"Ah, my last thermal fuse is blown, this catalyst is rather finicky, that's like the 4th " He chimed to himself with a bit of annoyance as the room went up in smoke. Something better capable of handling the power output would be needed. "Guess it's time to emerge from the dungeon and intermingle with my peers." In Clock Haven, The young inventor had been hard at work with his latest invention within the confines of his parent's basement. The latest invention was none other than the J hammer prototype. A Mercury cannon which doubled as a large hammer, excellent for the occasional field missions. Widersia is lucky to have such a young inventor leading the charge for the next generation.
Julius always shared a hate-love with the steamy polluted air within Widersia. On one side it was home, the first breath he took in contained the stinky and dangerous polluted air that definitely would cause him some health issues down the line. On the other hand was admiration for the great minds and inventors who built this city from the ground up, WIdersia was built and raised on innovation and Julius took pride in partaking in that culture. Julius had decided to stop by his 'favorite' shopkeeper which changed on a day-to-day basis depending on whether or not they had what he needed in stock. While the shopkeep was busy assisting a beast squirrel, the red-haired inventor went over his list of materials once over. Thankfully they weren't buying too much so his turn came up rather quickly. The shopkeeper folded their arms as Julius approached, it was almost as if they knew him a bit too well. Julius was known to try to haggle a price down and this visit was no different. After a good amount of back and forth, an agreement was made with Julius negligibly saving a bit on materials. The young inventor would walk out with some Tungsten, Silver, and copper.
As he stepped out of the shop he saw a lamp on the ground, "Interesting a lamp?." The item in question stood out significantly, as cool as Widersia is the country is rather drab. Such a colorful item was rather eye-catching. He was curious whether or not something was inside. He's heard stories that if you rub a lamp on something, perhaps this was his time to test that hypothesis out. He would place his supplies on the floor beside the lamp before picking it up and giving it a good rub.
Leiana was relaxing inside of her Lamp, doing some idle crafting on a bedframe for herself since she realized she didn't really have any comfort for herself inside. She wondered to herself why she continued to get dragged away from her destinations, but shook it off as simply being unlucky. She sighed a moment, turning over some of her wares and frowning at the quality of them, believing she should have been better on it by now. But improvement is slow she supposed.
She was roused from her musings and her construction job as she heard the bell at the "door" of her lamp ring, clasping her hands together. "Oh dear! A customer!" She said cheerfully, running to the middle of her Lamp and Rising from the lamp with her Elasticity.
On the other end of the Lamp, a Schlorping noise was coming from the lamp as a flesh colored liquid poured out of the nose of it, dripping onto the ground before a woman formed from it, a genie woman with six arms all clasped together, with the exception of her bottom two arms, with her hand on her hip and the other extended out for a handshake. "Greetings dear! My name is Leiana Offer, the merchant of your dreams! I have any ware you could think of! What does your heart desire handsome?" She began her opening schpeal, a smile on her face beneath her veil.
Julius was surprised that his hypothesis proved a success. A genie popping out the lamp was unsuspected and even more so they were a traveling merchant of sorts.
“Wait wait wait, you’re a traveling merchant genie that sells wares out of your lamp? Do you wait for curious individuals to summon you before trying to sell them something? Doesn’t that make it a bit difficult to attract customers?” Julius was pondering over Leinas business tactics; they were odd and impractical, yet here he was at her ‘store.’
“I suppose they work to some degree since I’m here. Leina was it? Nice to meet you, my name is Julius Atreus Astolgia. I’m interested to see what you might have to offer, your business tactics amuse me. Also, flattery won’t work on me, I’m a shallow man but not that shallow” He smirked wagging his finger at the genie.
After a bit, the squirrel beast kin from earlier approached the two questioning if she had known him from somewhere. Eriedeth would go on to introduce herself.
“Perhaps you’veproudd of me, I’m pretty famous around these parts for my great inventions. Julius Atreus Astolgia, the boy genius.” He smiled as he stroked his ego. After pondering on her name he does recall hearing that name before.
“No way is that you Eriedeth! When the hell did you get back in town” he chuckled, “you’ve barely grown! Just as small as you,ve always been. Meanwhile, I’ve blossomed into a devilishly handsome gentleman, even Leina thinks so.”[/color] Julius would prop his chin up with his fingers to highlight his Jawline.
“I was just about to see what this Genie was selling, want to see what they have to offer with me?”
