[Tabitha Yamamura]

That very night, after taking her first official order, Tabitha found herself awake in her office, the room illuminated by the glow of the screen as she did her best to piece together exactly what parts she would need to create the items commissioned. Along with the illumination of the room from her tablet screen, the scribbling of a pencil could also be heard. As she had expressed before, she was quite fond of taking notes on everything, from the smallest details to bigger events. Even though she didn’t look them over again, time often helped her in terms of simply beginning to be able to recall them without reading them again. A video played, giving best practices for creating the rounds as well as machinery that could be used to assist her. As her workspace wasn’t quite as large as she would have liked, she would have to resort to alternative means to procure some of the materials. The most important would be the shell casings. Her notebook would have two full pages on case designs as well as a list of what she could only assume would be the best quality shell casing she could acquire in bulk. Her order would be large, as she would plan to have much more orders coming in from Mark, as she intended to make this batch as close to perfect as she could with the items she had gathered. Even with her outsourcing for materials, she would leave nothing to chance. When the room was filled with the noise of tutorial videos or the stretching of her pencil against the pages of her notebook, it would be filled with an almost incisive amount of tapping. The tapping was her shifting from site to site, comparing prices as well as material quality, along with the purchase of the proper material to fill the order as well. Grain counters and dispensers, turret press along with dies of all natures, shell holders, lubricants, and of course the powder necessary Scales were simple and something she had on hand, but she couldn’t forget the two most important components: the primers and the rock salt. Admittedly, for an order from this side, the rock salt would be the strangest thing on her order list, as it would seem almost out of place, but it was what the customer wanted. In terms of shaping the salt, it wouldn’t be as difficult to bring it to the desired shape. With a cart full of items and a game plan in mind, Tabitha would be ready to begin, or at least begin when the order finally arrived at her doorstep. With the light thump, she would close her notebook, setting it aside, and a click from her locking her tablet screen, sitting it aside before heading off to bed. @ Mention

[lonewolf]

It had been almost a week since he placed his order. He almost forgot about it, too, when after a brief altercation at a bar that he wished he could carry his sawed off. It didn't take long for him to put two and two together, and in his haze he remembered the creepy shop lady and figured it would be a good idea to pay a visit. With him he'd bring as many old three-eighty cases as he could manage. He held onto what he could so that he could send them back to his normal dealer for reuse and recycling, but having the ability to get rock salt rounds would be worth making them angry. At least this would give him the excuse to go to the range more frequently.

He'd show up, eyes warily regarding that doll on the shelf again as he approached the counter. "Howdy, Spook," he says, setting an arm on the countertop. "Figured I'd bring by some old casings for you to use, show you how to clean them and all that. It's a pain to do, but cheaper to reuse in the longrun."

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

Within a week's time, Tabitha had already managed to not only slightly tidy up her shop, but she had also managed to get her latest equipment installed. Along with this, she had also been preparing the rock salt projectiles. Truth be told, the majority of her time for the past week was spent perfecting her method for creating the perfect size and weight for the projectile. They needed to be slightly fragile enough that upon being fired, they could effectively pepper a target, but also strong and durable enough that the impact would deter anyone from continuing to aggress. The task sounded quite simple, but it took much more time than she would have initially inspected. But while she was preparing his order, she still had to run her small shop, and as Mark would reenter the store, a patron would be exiting with a medium-sized bag of trinkets, candles, and special oils. They would stare at Mark momentarily before turning off and walking off, presumably returning to their own home with the goods they had bought. Mark reaching the counter would be met by Tabitha, who was inspecting one of the ten fully assembled rounds with a stationary magnifying glass. With her short time and limited materials, she had managed to create a few rounds of the order, but she was still in the process of inspecting her work. She wanted everything to be perfect; after all, first impressions for clients were important, and she would put her best foot forward. Tabitha found herself so focused on the inspection of her work that she hadn't noticed the sound of footsteps heading towards her, and it would seem that after binding, the spirits weren't as weary of him as before. As he spoke, she would let out a lightly yelp, jumping a bit in her seat, almost dropping the bullet, before looking up to Mark. It would seem that his startling her was becoming a recurring theme for them, but one she wouldn't really think too much about. "Hi, Mark. I thought you forgot about showing me how to clean them." In actuality, Tabitha had been the one who had forgotten until this moment. With her eagerness to order materials, she overlooked the option to wait and see what he would bring for her. But she would have a good stockpile of everything he needed whenever he needed more. Setting the round, she was inspecting in front of him on the table for him to inspect himself, she would reach into her desk, taking out her notebook and a pencil, ready to take notes on how to clean and prepare the old casings. "I'm ready to learn whenever you're ready." lonewolf

