Guyliner's New Groove

[Miss Blonde]

Today was a special day. Today Miss Blonde was going to tackle a first for her and she had to say she was a little excited about it, her nerd senses were even tingling. Void stone was the rarest material in the galaxy, and while yes she did have a good chunk of it laying around in the form of a pack, she'd never had the raw product before. It was a day for firsts and even though she had heard and seen how difficult it was to mix and use with beskar, that didn't stop her from making the dream armor for [member="Keira Ticon"]'s good... friend? Whatever he was to her, Welcome To The Black Parade was going to walk out of the small Echo'lya forge with some pretty great armor.

With the fires of the furnaces stoked the woman wandered around the low tech workshop grumbling to herself about how barbaric and primitive the whole set up was. Normally she'd be at her more technologically advanced shop on Relovian but due to her new smithing apprentice [member="Atheus"] she had to be a bit more discrete with these sorts of things.

"God damn low tech barbaric pieces of crap!" Blonde yelled as she hit a hammer against a large oven.

Letting the loud ding echo out from the workshop the woman sighed then adjusted the Enigma gas mask on her face. Letting herself relax a bit she once again looked around at the piss poor traditional Mandalorian forge and let out a very long and disgruntled moan before that to turned into frustration once more. After all, Miss Blonde wasn't a Mandalorian. She was more like an outside consultant who made them armor and cool crap so they could better murder people.

"They better not be late I swear to all that is sacred!" The woman let out a few silent curses before once more beginning to slam the forging hammer against a random piece of low tech crap.

It was like being stuck in the friggen dark ages.

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

He wasn't a Mando born, but the culture dictated that he wear the armor. That was drilled into him by [member="Keira Ticon"], and again by Asha, both of whom were almost religious about their Resolwhatever. Something he should know, they insisted. Speaking the language was only half of the battle, and as they spoke more frequently he had picked up bits and pieces, but generally "calm down" from Keira when he was all in for the idea of killing someone, or "darling" when Asha was trying to make him uncomfortable. That was what he made of it, at least. Their interactions were less frequent over the last few days, ever since Keira decided to give him some space when he begrudgingly agreed to see her armorer friend.

[member="Miss Blonde"] was strange, to say the least. What Alkor felt from her was not so much dark as it was... erratic? She was clearly annoyed about something, and he could tell that without having heard a word she said. The loud sound of metals clashing rang out from the forge as he sifted through the yard full of parts. "This seems..." he skimmed over his surroundings with an appraising eye. "...quaint."

The forges of the Dark Jedi were nothing when compared to the artisan workmanship of the Mando'ade, but their atmosphere was starkly different. Whereas the hot forges were blackened with obsidian accents and filled to their capacity with various rare minerals and force imbued objects, the Mandalorians kept high grade irons and various smelting materials close at hand. They worked stylistically, yet with a purposed sense of utility. The best piece his master forged still failed to stand up to what a proper Beskarsmith could manage, and the craft of his weaponry was peerless by the lesser galactic standard.

This Blonde woman had the skill to work Beskar, Keira had said. That made her the top of a very short list of prospects. If he was to have proper Mandalorian Armor, she would be the one to accommodate that need. When he stalked through the door and glanced to one side, he saw the woman seething where she had bashed her hammer into an unfortunate piece, now ruined.

"I am never late," he added after catching the last bit of her speech. "Prudence is an attribute I place great value on."

The Beskar and Void Stone had arrived ahead of him, shipped at the behest of the Warmaster several days before. Alkor reached into his kitbag and produced the last bit, a more recent acquisition. The mass of Stygium was not altogether rare- several facilities mined and refined it throughout the galaxy- but to amass it in any useful quantity required time, patience, and quite a few credits. Fortunately for Alkor, the bounty on Saverok had afforded him the rights to some of [member="Isley Verd"]'s personal stash. The Scion of his House had been more than willing to oblige.

Alkor could have asked for credits, after all.