A few weeks had passed in a blur during the continuation of Francois' travels, namely after the whole Oakwell Fiasco which gave him a small taste of what he was likely to come across more often. In all honesty, it felt as though he's seen something like that before: Mixes between human and wildlife, concepts beyond comprehension, and even unique bonds formed, but alas, it was probably some dream he had as a kid. Mother did always say he had an imagination...
Speaking of imagination, the current area he found himself in is leaving quite.. the impression on him, so to describe it.. Some outworld opinion could likely describe it as the first ever time they've been in a lavishly decorated candy factory. Either way, Pierre's amber eyes glistened in fascination as he walked down the paths of this new area he had found himself in. From the bellowing whistles of what he assumed were steam locomotives, to the wild constructs and equally unique looking residents which roamed on the same surface as himself. In the back of his mind, he wondered about any potential job opportunities that could be present, seeing as he has to get started on integrating himself into society somehow.
To his own misfortune however, there seemed to be a lack of any signs that indicated any of the establishments needed extra hands.. Pierre sighed softly, slumping to his left a little as the weight of one of his toolkits was starting to poke at his stamina. He had been walking for quite some time now after all..
Halting his steps outside of what looked like a shop for various metals, he would momentarily glance at its interior, checking out the inventory from afar. It would be nice to get his hands on some, but he didn't know squat about the currency used, nor was there a hiring sign, so no luck there.
Pierre leaned against the outside wall, checking on a few of his wrenches, even a screwdriver or two to make sure everything's in place. It was then that he heard a slightly familiar Squirrel's voice.. Eriedeth? He turned his head, and sure enough there she was, seemingly having some kind of conversation with a red haired lad. From his outfit, it seems he definitely knows his way around mechanical things too, that which garnered an inkling of interest from the Frenchman. Then there was.. Huh, a particularly small lady with six arms, protruding out of a lamp.
"Okay.. Hm, well.. I guess some kind of company is better than staying alone.." He muttered, standing up from the wall and stepping over to the group.
"Madame Pip? Seems our roads have crossed again. How have you been these past few weeks?" He voiced politely, holding a gentle grin in Eriedeth's direction.
He then turned to the Redhead and Six-Armed lady. "Greetings to you too, Mr. And Ms."
Julius would flash a smirk at his smaller beast buddy, “ah don’t be so mean, you might make me cry” he clenched his heart jokingly. He had been enjoying himself while catching up with an old friend, even though their families moved in different circles it never really got in the way of their relationship. Eri was one of the very few people on a similar path and understood Julius’s ambitious dreams for the nations. In other words, it felt good to have a peer once more.
As Eriedeth continues to share what she’s been up to, the red haired man would fold his arms. Impressed by the amount of growth his friend had gone through, he recalled a time when she was quite the shy squirrelly. “Widersia is a polluted mess but it’s our polluted mess. Glad you’re back, now you can help me take care of it. Also I’m impressed, sounds like you’ve developed a thick furry pelt while you were away. I’ll make sure to let my parents know you’re back in town. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you” he smiled, though his attention would be broken shortly by a 4th party entering the conversation. A darker skinned gentleman who aaa dressed well had called out to Eriedeth. Much to the handsome tinkerers surprise, Eriedeth would reply back as though she knew the man. What caught him even more surprised was the Squirrely speaking about helping out in a drug bust.
“Wait wait wait, you helped out in a drug bust Eri? You two have got to tell me that story, you can’t just bring something like that up so casually and not explain.” Julius said in a mixture of confusion and curiosity, finding it hard to believe that his friend assisted in serving justice. “Ahh another artisan, nice to meet you Pierre.” The young Astolgia man would extend his hand to properly greet the mechanic before turning back to Eri who had brought up a startup event that was happening.
“Sounds like you’re looking to get settled back into Widersia long term. A startup event sounds easy to win , especially now that Lady Luck has blessed you today with my presence. “
"Well, truthfully I set up shop outside my lamp to do business, but I never deny a customer who comes knocking! Though, sleeping in my lamp has had a poor effect on my 'Not getting kidnapped' status..." She said with a sigh, remembering all the times people took her lamp without pulling her out of it. "We have a deal going on right now actually, with every first purchase you get a free set of bikini armor! Perfect gift for any significant other!" She said, doing her usual sales pitch, before turning to the newcomers to their little discussion. "Oh, a startup company? I don't suppose you would want a hand with that? Or perhaps, six?" She said with a grin, her hands doing a small mesmerizing movement with a purple silk ribbon to emphasize her words. "As a genie, I can make anything under the sun! Of course, I'm still maturing in that regard so they won't be the best quality, but they can serve any job given to them!"
