newroutines | Party!!!, Purposefully Creepy Mansion, Wednesday Evening

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Party!!!, Purposefully Creepy Mansion, Wednesday Evening

It was Halloween, and after a long four-year break, it finally meant that there was a party at the mansion again. There were Jack O'Lanterns outside lighting the way to the house, and bat cut-outs and balloons in the shape of ghosts and skulls all around the house, and creepy looking candy on the snack table.

And a bloody goblin in the fridge. This time, it had a name tag identifying it as April, because Mike was a sentimental fool.

There were also way too many kind of jello shots. And too many versions of Monster Mash on the Spotify playlist for this party, but at least Mike had made a sign with instructions on how to find the playlist and add songs to it.

[ooc: OCD up! OPEN TO ALL! If you're an adult, you got an invitation! Happy Halloween and welcome to long overdue mansion party! ]

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"Hey, there, Zack." It was hard not to grin back a little when met with his particular brand of enthusiasm, and the words that followed didn't hurt, either. "I'm always willing to talk shop." She got most of her business at these parties, it seemed! And that was far from a complaint, because she definitely preferred that over the social aspects of it. "If you ask that question and I ever answer no, best be checking for gremlins in the area. What's on your mind?"

"It's kind of a weirdly specific request," Zack warned, holding up a hand. "I need a sword."

The magic four words, right?

"Just... something different from the one people are used to seeing me with. I was thinking something a little closer to the standard-issue swords I used to have back in the military, but I don't actually have many real specifications besides 'solid,' and 'with extra materia slots.'"

Zack, that was the exact opposite of 'weirdly specific.'

Edited 2018-10-31 18:30 (UTC)

Well, way to go and just break a gal's heart, Zack. Amaya had seen the sword he usually had, and now that was a project she could really sink her hammer into! And one to make her wish she'd made her forge a little bigger, as well as keep her busy for a good month at least.

But a sword was a sword, and she was happy to craft anything, really, but, zounds!

"Solid I can definitely do," she promised with a grin, "but I'll admit, I don't think I know what you mean by materia slots."

Rare, that, coming across a weaponry term she might not know, so she was instantly curious, curious enough to easily drive away any disappointment about working on obscenely large blades.

"Oh!" Zack blinked, and then reached into a pocket, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, I forget they're really just something we have at home."

He pulled out a small, faintly glowing sphere, and held it out to her.

"Back where I'm from, this stuff is what lets us use magic... so long as we slot it into our weapons and armor. This one is a healing spell. I have one for fire and lightning and things like that, too. I don't really need them around here, generally. The island is way too quiet for that. But having access to some can't hurt, either."

"No," Amaya eyed the little sphere with something somewhere between fascination and skepticism, but she took it for a closer look, especially to get a feel for just how big and what shape the slots should be, rolling it between her fingers, testing the weight in her palm, admiring the pretty sheen, "it most certainly can't. Magic, you say? Interesting. Does it need something special to activate it? Some particular kind of metal or anything else like that?"

Zack shook his head a little.

"Nah, not that I know of," he replied. "Pretty much any weapon or armor can be slotted for materia. I know people who put it in really weird things, too. Gloves, staves, hairclips..."

But not nail bats or parasols.

... Well, maybe that one beach umbrella he'd used that one time.

"And....just like that," Amaya mused, "a magical weapon. Oh! Hold on."

Amaya held out a finger and went digging through her pocket. Nice thing about a jumpsuit for a costume, more than enough pockets! And of course one of those pockets had a little notebook and a charcoal pencil in them, because she'd be remiss to go anywhere without one of those, and she flipped it open and turned toward the nearest flat surface so she could jot down a few shapes and notes based around a quick tracing of the side of the materia, considered the weight in her palm again before scribbling one more thing down, and then handing it back.

"Is there a limit on how many of those little baubles can effectively be put into a weapon?" she asked.

Because if you thought she wouldn't contemplate at least one weapon that was pretty much all materia slots, well, then, you'd be wrong. Very, very, very wrong.

