"Don' you worry bout it none, lass." Bear replied, patting Robyn on the back gently, "S'hard to find good people like yerself, whatever yer doin, ah know tis fer the right reason, aye?" He chuckled, the man beleived it too, Robyn had made a good move, he just knew it inside.. It was all just a case of waiting to see for himself what would happen.
Ridley nodded in response to Robyn, though looked up at Bear, his adoptive father kneeling down to lift the boy up onto an arm as he waved to Kazan and Robyn, Ridley followed suit,
"G'bye.."

Kazan looked aside, focusing on Robyn and half-smiling, though he just didn't seem into it any more, even as he walked along with her, the older grey shirt was held in his other hand as he carried on, though he looked over at the truck they'd been working on for a moment, jaw slightly clenched. He still hated how it had turned out, not exactly the best first impression he could give. Some onlookers from before were sitll there, some catching sight of the young man. Mr. Greene was already gone, probably jailed on Bears request, but the soldiers would probably be back to investigate the situation a little more thoroughly,
"That boy at Bears.." Kazan started suddenly as they were close to Robyn's home, "They aren't related.. Are they..?" It wasn't really a question, he figured the two looked far too dissimilar, "Varstradt again..?"

Robyn waved back at Bear and Ridley as she and Kazan left. Even though Bear always insisted that Robyn didn't have to do anything, she always offered. It was only right, after everything he did to help people. Robyn glanced at Kazan when he asked about Ridley.

"No, they're not related," she said softly. "Ridley... he was orphaned, Bear took him in. Originally, it was just until he could find someone to look after him, but Ridley took a liking to Bear and refused to leave." As they got back to the workshop storefront, Robyn unlocked the door and let him in. "Go on inside and make yourself comfortable. There's a bed upstairs if you're interested. I might be up for a while, I want to see if this idea that I got will work." Robyn lingered in the workshop proper for a moment, gathering up a few materials. She brought them into the main room of the house and laid out a fresh drop cloth. To anyone who didn't know her 'profession,' the materials just looked like a bunch of scrap pieces, but she would figure out some way to turn them into what she needed.

Before she started working, though, she went into the tiny kitchen. Best if she put some sort of meal together now, before she forgot. She tended to forget things like eating if she got really into a project.

Kazan's face dimmed again, he barely even responded when Robyn pointed out that there was a bed, he walked into the home and stood for a while, staring quietly at the couch where he'd been resting just a while ago.. He was almost statue-like, but he breathed, silent, low and with a severe calm. No.. He refused to believe that the Empire would perform such atrocities.. He'd lived his whole life from childhood wishing to be a patriot, a man of the people.. He'd always had the highest regard for his kinsmen, his country, his empire. Honor, justice, duty, they were his creed, and Lastdvell was no more than a country full of thankless rebels..

Even as he lied to himself, tried to convince himself these statements were true, he found himself wanting to laugh, to stifle himself, to call himself out for the foolish, naive child he was.. It was before his eyes, it was always in front of him, and he refused to see..
The man didn't realize it at first, but he snapped back to reality, standing in the kitchen doorway and looking at Robyn, she seemed to be preparing to cook, but when he remembered all she'd done so far.. Kazan mad ehis way in, looming just over Robyn, smiling lightly as he patted the side of her shoulder,
"It's my turn.. You go do what you like," Kazan offered, motioning to the kitchen door, sure, he'd spent alot of time on rations, but he'd watched and learned from his mother so often, it was just that being out in the field, he never had his hands on proper ingredients. And even a bare-bones kitchen could produce something more marvellous than expected. He'd learned this lesson well.

His thoughts dwelt on Mr Greene, Bear, Ridley, the faceless O'brien that he tried to imagine in his head and, most of all, Robyn. The more he thought about them, the more the faces of his fellow squaddies seemed to fade form his mind. He felt confused, but he could occupy himself, trying to put it all in focus as he worked.

Robyn jumped slightly when Kazan put a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't realized he was that close to her. For a moment, she'd forgotten he was there; she'd thought for just a second that the house was still empty.

"You lucky to still be standing," she said, recovering quickly from the surprise. "You look like you could keel over any minute now." Going over, she checked the cabinets and pantry. Neither seemed to be what anyone would call 'well-stocked.' "I think I need to make a run to the evening market, anyways. I don't think I have enough of anything to make a real dinner." She was making excuses, and she knew it, but it was all still true. He did look like he needed to just take it easy, and she did need to get things from the market. She didn't have any kind of meat at all, since she'd used the last of it in the soup the day before, and she needed to get some more vegetables.

