Fuel and Stitches [open 2/4]

[Citrine Locke]

The bustling sounds of the midday market managed to seep through Citrine’s music, creating a dull background buzz of idle white noise as she hummed along to the beat playing through her black and green headphones. Much to Citrine’s surprise, the open air market was still packed with people despite the overcast weather, clouds hanging low in the sky, threatening a storm. Weren’t people supposed to dislike this type of weather? She didn’t mind, it was a nice change from Vacuo’s relentless, beating sun, but the locals of Vale didn’t have such an excuse as hers to be out right now. Maybe they were just used to it. Citrine nearly scoffed at the thought, who would ever get used to shade? Shade was something to revel and bask in.

Even with the shade of the cloud cover, the last dregs of summer were noticeable in the slight mugginess that filled the air. It had been bearable, even pleasant, and the ride into the city, but now within the confines of Vale’s crowded, claustrophobia-inducing market, the humidity was more noticeable. Citrine rolled the sleeves of her coat up, grateful for the cooling properties of the dust-woven fabric.

Citrine strolled through the market place with a sharp gaze, on the hunt for her much needed supplies. Her combustion dust stock for Ex-Machina was running low, and she wanted to restock before she found herself stranded and fuel-less somewhere. Sure she could have gone to one of the many dust shops littered around the city, but she had been wanting to explore the market. Plus, here she could probably haggle a bit if she felt like it, official dust shops were known for being rigid in their annoyingly high prices. Not to mention one of the back calipers on her bike most definitely leaking, and she lacked the right sized hex key to fix it. She didn’t trust anyone else to fix her bike for her, thus she needed to find the wrench herself.

As Citrine worked her way through the various stalls, she mentally cursed her own irresponsibility. How? How could she had been stupid enough to forget something as important as a proper sized hex key? In reality, she had brought enough tools to fix her bike that it was a surprise she hadn’t left even more of them at home, but she still thought it was a bit ridiculous that she, of all people, would be out here today looking for the most basic tool in existence.

Citrine’s scuffed boots kicked up dust as she wormed her way through the crowds, occasionally Glitching around particularly tight bottlenecks. Out of habit, she kept one hand in the pocket of her trench coat, clasped over her wallet and scroll. She wasn’t sure what the pickpocketing rates were here in Vale, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. The long ponytail bounced with her gait, her footsteps landing in time with her music. She continued to hum quietly along to the tune as she scanned the stands around her.

At one point, her gaze stalled on a booth selling hand crafted jewelry, but she quickly turned her music up and walked away.

At long last, she narrowed in a vendor selling what looked to be the right size combustion dust crystals she needed. She Glitched across the walkway to the stand, leaning idly against the table as she perused the goods. She slide her headphones down around her neck—the cacophony of the crowd finally hitting her at full force—as she picked up one of the crystals, turning it in her hand.

“How much for these?” She questioned. At the given price, she scoffed, rolling her eyes a little at the vendor. “Oh, c’mon dude I could a dozen for that back home.”

Citrine leaned her elbows on the table as she and the vendor negotiated, and eventually Citrine was handing over cash for a collection of the dust crystals. She flashed a bright smile at the vendor and turned from the stall. In the packed streets of the market, maneuverability wasn’t as easy task. This was bought blatantly to Citrine’s attention as she felt her elbow collide with someone. She nearly dropped her freshly acquired combustion dust—that would’ve been bad! Thankfully, she managed to keep a grip on them.

“Aye- shit! Sorry mate!”

[Al Ciendra]

This wasn't so bad.
Al thought to herself as she was making her way down the streets of Vale, her usual combat attire being replaced by a more casual look:
A simple dark red hoodie which zipper was open to show a black shirt underneath, some brown cargo pants and simple running shoes and of course her ever present mask.
Al was also carrying a black backpack with her which held her cloak, the reason for her coming here.
During the last few days her cloak had gotten torn and sending it back home for her mother to fix it really wasn't an option, so she had to head into the city to find someone that could stitch the tear for her.

