A Trip to the Bowyer

[Alexis Braend]

Sterile walls surrounded the figure as she sauntered down the brightly-lit hallway. White, Alexis thought disgustedly. Why did walls always have to be white? She couldn't understand why people seemed to have such problems with black, or even bright colors. This was like living in an ever-present hospital. Disgusting!

After getting her own ship the first thing Alexis had done was paint the walls a dark cherry red. It always got her in the mood to hunt down targets. A wicked grin curved full, pouting lips at her next thought. It seemed to help her targets get into the mood as well.

Dark hair flowed down her back, stopping just below her shoulder blades. A dark bluish-black tank top and skintight armorweave pants were accented by her compound bow, quiver of arrows and her lightwhip, which lay coiled on her hips like a snake preparing to strike. A pair of black combat boots completed the picture.

With a laugh, the chocolate-haired assassin reflected on her reason for boarding the ship. She had long been seeking a meeting with the Fringe's premier alchemist, Rave Merrill. Although her bow worked well she wanted a new one, one with greater abilities. And Merrill was the person to help her.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Alexis Braend"]

The starship Coldharbor had started its proper life as a decommissioned Republic heavy cruiser. Outfitted by persons unknown, stripped of military significance, it had spent the last couple of years as a wandering having and meeting place for Darksiders of all descriptions. The bazaar spilled out from the central promenade into the uncompromising white corridors, some of which had been marred by graffiti or lightsabres.

Down one such alley of sorts was the back entrance to Iron Crown Forge, a shop specializing in alchemized weapons, known for custom work. Generally a droid kept the till, while Rave split her time between the backroom alchemical facility and the HoloNet connection that let her do her job as a High Councilor of the Fringe Confederation. Her identity was known to some of the ship's residents and transients, but not all.

The back entrance opened onto a cave of wonders. A woman in blacksmith's leathers, her back turned to the door, bent over a forge with a powerful vent hood and an equally powerful bellows. A huge hammer of oddly glistening metal rose and fell in rhythm. Shelves lined the walls: blade blanks, grinding stones, jars of preserved organs, drawers of scale and rolls of hides. Arcane machines of crystals and runework held dissected creatures, some of them very large. A bead curtain marked the door to the store proper. A rolled-up bedmat stood propped up in one corner.

The hammer went still, and Rave turned, revealing a face layered with Nightsister bruises and forge soot. "How can I help you?"

 

[Alexis Braend]

It had been a while since Alexis was last in the presence of another woman, or anyone, for that matter. She almost didn't know how to behave. With men it was easy. All she had to do was toss a simple smile or flirty wink their way and they melted like warm butter. Women? Not so much. She'd always been a bit socially awkward around her female counterparts. They didn't respond to her feminine wiles because they had some of their own. She didn't need to posture or preen because they could almost always see through it to her true self. That frightened her. She didn't want anyone to understand her motivations and she certainly didn't want to open up and talk about her feelings with anyone. That was the surest way to get herself killed.

Merrill's alchemical facility was nothing like she had imagined. No matter how many times she told herself otherwise, Alexis simply couldn't stop images of countless glass beakers, wires, tubing and electrical arcs from coloring her idea of the room. Oddly, while the dissected beasts and jars of preserved organs failed to garner a reaction, the rolled-up hides took her by surprise. Alexis hadn't really thought that Merrill would save the creatures' skins and furs.

The alchemist, on the other hand, fit right into her surroundings. The light of the forge flickered over the strands in her hair, alternately highlighting and obscuring her violet eyes and prominent cheekbones. The Nightsister bruising only seemed to enhance the figure's countenance. Alexis had always admired strong women, even if she couldn't always relate to them. She was sure that any bow made by Merrill's hands would suit her well.

"I'd like a bow, if you could make one. The old one needs replacing."

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Alexis Braend"]

"A bow, says you." She put the glowing bar on the edge of the forge. The hammerhead thudded to the deck, the haft clacked against the side of the anvil, and Rave folded her arms across her aproned chest. "That's an interesting request. I...hmm. You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention."

She moved over to a durable high-end datapad set in an angled workbench, and began scrolling through filed.

"All right, here are some concepts I've put together. Tell me what sparks your fancy. The simplest would be a laminate bow. Back has materials strong in tension, belly has materials strong in compression -- different woods, like wroshyr, brylark, greel even. I can alchemize wood, make it very strong, keep the tension. Or we could do something very fun -- make the belly from terentatek horn, the back from tikulini hide, very sinewy, with the core as something like wroshyr or brylark. Very powerful bow,resistant to Force powers and lightsabres to some extent. Or we could make you a metal compound bow and alchemize it like mad."