→Elly and Chry log: Squirrelcraft in Ratchet

[seol_plumfall]

Seated near the door (at a table Alevh often chooses, in fact,) is a human woman, garbed in a simple priest's robe and a cheap-looking pirate hat, perhaps something purchased in Booty Bay. She's a toasted bagel on a plate on the table, but she hasn't touched it yet; currently in front of her is a small clockwork with which she is tinkering. It resembles a small rodent, and... is rather creepy, considering it hasn't had the external plating applied, a skeleton of rods and wires with huge googly eyes.

It's the rodent-like construct that catches his interest -- its tender gets a curious glance but once the young elf sees what she's looking at, his gaze is fixed on it and he approaches, hands stuffed into trouserpockets. He leans close, closer than is probably polite, but doesn't obstruct her view or try to touch it.

The human glances at the approaching elf briefly, though she returns her attention to her work, securing a nut here, gently bending a bone there... And then sets down her pliers and gives it a thorough look-over, at last letting out a contented sigh. Then, a bright smile for Chryseth, and a moment later, a cheerful "Hi!" in Thalassian.

"Hi!" he replies happily in the same language, followed with another "hi!" -- this time in accented Common. He peers at the squirrel and then nods at her approvingly before fumbling around in his satchel. He pulls a toad out and holds it in her face, a good imitation of 'schoolboy attempting to frighten girl'... but he's still smiling broadly, without any apparent malice.

Ellysse GARSPS, then cringes away, sticking her tongue out with exaggerated disgust. A moment later she is smiling again. "Does it become a prince if I kiss it?" she asks him in Common, speaking a bit slower and clearer than usual, although in a playful tone.

Chryseth tilts his head, listening to her words with wide eyes. Then he laughs and shakes his head, gently shoving the toad in her face once more. "No, no," he says, in her language. "Build prince is hard -- how make it, uh, act right?" He gestures with the toad in his hand. "And to make grow... need to be small, small prince. Toad-small."

Elly opens her mouth to reply -- but slowly forces herself to shut it. No, poor thing doesn't need an argument about maximizing the compressability of mechanical princes. "Not so hard," she says instead; "make him stand around and look pretty," and here she affects a glassy-eyed, vapid smile, "and many, many people will be fooled." She chuckles, then moves the in-progress squirrel carefully aside and offers a hand. In Thalassian this time, "My name is Ellysse."

"No, no," he says again in Common, ignoring her polite introduction. "Our prince, not like that. Have to do dumb thing, take over world, die." Another gesture, this one a sharp slash across his throat with the flat of his palm. Then he laughs and blushes a little. "This one is Chry," and he points to himself.

Elly's expression saddens a bit, even if Chryseth's pantomime is meant to be comical. "May he be forever with the light, regardless," she murmurs, a sincere-sounding wish. But she turns cheerful again swiftly enough. "An honor, miss," she replies, straight-faced, in Thalassian. "You are in the engineering?"

He draws back as if stung, looking down at himself with something approaching horror. "Am n-n-ot girl!" he protests. Then he peers at her again, suspiciously, ignoring (again) the rather polite question. "You just want to see my, my..." mumblemumble fumble for word. "Prick?" And then he repeats the word in Thalassian, frownily.

Ellysse blinks, leaning back with slightly widened eyes -- what a response! Blinkblink. Then she replies, in completely serious Common at first, "No, I do not --" and here she switches to perfectly accented Thalassian, "want to see the OTHER runeblade. Although I am sure it is a very nice runeblade, it's not my business." She raises her hands -- I'm innocent! -- and concludes with a similarly memorized phrase in Orcish: "Me not that kind of human."

Chryseth blinkblinks in return, hand dropping to his swordhilt. "Runeblade?" he repeats. "O-oooh. You -- you said lady. Girl. Say, uh, sir." He repeats it for emphasis, perhaps to make sure she has a clear, non-stammered example. "An honor, sir. I say to you, an honor, miss. Yes?"

