The day after the battle, Rodrick, nor Ragnar or any of the other forms have come to the kitchen for breakfast.

Down in the room Rodrick selected to turn into a mech shop, there is lots of noise echoing throughout the castle's stone walls. The heavy, loud ring of steel hitting stone reverberates into the nearby hallways, and an immense heat billowing out of the open doorway.

Much later that evening, Delilah tentatively makes her way down to the budding mech shop.

Although she was able to nurse her migrane away with a larger dose of grimnettle (she found mixing it with some sageroot and honey dramatically improved the flavor), the ringing and the residual smells drifting up the hall aren't the most helpful to her head.

"Maybe I can make it into a balm later..." She grumbles to herself, stepping into the large room at the end of the basement. She looks around for Rodrick, a fresh jug of coffee and some leftover stew in hand.

"Howdy in here? You're workin' the night away and keepin' the moon up late. How about a bit of a break?"

From the far end of the room where the hidden tunnel was, there is a heavy impact of steel on stone, followed by a large chunk of the stone crashing to the floor in a cloud of dust and debris.

Stepping through the cloud is Ruck, wielding a massive wrecking sledge and a steel punch, glowing a dull red in his heavily gloved hands.

"Oh hi Ruby! Sorry I make noise. Rodrick need tunnel more big."

Her eyes widen in surprise. "O-oh! Ruck! It's nice to see ya! It's alright, I know. It's important work. Good work." She sets the food down on the table for him, rubbing her temple.

"Big plans for this place, aren't there?"

"Yes. Rodrick make big metal men. Ragnar make guns."

Ruck walks over to the forge and puts the punch tip inside to heat up again, wiping his forehead with a nearby cloth.

"You no had to bring food, but thank you!" He smiles, his tusks protruding out a little further than usual.

She returns his warm smile. "You're welcome. The Wuxians are good cooks, but nothing they make is as good as your cooking. You spoiled us on Dolor."

Delilah chuckles as she takes a seat. "Do you like it here?"

Ruck nods as he puts a spoonful of stew in his mouth, the wooden spoon clacking on his large teeth.

"Yes. It safe. Safe is good."

"It does feel safe, now that we have it." She leans back, looking around at the high ceiling and the supplies throughout the room. "It's a good new home for us. For now."

"Would..." she pauses, wondering how to put it. "If we could fix it up real nice... Would you want to bring your family here? Or back to Dolor, perhaps?"

"It good home for us." He nods, eating some more stew. He looks at the bowl, then to Ruby, grins slightly, and reaches into a nearby bag and sprinkles a small pinch of seasonings on it.

"Rodrick want bring Sadii and Nyxx here. They be safe here. Safe together. Finally together. And safe."

Delilah nods, resting on her arms. "That will be nice... I'd like to help, if I can. It would be fantastic to get them together again. It sounds like it's been... A rather long time. Family should be together."

Ruck nods, absentmindedly stirring his stew.

"It been long time. More than ten years. Since Hikaru was little."

She looks over, then looks back down at her hands. She feels antsy. Wanting something to do, she pours herself a cup of the coffee and takes a sip.

"I heard stories that you and Hikaru would have quite the party over the years... Best drinking buddies, huh?" She grins.

Ruck grins broadly. "Hikaru drink friend! We did drink all time. He get so drunk. Fall over. Make mess! It funny!"

His smile fades, then he takes a bite of stew. "Drink bad for Hikaru. Make him sick. Ruck not know."

Delilah looks a bit ashamed for bringing it up, realizing the mixed emotions going into it. "Well, I..." she falters, trying to find the right words.

"He seemed fond of the fun he shared with you. From what I understood." She swirls the leftover coffee in her cup, thinking. "He might not drink much now, but, you helped him through the bad stuff. You were a good friend. You are a good friend."

Ruck nods silently, his mouth full of stew. Chewing thoughtfully for a few minutes, a look of remembrance springs to his face and he dashes over to the forge, putting his thick glove on as he goes.

Once he reaches the forge, he grabs the punch, the tip now a bright yellow, and hurries over to the stone by the tunnel, picking up the wrecking hammer and driving the hot metal punch into the stone.

"Sorry, if punch get too hot it melt."

She startles a bit from the suddenness of it. "Y-yeah! No problem at all, dear. I won't bother ya no more. You're a hard worker! I can't wait to see what you do with the place."