"Sounds like you've been very busy adventuring, color me impressed. I hope your skills haven't gotten rusty while you've been gone, I'm sure the materials are probably much more raw outside of Widersia," he smirked, proud of the thicker skin Eriedeth had developed while she was away. She was much more confident than before, he could feel that inward passion burning projecting outward. Julius would chuckle at her comment about competitiveness. "I'm still just as competitive, just a lot more mature." The tall man wiped his nose, proud of his own growth. He would turn back to Leiana who brought up the con of her sales strategy.
"Could you blame someone for picking up a lamp like that? Not to be rude or anything, I'm sorry to hear those things happened to you but the last thing on anyone's mind would be a genie trying to sell them wares."
Julius folded his arms once again at the sales pitch for bikini armor, if he did have a significant other in mind then perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. Unfortunately, the Astolgia child had been too preoccupied with his career to fathom a relationship. "Unfortunately, I also have to decline the bikini armor offer, not that it wouldn't be cool but I don't have a recipient for such a gift."
'Widersia.. So that's the name of this place. Hm, quite a name for a town if I've heard of one, but it seems to ring in unison with it's wonders!'
Pierre's mind briefly rabbled as Eriedeth introduced him to her other 2 associates. The red-haired gentleman, whom looked quite the dashing fellow in Pierre's opinion, introduced himself as Julius. Kind of a fitting name the more he thought about it more in the sense of the good traits he had once read about that one roman emperor in history class. Then there was the Genie.. He doesn't know what to really think of her, as while her outfit of choice was peculiarly spaced to say the least, her sales proposal just seemed outright foreign to him. In all his 26 years of past life, not once has he ever heard of a 'bikini' as she had called it, let alone it being a supposed armor set. It was some kind of morbid curiosity, but he'll address things one at a time for now.
"Likewise, Mr. Julius. I must say, meeting via invite to a drug bust was quite a peculiar way to make acquaintances, but it seems methods obtaining friends around these parts is diverse, no?"
Rothael perked up upon Eriedeth's offer to join forces in a start-up company though.. A start-up competition for mechanics? That sounds like just the thing he needed!
"Ha, coincidentally, I was actually wandering around here in search of a job, Madame Pip. I accept your offer." He replied warmly, grateful for the opportunity. Now, that other curiosity...
"Erm.. Haven't caught your name yet, Ms., but I must inquire.. What's a 'Bikini'? I've never heard such thing." From his tone alone, it was obvious that his question was absolutely genuine in curiosity.
"Well, it seems like we have a team going! It's a pleasure to join you beautiful people!" Leiana said cheerfully at the group forming a team for the upcoming competition, accepting the offer in a more proxy and implied way. She turned to Pierre upon his questioning, smiling as she brought out one of the sets of bikini armor in question, an ornate set of chain mail shaped into a stylish and smooth looking bikini, with the woman smiling a bit. "That would be one of these! Unfortunately, I have a bit of a surplus at the moment. I made a large supply of them, thinking that everyone dressed like I did, since I'd never really interacted with others before that point. As you can see, I realized rather quickly that uh, no, no they don't." She said with a sigh, stuffing the armor back into her lamp.
"As for my name, you can call me Leiana Offer! Or just Ms. Offer if it suits you deary." She said, putting 4 of her hands together while the others hooked her lamp onto her belt.
“Diverse is the best way to make friends, skipping all the formal stuff and getting to the real meat and potatoes of someone’s character.” He exclaimed, slamming his fist into his other hand. The red haired lad would turn to face Eriedeth with a somewhat concerned look, as concerned as Julius could be.
“You’re lucky to make it out of there unscathed, the war has the Eastern empire pretty on edge towards anything non-human. Perhaps you might have some screws loose in that head for going over there at a time like this.” Julius folded his arms as he scolded his friend. He would turn to Leina with a smile, “I look forward to working alongside you as well, this will be my first time getting to know a genie.” A smile would slowly appear as Eriedeth beckoned the group to come to her workshop.
Once arrived Julius would spread his arms wide with a smile, “ah so this is the Pip lair, not too shabby. ” he exclaimed as he took a good look around the place. The boy genius would kick back on a workbench as Eridetrht asked if there were any concerns.
