Citizens Of Antiford 
Start
You wake up. It is morning. Mellday. It is time for work. You get up and decide that, despite not having a choice, you actually want to go to work today.You get up, smile at your significant other, and walk to the bathroom. After getting ready for the day, you prepare for work.
What is your job?
MW/B: Grab a Bite
You decide to have some of it now. You have not had a proper Supper in some time, and your stomach is growling and snarling like an animal. You may be unable to focus on your work if you do not eat.So you break the dry bread in half and have a few of your dried fruit and eat them hungrily. Afterwards, you frown sadly. Your stomach will be silent for now, but now you are more thirsty then you have ever been. With no water rations in the house, you must wait for work to get some drink.
The amount of food you have left is pitiful, and you can wrap it up and place it in your overall pockets for later. You grab a hat or scarf and make your way out into the world. You leave your little shack in Astam Junction, frowning as you must walk to the station through the major portion of the city. Here, you would not be able to know that at one point all of Astam was shacks and small houses. Now, large buildings and multiple stations kept the inner portion of the city busy and flowing in business.
You must walk past all the big stations, however. You are heading to a very small station knick-named "The Carriage House" for a single train dedicated to taking workers from Astam to Gearford's Barret District. Every day you inhale the soot and ride in the hot, over cramped boxes they call train cars to and from work.
As you walk past the train station, you wonder what it would be like to ride in one of those grand trains. You consider investing in it. Maybe one day, just one day, you could treat yourself into town and to work on one of the better, faster, trains. When you see a sign saying "complementary cup of water", you all but jump the station platform to get onto it. But you have to hold back. Checking this could make you late... and you do not have a great deal of money.
Should you go to the ticket counter to check the prices? Or Should you just head to the Carriage House and prepare for your day?
T: Start Day
That's right. I Forgot you are a Tinkerer. So you head over and put on your clothes. They are old, and you have had them for a while. But one day you will be able to afford anything you want to wear. Anything. So you put on your stained shirt and pants, grab your glasses, and head downstairs.Your workshop is full of unfinished projects and parts, but you know you will not have time to work on any of it today. You work for a Clock Company and you have a great deal of work to get done there. You eat a little food for breakfast and take a sip of your water rations.
As you do so, you are looking over one of your oldest inventions. It was supposed to make it all for you. It was what Antiford needed, and it was going to prove your genius. You had so much hope for it, and you've worked on it for years.
Suddenly, a clock goes off in your home. It is time to head to work. However, you spot something, something small... but blatantly obvious, on your project which sparks an idea. Suddenly, you feel rejuvenated, you feel excited. You are sure that you can finish it, and make it work. However,you really need to go to work. You rely on that income, and your boss relies on that income as well.
So, which do you do?
MW/B/CH: The Carriage House
You run up to the small, rusty station, and see that you almost missed your train into work. Showing them your pass, you are allowed to board the train and take a space, standing, next to thirty or so other workers who are piling into a small cart.When you are all packed in like sardines, you head out into the desert and away from The Carriage House. Once in the desert, the train car begins to heat up considerably and every drop of sweat that hits the metal floor becomes steam. Soon the entire car smells like sweat and Grime.
You are in for a long ride into Gearford.
Along the way, you see the desert going by. Dunes and cacti and even some travelers. You can even see some Airships in the distance. You would love airships! In the distance, you see the other tracks, and day dream how it would have been to take a train like that into the city rather then the old steam-bucket you were in now.
As you approach Gearford, the train begins to slow down. You are entering the Barret District. Your track veers off with another away from the other trains. You are going to the far side of the city. The Mill side.
The worker train pulls up to a very large Train Station, and the workers from your train spill out into the streets of the Barret district and mingle with workers from Gearford and head towards the mills. Your day of work is about to begin.
MW/B/T: Go for it!
You rush to the ticket booth and protrude your money. Today is going to be a new day. It's going to be the day that sets all the others apart.Every day you do the same old things. Today will be different. Today you will dream about this train car ride the entire way down to work. No standing, no thirst, even coach will grant you better conditions then not.
You approach the booth as an old couple are leaving it. They sneer at you and your work clothes and hurry away. As you approach the booth, you see it is not a man working it, but a machine. The booth is taken away, and a large metal box with slots and holes sits in its place. At the top of the box, a metallic representation of a man sits on it. The man is only a body, a head, and arms. His body moves from side to side as it talks, and the arms swing around roboticaly. The mouth moves not with the voice, and the voice sounds metallic and over-cheerie. His metallic mustache and short top-hat look out of place on his head.
"Step Right Up, Get your tickets here! Tickets!" says the automaton.
You check for prices for the Gearford Barret District. You frown, you don't think you have enough for a one way ticket. You put your money in anyway.
"Gearford: Barret District tickets," shouts the automaton, before moving to point, "You are missing some, please insert more Ciams."
More Ciams? You wish. But you do not have anymore. You put all you had into the ticket machine.
"Sorry, no money, no ticket, no ride," said the Automata in that strange voice.
Your money pops back out at the bottom. You frown, picking it up.
"Aww, it's alright," says the machine, "Come back when you get some money! Why would you want to leave this little town anyway!"
You frown, and gaze from side to side. You know how embarrassing it is to hear that from a ways away, and see some poor man or woman struggling to get more cash out of their coffers in embarrassment. Now you are one of them.
You decided you better hurry to the trains, before you miss yours. As you run down the street towards the Carriage House, you can still hear the Automaton behind you.
"Tickets! Step Right Up! Get your tickets, here! Tickets!"
