It's been a while since Zahnrad dropped off some material samples collected from the underground installation, but when his cousin Deirdre catches him on the way to the hot spring to tell him that Roy Blacktail wanted to see him it all comes fresh to memory. "You really need to find a way to hide the scent of you and Amelia's cavorting you know," she tells him. "I recommend burning incense before and during." Zahn is almost tempted to tell her what he's been using some of her knot techniques for..
"Yeah yeah, like it is any of your business what I do in my free time," Zahnrad grumbles as he continues on his way towards the baths. It's only after several more steps does it register he was being summoned to the Forge. This bit of information causes his tail to poof out!
Of course, Deirdre has vanished by that point.. unless she's watching from hiding.
"I'm sure it is nothing. It's not like the Blacktails want to hang me or something," Zahnrad mutters to himself as he continues towards the bath. Other ideas come to mind; one even involving betting fitted with a pet collar ... but that might just be leftover bad ideas from being around Amelia.
It's prime washing weather, so a few other Wingnuts are out and about doing laundry. The bath is empty, although Zahn can hear Parsley singing to herself in the neighboring women's bath. Lapi singing is mostly just louder muttering.. there aren't any actual words to it.
"Hello Parsley!" Zahnrad calls out as he disappears into the men's side. One nice thing about men, they tend to not linger too much. Clothing comes off and into the bath he goes!
"Are you just now cleaning up, Zahnrad?" Parsley asks through the dividing wall. "I'm nearly done.. I waited a bit too, though.. so can't really chide you about it."
"No! Amelia visited and we, uh. We had some catching up to do!" Zahnrad claims just before disappearing under the water. He comes up only a few seconds later and shakes water out of his ears.
"Oh.. I wonder if she picked up the scent of us from earlier?" Parsley notes. "I think that might make her a bit more excitable"
"Er ... I think it was because she was with Liliana. That bat messes with everyone," Zahnrad claims as he soaps up to remove any lingering scrents.
"I really should do something to make up to her for using her wagon to test some of the Lapi gypsies," Parsley notes, already sounding like she's in the dressing room.
"Oh, I doubt she cared. That bat is messed up in the head," Zahn remarks. Back under the water he goes to rinse off. Once he comes up again, he's exiting the bath already.
"Well, it did involve six otters," Parsley notes. "The smell might still be lingering.."
"Well, remember, she might like that. She always smells vaguely of, well, an orgy," Zahnrad remarks dryly while he, well, dries. "And hey, Parsley ... Uhm, question. Why do you still visit me? Is it just because of the link that happened?"
The Lapi doe comes right into the men's changing room, wearing her milk-maid-wench dress. "Oh, the link was a good excuse I suppose," Parsley notes. "I didn't think Amelia would let me otherwise."
"Hey! I don't think you're supposed to be in here!" Zahn squeaks and covers up with a towel. Nevermind, well ... it is Parsley! "What do you mean by excuse?"
"Need help drying off?" Parsley asks. "Oh.. well.. you and Amy were already getting pretty close so.. I figured I was too late."
"Uhm, yeah, you can help dry me," Zahnrad agrees, "And what do you mean too late...?"
The doe begins towel-fluffing Zahn's back. "Oh.. well, because I wanted to be with you. You were interesting and not like the sort I usually got on with. Emmett's not bad, but really it was him and Clover, and I was just there to complete the set. You always seemed so insecure about your place in the community, and that really got to me."
This causes Zahn to blink, repeatedly ... along with looking terribly confused. "Wait. I thought iy was your job to look after the weirdos, but in my cause it wasn't because of that job?" he asks, turning to face the doe.
"Well.. you aren't a weirdo, really," Parsley says, pausing in her toweling. "See.. you could be social, and popular and so on.. I mean you attracted Amelia.. who was also a bit in the same situation. I'm much weirder than you are, so I don't really get a chance to relate to normal people often."
