[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/5r7OTIh.png[/img]
[b][color=Aquamarine]wordcount:[/color][/b] 1,693 (+3)
[b][color=Aquamarine]Midna: level 9[/color][/b] EXP: [color=Aquamarine]////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color] (114/100) (+1 bonus pending)
[b][color=Aquamarine]Location:[/color][/b] 
[color=Aquamarine]Warp Charges:[/color] 1
[hider=warp locations]
Virgin Victory teleport room
Top of the Split mountain
Outside the Convent of Our Lady of the Charred Visage
Tostarena Town
S.O.U. Building
Seiran Clinic
Underground Roadway (Seiran Rebel Base Outskirts)
Below City of glass entrance (plate maintenance tunnel)
Vandelay Campus (Alleyway)
Arahabaki’s entrance
Deep Ground - the Source
[/hider]
[/center]

After Midna returned to the ship and finally got away from Midgar, she found herself wandering the town, looking for something specific. Not food, she’d done that before, no she wanted to make use of something that had been languishing in her inventory since the split mountain inorder to solve a certain problem she had.

That was how Midna found herself looking up at a [url=https://i.imgur.com/YvP8WlB.png]powerful looking woman[/url] who was running a [url=https://i.imgur.com/6IrCRc6.png]smithy[/url] on one of the town’s streets.

[color=Aquamarine]”Hey, I was looking to get some armor made, specifically for a wolfos of mine. Can you do that? I can supply materials”[/color] she enquired. The woman looked thoughtful for a moment, before nodding and giving a thumbs up, before heading Midna a bit of worn paper, much to the princess’s confusion as to the lack of verbal response.

She asked what it's deal was, only for the woman to point at the paper with cheerful insistence, prompting her to examine a small set of images depicting an amateurish if not half bad depiction of the woman herself and a few [url=https://i.imgur.com/awGqOCd.jpeg]other figures[/url] first conversing with squiggles in speech bubbles representing their speech, only for some abstract force to ‘steal’ the squiggles, leaving them all unable to speak to each other.

Then there was another sequence where they tried to write to each other instead, only for the force to steal their writing as well, leaving them with just drawing and gestures, something that was represented by, among other things, the women drawing this very retelling of her story.

As Midna’s first exposure to the medium of comics, it wasn’t a half bad one.

[color=Aquamarine]”That’s terrible”[/color] she said once she was done, only to quickly clarify that she ment [color=Aquamarine]”your curse I mean, not the drawings those are really good”[/color] which got a laugh out of the woman.

[color=Aquamarine]”So, right, I can work with that, if you can work with these”[/color] Midna she said, before pulling out all the disparate crafting materials she’d gotten her hands on over her travels; some Chitinous Shell, rolls of draconic Deegahla Hide, a vial of Mordant Dew (a deadly venom), the strange PSI Core and Card that where probably related, the Ice Geode and, a after a moment, also the Other Suppression Data which felt crafting material-y but she really didn’t know if it would be at all useful.

It did feel a bit like a pile of junk now that she looked at it, and it certainly felt like the moment for making use of the other suppression data had passed which she kicked herself about a bit, but she hoped that some of it might come in handy with making use of the rolls of hide.

She also summoned her wolfos who’d be the subject of the crafting for her to examine, explaining [color=Aquamarine]”I use it as a mount, so making the ride smoother on top of making it tougher is a pretty big priority”[/color] 

The blacksmith nodded, looking the beast over for a few moments, before then going over Midna’s haphazard items pile. The hide was immediately put off to one side after getting an approving nod, as was the shell after she gave it a sniff. As for the rest, well the venom and Ice Geode were put in one pile, and the PSI and other data got some weird looks before she gave an apologetic shrug.

[color=Aquamarine]”Yeah I thought so. Maybe the Midgar refugees will be interested if we run into them”[/color] Midna said, and was then prompted to give a quick explanation of what had gone down there (without mentioning her own involvement of course)

[color=Aquamarine]”So, what’s that pile for?”[/color] she then asked, regarding the geode and dew sitting in their own pile. In response the blacksmith pointed at the hide and shell, and then shook her head, before pointing back at the other items and mimicking a sword slash and then flexing her muscular arm.

[color=Aquamarine]”Good for making weapons instead? Strong weapons? Huh ok, I could do with a good sword. What can you make? With them”[/color] she asked, only to get a shake of the hand gesture she interpreted as meaning ‘not so much’ followed by the blacksmith flicking her hand up, which she interpreted as [color=Aquamarine]”More? Need more materials?”[/color] and getting a nod.

