Nimmie looked down at the arm and blushed, trying to hide it from view and failing.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” she said, glancing at Sigyn. “Room for one more? I mean if it’s not too much trouble! It’s just...”

Nimmie laughed awkwardly, her one good arm rubbing the back of her head. “The last time I tried reattaching this thing myself I kinda ended up being way too good at scratching my back. Had to pull it apart and try again. Really gave the innkeeper a shock.”

She smiled warmly at Tori. Out of all the places they could’ve met... well, let’s just say this wasn’t quite how she’d imagined it going. But that was okay. This was more than enough.

Maroon gave a smile to the blue haired girl as she approached, giving a skeptical, quizzical look towards the Faunus boy, wondering what that exchange was about. Putting his personal thoughts aside, he lowered his hands under the desk.
"Sure kid, what are you looking for?" he asked, crouching as he opened the case to inspect his own stocks of Dust "Always in for a trade. Whatcha got?".
He then gave a look to the case that came in earlier that morning. It was oddly sturdy, and he hadn't been told what it was, only to whom it was to be given.

Azu stared at the counter, lost in thought for half a second thinking of what she should be making. Looking over the dust on display, she could almost swear her mouth started wandering as her eyes caught on the marble of gravity dust there. Oh the things she could make with that little gem, if only she could get her hands on it. Still, she couldn't allow herself to get lost in fantasies, she wanted to build something useful here.

"I want to build something small, so scrap metal will work for the base. Aluminum, if you have extra, but iron will do." As she spoke, she swung her backpack around so she could get hold of it, then started removing crystals from it. She lined up two red and four blue crystals, all of average quality and size. "I can make most of the parts I need from scratch, but I'll need a handful of two centimeter springs and one centimeter hinges. I also need to borrow a workroom with a forge, if you have one right now. Will these be enough?" Azu resecured her backpack on her back, looking expectantly at the shop owner. Several device blueprints were already circulating through her mind, each one trying it's best to be chosen.

Tori nodded, trying and failing to surreptitiously wipe her red, puffy eyes as she laughed at Nimmie's brief anecdote. "Yeah, sure. Go right ahead. Give me a holler if you need any help." With that, she returned to working on her gauntlets.

Or, well, she tried to return to working on her gauntlets.

Every time she tried to work, she found herself coming back to the fact that Nimmie was here. She found herself unable to concentrate and, after she nearly broke the injector that she'd previously fixed, sighed and set down her tools, turning back to Nimmie. "So," she began awkwardly, "what have you been doing all these years? Where have you been? What's been going on? How's life been treating you?"

Try as she might, she was unable to stop herself from asking a rapid series of questions. A faint blush came to her face and she bent back over Sigyn as she realized she was doing the whole 'mothering' thing again.

"You know, having the tools at hand for the tasks you need to complete is never a bad thing. Trey outstretched his right arm above the spot he was working earlier. "Right-hand. Magnetize. 3 percent." Command was simple, only needing a short voice command. The metal pieces Trey had carved out earlier rose up through the air to attach themselves to Trey's right hand. "Well, to answer your question, this is one of them. Magnetized hand. Fairly useful for keeping metallic objects sticking to your hand. Not that my hands ever get sweaty or anything but... extra traction always helps. Plus... very useful for cleanups like this.
Trey deactivated his magnetic field and rolled the shaved metal pieces around in his palm, contemplating where to toss them away. Old man would probably yell at him again if he tossed it out in an odd place. He probably could just throw it into the grass outside where no one should care.
"Anyways... yeah that sounds good to me. Do your shopping, I can wait."