There was a metal canister on the counter, with the words 'market fund' etched onto the side. Robyn went over to it and opened it, pulling out some money. She counted it silently before closing the canister again.

"Go on and take it easy," she said. "I'm going to head out to the market and get some things for dinner. Just don't touch anything, especially anything in the workshop."

Kazan watched her as she fumbled about a little, looking in the cupboards and the like until she decided she needed to go to the market. He supposed he couldn't blame her, instead nodding quietly before backing out from the kitchen. This probably meant he'd be sitting there thinking, and that wasn't exactly something he wanted to do, but now he really had no choice. He considered going up to the bed she'd mentioned, but what about her? If there were two up there then it made sense.. And what if he accidentally picked the wrong one? Maybe he wouldn't, if he could discover something unique to it that made it evident Robyn used it..

No perhaps he would wait.. Instead he returned tot he couch, if she was going to prepare dinner when she returned he may as well be down there. Her warning not to touch anything in the workshop made an inner child want to touch just about everything, but he'd since regained his self control after that Greene incident, instead he leaned up against the ouch and folded his arms loosely, head slightly lowered as he continued to think to himself, quietly, barely a sound at all.
It just didn't seem right at all, all these little things he'd been learning about this small town. A part of him was homesick for the big city, his mother, his own family.. But they were a long way off, he couldn't just get up and go..

Robyn tried to be quick about her trip to the market. She only needed enough to make the night's meal, since she could always make a proper market trip in the morning, and she didn't want to leave Kazan alone in the workshop, or even in the house. While she didn't distrust him anymore, she still didn't want him touching anything or taking any of her work. She hurried through the market, picking up what she needed to make another pot of soup. That was the easiest to make and would keep well enough if she got too caught up in her experiment.

Once she had everything, she went back home. It was getting dark, so she hurried. She didn't know if there were any other soldiers or traitors in town, and she wasn't exactly keen on finding out. One of each was enough for now. Opening the door, she went in through the workshop, locking the storefront behind her. She stopped for a moment when she saw Kazan on the couch. She wasn't sure if he was dozing or properly asleep, so she went as quietly as she could into the kitchen to start cooking.

It didn't take her long to start the soup simmering on the stove, so she went out into the main room to start with her experiment. It took a few minutes to really get everything into order, but she managed and began to put it all together. Every so often, she would glance at Kazan and then go in to check on the soup. It was strange to her, she wasn't used to having someone else in the house anymore, not since her master was killed.

Kazan watched Robyn as she left, getting up after a short while to move about the home quietly. She didn't say he couldn't look, after all, he had to familiarize himself with the home if he was going to be a guest in it. He didn't go too much into detail while looking, just figuring out bedrooms from spare rooms, the other necessary facilities. He supposed he wasn't too surprised that the kitchen was small, it was the home of a mechanic and they didn't exactly need a big place to cook meals.
He stopped when he came across his armor again, staring at the oddly-shaped shoulder parts.. He'd never been too fond of them himself, they were bulky, and they interrupted his peripheral vision when he was aiming, they made his shoulders heavy. It was an inconvenience to say the least, but now that he was free of them he could appreciate their loss all the more. He eyed up the bullet holes in the armour. He was lucky, they hadn't fragmented and diced him up internally, nothing but bent-out mushroom-shaped metal on the opposite side.

When Robyn returned, he had indeed taken his place back on the couch, he wasn't asleep not yet, he listened to her creep by after locking the store front, half-tempted to smirk and give himself away, but she was just being respectful in case he really was asleep.. Odd.. He wouldn't have been surprised if she cared less about waking him up. Did he really deserve the courtesy?
Kazan looked up suddenly.. Or did he? Not int he real world atleast.. He hadn't felt it but having relaxe dint hat position for so long he'd actally driffted off. He found hsimelf staring at a desolate environment, burned, damaged houses, flames sitll licking their vile embers across the wooden constructs, some people were visible among the debris, dead no doubt, and an empty spot at his feet seemed to be filled with something. He knelt slowly to examine the shadow closer, hands reaching out before he found himself grasping and holding up the boy from before, Ridley, eyes closed, face scratched and bloodied.

The image alone was enough to frighten him out of his sleep with a strangled gasp, head craning about for signs of wreckage, but nothing, just Robyns home. For a moment he breathed a little more quickly, heart pounding like battle drums, but nothing happened, it was still just peace and quiet..

