Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is? (Open)

[bridge_princess]

Who: Parsee Mizuhashi bridge_princess and You!
What: Parsee Builds a Clock and tries to keep time
Where: Near the Bridge to Nowhere and Parsee's Shrine
When: A pretty lady looked at me and said her diamond watch had stopped cold dead....
Content Warnings: None other than Parsee's usual surly behavior is expected. Will update if necessary

(OOC: Note - Because the flow of time is not stable or normal, any attempt to measure time is doomed to failure. She's experimenting with that fact here.)

1) Do I look like a Horologist?
Parsee was standing there with a pile of what was quite literally just trash in front of her. Among these were a piece of long bamboo that she was adding a weight to and using one half of a pair of scissors to cut to a wedge on the other side. It kind of looked to anyone who might be paying attention like she was getting a small miniature aqueduct of running water ready to come from the stream, though what the point of this entire exercise might be was probably not immediately apparent.

Unless you were from Japan. The bamboo piece was sort of telling there. She was trying to make one of those Deer chaser fountains some people used as water clocks of a sort.

2) It ain't pretty, but...
The Shishi Odoshi was complete. Ok, the truth was that it looked awful. The bamboo piece, even cleaned up, clearly had seen better days but there wasn't any fresh bamboo. The whole construction was made with pieces that were not really designed from it. Old half rotten wood and rusted metal culverts did the job of coaxing water from the creek into position, and it was just kind of ugly to look at. But as the water started to flow down, trickling at a steady pace over the tip of the bamboo, the whole process began to work.

The water that filled the bamboo gradually changed its center of gravity until it pivoted, dumped the water into a channel leading back to the river and then fell back into position with a 'tonk' sound that scared a nug chicken in the distance away with a sqwuack. She put her hands on her hips and nodded in satisfaction. Only... about an hour later, if it was an hour later, she was staring at the thing with a look of mounting consternation.

"That's... That's not right."

3) The Doctor is In
Frustrated with the whole affair but unwilling to get the water clock to stop working, Parsee sat down with a thump beside her shrine, cleaning the scissors she'd used to help slice the bamboo and putting them back together before setting them in the shrine where they'd been offered originally. She squatted down next to the shrine and rubbed her forehead, the irritation apparent in her features. It wasn't adding up, and she didn't like how it was adding up.

But sitting beside the shrine, ostensibly doing her 'job' of waiting for prayers that would never come or people crossing her bridge was soothing in a way, so that was what she was going to do. And hey, these people were crazy enough that she could believe they might actually come to her looking for advice. One or two had already, god help them all. So, yeah... she'd wait and see.

Comments

3

[forethinking]

(Parsee had been quiet and it sparked Ren's curiosity as to what she has been up to. At least she's not hard to find, with how adamant she was about her place being her bridge.

He approaches the shrine, bowing before he fully stepped in.)

Hey.

[bridge_princess]

[She blinked, bowing when he stepped into the cramped little roadside shrine. There was space for the two of them, but not a whole lot else. Seated there, she raised an eyebrow and cocked her head.]

What brings you here?

[Tonk.]

[forethinking]

You've been quiet.

(What exactly was she up to? Ren took a quick scan of the place, eyes catching the pieces of broken and cut bamboo on the floor.

What is she up to...)

[bridge_princess]

[the sounds of trickling water from outside flowed while she looked him over. She supposed that probably took her a while to make didn't it? It would have meant she wasn't over at the cafe, bothering him and staring at him like he was a puzzle she was trying to figure out, or being stared at in turn. She lifted a leg up, curling her arm around it and resting it there, watching him as he stared at the various remnants of her work around the little shrine. Pegs. Nuts. Bolts. She'd have to clean up.

Eventually.]

Did you miss me or something?

[Tonk.]

[forethinking]

(All very interesting pieces of tool-making that would be great in the right hands, so of course, he's already picking them to inspect closer. Of course, he wouldn't take it - they probably came from the trash and he could find his own. He gently returned it to the floor, almost in a little pile to make it easier for her to collect later.)

I did. It was too quiet.

(Finally, it's the rhythmically strange 'tonks' that bring his attention towards the Shishi-odoshi outside. Did she just miss having a sound around?)

Why?

(No judgement, just a question.)

[bridge_princess]

[Was he... cleaning up around the shrine now? She almost wanted to dress him in white and red right there and shove a broom in his hand. But he'd probably find a way to poke fun about that.]

Ah, so I'm background noise for you am I?

[Tonk.]

I'm trying to [Tonk.] keep [Tonk Tonk Tonk.] ...

[She walked past him and looked out. The water was moving faster. It was hitting quicker... and then suddenly it froze for a second. Stayed still... and started again normally.]

Ngh. I was trying to tell time, but apparently time doesn't work properly either. [Tch.] Annoying, but informative.

[forethinking]

Of course not.

(Come on, Parsee. You know better.

