Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [09/06].

[special_rabbit]

It had definitely been one of those weeks where Amaya had almost complete tunnel vision on her projects. Well, one specific project, anyway. The frames for all of Aloy's computer equipment was a pretty swift and easy job, and they were all ready for her and set aside in a corner of the shop and she'd really intended to load them up and bring them on over to her place at some point, but then there was that other project from Aloy that had captured her attention and left her pretty much nose to the figurative grindstone ever since she really got started on it in earnest.

And she really wanted to get at least a prototype finished to show off when she brought the casings by.

She figured she just about had it, too, tinkering with some final touches on one of the targets and the elaborate gearwork that would set it into motion. Ideally, it would be a part of a whole...system that Amaya had concocted in her head and scribbled out onto many blueprints to present to Aloy which, even she'd admit, might be a bit....much, but it was also, in her own opinion, absolutely brilliant, and if given half the chance to set it up, you better believe she was going to take it, but she was working on a far less exciting option, too, that was far less involved but honestly quite a bit more practical.

She had the basic ones, that was easy enough, mostly just simple automatons, but they'd be fairly predictable in their movements. She wanted to figure out a better way to make it more randomized, and therefor to add more challenge, but right now, she was also trying to figure out a way to incorporate some materia as an effective motivator: just how could she potentially set some up so that it discharged a small burst of elemental damage if you failed to hit certain spots on the target? She'd been running experiments on it since yesterday, and was still at it again today, slightly singed for her efforts, but, hey, that was science.

Ironically, she'd even planned to go to that party yesterday, if only just to prove to certain people that she wasn't just getting too sucked into her work, but then lost track of the time by...getting sucked into her work.

Whoops?

The Forge is open!

Comments

[begmetwice]

"We missed you at the barbecue yesterday," Irene greeted Amaya crisply as she wandered in on her trademark dainty little shoes, because that narrative was spot on. "Think there might have even been meat on sticks and everything."

Irene had seen no such item, but that didn't mean there might not have been, you know. Just to make it extra sad.

[special_rabbit]

Might have been didn't sound very promising, and a barbeque without meats on sticks sounded like a barbeque Amaya was better off skipping, anyway!

"Got a bit caught up," she said, not even looking up from the wires and plates and gears she was meticulously fixing onto the back side of a slightly concave target. "New project in the works..."

The evidence of which was clearly scattered around the shop and over nearly ever available surface in the expected organized chaos of her mind at work.

[begmetwice]

"So I hear," Irene commented, watching both the organized chaos and Amaya's intensity with something bordering on fondness. "How are you going to get the targets to move around for her?"

That had been what she and Aloy had wondered about last week, when Irene had been done wondering at the dismantlement of vibrators.

[special_rabbit]

"That all depends," said Amaya, with a faint grunt to the words as she was making sure a screw was fixed on good and tight, "on how much Aloy's willing to let me tear into her space."

With that last touch, Amaya set aside her tools for a moment, lifting up the target and turning it so the front side faced her while she fiddled a little with something on the back, which seemed to trigger a few of the plates of metal to shift, turning and switching to another kind of plate, and the pleased, satisfied grin of something working exactly as it should blossomed proudly on her face.

She set the target back down to reach for her welding torch.

"Talked to her about it, did you?" she guessed.

[begmetwice]

God, watching Amaya while she worked was attractive. And that clear pleasure and pride at nailing it was nothing short of adorable. Best not to let her see that Irene thought as much, of course, but her efforts to school that admiration into something much more in line with vague interest weren't entirely successful.

"She bought three vibrators from me and immediately took them apart for their insides," Irene replied, smiling. "I made some suggestions as to where she might find material a little easier and your name might have come up."

[special_rabbit]

Oh, Amaya was so deep into her work at that moment that Irene could have thrown a whole sonnet of admiration, and she might not have even notice!

"Really?" Her voice did lift in interest, though, even if her attention was mostly into the minor welding touches she was doing. "I never could manage to get much use out of those parts, but I guess by the time I got to 'em, they were pretty worn dow---"

Case in point, she....probably should have finished that statement about a dozen words sooner than she did, blinking and pulled out just a little when she realized what was leaving her mouth.

[begmetwice]

Oh, and it wasn't just admiration across Irene's features now, that was unmistakable keen interest.

"Darling, if you want a new one," she commented after a moment, "no, no scratch that -- two new ones, one to play with and one to take apart -- all you have to do is ask."

Irene counted this as asking, for the record.

[special_rabbit]

For the briefest of seconds, Amaya's mouth was open again in a way that suggested that she was about to take Irene up on that offer. But her mouth shut again, she shook her head, and waved the welder absently (switched off in that moment, at least) around the shop.

"I think I've got enough on my plate for the time being," she pointed out.