In which there is an uncomfortable situation

A light rain falls from the sky. Not enough to soak anyone outside, but just enough that it makes it difficult to truly enjoy walking about. Unless one enjoys the rain in which case the rain is lovely today; gentle and soft with just enough of it to create a light mist in the air. It's cool thanks to that rain, and the weather itself means that the garden district is relatively empty.

Among these people is a tall black robed figure with cowl pulled down low. Even the dark robes can not hide that this individual is sith-makar. After all their long blue-scaled tail pokes out behind. This combined with a nearly seven-foot tall presence and a blue-scaled muzzle that emits forth from beneath the cowl says sith-makar. Zeke hurries along the path from the direction of the market district toward the soldier's defense. Not so quickly that he's not paying attention where he's going, but quickly enough that he's making an odd click-thud noise as he moves.

If one were paying attention they might note that this particular sith is carrying several packages, and that the movement of each step carries back the cloak to reveal crystal moving beneath on the left-hand side. Shadowed crystal in the form of an artificial arm and leg. Which explains the odd clinking sound when he walks. The sound of crystal hitting the ground rather than a firm foot.

Off of the main path walked by most folks this time of the way, under the protective cover of a offhanging roof, one could clearly see... a slightly odd sight. About as odd as the sith-makar with the crystal leg and arm... It's a gobber, kneeling down on the ground with tools laid all around her, and a suit of armor freestanding in front of her with it's back to her. On it's back is a pair of large arms that hang there, opened with exposed wires and cyan filled tubes that pulse softly. The gobber herself is wearing a skin tight black leather outfit, one could see the stitching all across it where it was made, and along her back is ports for various plugs to be placed into her spine. She is just augmented to the nines, as she fusses with the large arms in front of her, pulling out wires and replacing them with ones that were not frayed and snipped. Cogs inside that were busted get replaced, and the cyan tubes are left untouched, but empty clear tubes were taken out and replaced. She's working fast with what she has with her, but she does not have enough to fix or upgrade everything, so... she does what she can, and sighs softly, closing the access panels on them, bolting them shut with a tool... The arms fold themselves up nice and small, so that they may easily store away in the metal backpack on the armor. They collapse, and hang at the side like two black metal disks with soft cyan light veins in them. She pats the armor, and starts to put away her tools, putting them on a rack that slides out from the pack. The trash? She gathers up the busted stuff to store away too! Best not to waste, and all!

It'd be around this time that the sith-makar would close enough that she could actually HEAR the clanking from the crystal limbs, and this gets the Gobber to turn around...

Turning in her kneeled position, the young gobber slides her backpack shut and offers a small wave, calling out "Hey there!" to Zeke, giving him a great big smile as she stands up from where she has been working for a great deal of time, dusting off her knees before she gives a streeetch! "Not exactly going for stealth with all those clanky bits are ya? I can relate!" She'd reach over and pat her armor, showing that it, too, can be clanky.

Politely Zeke had been ignoring the clanking and other sounds of tinkering from the section of the gardens that he was now entering. Politely putting his attention elsewhere so as to not intrude on the privacy of the person making such a racquet in a normally quite space. Which is why he is surprised when he is greeted by the very person whom he had been purposefully paying less and less attention to as he drew closer. So he stops in his steps as he is addressed, blinking twice at the little goblin. Once with his regular eyelids, and once with the inner. "Peasssce on your nessst."

Zeke's voice is rumbling and deep, like low-lying thunder, and his accent is quite thick but his tone is imminently respectful. "Thisss one doess not know what you mean. Clank..." Suddenly the sith-makar glances down and seems to realize belatedly that he /has/ been clanking if far more quietly than the goblin. Hastily he shifts his stance so that his cloak hides his artificial limbs. "Thisss one iss ssorry to disturb."

Sargon's head appears, shifts a bit to one side and finally rises to his full standing height from behind one of the nearby bushes as he straightens up. A moment later he disappears again, reaching down for something. He steps out from behind the bush rolling up a bedroll made of shining, apparently waterproof material. He ties it off with a line that allows him to sling it behind his back. "Good evening," he offers.

Pyre, the gobber near the freestanding Artifice armor, is looking up to the sith-makar standing over her, she has a great big grin on her face, clearly very amused by the man for no reason what so ever. Her voice is... how one might picture a typical gobber's voice. Scraggly, fact paced, but friendly sounding at least. The goblin reaches over to her right arm, grabbing a zipper while saying "Well, it's no issue! I might've been disturbing folks around here more than you, but at least here I don't really run the risk of kids taking my tools and then having to make new tools... It's always a hassle to do it." She pulls the zipper on her arm, showing more ports. She does so on her other arm. She stands and wanders over to her armor's open front, and backs into it, making care to look behind herself to make sure everything lines up correctly...

As she backs up, plugs come out to plug into those along her spine with a nice satisfying hiss and a click for each one, next were her arms as she locked them into place. She had to do one at a time, and once the arm was plugged in, she's able to freely move it to secure her other arm, and once that's done, the suit closes up around her, leaving only her head exposed to the elements. The black armored goblin turns around, and smiles again, saying "My name's Pyre!" she says to Zeke, and then to the newly arrived Sargon... "What were you doing, hiding in that bush for?"

