you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own

[serjeant]

Who: Seoraj and YOU.
What: The smithy is open for business, which means taking orders and working up basics for sale.
Where: Seoraj's Forge in Stoneshell.
When: Weekdays, business hours. Specify if it matters.
Notes: This is generally here for anyone to whom blacksmiths are relevant!
Warnings: Archaic sexism.

Business may not be booming, but nevertheless it is well underway within a short time of Seoraj's acquisition. Most of his work to start with comes in through the farming communities, and the occupation is familiar in a way that lays out most starkly how familiar so much of this place is not. Steel works under his hands as it ever has, and the world outside the smithy marches on in its own, new way. Immersing himself in that is his way, though he's never had an opportunity like this before; he insinuates himself into life here as if it were an old cloak and not so crisply new as it is.

People begin to talk to him. That will be good, he thinks, though he doesn't yet know what for.

Comments

[coffeeking]

Ianto nods agreeably, not terribly surprised, and removes both his gun and Jack's from beneath his coat, where they're tucked under his waistband. He places them on a nearby table before digging two rounds out of his pocket -- two of the last rounds for both guns, respectively -- and then two more from another pocket that he's already taken the liberty of taking apart. The bullets are separated from their cartridges and primers. There's no powder. He lines them up on the table.

"The ammunition looks simple, but it's actually somewhat complex, and requires precision work." He briefly explains how the rounds need to be assembled and then shows how they're loaded into the guns. "When the trigger is pulled, the firing pin hits the primer on the bullet, which causes the powder to erupt in a contained explosion that forces the projectile out of the cartridge at an extremely high speed."

He looks at Seoraj, brow furrowed. He knows this is probably out of the blacksmith's current depth. The question is, can he rise to the challenge? "I know it's asking a lot, but do you can give it a try? We have a supply of powder, and a press that can assemble the rounds accurately, we just need the individual pieces."

[serjeant]

The light of interest in his eyes probably answers the question before he says anything - curiosity alone would be enough to get him to try, but professional pride adds another unnecessary push to him.

"Leave these with me," he says, tapping the table beside the rounds that Ianto has shown him, "and if I can't do it, I'll give them back and you'll owe me nothing. If I can, we'll negotiate a price."

[coffeeking]

It's with some small relief that Ianto agrees. No promises have been made, but frankly, he can think of few other people to ask. Those few he can think of are not in their cohort, and he doesn't like the lack of security going to them might entail. If anything, he can be paranoid.

"Thank you. You can reach me any time on my CID." He gathers up the guns, but leaves the bullets.

[serjeant]

"I'll be in touch," Seoraj promises, looking pleased; he doesn't mind the usual work, shoeing horses and repairing wheel axles, making tools for farmers, but this is a little more engaging and he's confident he'll be able to produce something more than workable for Ianto. Maybe he'll look into these guns himself, too, but that's a different flavour of curiosity. "You let me know if there's anything else you need." In general, he means, not right now. Presumably if there were anything else now, he'd have said as much.