Pink Hearts
Tenebrae - Wednesday, September 10, 2014, 7:00 PM
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* A15: Mithralla Merchandise *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
Here, a large wooden shed has been built, with a small coral to the side for horses or wagons. The large sign above the door reads "Mithralla Merchandise." Inside is a small foyer, several comfortable chairs, a small counter, and two large signs. One asks patrons to please wait here and not disrupt those inside the lab. The other offers a lab rental at a very reasonable rate.
Through the larger set of doors is a large room. This room takes up most of the building. Several long tables are scattered about, many with small tool racks. A small forge sits off to the side. Unlike the average workshop, maps of celestial bodies and guides to the elemental planes line the walls. Large frameworks of brass, silver, and crystal occupy space between the tables. A large shelf dominates the far wall, the containers upon it sporting such labels as "wyvern bile," "sulfur," "tiger's tears," and other exotic items. A glass-covered hole in the roof, set with mirrors, offers direct sunlight, or moonlight, to shine upon various projects.
Mikilos lounges behind the counter, reading. Which is one of those things wizards are sort of expected to do. Though honestly, if you don't enjoy reading in the first place, likely won't make it far as a wizard. This particular bit of reading seems to be a thick pink diary, covered in glittery pink hearts. ...wizards read some weird stuff.
Solace has been renting the lab. Don't ask what happened to his workshop, but in his defense, it wasn't his fault. Mostly. If the steel that drunk khazad had sold him had been decent quality, nothing would have gone wrong. And once the place has been de-electrified, he'll be out of Mikilos' hair. But for right now, there's an artificer in the lab, working on what appears to be a series of brass and glass butterflies, each one as large as a cat. "Hey, Mikilos?" he calls through the open door. Then appears there, with greasy hands. "I don't suppose you have any troll bone shavings? I could use it for...what in all the gods' names are you reading?"
Mikilos blinks absently, glancing up. "Hrmm? Oh, diary of a High Priest of Maugrim. Troll bone shavings? Back shelf, upper left. Should be next to the vial of griffon dander."
If there were a doorbell of some sort, it would ring about this time as a blond, blue-eyed young woman entered the building. Just in time for her to hear the contents of the diary, or at least who it belonged to. The woman, clad in a blue and white tunic with drapes hanging down to her knees, blue pants tucked into a pair of boots, and the blue rose silhouette of Althea on the front and back of her robes, blinked as she stared at the diary.
Then she laughed. "THAT belonged to a Priest of Maugrim?" She took in a breath, and laughed again, holding onto her sides.
And now Mikilos has a curious artificer peering over his shoulder at this glittery pink heart-covered diary. "Oh really?" Solace asks. "Anything juicy in there? The priests of Maugrim I knew tended to get up to all /manner/ of shenanigans. There was this one time, one wished to--" he cuts off, abruptly, as Godwyn enters. And that's probably all for the best, really. "...well. Suffice it to say, when you have that much power, many eccentricities are excused."
Right behind Godwyn is......someone that should not be in small spaces. She is the bull in the china shop, and red haired too. it's Fiore and she's.....trying very hard to be careful. She looks over Godwyn and tilts her head. "Seems everyone has their 'good' moments, I guess."
Mikilos grins, and shrugs. "I've two theories. One, as you said, highly eccentric. The other, well, if you were in a Temple of Maugrim, near the chambers of the High Priest, and happened to spy this on a table, would you read it? Touch it? Look directly at it? Or assume it to be some sort of terrible trap? And anyway, nothing particularly juicy. Sort of dull, really. Not sure if is because was a dull priest, or just didn't write the juicy bits. And I can't swear is authentic, but if this were some sort of hoax, I'd assume it to have more juicy bits... Any case, how may I assist you ladies?"
Mikilos build his place off his own size, and with a wide range of customers in mind. The roof can easily fit the largest of giantborn (though not a proper giant), and are stools and steps for those of a smalller stature.
Godwyn made her best attempt to breathe before speaking. "N-nothing really, just... just looking around." She wiped a tear from her eye. "Name's Godwyn. I've been making the rounds and decided to duck in here from the heat." She grinned. "Didn't expect to get a laugh out of it. Thank yoU!"
"What a pity. Although you do have a point about the potential trap," Solace muses. "Not that I'd ever expected to find myself in the personal chambers of a high priest of Maugrim, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't touch...anything, really. Not likely to end well." He makes a brief wave with a greasy hand towards Godwyn and Fiore before saying, "Now...troll shavings...near griffon dander. Right." He retreats to pounce on that back shelf, trying to move jars around without actually touching any of them. Slow going.
