#odyssey

"I mean, if it'd had been one of the blue ones, maybe, but tin's still kinda drek. At least do sterling..."

Murmurs at that.

"If it's living, it's chimera monster, not nockerwork."
"But if it has at least 53% mechanicals, then it's as much machine as monster!"
"Ain't never seen Infusion worked like this..."
"If we don't claim it as Nocker craft, some other nudnik will claim the credit!"

Loud muttergrements!

She rolls her eyes. "You think there weren't furkin' choices made? Designing to meet obstructions takes decisions, more than just faffing around doing whatever."

"Any asshole can make something pretty. It takes effort to make something cohesive and coherant."

"So you're not just ANY Asshole" A chuckle

"I can't just slap everything with rainbows because I like them."

"No, I'm the asshole who wants my mark, so no more pishers try to steal my work!"

"I mean, Dougal can make things that are pretty. Boggans can make things that are pretty. Nice little swords and nice little teapots with painted roses that don't challenge anybody..."

"And don't mean nothin', beyond pretty."

"Hear, hear!" Agreement!

"mmm " the wheezy one heaves "Lot of preaching, little bit of screeching..." He coughs, then gestures

And a roll of eyes.

A brief flicker of grey, hands balling into fists.

And Gwen's phone flies into the air into the old nocker's hand

"Hey" Gwen says then blushes "I mean, she's really good"

The wheezyong one curses "Small small small.. everyone watches on furking small... everything built on small... where are the grand gestures, the big dreams?" He releases ome air from a tank, to the tune of 2001 the space oddyssey

and then, springing from the phone... it's the Sculpture of land and wave, of tree and family...and ocean that Thistle made! Life sized

A moment of silence as the sculpture rotates, full size...

Art blinks, and whispers to Gwen, "How does it get all the sides from a single 2-D pict- you know, never mind."

Gwen looks stunned

It takes a few moments, before the hushed mutters come up again. "Sure, it's pretty..."

"It ain't pretty, it's amazing, You wouldn't know pretty if it bit you in the-"

"But it doesn't DO anything, where are the gizmos, the sprockets? Does it at least function as a fountain?"

"It don't HAVE TO! Compare it to that little winged Na'ar! She has the technical chops, AND the artist eye. You know, furkit, I'm done." A fist pounds the arm of her chair. "I vote aye!" Says the grump who remembered Nan.

The thin woman with the sour expression shakes her head. "Come back and show us you can repeat the experiment without the pointless flourishes." She holds up her arms in an X.

Art takes a step forward, then BITES HIS TONGUE and doesn't say anything.

He looks like he WANTS TO though.

Otto says "The wings alone had me, but the sculpture... that's just a furking EFFIGY, not even the real thing... and if it looks like that, then the other sure meets the artistry... this means she's not a one hit wonder"

The overweight nocker who initially was curious considers, then shakes her head. "A week out of saining? You need more practice before you have a Mark. Else what good is Bes Din Certification? Can you come back, say, when's the next appointment?"

Another mutters, "Four months from next tuesday." "Yes, then, with a second presentation? Maybe a slideshow."

The fourth shakes his head and says, "I think it's enough. Edging through, but I give her my approval."

That's two for, and two against... and it comes down to the wheezing fellow.

She can't breathe. Her soul is tangled up in a knot at her throat.

Yellow-Grey-Yellow.

Art leans over and takes her hand, giving it a squeeze. No matter what happens, he and Gwen are there!

"Holy crap man, are you finally dead?" Otto asks the weezing judge "you're up"

A wrinkled hand rises , and a single wrinkled liver spotted middle finger flips Otto off, then the old wheezy one speaks "When I first made my Cinematrope device, folks said I was mad. " A cough "Memes weren't even a term then. So the idea of devices to convey socieital themes that way was un..' Cough "Heard of... they told me it was over the top. Impractical, that all my device was show 'flicks' with technidrama color..." A cough "Let me tell you something... little girl"

Art holds his breath.

Red spirals.

Citrine lands on her head, chirping a querulous chime?

"My happiest damned moments... were when I used my movie projector devices to help present a show and I didn't get a TINKERS FURKING DAMN about what others thought of it. It was wyrd and wonderful and it was mine. Sometimes invention doesn't have to do a DAMNED thing to..." Koff, hit the inhaler, continue "to matter besides that. Passion fore duty. well there you go. Beauty is life... there you go. sometimes what we make builds US up. I see you did something practical, you saved a furking life of a friend. Your friend is a damned brain dead Never, but so what? I've got a Redcap friend. AIn't exactly a scientist. You built a sculpture that doesnt do anything... but it won you something.." Koff "Something important... you understand that it has to be more than just 'a doer' device. It has to have a gawdamn dream in it, or what's the point?" A slap of a gnarled hand "Patent it. Copyright it. Label em both and all. I vote yeah. Give the little loudmouthed snotweasal her mark. She's not just got the gifts of a nocker, she's got the spirit that makes what we do matter "

And then the old guy needs an extra long hit, after that vote Yay

A cheer comes from OUTSIDE? Apparently, Talent Competition Style, BIG X's and STARS SHOWED UP!

A voice shouts, "YOU MADE IT! NOW GIT, WE'RE WAITING!"

Gladiola blinks "Thistle?" She whispers "You.. you made it "

"YOU DID IT!" Art pulls Thistle's arm, spins her around, and plants a kiss on each cheek, right on the swirls! "I knew you would!"

Gwen's whisper is gone "YEAH!" Two hands up "THISTLE THISTLE THISTLE!"

"Thanks?" Overwhelmed, spirals gone pink!

A judge coughs and checks their ornate, 4-level pocket-watch. "Next."

There's a chunk sound, and another device spits out a tablet, not a device, a furking tablet, at Thistle's feet

"Take your mark and go hint hint if we'renot being too subtle" Another judge says

"Right-o!"

She grabs it, glances at her friends and moves!

As she grabs it, a pattern blooms onto the stonework, her pattern, her maker's mark, now registered. It doesn't matter that the mark may not have been planned before hand (or maybe it was), akin to a crafter's personal heraldry, there it is... and it's so close to perfect it .. it's precious

And the three , FOUR for Citrine is with them, are out. Some poor clerk hands her a folder of paperwork to fill out for her trademark etc