RP:One Good Arm Deserves Another

Summary: Linn returns! The bard runs into her favorite partner in crime in Frostmaw, where they discuss how much things have changed since their last meeting. Linn reveals his newest addition: A sapphire arm in place of his former flesh and blood. They don't delve into the gory details of how it happened, but they do discuss future ventures. Some things never change....

Outside Frostmaw Towers

Alvina was sitting outside of Frostmaw Towers, on one of the many benches lining the walkway to the office building. She’s talking with someone, reviewing some blueprints while the weather is nice. Turns out the window in her office does not open or allow cool spring air indoors and she’s practically suffocating in the small space. Her hair is pulled back, a small bundle of curls tumbling down to tickle her neck. The young woman she’s speaking to is nodding and scribbling something into her small notebook. “It’s important to make sure it’s completely air tight…” The bard is saying to her assistant. “These creases have to be seamless. Make sure we are good to go from there.” Her assistant nods again, scratching something in gibberish before flipping the notebook closed and rolling up the blueprints to take back inside. Alvina leans back on her arms, sighing skyward at the clear, Frostmaw afternoon.

Linn had made his way back into Frostmaw after a great deal of irritatingly unusual negotiation with the gate guards; it took a little bit to prove who he actually was without his signature shiny armor, and, well, the city was a little tense. He might have mirrored a bit of that tension soon after as well, unusual findings of dazed, bloodshot-eyed giants notwithstanding. Directed to the Frostmaw Towers to clear the rest of his return, he made his way through otherwise unassumingly with the simple robes he wore and a hood over his head. That was at least until he saw Alvina and her assistant on his way to the door, prompting him to approach the two; getting the boring stuff sorted out could wait. “Well well well… if it isn’t the famous engineer herself.” He jokingly greeted with a wave of his left arm, the right was… baggy, certainly much less filled than it should have been, and a hand wasn’t to be seen at the bottom of the long sleeve. For now he’d leave the surprise greeting hanging in the air, assured he had been gone long enough to have a little fun with the stunt… though chances are it wouldn’t ever go well if repeated.

Alvina blinked up at the hooded figure, shifting her gaze to his face. It takes her a moment to register his name. How long had it been? “Linn…” she breathed, pulling her arms back and throwing them around him while she tried to stand in one jarring motion. She doesn’t see his sleeve but she feels the lack of presence as she hugs him. All of that joking, about him dying. It had almost come to pass that she believed it to be true. The engineer holds him tightly for a long moment, trying to dull down the fast beat of her heart. “You’re alive,” she sighed, happily stunned to draw back and put personal space between them again. Her smile is infectious, taking up most of her face no matter how hard she fights to subdue it. “Where have you been?!”

Well, there was most definitely something in that sleeve, because the moment Alvina showed a sign of movement it had flown out so she wouldn’t pull around it, the cuff pulling back enough for a moment to reveal a light, flax-colored blue roughly in the shape of his hand. Still, Linn followed up on the hug with his other arm with a sweet sigh and a smile. “Somehow still alive. It’s good to see you again Alvina, even better than finding some of your work the moment I set foot back on this land.” A light chuckle punctuated the statement, cut off with a deep sigh when the question of where he had been came up. Deep breath... “Long story. I had some personal problems to deal with.” A huff ended that one. “At the end of it all though… I still owe this city a great deal of work.” And with a quick roll of his eyes, he added on, “And I need some of your help with something else.”

Alvina didn’t want to press him. She understood the importance of being able to talk when you needed to, and putting the rest back for another day. “I’m so glad you’re okay…” She doesn’t see the blue shape, nor does she press him further. “I can’t imagine what crazy ideas you brought back with you this time….Why don’t you come inside so we can talk about it.” A smile, as she gestured towards the front doors to navigate him upstairs to her office on the third floor.

