trans_9 | An Unnatural Love of Shiny

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An Unnatural Love of Shiny

Now that Nehaalista could work a little bit more naturally (her leg still ached, but at least it wasn't hard to walk on), she'd set out to find a forge. And found one she did, recently used, if the embers in the forge were any indication. With a little, strange sort of almost-grunt, she dropped her box of ore on the ground beside and relit the flame, stoking it until heat boiled from the red mouth of the forge.

While on shore leave, Nehaalista had been able to purchase some ore. To not do anything with her hands while stuck aboard Stacy would have driven her crazy, and Nehaalista wasn't about to let that happen to her sanity. After all, what would happen if she did go crazy? Start gyrating wildly while standing on a mailbox?

She wasn't a night elf, for Light's sake. ~~Sorry, Choline.~~

Nehaalista prospected half the box, pulling away a few dozen uncut gems and setting them aside. They were strange, and Nehaalista couldn't think of names, but had arranged them by color. The rest of the ore was melted down into bars, one of which Nehaalista hefted in one hand.

Now, what to make? She pushed away a limp, sweaty curl and swished her tail against the chair, thoughtfully.

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Nehaalista gave him a funny look. Where was he from that he didn't know what a jeweler would be doing? Did his people not know how to work precious stones and metal into miniature artworks?

Humans were weird.

[I know how, but only with whetstones, I'm afraid, and they do not seem to have those in great supply here.] And really, she'd was more of an axe-and-mace kind of woman. Swords were nice of course, as were polearms, but there was something very satisfying in the weight of a mace as it crashed down on some Scourge's head.

Humans might be weird but Cas wasn't strictlyhuman. Besides, when you've spend almost your entire existence fighting a never-ending holy war, you don't really have much time for jewelry shopping.

Castiel frowned as he thought. "I believe Sam and Dean have whetstones in the impala for sharpening their blades." So why didn't he just ask them to sharpen it, or do so himself? "This sword is .... something special. It ..... was self sharpening, but it does not appear to be so anymore, and ... I do not want to ruin the blade by having it not treated ... properly."

Edited 2010-07-13 20:05 (UTC)

She nodded slightly. [I understand,] she paused. [If it is important to you, you should find a good blacksmith, certainly there should be one of them here somewhere, shouldn't they? While I'm quite adept at sharpening my own blades, I would rather not ruin yours.]

A sudden thought entered her head, [Kang may be able to help you!]

Cas frowned. "I'm afraid I don't know that many people on the ship yet." A pause as it occurred to him that he hadn't even introduce himself. "... I am Castiel," he offered. And he appreciated that Nehaalista didn't want to ruin his sword, even if he wouldn't actually say so out loud.

"Kang? I ... know him. ... I did not realize he knew about blades."

And speak of the draconian. Kang happened to pass by the forge on his way to the tavern just as Castiel said his name. Curious, he paused, and peeked in the doorway, recognizing that voice. He also recognized Nehaa, and hoping he wasn't interrupting anything important, he entered the building, "Hello Castiel, Nehaalista. I didn't know you were a jeweler."

He still had the cast and sling on his left arm, but the bindings on his left wing had been removed and replaced with a splint that gave the appendage more freedom of movement.

Edited 2010-07-13 22:14 (UTC)

Nehaalista smiled widely, showing fangs, and held up a thumb-sized purple gem she hadn't gotten around to cutting down yet. [We were just talking about you,] she wrote. [Castiel needs someone to sharpen his sword, and I thought you might know better than I did how to go about it.]

In return, she'd have to make him something. Horn caps? Hm.

"Hello Kang," Cas returned the greeting. He nodded in agreement with Nehaalista's words. "Yes, we were."

"I could help with that," Kang grinned. "I've taken care of my own blade for well over forty years. I can teach you how to do it yourself, too."

She turned her attention to Castiel, and raised her eyebrows as if to say, See? I told you so.

"It's ... a special sword," Castiel told Kang. "I don't want to risk damaging it. If you have expertise you would be willing to share, I would be ... grateful."

