Waterwheels (Solo)

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 13th, 2012, 5:48 pm

"I always wondered what it would take to get you to take a swing at me," he said, eyeing her up and down. "Did I finally press the right button, or was it just because there were no professors around to expel you?"

Tock lowered her fists when she realized he wasn't going to fight her. She was no longer even sure if she could take him. He didn't look like much, but apparently he knew some fancy schmancy martial arts moves that made up for his scrawny physique. Of course, she'd be more than willing to go the distance with him and see if his fancy moves could beat her and her babies... except she had work to do.

"Can it," she told him, turning around and looking around the room. "Jus' needs ta peek at yer models..." His room was filled with scale models of things like aquaducts, cranes, and a miniature windmill she recognized from class. Just as Marcus no doubt recognized Grippy holstered on her hip. She searched his shelves until she spotted a scale water mill, and reached around behind it.

"No, don't!" Marcus shouted, rushing forward, his smugness gone for the moment. He no doubt expected she was going to break it, either in a fit of rage or in sheer clumsiness. But all she did was locate the winder and wind it up, setting it into motion.

He relaxed and sighed in relief when the device started working. She had to reluctantly admire the brilliance of the design. He hadn't cut any corners by making the wheel move under clockwork power. Instead, through what she guessed was a concealed screw pump in the base, water started flowing through the little trench that simulated a river. The motion of the water turned the wheel, and when she opened up the hinged side of the building, she could see all the little parts inside moving about, powered by the water flow.

Marcus carefully held his hands up to gently guide her back, not wanting to be rough with her and break the device. She arched an eyebrow curiously. He was showing as much concern for his creations as she did for hers, and she watched with something that almost touched on respect as he checked the model over to ensure it wasn't damaged.

"I ain't gunna 'urt 'er," she said softly. As much as she hated Marcus, she would never willingly destroy a creation that had been built with so much care... and love.

After all, it wasn't the models' fault if their creator was a dick.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 13th, 2012, 7:08 pm

Once he finished making sure his model wasn't damaged, Marcus turned and asked her, "What exactly is it you wanted?"

She pulled her notes and sketches from her backpack and thrust them at him. Marcus took the pages and looked them over, frowning and tapping on his chin. He sat down on the bed, and Tock sat next to him so she could explain the design. Her notes included aspects of the Animation process she had planned, which were no doubt over his head. But the mechanical aspects he should understand, she figured.

"This is actually rather fascinating," he admitted. "I suppose you're going to..." he wiggled his fingers in the air to indicate the magic.

She nodded. "'Course," she said. "Done gots most o' the build finished already... jus' ain't so sure if'n she'll move water o' not..." She wasn't fond of the idea of admitting any limitation on her part, but she didn't see a way around it.

"So," he said, that smugness returning to his face. "You need my... expertise." He grinned wide, looking her over with that expression that said he thought he was better than her. She scowled, her brief period of almost starting to maybe respect him lost, and then gone completely when his eyes strayed down her shirt.

She got up, disgusted, and crossed the room to lean against the far wall. The dorm room was suddenly a little too small for her tastes.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 14th, 2012, 3:52 pm

"Ya done gonna 'elps me, o' not?" she asked, gesturing to the blueprints. "'Ey gonna work? I ain't done gots no time what fer ta waste 'ere..."

Smirking smugly, he looked over the pages again and said, "Your design seems sound. I admit I'm not clear of the... magical aspects, but the four wheel design has balance, and they'll move in unison. But if you want this to propel a boat through water, there are flaws..."

When he didn't continue she impatiently asked, "Aye? Wotcher, c'mon, I ain't done gots all day!"

"Please," he said, standing before her and crossing his arms.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Please," he said. "You know, that little word you use when you want something out of somebody. It's such a small thing..." he held up his fingers an inch apart, indicating the size of the request. "Just say please..."

Tock snorted, rolled her eyes, and grumbled, "Please."

"No no no," Marcus said, stepping closer, a strange look on his face. "Say it like you mean it..."

Tock glared at him and said, "Fine, PLEASE, ya slimy bugger! Pretty pretty please wit' pink ribbons an' all 'at baloney! Tch, ya done gots ta make everythin' difficult, don'tcha!?" she threw her arms up in the air.

"You're such a smug little bitch," he told her, shaking his head in amusement. "Can't even get off your high horse long enough to properly ask a favor..."

