melodiesoflife | GET BACK TO WORK!

Entry tags:

GET BACK TO WORK!

Characters: MarKus and OPEN (mostly newbies?)
Where: Aqures Ixen - Haley's Anvil
When: March 7th - 11th
Summary: MarKus starts hammering out gear for the rescued arrivals. Upon request, of course!
Warning: Foul language?

After having that slacker Kugami put up new advertisements, MarKus has finally put himself back to work, at the forge where he belongs. He'll be on break from adventuring for a while, but there was a hefty handful of people who were going to be in need of gear that fit them, since they surely didn't start with a damn thing being imprisoned right away. Surely someone needed that special sword or arm guard just to feel a little more comfortable with things.

And you know, defending oneself from the creatures beyond the city walls, though by now they'd probably chumps after everyone's recent excursion. In the meantime, however, he already had someone's armor to check over, having left his employees to manage things, so he's got his nose buried in Sephiroth's armor

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"More or less... But this is going to really help me out once I get the technique down right, I can make shorter and longer ones too." he says, still obviously excited.

"But yeah, let me get you something for now." he says as he goes off and takes up a long dagger, it's a bit curved, something a bit more fantastic and foreign to both European and Asian blades.

"Hopefully this'll hold you over for now. But come see me in a few days, I'll have a few test blades for you to try out."

Test blades?

((And if you don't mind a time skip, we can also handle getting ye sakabatou here too!))

There was a slight feeling of distaste as he took the dagger from the smith. He had used short swords when he carried a proper set of weapons - of course he was samurai even if he hadn't been born one - but the idea of just a dagger really scraped against his swordsman's soul. It was just wrong, even as his fingers adjusted their grip as if born to hold it or similar weapons. He looked over at Koneko, and the moogle giggled, giving his bangs a slight tug.

"Oh, stop that frowning," she said and patted his cheek again.

Kenshin huffed, though it was probably more of a muted snort, before nodding and looking back at MarKus, eyebrows raised at the idea of a test blade.

"Are you sure of a few days?" Because even the best smiths he knew could not make a regular katana within a span of a few days unless they already had one in the making.

He nods in total confidence. "Yup. Days. Firstly, I have a good set of extra hands here. And second... well... I'm sort of GOD at making weapons. Even the shops around here are mindblown at how fast I can fill orders. Probably comes from the years I spent having to repair giant machines in days time to get the mback in fighting condition."

But he waves his hand dismissively, as that's probably not a tale Kenshin cares to hear; about the future nearly 3000+ years ahead of his.

"Anyway, that's just to get the weight and shape right of a good one. Once we find the right balance, I'll get to real work on YOUR sword. Sakabatou, right?"

He just blinked at what MarKus was saying, not even sure if he was hearing and if he was, not really sure how to picture it in his mind. He had seen a walking machine - a Magictek Armor - but that still didn't really set right in his head. It took him a moment or two to think about it, looking down at the pieces of his sword even as he fingered the long dagger in his hand.

Kenshin wasn't going to hurt people, but he needed the edge to his sword. He needed a weapon to fight but it cannot ever be a sword like what others carry. This guy seemed to think he can make a new one in days. Just purifying the steel from raw iron dust took time, but maybe there was a way in this kind of shop for the proper method. Maybe it was worth it?

"Yes, a sakabatou."

[ time skip is okay :3 ]

Or perhaps MarKus was some sort of golden god with a hammer and a slab of steel! There had been new developments since Kenshin's time, as well as some job-granted manner of simply... understanding how it was supposed to work.

--- Days later ---

MarKus sends out a letter to be given to Kenshin, to call him over to the forge for a few testings. What MarKus has for him are about 3 plain-ass katana, no Sakabatou yet, but he's calling in the expect to check quality of the blades, of which are all almost perfect when compared to the broken blade left behind. Almost because one of which has the blade taking too much of the metal, and the others having slightly different curves.

"What's up my man! I got a few experiments for ya."

