Ironworks

[Jynx]

Early. That was her thought. It was too damn early to be up and about. But there was no sleeping in when there was work to do. Vallacenia sighed as she moved down the steps from her home to her shop. Her blue dreadlocks were clumped together by a hair tie, a thick metal band clamped over it. She was dressed in her simple work clothes, a leather jerkin and thick jeans. As she passed the coat rack in the hall she pulled a leather apron down and slipped it on over her other clothes. It was beat up and burned, but ready for work.

She opened the main shop first flicking the lights on and setting a few things up. Once she knew the displays were secure she moved through the doorway behind the register. It led to a small hallway, dark and not necessarily very open. There were two storerooms down the hall and another short hall that led to the forge. She turned left down that hall that went to the forge. The room was dark, but a single switch fixed that. Her blue eyes lit upon the room and her face creased into a frown. It was a complete mess. One of her assistants had left tools and scrap metal all over. She grumbled and moved past all that to the furnace.

Through the thick glass she could see embers giving off a subtle glow and was glad she wouldn't have to make a fire from scratch. The smith opened the door and stirred the coals, piling wood inside to get the fire going. She knew today would be busy if the past week had been anything to judge by. Armor galore and daggers to fix. And she had been trying to work on the shoulder guards. Yeah because that's totally going to happen. She thought acidly. She sighed and turned her attention to the mess.

The scraps went into her cullet barrel and the tools back in their appropriate places. The steam buckets were empty, and needed to definitely be scrubbed out. Valla set them aside for later. Once everything else looked presentable she opened the sliding door, letting it rattle loudly. Early morning light and a good breeze came inside getting rid of the heat of the night.

Valla moved over to her work table and took out her tablet. The slim piece of electronics lit up as she typed in a few codes and checked some of her different commissions. They were almost all complete. There was the one sword, but that was all that she had left. A small square of precursor text popped up, a newer message. She gave herself a mental nodded and closed it out. A few typed sentences finished her morning reports so she decided to set to work. Hopefully she wouldn't be bored for long. Valla wanted something new and interesting to work on. She went back through the hallway to the main shop. Behind the counter was a small panel that blinked every few minutes. She set a bell to ring if anyone came into the shop so that she would know when people came. She didn't want anyone stealing her wares.

Swiftly she went back through the dark hall to the store room. Iron bars, charcoal and limestone were all set up in neat rows. She only needed a small amount for this sword, seeing as it was only going to be rapier. The stupid things were nothing more than pig-stickers, but she was obliged to make it.

With all that ready Valla hauled the supplies back and began to get the furnace ready. Once the iron was free of impurities she would begin. Maybe in between that time she'd get to talk to someone who had something interesting for her to do.

[raven]

Early. Jace was always up early. Ever since he was little he had never been able to sleep late. But the real reason he was up early...was because he hadn't even slept. If he had it was only for about fifteen minutes before the nightmares began again. Nightmares. They had been getting worse and worse, the drinking had helped numb the pain of his father's death and whoring it up had helped keep his mind from Isabel, but either way, he was still having nightmares whenever he closed his eyes. Jace hadn't been working lately, just random assignments here and there, but no long term cases. He just couldn't focus on that committment right now.

Jace was on his way to a new forge that had been built in Haven. He had heard good things from good sources and decided to take a shot at it. He was carrying a long thin sword in a sheath across his back. It was Julius' and had been passed down to Jace as more of a decorative item than an actual weapon. Julius wasn't aware of what Jace would become after his death.

The sword was one of many that Julius had collected. It was a hobby of his, had been ever since Jace was adopted. He collected swords, antique guns (that didn't work), throwing knives, daggers you name it, he collected it. Jace's favorite was the one he was taking to be restored to its original design. Julius had kept most of them good and well kept, but the paint was fading and the blade was dull.

Jace walked to the forge with his hands deep in the pockets of his black hoody. His long legs made the walk easily without showing and sign of fatigue. His eyes were dark emerald because of the thoughts he was having, but he couldn't help but think of his father while carrying the sword.

He tried to cheer up knowing that Valla, a new friend of his who he had heard worked at the forge, would be there. They had met on bad terms...at a bar. Jace was about to do something extremely stupid in front of a lot of people because he was well completely wasted. Luckily Valla had been there to kick his ass and keep him from actually succeeding. He smirked at the memory and shook his head at his stupidity. As the forge came into view, his smirk widened into an actual smile.

