crystal

[undergrunn]

( Behold, a new voice on the crystals. Soft, good-humoured, with an accent that sounds Scandinavian / relative equivalent. The crystal catches a quiet breath of laughter before she speaks. )

I don’t know if you’re really lucky to have an engineer turn up, or if I’m really unlucky that I need to figure out the machinery.

I mean, learning about the infrastructure of a city in a whole different world isn’t even a “once in a lifetime” kind of opportunity, and pretending I’m some sort of genius at kinetic motion just because I know some mechanisms from home would be pretty fun, but…

Wow.

( Maybe that sounds a little weightier than her first "wow.")

Oh, I'm Abella. Riftwatch, you’re gonna have to have a lot more ramps by the time I’m done with you. Somewhere has to accommodate wheelchair users, even if it’s some kind of fairy tale world.

( Hmmm. )

Wait, can you just make them float, here? (More softly, ) Flying wheelchairs would explain the lack of ramps. I mean, this crystal thing is remarkable, so... let me know if I don't need to think about the ramps.

Comments

[undergrunn]

( And she will gladly take that escape hatch. )

Exactly. Much of my work has centered on infrastructure from necessity, but mechanisms were what got me into engineering. Understanding how they are needed and applied to construction has been critical, but getting to create something like that from scratch? That'd be amazing.

Propulsion would be a potential issue. The benefit of wheels is the user being able to generate speed by hand, and track propulsion would inhibit that, unless you... I don't know, created a crank mechanism, perhaps placed in front, like a steering wheel.

( She sounds dubious. ) It'd be so easy to place the wheel awkwardly and cause muscle strain.

[grindset]

Yes, [sounds breathy, almost approaching a laugh.] Either way, the occupant would need impressive upper body strength to move such large treads. A motorized device would be better. If fuel is a concern, you could even attempt a wind-up mechanism... though the spring tension would be incredibly high, and rough terrain would challenge its run time.

[Belatedly, amid the whirring of his thoughts: a ping.]

Have you... never built a machine of your own?

[undergrunn]

I'd been trying to think around a need for fuel or engines, in the case that they be needed here, or simply due to the cost and limited availability of fuel at home. It'd present a further challenge for mobility if the user wasn't able to power it themselves, by some means.

( She hums, thinking. )

I've done extensive repairs and restoration of machines. The mechanisms I've created have been weapons, rather than complex vehicles, but that's my passion. I've developed designs, but that was for my own enjoyment, the work I've had to do has been more focused on maintaining and adapting existing machines for civil projects.

[grindset]

[It's probably good that Abella is spared seeing what Viktor's face does when she says all she's created is weapons, as she's had plenty of disapproval today already. Thus far it sounds like she comes from a troubled place, and in such places, as he knows very well, people do as needs must. But this is more than merely a sore spot—it's raw, neglected, slowly festering under its wraps.

Nonetheless, there's no unkindness in his voice as he replies, though its character has changed; that tentative spark of enthusiasm has been chased away.]

Yes... well...

[A pause, a little recalibration,]

Here you have the opportunity to achieve something new. Much of what we do will, in some ways, be very different from what you're accustomed to working on, but most of the fundamental principles still apply. If you're interested in learning, that alert system I mentioned earlier may be a good place to start—it takes frequent maintenance to remain precise.