While she was at it Al was also having a look around for some other things, ammo, some polish for her armor and so on.
The first year student had a whole shopping list with her which she was currently just staring at as walked.
"Hmmm, I should really focus on finding a shop to stitch my cloak first."
Al thought out aloud as she now headed into a rather busy street.
"Lots of people here, that must mean there are some good shops here."
She continued on and soon found what she was looking for.
"Vale's Veil's, clothing and stitching."
Al read the sign over the shop out loud, she quickly headed inside.

Being greeted by a single employee Al showed them her cloak, this was a big tear but in the end and after a bit of haggling regarding the price Al sat down and watched them work, it was only half an hour later that her cloak was fixed.
The patch was barely visible and Al happily hugged her cloak.
"Thank you so much, I'll be sure to visit again."
Al left the shop the door closing behind her with a jingle as Al looked down to her shopping list again.
"Okay, now that's done lets-"

Al felt someone's elbow hit her mask with a clang, Al stumbled back a little.
"Ow."
She righted her mask that had slipped just a little again as she looked to whom she had bumped into, a girl just a bit taller than her, with long white, hair, a matching shirt and headphones resting around her neck, had she seen her before? Yeah maybe on campus, she wasn't sure, something was missing. Eh, what ever.
"Oh it's fine, I should have watched where I was going."
Al stood up and checked if she had everything on her, yep oh wait where was her hood ?
Al quickly pulled her hood back over her head once she realized that it had fallen of, she looked back to the other girl watching her reaction, let's hope she did not just ruin her first impression.

[Citrine Locke]

“Ow… what the hell was that...” Citrine muttered to herself as she rubbed her elbow lightly. What had she just hit? It felt like a steel wall. She glanced around to find whoever it was she had hit, her eyes landing on a girl who seemed to be fixing a metal mask or some sort. That would explain the steel wall feeling. She watched as the girl quickly flipped her hood back as though to hide. Huh, maybe she was shy? Great. Shy people were always so dull to talk to, it was like talking to a locked door. Or maybe she was just really insecure? Aw, that’d be sad. Maybe she was in hiding! Like a fugitive! Citrine hoped it was the latter, it was the most exciting possibility she could think of.

As she had rapidly been debating possible reasons for the girl’s actions and attire, it dawned on Citrine that the aforementioned attire was… slightly familiar. She’d definitely seen that mask before. Or was she just thinking of that weird guy from the airship? Damn what was with all the full-face masks? But that hood was definitely familiar too…

“Hey, you’re from Beacon too, yeah?” She questioned, a wide grin spreading across her lips. “I didn’t think I’d run into any classmates out here! Then again…” she glanced around at the throng of people, “it shouldn’t be all that surprising, what with how many people are out here.” As she spoke, she began moving her recently acquired dust crystals from her bag to her pockets. There was no use carrying around a whole bag if she could just fill her numerous pockets. As a precaution, she activated her aura. What with how crowded the walkways were, she didn’t want someone to bump her wrong and set off her crystals. She wadded up the now-empty paper bag and tossed it into a nearby trashcan.

“What brings you into the city?” Being as Citrine was still operating on Plan Befriend Every Classmate She Sees, she kept the conversation going, her tone friendly, if a bit loud.

As she listened to the girl’s response, she continued to look around at the nearby stalls, still needing to find a mechanic.

“Ay you haven’t happened ta see a mechanic anywhere around?” She asked the girl abruptly. “I still need a damn hex wrench. The caliper on my bike’s leaking an’ I got just about everything I need ta fix it except the stupid wrench, and I really don’t wanna drive all the way back to campus with leaking breaks ya know, driving down here was stressful enough as is…” her voice trailed off as she realized she’d started rambling again. She dropped her gaze to her hands to hide the faint flush of embarrassment that crossed her cheeks, pretending she was just inspecting her nails.