Still feeling a bit sheepish about things, she gathers up the empty bowl and other old, dirty dishes from the table. Leaving him the rest of the coffee, she makes her way back down the hall and away from the ringing sound of the metal.

Delilah gultily avoids the area for some time, both for the noise and certain hard conversations. It's rather unlike her, and she knows she owes another visit.

Being almost a month since she last stepped foot inside, she's a bit intrigued... Wondering what it looks like now that a master's hand has been at it.

Rodrick hung upside down from the ceiling, a large anchor bolt in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. Using a mechanical device from his clockwork backpack, a robotic arm now holds the anchor bolt in place while the little gnome hammers it into the hard stone. *smash! Smash! Smash!*

Delilah peers inside the door frame, looking up at him high up on the ceiling. Her nervousness dissolves a little and she can't help smile.

Once he's finished, she gives a little wave up at him. "Howdy, stranger. Busy as always I see."

Rodrick hangs the sledgehammer from a hook on his belt and begins walking across the ceiling, fishing another large bolt out of his satchel. "Oh hey Miss Ruby! How are you? Don't mind me, I'm just getting these anchor bolts installed so I can hang some of the heavy rigging needed for lifting mech parts!"

He stops and taps the next anchor bolt into a starting hole with a small set hammer before again having the mechanical arm hold the bolt and taking a heavy series of swings with the sledge.

She watches, facinated that he can manage such a feat upside down. Once the second anchor bolt is secure, she chuckles.

"I remember the first time I ever saw you climbin' on the ceiling... It was back when we were stayin' at that Wuxian inn. Thought it was the strangest, most unnatural thing I'd ever seen." She laughs, takes a seat on a nearby crate. "I figured you was bein' mischievous... It's impressive watchin' ya work, though. So... Mech parts, huh? Whatcha gonna build first?"

"These climbing hooks have their definite advantages!" He stows the hammer once again on his belt, and walks to the wall and begins walking vertically down it. "They do take some getting used to, though... that's for sure!"

He jumps down from the wall the last couple of feet, tossing his toolbag and large sledgehammer over by a mismatched pile of tools and parts. "I'm not sure which of these I'll start on first... maybe parts for each as I go..." he points to a large wooden framework where he has tacked up copies of all the blueprints for the mechs he has designed, along with one reading, "Firelord MK.4"

Delilah looks over, eyeing the blueprints. She had looked at hers several times since Dolor, always facinated with his ideas. Seeing everyone else's listed filled her with even more wonder.

"I'm sorry about Firelord... that was a right shame. I'm just glad YOU were out of him in time, or... That explosion..." Delilah shivers, remembering. So grateful everyone ended up okay. "It was so sudden and violent. I just remember a sound, and then flames engulfing everything."

A large grin spreads across Rodrick's face. "It wouldn't have mattered if I was piloting him or not... that blast, while it does take out anything that was able to bring Firelord down... it's primary use, is to camouflage my escape. You see, before the bulk storage cores are ignited, a hidden one is lit first. When it explodes, that is what ignites the bulk storage cells... what the hidden cell is designed to do..." he runs over to the blueprints, pulling down a smaller blueprint and holding it out for her to look at. "Is eject the cockpit seat out of the mech. The entire cockpit seat is lined with thermal shielding, so it just gets a little warm... no flames or intense heat actually reach you!" He beams.

She reads over it, holding part of it to get a better look. "Woah... R-really?" Delilah looks beyond impressed, taking in all the small details drawn in. "How does the cockpit seat land without hurting the operator?"

"Oh it hurts, but not tremendously... it's all thanks to an impact absorption compensator. The design for it is actually modified off of one of Ragnar's big cannons which has a recoil compensation system." He points out the system on the blueprints. "It leaves you feeling kind of muscle achy, like you're getting over the flu... or just crashed back into the earth at roughly 160 miles an hour in a metal bubble wrapped in padding." He laughs.

Delilah pales, a bit of a concerned look on her face. She glances over at the other blueprints, then back at this one. "O-oh, I see..."

She peers closer at the tiny notes scrawled in the margins. "I'm glad you'd escape in at least one piece! It was a dangerous prospect for sure. This Firelord, he..."She squints her eyes, "He looks a little different. But I can't pinpoint what it is."