fandomtownies | Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [11/07].

Amaya had definitely been living her long enough (too long, really, a voice would always be whispering in her ear) to know the beats of the different holidays, especially this time of year, so while she was already putting some effort and advertising energy into promoting stuff for the Big One at the end of December, she also knew that there was some money to be had here with the more localized one here at the end of November! Which was why, today, it seemed, she was working on a few prototypes for table centerpieces, putting together some metal turkeys, and really creating a fall aesthetic for some pictures to highlight some of her table- and silverware creatures.

And rubbing her eyes a little when they seemed to be getting a little tired from all this arranging and detailing and picture-taking and thinking, briefly, about those contact lenses Irene had so gently suggested.

Of course, considering what had followed after that suggestion, it was hard to keep her mind on that for very long, but, well...she was thinking about it, that was the important part, right?

Right.

The Forge is open!

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After a delicious lunch, Liliana continued her traipsing about town and, lo, what should she spot only a few buildings away but the foundry! She'd seen the building before and mentally catalogued it, of course, but it hadn't made a particular impression upon her, at least, not until Amaya's Halloween costume had.

But that costume - and the delightful conversation that followed - had her ducking into the building, calling, "Hello the forge!"

And with that entrance and that greeting, Amaya looked up from the arrangement of burnished metal leaves around a nice fat scrap metal turkey to look over at the roaring glow of the forge itself and seemed to wait a moment.

"Good," she concluded, giving it a stout, approving nod and then snorting. "If it had answered back, I'd have gotten a little worried. It is way too early in the week to be dealing with that sort of thing!"

With any concerns of sentient forge now shuffled neatly to the side, her attention shifted toward Liliana with a nod. "Liliana," she greeted, with maybe a touch of satisfaction that the other woman had made good on her comment about popping in some day soon, "welcome to Blackstone Foundry and Forge. What can I do you for?"

Liliana paused. "...The fact that that's something you feel the need to check for and have opinions on the schedule of, concerns me," she noted.

She'd really only been cognizant of one bout of Fandom weirdness, but all that did was make her wary that there would be more.

"I am mostly here to chat, unless you have more items like your costume to show me," she replied a moment later, after a suspicious glance around to make sure that nothing that shouldn't be talking wasn't secretly biding its time to prove it could. "My birthday is coming up shortly, which is an excellent reason to treat myself to something new and pretty, I believe."

Other excellent reasons included: the weather being fair/foul, it being a great/terrible day, her birthday being very far away, and because she felt like it.

Everything around the shop, with the exception of that low and constant rumble of the fire in the forge itself, from the weapons proudly displayed on one of walls clustered around the centerpiece of a massive shuriken taller than even Amaya herself to the practice dummies clustered in a corner in their various bits and pieces or armor to the large hulk of the Crumbler in another corner resting quietly underneath a large protective sheet, remained, thankfully, quiet.

"I've been here for a while," Amaya offered, almost apologetically and with another little weird pull in her stomach for it not being the first time today that thought had so clumsily traipsed into her mind. "And there's plenty I could show you, but half the time, the real problem is just figuring out where to start. But I can't disagree with you on having a good reason for a nice little treat."

Especially if that indulgence meant she got work.

"Happy early birthday; was there anything particular you might've had in mind yet?"

"Oh definitely more of the fashion like you were sporting at my party," Liliana said immediately. "My offensive capabilities are primarily magical, so I don't tend towards purchasing weaponry for myself..."

Though. Hmm. Future gift giving possibilities abounded.

"Although, I suppose having a knife or two that looks like it's frippery and nonsense while still being a perfectly functional blade would useful to have..."

Amaya, were you prepared to make bank? Liliana was wealthy, spoiled, and had a complete lack of care for anything approaching moderation or frugality.

Somewhere, Ignis was screaming.

Amaya would happily let those screams carry her all the way to the bank, thank you.

"That's right," she remembered, with a snap of her fingers in a way not too dissimilar to that of the all-suffering gentleman soon to be rendered without a voice from all that screaming, just a bit muffled, on account of the gloves. "You'd mentioned the spine, maybe building something off of that. You know, you've got some great timing, I've just been doing some research, " sure, let's call it that, "on this thing called Fashion Week in Paris..."

The fact that she couldn't even tell you about even a third of the looks thanks to one distraction or anything was besides the point. If she needed to go back and consult her....business associate for a refresher, well, then, so be it...

"So we could probably get something pretty good started if you'd like. How soon is this approaching birthday anyway? What's my time frame?"

"We've got, hmm..." Liliana pulled out her phone to check the date; she wasn't in the habit of keeping track of it without some outside reason. "Twelve days. The nineteenth. Though it's fine if it can't be ready by then, of course. It needn't be considered any sort of rush order or interfere with any outstanding projects you've already got on the docket."

Amaya let out a long disparaging whistle with a shake of her head. "Yeah," she agreed, "that'd be a pretty tight job, for sure, but if we were to get the ball rolling now, I could probably get it hammered out by then."

She took a moment, as if to really look Liliana over for the first time and considering things like her current style and what to do with that.

"Could repurpose some of my own pieces to shorten a bit of time, but I'm almost starting to think...maybe a bustle, too? A bone bustle! But of metal, obviously, connected to the spine, and then the shoulders..."

Oh, yeah, something was definitely coming togethernow, but Amaya had one very important question for Liliana before she could continue:

"How do you feel about spikes?"

"My birthday is the thin excuse I'm using to do what I want," Liliana assured her. "I certainly don't need it by that time. Especially for something like you're describing - that's definitely something that I'd want you to take your time on."

At her question, a smile uncurled. "I'm a fan," she assured the blacksmith. "In moderation and for just the right mood." She tapped the side of her face thoughtfully. "Jewelry," she said. "Metallic bone jewelry would also be excellent."

You had her at fan, Liliana, but you lost her at moderation. Still...

"Jewelry, I can do, too," Amata assured her. "Thinking necklace? Earrings? Ring? Full set? I've done some great work on hair stuff lately, and I used to work in pins a lot."

Look, there was a not-particularly-thin line between 'evil necromancer queen of the night' and 'disaffected punk waiting for her mom to pick her up from the mall.' Liliana was happy to lean into the former, but would prefer to avoid the latter.

At the mention of pins, a totally normal and not at all dreamy smile flickered across Liliana's face. "I am a fan of hair pins," she noted. "And a full set, darling, always." She pondered a moment. "What do you think about skeletal hands? As a choker and pair of cuff bracelets?"

Amaya took a moment to consider it herself, her hands seeming to try out a few sizes and shapes, before her fingers curled at her chin again. "Not exactly my cup of tea," she admitted, "then again, you can see, I tend to stick with pretty unadorned. But I could definitely see it working, easily enough, and it would be a pretty interesting challenge."

"I'm a necromancer," Liliana explained. "Sometimes it's fun to really lean into the aesthetic. And sometimes it's very useful to lean into it. Either way, it's important to look fabulous doing so."

Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Tuesday [11/07].

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