Blackstone Foundry and Forge, Thursday

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord was in the mood for hitting things with hammers today, yes. Very much the mood for hitting things with hammers. So much so that, after waking up that morning spitting seawater (you'd think he'd be getting used to that by now), he'd basically taken only as much time as it took to pull on his clothing and armor before stalking out the door and heading down to the forge.

Apparently, the forge was going to be his go-to coping solution for dealing with being bullied by horrible glowing eyes in his dreams. At least on Thursdays.

And until Amaya woke up and came downstairs to give him some direction, hitting things with hammers was exactly what he was going to do.

Let's see how many dagger blades he could make before then, hm?

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[special_rabbit]

And now for something completely different...

Two weeks! Two weeks in a row now where everything seemed pretty much ship-shape, back to normal, business as usual. That, a successful run of some of the new project earlier that week, and the sound of Fjord already busy at work down in the shop were more than enough to ensure that Amaya was in a great mood when she finally came down. As usual, and, zards, wasn't that just nice!

"'Morning, Fjord!" she greeted, as usual. Handing over his mug, as usual. "Hard at work already, I see."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Seemed like a good mornin' to get an early start on things," Fjord greeted, turning a smile and a nod her way and, after a moment more, quenching the blade he'd been shaping and looking it over. He nodded in satisfaction before putting it down and reaching to take his coffee.

Like usual.

"Figured we can't have too many daggers, right?"

[special_rabbit]

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Amaya agreed, lifting her own mug in a toast to sentiments just like that before taking a sip. "Especially with the new semester right around the corner. After all, around here, 'shiny new dagger' should be right at the top of any student's 'Back to School' shopping list."

Pencils? Papers? Pfffft. Pokey things!

[built_fjord_tough]

"If the summer taught those kids any one thing, it ought to be to never go unarmed," Fjord agreed with a nod. He toasted with his own mug, and then took a drink. "I'm sure there were worse lessons to take outta all that, anyway."

[special_rabbit]

"Say what you will about that school," said Amaya, "but there's no denying that the kids here are definitely getting an education!"

The exact nature of that education seemed a bit up in the air, but they were certainly learning something.

"You didn't jump back on the old teaching wagon this time around by any chance, did you, Fjord?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"Nah," Fjord replied, shaking his head and making a little scoffing sound. "I'm shit with kids, better I ain't the one in charge of shapin' their little minds or whatever."

He took another drink of coffee.

"Shapin' metal seems to be workin' out for me better. Only one kinda temper I gotta worry about."

[special_rabbit]

"I've seen worse," Amaya offered, somewhat encouragingly, but, yeah. That was about as far as she'd take that one. Definitely not rushing out to nominate Fjord for any awards in that field.

"But you'll have no argument from me that metal's usually a lot easier to shape than kids."

[built_fjord_tough]

"Usually less of a disaster if I fuck it up," Fjord added. And then shrugged. "Not a hell of a lot I can teach 'em that they don't already know. Sailing, I suppose."

He'd be pretty choked to learn that someone was teaching piracy here this semester. Piracy! Of all things!

[special_rabbit]

And it wouldn't even be the first time!

"Sailing is a perfectly fine, useful, and sometimes even marketable skill to have," Amaya pointed out, "and those make for the best classes."

They were, after all, standing inside a building that a perfectly fine, useful, and sometimes even marketable class had built!

"I sometimes wish I'd've had the chance to learn a little when I was younger, actually...but, speaking of marketable skills..."

She took another sip of her coffee before setting aside her mug and putting out a hand.

"Let's see how that dagger you've been working on looks."

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord grinned crookedly at that, taking one more sip of his coffee and setting his aside as well, then reaching to retrieve the blade-in-progress. It had been a month shy of a full year since he'd taken on his apprenticeship here under Amaya, and it showed in his work, this blade by far more even and more skilfully shaped than even that half-finished rapier still resting across the room, waiting for more direction.

He was a master by no means, but he took this training seriously, and it showed in his work quite readily.

"I think it might be gettin' there. Probably ain't a total do-over, anyway."

Fjord wouldn't be Fjord if he wasn't selling himself short.

[special_rabbit]

Heck, that was downright bragging for Fjord!

Amaya had to grin a little at that, which made it a little difficult for her to make her face particularly serious as she took her time inspecting the blade. With that amount of (relative) confidence in the work, she doubted she could have really made him sweat too much over it, anyway.

But her inspection itself was serious, and thorough, taking a good close look at it from nearly every angle, tossing it a few times in the air to get an idea of how the weight would spin and how it would land in her hand, knocked it a few times on the side of the table. Took a second jab it straight into the table, finding the nice thunk it made satisfactory before wiggling it out. One more toss, and she turned it in her hand so that she could offer it back out to Fjord with the tang out.

"Not too shabby," she concluded. "Keep up the good work, Fjord."

And, taking up her coffee again, she asked, "You planned on working on these for the better part of the day?"

[built_fjord_tough]

Hell, Fjord had no idea how to take a compliment half the time, so his answering smile was maybe a bit awkward as he reached to take the dagger back.

"Unless you had somethin' else in mind," he replied. "I was up early today, figured I'd get a head start on doin' somethin' productive, is all."

Translation: My creepy many-eyed serpentine Warlock patron was bullying me again. I wanted to beat on shit with a hammer.

"If there's somethin' else needs doin', of course you can point me at it."