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OUTSIDE THE MINNOW - EARLY MORNING
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Annika yawned as she stepped outside, shivering a little in the morning chill. She's got a small scone that she's nibbling at, but otherwise is simply walking out to the city towards her workplace, somewhere in the North of the city.
Maybelline is in her travel cloak again, the hood pulled up over her head, covering her face in shadow as she squints down the street. Having finally spotted the fox, she takes a deep breath, still feeling weirdly conflicted about this, but determined to make sure Annika isn't in any kind of danger. She follows at a distance, trying to stay causal, in the shadows.
Annika is walking fairly briskly, so doesn't notice any tails. Eventually, she reaches the abode of one of the merchants of the city. Shaw Lanier is known to be a rather hard dealing merchant, and generally not well thought of, with an uncanny knack for getting every last coin out of a deal that he can. He's not known for being particularly cruel, but he's very far away from being a nice person. Also, he had recently expanded his operation, having come into some money through means the rumour mill didn't really know about (Or at least, on the bits a notverysocialable May would know of).
Annika slips inside a side door, being let inside by one of the houseguards.
Maybelline settles down across the street as she watches Annika being let inside, frowning just a bit. It certainly all seems legit, having only vaguely heard of this merchant, being rather out of the loop while neck deep in the generator work. She taps a paw on her chin, already feeling out of her depth in stalking Annika like this, and certainly not brave or foolish enough to try sneaking past guards!
Narrator: It'd be fairly easy to get a decent vantage point into the garden, where Annika is doing some morning weeding. At around 8.30/9, a well dressed lady, a fox, as the family all are, storms out. She's audible from where May is, across the street, abet a little muffled, so the exact words are unclear. It's about her lack of breakfast, and some rather unpleasent remarks about Annika's work ethic. Annika makes a quiet reply that can't be heard, before her arm is grabbed, and she's roughly guided/dragged back inside.
Maybelline opens her eyes, deciding to at least walk around the place to get a sense of it. She heads away from the gate, walking around, and just outside the garden, where she spots Annika, watching a moment as the scene unfolds. She slowly clenches her fists, suddenly getting a good idea of how Annika got the bruises, and hating it.
Narrator: That's all that would be visible for now, as whatever she's doing, it will keep her inside for the next couple of hours at least.
Maybelline waits awhile, stewing silently, before she continues to walk around the house slowly, searching for anymore sign of Annika before heading away from the house, almost feeling worse now that she's seen it.
Narrator: She glances her in the kitchen through a window at one point, working with a couple of other cooks/servers, she seems..okay? She's exchanging small talk with the others. The other staff don't seem to be in the same state as Annika, so it's not endemic to all the staff... just Annie.
Maybelline wanders away from the house, determined to learn more about this 'Shaw' merchant she's not really had any reason to ask about until now... and an urge to find Annika later. She'll deal with those feelings later. For now... she needs to ask around town.
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OLDHAMMER SMITHY - EARLY AFTERNOON
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Narrator: The smell of brimstone in the street, accompanied by the regular whoosh of bellows-boosted flame were a clear sign that the smithy was running at full force today. The small stone building, with it's street-facing wall opened to the public by two huge wooden doors, was filled with intense heat and noise, a weight and cog system clunking away to maintain the bellows while a short badger inspected the crucible from a distance, his face shrouded with a protective leather mask.
Cavro leans over the crucible, using a ladle to drag the slag off the top of it's liquefied contents. After a few more seconds, he releases a lever, swinging the suspended crucible from over the flame to a large clay mold sitting on the floor. With practiced ease, he slips a turning wheel into the slot on the crucible, then uses that to tip the molten steel into the mold. Pushing the empty crucible aside, Cavro drops the top onto the mold, stepping back from it and sighing contentedly.
Smitty is sitting on a stool in the corner of the shop watching the proceedings. The old okapi walks over, moving much slower than he once did. While still looking like he's carved out of pure sinew, the skin on his arms sags a little from where his muscles have receded in the past few years. He eyes the mold and the crucible and the slag. "Hmm. Should have left it in the flame for another eight seconds, I reckon. Bet ya there's gonna be cold spot once you start working those rods. That crucible isn't a crystal goblet, boy..."
Cavro lets out a muffled sigh, turning to his old master. "Anf I alfrby old y-" he grunts, pulling the protective mask off, a line framing his face where the soot has built up around it over the years. "I know that would have been the the the case last year, but the new coke burns much much much better!"
Smitty shakes his head. "Bah... new coke. Wasn't nothing wrong with the old stuff... and it wasn't so much more expensive either. So there's a little more soot, so what?" He smiles slyly at Cavro, definitely having more trust in his successor than he lets on. "Just don't see why we gotta do things differently than they've been done for years. Next you'll tell me that you want to power the forge with AMP or what-have-you..."
Cavro shakes his head, turning and walking toward the forge, where he releases a second lever that stops the bellows. "There's less soot because it it burns hotter! And more evenly with the new bellow vents!" He turns back to the okapi. "And the AMP forges are better at at melting small pieces, anyways!"
