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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2015 4:32:47 GMT
Wooo, starting to get a bit chilly...
The Guardian cupped his hands to his mouth, exhaling hot air into them to warm his pen and paper grippers. He sat on a bridge running over a stream, poring over a map of the one of the villages not far from it. All around the tiny populations were a number of Xs, indicating possible locations to build stations for both passengers and freight.
As for why he was doing this, his bro in Apocrypha was the one heading this train project (which was a project that Oxford supported immensely) and he figured he'd help out by plotting out an optimal route to run through the Avon region. The overall design for the railway was mostly completed, but trying to decide where the best spots to put stations were was proving to be a bit...difficult.
Not in the sense that it was hard to find a place to put them, but the fact there were so many good places to put them instead. Near the markets so people can access goods from other locations and head back home? Perhaps near city landmarks to for sightseeing?
If it was up to him, he'd just go ahead and build every station at every location. The problem with that is, aside from being super expensive, the trains would end up stopping every 5 minutes, since they'd already be at another station at that point.
"Bluuuuurgh, don't tell me I'm gonna have to scout all the locations on foot," he whined to himself, clasping his face in his hands. If only there were a convenient way of traveling from one village to another instead of by foot...like by train.
The wind whipped around him, causing Oxford to pull his comfortable jacket more tightly around him. This left his notes at the mercy of the elements, which had none as it flung his notes through the air.
"Oh, COME ON" groaned the Guardian as he began to jump and snatch at the pieces of parchment floating nimbly above the ground, chasing them towards the nearest village.
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template coded by oxford of ET |
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Schiesse
Half-Alv
Inactive Player
Gold:
Pharmacist
Animal Tamer
Guild:
Ephemeral Solace
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Post by Capsule on Oct 10, 2015 19:32:03 GMT
[attr="class","solcap"] Capsule was back in Avon once more -- or leaving, it rather. As a promise to Aleksei, she had taken the polar bear home to Snowdonia the previous day. That area was eternally blanketed in the white, chilly powder. Between her and the bear, setting up an igloo for the night had been a cinch. Aleksei, of course, offered to allow Capsule to cuddle up on him in his old cave, but the Enchanter had politely refused. As much as she would have liked using the bear as an oversized body pillow, she did not want to end up sweating through her garments. Polar bears were much too warm and fuzzy, and best used to snuggle with for only periods at a time. Besides, Bosco absolutely refused to enter the bear cave.
Seated comfortably on the back of the bear, Capsule lamented the lack of train construction in this area. Sarum had more or less been taken care of, and even the Isle of Grain was getting some loving. That left Windsor, London, and Avon. She was in no real rush to get home; on the contrary, Capsule was looking for an excuse to stick around and help, if possible. She was still very eager to help the technological advance along, by any means necessary.
The small party was stepping out of a village when Bosco suddenly decided to bolt. Atop the bear, Capsule could only sigh. The dog was nearly at his full height and nearing physical maturity, but retained the behavior of a puppy. "BosCO," she yelled, placing emphasis to show just how much she disapproved. Bosco paused, looked back to whine at her, and then turned and snapped something out of the air with his jaws.
Aleksei accelerated to catch up with the Malinois, going from an easy gait to a light jog. Bosco had a head start, and showed no signs of slowing down. He headed towards a tall man, who appeared to be struggling with paper. A Scribe, maybe? And Bosco was still charging forward. Fearing that the man might get the wrong idea and hurt the dog, Capsule bound the mutt in place with Astral Bind.
Bosco yelped in surprise, releasing the paper in the process. The polar bear stopped a few feet away from the shackled dog, and lowered himself down to let Capsule off. "Sorry," she called out to the man. "He didn’t mean anything by it, he just likes to pl…" Her voice trailed off as she got a good look at the man. Those eyes. That bod. The grumpy bear squinting down at her with obvious disapproval. A bead of sweat rolled down the back of her neck. "…Ox?" She stared up at him, almost in disbelief. This was the last person she had expected to bump into out here. [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] ∝: 470
♫: Heartbeats
✏: ---
@: @0x1dea [newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar]height:5px;width:10px;background-color:#2c2c2c;[/newclass] [newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background-color:#211f20;border-left:1px solid #211f20;border-top:1px solid #211f20;border-bottom:1px solid #211f20;[/newclass] |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2015 2:25:27 GMT
The wind taunted Oxford as he scrambled around for his pain-stakingly, meticulously crafted notes. When he reached down to pick up the ink-blotted parchment, a breeze would snatch it back in the air. Kinda like that prank with the dollar bill on a piece of string: go down to pick it up and yoink. "Oooooh, ya almost got it!" Thanks to Mother Nature, the process ended up using more energy than he would've cared to use.
