Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

"Oh. I see."
He hesitates for a moment.
"Would love to help, but I need to do something first."

 

Ihra follows, weary.


"Right... sorry. I'm used to making things all in one go." Ruby says, putting her hand in the ingot chest.

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"Your marriage, I'd assume?"

 

Artemis slows her pace to stay next to Ihra.

"What exactly is stressing you out?" Artemis asks.


Abigail reaches for a blue crystalline ingot that feels slightly cold to the touch.

 

"Yeah, but we need to wait a week for the clothes. I got something else I want to do while I'm on this island."

 

"Just, the chaos of it all. I'm not sure how I handled it before."


Ruby picks it up and hovers it over the smelter, letting Abigail choose to drop it or not.

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"Oh? What would that be?"

 

"What exact part of it is stressing you out though?" Artemis asks.


Abigail drops it as she heads over.

 

"Just... everything. Now the gods in your reality are fighting, and I just want to be friends so this mess can all be over with..."


Ruby pauses.
"Do we need another mold, or just pour this stuff on what we've got?"

 

"They're not fighting anymore, and you're not a god. You can't expect or be expected to do everything." Artemis says.


"We pour it on what we have to seal it, carefully." Abigail says.

 

"I still have a game of stones to finish."

 

"But everyone counts on me... what else can I leave to other people?"


"Alright... let's not fuse me to the gauntlets." Ruby says, heading over to the casting table.

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Mark pauses, then laughs.
"They got you into that, too? Seems to be a popular game outside the settlements."

 

"Not everyone counts on you, Ihra. Everyone is their own hero, and you can't do all the work yourself. It's ok to admit things are too much for you," Artemis says kindly, "We managed without you well enough. The reason we wanted you back is for who you are, not what you do."


Abigail takes the gauntlet halves and gently holds them up to the second valve, carefully and delicately pouring the liquid crystal onto them to fuse them together. The crystal hardens quickly, and Abigail begins fusing each of the finger pieces in.

 

Ihra hugs Artemis, tearing up.
"I hate dumping things on you guys though..."


Ruby tunes out sound from Abigail's sensory, hoping Vixa doesn't interrupt the process.

 

"Yeah. It somehow is very interesting, even if it's just a bunch of rocks."

 

"Convenient when there are a lot of rocks everywhere."

 

"Ihra, it's fine. Right now, you don't need to do much at all. You can just relax." Artemis says, trying to calm Ihra.


Vixa doesn't interrupt at all as Abigail adds the fingers and claws to the gauntlet, before heading to the workbench to clean it up and remove any rough parts or flaws and then sharpening it on the grindstone.

 

"B-but... Gaia's still under siege, and I can't help her from here..."


Ruby lets Abigail do most of the moving until she finishes.
"This looks good... but we should probably make a second gauntlet."

 

"You mean your Gaia? I guess we could go help her." Artemis says.


"Yeah, we can just repeat the process." Abigail says.

 

"Yeah. So I'll be heading towards Siln then. See you later?"

 

"I mean... you'd have to get Xlentia to open up the other portals, but..."
Pause.
"...After this massage?"


"I'll get some more red crystal smelted, then." Ruby says, taking control and dropping in two more ingots.

"Yeah. You want me to check back here in two weeks?"

 

"If you really want to." Artemis says, smiling.


Abigail just lets Ruby take control until she becomes stuck.