"Understandable. Special in a... holy way, or a personal way?" Kang asked, remembering what Castiel had told him about angels.

"It's holy," Cas told him. "It's a very powerful weapon."

Nehaalista looked up from her work and raised her eyebrows. A holy weapon? That seemed rather... lofty, just to throw down like that. Usually, such things were kept by high-ranking people, and Castiel didn't hold himself quite as formally as she was used to seeing. She bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she continued to work.

Still, one hand snaked out and typed in its slow, torturous fashion, [There is no ritual involved to care for it?]

Kang frowned slightly, "Your god is a benevolent one, if I remember correctly. Is it... safe for others to touch?" He had good reason to ask such a question.

Cas frowned down at his omnicom as it transmitted Nehaa's question. "No. It doesn't," he said flatly. "It normally wouldn't be ... manifested, most of the time, which is why it didn't need to be sharpened before. Now that it's continually manifested, it is going to need additional care."

He turned to Kang at the draconian's question. "Yes," he said, mouth twisting wryly. "If it wasn't safe for non-angels to touch, I wouldn't be able to touch it myself."

Nehaalista sighed in that oddly neutral way of hers, and went back to work. She fitted a barbel cuff around one of hers, and held it out for inspection. Hm. Too gaudy? Inelegant? This was the part where she wished Akirum would tell her what to do.

She blew her hair out of her face and wrote, [Then, it should be able to be sharpened with little problem, I think.] It didn't matter how special a sword was, if there was no ritual to be done, and it could be safely handled by anyone (though, she supposed a... demon would have issue) , then Nehaalista could not see the problem Castiel was worried about. Indeed, the whole thing seemed very cut and dry.

"It's not the fact that I'm not an angel that makes me cautious, Castiel. Back on my world, if I were to touch a holy artifact from a benevolent god, I was likely to burn my hand, or even be killed," Kang clarified, his good wing rustling slightly. He'd heard plenty about the dragonlances, and knew what happened to any draconian foolish enough to step onto the temple grounds of Paladine or the other gods of the good pantheon before they had left the world.

"Ah," Cas said. "There is no need for you to worry. Angel swords are meant to be used by angels, to kill angels. We- ... angels don't need weapons to kill mortals, or demons."

Because that's just very reassuring.

"...I had to make sure," Kang relaxed, unfazed by Castiel's comment. There were plenty of things that could kill mortals without weapons back on Krynn, and he knew the man was a mere human now.

"Whenever you like, just message me and I'll show you how to take care of it. I have a whetstone in my quarters."

Cas nodded. "I will. .... Thank you."

Nehaalista lifted her head and raised an eyebrow at Castiel's minor slip. We? Well, that made the human-not-human more interesting, didn't it? She slipped off the barbel cuff and cut a minor sliver off to adjust it. Unlike a lot of her people, Nehaalista didn't like squeezing the life out of the sensitive appendages.

Her shoulders shook with silent laughter for a brief second before she shook her head and typed out, [That was wonderfully easy. I'm happy for you.]

Kang smiled, "Not a problem, Castiel. It's good to know how to take care of your own weapons."

He felt the gold chain he always wore around his neck shift, and then it slid down his chest to hit the floor with a soft clink. Quirking an eyebrow ridge, he knelt down to pick it up, noticing that one of the links had been broken, and signs of other damage.

The sound of tinkling chain links perked Nehaalista's ears up and distracted her from the shaping of her cuffs. She peered at Kang, then at the necklace and started gesturing rapidly at Kang. Her expression was one of irritation, as if it had never crossed Nehaalista's mind in her long, long life to let a necklace become broken.

That was probably the artisan in her. She held her hand out for the necklace and gestured again.

Kang shrugged and handed the necklace over to Nehaa, guessing immediately that she probably wanted to fix it. "It must have gotten damaged during that Ohm fight, and I didn't notice."

Nehaalista took the necklace and mouthed something, probably grousing of one kind or another. Since she didn't have gold, she held up a golden barbel cuff - one she'd taken off and polished.

She sighed through her nose and typed, [This may take a day or two - no gold but what is on my barbels.]

An Unnatural Love of Shiny

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