Author Topic: Diamond in the Rough  (Read 324 times)

Offline Carri Air

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #45 on: May 14, 2014, 01:32:39 am »
"Oh, my family moved around a lot. They'd usually tell me what to take into our new homes, but when we got the place in Canterlot one of our neighbors talked to them for a while so I decided to get started by myself. I didn't even realize I'd gotten everything into the house by the time they were back, even the large furniture and crates full of books."

Carri takes a breath to start a new topic but is interrupted by loud hoofsteps in the floor below followed by a slam of a door. She adopts a slight look of fear as she realizes something has likely gone wrong.

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #46 on: May 14, 2014, 03:31:54 pm »
Jewel looks at Carri's new expression of fear with her own look of confusion. One second, she was explaining how she got her cutie mark, but now she was quiet. Did it have something to do with the fact that the sound of hoofsteps could be heard below, as well as the sound of the door closing? Certainly that could only mean one thing, but with Carri's new expression, she wasn't so sure. "What's the matter? Is Brash back?"

Offline Carri Air

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #47 on: May 14, 2014, 10:19:39 pm »
"Brash never comes in loudly... and she was supposed to be with Dais the whole day! I think something went wrong, and if something went wrong then maybe Brash didn't become friends with Dais, which means he's gonna try and take her away!" Having put the pieces together as she spoke she jumps up and past Jewel, spreading her wings to swoop down the stairs and knocks on the trapdoor waiting for a response that doesn't seem to come.

Instead the sound of metal working with a hammer develops from below.

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #48 on: May 17, 2014, 08:07:15 pm »
"Wait, Dais can just take Brash away?" Jewel asked as Carri swooped away, a look of bewilderment on her face as Carri suggested that. Dais didn't seem like the kind of pony who would go about taking other ponies away from anyone, but then again, Jewel didn't exactly get to know Dais while he was talking to her, and he never really seemed to get to know her either. Perhaps he was more concerned with whatever it was that Brash was doing in this house. They both did kind of sound like they were in some sort of discussion as Jewel stood around as she was told to do.

Following Carri down to the trapdoor, pretty believing in what Carri told her at this point, Jewel decided to try pushing open the trapdoor slowly, asking in a barely audible tone, "H-hello? Who's there?"

Offline Brash and Carri

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #49 on: May 20, 2014, 11:26:41 am »
"Well, I dunno, can he?" Carri asks, looking a bit worried at Jewel's attempt to enter the basement.

The trapdoor snaps open inward suddenly as Brash unlocks it in tandem with Jewel's push. "Get down here, I have a plan!" Brash barks, beckoning the two down the ladder into her basement. Dimly lit by a cast iron oven, workbenches line the walls and a wire frame pony with Jewel's measurements written on a piece of parchment taped to it stands at the center. Bits of metal and various tools are spread across the floor yet there doesn't seem to be any dust amongst the mess.

Brash retrieves a piece of parchment from a bag and begins writing on it, assuming Jewel followed she begins to speak, "Carri I'm writing you a list of objectives I expect to be complete by nightfall. And Stand Still, I've got a more mobile job for you, I need you to conduct a fake census across Ponyville and report back to me all the houses that get no response when you knock." Brash grabs a rolled up parchment, swivels around hands Carri the list and to Jewel the parchment, which once unraveled one would find a map of Ponyville.

Carri happily takes the list and becomes absorbed in reading.

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #50 on: May 21, 2014, 04:19:07 pm »
Jewel, having been pushing on the door to open it as Brash opened it, nearly fell forward onto her, stumbling a little bit as her hoof met less resistance than she expected. Not even time for hello's it would seem, as Brash was already calling for both her and Carri to come downstairs. With a heavy outward sigh, Jewel followed Brash and Carri down into the basement, looking around at the tidy mess that had come to be known to her as Brash's basement. The wire frame pony sitting off to the side caught Jewel's attention first, and upon it, a familiar piece of paper with numbers written on it. What was it for?

No time for questions now, she was being addressed, even if Stand Still wasn't her name. What Brash asked her was even more strange than before, simply because of the nature of the instructions, and the fact that they sounded so shady. What would be the purpose of knocking on all of these doors and checking to see who didn't answer? Taking the roll of parchment, Jewel 'umm'd' to herself before finally getting up the nerve to ask Brash, "Sorry, but uh... what is the purpose of me going around and seeing who is not at home or who isn't willing to answer their doors? It sounds a little... I don't know... like we're setting up for something that we shouldn't be doing." Jewel tensed herself up after this waiting for and expecting some sort of scolding or blistering remarks for her questioning of her orders.

Offline Brash and Carri

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #51 on: May 21, 2014, 04:59:54 pm »
"And do we really need this many boulders?" Carri asks, looking up from her list.

