Blackstone Foundry and Forge, Wednesday

[built_fjord_tough]

When Fjord had woken up that morning, he was relieved to find that his sword had returned to normal. Yes, even when he summoned the pact weapon, it was back to barnacles and seawater, with maybe only the faintest trace of peppermint smell still wafting through the air as he dismissed it again.

The smudges of soot on his face were mildly perplexing, but he shrugged it off easily enough. If that was the price to pay to have sharp things again, he'd live with it. He was working over a forge today, anyway. Soot happened.

Being pelted with chunks of fruit-shaped marzipan on his way to the forge, on the other hand, was an experience he could have done without. Couldn't win them all, he supposed.

Then again, he had an armload of the things to deposit on an unused counter when he got in. So, that was food for the day handled, apparently.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[special_rabbit]

Amaya had two mugs of coffee in her hands when she came down, but that was the only remnant of her usual greeting, really. Her eyes went immediately to the weapons wall and her shoulders nearly feel to the floor with relief. "Oh, thank the stars!" she proclaimed. "I didn't know what in the world I was going to have you work on today if we were still stuck with nothing but peppermint sticks!"

And then, a moment later, a nod. "'Morning, Fjord."

Because it just felt weird without it.

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord blinked, and then chuckled a little. Hey, he could appreciate those priorities.

"Morning, Amaya," he said, making his way over to help free up one of her hands for her. You know. By reaching for a coffee. "The island seems to have moved on to different food-related pursuits today." He gestured vaguely at the small heap of marzipan. "If you happen to like sweetened nut paste, feel free to help yourself. There's plenty more where that came from."

[special_rabbit]

With a hand freed of at least one of the two coffees, Amaya may have taken a moment to just...poke at one of the weapons on the wall, just to make sure. Satisfied, her attention shifted toward the marzipan.

"Plenty more where that came from means falling right from the sky, I'd wager," she mused, picking up a piece for closer inspection. "Always feels a little weird, just eating things falling from the sky."

That...clearly didn't seem to stop her, though, as she popped the marzipan into her mouth.

"Always seems safe enough, though," she added after a chew or two, before washing it down with some of the coffee.

[built_fjord_tough]

"Not too bad," Fjord agreed. "And on the whole, less inconvenient than eggnog from the taps or weapons turning into candy."

A pause.

"Just so long as you aren't caught out in it, anyway."

[special_rabbit]

"Days like this," Amaya mused, helping herself to another one, "make me think maybe I should work on some sort of...reinforced umbrella of sorts. And put out the reminder that I'm a pretty fair hand when it comes to patching roofs."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Between the shining threads a few days ago and this, I'd say people would almost certainly be in the market for an umbrella like that," Fjord mused. "If you really want to market it, point out that there's a gift-giving holiday coming up, and nobody wants to get bludgeoned with falling food if they don't have to."

[special_rabbit]

"Well," said Amaya, blinking after a good amount of time thinking, where one might have actually been able to see the gears working there inside her skull, "I think I know what I'm going to be working on today, at least."

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord nodded, amused.

"Always good to have a project. Now let's just home the weather keeps up for you, hm?"

[special_rabbit]

"We all know it's going to be something completely different by tomorrow," Amaya shrugged, shaking her head a little. "And I'm almost too afraid to even speculate on exactly how. But, around here, prevention's actually a solid selling point...and the people here are smart enough to know it's not just a fancy word!"

[built_fjord_tough]

"True enough," Fjord replied, and then looked at her thoughtfully. "Ever made an umbrella before?"

[special_rabbit]

"Can't say I ever have," Amaya admitted easily, "but I can't say I've ever let that stop me, either." She snorted with a thought. "Hey, maybe I'm on my way to adding specialization number 25: weaponized umbrellas!"

It...started as a joke, but now she'd said it, and now the idea was staring her in the face, and it was definitely going to be a thing now, just you try and stop her.

