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The Shop, Still-
Dante was by this point fairly sure with the exception of the one person who was just finishing up on the main floor, the other four cleaners must have been dead by this point as there had been no plethora of coughs and wheezing for almost an hour at this point. When he finally saw the four of them walking out of the workshop –dirty- but obviously satisfied with their work, Dante couldn’t help but smile. They must have really earned their gold. Dante decided to check out their handiwork while the five cleaners went about organizing their equipment. Walking past the group he turned the corner and headed down to the basement, amazed to see the endless rows of racks and other tools shined beautifully, the floor was clean and slightly damp from polishing of the stone floor. What’s more he could actually breathe… now THAT was a major change by itself. Satisfied with the basements cleanliness he walked back up the stairs but instead of stepping out into the workshop he took a right and continued up to the second floor. Even that was beautifully clean, a hallway split the upper story with two sets of doors on each side being the bedrooms he assumed, and sure enough as when walked by one of the doors he saw a simple bed with some rather common brown colored sheets obviously not the most comfortable but it was a luxury he had not had on the road here.

At the end of the hallways was a commons area split in half by a sitting area with a couch and two loveseats. Opposite of the sitting area was a small apartment style kitchen with breakfast nook. Adjacent, obviously not the most spacious of living areas be definitely functional. “So we do have a refrigerator…” Dante said and wished he had some way to get a hold of Maer as that would certainly open up their meal options. Walking to the room near the stairwell he peeked and looked around the room., it was spartan but certainly more spacious than most dorms he had ever been in. To one side sat a simple twin sized bed, next to that a small desk, and a set of dresser drawers, a small bookshelf seemed to be built into the wall near the door, and taking up a good portion of the right hand corner of the room was a small bathroom with a shower and toilet and a sink. It was cramped for certain, but definitely livable and better than sharing a bathroom with someone else.

… Not that Dante had any idea who else would occupy these rooms; maybe he could hire some extra workers for the shop. That would be easier than doing all the labor himself but he didn’t quite feel comfortable hiring people off the street, again though he had just invited Maer in off the street but that was different, right? No not really, he had seen a potential partner in someone who had similar intentions but Maer was probably sure Dante had flipped his lid by this point. Of course when Maer returned he would flip himself as the shop now looked completely different than when he had left. It looked…. well… presentable. Satisfied and amazed at all the newfound space he had found in their clean up he went down stairs and shook the cleaning crews hands, they had down wonderful work, and Dante give them five-hundred gold apiece as a tip and payment. Signing a form they had handed him he sent them on their way and followed them out of the shop to stand out on the front stoop and take in the late afternoon air.

Looking up he realized that the last remnant of the old shop still hung there. The old sign, weathered and worn it looked like it had taken a stray bullet at some point too. He didn’t feel right destroying it, so he went back into the shop and began looking for a pole-hook, the kind used to install new signs. Finding one stashed in a corner he went back outside and brought the heavy wooden sign down to him from its chains that had held it up and carried it into the forge area, placing it above Sienna’s old forge that now roared loudly along with the other two so that it hung just below the bellows visible and kept out of the elements. He had not yet decided what to do about the sign, so for now he decided to leave it without advertisement. Placing the pole-hook back in its corner he opened up the loading door at the side of the work area. Eh found a man there just about to knock on the metal rolling door when Dante opened it.

‘Uhh… Mister Decker?’ the man inquired his blue polo shirt with company logo and hardhat gave away his role there pretty simply.

“Yes I’m Mister Decker, you can bring the bar-stock in here and put it in the marked racks in the basement. The sheets can go on the racks in the yard, along with the lumber.” The man from the supply yard was processing the instructions and looking at the items on his list to make sure that covered everything. Finding something he hadn’t covered he smiled and checked off the other items.

‘And the tools sir?’ Dante frowned he didn’t like games, but the tools had slipped his mind.