MW/B/CH/M: The Mill
As you enter, you show your ragged and torn mill card to a foremen, who punches in your time card. They then send you to the watering station, where you are handed a tiny cup of clay, and you down the cup ravenously. You then walk the entire length of the mill.Everywhere around you giant machines hiss and roar and smack their parts, creating a terrible din of noise that has no musical allure to it what so ever.
You are shown to your station. You sit at your station.
You thread a massive length of yarn onto shuttles for the giant machines. You grab one end and tie it to the end of the shuttle. You then begin to weave the yarn onto the shuttle. After about fifteen minutes, you realized that you expertly weaved about four extra centimeters of yarn onto that shuttle then you have ever been able to do. A new record for you. So you begin to attempt to make it a game.
Weaving shuttle after shuttle, minutes turns into hours. You smile at your good work, and your foreman for the day congratulates you on your performance. You are outpacing your colleagues and doing well.
The bell is wrung and it is time for your break. You are led into a giant room with a ton of tables and a cafeteria line. They are serving soup and bread. You have just enough money to get a company lunch today. And that would feel really good in your stomach. However, you really shouldn't spend the money, and every time you get a company lunch the foreman at the end takes some of your food. You hate that.
However, you did eat most of your rationed food for today. You only have a little left and that will not go well for you until tomorrow morning.
What do you do?
MW/B/CH/M/S: Sit Down Meal
You decide to sit and eat what you have. You really shouldn't be spending money and you might be able to get back to work and continue setting your pace for the day.Your foreman from earlier enters the hall, and approaches you as you are finishing your measly scraps. He asks you if you would be willing to pull in some extra work and skip lunch today to keep up your pace. He talks about how expertly you have been doing today and you have really shown improvement in your work.
You were beginning to enjoy the little bit of sit-down time you had, and you know losing this break time will only mean more hours of work for you.
So do you accept? or are you going to decline putting in the extra hours of work?
MW/B/CH/M/CM: Company Meal
You decide to treat yourself for not taking the expensive train in and you want a nice meal anyway for all your good work today.So you get in line and wait to get the measly excuse for a meal. You get your food and at the end, the cashier requests your payment. You can see the foreman of the room eyeing you down, and she always tries to steal your food. You sigh, you know what will happen.
You get increasingly upset. The price for a company meal as been raised! After a short argument, you pay it anyway and try to make your way to a seat. Sure enough, the foreman cuts you off.
She takes your bread, and dips it into your soup and eats it, right in front of you. She taunts you while she does so, and the she swallows, throwing the rest of your bread into your meal.
You can feel your anger rising, you have to deal with waaaay too much today to deal with this. You glare at her.
MW/B/CH/M/S/No: Decline Working
You just can't do it. You explain to your foreman that you just cannot do it, and that you can not even afford to have a proper meal today. All you want to do is relax for a little while. The foreman seems really upset at your decision, but decides to allow you the rest, and finds someone else to do the extra work.After the break, you head back into the Mills, and after feeling well-rested and happy you begin to do excellent work. You eventually break your record from earlier, and your foreman congratulates you on all the progress you have made.
He has been thinking over your situation, and decides that you should get a raise. It isn't much, actually it is practically nothing, but he gives you a raise and marks you up for it. As a bonus, he even allows you an extra swig of the water station the next time a waterer comes around to your station.
It has been a good day for you. And you are glad it went as it did. You finish up your shuttles and the closing bell sounds. You smile, deciding that it will be good to go home. And tomorrow, you'll be working for a little bit more money.
You are a Mill Worker. You ate a good breakfast and got to work. Getting a raise is good, but you are still working the same old job and now you will have to keep pace with your accomplishments of today. Let's not forget that it will be a long evening, as you will not have an opportunity to eat until tomorrow.
You go home and climb back into your bed. Your significant other is not home from their own job yet, but you are exhausted, and you fall asleep. It'll be the same job tomorrow..... same choices you will have to make.
End Result: You Neither Win or Lose
MW/B/Ch/M/S/YES: Work
So You sigh, and tell your Foreman that you will put in the extra time, despite being unable to eat. You get to talk to them on the way out of the room, explaining your situation. Everyone is in a similar situation... it seems.So you go back on your line, winding and making shuttles that are ready to be used by the giant fabric machines.
As you work, a hush comes down the line. Apparently the owner of the Mill is here today, and he is about to be at this station. As he approaches, he spots your foreman and opens up a conversation with him. You continue to work, now regretting your decision to work. You need to work faster and more precise then ever, now.
Suddenly you realize he is walking over to you. He admires your work from a few paces out and then he approaches you. He compliments you on your work, and he has apparently noticed you a few other times that month. He remembers your hair, whatever that means. Your foreman is quick to jump in, talking about your willingness to work in extra time and how you have improved a great deal since starting your station.
The owner is impressed, and comments on how this station, as a whole, has done alot better since he started watching it. He asks you about the possibility of you becoming a foreman, training under your current foreman. You are so excited, you almost can't keep it in. You accept, and he agrees to take you aside for paperwork and start your training the very next day!
You finish your quota and your foreman takes you aside to agree on the necessary paperwork. It's the end of the day and you cram into the same old train and head home. This time you are smiling, and your head is held high. You had no idea this could happen to you today of all days!
You are now going to be trained as a foreman. That means a considerable raise and, according to you, easier work. You have also been recognized for your hard work. That can come in handy later on in life. Things just keep looking up for you!
End Result: You WIN!
MW/B/CH/M/CM/X: Be Calm
You just look down, and walk away. You can't take this kind of abuse, but she is a foreman and you are just a lowly Mill Worker. Upset and angry at the world, you huff at your bad luck. Eating the rest of your meal is easy, and you are finished rather quickly. Just as you lay your head down to try and work, you see your foreman looking around the room, and he makes a beeline for you. You close your eyes, knowing he is going to ask you to work.Sure enough, he mentions he is impressed by your work so far today, and wanted to know if you'd be willing to skip your break to get back on the floor and work. You sigh and think it over. It'll only be a little bit of a pay increase, but that could mean the difference one day. However, after the day you had, you could really use the rest this lunch break will give you.