She lifted her head once more, refixing her crooked grin across her face. “But ey, yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Lord knows if I start talking about my bike I’ll probably never shut up. But yeah- uh- I’m Citrine! Hi!” She offered her hand to the girl in front of her. That definitely wasn’t the best first impression she could have hoped for, but no matter, there were plenty of other peers to meet, once slip up shouldn’t be a problem, right?

[Al Ciendra]

Al looked at the other girl rubbing her elbow, that collision probably hurt less for her than the white haired girl, she was cramming in her own pockets but the mention of her being a beacon student, now a fellow first year made her stop.

It had dawned on her who this girl was for a while now, but now it was clear.
She remembered how Citrin sat in the airship with her music turned all the way up and the motorcycle she was now rambling about.
This wasn't that bad, she had expected her to just walk of but this other girl was actually super nice, Al couldn't help but smile under her mask.

Al had to giggle she tried to surpress it but to no avail, the way she tried to hide her blush after rambling about her bike was just very funny.
"It's no problem, your bike does look pretty cool, made you very hard to miss back in the airship."
Al had finally finished rummaging around in her pocket and pulled out her shopping list, quickly taking another look at it.
"Funnily enough I'm also looking for a similar shop, I just need a bit of polish for my armor and mask."
She put the list back before taking Citrin's hand, just giving it one firm shake.
"And I'm Al, it's nice to meet you Citrin."
She said before turning to look around the street, then back to Citrin taking a deep breath before speaking up again.
"Sooo wanna try and find that shop together, two pairs of eyes are better than one."
She offered, having some lively company like Citrin while shopping could be fun.

[Citrine Locke]

Citrine laughed shortly. “Yeah I was offered to keep her down in the cargo bay, but I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. Plus she’s a great conversation starter.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t remember seeing you on the airship, but I was pretty preoccupied with some weird poser Vacuan, so…” Another casual shrug. “I did meet another guy with a mask, though. Maybe you too can bond over being secretive.” Her tone was playful, joking, as she spoke.

“That short for anything?” She questioned upon learning the other girl’s name. Now that she wasn’t distracted, Citrine could get a closer look at the girl’s mask. It appeared pretty old and beat up, she wondered if there was a sentimental reason behind not changing it out for a new one.

In answer to Al’s question, Citrine started walking through the streets once more, glancing back towards Al as a silent invitation for her to follow. Citrine’s kept her gold eyes peeled for any sign of a mechanic’s stand. Most of the stands in market were things such as produce, or jewelry, though Citrine could image something like a small stand selling second hand tools wouldn’t be too far a stretch for a place like this.

As Citrine made her way through the crowds of the open air market, she found her fingers idly snagging small objects from the tables she passed by, a habit of hers that Rosalie had tried hard to break. More often than not she didn’t even notice she was doing it; her hand would be trailing along a table, she’d feel something small, and she’d instinctively pick it up. It didn’t help that she was wearing cargo pants. The multitude of large pockets on her pants made it easier to swipe and hide things without thinking about it.

“So has being a huntress been a life long goal for you or what?” She questioned brightly, breaking the silence. As she spoke she wormed through another bottleneck, reaching back out of habit to hold onto Al’s wrist and lead her through the congestion of people. She was used to forcing her way through masses of people in Vacuo’s hot markets, she’d always had to pull Rosalie behind her, being as her sister was much shorter and therefore couldn’t push through crowds the way Citrine did.

Citrine tuned into Al’s response, genuinely curious about what she had to say. Citrine had met a surprising amount of people who had turned to huntsmanship as a second choice. If she was being honest, she kind of fit into that category too—she wouldn’t have pursued such a career if it hadn’t been for her sister—so she couldn’t really be one to judge.

She returned her hands to her pockets, securing her grip around her wallet once more.

“See anything yet?” She asked. So far she hadn’t had any luck, much to her chagrin. She was pretty sure Ex-Machina was still steadily leaking, and she wanted to get fixed as soon as possible.