I COULD'VE BEEN WALKING SOMEWHERE ELSE RIGHT NOW, he silently screamed in his head. After taking inventory on what he had and what he didn't, he was relieved to find that all he was missing was one last page. And look, there it was!...in the jaws of a dog-like creature that was making its way towards him. At least until the glowing blue of aetherial shackles ended up yanking the dog back. He hastily shoved what notes he had recovered back into his inventory before something else inconvenient happened to them.
As he approached the beast, he saw a white-haired lass come riding up on a polar bear. As it was an uncommon sight to see anyone riding a bear around, Oxford found himself staring as the pair came closer. He was even more confused when the Adventurer already knew his name.
"Uh...yes?" he said. Her voice sounds familiar, but where have I heard it...?
The Guardian scratched his head as he tried to remember who this was and how they met. Judging by the fact she used an Enchanter skill and that he knew only one Enchanter, exactly one name came to mind...
"I'm sorry, have we met before? I'm afraid my memory isn't what it used to be."
...God dammit Oxford.
Upon retrieval of his final page (the one holding all of his potential railway station locations), he scratched out the nearest one and wrote "Bear Crossing" instead. After presumed reunion and re-introductions occurered, Oxford decided he'd ask another question.
"What brings you out here to Avon anyways? Are you helping out with the train project too?"
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template coded by oxford of ET |
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Schiesse
Half-Alv
Inactive Player
Gold:
Pharmacist
Animal Tamer
Guild:
Ephemeral Solace
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Post by Capsule on Oct 12, 2015 14:32:11 GMT
[attr="class","solcap"] Had Capsule still been riding the polar bear, she might have fallen off in exasperated anime fashion. She was not, of course, so she could only stare back at Ox. Her cheeks turned a rosy shade of pink. The appearance change potion strikes again…! A sheepish smile joined the twinge of color on her face. "I am Capsule, Oxford. We were members of the uh…" What was their name again? It was something that was a little silly, but appropriately named. She snapped her fingers as the words sprung into mind. "The Antisocial Comradery party." His… well, former guild members made up more than half of the group, leaving just her and Scoria. What a great time they all had.
"I ah, took an appearance change potion a while ago. You look the same as always, though." She did not feel it was important to delve into the finer details of her transformation. It was partly done on a whim, and to remain on the down low while she reestablished herself within society. It had turned out to be fun as well, but some part of her could not help but feel like she had lost a part of herself in the process. Good thing it was reversible.
Once the brief reunion was out of the way, Capsule was free to exhale. Things might remain awkward for a while, but after reuniting with Hiro and Tobin, she had a feeling that things would smoothen out sooner rather than later. Thank goodness for the train expansion, a topic she was more than glad to discuss at length. "I actually came out here to ease my bear's homesickness." Behind her, the bear tipped an invisible fedora. "I would love to stick around and help out with the effort here… if I could find one."
She and Royah had helped out in Sarum, which was more or less taken care of now. Surprisingly, London and Windsor were the last areas to get any loving. Even the Isle of Grain was mapped out and ready to have its virgin rails ridden. She raised a demure eyebrow at Ox, eyes lit with curiosity. Those same eyes had caught a glimpse of the paper Bosco had before Ox reclaimed it. There was a rough sketch of a map there. "And you, Ox -- mapping out stopping points for the future train? Or something else?" Using Mythic Script, she drew a large question mark in the air for emphasis. [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] ∝: 412
♫: Elastic Heart
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: @0x1dea[newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar]height:5px;width:10px;background-color:#2c2c2c;[/newclass] [newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background-color:#211f20;border-left:1px solid #211f20;border-top:1px solid #211f20;border-bottom:1px solid #211f20;[/newclass] |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2015 16:04:01 GMT
The glazed look in Oxford's eyes slowly faded away as it dawned on him that he had been unexpectedly reunited with an old friend of his.
"Wow, yeah it's been awhile. Long enough for me to regret not picking a shorter name for that party of ours," he replied. Although it really wasn't too long ago, it felt like ages since that fight against the cutesy-ly nicknamed yet not-so-cutesy Maya-chwan. He hadn't seen her since then, so the fact that they ended meeting out here in the cold was kind of blowing his mind. So much so that he almost didn't hear next statement.
