asleep on the job

"Rocks are quiet but they can be stubborn. They're just waiting there, waiting for someone to talk to them. That's the only way they know how to be. But no matter how stubborn they are, you just need to talk to them. Warm them in the fire, and tinker away at them with your hammer. Then rocks can change their shape over time. Using a hammer just speeds it up a little. But working them too hard won't work. My right eye is proof of that. They may be hard, but they can change." Gaius Ferrum Blacksmith Resident of Pelago Islands

[bladeprincess]

Wander In | Open

[holdingtheforge]

geode-x-dude

Gray only rolled his eyes at Gaius vocalizing his concern for Gray being out of his depth. As much as Gray knew that it was a shitty joke, he couldn’t help but hear the echo of Saibara in the back of his mind, reminding him that he was reaching too far beyond what he should stick to. Even more annoyed by the thought of the old man, Gray directed his full attention to avoid thinking about the other old man right behind him.

Of course, that was easier said than done. The dwarf had made a decent point, the sanding being something Gray hadn’t thought of. He was initially going to just use the torch to heat the metal into being workable, but sanding it to fit where it needed to go also worked just as well.

“Don’t you have someone else to go bother?” he asked as he rose from his bench to go grab some sanding paper. It’d be easier to control than using the large sander, since doing it by hand allowed for more precision and care. “Or am I the only one left?”

Gaius isn’t perturbed by the atmosphere that seems to seep off Gray in droves, the blatant annoyance and aggravated quips about finding somewhere else to bide his time. He’s lived far too long and met far too many faces to be concerned about his reluctance to develop any kind of relationship outside of bickering-- Gray’s life will be over in the blink of an eye for Gaius, but it was nice to converse with the humans.

He steps up to retrieve a piece of sanding paper, and the corners of Gaius’s lips tug up into a smile. It surprises him that Gray took his advice when he could’ve just told him to fuck off and left it at that-- makes him feel like perhaps, just perhaps, there’s a part of Gray’s heart that isn’t as closed off as he tries to make it seem.

Humans and their trust issues. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

“The good news is, I have all day to bother you. I’ve gotten off my shift early.” Not that he would stand here and antagonize him over metalwork and sanding and everything in between. He merely came here to deliver a message, and nothing more. “It must be kismet.”

The wiggle of his eyebrows is almost comical, just teasing for the sake of teasing.

“I’ve also come bearing some unfortunate news. You’re working a double shift next week. Surplus of orders.”

[icedflora]

A Job For You | Gaius & Claire

@holdingtheforge

It was rare that Claire found herself on Leuda, and even rarer that she went for the purpose of going to the blacksmith’s. If she was being honest, Claire would do everything in her power to keep from stepping foot on the desolate, magic-less rock that was Leuda, but she needed some work done. 

The blonde made her way into the blacksmith’s shop, a headache already forming in the back of her skull from her walk from the pier. She approached the man and the counter and began talking once she had his attention. 

“Hey, how do I go about getting a piece commissioned?” She set a piece of metalwork on the counter. “Specifically, I need a new mechanism for one of my sails. This one’s old as hell and is ready to fall apart, and I’d rather it not happen when I’m out at sea.”

[holdingtheforge]

The slow days weren’t all that bad. Gaius had particular coworkers who would find slow days almost unbearably boring, and he supposed he could occasionally relate to the sentiment-- but he much preferred fashioning weaponry on his own time, at his own limits, and overworking himself without a schedule to worry about. Naps, most especially, were his favourite.

It looks like today won’t be one of these days. Almost two hours into his shift and the Smithery’s first customer wanders inside, a cute blonde girl who looks rather short to be considered a sea captain. Whatever. Who was he to place assumptions on people at first glance?

“Luckily, I’m just the person to see about commissions.”

Gaius picks up the metal part she’s talking about, and at first glance, Gaius can tell it must be the mechanism that holds the tack to the mast. That’d be an unfortunate happenstance, if it just so happened to come loose while voyaging somewhere in the middle of the Pelagian Ocean.

Turning it over in his hands once or twice, he runs up figures in his head, gauging the time it would take to make something as simple as a clasp to hold the sail in place.

“It’ll take about, oh, two days.” Luckily there were just enough materials on hand to scrounge together something workable. There’s a spark in his one good eye as he gleams across the register, the corners of his lips turning up into a polite smile.

“And it’ll be about, oh, a million G. Give or take.”

[holdingtheforge]

Returning from hiatus.

[holdingtheforge]

Fire and Ice ~ Gale & Gaius

[holdingtheforge]

Gaius is an enigma, a reminder of how beautiful mortality can be. Beauty with an elongated lifespan, the fire and fervor of inspiration and fortitude coursing hot beneath thick skin and course threaded muscle. A bright light, rivaling the sun, putting it to shame, eclipsing whatever splendor might be found. Forever had been whispered to him between hurried embrace and frantic kisses, but Gale knew deep within the pit where his heart should be that their definitions of forever were two drastically different things.