Robyn jumped a little when Kazan suddenly sat up. She'd been working on her little project for a while, and it was starting to look like the toy snake she'd envisioned. The little clockwork motor was in the first first section, and the other four sections were connected by little hinges. While the first section had proper rubber 'wheels', the others just had ball-bearings so they moved more smoothly. The whole thing was made of different metals, since it was all just spare parts, but that didn't matter. Once it was finished, she would see about etching a scale-pattern into the metal.

"There's some soup, if you're interested," she said to Kazan. "It's probably gotten cold by now, but you can always heat it up." She didn't ask about what had woken him up. She knew what a nightmare looked like by now, and she knew better than to ask what it had been about. "Are your wounds doing any better?" That was a safe enough topic. Granted, he probably wasn't any more healed than he had been a few hours ago, but at least it was something relatively safe to talk about. Carefully, she put the first segment of the snake toy together and wound it up. When she set it on the floor, it skittered along drunkenly, weaving back and forth. That was what she wanted, though. It seemed to move too quickly, but it would slow down and smooth out when it had the other four or five segments to pull along with it.

Reaching out, she grabbed it and subtly used her magic to unwind the motor again to make it stop, and then set it down with the other pieces. She stretched. "The offer of taking the bed is still open, you know. There's not much of a guest room, but there's at least the bed in the bedroom proper if you want something better than the couch." She'd slept on the couch herself while apprenticing under O'Brien, and had moved into the bedroom after his death. A while after his death, in fact; it had taken her a few weeks to be able to move into the bedroom without feeling like she was pushing his memory aside for her own gain. Her master would have wanted her to give a wounded man the bed, though, she was sure of it.

Kazan looked towards the kitchen for a moment when Robyn pointed the soup out, he supposed he could go get some, but.. Cold..? How long had he been out exactly? That dreams wasn't that long was it? Did he simply just not realize he really had been asleep for long enough?
Her inquisition as to his wounds made him respond finally, he reached up a hand to press gently at the shoulder wound. It still hurt, but a lot less than before, the burning sensation was gone, and he could feel the continuous tingling of the salves working their magic,
"A little better.." He mentioned, though noticed a slight rasp in his voice and cleared his throat, repeating a little more strongly. Kazan looked in the direction of the stairs for a moment, the offer for the bed being brought back up, but when he realized that there was only one, he had to refuse, and he did so visibly at first, shaking his head,
"No.. Its your bed.. I can sleep here, I've intruded far enough." He mentioned calmly, "I've been used to a lot worse, a couch s luxury in comparison to a barracks or a field camp.. Actually.. Correction; I like field camping, I get to see the stars on good nights."

The soldier got to his feet calmly, making his way to the kitchen so he could ladle himself some soup, however, he looked over at the kitchen sink for a moment. There was a used bowl and spoon there. Good. She ate. He wasn't entirely sure why he was even bothered if she ate or not, he imagined if she hadn't he would have lectured her and even then he wondered why he would.
If he kept questioning himself like this he was going to get himself highly confused. The soldier would prepare himself a bowl before returning. Soup, twice in one day.. He hoped they'd have solids the next day, if this woman lived off soup he was going to have to force-change her eating habits, it wasn't good for her to have only one kind of food.

Robyn gathered carefully rolled up her project in the drop cloth and put it in the workshop. It was late, so she would finish it the next day. This was how she usually worked. She would take commissions and such throughout the day, and then work on her own projects in the evening. She ended up falling asleep on her projects many times, but she didn't mind much. She stretched.

"I still think you should take the bed," she said. "Honestly, what kind of person would I be if I didn't let an injured man take the most comfortable spot? I'm used to sleeping on the couch, really." She glanced at him. "If you're trying to treat me like a girl, it's not going to work. I haven't been 'girly' since I was eight." She'd been about eight when her magic had manifested, and she'd started to tinker with clockwork toys instead of playing with dolls like other girls. She didn't regret it, though. It had gotten her an actual profession rather than leaving her to just be any other girl, so she was grateful.

She looked over at Kazan's armor, which was still piled in the corner. It was partially uncovered, which she figured was Kazan's doing.

"That looks like it was really awkward," she commented. "I can't imagine wearing anything like it. There has to be a better option out there rather than all of that... fluff." Fluff probably wasn't the best literal choice, but it pretty much described all of the filigree and ribbons and other nonsense on the armor. It was just distracting, and couldn't possibly contribute to the armor's protectiveness.