Squeak.... squeak... squeak... it's an odd sound. Someone has a wheel that doesn't quite work right. Maybe it's broken, or maybe it's just old. "That's it. I need something better than this cart. This is the fourth time I've needed to replace that wheel..." mutters a young woman's voice as she makes her way along the edge of the gardens.

It is a fairly distinctive sound, and one that would likely draw attention in both good, bad, or indifferent ways. She has no idea of the others in the gardens, but she was just coming here because they are pretty, and she likes to sit in them when she has a meal. In fact, she has a bowl of mutton with a flagon of ale both balanced in the cart she's pushing along. The cart is filled almost to overflowing with all manner of knick-knacks or odds-and-ends. Things that she sells to various people. Some decorative, some functional such as the frying pan with the folding handle to fit into an adventuring pack more easily. "At least I made enough today to afford a decent meal." she mutters to herself as she comes past a bush and into view of the others in the gardens.

Sargon watches the gobber step into her armor. "Meditating," he grunts in reply. He rubs at his eyes. He rolls his neck to one side and then the other. Tiny pops sound at the movement. Perhaps sleeping is more like it? "The gardens are quiet tonight. Were quiet," he amends with a sigh, as the cart sounds fill the air. "I'm Sargon."

There's a moment of startlement as Sargon appears, and Zeke takes a step back from the other, eyes slightly wary. Even so he dips his head in greeting, offering the greeting of the sith-makar. "Peasssce on your nesst." Even so, his eyes are sliding back to the little goblin woman who... he glances away from again. It would be rude to stare particularly since it is so compelling to do so. He keeps watch from the corner of his eye instead. "Thisss one is Zeke." His name is spoken a bit oddly, as though he can not pronounce the 'z' properly. Indeed it sounds like another letter entirely, but he does his best.

These things said the sith-makar bows his head again to the two individuals. "Thisss one sshould..." The exit is blocked by yet another. He stifles his words and cautiously eeks backwards another step. "That isss. Your armor is lovely." It's not the best attempt at conversation.

Pyre would just blink at Sargon, she highly doubts anyone would Meditate in a bush of all places! But... she has seen stranger things, and it'd be best to not call him out on it. What's the point in doing that? She's not so petty to do so. She hums softly for a moment as she stares at the Squeaky cart, and tilts her head at it for a moment. She'd reach behind herself and try to grope for her backpack, pressing a button on it.

A tiny clawlike arm comes out the top and dives back down before coming out with can of oil, one can easily tell what it is from the smell and slick black liquid that might drizzle from the top yet from recent applications. She takes it from the claw hand and wanders over to the cart, her Armor is not as clanky as she made it out to be, about as loud as Zeke's own. She looks over to him as she walks over to the cart, saying "Thank you! I made it myself. Took a LOT of work to make it just right! It was a pain in the butt to make, but in the end was worth it." She takes the can of oil, while smiling at Alaryn, saying "Excuse me! I can fix that for you."

And, before any reply could be said, she reaches out to apply the lube to the wheel, and before too long, hopefully the squeaking would stop! But, that might make her go unnoticed when it comes to trying to sell her wares, so... now ideas come into her mind... She would reach behind her and tap her backpack a few times, and it pops open two, with legs popping down to prop itself onto the ground freely. She turns and walks around it. It... turned into a worktable of sorts. Alaryn could clearly see that it's got all the bells and whistles of a small Artificer's lab. She'd reach over to the place where she stored all the scrap she pulled from the armor as she was working on it, and would quickly get to work making something... But not before strapping on a pair of goggles and warning "Best not to look directly at the sparks if you got weak eyes like me!" And at that, she gets to work. A bit of thin scrap metal there, some hammering to shape it, some string, a nut, a bolt, and a bit of welding later, right there on the table... is a small bell. She pulls the string, and the bell strikes clear and true, far more pleasing to hear than a Squeaky wheel, that's for sure! She'd take it and wander over to the cart clamp it onto where Alaryn might easily pull the string to ring! "There! No more Squeaky wheel, and a way to have people know you're selling stuff." She nods at this, smiling as she looks over the cart... when she spots a lab. Her eyes go over to Alaryn, and smiles, saying "Oh! You're like me!" She steps closer to Alaryn, looking over her for any sorts of ports or anything like what she has, if she's not wearing her armor...

As Pyre approaches, Alaryn just smiles in thanks. She doesn't really -look- winded although she is fairly unmuscular for a human female. She stops pushing the cart and sets it on its stops before backing up a half pace to let the Gobbo work. "Thanks!" she states enthusiastically. "I fear that the poor cart is on its last leg anyway. It's time for me to upgrade to something that my stuff won't overflow out of. But the squeak was getting annoying."

And at the fabrication of the bell, she just grins widely and nods to Pyre. "Well thank you! I am a businesswoman, can I pay you for your time and effort?" she asks before Pyre gets all enthusiastic about her artifice. "Well, I do practice the art of harnessing magic through external means, yes. But.. most Artificers think I am a bit weird."