Like the wind he was there one day and gone the next, a prophecy foretold only by his own lips and believed by few until it happened– forgoing what might have been his only chance at happiness. A fork in the road where he could choose to forfeit his destiny in favor of a life more simple and filled with happiness.

He’d made his choice. He saw his regrets and his pleasures in the depths of black in the eyes of his newest lover, of his newest protegee. Having gone farther than any before him, where others had perished long before communication with demonic forces even began– whom couldn’t bear the world on their shoulders while it burned–

Oh, but what a simple and happy life they could have had together.

Indulge me in such fantasies for tonight I wish to play the part of the fool.

"You mock me so relentlessly… I’d have never thought you capable of tarnishing your own memories of me…”

Full of life? With Gaius by his side he had felt like the harbinger of all life manifest. . Dark hands do breach the ravine between them, cradling half a changed face with the same tender touch he’d thought long forgotten, tracing idly over the blue tattoo that paraded an injured eye. “You’ve changed.”

Immensely, yet at the same time, not at all.

“Liquid fire is kept behind the counter– lest we have… an accident.”Deadly venom and cursed objects? Those were something only a complete moron would disturb, but fire had a will of its own, something both the lowliest peasant and most educated scholar both knew well.

“Do the flames of your forge grow dim in these new lands, or… perhaps you’ve grander plans in store for this essence of flame, hm?”

It feels like he's looking at something he's not supposed to, as if he should turn his face away in shame under the mesmerizing burn of heterochromic eyes. Perhaps he should keep himself from inching toward the cookie jar, but just a taste is all he wants, letting every word soak in his mouth lest he try to swallow the whole thing. 

It's true. Gaius was incapable of spoiling the fond assortment of memories between them, which was a curse inside its blessing. Maybe if he was capable of hate, it wouldn't have hurt as much as it did. The past romanticized itself, as if he were viewing him through a screen that made everything so much softer than it really was, but it's hard to be anything but soft in the presence of someone he gave so many pieces of himself to. 

"I'd have never thought you'd think of me as old." 

Gaius feels lively now, of course-- just shy of 250 years and his appearance is still youthful, personality somewhat childish at times-- but there's experience under his belt now when compared to the fresh-faced dwarf he was 200 years prior, wrapped up in a first love and willfully ignorant to the truths of life about to bear down on him. There are scratches on his paint, which was to be expected in such a brutal world. 

One of those scratches being the scar that cascades across the right side of his face. The corners of his lips settle into a more polite smile, but there's a sense of sadness in his facial expression as Gale caresses his injured cheek. 

It's nice that he didn't turn away out of repulsion, or recoil from the damaged tissue that crosses directly over his eyelid. It makes him feel a little more real as his thumb grazes softly over the tattoo he placed there, a valiant effort to make his blindness look a little less heartbreaking.

What makes him sad is the prospect of feeling him, so tender and thoughtful as he touches his face. It's the hand of a lover cradling someone they care so much for, while knowing it's not true. 

"We've changed." 

It's been a long time, but even time could never erase the memory of a good thing. They might've shared a moment like this at one point, a long time ago, but now they're only strangers sharing a tender moment in a quiet apothecary.

"Inspiration has been pretty hard to find these days, so I guess my forge is growing pretty dim in a metaphoric kinda way." If this were a different place, a different time, Gaius would've grabbed his face and kissed him a thousand times already. 

"I'm looking to enchant a Battle Axe. Platinum base, silver handle. What better way to make a killing machine than to make it flaming?"

[holdingtheforge]

Fire and Ice ~ Gale & Gaius

[holdingtheforge]

stedfaststars

Solitude was his mistress for the evening. Sultry rays of dusky orange light filtering through slatted windows into the dimly lit magical emporium. This provided the ideal atmosphere to ignore customers and let them browse at their leisure while Gale toiled over a crystalline sphere in the back room, idly spying on silver-tongued demons an island away.

While the magical vacuum of Leuda was a less than ideal place to visit, there were enough stray whispers of ethereal magic lingering over the ocean waters to carry his wandering eye– but not quite enough to intervene in any significant way. He was limited to intrusive messages via cellular telephone, in which he would no doubt receive a heated scolding for utilizing the device to tell a certain roommate to tuck his shirt in.

A tinkling of a wind chime in a nonexistent breeze tipped him off to the wandering of some unfortunate soul within the sparse halls of dried herbs and questionable animal parts, Gale lazily strolling out into the showroom with no swagger or fanfare. Silent footsteps and the creaking of the old building his symphony as all his senses recalled black and white memories from a lifetime ago.