The smith nodded understandingly. As the Dust crystals were produced, he began to lift and inspect them, appearing to not be listening. However, as the young Huntress's words had finished, he made his offer.
"Aluminum? I figure you'd be wanting steel. Handles wear better, needs to be replaced less, won't bend as easy. Now..." the burly man held the crystals to the light, inspecting them further, "These'll get you yer springs and hinges, and these," he held out the three Drown Crystals, "Will get you about four, five hours in the shop," Maroon explained, walking to the back wall to open the curtain, and gesture to the array of benches in the open shop room, with a row of work stations arranged across the room five times over, offering two score forges and troughs, "Now, for the metal, I'll need some Lien for that."
With a light click, the Dust crystals were placed back on the counter, the Burn and Drown crystals separated and aligned. Seeing Trey clean the area and explain himself- although none too happy that he was running a magnetic current so close to all this Dust- he rolled his eyes, but did his best to bite his tongue.
"Nickel?" he scoffed, fairly certain that was the reason for the constant replacements of his knee joints.

---

Returning momentarily to the work room, the woman in blue removed the lenses from her face, placing them on the table next to the precision Dust tools. After gathering her affects, she strode out across the work floor, her scarf still covering her mouth and nose. Quietly, she stepped past the other Huntsmen and Huntresses who had gathered in the front of the shop, and deftly flicked a stack of colorful Lien wordlessly to Maroon. The shopkeep caught it without so much as a word, depositing it in his register as the green haired woman left the shop. However, she did not go far, instead stopping near the end of the fence and leaning against the wall, her wide scarf granting her shade from the slowly waning sun as the afternoon wore on.

Ginto watched with obvious fascination and amazement as the metal shavings Trey used for his joints stuck to his hand. She made an appreciative noise, barely stopping herself from clapping her hands in awe at the display. She turned around, heading towards the counter. A quick motion caught her eye, watching as the shopkeeper -- or was it the blacksmith? Maybe both? Better not to ask him that -- caught what looked to be a stack of Lien thrown at him without even looking. Her eyes followed the origin of the Lien and saw a woman in blue making her way out of the shop.

Ginto barely caught the woman’s face, but she thought it was attractive. The way the woman held herself was a bit mysterious as well. Or, perhaps, Ginto thought that way because of the books she had been reading. She shook her head from those thoughts before approaching the man behind the counter. “Good day,” she began, her face returning to her ‘default mean face’ as her team leader called it, “I was told that I can pick up a delivery here. Dust grenades, to be exact. Is it available to be picked up right now? Oh, and my name’s Ginto Gestirn, by the way.”

With the soft thump of a Grimm corpse hitting the ground, a quiet calm descended back upon the swampy woodland north of Mission as a solitary figure twirled his curved blade in his hand before sliding the flat of it along the back of his hand, as if wiping away blood that wasn't there, and back into its weaponized sheath. His eyes slid closed and He let out a long exhale before turning to look at the fallen monsters littering the clearing with a tired and disdainful glare. Three Ursas, a half dozen Beowolves and an Alpha of each type with just as many Boarbatusk dotted between them, all in varying stages of decay.

He looked back in the direction of Mission and made to start walking but the first step went a stabbing pain lancing up his body and he grimaced before looking down at his body. The danger passed, his adrenaline high had dissipated and he was painfully reminded of the claw wound marring his side, blood beginning to soak through his undershirt and into his robes. He hissed and pressed his arm onto the bleeding wound to stem the flow somewhat as he pressed on towards the village he had stopped off in on his search for his wayward teammate, all the while mentally cursing out the Damn Alphas, jumping in while he already has his hands full.

Ryuu, unsurprisingly, was glad to be surrounded by the structures and walls of the village when he had arrived, the slim but still present threat of a Grimm ambush finally truly null. It was two-fold, as not only was it a place of shelter and healing but it also reminded the young Huntsman of his childhood, of home. A small comfort to be sure, but with a great significance. He allowed himself to relax slightly, mindful not to relax the pressure on his wound as his began to search for someone that wasn't busy and might be able to direct him to a doctor or apothecary of some kind. Most villages had one, as not everyone had their Auras unlocked and even if they did, it wasn't a perfect defence. Like all things, it had its limits and a place was needed when those limits were passed, Unfortunately, such was the situation Ryuu was in. The wound itself wasn't life-threatening, but it was enough to limit his movements and hinder him in combat so he wanted to resolved the problem sooner rather than later.