 

[Miss Blonde]

Coming out of her slight meltdown the woman hammered one last piece of crappy low grade equipment and let out another disgruntled and frustrated groan as she turned her head over to the new man who had entered her temporary workshop. After getting a look at him the HUD on her gas mask identified him as Alkor bringing up a short biography and stream of data that was publicly known about the man, and all Blonde had to say was, wow. He was one depressed looking sack of sad. If a suicide note could be a person she was looking at him. So raising an eyebrow from behind her mask she looked down at her datapad after then would begin the process.

Holding up one of her hands she quickly snapped her fingers and soon from behind Alkor two TV screens light up with a cartoonish smiley face plastered on their monitors. Stepping out from the shadows the TVs had humanoid bodies attached to them which they used to walk towards Alkor with those mildly creepy faces staring down at them.

"$&@# You, Master Centaris!" The droids said in a very happy and chipper voice.

"Don't mind them, that's just how they say hello. Alfonso! Gregory! Take his measurements!" Blonde yelled out towards the machines.

"Blow me!" One of the droids yelled back to Patricia.

"That means much obliged." She said as she began to work her way over to the Beskar and void stone.

[member="Alkor Centaris"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

Alkor watched with a certain passivity as the two rowdy machines approached him, and his fingers twitched. To say that Alkor did not like droids was an understatement. These creatures were modified with more emotional capacity than he had, and that only made his despondency more prevalent. If he had no need of her services, the man might even have turned to leave in that instant. Their mechanical digits probed over his person and a profound cold ripped through him. They probed and pried at his clothes and wrapped him with measuring tape, muttered between themselves and bickered over exact numbers before they came to some sort of agreement.

"It had to be droids," he spat glumly.

"Suck a chode, Backstreet Boys." He glanced to [member="Miss Blonde"] for a translation, but her response indicated that the sentiment most likely had not been code for anything. "We got them!" Alphonso called out. Or was it Gregory? Alkor had no idea what was going on.

This was basically hell.

"He's a skinny little prick," one of the two called out. "You don't get enough protein, do you?"

His expression was one of contempt as he leered down at the servitor. "You have a most... eclectic staff, I see." He made no effort to hide his distaste as he swatted the droid away, it's frigid metal fingers tapping annoyingly at a wound that bled on his torso. Alkor pulled the cloak back down to cover himself.

"He's nearly a ****ing four," the other droid called out. On the smaller size for armor, category three and below were generally fits intended for children. "Can you even manage to wear armor, nerf herder?"

The walking suicide note exhaled loudly.

 

[Garza]

I almost laughed. Alkor having to deal with robots was quite amusing. Including the fact, these two droids were rather crude in their language. Asking if he could even wear armor with the pain he was experiencing. I had noticed something was different about this man. When it was revealed to be his stomach, an eternally bleeding wound, I could almost feel his pain. Having not just physical, but emotional pain attacking him. No wonder he was a Monster of War. Even as the droids measured him up, I looked over to my left arm. Having removed it myself as it was no longer useful to me back on Omega, I had to think.

How could Alkor push himself so much with that much pain? What drove this man.

Looking over to Miss Blonde, I just shook my head as the company I was with could have been a little different. Alkor needed Void Steel. It was now my purpose to learn under Miss Blonde to forge a stone, into steel. How I could manipulate it with a hammer, and tongs, to become a more useful tool at someone's disposal. Maybe I could use it someday, but today was not that day.

I wanted to get this job done. Seeing as how Alkor was not happy with the droids, I would rather not test his patience at the moment.

"Depart from Alkor. Should you want your processors still in tact."

Contrary to what I had been doing, I left my mask off. Alkor had already seen my face, and I don't think I could withstand hours, let alone days, worth of heat in the forge with it on. I trusted Miss Blonde to not spoil that which I wanted secret. I am sure she had her own secrets as well.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Miss Blonde"]

 

[Miss Blonde]

"Eat $&@#." One of the droids said to [member="Atheus"] with a clear smile on its screen of a face.