"Look your participation in this is completely optional." Brash ignores Carri to address Jewel, "Just know that I'm paying for your services with bits and housing and questioning the motives behind my orders is not permitted if you want to continue to receive payment." Brash's eyes snap to Carri, "Shouldn't you be doing something?"

"Oh, right." Carri nods and flies out of the basement.

"If it makes you anymore comfortable though," Brash opens a drawer under a nearby workbench and pulls out a large bag, tilting it so the contents spill out: An array of blue gems in many shapes and sizes, "You can figure out which ones of these are benitoite and separate them from the rest, or at least find me a pony capable of that. Otherwise get to knocking." Brash gives Jewel a cold stare while she awaits an answer.

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #52 on: May 23, 2014, 04:44:10 pm »
Jewel flinches a little more and sulks a bit as Brash starts to chastise her, just like she thought that she would. It probably would have been better if she didn't say anything, as usual, and now she had no doubt tarnished what little trust Brash had in Jewel to begin with. She was about to make ready to wordlessly go out into the streets to conduct the shady business that Brash wanted her to do, but was stopped when Brash upended a bag of blue gems, each one of different shape and cut, and asking her to sort the benitoite from the rest, or find someone else who could do it.

Here was something she could do, but again, the fear of failure came to her mind. What if she got one wrong? She would prove herself to be utterly worthless to Brash and no doubt be kicked back ono the street. Still though, it was better than knocking on each and every house in Ponyville and figuring out which ones had ponies that weren't home at this time of day, so hesitantly, she sat down in front of the gems, looking over each one individually as she tried to remember what benitoite was. It was blue, that was for certain, but then again, so were many of these gems, and benitoite was even sometimes, on rare occasions, white, so colour was out the window. Benitoite was supposed to leave a white streak when scratched, was vitreous and glassy like... well, glass, but there was one crucial detail that really set it apart...

"Umm, I'm sorry Brash, but..." she gulped as she asked, "do you have an ultraviolet light? One very unique thing that benitoite does is glow bright blue and bluish white under that kind of light, and it would make seperating and ordering these crystals much easier and faster without having to scratch all of them to compare hardness and streaks."

Offline Brash

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #53 on: May 23, 2014, 08:25:09 pm »
"I'd personally just get to scratching, but uh..." Brash rubs at her chin in thought before she suddenly gallops to a small bookshelf tucked in a corner of the room and pulls out a book, throwing it open and flipping through pages, "How many watts of ultraviolet? I could get some welding done... but if it's a different amount I might need to buy or make a light, possibly get somepony who has a spell..."

Brash's eyes widen as she flips through the book, "A spell! I'll need a unicorn anyway so now's the perfect time." Brash slams the book shut and heads for the ladder, "C'mon Stand Still it's time ta gather information."

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #54 on: May 25, 2014, 09:07:57 pm »
Jewel had to think about Brash's question for a few seconds. She wasn't sure just how much wattage was needed for the ultraviolet light, but she was pretty sure that the higher the wattage, then the brighter the gem would fluoresce. "I don't think it really matters--" she tried answering as Brash flipped through her book, but was cut off as Brash shouted that a spell would work, and that they needed to find a unicorn, before heading to the ladder. Jewel sighs as she starts to follow Brash, saying "I'm, uh, sorry if I didn't tell you earlier, but... umm... my name is Jewel. You don't have to keep calling me Stand Still."

Offline Brash

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #55 on: May 27, 2014, 01:15:18 pm »
"Stand Still sounds better, but whatever you want." Brash remarks as she heads up the ladder and out the trapdoor.

"Alright..." Brash starts as she paces about the ground floor, "What unicorns do we know, that aren't jerks who deserve a terrible fate by my hooves?" She asks calmly. "Don't answer that, it's probably none. Thus we must seek out the most powerful unicorn in Ponyville and get them to do my..." Brash interrupts herself with a short cough, "I mean, in our circle of business."

Brash turns to Jewel and raises a hoof, "I suggest we split up, and not because I find your disheveled appearance might cause certain ponies to turn away, but because I work better alone. Any questions?"

Offline Jewel

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #56 on: May 29, 2014, 01:05:59 am »
Jewel watched as Brash paced about on the ground floor, waiting for her new boss to come up with some sort of plan for them to follow. Unlike Brash, she didn't really have a terrible opinion of unicorns, nor a really good one at that. Her interactions with most ponies have been much of the same, and each interaction with every foal up until this point has also been relatively uneventful if not awful. Feeling a little bit dismayed about the comment on her appearance, she shakes her head in response to Brash's question, "You need a unicorn for an ultraviolet light spell. Okay, I'll... get right on it then." She gave Brash a false cheery smile as she felt the pit in her stomach grow again. Yay, more interacting with ponies.

Offline Brash

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Re: Diamond in the Rough
« Reply #57 on: May 29, 2014, 04:00:17 pm »
"Right, off we go then." Brash says as she steps out, "In opposite directions." She adds and turns to the right as to avoid the square and park areas.

 


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