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Just Scratching Out an Existence [DragonSong]

Started by Marakai Trin, June 11, 2017, 05:29:35 PM

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Marakai Trin

The sun was just cresting the top of the shops, rays of pure light filtering through the plumes of smoke and ash wafting upward from the lane of craftsmen and smiths. This early, the hammers had just started ringing against steel, pounding out wondrous new shapes from the formless hunks of metal.

One hammer, however, audibly rang louder than the rest,  echoing forth from a small blacksmiths workshop nestled in the corner, wedged in between two other unremarkable buildings. Within this shop, a tall elven man, bald and wearing the usual blacksmiths garb, stood over a forge amongst the smoke and sparks, the glow from the coals more than present on his face though not a bead of sweat trailed down his face.

Silvered, flinty eyes stared unblinking at the large lump of steel he was shaping, the head of a large battleaxe just beginning to show from the otherwise raw metal.

Though he seemed completely absorbed within his work, the mind of this creature raced with unease. Instinct seemed to tell him that something was coming.

DragonSong

"I do not like this."

"You don't like just about anything. Hush," Kiara muttered, waving her dragon's head away from her shoulder, where he'd been hovering. Kit snorted and jerked his head back, glowering at her.

"We know next to nothing about this job. How is this a good idea?"

"Because we're getting paid?" She arched an eyebrow at him when he huffed, apparently unable to come up with an immediate rebuttal. Ignoring the stares- outside of Adela it seemed that dragons in cities always warranted stares, she'd never really understood it- she continued down the smallish street. Kit made no secret of his discomfort with the cramped space, a near constant growl rumbling in his chest.

The forge was easy enough to find, though less easy to approach subtly.

Well. Subtle had never really been her thing anyway. "Oi! Smith, you in?"

Kit rolled his eyes.

Marakai Trin

"Oi! Smith, you in?"

Fuck. Yes I'm in. Gods damn it.

Quickly, before the noisy woman could enter, the 'elven smith' took the nearly completed axe and ran one hand down it's still blunt blade. Almost like liquid, metal seemed to spill from his hand, adhering to the weapon and shaping into a proper edge.

"Yes. I'm in here." He hung the axe on a rack on the wall. "Discounts today on repairs. Unfortunately, I have to charge extra for new product...I'm quite low on materials."

He turned towards the door and walked out it, coming nearly face to face with a woman and a Dragon.

Who the bloody hells brings a Dragon into a city?

"What is it you're looking for?"



DragonSong

Kiara smiled. She could be quite charming when she tried.

The dragon snarling over her shoulder probably lessened the effect somewhat though.

"Less of an it. More of a one. You Edge?"

The smith didn't look all that dangerous to her- certainly not enough to warrant hiring a rogue dragon rider to bring him in. But appearances were deceiving, she knew that better than most.

Marakai Trin

The elf narrowed his eyes, and one hand clenched into a fist. He'd been working here for just a few months, carving out a semi-mortal existence for himself, and now this slip of a girl and her Dragon come to expose him again.

"....let's step inside and talk business. I've a feeling there are going to be words exchanged that aren't anyone else's businesses."

Those flinty eyes flicked over to gaze at the Dragon. "Your....friend...will naturally need to wait outside."

DragonSong

Kit growled menacingly but Kiara put her hand up in an effort to soothe him, scratching at his scaly cheek. "Of course. Doubt he could fit in there," she laughed good-naturedly, stepping forward into the smithy.

Her body language was relaxed and easy, but there was a glint to her eyes that belied an instinctive sort of wariness, a slight arch to her brow that made it clear she was not to be trifled with.

It was a look she'd learned to perfect at a young age.

"You be good, Kit," she chirped over her shoulder before practically skipping to stand before the smith. "So. You are Edge, then?"

Marakai Trin

The elf pointedly ignored her question, turning away from her and stalking back into the smithy.

A thought occurred to him, just then, and he idly wondered if this woman knew just what he was...most people wouldn't willingly follow a being such as him into a confined space....or really anywhere, for that matter. She hasn't attacked him, hadn't asked for more than confirmation on his name.

Maybe she really didn't know what she was getting into. This could be amusing.

When he entered the smithy, he stepped to the far wall, and simply turned around with his arms crossed over his thin chest. The room was hot, with the forge still burning, yet there was no sign that the heat even affected the elf. "...yes. I am known as Edge. You know my name, yet I don't know yours, or your reason for seeking me out. Enlighten me."

DragonSong

The heat would have been smothering to most, but Kiara closed her eyes and allowed herself a moment to bask in it. She didn't often like to advertise her pyromantic abilities, so it was rare she allowed herself to be so close to a fire and not feign discomfort.

But she had a feeling that would be useless with her current host.

