Session Start: Thu Mar 08 15:15:46 2007 GMVytor> Chapter 31.ohmygodaludeitneverends! GMVytor> Emiria has staked out one of the officer's quarters for herself for a moment of respite. Its been a long and trying day, as the ship needs a lot of TLC to get seaworthy again. GMVytor> Its going on early evening now, and Emiria lazes in a eons old chair, contemplating her next move. It is from this point of musing that her thoughts are interrupted. GMVytor> Footsteps can be heard in the quiet of the ship, despite the closed door, and Emiria can hear a voice as well. Is someone calling her name? * Emiria stands up from the chair, running a hand through her hair tiredly, and calls out loudly. "Yes?" (from somewhere in the corridor) Emiria? Is that you? Where are you? * Emiria walks over to the doorway of her quarters and opens the door, sticking her head out to look. "Here. What's up?" * Vytor turns at the sound of the opening door, "Ah, there you are. I wanted to check up on you. Haven't seen you much, but given the size of this ship, its not that much of a suprise." * Vytor walks over, looking like someone who recently cleaned himself, and smells slightly of industrial cleaner. * Emiria smiles wryly, stepping outside the room. "Heheh, even I get tired of working on stuff like this every so often..." Got a sec? I wanted to talk to you. Sure. Ship's not going anywhere without our work anyway, so we've got plenty of time for now... * Emiria retreats inside the room again, holding the door open for Vytor. Her backpack, red jacket, sword and miscellaneous protective gear- and quite a few tools- are strewn haphazardly around the floor. The spectacle is reminiscent of her workplace. * Vytor steps inside, and chooses one of the folding chairs, settling into it. Thanks. * Emiria falls back into her chair, stretching. "Sorry for the mess... but, well, make yourself as comfortable as it allows." ^^; Hey, I'm a bachelor and metalworker. This scene isn't new to me. :) Really? I somehow pictured you as the neat and orderly kind of guy. Come see after a few days working on a project, then you'll see a different aspect. Speaking of projects, I wanted to run this past you since Iron is a specialty of yours. * Emiria grins. "Fair enough. Deadlines get everyone worked up and prone to leaving a mess, huh?" * Emiria cocks her head to one side, looking interested. "An iron project? What about?" * Vytor digs into his vest pocket and pulls out his note pad, and flips a few pages I was thinking about what we were talking about before, about the elemental natures of silver and iron, and how their qualities are very different. I remember. You showed me that quicksilver thingie. Right. I got to thinking, normally the two are difficult to handle in tandem because their melting and tempering points are radically different. * Emiria nods, wondering where this is going. But I also go to thinking about the two in terms of a biological sense. And this is what I came up with. * Vytor hands his notepad over, "Does this remind you of something?" * Emiria blinks. "Biolo... you mean, like they were alive? Hm?" * Emiria takes the notepad and looks at its contents, intrigued. (Marked on the pad is what appears to be some kind of frame, like that of a chestplate, or perhaps a ribcage. Sketched around it seems to be another sort of material, and the overall effect is akin to looking at an x-ray of someone's chest.) I'm actually thinking simpler than that. * Emiria frowns. "You thinking of combining the two to make armor, modelled on the human torso?" Imagine if you will, that the alchemical iron acts like the bones of a ribcage, designed along stress lines and such. The silver would be more like the softer tissues like cartilage and skin. I get the idea, but I don't know much about biology. Is this cart-thing important? ^^; This grants a portion of the toughness of the iron, without sacrificing the willforce-resonant qualities of the silver. I'm hoping that the idea will result in a tougher construct that silver alone. * Emiria twists a few locks of her hair idly, turning her eyes up at the ceiling. "Oh, if you're thinking of getting it to still have the important properties of silver, I can see the point..." * Emiria leans forward, smacking a fist into her other, open hand. "That's it! I knew it reminded me of something!" Have you ever heard of, uh, axe-skeletons? Skeletons with axes? * Emiria waves her hand dismissively. "Nono, it was something... ugh, I'm awful with names. It sounded similar to that. The idea is of fitting people with armor that molds well to the body, and enhances the way it works." Like