(Untitled)

[variaswrath]

Who: variaswrath and ergaleomancer
What: Xanxus is curious what this clockwork can do, Theta is curious about this city, and lord only knows how it'll end.
When: A day after Theta's arrival, a bit after their first chat over the network.
Where: Starting out near the theater, but location is subject to change.
Warnings: Who knows, with Xanxus involved. PG-13 at the most I

Comments

No worries. We all have lives to attend to, ne? ^_^

[ergaleomancer]

He certainly looked strange, but Theta wasn't against people that looked strange. Theta herself looked strange. She couldn't help but see the scars, but with a sense of propriety that in her world at least was clearly (and even stereotypically) associated with the English, she kept her eyes on his, not batting an eyelash or pausing to stare. She wouldn't have wanted him to stare at her leg, after all.

She took his hand and gave it a firm shake. Her hands had callouses in odd places for being a woman of obviously upper class standing, like she had the hands of a craftsperson. Her grip was also stronger than one would expect of a woman of her build, though hardly anything more than a human woman would have been naturally -capable- of, more as though she put some time into working with her grip.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Xanxus. My name is Elizabe-theta Buckley." Her voice lowered to a conversational level once he was nearby of course, but still the enunciation remained. More so than even 'normal' levels of primness and propriety, and her clarity unusual even for the English.

His accent gave her pause as she tried to pin it down. No doubt a traveller (by her assumptions anyway), the only way possible for him to have an accent that she couldn't even identify between English, Australian, and the Americas. The roughness didn't surprise her at all, though, and in a society where in the lower class smoking began in childhood and drinking in adolescence, she actually did figure that was its source. Especially with scars like his--obviously a rough life, far more suited to the lower class than upper, and the poor had few avenues of entertainment or stress relief open to them besides sins of the flesh.

"So. A world without clockworks...the thought still gives me pause. I can't imagine how on earth technology would have flourished without it."

Usually, yes... ^^;

[variaswrath]

Her firm grip did not surprise him much, since this woman didn't look frail or delicate, in spite of her leg. Or maybe because of it, even, but either way it made craftsmanship his first assumption, especially seeing as she kept mentioning clockworks. He had a firm grip himself as well, though his hands were calloused from frequent use of firearms rather than work, but such a thing would not be so easy to spot with a mere handshake.

Xanxus nodded as she repeated her name taking note of how clearly she spoke, but thinking nothing of it. After all, such a habit could have any number of causes, and none of them really interested him. If she was attempting to find an accent, she would simply not. Being fluent in no less than seven languages, he had little or no accent in any of them unless he wanted to. No assassin could go giving himself away so easily, after all.

"It's not that there are no clockworks, but technology doesn't rely on them aside from working actual clocks." However, if it was so essential to her world, he could liken it to imagining a world without Dying Will Flames. It would still work, somehow, but it would be very different. "But I imagine they're capable of much more than that where you're from."

[ergaleomancer]

She wouldn't have been able to identify firearm callouses anyway, so rarely were such weapons used. She let go of his hand and stuck it into her pocket, drawing out what looked to all senses a simple pocket watch, made out of brass rather than gold.

She gave it a good shake to one side, like one would slide a weight aside to let a pre-wound music box begin to play, though with more force to it--she didn't want just any movement from being in her pocket to activate it, after all. She opened it, and rather than displaying a clockwork face, a pair of arms and legs folded out from within, with hands and feet inflating on the ends. Those limbs gradually extended until the now comically small pocket watch body stood level with where Theta's hand was at a comfortable drop to her side. She set it on its feet and smiled smugly.

"Clockworks can do -anything-. This is Fetch-It...but one example of how they can be used."

The little mechanical device didn't seem capable of speech, it just stood there silently save a soft ticking coming from its inner workings, waiting for further instructions.

[variaswrath]

Seeing that, even Xanxus' usually unshakable composure failed him and he blinked once, twice, frowning once the thing had completely unfolded. It took a moment for him to recover coherence, skipping past the profanity for a change. "Hmm... I've never seen anything like it," he had to admit. This made it clearer how they were supposedly capable of so many things. At the same time, it gave rise to heaps of questions, but he concealed that well enough. There was plenty of time to find out, after all.

"How common are they?"

[ergaleomancer]

"Fetch-It...get me a rock. No larger than one inch across, no smaller than half that," Theta ordered the thing, just to show off that it could take such an order. It obediently started looking around, picking up rocks to get a better look at them for measuring's sake.

