The glow of the forge is a brilliant white-hot on the interior, and the heat almost feels pleasant–but this is no time to be pondering about a nice heat soaking. There’s some work to be had. And that particular work is weapons, armor, and guns. Big, shooty guns that Julia is planning on forging herself.
“Okay, get the machine ready.” Kyle is in a heavily padded apron and shielding with a darkened visor, and reaching for the ceramic crucible containing a rather rare and magical substance–Mithril. Stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and the prize of his collection of magical ore samples they had delivered from a site in Arizona. “Julia, we need to pour fast. I need a perfect cylindrical bar stock for this barrel. We can’t have anything in the barrel forging screwing with the chamber pressures we’re going to be putting into this thing.”
“Don’t need to tell me twice. I’ve committed the process to memory.” It’s strange how the heat doesn’t bother her, but the cold still does. She could bask in the warmth of the forge–is that the dragon side of her in utter delight? Great, one more change she can tally up, brain chemistry changes. Joey said that doesn’t really happen, people remain who they are, but there are a few minor changes in perception, due to the subtle changes in physiology. “Kyle, let’s do this.”
Without another word they get to work, grab the molten metal, and pour it into an extruder. This is toasty hot, but she persists. Kyle quickly gets to work as she holds the material with a set of tongs, and he begins hammering the forging, driving out any pockets with his automated machine. This goes on for a while, and her skin barely breaks out in a sweat. This heat is so delightful.
“Oil quench, now. Watch for it, it’s hot enough it might auto-ignite this, it happened to me last time I tried.” She puts the finished cylinder in, and a burst of fire ignites from the oil and quickly extinguishes with a quick blast of frost from James sitting nearby.
“You know, I’m glad I’m not a one-trick fireball dude. Ice is handy,” he replies with a hint of amusement. "Alright, what’s next?"
“We wait for it to cool.” It turns out, that process was going to take a while, so she ended up having to do the one thing she hated:
Waiting. She drummed her fingers on the bench, looking for insight on what to work on next. Should she pester Drenar in his close-quarters and teach him to use his telekinetics to punch a hole through a person? Nah, probably not, she didn’t need Drenar on a path to villainy.
Target practice? The rifle course is opened up again.
Ask Mom about what else she’s been fibbing on, aside from understating her age by a hundred years?
She has a better idea, and an evil smile crosses her face as she grabs her favorite cinnamon stick. “C’mon Joey, we’re going out for food. Leave your alchemical witchery on the bench for an afternoon, bring the under-bearded dwarf.”
“The dwarf has a name, and it’s Kyle!” he protests while attending to a machine currently metal-sintering a panel of armor. He’s got projects for days, and she’s not certain he even sleeps at night. “You are like an anime character that broke out of an insane asylum, Julia!”
“Do I get a vote?” Joey asks halfheartedly.
“Sure! As long as that vote is yes, you do!” Julia beams. She loves it when people have no idea how to react to her more zany statements. Joey sputters for a couple of seconds before shrugging.
“Okay, but not sushi. You eat more sushi than I do. I vote for noodles!” Finally, she grows a backbone–she needs to keep encouraging that and make sure Drenar doesn’t roll over with every suggestion Joey makes in the name of science. Or dragon science.
“Deal!” Julia affirms with a smirk. This vixen can be bought with food–a thought she doesn’t even try to shield, and Joey just gives up after a second with a wry smile. “Kyle, watch where you put your beard, or you’re gonna burn it off!” she reminds him.
“You sound like my sister, Gale. And I don’t mean that in a good way.”
Moments later, she manages to snag Drenar, and they head out to their favorite noodle place–well the only one for a hundred miles, she supposes, but Osaba’s is still one of her top three favorite comfort food places. It’s not that far from the Mercadian Promenade, and she hasn’t tried half the food there. Drenar is seated next to her–per her insistence, and Joey and Kyle sit across from them. She’s in charge of this one.
