Working in the Open (late TT, Waterworks Yard)

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:14 pm

Frank scratched his butt as he approached the stone office, which after last night, would never look the same. Only a day ago he had neared the door fearing he wouldn't get a better job. Now, after a meager 24 marks, he feared what awaited him even more. He didn't know how the master would respond to the previous night's atrocities, and he didn't look forward to seeing an angry orc.

Frank was still morbidly depressed about losing his master... yet something was wrong. He felt a strange emptiness about the matter- somehow the death and been countered with retribution. After he killed the orc, it was no longer a murder, it became a casualty. As much as he missed his master, it seemed his natural perception of war was beginning to bud in him. All of that changed, however, when he glanced to his right and saw his recently inspected incomplete rowboat. He remembered how patient Ralph had been with him in spite of his rowdy rambunctious nature, and his eyes started tearing up. He ripped his gaze away from the boat and shook the tears out of his head by violently throwing his head back and forth a few times. After a flicker, he finished his convulsion as his eyes met with the knob of the door to the office. I still have a lot to do, and many things that I am going to see that I will not like. I can't break now.

With held breath- for the second time- he knocked on the door.

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:36 pm

There was a long silence. The docks were full of working employees as always, but there was something missing. The spirited and cheeky nature of the supervisors to their underlings had turned into a dull, unexciting management system. Inside the stone building, the typical slow booming down the steps could be heard, and the door swung open, with a grumpy James on the other side.

"Yeah, whaddaya- oh, it's you, Meathead. Come on in if ye like. Whatcha got to tell me this mornin'?" He turned to walk inside but stopped halfway through the front room. "Oh, and a couple a kids are lookin' fer ya. I think a... Shea Arthur, and uh... Sally Mailstorm. One of 'em went by a nickname o' mermaid I think."

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:51 pm

Frank couldn't stand to look any of his co-workers in the eyes. Seeing the apprentices taught by their depressed looking supervisors was mortifying to him. In the state they were in now, Frank could imagine that the light-hearted jovial happiness that used to swim through the waterworks as they all worked had been decapitated with Ralph. With him gone, it felt like the waterworks would never see another sunny day- at least not in Frank's mind.

Regardless, he had just completed arduous training and was ready to do whatever he had to do next. His dreams of getting promoted to a deckhand and then becoming a sailor were meaningless now. He was caught up in a completely different universe than that in which he thrived just a day ago. However, he was still a boat-builder, and he hated to leave things unfinished.

"If there is no immediate need for my presence, I would like to complete my row-boat. Before this dives any deeper I may as well take care of the rest of my trainee stage for closure. I would hate to be in the middle of something when this investigation kicks off again, for it may even take my life. Therefore, I would like to take care of my work now."

Shea Arthur... Sally Mailstorm... is a mermaid? Aren't those the fat little seals that live in the swamps and rivers? I think they were also called manipees? I don't know... it's not important.

"If there is anybody looking for me, perhaps I can do my work in some open place where they're likely to find me. Do you have any idea where they were headed?"

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:27 pm

"Sure, boy. Go ahead. Take Ipkus with ya though. He was also workin' under Ralph as a scribe, but he don't really have a place to work now, and ye best believe I'm gettin' tired of his pansy attitude." James stepped aside and behind him stood a gnome with dirty skin and thin scrappy black hair on top of his head. He was tall for a gnome, about knee-high on Frank.

"M-master Frank Poundwright. I'll dutifully take notes and scribe the designs of your p-project." He pulled out a pen and a sheaf of paper and walked from behind James to behind Frank.

"Your boat is behind the office, I figger'ed you'd want to pick it up and work on it, and I knew you wouldn't need assistance carryin' it. And boy," James leaned in close to whisper to Frank far above the gnome's earshot.

"...Try to share some o' that courage with little Ipkus, he's frightfully cowardly and like a mouse e'er since poor beloved Ralph was taken from us."

Shea Artrien · Post by **Shea Artrien** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 1:03 am

((OOC: Hey there, Frank. Not trying to partycrash. We were invited.

))

A dense forest of masts is the first signal that something is up. Masts of different woods, sizes and diameters, sporting the flags of the known countries of Tazlure, announce the site of the Waterworks Yard. They reach out above the granaries and warehouses cramming the docks and thus grace the port-area with grandeur uncommon to the skyline of an average harbour. A heavy oak gate bars the path of any people searching for the roots of those tall poles. Beside it there is a small but sturdy cabin housing three beefy guards. Passage is only granted to those capable of handing over a written permission from a trusted supplier or from an employee of the shipyard itself.

Inside the well-guarded gate the atmosphere is dominated by a hive of activity. Shipbuilding is divided into clearly defined segments. Although ship parts seem to dot the complete area at random the opposite is true. Every single piece of building material is at its rightful place and being prepared for further processing. Workmen of all ages, races and trades work together in a united camaraderie. They shine with a pride born from the knowledge that a ship from their workshop, when completed, will be recognized and honoured as one of the best vessels braving the high seas.

Outside the shipyard, Shea Artrien moved towards the gates trying to emulate the manner and purpose of someone who was exactly where he was supposed to be. A stunning young maiden with coppery-red hair and brilliant eyes strode confidently beside him.

The duo had made their way from the Dog's Home Inn at a decent pace, and Shea felt slightly winded.

Under his breath the leather clad swordsman said, "Keep in mind, lass, that we're naught but simple clerks doing the bidding of our paymaster, eh Thalia?"

