One of the troubles with weapons engineering was that it was sometimes difficult to test your inventions without threatening those around you. Redly had learned that the hard way...but, at least, he hadn't lost anyone for good, and he still had an eye to make up for the one he had lost. Things could have been so much worse.
Today, he was testing a cannon, so he had excluded himself in the forest. Smaller than the average cannon, it was meant to be more portable than the usual one. The trouble was, it had to provide a similar result as the original model: accuracy and firepower. It wasn't an easy thing to achieve.
"Now, what is wrong with you?" Redly demanded of the weapon before him. Accuracy? Check. Firepower? Not so much. The range had been cut down to a quarter of what it should have been. The ball had taken out a grove of trees rather than the dummy. At least it was headed in the right direction... "Alright, let's take you apart, sweetheart, and see what's keeping you from making that big bang we all know and love..."
So he talked to his mechanisms. He was single -- don't judge.
She had discovered well into her third month in this place, that she had stumbled into the country known as Connlaoth. This place was a strange one, though was filled with things that had reminded her of her former home in the mists. With unique, metal trinkets and primitive gear working machines and modernizing architecture, Aelith found herself studying the place in silence. Though like most nations, still, most of it's land was claimed by the forests, and so most of her wandering was done there, though it wasn't long before she'd run into another man, or rather, another engrossed in the technologies there of, as the sound of canon fire drew her attention.
The smell of black powder and freshly splintered trees filled the air, and a moment later she was stepping out into the clearing Redly had been practicing, completely ignorant of him on the other end tinkering away at his contraption while she paused before the block of trees that had been decimated by the ordeal. She had her back to him, her metal legs,t hat look more like simple, metal armored leggings, reflected off the morning sun as she reached a single hand forward, another one seeming incased in metal, as she touched the splintered remains of the trees.
Redly frowned over his work, making a minor adjustment to the interior of the mechanical weapon. Even so, it was a cannon, and a minor adjustment took some doing. Eventually, though, it was ready for another test.
Powder and shot went into the re-assembled barrel, and Redly straightened with a big sigh. He normally had an apprentice and sometimes two to help with the lifting and assembly; sometimes, though, he just liked to be alone with his work.
Using the back of one blackened hand, he wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to fire a second time...except...
He squinted at the solitary figure standing where his first shot had landed. Just standing there, as though he had never seen a cannon ball's destructive capabilities before. (It had to be a he. He was wearing armor!)
"Hey!" Redly called, cupping his meaty hands to his mouth. "Hey! You're not supposed to be down there!"
Although...to be fair...it's not like there were signs.
At his call, Aelith lifted her head, peering over her shoulder at him. She noted the canon he held and tilted her head curiously, but didn't move from where she stood.
It was...a woman? That thought momentarily confused him...but not for long!
Well, she obviously wasn't deaf. Was she a simpleton?
"Move!" He encouraged, gesturing for her to come up the hill. "Come up here!" With his luck, she'd wander right into the path of cannon fire...
For a long moment, Aelith simply stared at him before she turned away, studying the dummy that resided a good many yards away from the splintered trees. Curiously, she studied it, seeming to ignore the man's request.
OOC: lol, Aelith listens good |8*
Yep. This girl wasn't the sharpest blade in the armory, was she?
Redly sighed heavily. Alright, well, he couldn't just indiscriminately shoot at her, could he? He'd have to go sort this out, and, hopefully, find out why she was wandering around out here...
Putting his things aside, he made his way across the field to where the woman stood.
"Ma'am, if I could just get you to move..."
As he approached, she tilted her head curiously to one side. The man was just as tall as she was with her metal heeled shoes. Though she looked him over, catching all of the dirt and sweat off his form before glancing back at the dummy.
"Had you meant to hit this with your canon instead of those trees?" she inquired simply, still ignoring his request. "You might have more luck at aiming correctly if the nose of the canon were longer." Then she glanced back over him. "Or your focus of black powder more compact. It seems the canon is too messy... or is this an older machine?"
Redly's expression went from one of patient tolerance to one of boyish glee.
"You're an engineer! Why didn't you just say so?"
Because, clearly, she had had every chance!
"Ah, well," he added, looking a bit more sheepish as he turned to glance at the cannon. "That's my new one I'm working on. Trying to make it a bit more easy to transport, what with all that's been going on with the military and all."
Nothing, really, was "going on" except for a build-up of men and weapons. But that probably meant a war was coming...
Aelith blinked. The term 'engineer' didn't quite register with her, but what he was describing to do with his canon, did. Without a word, she began to walk over towards his weapon, getting down to one knee and inspecting it as her messy blonde hair hung off her head while she peered down the mouth of the canon.
"The base is weighted improperly for this design. You'll never hit your intended target unless you enlargen the wheels to balance it out and stabilize it's force. Too much kick back."
Redly shook his head. "That's not the problem I'm having, though. It's accuracy is fine. Look. You can see where you were standing, and the dummy is some ways off. But it's the right direction and everything. But it doesn't have enough power."
He crouched down in front of the cannon himself, looking remarkably silly with his thick build. He extended a hand to her, then. "Redly Treyburn. From Uthlyn. Where are you from?" How was it he did not know her? There weren't many engineers of her caliber, after all!