"Kiara." She sank into one hip, offering a slightly crooked smile that seemed to match her glinting eyes. "Name's Kiara. The big fusspot outside is Kittsareyn. And I have a message." She frowned. "Weeeeelll...not so much a message. More an invitation, if you will."

Marakai Trin

Edge tilted a brow questioningly, looking at her in silence for a moment.

"Invitation...huh. That's a new one." He smirked, and stepped toward the woman, stopping short at five or six feet away.

"So...before you give this 'invitation' to me...I have to ask. Just what do you know about me?"

DragonSong

Kiara snorted and quirked an eyebrow right back. "Not much, to be honest. Your name, and the fact that certain people are willing to pay me a lot of coin to get you to pay them a visit." She smiled, canines just a little too sharp, but the expression friendly enough.

"I'm no assassin, Edge, if that's what's got you so worried."

Marakai Trin

Edge chuckled, his arms crossed over his chest as his body shook lightly. After a moment, he composed himself and looked to Kiara with a dangerous smirk. "Trust me, assassins are the absolute least of my concerns. You could say that I'm....notoriously hard to kill."

He let out another short laugh, and turned to the rack of weapons on the wall. He spoke while his back was turned to her.

"So. I think I have a right to know where you'd be taking me. Who is it that wants to see me, supposedly?"

He then cast a look over his shoulder,  in her direction. "Oh. And if I do go with you, you should know that I can't ride your Dragon. I think he'd have some...difficulty even carrying me."

DragonSong

Kiara's eyebrow crept higher as she looked him up and down. Kit may not be the largest dragon, but she doubted he couldn't carry her and the elvhen smith.

"Honestly? I don't know his name. Kinda secretive fellow, wore a hood the whole time we spoke." She shrugged, frowning. She didn't exactly like working for someone so obviously shady, but...she needed the coin.

Marakai Trin

"Not too picky about your sources of coin, are you? Well, if you want to convene with your friend outside, I'll clean up in here. I somehow have the feeling I won't be back."

He turned around, and regarded her with a knowing smile. "And don't worry about me going anywhere. There's only one door, as you can see."

DragonSong

"Wait, really?" Kiara blinked, a little incredulous. "Just like that? Damn. I thought I'd have to do a little more convincing," she chuckled.

Marakai Trin

"Yes, really. You strike me as the kind of person that wouldn't leave unless I gave in. Besides, what harm could it possibly cause, hmm?"

He smiled a bit. "I have one stipulation. Whatever you get, I want ten percent. I need materials to continue my business. Especially since you're dragging me to Gods know where."

He made a shooing motion. "Now go on.  I'll be out in five minutes."

DragonSong

Ten percent? Well...

Probably worth it, if he was really going to come quietly.

Kiara nodded. "You've got a deal," she said easily, resolving to be wary, but take him at face value for now. "I'll be just outside." The glint to her eyes made it clear that she didn't intend to give him chance to slip away.

Marakai Trin

Edge nodded, and turned toward the rack on the wall. If he was going to be away for awhile, he might as well take whatever he could with him.

When he heard her retreating footsteps, he started reaching for the rack, collecting the weapons one by one and lying them on the floor before the forge. And then, he changed.

His body began to ripple wildly, as if a handful of pebbles had been thrown into a pond. As it rippled and waved, his color seemed to melt away into the shimmery hue of steel. His outline expanded and reformed, solidifying into a truly demonic form, similar to a large bipedal lizard with a myriad of bladed weapons protruding from it's bulk.

Edge, the true Edge, reached one massive hand, long fingers tipped with blades like daggers, down to the pile of weaponry piled on the floor. One after the other, he brought them to his large needle-filled maw, and dropped them down his glowing gullet until there was naught but well worn blacksmith tools remaining.

-----

Less than five minutes after Kiara left the smithy, Edge stepped out after her, again in the form of the elf. He grinned widely.

"Well. I'm ready when you are. Let's be off, hmm?"

DragonSong

Kit didn't seem to have stopped growling since Kiara had left him outside. When she returned to him, he nosed her over quickly before craning his neck back to glare.

"I don't like this."

Of course he'd heard the conversation. Kiara rolled her eyes. "I figured you wouldn't, but it's the best way to get this job done and you know it."

"He's not..." Kit snorted and shook his head. "He smells...off."

She shrugged. "I know he's not mortal, Kit. But that's none of my business, is it." She heard footsteps approaching and turned to nod at Edge. "Alright then. You need to stop somewhere before we leave the city?"

Marakai Trin

Edge glanced at Kit and glared right back, coming to a stop and sizing him up for a minute. After a moment, he chuckled a bit, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No. I've nothing I need to take with me. You'll find I need little care. So! Where is it you're dragging me off to, anyway?"

DragonSong

"Connlaoth." Kiara swung gracefully up onto the young dragon's back. "Northern reaches. Bit of a trek- but then again, I thought we'd be traveling dragonback," she noted with an arched brow.

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