Inside The Office Building

Linn followed Alvina into the offices, giving the workers there a quick gesture of ‘soon!’ as he went up to the third floor with the engineer. “At the rate things typically go out here though, I should be glad –you’re- okay.” He quipped back before following up as they went through the building. “How have you been? Evidently it’s… been a while.” The statement came off less rhetorical than it normally would, as he was still trying to figure out just how long this ‘while’ was. Once they had made it to the office he’d nod about the ideas before giving a wry smile. “Well, before we go to the crazy stuff, we need to fix some other crazy stuff.” A roll of the eyes came with the statement and… the soft clinking of a few stones from inside that baggy sleeve of his.

Alvina stopped on the stairs when he mentioned her being okay. Had he heard about the attack on this place? Maybe it was the bombing, or her having children, or just how she looked! It must have been obvious that she wasn't the same person anymore. She carried a little more weight on her previously lithe frame and wore an thinner smile in front of even the most trusted of allies. Small bags denoted lack of sleep, and a few children toys would speckle her work space when they finally arrived. "I'm alive," she said, leading them the rest of the way while he spoke behind her. "But okay might be a stretch." A finished thought on the tail of another sentence. She shuts the door to give them privacy. "What other things...?" Her head tilts, but she stays nearby him, looking at his sleeve, waiting for permission or a demonstration.

Linn had heard nothing... he didn't have to hear anything to know what goes on in this part of the land. Short of the baggy sleeve he didn't look all that different from before his departure, though maybe the smiles and cheer he gave were a little tempered now. His brows raised as 'okay' was considered a stretch. "What all has been going on out here?" One of those answers came pretty quickly as they entered the office and he caught sight of the children's toys.. just how long -had- he been gone again? He never got news of this development... The question on that, however, was pushed to later as Alvina bought in on his mention of crazy stuff. "Well..." He cautiously pulled the baggy sleeve up, revealing the source of that flash of blue outside; his hand had been replaced by a cluster of cloudy, flax-blue sapphires seemingly bound together by invisible force and carved into a reasonable replica of a hand. Pulling the sleeve up farther he revealed the stone to compose his entire arm now, letting it fall through the gap between the floating stone and his shoulder as he held it out for display. The whole thing was slimmed down to keep its weight mostly equal with his other, though the forearm was clearly built differently. Instead of representing something vaguely human, it was shortened with two barbed spines, long as his hand was wide, running back towards where his elbow would be. If Alvina knew her anatomy she might notice they were spaced and sized to be put into bones... bones that weren't there anymore. "I could use your help sealing this piece of junk up." he angled the barbed forearm out to display exactly what he meant." And maybe also... clarifying the whole thing. Without the alchemist's fire its nowhere near good enough for any magic heavier than what I've put into it." He looked to Alvina with a sideways, almost pleading smile, and whenever his gaze wandered back to the work in front of him... a bit of disappointment at what he'd consider a rudimentary work.

Alvina felt ten shades a different person than when last Linn would have seen her. That was before Desparrow attacked, before Hudson was a werewolf even? Before they'd been engaged, before she'd found him cheating on her. Before she'd conceived and bore twin girls. And long before Hudson started his drug cartel or Lionel's confession. History made quick work out of all of them, especially Linn. Alvina notes this as he draws back his sleeve to reveal this oddity. The bard does indeed known her anatomy quite well (as most healers / engineers that replace body parts might need to) and makes the connection between the barbed forearm and it's ' bone' structure. "What have you gotten yourself into this time..." She asked, breathlessly stepping forward to examine the stones as they moved about, marionette parts on invisible strings. What he considered rudimentary, she still found fascinating. His mind worked outside the bounds that hers did, and everything he brought was impressive and worthy of studying. She takes his displeasure to be linked to the fact he no longer seems to have a flesh and bone arm to weave into this contraption.

