Last forge post before the Allpocalypse

[ostro_goth]

There is a new sign on the notice board.

Please collect all outstanding orders and commission at the forge, due to impending apocalypse.
All else half-price!

Then, Teja makes his way to the forge, to finish some projects he has begun for his people in Gotland. When the time comes, he will send them there, with the cats. Ferdinand, patient as he is, can wear a harness with a little bag and a message on.

So despite red skies, gates o'doom on the baseball diamond, holes in the mountains, and armed houses taking pot-shots at you, Teja is in the forge, the doors only half-open against the snow and bitter cold, the cats lounging by the forge fire, and works.



[[OOC: All possible other threads are millitimed BEFORE Urquhart's. Thank you!]]

Comments

[scots_wolf]

And who would turn up than the murderer, the shameless one, the arch-enemy of Teja's afterlife, Urquhart the Caledonian?

He is leaning in the door on the side where it's open, his dog sitting by his feet, watching Teja work.

[ostro_goth]

The cats do to greet the dog, self-assured as this is their turf, and the dog, in any case, is supposed to be beholden to them, and obey their whims.

Teja looks up from his work-bench, and regards Urquhart with a calmness that even contains some pity.

"Would you buy some little trinket, then," he asks, "so your living bed-mates and little friends will not forget you out in their wide worlds when this place ends, until they hang for their bad deeds?"

[scots_wolf]

"Actually," Urquhart says, "I've got a proposition for you."

Franz the dog settles by the fire, among the cats, who pile up on the dog's back and shoulders.

"What shall we do with them, eh?" Urquhart adds, shaking his head and stepping inside the forge.

[ostro_goth]

"That is a sensible proposition," Teja says, looking up with sudden interest. "Indeed, I was assuming you would ask your friend Alfred to take the dog with him, when he leaves for the apocalypse? I shall send my three living cats to Gotland. Count, alas, is dead like me or you and shall perish with this place."

[scots_wolf]

"I haven't seen him for a bit," Urquhart says. "Alfred is too sensible to walk into dangerous places brimming with doom. If he turns up before the end, then I'll send the dog back with him."

Beat.

"The apocalypse is coming, and you're still making things."

[ostro_goth]

"Things I wished to give to my people in Gotland," Teja says. "Ferdinand is a patient cat who will wear a hat, even, if a child puts one on him; I shall put a harness and a little bag on him, and a message telling my Adalgoth where I have buried the rest of what I have for them. Would you wish for my help with your dog in such a manner, too?"

[scots_wolf]

"Well," Urquhart says, walking through the forge to sit on the rim of the forge-fire, where it's pleasantly warm.

He lounges, relaxed, and grins at Teja.

"Well, then I have two propositions for you."

[ostro_goth]

Teja gets up, and walks over to scoop up Count from the cat-pile on the dog. "If you would ask for me to send your dog to Gotland, in case Alfred does not return before the apocalypse, together with my cats so he will have a life in the open air of the olden times, instead of death in the empty space at the end of time, then yes, consider it done."

He leans against the wooden frame of the whetstone, holding the little grey cat in his arms, looking down at Urquhart.

"Franz is a lovely and loving animal; I would not consign him to such a fate just to spite the man the unlucky hound calls master."

[scots_wolf]

"I can pay," Urquhart says. "I've amassed quite a fortune, in my life and afterlife. For sending Franz to safety, you can have as much as you want of it, to send on to your people if you want to, for board and lodging of my dog, and his descendants, forever. There's more than enough for that."

[ostro_goth]

"There is no need for that," Teja says, "but actually, for the sake of my people, I would take it. There is envy fomenting among the Gotlanders, and that might be assuaged by spreading more wealth around."

[scots_wolf]

Urquhart pulls out a fat leather money-bag from the lining of his cloak, and throws it to Teja.

"Here," he says. "If Alfred comes after all, just keep it. See it as an option on safety for Franz that I'm buying. Good? Then let's get to my second proposition."

[ostro_goth]

Teja catches the bag with the hand that was stroking, not holding, the cat.