[Al Ciendra]

She really does like her bike huh ?
Well she can relate, Al does love a lot of her own tools and gear, she would ask about the bike again buuuut she had a feeling Citrine would talk about it sooner than later.

Another masked person could only mean Citrin was talking about Carmine, unless there was a third mask wearer at this school, time to open up a club for people that hate looking at their own face...or something."Carmine ? Yeah, I did meet him already, he's interesting."
Al commented as Citrine paused.
Though not for long, upon the question regarding her name Al just shook her head.
"Nope, just Al.
She shrugged, at least no one could give her dumb nicknames because of it.
She followed Citrine silently, she was busy looking around for any stalls that could have what they were looking for but no luck so far, which is why she did not notice Citrine snatching things from the stands.
She was trying to look over the crowd that they were getting into now but no luck, with her small stature Al could not look around properly, she was just turning back to Citrine to answer her question and ask her if they should maybe try and get out of the crowd and take a look from somewhere else, yet before she could say something Al felt herself being pulled trough said crowd.
She bumped into many of the people Citrine just squeezed past, some of which curse at her while she was clumsily trying to follow Citrine who was still pulling her.
Al did not like this one bit, so when she was finally free Al just took a deep breath and quickly pulled back her hand, let's hope that would never happen again, she saved herself a comment but did hope Citrine would notice that she did not enjoy that.
Al dusted herself of a little before she continued following along, then remembering Citrine's last question.
"Oh, I just want to improve my skills further, my mentor has taught me a lot but to really perfect what I learned he sent me here. I'm looking forward to what Beacon and it's teachers will teach me...sorry if that sounded nerdy, I just like training and fighting a lot."
Al grinned under her mask as she leaned a bit closer to Citrine, she was curious now.
"Why do you want to be a huntress ?"
Al asked intently listening to Citrine's own reply.

As she listened they reached a bit of an opening, the street widened into a big plaza, with a big fountain on a circular stone podium in the middle of the plaza.
Some people were sitting close by or on the stairs of the podium, but the crowd mostly cleared up around it.
Al went up the stairs to have a look around but still no luck...wait.
Al sighed as she pulled back her hood, out of her messy brown hair two fluffy wolf ears, matching to her hair, perked up.
Al closed her eyes and listened, crowd chatter, a few vehicles in the distance, cats fighting, birds chirping and...*clang* a hammer hitting metal! And it was close by.
"I think I found what we are looking for, follow me."
Al now grabbed Citrine's wrist, keeping her focus on that clanging sound as she dragged the other girl with her.

[Citrine Locke]

Citrine shrugged halfheartedly. “He was kinda weird in my opinion,” she spoke honestly. “Not really my type of crowd.”

Clueless towards Al’s discomfort, Citrine plowed on through the market. As the pair walked, Citrine took to chatting. She wasn’t even paying attention to the words coming out of her mouth—for all she knew it could just be gibberish—but she had nothing else to do and she liked to talk, so away she talked. Al’s silence only encouraged her talking, she had to fill the space with something, right? At some point she had lit up a cigarette. When? She didn’t know, she had been too focused on finding a mechanic, or anyone selling tools for that matter, to pay attention to whatever her hands were doing. She exhaled smoke as she listened to Al’s reasoning for becoming a huntress.

“That’s super neat,” she commented, grinning. “No better work out than fighting monsters, yeah?” As Al returned the question, Citrine fell silent, staring down at the cigarette in her hand for a moment as she turned over her possible answers in her mind. She didn’t want to bring up Rosalie. But how could she not?

Eventually, she glanced back up at Al, her voice low, almost regretful. “There’s someone I need to avenge.”

Plastering her regular grin back on her face, it was noticeably a bit forced this time, Citrine continued onward, resuming babbling about random things. As the pair stood on the plaza steps, Citrine put her cigarette out and stashed the stub in her pocket. The plaza allowed for a nice break from the bustle of the market, so she took a moment to fix her ponytail and dust off her clothes.