some kind of suit? It's basically, well, a powered armor of sorts. A bit like a suit, yeah. * Vytor thinks Is it like the robot thing back at Volcanon Labs? * Emiria smiles, leaning back. "Nono, it's a different branch of research. That is more a... well, you can't carry that thing around with you everywhere. This is a personal armor that you can basically take around anywhere you go. You could even make some that don't offer that much protection, but that you could conceal behind a really heavy coat or something." * Vytor thinks again, "Hmm. So we're talking human-scale here." Yeah! That's the idea. I'm not sure we have the kinda power sources or motors to actually make one yet, but that's what your sketch reminded me of. * Emiria hands the notepad back to Vytor, looking satisfied. "It's actually a pretty good idea. If you can substitute willforce for actual, y'know, engine power- you might be able to make something interesting. Like a full-body, strength-enhancing armor." Really? * Vytor takes the notepad, thinks again, and starts scribbling notes You'd use willforce to make the armor supplement your muscle movements and take most of the weight, for instance, so that you could lift a really heavy crate with minimal effort on your part. That would be useful. Really useful. * Emiria grins. "At least... it could be like that. I have no idea if it would actually be efficient and work. You're the silver guy here." * Vytor stops his writing suddenly. "Waaaait a second..." * Emiria stops twirling the lock of hair. "Wait what?" * Vytor gets up suddenly and with a rapid movement, drags a box over between the two of them. He sits down and digs into another pocket, and pulls out the small quicksilver ignot he showed to Emiria before. * Emiria 's mouth flies open. "Yes! Of course!" You know how you're able to make iron change its shape without a forge? Can you try that with this? Because if you can do that, we might have that muscle you're looking for. What, change the shape of quicksilver? Right here? * Emiria looks around the room. "I kinda might set this whole place on fire. Let's go somewhere a bit wider." * Vytor looks very excited now, "OK. But even just a little movement would be a first step." Let's see now...someplace wider... How about the cargo bay? The Destiny doesn't take up all the room in there. * Emiria nods. "That works. Uh... how does your quicksilver react to heat?" Fairly quickly. You may need to be gentle with it, too much heat might make the captured kinetic energy inside it go berserk and turn into goo. * Emiria frowns. "That's a... hm." Is there a problem? * Emiria stands up, picks up her jacket and puts it over her stained white blouse, and heads to the door. "Yeah- well, the way I work with iron without a forge is that I apply massive heat to it to get it closer to a liquid state- that loosens up its structure and makes it a lot easier for me to shape it how I want. I haven't really done much work with silver, though, and by what you're telling me my normal approach wouldn't really go that wel But I'll give it a shot. There's a small chance that I might just be able to brute-force it one way or another. * Vytor nods, and stands, "OK, if it does go south, I can always make more of the stuff." * Vytor has the look of someone who just found out christmas is coming early this year. * Emiria opens the door and steps outside to the corridor, digging her hands into her pockets and looking excited. "That's good to know. You know... I'm wondering if you could make something like a... mini-mini-portable-forge..." You know, something that gives you just enough control over small amounts of quicksilver to change it a little. Just a little.... Smaller than what we've got now? That's a tall order. I'm not 100% sure how the one we've got works now. ^^; Yeah, but it would solve everything, wouldn't it! True. Quicksilver is -exactly- what you need to get a large physical reaction out of a little willforce... Given that's designed to magnify the kinetic energy its exposed to, it makes semse. * Vytor follows behind Emiria, taking notes as he goes. * Emiria grins. "The only real problem is that it'd respond based on the shape it has, far as I understand from what you showed me, so if you want it to work for something like the human body that bends and exerts all kinds of force every which way, you need to adjust its shape slightly for different tasks..." You know- theoretically- if that's not possible, what you could do... Hm? ... is to simply jam a lot more small sections of quicksilver and have each one do a different thing. Like... to help you project upwards