A Clobber in the Forge (Zacharyn)

[Bree]

Ubriel had left Pete coming out of a class and rushed through grabbing a hot buttered roll of bread stuffed with meat and cheese to eat while walking with her sketches to the forge. She was meeting with Zacharyn today to work on creating her own deadly clobber and shield.

Upon entering the forge yard and swallowing the last bit of her meal, she briefly thought, I wish I had grabbed a drink with that. Then she saw Zacharyn leaning against a post and staring off into the sky. "Zack!" She waved and hastened to where he stood. "I brought my sketches. Pete has been helping me think of a good insignia for the shield but I have to have the shield and the clobber before I can put an insignia on it." She grinned.

She fished her sketches from her pocket and started thumbing through them, pointing things out to Zacharyn. "See I thought that the horn should not be too long but should have a little wider angle than my practice one. And see this beak on the back? Can you give it a twist?" She flipped the paper and said, "I measured my arm. I think these are the right dimensions for the shield. The haft of the axe needs to be just right to be fitted inside the bottom of the shield for transporting it."

She waited for him to say something, her eyes glistening in excitement and when she looked up at him, she was suddenly concerned. Why didn't he look as excited as she was?

[Zack]

Taken aback by the sudden maelstrom that is Ubriel, Zack had no idea what she was talking about, aside from the pictures of what looked like...an axe she kept flipping through.

Zacharyn placed his hand on the very top of Bree's head, and inwardly laughed as she suddenly stopped mid sentence and glared at him. As he pulled away, he grabbed the sketches from her hands and began to look them over.

"This is the new toy you desperately need me to make?" he asked as he flipped through the drawings. Occasionally he would pause and look at one in particular before he moved to the next one. When did she have time draw all these axes anyway? "Wait, you said something about an insignia? Do you want it to be mounted or inlaid?" he asked looking at the picture of a shield with several scribbled through drawings in various places around it.

[Bree]

Ubriel forgot to be insulted as Zacharyn drew her attention back to her purpose for being here at this meeting. "It is not a toy. I am going to be deadly with this thing. As for the insignia... I don't know. That is your department. As long as when I look at the shield, I can definitely see the ... whatever I decide on, then that's what I want."

She thought about a couple of her favorite concept sketches and her mind began to drift off. Shaking her head to set her mind back on task, she grinned broadly. "So, when do we get started and what do you want me to do to help?"

[Zack]

"Well, to be honest axes I can do. Gaudy axes however, I have issues with. To make it appropriately frightening, and usable in battle, I'm going to need about a month to complete this piece. Shields are easy however. I need you to decide on the material you want your shield to be made of. Wood and hide, solid metal, metal banded wood, etc... That's your personal preference and will be what you're most comfortable with using. That aside, I get to do some inlay work if you want a solid metal piece. So you need to get on that insignia before I can finish the shield." Zacharyn finished his burst looking almost boastful.

[Bree]

"Well," Ubriel furrowed her brow putting thought into it, "Can my shield be three layers? I want it to be comfortable but extremely sturdy. Can you start with a wooden bowl shape and cover it on the inside with leather and then encase the outside with a solid coat of metal that rivets to the latches for the axe and the arm braces on the underside?"

Ubriel's far away expression faded as her eyes focussed again on Zacharyn's face. Without her consent her head tilted slightly to the left and her mouth said, "Your beard has some red in it..." She immediately clamped her mouth shut as she heard the words. She felt a little foolish and shook her head.

"Anyway, three layers... what do you think?"

[Zack]

Zacharyn laughed softly, "Well it's bit red because it's turning autumn out here." he said scruffling his beard.
"As for your shield though, I feel like three layers is going to be a bit heavy for what you're going for. We may be able to fix that though. Come to the forge with me, and I'll have you look at a few things that I have set aside for us."

Zacharyn handed Bree her sketches back and turned in the direction of the Grey Tower forges. A short trek through the forge yards later, they walked into a small room set to the side that Zacharyn had requested. "I managed to beg my way into having my own materials storage area after agreeing to make practice swords for the Drin." Zacharyn said opening the door. In his little 8x10 room, Zacharyn had a plethora of hammers, tongs, and chisels lining the walls. In the far corner of the room was a wooden barrel with miscellaneous bits and bobs of different metal stocks that he had traded and worked for since his arrival to the tower. "I seen you had Peach as one of your insignia ideas." He said as he picked up a stray piece of coal on the ground. he started drawing on the wall. "What do you think of this?" He asked as he finished a simple but obvious stylized pony encircled by a vine. "I believe all shall fear this coming of The Rider of the Great Peach." he said snickering to himself. "Also," He started as he walked over to the barrel. "What do you think of some of these metal combinations? Obviously it's going to be steel for the majority, but bronze, copper, tinted steels can make a shield look quite regal if they're used to inlay." he blathered on laying different bars of metal across one another on a small workbench. He was looking forward to doing some more inlay. Zacharyn's love inlay.

[Bree]

Ubriel kept glancing at the charcoal sketch on the wall as she played with bits of metal. She finally put the metal all down and picked up a bit of charcoal herself and went to the wall. "How about this?" She drew a very simple outline of an obvious peach with a thin stem and a single leaf. She shaded one side of the top of the sketch to indicate the gradient of color and said, "My enemies won't necessarily know that my horse is named Peach, but they will recognize this sweet and deadly temptation of nature."

She went back to the metals and pulled out a bronze that had a more orange tint and a silvery white bit that she had forgotten the name of. "Can you do the outline on the top and the color gradient with this one," she held up the bronze. "then do the rest of the outline in this one?" She held up the other silvery piece and cocked her head to the right slightly. She didn't realize how comical she looked with the most sincere expression marred by her tongue poking out of one side of her mouth, just touching her lips.

Her eyes widened as she had another idea. "Oh and can you maybe intwine the two colors for the edging?"

[Zack]

"If I let her keep nattering on like this, it's going to be impossible for me to make this..."Zacharyn thought to himself as Ubriel let forth a continuous stream of whatif's about how the metals could just hammer together, and they should be just fine... "You know what?" He said slightly louder than he intended to. "I think I know exactly what you want. Why don't you let me get started, and I can have a running project that you can look in on if about 3-5 days. After that I might let you come help me forge out the blade and beak. How does that sound?" Zacharyn finished, having scooted Bree slowly toward the exit.

[Bree]

Ubriel managed to turn as Zacharyn basically shoved her out the door. Pushing the two bits of metal she still held against his chest, she said, "Great. Good. Here, you are going to need these. If you have any questions about what I need, just send me a message and I will come running. I am so excited." Somehow, Zacharyn had gotten her turned back around toward the door again. How does he manage to keep doing that?

She got her feet moving faster than he was shoving and sidestepped. "Thank you." She stopped dead in the doorway and looked up at him with a gleaming smile.

[Zack]

Zacharyn looked at her caringly. "My training seems to be taking a lot longer than yours is. At least this way I can feel like I'm helping to protect you when you're in danger." Leaning over top of her, Zacharyn kissed her softly on the top of her head. His usual blushed tinged his cheeks as he pulled away, but he didn't flinch or look away.