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Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [09/27].

Amaya was feeling like the weekend and the lack of any guests in the need of new weaponry while they were here was getting her a bit down (surely, that was the only reason), and, without many other tasks to keep her busy, she ended up down another rabbit hole of forging videos, which never disappointed and always fascinated, but one in particular was definitely catching her attention with frequent viewings and making her wonder if it wasn't high time she dragged the trip hammer out and contemplate getting into the wheel business more.

And, hey, even if she didn't end up making anything productive out of it, it was always a good time with the trip hammer. She could probably actually use some of the wheels in her whole elaborate scheme for Aloy's targets, actually, now that you mentioned it, and she would need an awful lot of them...

So, thus motivated, Amaya found herself working on improvements to a few things she thought were pretty much all set and ready to go, but, hey, that's progress, always improving, even on perfection, right?

The Forge is open!

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Liz had eventually decided to wait til after lunch and Steven’s visit before she went and spent the afternoon working on the crib, especially since she felt like she had good enough focus to be able to do some work on it.

“Hi,” she smiled as as she entered.

By the time the afternoon had come around, Amaya had pounded out plenty of little wheels and had most of them stacked up on one anvil while she worked on some detailing at the other anvil, and looked up when she noticed Liz entering.

"Liz," she greeted back with a nod, and then looked over what she'd been working on, especially since sometimes the fog of work just sort of overtook her and she hadn't actually taken an assessment of her progress until she'd been pulled out of it a little. But now that she had...

"Don't suppose you've got anything you'd want to put wheel on," she noted. "I've got...plenty."

Time and productivity really did fly when you were having fun, huh?

“I don’t think so?” Liz said apologetically as she tried to think of somewhere that she could potentially use a wheel for.

“Is this a new project?” she asked curiously staring over at the stack of wheels.

"Revamp on a current project," Amaya explained, with a nod. "Realized I could have done better on some wheels, so I'm in the process of redoing and replacing. But, speaking of current projects..."

Amaya set aside the wheel and went to dig out two plate of the steel they'd been using for building the crib, pushed aside some wheels to make room to set them on a table, and then beckoned Liz over to point out the little divots in each one, two on each, and each with small, round shiny balls embedded in them, like glass or gems.

"Got the materia slots in place for the crib," she said. "The flat panels means we can use them either on the bottom or flanking each other on the crib's side, all that's left is to make sure they took and will actually work. They seemed fine when I tossed 'em in the forge, but obviously, we'll want to test them against your fire as well, I should think, before we start working them in."

Liz nodded as she looked where Amaya was pointing out the divots, “I think I should be able to do that, I’m feeling pretty focused right now,” she added with a smile. “so my powers should be good and ready to test out,”

"Good," said Amaya. "The more you can throw at these right now, the better so I can see if that'll be enough to keep the damage down. Granted, on most armor, two's enough to get you through well enough, but we're dealing with something a bit different than armor. But with four altogether? That's pretty good coverage, I'd be surprised if we needed to go to six, and the integrity gets a little wonky once you start introducing too many of them, that's why most weapons'll only be able to take two effectively, as far as I'vr been able to tell."

“Well I can definitely test it out and see how it goes,” Liz considered as she looked over the divots again and then back at Amaya, “I suppose there’s only one way to find out if we’re going to need more right?”

"Exactly!" said Amaya, with a grin, because Liz was clearly getting the hang of how Amaya worked best, and she started moving some of the wheels off the anvil. "Let me just clear some space. No point in letting one of the worktables become collateral damage; surface space in here's pretty few and far between already. You want music to get you going again, too?"

Liz nodded, “some music would be great thank you,” she said, “I think that will definitely help,”

Unlike on Saturday, Irene had no intention of lingering today. Rather, she was here for a very specific reason: to return Amaya's dress, freshly cleaned and pressed and hanging within a garment bag that Irene was holding at a practiced height near her own shoulder to ensure it didn't drag.

Irene was the sort of person, of course, who would have brought a hostess gift to anyone she imposed upon for a week, and now, of course, needed to rectify this sin in hindsight. And with anyone else, that might have been flowers. But she'd learned a lot over the past year, and as a result, the bouquet she'd brought certainly bore than a cursory look. She'd also brought a book on gardening techniques that she'd spent way too long picking out, given that she herself knew nothing about plants, but between her clear love of reading and her greenhouse, Irene thought Amaya might enjoy it.

That was it. No ulterior motives. She just thought she might enjoy it. What the fuck was happening to you, Adler?

"'Lo, Amaya," she called briskly, garment bag held high and her opposite arm laden with book and bouquet. "Brought your dress back -- where should I put it?"

Ahh, zards. Between everything, Amaya had mostly forgotten that a dress had been loaned, and therefore would be eventually returned, thus providing another excuse for Irene to swing by, but at least there wasn't a whole lot involved in just dropping something off. Maybe. Hopefully. But with the trip hammer going on another small wheel, Amaya was legitimately involved in something attention-demanding when Irene came in, so at least there was that and, while not missing a thump while carefully turning the wheel as it formed under each hit, she just nodded her head vaguely and called back, "Wherever there's a spot."