She watched it move, simply for a place to put her eyes while she considered the question. "Well, Fetch-It is unique. Most clockworks are -unique-, each built to its own design... Only the lower middle class appreciates mass-produced clockworks. But... Hmm, I couldn't say how common they are in a home, as mine is the home of two ergaleomancers we have far, far, far more than most. But...there are clockworks in the kitchen and clockworks for maidstaff and clockworks for other household utilities...clockworks for tailoring, clockworks for medicine, clockworks for...."

She sighed and shook her head. "Name me a field and I could tell you if it does or doesn't. I think you'd be hard-pressed to think of one where clockworks -aren't-."

[variaswrath]

"I get the idea," he responded instead. They certainly looked convenient, but it wasn't yet time to jump the gun here and ask if they could be used for his purposes. He shifted as he watched the little clockwork following it's orders, wondering what powered it, a smile tugging at his lips at a stray thought. "Either way, you'll find that the only clockworks in this city are the ones you have on you or make here should you decide to do so. Though for obvious reasons I don't know what materials you'd need."

[ergaleomancer]

She nodded quietly, actually glad that she didn't have to keep trying to think of ways to explain. But still the idea of a clockwork-less city was a little bit frightening in all sorts of ways.

"Materials? ...Are fairly simple, actually...gears, springs, screws...a lot of them I can make from scratch, but then I'd need metalworking supplies."

[variaswrath]

He could tell the city was getting to her, but did nothing to make it any less so. Anyone off balance was easier to nudge one way or another, after all.

"Of course. I'm pretty sure those can be made or found as well, if you compile a list of what you'll need. Unless you'd rather find something else to occupy yourself with?" Though he doubted she'd do that, and it would be in his best interest if she decided to work here.

[ergaleomancer]

She snorted derisively at the idea of finding something else to work on. "I may have come here by train, but as the train is no longer working, I will leave here by clockwork. ...I just need someone to fetch materials for me, as I will have difficulty doing that myself."

She tapped her cane on the ground, drawing attention to it. It was polite not to speak of such things or stare at them, but sometimes even she had to grudgingly admit that it was an aspect of her life.

[variaswrath]

Xanxus nodded in understanding of her condition, though he did not actually look down at her leg, and set to explaining. "Well, even if you did build a clockwork that could transport you away from here, I strongly doubt it would work. See, even if people walk out of the city following the train tracks, they simply end up back inside the city limits in the forest. I think your fate would be much the same."

[ergaleomancer]

"Then I shall have to make a teleporter. Or perhaps a means of piercing the inter-dimensional veil. If this place breaks the laws of physics, then I shall break them in return. ...Clear cut work for an ergaleomancer, actually."

Theta's arrogance is great, but given the clockwork machine she's showing off already, there's at least some basis for her boasting. Fetch-It tugs on her hand and she looks down, only to be presented with a smooth, shaped stone. She smiles and tucks it into her pocket, then picks up the watch to put it away.

"Thank you kindly. Fold up, now." It did as it was told, and she returned it to her pocket as well.

[variaswrath]

"I doubt that our hosts would pull anyone here who could simply break out of their prison again," he mused, though from his mouth the word 'hosts' sounded like an insult, "if they've already collected so many powerful people and kept them here. But that won't stop you, will it?"

He was quite glad he'd decided to meet this woman. Theta was proving to be worth his time, very useful if handled with care.

[ergaleomancer]

"If they think they can hold me here, then they are wholly unfamiliar with the scope and breadth of the abilities of an ergaleomancer." She all but sneered along with her words, not at him, but in effigy of those that had captured them.

Of course, she was also all but telegraphing him a list of her weaknesses--physically there was the cane of course, but mentally...so easy to control with a few compliments in the right places and a challenge to her skill as a dare to prove it wrong.

[variaswrath]

It was just too easy, really.

"See, I think many people say that when they first get here. My captors have no idea what they're dealing with, et cetera. They haven't slipped up thus far." He cocked his head slightly to look at her once more, an ironic smirk on his face, as if considering her abilities, her potential something that might be able to oppose them. In reality he didn't think that alone would do a thing, but she didn't need to know that.

[ergaleomancer]

"But no one here has heard of an -ergaleomancer- before. How many people has this place brought whose very employment is in bending and breaking the laws of physics?" She smirks proudly, that arrogance of hers taking precedence over everything else.

[variaswrath]

"Given that so far there haven't been more than two hundred people here including those that have died or disappeared again, probably not many," he admitted. Now he wanted to see if this arrogance only bordered on stupidity or if it crossed that line. "But rather than just displaying what you're capable of, didn't you want to hear about this place?"