2017-08-08: The First Ride of the Carakin
- Log: The First Ride of the Carakin
- Cast: Jacqueline Barber, Emma Hetfield
- Where: Adlehyde - Town Center
- Date: 08-08-2017
- Summary: Jacqueline and Emma install the Emma Motor into the Caravan Kinship's new vehicle...and then, of course, they have to take it for a test drive.
=========================<* Adlehyde - Town Center *>========================= The centre of Adlehyde marks the intersection between the east-west and north-south roads that carve the city into near-quarters. The large shops packed around the city's main thoroughfares have largely been smashed down. Burnt, blackened shells mark where these great businesses used to say -- and few can say if all of them will ever reopen. The intersection between the two roads is actually a large circle nearly a quarter-mile across, allowing wagons and other traffic to move with a minimum of collisions and profanity both. This area used to be clogged with carts and stalls, but it is now clogged with tents and ramshackle construction to make up for the destruction of many homes throughout the city. Altruists of all stripes, including Althena's Guard, have set-up makeshift soup kitchens to feed the many newly homeless. The buildings throughout the rest of Adlehyde are built of stone and tile roofs, which are sometimes smashed and damaged, but still standing. Even now, repairs to broken roofs and walls are underway. As one moves away from the major routes toward the walls, however, they can see that the poorer and seedier enclaves have often been damaged far worse. Unsafe, unsound wooden buildings are a threat to their occupants and the street from collapse. The streets themselves are often lined with pockmarked burns and craters.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Today, Jacqueline decided, it was time for all of her plannings and dealings to come to fruition. It was a project she had been working on for a while, one that would serve her and her friends well on the journey ahead of them.
The vehicle, which had existed primarily as drawings on a page and seperated parts, was here and complete...
...Complete, that is, except for something very important. She couldn't very well drive the thing if it didn't have a way of moving itself, after all.
At present, the vehicle could be found housed somewhere near the outskirts of town. There would be plenty of room here to work on it...and, of course, to take it for a test drive afterward. Jacqueline's there too, doing some final tests to make sure everything's in its proper place while she waits for Emma to arrive.
The outside of the vehicle is looking a little plain at the moment, with their logos having yet to be properly painted onto it. That would be an important next step!
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma approaches where the wagon of doom has been parked. She approaches astride a white horse.
It's a draft horse. It is also pulling a wagon. They aren't in a hurry.
"Yoo hoo!" Emma calls to Jay as she raises a hand to wave in energetic greeting. "We've got everything here, all nice and charged up too. Pull up those floorboards and I'll pass 'em in. This is actually very simple, it's just a little bit of sweat and elbow grease between you and your future!"
The wagon behind the horse isn't very big, but the horse is apparently finding it rather heavy. That or Emma's needing to lay off the snacks.
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline hears the sound of someone approaching and emerges from the interior of the vehicle. The smile on her face widens as she realises who it is.
"Ah, Professor Hetfield! Thank you for coming!" Jacqueline greets, returning her wave. She glances toward the wagon Emma's horse is pulling. That must be where it is, then.
She returns her attention to Emma herself, and nods.
"Right then, I'll get on that. You'll have to tell me what connects to what." She says, then disappears once more into the vehicle itself - this time toward the compartment for the components she'd brought. After a short while, a hand waves out.
"Alright...I'm ready here!"
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
After this Emma starts passing things in! There's some instructions but they're along the lines of "Line these up this way" and "lay the copper wire over them" and so on and so forth. It's a montage of background physical action!
Emma asks, during these intervals and while passing over a sloshing jar of electrolyte, "And how have you been doing? Have you apologized to your horses for putting them out of work?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Fortunately, Jacqueline's pretty good at following directions! Emma might need to repeat herself once or twice on some occasions, but it never takes too long for her to accomplish each step. And, fortunately, she's good enough at doing that while keeping up a conversation, too.
"Oh, I've been doing wonderfully. Business has been going well, which will make things easier for when we all get on the road." She replies.
"As for the horse, well...I've actually been thinking about entrusting him to a former employee of mine. So, that way he'll at least still be getting plenty of work."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"They do like exercise, even if I think they enjoy it more when they're not carrying huge burdens," Emma says as she passes in more jars: "But isn't that true for everyone? And I'm glad! I heard there was some kind of a fracas in Lacour, but I left after the quarterfinals with my winnings."
"Now once you have everything laid flat, run that wire to the capture mesh," Emma explains. "I know it's short, but it's silver, not copper. Don't tell anyone or they'll steal it."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Oh, definitely...I know I feel a lot more at ease when I've got something to occupy my mind with." Jacqueline replies, setting jars in their proper places. She nods, then...though Emma probably wouldn't be able to see it from there.
