(open) weapon-crafting 101

[myownprice]

WHO: Boba Fett and you!
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Boba decides the first thing he needs on a new planet is a weapon. Naturally.
WHEN: Early May, but after Sports Day
WARNINGS: Brief mention of child slavery




i. required materials

To say it had been a difficult first day on Agra-10 for Boba would be a massive, massive understatement. He’d spent most of it bouncing between confusion and panic, chased by his fears of what might be waiting for him if he should return to Tatooine too late and, at one point, literally chased by an angry cyborg clone through the empty Temba streets. Somehow, a day that had started with him being hunted for sport and almost enslaved on Tatooine had gotten worse. At least when he was being chased in Mos Eisley, he had an idea of why.

Now, on his second day, he’s decided that things are going to be different. He’s done panicking; now he’s going to come up with a plan. First things first: he needs a weapon.

He spends most of the first part of the day combing through the city, searching for the materials he needs. He thinks a spear would be a good start; he knows how to use one for both self-defense and fishing, the latter of which he needs to pay Tommy back for the meal on his first day. He makes for an odd sight as he searches for the necessary components; a short-statured figure in a blue cadet’s uniform, face hidden under a silver-and-blue Mandalorian battle helmet, picking through junk and debris. Unlike his first day, he won’t run or hide if he sees another person approaching—though he will stop and watch them, the black visor of his helmet turning to track them as he weighs whether or not they might be a threat.

ii. steps 1-6

By the time Boba finds everything he needs for a spear, it’s already past noon. He kneels in the shadow of an abandoned storefront, taking in his finds. A broken mop handle, a clump of electrical wiring, and a few sharp fragments of scrap metal—it’s not much, but it should be enough for what he needs. He spends the next while putting it all together: using one of the pieces of scrap metal to score a notch into one end of the wooden mop handle, inserting another piece of scrap to be the spearhead, and tying it all together with frayed bits of electrical wire. The result is an ugly, haphazard thing that will probably fall apart the second he tries to puncture anything firmer than flesh—but it’s better than nothing.

Grimy and exhausted, Boba examines his new weapon with grim acceptance. He knows it’s nothing amazing. He also knows that with the sun going down, he probably won’t be catching any fish today. Maybe he can go back to Tommy’s diner? It feels wrong, taking another meal when he can’t even repay the man for what he’d eaten yesterday, but… he’s hungry. And at the very least, he can think about catching something tomorrow.

He stands and, after a quick glance at his communicator to figure out where he is, begins to walk in that direction, still holding his improvised spear in one hand.

{OOC: Feel free to encounter Boba either at the diner or on his way there!}

Comments

[myownprice]

Competitions where you can win back your stuff from home? Now that's intriguing.

"Huh. Maybe I can get my jetpack back that way." And his father's book. Not that Boba is going to mention that now. He'll just make a mental note to keep an ear out for such events in the future.

For now, though: getting a weapon. He turns back to his search, frowning as he scans their surroundings. He'd been heading towards a dilapidated building when the stranger had interrupted him, one that looks like it might've been a workshop before part of the roof caved in. Boba continues towards it now.

"I've found lots of scrap metal lying around," he says, glancing uncertainly back at the stranger. "But none of it's the right size or shape. And I don't have the tools to change either of those things..."

It'd probably be too much to hope for that the stranger has a fusion-cutter among his belongings...

[newmemorywhodis]

Link thinks about the problem for a moment. It's a pity they couldn't just...smush something sharp onto the end of the handle, and just have it stick. That would be useful.

But this kind of tool use isn't something Link is familiar with. He certainly doesn't have a fusion cutter, whatever that is. But, maybe there's another option.

"Could sharpen your staff," he says. "Make it pointy."

[myownprice]

"I could," Boba muses, "if I really can't find anything."

He's not quite ready to give up on his original plan yet. Still, as he glances over again at the stranger, another idea occurs to him.

"Can I use your sword for a second? I just need to notch the top of this." He raises the wooden pole by his side. "It'll make it easier to set a spearhead in."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link has to shake his head. "Other people can't wield it," he says. Zelda's probably the only person apart from him who could even touch.

Still, that doesn't mean he can't help.

"I could do it?"

[myownprice]

"Oh." His helmet tilts to the side, slightly puzzled. He's heard of biocoded blasters before—weapons attuned to someone's unique physiological signature so that only they can fire it. Still, he's never heard of a sword with such limitations. How would that even work?

