More Blood, Sweat & Beers

[Marcus Evan]

Setting down his tools, the elemental wipes the sweat from his shiny metallic brow before inspecting his latest handiwork. The blood is still pumping vigorously through his veins after his two hours of concentrated effort. However, even he has to admit that he's fairly impressed with the finished product. It hadn't taken any where near as long to complete as he'd thought. Marcus considers making a matching armband or necklace, but soon realizes he has far more urgent business to attend to. He needs a beer.

"Right. First things first..."

Once he removes his stiff leather apron, the metalflesh grabs a clean rag and attempts to wipe the worst of the sweat and grime from his face and arms. He doesn't waste too much time being particularly thorough about it, though. After all, it's not like he's meeting Aaren somewhere fancy for a cocktail. He's at The Forge. Sweat and grime come with the territory. After locking the gate in the chain link fence surrounding the work area, Marcus saunters over to the bar to order his usual. However, the bartender beats him to the punch and places a freshly poured glass of Stella Artois in front of him before he even opens his mouth. He nods and smiles his gratitude at her before knocking back the ice cold lager. Listening to the music being played by tonight's dj, the elemental puts everything out of his mind for the moment and enjoys the relative peace and calm in the ordinarily deafening club. But, it's still early. Marcus knows the place will get busier as the night progresses. It always does.

  Craft Time

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2015-04-16 12:22:43		Marcus Evan rolls 8 to Intelligence+Crafts+Specialty+Adroitness+Tools(1)-Difficulty(3)-Distractions(1) (8 Again)		2, 4, 6, 3, 10, 9, 7, 4, 1, 8, 7		3 successes
2015-04-16 12:15:01		Marcus Evan rolls 8 to Intelligence+Crafts+Specialty+Adroitness+Tools(1)-Difficulty(3)-Distractions(1) (8 Again)		6, 9, 10, 10, 1, 4, 4, 10, 9, 7, 6, 9, 7, 7		6 successes

What did he make?

[InvertedMonkey]

"Stella? Really?" Ramona doesn't have a lot of opportunities to feel justifiably snobbish, so she takes it when she can get it. It comes out more amused than actually insulting, though. People can like what they like, but in a world of wonderful beers and brews, it boggles Ramona that anyone would voluntarily drink Stella. She smirks, and puts her own drink, a tall glass full of stout, on the bar next to the Metalflesh. "You're Marcus, right?" He fit the description, and was welcome here in The Forge. Welcome to work here, even. She extends her right hand, stone wearing through her knuckles, skin calloused and marked by a touch of ash or grease here and there, "I'm Ramona."

Ever since those cards of his popped up around the Freehold, she'd decided she needed to meet this guy. Her was another Lost metalworker, with an established presence in the Freehold(although she hadn't seen him around much lately). Hell, he even had a shop in the Quicksilver Gate. Definitely someone to get to know. She'd considered calling, or showing up at his shop, but the former seemed too complex, too much double-talk to establish Changeling context over the phone, and the latter seemed kinda intrusive. Somebody had mentioned that Marcus might be seen around the Forge, and so she'd started heading there after work, hoping to run into him. Looks like it had paid off.

Of course, his vanishing act and sudden reappearance raised an eyebrow. She'd pulled basically the same thing, but still, she expected people to be suspicious of her too. With all the things lurking out there looking to make a meal of a Changeling, or worse, it pays to be careful. For all Ramona knows, this could be some infiltrator posing as Marcus, or Marcus could've been turned by Loyalists or True Fae during his absence, and sent into the Freehold as their agent. There's no way to be sure until she's sure he's sworn a Freehold Pledge. But it's not like Ramona's name, or her presence here, is any kind of secret knowledge. Besides, this is a Summer hangout. If shit goes down, there'll be backup.

Often when Ramona hits the Forge she'll get a little dressed up. Not recently. As she's been coming in fresh from work, she's in more typical clothes; worn jeans, a band t-shirt, a rough pair of Doc Martens, and her worn, black leather jacket. She felt the shared pledge between them as soon as she laid eyes on Marcus. She's been watching him work for a while, actually. And god was he good. It was an educational experience, not just about him bout about the 'forge in The Forge,' where all the tools and machines are located behind that chainlink fence. I gotta get in there. Soon Ramona, soon.

[Marcus Evan]

Marcus gives a sideways glance to the woman interrupting his moment of reverie before nodding in affirmation.