[lonewolf]

He couldn't help but smile at being able to catch her off-guard like that. Remembering what she said about the "ghosts", he'd think it'd be a weird thing that he'd succeed twice in a row with that. Either way, he'd take the bag off his shoulder, holding it up. "I dunno about you, but I'm a better learning having someone walk me through something. If you want, we can head back and I can show you how it's done over step-by-step processes. There's a couple of different methods I've learned, but I do what's easiest for me since, well, I've spent more time on the road than having a dedicated shop for it."

He'd shrug, looking about the room. "Unless your workshop is some kinda sacred shrine and it'd be better for lesser mortals to not walk on. Which if that were the case I wouldn't be offended, and can give you a step by step here."

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

Tabitha often considered herself a much more versatile learner in comparison to most, but for something, simply beginning to read instructions wouldn’t be enough; there were small details and intricate movements that couldn’t be transcribed. As Mark would present his bag, she could faintly hear the sound of jingling scraps. It wouldn’t have dawned on her until this very moment that this would also help her in terms of cause, as the casings he had already used could simply be collected and reused as long as there wasn’t any manageable damage done. This was an important development, enough to cause her to open her notebook and scribble a few words down. Tabitha would nod as he spoke. Not only would this save her a bit of time and cost for the production of the ammunition for him, but it would also give her a new and important skill if she truly intended to be his newest ammunition supplier. Although her face didn’t show it, she was eager to begin. She understood the second comment all too well, as there were a few manufacturers who held their workshop in high regard, not even letting the eyes of anyone without the background understand the machinery inside, but Tabitha didn’t have such reservations as she would gesture for him to end her workshop. From where they stood, the door to her workshop could be seen slightly ajar, with just enough light slipping through to illuminate the doorway. Inside was a large floor, almost triple the size of the store, with an included basement. The shop would be lined with machinery, some of which would be her latest purchases designed to help with the creation of ammunition. They were still brand new, and some still had small plastic coverings lining their sides. "I’d prefer to see it in case there is something no step-by-step would be missing. And it’s alright, you can come in; it’ll almost be like having an assistant." She would respond as she would head back to the workshop door, pushing it open as she stepped inside. lonewolf

[lonewolf]

He couldn't help but laugh at the assistant comment, shaking his head a little. He never went to college or went into any kind of apprenticeship, at least what a 'normal' person might have gone through, so as he stepped into the space he couldn't help but let out a whistle. "Color me impressed," he says as he steps through the door, pausing to take it all in.

"So this is where the magic happens. Well, in a metaphorical sense," he says, waving a hand as he approaches a bench, setting his bag down and unzipping the top. "We'll need some kind of bucket, and water. We'll do a real low-effort method to clean them up after we do a round of inspection. Truthfully, there's a lot of different ways to go about the process, but I'm used to doing this kinda thing from the trunk of my car, or from some motel in the middle of nowhere. If I ain't too distracted." Pulling out a smaller mesh bag filled with spent casings, he'd reach in and pull one out to hold it up to the light. "Black powder might not be the charge of choice anymore, but the 'smokeless' stuff still leaves things dirty. These things basically contain a small explosion, and we gotta make sure there's no defects before and after washing."

Once the bucket was there he'd toss the first casing in, pulling out a second. "See, like this. This one right here looks like blew out the primer and cracked the bottom of this thing, see?" He tilted the casing so that Tabitha could see, pointing out the obvious crack. "Only thing this is good for anymore is scrap. Fortunately, recycling these things nets a nice little penny." He threw it back onto the workbench, setting the bag between them so they could sort through them. "Here, with two of us inspectin' shouldn't take time at all!"