Aelith stared at his hand.. then blinked.
"Not from around here." She said, rising off the ground. "And if you add more powder, you'll need something to help with the extra kick back," she repeated plainly
.
"She can only hold so much powder," Redly answered with a slight frown, as troubled by her lack of manners as by the problem at hand. "I'm afraid that if I put in any more, she'll explode."
He had some experience there!
He rubbed his chin a minute, then said, "You know, just because I'm a man, that doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about." Most of the engineers he knew were female, even if war was men's work... The designing and smithing were usually left to the women, after all. He could only assume that this was the reason she was being so unfriendly!
Aelith only stared, not realizing she had offended him or even had bad manners.
"Maybe you're using the wrong type of powder..."
Redly stared right back at her.
"Wrong type...of powder?"
What on earth did that mean? There was, to the best of his knowledge, exactly one type...and that one type had never failed him before!
Opening up a small keg, he showed it to the nameless woman. "This is the only type I'm familiar with. What do you use?"
Her master was smart well beyond his years- and it was his obsession that drew him into tinkering with things such as melding metal to flesh.. and improving the already well advanced form of the Connlaothoian black powder. He had his own armory, his own inventions, and some of his experiments resided in the nearly silent ticking gears inside her body. So at his question, she simply blinked.
She had some of that powder on her person, though her supply was running out. Once it was gone... well, that would be the end of Cinta's mysterious powder. Though were Connlaoth used black powder, ironically, his was silver.
Seeing no real harm in sharing, she unhooked a pouch from her belt and handed it over towards him. "My master made this. Said he perfected it from Connlaoth's formula. You don't have to use a lot,a nd it rarely clogs my guns."
Redly took the pouch and looked down at it, his confusion apparent. Reaching in, he ran his fingers through the fine powder, the lifted it to give it a tentative whiff.
"What is this? It was like nothing he had ever seen before!"
He glanced from the powder to his own weapon, and then he ventured, "May I keep this?" He may have been a blunt instrument, but he wasn't entirely stupid. He needed to show this to someone, to see if it could be duplicated -- not to waste it blasting wooden dummies in the woods.
Aelith tilted her head to one side.
"It's all I have left. An the inventor is dead." She told him flatly, not exactly answering him. She wasn't about to just give away the last bits of her powder- especially for nothing, and to some strange man who was out here.. blowing up trees.
"Oh." His face fell, but he tugged on the strings to tie it back up, then handed the small bag back to its owner. He wasn't so interested that he would steal it from her...
"What will you do once you're out?" he pursued curiously.
Aelith had that thought tucked into the back of her mind before she looked down at the bag and simply replied, "Find a way to get more."
"That seems easier said than done, if its inventor is dead." Especially if she wasn't willing to share it! He rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully a moment, and then he said, "Tell you what. If you want to bring a sample of it to my shop, I could pass it along to the people who make this stuff." He kicked the keg lightly with his foot. "And they could look at it and see if they could figure out what it's made of."
It was, after all, what they did best.
"It sounds like a win-win."
Aelith stared at him for a moment, digesting what he was saying before simply agreeing, "Alright.." Though she said with with some hesitation, looking the man over before securing the powder back to her belt.
"But how do you expect them to figure it out? I think some of the elements came from my home land."
Which, mind you, was miles away out at sea...
"I don't know, really," Redly answered simply with a shrug. "But they're the best at what they do. If anyone can figure it out, it's them." They, like him, were tinkerers at heart. And if people thought Redly was crazy for playing with guns and cannons, they were the ones who provided the powders that could make it, sometimes, so dangerous.
"What are you called?" Let's try this again! Jokingly, he added, "Unless you would rather me make up a name for you." He could do that too!
Aelith lifted her gaze to his, looking him over before simply replying, "Aelith." And she stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to lead the way. If there was promise of getting more powder, she might as well take it.
"We'll have to share a horse," Redly said thoughtfully, abandoning his new toy as he moved towards the place he had tethered his mount. The cannon would have to wait until the apprentices could come gather it up...
"You don't mind, do you?" he added, glancing at the strange girl over his shoulder. And she was strange, too...
Aelith followed by his side expectantly, then turned silently to observe his steed before looking back to him.
"That should suffice," she said, and waited for him to prepare the horse. Last time she tried to take the lead on something like this; the man ended up with her metal fist in his face.. and they were both horseless.
She was certainly an odd one! Redly saw to the horse at an unhurried pace, then swung up into the saddle himself. He wasn't accustomed to double-riding, really, and certainly not with a woman...but, he thought, how hard could it be?
Extending a hand downwards to her, he invited, "Alright. Up you come."
Taking his hand, she stepped onto the horse and swung her legs over like a man, giving a simple gaze tot he man before her as her heavy metal legs nestled against his and she leaned against his back. The horse, now burdened by a second rider, chuffed beneath her weight and moved uneasily as it swished it's tail uneasily. She ensured her things were secure on her person before turning her eyes back to him with a nod.
Redly was momentarily surprised by her weight -- but then, he realized, he had no reason to be. She was wearing armor, after all... With his excitement, he had forgotten that small fact...