The droids would then take the measurements over towards Miss Blonde's holonet computer and start to upload it into the digital workshop program's dimension listings.

"I told them that means, of course. How hilarious is that?" the woman said with a chuckle.

But with all foul mouth jokes aside, it was time to start making progress on the armor. So what needed to be done was the melting and mixing process. To take the Beskar and the Voidstone and bind them together using a pretty simple method of melting them both together. So with a snap of her finger she pointed her droids over to the Beskar ingots and then over to the Voidstone. With each droid picking up the ingredients they started by placing the ingots into the furnace to be melted down.

"First we melt out beskar. Now refined Beskar such as this traditionally melts at around four thousand degrees, so we turn up our furnace and get that going." She would then look over to the other droid which set the void stone down in nearby container.

"While the beskar melts we need to crush the void stone into smaller pebbles and pieces that will melt and bond with the molten ore. So one of you pick up a hammer and start breaking. Safety goggles are over there, I'd have my droids do it, but I just like to watch you guys sweat." Blonde would then walk over to the furnace control and crank the heat.

The workshop would then reach sweltering levels of heat. Blonde was at home in it though. As someone who made their living off selling weapons and armor she didn't mind if whatsoever. Plus the climate control in her mask always helped out as well.

"Remember when forging Voidsteel you need to remember the balance needs to be perfect. So when you crush the stone make sure the pieces or small enough to melt, otherwise you'll have too much impurities and it degrades the armor." Words of wisdom.

[member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Atheus"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

"I will handle the Void Stone," Alkor indicated as he moved to take the hammer in hand. Within this proximity, Alkor was deprived of his Force Senses and he could feel everything around him stripped down. It was like looking out through his own eyes and hearing with his own ears for the first time in fifteen years. The screams from deep darkness could not reach him there. Whereas there were ice floes in his veins while it gripped him, Alkor felt an odd warmth. The forge felt like it should- hotter than hell.

His hands moved with extreme precision as he swung. The Void Stone chipped at first, then shuddered. Each swing caused the mineral to dent more, warp, and then crack. With his right hand, he held it steady. When the first cleave appeared, he turned the rock slightly. Another tap caused the stone to break into two uneven halves.

"You want to work the metal," Alkor told [member="Atheus"], "so you should work on the Mandalorian Iron with her. I do not mind the sensation of being stripped of the Force, so this task is fine with me."

He took one half and steadied it, then began beating at it to break it down further. He was not the talkative type beyond what was necessary. When the first half cracked again, he took it in both hands and exacerbated the crack. Another hammerstrike would serve only to cause derision in its structure. They wanted it small, but not in chunks. [member="Miss Blonde"] was specific about that.

Alkor placed the smaller piece down and gripped it with some tongs to assure it would not get away from him when he hit it. The shard broke into rubble pitifully after around three blows. "This will take a bit," he muttered to himself.

He set about repeating the process, ad nauseum.

 

[Garza]

I just shook my head at the droid who told me to go and eat it. I could honestly rip the droid in half if I wanted to. the damn thing was annoying. And I could see how Miss Blond here always seemed like she had a stick up her ass. Angry and uptight about it all. Explaining how she needed the work to be done. I just stood there as Alkor set to work on the void stone. Breaking it down into small pieces to be invested into the beskar. So to get this straight, we were literally taking bits of voidstone, and administering them to Beskar, one of the most lightsaber resistant metals known. This sound a little weird in my head, but considering people have done stranger stuff with different metals and textiles, I wouldn't complain.

Alkor started to crush the voidstone down. I watched a pieces were gradually taken apart and then set to the side. All while the area started to heat up as though we were standing in hell's kitchen. Even without working, I was sweating as I grabbed a hair tie, and pulled my hair back. Not wanting to get the sparks of the furnace, or have anything hot set my hair ablaze. I guess that came with the territory of not wanting to cut my hair every three months.

