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AEPHIX - A CLEARING SOME WAYS OUT FROM THE WALLS OF RESPITE - AFTERNOON
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Maybelline walks out some distance from town, idly chatting with her assigned protection, Vandal. All the talk of airships and permits and checking their systems for town safety, but for the stoat it's just a decent excuse to go for a walk in the nice weather. Her fur is slowly starting to grown in her summer coat once again, leaving her a little patchy around the face, but otherwise mostly white. She nods to Vandal who takes up position to wait, and she goes to... knock on the airship door? She hesitates, then calls out. "Um, hello? This is Maybelline of Respite Falls! I'm here regarding your permit inspection!"
Narrator: A muffled voice emanates from within the ship, a female voice with a somewhat distinct Vamas accent. "Be right up, miss, one moment, please!"
Shirley makes her way up to the deck from within the ship, having been running checks on the vessel's systems to see how they're holding up after the ship's maiden voyage. Before long, she opens the door and steps out with a smile, her bright blue plumage certainly standing out against the wood of the ship, as well as the somewhat grease-covered coveralls she wears during maintenance work. "Ah! Good to see you, miss. You're here to inspect the ship for certification?"
Maybelline perks her ears a bit, trying to located the voice, but otherwise waits patiently as she admires the ship. When Shirley appears, May grins, waving, "Yes! Maybelline Frecklemeyer, at your service! The Town of Respite via the Bairnell Board has requested I inspect your ship before they authorize you to take it into the air again..." She coughs, adopting a much less official tone, "It's mostly a formality really, but... how many airship crashes around Respite has the officials a little jumpy, you know?"
Shirley chuckles a bit and waves in turn, then steps aside to invite May into the ship proper. "You mean the one that "landed" outside of town some weeks back? I'd figure my mishap wasn't close enough to Aephix to warrant worry." She dips her head a bit, smiling, "But, please, take a look at my pride and joy! A fully steam-powered airship built by Shirley Cawlin - that is, myself - and Robin Tanner, my assistant."
Maybelline giggles, bowing in return before she steps into the ship at Shirley's invitation, waving to Vandal as he stays outside, "Well one crash is too many in most folks opinion, but I hear you. Honestly I'm just here to make sure you don'-" She stops in her tracks, blinking. "...Did you say full steam-powered?"
Shirley goes to follow May, only to stop as she stops. She gets a bit of a proud grin on her face at the question. "Yes, indeed! As close to full steam as I can get, except for the heating element in the boilers."
Maybelline lets out a low whistle, "Well, I'm impressed! Though I guess it explains why you're a few steps ahead of the folks in Sarn who're still pushing for a Magic-run ship." She lifts up her clipboard and checks her list. "That's... gonna eliminate a lot of concerns. You know how much damage a crash-landing from a magitech-powered airship would do to a town like Respite? Or... to anytown really."
Shirley hums a bit. "Mmh, I know how much damage a hairline fracture in a magitech heating element can do if it's allowed to catastrophically fail. Multiply that into something as large as the operational components of a proper airship and, well..."
Maybelline nods, "Exactly. Well, I'll inspect the heating element, and just do a cursory glance at the rest and you'll be good to fly." She looks over the list and shrugs, "I'm something of an expert on the catastrophic failure of Magitech generators... not a Title I wanted, mind you."
Shirley raises an eyebrow, but shrugs it off as she starts to lead May into the ship's interior, so she can inspect the odds and ends as she wants. "I can say you've got me curious, since you're the town's generator engineer, but I know it's a risk anyone takes in the engineering field nowadays, especially coming out of Sarn." She gestures at some small tubing running along the upper corners of the rooms they're passing through, "Anyway, those are all of the tubes that carry wiring and such to where they need to around the ship. The primary pipeline for steam is closer to the propellers in order to minimize power loss from cooling at high altitudes."
Maybelline pauses to check one of the hatches into the tubes, pulling a portable light from a pocket of her jumpsuit. "That's one of the big problems that Magitech seems to suffer from, diminished performance in upper altitudes, at least in the quantity of power necessary to push a ship this size." She closes the hatch and continues to follow Shirley. "Oh, when I came to town, the previous engineer had been missing for years. The generator was in pretty bad shape, neglected for a lot longer than they'd been gone. I did what I could to fix the thing up but couldn't repair all of it."
Shirley tilts her head curiously. "Really? Strange, the condition of the generator building and the externals seem as good as the major cities elsewhere... newer, even." She smiles, "You must be wonderful at your job to take a scrap pile and make it as good as new."