"Aw, I kinda miss the red," he remarked at hearing about here appearance transformation. "And yep, sadly for you, you've gotta stare at this ugly mug for the rest of our stay here," he said as he pushed his glasses higher up on his nose. He let out a 'Ha-HAH!' as he did so, almost loud enough to mistaken for a Taunting Shout. However, if a monster suddenly attacked him, then he'd be questioning the quality of the village's shoddy magic defense.
The Guardian gave a nod to the bear, feeling that it would be rude of him if he did not return the gesture of acknowledgement. BEAR-SENPAI NOTICED ME. As for the labor effort, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about that.
"Yeah, ah...well, the workers are all prepped and raring to go, but...I think I might be holding them up." He waved the piece of parchment with the potential station locations on them, finding himself getting torn between the decisions he was trying to make earlier. Then Capsule asked him a question, complete with an actual question mark in the air. He absent-mindedly poked the question mark's tittle (teehee) as he replied.
"Mhm. Trying to find the optimal location for a station's been bugging me." A sudden insight as to how he could make this decision easier suddenly came to him.
"Quick, if you could prioritize one thing, what would it be? Easy access to markets, easy access to residential areas, or making trips between point A and point B as short as possible?"
Whatever decision she made would probably be the one he'd go with. Partially so he could be done with this, but mainly so the team could actually get to work and get some trains choo-chooing around here.
"Oh, another question: how long does Mystic Script last? We might be able to use that to mark the locations for the workers." He didn't have very many materials on hand to make extra maps to give to them, but he could always sacrifice some of his notes if needed.
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template coded by oxford of ET |
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Schiesse
Half-Alv
Inactive Player
Gold:
Pharmacist
Animal Tamer
Guild:
Ephemeral Solace
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Post by Capsule on Oct 24, 2015 16:44:53 GMT
[attr="class","solcap"] At the mention of her formerly red hair, Capsule instinctively reached up to brush at the long, fair strands framing her face. Although it had been a few months since she underwent the transformation, she was still adjusting to it. There were days where she would catch a glimpse of herself in a mirror, and stare back at her reflection in confusion. Oh, how she missed it… her brothers took after their father. They were all blond, except for the brother closest to her age. His hair was predominantly blond, but sprinkled with bits of red, making him strawberry blond. Capsule closely resembled their mother, completely red of hair and possessing green eyes, while the boys ranged from blue green to pale blue, like their father. The only feature she shared with her father was his strong chin.
She was perfectly fine with that.
"Yeah, sadly I cannot control how the potion alters my body. I considered dyeing it red, but it just wouldn’t be the same, ya know?" Oh well. An Appearance Reversion potion was specifically crafted just in case she happened to change her mind, and was on standby in her inventory. She had only bothered with changing her appearance to disappear further in the background, on the pretense of avoiding old friends. That had all turned out to be a futile effort, of course. She should drop the pretense now, and revert. Her confidence had grown a bit since she took the Appearance Change potion, and no longer did she entirely feel like that meek girl. Plus, this current avatar drew too much attention to her. Albinos did a poorer job than a fire crotch at blending in, even more so with this feminine frame.
But back to Ox for now. So he was working in conjunction with the train effort. And now he was involving her, but in such a way that she had to make a decision on the fly. "Aaah…" All of these suggestions were ones she found especially relevant, now that she was relocating from her main home to the Partridge housing district here in Avon. How could he expect her to just pick one?! Trains were great for business, which was her main reason for wanting to help them be built, but a means of quicker and comfy transportation also appealed to her, and what if she wanted to visit someone in their home -- no, wait a minute. Capsule never made house calls. Short trips were also desirable… "Easy access to markets."As much as she liked using the cheap labor of carrier pigeons, trains would be far more efficient for transporting goods. The pigeons could just be used for sending and delivering letters, which she was certain their little bodies would appreciate.
As for the longevity of Mythic Script… "Mythic Script can last a long time, if it is well preserved. Otherwise, it erodes when exposed to the elements." As an amateur graffiti artist, Capsule knew these things all too well. [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] ∝: 500
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: @0x1dea[newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar]height:5px;width:10px;background-color:#2c2c2c;[/newclass] [newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background-color:#211f20;border-left:1px solid #211f20;border-top:1px solid #211f20;border-bottom:1px solid #211f20;[/newclass] |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 31, 2015 21:28:24 GMT
Oxford nodded in agreement with Cap's decision as he began to fill in his diagram with details as to where the stations should be placed near the markets. "Mmm, good choice. Progress seems to follow the cash flow." With that major roadblock out of the way, Oxford made copies of his station layout, drawing a variety of different shapes to connect all the stations together. Some of them he outright rejected, such as ones that had a variety of super-sharp turns that could end up derailing the train at a high-enough speed or ones that didn't take the geography of the land into account. While putting tracks through a mountain wasn't in itself a bad idea, there simply wasn't any time right now to accomplish it. Perhaps sometime later in the future.