He went towards the back, where only certain people were allowed and tapped on the open door. His emerald eyes had brightened some when he smiled and he called out, "Oh Vaaaaaalllll!" He shrugged off the sheath and placed it on the work table. "It's your bestest buddy Jaaaaace!" Jace spotted her and raised an eyebrow as he waited for her to come over.

[Jynx]

Valla heard the mans voice and snorted. Hopefully Jace would be in a better mood today than other times when she had seen him. She heard something clank onto the work table and wondered if she should stop what she was doing to go see what he was upto. Well, the furnace fire was going well, so it would only be a few minutes before it was time to start the iron to melting. Maybe in that time Jace could amuse her with some tale of whatever he had been upto lately. Even though she knew most of the things he told her she only heard the factual side. His sarcastic comments and outrageous tales always managed to ring a smile to her fae and make her laugh. Jeeze, she had probably seen Jace at least once a week for the past few weeks. He was good at passing on info he thought she would need. In fact, she itched to go get her tablet and see if anything new had happened in the short amount of time since she had set it down.

It took a large amount of will to get herself to stay put. She closed the furnace door and made sure the thing was going to burn properly before taking off her gloves and focusing her attention on Jace. He loooked relatively happy today, and she wondered who had died or told him a joke to put him in such a good mood. Usually he was in a drinking mood. She sighed and cocked her hip to one side as she stared at him.

"Hello there Jace. I wasn't aware you liked me enough to classify as a best buddy. I thought it was more that you tolerated my prescence as long as I didn't remind you of howmuch of an arrogant pain in the ass you are." She said in her lightish voice. There was humor in that voice that she wasn;t going to bother trying to hide. It was just Jace right now and he didn't care how stressed she was as long as she was her normal self for the most part.

"So what trouble are you going to get into today?" Valla askd him.

[raven]

Jace was surprised at the fact that she didn't turn immediately, well he would have been if it was any other girl BUT Valla. Most girls swooned over him and ran towards him every chance they got just to feel him up. It was tiring being so good looking, but Valla never seemed to notice his dashing looks. How could you miss something that was more or less hitting you over the head? He didn't understand, but then again, why would he care? Oh right, because it hurt his pride and ego.

Jace leaned against the door frame casually and looked around the forge. He had been in this place so many times since that bar incident, it was like a second home. Especially now that Shane was more or less living at his home, eat HIS food, sleeping on HIS couch and banging HIS sister. Okay maybe not the last one, but still it was bad. He rolled his eyes at the over active imagination he had.

When she finally turned her attention to him, he put a smile back on his face, and arrogant smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Of course Valla. I consider you a buddy. You save me from my PMSing baby-sitter I mean sister." He smirked and then smacked his hand to cover where his heart would be if he had one, in mock horror, "I'm hurt Valla. That you would even consider that I, the nicest, purest, best-looking guy you know, would actually cause trouble!" He laughed lightly and shrugged, "Well I'm actually thinking about torturing the little KG punk that's crashing at my place right now."

[Jynx]

She snorted. Yeah, Shane was a pain in the ass but he was useful for getting info ou of the prison. She sighed as he talked. It was always complaining about Rave, Shane, the piss poor quality of hard liquer, or the lack of cigarettes. Sometimes it seemed that Jace was so predictable. She gave a quick thought as to why Shane was crashing at Jaces. Didn't he hae better things to do than make Jace complain? Seriously, the little kid was going to get his head crushed in one of these days. She watched him carefully still. Was this going to be one of those days?

"Jace, quit your whining already. Just tell him to gtfo and be done with it." She said, turning back around to continue working. If all he was going to do was complain then she wasn't going to listen. She sighed as she continued to work. What was up with him anyway. Maybe he needed a girlfriend. Valla laughed slightly at the idea. Yeah, that would turn out well. One drink and she'd be cooked. His emo ocean would drown anyone. She turned back to him, leaning against the counter.

"So are you here to socialize or do you have work for me?" She asked him in a saucy tone of voice.[/font]

[raven]

Jace wasn't paying much attention to her mood. He didn't really need to, he could already tell she was fed up with him. For some reason that hurt a little more than it should have. He shrugged it off and looked at the sword, "Business, not pleasure...unless you'd like to try the pleasure part?" Jace smirked and looked at her to see the reaction. His smart mouth was bound and determined to get him in trouble one of these days, but what could she do that he wasn't already waiting for.

