Both Raven and I were gasping as we emerged from the design space, though Terry was already at her side, steadying her while glaring at me. “What the fuck did you do?”

Raven leaned against them, eyes closed and a smile on her lips, while I raised my hands up in protest. “The design table is draining, but she’ll be fine. It usually takes quite a bit longer to get quite that exhausted, but we finished it, and that’s what matters.”

I pulled up the Help entry for the item and flicked it Terry’s way.

BIG IRONS

The Big Irons are dual-linked heavy revolvers, with attached auto-loaders to increase the output and prevent the need for reloading.

Type: Weapon

Construction Details

Skill: Ranged Weaponry

Facility: Assembler

Materials: Metal Ingot x4, Pipe Joiner x4, Hinge Joiner x4, Cog x2

Justice rolls through the empty town like a lost hero, a lonely knight errant, with the big irons upon their hips, to rain down from above and bring forth an ending to those who oppose the retribution of wrongs.

Terry frowned as they looked over the description and glanced over to Raven who nodded, that smile still on her lips. Then, Terry let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Let’s get to it then.” They let go of Raven and stepped in, placing their hands onto the edge of the design table, looking over their shoulder at me.

I drew in my breath and moved in, taking a grip as well and opening up the design space once again. I immediately probed for Terry’s skills, and found their presence relatively swiftly, their eagerness for this to be done working in conjunction with my own desires for this to be finished combining into a swifter union of minds. I felt at their excitement, their youthful energy, their drive to push forward against it all, to become the greatest that they could be. I allowed that eagerness into the space and set to work.

The work proceeded fairly simply from that point, with Basic Tools serving as my skill basis for the construction and Terry bringing in a Flute Proficiency skill to merge with it. Together, we instinctively honed the design, perfecting it by smoothing off the rougher edges and creating something with a lingering power, something that would endure and still maintain its precise sound.

With the design finished, we once again disengaged, though this time it was Raven who supported Terry. “Alright. Good,” they said as they recovered. “This should do the trick, yeah.”

I nodded slowly and took a breath, once more steadying myself. There was definitely a rush with using the design table, but that rush came with its own exhaustion, but even that exhaustion had a certain thrill to it, the weariness that came with knowing that work had been done and done well. Now, all I had to do was actually make the things. The flute proved to be decently simple in terms of materials, just a pipe and two joints. I could get everything put together before the meeting this afternoon.

“Did you get a comms unit from Jen or Artemis last night?”

Terry nodded. “Yeah, they passed them out to everyone.”

I took my time in scanning through the channels, searching through them carefully. “Okay, looks like channel 12 is empty. I’ll get back to you sometime before my 2pm meeting, just keep tuned into that and I’ll let you know.”

The two headed out then, likely returning to the entertainment center, giving me a chance to fully recover my breath. As I did, I switched over to channel seven on my comms.

Francis’s voice emerged first, “I still think that you’re being too hard on the kid, Edith.”

Edith responded swiftly, her voice sharp. “I think you’re being too trusting. You gotta remember what happened the last time we trusted someone.”

Francis grunted. “Yeah, but this kid has proven themself at least, haven’t they?”

The comms were silent for a while then, as I went down to the factory floor. When I started up the smelters, Edith finally responded. “Yeah, maybe a little. But you have to admit it’s a little suspicious that he’s being so open.”

“That they’re being so open, Edith.” I didn’t recognize this voice, she spoke with a certain weariness. “Placid uses they/them pronouns.”

“Right,” Edith said with a sigh. “No, you’re right. Even if I don’t trust the kid, I can still respect who they are. Least I can do, really.”

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“Thank you,” that third voice said.

I felt a little bad eavesdropping on the conversation, but I didn’t let that bother me too much. I opened up my construction view, and discovered that I could move around the facilities that I had created with relative ease, and so I began setting all of the smelters directly across from the crates. Then, I connected each of the crates to one of the smelters. It might not be the optimal efficiency, but it would work to increase throughput. I followed this up by setting another trio of crates to each of those smelters, assuring a steady supply of ingots.

Edith’s voice broke the silence of my labor once again. “I don’t get why they didn’t show up to their meeting last night, either. They had gone out of their way to arrange everything and then no show? Doesn’t make any sense to me.”

I collected some of those freshly smelted ingots and set to work, making them into the sub-components I’d need for both the Big Irons and the flute, while also queueing up further of each kind of base sub-component, so that I could move onto building the rest of the infrastructure I was planning.

“You don’t know why?” Francis’s voice carried a heavy sigh. “You scared the damn kid! Why would they show up to a bunch of ingrates?”