Maybelline snorts, "I'm good, sure. Not that good. The old one exploded. I had to dampen the output manually to keep it from burning down a good chunk of town, the rest was contained in the main building. That new one was built from scratch."
Shirley blinks, then blinks again as she shifts her gaze to May once more. "It... the generator did what, now? The town's central generator blew up, and it didn't reduce the whole area to a crater? Enough magical energy to power an entire town...?"
Maybelline walks past Shirley into the boiler room and starts examining the heating element. "Oh, 'explosion' is a pretty dramatic way to describe it. The thing that did it in was a fracture in the magic containment. The wild magic broke out, melted down a lot of the generator to scrap. Magic fueled fire is pretty nasty, but that whole building is built specifically to contain that sort of thing, so no spreading past that. The only two injuries were myself and my assistant, who was only injured cause she was crazy enough to walk through the fire to pull me out of the wreckage."
Shirley hums to herself as she follows May into the boiler room. "So not quite a full containment failure, but still a system failure that resulted in a lot of damage. You have quite a lucky star, miss."
Maybelline grins. "I do. Honestly, some days it seems my luck all turned around when I moved to Respite. The ICEE burns still hurt sometimes, but it's not so bad." She pulls out a few tools to take readings, eventually standing back up with a nod. "Heating Element is running optimally, and the seal is good another twenty years, assuming you maintain it. ...I'm guessing you're hoping Respite proves your lucky star too, hmm?"
Shirley chuckles. "I should hope the element is running properly. The merchant I purchased it off of said it was part of a shipment fresh out of Sarn just last month." She shrugs a little, "Perhaps. I didn't exactly arrive voluntarily, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for a blizzard ruining my first ship. Good luck never goes awry, though."
Maybelline shrugs, "Well, glad the merchant didn't sell you junk. That's a good quality piece of tech." She laughs slightly as she stows her portable light. "I'll take good luck when it comes around, but I try to plan for the rest. Hopefully losing your first ship just served to make this one better."
Shirley makes a slight sound of discontent. "Mmh... I'm not sure about being outright better, since it's built to specifications, but unfortunately, a lot of easily found equipment in Vamas are a lot harder to find or more expensive here in Aephix. I've had to make do with what was available, but the ship will be capable of a lot more once I get more parts from home."
Maybelline cringes a little, nodding, "Yeah... that's all fair. I had a lot of issues getting parts from Sarn for the new generator. Thankfully, most of the cost for those came from the planning council in Bairnell's and some local donors eager to get power restored. I'm guessing this was all out of you and your partners pocket though."
Shirley nods. "You'd be right in that guess, miss. My partner and I aren't exactly tight on funding, but most of my funds are still up in Vamas. Luckily, we were able to find this ship for sale at a really good price, and the rest we just built by hand to minimize costs. Nothing out of the ordinary, since I'm an inventor and not an engineer, but it still wasn't all too cheap."
Maybelline gives Shirley a squinty look, but laughs it off. "I've found it's not quite a black and white spectrum between the two, but I get your point. I dabble in inventing a bit, but it's all little personal projects to make things easier around the house. To put all this together and make it all work, you're definitely not just an inventor." She looks across the piping out from the steam engine, considering it all. "I'm not wholly familiar with steam engine principles, but it doesn't look like there's a lot here to refine."
Shirley laughs a bit in turn. "Mostly just what I like to tell myself, really. My education isn't entirely formal, but I've learned enough to apply principles as I need to. Most of the refinements I can think of off the top of my head are to do with the mechanics, as a few of the ship's systems are creative workarounds used in lieu of stronger materials like steel, until I can get the parts I'd usually have on hand."
Maybelline nods, admiring the craftsmanship, "Well from an efficiences perspective, you do good work. I can probably give you a few suggestions once I've seen the rest of the layout, but for the ship you've got and the materials you've got, you seem to be in good working order. Even if it's still incredible that you actually accomplished the flight from Bairnell!"
Shirley chuckles. "If you've the time, we could potentially talk shop on what suggestions you've got for my partner and I. A fresh look can find improvements where others have already exhausted their efforts, after all." She grins, "It was a very smooth flight, too. The winds are thankfully calm over here, even with the desert close by, and that helped a fair bit. I dare not try flying in awful weather until I get better materials to replace the temporary parts."
Maybelline grins, "I might have to tell poor Vandal to find something to do to pass the time if we talk shop. He's my escort today for coming this far out of town. 'Just in case', and all that. But I'd love to talk on it all! I'm dying to know how well this engine actually runs."