The wind blew a little harder, causing Ox to wrap his comfy jacket more tightly around him. It had been forever since he had last seen his previous guild leader. It'd been a item he requested from him, during a time where he wandered this world by himself. Now all those times were nothing but memories, the woven fabric on his back the only token he had to remind him of those fun times. Memory lane was always a nice road to take a stroll on, but when you're the only one walking it, it can be surprisingly lonely.
Getting back on track (no pun intended), Oxford began to look around to find a sign of the railroad effort anywhere. Each village had a section of Landers ready to work, but due to his indecisiveness, they seemed to have turned back to other matters in their daily lives. Unable to see any obvious signs, he turned back to Capsule.
"Uh, any idea where the labor effort ran off to? I can't seem to find the team that was stationed around here to hand off the final station and tracks plan." He eyed Capsule's polar bear, an idea forming in his head. "Oh, do you think I can hire you to traverse the railroad sections on this map and make some signs with your Mythic Script to speed things up for the workers?" The way he saw it, once he found the workers and gave them the layout, half the work would be done already if the course was already plotted in real-time. "If you don't think it's worth your while, I'd be more than happy to pay you. I'd just like to hurry and get this done so expansion can progress even further out here."
Should the Enchanter agree to his request, he'd make a fresh copy and hand it over to her. The course he plotted was pretty straightforward and shouldn't take long to travel between all the villages.
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template coded by oxford of ET |
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Schiesse
Half-Alv
Inactive Player
Gold:
Pharmacist
Animal Tamer
Guild:
Ephemeral Solace
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Post by Capsule on Nov 3, 2015 20:46:17 GMT
[attr="class","solcap"] The Enchanter not so subtly attempted to peek over the shoulder of the tall Guardian. With the exclusion of map making and grimoires, the Scribe crafting class held little interest for her. More than half of the items researched for it made little to no sense to her, and she had even fewer ideas of how she would go about crafting most of it. Like, how did you make paper? The quill and the ink seemed easy enough, as you could affix a little bit of charcoal to the quill, and perhaps mix ink from crushed insects and water or some other liquid. But paper? Did they use… thin sheets of treated bark?
Screw that. She would stick to what she knew: concocting potions and examining herbs. It was for the best, really. While cartography was useful, it was overall not her thing. She was fortunate enough to have her pets and knowledge of the land to guide her along. Although, she should really invest in a map at some point. They did have their uses, after all.
Capsule leaned in the other direction when Oxford looked up from his scribbles. Her, peeking? Nope, not at all. She innocently glanced in the other way, pretending to be examining the uh… the enthralling landscape. Just look at that gorgeous river valley! Both Aleksei and Bosco were of the mind that Oxford was not to be trusted, and were thus keeping their eyes focused on the Scribe.
When she turned to confront Oxford, she did not have to fake surprise -- not at the missing workers, who were presumably slacking off in the river, but at his second statement. "Oh, I don’t mind doing that. It would certainly give me something to do and contribute." Other than providing potions and first aid wherever she could, there was not much the woman could do to aid the effort. That, and she could put Mythic Script to good use, and not just leaving graffiti all over the damn place.
She waved off his offer to pay. "No no, that is quite all right. I would be happy to do this pro bono." The last thing she needed was more money; goods and services were far more valuable to her, despite the state of the economy nowadays. She leaned back into the thick, white fur of her polar bear. "Polar bears are surprisingly quick, so we can get this done in no time flat." A soft rumble from Aleksei confirmed it. [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] [newclass=.babar]background-color:#050505; border: 2px solid #050505; border-radius: 5px; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; height:6px;[/newclass] ∝: 416
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: @0x1dea[newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar]height:5px;width:10px;background-color:#2c2c2c;[/newclass] [newclass=.solcap ::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background-color:#211f20;border-left:1px solid #211f20;border-top:1px solid #211f20;border-bottom:1px solid #211f20;[/newclass] |
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