Smirking, I thought about how Thalia said she wanted to come and learn how to smith, The thing was, I didn't want her here for that very reason. She wasn't a smith. She didn't need to learn how to do so, because she needed to study more about running an entire country upon Hora. Not learning how to bend metal. Though, as I thought about it, I had learned so much about life simply because of forging metal. In order to learn how the metal or alloy worked, you had to "open it up" to you by heating it. You can't rush it either. Rushing it only make the process harder, and more difficult to do.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Miss Blonde"],

 

[Miss Blonde]

Starting to get into her groove the small craftsman that was Miss Blonde watched as the Beskar ingots melted in the furnace. Walking over to the exit port she grabbed the primitive wired control panel and opened the floodgates to let the liquid metal drain out into a heated containment unit that would keep the metal hot until they could introduce the Voidstone. So once that was set she let out a small sigh then had to get all of the gear ready for the armor's various attachments.

"Guyliner!" She said looking over to Alkor who was smashing rocks.

Making her way over to him she picked up the bag of Stygium crystals and bounced it in her hand. She wasn't exactly what he wanted from the crystals but whatever it was she could handle it. Just as long as it wasn't a ridiculous personal stealth field generator. Those got tricky when designing them into an armor system as complex as the one she was making. Hopefully with the added help she could work something out.

"What do you want done with the Stygium? I can coat your armor with it so it creates a passive cammo that blocks you from sensors. Or I can make a motion activated stealth system. Keeps you invisible for as long as you stay still. Or if you have any other ideas I'm all ears." Miss Blonde would then turn to her forging apprentice.

"Atheus. Go grab the armor's modular devices in the back, please. Several boxes in the back that are labeled 'Armor Crap'" she said dismissing the man to go handle the job she gave him.

But while he was doing that she'd make sure that he would get back just in time to start the mixing process provided that 30 Seconds to Mars could hurry his ass up with the crushing.

[member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Atheus"]

 

[Alkor Centaris]

Radar nullification made the most sense when Alkor thought about [member="Miss Blonde"]'s question, because active camouflage would prove only situationally useful. As he crushed another segment of stone, the man swept some of the dust and shards into a hand and walked toward her. "I believe that a coating would be most useful," he told the woman. "A stealth field generator would most likely interfere with the communications interface of the HUD while active. That would not be ideal."

Alkor placed the Void Stone leavings in her work area and set about heading to finish the job. It would not be much longer now. "The plates themselves will be proper Mandalorian Iron, and not intermingled with Void Stone, yes? I am told the alloy is less resilient than it's parent metal."

As she told [member="Atheus"] to go collect some materials, Alkor hurried to finish the process of breaking the material down into a useable form. It would melt quickly into the Mandalorian Iron at that size. He had never worked on armor before, let alone a bodyglove. All of this was new territory for him.

 

[Garza]

She says please?

After watching what all was going on at the current moment, I had been told by Miss Blonde to go and find the modular devices in the back. Moving through the shop. Moving through a door as Blonde and Alkor began to speak about the crystals that would be used in the armor. Part of me wanted to question why Alkor wanted such materials in his armor. Yes. He was a Mandalorian, thus Beskar was almost a necessity. Voidsteel was a Mandalorian invention, thus it was justified. However, he was a force user? Why would he limit himself with such steels. Or using the crystals? Sure, the crystals would be useful in various ways to defend himself, and prevent attacks, but voidsteel threw me for a loop.

Was he trying to limit the force's actions upon him, or was he trying to prevent the aura from the sword I created from him? Even I, the smith who created such a blade, was not immune to the effects of my presence being sucked from me like a child and a slurpie.

However, I couldn't question him openly at this moment. Maybe later when I had more information about this man's background. I would have to study more on him. Figure out why he was the way he is.

I shook my head as I was in front of various boxes ranging from plastic, to metal, and even cardboard boxes as I looked around. Literally one marked with "Armor crap", I picked up the box, fairly hefty, and brought it back into the forge for Blonde to go through. She needed the specific materials to make this armor.

Question in silence, follow in sight.

[member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Miss Blonde"]