I let out a heavy breath and focused on the task ahead of me. The prickling of the back of my neck at this earnest conversation happening without them knowing I was listening grew with every moment. I probably should have just turned off the comms, or changed the channel, or even just said that I was listening.

“Ingrate? It’s not that I’m not grateful, it’s just that-“ Edith began.

The third voice came in again. “Yes, I know. The strings. You keep bringing up the strings. We may have only been here two nights, but I’m not seeing a whole lot of strings. And Jen and Artemis have spoken up for them. And it’s not like they have the personal power to do anything if we decide that we don’t like the arrangement.”

“Okay but-“ Edith tried again to regain the lead of the conversation.

This time Francis interrupted. “But nothing. Next time you see the kid, you apologize.”

I switched off the comms then, my heart thudding, hoping that I hadn’t crossed some major line by my eavesdropping. It was wrong, I knew that, but still I had done it out of some desire to understand the others better, to see where I could fit into the broader strokes of this new community that was forming here. They all had bonds, forged from their mutual trauma, while I was just some privileged outsider trying to tell them how to be.

The queue popped and the finished Big Irons and flute appeared in my inventory. I switched to channel twelve and sent a quick message to Terry and Raven, telling them to meet me in the lobby. When I arrived in the lobby, though, I found Seren waiting for me, hands on their hips.

“You know you had me worried,” they said.

“I just let the time get away from me.” I waved off their concern and took a seat in one of the padded chairs. “Plus, I figured that folks would probably do better without my presence at the meeting.”

Seren sighed heavily and took a seat across from me, reaching over to take one of my hands into both of theirs. “Most people here trust you. What Edith said, well, I won’t deny that it’s not been in the minds of some people, but not the people who’ve gotten to know you. Who have gotten to see you as a person, rather than as this figure leading rescues and giving out speeches.”

They gave my hand a firm squeeze. “Plus, I had to lead the meeting with you gone.” Their nose scrunched up at the words. “I hate leading meetings.” They laughed, I laughed, and some of the tension melted between us.

“No, you’re right, I definitely should not have put that responsibility onto your shoulders.” I offered them a small smile, before looking down at our hands. “What Edith said, well, it made sense. There is no reason to trust me, not after what they’ve been through.” I looked up then, looking into Seren’s eyes. “What you’ve been through.”

They released my hands to reach up and cup my face. “There’s plenty of reasons to, from everything I’ve seen.” Seren leaned in slowly and a flush rose on my cheeks, but I didn’t pull away.

Then the sound of steps echoed through the room as Terry and Raven rushed in. Then the front door swung open and Edith and Francis stepped in. Seren and I instantly pulled away, but it was too late, we had been spotted. No one said anything though, which was better than the alternative.

I first turned to Terry and Raven, pulling their items from my inventory and handing them over. “There, you should find these suitable for your needs. Let me know if you need anything else.” Edith blanched a bit as Raven twirled her new revolvers, but the pair exited swiftly, leaving the room once again silent.

Edith broke that silence by clearing her throat. “I. Well. I would like to formally apologize for my behavior at yesterday’s meeting.”

She didn’t say the specifics of what she was apologizing for, and part of me wanted to completely brush it off. “Apology accepted.” Sometimes the most important part of the process of moving forward is allowing an apology to happen. However, I had no particular desire to linger on the subject. “What work have you been up to?”

Francis spoke up, leaning forward. “Been working on small stuff, mostly. Trellises for the beanstalks, new clothes for everyone, some more beds -like you suggested-, some basic farming tools. Started up a chicken coop this morning, over in the expansion.”

“Good.” I went over my mental list of things that needed doing, started crossing off a few things there. “Alright, yeah, very good.” I took a beat to shift the conversation. “It sounds like I didn’t need to tell you all to start helping each other.”

Edith sniffed but then nodded. “It was good to hear, though, that you wouldn’t be prioritizing the fighters.”

I let out a laugh at that. “No, the fighters are important, but what’s really important is getting everyone’s bellies full.”

“That reminds me,” Seren said. “You missed the feast last night. Ai had found some mushrooms and Ewen carved up a bunch of those landbirds.”

My stomach let out an aggressive growl at the mention of food. “I probably should go eat something. I kinda skipped eating yesterday, but I suppose with the landbirds, there should be enough meat to go around.”

“I think there’s some stew in the refrigerator cafeteria,” Edith said. “It’s nothing complex, but having a [Chef] make it somehow has the system add in seasoning and spices.”

I nodded and rose to my feet. “Alright, let’s head to the cafeteria. I think we have a lot of things to talk about. And I’m starving.”