“How did you-” she cut off her question regarding how Al had found anything when she noticed the pair of wolf ears sprouting from her head. “Yo, dude, your ears look really soft. Do they make it easier to hear?” She figured the answer was yes, given Al had seemingly heard something she hadn’t, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?

Citrine had other questions lined up, but kept her mouth shut for the time being, focusing instead on not tripping on cobblestones as Al dragged her along.

When they reached the stand, Citrine took the time to straighten out the sleeve of her coat.

She took in the are before her. A blacksmith had set up shop at the edge of the market, in the shade of a building. The mechanic in question seemed to be hammering out a dent in a customer’s armor at the moment, which Citrine guessed was the sound Al had heard. In front of the blacksmith’s set up was a table scattered with various tools and armor to sell. Citrine doubted she would find what she was looking for, hex wrenches were more of a mechanic’s tool than a blacksmith’s, but she took the opportunity to look just in case.

She rested her fingers gently on the wooden surface, drumming idly as she perused her options. She wasn’t seeing a hex wrench, at least not one in the size she needed, but she might still need something from the table. Hmm… She picked up a small vise, turning it over to examine it. That might be useful. She bounced in thoughtfully in her palm as she continued to inspect the items for sale.

[Al Ciendra]

Al felt the mood shift, she could hear the regret in Citrine's voice as she said that she needed to avenge someone, Al was about to ask if she wanted to talk about it, but with how short that reply was she really doubted Citrine wanted to talk about something like that with a stranger like Al, so she let it be, still taking a mental note not to bring up this topic in Citrines presence again.
Better to shift back to friendly conversation.
"Yeah, no better work out than kicking Grimm ass."
She chuckled before they proceeded to the fountain.

"Oh, well easy is one way to put it, I can certainly hear more, but I'm not entirely sure if that's always a good thing."
Al shrugged, she could tell that Citrine probably had other questions but didn't really want to get into at the moment, so she just focused on the sound of the hammer, which soon lead her and Citrine to the blacksmith.

The shop was just what she had been looking for and Al quickly approached the blacksmith, lucky for her, he was done already and since no one else was currently in line Al pulled out her armor from her backpack.
The chest plate had a dent in the back while her knee and elbow protectors had a lot of scratches and other minor damage on them.
The blacksmith noted to her mask, but Al just told him that it could wait until he was done with her armor first, the blacksmith nodded and began hammering away the dents in Al's chest plate.
Al then turned back to Citrine, she saw a couple hex wrenche's lying around, but Citrine hadn't even touched any of them.
"What size do you need for these ?"
Al asked holding up one of the larger wrenches, she was fairly certain that she could help, while she had never picked up the family business Al knew her way around most tools just from looking at her father work.

[Citrine Locke]

Citrine turned towards the sound of Al’s voice, noting the wrench in her hand. “I need a 21 millimeter, the largest they have here is a 19.” She picked up the 19mm wrench as she spoke. She inspected the wrech, turning it over in her gloved hands. “I suppose I could wrap it…” she thought aloud. “That’s a little unconventional but….Then again I already have a 19, why buy another?” She set the wrench down, the placed her hands on the table as she leaned forward. “Oi!” She addressed the stall owner. “Ya got one of these in 21?”

She engaged in a brief discussion with the blacksmith, explaining what she needed the wrench for and why she couldn’t just use a 19. Though the blacksmith didn’t have any other sized, they pointed Citrine in the direction of a different stall a little ways away, a proper mechanic’s stall that might have more of what she was looking for. She thanked the blacksmith with a grin.

“Imma go check that other place out, you can come if ya want but I’ll be back in a minute,” she spoke to Al quickly before turning and bounding off.

Citrine wormed her way through clusters of people until she found the stall she had been directed too. The stall she found was much more of what she had been looking for, the table ladened with car parts, screwdrivers, gauges, and more.

After scanning the table for several minutes—getting distracted repeatedly by various other items being sold—Citrine found the type of wrench she was looking for. She sighed in relief as she picked it up.