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

As they entered her workshop, Mark would last out a whistle, Tabitha easily realizing his intentioned effect. Her workspace was quite nice though, even nice after she had time to clean it as it would look much less impressive. It was littered with old design books and blueprint pages, and a bit of sweeping always helped. He was indeed correct; this was where she spent the brunt of her time while she had an order to fulfill. She took what she would say was a break to eat, sleep, and even do a bit of casual reading to decompress right here. But Mark was quick to distinguish his intention from actual magic, as she tended to attempt to perform actual magic in her living room and quite rarely in the building's cellar. She would give him a light nod as they made their way over to the bench. “Yes, this is it.” She would respond as Mark would set his bag down on the bench, opening it to reveal the treasure trove of spent casings he had amassed in his bag. Tabitha would do her best to try to peek into the bag in an attempt to roughly gauge how many were actually inside, a task that even with the smallest sight she could of the top of the bag was next to impossible. She would try her best to pay attention to what he was saying while inspecting the cases. Pausing in her count for only a minute, she would rush off. “Thirty-eight.” Tabitha would mutter to herself as she got out of the shop, returning with a fairly decent-sized bucket and setting it on the table next to Mark’s bag before taking another moment to pause again before running back out of the room. This time her return would be much slower, as she returned with a similar-sized bucket three-fourths of the way filled with water. She would struggle a bit with the water, as it was easy to tell that physical strength wasn’t her defining characteristic. It had gone completely forgotten that she could have simply bound a spirit to herself to improve that. Her awkward walk would come to a stop as she reached the edge of the table, setting the bucket down and revealing a bit of a spill line that trailed behind her. But she had returned in time for Mark to continue his lesson. She would watch on with an almost blank look on her face as he would explain to her what a salvageable casing was versus a scraped casing. And in typical fashion, mere moments after he spoke, she would pull a small notebook from a drawer, opening its pages to quickly scribble down a few notes. Pushing the notebook up and just out of the way as Mark would move the bag between them, she would try her hand. Gingerly taking out a few spent casings, cleaning them off, inspecting for any deformations or cracks, then sorting them accordingly. “Did you always do this by hand? And on the road, I would imagine it would be more difficult.” With a bit of small talk while inspecting the casings and also preparing her shops for her new machinery, she has also been studying a bit of what most would consider to be normal human interactions. lonewolf

[lonewolf]

If there was one thing Mark had to give Tabitha credit for, she was both unique and diligent. While the shop wasn't the cleanest, he had been in places where things were an absolute sty. Besides, it just showed that not only did she care about her workplace but also used it. Good traits, in his opinion.

As she returned with both buckets, he tossed a good casing into the empty one, looking back at the trail she made with the water. "It's a lot harder to do on the road than in a shop like this," he says, moving the bag so that she could start her own inspections. "It's even harder without the right tools. Or even good quality ones. I have an old beat-up thing that at one point in time was really good, but it's in need of some work. Rims the casing, helps replace the primer. Even has a little press on the side. But there's only so much WD-40 and duct tape can do." He plinks a few more cases into the bucket, shrugging. "Didn't have time to find a shop to get it repaired. Was busy with a case. And depending on the state was just easier to buy the ammo I needed. Until Cali, really." He tossed a casing onto the scrap pile, glancing over at her. "So were you a tech head before getting involved in the occult, or did you do witchy stuff before deciding to build gear to trap the supernatural?"