MW/B/CH/M/CM/Y: Handle It
You take a breath. You need this meal, and you cannot afford to go without food. You demand your money back from the Foreman, since she has obviously ate your meal. She laughs in your face, and you see you are being watched by the room. You demand that you either get your money back, or you get more food. The cashier of the company cafeteria says that they can not afford to give you more food, for it could start a riot.You see your foreman across the way, he is watching the situation with a stern face. You can call on him for help, and see if you can't file a complaint.
But the foreman girl is laughing harder at you, and she now sees the attention she is getting from the room. To insure her authority, she demands that you now offer her your food as payment for being "insubordinate" and informs you that any food you bring into the break area will be confiscated in the future. Your foreman is shaking his head. You know he might be on your side.
But you also can not stand her making fun of you in front of all your coworkers.
MW/Overreact
You lose it. Stepping forward, you punch the foreman right in their snotty little face. They barely have time to react as you kick their stomach in, and as they kneel over in pain your knee connects with their nose. As they fall on the ground, you waste no time wailing and leaping ontop of them. Even as your coworkers work to pull you off the foreman, you do everything you can to pummel them to the piece of crappy dust that they are.You are in the office of your factory manager, and the owner of the factory, who just so happened to be there that day, is visiting. They both agree that because of your conduct, they now have to lose two good workers. You are fired, and the foreman has been sent to the hospital. You pack your bags and leave in a huff.
They inform you that your last paycheck as well as your severance pay will be withheld to aid in the foreman's medical bills, and you are no longer an employee of the mill, so you will no longer be permitted to ride that crap-train back home. You are now stranded in Gearford, with no conceivable way home except to walk through the desert. You huff, today has sucked.... and it is time for a career change.
It's a long way home, and you proved you couldn't deal with day to day life of a Mill Worker.
End Result: You LOSE!
MW/B/CH/M/CM/Y/Z: Get the Foreman
You walk over to your foreman, and ask for aid. He stands up to you, but the foreman of the break room has been around alot longer then he has, and she isn't afraid of him.Before long, the arguing has taken its toll. Break it over, and many of the workers hurriedly return to work. You now have to throw away your cold food you bought, and no resolution has been reached. Your foreman is going to wright up to management about you getting a refund, and to have the foreman reprimanded for her actions, but he tells you you will be lucky to get the refund.
Your coworkers pitch in and help give you a little bit of your money back, but the hunger in your stomach does not go away. You spend the rest of the day at your station, but you work suffers. At the end of the day, you punch out and begin the long ride home.
You made some tough choices, and you have survived a day. But as you lie your head down and go to sleep, you realize tomorrow is another day, and you must start the process all over. In the end, this is just a normal day for you.
End Result: You Neither Win, Nor Lose.
MW/N: Don't Eat
Despite Your rumbling stomach, you decide not to eat. The amount of food you have left is pitiful, and you can wrap it up and place it in a sack for later. It will be more helpful to you at work.You grab a hat or scarf and make your way out into the world. You leave your little shack in Astam Junction, frowning as you must walk to the station through the major portion of the city. Here, you would not be able to know that at one point all of Astam was shacks and small houses. Now, large buildings and multiple stations kept the inner portion of the city busy and flowing in business.
You must walk past all the big stations, however. You are heading to a very small station knick-named "The Carriage House" for a single train dedicated to taking workers from Astam to Gearford's Barret District. Every day you inhale the soot and ride in the hot, over cramped boxes they call train cars to and from work.
As you walk past the train station, you can smell the foods and aromas of the multiple shops and stores and markets of Astam Junction. You curse your decission not to eat. Your stomach growls and whines, and you barely have time to concentrate on anything else.
stumbleYou run up to the small, rusty station that is your destination and see that you almost missed your train into work. Showing them your pass, you are allowed to board the train and take a space, standing, next to thirty or so other workers who are piling into a small cart
When you are all packed in like cigarettes, you head out into the desert and away from The Carriage House. Once in the desert, the train car begins to heat up considerably and every drop of sweat that hits the metal floor becomes steam. Soon the entire car smells like sweat and Grime. Despite this, you can only think about food, and you are hungry and tired and so upset.
You are in for a long ride into Gearford.
Along the way, you think of nothing but food. The desert and the view does nothing to take you away from the small, hot box and the lack of food. You are tempted to eat the food from your pack, but you know you must save it for later.
As you approach Gearford, the train begins to slow down. You are entering the Barret District. Your track veers off with another away from the other trains. You are going to the far side of the city. The Mill side.
Two people away from you, you see someone with a sack similar to yours. They have left it open, and you can see that they have some fruits inside. Althought they are not fresh, they look really amazing and you cannot help but lick your lips for them. The owner is not paying attention, in fact he looks as if he is practically dying where he stands. You know if you are careful, you could probably swipe it from him.
However, you do not know if the other passengers would be so nice. They might call you out on it, or even attempt to steal from you. It could be really bad, and not worth the risk. Your day will be bad enough as it is.
MW/N/S: Steal It!
You can't help yourself. You calmly take a step towards him and reach into his bag, grabbing a fruit. Stepping back, you notice that everyone else in the car doesn't appear to have taken notice of you. And even as you begin to eat the fruit, nobody says anything. However, the man whose fruit you have stolen catches the sound of you eating fruit, and when he turns to look at you, you look away quickly, trying to pretend you do not notice. He checks his bag, and his face goes from dead-tired look of a corpse to a suddenly animated face of rage.He yells at you, accusing you of stealing his food. You deny it, shaking your head and claiming innocents. He walks up to you and takes the fruit out of your hand. You swallow what you have got. Before the train can stop, he has began to beat you up inside the cart, leaving you as a crumpled mess on the floor when it pulls into the station and everyone walks out. You muster up your courage, but as you leave the train you realize he has taken your satchel of food with him, and now you have a black eye and you are starving.