A moment for the cogs to turn, then Elly loudly gasps, "Oohhhhh." And quickly offers an awkward smile and an apologetic gesture. "My apologies, my apologies! No offense meant. But if you had decided to clock me for that one, I'd've understood." She laughs. "Ah, well, let's try it again, then. An honor, sir," and she again offers a hand to shake.

He grins, the slight apparently forgotten, and reaches out to carefully shake her hand. "An honor, m-m-miss," he answers. "I've made worse mistakes, think n-nothing of it."

Elly chuckles, leaning back and regarding him curiously a moment. Then, "You are in engineering? I like, errr... critique," and she moves the squirrel over towards him. "First one I built with so many small parts! And I want it to be perfect, it is for friend." She smiles hopefully.

He nods emphatically, eyes brightening. "I am -- goblin engineer. De-mo-litions. Ammu... Ammo? Cannon?" He waves his hand, then mimes aiming a gun and shooting some distant target. "Go boom, break, need fixed. I fix. Rather m-m-make little pretty." He points to her squirrel, once again offering her the toad for inspection as he leans forward to give her work another once-over.

Elly takes the toad after handing Chry the squirrel, setting upon it with curious gaze and fingers. She looks as if she's barely able to restrain herself from attempting to take it apart right then and there. "Goblin engineer? I haven't been able to learn much about that. I'm from Stormwind, don't get out all that much. But had to come down for the holiday," and she taps the pirate hat she wears with a grin. She sets the toad down (with some reluctance) and leans in to peer at the squirrel with Chry. "So what do you think?"

Chry listens to her carefully, eyes wide again -- an almost childlike look of fascination and focus, glancing from her to squirrel-makings and back again. He doesn't answer her right away, just goes on staring at her as little elf-wheels turn in his little elf head. "I think -- this here, wire? to this? maybe not good. Short out, poof! Friend have smoking, uh, uh... squirrel. Sad friend, so instead m-m-make like..." And he gives up on words, just digs a sketchbook out of his satchel and draws a circuit diagram. When he holds it out it's with a questioning look. "You read, yes?"

Elly nods, although she does qip with a chuckle, "Well, this friend, he might think a smoking squirrel rather funny." When Chry shows the sketchbook, she nods confirmation and reaches out to take it in hand to study it more closely.

He willingly hands over the sketchbook and gestures questioningly at a nearby chair. "May I, uh... be seated, miss?" he asks, suddenly proper schoolboy intonation and accent.

Ellysse nods without looking up from the diagram, waving a hand lightly, "'Course. Make yourself comfortable." She scrutinizes the diagram, eyes quickly catching on the changes the mage has suggested... ... ... and then she frowns thoughtfully, lifting the sketchbook up as if she's going to flip through it. She pauses before doing so, however, giving Chryseth a questioning look. "Please?"

Chry pulls the chair over and settles down on it, plopping his satchel down at his feet. He gestures oddly, then nods. "Be my guest," he says. "Mind not. Many, uh, things there. Questions ok, but Common... stupid? No, no, My Common stupid."

Elly again nods in response without looking up at Chry, paging through it quickly, pausing a few seconds on a schematic here, a drawing there... and then stops on one particular sketch, one of a partly rune-powered cooling system. And her eyes light up, her smile growing huge and delighted. "Aaaah!" Her head snaps up to Chryseth and she beams, then thrusts out her hand for ANOTHER handshake. "An honor to meet you! Haha!"

He headtilts at her again, ears flicking forward. But he takes the offered handshake, seeming rather bemused by her enthusiasm. "You honor me with your presence," he replies, a rather formal phrase he's probably said in earnest maybe once in his life. "You, uh, like it cold?"

Ellysse just about wiggles in place with excitement, spending a few moments searching for words before she exclaims, "I'm Ellysse! I read your schematics! Amirael Duskwright, yes?" She claps her hands together with glee. "I didn't expect you to be a pulsie -- no offense!"

"A -- a huh? Is bad word? Pulsie. Elf? Pulse..." He feels the word carefully, lips forming it slowly and deliberately. Then he shrugs; apparently it's not one in his lexicon. "Amirael I know, he is uh -- knight. North-knight. Runesmith."

