Axe 02 - Video- Open to Both

[gloinul]

[He really doesn't like using this thing for anything more than responding to others but. Well.

Gimli starts the feed up and he has three of his five axes out in front of him, sharpening a fourth.]

Thought I might as well let the world at large know that if you are at all interesting in helping to rebuild the gates of the Cothromach, I'm the Dwarf you should speak to. I'm fairly certain anyone interested is already here, but. [And he shrugs] I hope you have people to vouch for you if you're interested. I do not tolerate slackers or liars on my jobs, nor do I tolerate saboteurs.

[Well, that explains the show of axes.

And he is done with this very painful task. The feed just cuts out]

Comments

[steeledskin]

[ a mild shake of her head -- as if she might dare refute the nobility claimed of her soul. but instead, she offers another meek protest: ] Westeros is pulled apart by war. A war my family has -- some would say -- already lost. Perhaps I was craven in coming here.

[gloinul]

Or perhaps you were able to see a larger picture. If what these rulers say is true and the loser's side of the war will see their worlds destroyed, you may in fact be saving your home.

[steeledskin]

[ perhaps it is not worth saving.

though, in reality, sansa has long been considering the virtues of a stalemate -- a bloody war here, but the continued existence of so many lands. sansa bites her bottom lip, however, and plays the innocent: ] Does the threat make any sense to you, Master Gimli? You yourself said you know a married couple split by this war. How, then, will the losing side also lose all its worlds when those worlds are shared across courts?

[gloinul]

I did say "if they speak true", didn't I? Personally, I do not think they thought this through and we will find that for the most part very little will change for our homes. But there is a chance that they know exactly what they are doing. A slim chance, but a chance. Either way, I do not think you craven.

[steeledskin]

[ her smile is rueful. small -- sad -- and it spoke leagues of her disbelief. disbelief in herself, if not in gimli's words. ]

You are kind to say so. Surely. But many have called me so beneath their breaths ever since this city's gates were threatened -- I am certain of it.

[gloinul]

Tch, you are a young woman in a strange world in the middle of a war. If they insulted you during the attack then their brains are in their boots and they are not to be listened to.

[steeledskin]

[ a young woman in a strange world in the middle of a war who turned down the one offer that would have spared them this violence, if morla is to be believed.

and yet, who would believe her? sansa nods. ] Would that I had a city full of you, kind master. Or else a hundred thousand who merely shared your opinion.

[gloinul]

[Do we really trust the necromancer Queen?

He smiles a bit]

I am sure there are more who agree with me than you think, my Lady.

[steeledskin]

[ her smile is indulgent. this dwarf, she decides, might be broadly spoken but he still speaks as sweetly as any good courtier. respect and propriety are always soothing -- and she finds herself with a little more lateral freedom in a conversation where these virtues reign chief.

she glances sideways and angled down at him. ] Have you given any thought, yet, to where you might try and settle in these lands?

[ once these gates are done! she would love to see such a good soul in the cothromach. ]

[gloinul]

I have not. My cousins and I have not discussed it and frankly, I am not sure they're particularly eager to discuss it as settling makes this...permanent. They won't want that.

[Though they don't have much of a choice if they want a life.]

[steeledskin]

-- A nomadic life upon the Drabwurld's roads is no life at all, surely. [ a beat. ] Are your cousins so handy in some trade as you are?

[ perhaps pride in their work can persuade the dwarves to consider the city. sansa is a crafty creature -- though she means well, at heart. ]

[gloinul]

Dwarves are used to such life.

[There's a hint of...resigned awareness to his tone when he says that, enough to imply that they're not used to it because they want to be.]

And they are, aye, though I should explain that my craft is in fact simply art. I make decorations and occasionally sketch designs for a Dwarf's tattoos if the need arises. Necessity, however, taught me to build gates and direct construction.

[steeledskin]

[ ah! but this only comes as sweeter news to her -- ] You are an artisan?

[ she likes the thought. ink, perhaps, means little and less to her. but decorations! fine delicate metalwork! although her jewellery is on the light side this day, she still wears her proud cloak-pin shaped like a direwolf's head. ]

What art do you make? Please, do tell me.

[gloinul]

[He laughs.]

Cloak pins, metal sculptures, settings for gemstones, metal beads, that sort of thing, much to my father's dismay. He is a banker and wanted me to either follow in his footsteps or my uncle the healer's.

[steeledskin]

Well! [ she keeps her conversation light: effervescent. ] I believe your craft -- art, as you say -- is a noble one. All good souls love beautiful things.

[gloinul]

Aye, that they do, though you are flattering me, my Lady.

[steeledskin]

It is flattery well-meant and earnestly given. I promise.

[gloinul]

Still flattery! I am not used to such pretty words!

[Well, there's Legolas but he's an Elf. Pretty words are all they're capable of.]

[steeledskin]

What a shame that is. [ her smile is small -- and only barely sly. ] You ought to have told me so before we struck our deal, Master Gimli, else I would have offered instead to pay you only in honeyed praise.

[gloinul]

Honeyed praise won't keep my axes sharp!

[But he laughs]

Might work on my cousins, though. They've always been weak for pretty faces and prettier words.

[steeledskin]

I will keep that well in mind. [ a contented pause: it's such a relief that he is easy to speak with. ] Will you tell me more about your kin? Only if you wish to.

[gloinul]

My cousins, you mean? There's not much to tell. Fili is the eldest, Kili is reckless, and they're typical brothers. I am currently twice Kili's age, thanks to the faeries taking me from eighty years after they took them, and they are still terrors.

[steeledskin]

Younger family can be a trial for anyone's patience -- [ she's barely a woman herself and yet she tries to sound so sagely when she claims this experience. after all, she has arya for a younger sister. ]

[gloinul]

Especially when they are technically your elders. It is very confusing.

[steeledskin]

-- Do not tell me they expect you to obey them because of it.

[ she tries to imagine with considerable horror what life would be like if arya was suddenly her elder. ]