He noticed someone that seemed to be unoccupied, a hooded woman leaning idle on the wall of the the blacksmiths, and approached, simultaneously to make a note to drop by to restock on his dust supplies and maybe do some maintenance on Ryujin. He kept as much pain as he could out of his movements, as to avoid giving the woman unnecessary worry, but the hand placed over his side was enough of a giveaway should anyone pay enough attention. He gave a small, somewhat reassuring smile before he spoke, his voice tinted by a light mistralean accent.

"Excuse me, but could you please point me to a doctor of some kind? I have a wound I'd like looked at, if at all possible."

To emphasise his point, he moved his hand briefly to reveal the layer of both fresh and drying blood before gently but firmly moving it back and shifting uncomfortably. The pressure stemmed the bleeding but did nothing for the pain, so getting the wound dressed properly and taking some decent painkillers would the most prudent thing right now.

The smith gave a short, sharp nod, crouching to affirm the name on the tag.
"Gestirn..." he ruminated, lifting the tag to confirm.
The burly man then hefted the crate with a stifled grunt, before lowering it on to the table with a soft thud. The rounded corners and regular grooves on the side granted it a military aesthetic, while the dull white and orange lid gave it a more commercial appeal.
"Holding fee, 100 Lien," he clarified, "It's been here all morning. Plus whatever you owe this guy for it. I'll forward it back to Vale for you."

---

A wide winged bird flew overhead as her would-be moment of peace was interrupted. A man who appeared to be a Huntsman holding his side approached, asking for a doctor. She closed her eyes a moment, as if considering something, then patted the subtle bag at her waist. Her nimble fingers slid inside deftly, gripping at a few spare bandages. She then withdrew her hand, clutching the cloth with a spool of metallic wire looped around one finger. She was somewhat disappointed, as she didn't have a true suture or suture needle, but she could make due with what she had. She figured if she could cauterize the wound with a light activation of Burn Dust, she could stem the bleeding and avoid immediate infection, giving her enough time to bind the wound before anything went wrong. That way, if he needed more intensive treatment, he wouldn't die before he got it. Slowly, her right hand shot down the side of her leg, where she soon produced a bright red Dust crystal.
"Alright, we can do this the quick way, or the long way," she began, holding the warm crystal out towards his side, "Your choice. But I advise you choose quickly. Can't have you losing too much blood," the woman explained, all without so much as an introduction, with the scarf still covering half her face nonetheless.

Nimmie stuttered, surprised by the sudden question. “U-umm, well...”

She looked at her dismembered arm sheepishly. No wonder Tori wanted to mother her. No, that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t “mothering” if you’d lost an arm.

“I...” she started. “I needed some time, to sort things out I guess. After... you know.”

Picking up her tools, Nimmie worked in silence for a few moments, trying to find her next words. Curse you, social interaction! Nimmie Zinschmidt won’t allow your fiendish plans to succeed!

“... At first, I... kinda just started walking into the forest. I wanted to be alone, I guess. I kind of have a hard time remembering those early days, but eventually it stopped being about being alone and started being about killing Grimm,” she admitted. “It... felt good. It helped, when I was angry, or upset, to have something to take it out on. There never seemed to be any shortage of Grimm, either.

“After a while, when I’d sort of... sort of calmed down, I decided to go looking for you. When I couldn’t find you, I... hit the road. Started walking from town to town, taking care of the Grimm problems further out from the kingdoms that the other Hunters couldn’t or, y’know, wouldn’t.”

Nimmie swallowed anxiously before suddenly turning to face Tori. “Listen, Tori. I’m so sorry I didn’t come find you. I should’ve looked harder. I should’ve...”

And like that, the words that had been coming to Nimmie stopped. Dammit, not now!

And just like that, Tori found herself hugging Nimmie again and shaking her head fervently.

"Shhhh shh shh shh, it's ok, Nimmie. It's ok."

"We all should've. We all should've, and could've, and would've. I was close to Reiken." Her face grew unutterably sad, and she stared out into space. "I was closer to him than any of you, I think. I should've seen the signs he was putting off. I should've seen that he was going to snap. All of this could've been avoided. I've blamed myself for all of this for a long time. If I'd just paid more attention to what was going on around me instead of what was going on in my own head, what was happening in Svartheim, that one scuff I could never get out of Sigyn, I could've stopped it all."