“So, I must know some things! We’ve been working for a while now, and I barely know you guys! We work and work, but don’t know how each of us tick!” She sets the stage while Kyle and Joey glance at each other, and make some kind of silent exchange.
“Alright, Julia, what’s the angle?" Joey sighs. “There’s not much to tell. We were run-of-the-mill arcanists until you guys barnstormed in.”
“I wanna know about mage life. I feel like we’ve been running around and no one’s asked you guys about ‘Hey, was it like Harry Potter, where the kids are basket cases?’ In case we run into more triggered trauma.”
“No, it wasn’t like Harry Potter,” Kyle sighs with relief. “Look, if you’ll forgive the expression, most mages are level-one scrubs like me. We have a trace of mana filaments in our bodies, and we generate a little by biological means. Most of our studies were about understanding draconic language spells–which I still remember a little–and practical applications.”
“Magical materials, alchemy, runes, metamagical creatures, ritual spells, language invocation spells, and natural abilities.” Joey counts them off like she’s done it a hundred times. “You can break down most magical studies into those categories.”
“Yeah, but, what about mage history?” Now she’s got Drenar going, she’s so glad he’s brought along his inquisitive nature! He’s been too busy studying, training, and trying to be a serious leader. Well, that’s one thing he’s got on her. “I mean, I know the highlights of the War of the Magi, but…you know…the losers of said battle certainly have made it known that the history books are a little slanted.”
“Ah, I don’t want to bore you," Joey protests lightly, but Julia knows she loves being the academic.
“Ooh, I have questions! Is mage academy just like high school?” She figures it probably is. But with magic. Joey laughs and leans in a little.
“Very much so. Guys being dicks, girls being bitchy, and some decent people in the margins just looking to study the arcane and make something of themselves,” Joey affirms while waving her hand lazily. “Classes were about study work. Very little magic actually happened. Though, Kyle did build a power armor set that almost self-destructed.”
“It worked! The version I used for our escapades was version two. And it kept my insides, well, inside. I can’t wait to upgrade it further! Those rune classes were awesome for inscribing active spell barriers with a mana battery backup.”
The conversation continued for a while. Joey and Kyle took turns describing school life. Surprisingly, accidental burnings, deaths by dissolvement, and dragons crushing people under their feet were nonexistent. Julia was amazed that they let dragons walk the halls! Joey made a hand wave about it–apparently, there were facilities for all manner of kin, even some rarer ones. Cat girls made the list, strangely!
Her bingo card needs more slots to fill, she thinks with a grin. “Oh great, she’s plotting something,” Drenar grumbles in between gulps of pho noodle bowl, and chicken. She steals a piece right when he’s looking at her, and she smiles before consuming it. He furrows his brow. “Okay, you’re plotting!”
“Nah, you can’t prove nothing!” He really can’t, he’s not quite as talented as getting a read on her as he thinks. Joey, on the other hand, has been probably helping him cheat. She raises an eyebrow in surprise.
{Oh no, I’m staying out of this one, Tsundere. I have to set some ethical limits,} she projects with a quick thought. She still snags another bite of Drenar’s food, and he proceeds to jab a shrimp out of her bowl--how did he move that fast?!
She narrows her eyes. “The stealing is supposed to go in one direction. Mine!” she declares. She playfully deflects his chopsticks away with his second attempt.
“You know why I used to be so skinny? You kept stealing all my food,” he accuses her, and she thrusts her pose forward.
“No, I was teaching you survival instinct! Some of it did indeed stick!” Sadly, his chicken is well guarded this time, and Joey’s trying not to break out into titters of laughter, and Kyle rolls his eyes.
“You two totally hooked up at one point. You two have that vibe.” Drenar chooses that time to start choking on his food, Julia has to slap him on the back. Noodles do not serve him well, dripping from his face.
“Well, uh…we didn’t," she says in a low tone. Kyle raises an eyebrow, as does Joey. “No seriously, we didn’t!” Do they really give that kind of vibe? Drenar’s like a brother to her. One made of chiseled abs and an unhealthy level of steadfast bravery, sure, but he’s more like family to her.
