Among the Living (Finished)

[ruma]

It always took less time for Ruma to replicate something. She didn't have to test it nearly as much, and the designs were already present to her.

So after a day of hard work, she had finished another collar. She went down to the dungeons to see her little Zora friend. Of her, his master had left and left him in her care. At least she had a replacement for Jin while he was gone.

Reaching the dungeons, she tapped on the cell bars holding Kazu in to get his attention.

[kazu]

Laying on the ground Kazu could be seen sleeping as he had now have a full stomach from the food that had been brought to him. Surprisingly it was rather good for for prison food, but then again he had nothing to compare it too. With the sudden tapping on the bars from behind him he would lazily rolled over and look with one eye close. See it was Ruma a slight smile would cross his face from his friendly nature as he waved "Hello Boss Lady. I been good so far." he said as he sat up swinging his tail around as to not sit on it. Rubbing the back of his head he would yawn before asking his question "So Miss Ruma What can this Slave do for you today." he said in a odd light nature. After all he believe there is always a blight side to everything.

[ruma]

Ruma gave him a light wave, glad he was at least being somewhat positive, given his circumstances. She held out the black collar to him.

"Put this on. Normally you're my sister's slave, but right now she's out guarding someone else, so until she gets back you're in my care. Which is good, since my brother took my slave and I need someone to do heavy lifting." She motioned to the guard to give her the keys and as soon as he put the collar on she'd open his cell door. He could finally leave this rat-infested hell-hole.

[kazu]

Kazu only stared at first at the object that was being held out before but soon slowly walked over to the bars. Taking the collar in his hands he looked over it before looking back at the woman "This thing, this collar I'm guessing is meant to control me in someway? As if you need something like this out here. If I try to run and by some miracle got away I be dead with the next three hours. But if it gets me out of this cell what the hell." he said as he made his point before placing the collar on his neck. As he watched as the door was to be open to him he would step out into a somewhat freedom. Unable to stop the somewhat waging of his tail Kazu smiled a bit as he looked at Ruma "So do I also get a name tag with this thing?"

[ruma]

As Kazu stepped out of the cell, Ruma turned the knob on the front of the collar and it locked into place. Once again it was a little loose on him but it stayed fairly well in its place.

"The collar will keep you in close proximity of the fortress. Venture too far out and you'll die of electric shock before you'll die of dehydration. At least this way we can take you with us places. We have our ways of relocating the signal so you can leave with another Gerudo, as I'm sure big sis will want to take you places." She began to exit the dungeon, motioning for him to follow.

"No you don't get a name tag. Someone asks for your name you will give it to them. You might be a slave, but we don't usually chain up our slaves and force them into hard labor. Although with me lacking my slave you are going to have to do some lifting. Think of it as a permanent companionship program."

[kazu]

Feeling the thing tighten around his neck as Ruma turned the knob he would look at it almost puzzley. It seemed it was indeed meant to keep him from running away if they was every to take him to a place with water, making any plans for escape useless. So instead he chose to embrace this as best as he could as he nodded to everything Ruma would say listening to it all. From the sound of things slaves here get treated better then other he had heard about, but still a slave is a slave after all and it seemed his work would began today. "Yes mam. What exactly will I be lifting, If I may ask?" he asked as he follow the woman out of the dungeon. He couldn't help but mess with the black collar around his neck as he was not use to having things on his bear neck.

[ruma]

Ruma looked back to him, walking backwards as he asked his question. "Just some beams and plates. I want to see if I get the bird in the air before everyone returns from the fortress. I'll make sure you don't dehydrate." With a zora here now they were going to need more water. It opened the door for Ruma to make a couple of new inventions regarding that particular substance. It caused her to get the cogs turning, the wood burning.

"Out of curiosity, how good are you at combat?" She thought about pitting him against Merik, or Jin, or one of the other Gerudo, but she'd be fair and at least ask him first.