She seemed pretty good at sussing those out, and all.

It was a gift, really.

"And what are you working on?" Irene asked, actually taking more than a little notice of the trip hammer and recognizing the work from class as she gently draped the bagged dress where she was fairly confident it wouldn't get mussed or wrinkled, and set the book and 'flowers' nearby for Amaya to eventually discover herself. Between her pathetic display of what she felt was obvious loneliness on Saturday and a renewed effort to demonstrate respect towards Amaya's space and privacy, Irene was more inclined to be more subtle than she usually favored.

Edited 2022-09-27 12:27 (UTC)

Amaya (and quite possibly the rest of the island) would greatly appreciate the fact that she would be granted the boon of having to process, deconstruct, and compartmentalize all the complicated things that were going to rise up out of not being able to just heartlessly chuck meat roses into the forge in private when she happened a across them later. A smart move all around on that one.

"I've been reminded how good the trip hammer is for fashioning wheels," she offered, "so I'm redoing all the ones for Aloy's targets while I've still got the chance."

There was a pause, filled by the steady whumping of the trip hammer.

"Not that there's anything wrong with the others, but these should run a bit smoother on the tracks."

A difference that would likely be marginal for most people, but she'd know.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Irene dutifully pointed out, moving over to watch Amaya work (just for a moment!) once she'd laid out her bounty with all the care she could. "Even if they don't need it now, no sense in turning out a product you might just need to fine-tune later."

Plus, Irene was inclined to believe that turning in work to a client that she she hadn't tested and fine-tuned to death might well keep Amaya awake at night.

"Actually," Amaya pointed out, shifting the current wheel from one side to the other, "a product that needs frequent fine tuning is great for a steady source of income, but who's got that kind of time?"

Besides Irene these days, apparently.

It was less an abundance of time and more a very deliberate choice as to whose company she'd like to spend it in.

"You wouldn't get bored, anyway?" Irene wondered, because that was what had partly compelled her to amass such a large client base in her prior life (and, quite honestly, what had born forth such curiosities as the werewolf dildo display that would be making an appearance again this next month.) "Just patching up and working on the same product ad infinitum?"

"Steady work is steady work," said Amaya, with a shrug, while the trip hammer chugged along, the very definition of consistent, repetitive work, while she turned the wheel under it. "Can't really complain if it keeps the bills paid, even if something else might be a bit more engaging...

"Thanks for returning the dress," she added, with a staunch nod, a moment later.

And a longer moment before she managed to push out the next part, hesitating about asking it at all since it would seem thay, no matter how Irene answered, it was going to end up making her feel things.

"Anything else bring you in?"

"Just the dress," Irene replied easily, smiling over and taking a moment longer to watch before idly starting towards the door. "I think I've probably taken up enough of your time lately."

Pride would prevent her from noting anything about how she'd felt on Saturday, or how desperately she'd needed company, or -- worst of all -- how much better she'd felt after leaving the forge. And how much better she felt today, still. Maybe being reminded of what she had here was the ticket to pulling herself out of those depths that weekends like this one always inspired. The first step to moving past what she no longer had was, maybe, appreciating what was here.

And, sure enough, as she'd mostly expected, with that answer, Amaya felt that odd, disparate mix of relief and disappointment, and an annoying urge to try and think of something more interesting and exciting than what she was currently working on to show Irene while she was here.

But she shook her head and let the steady rhythm of the trip hammer keep her focused. She did plan to knock a lot of these wheels out...

"Well," she allowed, "couldn't really be helped, on account of you being an ermine for a good chunk of it. But...you have a good one, Irene."

"And you," Irene told her, distressingly tempted to say something like, 'See you next week.' But she'd been nearly clingy, for Irene measures of clinginess (which, fittingly enough, seemed about two degrees clingier than Amaya would prefer, too) this weekend, and she'd made a career out of leaving people wanting more.

But it was also kind of quiet torture for Irene herself, flicking a wave and an enigmatic smile over her shoulder as she wound her way out of the forge. Oh well. She'd lived through worse. And right now, a demonstration of respect towards Amaya's time and space was the most heartfelt gesture she could think to make.

The fact that she didn't want to leave, she supposed, was why it might mean something.

And then that was just...that, and this was fine. It was good, actually, and once Amaya realized how much quicker her heartbeat had been going than the trip hammer, and settled in to better match its pace and get back to focusing on smoothing the curved, adding the grooves in the wheels, it was actually pretty great. Very productive. Exactly as she liked it.

But eventually, she would go fetch the dress, or go to move it, to make more room for the finished wheels, and when that happened, she'd also find that bouquet.

And that book.

...and everything was still fine, totally fine, absolutely fine, after that. In fact, Amaya had never felt more fine about anything in her whole life, after that, really...

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Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [09/27].

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