[A Touch of Fire] A Wish to Get Burned [Duality]

[Rorugir]

18th Fall 511 A.V. The sight of metal weapons and instruments greeted Rorugir as he entered the blacksmith shop. He had entered a showroom, he realized; the metal implements shone with a light unlike that of one in use very often, and seemed arranged in such a way that highlighted their workmanship. A good business ploy, to be sure, but as he looked he realized something else; the weapons brought back memories of his homeland, of Sultros. As Rorugir realized this fact, he paused. How long it had seemed since he left, even though it had only been a season or two. While he had left with no regrets, seeing the metal implements made him a bit homesick. He hadn't felt this way since leaving Sultros, but now, something about the work made him miss it's stony halls and tunnels. "What an...interesting place." Rorugir murmured to himself, moving forward into the shop as he began to look around. As he looked at the metal implements, he couldn't help but wonder: why had they stirred him in such a way? Why had they aroused such homesick feelings within them Perhaps the craftmanship...Rorugir went up to one of the showroom examples, a particularly fine sword, and began to examine it. Yes...he wasn't the best in blacksmithing, and couldn't tell for sure, but the work put into the weapon seemed to be of Isurian work. Could there possibly be one here? He had not seen another of his kind since arriving in Lhavit, but... it was more possible he'd find one here than anything else. Rorugir craned his head, looking for a assistant or worker of some sort. His task in coming here today- namely, to find a job- suddenly seemed like it would be better working with a fellow Isur. While Rorugir certainly loved seeing and interacting with the other races, there was something in his Isurian psyche that made him feel better with the possibility he would work with one of his brethren. That is, if the master of the Touch of Fire let him; he had no idea whether or not if he would be allowed to work here, a possibility that unnerved him, as he didn't know- and didn't want to know- where else he could find work. Well, then. He'd just have to do his best to impress the owner. Out of the corner of his eye, Rorugir finally spotted what seemed to be a worker in the shop, and hailed him over. As the assistant approached, Rorugir greeted him with a small smile and asked, "Good sir, do you perhaps think you could point me in the direction of the owner of this shop?"

[Duality]

The dark haired assistant seemed rushed. His face was flushed and he was moving from place to place as Rorugir called, trying to replace a few display items that had been sold as well as checking a thin parchment he carried over and over. The call seemed to snap him from his chaotic attention, and the wired man seemed to take a deep breath and relax. He met Rorugir's smile as he approached. "The owner, sir? Most certainly. Right this way." The assistant led Rorugir through the showroom, towards the back where a rather simple and subtle door waited nearly hidden from view. He pushed open the door and bowed, egging Rorugir forward and into the room beyond. The room he stepped into was several degrees hotter than the last, as well as much more open. Forges lined two of the walls, and one was filled with a large cart equally filled with raw supplies. The forges weren't at full heat, the color a cooling red but ready to be fired up again in an instant. In the center of the room was a large table, sturdy and thick, and over the surface were various papers and sketches and ink. Rorugir's eyes were astute to the craftsmanship, his hunches accurate. For over the table swooped the lithe form of Aska, a fellow Isur. Her own skin was also dark for an Isur, and her hair lay over her face as her left hand worked a sheet on the table with a quill. Her right arm supported herself up, propped against the table, and was slightly purple from her family lineage. She glanced over at Rorugir, up from her work. As Aska spoke she struggled to hide annoyance from her voice. "There's lots to be done. What do you want?"

[Rorugir]

For a second, as Rorugir hailed the young man over, he thought that he might have gotten the wrong one. The rush and tiredness the raven-haired man obviously carried made him seem more like that of a wearied traveler, stopping in the stop for a second. A sudden vision of Rorugir commanding a hapless civilian to take him to their leader flashed before the Isur's eyes, and mentally he cringed. Perhaps hailed over someone so randomly hadn't been the smartest of ideas. Fortunately however, the man did indeed turn out to be a worker of the shop. He returned Rorugir's smile as he approached, nodding his head in respect and saying, "The owner, sir? Most certainly. Right this way." and thus proceeded to lead a very relieved Rorugir to a back door, at the very end of the showroom. As he drew near, Rorugir felt a soft heat emanating from the door- perhaps these were the forges, then?- and with no small amount of trepidation, he entered. It was indeed a forge, which made Rorugir two for two. It wasn't in current use, however, and the room seemed to be deserted save one individual: a female Isur stood over a table in the middle of the room, a quill dancing across her delicate purple hand. She was of the Terras clan, then. While Rorugir had little interaction beyond the Pitrius clan (they tended to be more secretive than that of the other clans), he knew how to distinguish one's lineage by their Izurdin-blessed arm's color, and this woman was of the female-dominated Terras clan, to be sure. Rorugir's heart danced with a unfathomable joy as he saw her, so inexplicably happy to see a fellow Isur he didn't see the flicker of irritation cross her face as she acknowledged Rorugir. However he did pick up on the less-than-subtle annoyance in her voice when she spoke: "There's lots to be done. What do you want?" A bit embarrassed at having just stood there and watched the owner in bliss, Rorugir nodded his head in chastity. "My apologies for interrupting your hammer, master smith." The words that slipped from Rorugir's tongue were of a greeting among the Isur of Sultros, or at least was one that had been taught to Rorugir by his parents, always the socially-conscious duo. It was meant to show respect to the Isur being addressed, and hopefully it would make up for Rorugir's socially awkward meeting with the Terras. "I didn't mean to disturb you," Rorugir continued on. "But, as a man of but a little talent in the art of blacksmithing, I inquired to see if I could attain a job working as one of your apprentices. It would be my honor to work with you." Hm. That almost seemed a half-decent response. Rorugir's parents would have been proud.