She sucked in a deep breath, squeezing Nimmie just a little tighter and patting the back of her head. "But you know what, Nimmie? In the end, should've-could've-would'ves are worthless. It's what you do now that matters. Trust me, I'm definitely not mad at you. Far from it; I couldn't be happier to see you again."

There was silence for a time as she disengaged from the embrace, tinkering with Sigyn for a moment in a mostly-futile effort to calm her racing thoughts and collect herself. "As for where I actually went...well, I'm not surprised you never found me. I've been just wandering around since..." she fumbled over her words for a moment, "...the incident. Been everywhere from Menagerie to Mistral punching Grimm in the faces really hard."

"I even spent a couple months in Vale, trying to get a job at Beacon. The job fell through, but I still spent time there. It's a nice place, but it's too flat. Not enough mountains, and no snow at all."

She suddenly noticed something and grinned, defying the tears that threatened to once again spill from her eyes. "And looks like Chopfyt is still doing just fine, huh?" She gestured to the enormous axe, coughing out a halfhearted laugh. "Let me guess; took your arm off on the backswing again?"

---

Lima wasn't usually this excited which was surprising considering that this is her that we're talking about. But the mere fact that she was finally done with the extra work that has been piling up, and the fact that she only needed to bring in the materials resulted in her chipper mood. She stretched her arms and felt the satisfying crack. She looked at the now-empty area where the King Taijitu and Ursa Major had once stood - both aiming to take her out. The mission came from a rather old client who was complaining about the two Grimm impeding his progress to somewhere. He was offering up a hefty price and Lima felt that she was the right woman for the job!

Claiming her reward, she marched back to her house and burst open the storage door. A wagon was there with a number of things inside - ranging from reinforced titanium from one mission to simple iron from another. Lima looked at the materials in triumph. While she wouldn't be using it herself, she was pretty sure that Maroon would finally get that debt off her shoulders with this amount of materials being offered up with no exchange. She looked back at her weapon. It was one of those weapons that needed little maintenance aside from the changing of the ammunition pathways or the busted up gears when overused - so it wasn't like she visited Core's Hammer a bunch of times to get it fixed.

It was mostly for trying to improve the weapon itself. While she grew up training in close combat because of it, she would love to have some long ranged capabilities - and she was sure by getting the right materials and figuring out the right mechanisms, she could do it. The problem was how she was going to go about it. So, at one point in Core's Hammer, she decided to experiment with it. Turns out, it wasn't meant to be at that time as it exploded. The weapon itself was fine, but she wrecked a good amount of equipment.

And that was how she earned her debt. And today was the day she was going to pay it back!

Lima activated her semblance - the slime taking form of a rather huge on with arms that quickly grabbed on to the wagon. Lima couldn't afford an automated one, so she decided to just go with this. It worked well anyway. "And to Core's Hammer we go!" She said excitedly as she began marching down the streets. Her walking with a slime has been the norm around here, so no one batted an eye in seeing the lime green monster pulling a wagon behind her.

She saw two people outside the shop - one was injured while the other seemed to have been cauterizing the wound. Seeing as they had it covered, Lima headed inside. She was sure that they would ask for help if need be, but for now she had something else to do. She skipped her way towards Maroon, but he seemed to be busy with someone else. Lima waved at him with a bright grin and then said, "I finally completed my payment. It's at the entrance. Too much to squeeze inside y'know?" She told the blacksmith and gestured to the open doors where her slime monster was visible, along with the supplies.

Silme merely clicked his teeth in annoyance at the girl's muttering, his already irritable mood only having grown worse thanks to her 'offer'. I barely trust the blacksmith to not fuck with my stuff, and that's only cause I'm paying him. Speaking of the old bastard, the faunus couldn't help but wonder if his age had gotten to the man's hearing, otherwise he didn't properly seem to understand Silme's request. In anyoher town, Silme would've just told the owner to go fuck himself before heading off to some other place, but this was the only forge worthy mentioning in this craphole of a town. As such, he'd have to make nice. . . for now. He waited until Azu had finished up her talk with the owner, or at least was close enough to it that he could butt in when it could be considered less than rude to do so, if not particular proper.