[kazu]

walking behind the woman as she turned around and walked backwards to talked to him. Nodding his head to this as he listen "Well I'm use to hard work. I did a lot of jobs on ships and dock work for many years now, so I should be good. As for water I should be good for a while, after all I'm not fully Zora so I really don't need as much water as other, but I rather not push it haha" he would end with a bit of a laugh. But he slowed down a bit as she asked her next question. Placing his fingers together "Well I only know from what I have seen and training with myself. I never been really train so to answer your question I'm most likely poor at combat." as he rubbed the back of his neck, before beginning messing with the collar again.

[ruma]

"Good. I don't know what Kotone has planned for you but I suggest you get some combat training in. You never know with her." She turned and walked ahead of him, making her way to her other private quarters: the lab.

"This is a different kind of ship, but being a dockworker will have its advantages here. I don't know if you built ships in the past, but the bottom half of the ship is built like your average ship, though I'm reinforcing it with an steel plating for extra toughness." She moved a slab of the wall and it shifted, revealing a secret corridor lit by rows of torches.

[kazu]

"Yes I have help built ships in the past, but Why are you building one way out here in the desert? Wouldn't it be more idea to start close to the water?" he asked following his leader into a odd room unlike the others. Standing with arms crossed he waited for what ever she would want him do "So I am also going to go under combat training. That's like a odd thing for a slave." Suddenly Ruma would turn a slab causing the wall to shifted and move. Stepping out to the side and looking down the corridor, it would seemed this might be more to this then he first thought. "What's with the secret door? Doing something we shouldn't be doing?"

[ruma]

Ruma liked the idea of doing something illicit like building some secret project.

"No, it's nothing secret. I just built my private lab to be less accessible to the general public. It's carved deeper into the rock facing and is fortified against itself, in case something blows up. Again." Ruma continued down the corridor, occasionally checking on the walls to make sure they were still solid. Everything was holding together well it would seem.

As the two of them left the corridor, the room they entered was large, incredibly so, almost the size of a small aircraft hangar. "The big projects are held here. The beam, the transporter, and most importantly..." she pointed toward the ship in the center of the lab, having a small amount of work done, but still only barely begun construction.

...the airship." She could barely contain her excitement. She loved the idea of flying the skies like one of the oocca.

[kazu]

Was this person crazy Kazu asked himself this as they walk deeper into this "cave". Or maybe closer to a mad scientist was the right answer. But soon they they would be enter a very large room and given the sight of what was begining to look like a ship. He still didn't understand way someone would want to build a ship way out here just to carry it to the water later, but maybe there was something here he didn't know about. Walking around a bit he listen as she told him about a the "Big Project", however he would almost fall at the sound of the word Airship. "WHAT! You mean like a flying ship, Like up in the air?" he asked while pointing up to the roof as if to cleaely get his point across "That's crazy, I'm mean it sounds really fun to fly but... but can it really be done?"

[ruma]

Ruma grinned happily at his surprise. That was the response she wanted from people. They were always completely thrown off guard by it.

"Small-scale designs have been able to keep themselves in the air. The first design I had couldn't leave the ground, but I'm hoping this version will have more success." She walked around the airship, getting a rough estimate of how far along she was. "Obviously the ship isn't even complete yet, and since only myself and Jin have been working on it, it hasn't gotten very far. I want to contribute more resources to working on it, but big brother never allowed me." She snickered aloud, in an evil yet cute way. "But with him gone, and leaving me in charge, I can finally get some real progress done." Normally this was the part where the mad scientist let out an evil laugh, but Ruma wasn't like that. She just stood proud, as the temporary leader of the Gerudo should.