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“We didn’t.” Drenar has come back from near death by noodles, and is coughing while covering his face with a napkin. Apparently, noodles are more deadly than Val’s crimson harbinger blade of death.
“Not even friends with benefits?” Kyle’s face droops a bit–why is this magical engineer so insistent on that? Or is he thinking of his one-off thing with Joey?
“No, Kyle,” Julia sighs. Almost by magic, Drenar seems clued in, and smiles.
“Well, that reminds me. Kyle, you two…did you–”
“Oh no, off limits,” Joey says, her face blushing profusely. “I’m not having this discussion here!”
“Hey, Kyle brought it up first, turnabout is fair play.” There’s the Drenar she loves, he’s leaning into the zany. “Tell me something she hasn’t told me!”
“Julia, could you kindly tell this young drake that this is totally not cool?” Joey clearly has something embarrassing she doesn’t want to share–the best kind of thing to share!
“Oh no, it’s totally cool.” she puts her elbows on the table and leans in, grinning madly. “Hey Kyle, does she…you know…”
“I fear her more than I fear you, Tsundere,” Kyle says while he’s stroking his beard. Aha, he’s anxious! She just needs to push him a little bit further, and he’ll crack!
“C’mon, I’ll trade one embarrassing thing about Drenar.” Kyle leans in, as does Joey. they glance at each other before nodding enthusiastically.
“Oy, I’m right here!” he protests.
“Alright, fine Kyle, you got this one time,” Joey says with a little hesitation.
“Nah seriously, I’ll throw in something as a bonus about Julia.” Oh Drenar’s gotten bold, and he peers at her with the intensity of–well, a dragon. “Choose wisely.” She ponders for a moment, and then the idea hits her.
“Drenar can’t grow facial hair. It’s legit impossible for him.” Kyle stares at her, then his lip tugs and he makes a sound of surprise. “No beard. No mustache. Some weird hormonal thing.”
“That doesn’t sound that bad,” Kyle says, before squinting at him. Drenar sighs and rolls his eyes. “Unless…oh wait…does that mean…”
“Do you really want to continue this line of inquiry?” Drenar says icily. Joey’s turned redder than her hair and is covering her mouth to hide her expression. So isn’t Drenar, and he clears his throat. “I mean it–it’s not a big deal.”
“I legit thought you were a touch androgynous, now that I think about it. ” Kyle’s blunt statement doesn’t do him any favors, and he sinks lower in his seat, as if he can hide from this. “Okay, my turn. Joey uh…well, the whole ‘other’ thing about her is…”
“We tend to…shed…a little bit during summer months,” she says sheepishly. “It only really happens if you spend a lot of time in your Kitsune form, though.”
“You clogged up the communal bath drain!” Kyle’s trying not to laugh, and she gives him a glare of death. Drenar can’t help but smile.
“I did not!”
“You totally did. Also, Joey has what we call a 'long coat', meaning her fur is longer.”
“It made summers in Missouri a nightmare. Then again, it makes winters here a lot more manageable,” she adds contentedly. Drenar nods thoughtfully at this while finishing the last of his food.
“The more I know. Alright, my turn. Julia can sleep through an apocalypse. Know how I know that?”
“Oh don't you dare!” she grits her teeth.
“You’re the one who decided to open this Pandora’s box. So, I decided in my infinite wisdom at the age of seven to draw on her face like she was a clown. She woke up the next morning, Mom and Dad were trying not to laugh, she freaked out, and proceeded to throw me down the stairs and tried to strangle me. Feebly. Young Julia did not have such beastly strength then!” She hates that leering smile.
“Oh, this is too rich,” Joey beams. “Tell me something else!” Julia still can’t quite fault Drenar, though. She can fall asleep pretty hard.
