Alchemist + Gunsmith = Magnum Opus (private w/Lin)

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"...And that will wrap up today's class!" Professor Zibaq proclaimed as the bell sounded to signal the end of the day. Most of the students packed up their things and cleaned up their workstations as Simab dealt with cleaning up his demonstration table, which had the reputation of being "well loved" from its previous users. Despite the worn nature of the table, Professor Zibaq liked it, and felt that it added character to the room.

He had recalled that a student wanted to see him after class, and Professor Zibaq intended to help out this student. He finished packing away the smithing tools on the demonstration table before wiping the chalkboard clean with the eraser. Having made short work of the diagrams and writing on the chalkboard, he turned around to the demonstration table once again to brush off any metal shavings into the nearby trash can, his mind buzzing with many different possibilities of what the student wanted help with...

[Lin Motley]

Lin had been on this project for a while now, a gun that could change form and firing modes plus its claiber right along with it to allow for the ultimate mix of firepower and utility all in one gun, but so far the bullets had just not performed as she needed them to.
She had tried every possible dust mixture she knew of, every trick she could think of to make this project work and even consulted one of her fellow students, a gun head in her own regard, Nocte Fabri for advice, but to no avail, her project seemed doomed to fail as she bullets either just blew up in her face, didn't pack the punch they needed or just weren't flexible enough to perform the function needed for this gun, which was to expand and shrink.
But, if it wasn't the dust, her knowledge nor any other tricks, what could it be, then it hit her, Professor Zibaq, he was an expert in metal work!
Maybe it was just the normal lead casing that didn't hold up and Lin just needed new material for her bullets to work, but...Lin had no idea of metalwork, she knew what materials to use for what type of weapon and could infuse dust into them, but she had no idea on how to create an alloy by herself.

So, once classes were over, Lin approached the professor, the messy folder of notes, blueprints and a relatively detailed record of her experiments were all included, as she simply laid it on his table.
Then pulling out her text to speech device.
"Professor Zibaq, could you have a look at this project of mine, I'm stuck trying to figure out on how to make a bullet that meets the requirements described in the document before you, maybe you could teach me how to make a material that could do it?"
The robotic voice asked, playing back from what Lin had typed out in less than a few seconds.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Professor Zibaq paused briefly upon hearing the blueprints being placed upon the table. He turned to see Lin Motley, a student he had recognized from his classes. He had recalled that she was mute, which was not a problem for Professor Zibaq. If needed, he could also speak sign language, a skill he had picked up traveling the vast, empty deserts of Vacuo.

"Sure thing, Lin." Professor Zibaq replied. His tall frame hunched over the table, both hands on the sides of the table as he observed the blueprint for a moment.

Fascinating... I see... Professor Zibaq mused as he took a long, hard look at the blueprint.

"Materials like tungsten, depleted uranium, or perhaps an alloy of tin and lead would be good for the bullet. There's also steel or aluminum alloys you can use for the casing instead of brass. Anything specific you want this bullet to do?" Professor Zibaq said to Lin, signing in unison with his speech.

[Lin Motley]

Lin looked at the Professor in anticipation as he looked at the blueprints, to say she was antsy was an understatement, as she was fiddling with her text to speech device as she waited.
His response was a bit of a surprise, he was singing!
She knew the professors here were most likely the most learned she'd ever see in her life, but that was still a very pleasant surprise.
"Well, I was wanting to make a bullet that can adjust it's size to fit the caliber of my gun, I need something that is flexible enough to do so repeatedly and still pack enough power to be fire into a Grimm's skull."
She explained, now signing staying slow as to have the professor follow along, as she motioned to various configurations her weapon would take, including what he could easily make out as a rail gun.
"I tried various combinations of dust infused bullets already, so that's of the table."
Lin motioned to her experimentation log, which at the end of the log named "Dust Bullets" had a big red "FAILURE" written on it.
"Oh and also, It's super great that you can understand and speak sign but, I'm mute, not deaf, I can hear you perfectly fine."
She explained, smiling yet rubbing the back of her neck a little, she really hoped he didn't take offense to it.

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

"Understood. It's been a while since I used sign, I just figured it was a good opportunity to practice since I'm a bit rusty." Professor Zibaq nodded as he replied vocally.

"Now, bullets that can adjust size while maintaining power..." Professor Zibaq spoke as he briefly stroked his goatee in thought.

"Try sticking with steel or titanium, both are strong and flexible metals." Professor Zibaq continued, looking over the blueprints again.

"As for the Dust bullets, it still looks feasible to me. Have you considered using an alternate form of Dust? Separating the Dust from the bullet can reduce the chance of malfunctions." he added.

[Lin Motley]

Lin listened with rapt attention, the materials did make sense, but putting dust in them too to make them do what they were meant to do sounded way too expensive for Lin's current allowance.
She sighed a little but then, she thought about it, making bullets out of a special alloy wasent too hard but mixing dust in it as well was hard...so what if the dust wasn't in the bullets, but the magazine!
Lin's ponderous face went from a light frown, to one of pure joy as she made a little spin in the air and immediately painted a new blueprint, in her rush of excitement it only took her a minute or two to complete it as she showed Professor Zibaq her new plan:
The bullets would be made out of a titanium lead alloy, that would still be flexible yet be heavy enough to pack a punch, as the magazine itself was now drawn with two layers of dust that could, when the switch on the gun was pressed, compress or decompress itself and the bullets inside.
Lin was jumping for joy at this breakthrough, or well, doing the floating equivalent to it, for a few seconds before she turned back to the professor.
"Professor, please teach me how to make an alloy like that, my dust craft is great already but the best I know when it comes to working with metal is how to separate, melt down and repurpose scrap, pretty please, I promise I'm a quick learner, this won't take any time at all."

[Professor Simab Zibaq]

Simab couldn't help but crack a smile at Lin's reaction, she was just too happy. Her idea was sound, and with a little help from him, it should work perfectly fine. Knowing her grades in his class, she wasn't lying about learning quickly either.

"Sure thing! Let's go to the molding lab." Simab replied happily. Her enthusiasm reminded him of his past self, pouring over books about metalworking and metallurgy as a young boy meant for someone twice his size and intellect at the time. That didn't stop him from learning quite a bit of knowledge though. He walked over to the door to the molding lab and opened it. As expected, walking through the door revealed several areas dedicated to molding molten metals.

"There should still be plenty of raw metals for you to work with, Lin." he added.

[Lin Motley]

Lin pumped her fist at Zibaq's approval, she was too happy to really put into words, good that she's mute.
She followed him inside, floating with her inventions and blueprints in hand, she set them down on a workbench as she then took the professor's side.
She knew how to do basic metal work, but...she had never been in this room before, Lin was just a little overwhelmed as she did spot the metals she needed, she had them float into her hands holding up a bar of titanium and one of steel, but didn't know how to proceed.
Lin handed the metals to Zibaq as she signed again.
"Could you give me a tutorial, I'll do the rest myself."
While she was a good student, she'd still need to be given guidance.