Before she could answer, Shea turned and made his way directly for the small hut, familiarly addressing the first guardsman he saw, sighing in his best commoner's drawl, "Hey, are either Poundwright or Ryot back yet?"

The swashbuckler gestured tiredly, "James has had us running all over Roque lookin' for them, and gods above, our feet are just killin' us..."

Thalia Maelstrom · Post by **Thalia Maelstrom** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:57 am

"Keep in mind, lass, that we're naught but simple clerks doing the bidding of our paymaster, eh Thalia?"

The lithe young woman nodded barely in acknowledgement to Shea's quick statement before following up barely a step behind him as they approached the guardman. She intertwined her fingers lightly behind her back, rocking slightly in her step as she nodded her own agreement, again, at her partner's request and smiling lightly to anyone who may look their way. She was going for innocent bystander with a mission.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:17 am

"...Try to share some o' that courage with little Ipkus, he's frightfully cowardly and like a mouse e'er since poor beloved Ralph was taken from us."

"We've got a coward? Best work on that sooner th'n later!" Frank strolled behind the office for a flicker and dragged his boat, walking backwards to the front of the building. "C'mere big guy!"

Frank picked up the unfortunate soul by the scruff of his shirt and put him in the boat. "Get ready for a ride!" That said, Frank put his hands under the boat and let out a groan, lifting it with a quick thrust over his head. He turned around 180 degrees and looked up, speaking to the creature in the vessel above him.

"Where can we go where the manitee and her guardian can find us? Oh, who might you two be?" He looked vacantly and innocently as one can when they hold a dinghy above their head with a helpless creature inside, making eye contact with Shea first, and then Thalia, completely oblivious to what had been going on behind him.

Shea Artrien · Post by **Shea Artrien** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:16 pm

Standing near the guardshack, waiting for a reply, Shea smiled smugly...and then noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Really big movement. Smile still in place, the swashbucker glanced casually over his shoulder, past the gate, and his mouth opened slightly in wonder. Of its own volition, one of his eyebrows moved questioningly upward and the dark-haired swordsman's head tilted slightly to the left.

There, not so far away as to be a mirage, stood a huge man bearing a rowboat above his head, and within the boat sat an obviously shaken ...gnome?

How much ale did I drink at the tavern?? What a day. First Orcs, and now...this?

"Uh." Shea stammered as intelligently as he could in reply to the half-giant's greeting.

Thalia Maelstrom · Post by **Thalia Maelstrom** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 7:20 pm

Thalia however, at notice of the towering man with the boat hanging over his head, was abit more dramatic in reaction. She grinned widely, her eyes widening in amazement and her mouth spilling out with an excited tone.

"Gods above that fantastic!...." She turned to the slack jawed Shea, poising one hand on her hip while the other hand waved in the direction of Frank's form. "Roque just get's more and more interesting, doesnt it??

She then paused, realizing once again that she was probably making a fool of herself and turned to face Frank with a more polite, business like demeanor, the hand that was waving about like a displaying vendor's promptly was strick out as if to offer a handshake to the large man before them.

"Hello sir, we're here to talk to a Mister Poundwright....err...um.."she pursed her lips, realizing that the offer of a handshake probably wasnt right either, considering Frank's load and her arms dropped limply to her side. [/b]

Haikan · Post by **Haikan** » Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:24 am

"Eh, whatever works. Just don't drag your feet with this job on account of a few shitty things happening. If you aren't careful something like last night could happen, and you may not have a team of comrades to fight alongside you... Watch yer neck kid, please." Nodding his head to Frank, James bid him farewell and closed the door.

"Excuse me but you can't just walk through here, miss." A blonde-haired gentleman on the left side of the entrance gate spoke up to Thalia in a deep baritone as she walked over to the office building where Frank was, which was about twenty paces away from the pair. Lieutenant Zach Barkley was a dutiful soldier, and he had brown eyes and a square beard which vibrated with the resonance of his deep voice.

Another guard spoke up in their defense, recalling a certain sea-soaked female and her confident -maybe just a bit pompous- male counterpart from the morning. This guard had ear-length jet-black hair that appeared to have a streak of blue under the bright sky, and his dark blue eyes seemed to match. His face was lightly tanned from working in the sun, and he had a neatly trimmed moustache which he was very proud of.

"Wait just one second Barkley, I think they're with Poundwright, at least that's what it looks like. He's one of Navirez's favored workers now I hear. A real go-to-guy, y'know? Maybe we can just let 'em in, and if James bellyaches about it we'll tell him to blow his pipe. That man's all bark no bite." The two soldiers shared a laugh at this statement, and the lieutenant's face lit up with recollection.

"Actually I think I remember both of them being in here earlier today anyway. The girl jumped right off a ship and into Navirez's employee list, and I think the fella is her partner."

"Okay, I think it's safe to say that you two can move along..." The black-haired guard turned to Frank and cheerily shouted. "'Ey Frank! Make sure you teach your friends some manners, you ol' lunkhead! Lettin' these kids think they can just waltz on into the Waterworks! You're makin' my job real hard, pal, you'd think it wasn't even a necessary job or something!" The guard, Jack Lupin, was a friend of Frank's, who worked for the Roque city guard. He was friends with the half-giant's father and helped their family get settled in the city without much hassle, and promptly moved his shift to the Waterworks gate when he found out Frank was getting a job there. The two of them had always been pretty good pals, since Frank was a goof, and Jack didn't even remotely take his own job seriously, hence his jesting sarcasm with the behemoth. As a soldier, he didn't actually work in the docks and wasn't close to Ralph, so the death from last night didn't darken his day like it seemed to for everyone else.