Ellysse shakes her head-- "No, I meant... hm. Drawed by death knight runesmith, I thinked. Because from Amy, you know?" She hands the sketchbook back to Chry, leaning in, still eager and excited. "So how is that project going? Were my notes any help?"

Chry takes the notebook, expression slipping into a less-readable mask. "Am not n-north-knight runesmith," he agrees. "Am Thalassian boy. Project, uh, is okay. W-working hard with, with," and he flips to a page covered with runes. Variations on the etchings he plans to do with elementium. There's a neat scale sketched in the margins; this looks like it'll be very fiddly work indeed.

If she noticed his change in demeanor, Ellysse isn't showing it; she's busy looking the diagrams over with glee. "Oohh, I'd love to skip town and help you guys with it, but... guess your client wouldn't be so happy about that, hmm?" She turns back to Chry, smile now somewhat sad... but she brightens as she shifts over to nudge him, gently, playfully. "I am very happy, to meet you! To meet you other runesmith is, uh... not much? It's a rare treat! And your designs were really impressive!"

Chry nudges her back, still somehow sad-looking but he manages a faint smile. "She is -- pulse-elf, like me. Not good with, uh, Alliance. I am sorry! Most place, you, me..." He gestures again, this time two hands coming at each other as if enemy combatants on horseback, complete with sounds for illustration. "Amirael not say, friend was with the blues."

Ellysse giggles at Chryseth's miming, though it is, somehow, a rueful giggle. "He didn't pass on much information at all, did he? Didn't tell me you weren't with the Ebon Blade." A pause. "We was in Ashen Verdict-ing," she replies softly, gaze wandering to her still-untouched bagel, "the Light and the death knights co-working." She looks back at Chryseth with a sad smile and a shrug. "Then war got won."

Chry's smile is also sad, and he looks down at the notebook with ears drooping. "War got won," he echoes in her language. "Then other war got start. Stupid war."

Elly watches Chry a moment, then nudges against him once more, gently. "Maybe we can work against the next war, though," she murmurs, "one mechanical squirrel at a time." With a smile, she reaches out to retrieve it -- then lights up once again. "Oh, oh, could you -- a favor? I've just got to finish putting the skin on and then... would you give it to him? Mail's so damn slow getting across these days..."

"Maybe we w-work together this war, ignore big fight. Squirrel, squirrel better than deadding." He smiles again, weakly. "I am -- Argents, polish their guns. No, no. Am fixing. And I mail squirrel, provided is not bomb go boom. I don't want Amirael mad at me."

Ellysse nods deeply; "Thank you very much, thank you." And she's waving at the goblin serving wench, "'scuse me! I need a mug and a pot of coffee!" She dives into her bag, pulling out bits and pieces of material and dropping them on the table as she goes. "I'll finish it tonight! And... promise it's not a bomb, though you still might not want to be there when he opens the box."

"Will mail it secret," he says cheerfully. "Goblin mail, very... very uh. Reliable. You are here, staying?"

Elly shakes her head. "I've got a boat back to Stormwind to catch tomorrow morning, but I've got this." Luckily it does appear that she came hoping to finish it during the trip, as there's quite a mass of thin pieces of metal on the table, probably enough to jigsaw over the surface of the squirrel. The server arrives with her order of coffee and she pours herself a mug, taking a big swig before slamming it back to the table, eyes afire with enthusiasm. "Let's do this," and she rolls up her inconvenient priest sleeves and sets to work.

"I help?" he asks, hopeful. "I have -- if my uh friend d-doesn't need me for baby, I have time. Yes?" He pulls a modified army knife out of his satchel and looks at her, beseeching -- come on, lady, let me play with your toys.

"Of course," Elly answers at first, scooting over to let Chryseth have at it -- but then she pauses and blinks up at him. "Wait, a baby? Oh, dear, don't let my fiddling keep you from anything important!"

