Interrupting Tam's journey out of Dalmasca with a short feature for Tristan. Thanks to @porxienapper for letting me borrow Cassidy and for helping me to get her right. <3
Horizon | 5th Astral Moon | 1577
The inside of Drest Salvage & Miscellany had seen busier days, but if the slim, bookish looking owner cared about the lack of business she didn’t seem to show it. At the moment Tristan was lost deep in the belly of the construct that had been dismantled and strewn across her desk, the pieces of the joint unit no longer as neatly arranged as when she’d begun some hours ago. Now they were a cacophony of mistakes, a riot of wrong turns and ineffective results. At the center of her dilemma lay several small, concave discs that should have fit around the top of the knee assembly. With a weary sigh she leaned back in her chair, covering her face with her long fingers as she stretched the weary muscles of her back.
The bell at the door jangled abruptly and Tristan spread her fingers the tiniest bit so she could peek through them and the slatted divider to catch a glimpse of who was at the door. She wasn’t entirely sure she was up for the interruption of a customer, but then she spied the swaying green tinged curls and sun worn leather hat and smiled. Tris kicked back from the desk, her chair rattling loudly on the stone tiles as she scooted out from the small alcove and into Cassidy’s view, “Cassy, save me.”
The woman dropped a brown paper sack of groceries on the counter top that divided the main shop floor from the back area, and leaned over to snag a brief kiss from Tristan. As she swept her green curls over her shoulder she winked, her Thanalan drawl heavy with amused affection, “Hells, that’s my specialty. What’s got your knickers twisted, sugar?”
“Oh,” Tris groaned, having hoped that the woman would sweep past her actual request. “It’s this damnable knee joint. I’m trying to find something to act as a meniscus and keep the metal bearings from grinding each other to bits, but everything I’ve tried so far is too damn friable.” She gestured vaguely to her desk, and the discs spread across its surface. “I’m about ready to give up entirely.”
Cassidy’s face scrunched up as she looked at Tris, leaning over the counter to peer at the mess of the desktop. “Well, I’d offer to knock heads with you over it, but I ain’t got the slightest idea what ‘friable’ even means.” Her smile widened as she teased her hands through the fringe of hair that had escaped Tristan’s tight bun. “Sounds like somethin’ you do to eggs.”
Tristan snorted a soft laugh and leaned forward to snag one of the discs, holding it up for Cassidy to take, “It means it's likely to crumble or crack under pressure, see how bits of this latex disc are fraying off already?”
Cassidy rolled the disc between her fingers, holding it up to the workshop's lights as she squinted at it. “Aw, yeah. That’ll get ground to bits in no time flat, won’t it?”
“Yes,” Tris sighed, “And the rest of this I’ve tried is all the same. I need something hard, and naturally slick, or else something that’ll take a decent lubricant and not absorb it.” Her face flushed crimson as she looked back over at Cassidy to find the woman bouncing her eyebrows suggestively at the line of thought. “Oh, you know what I mean.”
“I do,” Cassidy laughed with a wink as she grabbed Tristan’s hand, “but c’mon and let’s have some dinner, darlin’. Then you can talk to me about lubricatin’ hard ‘n slick things til the chocobos come home.”
