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    1. Mr Rage 8 yrs ago

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@ayzrules@shylarah For your approval:



The night had continued on, peacefully, after the vocal altercation between Elizabeth and the Dame. A few more people had entered as the night progressed and nobody left for long, but eventually Chester noticed the host close the damaged door and gave it a good shaking to test it. He reached over and tapped his wife on the arm gently to alert her, "I suspect we are about to begin."

She looked up from the intricately carved decoration on the nearby shelf, "I would hope so, it seems as though there are plenty of us here... I wonder what it is that they need us for."

The answer to that question came soon enough in the form of a bit of a speech... kind of. The answer as to why them wasn't too clear. They could both envision why Chester might have been needed, being a scholar he was a genius, however this was outside of his usual wheelhouse. Elizabeth, however, didn't see much reasoning for her to be there, but if the Council said that this was an issue facing the safety of Hourglass City and there was a way for them to help, then they most certainly would. Besides, the recent modifications that had been revealed for the Mechanical wings was introduced by the people of interest in this case, and Elizabeth and Chester had admired the work that Mr. Overton had published, his designs were often inspiration and launch point for their own designs for their projects. It was the least they could to bring his killer to justice.

Chester's brain was already starting to draw up hypotheticals. One that caused him to raise a brow in speculation was that Mr. Overton's body may in fact be dead, but that his mind may live on, if nothing else, in the form of a mechanical bird. But, with the limited knowledge that he had on the actual... harvest process Chester had no idea if this was even possible.

When it came time for code names, when the opportunity presented itself Chester spoke, "I'll propose Velvet Pendant for myself."
Elizabeth spoke up immediately afterward, "And Quicksilver Glove for myself."
Elizabeth and Chester made their way around the Library, genuinely admiring the collection and the artistry that went into its construction. Elizabeth, always the impatient one, had started to grow bored with the activity and took to making small quips about everyone in the room. Of course, with everyone's masks on it was impossible to say if either of them actually knew anyone, perhaps once the masks were removed they might recognize someone from their pasts, from school. But as the couple continued to stroll arm in arm Elizabeth saw a form that she knew without a doubt who it was, even with their mask on, one Dame LaVerre.

The two had a past with one another dating back quite a ways into their schooling that never seemed to have been dealt with... Whatever it was... It had been a little while since graduating from the program, but all the same their limited interactions since then have all been... well, they could only be described politely as strained, if nothing more than restraint was used in the name of proper decorum. However, her contempt for those who come from more base lineage was never vailed, and while Elizabeth came from a family of craftsman with some renown, her husband Chester had come from squalor. So not only did the esteemed Dame disapprove of Chester for not being born into money, she also had an open disapproval of Elizabeth for marrying 'outside' of her station.

It took several shushes from Chester to quiet his wife before her comments, impolite as they were, about a particular guest became too loud. Those nearby might have heard the commotion but most likely not the content of the words. "Really dear, you must behave yourself or else this petty feud will continue on in perpetuity. All you are doing is giving her credence to her claims about our stations, honestly. Oh, look here, who is this with the wings? Someone we know?"

Elizabeth looked to where Chester had gestured, the distraction worked to keep her from continuing her verbal abuses of the other woman. "I think we do not know her, not yet at least, but I suspect that we may know of her. Come, let us make our acquaintances."

The Lockhearts made their way across the library and approached the winged woman as she conversed with a child. Before they made it to a polite distance another woman made it there, however they must have been close enough as they were included as they made their greetings as the "Honored guests" part of the statement.

"Our apologies for intruding," Chester started speaking, his soothing voice lending its charm, those within earshot might have felt more at ease with their approach, "We couldn't help but notice your beautiful wings and mask from across the room and felt we just had to have a look at them closer, and of course introduce ourselves if we may."

Chester reached out his hand, offering to shake the boy's hand, "I am Chester Lockheart, and this is my wife Elizabeth."

