When all else in his life had gone to s**t, Ellis always reverted back to the predictability and structure of his usual hobbies: reading, drafting, building. Things that required no emotion, no socialization, no societal expectations. He was happy to spend hours alone, holed up and engaging in whatever activity or project his brain had decided to hyperfocus on. Did any of his issues get solved this way? Not at all. But it gave him an outlet through which he could ignore those issues until he felt well enough to tackle them.
History class had been a crapshoot. A disaster. Toward the end, at least. Everything up until the point that he and Izzie had found the princess had been perfectly fine. And everything after had not. Between being bodily crushed by an unfamiliar woman, trapped in an asthma attack, subjected to Izzie's bizarre reaction to stumbling upon them, and the subsequent explosion that was, for the few milliseconds he had experienced it before waking up, the stuff of nightmares, Ellis harbored no shortage of frustration over the events.
One of those frustrations was that he... he, of all people... felt... dare he say it...
Bad.
Bad for the girl who had landed on him -- not for landing on him, but for the treatment she received after that. She had tried to help him as best as she could, and still she was all but run off. Ellis had not been in any condition to communicate with her beyond his desperate pleas in the moment -- and afterward he had been entirely unable to find her among the student body. He was beginning to think that perhaps she was not a student at all, that she had been a figment of the hallucination.
Until he was passing by one of the workshops near the one he used for engineering work and espied that somewhat familiar head of dark hair. He had caught but a glimpse through the window of the door, and immediately backtracked to ascertain what he had seen. There she was, busy at work on something by the small forge. This was a strange place for a lady to be; did she have some sort of interest in metalsmithing? Ellis squinted, and after a long moment of consideration, stepped into the room.
He had never been in here before, but now he took in the whole of the workshop before his eyes settled on the mysterious young woman. He cleared his throat.
"Er, pardon me for the interruption," he began warily. It was rare enough that he initiate conversation with a near complete stranger, but now he had the awkwardness of their only interaction to contend with. Suddenly he did not know what to say. "I, ah..."
Ellis stared at her, tugging at the hem of his sleeve. His mouth thinned into a tight line, and he tried again.
"I was hoping I might find you again." Was that creepy to say? "We parted on such strange terms, so I... wanted to, er, thank you. And to... apologize. If you would allow me a moment of your time."
She had not made up her mind about Utopia or if it would be worth all the trouble in the end. A few of her qualms were only surface deep at best and out of her control, like the weather. Farrah missed the heat. The unfamiliar faces and the experiences she had with them left her to question if all of these peace keeping efforts were worth the paper her letter came in on. She wasn’t going to be the only one from Mars, and she took solace in that detail. Xena arrived later, and just barely missed the major history assignment that was tailor made for her, but she was happy to see her the most. Other comforts came from her hobbies, one of them being the very thing she was doing. In one hand she held a piece of white-hot metal with tongs, and in the other was the hammer that was beating it down along the edge to meld the two pieces of the battle axe head together. Weapons creation was her primary task during the war but now that it was over, her talents weren’t as needed and she could focus on being a princess. While that might of been true, she had no intention of walking away from it, not when it was second nature and an escape.
Once the metal was to the rough shape she wanted, she put her tools down and left the orange glowing head on the anvil to cool down completely. As she pulled the one glove she was wearing off, she spotted a pair of shiny black shoes step into her vision a few feet away. ‘Brave, wearing nice shoes like that in here.’ Farrah thought to herself as she looked up to see someone she didn’t know she’d see again. Between the pounding and the beeswax in her ears, she didn’t hear him come in.
”Er, pardon me for the interruption,” it was muffled for her, but she did see his lips moving so held up a finger to get him to wait. She pulled the ear plugs from her ears and slipped them into the pocket of her work apron. The sounds that had to happen in the forge was the rare exception to her dislike of loud noises.
‘Nerd Bird!’
Sometimes she thought about what happened during that history class a while back. The experience was… bizarre. Maddening. Professor Langalibelele’s method of putting them to sleep was extremely unpleasant, but she couldn’t fault him if that was what it took. Waking up from it was no fun either; last thing she remembered was being forcefully blown into an exterior wall, and then waking up in the classroom in the next blink. It was the end of her dream that irked her most, the part where she fell onto the guy and then the two women that knew him. When the thought of them crossed her mind, she wondered if they ever worked things out, or if they were out there having another lovers quarrel. Was Nerd Bird okay, breathing like he deserved and free from the screeches of his fiery-haired temptress? The weapons they carried were also of great interest to her, and Farrah hoped it wouldn’t be the last time she saw anything like them.