MW/N: Starving
You are so hungry! Without eating for the entire day, you have effectively destroyed your day. The hunger pains are debilitating, and you cannot concentrate on anything, especially your work.The foreman approaches and tells you your performance has really been slacking the last few days. After a short talk, he gets upset at you, and informs you that you are fired.
Gathering up your final paycheck and severance, you are escorted from the property. Since you no longer work for the mills, you can no longer take the train home. Stuck in Gearford, and completely starving, you find yourself without a clue of where you are to go.
You could not handle a day as a Mill Worker. And odds are, you will starve or be murdered on your long journey home to Astam Junction.
End Result: You Lose!
MW/N/D: Don't Steal
You decide not to steal, and you feel better about being able to make that choice. Just in time, too, as you are about to arrive at the station. The worker train pulls up to a very large Train Station, and the workers from your train spill out into the streets of the Barret district and mingle with workers from Gearford and head towards the mills. Your day of work is about to begin.As you enter, you show your ragged and torn mill card to a foremen, who punches in your time card. They then send you to the watering station, where you are handed a tiny cup of clay, which holds your half-hour ration of water, and you down the cup ravenously. You then walk the entire length of the mill.
Everywhere around you giant machines hiss and roar and smack their parts, creating a terrible din of noise that has no musical allure to it what so ever.
You are shown to your station. You can barely concentrate on anything else as you move like a zombie to your station. You don't greet other coworkers or even understand what is going on fully.You sit at your station.
You thread a massive length of yarn onto shuttles for the giant machines. You grab one end and tie it to the end of the shuttle. You then begin to weave the yarn onto the shuttle. After about fifteen minutes, you realize you are not keeping pace with your coworkers, and you are not doing a good job at meeting your quota. Your foreman is looking really upset at you, and you pray that he won't say anything.
Weaving shuttle after shuttle, minutes turns into hours. However, your work never gets any better. Finally your foreman audibly sighs and walks towards you, and you prepare for a bashing. Sure enough, he expresses disappointment at your work, and suggests you pick it up or you will find yourself out of a job. You huff, you are unsure if you can handle this.
He gets upset at your attitude, and decides to ride you as you continue working. Shouting in your ear and trying to force you to work faster and at a better quality. Your anger level is rising, but you know if you can make it it will all be fine.
All you have to do is ignore him and you will be fine.
MW/N/D/W: Wait it Out
Finally, the bell is wrung and it is time for your break. You are led into a giant room with a ton of tables and a cafeteria line. They are serving soup and bread. You have just enough money to get a company lunch today. And that would feel really good in your stomach. However, you really shouldn't spend the money, and every time you get a company lunch the foreman at the end takes some of your food. You hate that, you can't stand that today.However, you did eat most of your rationed food for today. You only have a little left and that will not go well for you until tomorrow morning. So why would you chance that? You have a full meal and you were smart to save it. Why not enjoy what you have, give yourself some relief, so you can do better today?
What do you do?
MW/N/D/W/S: Sit Down
You decide your food is enough to avoid the foreman of the break room. So, you find a seat, sit down, and begin eating your meal. Instantly you can almost feel the relief of your body. It feels great!As you are finishing your mini feast, you see your foreman scanning the room, and spotting you he makes his way over to you. You sigh, but say nothing as he approached.
He expresses disappointment at your work, and he needs some more workers back on that station during this break period. He suggests it will be a good way for you to make up for the rest of the days disappointments. You understand you haven't been anywhere near your best for the day, but giving up your break period could be a big toll on you for the rest of the day.
MW/N/D/W/S/W: Work
You decide your foreman is right, and you accept to work. Back on the floor, you find your progress going much faster then before, and your foreman is pleased with your progress.After the day is done, you find you were able to meet your quota, and your foreman gives you praise on turning your performance around. You punch out and make your way back to the cramped train car and a long ride home for the night.
You were able to survive the day and make good choices, but at the end of the day your significant other is still at work and you are exhausted. You go to bed without them and end up falling asleep immediately. Tomorrow, however, you'll have to get up and do it all again. It's just another day in the life of a Mill Worker.
End Result: You Neither Win nor Lose
MW/N/D/W/S/DW: Don't Work
You tell your foreman you can't do it, and you really need the rest to do better at your station. He is upset, but he ends up finding someone else to work instead.You wait out the rest of your break and return to the floor. Once there, it shows that the rest was good for you. You are working much faster and much more efficiently. In fact, your foreman even mentions it when he talks to you next.
At the end of the day, you were just shy of your quota, and the foreman warns you that you better be prepared to make tomorrow's quota as well as this leftover tomorrow otherwise you will not be allowed to eat or head home at the end of the day until they are done. You agree, and you punch out and head home.
You ride the long, hot ride back across the desert and return home. Your significant other is not home yet, so you decide to head to bed without them.
Even though you weren't fired, this was obviously a bad day for you. Let's hope tomorrow goes better, despite the fact that you have to do more work.
End Result: You neither win or lose.
MW/N/D/W/CM: Company Meal
You decide that despite your food you have, you are incredibly hungry and you really need to have this food. You decide buying a company meal is the only way you will survive the day.You wait in line, and eventually get the poor excuse for food that they give you, potato soup, cactus juice, and bread. As you near the cashier at the end, they inform you that the price for the company meal has gone up. As upset and pissed as you are, there is nothing you can do and you decide to pay it anyway.