Easing his horse's complaints with a pat on its neck, he turned the animal back in the direction of home at an easy pace; there was no sense in tiring the poor creature out!
As they moved along, he asked, curiously, reviewing what little he knew of her. "So, what brought you to Connlaoth?" He paused, then, finding himself adding, "And why are you wearing armor?" It was, after all, illegal to some degree...although she wasn't outright declaring herself a man. That law, despite his familiarity with the subject, was a bit hazy.
Aelith listened to his questions with some interest, but found it something really no different than the passing of time. So she replied with indifference.
"It just happened to be here."
And at his last question,s he stared down at her legs.
"I'm not wearing the armor.. it's a part of me." And she stated it simply, though there was only some hesitation in her voice. It seemed some folks out in this portion fo the world didn't quite understand what she was. So she hadn't quite grasped how to explain herself to these sorts of folk. Aelith was blunt anyways. There was no reason to hold anything back.
It took Redly a moment to digest the words and to, mentally, verify what she had said.
If she was able to see his face, it would have looked as though he were thinking very, very hard -- so hard it nearly hurt.
Finally, curious, he pursued, "What do you mean it's part of you?" Because that made no sense!
Aelith went quiet. She didn't have to see his face to sense the tension, the confusion in the air, in his voice. So she kept quiet as she pondered over a concise way to explain.
"I live with it on."
What else was she to do? It wasn't the armor he thought it to be. She couldn't simply take it off. It was very much apart of her and as natural to her as breathing. She glanced down at her legs, then tot he metal of her arm. Then curiously, she glanced over to his hands.
Well, that was...yes. That's what that would mean, Redly supposed. He rubbed his chin with his hand, then said, "I'm assuming you don't mean a figurative sense..."
Not in the way soldiers talked about their arms and armaments being a part of them, of living with them on all the time...
But why would someone seal a girl into an armor suit?
"How long have you been that way?"
Aelith grew quiet at his question, trying to count the years.
"Since I woke up the second time."
Redly didn't know what that meant. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what that meant. Instead, he pursued a much more gallant, and to the point, line of questioning.
"You're not hurting, are you?" he asked next, his concern readily apparent. "We can get you out of that thing if you want. We've got the best engineers and smiths and you-name-it in Connlaoth."
Aelith blinked. Now it was her turn not to understand what he meant.
"Does it look like I'm hurting?" And as usual, her face and voice were a mask of indifference. "Besides, my armor is a part of me." She couldn't take that off is she wanted to- and if the man knew the intimacies behind them, he'd probably agree.
OOC: She's so nice and sociable!
"Wait..."
Redly chewed over the information a minute, and then, finally, he asked, "You mean it's actually part of you? You're not just stuck inside a suit of armor?"
Angsar above, who would do that to a girl??
And how??
But mostly why??
He sort of gaped -- although, clearly, not at her, because he couldn't see her...so he gaped in a general forwardly direction instead!
Aelith remained silent as the man guiding the horse was digesting over this. Most couldn't wrap their brains around it, then again, things were a lot different at The Mists...
So when he was busy gaping over the thought of it, Aelith simply answered , "Yes."
So, there was someone out there not just locking girls up in armor...but actually molding armor to their bodies. The analytical, machine-loving, soldiering side of his brain was swamped with the possibilities...but he had played the role of protective older brother for much longer than he had been a soldier, and that part of him was horrified that someone would do that to a girl.
Finally, he managed, "Are there many of you?"
"There were enough of us," she began to say. "For my master to compose his work on and attempt to perfect his ideas."
"So there are more of you, then," Redly answered, thinking of his own works-in-progress. They weer, he thought, never, ever perfect... Would grafting metal to a body be much the same? Eternally imperfect?
"Are you the only one here in Connlaoth?"
It had not escaped his notice that she was familiar with explosives...nor that an army of metal people would be, in theory, effective.
As usual, Aelith remained quiet as he spoke, and took a few seconds before answering, "I don't know. I've never been here before, so I couldn't say."
"You don't keep in contact with the others?" Redly had already projected his own life onto hers, whether she liked it or not! To his way of thinking, the others were like her siblings...and he could not imagine not keeping track of his siblings, unruly though they may be! "Well, what about your, er, master?"
Aelith listened to his questions, digesting them with patience, for she was indifferent to his inquiries, anyway. So when he asked about keeping contact, she simply stated, "I left my home to be on my own." Then about her master, she waited a moment, her lips sagging into a frown before replying, "He's dead."
"I'm sorry," Redly offered softly. For all of it. Even the parts she, probably, wasn't sorry about!
"If you're here alone and have nowhere else to stay while in Connlaoth, you're welcome to stay with me." He glanced at her over his shoulder, offering her a very lopsided grin. "I won't hurt you. And I have plenty of extra space."
Aelith remained quiet for a time. His words of offering were a strange thing to her, considering...
"Though I'm only passing through, I might take you up on that offer for the evening."
"Good," he answered readily, urging the horse forward with a click of his tongue when it stopped to investigate a patch of sweet grass. "My sister is visiting one of my other siblings, so it should be just the two of us..."
The house wasn't far from where Redly had been playing with the weapon. In a short while, they were meandering through a meadow towards a quaint, if large, cottage. The sloping lawn and small garden looked well-maintained and peaceful, and there was a stillness about that place that seemed a welcoming solitude.