Red eyes trailed at his hands as Ellis stumbled over his words. Farrah looked back at him and lowered her brows while she waited quietly for him.’Breathe in. Where are you going with this? She put a hand on her hip.
Farrah blinked as Ellis stated his intentions. ’That’s a new one.’ She couldn’t recall being sought out in that way, for these reasons, but she wasn’t bothered by it. Her head leaned to one side as she thought about what he said. She never expected any thanks, but was lost on why he needed to apologize. ”You couldn’t breathe… it’s nothing to be sorry for.” Unless he meant something else?
The young woman was in no rush to respond to him, it seemed. But Ellis waited patiently, staring back at her, unbothered by the silence. Not that it was silent, really, with the crackling of the blaze within the forge.
”You couldn’t breathe… it’s nothing to be sorry for.”
Ah. A misconception. Yet the fact that it was there her mind had jumped suggested Ellis may have been off base with wanting to apologize. She'd seemed bothered by Izzie's accusations during the class assignment, but perhaps he had misread her? He had been under a great amount of distress at the time... It was entirely possible she hadn't been upset by Izzie's reaction at all. Ellis shifted his weight to his other foot.
"No, that's... not what I meant," he corrected carefully. "Though -- that is what my thanks is in regard to, at least. I appreciate your efforts in trying to help me, when you had no obligation to do so." Not to mention the fact they hadn't -- he hadn't -- been in actual danger of dying at the time. It had still been extremely unpleasant, however. And they hadn't known there was no danger at the time...
He pursed his lips and straightened his posture. "I wanted to apologize specifically for the behavior of my companion," he continued. "If, in fact, you were bothered. She... misinterpreted our situation and addressed you in an uncharacteristically rude manner. The fault was wholly my own, and I'm afraid you were caught in the crossfire. You did not deserve such a treatment, especially when you were only trying to help."
Hopefully that explained things well enough. With his piece said, Ellis could rest a little easier. Whether she accepted the apology or not -- whether it was necessary or not -- he had done all he could do. The duke gazed around the room, eventually falling upon battleaxe on the anvil. It was well-made -- the mark of a skilled craftsman, rather than a student indulging in a hobby. He took a step closer for a better look, then glanced back at his companion.
"You're a metalsmith?" he inquired, his tone a mix of curiosity and admiration. "This is fine work. Not that I am an expert on weapons." If she was a student here, that had to mean she was a noble. Was there such a place where noblewomen worked the forges? Even his older sister, who was no stranger to the factory, would never perform such backbreaking labor. "But it is impressive all the same. I haven't seen many students in here. I'm glad to know the forge is being put to good use. Craftsmanship is a rare skill among the nobility."
ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴍᴏᴏᴅ ➢ awkward, but then excited ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ ➢ I SHALL SHOW YOU THE SONGS OF MY FORGES ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ➢ Utopia - Forge ᴍʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴀɴʏ ➢ Ellis ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ➢ Izzie, Xenia, Richie ᴀʟʟ ᴅʀᴇꜱꜱᴇᴅ ᴜᴘ ➢ shirt, leather pants and boots
talking -- thinking
”No, that’s… not what I meant.”
One eyebrow lifted slightly higher than the other as Farrah thought back to what he said. Then, back to what happened that fateful day in history-bizarro-world. The math wasn't mathing. ‘What…’ she lipped and eyed him for more explanation. Distraction came as Ellis thanked her, her lips twitched into a small smile that she hoped would pass as human and hide the stroke of embarrassment that came over her.
He made it known what he was apologizing for — or rather, who she was apologizing for — and her body tensed to the memories. ’Oh… that.’ She had indeed been bothered by his fiery companion’s insinuations but did not think of them as his to claim. It was on that alone she was ready to decline his apology.
”You’re welcome… What is your name?” She grimaced when it registered with her that she did not know his name. The awkward feeling from his well-meaning and cordial attention lingered and she wanted it plus any leftover hangups about what happened to go away now. So she accepted it. ”It's cool… thanks. And… sorry for dropping you.” That was the one part she felt the most worst about, dropping him like a hot potato, even if it wasn’t real.
Her back straightened and she looked at Ellis wide-eyed as he complemented her work. It was more of a surprise that another student outside of her siblings had shown and had knowledge about her work. ”I just welded the edge steel on. It's cooling of now but it'll be done before the day ends. If you want to see it when it’s completely finished.” She was more wordy and the usual flatness in her voice had more energy to it this time around, but Rah couldn’t help being excited in the moment. ”But yeah, I am… are you one too? You sound like you know something about them.” He spoke so comfortably about metalsmithing and craftsmanship so even if he wasn’t, Rah was curious about where his interests lay.