Zahnrad stands there for a few seconds, unsure of what to say. Unable to come up with something right then, the kadie cups his hand behind Parsley's neck and kisses her. It's gentle and kind. "You aren't that weird," he says when the kiss ends. "You're pretty, you're kind to everyone, and you're popular. You shouldn't sell yourself short," he says, now looking at the floor. It's a lot easier to talk to someone when you don't look them in the eye.
"I like that you think I'm pretty," Parsley says, and smiles. "But to my family.. I'm a mistake. Double mistake because I'm a twin. I really worked hard to find something to be useful for, Zahn. Even it's 'hospitality slut'... at least I can feel good about doing something."
Zahnrad looks up. "One: You are pretty, and it isn't just me thinking so," he says and holds up a single finger. "Two, you are not a mistake. Not them, not now, not ever. Don't ever believe that of yourself," he adds, holding up a second finger. "And three, just because you're really, and I mean really good at, ah, physical hospitality doesn't make that all you're good for. Honestly, just having you around is nice. It's calming and it is fun. You don't look at me suspiciously. And granted, the town has a reason to eye someone like me, but it doesn't make it feel any better."
"See, I like you Zahn, because.. you know what I do, but you still like to have me around," Parsley says. "The ones I help out really appreciate it.. but it's not like anyone is clamoring to be my boyfriend. You're the closest I've got to that."
"Their loss. They don't see what they're losing. And I don't just mean, well ... the fact you can make things really interesting. It's you; they lose you. There are plenty of other people in town, but there is only one you. Even though you have a twin, but she is still very different from you," Zahn says as he actually hugs the doe. "You aren't replaceable. Amelia often worries she distracts me too much from things I work on, flying and such. She doesn't. Neither do you. I can always build a new engine or machine, but I cannot replace either of you. That makes you both more important. And if anyone ever calls you a slut in a mean way, I'll shove my largest wrench up their ... and readjust their attitude from the inside."
"So.. after the glow fades from our link, you'll still want me around?" Parsley asks, hugging back (even though it probably gets her dress a little damp).
"If you try to avoid it I'll tie you up in a closet," Zahnrad jokes. "You know I know some knots...
"Did you learn those from your cousin?" Parsley has to ask.
"I have some secrets, you know," Zahnrad says with a silly grin. "Plus, Amelia seems to like you a lot too, and enjoys having you around."
"Well, I know how to win her over," Parsley notes with a wink.
"And that is?" Zahnrad has to ask.
"She likes my cooking," Parsley claims.
Zahnrad laughs. "Ah, just so," he says, then realizes his hands are apparently fondling Parsley's butt without him realizing it. So ... he lets go quickly! "Anyway, I need to head to the Blacktail Forge, they were asking for me. Hopefully not because they want to kill me."
"Oh no, they wouldn't kill you there," Parsley says, dropping the towel of Zahn's head and pinching his butt before hurrying out of the changing room. "The have a special place for that!"
Zahn makes a grab for Parsley's tail and misses. "I'll get you for that!" he claims
"You can't catch a Lapi!" Parsley calls from the distance. Of course, Zahn also needs pants before leaving the changing area.
Zahn goes to get his pants ... well, after drying off a bit more, then dresses. "Lapi are nuts," he mutters to himself.
There's nobody waiting to escort Zahn inside this time, which leaves him to negotiate the zig-zagging hallways and intersections (designed that way to baffle the force of any explosions) on his.. or yell that he's here.
Zahnrad ... honestly, he's nervous that he's here in the first place. This is Blacktail territory, after all. "Hello! Zahnrad Kettenrad-Wingnut is here, ah, as requested," he calls out loudly.
There's a loud thud sound, and a wash of steam billows out of the entrance. And with the steam comes Roy Blacktail, clad head-to-toe in rubber and wearing some sort of tinted face mask that hides just about everything but his ears and Mohawk hair-cut. "Oh, Zahn, glad you could make it," the giant rumbles, the mask making his voice odd, until he finally lifts it up.
