Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
Gladys cradled the broken glove in her arms, a look of distress and panic coating her fact as she slithered through the streets of the Merchant’s District. She was looking for a specific shop, one that she had heard could repair any piece of technology, no matter how complex. Of course she didn’t know the exact location, but it surely couldn’t be that hard to locate. This was one of those times where she was thankful that she had a knack for eavesdropping, as it allowed her to overhear conversations talking of this great “Amon” who was a technology master.
She glanced down at her steam gauntlet and winced a little. She had really messed it up this time; she could hardly even tell the five fingers apart. If her troop leader saw it, she’d be dishonorably dismissed on the spot for damaging EIRAL property so severely. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but she still didn’t want to face the consequences.
Skidding to a stop, she looked up at the sign of the shop, re-reading it before pushing the door open and walking to the back counter with long strides. “Hello?” she asked, a bit of her panic leaking through her words. “Are you Amon? The technology master?” she asked as soon as someone appeared. Unfortunately, she had no idea what this Amon would look like. She only hoped he would be real and be able to help.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
It had been a fairly stressful couple of weeks...for a number of reasons. At least it was a quiet day for a ch-
Nope. Why would it be?
He had just stepped into the back room to take care of something, and he just stepped into the main room when he was assaulted with desperation.
One look at the mangled device cradled in the woman's arm pretty much told him the full story.
"No, I'm not gonna fix it," he said flatly, taking a seat behind the counter.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
“I have money. What I don’t have is time.” She paused to bite her lip, already feeling as though she was lost now. He probably got this kind of request multiple times a week, and he probably turned down all of them. “I’m sorry, it’s just most mechanics aren’t familiar with the machines EIRAL use so I really don’t know where else to go.” She shifted her arm slightly, causing the metal pieces of her gauntlet to move around somewhat. Looking down at it, her frown deepened. She’d love to fix it herself, but well, that was outside her abilities.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
"Even more of a reason for me to not get involved," Amon replied, crossing his arms. "During my absence, EIRAL should have made their own R&R division, specializing in these sorts of things. Why come to...me..."
Amon stared blankly at the girl for a moment.
"...You broke this thing behind your superior's back and/or at a very inopportune time, didn't you?"
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Gladys flinched at his words, but nodded meekly. “We’re not supposed to use them outside of training and missions, but I’ve been experimenting with mine, trying to change the settings so that they’ll be more effective. This time, though, it didn’t work out and if I show up with my gauntlet broken again…” She let out a sigh. “Can you at least point me to someone who could help? I don’t know the mechanic shops as well as I would like to. I’m not that good with technology, unfortunately, otherwise I’d repair it myself.” At this point she didn’t have anything left to lose; he had already said no. So she saw no reason to withhold any information from him. He probably assumed that she was just a dumb woman messing with technology, something better left to men. That’s how she saw herself a lot of the time at least.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
Amon pondered for a moment. On one hand, it was EIRAL tech, something he really shouldn't tamper with without their permission; on the other hand, he would be able to see the type of tech EIRAL had been working on...
And besides, he couldn't blame her; after all, dismantling, reassembling, and improving existing tech were signs of a budding engineer, and besides, potential apprentice had to leave due to the war. At the same time...
"...Here..." he finally said with a sigh, reaching out for the broken machine. "I'm not 100% familiar with this, but I should be able to patch it enough to get it working...or at least let it break down in a believable fashion so as to not get you in trouble. Just...if you want to know more about tech, might I suggest you start with something small instead of something...important?"
"Never caught your name by the way..."
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Surprise coated her face as he reached out for the disheveled glove, but she deposited it on the counter for him to examine without a question. “I’m Gladys,” she introduced herself tentatively. “Ensign for the Ebony and Ivory Royal Army of Lodan, medical division.” She was still getting used to speaking her rank, but her superiors had been encouraging her to speak it more often, and with pride. After all, who wouldn’t be proud to be enrolled there, right? That’s what they said at least.
To his previous suggestion, about messing with less important tech, well, she didn’t have much of a response. “I just wanted to improve my gloves somewhat, since I heard that they’re usually kept at low settings to help them last longer. I thought that if my gloves were better, then people would maybe think I was better at using them.” She felt herself growing a little sheepish as she explained, but tried to push through it. “I don’t really know where I’d begin with looking at other technology, though…” Looking to the side, she then realized that the shelves of his shop were covered with mechanical devices from floor to ceiling. He certainly knew what he was doing; it was an impressive sight to say the least.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
"I see..." Amon merely muttered, looking over the mangled machinery, only to pause and shake his head at Gladys' explanation.
