"Awesome, thank you." she replied, to then go help herself to some of the water, mixing it into her vials.

"And I had in mind for this blue fabric to just be like, decoration." she mentioned, as she continued her work.

At the mention of further details of the armor, Sofia nodded. "We could have the straps go on top of the leather armor - I don't mind the blue dress details too much. Or possibly, to have each of the metal plates be connected with each other, so that its sort of... A chain mail, except made from several metal plates. But, ultimately, the dress is just an optional part to make it look nice. If we need to make changes to make it more combat-worthy, I'm totally alright with that."

She then continued to work on her vials and such, looking now and then at his work. She didn't entirely understand smithing, but it did seem to be the sort of thing that would need a lot of dedication in order to do properly. Sort of like medicine, really.

"I just hope that these requests aren't too much..." she would then add. "It's just that I'm probably way excited with the result. And it's so great to be able to see it all be done live too!"

Then, wondering if he might be tired after so much work near the forge, in the heat, she then rose a finger. "Would you like me to get a small drink for you?" she then asked.

"It's not so much that the dress won't hold... here. I'll show you." Mashyuu started to affix the breast plate and smaller pieces that allowed her to move until her torso was completely covered by metal. "Now as you can see... This will set over anything just fine, not an issue. However when we get here. Since you didn't ask for a completely steel skirt and instead something to protect the flanks of your legs, this has to be supported by the flanks of your legs for the most part. I can hook this up to the breastplate but it's going to put a lot more weight on your shoulders and knowing how most people carry weight, your back. For protection it's fine, but in the long term this could do your body more harm than good. Hmmm" Mashyuu considered this for a long moment then stood up straight and let the armor clatter to the floor, suddenly realizing how he could make the skirt hold.

"I'm an idiot! It's so simple I can't believe I didn't notice it before!" Mashyuu rushed to the side of his workshop that held the skin of the gator he had cured and leather'd up long ago. He took the end that was tail to snot and measured it's length, cutting off enough of it to make a belt for himself with a small knife. Then three more straps. "This is going to have to go on before you put the dress on. In fact, take it off and come over here wit hit in your hands." Mashyuu took the armored skirting and a metal punch he got for helping a beer maker with a thief problem back on Jaya, then punched small belt sized holes in the top portion of the skirting. He looped the belt through the skirting held the belt up to make sure it supported its weight even while jumping up and down.

After that he used the other straps he cut to make a second and third belt, or more accurately, shoulder straps. It was then that Mashyuu revealed he did in fact know how to sew, but only when it came to leathers and armors. He made a thick, double sided cross and box stitch while also looping the straps around the front and back of the belt to create what looked like a belt and suspenders. "There now the weight of the skirt will be supported by the waist, shoulders and back. You need to put this part on first because if others see the brown leather straps they will attack it first and make this a moot point." Mashyuu then took the pieces of metal he had punched out of the skirt and tossed them back in the forge for only a few moments. The second they were soft he pulled them out and hammered them into thinner, larger squares and welded them to the spot he had exposed to cover the belt holes. With some last minute adjustments he had hooked the rest of the skirt to one another and looked at it. "Serviceable for now, can be upgraded later. Okay... what's next. Oh... Sofia, thank you for the offer but I don't drink or eat while working, it takes my mind off the task and I slow down. But thank you so much."

Mashyuu considered what still needed to be done and realized he had about half a suit of armor to still make. But how to make it mobile while still covering enough to keep her safe? Shoulder pads that hooked up to arm guards that only covered half the arm leading into gauntlets? The leg plating would be easy enough. Mashyuu touched the shoulders of the dress Sofia had and smirked at how puffy they were. He could fit the armor inside the sleeves to hide it. "Do you mind if we put the arm protection inside the dress? It will make your arms seem like targets when they really aren't."

"Oh, I see." she then said, as he mentioned the details about her torso plating.

Then she flinched back for a moment as he saw him have his eureka moment, and she just stood aside as he watched him work further.