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

Usually Tabitha would be in much more of a rush to keep her workshop in a clean condition, but the flooring of the workshop would be fine with the small trail of water she had spilled; after all, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Her speed in inspecting the casing wasn’t as fast as Marks, but she was certain it was just as meticulous, if not more so. She found herself holding the casing closely, taking her time for each one. In terms of outputting, Mark would inspect three rounds before she had finished her one, but she knew this was a skill that she would be able to improve upon with time. The sounds of the casing rattling in the bucket as more would be added were a constant and steady sound as the duo would continue their conversation. Mark answered her question, revealing that at some point he did, in fact, have his own machine, which she would believe was the mainstay of his mobile equipment carried by his car. But as many things tend to do, with time and use and judging by his speed and frequent use, it eventually broke down. He was current in his comment; although duct tape and WD-40 were effective bandages in the end, they were only bandages and could only be used to slow down the underline problem. Tabitha had also managed to break tons of equipment, but with everything broken, she gained valuable knowledge on not only the machineries limits but often how to fix the problem. But not everything turned out perfectly, as some things were beyond her ability to fix. “Do you still have the parts for it?” An odd question from Tabitha Although she had intended on being the proprietor of his ammunition for as long as he stayed in Japan, she would much rather have the ability to, in a pinch, make something if absolutely necessary. California, from her research, had been quite against firearms, which would lead her to believe that this was because his machinery received the most wear and tear, which led to it breaking down, but it was only a guess, and from that state, there probably wouldn’t have been too many people interested in fixing such a machine. The next question would belong to Mark, as he asked a question about her interest in being a manufacturer. “I did the witchy stuff first.” Her response would be met with a light and brief laugh. As she would continue to inspect the casing. “My family was very into the occult, which was how they met. I grew up managing their equipment because they always said I was too young to bring on cases with them. So I studied the occult, repaired, and created equipment as a child to help them.” lonewolf

[lonewolf]

Mark looked over, giving her an odd look as she explained her family history. Things for him were strange, but never that strange. At least, if you compared him to the average person (what was normal, anyways?). "Cases. Like, spirit detective, solving murders after the victim dead, psychic type'a cases?" He didn't give much credence to those that did such things (especially knowing one growing up), but this did present a rare opportunity to learn how exactly that type of stuff worked. Sure, this girl had a workshop, but he was overlooking the Private Eye aspect of her business.

He had to pause though, thinking back to his old press. "I still got it, yeah. Been trying to piece the thing back together. Still functions, just not very well. Would be useful to have once I go home." He paused as he plinked another casing in the bucket. "Well, whatever home is." It was subtle, but he let out a sigh as he knew what his personal goal was...and what the end of it might entail.

"Anyways, let's get a little soap going." He reached into the bag and pulled out the detergent, putting a nice layer over the casings. "We just wanna get that layer of grime off of them so we have a clean surface to work with. We'll need to do another, more thorough round of inspections on them, but this is to make sure there's no minor defects. A little deformation should be fine since we can bend the casing back."

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

From her upbringing, Tabitha had grown somewhat accustomed to the disbelief and skepticism she would receive when telling people about her family’s profession. But most people assumed her family communicated with the dead in order to solve mysteries, when in fact that was hardly ever the case. They used their knowledge of the occult to find signs of hauntings, sometimes attempting to dispel them and others simply leaving them. But Mark had spoken about the other important part of her family’s work: detective. Being in the occult field, you would quickly adapt to being observant, which lends itself quite well to detective work. As there were many occult phenomena that were staged, they used their skills to discover the truths before the mystic side of the work would even begin. “Murder cases weren’t often on our radar. And most police didn’t want my family around unless it was absolutely necessary, but they did help in a few cases.” She would seem to almost pause as she would scrutinize another casing, taking a moment before placing it with the rest of the unsalvageable casings. His answer to her question was just what she had hoped for, and if smaller pieces were missing, she should be able to find replacements, if not make them herself, to allow the machine to function. Grabbing the next casing, she would quickly peak over in his direction before looking back at the task at hand. “If you want to come back to hang out again, you should bring it with you.” His sigh and comment were enough to get Tabitha’s attention, but she also knew his soreness about addressing things with his family. She wasn’t sure if the two were connected, but she would ask for its meaning at a later date. Mark promoted himself as a wanderer, but he seemed to be longing to find somewhere to call home. She would catch herself, taking a glance at his eyes as he spoke, before returning her focus to the task as he would move onto the next step. She would watch on as he added the detergent to the water and spoke about the next step. Tabitha would continue to watch and listen, gently nodding her head. “Alright. Do we need something to wipe them clean, or do we just shake them in the detergent and let them air dry?” lonewolf

[lonewolf]

"Either or. I've tossed them in a cotton bag before and tumbled them in a dry, laid them in front of a heater, and even gone over them with a hair dryer. Air drying takes a while, but it works. Important thing is making sure they're dry before you load in the powder."