The conversation drifts from embarrassing stories, to stories of Kyle filling a bath with rainbow-colored dye in a dorm bathroom, to Joey digging her claws into the next nearest thing if something scares her. Drenar visibly winces at this–this must have happened already. Joey and Kyle have plenty more to share about classes, though everything seems laughably easy now that magical science is in the mix.
Eventually, they head home, and that special project is waiting for them. Kyle grabs a bench and examines the forging before nodding satisfactorily. “Well, drill bore time. I'll mount the barrel and get the true center. Get the drill bit ready?”
Doing firearm barrels is a tad more complex than she thought, though Kyle's multi-axis cutter machine makes short work of cutting the barrel to length, putting in centerings, and drilling the length of the bore. She double-checks his math with the program he's running, and examines the measurements from the disassembled Matilda to verify a few things. Metal chips fly and she keeps the machine clear. Drenar also saunters over from time to time and asks questions, though Joey quickly calls for him to finish up work on a new alchemical booster.
“Those two are so cozy. Joey never was so quick to open up to people. It took her a while to warm up to me,” he says while they're between rounds of work on the lathe, and she hands him a tool bit.
“She wasn't trustful?” Kyle shakes his head.
“Her head was always on a swivel. She spent most of her four years at the academy in her human form. Didn't want to risk getting labeled. People see a Kitsune, and people instantly start judging. People see a young woman acing her classes, no one bats an eye.”
“That's stupid.” She doesn’t cherry-pick her words, and Kyle nods while checking on a fixture.
“It is. No one calls out dragons for being walking murder machines, elves for being practically ageless, or dwarves for having a baked-in alcohol tolerance. Funny enough, I don’t drink much. And we’re only a centimeter below average human height,” he adds with a shrug.
“Looking a lot more than a centimeter, Bertance,” she teases as she playfully sweeps her hand over his blazing red hair. He can’t help but laugh. “And the conclave just…lets all these stereotypes persist?”
“People are hard to change,” he admits. “And there is subtle bias. It's been getting worse. But hey, if we have a say in things, maybe we can change people’s attitudes for the better.”
“I like the way you think, Kyle. Anyway, as you might have guessed…Drenar has damages. Big time. Maybe that’s why they get along so quickly?” He wipes down the fixture and squares the piece into place.
“I think all Joey ever needed was people she could trust. And there weren’t a lot of them at the academy. A lot more at Asqualia, but she's always slow to open up. You guys are…I don’t know. You guys tend to bring out the best in people. That teen spirit thing,” he adds with a laugh.
“Hey, you’re not that much older than us.” She uses a gauge to check the perpendicularity and nods. “Let’s get this thing started, it’s going to take a while to cut.”
The project takes till the waning hours of the night. Kyle does start nodding off after some work on the lathe, and the work is done. Even the rifling on the bore. He drops a gage down and nods satisfactorily. “Perfect fit. I'll have to run a few more checks, thanks for the help.”
“Still need to work on the upper receiver. If what you're telling me is right, the parts need some upgrading so it doesn’t fracture from the force, and we need to add the recoil damper system. Or I'll break my shoulder like poor Nick did.” a thought dawns on her, and she poses a question. “Could we go…bigger?”
“You mean a dragon lugging around a 20-millimeter upscaled version? I did the math. It's possible. Why would a dragon need a sniper rifle, though?”
“Oh, you know. Just to say it's been done.” A dragon portable auto cannon sounds more appropriate, but she doubts they'll need that level of destruction anytime soon. Kyle yawns and sets down the barrel, and she thoroughly cleans it to get rid of any debris. “Make a note, mithril is a good choice, but adamantine would also work.”
“Nah. Too heavy, too expensive. Plus, mithril has a higher strength-to-weight ratio, and is easier to come by.” He rolls his shoulders finishes putting away his tools in a surprisingly neat arrangement, and closes his toolbox. She does the same with the disassembled rifle and puts it back together before securing it in a locker and putting in the lock code.
They have more work to do, but building the tools of her expertise is an experience that she doesn't want to miss. And Kyle is certainly the guy they need in their corner for this one.
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