"Will hear if baby needs," he informs her. "Very loud baby. And friend knows Chryseth here, was uh -- underfoot all morning. Annoying, stupid magelet, me." Chry studies the pieces once more, eyes narrowing, and then he sets about assembling some of the nearer pieces.

Elly frowns in a puzzled way at that, but shrugs it off and allows Chry to help. "I make friend for Amy," she says lightly as she pieces it together, "I think that he is lonely. But I thinked wrong, yes? no?" Another playful, gentle nudge.

"Oooh, Amy is -- lonely I think, sad. Pining for, uh, friends. Wanting to -- pinch butts of womens but too shy, ask me to for." He's almost-grinning now, and there's a blush starting on his ears. "I say no, no, me not that kind of elf, save favor. Later, ask for goods. Not butts."

Ellysse... busts out laughing at that. When she can breathe again, she manages amidst giggles, "I think he asked you because he is, is... is not brave to do. All talk, no action! He'll say things like that, but if a real live lady rump actually brushed up against him, I'd bet good money on him running away and hiding behind the 'forge." Her expression is fond.

Chry's head lifts from his squirrel-assembly to stare at her once more. When he finally processes her words, he bursts out laughing too. Gigglefit, even. "Too shy? Not one for doings, just dirty talk? I sent pictures for, of, of woman with... without... start with clothings, end none, was bad?"

Elly boggles at Chryseth a moment, though it isn't quite a horrified sort of boggling. When she's cogent again, she chuckles, resuming work on the squirrel. "Is that a usual custom in Quel'Thalas?" she asks, sounding more sincere with the question than dubious. "I bet he'll love it. Doesn't get to look at real women, after all!"

Chryseth giggles again, blush deepening. He shakes his head. "I drawed," he says, voice soft but proud. "Sometimes do drawing-thing for friend. Not, n-n-not, not every time woman no clothings. Some like, uh. Pretty thing? Sky, cloud, trees? Or, or friend. Loved-friend. Face-drawing."

Elly giggles. "You do one of me, I can put in locket. And I engineer it say... 'You've got to launder that shirt sometime, Amy' or 'Still as horny and pathetic as ever, Amy?' or... 'Come closer so I can smell more of your ass-breath, Amy!'" She rattles them off with a mischievous but still quite fond expression on her face. Sadly, she seems to have no further comment on the pron...

Chry perks up, reaching for his notebook. "One of face? Tinylittle? I could, uh, etching, and make a locket. Or do you, uh, little pretties make? To have speak, not hard, made something for friend-friend-baby only..." His face falls, and he starts drawing her, a thumbnail-sized Ellyportrait.

Elly laughs and shakes her head, waving a hand as if to stop Chry. "No, no. Not so, um... I'm not that serious. Though... it might make a good Winter Veil present." She taps her chin. "I hope he sends me something creative and not some rock he picked up off the Tundra that he claims to be fossilized mammoth poo." Work work work go her fingers on the squirrel.

Chry pouts at her. "No drawings?" he asks, plaintive. "No drawings for Amy of girl with clothings on to say mean things in locket? Only squirrel? Squirrel say mean things too, if make different!"

Elly considers, then... shrugs at Chry and laughs. "Well... go ahead and draw. I'll save it and do the clockwork and such, then send it to him when he's deserved it," she winks a little. "And no, the squirrel won't say anything. Amy may be a jerk, but he deserves at least one friend who loves him unconditionally in his lifetime." She gives the simulacrum a pat, then continues work.

Chry chortles and goes back to his drawing, working quickly without looking back up at her. "Unconditional -- means... without... no-disclaimer?" That last word is spoken with a very heavy goblin accent. "No-disclaimer love. Huh. Never work for reals." He finishes the sketch and cuts the whole page out to offer to her.

Ellysse nods, somewhat more serious as she accepts the page. "Very true. Never works for real, not even for dogs and cats. Only for mechanical ones," and she chuckles.

Chry nods and goes back to the fiddly work, ears flicking back. "Never works for real," he agrees sadly, but the sadness quickly fades from his face as he becomes absorbed in what his fingers are doing.