As you go to sit down, you see the foreman smiling, and she makes her way towards you. You feel your heartbeat rising. Here we go again. The foreman of the break room always busts you up for this.
Sure enough, she comes up to you and she takes your bread and takes a big bite out of it. She knocks over the cactus juice into your food and soaks the remaining bit of bread in it. She laughs and taunts you, and you can feel your anger rising.
You need to keep a calm head, though. She is technically your superior after all. But now the meal you paid for is ruined, and you are enraged. You still have your meal from home, but you are really bummed about the loss of the Company Meal you just purchased.
MW/N/D/W/CM/Calm: Be Calm
You sigh, and decide it isn't worth it. You walk past her to sit down, despite the foreman's taunts and rude remarks that follow you. You can't deal with this today, you are just starving.You eat what is still edible and decide that your food from home is good enough.
MW/N/D/W/CM/Handle It
You decide that enough is enough. You demand that the foreman give you the compensated cost of the meal that she ruined.However, she just laughs and taunts you more. You realize the entire cafe is watching you. You don't have any help at all, just the foreman in your face, degrading you.
You don't need this, you didn't wake up this morning for this. And you are starving! Should you continue to fight her, or should you just give up?
MW/N/D/W/CM/Handle It 2
You stand up for yourself, challenging her full-on. She takes this as pitiful. She knocks your tray out of you hands and onto the floor. grabbing you satchel, she dumps the food you got from home onto the ground, stomping on it and taunting you the whole time.Your anger and rage is filling up inside of you, but with the whole room watching you know you must be careful how you react. Besides, you are hungry, and now you have nothing to eat at all. You don't have the energy to try and fight anymore.
T/S: Stay and Work
You have to take this chance. this is what you have been waiting for for years. So you decide to skip out on work for the first time in years and sit at your desk and work. You pour yourself into your work, and you soon find yourself wrist deep in grease, gears, and springs. You have to take apart a great deal of your contraption, but as you progress and expand on it, it begins coming together faster then you could have ever dreamed.Soon you are super excited. Putting it together, you smile. You think you got it. Sure, you haven't been working on it long, but you have done a great deal. If you hurry and put it together now, you can finish it and test it out.
However, there is a nagging in the back of your mind. Maybe you can look it over, maybe rebuild a little.
The choice is yours.
T/S/TF: TEST IT!
You are so excited. You throw it together and make sure it all looks good. Winding up the mechanism, you watch as it rumbles to life and and begins to whistle and wirl. You clap and almost jump in place. It's alive, it's ALIVE!!!The a crack is heard and a spring snaps and breaks lose. Next thing you know your invention is spitting smoke, and the whistle turns into a banging clank. Your machine snaps, and then explodes. As the pieces rain down, you sigh and feel like you are about to cry. You must have changed something strange, or maybe you failed to see. You could have not found the problem, or maybe you worked too hard with it. Either way, your work is ruined.
You sigh. All your work has been for not. Now you must beg for your job, since you have missed work for this.
Your choices have caused you to ruin your life's work, and your one chance at fame and fortune. Now, you might not even have a job. With your dream and your drive crushed, You could not handle the real world as a Tinkerer.
End Result: You Lose
T/S/W: Keep Working!
You decide that you didn't skip this day to waste it rushing things, and taking apart your invention you decide that there were some design flaws that really should be fixed.Looking deeper into the designs, you have a good plan on how to fix a lot of the possible issues with your design, but you need some parts. You've been around a while, and parts are kind of expensive. You could make and borrow your own, bypass the parts that you need. However, this is your life's work, and you are getting older. Making the trip out for proper parts could mean the difference between this succeeding.
So, you sit back in your work chair and think. What are you going to do?
MW: Start Day
That's right, you are a Mill Worker. How could you forget. You go to your drawer and put on your overalls. The new "denim" material feels alien on your skin. They claim it will be more resilient to the rough conditions of mill work, but you are unsure.After pulling on the new clothes, you grab your food rations and look them over. Not very much. Should you eat some now for breakfast? However, you know you will be tired later... and you should really save the meal for later.
Should you eat some breakfast? or save it for later?
T/S/W/B: Buy New Parts
You decide to not test it, and you are going to get new parts. You put on your old hat and step out into the city. You lock the door on your small house in the city of Gearford and you make your way to the parts store. Getting a cab, drawn by a Great Horned Deer, you make your way to the Saks District.Once there, you find the shop of one of your tinkerer friends who sells springs, sprockets, cogs, and gears of all types. Purchasing the items you need, you decide to walk back. You take a trolley bus close to your house and you end up walking back to the little house.
You slave on your machine once more, adding more parts and changing the design slightly to accommodate the newer pieces. After another hour or so of work, you are ready to break for work, but you begin putting the contraption back together. As you put the machine back together, you began to wonder whether or not your machine was ready once more. You began to get excited, once more.
Looking over your machine, you debate testing it once more.
T/S/W/TS: Test It!
You decide to go for it. You put the last few parts back together and you insure everything is in its right place. Stepping back, you smile at your completed invention. You turn the crank and watch as your invention fires into life.It spits, it sputters. For a second, you can even hear it banging. You wince. However, with a pop, your machine roars to life. It works, it works! You test it out, and realize it is working exactly as it was designed to. It's amazing! You clap, you smile, you are almost ready to cry. The work of your life is working, it's working!
You run out of your house to shout about your good luck. You're hard-working attitude has done it.
A few words and blueprint patents later, your invention sweeps Antiford. You move into a larger house in the Rowe District and live in decent comfort. You need to continue fixing and working in order to survive, but you are way better off then you were and you are enjoying the pleasures of life and your success. Even at your advanced age, you found love with an admirer, banker, who you met at the theater. This event has drastically changed the course of your life.