"Oh, yes...it happened right after Lunata's match, too. Some lunatic with a Gear showed up along with a couple of the eliminated entrants and started causing trouble. I don't think Lunata ever got her reward, because of that." She explains.
She then adjusts the wire as directed. Emma had a good point - that would make it pretty valuable. She wasn't too worried about people stealing from them, considering how much security they'd have, but she didn't want to take too many risks, either.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
The wire seems to be wrapped in some kind of black rubber coating. "I painted it on myself~!" Emma says, proudly, before giving some more connection instructions.
As this happens, Emma climbs in in order to attach a little gauge to a stray extension. "That's horrible," Emma says. "Did they burn his lunch at the old Saloon, or was he simply an ass?" Emma murmurs. "She worked so hard, came out of nowhere - I always believed in her, you know. That's why I cleared so many bets."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Ah, I see..." Jacqueline says, giving the wire a good look-over before connecting it as directed. She glances to the side for a moment as Emma climbs in, and is quiet as she thinks.
"...I don't know, honestly. He called himself 'Grahf, the Seeker of Power', and he talked in...kind of an old-timey fashion? I guess he was trying to make a point of some kind, but I'm not sure what his deal actually was..." She replies, shaking her head.
"Yeah...I feel terrible about it. Lunata seems fine with it, at least...honestly, I think she prefers it this way. There's less attention on her." She comments. Admittedly, if it was her, she'd probably raise a bit of a fuss about it...but Lunata was a rare type of person.
She does chuckle a bit, though.
"Well, that's quite a bit of confidence! I'm glad things worked out for you, at least."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"I'll have to buy her a present," Emma decides. "Though if she has that kind of an attitude, she's going to get popular... People love a story like that."
Adjusting her glasses, Emma waves Jay over. "I'm connecting this here so you can get a look at how much electrical energy is in the batteries. I didn't label the gauge because I doubt you care. Basically, you will be able to know when you need to give it another 'go'. The jars will hold a charge for quite a while, naturally enough."
Then she gestures at the old mesh. "Go ahead, though. See, it's just at about half, because I didn't want it to jump-start anything. Give it a full charge and we'll see how well the 'Emma Motor' can turn the wheels!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"Between you and me, I think she may already be pretty popular...she had plenty of fans back in Lacour." Jacqueline replies. There were a lot of them she didn't approve of, too.
When Emma waves her over, Jacqueline follows. She studies the gauge for a moment, then nods.
"Oh, that's quite useful, actually...good thinking, Professor!" She says with an approving smile. Having a way to actually tell when she'd need to give it another jolt would actually be quite helpful on the road.
At this point, though, it seems like everything's ready. She nods toward Emma, then draws a Crest from her pouch.
"You might want to take a step back." She warns. There was already a bit of a charge, so she didn't need to go full-blast with it. She takes a moment to adjust before invoking what she hoped was just enough lightning to fill it up the rest of the wy.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma says, having already vacated to the empty cart, "Got it!"
And then -
Zzzzztttt~~! The mesh absorbs Jay's power, as if it were a pathetic man who will go on to voice the Joker, and she were the Emperor of the Galaxy. That controlled blast moved the charge to about... 800 0 Not completely full.
Good to know!
"Now then," Emma calls - "If you're done - let's put this puppy into gear! You'll see some switches near the front - there's a pedal, like on a mechanical spinner, and a sort of tiller so you can steer your course."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Well, it was something she'd pick up along the way. Jacqueline didn't have to control it perfectly right away, she'd get plenty of practice on the journey.
"It's not quite full...but since we're not going far, I don't think it needs to be." She comments. This was just a test run, after all. She goes up to the front and takes a seat.
It was...really quite comfortable. They'd be spending a lot of time in here, after all, so she had spared no expense in making sure that they'd be traveling comfortably.
"Okay..." Jacqueline locates the switches and instruments Emma mentioned. "Let's see...I think it goes like this..."
That seems to have worked.
"Alright then! Do you want to join me in here, Professor, or would you prefer to monitor things from outside?" She calls out.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"What's it up to? Ten percent on that gauge should be enough for four or five miles, maybe three if it's really packed," Emma says.
Then she says, "This is going to be quite risky, you know. Everything could fall apart in a moment. So..."
She reaches up. "Give me a hand up! My back's feeling sore today."
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
"It was at...80 percent, I think? Close, but not all the way." Jacqueline replies. She heads over to the doorway and offers Emma a hand up.