force to lift stuff, you willwork this quicksilver thingie, and to exert force in front of you another one... only problem is, it'd take a lot more of the material, be potentially really dangerous if you get them mixed up in your head, and of course a pain to mass-produce. * Emiria keeps rattling off ideas with varying degrees of improbability as the two of them make their way to the Destiny. * Vytor continues taking rapid-fire notes in shorthand as Emiria talks. Gosh darn it, you make me wish I knew more about silver. I didn't think I would ever summon up the interest. ^^; Well, you got the Iron down, and there's plenty of silver alchemists out there to tap for ideas. Yeah, but it makes it so hard to get a grip on what's possible and what's just wishful thinking! Well, that's why they invented 'experimentation', and all that. (The cargo area is as large and cavernous as ever, even with the Destiny and Angie's copious amount of boxes strewn about. Its not hard to find an open space that satisfied Emiria's desire for safety.) * Emiria compulsively plays with the end of her ponytail as she walks into the cargo area. "I wish I'd get inspired about this whole thing and just figure out the best way in a flash. I'm impatient to see what kind of thing I could make out of it!" It'll come in time, I'm sure. * Vytor continues his rapid note-taking, flipping over to a new sheet. * Emiria exhales and looks around, making sure there's nothing in the way. "I hope so!" * Emiria frowns. "You know." Hm? Since I'm not going to conflagrate the quicksilver anyway, we might as well have stayed in my room. Eheheh, kinda slipped my mind on the way. * Vytor blinks, and represses a smirk. Oh well, more exercise I guess. :P * Vytor picks a spot on the ground, and sets the quicksilver ingot down, then steps back. OK, I'm ready with the notepad. * Emiria stands a few steps away from it, stretches out her hands, and closes her eyes. "All right... hm." Uh, what did you say you did to silver? Like coax it into a shape? * Vytor watches carefully, not wanting to miss any details. You want to massage it, gently. If you try to force it, it'll just flow around the force like water. Imagine the shape you want to form in your mind, and invite the silver into it with your will. * Emiria mutters under her breath and focuses her concentration on the quicksilver. * Vytor gets ready. * Emiria keeps murmuring and doing subtle hand-gestures in the direction of the quicksilver for several minutes, sweat beading on her forehead and temples. Nothing happens despite her best efforts, until she curses loudly, makes a crushing gesture with her hand, and the quicksilver shoots rapidly into a corner and bounces off the ceiling, then the floor, and into a wall before stopping, knocking a crate down in its trajectory. "Ah, for God's sake!" You OK? * Emiria glares at the quicksilver ingot, her hands screwed up into fists, breathing heavily. "Yes, I'm fine! But it's not working! Whenever I try to push it one way it just goes the other way, it's like I'm sliding off!" Hm. * Emiria brushes her hair away from her eyes, turning around and crossing her arms. "This isn't going to work, I just don't have the experience to work with this damn thing." Wait a moment, don't give up yet. * Vytor walks over in front of Emiria, an idea forming in his mind. If its going to oppose you like this, maybe that's what you want to work with. Try this: think of it backwards. Instead of trying to make it do one thing, concentrate on doing the opposite. That might work. That way you might get the response you're looking for. * Emiria actually pouts. "I tried something like that. But I can't get a good hold on it." * Vytor deflates a little, "Oh." The only thing that really got a reaction was trying to crush it. ?? And then- ugh. Have you ever tried catching a soap bar when you're in the shower? And it just keeps shooting off because it's so slick? Yeah, I can see that analogy as apt. Silver can be like that on occasion. * Vytor thinks again. * Emiria sighs, looking frustrated. "Sorry. I'm just... I'd need more time, and something to work on it when it's easier." Well, lets go about this another way. Maybe you can teach me how you work iron without a forge. Maybe that way I can be the medium to make the ingot move instead of you. Silver seems to like me, maybe I'll have better luck. * Emiria breathes deeply. "Maybe, yeah." * Vytor moves over to the ingot, staring intently at it. "OK, tell me what to do." * Emiria rubs her forehead, pacing around the room. She seems curiously upset. "... you're really going to- uh, let's see." Is something