"He looks like a gigantic rubber-demon," Zahnrad thinks to himself, tail twitching like mad behind the poor kadie. He coughs a few times to make sure his voice isn't too squeaky when he finally says, "Well, I couldn't pass up the invite. I'm, er, honored to actually be invited here. Unless this is some sort of revenge for being with Amelia, then, er, I'm sorry?" Okay, so that didn't come out quite as he rehearsed, really. He babbled.
"It's about some of the stuff we talked about during your first visit," Roy explains. "I've been experimenting.. but I'm running into problems that I thought you could help out with."
Zahnrad seems to relax! "Oh, that. Well, that's, ah, nevermind. So, what problems are you having? I would be glad to help," the kadie says.
"Follow me," Roy says, diving back into the cloud of steam. At least it's dispersing more now. This time, instead of going to the research area, Roy turns down the hallway labeled 'GLASS' - just past the one labeled 'ACID'. He pushes open a door that doesn't seem as reinforced as the others, since there is presumably nothing to explode in there.
Lamps are lit, and Zahn sees a lot of glass-blowing tools and a forge for making the molten material (and lots of bins full of slag). There's also a line of pinkish spheres, all burst open at one end to look like flowers.
Zahnrad follows along, keeping his tail as still as possible! He knows where all the dangers are in his shop ... not so much here. "You're making glass flowers now?" he has to ask once he spots the exploded 'spheres'.
"Not really," Roy says, taking off his mask and scratching at the scarred half of his head. "I was trying to match that resin powder you gave me. But to test it, I needed to make pressure vessels.. and that's where I am having problems." He points to a makeshift device that is basically a heavy stone mold atop a pottery wheel. "I used the cannonball mold. But to make a hollow sphere, I tried spinning it to make the resin go up the sides before hardening.. but it's always thinner at the top, and weaker."
Zahnrad taps his chin. "Ooooh, I see. You need a gyroscope table so you can rotate in all axis instead of just one so you can disperse material in a more uniform fashion," he says as he walks over to the makeshift setup. "Otherwise you are fighting with gravity, and that is a harsh mistress indeed."
"So.. how would you build that?" Roy asks. "Glass is easy because you can blow it. Resin is trickier. Also my legs get tired spinning the wheel."
"Well, you'll need two rings as the basis, and a single bar," Zahnrad starts to say, then pauses. "Have any paper or something to draw on?"
Roy produces a notebook made from many different types of scrap paper, and a pencil.
"Right, so ..." Zahnrad says as he takes the notebook and the paper ... then looks around for a bit. After seeing nothing exactly safe to sit on, he leans on a wall and starts sketching. "It's kind of like what you have already built, it spins in a circle fast," he explains as he draws, "But you can only spin one way. Once you add a second set of anchors that can spin in hoe horizontal as well as the vertical you can spin your sphere in all directions uniformly, which should distribute the resin more evenly. But ... you want a better way to power it too. Hmm. Do any of the water lines run here?"
"Yes, I need a lot of water for cooling and such," Roy says. "How do you spin both axes at once?"
"Well, you have to get one going first, then switch to the other," Zahnrad explains, "Imagine your ball there held by two rods that connect to an outer ring. Perpendicular to the rod the ring is mounted to a stand. The ball in the middle can spin around the rod, like you do now. Then you start spinning the ring too at its secondary mounting points." He also tries to illustrate this in the drawing and shows it to Roy. "If we rig up a water turbine down here, the flowing water could be used to spin it instead of your legs. And we can control which axis spins through a couple sets of simple gears. Connect the first and get the center spinning fast, then pull a lever and disconnect those, then connect the ones that control the other axis and get it spinning too. It'll need to be a strong setup, though, because when you have two sets of spin like this, it tends to exert a lot of force on the containing frame."