Kenshin blinked at the words and automatically glanced up before giving his head a shake. It was probably a greeting from whatever world MarKus can from, even if it sounded strange to him. He nodded in return and looked down at the swords laid out on the work bench. They were no sakabatou, but they did bear some semblance of katana.

He tested them first by holding onto the hilt and feeling the balance of the blades before moving through some quick kata before putting each one back. after that, he looked down at them, running the tips of his fingers along the cutting edge before pulling away and thinking it over.

"There are some qualities that are almost right to these blades," he said, looking up at MarKus. "A lot more which is wrong. The first blade is too heavy. Katana are light and they bend; that one would not bend and will snap when hitting bone, that it would. It might work for a one time weapon or if you wish to disable a person, but not for more than one use. Second one, the curve is too much. One has heard that a katana gains its curve through the amount of heat and cooling it has, not from force. Too much of a curve and it will also snap; it is a weak spot, one easily can target that spot and force the blade to break. Third one, the curve is against the air. One needs the curve to cut cleaning through air, not against. Against slows the speed down, makes the blows hit for less, and while I am not willing to kill, I also do not wish to give any chance to misjudging a blow. That would be too dangerous for all."

"Hmm, okay okay." MarKus appears incredibly thoughtful about the situation, looking the blades over as he's explained their flaws. "Here, let's do this then. It'll ruin it, but in the end it's for the best."

Of course, reheating a treated and ready blade is stupid; it'll ruin it's integrity all over, but, it's now becoming an example! After reheating, MarKus starts hammering it, curving the blade more and more over an anvil. "It might take some work, but let me know when I've got it right, or really close." he says, giving Kenshin an active role in making his sword.

"As for the others..." he explains while hammering, "You can just have them, if you can put them to some sort of use. They were tests so there's no money to be made on a flawed blade."

"I do not need them."

He would probably take and break them, to release the souls inside of the swords to be remade then use them for anything less than what they had been made for. Kenshin was a firm believer of only taking what he needed, not taking stuff just because it was offered to him. Especially improper swords. He turned to watch MarKus pound away at that one sword and then shook his head a little, walking up and just reaching to stop him in mid-swing.

"A gentle curve. It does not need to be deep or wrong, only a soft curve like that on a swallow tea bowl."

"I've never *Thud* seen a *thud* tea bowl *twang* before." But that's not going to stop him from trying. MarKus stops when interrupted but is quick to get back to work.

He heats the blade again and hammers the metal, ruining it's edge of course, until he actually manages a proper curve; one that Kenshin approves of. "Okay, I think I can do this. I can't use this one but not bad right?" he boasts a bit.

He didn't have the same beliefs Kenshin did... no 'souls' were used to make a sword, except maybe his own? This isn't Dark Souls or anything like that!

Kenshin clicked his tongue, shaking his head but still maintaining an amused smiled. People from other worlds were just plain strange, especially ones that never seen what was to him a rather normal everyday item. He watched MarKus work the metal and then nodded as the shape looked better, closer to how it should be.

"It does look more like it should, that it does."

The hammering stopped finally as he held up the sword and then quickly sank it into a trough of water and oil. "There... okay. I can do this for sure. You'll have you Sakabatou in no time." he says, again, confident in his skills entirely.

The culture shock was far from surprising. Heck, surely Kenshin would be surprised by modern-day Japan, nevermind people who hadn't seen feudal Japan or the eras surrounding and spawning from it.

"I appreciate the help man!" And MarKus holds his hand out to shake Kenshin's

He was having some culture shock as it was just from his housing alone. The moogle is also strange and let's not even go into the whole deal with magic and jobs. He was still trying to get use to the idea of needing a Job to use his natural skills.

MarKus' hand was given a look before he remembered himself and took it. He still bowed a little over the handshake - it was a Western custom that he had seen but never really had much use for it, so he wasn't going to linger at all. Only one or two pumps before he let go and took a step back. Touching people in that kind of manner was weird, okay?

"You are welcome. Send word when one's sword is ready."

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GET BACK TO WORK!

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