All Returns to Dust (Private: With Lin Motley)

[Pericles Herodotus Ozymandias]

Pericles hummed as he considered things, before turning at Lin's question, "Nothing at all. Truly, Vale has a storied and fascinating history. It is one that I have only glimpsed through the shady veil of politics and greed. That being said, Mistral's history is grand and enriched as well. It is one of countless battles, beliefs, lords, paupers, fools, scholars, musicians, audiences, and dynasties."

Pericles let his words hang in the air for emphasis for a few moments. As troubled as he may be in certain aspects of sociability, he had long since mastered the craft of oration. Thus, Pericles spoke more, "I, as I have just told you, come from bloodline that seeps into the margins of the pages of our history books. As such, despite those days being long since passed, I was gifted a name which flocks to the tapestries of my homeland. To bastardize the name in such a manner that it mimics the phoneticisms of Vale, makes a mockery out of those who held it before."

[Lin Motley]

Lin looked at Pericles for a little while, for all the words that came out of his mouth Pericles really wasn't good with them, the dude spent a good minute talking around the topic of him just not liking the nickname because it didn't sound as cool as his actual name, Lin couldn't help herself but shake her head a little.
"Just say you don't like the nickname, didn't need a whole history lesson, your majesty."
She turned back to her scroll as she finally did get a decent calculation going of what kind of expenses she would produce to make Pericles requested weaponry.
The weapons themselves weren't that much of an issue, Lin knew her way around those, but the systems to actually support them and make them function, like the recoil compensation, the targeting system and the fact that she was working with actually high quality material instead of the scrap she was used too, were giving her a bit of a headache, but after a few more moments of research she could finally give him a price...should she say this out loud?
The sum sounded ridiculous in her head but, Pericles was rich, he blew a 100k lien on an advance...should she make the number a bit bigger?
Lin shook her head, she'd just give it to him straight.
"2 million Lien, this is without the cost of ammunition or for any setbacks I could suffer during the process, I could do this in about three or four months, given I still got school and all, so I can't focus on this full-time. You can keep your shield for this period for the most part, I'll just need to take it in every so often to actually fit new systems onto your wagon. Does that sound okay?"
Lin asked, while she tried to put on an air of professionalism it was obvious she wasn't 100% confident about all this, the calculation was a bit rushed, but Pericles really did not seem all that worried about money, so it should be fine?

[Pericles Herodotus Ozymandias]

"'Your highness', actually. 'Your majesty' is in reference to the ruling monarch and their spouse, while 'your highness' refers to any other member of the royal family. Though to be fair to you, you are the first of anyone in Vale to at least address me by some form of title, so you do have my sincere thanks." Pericles inclined his head genially to her, not grasping her sarcasm at all.

Pericles hummed as he considered the price, "Fair enough then, I shall send the details along to my lawyers. Now, before we continue, I must inquire for I am ever so curious, what is it that initially brought you to play sprites and fae upon me?"

Pericles yawned tiredly, "Excuse me improper manners, I have been ever so tired recently. Regardless, I am merely wishing to question the impetus for your efforts. I recognize the good joy in a bit of ghostplay, but I still find myself somewhat perturbed."

[Lin Motley]

Lin just ignored his ignorance of her sarcasm, engaging with that would just cause her further headache and if Pericles was right about her being eligible to get migraines at her young age she'd rather do her best to avoid them.
Speaking of, she was glad this whole thing was drawing to a close, her mom would settle the rest with Pericles lawyer, and she could rest easy knowing she'd get a really nice patch to her allowance.
But, of course, his highness had another question.
Lin sighed, why did she want to mess with Pericles?
"Wrong time, wrong place, you were alone plus you looked nice and preoccupied, so given the opportunity I just swooped to mess with you for a bit nothing else to it."
She shrugged, was he hoping for some grand plot to rob him of his precious time?
No, sometimes people just did things for the fun of it.

[Pericles Herodotus Ozymandias]

Pericles nodded, "Well, I suppose that's far better than the alternative. You'll have to forgive me, but I am reasonably suspicious of certain matters such as that, as they usually lead up to an attempt on my life, or at least an attempted kidnapping."

With his items packed, Pericles inclined his head to Lin, "Well miss Motley, I must say that it was interesting meeting you, and we shall certainly be speaking in the future, but for the present moment, I must depart. I do not wish to be late to the tutoring sessions I have scheduled today as there are quite a number who are struggling with understanding the decline of the silk trade between Mistral and Atlas during the years leading up to the Great War."

Pericles bowed to her with a closed fist held against his chest, before turning on his heels and steadily marching out of the room.

[Lin Motley]

Lin could not wrap her head around his logic, she was like half his size, how would she even attempt to kidnap him...chloroform?
No, that didn't work against huntsmen, especially again because Pericles was so much bigger than her and could probably toss her to the ground before he even took the first whiff of chloroform.
What ever, thinking about this would actually give her a headache, good thing Pericles was giving her an out.

"Alright, we will talk later, you have fun with your lesson on uh..."
Her brain immediately shut off as she tried to recall what Pericles had said, she just shook her head.
"...that, yeah."
Lin quickly had her things float to her as she made her way out of the forge.
"C'ya Pericles, I'll be in touch!"
Lin floated off, a bag of confusing emotions in tow as she was thinking of becoming rich and if dealing with Pericles as well as the resulting headache would be worth it.
...she'd be one hell of a bad huntress if a headache would stop her!
With new resolve, Lin made her way home, to first drop this bomb on her mom and then make first steps to work on this project, first on the list would be to actually find a reputable merchant for parts, that'd be a new experience instead of digging for scraps.