End Result: You Win!
T/S/W/B/K: Keep Working
You decide you have come this far, and you should really insure that this is the design you want to test before continuing. After some food, you decide that you could really change the way a few of your parts work so that you can make it faster and more efficient.So you begin your work. Changing things and re arranging some parts. At the end, you smile wide. It looks amazing! It is late at night, and you know you have spent your day well.
It is time... you insure it gets put together and you decide it is time to test it.
T/S/W/M: Make Your Own
Money is real tight right now, and you DID skip work like a child to work on this. So, you decide to take out some pen and paper and make your own parts, as well as bypass most of your needs by being creative. As you continue to create, you feel more confident in your abilities and you begin to get really into it.As you continue, you have an idea. There's an old watch book in the back of your house. The ideas and themes in that book could rejuvenate your brain and insure you are doing this right. However, the book is old, like you are, and you are already doing so well. Besides, this is no clock you are building.
After a few more hours of work, you realize that you have reached a stopping point. You lean back, and consider testing it. You could test your contraption now, which could or could not work. You also could go and reference that book if you want. If you don't, you could always continue to work on your project. More work and updating your changes could help.
T/S/W/M/B: Get the Book
You decide to get that book. Looking for it for a great amount of the day, you eventually find it.Looking through it, you find that there are a great deal of interesting tips on "going without" as far as parts go. In fact, some of your ideas are validated in the book, you found out that you even did certain things better. However, some of the ideas are perfect for your invention, and you even see where you went wrong with one part.
After making a few quick fixes, you go and eat as a break. When you return, you are so excited, you decide you should just go and test your invention. However, you should really second guess your work. You've already found some issues. Maybe relooking it over could help.
T/S/W/B/K/LA: Look Again
So you end up looking again, and you adjust some things and end up actually remaking one part you had made.Leaning back, you shrug. There is nothing else you can do. You decide to go ahead and test it.
T/S/W/M/K: Keep Working
You decide to look over your invention once more. After looking it over, you change a few things, but you are pretty much done.You sigh, deciding that there is only one thing to do.
T/G: Go To Work
You frown and sigh, you have no choice but to go to work. You have responsibilities, and bills to pay. You put on your jacket and hat and head out into Gearford. You have an important job... sort of, anyway.You head out into Gearford, locking the door to your small house. Taking a cab, you head off to the Saks District, where your work resides.
You're cab pulls up to the large building. The building says "Marx's Gadgets" and on a smaller sign by the front door it read "Also Does Repairs". You walk through the front door and head towards the back. A great deal of shelves and display tables filled the room. Some customers were looking at the gadgets and gizmos on display. You walk out back, where the repairs were kept. You take your seat on your workbench and begin on the project you left here the day before. Your coworkers shout your way and greet you.
They are so young. You are the old bird in this coupe. However, even though these new kids are getting into devices and inventions, you have been in it alot longer. There is no contraption you can't make work... unless it is your own. You still have the hardest and most difficult jobs handed to you, and you complete them almost every time.
You are hard at work, and you're doing a great job. A commotion in the back attracts the attention of your coworkers. If you ignore it, you can continue to work and get your stuff done. However, it is some sort of commotion.
T/G/C: Commotion
You put down your project and roll your eyes. Your coworkers are hooting and hollering about whatever it is in the back. You get up and walk out back to see what is up.In the back a machine sat surrounded by your co-workerss. Inside a giant camera sat and a large amount of tenticle-like metal arms with tiny, metallic fingers hung in front of it. The machine had a ton off hookups and knobs, and you see your Boss, Mister Allan Marx, standing next to it and smiling.
"This, ladies and gentlemen," said Mister Marx, "Is the future. This machine can think for itself. It can find issues and defects in contraptions and fix them itself faster then any man! This machine will single-handedly increase our production on our most basic items and allow us to focus on items and productivity on bigger, better products!"
There is a murmur going through your coworkers. You can feel the unrest. A few people cry out that it is a farce.
"This machine had the blueprints loaded into its memory core," said Marx, explaining the machine, "We place the device and a few spare parts on this end and send it through. This machine will use its hands to take it apart, and the camera can match up the machine to the blueprints to insure accuracy. It will then fix or complete the product and send it on its way to start the next one!"
"This sounds fast," says one of your coworkers, "What's the real purpose of it?"
"To increase our productivity!" says Marx.
"Sounds like he wants to cut labor," says another, "This machine would replace us!"
"No machine can replace you guys," said Marx, "And, maybe a few of you will find yourselves 'reevaluated' if we findd many become less useful to the company. However, don't jump to-"
"I vote the ancient one goes first!"
Your temper flares, and you glare at your co worker. You exclaim that no machine will ever replace you.
T/G/C/Ch: Challenge
You step forward, pointing at the machine. You challenge that you can beat that machine at anything, and you bet your job on it. The coworkers get so excited at the challenge that Marx just shrugs and steps aside."Fine, if that's the way you want it," he bows to you, and raises once more, "What do you want to race with? This machine is set up for our two biggest products. Watches or Optical Lenses?"
You crack your old knuckles, and stand tall against your boss.
T/G/C/Ch/'W':
You exclaim, and the crowd goes wild. Marx smiles once more, and sets up a work bench with your tools and a pile of broken watches. A Pile of watches and parts were fed at one end of the machine. Marx sets up a large timer and smiles, preparing a whistle.You sit at your bench with your glasses and optical lenses to begin work. The whistle blows, and the machine revs to life, and the watches began to be fed into the machine, by the machine. You block it out of your mind and begin to work.