[Duality]

The fair greeting seemed to surprise Aska as much as her presence surprised Rorugir. She set down her quill and looked up, turning her full attention to the guest. With a wave of her hand that still held tight the quill, she shooed the worker who had led Rorugir back. The man smiled and turned away towards the showroom to finish his preparations for the day. The attractive Isur wiped her brow, eying the newcomer up and down. She wasn't as versed in the clans as he, but she too knew the man to be from the Pritius clan from the sheen of his arm in the light of her forges. She had spent far more time in the company of Lhavit than her own, so long away. But Lhavit was all she needed. Her eyes were still narrowed however as she turned her frame his way and leaned back against the table again. “An apprentice of mine?” Aska glanced back at the plans. The drawings she was working on were only half finished, the plans incomplete. And another sheet lay with a list of orders to be filled. Her normal assistants weren’t even here yet! She gave the list a frustrated scowl and peered back towards the man. “I could use help. Do you have any claim to your talent?” Her sentences were still short, but she was attempting to be conversational, at least. Forced, but trying. Aska’s mind was clearly elsewhere though, trying to piece together how to fulfill these orders in time. She’d figure it out.

[Rorugir]

Rorugir started to get hopeful when the Terras -Aska, was her name?- mentioned she needed help, then his mood plummeted when she asked if he had any claim to his talent with the hammer. Damn! I left all the things I had worked on back in Sultros! Truth be told, they hadn't been of very high quality, and so Rorugir had not seen fit to bring his work along. If only he had the foresight to see this situation! Rorugir bit his lip. What could he do now, to prove that he had actually done some blacksmithing (if not much) before? It was the cooling forge that gave him the idea. "Well, I don't have any proof of my labours, but I can say I've been trained in the blacksmithing teachings of Sultros, and, if you so wish it, I could perhaps fashion you some sort of simple tool or implement." Rorugir gestured to the forge in the room. "Provided I have the right tools, of course." It was then Rorugir noticed Aska's attention was mostly focused on the sheet of parchment in front of her, not him. He took a step forward and peered at the paper, casting her an apologetic glance in case he was overstepping his boundaries. It took him but a moment to realize it was a form of orders. "Or," Rorugir said carefully, "I could perhaps assist you in fulfilling these orders. Would that sufficently reveal my skill in blacksmithing?"

[Duality]

Aska's eyes peered through Rorugir as he spoke, examining him, testing him. Her lips had something that wasn't quite a smile upon them, more an amused scowl than any real emotion, but that too played so faintly to be almost a trick of the light than a forced movement. Aska set her quill down on top of the table. "I am Aska, master of this forge." Aska felt she should try and return his greeting, but other old Isur phrases failed to fill her mind when she needed them most. Ah, well. "What is your name, Pritius-born?" As she spoke Aska wiped a bit of ink from her hand onto her blackened apron. His conclusion had formed just as Aska's had, his questions echoing the words in her mind. Aska couldn't help but let her eyes trail yet again to the list of orders, her mind once again going over the was to get it done. "Helping me with these orders is exactly what I had in mind. Two of my apprentices are missing this work block. You can work with me." Aska took a step towards the forge. With a hand she motioned to the forges and anvils that lay waiting, glancing dangerously at Rorugir. "Are you ready to get started?"

