12822/Back to work

Back to work
Date of Scene:	18 September 2022
Location:	The Forge
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Colborn, Lara Croft

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Colborn has posed:
    Before leaving the Asgardian Dwarfen forges, Colborn made to inform his comrades in arms of how they could find him afterwards. Mostly, a small storefront in Brooklyn named very creatively.. "The Forge". That, and a contact number for phonecalls and the like. He essentially told folks they could call him if needed, or just show up.

    And so he is back to work, making a commissioned piece of armor for someone who has money and who wants something beautiful -and- functional for his SCA sessions. Plate armor to be specific, but lightweight yet strong. Hey, it's work and it pays the bills. And let's be honest, even if he was making something he didn't entirely approve of, at least Colborn is able to make... something.

    So late afternoon finds him in The Forge's back room, hammering away at the project.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had taken interest in the creations that Colborn had put on display, but more-so she didn't know a lot about the man himself. She took note of where he said his business was, and as happenstance would have it she wasn't far from that location today. Her black Jeep Wrangler pulls up outside, and after a moment, she steps out of it, putting her sunglasses on the dash and then securing the door. She steps around her vehicle's front, wearing a pair of form-fit tan trousers, a grey button-up shirt that is currently unbuttoned with a dark green tanktop on beneath it. The sleeves of the outer shirt pushed up to her elbows, and a smart watch on her wrist, Lara approaches the store, giving its front facade a look over before she tests the door, and enters through it.

Her dark hair is tied back behind her shoulders in a ponytail with a few loose strands framing her brow and the sides of her face. Now inside, the dark haired woman casually looks the interior over as she steps slowly further inside, hearing the commotion of someone not too far away, Lara calls out. "Hello?" Her voice calm and soft to the ear.

Colborn has posed:
    Of course, the old fashioned jingle-bell rings every time the front door opens. It's Colborn's concession to customer service. The hammer work fades out after a second, and a large and heavy sliding door that divides the shop from the workshop is pulled aside.

    Colborn is dressed in an Black Sabbath tee shirt and blue jeans today. At least under the heavy duty leather apron he is. That apron is untied, and then lifted over his head to remove it before he reaches out to hyang it upon a hook.

    "Ms. Croft, isn't it?" he asks as he turns and approaches. "Good to see you outside of..... work, shall we say?" he asks with a bit of a smirk. "Welcome to The Forge." he adds as he offers a hand in greeting.

Lara Croft has posed:
When he arrives through that large door, Lara casts her stare over to him, and shows him a soft smile. She steps toward him to reciprocate the offered hand, taking his in hers and giving it a light squeeze. "Lady Croft... if this were England... but it isn't, so Miss is certainly fine." She says with a light grin. Her head shakes side to side then. "Really, I'm just being silly. I just returned from back home, after everything that has been... going on there lately. It's nice to be away from it again, in fact."

She exhales then and shoots her stare about their immediate surroundings. "I was driving past, and I thought I'd stop in and get a look at your place. You seemed to be a extremely talented weaponsmith, armorsmith, and probably other such smithing." She states with another quick smile coming and going from her youthful features.

Colborn has posed:
    "I do a lot of work with metal." admits Colborn with a shrug, "It is my passion. I have heard it said that when you do what you love, you never work a day in your life. I had hoped that might be true, but it is an outright lie. What I do and what I love certainly is work. But it is work that I find rewarding nonetheless." he states.

    Then he pauses and shakes his head, "That was awfully long-winded and arrogant sounding, wasn't it?" he asks as he turns to gesture to some of his show pieces. Yes, for show only. They are well made, but to the trained eye, they are not battle-ready weapons and armor. They are ... at best, cosplay items.

    "Is there anything in particular that you seek? Anything that I might show you while you are here?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara retracts her hand and holds both together now, lacing her fingers between one another in front of her lap. Her eyes cast over to the display items that he's showcasing. She steps toward them, running her stare across them before looking to her left toward him again, to smile faintly. "No more arrogant than my correction of 'Lady' as a title." She jests casually.

