sixthiterationlogs | Let me put myself in your shoes as a puppet loosely strung

WHO: Kalen
WHERE: The Blacksmith
WHEN: Feb 9th
OPEN TO: OTA to anybody at or around the forge
WARNINGS: Warnings not anticipated

Blacksmiths;

As had been suggested, Kalen had found an empty house already. But likewise, it was suggested that he needed to see the forge. In the world that Kalen came from this idea of metalworking did not exist. The heat was created from a magic rune and artisans used them in the ultimate creation of their work. Even those that could not wield magic would buy from those that could and that was how many people made a living.

He did not have much of a choice in what to wear so he had the second set of magenta scrubs on under the wool peacoat and kept his hands inside the pockets. He already felt silly about this since this seems to be a common idea for other people. Thanks to that, he was being as quiet as he could and approaching the blacksmiths without his jaw hanging open.

Forge;

In fascinated silence, he inspected all parts from the crucible to the bellows. He could not guess what the latter was used for either. The only thing he somewhat recognized was the anvil but the cooling bucket was another mystery since a water rune would be used to finish.

Fire;

While Kalen had seen a wood fire before, he had not seen one glow so brightly. The level of heat coming off of it was more intense than expected too. It did not take him long to shed the wool coat. It was not so much the tools of a blacksmith but the way in which they created heat. The glow of coals used to make carbon was mesmerizing but it probably looked odd for someone to be staring into that glow of fire

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She blinks, intrigued. Where Kalen might be feeling low about his inexperience with traditional smithing, Brigitte's interest is piqued instead by his mention of magic. "So you don't just... set a fire with a match or a flint? It's always magic? What's that like?"

Brig knows from firsthand experience that getting too distracted at the forge is a dreadful danger, but thankfully, her pieces of metal are already cooling and she doesn't have anything new to tend to just yet.

Kalen gave a little snort.

"What's it like? Normal. What's a match and a flint?"

It is common for people to set fire with magic but that magic may be initially created by someone else. And it is mostly only the spark that gets created. Keeping a fire going is up to the smith.

"'Normal', that's super descriptive." Brigitte's voice isn't annoyed, just gently chiding. But she's patient when she explains: "A match is like, a little stick with a bit on the end that when you strike it, it creates a spark of fire?"

She's keeping the description fairly simple and non-technical, considering his inexperience with the concept, and she's half-distracted setting her equipment aside. "And flint is a rock that you hit against metal, and that creates a spark too. Want to try?"

"Try what? Making sparks? I have seen those so I can guess how a flint would work."

Kalen did not want to give the wrong impression. And since Brigitte didn't have a hearts glass the only way he had to know what she thought about anything were her facial expressions. He kept his arms crossed and he kept the standoffish demeanor. But the tone of his voice was more friendly.

"It seems pretty obvious now that it's been pointed out."

"I can imagine it can be hard to be used to, though, if you're used to having magic doing everything." Brigitte grants him that benefit of the doubt, then rummages through some of the tabletops and buckets until she finds a fuzzy handful of leftover fabric, a flint, and piece of steel shaped into a curve -- almost like steel knuckles, easy to grip in one hand. She wipes another bead of sweat from her forehead, then hands the objects to the kid.

"If you strike that rock against the edge of the steel, you should see those sparks coming off it. The trick is to do it at the right angle that it'll catch on the thing you want to set on fire."

Kalen took the rock and the metal in either hand. He looked dubious at the process and regarded Brigitte with both eyebrows raised.

"...seriously?"

He did not wait for her reply. Feeling more than a little awkward, he first tries to bring the metal down straight. That does not really work. Next, he tries bringing the rock down onto the metal. Still nothing. Mouth twisting into a frown, he tries it from an angle this time. Finally, a single spark is thrown.

"You mean to tell me that this little spark can become a flame? It definitely does not look like much."

She offers him a wry smile as she wipes off her hands. "A lot of things don't look like much but can be pretty impressive. I'm Brigitte, by the way." The boy isn't exactly effusively friendly, but he went along with learning what he could, and that's a point in his favour: open-mindedness to the unfamiliar is particularly important here, in this village, surrounded by strange new things.

"Were you a magic-user back where you came from, then?"

Deathseekers are hard to surprise naturally and they do get some further training. Kalen might be surly but he is also very curious. At the moment he transfers both rock and metal to a place nearby.

"Kalen."

He glances back at Brigitte.

"Yes, I was."

Is? It may not really help since he can't use runes here.

"Talkative, aren't you," Brigitte remarks. But it's okay. She knows someone even more monosyllabic in the village, and it's made her accustomed to summoning up her patience, filling in those blanks, bouncing off that metaphorical brick wall.

"Look," she says after a moment, with a glance to the door. "I've got to head out and get some more wood. Promise you will not burn the place down if I leave you here?"

Kalen shot Brigitte a dirty look. And since she had already mentioned being less talkative he also gave her a rude gesture to go with it.

"I didn't plan on actually touching anything."

He wouldn't know where to start anyway.

Brigitte rolls her eyes a little, and in that moment she looks so very much like one of her older sisters; but less pissed-off, more gently exasperated.

"See that you don't," she says instead, firmly. Because she takes her work seriously, and the forge is one of the most precious places in the village to her and others -- besides, Tony would have her head if something went wrong while she left someone unsupervised here. But in response to his rude gesture, Kalen just gets a cheery wave in return, and off she goes.

Let me put myself in your shoes as a puppet loosely strung

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