"A novice with the best sword ever made is still easily defeated by a better swordsman with a stick. Point being, you need to actually know what you are doing, otherwise you are just going to break something, be it the machine or yourself," Amon explained as he got some tools and began to tinker away. "As for tech...for crying out load, you're constantly surrounded by stuff, even at home. Take your pick: clocks, phones, radios, et cetera."
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Her eyes shifted to watch Amon work now, hoping to learn from actions as he repaired it and possibly recreate them herself at another date. It seemed he could talk and work though, a skill Gladys seemed to struggle with whenever it came up. After pausing a moment to see the way he modified one part, she answered him. “Those are all clockwork based though,” she paused, about to give up on the rest of her defense, but again forced herself to go through with it. “The gloves are steam powered, through canisters. I know there are similarities between the two types of operation, but all the clockwork things look messy and complicated compared to those. There are so many gears and extra parts in clockwork machines that it feels like an entirely new concept, like the few things I’ve learned about my gloves and boots won’t apply.” Now that she had actually spoken them, they all sounded like excuses. Despite that, she did honestly feel like clockwork systems were more effort than they were worth, even if they had more variety in operation and uses. Steam work was smoother, stronger, and in a way simpler; like it had been streamlined and was easier to understand than complicated clockwork dynamics. Then again, it could just be her own bias accepting things. Hard to tell.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
"You'd be surprised," Amon retorted as he tinkered with the glove. "Literally the only difference between the two is the power source. In both types of tech, you can have as many or as little gears and mechanisms as you want, all that matters is what is their purpose. At their core, gears and other mechanics are nothing more than over glorified levers, and depending on their size and how many their are, will determine their mechanical advantage. For instance," he paused to point to the minute gearing system in the fingers. "It is thanks to this gearing system that you have a crushing grip. How I see it, you need to have a basic idea of mechanics and their interactions before you work on the complex stuff."
"Speaking of," Amon groaned, looking over the glove. "Please tell me this is a prototype and not a finished product..."
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
“It’s the military issued power gauntlet. If they’re still in development, then we’re the test subjects.” Gladys had suspected as much herself, given how easy it was to start tinkering with it. But she thought it was just her thoughts on something she didn’t completely understand. His question did give her a bit of comfort though, at least in that her intuition had been correct on the matter. But his explanation on the different types of machines did make her frown slightly. “I guess I just saw them as more different than they actually were. I would like to experiment more, I’ll just have to find something to work on.” As she spoke as much, she leaned forward to look a little closer at the mechanisms as he worked on them.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
"They better be in development," Amon said at Gladys' sorta confirmation. "Because if this is the final product, whoever designed this is a failure of an engineer," he grunted, jamming together two fairly stubborn pieces together.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Gladys Hayden on Dec 13, 2016 23:41:45 GMT
She didn’t want to say anything against the EIRAL, yet Amon spoke casually. “I do not know how the EIRAL goes about selecting engineers, but many seem to have been upperclassmen before enlisting.” That was true, at least. But she had a feeling it wasn’t a process dependent on someone’s skills. Upperclassmen with sons that enroll will usually nudge leadership, asking to keep their kids away from the front line. Engineers didn’t have to go out and fight. It was plain to see what was going on, but no one dared talk about it.
“…Why did you push those together?” she asked curiously. “I thought that one wasn’t supposed to move since it felt stuck in place.”
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
"Which is probably one of the reasons why this thing broke in the first place," Amon replied. "This thing is supposed to enhance your gripping strength, as well as deliver a powerful punch, right? If this does not move, it cannot absorb enough of forces properly when you power punch, thus causing it to break; you might as well strap the canister to your wrist as is and punch a wall."
"Speaking of, and why I hope those upperclassmen know what they are doing: why is there only one canister for each glove? With this set up as is, you only get one power punch per canister, and then what do you expect to do? Replace the canister in the heat of battle? Good luck!" he continued, continuing to tinker with the glove.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
“Oh.” That was the only syllable Gladys spoke as Amon explained, suddenly understanding why she had been having so much trouble with it earlier. She had been trying to up the strength output (again) and when she went to test it, well…it became the heap of metal she brought in to Amon’s shop.
“It’s not supposed to be our only weapon, but rather something we have the option to use. Save it for the right moment and after using it, either toss it or put it aside and return to normal weaponry until we have a chance to replace it.” That’s how Gladys treated it at least. While she preferred to keep her gloves at the ready, that wasn’t always possible. She carried plenty of canisters at least. Right now even, she had a few of them in her pockets for her tinkering. After all, it was easy to turn in the empties after a mission or training session. If Amon wished the test it right now, she could pull one out and snap it in.
“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” ―William Faulkner
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