"Here we are." He reined in the horse outside the back door, between the cottage, a small stable, and what looked to be a small forge. "I don't really have any servants or anything...but I'll get you whatever you need."
Dismounting from the horse, Aelith studied the quaint 'cottage/forge' with interest, even as the look from her eyes almost made it seem as.if studying the small structure made her.bored. But a subtle curiosity shined in the depths of her eyes as she took in each minute detail, her posture, collected, like a soldier's with her shoulders square and chin high, which made it all the easier, for one so close,to observe the bandings of metal around her neck where it blended into flesh.
Redly vanished long enough to see to the horse. He'd have to return to properly put him away, but, for the time being, it was good enough that he was freed from bit, bridle, and saddle, and turned out into the field to graze a bit.
"Are you hungry?" the man wondered. Looking every bit the gentleman, he held the door open for his guest. "My sister's a better cook than I am, but I can hold my own."
He remembered, a bit belatedly, that she was not entirely human. He paused, then, with a graceful frown. "If you eat, that is..."
A curious question it was as Aelith lifted her gaze to his and simply relied, "Do animals not.eat? You and I are not much different than they, and although parts of me.are of.metal... yes," she said, tilting her head. "I eat." And she stated at him expectantly before she added, this time almost with a.smirk, "Though I will require oil. I do not wish for my legs to rust."
Redly blinked at her a minute, then laughed quietly and regarded her with a somewhat lopsided grin. "I think you're making fun of me."
It was hard to tell, what with her subtle expressions, but... He thought he detected some snark there.
"Well, have a seat. I'll see what I can rustle up for grub."
At his laughter, she blinked, and studied him a moment, then her legs.
"Do you not have oil?" she inquired, staring at them for a moment before lifting her gaze. "If not I will have to find a place that sells some. I have to keep my parts well maintenance if I don't want to seize up." Which, ironically was a bit painful when her parts DID become rusty.
"I have oil," he answered with a grin, although he was moving towards the stove rather than towards his workshop. "Illi will kill me if I bring oil in the house, but we can go out to the workshop if you want to do that first."
He seemed more intent on cooking than on finding her some oil, as he was speaking with his back to her. "Let's see. Do you like chicken noodle soup?"
That would be easy to make...and relatively quick, too!
Aelith blinked at his suggestion. Well, at least she was going to be getting some oil...
But at the mention of soup, her ears perked up, as did the hunger she had forgotten about. Despite being half machine.. the woman still had to eat.
"Soup would suffice," she told him simply, blinking as she peered at his back side then slowly, began to take in the details of his home. It was... interesting, different, but in a way, all the same to the other human homes she had visited in her travels. Homes she viewed as something similar to the experimentation house her master once worked within, but then again, she thought homes and barns and shops were all the same, Buildings were buildings after all and in the Mists, her master Cinta owned everything so she had not yet wrapped around the concept of outside ownership yet (at least... not with buildings)
"Good, 'cause that's what you're getting!" Redly was no master chef, but he'd made plenty of soup in his life. He moved through the kitchen confidently, searching out the required ingredients and tossing them into the pot. He chopped up the vegetables without finesse, but he managed to do so without losing any digits, so that was all that could be said of that!
"How long you staying for?" he wondered as he worked. "However long you want is fine by me. The more the merrier!"
Aelith watched him curiously, though soup was no fascinating subject matter, something about it- the cutting of vegetables and meat, brought a stirring inside her head. She recalled flashes of her sister, and herself as well, and they were... so young in this memory she almost didn't recognize them- especially as she remembered laughing along with her and throwing carrots and potatoes at one another until the pieces ended up all over the floor...
And she then recalled being scared, and as the memory stirred up the shadow figure of her parents, she took a step back from Redly as she began to recall how the scene played but- but as she and her sister began to cower, waiting to be punished, a man's laughter echoed throughout the memory, and the air turned warm and...
Aelith's lips twitched into a small smile, and in doing so- found herself not catching the last question Redly had asked.
Redly gave her a moment to respond to his question, thinking, perhaps, that she was mulling it over. When no response came, however, he turned towards her with a curious look that only grew more curious when he realized she was staring off into space with an odd smile.
"Aelith?" he prompted. "Hello? Anybody home in there?"
The second he spoke, her smile faded as she.turned.towards him. Tilting her head curiously, she inquired, "Yes?"
Redly's own smile widened into something softer, but equally as friendly. More gently, he asked, "How long do you want to stay? We have the room. And I'm sure Illi would love to meet you when she comes back."
How long did she want to stay? A strange question to ask and as it sunk in, she knew not the answer.
"I'm traveling through. Though, perhaps a night would do no harm." And then she tilted her head curiously to one side and inquired, "Who's Illi? Is that your sister?"
"Yup," Redly agreed cheerfully as he dumped the vegetables into his pot. "She'd love you. She'd have a thousand questions for you and probably wouldn't stop talking about your visit for at least the next six months."
Turning around to face her, he folded his arms across his chest. "She's more comfortable living here with me than with our parents. If you knew our parents, you'd understand why." He flashed the woman before him an easy grin. "And, I guess it's a little less crowded here. I have seven siblings who live at home still...when they're not at school in Uthlyn or out on the battlefield, anyway."