Kazan grinned a little on his return, placing himself down on the couch again as he stared over at Robyn,
"Well I certainly dont intend to tuck you in and read you a bedtime story.." He responded, patting the couch calmly, "At least let me retain some dignity.. The couch is fine.." He stated a little more seriously, looking over at the armour as well,
"The fluff, as you so put it, is my decorations as a soldier. but the armour placement could have done with some better thought.. The neck-guards on the shoulder certainly couldn't protect your neck, it's better to have them as part of a chest plate.. May as well run into battle screaming cut my head off please." He chuckled, eating some of the soup while he looked at the damaged materials. They would probably sitll be decent protection considering the damage only consisted of a few bullet holes, the chances of some-one shooting in those exact same places was slim, swords were even less likely to get at him.. Except for that 'cutting his head off' remark..

He turned himself a moment, looking back over at where his handgun had been abandoned, not for any particular reason, but he'd had a strange thought. The gun was only a single small weapon, no more than the single crystal inside it.. It made him wonder how the Lastdvellan resistance forces got their hands on their weapons, but then, if that Mr Greene could defect.. Could there be sympathizers in the Varstradt Empire? or were the resistance able to raid an armoury..?
He shook the thoughts from his mind and sighed a little, carrying on with his soup.

"It's fluff," Robyn repeated. There was no excuse for that kind of thing, really. And some of the pieces seemed to be shaped to catch on things rather than to deflect anything. What kind of sense did that make? Robyn shook her head. "You know, I'm just not going to argue about it," she said. "It's late, and morning market opens at sunup, so you have to be there at o-dark-thirty to get any of the good stuff." Robyn knew that all of the food-oriented merchants would send their apprentices to the market in their stead to sell things, and Robyn knew most of them by name. "If you're going to insist on taking the couch..." She went and found a spare pillow and blanket. They weren't top quality by any means, but they were good enough. "Here. I'll try not to wake you on my way out in the morning."

With that, Robyn went upstairs to the bedroom. The room wasn't excessively large, but it was a decent-sized bedroom, and was clearly a mechanic's bedroom. While not as cluttered as the workshop was, there were still little bits and pieces on every available surface. Robyn went and pulled an old set of pajamas out of the dresser and changed into them before falling onto the bed. It had definitely been one of those days that just made her want to crawl into bed and not come back out for a while. But she had her job to do and the shop to mind, so she did what she could. She was asleep quickly.

Kazan set aside the soup for a moment to take the pillow and blanket, bowing his head automatically as thanks. It was tradition, where he was from, to make a polite bow in thanks, or a lowering of the head, same thing, slightly less formal, when receiving something. Afterwards he carried on with the soup, finishing it quietly, a little bemused by Robyn and her responses. Not long after he too had fallen asleep, the blanket draped over himself and face turned neatly in towards the couch..

He didn't realize how much time would pass as he lived with Robyn, two days he spent wandering the closest reaches of the town, taking in the sights, enjoying the peace for what it was. He met people, nice people, funny people, angry people. Even a resistance fighter or two he was pretty sure, they carried themselves in a way that suggested they were hiding something and they were more than ready to take the fight to the Varstradt..
What took his interest most was the mages. He'd encountered a couple, and he watched as they practised their arts, manipulating nature like playthings. They made his own control of magic look like a joke and he considered himself impressive on Varstradt standards considering he could use the crystals hidden in their weapons so well..

It was on the third day he finally felt his wounds were closed enough before he finally suggested to Robyn he find some work to do, merely as a matter of contributing to her household. She'd spent three days taking care of him, not on constant but basically he was freeloading. And the "stir-crazy" side of him wanted something more to do than sit around and watch her tinker, amusing as it was to watch. She really wasn't like any other girl he'd met.

The soldier spent his days from then on working in the smithy for Bear. The two seemed right at home when they worked together, Kazan's disciplined mind and readiness to do all that he could meant that Bear wasn't afraid to push his new-found assistant further, let him work hard. It allowed for Bear to complete some backlogged orders much sooner than he thought, Kazan was smarter and more skilful than he seemed, perhaps not an expert, but he certainly excelled beyond the average fool.
Alongside that, he'd taken to helping the townsfolk reconstruct damaged buildings from after various skirmishes with Varstradt.. It probably wouldn't last for long.. But the look of rubble and smashed wooden skeletons wasn't appealing.. The dead were mourned for, now to build monuments to their sacrifice..