Smitty grumbles a bit as he walks over to the forge and pumps the bellows a few times, not for for any particular purpose but just to burn off some nervous energy. "The way you want it, you'd have had everyone wait for the perfect system before anycreature ever melted tin or pig iron... we'd still be living in caves while you tried to find clean-burning coke..."
Erika swings in by the door, grinning wide as she sees the badger: "Hi Cavro! Still working hard as you are, heh. Say, have you seen-" She glances to the side enough to see her target and her eyes go wide in surprise: "...Dad?!"
Smitty blinks at the sudden influx of extra light into the shop. "Erika! How's my little girl, eh?" He walks over and gives her a strong hug, even though he now stands a head shorter than his daughter. "Cavro and I were just talking shop. Nothing for you to worry about..."
Cavro sighs in relief as he turns to see Erika. He didn't want to get into this tiff again, he was tired of explaining his changes, though he had a feeling his old master did it more to get on his nerves than anything else. "Oh thank you, my savior! Please get get him out of here before I I I break down!"
Erika hugs her father tightly: "Oh I'm doing great!" She then gives Cavro a glance before looking at the older okapi a bit sternly: "I don't think this was in your Doc's orders, dad. Actually I think it was something on the opposite effect, mm?"
Smitty shake his head. "Bah... that old monkey doesn't know what he's on about. And I ain't even swinging the hammer, just giving Cavro some advice. This workshop is my heart and soul. You wouldn't want me to lose those, would ya?" He looks up at Erika. "Did your mother put you up to this? She worries about me too much. My back hasn't even ached too bad in the last month!"
Erika gives a sound somewhere between a groan and a feral growl as she lifts a hand to her face.
Erika: "Mom worries about you, and I worry about you, and you really really REALLY should stop coming here all the time. You're gonna pick up the tools the moment you think Cavro messes something up and you 'need to fix it proper'."
Cavro scratches a the fur around his face where the mask had matted it down, a light dusting of soot falling from where the leather stopped. "Erika's right, and I'm not just just saying that because you're driving me crazy. And hook hook Hooktail isn't even around! Have you talked to the new doctor yet?"
Smitty grunts a bit and lets Erika go. "Just because I've slowed down doesn't mean I need to stop my life's work." He blinks at Cavro. "Driving you crazy? I took it easy on you, boy. You should have seen how I treated the last apprentice... what was his name again?" He blinks a bit. "New doc? What happened to Hooktail? Did a ceiling beam finally crash down on the hanging hooligan?"
Erika gives her Dad a bit of a disapproving look: "...you really need to get out on the town more, Daaaa-ad. Hooktail vanished months ago, nobody really knows where."
Cavro pulls off his gloves and smock, leaving just a slightly sooty cotton shirt and leather breeches on. "He's been too busy hammering nails to get out."
Smitty blinks. "Huh... well, he was always a bit odd, kept to himself but talked your ear off when you saw him. Wouldn't shut about the damn safaris he went on in his youth. So what's the new one then? I bet he's another little one that likes to boss bigger folk around too."
Erika frowns, crossing her arms: "Actually they're a pretty nice gryphon. More polite than certain old okapi are being right now."
Cavro looks toward Erika. "A gryphon? Really?"
Erika raises an eyebrow at Cavro: "You haven't been there either?" She rolls her eyes a bit: "Men."
Cavro looks away, a little embarrassed for joining in on scolding Smitty, now. "Well I I don't have... I'm still young and hel healthy."
Smitty grumbles a bit. "Oh great. A cat..." He sighs. "I ever tell you about that one cat I made a sword for, Erika? Snootiest guy I ever met... wouldn't even come into the shop because there was too much soot..." He walks toward the door. "Cavro's already heard this story too many times. Let me tell you in the house. I think I still have some sketches in my old journal somewhere..."
Erika smiles brightly as she not-so-subtly starts herding her father out of the smithy: "Nope, you have never told it to me. Let's go home for tea and you can show and tell me all about it!" She gives Cavro a bit of a wink and silently mouths 'I'll come back later' to him.
Cavro smiles after Erika, waving as they head out. He turns back to the smithy, setting his smock down, but putting his gloves back on and retrieving a pair of tongs. He wanders over to the forge again, using the tongs to retrieve a clay pot from next to the coals, bringing it out and setting it on the workbench. He pulls the lid off the pot and sits on a stool, setting his gloves aside and taking up a spoon. As he enjoys the first mouthful of lunch, Cavro looks around the smithy, considering how lonely it would be if it were this quiet all the time.
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PARK - MID-AFTERNOON
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Strix couldn't do this particular bit of innovation in his alleyway, so instead he'd come to the center of the park, well away from any buildings, or other infastructure. He was tooling with a squat looking machine with a large center weight, suspended by a thick piece of chain. After satisfying himself everything was in order, he moved about 10 meters out, and placed metal stakes into the ground in a circle around the machine, dipping each in a silvery solution before driving them in.