“My only input is that we’re gunning for the top spot, 1st or nothing” he exclaimed, adjusting the goggles above his head. “I'm ready to see what ideas you have,” Julius brimmed with excitement.
Julius held his chin up in deep thought as Eriedeth explained her idea to the group. The messenger bird proved to be an interesting concept, if the plans were to come through in its entirety. Widersia would certainly benefit from such an invention being made. He would think back to his father going too and from the border, perhaps this invention could prove effective with sending messages more efficiently.
On the other hand the idea of security popped up into his head, a concern indeed.
“I believe Widersia could greatly benefit from this and if word gets around we could even expand to outside of this nation. However…” Julius would walk closer to the schematic and place both hands on the table where the schematic had been laid out.
“Imagine if a Noble , an influential business owner, or even the military were to use said invention to send important messages or schematics. If the crow were to become compromised it could create a lot of trouble for Widersia as a whole. If the crow were to be tasked with delivering messages then a way to ensure the security of the messages is equally if not more important.” Julius would smirk, “If we can properly show that the messages will be safe with defensive mechanisms and emergency protocols, we surely can win, and more importantly. Improve Widersia as a whole.” Julius would reply waiting for any input on his idea.
The second schematic that Eriedeth proposed was one that hit Julius a bit close to home. “Even though it’s not magic, it’s a start. I only see improvements being made to this idea once we introduce magic into the idea.” A smile would appear on his face as he reminisced, “when I was younger I had the opportunity to visit The Grand Duchy with my father. Their society is highly advanced and I’ve never smelled cleaner air. I’m positive we can bring that to Widersia in a good time. I agree we will have to slowly but surely bring in the idea of Magitek and gain some notoriety as well, this is the long game.”
Leiana snapped out of her ADHD instilled space out, glancing towards the others as a smile crossed her face once more. "Well, I wouldn't know anything about this Voice Recognition stuff you're talking about, but I'm sure ready to learn!" She said, her hands wringing together as they discussed their plans, ideas forming in her head slowly. "Perhaps each bird has a passcode unique to itself, and we include the passcode to the one who purchases it?" She said, clapping her hand together as she glanced at the other two as they discussed their plans and ideas.
Julius marveled at the designs with an inquisitive look, there was a good foundation here to build upon. Once the prototypes are made they would be able to make improvements to the overall invention and boost efficiency.
“That’s good, ensuring safety is equally as important as the function itself. If not more.” At the mention of the Duchy, a smile formed on the red haired man’s face. “Ah yes, we should definitely go and visit the duchy some time. Their ability to use magic to create an advanced society is incredible. I believe we could learn a lot from them. ” His eyes would look towards Leina as she presented her idea. “You mean something akin to an encryption key?” Julius added, as he returned back to Eriedeth who raises the idea of making a form of air purifier.
“I agree, we will eventually need to tackle air pollution soon enough. We can use our findings from the water purifier as a basis for how we will tackle that problem next.” Julius smiled, “if we plan on making air purifiers then we’ll have to consider funding within the near future, we’ll need some form of monetization and proper permits in order to explore projects like that. We have our work cut out for us.“ he chuckled as he pulled his goggles over his head.
“I don’t know about you lazy bones, but I’m ready to get started!”
"I can handle both keyboards, benefits of having six hands darling~!" Leiana replied with a smile, sitting down to get to work herself, reaching into her lamp and pulling out her tools to begin, her arms withdrawing some more fine dexterous tools to do the delicate work involved with keyboards, her fingers tapping away on each set with the last spare set of arms doing aid on whichever keyboard may need it at the time, her eyes flicking between keyboards rapidly as she tapped her feet against the ground idly
Julius nodded in agreement with Erideths directions, pleased to be working on what’s going to make this bird run. The red haired inventor would adjust the goggles around his eyes before setting up shop in the corner of a small workshop. He would begin focusing on the rotor, a strong electromagnet would be needed in order to consistently and reliably turn out power for the motor. Julius reached into his bag, making use of the materials he had just bought that day. He’d mind the size of the measurements given, ensuring that the size to power output was efficient.
“Remind me to send you the bill for using some of my materials” he would joke, truly he didn’t mind at all since it was being put to good use.
After finishing up the rotor, he would move on to make the stator which would be the second part of the motor. Julius would run through the various metals he had at his disposal, seeing which one would provide the strongest yet also reliable magnetic pull for the Rotor to work with. After a while of testing combinations and creating alloys, Julius would come across a suitable combination. Now he would need to put it together and give it a proper test.