Aelith continued to stare at him, not seeming to register much past the number.
"Seven.." she repeated it, thinking back to her own family. It had just been her and her sister for so long...
And now, if she were to believe her sister was dead, her family was only of one.
"Yeeeeeah," the engineer answered with a laugh. "We've got a big family. There's ten of us kids, all told. Family events are...a little chaotic." To say the least. And that was assuming nothing got out of control...
Redly could prattle about his family all day if allowed to! At least he seemed to realize it...
He laughed out loud, looking sheepish. "Sorry. I don't get many guests out here. And Illi usually has her head in a book."
Children were... an interesting fluke to her. Considering she hadn't fully comprehended the idea behind it. Sure she knew, in theory, sex meant children- but sex for her meant nothing but pleasure. So had the two thoughts ever been connected, they'd be lost on her. After all, her master, Cinta, had made her perfect... or at least was trying to be.
Still looking through his home, she said softly, "For a man who knows something about guns and technology, your house is lacking."
"How do you mean?" Redly ventured after a moment's thought. He wasn't entirely sure what any of that meant, to be honest... Of course he knew about guys -- he was one, after all -- and something of technology, but what that had to do with housekeeping was beyond him!
At his word, she simply turned to him and instead of elaborating, she asked, "So.. you said you had oil?" She could already feel her legs stiffening as she paced slowly through the room.
"Oh, um, sure." Covering up the soup to simmer, he gestured for her to follow him back outside.
"Illi doesn't like the oil in the house..." And it was little wonder! As they moved into his workshop, it was easy to see why: half-begun projects lay all over, along with tools, sketches, and who knew what else?
To his credit, though, he led her to the back to his work bench, seeming to know where he was going and where his things were. "How much oil do you need?"
OOC: Heh heh- where he as going and where things were *snicker snicker*
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Aelith followed in obedient silence, her chin up high, not out of arrogance, but just the way she held herself, with confidence and observation. So once inside the workshop, she herself even felt a little more at home. But even this place was crude compared to the grand scale of the palace she had lived in within the Mists.
Her pale eyes took their time in taking in all of his things, from the rough sketches to the rusting tools, and hse grabbed up something she had never seen before, turning it over as she admired it's craftsman ship, but having no idea what it was for.
Then he spoke again and she lifted her gaze. Oil? Right..
Staring down at her legs she tapped a foot once and heard the faint squeal and frowned.
"How much do you got?"
"Probably enough to give you a hot oil bath, if that's what you wanted," he answered with a grin and a glance over at her...that immediately made his grin falter and a redness creep up his neck to his cheeks.
"Um, that is..." He cleared his throat. "...I've got a lot."
Aelith gave a curious tile of her head.
"I could use a bath as well." Then she tilted her head the other way as she noticed his blush. "Where do you keep the oil?" And she glanced around, looking for some sort of a can or bucket where it might be kept, bending over one of his tables, so her short dress went up to reveal a lot.
Redly didn't have much of a social life outside of his family. His time was spent mostly in their company, or in the company of his machines and weapons. He had visited the local whorehouses, as did many of the soldiers, but living out where he did, that was somewhat of a rarity these days... As for the possibility of ever getting a wife, well... His face pretty much prevented that from ever happening!
And so he caught himself staring at her exposed rear. "It's, uh..." He swallowed, tearing his eyes away. "That blue bucket there."
Aelith, never one to be startled by man or wild animals, or even a man with a marked face and missing eye, for that matter, seemed unphased by what he was, or that he had been looking at her as she turned around and looked at him simply.
"Do you mind if I were to bathe first? The waters would ruin the oil job if I did it now." And as she spoke, she removed her hefty poncho, revealing what little she wore beneath as a meager, tattered, short white dress- which, if one were to look closely, was really just a long shirt with a belt in the middle.
Such a sight might be perfect for a man loving the ladies.. and machines, for Aelith had both worlds apart of her- and also would be quite the easy lay if he wanted it. Though if she were showing any signs of interest in him, it did not show, for her face rarely showed anything except a placid expression.
Redly inhaled sharply. He had seen women naked. He had never seen...this...and it aroused more than just his curiosity.
"I'm sorry," he said, realizing, again, that he was staring. None of that ensemble was appropriate for Connlaothian Society!
He turned around, trying to be polite about the situation...
"Uh, the bathroom is inside. And I'll find a, er, more appropriate outfit... You'll be arrested if you wander around Connlaoth looking like that..."
Aelith blinked. SHe didn't understand what he had meant by her outfit and glanced down for just a moment before approaching his side.
"Alright, show me where it is. I can help you fetch water if that is necessary."
"It's this way," Redly muttered, stalking off towards where they kept the tub.
Where was Illi to keep him in check when he needed her??
"I'll let you start on the water," he agreed, which was, of course, rather ungentlemanly of her. "I'll get you something...else...to wear. And towels."
Aelith nodded and let him do his own thing. If he wanted to offer her clothes, she guess she could take a look at them. but after he left, she looked down at her body and blinked. She had no idea what was wrong with her clothes. So as he was off doing his thing, she was already filling up the bath, and peeled off the rest of her clothing which she cast aside without a care. As the tub filled up, she sat on the edge of it, completely naked except where the metal hugged her skin.
