Vices and Maces

Chapter 81: Oh Yeah, It's All Coming Together

"Ooh, these designs look so cool!" Cecil said, looking through the papers Virgil was writing the other day. "The shield, that's so clever! I wonder if we could use that for more than a shield, like for cars to reduce crashes or bullet proof things. Though I guess that would be a bit expensive."

"And possibly dangerous," Virgil added. "Maybe for certain parts of a car, but if we take away the ability for a car to break completely then the person would feel the full impact instead of most of it being absorbed into the car."

"Oh that's true... But if it works, the idea can still help people in some way! Oh and these gloves look cool. But wouldn't fire crystals just melt the metal? And wouldn't it be hard to break a crystal to cause an explosion? Why not just use potion bottles? Plus, you can have different effects too! An explosion, poison, sleeping potions."

"Huh, that actually sounds better. I don't normally work with potions, but it doesn't sound too hard. I just need tiny bottles, and those should be easy to find." Virgil started to write down some more notes.

"Same with long gloves, though there should be metal where the contraption is going to be at, and definitely on the knuckles to protect it from the explosion. I would suggest leather to avoid the glass shards, but that's not too fireproof, so you'd need some other material."

"That's true... there's a potion shop near the crystal shop so we won't have to make our own for the prototypes."

Cecil rubbed his neck. "Technically, we were told not to work on any prototypes because of your injuries. But a little sewing wouldn't hurt, we should have some spare fabric. Though we should come up with a design for the mechanism on the back of the glove first, we have a 3D printer and it can print metal!"

"Are you really gonna go behind Dad's back, Anemone?" Kayden asked.

"Aw, just this once! This is a really cool idea, I wanna help make a prototype!" Cecil gave him puppy dog eyes. "Please!"

"'Just this once' you say for the millionth time," Sidney mocked lightheartedly. "He always wants to make prototypes, even for things that are dangerous. He's always been reckless."

"That's not true!"

"It is," Kayden commented.

"Hey it worked out for you, cause if he wasn't then he might not have ever asked you out," Sidney teased.

"Poppy!" they both shouted, making Virgil laugh.

"We don't have to make a prototype if we shouldn't," he told Cecil. "Maybe we can do it if I heal a bit more."

"I wasn't saying we were gonna stop you," Kayden said. "You can go ahead and do it. We actually have a potions lab on the third floor. If you send a request for certain potions, they can make it for you."

"Ooh, good idea! And we have a weapons testing room in the basement! We can try it out there!" Cecil added.

"First, we need to make it more detailed so we can 3D print the metal pieces while we work on other things," Virgil suggested. "It has to bend at the wrist and the knuckles, but for the arm we can have a long, curved metal piece." He started drawing it out as Cecil looked over his shoulder.

"What about the fingers? If we have one flat metal piece, the fingers won't be able to move around as much, but if we have separate pieces, an explosion could hurt that."

"We could have full armored fingers, like a knight suit. It would also restrict some movement, but less so."

"That would be best for the knuckles, though it would need some cushioning."