"But speaking about weaponized anything, how're you feeling about your sword after last week?"

[built_fjord_tough]

Wouldn't even be the first person on the island that idea had come to, either. Zack totally had experience with that. And Taako's main weapon was an umbrella, at that.

"Feeling?" Fjord glanced at the weapon in question. "I'm feeling good about it. It's not the most impressive blade I've seen, but for a first try, I'll take, 'still better than plenty others I've seen' and call it a win overall."

[special_rabbit]

Don't get Amaya started on weaponized umbrellas with materia slots, now!

"I agree," she nodded. "Solid first attempt, not really anything to nitpick that I've noticed, either, just a matter of more practice and more doing. And whether you feel it's tempered enough, and whether you want to still follow through with the finishing touches or not. Buff out all the rough edges, get her good and sharp, and then start thinking about a hilt and pommel for her."

[built_fjord_tough]

"I think after taking her so far, it'd be a damn shame to not finish her," Fjord said. In a completely not-dirty way. "What's your take on the tempering? Give it another few rounds, or leave her be?"

[special_rabbit]

"I think with so much time between now and the last tempering," Amaya decided, "it's likely do more harm than good; she's probably pretty settled where she is now, might have been a different story if it was just the day after the first tempering, though. So today might just be cleaning it up, sanding out all those little nicks and imperfections from all those hammer hits."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Then cleaning and sanding it'll be," Fjord replied with a grin, making that mental note. Tempering; something to not space out, terribly much. Good to know. "Once I get this finished off, I'm going to want to handle it a little, see what I'd adjust the next time around. Can't do that until she's done, after all."

[notallbluemonks]

Beau had her pockets full of marzipan, which she was enjoying thoroughly -- which didn't stop her from trying to chuck a piece at Fjord's head when she showed up.

"The place is feeding us now? What?"

[special_rabbit]

"And definitely not without a hilt," Amaya agreed, "not unless you hate your hands. In which case, we might have to have a talk, because I'd rather they stayed as useful as they have been so far."

[built_fjord_tough]

Yeah, that marzipan absolutely beaned him, there. Fjord blinked at the fruit-shaped thing, and then grinned a little as he looked up at her.

"Feeding us, trying to get us drunk. It looks like it's shaping up to be a good month for saving on food, at any rate."

He had so much marzipan for later. So much.

[notallbluemonks]

"Yeah, the egg nog was a little weird. Tasted pretty good, but. A little weird." Beau took a peach-shaped marzipan piece out of her pocket, broke it in half, and popped one piece into her mouth, smirking. "It's like super festive around here lately. Another cultural thing I don't get but as long as I get free food and booze out of it it's cool."

She gestured toward the sword. "The candy thing get you yesterday?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"Nah, my hands and I happen to still be on fairly good terms," Fjord assured her. "Damn hard to do much of anything without those."

In fairness, where he was from, your options were 'don't lose your hands' or 'cope.'

[built_fjord_tough]

"The candy thing got me yesterday," Fjord agreed. "It was... definitely an experience, though I think Fenris took it harder than I did."

Which was funny, because you'd think a guy would be at least a little upset after summoning a peppermint patty encrusted candy cane accompanied by a splash of peppermint extract.

Eh, it was early days, yet.

[notallbluemonks]

So about that whole 'consume' thing . . .

"And that's why I'm glad I just have my fists," Beau said, and shot him a look that was intended to be smug and a little bit irritating. "No candy malfunctions here. Watch, though, next week this place'll find a different way to screw me over instead."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Big warm padded mittens, maybe," Fjord quipped. "Maybe the kind with the yarn running between them so that you can't accidentally lose one."

If that actually happened, he would absolutely let her punch him for it, too.

[notallbluemonks]

Beau just stared at him, deadpan. ". . . I'm gonna fucking punch you in the face if that ends up happening for real, you know that, right? Do not start giving this place ideas, Fjord."