Maybe one day Linn and Alvina might be able to share stories about their respective mental grinders. Having been kidnapped and stuck underground in a cave for months on end... before he left the land even, left its toll. Despite every effort he'd make to bounce back and learn from it the best he could... some things just didn't fall back into place correctly. And then there was... his problems that led to his new arm. As she approached he angled the gemstones for observation, the palm broken up to replicate the lines in the flesh before it, with its surfaces neatly scored in a (marginally successful) attempt to let it grip things a bit better. Her question was met with a sharply self-critical "Idiocy. Recklessness." He took a deep sigh, relaxing a little bit. "A real nasty state of mind. One that... I have no wish of revisiting." Nodding to himself, his gaze fell to those exposed spines disapprovingly. "I need your help to fix some of the work I made then. And to... do it in a way that leaves a bit of a reminder of what it means to do things so... recklessly." He shrugged, idly bobbing his head a little from side to side as he continued looking at it. "And fix it up. Balance the weight properly. Make it the length it actually should be. You know, the usual things."

Alvina is caught off guard by this heavy answer. Linn had never been anything but light-hearted and willing to laugh at his own mortality. She searches his face for answers to questions she hasn't asked. Is he okay? No use prying, he doesn't wish to revisit the past. "Fair enough," She says, exposing her palms to surrender the topic completely. "I can do that, I'm sure it won't be too crazy..." She's replying but she's also frowning because the aura around Linn is so drastically different. Why hadn't she noticed when they met up? He'd seemed the same but time changes all of us. She should have noticed, hates herself for being so happy that she ignored it. "Can you remove it or does it have to stay attached? It would be easier if I could navigate it separately but it's not necessary. Please sit down..." She gestures to an open chair in her office while she moves behind the desk to pull some odd tools from the drawer. They aren't things she normally uses in her day to day job. They are old things. But then, Alvina too is an old thing. "Let me look..."

Linn opened up another small smile as the past was dropped, mirroring her surrender with a light motion of his proper hand, as if brushing away some dust. When Alvina went back to the present and future matters he nodded. "I can take most of it off. Not the most pleasant thing, but... we might just have to remelt it all to purify it." he rolled his eyes and shrugged before planting his hand and forearm on the table before tugging on the upper limb without even giving the engineer a chance to object. It took him quite a bit of focus, but eventually with a grimace the upper limb slowly grew farther and farther from his shoulder until fully coming free, the gems of his hand that curled upward falling to the table the moment those invisible marionnete strings were fully severed and unpowered. Playfully he pointed the upper arm that he still held at Alvina. "The consequences of shortcuts." he'd give in a faux lecture tone before setting it down next to the rest of the arm. "There is one more part that might be a bit trickier to work with though..." As if to explain he scruched up the now -actually- empty sleeve until he got to his shoulder, angling to let some light in and show off a globe made of the same sapphire substance that was set into the socket of his bone. "Have to purify this too if I want to fool around with some more magic in it. Getting it out... would take a bit more work. It's been quite some time since it went in." Weird displays complete, Linn began to lean forward to see just what all Alvina was starting to pull from the drawers, filling some more of the empty time with another question, the wonders of what it is to reconnect with an immediate project on hand! "For the first idea I've come up with so far to do all this we're going to need Hudson again and his fire. How have you two been anyway?" Being in a cave and out of the land for months on end leads to some rather... unfortunate obliviousness.

Alvina was looking over the parts Linn had just removed, using an odd looking magnifying glass to examine the elements. Instead of being clear glass, the instrument is composed of a tinted blue film like substance, closer to glass than any other respectable substance, but far thinner. She ran it over the bit in her hand and frowned. Yes, purification would be important. It's on this note that she hears Linn ask about Hudson, which solidifies the frown on her face. She's stuck with this expression for the rest of her life. "We can ask him, but I don't know what he'll be willing to help. We're a bit...seperated at the moment. Shortly after our daughters were born." Alvina puts her instrument down and retreives a framed sketch on her desk to show him. In charcoal, two small faces, with similiar features to the bard herself, sit with rather blank expressions. Maybe a twinge of a smile on the smaller of the two. "Luna, and Harper" She offers, "Harper's the bigger one. She'll be into sports, just like her dad. I know it already. Mother's intuition and all that..." Speaking of leaving things in the past! She wouldn't tell Linn about Hudson's affair with Valrae, or their engagement. How they'd moved to Larket and then his crime business had almost gotten Alvina and the girls kidnapped, along with Pilar of course. And it goes without saying that she lives here now, works here now. Isn't seeing much of Hudson outside of visitations. It's more fun to focus on things she -can- control, like sapphires. "This looks painful, can I touch it?" She asks, of the ball in the shoulder groove. It's particulary interesting, because it's so perfectly rounded.