Her eyes look back to the display items then and his question has her pondering for a moment. "Well, to be honest, I'm always looking for contacts who can help me identify ancient items. Because of your experience... I'd assume you'd be a very helpful individual for that." She says back to him then. "So I guess I came here more to ask if you'd be interested in helping me with such things, for weapons, and armor. I assume... throughout the years, you've seen a lot of it, and likely know where its origins could be, better than any book I might flip endlessly through."

Colborn has posed:
    Inclining his head, Colborn gives the words some thought. He has that deliberate sort of personality, not one who just pops out reactions without thinking. He tends to give real thought before he speaks on a subject.

    "I might be interested in such things. I do love artifacts from history." A pause and he smirks, "I've forged many of them in fact. So, my answer would be a resounding yes for sure. If I can be useful in that way, then I would be happy to."

Lara Croft has posed:
This, of course, garners a smile upon Lara's visage. She nods a single time to what he says before she draws in a light breath. "Excellent!" She says back at him. "Well then, I will remember who to come to. In fact I have some items back at my apartment that I might gather up soon and bring for you to look over. Just a few knives, and a helmet that I can't entirely pin down the origins of. I thought they were Roman, but the engravings on the blades, and inside the helmet don't seem to match anything I've come across before.." She pauses then, and tilts her head toward him. "Speaking of, do you have any ... markings that you put on your own creations, that I could learn? In order to spot anything that might be yours, of course." She asks next of him, before glancing around the store to her right side again.

Colborn has posed:
    "Well, for the most part... aside from close companions that my people work alongside..." says Colborn after a pregnant pause, "We try to keep what you might refer to as a -low profile-."

    He walks over to a rack and reaches for the only individual item that seems to be of quality workmanship. It is a seax dagger from the Viking culture. He holds it out and shrugs, "In order to keep that profile low, I have learned to not put a maker's mark on anything that I craft."

    "And, you should understand that while my people are -very- ancient, I am among the youngest of them. I was born after the fall of the Roman empire." A pause, "Barely after, but after just the same."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara places her hands on the backs of her hips as she watches him retrieve that item, while he gives a bit more insight in to his past. It gets another light pair of nods from the British woman who glances to the item that he gathered up, then looks back up to him. "Well. Even still. Being from that far back puts you in a place where the history was much fresher in the world than it is today." She tells him, showing off another light smile before shaking her head side to side once. "Really, I just get the sense that you have seen more than you may even want to tell about... what with the desire to be... low profile, as you say."

Lara leans forward a little then to look at the Viking dagger that he displays toward her, she reaches her right hand up then to brush some of her dark brown hair back. "Lovely." She notes before leaning back again and smiling once more. "I do have a friend who has wanted a suit of his own armor for a long time... I might ask you if you have time to make it. I believe he's most interested in a Byzantine styling, half plate, half chain. He's a large man, from Hawaii." She says with a light laugh following her words. "But yes, it'd be a nice present for him, I think."

Colborn has posed:
    Nodding slowly, Colborn shrugs his shoulders. "I would be happy to share any insights I might have about things that you have found, or that you may find in the future."

    he flips the dagger about and offers it blade first, "Consider this a gift. It was only made a hundred or so years ago rather than a thousand. I just happen to like seax daggers." And then he smirks as he listens to the description of the friend.

    "Is this armor to be for form, or function?" he asks. "Would it be something he'd like for the look, or is he planning to wear it in real combat?"

Lara Croft has posed:
The offered gift of the dagger is reached for tentatively at first. "Oh, thank you." Lara replies to the offer, taking hold it and turning it around to look down at its reflective blade's surface. She stares at her reflection in it for a second before his question there has her looking up toward him again.