Fiore says, "I knew a guy in the monastery I was a part of that kept a diary. a rather large one too. It held all of his thoughts, hidden personal secrets, and more. I thought it was great that he would write them all down so he'd never forget them. Until he asked me to go into his room one time to get his tunic for him so we could practice. I did, and he left it open. I read that he had a crush on me, which was sweet since he and I were both the same age, but I was......3 feet taller than him." She then shrugged. "I gave him his tunic and did 500 push-up in punishment for it, then told Master iroh why I was doing the push-ups. He admired that I would punish myself for betraying someone's trust.""
Godwyn took a seat. "Honestly, that's rather impressive. Then again, he was brave to have had a crush on someone taller, stronger, and who could generally break a table with a single finger." Ah, good times in Gobintown!
Mikilos shrugs. "Not so certain is a betryal of trust. He may have left it open on purpose, in hopes that you'd read it, being too shy to tell you directly. Or not. Any way, what's wrong with someone 3 feet taller?" Not that the overly tall elf is likely to have that trouble. At least not in that direction.
"Brave to have, perhaps, but stupid to write down where anyone could find it, much less the target of one's affections. Or it was simply a backhanded method of confessing, which lacks both bravery and style," is Solace's grumpy opinion. Not that anyone /asked/ him, of course. He fishes down the right jar, finally, and carries it back to the lab between his elbows. "And past a certain point, height problems do become a logistic issue. But nothing that lying down doesn't fix."
Eventually, Fazahd manages to slip in through the door, as priests of Reos do - which means, of course, completely without craft and with a strong smell of burnt metal and charcoal. Ah, the smell of the force. Grave-faced and quiet, the young cleric stands by the doorway...frowning.
Fiore chucles a bit. "Obviously, it depends upon your point of view." She says gesturing towards SOlace. "And yeah, 3 feet can make a big difference, especially when you outweigh him by a few hundred pounds." She says softly before she looks at her arms a bit. 'Hmm.....I guess I should work on my defensive abilities too." She then looks to Mikilos. "Are you a crafter?
Godwyn giggled. "Point of view, indeed." She cleared her throat. "It's quite possible that he is, which I will have to keep in mind." She tapped her chin for a moment. "My armor just got repaired, and I might need enhancements. Do you do that?"
Mikilos shrugs, and waves vaugely, letting the issue go, before nodding a polite greeting to Fazahd. Turning focus to Fiore again, he nods. "I am. This is my shop, and I build most of the things you see here, inculding the shop itself. I do work on a wide range of items, including armors, weapons, rings, potions, scrolls, boots, belts, and a vast range of other things. I also craft mundane items and mechanical parts to order, though that's really more a hobby."
Solace is back in the lab, although with the door open, and clearly he is /too damned nosy/ not to be listening in on everything as he starts to pick out bone shaving and grind them into a fine powder for Something Artificey. "Mikilos is quite skilled, and I am not simply saying that because he might kick me out before my work is done if I don't," he volunteers.
In the back, Fazahd picks along some shelves himself, doing his best to seem unobtrusive - or so it would seem - as he peers at the reagants there. And frowning. Frowning is very important.
"I can see that." She smiled. "So we can just come in here at any time, and as long as we have the money, I can enhance my things. Right?"
Fiore says, "Well...I don't think I have enough for an enchantment now, but it's nice to have references for later." She says before looking to Godwyn. 'What about your sword, Godwyn?""
Fazahd has disconnected.
Mikilos nods to Godwyn. "Pretty much. Are some tasks beyond me, some I won't do, not that you're likely to ask for them, but most likely is that I'll be tied up with a different comission. They seldom last more than a few days, however, so can typically fit you in without too much delay."
"The Sentinel could use some better armor," Solace says, tartly. "Or spectacles which give her warning when someone is about to get the drop on her." He adds his powdered bone to other substances, creating a liquid, metallic substance which is then fed slowly into the bodies of the brass and glass butterflies.
Godwyn glanced toward the back. Solace was just being his usual, snarky self. She ignored him for the time being and took in Fio's question. "I might as well get that improved on first. I think my armor is just fine."
Fiore says, "actually, I think I could do that too." She says holding up her hands. "Can you enchant my gloves?" She says softly to Mikilos."
Mikilos blinks, and nods. "In a number of ways. What sort of enchantment do you have in mind?"
Fiore says, "Just a minor magical enhancement is all.""