Back at home Kazan had near enough officially taken over the kitchen, again so he wouldn't go stir crazy, Robyn seemed to be able to deal with it a lot easier than he could, so he made the deal that while he cooked and performed general tasks about the home, she could carry on with her work. He wanted to suggest she make many more toys like the ones Ridley had after all parents would love to give their children such things in such times, to keep them happy, and free of the fear of the coming battles..
But how soon, he wondered.. How soon would another attack upon the city come..?

Perhaps the worst thing of it all was the nightmares.. As each night passed, the nightmare changed, Ridley, wounded and beaten in his arms, his gaze drifting across the debris behind him to stare at a large silhouette.. It was Bear.. and the look of horror, grief, the anger upon his face, indescribable, like something from hell itself.. And beside him.. Robyn.. Tears..?
The sound of a gunshot within his mind rung clear, but he woke up to silence, slice that he broke by half-shouting this time as he felt the pain from his still-healing wounds.. The skin had closed but the pain hadn't fully left yet.. And here, now, as his heart pumped hard and the blood rushed throughout his body, they hurt, they burned.. The sensation was ebbing away, but he gripped at his own form for a moment, doubling over slightly.
That nightmare again.. Ever since that first day he awoke in Robyn's home.. He'd been having that same vision.. What was eating away at him so much that he kept seeing that horrible scene? What punishment had he brought himself? Was he truly deserving of something this torturous..?

Robyn was surprised at how quickly time passed when there was someone else around. Before Kazan had shown up, her days consisted of sleep and work, with the occasional evening spent watching Ridley for Bear. Now, though, she managed to juggle work and looking after Ridley once or twice, and keeping in eye on Kazan when he got it in his head to help her in the workshop. She didn't miss how he always brought back bits and pieces from the forge when he worked with Bear, and the bits and pieces were always just the right size or shape to make some sort of toy.

Really, she could take a hint.

In the evenings, she would tinker with the mismatched pieces, putting together little clockwork toys. They were more than Ridley could ever need, but Robyn set them aside for the moment. She only had two or three, from the pieces the Kazan left for her, but eventually they would build up. She considered selling them from the storefront, or from the market.

She was still paranoid about using her magic around Kazan, though. If she did, she prayed that he wouldn't notice it. Her brand of magic wasn't all that flashy to begin with, but after a while even the most oblivious person was bound to notice that her skill with mechanics was a little too easy sometimes. She was a little surprised when he pretty much took over her kitchen, though. She hadn't expected such a thing, but she soon discovered that it was a welcome change. She wasn't exactly talented in the kitchen, so not having to cook was a wonderful thing.

She had a couple of rough sketches in the workshop that she had drawn out after having taken apart Kazan's gun. Her sketches had all the major components that the gun had, although the designs were different. She would need to get a few opinions on them, though. If the designs were feasible, though, then she might be able to put a prototype together to experiment with. It wasn't much, but it was a start towards a way for the town to protect itself a bit better. She hadn't shown the sketches to Kazan yet, though. If she was honest with herself, she was afraid of what his reaction would be to them.

Kazan swung his legs off of the couch. He'd taken to sleeping with just his slacks on, feet touching the cold floor as he raised his hands to his head. He'd removed his bandages the day before, the fresh pink of healed flesh visible where his wounds used to be, they were still sensitive. For a moment he couldn't help but chuckle to himself that Robyn had actually used a mechanics pliars to remove the bullets.. The man stood after a while. He'd gotten more comfortable with the home, in fact had earned a little more freedom, although he liked a certain level of respect.

But early morning..? A desire not to go back to sleep for that nightmare again..? Yeah he wasn't even considering it as he wandered about he home quietly, not daring to go upstairs, he didn't want to wake Robyn. Instead he found himself in the workshop. She'd been working on schematics, he had seen it from a distance, but to what, he didn't know, atleast not until he unrolled them to look at the results.
He stared at them for a while, having to sit down and go over them in detail. A small gas lantern provided the light as he looked over each design. One of them he wouldn't have recommended, but the other two had potential, although they needed certain fixes.. A compensator, recoil control, stocks, and a few simple touches could be all it took to make these quite workable.

He stared at a blank spot in the page for a moment before smirking to himself as he grabbed a pencil, he drew a small face with a smile, followed with the comment, Looks good, be careful with the recoil. He wouldn't instruct her on what to do, if she didn't figure out a few of these things, or didn't ask, she wouldn't learn from the mistakes. But still, he was impressed that she'd gotten this far with them.
Maybe.. Just maybe..