Shirley waves her hands a bit with a jovial smile. "Oh, no, no, I don't mean now, of course. You're the town's primary engineer, so I imagine you've a rather busy schedule as is. I mean when you next have a stretch of time with nothing to do. That way, I can show you how the ship runs with full explanations."
Maybelline giggles, "Oh, I can definitely do that! A full walkthrough, rather than an official checklist."
Shirley nods. "As you can probably guess, I'm proud of what my partner and I have built here. I'm more than happy to show it off to you, since I don't need to worry about you trying to copy anything before I've gotten the designs fully locked in to our names."
Maybelline nods, "I'm in an official position with the city, plus a certified Sarn engineer, and it would be against my own personal ethics, so perish the thought!"
Shirley chuckles. "More than can be said for a fair few others, really. When pioneering new technologies outside of academia, inventor circles can be rather rife with subterfuge."
Maybelline hums, "Well, there's a few folks in town who pride themselves as inventors who're very good friends of mine. I wouldn't betray that trust, but I certainly understand your concerns."
Shirley gives a lighthearted wink. "As long as I don't catch them on-board my ship and trying to steal engineering ideas or schematics, I doubt I'll have reason to get upset with them."
Maybelline shakes her head a bit, smiling, "I'm not suggesting that... I just mean... they've all trusted me."
Shirley smiles in turn. "Well, you've a trustworthy attitude, miss. Really, the town as a whole is so much more cozy than the big cities... and it still throws me off once in a while."
Maybelline chuckles, "Oh yeah, me too. I'm from Sarn, lived in the big cities my whole life. The pace here is so... different."
Shirley hums in agreement. "Westport is probably a bit slower than Sarn, but it's a port city, so there's always a lot of people around conducting business and passing through. This town's rhythm is... vastly different."
Maybelline: "Very laid back, for the most part. Not always, of course... and there's... a fair share of strangeness sometimes. But it's become my home."
Shirley gets a thoughtful look on her face at that. "Hmm... well, my home and workshop are up in Vamas, but I could see this place being a nice second home of sorts if I need to get out of the cold." She looks at May, "Though, when you say "strangeness", what sort of strangeness are you on about?"
Maybelline exhales, "Wellll... the whole generator explosion, and the mage who helped us rebuild accidentally created a few friendly elementals, plus a friend was afflicted by a transformation into a feral form, and another had a whole issue with an adaptation potion... um... it's... there's... there's been a lot."
Shirley just sort of stares blankly at May as she lists off the issues that have been going around town. It's pretty clear she's waiting for the follow-up to what has to be a joke, as she remains silent for a few seconds after May's done talking. Once it becomes clear she's not following up, she tries to prompt May. "...That's... a lot, yes. You're... trying to tug my tail feathers, aren't you?"
Maybelline blinks blankey at Shirley for a moment. "Err... the last two years have been... odd. I mean, really, really odd. But still worth all the weirdness."
Shirley lifts a hand up to rub at her head a bit. "I... wow, that's... if you're being serious, then yes, that's really odd. Is it... common, here?"
Maybelline shrugs, "I don't... think so? Louma has definitely said things got a lot weirder since I showed up..."
Shirley chuckles and gives May a joking look. "So what you're saying is that you're a weirdness magnet?"
Maybelline laughs, "Oh, it's not because of me..." She pauses. "Err... I don't think. I'm pretty sure."
Shirley shrugs, still smiling. "Or maybe you're just the only one observant enough to notice at first, and everyone else started noticing when you began pointing things out."
Maybelline does seem a little concerned now as she considers this, "Maybe...?"
Shirley waves a hand, still smiling in amusement as she notices May's expression. "Oh, I'm just joking, don't worry, miss."
Maybelline laughs a little nervously, "Err, right! Joking. No worries, then! Err, why don't we finish up the inspection, I've probably left Vandal to wait long enough."
Shirley nods as she gestures at the door through which they'd walked a short while ago. "Of course, miss. Let's get you back up on the deck, if there's nothing else you need to check out in an official capacity. It's been a treat chatting with you!"
Maybelline relaxes a bit, letting that weird thought out of her head, "Yeah, a pleasure meeting you as well, Shirley. Lead on, and I'll get my report back to town and sent off and you'll have your authorizations in no time!"
Shirley seems quite heartened by the speedy inspection, and she's more than happy to chit-chat with May as the two make their way back up onto the deck of the airship.
