[center][h2][color=a0410d]Russ[/color] and [color=0047ab]Mister Waldgrun[/color][/h2][/center]
[center]Remedial weapons manufacturing, first day of term[/center]

As students filed into the large workshop, they could see a cleanly dressed Huntsman at the heart of the class. On a large workstation sat a briefcase with a holographic map of his weapon hovering above it. 

[color=0047ab]"Welcome to class, kids. I know many of you are already familiar with this technology,"[/color] the brown haired Huntsman said, turning to face the incoming students before gesturing to the large foundry dominating the workshops far end, [color=0047ab]"But for whatever reason you need a refresher course. Nothing wrong with admitting you need help.”[/color] He observed, shifting his green eyes to look over the room before turning back to the central workstation and dismissing his own project.
[color=0047ab]“There are a lot of reasons you might be in this class; Some of you never got the chance to learn properly, some of you had their weapon destroyed at Initiation. But the fact remains, you need to start from the beginning, and I’ll gladly help any of you who ask.”[/color] He noted, [color=0047ab]“Otherwise, feel free to work as you will, but come to me for approval before you start forging.”[/color] He trailed off, waving a hand to the rows of workbenches. [color=0047ab]“Oh, before I forgot. Mister Waldgrun.”[/color] He added almost as an afterthought

Some might have found it degrading in one way or another to end up in this class, hell “remedial” was in the title, and Russ was fairly sure that wasn’t an honor. The man that would be their teacher sounded like he was trying his best to ease things, but it didn’t take much to scratch through the surface, this was the “oh fuck” class, the “oops” class. Russ was well-acquainted with both sayings, nearly second-language in fact, and considering she had no actual bar to lower, being remedial didn’t seem so bad so long as she came out of it with a weapon. 

Which was all well and good, confidence was confidence and rarely could it be considered a fault. But, standing before the workbench it became suddenly and extremely clear that Russ had no idea what she was doing. Sharpening weapons? Sure. Cleaning? You betcha. Creating one from the ground up and expecting it not to break apart or blow up in her face on use? Ehhhh…

She raised her hand. [color=a0410d]”Ay uh… ‘Mister Waldgrun’?’ Any tips for a first timer?”[/color]

[color=0047ab]”Rori, right?”[/color] he inquired, gesturing for the girl to join him at the large work station in the heart of the room.

[color=a0410d]”Russ,”[/color] she said, absent, passive, but sure all the same. She came over to his side and cast her gaze over the table.

[color=0047ab]”Alright then, Russ,”[/color] he confirmed before tapping a few keys on the workstation, loading a blank weapon template [color=0047ab]”First things first, always start knowing what sort of weapon you want.”[/color] he informed the girl, bringing up a catalogue of basic forms [color=0047ab]”Any idea where you’d like to start?”[/color]

Russ stared at the blank template. She had an idea of what she wanted, swords were all she’d ever done more than polish, but all the same if she had to look at something like the Son or the Daughter again, she might hurl. At length, she gave Waldgrun a nod, and tried to picture it with her hands as she spoke.

[color=a0410d]”Sword, one-handed...made for slashing. Get the job done clean and quick, y’know? Don’t wanna have to draw it unless it’s gonna get dirty.”[/color]

[color=0047ab]”Hard to go wrong with the classics.”[/color] the teacher observed, filtering through the weapon catalogue [color=0047ab]”One handed slashing, What do we have…”[/color] he scanned the various blade forms [color=0047ab]”Preference on blade length? Single or double edge? And do you want any range capacity?”[/color]

She held an arm out, trying to eyeball its length. [color=a0410d]”About yea long. Single-edged, and keeping it fairly melee, I’m no sharpshooter. But…”[/color]

The blade wasn’t all she’d have to worry about. Sheathing the Son and Daughter had been easy, but there was nothing to it. Besides, she’d chosen a slicing weapon without minding that her muscular strength was perhaps below the stellar average. 
[color=a0410d]”If it’s possible, I’d like to get dust chambers in the sheathe, and some manner of firing the blade out. Quick-draw, y’get me? Hot and fast.”[/color]

[color=0047ab]”Simple, and easily doable.”[/color] Another quick sort option for quick draw and the list was down to a handful of blades, [color=0047ab]”Take a look, see if you can’t find one you like.”[/color]

She did, quickly even. Not too long, not too curved, maneuverable if she couldn’t get the job done with a few strikes.