She advanced on him, jabbing her finger against his chest. "Ya dirty smug Bludger!"

"Stuck up whore," he countered, starting to raise his voice.

She shook a fist at him, "NO GOOD PIECE O' SHYKE!"

He batted her fist away, "Low class trash!"

"Yer nothin' but a sleazy, tight arsed, WORTHLESS 'ORSE PETCHER!"

"And you're a LOUSY INVENTOR!" he screamed.

And that's when things got physical...

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 14th, 2012, 3:58 pm

Out of nowhere, he kissed her.

It wasn't tender. It wasn't sweet. It was quick, rough, and possessive. It was more like an act of dominance than one of passion. It was completely different than Satevis had been.

She shoved him away, disgusted. Disgusted, yet curiously aroused. She protested, glaring angrily at him, "Petch off, ya--!" but he cut her off with another kiss, grabbing her roughly and pulling her in, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth in spite of her protests.

She pushed him back and slapped him as hard as she could across the face. He just pressed forward again, slamming her against the wall and kissing her harder. She moaned, instincts kicking in as she wrapped her arms around him. She found herself kissing him back, hard and strong. She pulled away, gasping for air, and tried to push him back, so he grabbed her wrists and pinned them against the wall, pressing his body tightly against hers. She glared at him, angry, confused, and aroused. He kissed her again and she responded, moaning in pleasure, and not understanding why she was letting him do this.

She hated him.

She freed one of her hands and slapped his face again, but it didn't break the kiss. She moaned and explored his tongue with her own, slapping him again, harder. It only seemed to spur him on. She more she struggled, the more he pressed harder, and... the more she liked it.

His hands started roaming her body, and she struggled harder, trying to push them away. His hands found a grip on her ass, and he lifted her, pressing her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around him, filled with anger and confused desire. She grabbed his hair in her fists and pulled him away, breaking the kiss and gasping for air, glaring at him with hatred. She growled and said, "Ye blimey no good..." and he just forced himself against her again, kissing her even harder. She responded eagerly, continuing to beat her hand against his face until he pinned her wrists down again, and she submitted, ceasing her struggles and relaxing into the kiss.

She hated him, but it was so hot...

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 14th, 2012, 4:08 pm

He was grinding himself against her, hands roaming her breasts, and she was just letting him. She didn't want this, and yet she did, years of curiosity and frustration and being 'untouched' coming to a head. Maybe it was because she was lonely and missed Satevis since he'd gone. Maybe she just needed a release. What she felt between her legs, even through several layers of cloth, was invigorating, dirty, stimulating, and wrong. She liked it, she hated it, and she didn't know which part of herself to listen to: her rapidly beating fear-filled heart, or the lower part, tingling and moist.

When he hands reached for the laces of her pants, she made the decision. "No!" she protested, shoving him back hard, slapping him once more. This time when he moved back in for another kiss, she braced her arms hard against his shoulders to stop him. "I said no..." she whispered, her voice husky and aroused, trying to catch her breath.

He nodded and backed off, not pressing that line. Slaps and struggles aside, she'd been responsive to his touch until that point, and had known that part of her wanted it. But apparently he wasn't such a jerk as to take from her what she wouldn't submit to willingly. Though the whole experience still left her confused and distraught as to why she'd let him do as much as he did, and why she had liked it.

She took a few moments to compose herself, wiping her trembling lips on her sleeve, and fighting the urge to let him have at her again. Finally, still breathless and glaring at him like she wanted to punch him (which she did, and yet at the same time, she hoped it would just prompt him to pin her again), she asked, "Ya done gonna 'elps me, o' not?"

He stared at her for a long moment, and she couldn't help but notice the obvious signs of his own continued arousal. "Please..." she said. She'd made a promise to Nai, after all. And she wanted to get back to it, and get away from this man before she somehow lost control again...