"I shall take it, as I said; but will leave my answer to your second proposition open. What is it?"

[scots_wolf]

"Let's have sex," Urquhart says. "No, seriously. This place is about to fall apart, and we're dead and stuck here. We'll go out with a bang, so let's bang at least once before that happens. Don't tell me you've never considered it, the way you've hounded Alfred and me?"

[queenofmay]

There is something to be said, at all times, even end times, for a forge with a half off sign. Especially when it is in Milliways and far from Guy or Vasey.

Which is where Marian finds herself, tonight.


Studying such a sign. Considering an interesting Sign.

[ostro_goth]

"Greetings, Marian," Teja calls out, to his colleague. "Come within, and look around. I would give you anything you wish for, to take home, for a very small price."

Whatever he makes in this last sale, he will take to Gotland and bury in the snow, for Adalgoth to find by the direction of his message.

[queenofmay]

"Fair eve, Teja," is a quiet greeting. That does fall a little flat as habit births the words that Milliway's contradicts. Very little is fair in Milliways right this moment, nor appears to be heading that way even.

All of the Staff teams, and Loompas, and everyone is beyond tense now.

She walked through, glad for the warmth inside, out from the Greater Winter ravaging open Milliways. Skirting slowly, places where pieces were laying out. "What all do you have?"

[ostro_goth]

"Blades of all kind," Teja says. "Arrow-heads, swords, axes, knives, daggers, battle-scythes and throwing stars. Spear-heads, pickaxes, throwing axes and sahsis. Would you have some tea, perhaps, or water? I have fresh water, but no wine or ale in the forge."

[queenofmay]

"Water, or tea, would be fine. Whatever troubles you least," Marian said, looking over her shoulder. "And, thank you, that's very kind."




"Do you do," There's a pause, as she reached out to touch the edge of a dagger. "pieces that appear decorative, as well?"

[ostro_goth]

Teja has tea ready, so he pours her a cup.

"I do," he says. "Fibulae with sharp edges that may be used as throwing stars, rings that sting when turned the right way, small daggers that hinde in anklets. Would you see some of those?"

[queenofmay]

"I would be interested in at least seeing the last." But she's seen the last of wearing rings for a good long time if she can help it.



"I have other pieces I need replaced if they are possible. They were far more decorative. Hair pieces, that look like expensive crafted jewelry accessories. Sticks and daggers, safe enough to be worn. Sharp enough to defend."

Or wound, if needed, at long distances.

By someone with good aim.

[ostro_goth]

Teja gets cases off the shelves over his work-bench, fetches brooches and fibulae and daggers, tiny three-lobed arrow-heads that are sharp enough to pierce armour, small flexible blades of many-layered folded steel, and short jewelled stilettos that may be worn as pins in cloaks or hair.

He has lockets with secret compartments, and pendants that are actually throwing stars.

[queenofmay]

The arrows would stand out to much, and in the hands of the wrong people if collected she cannot imagine the worst done with them, but her fingers trail in the air over several things.

"These." Two different broaches.

"And this, and this." To two different sets of stiletto's.

Marian hovered over a dagger for a moment. "Do you have one like this, in silver, but longer? About the length of my forearm? Thinner, too, if possible?"

[ostro_goth]

"I do," Teja says. "Not in silver, as that would be too weak for a weapon that size, but silver-coated, made from silver folded with bronze. A weapon against werewolves, originally."

He produces it.

[queenofmay]

"Perfect." She thinks about it. "Two, if you have them."

"And that smaller one." She'd gestured back to the first case. Something that could be hidden in even the newer lowcut gowns they'd made her wear during the last month. The joys of being their prisoner.

Especially now that they'd thrown her father in a jail cell.





"And I'm going to need a sword." She wants to say two.
But her father would not like the thought or compliment.
She did learn her pride from the best source, after all.

[ostro_goth]

"I have two," Teja says. "Would you fight were-wolves, or other fell creatures, in your world, then?"

He fetches the second long dagger, and then several long, straight swords that fit her time, of different weight and length and breadth, but all of folded steel, and razor-sharp.