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Lin	It's early evening. Most workshops are closing up, especially those of artisans who churn out goods. One would safely assume that Lin's Workshop is the same, but the simply-named place's wooden sign in the window (made out of proper and expensive glass no less) still shows 'OPEN.' Although there is an actual heavy gate that can be shut, said gate is currently open and only some heavy cloth curtains, easily pushed aside, bar entrance. They keep out only insects. Whoever steps in finds themselves in front of the lobby and front shelves with a number of works on display in the shelves and strewn along the walls. There's several weapons hung on the wall, polished kitchen cutlery, a few wooden dolls, a big black iron cauldron, several big clay pots... and an entire set of articulated plate mail covered in stylish engravings in Old Realm glyphs (which the learned may recognize as prayers to various gods of war and protection, especially Dayshield) which might serve as minor talismans. Amidst these highly practical things there are an assortment of other works, tools and strange pieces of art, small decorative sculptures and children's toys. The taste of it some of it is a bit bizarre or eccentric, as though the maker has no idea what people might actually think is appealing or useful. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the absolutely hideous wooden carved and painted mask of a snarling Blood Ape that has been hung on one wall, standing watchful guard over the armor. Because that's EXACTLY what any customer needs to see staring them down. Past the polished wooden counter (somehow almost spotless despite what lies behind), the actual 'workshop' portion of the workshop is in plain view. At present the brick forge built into the wall is quiescent embers and the vast array of workstations and mechanical contraptions of wood and stone ranging from spinning wheels to lathes and grindstones are quiet. It's back there that one will find the store's proprietor, a redhead exactly as the rumors say, scrubbing away like a drudge on several of the tools - handheld or otherwise - doing work that no doubt a mere servant would be suited for. Yet, there don't seem to be any servants or apprentices about at the moment. Unusual for many buildings in Great Forks, there actually appears to be a stairwell leading up to the second level, AND one leading down into a basement...
Talon	Deos Talon comes ambling up along the way, hands clasped behind his back as he goes. He offers polite nods to passersby as he looks over the various workshops and storefronts. He has a particular destination in mind, one that came highly recommended. And so he brushes past the curtains and into Lin's foyer. His heavy booted footfalls can be easily heard--he's a fairly big man, considering, and he makes no effort to disguise his coming. He looks over the various works on display. The armor in particular draws his gaze. He lets loose a low whistle as he studies the craftsmanship, reading over the Old Realm glyphs with a practiced eye. He trains his gaze up over sabatons and poleyns, over the vambraces and breastplate, up over the pauldrons... and then, he's face-to-face with an erymanthus face. "Heek!" He takes a step back, clapping a hand to his chest. "I -say-!" He recovers quickly, his thick beard ruffling as he clears his throat. "Hello!" he calls, leaning over to peer back into the workshop. "Might I have the honor of addressing the blacksmith, Lin?" His Riverspeak is flawlessly pronounced, and yet retains his upper-class High Realm accent.
Lin	That much noise definitely catches Lin's attention. With an unprofessional squawk she jumps to her feet from polishing a set of unusually-shiny tongs and has to grab the nearby grinding wheel to steady herself. "We-welcome to my workshop!" She belts out in part habit, part panic at being caught with her guard down. The girl rushes over to the front desk and slaps her hands down onto it, hoisting herself up like a kid a full two feet to greet the apparent customer with an exuberant, "This is she!" And it's only AFTER that display that she sees fit to really give the newcomer a good looksie-over. As she does so, her brows slowly rise and some of the energy leaves her arms, leaving her to stand behind the counter like a normal person, finding herself looking up at Talon, who stands almost a full foot taller, and is of a much burlier build. Lin's clearly no stranger to physicality herself, but obviously feels a bit too small in comparison. "Was just cleaning up, but I can probably squeeze in a bit more work if you're lookin' for something special!"
Talon	Talon can't help but rumble a low chuckle at that exuberant greeting. Put on display like she is, he can't help but take a moment to glance over her in turn. His physician's eye picks out the tone and strength of those arms--well suited for forgework. He doesn't miss other certain attributes that he finds pleasing to his eye as well. But he's here for business. He clasps his hands behind his back again with a nod. "My name is Deos Talon. I'm a physician by trade. I have my clinic over near the Temple District," he says. "I have a patient who's sustained a serious injury to his leg. I should like to have a brace fashioned to help him walk while he heals." He nods towards the plate armor stand nearby. "Your name was recommneded to me with plenty of high praise," he says. "And if -that- is any indication of your skills, then I daresay it's praise well-earned. Do you think you can help me?"
