Ice, Ice, Baby

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

Outer Rim Territories
Mustafar
Mjolnir Space Station
15:06

​

Tagal Saxon and Skuld Stark were officially in business. Between arms-making and research into armor development, the forge had hardly been allowed to cool between projects. Skuld had been researching into alternate designs for more efficient M-wing fighters and deep space research ships, but slowly began to lose inspiration as time grew on. It had been a few months since she and Tagal had made a fateful meeting to dig up remains and go on an adventure with many twists.

She sat cross-legged on the new rubberized floor, dressed in her standard outfit of a work-out pair of leggings, loose synthweave top and boots, long black hair braided back.

She had been typing out steadily for hours now, waiting until Tagal would pause to speak up. They were researching into plausible armor functions beyond the standard, and to call it a dead end would be putting it mildly. Most of the options by standard companies were either basic and cheaply made, or simply not worth the time.

She blew out a sigh, stretching and feeling every bone snap in her spine. A soft groan accompanied as she slowly rolled upright, her voice pitched to be heard over his work.

"We need to try something else, ja?" She spoke up, one hand on her hip. Perhaps he had better ideas, but the Deuc was running out of those, and patience. She had the latter in spades... just not today.

Afterwards, perhaps they both should take a vacation. But until then... business. A way to expand Blackwell, and the company's creative ideals.

@Nefieslab

​

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Tagal was looking at armour and potential functions to be incorporated into said armour and that was a fairly common occurrence considering he was a Smith and he made armour and the like all the time for clients. What was new, however, was that he was making this armour for himself and for Skuld.

He hadn't made armour for himself in years now.

Looking over at Skuld when he heard her back pop audibly, he raised an eyebrow at her in amusement as he looked over the options he could see through his datapad. He hummed in agreement, turning to face her. The two of them were looking for armour functions but he only had a few ideas and it would be good to make sure that they were working towards the same ends. It would just slow everything down if they were working at cross purposes.

"We need to confirm what we're actually looking for." he told her honestly, running his free hand through his hair roughly, "I have some ideas but it depends entirely on what purpose we're looking for."

He tapped his datapad.

"Are we looking for a weapon? A utility device? A defense feature?" he asked, "Because there are many options for them all but we need to narrow it down if we're going to learn how to make them and implement them into our own armour."

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She had always had the same armor; something that had been passed down through the Stark family for many generations, mostly men. But when her youngest brother refused the family lineage, she took over as heir and inherited her father's Vikingr armor.

She was pleased he was helping her, though.

She caught his amused glance, and shrugged. When you were used to fighting and being pummeled through walls, into floors, and getting shot, hacked, and stabbed at, a little bit of snap, crackle and pop was hardly out of line. And especially, her back was killing her, but not always for the worst reasons. She grumbled softly, rubbing down the base of her neck as she padded in his direction. "Mmm... ja."

She frowned, her gaze unfocused for a beat. "What about defense? Between the acid and grenades, we might be fine for while," she frowned again, scrolling. "But the question... what kind? There are only so many..." Frustration was the tense line in her shoulders, the pinch between her black brows as she sighed. "Not that this research will ever be easy..." she muttered blackly.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Watching the Deucalian slink towards him, Tagal was reminded of the movements of a large cat. She was a dangerous woman to be sure and she was capable of great feats of violence but there was an undeniable grace in her movements that he couldn't help but note. The fact that her movements involved a rather enticing hip movement was not lost on him and he found himself taking a second to admire her body again before he marshaled his thoughts for the business ahead instead.

It seemed that she had hit upon the same area as he had.

"Defense would be our best option." he agreed, tapping away at his datapad to remove some of the designs and plans that he had managed to find some working examples of, "I think we are at a stage, both as people using our armour and as workers, that defense can become a priority. For now."

Pouring over some designs, he paused as he pulled up some images of some Mandalorians in battle, utilizing a glowing blue shield that sprung up from their forearms. He frowned a little bit as he looked it over, noting that it was... well it was a little bit small if he was being honest with himself.

"I like the idea of this but it looks a bit small." he frowned, "Do you think you can find out on the net if there is a larger version? I'll keep looking at this version to make sure."

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She caught that. She was aware once more of exactly how she was standing... and to say she wasn't pleased was as far from the truth as one could be. She was almost absurdly pleased... and she hadn't even been trying anything.

Yet.

He still had no idea that the intense look of focus he could make could really make a woman weak in the knees. Not that she would ever openly admit it.

She had to hide a smile behind the usual mask of her neutral expression. She had been scrolling on three different designs of a kind of exosuit, but it seemed too far-fetched even for their resources. She padded even closer, glancing over his shoulder. "Ja, I think you are right," she spoke lightly.

But then... there was a spark of an idea. "Show me the tag line to the name of this," she said hurriedly. When she read the name, fingers typed quickly over her own pad.

It wasn't too long before she let out a crow of triumph, and showed her findings to Tag.

"Tell me Malmhaus," she smirked, "Vhen was the last time we went on vacation?" Her black brows perked. "I think I may have found a resource, let me see..."

She scrolled down further, reading... and then went two shades paler. "Móðir allra guða," she whispered, then quickly masked her expression. Glancing up at Tag, she gave a weak smile, showing her datapad. "I... I think I have found where we can begin looking, Tagal," came the throaty reply, showing the larger version of what he had shown her. "It's on Ando Prime."

She hesitated.

"...My old home."

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Tagal had allowed his attention to drift away from his ally back to the work that they shared, the work that would go on ahead of them. He missed the way she seemed to grow interested in his response to her because he was focusing on the work that they had ahead of them. Which... okay so maybe he was trying to distract himself.

He was trying to distract himself from thinking about Skuld as he had been doing recently. Tagal hadn't had sex in quite some time and then he had had one amazing night with Skuld and, well, it was like his libido had woken up after a long sleep and now he was finding it difficult to actually concentrate.

He willed himself to focus.

"Vacation?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, "You telling me that this is going to be a roadtrip? Well good thing the ship is all stocked up - we can be on our way by morning."

Morning being an entirely relative term considering they were on a space station, meaning the only day and night cycle they adhered to was one to keep them in the loop of local time. There was no night or day in space after all. He pulled out a cigara while she was looking and lit it. When she muttered a curse he raised an eyebrow before lowering it when she explained it in a bit more detail - the location they would find the way to develop the tech was her old home.

As telling as it was that it was her 'old' home, it was still not a pleasant memory he was sure. Taking a drag from his cigara, Tagal looked away.

"I can go alone if you'd like. You don't have to go back."

He knew he wasn't going to be in a hurry to return to his Old Home after all.

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She shook her head, but she still seemed paler than usual; she offered her usual grin, and gave a short laugh. "Ja, I probably should. They would kill you otherwise, and I very much like you alive. Beside that, I might know a man who can tell me who this mystery smith is." Her lips curled into a grin as she tilted her brows, putting on a brave show.

She glanced down at her datapad with a sigh, and clicked it off. Her voice was soft, almost fond, as if there was something more to this journey that she dreaded than she dared let on. "...I should probably face it anyway, and stop playing coward. It is only a planet. But until that morning..." She playfully quirked a brow. "Let's see what else we can research into," before turning away.

Nei. She wasn't going to give in to these feelings of fear. They ruled her for three years. And if she faced the rest of her family...?

She would just have to bear that pain of seeing their faces again, knowing it was only temporary. Would they think she redeemed her honor, or would she still be known as Skuld, the Debt?
/End Thread
@Nefieslab