((sidethread to this: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=512&start=25))

Ginny didn't bother to knock - it was her basement, after all. Well, it was half hers.

She was normally a much better cook, she thought, as she sniffed the bowl of stew that she was holding. But with the busy night the B&B was having, she'd barely had time to toss some vegetables into a pot.

Stepping carefully down the staircase, she tried not to spill it all over the place. "Riot?" she called out over the noise from upstairs. "I've got you some supper."

Jake picked his head up out of the pile of hay. He sniffed the air, catching the scent of what was to be his supper. As he made his way up the stairs, the light shining down from the tavern made it clear that he was visibly tired, and still had a few bits of his bed in his hair.

"OOF!"

Ginny walked headfirst into Jake on the stairwell. In the blackness of the bedroom, there was no avoiding the collision. The soup went flying through the air, and so did Ginny and Jake; they tumbled to the bottom of the stairs, landing (fortunately) in a shallow pile of hay.

Instinctively, Ginny flung out her hand and quickly hissed a few syllables of monite.

The stylings of wick magic were rather different than galdori magic, and the air was filled with a pleasant vibration as the Lift spell took effect on the bowl right before it smashed on the stone floor. Only a little had spilled, and Ginny managed to lower it, wobbling, to the ground.

Slightly winded, she turned to Jake, her face a mixture of amusement and sternness.

"Mungo, watch where you're going," she chided. "Near broke my neck!"

The sore pain Jake felt after the fall was put on hold for a moment as he watched the lift spell save the bowl from almost certain doom. Gods, how he wished he could do stuff like that.

He rubbed the back of his head, partly in embarrassment and partly because it was throbbing, and laughed an airy, silent laugh which wasa combination of both amusement and apology.

Ginny looked at him, and broke into a laugh too.

"Ah, I'm such a lugger, forgot to light the torch," she said, raising two fingers to point at the brazier in the wall. With a couple short syllables, she cast a Matches spell to light it, and the basement filled with flickering golden light.

"Got to get you a proper phosphor lamp one of these days," she said, grinning. She got to her feet. "Stu's out for the night, and we're absolutely packed upstairs. What are you up to, though? Sleeping, at this hour?"

Jake realized he had completely forgotten to grab his bag. He got up and walked back to his bed to fetch it. When he returned, he sat back down and wrote out a message for Ginny.

I don't usually get
a lot of sleep during
the night.

"I hear that," said Ginny, giggling. "Bet you're used to nicer places than the Dives, eh? Quiet country-type places. I'd like to move somewhere where you can't hear folks gettin' robbed or stabbed or guttered at all hours..."

She sighed wistfully.

"Well, er, there's your stew," she said lamely, pointing to the bowl with her toe. "Rabbit tonight. Stu caught one in his stupid trap this mornin', can you believe it? Probably some poor lugger's pet...anyhow..."

Swaying on her heels, she debated whether to leave him alone or bother him for a while.

Jake thought about this for a moment. No, he was used to being confined somewhat like this. Couldn't say he had heard anyone get stabbed, though. No, he was right at home in the basement of the B&B. Good sense of solitude about it.


Jake grabbed the bowl and tasted the stew. He silently wondered if wild rabbit tasted different from domesticated rabbit. Can something taste like a pet?

Despite being a solitary type, Jake was, for lack of a better word, desperate for companionship at the moment. Putting the spoon down briefly, he scribbled out a message.

Actually, you know
how I said I was an
inventor? I've been
making some designs
to pass the time. It's
just that sometimes
I get so caught up in
it I forget to sleep.

Ginny read the message and her eyebrows raised. "Really?" she said, sounding interested. "Can I...can I see?"

Jake, who, as previously stated, was starved for companionship at the time, was more than happy to oblige. He reached into his bag and pulled out his blueprints, excluding the first page that had his name on it, and handed them to Ginny. On the blueprints were elaborate designs, detailing assembly, shape of steel plating, wire arrangement, sizes, weights, motors, and every page was covered in notes. All these were pointing towards one product: a robotic arm. Jake scribbled down a message.

Of course, it will
probably be a while
before I gather all
the materials I need.

Ginny poured over the drawings - so detailed! Never one to hold in her thoughts, she babbled happily to Jake while she looked over them.

"Cor, Riot, I ent believin' for one second you drew all this with only one arm! Vrunta! This is amazing, you been doin' all this down here all this time? I betcha Stu'd love to see this, he's got an eye for machines, he does...see, what does this thing do? How does it work?"

Jake tried to write down his answers to her questions as she asked them.

I felt that keeping
the designs neat
was more
important than
keeping the writing
neat, so I weighed
the edges and
corners down for
them. And that's
a design for the

He turned to a new page.

finger motors,
there would be
quite a few of
them.

"But...how would this..." Ginny frowned. "I mean, your arm's gone...how would it..."

She didn't want to offend him, but Ginny's practical little mind doubted very much that this sort of device would function. Still, she figured she didn't know the first thing about machinery. Jake obviously understood it far better than she did.

"Ah, I'm sure you'll work it out," she said, grinning at him. "Ent got the head for this sort of thing, I don't. If it ran on whiskey, probably then I could talk about it, but this is a bit above me..."

She tilted her head a little, a question burning in her mind, but not certain if it would be wise to ask.

"Anyway, it's Sad Hour at the bar, so if you feel like emergin' from your cave of solitude, you should come watch all the drunk people make luggers of themselves."

Before Jake answered her proposition, he brought her attention to the page of his blueprints that illustrated how the arm would connect to his shoulder. Scribbled all about the page were notes that Jake hoped would answer the question he assumed to be on her mind.

Note: will need to
find friendly galdori to
help attach arm; simple
healing spell perhaps?
need to look into further.

signals from brain should
hopefully translate well
to wiring. however,
complex wiring and
mechanics may require
higher level of thinking.
shouldn't be a problem.

certain muscles not
contained in arm
react to arm
movement. receptors
added to respond to
reactions; should
improve reaction
time.

He then grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down his response.

Sure, I suppose
I could use a
good laugh or
two.

Ginny became solemn as she read the note.

"We know a golly, Stu and I," she said quietly. "A nice one. He's quite smart, I think. He tells me he used to work with the body...a phrenologist, I think? Maybe he could help you..."

If the sudden solemn look on Ginny's face confused Jake at all, he was good at hiding it. A subtle smile remained on his face as he scribbled down his next message.

You'll have to
introduce me
to him when I
finish the arm.
Now then, shall
we head upstairs?

"Sure," she said, wondering all the while if Ceres would agree to help. She felt certain he was a very busy man. "I'll be workin', though, so we'll have to chat more later. Can't be too careful around customers."

She grinned, and motioned for him to follow her up the stairs.

Jake put his blueprints, pen, and pad of paper into his bag and followed Ginny as she ascended the staircase. He decided not to mention to Ginny that phrenology didn't really have anything to do with any part of the body lower than the neck.

Not to mention he didn't trust phrenologists in the least. When he was growing up in Muffey, a phrenologist once told him that he was an extremely social person. So much for that.

((let's continue this in "a wick" ))