"Is it safe to use indoors, or should it be done outside then?" Roy asks, holding his hands apart as he tries to get an idea of the size. "Will need a lighter mold. Can the Potters make one?"
"You could run it indoors, it isn't that dangerous," Zahnrad says as he continues sketching, "And they should be able to make the mold. Since you're not dealing with molten glass or metal, it doesn't need to be nearly as thick as the one you have there. Hm. /Another/ way this could be done ... thread. Resin soaked thread wrapped/spin around a frame, or heck, even a pot. The thread and resin are the real strength, the pot is just the shape shell."
"On the inside or outside?" Roy asks. "I could see wrapping around a glass form, then breaking the glass from inside.."
"On the outside. Simpler to spin than the inside," Zahnrad reasons, "Then use small round stones inside to crush the glass into small shards.
"So no spinning required then," Roy says with a grin. "I assume you would mean cross wrapping, with two layers of threads running at angles to each other. I've got some decent thread too.. was using it to see if I could coat it with glass.."
"Yes, you'll need differing directions otherwise there will be issues with force distribution," Zahnrad agrees, though he seems a bit hurt there wouldn't be a giant spinning thing to build. Easier and better isn't more fun, after all.
"So.. something to lay the thread down evenly then?" Roy suggests.
"Well, yes, but that is just a modified loom, really. A decide that modes the cast at a set speed and the thread is held fixed," Zahnrad says, "That should be pretty easy. It isn't much different than the potter's wheel, except it goes up and down. And if there are slight variations as long as you design the thickness to be say, two times the expected maximum force, it shouldn't rupture at any point of variance."
"Can it be made to handle any shape or size?" Roy asks.
"Within reason, sure. The spread of the thread spools isn't such a big deal. Plus you can have adjustable tensioners," Zahnrad says. "How big are you thinking?"
"Well.. I haven't decided yet," Roy notes. "I'm still testing the resin mix, so I don't have large quantities. But once a proper one is developed, I suppose it could be used to make.. well, anything. Sheets of the material, or boat hulls or.. body armor?"
"Anything we'd normally use chiton for, I guess," the blacksmith says.
"So ... rather big," Zahnrad says, tapping the pencil against his chin. "What is the timeline?"
"Oh... you're probably busy with important stuff, but when you have time.." Roy says, rubbing his head. "I hear you've got a working motor that runs on scumble now?"
"Hey, this is important stuff. You're almost, er, well, family. Unless you're all planning to kill me or something," Zahnrad points out nervously. "And yes, I do, mostly. I'm still trying to get the timing right on it. It knocks a bit now and then due to premature detonation. At least I solved the heating issues by using external fuel lines wrapping the core. It both keeps it cooler and warms the fuel," Zahnrad explains.
"How are things with Amelia?" Roy asks. "What did you want for your wedding gift?"
"Things are great with her!" Zahnrad blurts. "As for, er, wedding? No date has been set. So, I don't know."
"You'll let me know though when it is, right?" Roy says. "I don't want to step on any toes with Deirdre. Not that I've proposed yet or anything!"
This makes Zahn blink. "Are you planning to?" he has to ask. Apparently the idea of anyone marrying that lunatic has never crossed his mind.
"Well.. once I have her tied up properly so she can't escape without answering.." Roy says. "I'm working on special handcuffs.."
"That ... wow," Zahnrad admits, looking lost for words. "So, there really isn't any discontent or issues with the clans mixing?" he has to ask.
"Huh?" Roy asks, and scratches his head. "I dunno. Nobody knows about me and Deirdre though.. I think. Is it a problem? Isn't Amy an honorary Wingnut and all that now?"
"It isn't a problem with me!" Zahnrad says and waves his hands. "It is just, I ... well, it always seemed like Amelia's father hated us."
"Oh.. he is concerned with lots of stuff," Roy says, waving a hand. "Security of the community.. he takes that really serious. And yeah, he worries about your clan too. He worries about everything, because he can't control everything, you know? He talks to Isolde a lot."