Redly felt much better when he came back...
...For about three seconds.
"Oh, my God." He started, eyes taking in way too much...and not enough, all at once. "Okay. Okay." He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. But there was so much about her...
...Maybe his siblings were right. Maybe he did have some...rather deep issues...
"Uh, clothes. Right. I brought you some of Ili's. I don't know if they'll fit, but... Clothes. So..."
Yep. Clothes.
Aelith glanced up curiously from where she sat. She tilted her head to see his expression, and wasn't quite sure what to make of his floundering. So she simply stared at him and pinned up her hair in preparation for a bath. That's when her eyes went down, and she noticed a tent in his pants.
Oh.
That was something she knew well enough. She lifted her gaze back to his and noted the flush.
"It looks like you're ready for something," she stated simply. "Before I bath, we could mate." And she suggested it like it was no different than suggesting her bath, or requesting the oil, or a game of cards....
"M-mate?!" Redly made the mistake of looking again, and he rolled his face skyward, then just, bodily, turned around. "I, uh..." He laughed out loud. "I can't take advantage of a guest..."
No, really, he couldn't!
"I've just never seen...anyone like you before. It's beautiful."
Aelith blinked at his words and continued to stare at him curiously.
"Is there much difference between my self and you?" she inquired, not seeming to fully understand the differences herself, but.. curiously, wanting to learn of it.
"Well, you know. The metal..."
How sick was he that he really wanted to look more closely at those grafts...and that that was part of the problem in his pants?
"I don't have any metal grafted onto my skin the way you do."
Blinking, she followed his gaze and lightly touched where there was metal at her neck, then further down, past her arm that was metal, to both her legs that were metal completely from the knee down. She stared at it for a while before murmuring. "It's just how I was made." And she paused before adding, "Adding things like a machine to a human."
"I've worked with machines for 25 years." Holy cow, that was a long time, wasn't it? "And I've never seen anything like that... It's amazing. It truly is."
And, damn, did it look good on her.
"I'd better go inside to check on the soup. You can just come on in when you finish up with your bath and oiling yourself."
That sounded so dirty, Angsar help him!
At his words, she tilted her head ever so slightly, and although he was about to pardon himself to check on the soup, she offered, "If it interests you, you could study the metal. My master crafted the parts himself." AN she glanced down at her hands, noting the delicate fingers that were perfectly shaped to be feminine.
"I would love to," Redly answered wrly. "But, I'm afraid my mind would be on other things besides my work..." Particularly with her dressed in absolutely nothing at all!
"But looking isn't work," she commented simply. "My master used to claim his craftsmanship is no equal... but when I left that place, I never realized how large the world is. In fact, I still do not know where I am."
"Oh, I have no doubt of that," Redly agreed whole-heartedly. "It looked...very well done." Yes, that was it. Well done.
"It's just that...I'm pretty easily distracted by...you know. The nakedness and all..."
Aelith stared at him simply, seeming unphased, though she asked curiously, "Does my nudity offend you?" Perhaps the tent in his pants hadn't meant what she thought? She didn't know, she wasn't a man.
Redly had to laugh at that. "No. No, definitely not. It's just the opposite, actually. You're a very, very attractive young lady, but..."
How to explain this delicately...
"I don't know what it's like anywhere else in the world, but... Here in Connlaoth, it's considered...not polite...to ask a guest to sleep with you in exchange for your hospitality."
At his statement, Aelith realized he did not understand.
"I wasn't offering you sex for that," she stated simply. "You just looked like you needed it."
I mean... his pants... were kind of ... well...
there was a tent there. Extending out... like a piece of wood and well...
She wasn't cruel enough to deny a man that. Unless she truly wasn't int he mood. But sex? Well, sex was different. It... made her feel.. well.. anything. So she actually might be a bit sad if he refused. It had been some time since she mated wth a man, after all- and that man couldbe viewed more or less just a slobbering beast...
She was, actually, curious how a man such as Redly might..... react.
Redly's face actually turned a new shade of red. "Oh, Angsar," he groaned, pressing his hand over his eyes. That obvious, huh?
"I'm sorry," he apologized immediately. "I didn't mean to..." Offend? No. Embarrass? No, that was how he felt. "...Put you on the spot."
He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. "Please, don't take offense, but I am a gentleman, and I intend to act like one. Though, I, uh, thank you for your...consideration." Sure... That seemed completely reasonable... "If we had known each other longer, perhaps..." Or, you know, if she were a whore.
Aelith didn't understand his terminology of a gentleman. He was a man. Man needed sex. But perhaps he just.. did not want to? She decided, perhaps that was it, and she'd just let it at that. Some of these... people were just.. so very strange.
"Well.." she began, after a moment of consideration. "You said you were interested in my technology, though I am unsure how I can show it to you with my clothing on. It is, after all, one with my flesh. Have you changed your mind?" If so.. perhaps she ought to just focus back on her bath. She still needed oil, after all.
"Maybe I'll take a look at that later, if that's alright with you?" After he had calmed down... With a grin, he said, "How about after we eat dinner? That would give you a chance to bathe and to oil your legs..."