“Thank god, I have been looking everywhere for you,” she told the wrench.

“Ey, how much for this?” She questioned the woman running the stall. After receiving the listed price, Citrine nodded thoughtfully, biting down gently on her lower lip as she considered. She dropped her gaze back down to the table, continuing to inspect the other items, her gloved hands flitting over the goods. While she was here, she might as well pick up anything else she was lacking. She wracked her brain, trying to think of anything else she might need. She toyed idly with a spark plug. Did she need a spare spark plug? It would probably be good to have one. Did she already have a spare? She couldn’t remember. Well, better safer than sorry, right? She picked up the spark plug, transferring it to the hand she was holding the wrench with. Now… was there anything else she might need…?

[Castor Achromos]

"Having this many zeros should probably be illegal...probably is illegal." Castor would continue fiddling with his "new" scroll and the currency within its virtual wallet. Though unlike other students he wasn't fond of the standard scroll's lack of durability...especially when shoved through a Grimm's skull. This new scroll was clearly custom made with its beige end grips and dark-colored touch screen, even the yellow diamond-shaped button was changed to include a small dark dot in the center of it.

The gift was sent to him anonymously one day, figuring the best way to understand where it came from he added it to the list of things he had planned for the day. Aside from his new scroll Castor had intended to ask any local blacksmiths if they knew anything bout the metals his weapons were partially made of.

As the day continued, Castor's enthusiasm faded away as no one seemed to know about either the metals from Molon Labe or the model type of his scroll. Running low on patience and fuel, he decided to try his luck at one more smithy before calling it a day. The inside of the place didn't seem any different than the ones he's visited earlier, though this place seemed to be busier. Numerous people seemed to be going through the various wares, including several Beacon students from what he could guess.

Making his way through the store Castor would brose through the various dust, metals, and other basic materials that were up for sale. It didn't take long for Castor to realize none of the weapons or metals matched what he was looking for...again. Looking over the various dust crystals types he had to offer, it was like a non existant repulsive rainbow of dust. Each of them being carved in different shapes and sizes, meant to accommodate various kinds of weapons and armor. In Castor's case, the only purpose any of these crystals would be useful would be as food for Fidi, so she would have more options to use in a fight. More importantly, so Castor wouldn't have to use excess aura to repair the damage done to her in fights.

Quickly grabbing a few of the smaller dust crystals, Castor would head towards the blacksmith in charge, "gonna buy these" he said before moving towards his scroll to complete the purchase.

"Can ya tell me anything about these?" Castor would then show the blacksmith his Cetus weapon Molon Labe, with its unique metal bleeding with a deep shade of red. The blacksmith would need to use his tools in the back to inspect the gear, "don't break it, and no it's not for sale." was the only warning Castor gave as the man went into the back room.

As he waited for that to finish, one of the shoppers had caught his interest. To be exact her mask is what he was interested in as it bore a rather unique design, he was accustomed to seeing white fang members sporting bone-white masks but this girl's mask looks nothing like a creature of Grimm.

"doesn't that thing ever get hard to breathe in?" he asked, mostly out of a cocktail combination of boredom, morbid curiosity, and more boredom. If nothing else it would help kill time...and it's not like he had any "friends" within beacon academy.

[Al Ciendra]

Al wanted to speak up to Citrine and tell her how she could potentially help her, but the other girl had already run of leaving her in the dust, at least until she would come back, when ever that was of course.
She sighed, dropping the 19-inch on the table and crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance, she had to wait here for her armor to be finished, and then she had to ask the blacksmith to do her mask too...maybe it was good that Citrine was gone, so she couldn't peek or anything like that.

As she was waiting a new person had entered, the guy who Al almost mistook for a beggar asking the stall owner for money was actually a guy around her age, seemingly a beacon student, holding some weird sword and asking if the blacksmith had seen anything like it, Al easily heard the conversation, must be a bit of a rare metal then, she thought as she heard the blacksmith's reply, maybe her dad knew what this stuff was.
Hm, if this guy turned out to be cool maybe she could call him and ask her dad about it, but for now Al would just get her armor repaired.