The smell of soot and the feel of earthy grime on hands traversing his torso– soft lips on his own and his own on a fair-skinned jawline. Too many belts. Too many zippers. Too many words. For two quiet people, there was far too much talking– declarations of admiration, if not of affection, as months of tension boiled over and Gale was hoisted onto a comically large anvil–

“Let me guess…” Words thick as honey and slowly pouring as such, slender hands reaching beside Gaius’ head to puck a vial of goblin saliva from a rickety shelf.

“Stamina enchantment? I suppose you’d need such things in your… old age.”

Among the prettily decorated phials and colourfully adorned ampules, Gaius roams through labels upon labels in the hopes of finding his particular imbuement this evening. The concept of a battle axe with the ability to procure hair is a funny thought, but it's also a waste of time and money, both of which Gaius can't afford to lose when he's in the process of starting over in a new town. 

Familiarity is like a warm hug. It envelopes him like the sunshine filtering in from the window, despite the distance between them as Gaius hears that same slow verbose chime in from somewhere behind him. 

Time couldn't take that voice from his mind; he would know him blind. 

"Are you saying you're in need of those, now?" The corners of his lips turn up into that same friendly smile he bestows upon everyone, but the spark that flickers into his one good eye is all for him. Gaius was never privy to his real age, but something told him Gale's walked out of time itself. "That's a shame. I remember you so full of life." 

It's not exactly a lie. Gale was quiet and morose most of the time, but his passion was like water: tumultuous and drowning, dangerous like an open sea but so beautifully dark in its endless depth. 

Turning to face said employee, Gaius almost falls directly into his chest. He hadn't anticipated just how close they were until he stops himself short, and oh god, he even smells the same, of cedar and magic so impossibly out of his grasp. It would be enough just to reach out and touch him, as if to prove he was real and not just a conjured illusion, but his hands stay firmly at his sides. 

"I need fire, actually." It smolders in his gaze like stoking iron. "Liquid fire."

[holdingtheforge]

Fire and Ice ~ Gale & Gaius

Gaius doesn't do the whole magical imbuement thing. His weapons are all-natural, bestowed with the gift of Tamitaya and forged only in the heat of his own passion. There's something beautiful about cold steel hardened from liquidized metals, swords and daggers sharp enough to cut paper in half mid-air, the careful attention to detail he places in every ancient engraving as if he's putting his heart into them all individually. That doesn't mean he can't. There's a little shop on Arcadia that specializes in the mystic and mystified, which he figures should carry the necessary items he needs to make for this particular spell. He has an enchantment in mind for his latest War Axe, something to give him an edge over the competition.   Well. Not that they knew they were competitors. They shouldn't even be in the running-- humans and elves up against a dwarf-- his advantages are unfair and he knew it. His coworkers were just... on the petty side, which made him err towards stepping on them with his skill to feel somewhat better about being ostracized. Money in hand and determination on his mind, Gaius is wrapped up in thoughts of work as he enters the store. It smells like magic and dust, bottles lined up in colour-coordinated rows atop shelves, elixirs and potions for a variety of occasions and uses. It'll take him some time to read through everything, unless he can find an employee.

@stedfaststars

[bladeprincess]

Wander In | Open

[holdingtheforge]

geode-x-dude

Upon seeing who it was, Gray felt all patience he had within him vanish. “Oh, it’s you. Don’t come in, then.” He turned his attention back to the skeleton of the motorcycle he was working on, the vehicle not quite looking like it would in the end just yet. It hardly looked like a motorcycle, since it was so bare and the motor was being worked on by Gray.

He can hear Gaius come into the shop bay anyways and shuffle about, likely perusing the display of tools Gray had around the shop. Gray heard him speak up, asking him about the project he was working on, but the annoyance Gray felt outweighed the polite duty to reply promptly. Instead, he waited for a bit before finally responding.

“A motorcycle. That’s kinda what I do here, Gaius.” Gray didn’t bother turning around, continuing to examine the small pieces in his hands as he thought about the best way to reshape them to fit where they needed to go. The pieces he bought were all random, his motorcycles usually frankenstein’s monsters made up of various spare parts. “And yes, it is complex.”

Ignoring his attempts at making Gaius leave with blatant disregard, he’s only half-listening as Gray responds simply and with no uncertain terms. Not quite the talkative fellow, is he? That’s fine. Gaius is personable enough for the both of them, smile and all.

“A motorcycle? From scratch? That seems a little out of your skill set.”

It’s a playful barb, but a jab nonetheless. There’s nothing on his face that alludes to an otherwise relaxed demeanor, not intending to look antagonizing, but perhaps laying it on a little thick.

His set of tools only holds so much interest at the moment; the art of creation is a beautiful endeavor, one he can appreciate from a wide spectrum of people, but weaponry was a little more up his alley in terms of smithing.

