RP:Heart in Hand
Summary: Linn finds Alvina in Fort Frostmaw, hard at work on the schematics for Hildegarde's new Blue Iron Heart. His encouragement and visit boosts her mood about the project, even while the hospitality of Frostmaw to outsiders shifts to an icy chill.
A Store Room inside the Fort
Alvina was seated behind a make shift desk of sorts, running her hands over one of the many pieces of parchment scattered across the desk's surface. With one metallic digit, she traces the predicted blood paths in the artificial arteries and mumbles inaudibly to herself while the gears in her mind turn. "Here...and then the pressure will trigger this piston to pump further....moving to here....take into consideration the blue iron...hmmm...." She paused, tucking back a stray strand of her Autumnal crown and chews on her bottom lip. The door to her room is wide open, allowing anyone to pass or enter at their leisure even though the fort is still on high alert with the happenings of the Yule Ball. Their time was running short, tensions were running ever higher, and leaving the fort? That just wasn't a safe option on her own. Flying out, back to Kelay may have to be the way she chooses to go about leaving but...her emerald eyes glaze over, falsely fixated on the stone wall. The bard didn't want to leave until she knew. Until she knew the fate of their beloved steward.
Linn was passing through the fort in his usual gear and pack, more just keeping up with current events than anything else right now. The moment he heard Alvina’s voice mumbling as he passed by an open door his head snapped over to look into the room to find her right there, clearly deep in some kind of work. Well, this might just be why she wasn’t in her lab in Sage for so long. Gingerly he walked into the room, his boots softly clicking against the hard floor as he set his gaze on the designs on the parchment. He couldn’t make much sense of the details and mechanisms, but it was clearly a heart. The heart. A grin slowly spread itself across his face before he finally spoke up, “I should have known. Hey there Alvina. How’s the heart been going?” Evidently he knew of the announcement, even after being knocked out at the yule ball before it was made.
Alvina looked up from her papers, a little startled but once she recognized Linn, her body visibly relaxed and a smile took the place of an indifferent but thoughtful frown. "My, my. Look who's here!" The black eye she'd received from the Yule Ball was mostly healed by now. There was still some very slight discoloration around her eyelids and around the curve of her cheek but otherwise, she was as perky and pale as she usually was. "It’s so good to see you. I always feel like you’re nearby, an ally, in all these strange affairs." She laughed, as if this wasn't a matter of life or death. She looked down at the papers again and sighed, believing in her ability but also mortified to fail. "Do you think we will be able to do it? Truly?" She ushered him in and bid him to sit on the cot next to the table. It was clear she'd been living here since perhaps a week after the ball.
Linn chuckled lightly at Alvina’s greeting with a smile, sending a passing glance over the black eye she got as she spoke up again about having someone else. “It’s something I want to see work out just as much as you do, just as much as all of us do I believe.” Moving over to the cot as directed he set down his pack, the rigid plates of his armor detaching and falling around each other before pulling together in a neat stack before he sat to examine the drawings some more. Her question about being able to do it only brought an anticipatory grin as he looked back up to the engineer. “We can’t know until we go for it. So we have to give it our best shot. I don’t entirely know what I can do in this myself but I’m more than willing to help out. I can also do some very delicate physical work with the tools I have.” His gaze wandered back to the plans, it was clearly physical, but contained designs of an intricacy beyond his general experience right now. “More for construction and assembly though. You look to have the design though. So that’s good.”
Alvina relaxed visibly. Linn's optimism fed her own and she smiled. "You're right. I've just been fretting about it...and haven't had time for much else." A shade of guilt painted her features. "Including your armor. I'm sorry." Even though she was apologizing, it was still light hearted. The bard knew the Enchanter would find the Hildegarde Revival project far more important. "I'm supposed to be meeting with Leone soon, to go over the final details before it's time. We're the best of the best, right?" This faux confidence was deceptive, for she would likely never feel 100% certain of inventions in these dire situations. There was always a chance of failure, and she'd been ignoring that idea in order to sleep between drafting sessions. "Have you heard about some of the Giants? There's a palpable unrest here since the ball...and all the events after." A frown moves to the forefront of her overall thoughtful expression. "There may be more need to bring Hildegarde back than we originally anticipated. Or, I guess Leone predicted this would happen. I never guessed that without her...everything would erupt into tension so quickly. It hasn't been a month just yet and already it feels like we're perched on the edge of something...something disastrous..."
Linn indeed was perfectly accepting of his armor projects being sent to the wayside in the shadow of the current events. “It’s fine. I’ve gotten the mithril I need for the helmet and a few more ideas on what I want to do with the rest of it in the meantime.” Alvina’s mention of meeting Leone and her confidence, though perhaps false, still brought a grin to his face. “Together we have every tool that we might need to pull this off available to us. Physical,” he nodded to the engineer in front of him, “Divine and arcane,” A quick toss of his head directed itself outside of the room in the general direction of where Leone stayed. “Might not be every trick in the world, but I’m sure it’s enough.” He might not have been entirely confident himself, though the disciplines that came together for this project greatly boosted it. The mention of the giants brought another sigh, “Yeah, I’ve been getting suspicious stares recently, and not the ones I usually get for how I look.” He gave a small chuckle, trying to lighten it all with the jest, “and I’ve heard of plans for a new giant to be seated on the throne.” A long thoughtful pause followed as he defocused, seemingly staring out of the room in front of him, “Hildegarde coming back is going to change everything. Whether things will calm down with her back in charge, or…” he sighed, “If she’ll provide a figurehead for this new king to fight.”