He rolled up his sleeve, plunging his arm in to roll the casings around in the water to make sure the detergent could do its work. The water would turn a slight shade of grey, with the bubbles beginning to form on the surface. "I see. I've heard of psychic detectives pinpointing and helping with cases like that, but I've not had any experience on that front. Maybe in the future you can help me with a few things, if I ever pick up cases again."

The offer made him glance up, raising an eyebrow but he shrugged at it after a minute. "Guess it couldn't hurt. Like I said, it's antique. Little bit of love might get it working again, so..."

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

Once the duo had finished inspecting the casing, Mark would move onto the next step, which was properly cleaning the rounds. Although she hadn’t quite understood the concept of cleaning the brass casing, she was certain it was important, believing that if it wasn’t fully cleaned and dried, it could actively affect the performance of the weapon. But with that also came appearance; the ammunition would look much more visually stunning if its casing were as bright and shiny as possible. She would take out her notebook again to scribble down a few more notes as she watched Mark submerge his hands into the water and begin to agitate the water to activate the detergent. She was certain there would be a much drier method than Mark had taken, but she assumed this was for simplicity, as you wouldn’t always be able to have a tool or a machine to help with these steps when you were actively out and about. Mark’s offer to take her with him for her assistance in one case if he decided to go back to them was a grand opportunity. Being in the field was something she always wanted to do, but due to her parents sheltering it, it was almost completely out of the question. She also found it much easier to create equipment for someone who had seen their approach to things in action. More selfishly, she would get some exposure time with a pro-hero whose work would obviously get noticed and, in turn, make her much more noticeable, helping drum up extra business. “I’d like that.” A simple response without hesitation or the realization that this would require her to go outside of the shop for more than just simple errands She would probably need to engage with people other than Mark and, most importantly, go out during the day, but this would be a bridge to cross another day. She would begin to scribble down the drying methods he mentioned, drawing a small frowning face next to the hair dryer option. Her small attempt at small talk had worked, as he would mention bringing the machine back, but she hadn’t directly mentioned her comment about hanging out. It was time for another sociable yet awkward approach as she flipped her book to a blank page. “The older machines usually take a bit more maintenance, but they’ll last forever if it’s done right. So, what do you do outside of hero work?” lonewolf

[lonewolf]

Hearing that she'd be up for a bit of adventure was something that Mark could bear with, when the time came. Whenever working on a case he always found it easier to bounce off of at least one other person, especially if they had bearing in the case. Even if that person didn't it was always nice to joke with someone. Even Dante, though that one was a little less fun considering the effort that he had to go through to correct any mistakes or understandings; Dante was more interested in stirring up anarchy anyways.

"I'll be sure to do that," he says, pulling his arm out and shaking the water off. "Might come in handy again some day." With that done he let the bucket sit a minute, letting out a sigh. "We can let that sit for about five minutes, let the soap do its work. You want to make sure you get all the carbon off else it could foul up the powder, or dirty your gun a little bit more than you'd like." The other question made him pause, looking over at her as he tried to find the right words. "Well, nothing that I can say in polite company. Or professional company."

Tabitha Yamamura

[Tabitha Yamamura]

Mark took care to answer the questions asked by Tabitha, to which she would scribble down notes for every answer except for the last question. Being personal in nature, she found it would be something much more important to commit to memory instead of writing it down initially, as she was sure she would eventually write it down somewhere, but while out of Mark’s sight. She wasn’t as social as others, but she would assume his response would be pointed towards vices that he felt uncomfortable saying around her, which only left her to wonder to herself silently as she pulled a small-sized shop towel. The towel itself had been cleaned numerous times, but as it had seen its fair share of uses, it would be stained with a few splatters of what one would only assume to be oil stains. It was at this moment that she realized that she had fully agreed to joining Mark on a case without knowing what he would consider a typical case for himself. This would only add a bit more to her ever-growing queue of questions, or perhaps she would simply leave it as a mystery to be surprised by the results, although she wasn’t entirely fond of surprises. “While these rounds are soaked, would this be when you tend to other gear? Or do other things to occupy yourself?” lonewolf