She laughs. She shakes her head side to side. "He wouldn't be fighting in it, no. I mean, I don't think he would... he's a bit of a ... happy bear?" She laughs softly again.

"He owns a restaurant in Greenwich Village, it's themed as a pirate ship... but... not corny. I think he'd likely put it on display within the place..." Lara informs as she turns the dagger over idly in her right hand by its hilt, with its blade tip gently touching her left pointer finger.

"Another item to regail his guests with bravado filled tales of adventure." She states then with a warm smile touching her features.

Colborn has posed:
    "I would think that he might prefer a cutlass or something along those lines. A suit of plate and chain armor does not really seem very thematic for the age of sail." says Colborn as he stares off into space for a moment. "Imagine wearing armor like that and then falling overboard. You might sink faster than the anchor." he adds with a bit of a chuffed laugh.

    "But, if that is what he wants, then he will get it. If he came to visit me here, I could make it to fit him specifically." he adds as he clasps hands behind his back. "I could not help.." he says after a bit of a pause, "but notice your avid interest when I began showing the Dwarf King my works. I find myself wondering if the interest was the work itself, or the method of storing and producing it. If it matters, there was no magic involved. It was merely technology far in advance of humanity."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara laughs warmly for a moment at the subject of the armor. "Admittedly... he'd like both." She responds about her friend. "But yes, I'll try to bring him by some time, and perhaps he'll completely surprise me with what he'd ask of you."

She continues to toy withthe dagger idly as she hears the latter bit of what Colborn asks, then she levels her slim pointed chin, and bobs her head two quick times. "The armor did interest me. Your skills, and history, was being put on display to a King, after all. I wanted to get a good look at it myself, and I would have come to the forging process for that item we chose, but I got pulled away back to Britain, unfortunately. But yes, being that I work for SHIELD in their Wizardry and Necromancy Division, I am often faced with challenges related to magic, so I was curious about that element as well."

Colborn has posed:
    Nodding his head, Colborn shrugs his shoulders, "Sadly, I cannot help in anything related to magic. Though they enchanted the rings and crest... I was only there to make sure that it was metallurgically sound and well made." A pause, and then he adds...

    "I cheat." a pause and he adds, "By working my metal at a molecular level. That lets me work metals that others find too hard to work. It also enables me to make normal metals more durable... I showed him my greatest creation to date, and that metal has been worked to the point where while not chemically the same as Adamantium, it -is- molecularly aligned so that it is of a similar durability to that amazing metal."

    But then he smirks, "I had hoped to get a small sample of their Uru, as it has properties I have never seen in a metal. But alas, that was denied me."

Lara Croft has posed:
"Right..." Lara says in her calm British flavored voice. "The items that you craft, often are the basis for magical enchantments though, so whether you like it or not, you orbit around the general field." She says with a hint of a grin for him as she wobbles that dagger he'd gifted her to emphasise her words there.

As he speaks of the Dwarves denying him that metal, her head tilts to the side. "They did?" She inquires. "Do you... know of any items here on Midgard that perhaps were crafted from the Dwarven metals? It's possible I could locate some for you." She glances toward the forge doorway before looking back toward him.

"And that is an impressive way to create your items. I know many famous blacksmiths throughout history, who used methods that have long been lost to time... Such as the famous Katana smiths of Japan. Are you training any apprentices to carry on your 'low key profile'?" She asks with another light grin.

Colborn has posed:
    Smirking at some of her comments, Colborn turns and heads towards the door leading back to his forge. "Let me show you some of the more.. real works." he suggests.

    But once back there, he nods his head, "I know of one weapon forged of such Dwarfen metal." he states. "But I am likely not considered worthy enough to lift Mjolnir." a brief pause as he lets what passes for blacksmith humor flow over Lara.