Solace appears at the door to the lab, eyebrows raised at Godwyn. "I see. I suppose that's one strategy for entrapping your opponents' weapons. Most people choose an option that doesn't involve their own body, but there's always room for innovation. Presumably, the temple pays for ressurections." Then, he disappears again. Yup, snarky.
The door opens and in bounds Boshter!
Seems he's here for something or other. "Solace! Solace!" He calls to him, repeating his name. "I got your receipt! It is VERY LONG."
Mikilos nods. "A weaponized enchantment, then? Yes, can do that. Or make them variabaly sticky to enhance climbing ability, or a field of surface tenstion to aid in swimming, or insert dimensional pockets to hold small items. But yes, a weapon enchantment is easy enough, though will need wait a few days while I finish a current project. Hello Boshter."
Fiore nods. 'I can wait. I don't mind." She says softly as she blinks when Boshter comes on through with a long piece of paper. "Well then." She says with a laugh.
Godwyn chukled. "You're acting like that's not one of my backup plans. Only for emergencies, of course." She made it sound like she was serious. "Hello again. Boshter."
From the back, comes an acerbic, "And thus, you have hopefully learned your lesson about presenting me with a charity case without discussing it with me first, Boshter. The next time, it will be twice as long, and twice as expensive." There's a series of clanks, and the butterfly he's working on begins to wave its wings, slowly, light sparking throughout the glass in hypnotic patterns. "And remind me to do something terrible to whoever told you I was here," he adds, not quite under his breath.
Godwyn cleared her throat. "You're speaking of the Arvek Nar, I assume. I trust it went well?"
"I have a learned a very good lesson," says Boshter to Solace, "Next time, I will make sure to bring more Arveks! There are a lot of them with problems! Wow!" He boucnes up and donw on his feet. This is probably /not/ the lesson Solace wanted him to learn.
GAME: Boshter rolls Bluff: (3)+0: 3
He is probably also full of shit.
GAME: Solace rolls sense motive: (14)+10: 24
Solace heaves a sigh. It is a weary sigh, the sigh of a man who remembers a faraway, better time when he was not subject to teasing by Arveks. "The replacement went well," he concedes, and does his best to simply ignore Boshter's dire threat. But watch the scowl! It is there, and it is scowly. His ashen skin goes several different shades as the butterfly wings emit multicolored light, and the one he's working on rises to hover over table, wings hovering lazily.
Fiore looks down to Godwyn and makes a bit of a face. "How've things been for you and the rest of the temple, Godwyn?" She says softly as she looks about the front office.
She looked up at Fiore. WAY up. "I've been on the mend, but a few days ago I made a full recovery from the beating I took. It was a good enough gauge of my ability, though." She sighed. "Honestly, I don't feel so good about the fact. I need more combat expertise, but at the same time I need more training."
"I am very glad to hear it. A lot of Arveks do not believe in fixing some things earned in battle. It is how they are retired from the army!" Boshter bobs his head up and down, "but this just made him ugly. Now he can finally find a waife, maybe!" He looks all happy about it, then waves to Fiore and Godwyn, cheerfully.
"There is no need to shun one's battle scars," Solace agrees, pushing the butterfly back down to the table and powering it off. He wanders up to the doorway of the lab, again. "But a wound given for no other purpose but to humiliate and scar? There is no reason to keep such a thing, either." He glances up at Fiore, then over to Godwyn, and frowns.
Benthus has arrived.
Leaning down to squat in front of Godwyn, Fiore smiles a bit. "Master Iroh taught a very strange lesson a few years ago. In a sparring match, I had actually defeated Master Iroh in a sparring match. I didn't get a big head on my shoulders, it was simply one of those sparring matches. he then came up to me while I was meditating and taught me a valuable lesson. That sometimes, a true battle is not determined by skill, power, agility, or strategy.....but simple and pure dumb luck." She then smiles. "The next sparring match? he hit me with a kick so hard, I flew backwards five feet."
Godwyn chuckled. "I guess I was unlucky then, to get hit in the back by a greataxe from a quite strong Dranei oruch." She sighed. "Still think I need more training."
"I agree!" BOshter nods to SOlace. "But old habits are hard to change, you know. Arvek civilization is slowly evolving!" He bounces towards Godwyn. "Hello! Can I guve you a hug?" He knocks over a stand. It hits the ground with a crash.
Godwyn winced at the crash. "You can... just try and be a bit more careful around this shop. I wouldn't want anyone to be angry at you, Boshter." She stood and made her way over to him for the hug, instead of him pouncing her.