"Really and truly."

It takes him a moment to remember, but the metalflesh soon recalls that he had in fact met the stonebones before... right here, in fact. Well, they hadn't actually met in this exact spot, but upstairs... in the VIP lounge.

"Alright, Ramona? I haven't seen you since we played against each other at King Pong. I only remember because it was at the beginning of the night."

Marcus smirks at the memory of that evening. It had been a long time ago, but a lot of fun. Some might even say too much fun. After all, he had literally had to carry Aaren out the door. That was probably the best part of the whole night as far as he was concerned.

"It's been a while. How have you been?"

He can't remember for sure, but he doesn't think she showed up for his backyard BBQ. Her loss, really. That means she didn't get to play Calvinball. He hasn't really seen many of the new faces that had shown up and played. Who knows, maybe he'll host another one this summer.

[InvertedMonkey]

OOC

Thanks to Cyl for making me aware of the many errors in my first post there, and correcting them. That's what I get for writing a post before breakfast. My bad!

She smiles in memory. Too much beer, and getting to compete alongside pretty Mary Lee. "Yeah, that was a fun night," she agrees at the memory of King Pong. The handshake offer either hadn't been noticed or had been ignored, so she picks up her stout and takes a drink, then sets it back down on the bar. "I've been good, actually. Left town for a while on a business opportunity overseas. Came back a few months ago." God, was it that long already? Where did the time go? "What about you? I haven't seen you around much, since I've been back."

[Marcus Evan]

Marcus nods in agreement when Ramona mentions how much fun King Pong had been, then takes a drink of his beer before continuing to nod a bit more thoughtfully as she mentions being away for work.

"Must be nice to have folks willing to fly you around to do... whatever it is you do. I've been around here mostly... just been rather busy. Work, work, and more work. Winter tends to be a very busy time of the year for me... ironically enough."

The metalflesh favors her with wry grin before he continues.

"I've had quite a few mundane responsibilities occupying my attention for the past few months, but you should be seeing me around more often from now on. I just stopped in tonight to finish up a couple of things that were on my to do list. I've been meaning to stop in for a while, I just honestly haven't had the time. I know Duncan likes it when someone is actually using the forge during business hours... I mean, it's gotta look cool as hell from the dance floor... but to be honest, the work space was designed more for looks than efficiency. I really prefer to just use my own tools in my own workshop."

Taking another drink of his beer, Marcus screws his face up as he sets it down.

"Sorry, I must be boring you. Enough about me. I'm curious about what you do that takes you across the pond for work."

[InvertedMonkey]

She sips her brew, and nods along as he talks. She throws a glance up to the forge behind the chain-link fence as he mentions it, recalling how the Metalflesh had moved in the display/work area. Seemed kinda cramped, at least compared to most forges and workshops. When he mentions his curiosity, she smiles, "I'm a blacksmith." She lets that hang for a beat, "See? You're not boring me at all." Her smile broadens into a small grin.

"Before I moved down here from Portland, I was apprenticed to a local smith, but I had a second job as a prop master for an independent film crew. When I moved down here, I hired on with another smith. He happened to know a couple of the armorers on the production for Game of Thrones, and when one of them got in a car accident, he was asked to fill in. Since I have experience with props and film production, he brought me along. Ireland. Beautiful place. What I got to see of it when I could duck out of the forges and the prop rooms anyway." She takes a pull from her beer, throat a little dry after all that exposition.

"Anyway, I've seen your card and heard about your shop. I've been hoping to bump into you for a while. If you don't mind me intruding on your after-work drink, that is," catching Andrea approaching the bar out of the corner of her eye, she smiles and raises a hand in greeting. Then she glances back at Marcus, "Could meet with you another time if you'd rather relax quietly."

[Marcus Evan]

Marcus seems to perk up quite a bit when she mentions her line of work.

"Really? You don't say?"

The elemental nods along as she describes her most recent travels. He's obviously a bit impressed. Waving away her polite attempt to leave him to his own thoughts, he indicates the new arrival to whom she had just waved. It might be difficult for him to pick out the subtle shimmer of her mantle from her elemental mien, but Marcus definitely feels the bond of the freehold pledge, so that alone makes her welcome in his book.

"Not at all. I don't get to talk shop with many people... like us. Speaking of... I don't recognize your friend over there. Is she new to the city? You can always ask her to join us if you like."