It was then that the guy talked to her, she was caught of guard a little but did not let him see her surprise.
"Oh, not yet. The slits make it easy enough to breath., while also keeping other nasty stuff out."
Al said as she pointed at the slits, just over her mouth. She hoped this was enough of an explanation for him.

Then the blacksmith called her up, he had finished her armor which was now dent and scratch free, Al thanked the man as he then asked for her mask.
Oh no, she did pay him already and did want her mask looking just a bit better, but now this guy was here, but maybe she could still make it work.
Al turned away from the shopkeeper and anyone else as she pulled her hood away, revealing her ears once more and the straps of her mask, she quickly opened it up and pulled it of, before quickly pulling her hood over her head again and much further over her face, so that her entire her face was hidden by the hood and the shade it cast.
This should do!
Al turned back, handing the mask to the blacksmith and looking around, no one was really paying attention to her, besides that one guy.
OH!
She just saw his face, she had not paid attention to it before, but now she saw that his eyes were not human, looked like a lizard or something...or a snake ?
She wasn't sure, but they did look pretty cool.
Al was looking him up and down for a bit, but her gaze was stuck at the blade he had showed the blacksmith, it got her curious what this thing could be and do.

[Citrine Locke]

Citrine expected to return to Al already set and ready to keep moving, that other stall had been a ways away after all, plus the extras delays that the crowd added in. Yet, upon returning to the blacksmith stall, she discovered that not only was Al still getting her armor fixed up, but someone else had arrived.

“Heyy! You found a friend!” She said in way of announcing her return. She bounded up to the pair, her signature crooked grin on her face. Her hair was starting to frizz from the heat, and her ponytail was slowly starting to come undone.

“Haven’t seen you around yet, you go to Beacon too?” She questioned the new arrival, before turning to address Al. “Look what I got!” She cheered in a singsong style as she held up the 21mm hex wrench, waving it back and forth. “And I got a spare spark plug. I might already have a spare but it’s better to have too many than not enough!”

As she spoke, she finally noticed the way Al was holding her hood.

“What are you….?” Her voice trailed off as she thought. “Ohhh did you take your mask off? Why do you need to hide your face anyways?” She ducked down to try and catch a glimpse of Al’s face beneath the shadow of her hood. “Honestly if you ask me I’d say just showing whatever scars you’ve got is much less a hassle than wearing a mask all the time. Doesn’t it get uncomfortable?”

Citrine was quick to get distracted by various items laid out on the blacksmith’s table, rather than waiting for Al’s reply. As she idly inspected a shield, she caught sight of her reflection it in, finally noticing the mess her hair had become. A slight pout settled across her features.

“Hold these,” she instructed, pulling her goggled off her head and passing them to the boy. She then slid her coat off—the hood would have gotten in the way when she bent over, the same reason she had to completely take her goggles off rather than slide them down around her neck—which hit the ground with an audible thud, the various trinkets in her numerous pockets rattling. In the back of her mind, she remembered that she had stashed combustion dust in a pocket, and maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go throwing her coat around with such volatile, explosive dust loose in there. But oh well, nothing had happened, so everything was fine, right.

Free of anything that could get in her way, Citrine took her ponytail down, letting her white hair drop down around her shoulders. She ran her fingers through it a few times, before flipping upside down and recollecting the strands at the top of her head. She straightened with a grin and she secured her fresh ponytail in place.

“Thanks, love,” she said as she plucked her goggles from the boy’s hands and resituated them on her head. She pulled her coat back on, dusting off the shoulders some.

“Now, anything else we need to do here?” She questioned, uncertain whether Al had gotten all that she’d come for, and whether they were waiting for the boy to be done as well.