    "And yes, I spent nearly a century learning such techniques in Japan as a matter of fact. It was thanks to Mother Box's ability to disguise me holographically that I Was able to do so. They would never have taught a gaijin otherwise. And... I do have one student am working with and teaching. I am fortunate in that she is long lived as well, so I do not have to cram all of my teachings into a couple of decades."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara stows the dagger behind her back, tucking it beneath the leather of the belt that cinches around her waist. She follows him toward the forge doorway and stands within it as he passes in to the smithing room. Her eyes cast about its interior as he speaks before she looks back toward him. "Well, yes, few of us are likely befitting that Hammer's worth judgement." She says with a faint grin before she takes a further step in to the room, and looks toward his hammering setup. "Ah, well good. I'm glad you found someone who fits that criteria, it should help, I would think."

She looks back toward him then. "And the Dwarves have made more than just Thor's hammer, surely some of it has made its way to our shores, so to speak, beyond just the Asgardian Prince's beloved."

Colborn has posed:
    "I have high hopes for my student. Forgive me if I do not give her name to you just yet. I would prefer to not share that sort of information without her permission."

    He walks to a rack of -real- weapons he keeps nearby the forge, and then glancing back towards Lara, he says. "I think an Arming Sword might look good on one of the walls of Croft Manor."

    That said, he reaches for a weapon in a black leather-covered scabbard and offers the pommel and grip to Lara. "If you would like to upgrade from dagger to sword that is." he adds with a grin. "Trust me, I am quite happy to gift weapons to others. And this one... this one -is- from the thirteenth century. I treated it back then to insure that it would never rust. It is no more durable than quality steel. Though, I did make it in the same way that the Ulfbehrt swords were made, so it is better steel than most English weapons of the same day."

    "And if there is Uru on Midgard... I certainly have never encountered it, nor heard of it being located."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara raises her now free hands up to gently wave them at the intent of knowing the apprentices name. "Of course, that's entirely fine." She softly says before she watches him present the sword to her. He speaks of Croft Manor, which has her stepping toward him, her eyes down upon the weapon. "It's beautiful." She says quietly with her eyes roaming over its length. "I have had people in the process of restoring the Manor, as it would happen, so ... if this is another gift, then I will gladly see it find a place within our museum there." She says with a look up toward him, giving him another quick smile before she reaches up to accept the blade.

"You're very generous with your creations, but I guess since this is a passion for you, you create more than you might know what to do with?" She inquires lightly before looking down at the sword again. "My father adored these kind of weapons..." She quietly admits while testing its weight in her hilt-holding hand. "I used to think that the suits of armor would come to life at night, to protect us while we slept." She says with a grin cast toward the Smith. "My father may have instilled that belief in me... just a smidge." A light grin follows that last part then as she holds the sword up with its tip facing up toward the ceiling of the forge room.

Colborn has posed:
    "Well, in a world where magic is real, gods walk the Earth, and aliens come here for asylum... I could think of stranger things that might happen than your manor's armor coming to life." Colborn admits as he steps over to what looks like a restaurant freezer door and reaches to open it... it reveals a large climate controlled closet really. A closet with maybe two hundred various swords on racks inside.

    "You may have a point about the sheer number of weapons on the premises. I could outfit an army should the need arise. But... you did not get a close look at my greatest creation while we were elsewhere..."

    That said, he murmurs. "Mother Box. Sjarnbrandr..." And the little tear in space opens up, and out floats his crazy sword. He takes hold of it and offers it out, "The one in your hands already... indeed it is a gift. This is for examination only." he adds with a grin.

Lara Croft has posed:
Another light laugh comes from the Briton woman at the insinuation that the suits of armor within Croft Manor's halls might actually be able to come to life. "Perhaps so. That would explain a few odd memories I have when I lived there as a child..." She says with levity in her voice.

When he steps over to the cold chamber door and pulls it open, she looks within it at the selection of weapons he has there-in, and it makes her smile at the sight of it. "Just as I would have suspected..." She tells him in response before lowering that gifted sword down to point its blade behind her now, holding it backward at her side. She's roaming her eyes over the selection of items within that room, when he summons his sweet precious.