He shook his head a moment and stood up, leaving them rolled for now. He wouldnt dare adjust the schematics either, it was disrespectful to a mechanics work. Instead he found a blank sheet and grabbed some measuring tools, same pencil in hand as he carefully worked on the items he'd been thinking of. The compensators he'd thought of were simply pieces added on to the end of a gun barrel, they redirected propellant gases, reduced recoil and kept the gun stable.

As for the stocks, while they were typically only made for rifles or larger guns, he had always thought that the handgun could be made a dangerous instrument indeed if it could be made as accurate as possible even in the hands of an untrained soldier. By the time he was done the paper was littered with stocks, compensators, extended magazines and attachable grips, all things he'd considered using himself at one time. However he stopped at a blank spot for a moment, staring at it. There was something he'd forgotten, but he wasn't quite sure what.. After a while he just rolled it up, giving up for now, pushing the paper aside and staring at the now half-used pencil,
"What are you up to, Kazan..?" He asked aloud to himself, but not too loudly, "What's wrong with you..?"

Robyn wasn't sure why she was lying awake. It was still early, even according to the sky outside, but she couldn't sleep. She had been waking up all night, and had eventually just given up on trying to get back to sleep. She heard Kazan moving about downstairs, but she didn't think much of it. She knew he had nightmares, and also knew there was nothing she could do about it except give him space to deal with it in his own way. When she heard the door to the workshop open, though, she decided to get up to investigate.

Slipping out of bed, she made herself decent enough to go downstairs. She was only going into the workshop, but still, pants were generally a good idea. Quietly, she went down the stairs. She wasn't entirely sure why she stayed so quiet, perhaps so as not to break the peace and quiet of the house. Still, she padded over to the half-open door to the workshop. She could hear Kazan inside, hear a pencil on paper, but she didn't announce her presence yet. She was interested to see what was going on.

When he started talking to himself, she opened the door a little further. He had seen her schematic sketches, there was nothing she could do about that. And he didn't seem to be storming upstairs to confront her, so clearly his reactions weren't as bad as she thought they would be.

"I'm not sure what you think you're doing," she commented, "but while you're trying to figure it out, maybe you could help me."

Kazan froze for a moment, hearing Robyn over his shoulder. He couldn't believe he'd been so distracted that he'd let her get that close without him knowing.. He was getting sloppy. The man then breathed softly, putting the pencil down and lowering his head a little. Help..? She actually wanted some help? Did he really want to give it..? He stared over at the roll of parchment he'd been working on before he reopened it slowly, spreading it out across the desk,
"Something like this?" He asked calmly, making sure it was pinned open.

He turned his gaze to the schematics she'd been working on, having taken note of which was which before he paused aside the one he didn't think wold work as well, but the other two.. They would be potentially good. However it felt like a restriction to have only handguns to work on. They needed additional weapons for Robyn to break down and study if she was going to design a Lastdvell gun.
They needed bigger weapons.. Something even more powerful than Varstradt..
No! Why would he even think of that?! He couldn't possibly go against his own people in such a manner.

The soldier stood, staring down at the sketches he'd made, half tempted to rip it up entirely.. but it was his own work, it seemed like such a waste. He clamped his jaw and fought the conflict inside him quietly while looking back at Robyn,
"I never drew any of this.. I never suggested any of it and we never had this conversation.. It's entirely the work of a Lastdvellan mechanic." He stated suddenly, leaving the room in something of a hurry, but he stood in the following room silently, head lowered again. the internal conflict that had been sparked raged inside him like a strange madness, two sides of himself at war with one another.

His doubts about Varstradt.. His strange, garnered love for Lastdvell, even for Robyn and Bear and little Ridley, the child who haunted his dreams, even as that dead face looked back to him in his mind he could feel it judging him, taunting him, lashing at his nerves like some demon.
And in the dark a faint glimmer could be seen, as tears formed in his eyes, slipping down his cheeks quietly. The agony of all these conflicted wishes and desires, these ideas that tore at him.
What would he do..? What COULD he do..?

"I was just... Trying to figure out some alternatives," Robyn tried as Kazan's mood suddenly shifted. "Some way to help the town..." She trailed off as Kazan stormed out of the workshop. She couldn't tell if he went any further into the house than the main room, for all she knew he left completely, but who wouldn't? He'd found her sketches; hell, he'd put comments on them, from what she could see. For all she knew, he was on his way back to the Empire by now with news of a new rebellion uprising or something like that.