“Put them next to forge three, and put the ores and minerals in the basement with the bar-stock.” The supply manager nodded and waved his hand to have the rest of his crew carry in the requisite items and put them where they were needed. New heads for the trip hammers, a new English wheel, enough bar-stock to make a thousand swords and lumber to make any modifications to the building and side yard as may be required. The one thing he didn’t have was masonry but that would come in due time. He had two hundred sheets of inch thick armor grade mild steel delivered and they took up a good amount of real estate in one corner of the yard, and while all this material was moving the new steel gate replaced the old rusted chain gate that had long sense lost its ability to remain secure. The weight alone of the new gate was enough to keep it closed, but the power hydraulics to open it would let it slide open with the push of a button. A new outer door was being made custom for the shop and he had order some new interior doors later to match the arched doorways that filled the shop and second story. However those would not arrive till tomorrow morning, till then he had the supply company throw in a temporary door alarm for the shops door, to get them till the next morning.

It wouldn’t keep anyone out, but at the very least it would wake everyone up for a kilometer if they tried. Dante snorted at the thought and walked back into the main room to check off his list of things to complete this evening. So far he had been remarkably lucky, partially due to good company choices but also due to being willing to pay in cash… checking everything off his list, he noticed his jacket and satchel and picked them up off the clean main room floor to take up stairs. The steps creaked, he made note of that, but did not intend to fix it, some houses have to have security installed, this one came with it ready to go, a perk of age, and loose nails. He shouldered his satchel and checked each room in the upstairs hoping to find one room larger than the others or with its won bathtub, but he found none. That was just like Sienna… functional to the end. Choosing the room on the back side of the building and far away from the television in the common room he set his meager possessions on the bed, pulled the money for the supplies from his satchel and walked back down stairs to pay the supply crew.

"What the ******** is this crap?"

There was a man walking around in the streets, newspaper held up high in his face as the voice came out. He couldnt see where he was going, but that wasnt very important at the moment, or even at all really, since he could probably glance down every once in a while to make sure his feet were following the road.

Anyway, so there he was, going on by the street with newspaper held up in front of himself, reading down the columns in the 'help wanted' section, since of course, he really didnt have anything to do and he could always make use of CA$H MONEY. Not that the source or means mattered too much, but it seemed so much less troublesome than mugging some random person on the street, not that it wasnt fun or anything. No, he'd just rather not have to deal with the po-po, or army, or whatever the ******** law enforcement was in this place.

Now, back to the matter at hand which had caused him to be cursing in the middle of the street. Lets see what was in that newspaper which made him so surprised.


Ancient ruins? Artifacts? CA$H MONEY?

Well, he'd be signed up so fast if not for the fact that he really doubted that anything found would actually come into his possession. That and if there was an artifact, it'd probably pawn for much more than a thousand gold.

Oh, and also, the guy had a pansy assed chumpy name. He didnt know why, he just thought so, and he didnt like it.

The newspaper got crumpled up and tossed to the side. He was done looking at it. It didnt look like there were any other really good jobs around which had anything to offer in making a quick buck.

Well now with the newspaper out of the way, it wasnt hard to figure out who this man exactly was.

>:{

Tzenidaar.

Yup, he had that look on his face. That scowling ******** it, he'll probably wait until other chumps show up, and together when they go on a picnic, he'll just follow them and mug whatever treasure they come out with, plain and simple. Aint gon' be no po-po in the middle of nowhere right?

Maer was actually becoming increasingly more relaxed as he shuffled his way through the market. In comparison to Dante's showering of monies, he was frugal, almost to the point of being miserly over what was essentially small change.

"It's got dints in it, and has seen better days. I've got some copper left over for the day, and truthfully, I'd rather see it put away rather then given over for this...collection of...well I hesitate to call it food."

"I sell it as fairly as I can, but with a family to feed..."

"If you had a family, you'd have a ring."

"My religion doesn't give rings."

Face off. The stall manager was a huge man, a butcher, making a bit of spare cash from tinning some of his stock. Maer came up to all of a knee on the guy, and roughly equated to a lower leg in size, but he still tried to stare him down over a basket full of the stuff. He jingled the change in his pocket.

"One, for the lot."

"Four at best, you'll get none better."