He considers for a moment—then steps closer to Link to show him where to cut. "Right here," he says, drawing a line with a finger on one end of the wooden handle. "Maybe just this deep." Again, he uses his fingers to demonstrate, holding them about one-and-a-half inches apart.

And then, because he can't help his curiosity: "What happens if someone else wields your sword?"

[newmemorywhodis]

By the holy power of a goddess, that's how it works. And it's not really coded to his biometrics, so much as his soul.

He draws the Sword. It's a beautiful blade, and anyone with any appreciation for weaponry will be able to tell that this is something special. And this, the Sword that Seals the Darkness, the Sacred Blade, the legendary Master Sword...Link uses to casually cut a notch into the pole.

The question, however, has his pausing a moment. He's not entirely sure exactly what would happen to someone else, if they tried to wield the Sword. He just knows, a deep instinct embedded down into his bones, that it wouldn't be good.

"They...can't?" He pauses again. Remembers how the Sword tested him, judged whether he had the strength to wield it. Remembered the Deku Tree's warnings. "Maybe painful. Maybe deadly."

[myownprice]

Boba watches curiously as the stranger draws the sword. Boba himself has been trained to wield all sorts of weapons, but he's never seen one so exquisitely crafted before. Weapons, he was taught, are purely practical tools. If one is fine enough to attract attention, then there's something wrong with it. Even so, he can't help but step forward for a closer look as the stranger angles the blade to carve a notch into the tip of the pole, admiring the shine of the blade—

—and then quickly steps back at the words 'painful' and 'deadly.' Pretty or not, Boba's definitely not touching that thing.

"Thanks," he says, taking the pole back from the young man. He examines the notch made on the end and gives a hum of satisfaction. Then, he keeps heading for the collapsed storefront. He still needs to find a spearhead, after all.

"I bet you could use that sword as a trap," he says, voice tinged with envy. "You could just leave it somewhere you a know a target would be and wait for them to pick it up." And then they'd explode or whatever happens to non-authorized would-be sword-wielders. He shoots a glance back at Link. "You're lucky something like that came through with you."

[newmemorywhodis]

It's not that Link is adverse to setting traps. He's certainly done it before, after all. But it's not a suggestion he expects from a child. And it's certainly not something he would ever consider with this sword.

For a moment, there's just a heavy silence as Link looks at Boba.

"...No," he says quietly. "Not with the Sword that Seals the Darkness."

Not ever.

[myownprice]

Even before the stranger speaks, Boba can tell he's said something wrong. Maybe it's the stony silence his idea is met with, or perhaps the piercing stare with which he's fixed. Boba tenses, not sure what he'd said to get such a reaction.

...Maybe it has something to do with the fact that this blade is, apparently, 'the Sword that Seals the Darkness.' It's an imposing name, one that has Boba re-evaluating if it really is just an ostentatious, bio-coded blade. It sounds almost... magical?

"...Okay," Boba says after a long moment. "Um. Don't do that, then." A pause. "Do you still want to help look for parts?"

It was just an idea.

[newmemorywhodis]

Just an idea, yes. But one that was also...unsettling. And wrong, and levels Boba does not seem to understand.

But even if Link is still deeply unnerved by Boba's suggestion, it's not enough for him to refuse to help. "What else do you need?" he asks, as he sheaths the Sword.

[myownprice]

Honestly, Boba is glad when the stranger puts away the sword. He’d said earlier he was lucky to have it, but after their brief conversation, Boba can’t help but feel that it’s a bad omen.

“I still need to find something to use as a spearhead,” he says. “And something like rope, to tie it.”

He ducks into the threshold of the partially collapsed storefront. There’s some faded signage for hardware at the entrance, which Boba finds promising. “It has to be sharp, but not too brittle. My dad told me that even a sharp stone can work, but a most of the time you need to carve it first…”

A pause. Boba realizes he’s forgotten something. He glances back at the stranger.

“My name’s Boba, by the way.”

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods, and follows Boba into the storefront. "Link," he says, before he starts to search.

There's pieces of broken glass. Sharp, certainly. But not durable. He rummages through some of the rubble inside. There's some broken off pieces of wood, once part of some shelving. Not quite right, but Link collects them anyway, just in case.

He does, however, managed to find a curled up piece of thick cord. This, at least, should be useful.

He wonders back to Boba, and shows it to him.