Selecting her blade, she moved to the next step. [color=a0410d]”Looks like a good fit.”[/color]

Grey nodded, [color=0047ab]”Not a bad choice. Push there to load the base model into the workspace.”[/color] He instructed, pointing to a plus sign in the corner.

Russ did as instructed. 

[color=0047ab]”Alright, see the crystal icon? Push that, it’ll bring up dust mods. Oh, You’ll want to look in sheathes first.”[/color] The brown haired teacher indicated, taking a moment to look around at the other students working unusually quietly, seeing no indicators of odd behaviour.

Again she sifted through the menus, coming upon a design she liked. Rectangular, thin enough to be worn across the hip, the small of the back, or over the shoulder, but wide enough to accommodate for the blade as well as what mechanisms might be required. That done, she waited for the next step.  

[color=0047ab]”This is where it starts to get tricky. You’re going to have to decide placement of the dust system manually. Pick the dispenser you want and the program will format it for the current weapon, but you need to set where it mounts. Make sure it doesn’t hinder your movement.”[/color]

As far as engineering went, Russ could be thankful the design wasn’t too complex. Figuring out where to put the dust mechanism wasn’t [i]hard[/i] per say, just involved a bit of forward thinking. On the flat of the sheath was no good, on the end was potentially disastrous, which left her more or less with two options: top or bottom. She went with the latter, that way she could still get her hand around the sheath if need be, and it would be less likely to impede her draw. 

[color=a0410d]”Got it,”[/color] she said, once it was exactly where it ought to have been.

[color=0047ab]”Alright, that particular mod has two canisters. This is the fun part; picking your dust. Oh, you wanted quick draw, aye? Easy to mount a simple launcher in that sheath. Or go without if you prefer. All a matter of preference.”[/color] he trailed off, pointing at an icon resembling a platform with a spring underneath.

Two canisters, eh? That made matters simple enough, in fact she didn’t even need to think of her answer. Damned as the blades might have been, they were just what she was looking for. 

[color=a0410d]”Wind an’ lava’ll do. Superheats the blade before shooting it out, trigger for each,”[/color] she said, and went about selecting each dust’s position. 

[color=0047ab]”System is intuitive enough. I’ll let you make any other adjustments you might like, while I go check on the others, and then I’ll get the foundry warming up.”[/color] the teacher affirmed, stepping away towards the first row of benches to assist a young man with a growing look of frustration.

[color=a0410d]”Thanks teach, you’re a real lifesaver,”[/color] she said, and tried to make her voice match the genuine gratefulness she felt. She might have missed the bar, but the thought was there nonetheless. 

With that she gave her weapon-to-be one last look over, made sure everything was in its rightful place, then nodded to herself and went to the foundry to wait. 

A few minutes later Grey approached the foundry, waving his scroll across a scanner to authorize its use. [color=0047ab]”Just hit load from main bench, the foundry will handle the heavy lifting.”[/color] He instructed before stepping aside, retrieving a toolkit from a locker and handing it to Russ [color=0047ab]”Then you get to build it. Shouldn’t be too hard.”[/color]

[color=a0410d]”Can hardly wait,”[/color] she said, but gave him a thankful nod in tandem. She sent the foundry to work then stepped back to watch it do its thing. Russ had never heard of weapons being made in such a manner, but figured Huntsmen and Huntresses likely didn’t build all their weapons from pools of steel up. 

One by one the parts were dispensed, and when they looked cool enough to touch without charring her skin, she scooped them up and brought them to another workbench. Then, tools in hand, she splayed the pieces out and tried to figure which went where. Wouldn’t be too hard, like stacking sticks, or building stone houses. Those two were comparable, right?

It took time, but eventually she had the blade in its handle, hiltless but with a defined cutoff. The sheath took a bit more fiddling, but it too came together, the blade even fit inside it without sticking or catching. It felt well in her hands, and on her hip, it wouldn’t sag and would remain latched inside until needed. Russ could claim to be proud of few things, but this sword was certainly one of them. 

[color=a0410d]”Well, it’s all in one piece,”[/color] she said. [color=a0410d]”What do you think? Did I pass?”[/color]

[color=0047ab]”It’s a start. You’ll stay in my class through the semester, though. give you time to continue tweaking it until you’re 100% confident. Nothing major, but maybe the blade’s too short or charges too fast,”[/color] he looked over the completed weapon, giving an approving nod, [color=0047ab]”I’m not a huge fan of grades, so call it a pass on your first assignment. Make sure to practice whenever you get the chance.”[/color] With that, the green-eyed huntsman returned to his own workstation, waiting for another student to call on him.