"Do different types of magic wind up canceling each other out? Or too many is just too much, or anything like that?"

"I can effecitvely wield six at a time," Zack offered, smiling faintly. "Which is... a lot. And some people link their slots together, but I don't need to do that to get the effects of different materia to play nicely."

A pause, and then he explained, "It isn't something everyone can do, but I can actually take two materia and merge them to make an entirely new one. Which is useful when you've been out adventuring and you have a million blizzards or something."

"I can't say I've ever been adventuring with even just one blizzard," Amaya said with a chuckle. Then again, she wasn't the adventuring type herself. More of a support character, really. "But then there's my question: would you want six slots, then?"

Zack leaned his head back, mulling that over.

"I think so," he replied, nodding his agreement. "But if a few of those can be... harder to see? Maybe that would be good."

He was seriously thinking about trying to get home again. And six slots were the sign of a SOLDIER First. Best to not advertise that back, if he could find a way to hide back there.

Ooooh, a little less obvious, a little hidden, perhaps? Amaya liked the idea of that direction, already going through a few concepts and designs in her head.

"Got any examples of the standard-issue swords you mentioned? Or maybe if you have a chance, you can swing by the shop and see if I've already got something along similar lines, just so I get a better idea of what you're picturing and make sure what I'm thinking's not straying too far?"

She was already thinking quite a lot, so she'd be surprised if at least one of them didn't lean his direction. If anything, it would simply help her focus her own vision.

"You know, I actually do," Zack said, pulling out his phone and flipping it open, going through his camera reel.

Everything on it was six years old, now. Weird thought.

But he eventually pulled up a photo of a longsword, standard ShinRa issue, with the SOLDIER insignia on the crossguard.

"This was the first sword I used as a SOLDIER," he said, a touch wistfully as he held out the phone. "I kind of had bad luck with these ones. They were prone to breaking. But if you could manage..." He looked thoughtful. "Something between this and the one you've seen me carrying before... Closer to this, I think..."

Edited 2018-11-01 00:05 (UTC)

Prone to breaking. Amaya made a note of another challenge for herself in this particular project, though, to be fair, prone to breaking was never a problem any of her weapons had ever had.

"Now that," she announced, "I can definitely work with. I'll see if I can start scribbling out some designs in the next few days, start planning my materials, all that good stuff, and I'll get right to it. You've got great timing, I don't really have any big projects at the moment,and I was just starting to get itchy about it, too."

"I sure understand itchy," Zack replied with a crooked little smile. "Is there anything else you need from me in the meantime to help you do this? I have some slotted armor, if you want me to pull it out so you can inspect it? I can bring it over to the forge for you sometime?"

"Oh, that would be great!" Amaya admitted, especially since she'd been working on an awful lot of weapons lately. It wasn't a bad thing, not by a long stretch, but armor was nice, too! "I'd love to see it, it's always good to explore different styles, things like that. And I literally live at the forge, too, so whenever you get a chance, you're welcome to just swing on by."

"I'll make a point to, then," Zack replied with a smile. "I have a lot of spare equipment just kind of sitting around, and I can probably bring something in that you can just demolish if you want to. I don't use most of it, anyway. It just takes up space."

At least he had very impossibly spacious pockets?

"I'm not so sure about demolishing," Amaya admitted with a chuckle, "but I know I'd be more than interested in re-purposing. And it might not be bad having a few spare parts lying around for when I eventually build my apprentice up to armor, too."

"Reverse-engineer for the slots, even," Zack supplied, his smile going a little lopsided. "But if you like, I can haul in anything I'm probably not going to ever use. Barring whatever I might keep on hand to gift to people. For an island that gets invaded a lot, there's a surprising number of people who don't have functional protective gear."

"Or axes for that matter," Amaya said with faint amusement, "according to some. But I'd really like that, Zack, I really would. Thanks."

"No trouble at all," Zack replied, shrugging. "It's really just taking up space anyway."

And some of it was... like... earrings.

Because armor where Zack was from was weird.

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Party!!!, Purposefully Creepy Mansion, Wednesday Evening

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