"So, he's like Gunther, only with less energy," Zahnrad says, "What does he worry about with my clan?"
"Oh.. you know.. that you'll go bonkers again," Roy says matter of factly. "So it's important that Wingnut doesn't die out.. or come close to dying out."
"Wait. But if we do die out we won't go bonkers again," Zahnrad points out. "Logically, it is the easiest solution to that problem.
"Except what if dying out is what makes you go bonkers?" Roy asks. "See.. it's all about stress. Something under too much stress breaks.. so better to make sure it doesn't come to that."
"It was more complicated than that, actually. At least if I interpreted the journal right," Zahnrad notes, then twitches. "Or ... you can forget I mentioned any journal. Please."
"Huh? Everyone keeps a journal, don't they?" Roy asks. "If I didn't have one.. I'd have lost a lot when I had my accident."
Zahnrad sighs. "Abner's journal. And a few others. I read them. It gave me insight on a lot of things that happened," the kadie admits. "And still happen."
"Still happen?" Roy asks. "The Wingnuts aren't really planning anything disruptive are they?"
"No, no, no nothing of that sort," Zahnrad says and waves his hands. "More the why about things that have happened to us. We're still being punished for things Abner did."
"Amy's dad isn't responsible for any of that, I'm sure," Roy says.
"No, Abner was. And in a way still is," Zahnrad says and waves his hand. "Anyway, not your problem. You asked me here to discuss the resin situation. I can try to work up a prototype that is relatively small, but would at least prove or disprove the idea."
"I'd really appreciate it, Zahnrad," Roy says with a grin. "I don't know if you need anything made of metal, but if you do I can help there. And.. uh.. the thing about me proposing to Deirdre.. I trust you'll keep that secret?"
"Huh, did you say something about Dierdre earlier? I must have missed it," Zahnrad claims. "I'll look over the engine design some more and see if there is anything I should re-enforce with metal, sure. And, er, regarding Amelia ... should I try to talk to her father more, or not? Would it make him feel better?"
"I don't think she tells him anything, so.. up to you?" Roy suggests. "But.. well, he might ask you about children you realize?"
"He would? Ask what, exactly?" Zahnrad has to ask, "He obviously knows how children are made..."
Roy laughs. "No, no.. about you and Amelia having children!"
"Er ... does he have intentions on which clan they would belong to?" Zahn asks next.
"I assume Wingnut.." Roy says. "That's why I can't do anything about Deirdre until you two are married. That way, your clan gains new blood.. and then ours does."
"Oh," Zahnrad says, "And if something happened to Amy and I, you would have a problem."
"Well.. yes, I suppose I would," Roy admits. "Unless I got permission to join Wingnut.."
"There is that possibility too," Zahn does admit, "But I don't have any plans to wreck what I have with Amelia. Just ... gah, stupid politics."
"Don't worry about the politics," Roy advises. "That's for clan leaders to lose tail fur over. We just make stuff."
"Which makes Isolde mad," Zahnrad adds, "She is always glaring at me."
"She glares at everyone," Roy points out. "That's what witches do."
"Especially at me," Zahnrad insists.
"Everyone says that," Roy assures.
"Well, I expect you need to get back to work. Unless you want me to actually help with stuff here, I should probably leave you in peace so I can record my notes on resin handling ideas," Zahnrad says, scanging the subject.
"Oh, right!" Roy says, and finds his mask. "I have to grind up more resin powders. Thanks for coming by so quickly, Zahnrad. Say hello to Amelia for me."
"You're welcome. Feel free to ask for me anytime or swing by the shop. I promise Gunther won't hurt you. Sure, he might threaten to, but well, that's him," Zahnrad claims as he heads towards the door he came in through. "And no more accidents! Otherwise ... well, Dierdre will be even worse. She's so much calmer now."