[kazu]

Quickly Kazu would walk from side to side as he look onwards. So she really did believed she could make a flyingship. But from the sounds of it she haven't had much luck because of Some brother or something, but that was something pushed out of his mind at this point. His tail almost wagging at it all before hurrying back to Ruma "Can I help!?" He would ask almost like a child, forgetting the reason he was bought here. "Humans and Gerudo are not the only ones who have dreams of flying. Zora can swim freely through the water but it is still something that bounds us to the ground. So can I? I'll be good" Who would have thought becoming a slave would allow him to learn about something as this.

[ruma]

Ruma looked at Kazu as he darted around, eyeing the ship like a puppy eyes a meal. He wanted to help on the ship? That was a good sign, given the circumstances.

"You have to help on the ship. Until your master comes back, that is your primary job. You look fit enough to plate the outer hull." She motioned around to quite a few large slabs of iron strewn about, all created by her own hand. Not an easy job, but with her talents she was more than able. "When the outer hull is finished, I can start working on the top level and the insides. I still don't know what I'm going to keep in here. Bombs? Weapons? I have a few options at my disposal." She began to pace around the ship again, pulling out a pen and paper to take notes with.

[kazu]

The happy seemed to almost drain away from him as everything returned to him once again. He was their slave and work was what he was bought here for and work is what he would do. Wrapping his tail around him he walked over to the large slabs of iron strewn and looked over them before turning back "So where do you want them mam?" he asked wanting to begin as soon as possible, wanting something to take his mind off of everything around him.

[ruma]

Ruma kicked one of the plates lightly, trying to get a beat on which plate went where. She never made a ship before, so she had designs she hadn't worked with before.

"Okay, you're the one who has experience with ships. I'm still trying to figure out which plate goes where. Honestly, I'm not even sure if these plates are shaped correctly. I'm inexperienced with the ship model. As one who worked on them in the past, I need some help getting them in the right place. Just look over the plates, they're still not organized. If you find a good place for one let me know." She went over the plates, trying to figure out just how to make this work. It was harder, working with designs she didn't make herself.

[kazu]

Walking along the main bottom frame of the ship it was obvious Ruma needed help with this project. Running a finger along the metal he tried to imagine what it should and would look like. "You say you would like to carry other things inside it, So you will need a large storage area; Perhaps a Galleon design would be best." walking over to the metal slabs, it would take him a few minutes before he picked one as he pointed at it without a word. Quickly he walked over to a table where he had spotted a pair of gloves. Pulling them on he would begin his work, keeping his tail around him in order to keep it out of the way, he lifted the slab of metal up and pulled it to the ship frame. It's was heavier then he first thought but not so much he couldn't hand; placing up on the bottom to add a nice flat starting spot where he could continue from as he will need to make the metal begin to cove into a upside-down arch. "Miss Ruma I need something to use to keep the metal together. I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with working with metal"

[ruma]

As soon as Kazu made the point that something was needed to hold the metal together, the room began to heat up a little. Ruma walked up to him, the air around her hands heating up.

"You just keep them together, I'll handle the joining." As he connected the two pieces she ran a hand over the break, welding the two together. Overheat was such a useful ability to have when she worked with metal, she wasn't sure how she managed without it.

"I can connect them, I just need someone to place them properly." She shut off the heat and the room slowly returned to a normal temperature. "Well that was fun. I can also reshape them if you need that." She began to try and pile up the pieces so they were strewn about the room everywhere. All the work on her room and she never tried cleaning up the lab.

[kazu]

Holding the metal tightly Kazu watched as Ruma heated up the room and soon began to weld the two together. Kazu eyes grew large at this as she ended and walked away to gather more metals. "So you know magic and you seem quite skilled in it. Must be a useful ability." he would say as he pulled another piece up and held it up in the front as he looked over it. "The middle laying is the easy part, it's the front and end that's going to take more work. Can you cut me a piece out of this metal here, please?" With this said he would move his tail along the metal laying behind him in the shape of a triangle on the metal. "So... If you don't mind me asking, What made you want to make a flying ship? It's seemed kinda like a crazy Idea, I mean the good kind that is."