She reaches down to the leather strap on her leg and pulls what appears to be a scepter from it. Then she activates the mana stored in a small crystalline stud and the two foot scepter extends to six feet long, with a crystal on one end, surrounded by copper wiring and what appears to be some sort of decorative cowl. "This is my lightning blaster." she says. "No gears needed. Same with my armor. It harnesses mana, channels it and focuses it." She uses a finger to (kinda Spider-man style) activate a wrist stud.. and blue-ish fields of force surround her hands. "For punching." she explains.

No one is paying Zeke any mind at the moment, which relaxes the sith-makar quite a lot, he glances around a little and without a word to anyone starts walking slowly toward the Soldier's Defense. His green eyes keep flickering over to where the two women are, keeping an eye on them as one begins to quickly craft something with her incredible little devices. Watching it all makes him stop again, close enough that it makes him a little nervous. Tail flicking back and forth. He steps to the side, tries to pull his eyes away. There's the twinkling of a bell and he stoically ignores it in favor of stepping off the path delicately in order to evade the unknown woman's cart. Safely around the obstacle he bows his head to the group once, not noticing if anyone is paying any attention to him any more. Best to be polite.

Sargon seems similarly confused at the words, and the cart. He tries to follow along and peers at parts indicated. Finally he hears something that interests him. "For punching?" he repeats. "What happens if you punch someone with a fist surrounded by 'mana'...?"

It is now that a blonde elf, flanked by a white and gold striped tiger walks their way down the way towards the Soldier's Defense...to find this group here. "Greetings." Sorscha says to them all, but the tiger pads it's way closer to....sniff at all of their feet.

Ennis comes walking along, from quite a different direction as Sorscha, dressed in foppish finery, swinging a cane, and whistling.

Pyre would shake her head to Alaryn, saying "I won't accept payment for such small feats. No. You can pay me if I make you a proper place to sell your goods..." At that, she returns to her backpack turned portable lab, and attaches it back to her armor with a click and a hiss as the seals tighten and stuff returns to place. She rolls her neck as she watches the staff activate, and she just frowns at it, saying "Does not seem very efficient, if you ask me. Lots of foating energy untapped by your crystals. At that, she'd tap her arm in a order that allows it to lock and open, but still shows the plugs that're in her arm connected by ports imbedded in her skin. The tubes connecting it show a cyan fluid(?), she says "Nothing is wasted this way, and is tapped right from my aura!" And places her arm back and it clicks back into place, and she has full motion in her mechanical arm now. Her head turns to Zeke, there is a gleam in her eyes as she gets some ideas in her mind. She... forgot to remove her goggles, so the gleam might be missed...

She reaches out behind her and that little claw hand hands her a smallish hammer with a pointed tip. Looks like a small rock hammer. She comes walking up to Zeke, and says "...How exactly do those crystal limbs work? I've not seen something like this before..." she'd reach out and tap it with the hammer, again, not asking permission to do anything. Most likely tapped a leg with it. It was not hard, but was enough so she could hear any tone struck with it... She does not answer that question posed by Sargon, as it was not directed at her. She does not punch with mana... but with massive-ish fists when she needs to!

"It is actually -more- efficient. It recharges itself by absorbing the mana of the world around it. Not just limited to my own aura." explains Alaryn as if she's explained this a thousand times. Which.. she likely has. It seems every artificer wants to tell her how gears and clockwork stuff is more efficient, and she goes on and on explaining how that is just a trick of perception.

"You see, I don't spend any of the energy making moving parts spin and whir. It all goes right into the capacitors and then right through the cowl into the crystal to be aimed and focused."

But then Sargon asks about the mana around her hands, and she grins. "Oh, I am not just surrounding the gauntlets with energy. It is using the mana to generate a field of force. It's like being punched by a wall." She pauses, "I suppose it would be more effective if I were stronger but.. it's better than just trying to punch with my fists."

Then she looks back to Pyre and is about to say something more when she hears.. crystal.. limbs? Her eyes snap over to where Pyre is working, "Oh, those are beautiful!" She exclaims to Zeke. "I would love to get a closer look at them. Do they channel power well? Store energy?" she asks, going on to ask about six other questions that her player cannot think to type out.

Zeke backs up. His eyes widen and his breath quickens. Then suddenly there's a goblin there and it's... not okay. He skitters backwards. Questions. So many questions. And eyes. More questions. A low rumble of danger is rising up out of his throat then that touch and. He hissses. He hisses and lets loose a terrible cry. It sounds like something dying. Like the mourning of something. Something that can never be retrieved. Then just as suddenly he is running. Fleeing. Back to the Soldier's Defense as fast as he can!

"I think we walked into something we wouldn't understand, Aurora." The elf woman says to her tiger, who rumbles out a reply, but Sorscha simply pets the lovely tiger fondly. "I know. We can't understand everything." Then there is a scream and Sorscha looks at Zeke runs back into the Soldier's defense. "He'll be fine...I think."

-End