[Rorugir]

The look she gave him perplexed Rorugir. An inquisitive glance, it seemed, as though she were sizing him up. It passed in but a second, but Rorugir had a feeling that second had been crucial. Some sort of test, it seemed. But had he passed, or failed? Something approaching a smile darted the female Isur's face, just as confusing as the look she'd given Rorugir a second ago. "I am Aska, master of the forge." She finally spoke, her soft voice nonetheless filling the air, splitting what seemed an unbearable tension to Rorugir. "What is your name, Pitrius-born?" came a second later. Happy for the chance to fill the empty air, Rorugir acquiesced. "My name is Rorugir, master Aska." he said solemnly, inclining his head in way of greeting. What came next filled Rorugir with both hope and apprehension. She talked a bit more, wiping her hands on her apron, and from what Rorugir understood, it would be a baptism by fire for him. Aska was currently at loss for her regular apprentices and needed help getting the orders done- as Rorugir had anticipated. Now that what he had prophesied had come to pass, however, Rorugir's insides were set aflame- hopefully not an omen for what would happen at the anvil. Aska walked over to the anvil, oblivious to the butterflies fluttering within Rorugir. "Are you ready to get started?" she asked, sending another glance his way. Rorugir kept his face calm and confident, desensitizing it the feelings resounding within the pit of his stomach. "Of course." he asserted. "What will be crafting?"

[Duality]

Aska let out a light and relieved breath when Rorugir agreed. She kept it quiet and hidden, her hand touching her forehead as she did so. The man who stood before her seemed nervous but ready. She would have to see if he could keep up. Now to just formulate a plan. "Alright, so." Aska moved over to the table. She flipped through several of her drawings and doodles, skimming through notes and glancing with blank eyes at notes. Aska loved this, figuring out a plan to get things taken care of and on time. She was clearly thinking quickly from the look on her face and the way she shuffled the drawings as she went through her papers, organizing them quickly and ending up with a single stack. Everything in order. Aska pulled up the list and looked back at Rorugir. A fire seemed to burn in her eyes like a reflection of the forges. "Nails. We need a set of twenty hammered out. Thick ones. Also 3 plows for farming. Lastly a thin-walled box for an Okomo trough." She moved across the large room, pulling at a crate. The wooden box was especially crafted for ease of starting up the fires, with a side door at the level of the furnace entrance. "Here's the coal. It's all going to be iron-wrought. Let's get these fires going!"

[Rorugir]

Rorugir nodded when he heard the things he would be crafting. The nails and the plows were easy enough. He'd done enough of those for practice work back in Sultros, although he doubted any of them were actually employed. The Okomo trough box, however...that was something else entirely. "All right." Rorugir said, nodding towards Aska. "That sounds fine. You'll have to lead in creating the box, however- I have no idea how to forge one, as I'm sure you'll understand." But first, something he did. Starting the fires of the forge. It was relatively easy, as Rorugir understood: simply shovel the coal into the furnace to get the fires to start, or, in this case, reach a respectable temperature for smithing. Rorugir examined the walls for a shovel of some sort. The room was filled with more than enough blacksmithing tools, something he appreciated, but wasn't too helpful right now. It took him a moment to pick out the right shovel for shoveling coal, but he finally found it. "I assume I'll shovel," Rorugir gave Aska a rare smile, and then turned to the contraption she had recently pulled in. Unlatching the wooden door, Rorugir was greeted by the sight of a heap of black rock; he inserted the shovel into the coal and picked up a generous amount of the fuel, before moving towards the furnace. With one swift toss of his arms, he threw it into the cooling red flames, which roared up as the combustible rock met them in a fiery union. Slightly perspiring already, Rorugir turned back to the coal once more, and shoveled.

[Duality]

Aska left Rorugir to shovel for a moment longer, glancing back at her plans as he began the work of lighting the fires. The iron ignots were waiting t e melted, the molded needed to be crafted to finally poor free the material to a useful form. Aska called for the first assistant, bringing him forward into the room. The pale man looks flushed, but Aska paid his condition little attention. "Fetch me some water and clay, we have molds to wrought." And at her words the man left to notify her suppliers of the demand. Aska rummaged through the back of the tidy shop, moving through various tools with practiced hand. Quickly she pulled free a plow from the wall, fully iron and meticulously crafted by her own hands. The work was fair, she remarked as she looked at the work. But it was nothing to be proud of. Aska set the plow aside, the weaker metal it was made out of twinkling as she lied it against the table. She grabbed a small shovel and moved in across from Rorugir, taking a quickly look at his progress. "We'll need to keep up the pace to get this done, let's go!" The fires roared and snickered below as they rose ever higher. She only hoped the first assistant would be back before this was as hot as the needed it to be, there was no use wasting coal. oocFeel free to take control as well, she is testing your ability to work after all! ^_^