As you begin, you think about what you want to do. This new machine is starting slowly, and you could really use seeing what you are up against. However, you know if you get right to work, you can bust out at least a handful of these watches easily, as they were not very broken. You also feel like you should show your worth. A little bit of flash and flair could go a long way.
T/G/C/Ch/'W'/M: The Machine
You decide to check the machine. The machine started slow, and at first it wasn't very long. However, the machine quickened, and a few watches were already beginning to fall from the completion end of the machine. You gasp, you have fallen behind.You put your nose to the grindstone and begin to bust out watches.
T/G/C/Ch/'W'/W: Work
You work hard to keep up. Fixing watch after watch. As your pile of completed watches begins to grow, the cheering becomes in your favor. You may have had a slow start, but you begin to vastly outpace the machine. Even your boss begins to pat you on the back as you work.Some time passes, and you need to check your progress. You can either keep up your pace, and finish the watches you have. Or you can add some flare to the watches that you have. That could end really well. Or you can check on how that machine is doing.
T/G/C/Ch/'W'/F: Flare
You smile. You're going to not only out perform this machine, but you're going to do the one thing this machine can't. You are going to add a little flash and flare. You're going to make a better product. That's something the machine cannot do!So you pick up your tools and begin to add a little flare to your work. Taking the extra time with each timepiece, you add in better springs and a better clock that lasts longer. It even wizes and whistles with every hour. You even managed to upgrade a few with the ability to set it to chime when YOU want to. You feel confident, and you display your fine work.
However, Marx is shaking his head, and frowning. The rest of your coworkers are staring in awe. You may have four, amazing, watches completed, but the machine is putting the finishing touches on the last watch in its que, and you notice that one of your coworkers has even been taking watches from your pile and feeding it into the machine to keep it going. The machine's massive pile of watches dwarfs your four, even if your watches are better.
Marx calls it. He takes you aside, and apologizes for it. You try to defend your four, but he explains the flaire does not matter. Four watches would not make the difference compared to forty-four, he says. He sends you home for the day, but you decide to stay, and get back to work.
Sure, Marx was nice enough to keep you around for another week or so. But as the machine proves its colors, many are sent packing. You find out you are one of these when he brings up this event. You are out of a job, and your distress means all your personal projects tumble with it. You couldn't put your money where your mouth was, and you suffer for it.
End Result: You Lose
T/G/C/Ch/'W'/W/F2: Flare
You have a comfortable lead. So after completing several watchees more, you decide to add some flare to your work. You add in more secure springs, you even make it give a soft chime with every hour. You gain a louder and louder roar with each new watch. Marx is shaking his head, smiling hard.Soon the whistle is blown, and you see the machine has completed its pile. However, your piles are decently close, and your coworkers end up counting up the piles.
The end result is your 46 watches and the machine at 47. However, Marx makes a comment that at least five of your watches are worth two of the machine's.
With that, he laughs and names you the winner.
A few weeks later, the machine proves its worth. Prices of basic items and gadgets goes down, and the shop becomes more popular. However, many workers were laid off. Thankfully, you were not one of them. In fact, you got a raise. Along with being one of the only tinkerers in the shop, you are given the ability to make improvements to the machine, fix the machine, as well as write up blueprints for more popular items for the machine to read and learn more items to fix and make. In general, your life gets slightly better, and you've earned the respect of all who work with, above, or around you.
End Result: You Win!
T/G/C/Ch/'W'/W/W2: Work
Continue to Work! You keep your nose down, and continue to pump out watches. The crowd gets more and more intense, and they really get into cheering for you.As you end, you finish the last few watches, and your coworkers give out a cheer. However, you see that the machine has finished its last watch mere seconds before you. Counting the wwatches, you feel your heart sink when you lose to the machine by one. While you kept pace, the Machine only got faster the longer it ran.
You boss, however, claims you are the victor. For the machine may have gotten the job done as far as watches are concerned, however you are still ten times more useful then a watch maker. Your boss claims you are the victor, even though you feel defeated.
He sent you home for the day as a reward, and is willing to pay you for your work. You go home and tinker with your personal projects.
Time goes on and you continue work. Sadly, the machine proves its worth, and it is great as it makes basic gadgets and watches and as it goes, it begins to have more blueprints uploaded to it. Sadly, time proves it is in control, and Marx fires a great deal of crew deemed "obsolete" by the machine. He smiles at you, though, we he informs you you are not among them. In his eyes, you have great heart and you will never be replaced.
End Result: You neither Win, Nor Lose
T/G/C/Ch/'L':
You exclaim, and the crowd goes wild. Marx smiles once more, and orders a large amount of lenses and materials. The machine is fed a few of the same products. Tensions rises as a giant whistle and time clock is brought in, and Marx stands by them, readying everyone for the event. The whistle blows, and you begin.Unfortunatly, optical lenses are not your strong suit. There's a great deal more to take in then simple gears, sprockets, and what works. Lenses and how they react together are far more complicated then that. You need to be sure you check your work often to ensure your changes haven't scratched or damaged the lenses. However, that takes an amazing amount of time. You could very well lose to the machine.
T/G/C/Ch/'L'/S: Slow
You decide to take your time. You are still wworking, and any product you finish will certaintly be sold. So you take your time and begin work. You work hard, and items are getting out fast. However, before you know it, the whistle is blown and you jump. You have only three lenses completed, and you frown as you see the machine has completed twelve.Your cowowrkers sighs and frown, however when Marx checks them over, he finds a flaw in the machine which has caused a few of its lenses to be damaged. An easy fix, however this is something he did not know about the machine. He claims the machine's seven completed and perfect lenses still beat your three, but he does not punish you for the mistake. He orders everyone back to work while he tries to fiddle with the machine.
