Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [03/07].

[special_rabbit]

Despite all the emphasis Amaya had been putting on her latest Indonesia-inspired bow collection this last week, she was actually not working on her bows and arrows that day in the shop. Most of those had already been made, anyway, with a prominent display space made for them on the weapons wall. No, her focus that day was on continuing her work on a new set of daggers for Ignis, since the ones he brought to her on Friday hadn't been working out as well for him. Balance was a bit off, he said, so she worked with him to get a better idea of what would work better and had been spending most of her time putting those alterations into action.

And maybe thinking of whipping up a few smaller, throwing-style daggers in the same style to try and sell him on, while she was at it. Hey, she didn't get a whole lot of specific weapon jobs these day! She had to try and make the most out of what she had when she could!

The Forge is open!

Comments

[begmetwice]

"Amaaaaaaaya," Irene sang, actually trilling that middle syllable in vibrato as she wandered into the forge and neatly deposited a cup of coffee (and a little bag containing a cookie that was shaped like a shamrock -- Irene just thought it was cute!) within Amaya's reach without comment. "What're we working on today?"

[special_rabbit]

Technically speaking, that trill of her name was also passing by without comment, although the quirk of Amaya's eyebrow was still saying quite a lot. Mostly that she would be perfectly fine living the rest of her life without hearing it sung out like that every again.

(Although, really, if canon was anything to go by, she might as well start getting used to it now).

But the faster she moved on from that, the better, and, thankfully, that was incredibly easy to do.

"Daggers," she said, lifting up the weapon in question, which, based on its shape and size, seemed a bit like the weapon equivalent of a teen trying to pass off as a kindergartener to eat off the little kid's menu. "Sort of. Someone came in needing their Christmas gift rebalanced, but I think I've figured out the problem. What he wants, physically, is more like a shorter short sword, but he uses them like daggers, so now I've got to figure out a good balance between the two."

Because there was a big difference, and she would be happy to explain them, in egregious detail.

[begmetwice]

That eyebrow-quirk was just telling Irene she should do it again because she'd gotten a reaction!

"I assume this is a difference of movement?" Irene guessed. "Stabby versus...slashy?"

Please, Amaya, tell her all about the difference here, Irene was all ears.

[special_rabbit]

"Well, you've got stabby and slashy with borh, really," Amaya offered, "but you're not too far off. It's just more about where the movement is coming from, rather than the movement itself. You want your weight a little heavier with a sword, more force and oomph than anything else, while a dagger's a bit lighter, more finesse. Unless you're talking about your rapiers or your epees, but even then, the force is more in the thrust, and the weight is distributed with that in mind."

[begmetwice]

"Why wouldn't he want the smaller weapon, then?" Irene wondered. "Why square-peg-round-hole these short swords into being daggers, rather than just use them as intended or opt for daggers anyway? Doesn't seem like it'd lend an advantage."

Unless unpredictability was part of it, which Irene could respect.

[special_rabbit]

"Not necessarily," said Amaya, "and not really, if you'd seen the way he handles him, like extensions of his own arms. And this guy's all limbs, really, and his other weapon of choice is a lance, so he's all about lenghth, distance, and speed. Get in there quick, do what you can, get right back out. So the longer blades help with that, reduces the likelihood of needing to get close enough to get snagged or stabbed first. And because he's doing all the quick fancy foot-and-jump work, the last thing he needs is a wonky balance meant for something much heavier and confrontational."

[begmetwice]

"Suppose it also probably keeps his opponent off-guard," Irene observed, knowing a thing or two about that herself. "Easier to predict someone who's using a weapon as intended and with form you know, I assume. And I can certainly respect someone who wants to keep his distance while striking. A lance sounds fun."

Irene, no, you would be terrible with a lance.

[special_rabbit]

"Well," said Amaya, gesturing back toward the weapons wall, "I've got a few, if you wanted to give it a go sometime. We actually haven't covered them in the class yet, maybe we could sneak you in."