Sighing, she sat down at the table that her sketches were spread on. Lowering her head to the table, she thumped her forehead against the wood a few times. How could she have been such an idiot? After a few thumps on the table, she put her arms onto the table and rested her head on them.

"Great... Nice one, Robyn," she said to herself. "Why don't you just admit to being an untrained technosage while you're at it? Just to make this even more perfect?" Head still resting on her arms, she flicked a couple of fingers at the clockwork toys she had made before. Obediently, they started to skitter around the surface of the desk. Watching them made her feel marginally better, but only marginally.

Kazan sat down on the couch as Robyn stayed in the workshop as he tried to rifle through his head, searching for something, some answer to his dilemma. He felt even worse having just left Robyn like that, what away to treat her.. But to help her could mean a massive change.. new weapons for Lastdvell, a more powerufl resistance against Varstradt, the empire he was born in, raised in, that he'd fought for, for years and more. By all rights he should have taken Robyn as a prisoner of war and dragged her back to Varstradt. A technosage she'd told him once.. That first day he'd woken and started asking things.. He could remember it just as clearly as now..

He couldn't just let go of Varstradt could he..? But each time he thought about it, Robyn would override his mind, Bear, Ridley, the kind folk here.. He somehow felt like he belonged here just as much.. To be here he had to give up Varstradt, to be in Varstradt he had to give up this place.
It was a nice fantasy while it lasted.
Kazan stood slowly, looking over at the remains of his armour..

After a few moments, Kazan could be hear walking back into the Workshop, he calmly stepped forward and knelt by the desk, still half-dressed, his arms crossing on the desk as he looked aside to her almost mournfully,
"Robyn.. I.." He swallowed a little bit, "I didn't mean to hurt you.. I just.. I'm.. Conflicted.." He admit, leaning back off the desk and lowering his head, "What you're asking me here is more than just a few little fixes.. What you're doing could spark even greater retaliation.. And its to make weapons that would be used to kill my own countrymen.."
He looked aside to her,
"You can see that cant you..? This is no small thing.." he didn't realize he'd lost a little control while speaking as he leaned against the desk, "And if that retaliation ended up hurting you.. I dont think I could live with myself.."

Robyn looked up when Kazan came back into the workshop and immediately stopped the windup toys again.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me," she said as Kazan tripped over his apology. "Really, you don't." She was just a mechanic, he didn't have to apologize to her. Reaching out, she rolled one of the toys on the table back and forth with a fingertip. It was an unfinished toy; it still didn't have a key to wind it with, but that didn't matter when she could wind it with magic. After a moment, she stood up. "I should go get dressed and everything," she said. "Does the kitchen need anything from the market?" She didn't use the word 'we,' instead referring to the kitchen itself rather than to her and Kazan. She was still trying to ignore the fact that she kept expecting to wake up as a prisoner of the Empire for being a technosage. Hadn't he just pretty much admitted that he was still with Varstradt? Pausing, she turned again.

"Hey... How often does the Empire come across people with 'useful' magic?" she asked. "You know, like my old master?" It sounded like an innocent enough question. She wanted to know just how valuable magicians were to them. She was getting tired of being paranoid all the time, and if she wasn't valuable enough to take back to the Empire, then she might consider telling Kazan what she was.

"Like your old master, and you? Often enough.. Magic, like I've told you, isn't a very common commodity in Varstradt.." Kazan explained getting up and clearing his eyes a little, the man placed a hand on his hip looking over at Robyn, "They've been desperate for a magical edge for some time.. The belief is that magic and technology harnessed together would grant them ultimate rule. Its why they try anything and everything they can. Like that handgun of mine. As far as magic is concerned, most of Varstradt is barren, poor on the knowledge, we dont produce many mages or other magic users. Those we do usually cant compare to foreign users like those in Lastdvell. So then we alternate to weapons with magic crystals in them.." Kazan explained on, not realizing how far he'd explained it already, arms folded as he thought about it,
"Even I'm not too familiar with it, but I Aced all the magic crystal aptitude tests and.. Well.. I don't know.. I can feel magic sometimes.. Bits and pieces, like I have a second skin under my own. I'm not sure if that's the right way to put it but its how I feel when I use the gun."

Kazan shrugged after a moment,
"They dont consider using the magic crystals special though, but when I'm one who can in a hundred or so who cant, I think I've got the edge." He chuckled a little, it was easier to laugh than before, the wounds didn't hurt, in fact they felt better, certainly better than after waking from his nightmare,
"As for the rest.. I was always told those who didn't were incarcerated or deported form Varstradt.. I never heard.. of any executions.." He trailed off, lowering his head a little, butt hen coughed, clearing his throat,
"Uh.. yeah.. Kitchen.. Vegetables, some smaller ones this time.. Bear asked that we watch Ridley for him tonight, he needs to work a good deal of the night on a project for some noble."

