Forge post

[ostro_goth]

Teja is in the forge, working furiously.

The midwinter holidays are not far off; also, it has been his while since he's seen Charlie, and that brings up feelings in the Goth that are best dealt with by intense sparring, or vigorous hammering.

The cats, not minding the noise, lounge by the fire.

Despite the cold outside, the door is open, and all comers, be they friend or stranger, customer or merely curious, are welcome.-



[[OOC: Forge post -- open until it scrolls!]]

Comments

[fiery_ring]

Carlotta knocks at the door.

[ostro_goth]

"Enter!" Teja calls, still hammering.

[fiery_ring]

Carlotta does so, bending to scritch the nearest cat.

"Am I interrupting, sir?"

[ostro_goth]

"No," Teja says. "If you would wait until I finish this, shortly, we may talk without shouting."

[fiery_ring]

"All right." she sits down with the cats.

[ostro_goth]

It takes a few minutes; then, Teja returns the piece he was working on to the forge, and turns to Carlotta.

"Would you take some water with me?" he says.

[fiery_ring]

"All right." Carlotta says. "What are you making?"

[ostro_goth]

"Mokume-gane, for ornaments," Teja says, pouring cold water into two clay cups, and handing one to Carlotta.

[fiery_ring]

"Thank you." Carlotta says, sipping the water.

"I don't know what that is." she admits.

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

It has been a while. So when Charlie steps through the door, and makes his way outside to the forge, he does so quietly, and only stands midway through the door for a moment.

"Hey, stranger."

[ostro_goth]

Teja almost drops the hammer.

"Charlie!" he says. "Greetings, stranger -- indeed!"

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

Charlie smiles. "Been a while. How're you?"

[ostro_goth]

"It has indeed," Teja says. "You were there when I was sick with the floo sickness; and since then, I have been working much, and speaking to many, and ---"

Pause.

"--- missed you, at the bonfire on December the fourth, as last year, if for a much sadder reason. I remembered how we spoke sensibly for the first time by the fire for Atton's birthday party."

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

Charlie only smiles. "I'm here now."

Teja may do what he likes with that.

[ostro_goth]

"I am glad of that, and shall stop complaining," Teja says, coming closer.

Pause.

"If there is nothing more to speak of, I would rather kiss you now..."

But he waits for the permission. He would give Charlie leeway for a moment's doubt, and hesitation, always. Their lives apart are different, and things may happen.

Indeed, one might claim Teja ought to tell of the vision of Adalgoth, first.-

[licensed-pro.livejournal.com]

"There's always more to speak of," he says. "But we don't have to do it right now."

Oh yes, because there's something that needs to be asked on Charlie's part, as well. "You never have to ask to kiss me, Teja. Just do it."

[ostro_goth]

Teja takes him in his arms, and kisses him, and sighs deeply, and kisses him again, long and softly and with lots of feeling.

"I love you," he murmurs. "I missed you, but now you're here."

And he kisses him again.

[hark-at-her.livejournal.com]

Mina has been outside, enjoying the crisp, clear weather. She may be a vampire, like others of Teja's acquaintance, but she is a rather different kind. She's awake in daylight, for a start.

She has been walking a while, and the sun, though bright, does little to warm her bones. Bored of the confines of the bar, she's exploring - and there's warmth radiating from the forge, noises within. Curious, she approaches, kocking before poking her head around the door.

"Good day?" she calls out.

[ostro_goth]

"Greetings!" Teja says, turning around to look at her.

[hark-at-her.livejournal.com]

Mina smiles, stepping into the forge, carefully avoiding treading on a tail as she steps over one of the cats.

"Am I interrupting? I was passing, and...well, I was curious," she admits. She may know all there is to know about chemistry - of her time, anyway - but manual labour is a mystery to her, forgework not something she has ever seen in progress.

[ostro_goth]

"The curious are welcome," Teja says. "As long as they fear not the heat and the flying sparks."

[hark-at-her.livejournal.com]

Mina glances down at her full skirts, then at the flames. "Not scared, no. Wary, perhaps," she shrugs elegantly. "Though not enough to stay away from the warmth. My name is Mina Harker." She proffers a hand.

[ostro_goth]

Teja shakes it. "I am Teja, son of Tagila," he says. "I was the last king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, and died in battle, on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, in the year 552 of Christian reckoning!"

[hark-at-her.livejournal.com]

Mina blinks. Suddenly her introduction sounds rather less impressive. Technically, of course, she is not dead. But if she were to mark the death of her fully-human life, she would be able to tell Teja that she died at the gates of a castle in the Carpathian Mountains. Or no, perhaps even before that - in London, in the arms of a dark-eyed foreign Prince.

[ostro_goth]

Teja tilts his head and looks at her.