wrong? No, nothing... * Vytor doesn't lose the look of concern, but nods anyways. Well. The way I do it is to loosen the molecular bonds of iron by getting it really freaking hot, then twisting it into the rough shape I want by force, and then compress it again into a more solid shape... OK, how do I make it hot? This uses up a lot of heat in the first step, and looses a lot of heat in the third step. Also, without a proper forge, there's no way you can get anything like fine details right. The stuff I make with Enuma Elish is really rough because you can't do better when you're in a hurry like that. * Vytor nods. * Emiria extends her palm, projecting a small wisp of flame. "Magic, is the way I do it. I was best at fire magic out of everything else at the academy, so it's what I came up with." * Vytor looks distressed at that, "Umm...I can't do magic like that." Silver has a much lower melting point, so in theory you'd need a lot less heat to manage... The real trick is, when you've got it in a more pliable state, to twist it the way you want to in a very short amount of time. * Vytor racks his brains, trying to figure out how he can generate the kind of heat he needs without fire magic. You could ask one of your friends to provide the heat, or... well, right here, I could do it. To be honest, though, if you're thinking of wider applicability we're gonna need to come up with something like a forge or something that facilitates the project. Because I don't think I'd be comfortable with reshaping quicksilver using something similar to Enuma Elish every time I wanted to change its properties; it's just not precise enough. Hmm. OK. Want to give this a try? The kind of forces we're talking about, you do it wrong and you could break or smash your arm into a pulp with the axe-skeleton suit... Ew. * Emiria nods. "Sure. How much heat do you want?" Just a little at first, then slowly raise it until I ask you to hold it at that level. * Emiria extends her right hand towards the quicksilver ingot, exhales briefly, and creates a small candle-like flame on the floor beneath it. She attempts to keep it burning steadily, holding her breath until Vytor directs otherwise. OK, just a little more...a bit more...good...there. Stop there please. * Emiria swallows, nods briefly, and clenches her left hand, keeping the flames burning at the temperature Vytor asked for. * Vytor fixes his will on the ingot, his gaze fixed, his body taught like a drum. OK, here goes. * Vytor keeps staring at the ingot, willing it to move. * Vytor stares some more. * Vytor stares even more intently. * Vytor screws up his face in concentration now. * Emiria closes her eyes. .oO( Hurry it up for chrissakes! Keeping fire burning without fuel is not easy! ) * Vytor starts to turn purple. * Emiria grits her teeth, inhales, and the flame bursts and winks out of existence. She leans against the nearest wall, panting. * Vytor gasps as his will snaps, and drops to his knees, looking totally defeated. I couldn't even get it to listen. Not even so much as a twitch. Yeah... well... getting things to 'listen' is harder than just taking hold of them and forcing them to do what you want. I guess it makes sense. I'm sorry Emiria. I tried. I really tried. * Emiria sits down on the floor and wipes her forehead with the sleeve of her jacket, drying it but leaving a trace of oil behind. * Emiria seems, all of a sudden, somewhat cheerful and enthusiastic again. "Hey, it's all right. I could tell you were doing your best." I guess this idea will just keep us busy for a little longer. ^^ Maybe I just don't have what it takes to do things you can. You don't know that! I worked hard to get to do what I can- no wonder it's hard for you to do it right off the bat! I'm sure you can manage something if you work at it. * Vytor sits down, and schools his face to neutrality, realizing what he's doing, "Yeah, its probably just the lack of practice. No sense dwelling on failure at this point." Besides, we can always try again, right? * Emiria nods. "Pretty much." ^^ * Emiria grins. "Hey, you could be the Silver Witch." * Vytor strikes a mock pose Behold, the Silver Witch! Sounds a little corny, doesn't have the same oomph that Iron Witch does. :P * Emiria chortles and laughs. Maybe. Well, something different... uh, the Silver... :P Smith? Seems fairly accurate to me. * Emiria rolls it around her tongue. "Silver Smith... kinda... 