Ren's shoulders rise with each tonk, almost a reaction to the unexpected nature compared to how the sound should be. It feels very wrong.)

... Yes. Nothing does.

(He could have told her that himself - he spends so much of his time in Heavenly Blanc that of course he had tried to count and see if it makes much sense in terms of seconds. It felt like an hour.

So basically, he spends days at a time behind the bar without even noticing! Fun for the whole family.)

1

[anciently]

Hey, Parsee. What're you up to?

[ Enter: Aerith, head tilted curiously, though still smiling as she watches from a short distance away. ]

Need any help with anything?

[bridge_princess]

Making a water clock. We don't have a sun or moon so there's no easy way to tell time. Figured someone'd like that.

[She lifted her head from the middle of the work, pulling the bamboo piece into view and continuing to clean at it while she looked back at Aerith curiously.]

Won't say no to help. This's gonna be a pain to put together.

[anciently]

Whoa... That's actually pretty smart! How does it work?

[ She'd have guessed it had something to do with the moon, but... ]

Sure thing. Just give me your directions, captain! [ Aerith salutes Parsee from where she stands, snapping her feet to attention. ] What first?

[bridge_princess]

Ok, so the idea is you get water to cycle at its own pace, so I have to get a trench or something that helps draw the water up, and lets it trickle down at a steady pace.

[She held the bamboo piece where it had been sliced at an angle, tapping the open, angled side.]

Water fills this slowly, until it gets heavy enough that it tilts on a pivot, pours the water out, and it makes a sound when it falls back. The pace should be consistent, and you can keep time. If you're gonna help... uh... Can you find me some sheet metal or the like that can serve for the water?

(OOC: I totally forget how they manage to get the water to cycle without an actual pump. There's a trick to it, but I'm just going to pretend that part works.)

[anciently]

( ooc ; no worries!! that sounds great to me! )

Got it. [ Aerith listens intently, nodding as Parsee explains. ] Sheet metal, huh? Let me see...

[ It doesn't take terribly long, considering how much trash is on the beaches. The flower girl returns with a piece of sheet metal, holding it up for the other to judge. ]

How's this? Or is it not the right shape?

[bridge_princess]

yeah, that should work. Ok, we're going to want to pound it into a sorta wedge, so it serves like a trough. Get a couple of those and we should be able to coax the alter out of the creek

[She handed her one of two hammers. That one was pitted with rust and hers was missing the claw, broken off years ago, but they'd work in the meantime.]

Tedious, but ... if it works, it's something.

2

[forwearemany]

(They hadn't really explored this area as much as the others, but they eventually come here, and when they see their ally, they immediately come over to see what she's doing.

Is that ...)

A water clock?

(A clever ... experiment?)

[bridge_princess]

[Tonk.

She turned and nodded to Legion, dusting her clothes off and folding her arms, a pleased look on her face. Yep. It knew exactly what it was.]

Trying to see if I can get us some sort of time keeping going. It's not perfect, but it's something, right?

[forwearemany]

(They chatter.)

Affirmative. It is an effective solution.

(They look at Parsee.)

You had spoken of an issue?

[bridge_princess]

Well yes. To an extent. It doesn't seem to be working consistently.

[Tonk.]

It should be a more or less consistent flow, so it can tell time.

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(They headtilt.)

Inconsistency should not be possible.

(Should not, because it clearly is.)

[bridge_princess]

[Tonk Tonk.]

Ugh... It's not even inconsistently consistent or consistently inconsistent. It can't decide what it wants to be. And like you said, this shouldn't be possible.

Not breathing makes more sense than this!

2 (I couldn't resist!)

[gardenerofavalon]

What's Merlin doing over in this part of the woods? Probably nothing, really, other than idly checking to see if there's anything new. He pauses though when he spots the little contraption.

"Ah, it's one of those things that go doink!"

[bridge_princess]

"One of those... yes. Yes, it's one of those things that go doink." In that moment, she gave Merlin a look that said it all. 'I envy the simplistic way you are looking at the world right now.'

"It's a water clock. I'm trying to tell time here."

Donk.

[gardenerofavalon]

He's mostly trolling, really, but it's not like he's about to admit to that. Especially not when getting a rise out of people doesn't actually do him any good right now.

"I see... And it functions?"

[bridge_princess]

Donk.

"They don't usually do that if they don't work," she said, making a jabbing motion with her thumb and nodding once. "Haven't gotten a feel yet for how well you can tell time from it though." Something felt a tiny bit off.

[gardenerofavalon]

"In that it doesn't move as regularly as it should, or you can't keep track of how much time has passed inbetween?"

He's noticed the temporal oddity of this place himself, yes.

[bridge_princess]

Donk. Donk.

"The former." She grunted as she said that, glancing over her shoulder. The water clock had just sped up. "I know how to count. It's just not convenient to do it to keep time by counting personally. And I want to figure out why it isn't working right. The air not working right almost makes sense, but time?"