"You do need more training," Solace says, flatly. "You're lucky you didn't--Boshter!" It's not fast enough to stop the stand from crashing to the floor. There are a string of very naughty words in Infernal, as the half-Mul emerges into the shop proper to start running down the things that fell from the stand.
Fiore bonks Boshter on the head for knocking stuff over...just like Iroh. "You should be more careful, Boshter."
Benthus walks along the streets of the district with his old, tattered cloak wrapped around him like a warm blanket. He has his hood up, more to keep the warmth of his body trapped in than any other reason. He looks at the large sign printed on top of the shop and pauses. He shrugs faintly and proceeds to enter the establishment. Once inside, he draws back his cowl and breathes out a long sigh. He proceeds to remove his steel gauntlets as he examines the displays on the wall.
"OOPS!" Boshter says loudly. "I did not mean to knock that over!" He does, however, attempt to hug Gowdyn first. THEN He will try to help pick things up.
He probably shouldn't.
Solace picks things up, lifts the stand, and starts rearranging things. Very, very precisely. Vampire-counting-rice levels of carefulness here. "If you heavily-armored and gargantuan sorts could please avoid trampling around until everything is collected. Otherwise, Boshter may have just gotten us all turned into frogs." Mutter mutter, MUTTER.
"Frogs? Really?" Boshter sounds excited.
Godwyn chuckled. "You may not want to be here when that happens. Boshter." She helped Solace clean up. She could be precise and careful, when she needed to. "So then, should we leave you to your business, then? Seems like you want to be left alone. Again."
Benthus hears familiar voices up ahead within the stall section of the shop, and quirks a brow up in curiosity. He unconsciously fastens his detached gauntlet to the side of his belt as he wanders forward. Upon who the sources of the voices are, he smiles. He proceeds quietly to where everyone is and offers a polite nod of his head. "Hello there." He says to one and all, his voice soft and gentle.
Godwyn turned her gaze toward Benthus with a grin. "Good day, Sunblade!" She stood, dusting off her robes. "Seems everyone wants in on this shop. Of course that begs the question of why you are here..."
Benthus smiles for Godwyn and provides a curt reply, "I was curious." He says simply and offers, once agan, a polite smile.
Godwyn nodded. "That's pretty much my reason to be in here as well. Figured I'd learn about something new today." She stepped closer to Benthus. "A shame the master's out, or he'd love to speak to you."
Solace moves aside so that Godwyn can help, although he can't help reaching out to tweak a couple of things. "I simply want people to stop attempting to destroy the shop while in a mad pursuit of 'hugs'," he says, with an eeeeevil look over towards Boshter. "I should not think that's difficult." Benthus gets a curt nod of greeting, and once things are back in place, he steps back, retreating to the lab doorway.
"I am very sorry," says Boshter to Solace, sadly. He gives hym a sympathetic look, then he turs towards Godwyn and attempts to hug her again. "You are very nice! Not like SOlace. He is very mean." He nods, solemnly. "WEll, unless you ambush him with charity."
"Greetings Sunblade." Comes a female voice from WELL above benthus' height. the woman then looks over towards Boshter and shakes her head. "I don't know how you can be so klutzy....and yet be a monk. It's like your very movements are meant to cause as much chaos as possible."
Benthus looks up and recognizes Fiore. He dips his head respectfully to the giant-born and greets her warmly, "It is good to see you once again, Fiore." He then shifts his gaze to look upon Boshter. His brows furrow as he tries to remember the person, and is sad that he could not. He extends an open hand out for the Arvek. "I don't think I have met you before. My name is Benthus. I am a sunblade."
Solace gives Boshter a frown. "I am not mean," he says, quietly. "I simply care more about respecting the workplace that I am in than charging forward to hug people. There is more to kindness or 'meanness' than simply.../erupting/ over people at every turn." Harumph. And then he retreats to the lab to start packing up his butterflies.
Godwyn smiled. "For once, we agree on something."
She smiled up at Benthus. "Did you know I have a mentor at the temple now? Have you ever heard of Sophia Lightbringer?"
Benthus looks thoughtful as he tries to remember the name. Again, the look of defeat appears on his face as he answers Godwyn's query with a shake of his head, "I have heard the name before, but I have not been introduced to her. I may have met her, but I would not know if it was she or not." His face later change into a smile, "Congratulations, Godwyn. It is good to know that she has accepted you as her student. I am sure you will be guided well."
Godwyn nodded. "It's nice to know I have someone who will properly instruct me now, instead of just giving me words of wisdom." She sighed. "Those are all well and good, but sometimes words are not enough. Examples need to be used."
