As Oren dismissed them, Amity nodded briefly to herself. Going to the training hall was a given, but if actual training was involved..
Giving Dawn a quick nod as she hurriedly left the room, Amity jogged out the front of the mansion to where her gigantic sword was. Working with Dawn and Makorai, who she hadn't met yet but guessed was the guy who tossed Kana the muffin, seemed pretty fine. At least the members of her team hadn't abandoned her. Noting the trio of Sil, Maeve and Madison a little way away, she gave them a quick wave before crouching down beside the door to the mansion and hefting the massive sword up and onto her shoulder. She felt the blade cutting into the armour on her shoulder, and she worried that it might give out at possibly the worst time ever.
Looking up into the building and wiping her forehead, she wondered exactly where that pale-ass little monster girl had gone.
"Hand me that wrench, Reddy."
"Reddy?"
"Red? Like the colour? Yer hair?"
Only a few months after she'd stepped foot on the Blessed's mansion grounds for the first time, Amity stood in Kana's workshop, watching the girl work on.. something. It was shocking, honestly, that someone so.. unorthodox.. was able to pick apart and improve on technology that even Amity thought was stupidly complex. Reaching up to wipe some grease off her face, Kana held out her hand. Amity rummaged around in a toolbox for a bit, grabbing a random wrench and tossing it over to Kana. It sailed over the girl's head, but her tongue shot out and grabbed it, dragging it down into her waiting grip before she immediately rammed it into the mess of pieces she was working on. Amity had absolutely no idea what it was, other than the thing being some sort of levitation technology in the making. For the redhead, it was just a couple pieces of metal stuck together and apparently Kana had gotten grease on her face without ever touching any grease or greasy things. Amity actually wondered where the hell it had come from, now that she noticed it.
"By the way, Red, there's a surprise for you out the back. It's not much, but I figured it's time I gave your toothpick back to you."
Amity glared hard at the girl.
"It's not a toothpick, it's a-"
"Yeah, yeah, your most beloved possession gifted to you by your fiance on the day you were supposed to get all snuggly and then wham Jotun attack and Wargs and boom suddenly a Rune and then survival and a snake girl and whoa who are these rich fancy people and why are they taking me somewhere? Right?"
Her shoulders falling a little before she shrugged, Amity looked over towards the door to the back of the shop. She pushed herself off of the wall, wordlessly heading over to the smaller room and pushing her way inside. The doorknob broke under her grip, so she shoved it open like a brute.
That's what she was, after all.
Kana watched her leave, frowning a bit before turning back to the thing she was working on. She wiped the blood off of her cheek, glad it had dried and darkened enough. The low lighting made dark red look black, which was even better.
Amity flicked on the light in the storage room- barely larger than a walk-in closet, and her jaw dropped.
Sitting against the wall before her was a massive sword, bigger than her. The blade was dyed a shining silver hue, almost gleaming in the weak light. Covering the length of the blade was something Amity would describe as 'fancy designs', flowing blue carvings inlaid in the blade and coating the middle of the sword from guard to tip. The two sides were blank, bright silver, but they were quite fancy. One side was sharpened to a keen edge, and Amity was honestly worried about even touching it. The opposite side was sharp halfway down the blade, the rest of the side going down to the grip was host to a bunch of gritty looking serrated edges. Examining the guard itself, the noticed a difference- the middle of the guard and hilt was still that of her beloved dagger, set with sparkling gems. It'd taken a lot of his savings to buy something so fancy- it wasn't a weapon designed for combat, but a sign that she deserved something beautiful even if the use of said something was violent and brutal.
Biting her lip hard, she reached up to grab it.
One side of the guard curved around into the pommel at the base of the hilt, and Amity noticed grooves and a grip making it up. Being on the side opposite the serrated edge, it made sense that this was to help her saw through things.
She hoped she'd never have to actually saw through a Jotun's head, really, but times were grim.
The hilt itself was nearly perfectly crafted. Taking it in her hand, Amity pulled it off of the floor. It felt so.. easy. Light. It was easily the length of a van, but it was almost as light as a feather in her hand. The handle itself was doubled, allowing her to grip it in both hands with ease- like a zweihander that had been taken to the absolute extremes in terms of length. It was thick, too, at least as thick as.. what? A surfboard? How long had it been since she'd seen one of those?
It was an elegant and beautiful weapon, but the sheer size of it kept Amity well reminded that it was still a hunk of metal designed to murder, even if it was meant to do so and look good doing it.
"Kana.. did you make this for me?"
The girl paused in the other room, her features lighting up with a wide, happy grin.
"Duh! Who else but the one and only Kana Banana extraordinaire? I might not swordsmith much, but it wasn't that hard, you know! 'Sides, you wanna go and beat up those meanie weenie Jotun, don't ya? Gotta have a cool hero weapon to be a hero, Ami!"
Amity's eyes widened. It was actually hers?