'sss'. What was that called? Alliteration. It's memorable." It sounds like its got a work-ethic with it. I like that. * Emiria smiles. "'sides, it's a bit more positive-sounding. It suits you better." Thanks. ^_^ * Emiria turns around, giving Vytor her back. "Ahem. Well, what're we gonna do about this armor idea of yours for now?" ^^ Ah, right. * Vytor digs out his notepad again. * Vytor wonders why Emiria is facing the other way, but starts nonetheless, "Well, I wanted to build the armor so that the iron components would be built into the natural stress lines of the armor itself. The snag is, if I get the iron hot enough to get it to be workable, it'll turn the silver into slag." Oh. Couldn't you just forge them separately? I could, but I wanted to make it into a seamless whole as possible. Kind of an organic thing, if you get my meaning. * Emiria nods to herself, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and playing with her long, braided ponytail. "Let's see..." Why are you facing the wall? What? Oh, uh, I don't know. Oh, OK. * Emiria turns around and crosses her arms behind her back. I wonder. Could you, maybe, shield the silver to protect it from the heat in some way? Hmm...I wonder if the forge can do that. Two independent forging spheres. * Vytor thinks Hey, how about this? A bit more long-winded, but it might work. * Emiria smiles. The expression looks curiously out of place, given her normal countenance. * Vytor moves next to Emiria as he sketches in his notebook. OK, let's say we first start with a piece of iron, pre-tempered and worked into a spring-like shape like this. * Emiria looks at the notepad attentively. Then, we take a piece of silver, and forge it to entwine with the iron. That way the silver can be worked without damaging the iron. I guess that's workable, yeah. Then when we move onto the actual construct, we move the silver and iron bar into place, and heat the silver so it bonds with itself, tying the iron into it as it cools. That way we have a solid silver construct, with iron supports built into it. Depending on how the iron is shaped, it'll maintain a good deal of its structural strength. Maybe you could do something special to get them tied together? That's the theory, the snag is I just don't know how to do that. * Emiria rubs her chin thoughtfully. "I guess the real trick is to make the structure so that the shocks are evenly spread out, and mostly among the iron..." Ideally, I'd want to set up the iron to act as a conduit for incoming stresses, and act as a means to disperse the impact over a wider area. That makes the way they're both set up together and the shape of the armor really important... Bingo. The thing is I've never tried that before. Have you? * Emiria grins. "No. I've done some structural work on big metal stuff before, so I understand what we want but not how to get there." Can you make me a copy of those designs though? Maybe I'll come up with something. Sure thing. * Vytor starts making copies, trying to make them cleaner than the originals. Thanks for the help. I like having someone I can bounce ideas off of. * Emiria hums tunelessly to herself. "This is some interesting stuff. Almost makes me wanna start working on it right away instead of playing with this battleship." ^^ I know the feeling! Most of the time I'm worried the people I'm talking to won't have any idea of what I'm saying. I can't promise I always will, but at least we have a common frame of reference. * Emiria pats Vytor in the back encouragingly. "You're the best idea partner I've had, ever." ^^ Thanks, that means a lot to me. :) * Vytor finishes his writing with a flourish, and rips two clean pieces of paper from his notepad. "Here we are. Enjoy!" * Emiria takes her copy, springs to her feet, and rubs her hands gleefully. "Good! You mind if I go back to my room? I still have some ideas I need to run around in my head, and I should probably get some sleep before I get started on the repairs... I've found it's always healthy to get some rest before you start, because it's hard to pry yourself off work once you're in the middle of things." Good point. Some sleep would do both of us some good. * Vytor stands up, working out some kinks as he does. I'll be seeing you around then. I might need some help for some of the work. ^^ Just give me a holler. * Emiria saunters out of the cargo room and back towards her room. "Sure!" Seeya later then! *waves* * Emiria waves, and keeps walking until she's out of sight. * Vytor walks over and leans down to pick up the quicksilver ingot. He tosses it playfully into the air with a grin. He then realizes he wanted to ask Emiria about something else, and dopesmacks himself. GMVytor> An opportunity lost? Maybe Vytor's memory won't fail him next time. GMVytor> Lude over! Session Close: Thu Mar 08 18:22:25 2007