Fiore chuckles at Godwyn a little bit. "Example aren't always enough, Godwyn." She says softly. "Master iroh said that sometimes Wisdom is earned, not given. If I tell you not to drink because it is bad for you, would you still drink it if you found it tasted good?"
Solace emerges with a box, presumably with his work within. "Sophia is a good woman. Hopefully, she will manage to teach you how not to take an axe blade in the back along the way." Okay, maybe he is mean. He gives a brief nod to Fiore's words, then says, "And now, as my work is done, I shall wish you pious folks a very good evening. It is time for me to, as the Sentinel said, be alone again." A faint, fleeting smile, as he makes his way towards the door.
Benthus looks at Godwyn with mirth in his eyes. "I understand what you mean. It is easy to dispense advice to people, as they are only words. Offering one that is truthful, isn't." He draws back as he offers his own wisdom upon her, "As they say, always take in things with a grain of salt." He laughs slightly as he adds, "Whatever that is."
Solace has left.
Godwyn grimaced. "I really am starting to wonder whether he was serious about not feeling anything about me, one way or the other. He certainly seems to have a distaste for me."
And then Solace departs and Boshter lets out a sad sigh and says to Godwyn, solemnly, "I believe he has a distaste for everyone."
Godwyn shook her head. "Does he have to have it all the time, though? It's frustrating, and even I know it's no way to live." She shrugged. "I'm no one to judge though. I don't even know him all that well."
Benthus shrugs quietly, waving at the departing Solace.
Benthus looks at Godwyn, "And yet you pass judgement that he distaste you... Are you sure you are not being prejudiced, Godwyn?" He says this in a kindly manner, like a friend forewarning another friend."
"Solace is happy with how he lives! If he was not, he would be even MORE sullen and grumpy," says Boshter, cheerfully. "I think that he will be fine. He fixed my friend's nose for the low low price of a ot of money!" Because that makes sense, Boshter. REALLY.
Godwyn shrugged. "I admit, I've had enough of a taste of him to know how he can be. He doesn't direct that at everyone, trust me." She shook her head. "I'm not saying he's a bad person. I'm saying he seems to, for some reason, want to spite me. For no real reason that I can discern."
Fiore says, "he seems to want to spite everyone, if you mean Solace. He seems like a good person that's been hit by the prejudices of everyone around him."
She glanced at Benthus. "How do I be kind to someone who is immediately defensive and hostile like he is? I'd really like to know, because I'm running out of ideas."
Benthus looks at Godwyn for a moment, his head cocked slightly to the side. He breathes deeply and then touches Godwyn's shoulder, patting it gently, "Some people are not very good in displaying their emotions. Please, don't be quick to hate." He draws his hand back, "Patience is a virtue that a holy knight must try to keep. It is by which discipline gains its nurishment. Remember this, for if you forget..." He shakes his head slowly with a sad expression on his face, "Fear that you don't bring judgement on a good man, Godwyn."
Benthus turns to look at where Solace has left, "... Or one that is trying to become one."
Fiore says, "have you ever met a Kahzad, Godwyn? Most of the dwarves are like that. Rough, grating, drunk......but you make friends with one of them....and you have a friend for your life, your shildren's life, and your children's children's life.""
Godwyn shrugged. "I wouldn't do that... but now that you put it that way, it does seem I have it in me." She sighed. "I will... try. Though again, I have no clue how to start. I've tried my own means, and they aren't effective."
She smiled, and it was somewhat less said. "I could never hate someone from my own country, who is trying to be better than it. I just can't understand why he seems to..." Godwyn shook her head again. "Never mind. I'm just repeating myself now." She stretched her arms above her head. "Well I'm tired. Solace has once again done a fair job of wearing me out." The Sentinel made her way toward the door. "Good evening to you all!"
Benthus looks with concern at Godwyn, "Your goddess imparts a very powerful weapon within you, Godwyn. And it isn't your skill in combat or your special gifts as a holy knight. Love. Love is a very powerful gift. And it breaks down all prejudices. As her servant, this is the tenet by which you should uphold her name. Just as much as mine is justice. So whenever you feel like you are being unjustly treated, remember your goddess and what she stands for. Let that give you the power to be stronger, and win over that which is undefeatable."
Godwyn glanced over her right shoulder. "If only I knew how to tap into it..." Then she left for good.
Godwyn has disconnected.
Benthus turns towards the others and sighs, "We've all been through that stage before." He then nods as he looks about the shop. "I guess I should proceed with what I have come here for." He smiles for everyone and then proceeds to examine the many magical items that are on display...(Bye for now)
Fiore has left.
Benthus has left.