Robyn felt a brief stab of panic when Kazan mentioned he knew about her magic. Clearly, she hadn't been as careful as she thought she'd been. There was nothing she could do about it now, though.

"When did you figure it out?" she asked. There was no point in denying it or asking why he didn't say anything. She hadn't said anything in the first place, after all. "I mean, it's not exactly like I got any formal training or anything... My apprenticeship was cut short." Reaching over, she rolled up the schematics again and put them away. No sense in working on them any more right now. She had to get dressed and make a run out to the morning market. She nodded absently when Kazan mentioned that Bear wanted them to watch Ridley for the evening. That was fine with her, she had those new toys to give to the boy anyways.

"So... You're not going to, I don't know... toss me in a sack or something and drag me back to the Empire?" she asked, looking at him. "I mean, it's not exactly as if I can stop you, you're stronger than I am."

"Well for a while I thought you told me. But then I remember I might have gotten our conversations mixed up.. Your old master was a Technosage and trucks dont tend to make that many noises when you put your hand on their bonnet.. Also.. Those toys you make for Ridley, they'd take a skilled engineer much longer." Kazan shrugged to himself a moment, though chuckled at her question, "The only sack I'll toss you in is your own bed when you dont sleep proper hours. If they dont know I met someone like you, they cant punish me for not doing something about it.."

He looked aside, arms dropped for now,
"Besides, that's not how I do things.. Recruiting people is fine, hiring them for their skills, but to use them as spies like that Greene, or to kill them because they refuse to co-operate.. That's not the way a war or a takeover should be, there's no honour in it.. I joined to fight soldiers not kill civilians." He lowered his head a little chuckling again,
"I must sound like an idiot.. That night when you saved me, me and my squad had infiltrated the town to attack a resistance based in a church, but when we opened it, there were civilians, I tried to get my men to lower their weapons, then the resistance members showed up. Mowed us all down before we could react.. I screwed up.. I got my whole squad killed just because I refused to shoot civilians.."

"You don't sound like an idiot," Robyn replied. She went up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You sound like a good man, that's all." She was actually relieved that he hadn't killed anyone. She felt bad that his men had been killed, but she was still relieved that he hadn't killed anyone from town. "I suppose it was kind of obvious when I disconnected everything in the truck's engine... I wanted to make sure it wasn't going anywhere any time soon. I'll fix it again." Maybe Bear would even let her keep the truck. It would be a useful thing, someday, even if it was only as a set of wheels.

Stepping away, she grinned. "So, how good are you with kids?" she asked. "Ridley isn't exactly a handful, but knowing how to take care of kids is always a plus." Reaching over, she picked up one of the windup toys. "He likes these, though, so I make them." She tended to dote on Ridley a bit, but she looked on him like a little brother, so she couldn't help but want to take care of him. She didn't mind helping Bear out every so often by watching Ridley.

With Robyn's hand on his shoulder, for a moment Kazan felt strangely at ease. She'd never really gotten this personal with him before, it was a welcome change, but he didn't comment on it, although he did feel a little disappointed when she backed off a little. Her question made him smile a little and he rubbed the back of his neck,
"I uh.. Well I dont know about children.." He replied, looking past her, "But Ridley sometimes brings Bear and me a drink. I guess he isn't afraid of me or anything but he's still shy.." Kazan mused on the memory. He'd been working with Bear all day, but his wounds acted up, he sat down for a short while, next thing he knew Ridley was there, holding up a mug full of juice.

His attention diverted to the windup toys and he nodded, he'd seen Ridley downstairs playing with them while working on his words and numbers, Bear would find Ridley basic literature every now and again, it was a good way of getting the boy some home-schooled education before he was sent to a real school. Though he wondered if the shy child would survive amongst others.. Then again maybe some of them had lost family or even parents just like him.
Kazan looked over where he'd neatly folded the rest of his clothes, he'd get dressed shortly too, get on over to Bears and help out as always.

For a short while, at least, it would just be him and Ridley on their short walk to Robyn's home, though he wondered about it, Ridley stayed home so much except for the odd occasion where Bear could take him out,
"Hey Robyn, is there a nearby park or open area we could take Ridley, may as well make a day of it, right?"