Mr Brin sitting behind a lavish desk plied with paperwork's and art pieces took Allen by surprise, expecting to meet the man from the street market, dressed like Players often did in a character clothes unbefitting the situation, instead an immaculate suit and dress jewels like badges of an official teller greeted Chess and her with a powerful handshake and a polite gesture to seat in the opulent chairs set before him.
"Let me get right down to business", he said after thinking for a few seconds, "this factory works on three types of deals, partners get commissions, apprentices get jobs and workers take orders, everyone start at the bottom, if you want to work on your own projects then you pay a partner to supervise your work and make sure it's done to our standards and with adherence to regulations", sughing he added "we don't tolerate rule breaking here, but the rules are simple, town curfew is at nine, so all forges are off at seven with no exceptions and heavy fines to everyone involved", taking a breather, "seniority is important but you only have to take orders from your direct manager unless it's related to safety, you'll get all the protection gear you need from your boss so don't let anyone fool you with heavier equipment than you need", obviously tired of these pranks he continued, "you get two breaks a day and buy your own food", thinking if he'd forgotten anything, "that's most of it and anything else you just ask your boss or one of the partners", pushing a pile of papers her way he pointed at a marked line, "just sign here and we can get you to a workstation".
Looking at the papers and then at Chess Allen found herself in a small bind, he was doing her a favour, but she really didn't want all these rules and regulations to govern her life at this or any moment, seeing her hesitating was upsetting both men and she finally decided on a way of action, signing the papers she turned to Chess, "Where will we meet when you come back?"
Surprised at her question, "I'll catxh you up here in about three weeks" he finally said.
Sniffing audibly she pushed a tear to her eye, "thank you for everything Chess", leaning to yug him, "you saved me from a lot of trouble and I'm very grateful", catching both men in the uncomfortable display of emotions, Chess played a hasty hug and hastier retreat after another goodbye and a promise that he will find her.
As soon as he was out of the door Allen snatched the papers from the table, storing them in her inventory, "I have no interest in working on any of your comissions or jobs or whatever", her eyes glinting, "I would however like to hire a workshop for some discreet projects of mine without owning the facilities", smiling superficialy, "I will pay you five hundred gold for the month rent and the disguise as a worker in the fine facility you run here", then her voice turned harder than magically enhanced diamond drill, "no one is my boss", her eyes suppressing any inkling of resistance, "if one of your people tries to force me to do anything I don't like then his or her ass is mine".
Deflated, the man fell back when she let down her gaze, "that's not how we do business around"
"That's how I do my business", she cut him right down, "I'm paying you five times the normal fee for a commission in your shop and demand only that you dont ask any stupid questions or poke around my business" Allen was fully tired of weasels trying to take advantage of her, "I am playing this game since long before you were born", sighing she let go of the intimidating pressure, "just want some patchwork done on my armor and weapons before moving to my next gig", pointing at the door, "and don't go blabbing to Chess my dear saviour", sitting up, "he's my key to some fun stuff and I will know if he suspects anything becausr of you", finished with her tirade she took out two hundred gold coins, "this is my down payment for the month", then adding "I will pay another hundred every week if I'm satisfied"
Staring at the small glittering pile in front of him he just nodded, not trusting his voice to hide that it was more than he made in three months, "well", he finally croaked, "you still have to turn the forge off at six for curfew and pay for workers through me", finding his courage in regulations, "I will obviously not pay you anything for work you don't do, and you still adhere to all safety regulations in our facility".
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"Fine", she breathed, "just show me where I can start working", knocking on the table, "time is money", to which he wholeheartedly agreed.
Opening the door and taking her out of the office he then took a sharp turn and climbed down spiralling stairs, passing by closed doors before going out from one the building corners, gesturing for her to follow when he noticed she got disoriented by the unusual exit, they crossed a short alley to another large structure, where he opened a nondescript door behind which was a medium sized workshop that seemed to have been abandoned after some accident that left the stone walls black with soot.
Pointing at the forge "the previous owner replaced the forge but couldn't afford to stay a partner after losing their staff", showing her around and instrucing her on how to operate the different tools and machine parts, "it has fallen to rumors of bad luck, but don't listen to those, it's also the only shop I can spare on such short notice", tapping one of the tables, "we will say you are working on my commission, which is true, and if you need some extra hands you tell me what you need done and I will see who can be spared", looking at her as she started warming the forge in expert hands, "I hope that will be all" nudging his way to the door, "goodbye" he said before vanishing through the door.
"Goodbye", Allen said absentmindedly as she was familiarizing herself with the equipment, not caring much about the heat or dirt, just making sure everything that needed to sway, turn or swerve did, and what needed to stay in it's place held firm to its form.
As a final touch she made sure all the windowa were covered with soot and the ones she found to clean for her liking she sprayed with a small gust of wind and some ash from the wirming forge, making sure it was baked into the glass.
The hardest part was deciding what she needed first, after much thought and a good pile of coals she returned to her original problem of lacking tools, so as a first order of business she decided to make some basic items that will fit her style more than a general workshop.
An arch forge will be her final destination, but first she would need to make some simpler items, taking a bar of steel from her inventory she threw it in the crucible and let it melt while she carved the shape of the pliers out of some soft wood and imprinted every part several times into a a large clay tray.
Pouring the smelted metal into the toolset was satifying after so long of working on super high tech with factory made tools and parts, only caring for number uno was such a relief that Allen almost threw a small jig before catching herself, there were new realities to explore and she would be damned if she would go there naked or armed with some ancient melee piece of trash.
Admittedly BoomBoy and CuteLass weren't half as bad as most weapons but knowing they were rejuvenated Players and could turn on her at a moment's notice wasn't inspiring confidence in their sustained morale, Allen needed reliable firepower, and had sources to aquire it from, but first she needed some stuff.
With the first set of tools cooling in the mold tray she pulled out her remaining front leg armor and set it on the floor, locking the door and pushing a heavy anvil to block it she looked if there were any other entries and finding none she took some rope from her inventory and hoisted the shiny leg armor up by the high ceiling beams, when she was done so were her tool parts and she sat at a grinding table to fit them all together after giving them a good dunk in some oil for a good finish.
Fitting the parts turned out to be a chore that almost broke Allen, at first thinking she didnt have all of them and going back to the plans, then figuring all the angles she had to sand off just for the parts to work, a thousand years of muscle amnesia was definitely working against her and finally decided to let the forge cool off as she wouldn't be making anything else that day, so at long last she also took the leg armor off, leaving the mount in place and just ground the parts to fit, coiled and forged the springs in a small oven, breaking a nail and then scorching a finger trying to skip just one stage of the construction, and by the time she had to leave for the curfew she was on stage three out of fourteen in the assembly plan.
The courtyard was silent, only a few workers marching quickly before the small gate closed, Allen was blinded by the torchlight in the gatehouse before leaving out to the street, following the map back to the lodge house, making sure she wasn't followed thriugh the empty streets and entering her room with only a few minutes to spare.