It’s not long before he’s peering from around Gray’s arms without the feigned interest, sparing only a glance at his parts. The wheels turn in his head almost immediately, envisioning the motorcycle he’s trying to create, and dismantling it piece by piece within the confines of his own mind. Not his first rodeo, but that might just be his age. Or his race, even.

“You could sand them.” His reply sounds tired, heavy lidded gaze falling upon the parts in his hands. “A little sanding around the edges. Or torching, if you’re looking for something pliant.”

[holdingtheforge]

Hiatus End

[bladeprincess]

Wander In | Open

“Damn it…” Gray held up a part for the motorcycle, or rather, what will become a motorcycle eventually. The part didn’t quite fit right, much to Gray’s disappointment and frustration, and he’d have to figure out a way to get it down to the proper size while still maintaining function. What a pain in the ass. He went back to his work bench where a variety of parts were strewn about the surface. Might as well work on another part of the bike. 

The garage door of Vermillion Motorworks was open, meaning anyone could walk in. In reality, Gray just wanted some ventilation and fresh air while he worked, rather than any customers or wandering eyes peering in. Gray never had good luck like that anyways, though. Sure enough, he heard someone in the snow outside of the open garage. “If you’re going to come in, come in.”

[holdingtheforge]

It’s not really a work day until Gray curses under his breath. Gaius couldn’t say he knew the guy on a personal level, but from what he can see, the guy has a short fuse. He’s never been privy to any explosions, but he seems to stress himself out quite easily when he’s been working for hours. Gaius can’t relate.

“Nah.”

There’s a playful gleaming in his one good eye, polite smile stretched thin as it usually is. While he stands in the doorway of Gray’s garage, trusty hammer in hand (like always), he sticks his tongue out with coy abandon.

“I think I prefer the view from over here. Don’t let me interrupt you.”

His flirting is meaningless (like always) and his general atmosphere is unbothered (like always), but he seems to display a great deal of patience as he looks over all the tools and parts aligning Gray’s shelves. Nothing he couldn’t recreate in much better condition, but being that they’re both blacksmiths, he’s not sure the other man would appreciate the sentiment the same way.

“What are you making? Looks complex. I like complex.”

[holdingtheforge]

☾ Do you believe in fate and love at first sight? Why or why not?

“What an interesting question.”

Fate and love, fate and love. Love seems to be the running theme, but fate...

“I’ve lived way too long, and have seen far too much to believe in fate. I think we carve our own path in life, and forge our own destiny-- see what I did there? Forge?”

Gaius has seen the rise and fall of entire civilizations in his time, and there’s been too much pain to think of some ‘higher being’ making it happen. As if the lives of those who were lost were meant to be cut down, and it wasn’t just mindless slaughter-- perhaps he’s being a little too jaded. 

Fate gave him a family, after all. It might not be a traditional family, and his daughter isn’t even of his blood or race, but found family was much better than obligated family.

“I think love at first sight is possible. I’d like to think it’s possible. How romantic would that be? Knowing someone is your forever just by looking at them... it’s never happened to me, but I’d like to think it could, someday.”

[holdingtheforge]

⋈ What was the last thing you lied about? Why did you lie?

There’s not much Gaius tends to lie about-- even if his flirting is often insincere, there’s usually an air of truth about what he says in regards to how he feels. If he likes you, you’ll know, even if it’s with bad one-liners.

That being said, there’s one instance that makes him sweat just thinking about it.

“... I used to lie about how long I’ve been awake.” He hated being torn away from his work before he completed something, and there was always that just one more. 

“I didn’t want to make my daughter worry about me. She’s tough, but she’s more fragile than she likes to let on. A father knows these things. Raven needs to stop taking care of me and let me take care of her.”

[holdingtheforge]

◈ What is your ideal relationship like?

Ideal relationship... it’s been quite some time since he’s thought about the nuances of romance. Time will do that to you, he supposes.

“I’m not really the demanding type, I think. They would have to be cute, and spend time with me... they would watch me work, and we would share food and hold hands. We could watch the sun rise together, and then they’d force me back to bed. Just a nice, simple thing. The kind of thing where you can lean on each other.”

He really needs to raise his standards.

[unscriptedsage]

Inner Secrets Ask Meme

✧ How do you want people to see you?

❅ When was the last time you cried, and why?

♚ What is a habit that you don’t want people to know you have?

♤ If you could change one thing about your personality, what would it be?

♡ If you could change one thing about your physical appearance, what would it be?

☾ Do you believe in fate and love at first sight? Why or why not?

↝ Have you ever had your heart broken? What are the details?

✠ What is something that you hate? Why?

❖ Where do you go/What do you do when you are angry?

❧ Would your younger self be pleased with who you are right now?

⋈ What was the last thing you lied about? Why did you lie?

◈ What is your ideal relationship like?

⊙ If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?

➳ Without saying who it is about, what is something that you want to say to them that you normally wouldn’t say to their face?