Elizabeth gave a polite curtsy to the group, "A pleasure to meet you all, I'm sure." On closer inspection of the other new comer, there was a chance that she remembered another fellow student from Geraldine's... it was hard to say, but how many women walked about town with pink hair?
With the situation about the assault pack decided Zim was told to get some rest. So he did.

Or at least he tried.

Zim went back to his bunk, saw himself in the mirror for the first time and realized that he was still in his formal uniform. He stripped down to his undergarments and plopped down on the thin mattress, he stared up at the ceiling until his eyes were dry, his body motionless, his face emotionless. However, his mind was running a mile a minute, trying to recall as much about his home planet as possible. It had been a few years sense he left the planet for work, but he still remembered the various landmarks used for navigating the crowded megacities of the capital districts. He pushed past the landmarks, trying not to linger on their histories, and plotted out where he remembered the shelter entrances to be. He would check the mission database while waiting to deploy to see if they had that information already on file. If not, then he would take the time to highlight those areas on the map to hopefully prevent collateral damage in those areas. What else was there? What else could Zim tell them that he hadn't already told them about his home planet that might help them in the mission? There was so much he had never told them, but there was so much that wasn't relevant to the mission that Zim was having a hard time sorting through it all.

His alarm went off, telling Zim to get ready to deploy. He slipped on his athletic gear and he went to the hanger. The skin tight plug suit went on without issue. Zim grabbed his helmet and made his way over to Black Star.

Once on board Zim started the initialization process. His dry eyes straining to focus. Quietly, Zim gripped the controls while he waited for the start up checks to complete, he whispered, "If ever there were a time for you to help me out, it would now, partner. This mission is to save my planet, maybe even my own family... I know that I am not fully in the right state of mind, but I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't do something. It's thanks to Princess Elizabeth and Katya that I am even able to deploy, let alone be able to use the assault pack. But I can't do anything, not without you."

The system check completed Zim dug into the database to see if they had a complete map of where the shelters were at. If there was already a file on it then Zim would call out on the channel to tell everyone else to load the file in to their nav system. If there wasn't an existing file than Zim would do his best to mark the areas on the map himself.

"Black Star is showing all green," Zim responded to Katya's call for an update. He moved to mount Black Star into one of the Egg Drop Ships, waiting for his opportunity to go out there an hurt some Cruxi. As he sat in the dark space of the egg ship Zim swallowed hard. This mission was harder than anything he had to do before. Besides the technical difficulty of doing and atmospheric drop into a combat zone, this mission actually meant something to Zim. Leviticus was just another planet, the teraformers were making planets like that all the time, so preventing the take over there was a matter of saving a few billion lives. The assault on the station was the first time that the humans had been able to fight back and win on an assault mission. We were able to rescue Elora and capture a high value target. Despite this, it meant little to Zim. Now, however, this was his planet. His family. So if the mission failed, it wasn't just Zim's death, it meant the death of nearly everyone he has ever known- if they weren't already dead. A slight shiver ran down Zim's spine.

Was it a chill or was it nerves?

It was hard to say...
Hey look, I finally moved my characters over to the character sheet tab and updated the litle tidbits we discussed before. Woot.

We Outlast Those Who Endure











Elizabeth was hard at work setting up an experiment for their newest steam vessel when thin tinkling of the old brass bells on the front door summoned her attention to someone entering. Chester was near by, too, to observe the proceedings, "I'll get it, dear, you keep working, but don't start without me."

"Alright," she replied in a sing-song voice, as she continued to work the wrench in hand.

A moment later she was done setting the last pressure gage and was ready to get started on the test when Chester returned with a letter in hand. "It seem's we've been invited to a party," He said as he motioned with the letter in hand, "A messenger was at the door, seems like this is an invitation to confirm our previous conversation with the Captain."

"We'll have to make sure we attend then, wont we?" Elizabeth replied as she turned the knob on the gas boiler, turning it up to start producing steam.