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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - NOONISH
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Brunilda is wandering the marketplace, the tiny gray possum really not wanting to leave Fiora's side or their home today, but after their adventures in making breakfast, it became obvious their changes had also incurred a change in desires in what to eat... and what not to eat. A lot of the veggie stuff tasted a bit stale to the now-omnivorous palates, so some shopping was in order. However big an ordeal that would be. Not that she even knew what she wanted now. Or how to get it home. She'd figure out carrying stuff home when the time came. Somehow.
Nesseth is in the marketplace at the moment, currently off-duty and stocking his pantry again after Vix whipped up another rather big meal the other evening for him, herself, Plume, Erika, Mia and Mirriam. He's at a meat stall at the moment, perusing a selection of salted meats brought in from Bairnell.
Brunilda wanders next to Nesseth, craning to look up at the stall... and being confused at the smells that a mere day ago would have made her feel queasy at best. She's focused enough that she doesn't realize who she's standing next to as she tries to make heads and tails of her desires.
Nesseth makes a purchase before long, and accepts the wrapped package of salted meats after a few seconds of waiting. As he goes to stow the meat away, he notices Brunilda standing next to him, looking a bit uncertain. There's a slight air of familiarity, but he can't quite place why... but regardless, he smiles and scoots aside. "Oh, sorry there, I didn't realize you were waiting. Please, go ahead."
Brunilda smiles: "Oh, i-it's no worry. I don't really know what I'm getting... oh. Hey, Nesseth." Instantly, the possum blushes as she becomes very very aware of her change and also the improvised small toga made of one unfortunate pillowcase.
Nesseth glances up again as he finishes stowing the meat properly. "Not sure what you're getting? I could... uh... sorry, have we met?" He smiles sheepishly, "I usually have a good memory for faces, but sorry if I forgot."
Brunilda nods, giving a blushing apologetic smile: "Y-yeah, um." She pauses, trying to come up with a good way to put it, then just says it: "I'm Brunilda."
Nesseth 's smile slowly fades as he realizes what he just heard. "...Brunilda? What the heck happened?"
Brunilda sighs and looks down: "It's um... turns out our house had a cellar we did not know about. With..." she waves a hand: "...stuff." The possum motions towards a nearby bench: "Might as well sit down while I tell you, still getting used to this body."
Nesseth shrugs and nods as he makes his way to the bench and takes a seat. "Sure. Sounds like quite a story... and thankfully nothing all too severe compared to recent events..."
Brunilda sighs: "I'd rank this as pretty severe." With some considerable effort, she climbs up to the bench: "Unnf! I don't know how May manages at this size..." She sits down, then winces as she shifts to allow for stiffer and relatively bigger tail than before. "Mm. So... Fiora was just intent on replacing a handful of floorboards..."
Nesseth leans on his knees as he listens to Brunilda telling the story about her and Fiora's predicament, though he holds off on the commentary until she's done explaining things.
Brunilda recounts the relatively short train of events, talking animatedly: "...and then I also woke up like this, this morning. Honestly, should have seen it coming and prepared accordingly, the lab was full of signs." Nevermind she only found half of them after her change, earlier today...
Nesseth sighs a bit as Brunilda concludes the story. "That's... a pretty wild bit of happenings all in a row. Do you know who owned the house before? You could probably ask someone to dig into records to see, if you think it might help get some leads on how to change back or something."
Brunilda shrugs: "Yeah, might be worth a look. We don't really have a lot to go from. The notebook I found is written almost entirely in an unreadable script, at least to me."
Nesseth tilts his head a bit. "There's a notebook? Maybe we can see if the script looks familiar to anyone else we know. Louma, Xochi, May, Mia and such. Someone's bound to think it looks familiar."
Brunilda nods, looking up at Nesseth with a smile. "It's a hope, at least. I try not to fall into thinking this is permanent."
Nesseth chuckles a bit. "Heh... yeah, if it was permanent, that'd put a bit of a crimp in things for both you and Fiora, hm? I'll let Louma know about this whole bit and see if she can lend a bit of a hand if she's got the time."
Brunilda blinks: "I didn't even think of that. There's no way I can do... any duty, right now." She lets out a defeated sigh.
Nesseth shrugs. "It just means you can help May out around the generator a bit more until it gets fixed. I doubt Louma will mind since things have calmed down a good bit."
Brunilda nods slowly: "I suppose... assuming May needs me like this. I don't even know what I can do...?"
Nesseth: "You could probably ask her. She's about your size now, right?"
Brunilda giggles with just a bit of nervous edge to it: "Heh. True. Crazy to think about."