Weeks past, and you didn't lose your job until many of your coworkers were let go. Another store-wide compitition is held and you are sick and miss out. You are fired days later, with a substantial severance package.
End Result: You Lose
T/G/C/Ch/'L'/F: Fast
You go ahead and dive into the Lenses. Pushing yourself to the Limits, you keep trying the best you can to outpace yourself and build each Optical Lens perfectly. Your coworkers begin to cheer, and you get energized by their shouts to you.But it all seems to be over too fast. You look up as the whistle blows. Marx nods to you. Seven completed lenses, but the machine has done twelve. You frown, and as they look over the product, Marx joins you with frowning. Two of your lenses are not perfect, and had been damaged in the burst. However, the machine had five damaged. The machine was not supposed to damage any lenses.
Even though you lost, Marx exclaims that he is very impressed with your work. He has never seen you work so fast. You have also gained the respect of many of your coworkers.
Time passes, and the Machine proves its worth in the shop. When time comes around that Marx starts firing people, he keeps you around. So you ended up keeping your job and testing out the machine. Over time, you even take up learning how to maintenance the machine, when Marx lets you learn that, and you hope it will make you even more useful to the company.
End Result: You Neither Win Nor Lose
T/G/C/Q: Quit!
"I Quit!" You Yell, turning around and stomping back to your desk.You are halfway through packing up when Marx catches up to you and begs you not to do anything rash. He even offers you a raise as you walk past him and towards the door. The raise sounds good, and you decide to turn around and talk with him.
You get your job back, and stick around.
Several weeks pass, however Marx doesn't forget your outburst. Time comes to fire off staff, and the machine is making alot of workers obsolete. He holds a company wide review, and he offers you two choices after. Either you get fired, and get a severance, or you take a substantial pay cut. You don't know where you'll go, or what you'll do for a job.
Either way, it doesn't matter. You can't survive on either amount. And now, you are out of a job, or working for Vibranni wages. You can't survive on that!
End Result: You Lose
T/G/C/Boss: Your Boss
You point at your boss."I can outdo anyone here," you exclaim, "I am single handedly one of the best workers here! I can take them all!"
"That may be so," Marx said, lifting his hands, "I don't think anything otherwise. Don't get so upset."
"I will have NONE of this," you say, "I can not believe you guys are even considering this machine!"
"Well, people are fast... but machines," smiled Marx.
A Boo rises from your coworkers. One of them even calls you out, saying you are too old to do anything substantial.
You puff out your chest, and your heart rate is pumping.
T/G/W: Work
You continue working, and ignore that. As you continue to work, a front counter new worker comes back and finds you. He is really nervous, and says he does not recognize the gadget which was brought to him at the counter. he is asking for your aid. You sigh, realizing you are never going to fix this contraption, and agree to help out. You go to the front counter.Several people are in your shop. The person who awaits you seems to be a young boy, however his clothing suggested he was some sort of adventurer, he even had a guns trapped to him. He had a coy smile on, which was pushing up against an obvious fake mustache. With him he had a man wearing a white Doctor's coat and big, frizzy hair as well as a Doctor's Bag. The other man was wearing, what looked to be, remnants of a Prushian uniform.
You introduce yourself and ask them what the problem is. The man introduces himself.
"I am Captain... err... yes, Captain Le....opold.... err.... Clocking....ton.... Leopold Clockington. Yes. That is me. I need this fixed!"
He places a Clockwork Bracer down in front of you. You immediately know what is wrong with it, seeing that it is covered in what appears to be blood as well as loose teeth jamming the cogs. You roll your eyes. You tell him the cost to fix it, and he agrees to the cost.
T/G/W/TN: Take Payment Now
You demand the payment up front. They are really shifty people, by the way. They are rag-tag, and this Captain Clockington is eyeing several of thew items in the store hungrily."How, dare you!" says the Captain, making an obvious show of being upset, "How can you expect me to pay for services I can not be guarunteed work! I need to insure thee device is fixed and works properly before any such work can be done!
T/G/W/HB: Head Outback
You roll your eyes, and turn for your workshop. You head outback and take the gizmo apart. Cleaning the gears and fixing the broken parts, you frown at its design. It is a really cool device, it was just poorly constructed to begin with. You fix it up, and then you fix and add-to the design. You lose yourself in it for a time, and then you realize you don't like this Captain, why are you upgrading his device? And for free, too?You head back out and hand the device on the counter. Your sour look as turned to a look of stone-faced emotionless.
Captain Clockington has his frame bulging from his shirt awkwardly, and he looks like a poorly made puppet. His two companions are shaking their head and covering their faces in embarrassment.
"Thank you, sir!" He exclaims, grabbing the device, "How much do I owe you?"
You tell him, and instead of paying it, he grabs his device and turns to run from the store. In surprise, his companions follow him.
You're eyes narrow.
T/G/W/HB/C: Chase Them.
So you run around the counter, and chase them out of the store, yelling. Clocks and gadgets are falling from the Captain's shirt, and even his fake mustache falls off in the chase. They head out the door and careen down the street. Your old lungs will not carry you, and you frown. It looks, however, that the Doctor has left a note outside on the curb, with some money. They money by no means can make up for the amount in stolen property, but it covers the repair and a few items.So you grab it and give it to the counter worker, who has come outside. You tell him to get the constable, and to ring up the transaction so Marx won't find out too bad.
The counter boy mentions it was dumb of him to tell them his name. You look at him like he is stupid.
T/G/W/HB/B: Back
You roll your eyes, and return to your workshop. You are too old for this.You settle down and continue working. You finish that project, yay.
After a few more projects, your day is done and you head home.
You have survived another day. As you go home and sit next to your significant other, you realize you must wake up and go through it all tomorrow.