She gave a single nod of her head. ”My talents were better suited for forges and metals instead of… well, other things we do back at home.” Farrah stopped herself before she said something that would spill the tea on where she came from. Xenia and Richie were built for combat. She still trained for war, as all good and unflinching Martians were expected to, but she made peace with her supportive role some time ago. ”I can play with metals. Want me to show you? May I borrow these?” With his okay, she reached a hand out to Ellis’ face and gently removed his glasses, only to snap them in half at the bridge without breaking a sweat. She brought one half of it to her eye with a curiosity about his prescription, then pushed the two halves back together as if she hadn’t broken them in the first place. Rah proudly offered them back to the Ulium Duke. ”See? Good as new.”
Right, names might be nice to exchange. Particularly if this encounter turned out to be more than a brief passing-by. The duke straightened himself and extended a hand in a customary greeting, not giving a single thought as to whether a handshake was proper for a lady where she came from. "Ellis Ampere," he introduced cordially. "And you?"
He was grateful she accepted his apology, but when she issued one of her own, he shook his head swiftly. "Think nothing of it. Ending up in such a state is run of the mill for me. My body rather thinks I would be better off dead." Nor could anyone fault her for the ceiling caving in; the fault lied solely with... well, their professor, he supposed, for creating so realistic a post-battle illusion. Not for the first time since that night, Ellis wondered what he might have discovered in testing the physics of their hallucination. But that would have to wait until the next such activity.
For now, he was content to learn about Farrah's work. Her entire demeanor shifted the moment he brought it up, though he kept his gaze on the axe for the most part. Even going so far as to invite him to see the finished product... Far be it from him to deny a craftsman their kudos. He nodded once and adjusted his glasses. "I can swing by a bit later, then. I would be very interested to learn about your process." Although traditional weaponry was far from his field of focus, there was plenty to be gained from learning what he could.
At her question, Ellis gave a small shake of his head. "Not a traditional metalsmith, no. But an engineer. An inventor, in some respects. That said..." With a glance around the room, he raised a hand with a basic flourish, focusing the effects of his magnetism on a nearby wrench. As he locked on, the tool rattled and then flied toward him, landing neatly in his palm. "I do a lot of work with metal. My family makes tools and machinery."
It was far from an impressive display of his abilities, but Ellis was not one for showmanship, to the point that he returned the wrench to its place by hand. He turned once more to face Farrah, listening to her explanation of her talents. She could play with metals, she said, and before Ellis had the chance to ask what she meant by that, she offered a demonstration.
With his glasses?
His eyes narrowed in suspicion, as his gut reaction was to not give up so critical of an item for some type of show. But he was curious -- and if things went south, at least he had a back-up pair in his room. "Alright..." he answered warily, leaning forward as she grasped his glasses. His world blurred as they were removed from his face -- but not so much that he could not see her snap them in half. A vicious vein appeared in his forehead, and for several seconds Ellis was perfectly nonfunctional.
Then she set the two halves together at their breaking point, and miraculously, they were fixed.
Slowly, Ellis fetched his spectacles, giving them a cautious look-over. There was no evidence they'd ever been broken -- the bridge smooth and unmarred as it had been before. He put them back on.
"I see. You mean play with... literally," he worked out in a strained tone. After a moment, he added, much more genuinely, "Fascinating. Distinct control over the metal itself..." No wonder she had said she was well suited for a forge. His expression turned thoughtful as he drew a hand to his chin. "What are the limitations? Does the material make a difference in your ability to shape it? Are you able to mold it like one would mold clay, or is the process less fluid?" Even as he spoke, a hundred more questions came to mind. Some out of pure curiosity -- but most were selfishly driven. Because Farrah's abilities made her a very appealing asset to him, an inventor, who could not make the pieces of his machines himself. 　
Farrah looked down at Ellis’ hand as it was extended to her and considered it. No fancy show of trying to take her hand like she were some pampered princess. ’Ayyyyy!’ She clapped her hand to his and shook it. â€Farrah Willahalm, but you can call me Rah.†She almost took the exchange a step further to give him a hug but between his demeanor and their ‘scandalous’ history she held back. She had a real name for him now, but Nerd Bird would live on in her little Martian heart.
She listened, then nodded her head to his interest in her process. She was more than willing to share if that were the case.