He paused, then, and add, "I really should go see to the soup... If you'll kindly excuse me..."
Aelith nodded, and when he left she tended to herself proper. Scrubbing herself down and ensuring all of the grime and sweat from the road was off of her skin, before rinsing off and stepping out and reahcing for a towel. She dried herself off, patting her face down before moving over towards where the oil had been laid, and then set to work, ensuring all of her metal parts were well tended to.
Once she was done, she tested her legs by slowly stretching them, and stared for a moment at her naked body, to where the metal met to the skin before moving to redress herself. Once she was, she stepped back into his home and was greeted by the savory smells of the soup.
The kitchen was a little livelier than when Aelith had left it. The soup was bubbling away on the stove, but there were other things cooking as well.
"You have good timing!" the owner of the home announced cheerfully. "The soup is just about done..." Silverware and a napkin were set down in front of her with none of the exaggerated grace of a waiter. A glass of water followed, then a grilled cheese sandwich, and, finally, the soup.
"So, tell me more about this place you come from..."
Aelith hadn't realized she was hungry until she could smell the food more completely and even got a good look at it. She had taken a seat and was served, and stared down at the food, that was..
until he inquired about her 'home'. Rising her eyes to meet his, she simply asked, "What do you want to know?"
And moved to takes some small bites of her sandwich.
"Well, I suppose, whatever you'd like to share..." Redly hadn't a specific interest, per se... Well, he rather did, but after what had happened earlier out at the bath, he wasn't sure if was considered polite conversation anymore!
Another bowl, this one of pudding, was set down on the table for her dessert, and Redly turned back to the stove to turn it off and to serve himself.
"I'm not sure what there is to say. I come from a place simply known as 'The Mists.' " And here, she tilted her head to observe him, not even noting the warm pudding beside her. "I suppose you would not know of it. No one has. But it exists in the middle of the ocean, on a chain of islands made from hard, fresh molten lava that steams up from the ocean in constant eruptions. It's.. much different there than it is here. Things here seem... quieter. Though I'm not used to seeing so many people. The only other beings there were my master, Cinta, and others like me."
"Well," Redly answered thoughtfully. "Your timing is pretty bad, unfortunately. People are...tense. As long as you aren't a mage, you should be fine, but... People these days look on others they don't know with suspicion. That's really too bad. Connlaoth hasn't always been like this, and you're probably missing out on some really wonderful things because of it."
He stirred his soup thoughtfully. "Where was it you said you were headed?"
"Mage?" Aelith gave a curious tilt of her head. She understood magic, and technology, and the mash up of what she was, but didn't quite understand what he had meant by his phrasing. But then when he inquired about direction, she merely blinked.
"I'm not headed anywhere."
"Sure. A mage. A person who uses magic?" He gave his head a shake, then laughed. "Nevermind. I don't want to know." Because if he knew, technically, by law, he'd be required to report her...
"Well, then, where do you plan to go after you leave her? You must have some destination in mind..."
Aelith thought over his words again.
"My only plan was to simply travel. I... have a curiosity for the world."
After all, she knew not how to live outside of Cinta's world. And the time she had lived in freedom before him, as a full human...
She had only fragments of memories to remind her of what it was truly like. Perhaps it's why she studied humans now in silence- it brought back some of those memories she other wise thought might have been forgotten.
"I never did much traveling myself," Redly answered her with an understanding nod. "When I was younger, I thought I might...but engineers generally don't go out in the field." In part because many engineers were women. Redly tended to ignore that point, however... "Anyway, that suits me. I have to watch out for my younger siblings."
All nine of them! ...Well, eight.
"Well, like I said, you're welcome to stay. And if there's anything I can do for you... Just ask."
"Engineers don't travel?" The woman looked perplexed, but she didn't seem to dwell on that piece of information for long. It was then she noticed the pudding beside her as she stared at it and went quiet.
"Not with the army, anyway," he answered good-naturedly. "Most engineers are women." He grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "But I like blowing stuff up, and the ladies need a hand with the heavy stuff, so I don't mind much. And having one eye limits my usefulness in the field anyway."
As an after-thought, he added, "Women aren't soldiers. Not in Connlaoth, anyway. They stay at home and work, and men do all the fighting and guarding and...well, soldier things like that."
Aelith took in all of this with quite an interest on her face, showing a bit more emotion than she might have before- or perhaps a bit more of an understanding.
"So women do not know how to fight?" It was a curious thing to take in, indeed! And it was here she took a moment, after digesting his words, that she now digested what his body looked like. He had so many scars and a patch over his eyes that she was not deterred by it, but rather fascinated. Staring at the patch, she inquired, "So what happened to that eye? Did you lose in during a battle or fight?" She hadn't considered he could have lost it by shrapnel.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Redly answered good-naturedly. "It's just that they're not allowed to in any official capacity. Most Connlaothian women are pretty tough, though." He certainly wouldn't pick a fight with many of them!
The question about his missing eye made him glance up, and he answered her with a sheepish laugh. "Nothing so exciting, I'm afraid. I put too much powder into my gun, and..." He made an explosion sound. "I was a lot younger and a lot dumber." His grin stretched from ear to ear. "Well, maybe not a lot dumber," he added self-deprecatingly.
