Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [03/28].

[special_rabbit]

Amaya had been a little disappointed that she didn't move more merch at the flea market on Saturday, and figured she might need to start getting a little more creative with her marketing. People just didn't seem to buy weapons around here like they used to! And that was also the burden of quality, too, you know? Sometimes, all people needed was just the one solid weapon, not a lot of return on purchase like that.

Today, while munching on the very last of her birthday cupcake that still remained, then, she was a bit less at the anvil today, and a bit more at the worktable, mapping out some ideas for a sort of 'Basic Weaponry Starter Kit,' that came with your typical sword, dagger, hatchet, throwing stars, a bow and some arrows. She could see them becoming a great gift idea come Christmastime, maybe, but the real problem was trying to price it out in an attractive and appealing way without taking too much of a loss. And there could be variations on the kits, too, with some themes that swayed more toward regional weapons, maybe toss a collaboration Dwight's way for the packaging, some nice but efficiently made chests or something like that...

Definitely some ideas to stew over and some sketches being made, and the definite feeling that she might be onto something here, really...

The Forge is open!

Comments

[begmetwice]

"Morning, Amaya!" Irene called cheerily, not actually doing her little sing-song trill this week -- you couldn't get predictable, you know. She had no such qualms regarding the coffee and the cookie (shaped like an adorable little Easter bunny, aw!) she delivered within arm's reach without comment. "Fun projects today?"

[special_rabbit]

"Irene." Amaya looked up from her work with a nod of greeting, the subtly of her cursory glance toward the coffee and cookie a bit spoiled by the treat's particularly cute shape seemed to wrinkle her nose a little, but she supposed, this time of year, bunny-shaped things couldn't really be helped. And then she gave Irene a bit of a thoughtful look, before looking at her sketches and then tilting her head.

"Lemme get an outside opinion on this," she said, with full acknowledgement that Irene did tend to lean heavily toward the praising and fluffing up of most of her ideas, and so said opinion would be taken with a grain of biased salt. "What do you think of when you hear 'basic weaponry starter kit'?"

[begmetwice]

Irene actually did consider this prospect for a moment (though, naturally, her first instinct was to declare Amaya a genius, of course.)

"Something for someone who doesn't want to faff about with the real thing, but also doesn't want to be defenseless," she contributed after a tilt of her head. "Maybe a set of, I don't know -- a set of daggers in different sizes, or maybe handles that could change for different pointy heads for someone who's not sure what they like yet?"

[special_rabbit]

"That's not quite where my brain was going," said Amaya, who had that look on her face that hinted that both her brows were lifted with a note of further inspiration somewhere underneath those bangs, "but," she lifted a finger, as if ticking some invisible box, before idly starting to scribble more notes down in the margins of her already sprawling idea-map parchment, "that is a pretty solid idea, as well. I like that that's not only useful for the person still exploring their pointy preferences, but also for the person who finds themselves often in the need for several stabby selections."

[begmetwice]

"I have a set of makeup brushes that do the same thing," Irene shared, since that had been the inspiration. "Perfect for the enterprising stabber on the go, you know? Keep the lot in your bag, save a bit of room in efficiency."

Until it came time to change out that pointy head for another in the middle of a fight, or something, but that was a future problem!

"Where was your brain going?" Irene wondered, fascinated as always by the path that Amaya's mind might be taking.

[special_rabbit]

"Put 'em all on a sort of bandolier," Amaya mused, with musing swipe of her finger across her chest for emphasis, then a tug of her fist forward as if popping one of those knifeheads out. "Easy access..."

But, before she got too far on new ideas for accessories for her new ideas, back to the original.

"But," she said, "well, I didn't move as much as I was hoping at that flea market the other day, so what I was thinking was trying to come up with other ways to sort of market it, and was sort of playing with the idea of a sort of...essentials kit, but with weapons. You know. You've got your sword, your dagger, a nice hatchet, throwing stars, maybe a bow and arrow. Nothing too complex or anything, just the real basic stuff, but a little bit of everything, a sort of booster set for your burgeoning arsenal, just what you need to get you started on being a well-rounded weaponsmaster."

[begmetwice]

Ugh, Amaya, you couldn't just make cute bandolier gestures like all casually. Be still Irene's actual heart, Jesus.

"You could coordinate them all together, too," Irene noted thoughtfully, latching right onto this idea. "Design-wise. And maybe with some sort of little fitted case. Like -- "

Irene scrunched up her nose, as a much less familiar metaphor occurred. "Like a tool kit," she suggested. "But for weapons. With a little spot for each, so you'd know immediately if anything was missing."