Maer looked disgusted. "You're insulting my intelligence cause I look like a kid. 2, and you're lucky for that, cause I'm feeling nice."

"You've got a cat face on your man purse. 3, and I won't shout to the market about it."

Draw, both had something to gain and lose in this exchange. And it seemed like a stalemate. Gruffly Maer nodded and handed the coinage over discreetly covering the bag. The bigger man took the money seriously, but then laughed and clapped him on the back hard enough to nearly knock him over.

"You're good kid, you want more, you come back. I won't tell people bout the cat."

Maer couldn't help but grin grimly as he hefted the basket. He hoped he'd gotten a good deal on this. He still had all the fifties that were left from what Dante had given him before.

With the final purchase he made his way back to the shop. But was ensnared by something that caught him as a last minute remembrance. Bread, stacks of it, and cakes, and...

He stood outside the bakery for a good amount of time, just staring at its contents. Did he dare? Yes he sure as hell did, and disappeared into the shop.

Maer was a happy person. He had everything that he needed...almost. And the last wouldn't be too hard to get. Was actually on the way back. He looked thoughtfully at the sky around all the bags and baskets of shopping, and turned down a side street. It was getting later, and he should be really getting back to Dante. That place had been a mess, it would take weeks to get it all straightened out, he was sure.

Carefully he shifted everything, and walked into a dark lit shop, manoeuvring to the counter, avoiding all the trinkets that lined the shelves, barely. The cashier breathed a sigh of relief to see his wares undamaged by the walking heap of food.

"I need some light scrolls, if you've got them." A boy peeked out from behind the pile and was carefully considered, before creaking joints got up off the stool, and went to search along the shelves at the back of him.

"It's hard to get these now, the governements buying up all the shipments of light based issue." A quick glance over the shoulder. "Their also gatherin up meta, so I hear, with that elemental inclination."

Maer scowled at the chattering old mans back, then shrugged dismissively. "I'll go when I'm ready to, I'm just doing some chores first."

The old man yanked a box out and pulled some scrolls out, before laying them carefully on the counter.

"I've got some sign up forms under the counter here too, places like this attract you folk, so the defence left them." He added up everything and set it all out, ignoring the growing anger from the person in front of him. A price was named and Maer slammed down the money, grumbling about price and his "folk" not being any different from other folk.

Gathering up all his gear, he stalked out, as best he could, considering all the stuff, not realizing that he'd started to glow slightly. The old man chuckled and went back to his reading.

Could always tell the powerful ones by how pissed off they got.

Having melted several crucibles of steel on the forge he had several sand molds prettied and ready to go allowing him the carefully poor the small crucibles into each cast. Individually crucible casting the steel for this kind of frame was excessive and had Dante access to an actual foundry he would have preferred doing it in bulk. He pour a small amount of sand into the funnels at the top of the molds to prevent the upper surface of the mold oxidizing, and also to add additional weight to the metal to force it into all the nooks and crannies of the cast. That done there was nothing to do really except wait, this would take several minutes regardless, to cool down to anything resembling touchable levels. With the main support frames cooling he began going through the newly delivered supplies for some ‘special’ supplies he had ordered.

“Where in the world did they put that magnesium?” Dante was amazed it was taking him so long to find something in what had been a completely unmolested store room, and about as organized as it would be, but still he could not find it which led to Dante making a few colorful statements to the surrounding supplies. Finally spotting the cans of Poly-bonded Magnesium Powder he picked several of them up and carried them up the stairs carefully avoiding the roaring fire of the forge and place them on the workshops desk and began to pry the lid off one. Inside was a white plastic looking solid, which was perhaps the scariest burning stuff he could directly think of short of thermite. Bonded much like many modern day explosives this was a stabilized magnesium compound and a polymer bonding agent gave it the consistency of ballistics gelatin or not quite dry plaster. He laid out some linen paper on the counter and cut it to length placing it next to him. He would later use this to make the main burning charge for the flare. Using an old 100 mm inner diameter tube he cut out a four inch long cylinder of the lethal stuff and with a wooden rod forced it out onto the paper wrapping it he placed it to the side of the desk. Four more times completed the nerve-wracking procedure and with each charge now wrapped in linen paper he wrapped them with a second sheet of the thick paper and folded the ends into a nice cylindrical package marked them as Illumination charges with permanent marker and took them upstairs to place them in the refrigerator to cut down on their possible ignition in the shop. He quickly washed his hands in the kitchen and went down stairs to check on the molds.