However, it would seem that the fates were against him getting his geared checked on, as another girl would appear in the doorway, loudly calling out to the blacksmith. Silme was half-tempted to tell her to sut her goddamn trap, but held it in. Raising a fuss would only get him kicked out and then he'd just be shit out of luck. So, knowing that the socially acceptable time to speak had passed, he decided to simply wait in a corner and stew in his frustration, taking the time to look around his surroundings a bit.

He saw all the usual tools of the trade and craft that a man of Maroon's profession would have, stuff that he would love to have a go at if he wasn't afraid of busting his finnicky-as-fuck weapon. Just thinking about the damn things brought a low growl from his throat as he lifted them up. The gauntlets were of a fine and sleek make, despite the seeming bulk that made up the arm guards. With a fine Atlesian white and grey finish that held all the prim and proper appearance that came with such associations, you'd think it to be a state f the art weapon of only the finest quality. Unfortunately for him, this particular weapon was nothing but a proto-type, one that had been discontinued for being too impractical for the average Huntsman. They should've been scrapped for parts, but his teacher at Atlas had considered him to be a perfect subject to test out their practicality on the field.

With a grunt, he placed one of the gauntlets down before attempting to figure out the problem one more time on his own. Donning a gauntlet on his right hand caused the machinery inside the reinforced steel casing to purr as it came to life, but Silme didn't have time to appreciate the sound. He was too busy waiting for the now all too familiar sting as the weapon began to siphon off his Aura, an over all uncomfortable sensation the could best be compared to having someone sucking you blood out through your pores. The feeling lessened after a short while, though it never vanished.

Ugggh. . . I'm never going to get used to that. He grumbled internally as he began basic testing of his gear. First he'd start to clench and unclench his fist to make sure nothing stuck or was jammed, followed by a slight reving of the Aura reactor within the machine, causing the gauntlet to humm once more. After this were a few calibration tests needed to ensure all the support systems were still functional, followed by the big two tests. "Aura Claws: Activate."

A rather boring activation code, to be certain, but he wasn't up to personalizing it until he had decided on a proper name for the damn things. The gauntlets, however, seemed to take offense to their master's lack of creativity, as the tips started shooting out a spray of silver sparks, making a rather hi-pitched screeching sound that would likely hurt everyone's ears a bit, his most of all due to his damned faunus senses. Luckily, this would last for only a short moment before the blades would form with a sudden 'bzzzt 'as they sprung to life. Five claw-like blades of silver energy sputtered to life in front of him, the edges rough, jagged, and seeming to move along the blade's edge in a fashion similarly to a chainsaw, causing Silme to let out a frustrated groan as he muttered the deactivation code. The claws would disperse into the air around him in a mist of silver wisps while the gauntlet powered down. As soon as it was safe to do so, Silme tugged the damn thing off and tossed it onto the worktable in front of him, the frustation of his many, many attempts to fix this problem himself coming to the fore.

"If that girl still isn't done talking with the old man, I'm going to stop caring about social decorum and fuckin' make that old, hard of hearing bastard help me through this if I have to."

Azu was getting a little confused with all the activity going on around her. There were people in the shop calling out requests, running up to the counter and talking to the shop owner while she was still doing her business. She was beginning to get angry for it. She had no idea how things were supposed to run here, but this kind of behavior would never be allowed in her father's...

Suddenly noticeably subdued, Azu quickly drew a Lien card from her shoulder bag. "Here. This is 1.5 times market price for 15 cubic centimeters of aluminum. I hope that will be sufficient?" She tried to look the shopkeeper in the eye, but now he looked too much like her father to make that practical. Instead she focused on his chest, trying to regain control of her emotions before they betrayed her.