Linn knew the difference between those two frowns Alvina put on, and she'd find that meek little expression of 'oops' on his face... but she had kids!? How long -has- he been gone!? He'd look to the charcoal drawing... to the toys... and back, managing an understanding nod. "No way I'd ever be able to manage taking care of a kid... for reasons you probably know by now." He let out a morbid 'heh' with the joke - joking about his mortality wasn't entirely gone! Just a few things surrounding it... that's all. "How has it been with them? Hopefully you've found enough peace and quiet to take care of them." Peace and quiet quite likely immediately consumed too, knowing what he does about kids. The question about touching the globe set in his shoulder caught him off guard with a little jolt as he looked to find just what she was talking about. "Uhh... it's fine, go ahead." For all the difficulty he had putting together the controls and attachments, he at least still knew how to slice a gem however he wanted, and managed to salvage the tools to do so just before he left the land. As Alvina touched the sphere she might even find it jitter and rotate every now and then under her fingers, as if the arm it controlled was still attached and fidgeting. Careful inspection would find a few dark threads coursing their way to the exposed section, as if he had to burn his enchantment into the globe. They didn't look all that different from some of the scoring he did on the rest of the arm, cutting channels to give his magic shape where the impurities made it otherwise impossible. Slowly his eyes wandered back to the odd magnifying glass she had pulled from the drawers. "What is that, anyway?" Of course he knew it was going to be nonstandard... but just what kind of nonstandard?

Alvina is more interested in the globe than answering his question about the instrument or even her children. It's amazing, how did he do this with just one arm?! When it jitters, she jumps back, startled but laughing to hide her fear. It's like examining the tech of a different civilization. She knew the practices but the way it's all put together is something odd and otherworldly. Just like Linn had always been. "Kids are something, mostly loud and messy." Her smile softens, thinking of them downstairs, in the day care section of the towers. "They can break your heart in a second, faster than they can break anything else, which is saying something." She waggles her finger at him, now she's the lecurer. "hmm? Oh that! I don't have a name for it, per say but it lets you view some of the components of constructs to tell you how pure the metal or stone is. It's a bit like a gradient...see here?" She holds up the instrument, letting Linn look through the blue film at his own arm. "See the ligher colored bits? Those are closer to being pure grade. Where it gets darker...like these spots here..." She points to another line in view. "It's less so, it's clouded by impurities." She lets him hold the instrument, review the arm to his heart's content. "It's very important to the internal components of the things I build. Especially limb replaces, to detect the material weaknesses and how it flows with magic." A wink. "And that's all I can give away for free, you know. Friendly discount."

Linn practically jumped himself when Alvina jolted at the still-moving globe, giving her a confused look as whatever shock she expressed quickly subsided. He wasn't exactly privy to that particular consequence of what he did to control the limb, nor was it ever really relevant or in a position to be so. He let out a light 'heh' as the destructive power of children was mentioned before smiling and giving a confirming nod. "Sometimes I think messing things up is their specialty..." he trailed off with a weak chuckle before his attention was brought back by the odd little device the engineer had brought out. He was already craning his neck to get a look through it before she even fully brought it into his view. "Helpful..." he idly nodded as he peered through it on his own arm... the whole thing looked pretty dark to him! "Good for finding causes of failure too, isn't it? Finding weaknessess... imbalances..." Already he was getting carried away by the applications and details behind the devices creation. When she mentioned giving something away for free he cocked a brow at her. "Free? Just what would I be paying for hmm?" he quipped before fully realizing the magnitude of what they were looking to do... for him. "I -will- owe you for this if we get to pull it off. Though I think you know I'd prefer to pay you back by making more crazy things." There came that mischievous grin, full of potential ideas and wonder at just how far he could go out of the realm of normality to do it.