"Only if you really want to. This... summons... will delay our own project," He replied, stating the obvious.

"Perhaps, but we have been asked to assist in a sensitive matter by the heads of state, as such we should probably make an effort to be there, who knows, there may be a time when we need a favor in return, no?"

The water was boiling now and the steam was working its way through the pipes, the periodic gages jumping as the pressure hit them. Once the pressure reached a certain level Chester reached over a flipped a switch on a smaller mechanism that began pumping bellows, compressing the air down to higher pressures before put it into the experimental steam vessel. With each stroke of the pistons a small puff of steam was released. The gages were starting to whistle from the pressure they were experiencing.

"Time to step behind the curtain, shall we?" Chester said, gesturing for Elizabeth to lead the way. There was a heavy steel sheet wall, with Brick behind it to support it, with a thick pane of glass for a window, that was reinforced with a thin lattice of wire to reinforce the glass.

The gages all screamed in discord now, none of them agreeing on a pitch or a tone. Through the window they could see that the new vessel was starting the shutter and dance around on the pipe. The gage there, the final gage, was a bit special in that whatever the highest pressure experienced was, it would stay in that spot until reset. They watched as it climbed, slowly, past their previous records. Once it peaked Elizabeth pulled on a chain the flipped a valve closed on the tank, stopping any more pressure from entering it while Chester reached over to turn off the pressurizing pistons. The whistles came to a slow stop as the pressure was let off. Elizabeth turned the knobs to shut off the gas from behind the protective wall. They waited for a few minutes there, watching for the signs of a rupture or a leak.

It seems as though they made progress....

The day of the event the couple dressed to match, she in her red silk with black brocade corset on a mask to match, too, her large heavy black skirt in bussels behind her. He in his black suit, black vest, black hat, and red silk shirt. He wore a cape with matching brocade to his wife's corset and a mask that matched as well. They produced their invitations at the door as they made their way inside. They went through the pleasantries and niceties required for such events, greeting the host and well-wishing the birthday girl. They even took the opportunity to dance, too. They hadn't danced in what felt like ages. Elizabeth smiles brightly as Chester counted through the steps. He was a certified genius, he could calculate his way through anything, but he struggled to relax and just.. dance. The song ended, they bowed to one another, turned with the rest of the dancing crowd and gave a polite clap to the band and then swiftly made their way off of the dance floor before the next song began.

"Shall we join the others in the library?" Chester said, gesturing toward the library hall. Elizabeth nodded and took Chester's offered hand, her silk gloved hand seemed especially delicate this night. Once in side they found a nice chase to sit on and awaited what was to come next.
Hmmmm... Perhaps something along the lines of, because he is incredibly talented in design his name got brought to the attention of an alumnus, who taught him out and recommended him to take the aptitude tests to gain admission?

We Outlast Those Who Endure






Okay, setting in a place holder here for my character concepts. Husband/Wife Duo, names yet to be decided. The Husband is of the Scholarly type, and the wife is of the crafting nature, though neither belong to the guilds. They met at a social etiquette and information gathering exercise held betwixt the two schools, they tell the story of it being love at first sight, but it was anything but... or perhaps it was everything but? There was passion and attraction, in ways that neither knew possible before that night. Nonono, you mustn't blush, they both retained their purities that night. After graduation they partnered up in an engineering and design firm, with her skill in the metallurgical arts and his famed mind for design, they pushed the limits of conventional materials for steam vessels and ventured into new, unknown alloys, their combined craft pushing at the edges of what is possible. At one point, the wife wanted to study automatons, but learning of their taboo status kept it at a cursory curiosity, and instead focused her intentions on her alloys and rare metals. While she can create anything designed, he can design anything. And while she is blunt and brisk, he is subtle and smooth. They are both, however, quite stubborn, and as star crossed lovers often do, they have promised each other that as long as they both have each other, they can overcome any obstacle, no matter how grand. They have adopted the motto, "We Outlast Those Who Endure."


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