"Well, risk is an instrinsic part of business, after all. But, I'm confident this'll work out!" She says with a smile. Once Emma's in the vehicle, Jacqueline will return to her seat.
"Fortunately, the seats here are quite comfortable, so feel free to pick whichever one you like and lean back. If something /does/ go awry, at least you'll be comfortable while it happens!" She says. Once Emma is seated, Jacqueline would carefully ease the vehicle forward. She wanted to make sure it wouldn't just shake itself apart at the slightest movement...and after she was sure of that, then she would see what it was really capable of.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
Emma moves to sit near the gauge, but across with it, probably so she can study it. And then
THEN
The moment of truth. Is an electric vehicle even possible...?
There's a 'THUNK' and then a gentle humming and...
The wagon is rolling forwards!
"Floor it," Emma encourages. "I think there's no real obstacles for the next half mile or so!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
It's moving...it's really moving. Jacqueline's face brightens up. This kind of excitement is rare for her, but to be expected when something she was working on for so long was going well.
She nods back to Emma.
"Okay, hold on! Let's see kind of speed we can get!" She replies, and does as suggested. If she wasn't so excited, she might've decided to take it a little more slowly...but this time, caution is out the window.
Later, she would rationalize it to herself as seeing it important that they learn just what kind of speed they can get out of it, and how well it would hold up at that kind of speed. Right now, though...
Well, fortunately it was good that she seemed good at directing it.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
The pedal is slammed down and the wagon LURCHES forwards, the wood rattling as it shifts into gear. The wind picks up, moving from a faint breeze to a genuine flow of wind to a practical gale.
The world shifts. There might be a certain unnatural queasiness. Was humanity truly meant to travel at the speed of TWENTY FIVE - no - THIRTY - no - THIRTY TWO MILES PER HOUR...?
There's some noises, creaking like a boat in a high wind, as Emma crows, "Yes! A success! Try to steer it in a circle, Jacqueline! Don't turn too quickly, though!" Why not?
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Things were going pretty well. Jacqueline looks back as Emma makes another request - what wonderful road etiquette, Jacqueline - and nods.
"Ah...right, I suppose if I turn too quickly, we'd tip over. Alright, Professor!" She agrees. As requested, she starts to steer the vehicle in a circle, making sure not to do it too quickly.
That would be the last thing they wanted.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
T U R N
Emma claps from the back of the wagon, calling ahead, "Yes! That's the way! It's tiltinga little, but you feel how steady it is?! Do you know what's causing that, Jacqueline?! It's the weight of the battery tanks! LOW CENTER OF GRAVITY! And try THIS one - take your foot off the pedal... but keep steering!"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline...hadn't actually thought about that. That was pretty clever, actually. Had Emma thought of that? Probably, she wouldn't put anything past the professor.
"You seem to know a lot about this, Professor. Have you worked with this kind of vehicle before?" She asks, quite impressed. She does as suggested, though, taking her foot off the pedal while continuing to steer.
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
"No," Emma says, as the executed maneuver leads to the twisting of the wagon with a sudden lateral J-like curve and then a sharp wooden SNAP and a sudden skidding thump on one side, towards the rear.
"This is all working from theory. We need experiment to bolster it - for instance, I think you'll need more durable wheels! Do you think perhaps we should put something on them - a rubber sheath of some kind, perhaps?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Jacqueline looks back, but quickly returns her attention forward. That wasn't exactly a good sound...hopefully the damage wasn't too serious.
"Hm...something like that might work." She agrees with a nod. "The rest of this vehicle is made to be pretty durable...it makes sense that the wheels should be able to take just as much punishment."
<Pose Tracker> Emma Hetfield has posed.
The battery jars aren't spilling sulfuric acid into the wood, so it's already a huge success! "Indeed," Emma says, adjusting her glasses. "That's why we try these maneuvers now... so if you ever have to outrace a Gear on the mean highways, you'll be confident knowing you know the limitations! Perhaps we should name that technique for you - a "J Turn." What do you think?"
<Pose Tracker> Jacqueline Barber has posed.
Outracing a Gear...? Well...she didn't exactly see herself having to do that, but then again she wasn't sure she wouldn't, either.
"True, that's smart. And...I...I will admit, I do quite like the idea." Jacqueline agrees with a nod. Having a technique named after her...? It'd almost make more since to name it after Emma, since she was the one who had come up with it, but if Emma was suggesting it...
"Hopefully I won't have to actually race a Gear, though..." Then again, it was better than fighting it outright.