Ellis called himself an engineer. An inventor. Red eyes shined with interest of her own. She crafted things taught to her by seasoned mentors from forges in Mars and other kingdoms and found ways to improve upon them, put her own spin on them, but this dude was making new things. He was pulling new ideas out of his brain and making them exist. It was fascinating work to watch in real time and even assist with; she sometimes got the chance to travel with an advance team when her abilities were required. Had her station been different, she believed she would have dived more into that kind of thing. Being born with her gifts at least allowed her to have as cool a life as she had so far, and without them she believed she would have been a different kind of princess, so she was grateful for that. â€What kind of things have you invented?â€
Did he…? Nerd Bird summoned the wrench to him like magic. Her lips parted in awe. â€Woah, how’d you do that!?†A more elevated reaction from her but there was something that stood out about this Ampere guy. And to think she nearly broke his fragile body weeks ago! Not that he really would have broken. She knew that now. Good thing he survived the war. Rah wanted to ask what kingdom he hailed from but knew that was against the rules. Darn it! ’One day, I will learn it and go there! And I will also get my hands on one of those harp weapons!’
His reaction to her snapping his glasses clean in half was… a bit more intense than she expected. She broke him too but like his glasses he recovered. She gave a sheepish smile. Maybe she didn’t word what she did with metal well, but Ellis got the jist of it. So much so that he was asking some pretty specific questions that she didn’t normally answer. It was no different than his Xena divulging her tactical planning abilities, or for Richie the fact he could grow an arm back. But… she didn’t see him using it against her in any way and that he asked with genuine interest. There weren’t many limitations in her experience, but that didn’t make them any less annoying.
â€I don’t have to touch it but distance and size can make it hard…†Rah rolled her lips as she considered the other most noticeable one for her. â€I can’t make any, but I can pull it from my own body if I ever need to. Like this.†She reached to her chest and briefly pulled out the pendant piece of her necklace for him to see. It was a piece of unfinished metal longer than the width of her hand.
“Bronze and steels take a teeny bit more effort. I can shape it or crush it back into one piece, kind of like clay. What I like to do sometimes is make wire.†Rah shrugged her shoulders. It was low effort for her to pull at a metal object and create thin strings like warm sugar from it until it was no more, like pulling a ball of yarn apart.
â€What about you? Got any limitations on what you can and can’t move around?
The corner of Ellis's lips tugged downward as Farrah insisted he address her as Rah. The nickname seemed entirely too familiar, when they had only just met -- an when he was not the type to use nicknames in the first place. He still addressed Izzie by her full name, for goodness sake. The passing thought doubled back and stuck in the back of his head, like a tiny warning he did not yet understand. But right now, it didn't really matter. Until he had the need to use Farrah's name, it was a non-issue.
She seemed to take an interest in his work, and that was more than enough to keep him occupied. There were precious few people in this world he could talk to about his inventions and the like; if he had found a kindred spirit in Farrah, he would be perfectly pleased. Ellis cleared his throat. "I take a particular interest in electrical engineering. My latest and greatest invention is an electromagnetic generator. Though, one could argue it is less of an invention, and more of an improvement on an already existing model. But I was able to rework the design for improved power and efficiency, on a level that has not been seen before." Oh, he could prattle on for hours if left unimpeded -- but Ellis had enough sense to not bog down Farrah with more details than that. For now, at least.
Her reaction to the exceedingly humble display of his abilities was a touch more enthusiastic, for reasons Ellis could not comprehend. Her own powers were much more impressive and interesting, not to mention helpful. He shifted his weight to the other foot, wondering how much he could reveal without outright admitting his heritage. "I can manipulate the magnetic force of objects. For obvious reasons, it's easier with ferromagnetic materials, for which the propensity already exists. All those take is a little nudge in either direction." That was good, right? Not everyone knew that magnetism was fundamentally an expression of electrical currents.
Hm. He had already revealed his interest in electricity, though. And outside of someone like Pascha, he doubted there were very many non-Uilumites who would share the same sentiment. Oh well. Ellis didn't know what the big deal about nationality was anyways.
Idly he wondered about Farrah's own heritage. Unlike his powers, hers were hard to place. But he was much, much more interested in learning about the inner-workings of her abilities than he was about where she hailed from. Being restricted by distance and size made sense; he could definitely relate to such a limitation. As she spoke of being able to pull metals out of her own body, however, his eyes widened in shock. Of course he knew the human body contained certain metals -- but isolating them and removing them like that was...