Nesseth smiles. "Then she probably has things around the generator set up for herself, which would match you pretty handily right now."
Brunilda shrugs, then leans back... and realizes she has no chance of leaning to the back of the bench, sitting as she is. With awkward motion, she stays sitting. "Probably. Guess I'll find out how handy all those pipes really are."
Nesseth hums. "Really kind of get a feel for how the generator's laid out in a way that blueprints and such can't really convey."
Brunilda nods: "A different perspective than what I have had so far, that's for sure..." She imagines just how HUGE the generator is compared to her now. "...very different."
Nesseth: "It's different, but it'll be something to learn about while you're stuck like this, I'd say."
Brunilda looks at the marketplace, musing on this: "That sounds like something Fiora would say to me. Take this as a chance for adventure and learning."
Nesseth gives Brunilda a wry smile. "It's like when I was stuck as a regular little lizard some time back. It was a little bothersome, but it was an interesting experience, either way."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow as she looks up at her friend: "When did that happen?"
Nesseth spends a few moments thinking before he answers. "Uh... a few months ago, I think? Some time late last year, I can't remember when exactly." He lets out a little laugh, "Erika and I went up to Mean Peak to get some of the less common stuff that grows up that way, and we wound up running into a patch of those weird blue flowers from before." He doesn't bother mentioning why they wound up in the patch of flowers... nor what happened immediately afterwards.
Brunilda blinks: "Oh. Quite the adventure that must have been too... I suppose at least with me and Fiora, we had this happen at home." She frowns: "Even if almost everything in our house is unusably big now." Except bed. It's gloriously huge, and that thought warms the ex-elephant just slightly.
Nesseth nods. "I can imagine... If you need any help getting stuff set up for the size difference, I think between May and myself, we can get the house feeling cozy for you two even as big as it is."
Brunilda shakes her head: "I hope that won't end up being necessary." She smiles: "But thank you. We will see."
Nesseth chuckles and smiles. "Maybe not necessary, but definitely more convenient, even if it's temporary."
Brunilda nods: "We can craft something." She looks at her paws: "...once I even figure out how to do basic stuff at this size."
Nesseth gently pats Brunilda on the back as she looks at her paws. "I doubt it'd be any different with doing basic stuff. You'd just need more time, or more leverage, depending on what you're doing."
Brunilda lets out a nervous giggle: "A lot more leverage. I can barely lift a kitchen utensil, let alone my halberd."
Nesseth: "Well, those utensils are meant for someone several times your current size. I'm sure there are a few folks around that sell stuff to match your size now."
Brunilda smiles: "Yeah, true..." She shakes her head: "Whole lot to think about, all this."
Nesseth nods again. "Try not to let it get to you, though. Sometimes, you just need to coast through it."
Brunilda shakes her head slightly: "I wish sometimes I was more like Fiora in that regard. I just... overthink stuff til it hurts."
Nesseth chuckles. "Then it's good you've got Fiora to drag you along on things. She seems the sort to do that."
Brunilda giggles: "That she is. Keeps me up and going when I just want to curl up and give up." She glances at the meat stall: "Kinda pushed me out here to figure out this food situation too."
Nesseth hums. "Yeah, food's pretty important no matter what. How are you two adjusting to the whole meat thing, by the way?"
Brunilda hums: "Well uh... not adjusting yet. But like, a lot of the stuff in our kitchen this morning tasted... well, not entirely 'wrong', but kinda stale. I'm pretty sure we are at least omnivorous right now."
Nesseth dips his head for a moment. "Well, at least it's just an addition instead of a complete change, so that's something. One thing I can say about meat is that it's a bit touchier about cooking than vegetables and fruit."
Brunilda shrugs: "I'm completely useless in the kitchen anyway, so it's not much of a drop down I guess." She sighs and glances at the stall: "Help me figure out a tasting set for me and Fiora? Like, I have no idea what I'm doing, but we gotta try."
Nesseth looks over at the stall as well, then nods with a smile. "Sure! Since you don't know what you like yet or not with meats, that just means we can experiment a bit and see what sticks."
Brunilda giggles nervously again: "I guess life is full of experiments. Didn't expect this one, though." She hops off the bench, slightly slipping on her landing, then giving Nesseth a smile.
Nesseth stands back up with a fair bit more grace, then leads the way back to the stall to converse with the merchant tending it to help Brunilda choose some meats, all while giving her tips on how to cook the meats, and helping her decide how to season the meats to bring out the flavors best.