Lin	"A.. a physician, huh? Well that's an unexpected honor. People of such learning rarely drop by here!" Her bearing does slightly improve as she tries to behave more seriously, given the talk of patients. "Never made anything medical before, but if you can describe what you need and any concerns... and have measurements or I can swing by and get some..." She fixes him with a mighty powerful stare. It's easy to mistake it for a rude glare, but he currently has her earnest and full attention.
Talon	Talon doesn't seem to mind that stare. His gaze is equally fixed on Lin's face. He unbuttons the first button of his buff jacket and reaches into his breast pocket, drawing out a folded slip of rice paper. He unfolds it and lays it out on the countertop. A beautifully calligraphed diagram is drawn, showing the flat metal pieces, and how they attach to the leather cuffs to brace thigh, knee, and ankle. "The joints will likely be the trickiest part," he says. "But I have no doubt you're more than up to the task. You should find all the measurements there on the diagram."
Lin	Someone who has come prepared! There's no mistaking the INSTANT JOY on Lin's face at seeing such papers produced. She tries to tamp down on it a few moments after realizing she's showing such glee, but is only partially successful. "E-excellent!" Without sparing him a further glance her attention goes straight to the diagram, wide eyes scanning it back and forth and brow furrowing as she takes in all of the details. "So. Adjustable but can be fixed in place... lot of similar principles to making the articulated armor legs, just gotta turn a few ideas on their head..." Finally she tears her eyes away from it. "Sure you want it made of metal? Is wood too bendy? Too light?"
Talon	Talon can't help but chuckle as Lin takes to his diagram with such eagerness. He takes a step back, planting his hands on his hips with a warm smile creasing his bearded features. As she's absorbed in looking over his work, he takes the opportunity to indulge in a little ogling himself. But carefully and subtly. He's not a boor, he's far too refined for -that- sort of crassness. When she looks back up, he's already looking back at her face. "My patient is a rice farmer," he says. "So he'll be wading in paddies. Wood will eventually rot, so I'd be needing something that can resist immersion in water. Some sort of stainless steel, perhaps?"
Lin	"Bronze should be fine for that..." Lin surmises, biting her lip and scratching at her cheek as she thinks about the matter. "Doesn't rust like iron 'n steel and doesn't need constant polishing 'n oiling. Still plenty tough. 'n the whole thing oughtta be wrapped up with tight padding so, doesn't matter if the metal's a bit rough from exposure... the years it'd take to get nasty-looking aren't relevant here and with my work... decades, not years, probably..." She finally nods as if this matter is now settled in her head. "A bronze alloy. Got plenty of that available..." She apparently did not notice the checking out but she does show a triumphant and pleased grin up at Talon. She takes serious pride in her work!
Talon	Talon's smile broadens, making his dark green eyes twinkle merrily beneath the hang of his bushy brows. "Splendid!" he says. "How soon do you think you might have them ready? And I'm prepared to pay quite handsomely for your work. As I said, you came highly recommended." He can appreciate an artisan's pride in their work. Does he not take similar pride in his medical skill?
Lin	"Highly recommended...?" Echoing those words, Lin seems awed to hear them, eyes going wide and voice sharply quieting. A few hard breaths later she asks, "From who? The Lion-man Raullaur? Definitely not the local Guild workshops. They don't like me much for some reason..." She clears her head with a slap to both cheeks though and pulls up some papers of her own from behind the counter, rapidly scribbling down measurements and summaries of what needs doing along with a pattern of the work needed, exactly to scale. "Uh. That bein' the case... I can have this done in the span of a few songs, if there was anyone singing. The time it takes to burn an incense stick, as I hear the Dynasts say..." She seems wary about advertsing such though, and resumes staring attentively at the man, waiting for an answer to her question.
Talon	Talon chuckles amusedly. "Well, the Three seemed quite convinced of your prowess," he says simply. "I don't believe I've met the Lion-Man Raullaur, however. And I don't do business with those unsavory Guild sorts if I can avoid it." As she states how long the job will take, his brows arch like astonished caterpillars. "Really? That quickly? I say, I should very much like to see -that-."
Lin	"The Three." Lin blinks a few times. Don't believe everything everyone says of course, but who would falsely claim such a thing in Great Forks? Lin's expression turns, briefly, deathly serious. Then, it's back to being a bundle of nerves. "Well then, guess you're in for a show... 'scuse me for a bit!" Lin skitters off to the side and hauls herself up and over the desk instead of bothering to walk the extra 15 feet to the opening, and proceeds to flip the sign to closed, drop the curtains over the windows, and shut and lock the main door. Then she hops back behind the counter and walks over to a simple table, grabbing several tools off of a rack and then opening up some drawers to pull out some hunks of what look like scrap metals and low-purity smelts, to anyone who knows their materials... "They didn't happen to say why I'd be your best bet, did they...?"
