milliways_bar | (no subject)

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[OOM: One commission, two gifts and an unexpected visitor. Small warning for a bit of blood and gore.]

Weyland returns to the bar sometime later, when he has recovered enough to appear calm again, and he carries the gifts he has made up to the bar. It looks like it's going to be another Atlantean night.

He takes a seat at the bar, and waits. There's one person in particular he's waiting for and several others he'd be very happy to see, but really any distraction would be welcome.

[open until it scrolls!]

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"You want to understand the speech of squirrels, do you not?" he asks softly. "This will let you. In his world, in your world, here... anywhere. Unlike jewelry, it cannot be taken from you. You will always have it."

She looks up at him, "Even if...everything changes?"

It's a valid question.

"My work cannot be changed so easily," he says. "If I say it is permanent, it is. It should even carry over if, and let us hope we never find out for certain, you were to be possessed and just a soul in here again."

She nods.

"Okay. Let's get this over with. Anywhere I want, you said...hmm...How big is it going to be?"

Once inside the forge, he sets the box on the workbench and takes out the metal of the branding iron.

It shows a stylized squirrel running, about two inches by one inch.

"Not very, so it can go almost anywhere. But I'd recommend somewhere you won't mind having a bit sore until it heals."

She shudders and sighs. This is going to be bad.

Then she worries about having Evan there.

"Do you have a piece of leather?" she asks, thinking. She's not going to just scream, and startle the hell out of Evan.

"The top of my left foot, I think."

"There's a box of leather pieces over there," he says, nodding toward a workbench in the corner. "At least some of them should be clean. I'll need you to take your shoe off, and have a seat... right there."

Evan gets placed near the door, away from most of the fumes and noise.

She walks over to the box, and digs through a few pieces before pulling one out, before walking back over to him, slowly, and pulling her shoe off.

Her breathing is coming in more rapidly.

He sets the end of the brand in the fire, and turns his attention to pulling the bellows.

"I hope you have sandals you can wear, afterward?"

"I'll go back upstairs barefoot, but yeah, I've got sandals."

She tears off the under layer of her skirt. It's...the same skirt that she tore the under layer her first day in Milliways with Joe, bandaging her foot. The same foot.

She closes her eyes, and focuses on her breathing, trying to ready herself for this.

"Good," he says quietly, building a steady rhythm with the bellows. "You will probably need them."

He falls silent again, watching the metal grow hotter.

"I've been working on my dress, and I still have a lot to do. I'll probably be spending most of my time there."

Not have to walk too much, which is good.

"There are those here who can heal," he says, "and even I can do it to a degree, but unfortunately, this sort of situation you would need to heal without magic influences, just mundane medical treatment. Otherwise, it cancels out."

She shakes her head, "I'll deal with it. Can't be much worse than having a scar that doesn't heal and still hurts."

And at this point, she figures it always will.

"This will heal," he says. "Don't worry about that."

He studies the metal appraisingly, then leaves the bellows as the are to go fetch a bucket of cool water, which he carries over and sets near Coreen's feet.

"I didn't figure you'd cripple me," she says quietly, watching his movements very closely.

She swallows hard.

This...is gonna fucking suck.

"No," he says, straightening back up and moving toward the forge to retrieve the metal, giving Evan an idle pat on the head on the way. "I would not do that to you. But I need you to relax, and concentrate."

He picks the metal up by the unheated end and carries it over, slowly.

She takes a deep breath, nods, and puts the leather in her mouth, nose wrinkling at the taste.

She closes her eyes, and visualizes herself in Squirrel's arms, Evan not far away...looking into Joe's green eyes, seeing herself reflected in his eyes.

She focuses on this.

He continues to approach slowly, giving the metal time to cool a little, before he kneels at her feet.

The metal is still a little too hot, so he dips a hand in the bucket of water, and lets it drip carefully onto the heated end of the metal, dimming its glow somewhat.

Once it is to his satisfaction, he takes hold of her foot--gently, but firmly--and presses the sculpted end of the metal to it, holding it there for several seconds.

She cringes as the water hisses off the hot metal, biting hard on the leather.

She the hot metal hits her foot, even through the leather she screams. There's nothing to do but scream for a moment.

Her eyes open, and look around wildly as her hands claw into her leg as she tries vainly not to move.

It doesn't hurt less when he finally pulls the metal away from her.

When he takes the metal away, he brings the bucket of water up instead, immersing her foot in it. It's very cold water, at least.

And he rests a hand on the top of her head for a moment, in an attempt to be soothing, before he returns the metal to the fire. It must be destroyed for the magic to work.

Tears stream down her face as she hunches in on herself in pain.

She lets him touch her, but the feralness of an animal is very near the surface in her.

She spits the leather out, in two pieces, and throws them in the fire as well.

She's got plans to burn her clothing too, when she gets a chance.

He sprinkles some unseen substance on the fire and it flares up very brightly, very briefly, before fading to its usual glow. There's that done, then.

At that, he goes to check on the increasingly agitated Evan. "It's all right, lad," he murmurs.

He might not want to touch agitated Ev, as Ev may decide it's appropriate to sic his new-found henchsqrls on Weyland.

Coreen turns to look at the basket that Evan's lying in, before trying to stand to get to him, but the movement of her foot just hurts worse.

"Please...bring...him," she says, barely able to speak.

It would also probably not be a good thing for poor Ev to try biting Weyland.

Luckily, that's not going to happen, as he picks the basket up and carries it carefully over to Coreen. "I can carry you back inside if you'd like, so you can get some ice and proper treatment."