At the sight of the pride and joy of the Smith, Lara reaches out to gently accept it with her free hand, and she looks it over more closeley than she'd been able to previously. She studies it. "I can't even imagine how much work, and time, would have to go in to forging something of this detail, of this... skill." She softly replies. "What did you name it again?" She asks then, looking up to him once more.

Colborn has posed:
    Shrugging at the mention of the sheer number of blades in his armory? vault? Whatever. Colborn laughs and nods. "I could be what modern people refer to as a... hoarder." And then he leans closer and stage whispers, "You should see my armor locker."

    And then he steps back to give space to the woman holding two swords. "It is named Sjarnbrandr. In old Norse, that means... the Star Blade. And since it channels the energy I generate, energy that comes from the cosmic rays emitted -by- all of the stars in the universe, I thought it a fitting name. And.. I spent.." he cocks his head to one side before adding, "Seventeen years, four months, three days forging it right. The difficult part was coming up with the filaments that channel the energy, and melding them into the steel while they remain functional."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a quick smirk at the armor whisper, then she looks back down to the blade in-question. She just soaks in its detail, and the light coming off of it illuminating her face and front. She gently shakes her head then from side to side. "And you claim you do not work with magic..." She states, huffing out a short little laugh. "I would have to beg to differ after seeing this." She says with good humor while turning the glowing blade around some to cause its light to glint off the surroundings of the room some.

"I can see why you're proud of it, clearly it is a work of mastery." She says then before she smiles toward him and offers it back. "I'll refrain from saying just how lovely it would look in Croft Manor also." She playfully chides him.

Colborn has posed:
    "This is not magic. It is physics." says Colborn. "Physics bent almost to the breaking point, but physics. I am what is known as an Eternal, and all of my people have what we call.. the Power Cosmic. Energy absorbed from the universe itself. It is not magic, but... the author Clarke did have something to say about technology sufficiently advanced being indistinguishable from magic. But... when magic really -does- exist.... that tends to make that argument less valid."

    And then he smirks, "I imagine it would look fantastic wherever it was located. But there is a reason why -that- one is stored in a dimensional space created by Mother Box."

Lara Croft has posed:
A quick nod is given to the man then who offers that explanation. "For something that is as valuable as that weapon likely is, storing it in such a place seems like an utterly wise decision." Lara confidently says back to him before she lets the glimmers of another smirk play across her lips. "And, if you took a smart phone back to the days of the Roman Empire, they might exclaim it to be 'Magic'. So it could just be a point of view..."

Her smirk fades away though and she gives another look around the forge area. "You have an impressive setup here." She tells him then, taking a few casual steps around once more. "But, I hate to keep you from your work, with my unannounced drop-in." She states while eyeing the project he'd been working on assumedly before she'd arrived.

Colborn has posed:
    "Consider yourself invited perpetually M... Lady Croft." says Colborn as he executes a perfect formal bow from the court of England. What? He's been around the block.

    "And as for the value of Sjarnbrandr... I would be hard pressed to even consider a dollar amount for its value." he says with a smile as he starts to walk towards the exit,"Oh.. you will want a scabbard for the sword."

    And he gestures to the rack where the one he drew it from lies resting.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara shows a light smile to the man's formality. "How nice." She quietly says before walking over to the indicated rack. She spends a moment searching before she selects a fairly simplistic scabbard. With a quiet hiss, and a light snap, the sword is deposited within it. She holds it by the scabbard now with both of her hands, held up in front of her. "Well, this has been fun." She tells the man. "I'll talk to my friend Jonah, and see about having him come by for his gift project some time soon then." She states before backing up toward the exit.

"Keep good care of your items, and I'll poke about for any information with regards to that Dwarven metal. If nothing else, perhaps I'll pester Thor himself about it." She states with a sly grin, a moment later she is offering him a wave before heading back to the store, and the exit found there-in.