[Castor Achromos]

Castor was never all that good with small talk, but so far the conversation between him and this person seemed to be going well. The mask and armor she received from the blacksmith seemed to be in good condition, though Castor didn't exactly have for that kinda stuff. Glancing as she moved her hood made her animal ears notable for a moment, "cute ears" he said to himself before snapping back to reality "quick question do you make that armor yourself? was wondering if you knew anything about certain...how do you say unique metals?" He was referring to his cestus gloves of course. Most traditional blacksmiths could not tell him anything outside what little he already knew. Hell, even the person who gave him Molon Labe knew very little about its creation aside that the process involved a particular melding of metal and dust.

Castor moved his hair eye when she noticed his Faunus eyes, "yup I'm a Faunus just like you. Can't see color for shit with them but they're good for other stuff." referring to the fact he was color blind in a sense but his snake eyes were much sharper than one might expect. Of course, their bloody crimson colors always seem to frighten people. After all most Faunus born tend to have their animalistic features be ears or a tail. Eyes, wings, or other such oddities tend to be much rarer in comparison. It was at this moment when the blacksmith arrived with Molon Labe, with his sour and confused expression telling Castor everything he needed to know. whatever technique was used to forge his weapon it seemed foreign to everyone so far. However, it seemed his gloves caught the interest of the girl he was talking to before so maybe his luck was turning up finally.

A new person then quickly arrived into the scene, though this person seemed much more energetic when she announced herself, "yeah though I just started, the name's Castor Achromos." The new girl quickly went to talk to the previous girl so it seemed they knew each other somewhat, while she was talking shop it was clear she was a lot more curious about the mask, he comments about scars did get his attention though "she ain't wrong" adding in "though having protection against Grimm and another nasty little shits make sense." As he had his fair shares of scars to prove this. Though in his case having cumbersome armor would do more harm than good.

The new girl quickly placed some of her belongings into his hands as she suddenly went about fixing he hair, Castor was tempted to make a joke about her hair...but experience back home taught him how much of a death sentence that could be. After she was done Castor quickly handed her stuff back to her, "well I'm trying to find out more about these little bastards" Castor would then show both of them Molon Labe, it was an old if not ancient type of gloves. Though atm the most important part was the special metal that was over the knuckles, in particular, their unique crimson coloring. "they do something else also but it's best not to do that with so much...explosives around me."

At that point, Castor waited to see if they were interested in helping. Or if they needed help with their own stuff.

[Al Ciendra]

The only thing that made Al uncomfortable was how Citrine almost got a glance at her face, Al was quick enough on the draw to turn away and pull her hood over her face, so the curious biker gal could not see anything besides fabric and shade.
She was a bit cautious, only barely looking up to see that Citrine was already busy again, with the way she acted Al really was not willing to give her any information about her face.
°I don't want to talk about it and don't poke your nose into it."
Al shot back, in a stern and annoyed tone, at Citrine, even though she was only half sure that Citrine would pay attention what she had to say.

She was now anxiously staring at the blacksmith fixing her mask, hoping to be able to properly hide her face again soon enough that she failed to notice the faunus guy had been talking to her.
She shook her head and turned back to Castor.
°Oh uhm, sorry I was...distracted. No I did not make my own armor, neither do I really know anything about what kind of metal that would be. But my dad could help you out, if you want to I can send him a couple pictures of your things, and maybe he saw something like them before. And you being color-blind is kind of ironic, considering what a cool color your gloves are."
Al chuckled a little, yet stopped, maybe he wasn't comfortable with her making jokes about this.

Luckily the smith made for a perfect distraction as he had finished her mask and Al instantly went over to him to grab it and pay the man for his great job.
Looking at Citrine, to make sure the other girl wasn't peeking, she turned away and quickly pulled her mask over her face, securing it with the leather straps and fastening it to her head with a 'click'.
Al breathed a sigh of relief, before she finally answered Citrine.
"No I'm done now, glad that you got your stuff too."
Al did not sound sincere with her last comment, she was still a little annoyed by Citrine trying to peek.