[special_rabbit]

"I was actually kind of thinking," said Amaya with a grin, holding out her hands in the approximation of the size of the thing she was thinking, "of putting 'em in a chest. You know, like a treasure chest, only for weapons. Weapons chest! Honestly, the thing sort of writes itself, doesn't it? Fitted layers so everything can go in there, nice and compact, but, yeah," the grin grew a little, with a pleased nod that Irene was following her logic so well, "exactly that. Could be a great gift idea for the winter holidays, too, and, if they do well, we can start theming them," oh, how her eyes lit up at the prospect of how far a good gimmick could take you, "for all the others!"

[begmetwice]

"You could do limited runs," Irene suggested, "even outside of seasonal theming. And I think it might well take the -- intimidation out of it, too."

There were other things Irene was familiar with, beyond makeup brushes and toolkits, that occasionally came in beginner sets and sprang to mind here, and intimidation was often a factor there, as well.

"Chest's a marvelous idea, though. Could even offer custom designs -- weapons and chest alike -- at a premium."

[special_rabbit]

"See, now," said Amaya, smirking faintly as she lifted a finger and shook it a little in Irene's general direction, "that's why you're always good to bounce ideas off of, Irene, you always seem to know right where my mind's headed and give it all the right pushes to show me I'm on already on the right path. There's a lot to work with here. Was thinking of maybe bringing Dwight in on the chest design, too, make it a collaboration. I think I'm really onto something with this one."

And it was that triumphant mood that inspired her to finally reach out for that coffee, since such brilliant minds deserved glorious caffeination.

[begmetwice]

And that triumphant mood, along with the praise (and maybe more due to the latter than the former), there was the slightest pink tint rising in Irene's cheeks.

Or maybe it was, as always, attributable to the forge.

"If there's one thing I know how to do," she admitted, "it's marketing yourself. A collaboration with Dwight's a great idea; you'll tap into both his customer base and your own."

[special_rabbit]

The forge rather did have a tendency to do that to various cheeks and whatnot, didn't it?

"And people do love a good collaboration across mediums in the hands of skilled craftsmen," Amaya noted cheerily, as she adjusted the cup in her hand to good sipping position, "especially with the more...rustic clientele the both of us tend to pull in."

But unfortunately, as Amaya lifted the cup to finally celebrate a good idea coming together, she never did get to have that first delicious sip of coffee, because just right about the time the cup reached her lips was exactly the moment she ceased to really have lips, or hands, for that matter, to be holding that coffee, and just like that, in the blink of an eye, found herself, instead, a very, very disappointed rabbit.

The cup, however, did have the decency to at least fall on the table, and not right directly onto her underneath it at the moment, though that also meant falling directly onto her parchment and scribbles and splashing that precious liquid all over her plans.

[begmetwice]

"Oh, shit!" It was, quite honestly (though she'd never admit it) an actual act of love, the way Irene immediately scrambled to grab those scribbly parchments and try to fan coffee off them while peering down at Amaya, even before she righted the cup itself. "Your timing is astounding, darling, really."

And, really, that cookie she'd brought was now all the more adorable. Sort of hilarious! But also adorable.

"Suppose plans for these kits might have to wait." Also, she was going to need to find a towel or something.

[special_rabbit]

Ah, yes, the infamous Chekov's bunny cookie.

Luckily, there were plenty of towels and rags (all of them in various stages of greasiness, though, unfortunately) around the forge, but Amaya, for her part, wasn't really interested in that, or really most of what else was going on around the shop, as her attention was in hopping away from where she was and toward whatever seemed to be the most interesting to poke her little twitching nose into.

Which was usually the Crumbler, really. All those dangerous things to hop on were just instantly appealing to a rabbit of Amaya's kind.

[begmetwice]

Yeah, and as much as Irene wanted to get the mess cleaned up -- at least anything that looked particularly plan-y had been rescued, if perhaps coffee-stained -- that trajectory was much more concerning to her.

"Oh, no you don't," she murmured, taking very little care with a greasy rag (she had a good dry-cleaner for a reason) that she flung spill-wards in favor of instead diverting her attention to Amaya and her potentially-perilous journey 'round the shop. "I bet you're not going to like this, but -- sorry, 'Maya."

And with that pronouncement, she knelt to gently pick Amaya, in her wee little bunny form, up and remove her from imminent danger.

[special_rabbit]

And, just as Irene had suspected, being picked up inspired in Amaya few protesting little squeaks and grunts, already starting to squirm to free herself from this obstinate obstacle, little paws and bunny legs making a futile effort toward escape.