"The information, of course!" She smiled, holding up an index finger to indicate it was fact! "This isn't something human, Linn. It's ancient Avian. There aren't many of them, if any at all left out in the world. Don't take it for granted!" Then he talks about owing her and she shakes her head. "You're like my engineering partner in crime," Well, save for Ranok but her and Ranok had yet to build anything together so they could hardly be called partners in crime. "You have to just keep promising me that you'll survive and help me with future madness. Agreed?" With that, she sets to work, seeking out the impurities in the arm and showing Linn where they are so they can both work on marking them for Hudson's fire. After a small silence, she says. "I think Hudson will still help us if he has time. That's the hard part, I'm afraid."

Linn chuckled and nodded as Alvina spoke of the cost of the information; he had his own ways of finding those impurities, but inevitably the invasiveness of his method has led to... accidents... one more than one occasion. When she spoke about where it came from though he was left looking through that glass again with a pretty clear expression of 'well I'll be...' As she spoke of promises of staying alive though, he set the glass down to waggle his own finger at her. "You -know- I can't promise that." His expression broke into a silly grin. "I can try and try as hard as I can, and things will still go so absolutely out of the realm of possibility that there is no way that I can even believe my own promises." He blew out a sigh, chuckling and shaking his head. "But then again, if I have survived this long through all this insanity... Maybe I could?" A brief silence as his eyes rolled up in thought before he tentatively pointed at Alvina again. "I'll give it a 'probably'... if I can... you know, the usual caveat of if the world doesn't do something stupid." Sobering up from his little tirade about things going crazy he was left with the possibility of roping Hudson in again. It would evidently be awkward, but she seemed capable of managing it. But... time? "What do you mean 'if he has time?' I haven't seen anyone ever pull more of their own time out of this land than anyone else." He froze for a second... had he actually just found something even remotely impressive about that frat boy? (Let's be real here... that's what he is... or was last time Linn knew.)

Alvina gave him a faux look, pretending to be cross with him when he says he can't make that promise. She listens carefully as he continues to explain why it's nearly impossible and that he'll try his best, pending the world's behaviour and mood. At that, she nods, letting her long crimson curls bob against her face while a smile took the place of her former frown. "That's all I can ask after all." When Hudson comes back into question, Alvina pauses, looking for ways to say what she wanted to say which was... "He has his own business now. Making Pharmacutical drugs with his alchemy. He got the job before we decided to try and have children." The smile she wears is tense, like she'd rather not discuss the fine details of the matter. Maybe Hudson had just grown up while Linn was away. Or maybe having children really changes people. Who knows. "I'll see him soon, so he can visit the girls. So I'll ask him, I promise. I'm just not sure what to do in the meantime...." She looks at the rotating globe in Linn's shoulder socket and back to the arm she was examining. "Can you live without it for a few days?"

Linn smiled and nodded as the not-really-promise was made clear. "I'll try and keep my head out of the worst of everything." Alvina's explanation of what Hudson was doing brought a curious look that eventually resolved itself. It was an odd way to phrase the various poultices and potions alchemy could drum up... it was probably just engineer's speak, full of big words and technicalities that led to very correct, if odd, definitions. "I can see how that would eat up time. Such things would be in... pretty high demand out here." Any chances for suspicions about the definitions were squelched as she asked about him leaving the arm here. Linn was left looking back on his replacement body part on the table. "I -can-." It was pretty easy to tell such a scenario wasn't preferable by his tone. "I've survived without it before. If you need some time to look at it I can work without it. Just mind the barbs. They are... sharp." His gaze fell back on the forearm that he set against the table while removing the whole thing, that look of 'oops' crossing his face again as he cautiously pulled it free; those barbs were going to leave a few marks in the wood of the table...