Alvina hadn't even considered the possibility that Hildegarde would have any opposition by the time she was revived. If she was revived. What would that mean for Frostmaw? It could spark all out war, depending on how many of the giants agreed that this new mysterious giant leader was due the position. Had there been talk of unrest in Frostmaw before the Stewardess lost her life protecting it? “Do the giants know we are trying to bring her back?” The bard thought; it would make sense if the project was secret but would it cost them dearly in the end? Alvina hadn't been out of the Fort since Leone had summoned her, so it was hard to say she knew a lot of the lands. Not the way Linn did. When the subject turned over to his armor, she smiled. That was a more joyous topic, by a thousand leagues. “I figured you would have some more additions by the time we met up so I've only hollowed out a few pieces and set up the basic frame work. So we can add anything you like.” She thought of his ring, and how beautiful it had been. Mesmerizing, even. “You look like you've fared rather well since I last saw you.” News of his almost death at the ball hadn't reached her, and he'd failed to fill her in on any details of his adventures prior or since. “I use to seeing you covered in fresh wounds. Healthy is a good look for you.”
Linn tilted his head slightly at Alvina’s question. “Frostmaw knows Leone has plans to bring her back. She announced that herself. As far as your involvement I don’t know. I have only really talked about it with the people I needed to help me with my end of things. The giants haven’t said anything to me that would suggest they know about the work though.” He shrugged, they could just be avoiding that particular note with him. When the topic of his armor came back around he smiled and nodded, “A few. Most of them would be on my end though, playing with the enchantments. Once we have some time it’ll be an easy job compared to what’s going on right now.” He tilted his head slightly towards the schematics on the table. When she began speaking about his condition he cocked a brow and looked back up at the bard before snorting at the mention of being healthy. “I can’t afford to get too out of it right now. Once all this is over I’m sure things will go back to normal…” a small smirk crossed his face, “Depending how well the new helmet serves me.”
Alvina shakes her head, "I'd rather like this to be the new normal for you in terms of health." Had she missed that announcement? It was easy for information to get lost or removed from her brain when she was immersed in a project. It's only then that she notices Linn looking at the drafts on the table in front of her. "Here, come look." She encouraged, shifting their position to the side, making the papers more readable from the cot or any space in between if Linn decided to stand. She points out a few points in the mechanism, demonstrating the path of blood flow, waiting for his inevitable counter about what enchantments he was likely using to keep the heart in perfect functioning order. After this small meeting of the minds, she looks visibly more confident.
Linn snorted at Alvina’s preferences with a grin. “I’m always going to get into trouble. But as time goes on I’ll be better prepared for it. Hopefully it becomes the normal.” He trailed off wistfully before the project took his attention back, his head craning to look at the schematics, eyes tracking Alvina’s finger through the blood flow and mechanisms. His counter came perhaps in a different form than expected. “If there’s anything you need me to help with this, any odd hitches, I can see what I can do. It’s your design. I might have a few tricks that could help put it all together though. There anything that still has to be done with it?”
Alvina stared at the workings before her, lips straight in thought. "That's what I've been trying to figure out. I've gone over this so many times, and it looks right...but I couldn't live with myself if it doesn't work. If I miss some SMALL detail." The bard turns to Linn and gives him a soft smile. "I look forward to that becoming normal. Just a few things to make it through until then, I suppose."
Linn continued looking at the schematics, trying to pick them apart as Alvina spoke. “We could always try testing it once it’s complete before we go ahead with it…” Her hopes about him not getting hurt quite so much brought another chuckle, “Just a few things. We’ll get to work on all that later.” He hung over the schematics for a while longer before sighing and nodding. "I'm sure you did fine. Well, if you need me for anything I'll be passing through the fort enough for you to catch me. I think I should be going though." Geting up from the cot he faced the door, "I believe you have this, don't worry. I'm looking forward to seeing Hildegarde alive again."
Alvina nodded in agreement, though it was hard to say if she believed the same. Her hands were clutched in front of her chest, her body trapped behind the desk and unable to give him her signature hug as they parted. “Please be careful Linn, I’ll see you soon!” Instead, she waved softly, making note to keep a warm smile until he left. “I do too,” she said, once he’d disappeared from view. The bard took her seat again, and absentmindedly looked in the direction she believed Leone to be working in, and then to the Hildegarde’s quarters, far above her. She reached out for blue iron Laurel was tucked carefully on the corner of the desk, farthest from the schematics. The azure hue soothed her. It reassured her that everything would be all right.