Truly, he had no words.
Ellis adjusted his glasses and took a closer look at Farrah's pendant: a small, twisted collection of metal. How long had it taken her to accumulate that amount, he wondered? "Does doing that... hurt?" he questioned warily. It was something he had a hard time imagining, even as a man of science. Then again, he was ill-versed in biology... "I've never heard of anything like that before. That is as shocking as it is impressive."
Finished with his examination, he took a step back once more, putting a polite distance between them. Knowing she had experience and familiarity with bending steel piqued his interest most of all, as that answered his most burning question: could he make use of her abilities to assist in his own work? Apparently, yes.
"Limitations aplenty, I'm afraid. There was a time when I went to great lengths to test those limits. Unfortunately, in the midst of all my experimentation, I..." What was the right word for this? "I... scrambled my own magnetic field a bit. It's been a little wonky ever since, so I have to be careful. I really only use my abilities in small ways now." Like bringing tools to himself without needing to get up from his desk. Or ripping piercings out of people who had pissed him off. "In some sense, I have a greater mastery over my abilities than I did back then. But I am not able to use them nearly as much."
Thoughtfully, Ellis regarded Farrah's face, and after a moment turned to look at the axe. "Do you sell your services?" he asked. "For example, if I needed a custom-cut metal part for a machine, is that something I could procure from you?"
Farrah looked at Ellis attentively as he filled her in about his creation. She lipped the name of his contraption more slowly and put her thumb to her bottom lip. Electro. Magnetic. Generator. Between her breakdown and his explanation, she believed she had a good idea of what it could be used for. He was proud of his work, as she believed he should be. She had to wonder though, what did that power and efficiency look like on one of those thingamajigs? Unless there was a decent water source, coal or old-fashioned hand-cranking were the go-to options when it came to fueling forge machinery. “Would you mind showing me one of those in the future?” Combining his electromagnetic generator to something, say something in the very building they were standing in, felt like it could be a huge success or a disaster waiting to happen. Farrah chose to believe the former would be the end result; Ellis wasn’t dubbed ‘Sir Nerd Bird’ for nothing.
The way he described how his ability worked… sounded more advanced than his last explanation and she was going to have to take his word for it. Ellis was a walking, talking magnet basically. It sounded like a nifty ability, one she could benefit from in the places she frequented. A look of realization swept over Farrah’s features as she imagined its use on the battlefield. He could turn swords against their owners or thrash someone around by their armor like a maraca. But if iron-based materials came easier for him… had he figured out whether or not he could rip the metal right out of someone’s body? It was something she was capable of doing herself, not that she had as well of a grasp on the whys of hers, like he had for his. Either way, it was a sight to see. A relative sight but one none the less.
Farrah tilted her head to his shocked expression. Maybe it was because it was her own power, one she grew up with and was accustomed to, that she didn’t fully get why Ellis was so surprised at that piece of information. That didn’t stop her from thinking it was a totally cool one! When he asked his question, it made a little more sense. Was he sensitive stomached? She gave a nod of her head. ”It does. It’s no different than being stabbed by something but how much it hurts depends on the width. That wasn’t the worst part… it took weeks for me to feel normal again.” She tucked the necklace back into her shirt once Ellis was done looking at it. She held out her arm and laughed a little, as if what she was about to offer was as normal as putting pants on. ”Thanks! I could show you if you’re up to it.”
’Scrambled’ was a pretty strong word to use, and Ellis used it to describe the effects of the lengths he went to in the name of studying himself. Farrah’s brows lifted and her lips parted slightly in shock. He was a cautionary tale on pushing the limits, she thought. Good thing you didn’t wipe them out completely… or yourself for that matter.” Farrah wanted to know more about his self-scrambling, but held off for another day. And possibly after she read more about those electromagnetic fields he was talking about. Little did Ellis know that he was going to come into the forge and be such the influence that day.
Red eyes lit up at Ellis’ question. Was he inquiring about her services? She’d never heard the things she indulged in called that before, and she had to laugh a little about it. “Sometimes I do. Just get me the specs and I can make it.” Farrah knew she could, likely with just her hands alone. Most of the stuff she made were weapons and jewelry, but machine pieces sounded no very similar to both. As for payment, she had an idea on what to ask but would leave it to Ellis to let her know if he was capable of the request. ”Do you think you get me one of those harp weapons? Like the one your girlfriend and her friend had? From that one History class?”
OOC: I just wanna say this guild thread has been great for helping me hone in on Farrah's powers and personality XD so thank you for that Yokka!
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