Alvina frowned. The table wasn't that important but it was fairly new. "I can't take you anywhere," She laughed, waving it off. "I'll be able to replace it. Maybe -after- I fix this hmm? I'll do it quickly, I promise. I wouldn't want you wandering into who knows what without an arm. Maybe you should stay at the fort for a few days while I work on it?" Just a suggestion. "I know you'd rather not be without it so would it be easier to bring it back when I can get Hudson here too? You just let me know Linn, you know I'm flexible about this stuff..."

Linn blew out a sigh, shaking his head. "This... this is one of the things I want to fix up about this damn thing. It'll even scratch up that nice metal of yours too" He'd point to her own prosthetic arm with a chuckle. Maybe his choice of material was -too- hard. When given the option to simply come back with it when everyone was together he nodded more enthusiastically. "That would work just fine. But if you think you can make something of extra time with it, I'm all ears." Cocking his head he looked up from the arm back to Alvina. "What do you plan on doing with it anyway? Hopefully something more clever than just melting and carving the whole thing out again." There wasn't really any way but up with the arm to him, but, well, it was -his arm- they were talking about.

Alvina looks down at her arm, now golden and etched in roses. She holds out the arm, showing no current signs of scratches or markings. "I hope not," she said, splaying her fingers for Linn to see. It's been upgraded, at some point of his disappearance, with a heaftier metal than the previously soft silver. "Ranok upgraded it for me...as an engagement gift but...well we see how that turned out." A smile while she lowers her arm. "It's been a while, but I'm glad you're back. Really." She gives him a careful look, the kind people give each other when they think this might be the last time. "I just want to see if we can purify the stone without breaking it down completely. It would probably take the three of us. Like I said, I'll see Hudson later and ask him." A nod, as she puts the arm back on the desk for Linn to take if he should want to.

Linn let out a light 'heh' at the mention of the new metal being an engagement gift. He shrugged. "Well, at least you still have the upgrades." he casually remarked just before he got that 'will I ever see you again' look. "I am too. Don't know if it's the smartest decision... but I owe this place. And, well, there are still good people here to work with in it all." Alvina would get a warm, truly appreciative smile and nod with the statement before they went back to the task to come. "That sounds good. The magic I know unfortunately isn't that good at pushing out impurities once things have been set in stone." A long pause followed the statement as he looked down on the sapphire arm "...literally. If what you think you can do is still too extreme for this thing while it's in my shoulder, send word so I can get it taken out for us to work with." Swishing his mouth from side to side, he'd reach down to the gems that formed the pinky, putting them forward for Alvina. "You can work with these in the meantime, if you need more... well... I have a few more fingers I can loan." He couldn't help but smirk with the statment before picking up the upper arm and beginning to reconnect it all, the thing coming together like magnets as he reattached those strings before pulling it free from the table, save for the missing finger he left to the engineer.

Alvina waves her hand at Linn, dismissively. "All right, enough mush. Get outta here before you make me cry." She takes the pinky finger, turning it over with a furrowed brow. It make sense to test the theory on a focused piece, instead of trying to blast the whole arm at once with something, especially while attached to Linn. "Great idea," She added, placing the finger safely in a box that she hid away in her desk. All these body parts lately, she thought, remembering Chisel's head detaching and dripping multi-colored sap. It made her shiver. "Ugh, just promise you won't start bleeding if you give me more fingers..." It's a last minute afterthought, but she says it with a smile. "Take care, and I'll see you again soon!"

Linn snorted at Alvina's dismissal of the complement before giving her an equally dismissive "yeah yeah..." When ordered not to bleed when taking apart more of the arm he couldn't help a confused expression, looking at his hand with the missing finger before shrugging. "Does the leftover magic count?" It was probably the closest thing to blood that could be contained in those gems, but... there wasn't much of it, it'd take some work for those gems to properly store more power. As they made their farewells he'd nod and start making his way out the door. "See you later! And no, you won't get the fingers that -actually- bleed!" One could only wonder what would go through the head of anyone who heard that statement out of its context...