Jace picked up the sword off of the work table and pulled off the cover. It was slick, but faded. The design on the handle was supposed to be a snake, but it was so light you couldn't really tell. The snake was dark green with a bright emerald eye. Once a target saw this, they knew who was coming to kill them. That was why Jace liked it so much, it represented him and his nickname...Viper. Only certain people knew him by that name though. He wasn't one to talk about his thrilling and satisfying job.

Jace hadn't told anybody outside those that knew from outside sources about his job, and he wasn't really sure if Valla knew. After all, she was friends with Shinrah, how could she not? Jace sighed deeply when he thought of how Shane was hanging that assassin ax over his head, threatening to tell Raven. The kid had a death wish, there was no doubt that Jace would give him what he wanted. Raven and Shane just needed to break up so he could carry out the job. Benjamin couldn't save his precious little apprentice...but Raven could.

[Jynx]

The sword came out of the sheath and she stared at it for a moment. Though the design was faded it was one she would have recognized anywhere. The outline of a light green snake with an eye that stared into the soul right before it cut someones life short. Well, she should have realized that's who it was anyway. Shinrah had said beware courting the Viper. The fact that she wasn't really looking for a date with Jace didn't exactly lessen the effect of the other woman's words. She knew Jace was an assasin, but it didn't bother her as long as he didn't work for the baron.

Her tall form moved like a ghost, gliding over to where he was. This was such beautiful piece, and she was glad he hand't gone anywhere else. The shape and curve was unique, and anyone else would have completely flubbed trying to do anything with it. This was an antique.

"Nice try Jace, but that shit doesn't work on me? Remember when I kicked your can t that bar and you tried the same exact thing?" She said in a lughing voice. She wanted to take the sword, but she watched him for moment. It was so natural a thing to hold for him, unlike some people who seemed like they didn't know which end was used to kill someone.

"What kind of work needs to be done? Other than redoing the enameling. " She asked him, looking more at him now than at the sword. If you took away his bull headed ness and his cocky, arrogant know-it-all attitude he might be a nice guy.[/font]

[raven]

Jace watched her admiring the sword. He held it levelly in his hand careful and balanced. As he looked at it, something in his expression changed. His cold gem like eyes softened and seemed to melt and warm. He was having trouble keeping his breathing normal, as thoughts of his father came to him. No one knew how much he really cared about anything. He kept his feelings hidden deep inside and a mask replaced most of it. There was an occasional slip here and there, but not usually. This was a big slip.

"It was worth a shot," He whispered in a completely different tone than he had been using. Jace looked away from the sword and then up at her. Now that his mask was gone, he had actually seen Valla for the first time. Her eyes, her laugh, everything seemed new to him. He sighed and frowned, what am I thinking? She'd never go for an alcoholic whore like me.

Jace sighed again, "Just touch ups is all, bringing it back to its original beauty." He looked directly at her and said very softly and in a tender tone, "Please be careful with it. This is one of the few connections I have to my father." He knew he didn't have to say it, but he did just to be safe. It was weird for him to actually trust someone with something this sentimental to him.

[darius1]

Cardian walked along the street. He was heading for a small repair shop. His gun had jammed on him last night and he wanted someone to look it over. He had heard that the shop he was heading to was run by one of the best mechanics in the city and he wanted to see what they could do. He came to the shop and walked in, hearing the delightful little tinkle of a bell. Didn't see those much. A man and a woman where talking as he walked in, the man had an exquisitely crafted blade and it was obvious that he was asking for it to be repaired. ''i am sorry to interrupt miss but i would like to commission your services" Cardian said taking out his wallet.
{double post}

[darius1]

Cardian was walking down a street that he had been told held the best repair shop in haven. He wanted his gun repaired, it had jammed the night before while he was fighting off a group of muggers. He also wished to test the craftswoman that owned the shops skill. He arrived at the store front and walked through the door. He heard the sweet tinkle of a bell and that caused him to smile. A man and a woman where talking when he entered. The guy was obviously asking for the exquisitely crafted sword to be repaired. "i am sorry to bother you miss'' cardian said ''but i would like to commission your services'' he took out his wallet as he said this.