Surely Kana was joking. It must've been for a well-paying client, at least. It.. must've.
"I'm not joking, mind you. Dead serious. Well not dead serious because I'm not dead buuut!" Kana smacked something hard with a hammer.
"I'm serious none da lesstest! Also there's a thingy on the bench too!" Another smack.
Casting her gaze over to the bench, a pristine piece of armour greeted her. Placing the sword down for a second, Amity reached over. She recognised it. It was a pauldron, massive, really, with several straps and belts attached to it. It reminded her of armour like the kind old European knights used to wear. Moving over, Amity lifted it up.
She lost her balance.
"It's heavy!" came Kana's cheery voice from outside.
"Oh, you don't say!"
Grumbling angrily, Amity recomposed herself and slid it on. It pushed her shoulder down a little, but whatever the hell it was made of, it seemed damn durable. Quickly clasping the belts and straps together around herself, the weight became a little easier to bear. It still messed with her balance, obviously, but she'd eventually get used to it. Righting herself, Amity moved her arm. It was surprisingly flexible, but still limited her movement just a little. It sat perfectly on her shoulder, and she could even lift her arm above her head. It wasn't a gigantic circle of metal or anything, just a plate, but it was enough. It clasped around her bicep with a belt, and also around her torso with several other straps. It sat well in place, and Amity grabbed her sword and lifted it up, placing it on her shoulder. She lost her balance again, barely able to hold both the sword and armour in place at once. It was tiring.
Considering her strength growth, though, by the next week it would be as easy as putting a twig on her shoulder.
Exiting the room with her new items, Amity glanced over at Kana, who was frowning at the thing she was working on. Placing the sword down, Amity walked over and grabbed the short thing and wrapped her in a hug. Kana let out a half-squeak-half-choke and flailed a little in Amity's grip.
"Crushing! Ow! Hurt! Pain!"
"You don't feel pain."
"That doesn't mean you can snap my spine so casually!"
"You don't have a spine, either."
"Stop taking my excuses to escape yer damn murder hug!"
Amity laughed and dropped the girl, who stared up at her with an unimpressed grimace. Slowly getting to her feet, Kana wiggled her arms as they slowly reformed from the little bit of crushing they'd suffered at Amity's hands.
"Thanks, Kana. I love it."
Kana scoffed, turning away and crossing her arms.
"You're scary!"
"I know."
"Say, you're gonna stay friends with me for the rest of eternity, right?"
".. Until I die, yeah."
"If you die I'll hunt you down and make you be my friend again."
"Ah, jeez, I was hoping for some peace and quiet when I die, Kana."
"Please. You're hoping for it now."
"Got me there."
Amity had already stepped back over and grabbed her sword, grinning at the girl again.
"I'll make sure not to die, then. This got a name?"
"Ha, no, only weirdos name their weapons."
"That's why I asked."
Kana gave the crimson-eyed Rune a look of utter betrayal before waving her hand it her aggressively. "I am so offended! Shoo, shoo, don't insult me or my anime memes, you pleb!" Amity chuckled and tossing the girl a wave and leaving. She had to prepare dinner, after all.
She had to get back before the Blessed even knew she was gone. A lie about the sword was already on her tongue. The only person who might've been outright curious enough to question her was Oren, and even then, she'd get the same answer as everyone else.
Coming back to the present, Amity shrugged the sword a little, exhaling and starting to make her way to the training room. She'd probably been having that exposition flashback for quite a bit, her grip on Bloodripper tightening hard. The metal was no longer gleaming silver, but stained red and black, some tiny cracks on the edges of the blade. The guard was chipped, and the two grips were worn from use.
Amity had had to use the saw, after all.
She doubted the sword was the sword of a hero any longer. With that in mind, she made her way somewhat hurriedly to the training room just like Oren instructed. She'd been there around almost a year now, so she knew the mansion fairly well. She paused, however, and spun around. Lifting a hand to beckon Maeve and Sil over, she shouted. "Hey, we're going to training now! Come with me if you want to live!" She laughed to herself at her reference.
Kana was rubbing off on her.
That was bad.
Her sword had gotten lodged into the wall behind her without her noticing as she waved, and as she dropped it off of her shoulder, it yanked a chunk of the wall with it. Amity grumbled and booted the debris off her sword before grinning sheepishly at the others. "You're, uh, in Oren's.. Ate? Art? Aett. It's pronounced Aett, Amity, c'mon." Keeping her grin wide at the others, she gave a respectful half-bow to Madison. He was a pretty chill pretty boy who was a pretty pretty cool dude.
Amity mentally slapped herself.
"If you can't handle me at my bratwurst, you don't deserve me at my Best Buy! It's a Marilyn Manson quote! I'm super edgy and cool and mysterious! Gimme cake!" Kana paused, cracking open her third can of soda now. She hadn't stopped rambling for at least five minutes, but finally gave Mitch a gap to speak as she guzzled a can of some orange liquid she'd never bothered to have before.