Given the options, it was fairly clear what the woman intended to do and, although not his first choice, it would be enough to suitably address the problem at hand, that being the gaping wound in his side... He would have done almost the same thing using his sword had he not discovered a technical problem; Ryujin's Burn Dust reserves had been drained during the ambush by the Grimm, leaving only Lightning, Freeze and Gravity Dust, none of which could be used to attend to his wound without risking permanent damage.

"Dealing with this quickly would be more prudent for now, until more through medical treatment is available."

Once the bleeding had been stopped, he would have more time to have the wound stitched properly, but right now he didn't have that luxury so he'd just have to bite the bullet and let the woman in blue help. Stepping closer to her so that she could reach him, he moved his hand from his bleeding and used both hands to pull his robes and undershirt away from the wound, allowing for the woman to apply the dust without it getting in the way.

The smithy rolled his eyes a bit as he accepted the Lien in poorly repressed disapproval. Nonetheless, he meticulously placed the money in his register, crouching to access his inventory, rising a moment later with a small case with an appropriate amount of material for what had been spent.
"There ya go kid," Maroon replied as he slid the box forward, cocking an eyebrow for a second, "You okay kid?"

---

The expression in her eyes shifted, although with most of her face covered, it was hard to tell. The green orbs then darted back and forth, as though considering something. A steady hand held the crystal close to the wound. Her Aura flared, causing the crystal to give off heat, causing the flesh to begin to burn slightly, while also cooking off any bacteria on the surface of the wound. Without so much as another word, she produced a silvery needle between her fingers, which she then expertly slipped into a bundle of nerves, redirecting the pain for a moment. With that done, she lead the spool of wire and the needles through the wound, piercing small holes, and using the wire to pull the wound closed. It wasn't perfect, but it wouldn't let the wound tear open. However, not much could be done to stop any bleeding from excess movement, short of heavy cauterization, which she may as well attempt. Removing the needles, and pulling the wires tight, she caused them to snap by momentarily raising her scarf and clenching the excess in her teeth, breaking the lines near his skin. Now, with the Burn Crystal, she began to apply more heat, which she also used to sterilize her needles. It had all gone well, for the most part. However, as she was finishing up, the Dust Crystal cracked, at which point, she let out a disappointed gasp, and the heat ceased. The woman returned her accoutrements to her various bags and pockets, then walked away as silently as she worked.
"He owes me," she whispered to herself as she stepped back in to the smithy's grounds, not with a tone of malice, but fairness- he did use the better part of a Burn crystal on him.
With a slight huff, she sat herself on a bench within the smith yard, giving herself a decent view of the street and the inside of the shop, leaving her visible to those near the counter as well. Tilting back her head, she pulled down her scarf, removing a bottle from her waist and taking a deep drink from it.

Ryuu, for the most part, was silent as the woman set to work on his wound, only grunting quietly as the needle was stabbed into the adjacent nerve endings with a twitch of pain on his face. He was very careful not to move, lest he disturb her work and cause her to make a mistake, but he couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable with the feeling of the wire lightly tugging at his skin before being pulled tight. The pain was bearable, he had suffered worse during his training as a child and his time at Beacon, but the slightly restricted feeling of the rudimentary stitching wasn't a pleasant feeling.

As the woman finished up, he was about to give her his thanks and introduce himself when the Crystal she was using suddenly cracked. Before he could apologise or offer to repay her however, she gathered her things and disappeared back into the blacksmith's with a disappointed sigh. The words died before they could leave his mouth as he watched her go with a single raised eyebrow before sighing to himself and turning towards the Inn to allow his aura to recover and refill Ryujin's dust tanks from the supplies he had brought with him. With any luck, he'd run into the blue-clothed woman later on and he could pay her back, maybe even get a name out of her.