The inventor will finish creating a test circuit using a low voltage cable to loop it together. As the loop was complete the motor would come alive.
WIRRHHHHH!!!!!!
A smile would appear on his face seeing that the motor was working fine.
“The motor seems to be working fine, just need to properly test and make sure that it’s providing the proper amount of voltage needed for our little bird to fly.” He’d relay the information to Eriedeth. “Once this is all good to go I’ll work on the more electrical side of things. How are things going for you guys?”
Erich's latest trip into the Underbelly, albeit extremely exciting, wasn't that much fruitful from a research standpoint. The professor he had met there had interesting thingamabobs, that was for sure, even more when compared with the technology he had seen around Ryke, which was pretty underwhelming. Still, the tinkerer had to abandon whatever hope he had to work alongside the graying man, considering on how he was senile and his wish to opposite the suzerain of the lawless place.
When he had arrived to his mentor's, Cellica, workshop, Erich was bombarded with a stern lecture from her, after recounting everything that had transpired in the place. The lecture only got worse when she had noticed the mark of teeth which had pierced and tore his lab coat on top of his left shoulder. He took every word she said in, nodding as if taking notes of how he could improve his modus operandi. Thankfully, his worries of rabies from the bite didn't become true.
He needed a few days to fully recover from the whole ordeal and was back to duties at the workshop. However, just as it happened during the last time, Erich overheard one of Cellica's clients talking about a certain nation: Widersia. The man recounted the marvelous technologies, of clockwork and steam, he had seen in the country, and that certainly ended up piquing the young engineer's interest. It was a no-brainer that the country had to be his next destination!
This time around, however, it wasn't going to be that simple to get past his mentor! Not a chance, the female now had her eyes on him and with that, he proposed a more direct approach: simply tell her where he was going to. During the conversation, Cellica's expression was serious. She knew that there was little chance of stopping Erich's inquisitive curiosity about technology. With a weary expression, she took her time to explain the current situation between two of Ryke's neighbors: The East Empire and The See. Due to his human origins, Cellica advised Erich to stay clear from The See territory and rather make his way going into the East Empire until he reached Widersia. While the trip was going to be longer, he wouldn't be in that much danger than if he made a straight line through the territory of the faes.
The trip took days, quite many of them. There were some tense moments inside the East Empire, as Erich didn't really know how to speak [Terran], but working around with [Common], he had managed to make his down south until finally reaching Widersia, not really engaging in much sightseeing along the way.
Getting past the border security coming from the East Empire, Erich finally made his way into Clockhaven. He was surprised with the industrial capacity the place appeared to have: factories churning full steam, accompanied by the pollution with the exhaust mechanics of each building. Mechanical constructs moved about, guarding the city from threats, both internal and external. It was almost as if he was back in Gneron 4VJ1, if one would turn back technology around twenty millennia or so. Still, the place was significantly more advanced than what he had seen back in Ryke and certainly much smaller as well.
While looking around the capital, his hazel eyes kept darting here and there, noticing anything and everything his eyes could capture. He took the visual information as inspiration for future projects. Eventually, he would come across a building which had a window positioned just good enough so he could peek inside and see what was happening. The sound of something rotating suddenly, making a WIRRHHHHH!!!!!! sound only made his interest reach its zenith!
Without further ado, he reached the workshop's doorknob and bursted into it, simply making his way into the place as if he was unaware of the norms of propriety, which was actually the truth. "Ohhhh, is this a motor? What will be used to power it? Lithium batteries or maybe solar panels? I guess that would bring a problem of not having power when it is cloudy or at night. I guess microfusion cells could always be a choice, if one would find uranium and the means to enrich it! A little radiation never killed anyone... at least, not that fast." Erich commented, focused on the object itself, instead of the four people who were inside the workshop. He appeared to be pensive for a moment, until the corner of his eyes caught something... or better said, someone!
With narrowing eyes, the hazel orbs were glued into the horns sported by the six-armed female. Approaching her, he leaned forward, then left and right, as if studying them. "Those have to be tesla coils, I am sure of it! What kind of voltage can you shoot from them? Or am I mistaken? Are they short-wave antennas instead? Maybe both?!" He asked, with palpable interesting, his eyes finally making down from the horns to her eyes, before going back up.