Patience it seemed had rewarded him as the molds had no stopped steaming, a good sign but somewhat deceptive as he knew the inside was still hot enough to given him some serious second degree burns. Putting on some heavy insulated gloves hi used a four pound sledge to crack open the frame that held the sand in place letting the cast frame to come tumbling out to the floor, hot, but solid steel frames for the body and base of the mortar, with some time on a band saw he could remove all the spidery pour channels and separate the pieces for their use in the final assembly. Dante was starting to get a tad worried about maer as it was starting to get dark outside, which was neither a good omen or a particularly comforting fact.

Dante had finally finished the sub-assemblies for the mortars and had stacked them up safely against a a stone wall far enough away from the forge to protect them from potential ignition sources, as well as putting all his hard work to waste in a mere ninety seconds of blinding heat and light. He was lacking the scrolls he needed to enchant them as well as proper fuses and Parachutes, both things he had ordered from an old military contact on the outskirts of town. They would take a day or two to reach him however so there was little he could do with the mortars individual pieces till then. He had just begun to assemble equipment to start drawing out the plans for his primary design when he heard the rapping on his door.

That alone was enough to surprise him, all his deliveries he was expecting today had already arrived, and Maer (who probably though the place was still a mess would have just walked right in) But Dante stood and made his way to the front door to find out who was standing there. There was no sign on the outside of the shop, nor had he told anyone what town he was in, and he certainly had not registered himself with the town guard (yet at least) so he was downright confused as to who on earth this person was or might be looking for. Paranoia began to get the better of him as he walked across the main rooms now clean wooden floor. He gently reached back and drew out an 1875 S&W Schofield revolver from the back of his pants and held it in his left hand at the ready as he opened the door up slowly allowing Dante a quick peek out through the crack and see who was there.

"Can I help you?" He asked leaving the door mostly closed in case he needed to close it quickly in self defense.

((Fair enough...))

'Damion...?' Dante thought for a second on the origin of the name then nodded, it sounded vaguely familiar. He opened the door a bit wider but kept the gun still ready in his left hand, the hammer at half c**k as he opened the door.

"No, But I can sign for it, Bring it on in."Dante opened the door fully to let the man in and pointed to the long counter on the far end of the room.

"Just set it down there, I'm quite busy and wont be able to get to it right now." Dante let the door open a bit more and concealed the firearm by letting it rest at his side and just behind his thigh so as to not spook the delivery man. That didn't mean Dante trusted the stranger of course, but he wasn't about to send him off if it was something he needed. Letting the man enter Dante waited from him to return so he could sign for the package and send the delivery boy on his way. Once that was settled he would close the door and continue onwards with his work.

Two eyes the same colour, but of a lighter hue, glared sourly over the packages at the other boy. It would have been ugly on anyone else, but somehow Maer ended up looking younger with the expression. He didn't seem paticularly bothered about seeing someone with similar eye colour, and blue hair, this was gaia after all, and unless the other guy wanted to eat him, he wasn't going to take offence or gawk.

"I'm fine. Sorry for bumping you." And he proceeded to try and skirt round the edges of the boy. He couldn't be delayed! Dante would fear the worst if he didnt' get back to the workshop. Suddenly Maer had images of things having rotted and broken away on top of the crazy older man, and here he was dragging his heels! Nearly getting into accidents.

"See you!" He hefted the bags and then promptly bumped into a wall. Luckily, that just knocked him back slightly and didn't send everything sailing. The basket went crunch but didn't break, and the scrolls were slung over his back, so they were okay. But it was a near miss, and probably hilarious to see.