Aelith continued to stare at his eye patch.
"So you did that to yourself? Did it.hurt?" Though naturally, she knew it would but it was just a question that rather rolled off her tongue without much regard.
"I don't remember much to be honest," Redly answered cheerfully. "But it sure hurt afterwards. And then it itched like hell. It took a long time to heal, but..." He grinned broadly. "It was about 20 years ago now. I've had a long time to get used to it. You can look at it if you like. But it's pretty much just a gross-looking scar now."
Although, somehow, he didn't think she'd be as disgusted as some.
Aelith took in what he said with some thought, before simply stating, "And you never sought a replacement?" Being that her master could just create simple beings from scratch never crossed her mind that most of the world was not quite as technologically or magically as advanced as he. But even at her question, she still stared at the eyepatch and the scars surrounding it with interest.
That made him laugh. It was a heartfelt belly laugh, not to make fun of the idea but simply because he found the idea funny in his jolly way.
"No. Eyes aren't so easy to replace," he answered with another chuckle. "You can't just make one and stick it in and have it work. Besides, I have another. I can do with one eye what most people need two for."
Aelith, not fully understanding the laugh, simply stared at the man as he grinned back at her.
"I suppose you're right. It would prove more difficult if you had none."
"Sure would!" Redly announced brightly as he rose to begin cleaning up the plates. "Some people can be kind of touchy about these things, especially when they lost it doing something as stupid as I did." Or even stupider! "But there's no reason to be all prickly about it, I say." That made him pause. "Sorry I can't offer you much more than I already have. We keep things pretty simple here."
Aelith studied him, and presumed his last statement was about his lack of eye than lack of food.
"I suppose one does not really need to apologize for their lack of sight. I'm sure others can hardly tell you have any handi-cap due to it being missing."
Red's answer was an immediate grin. "The food. I was apologizing for not having better food."
After the dishes were safely deposited into the sink, he returned to his chair to regard her with a curious expression. "Did you want to look at it? I don't mind showing it off."
OOC: LOL Redley WOULD show off his eye 8D
And Aelith, sadly, would accept ._.
-------
Aelith, only then realizing her mistake, stared back at the now empty table,t hen up to Redley when her mind caught up to what he offered. Now staring at the eye patch with interest, she gave a subtle nod. "Yes."
"As I said," he began as he gently removed the patch. It was obvious he had worn the patch for years; where the strap to keep it in place usually lay, his hair was thinner and had grown in at the occasional odd direction. "It's not much to look at these days."
The scar that the patch had concealed made it clear which way the shrapnel had traveled in doing its damage. The eye had had to be removed long ago to keep it from becoming infected, resulting in leaving the socket now empty but heavily scarred from the trauma it had endured so long ago.
Staring back into the hollow where his eyes had once been, Aelith showed no small sign of being perturbed. In fact, if anything, she observed the hole in interest. It was a wonder to be able to see a human's face without the eye, for eyes hid the hollow there well that they normally resided within,a nd without so much as an inquiry if it were alright, she gently touched the bottom half of the recess, just slightly above his cheek.
"It makes this side of your face appear more like a skull." She commented, but the way her tone inferred it, again, she was hardly deterred by it as her fingers gently slid along it before she removed her hand and looked up at him. And her eyes continued to look, studying the way the scar had, over time, turned his flesh much whiter in pieces with a few pink puckered sections that bubbled out into the rest of his chapped skin. Though as she took it in, she was contemplating the story behind it before gesturing wth her hand across the way the shrapnel would have traveled before tilting her head curiously the other way.
"It seems it's been a while it was gone," she commented, knowing he had already said this but saying it none the less. "And yet there's no technology here for them to offer you a spare eye?" It seemed strange. Surely her own master could have thought of something. But then again, it seemed this world was a lot more primitive than her own. Though it did make her wonder...
had Cinta ever caused her to lose an eye... would he have been able to replace it?
Red seemed unperturbed by her prodding and observations, his grin only widening when she mentioned it looking skull-like. He had been through this with most of his family, after all, and he was beginning to view her in the same way he did his younger siblings.
"There aren't really spare eyes," he answered with a laugh. "Or spare anything. Flesh rots away if it is too badly damaged. That's why they had to take the whole eye. If they left it, it would have gotten infected and probably killed me."
Aelith took in what he said and nodded.
"It's the same reason I am part metal. The parts of me that were once there had failed and needed to be replaced."
"How much of you is metal?" Red wondered, mind flashing, unbidden, back to the glimpse he had had of her bathing... Externally, therefore, it was rather obvious, but that wasn't what he meant... "I mean, internally? Are all of your organs still flesh?"
Aelith was taken back by his comment and gave a curious tilt of her head.
"I... I'm not sure. Whenever something happens and I need a new part, my master would put me to sleep and I'd wake up fixed- a better creation for it."
She continued to stare at him before she looked down at herself and placed a hand over her chest- the hand that wasn't her metal one, and felt the beating of her heart.
"Though he had mentioned my heart might not be real. I do not understand. It feels as if it beats like any other man's.."
But she might not ever know, unless she were to rip her own chest open to see....