It made sense those two where pretty small, she’d probably only get a knife out of them, assuming you could even make an actual weapon out of just those materials

[color=Aquamarine]”Well, I could always get some more stuff. Or do you have anything that would go good with them? Iron or bronze or ..?”[/color] she asked. In response the smith vaguely gestured at some supply boxes, before giving a thumbs down. When Midna didn't get it, she pointed at the geode again, flexed again, then pointed at the boxes and made a limp wrist gesture.

[color=Aquamarine]”So you don’t have anything as good? You sure it wouldn’t be fine to just go with-”[/color] she started to ask but the woman shook her head, and then held up a hand before quickly starting drawing something. Midna waited patiently for her to finish, and was then presented with an equation of sorts, only with pictures instead of numbers, with geode + dew + glowing metal and gems equaling a very impressive sword, and one where those two items + wood and scrappy metal equaled a dull blade. With stink lines coming off it.

[color=Aquamarine]”Is it really that bad? Surly the good stuff raises up the bad”[/color] Midna replied, which got her a raised palm and a headbob of ‘technically’ before the smith pointed at the drawing of the crap sword, then at her items, and then mimicked chucking them in her bin, which made her point well enough

[color=Aquamarine]”Be a waste huh?”[/color] Midna understood, before shrugging and saying [color=Aquamarine]”fine fine I’ll keep them and keep an eye out for more strong stuff”[/color] before directing her attention back to the hide and chitin and asking [color=Aquamarine]”But is that enough for some good armor”[/color]  

The smith raised one hand up (held flat to the sky,) pursed her lips and did a bobbing nod to indicate it would be ‘pretty good’ before looking about for a few moments and then finding a measuring tape. With it she took a whole bunch of measurements of her beast to get its exact dimensions, and then did some scribbling of a design. She also cracked open a box to reveal some regular leather which she added to the diagram, indicating it was for a comfy saddle, complete with stirrups and a storage pouch. After a bit of back and forth on whether that would be worth it when she had portals, they’d rejigged it so that the pouch mainly acted as a place she could safely open portals without having to launch and catch things. After showing her a few of her weapons in the process of the prior discussion, they even added a set of dedicated weapon holsters for her two auto-pistols. Oh and also strapped a cardboard missile launcher to the back of the armor, and slapped the spit sticker under the saddle when they identified it as being able to empower creatures, resulting in the beast getting a nice little boost in ranged firepower.

After that, there was a brief moment where Midna wondered how in the world they were going to work out a cost, but fortunately while the smith’s words had been stolen, her numbers had not, and so a price of 500 zenny was agreed upon. A fair chunk of her funds, it was true, but freeing up a hand in combat and toughening up her beast were both definitely worth it.

Once they were all done planning, the actual crafting of the armor took a mere 10 minutes. The hide was tanned, making used of the shell as part of the process rather than as additional armor interestingly enough, and then the resulting material was forged into a set of [url=https://i.imgur.com/4qPMpYX.jpeg]scale mail[/url] that covered her beast from snout to tail, while still leaving said tail and snout exposed for sniffing and balancing purposes, along with its legs for unrestricted mobility.

After a quick little test ride around the smithy, the princess was very satisfied with the blacksmith’s. Good, quick and friendly service, and comparatively cheap to boot. She was very much considering popping a portal here specifically so she could stop by again if she had any more crafting needs.

That said, while eminently affordable, the princess wasn’t exactly flush with cash either, and so the transaction left her pretty close to the red. She was flush with stuff however, and so her next step was a quick ride around town till she found somewhere to make some of her own sales. She ended up outside the wagon of a [url=https://i.imgur.com/TF2u4bo.png]traveling seller of trinkets and baubles[/url] because, when you boiled it down, that was most of what she had on offer. That she wasn’t using anyway. The idea of trading away any of her bulging armory didn’t even cross her mind.

A manikin hand and Jester cap where pure novelties truth be told, while she managed to convince the woman that the psi-card and core where going to become valuable now that there was a load of Midgar citizens, many psychics among them, on the way, while the abandoning of the city would also make the Other suppression data rather rare, and thus potentially valuable.

She then quickly stopped by an armor merchant to sell the Horned Ice Helm no one had been interested in as well.

All told she ended up with 3400 more zenny in her pocket, which was absolutely nothing to be sniffed at, that was for sure. Particularly when she had 3 hungry mouths to feed (hers naturally included). 

Rather than find somewhere to sit in for a meal, the princess ended up getting her and her two living minions some [url=https://i.imgur.com/EKzioqY.png]Mozzarina Cheeseburgers[/url] to go, before finding a rooftop to perch on and watch the people below go about their days. Doing so made it fairly easy to find her when it came to rounding up the group, assuming those doing so looked up, and certainly would make it easier to spot anyone else in the group who was out and about as well.