"Ah, OK." she would then interject, at him telling her to go closer. "Oh, I see." the girl then mentioned, as he explained how the skirt piece would go on. "I appreciate that. I'm glad to know that you've got creativity to come up with these solutions! I enjoy ingenuity, heh."

"Yeah, it's no problem." she then answered at his question about her arm armor. "These puffy thingies are really not armor at all, they're just decoration. I don't mind if we have to do changes to them. After all, safety first!"

It soon started to get dark, with the sun setting, making the sky a deep red.

"I think we might have to continue this later..." Sofia then chuckled. "Two full sets of armor is a lot of work! But, I appreciate so much that you can do this for me. It's a wild world outside. And this will help me a lot. Thank you so much, Mashyuu"

She then scratched the back of her ear. "Could I nap here for today? So that we could probably continue in the morning. It's dark outside and I sort of wouldn't want to be out there in the guerrilla zone, heh."

If he answered yes, she would then go tuck herself into whatever spot Mashyuu would let her have, to then say thanks for it, and then go to sleep.

Meanwhile, her grunts would keep shifts inside her head. Just in case.

[EXIT]

"What? Stay here? Yeah sure go for it. Take one of the empty rooms. Just... leave your dress and the under armor so I can finish things up. I can't sleep when I have armor to make." Mashyuu muttered while smelting more ores into steel to work with. Once he had more steel to work with Mashyuu set out to work. He took the first piece of steel and began to hammer it into a shoulder guard, using the pad of Sofia's blue dress as a gauge for how to round the armor for Sofia's shoulders. Once it was curved, tempered and cooled he pushed it into the poofy shoulder pads to make sure they fit correctly. He withdrew the pads and started to work on the arm guards.

He picked up Sofia's under armor and again used the shape and length of the arms to measure the steel he would need. "She's already wearing a suit of under armor... plus the dress is sort of thick. I won't need to give her super strong protection there. A thick leather might be best for the bicep and metal gloves that run down the forearm would be best." Mashyuu muttered to himself. Mashyuu walked over to a small rack and picked up a bundle of leathers that had been cured a while ago. He took a thick knife and cut strips of leather to layer atop one another much like he did with the skirting for the dress.

Four layers of leather for each arm, tapering out into a belt like strap at the top and bottom of the armor to hold it int place. Instead of going on inside the dress to constrict movement the leather would be worn over the first set of armor. The glove work was tedious and slow going, hundreds, if not thousands of small, steel interlocking loops made a glove to cover the hand and were connected to a plate on the back of the hand, and just below the elbow a curved set of metal that came out in a cone like fashion to guard down to the elbow. Mashyuu squirmed his hand into one glove, it was a tight fit for him, likely perfect for Sofia. He shook the gloves hard and smiled at his work after only a few rings popped and had to be replaced with better ones.

"Alright, just the legs and boots left." Mashyuu muttered. He worked on the leggings, first making a waist around the legs of Sofia's under armor after setting it up on a stand. He made sure the chain links were tight and close to the leather of her under armor but would still have plenty of bend to them. He brought the leggings down to the knees of her leather under armor and started to feel the weariness taking him over, the sun was starting to rise. Mashyuu snuck over to Sofia's room and took her boots, bringing them back into his forge. The process to make her boots was easy enough. He took thin sheets of steel, bent them around her boots and used his steel punch to put a hole in the steel and leather at the back of the boots, then used a very small but sturdy metal pin that folded out on the inside similar to a flat grappling hook to hold the metal in place on the boots. He brought the steel plates down to just above the ankle, then did the same to the curve and sole of the boot, leaving a small space at the ankle so she could move her foot correctly. Was it perfect? No, but for what Mashyuu knew how to do, the armor looked good.

The Pirate Captain took a deep breath of air, blinked a few times and fell back with a smile on his face, her armor fitted to the dress and under armor, then fell asleep in his forge until Sofia would eventually come to collect her protection.

(End)