A few moments later, a soft blue light flashed on the woman's Scroll. Sliding it open, she scanned the job alert, which gave off a gentle chime. No doubt a similar sound would ring out from every Scroll on every Huntsman in the shop.
The job seemed simple enough, a Search and Destroy on the north of Sanus, not too far from Mission. But as always, the devil was in the details. While the location was exact enough, despite some conflict in attached clips of news reports, there was a distinct lack of information on the target. The type of Grimm present couldn't be confirmed- then again, it rarely was, but there was actually no call on what had been seen.
The woman's eyes rolled up for a moment in thought. With this little information, it would be suicide to go it alone. Then again, she didn't have anyone here she could trust. Not yet at least. Her best, and only, option would be to wait to see which of any local Huntsmen or Huntresses decided to head out, and tag along with them. She closed her eyes a moment and stood, adjusting her small belt pouches as she did.

Within Core's Hammer, a small screen lit up behind the counter. Though it was mostly hidden to customers, Maroon was able to see it all too well. He let out a dry sigh, knowing most of his customers would head out after whatever job this was. But in the long run, that suited him just fine. They needed to get paid after all. Pressing a small button on the counter, the display on the front of the register shimmered and shifted, beginning to scroll the Job Board for Vytal, with the most recent jobs at the top of the list.

"Look, Nimmie," Tori said a few hours of reminiscing later, as she replaced the newly-repaired Sigyn on the straps attached to her back, "It's been...wow. Just...wow. But I'm pretty much living on the road right now, and," she waved her scroll haphazardly in the air, "a new job just came in. I need to do it, and you probably shouldn't with your arm still a little shaky. I'll stay in touch with you, but I gotta go, alright?"

With that, she exited the repair workshop. Meeting Nimmie again had been even better than Tori had ever imagined. She was a tad miffed that it had been cut short by the order coming in. Pulling the left gauntlet out from its harness, she ran her finger over the deep nick on the backplate near the elbow joint, where it had been slashed up by Nimmie's Chopfyt during a sparring session barely a day before the incident occurred. "I guess I can afford to get rid of you now, huh?" she hummed to herself, smiling softly as she returned to the main room of the shop. Which, she suddenly realized with surprise and some embarrassment, was full of people doing quite a slew of different things.

During her work, her aura had replenished sufficiently to mend her bruised and/or broken bones, so it was with a strong stride and a cold stare that she returned her gauntlet to her back and stomped over to Maroon's counter. "I'm going out on that newest call. I need extra-fine grade dust powder. A lot of it."

She scrutinized what was put in front of her. "Alright," she said, doing her best to ignore the madness surrounding her and to carry on in a businesslike fashion, "I'll get some of this, this, this, this and twice as much of this," she continued in a clipped tone, pointing at, in order, red fire, cyan ice, yellow lightning, white air, and raven-purple gravity dusts respectively, before dumping a change purse of Lien on the countertop, not letting the hope that she actually had the money to afford it all show on her face.

---

After she checked out—she grimaced, examining the three Lien coins she still had on her person—she turned around. Her stomach flittered about with a combination of some sort of dread and a version of anticipation of what she was about to do. It had been a long time since she'd worked with anyone, but Nimmie's resurgence had left her feeling very alone in the world, and for the first time in years, Tori Frejsdottir found herself craving companions and teammates to fight alongside. After all, her Semblance was pretty useless alone.

"I'm heading out on that newest order. Anybody care to come along? I'll watch your back if you watch mine."

"Sorry, just bad memories" Azu said after a few silent moments, but the smith had already moved on to his next task. That was probably for the best, she thought as she took the material she had bought. As she did, her Scroll buzzed a notification in her pocket. Pulling it out one handed, she saw that it had connected to the local job board, and that a new posting had just gone up. Placing her material back on the counter, Azu decided that this was the perfect thing to get her mind back in order and, when she came back, she could focus on her craft.

"I apologize for this sudden change of plans, but can you hold onto my materials and the time I purchased? Something just came up and I want to go take care of it before I distract myself." When she had left the academy, She had been told she had to work on her teamwork, since she had been excommunicated from the other teams she had been a part of. As much as she hated having people to hold her back, there were actual Hunters and Huntresses here. Surely if she completed missions with them, she would only grow stronger for it.

"Excuse me," she ventured, approaching the woman who had just called out for volunteers, "Is it possible for me to join you? I just need to put my luggage away and I'll be ready to go."