with had done that. She had gotten beaten so bad she couldn't sit down for a week.