Talon	Talon steps aside as Lin bustles over to close up the shop, then looks back as she heads to her workshop. He ambles up to the door and settles himself up against the doorframe, folding his arms over his chest. He watches her set to work with great curiosity. It's clear he has no experience with metallurgy, so the quality (or lack thereof) of the materials goes unremarked by the burly physician. "They did," he says offhandedly. "But there's no need to concern yourself with -that- right now. I'm -quite- interested in seeing you work. I get the feeling I'm in for quite the show!"
Lin	They DID? A jolt seems to run through Lin, her demeanor stiffening nervously. But she works hard to swallow that anxiety and clamp it down with a few steadying breaths. "I-it's a bit of a concern, but not having to hold back for once is also... kinda relieving!" She exclaims, standing over the table and steadying herself. The plans are set down carefully off the the side... And then, Lin gets to work. She begins by grabbing some wide ceramic bowls and the low-purity ingots and exhales hard onto the ingots. Wisps of what seem like golden flame escape her lips, causing the material to glow from within. It seems to be superhot and yet very little actual heat can be felt escaping from the material as Lin squeezes it several times, causing glowing drops of purified metal to gather in the bowl. Once the bowl is full and largely solidifed with what's clearly a homogenous mixture of bronze alloy, she shatters the bowl to free the lump and exhales more golden fire on it, softening it significantly. It's over to the anvil in no time where she has it pounded into an a sheet using her hammer. A few more repositions and smacks with the hammer and the metal's split into smaller plates. It's at this point where she rolls up her sleeves to reveal green and white Jade Bracers of Universal Crafting. Thin tendrils of Essence flow from them, forming tiny chisels, snippers, and assorted other tools needed to further shape the metal. And shape it she does, smacking the plates over her anvil's horn to round them, and adding dozens of little interlocking notches using the tools of her bracers...
Lin	This miraculous show continues on for about five minutes, growing more elaborate. The final product starts taking shape and it doesn't much resemble the simple brace at all. The metal has all been neatly rounded with plenty of room for extra padding and many points where cloths, threads, and other textiles could be packed in, looped around, or tied off through the addition of several small holes. Where the designs likely assumed crude flat boxy shapes, the metal curves and is rounded off to provide effectively no hard edges anywhere. Through what appears to be a cunning implementation of gear-work, the knee joint even has a locking mechanism for fixing it at different angles, if desired... As with the articulated plate, the metal has also been etched with fine Old Realm glyphs, this set being prayers to various local gods of medicine and recovery. Whether that's an efficacious talisman or not is hard to say, but it's definitely fancy.
Lin	At some point during this show though, Lin has actually started to faintly glow. She's now pulsing with an array of vivid splashes of color, bright gold and red but with tinges of blues and violets like the sky at sunset. And on her forehead glitters a mark that Talon ought to be very familiar with. A forehead that she wipes with the back of her hand after setting her work down on the table. "Whew..."
Talon	Talon's eyes get wide and he straightens from his lean as Lin breathes those golden flames. "By the -gods-!" he gasps softly. He watches with rapt fascination as she purifies the molten metal with breath and will alone. His eyes get wider and wider, until they resemble tea saucers as the metal takes shape. He leans in closer, utterly enraptured by the entire process. For those five minutes, he scarcely dares to breathe. But eventually, the process is ended, and the final product is nothing short of stunning. He settles back on his heels, reaching up to rub the back of his head. "It's... my -word-, miss I... I have no words..." He looks from the brace, to Lin, back to the brace, and then back to Lin. "It's simply... incredible!" But just when he thought his astonishment couldn't get any greater... he spies her Caste Mark. The same mark that adorns his own brow. He sucks a slow breath. "Gods... it's -true-. You... you're like -me-!"
Lin	Lin... actually finds herself blushing a little bit at the excessive praise following all that work. Sure, she's proud of her work, but having others all gaga over it's a little embarassing! "Ah, I just figured the design needed some tweaks--" And then he says it. She's just like him. The redhead gulps but fixes him with a very serious glare now, her thoughts all hanging on the edge of that declaration. "You... you also bear the Sun's blessing?"
Talon	Talon swallows hard. The last Solar he was face to face with nearly killed him. But... that was on the field of war, far away and years ago. This... this is different. He straightens up and squares his shoulders. Letting his eyes drift closed, he draws a deep breath and lets it out. As he does, he opens the inner gate and lets his breath carry a current of Essence with it. A golden mark, a perfect match for Lin's, lights up on his brow. Golden ribbons of light, laced with deep red at their ends, lick lazily off his shoulder before fading to deep violet before they dissipate. "Yes," he says, opening his eyes. His deep voice seems magnified, ever so slightly, with a lordly air befitting a ruler of Creation. "I am."