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 14th, 2012, 4:47 pm

He stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. "The front paddles should be angled like this," he said, taking her blueprints and making some quick sketches. They showed the front paddles angled as mirror images of each other, so that the outside edges of each was angled forward. He then etched some wavy lines behind them indicating the motion of the water. "Propels the boat forward, but also pushes in towards the bow a bit. It'll add stability, and keep the craft moving straight by keeping the bow in line. The rear ones should push straight back," he added some more lines to the drawing. The end result was four lines of water motion, two straight back from the rear paddle wheels, two coming off at acute angles from the front. "If all the wheels were aligned the same way, you're losing efficiency, because the flow off the front wheels would press the back wheels too fast. You could do it that way, but the back wheels would need to be... powered for faster motion. But if everything is designed to be flowing at the same rate, then the added speed on the rear doesn't get utilized properly, the energy of motion is wasted across the whole system, and it creates strain that would increase wear. Of course, figuring out how to utilize that energy would be an interesting project. If it could be done, you'd get more speed at the cost of stability and control..."

Tock stepped forward to study the proposed design changes. She'd need to fine-tune it, but she could work with these ideas, and she had never noticed before that Marcus was actually rather handsome, his face so close to hers as she studied the blueprints.

Her face reddened, and she stepped back, taking her designs with her. She had no interest in Marcus. He was a sleazeball, she didn't go for that kind of guy, and it was too soon after Satevis anyway. This had just been a one-time, foolish moment of weakness. The man she'd wanted to give herself to had left her, and so she was being stupid and not dealing with those frustrations properly.

"Awright," she said, taking the blueprints and heading out the door without another word.

"You're welcome," he said. She didn't look back at him as she hurried home.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on July 14th, 2012, 5:27 pm

Tock made her way home, unable to concentrate. Frustrated and irritable, she needed a release. So she ordered her babies into the corner and threw a blanket over them so they wouldn't see what Mommy was doing, and spent some time... releasing her frustrations.

And guilty though she was about it, she imagined Marcus as she did so.

Later, feeling better and more clear-headed, she worked out the finer details of the general design Marcus had proposed. The construction itself would prove fairly simple. She had already completed a lot of the physical work, and with her babies helping her, it only took a few more days. In the end, it was actually Marcus's watermill model that gave her the big epiphany for her design. He had designed the model to apply power only where it was needed, to the water. That had then powered the rest of the workings based on sheer mechanics. There had been no need for him to add power to the inner workings of the model. Since it was a connected system, the power to the waterwheel alone had transferred the needed energy throughout the rest.

Combined with the changes to the wheel designs, this gave her her solution. She couldn't Animate the whole boat... it was too big. She could only Animate something with the approximate size and strength of a man. So, she wouldn't Animate the whole boat. She'd Animate the wheels alone, giving them the strength of a man. If a man was strong enough to row the boat, the Animated wheels would be too. Then, after the Animation was complete, she would attach the wheels to the boat. Separately powered, but a connected system. Like a horse pulling a wagon, only part of it alive, but still working as a whole.

When she finished the construction, she had a large square frame, with small diagonal cross beams in the corners for strength and stability. At the front and rear, axles rested within guide posts, with the wheels connected outside them. She had nailed a series of wooden paddles between each 'pair' of wheels, turning each one into a wagon-sized waterwheel. She spent time carefully measuring and aligning each paddle to be symmetrical with each other, and carried the individual wheels one at a time down to the water to test the flow. Each one was able to move the water separately, and it would just take some bigger tests on the completed project to ensure everything could work in unison.

At the back of the square frame, she'd attached a rudder. That would also be part of the Animation, so the boat could be steered by magic. The entire square frame, being just the wheels and the framework rather than the entire vessel, weighed at least a hundred pounds. THAT she could Animate... whereas the 300+ pounds of the combination of boat and wheels would have been beyond her limits.

She added some glass eyes and strips of leather at various points around the frame, so it would be able to see in all directions and hear clearly. Then she added a pair of leather straps as 'reins', attaching them to the front of the frame. She figured the device could be programmed to obey verbal commands, be steered by the reins, or be steered by the tiller the way Pash'nar had taught her.

Meanwhile, Diggy had spent the time she was working finishing the hole. Tock had to manually put some finishing touches on it, since the shovel couldn't clear out the small ramp he had left himself without trapping himself. That was easy work for her, however, after her baby had done the bulk of the hard work.

She had the physical work done, she had the Automaton's physical structure built, and she had a huge hole in her backyard. It was time to fetch Nai and get down to the serious work.

Note :

by **Paragon** on July 17th, 2012, 11:42 am

Adventurer's Loot

Minerva's Loot :

This was an awesome thread, and I managed to get plenty of lores from it. Let me know if you think I missed anything. A good mixture of stuff here kept the thread interesting, and her... encounter with Marcus was unexpected - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.