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 Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:48 am
Well, it was certainly shaping up to be another slow, and therefore incredibly long, day of work. Hardly anyone had come in that morning - and those that did only wanted a bit of mending, or a new cheap pair of shoes that were already made, nothing that really required any time or effort.. And to top if off, ever since he came back from (a rather long) lunch, he'd had no customers whatsoever. None. Zip, zero. It was almost maddening, really.
Actually, no; what was maddening was the fairy wren that swooped around his head, constantly trying to steal bits of leather or string when he wasn't paying attention to the little nuisance. Shoes didn't make themselves, and someone had to do it - he only wished he didn't have Pinch constantly trying to 'help.' Except he knew, and Eve agreed, that the little creature wasn't actually trying to help. The multitude of nests made with straw, strips of leather and plenty of string (and a few buttons and small buckles) were testament to that.
With a sigh, Jacob swatted idly at the little wren who insisted on invading his workspace, and tried to focus again on the half-formed boot in his hands. This, he'd decided, would be the first half of a brand new pair for himself (because you can never have too many shoes), and why not make shoes for himself during business hours? It wasn't like he had any customers to attend to or anything, and he'd finished all his orders for custom-made shoes some time ago. Not like he'd gotten any new orders lately anyway.
Ugh. Long, boring, detestable days.
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 11:26 am
(Un)fortunately, there was a good chance that the remainder of Jacob's day would be full of activity. The door slammed open with a sound like a footfall of a giant but was, in fact, just Ilmarinen being Ilmarinen, as assisted by the howling winds.
"Balls and <********>, the wind is insane outside! Cold enough to freeze the... well, let's just say that all men in general ought to be extremely careful outside, especially if they're wearing thin pants," Ilmarinen said. That, more or less, was his version of 'hello, how are you, nice to meet you'. He brushed the snow from his shoulders with cold-numbed fingers. "It's getting to the point where sun is the irregularity here. Soon we're going to need sixty-five words for snow and none of those words ought to be, 'aw, ********, more bloody snow'..."
Perhaps realizing that he was rambling a little, the young man glanced around the shop. Well, it was the one he wanted to go into; that was always a plus, considering the thick blizzard outside. It practically hid signs. "Anyway, the names Ilmarinen. I'm pretty sure I was named when my Mum was caught in a sneeze, so go ahead and call me Ilmar. And I need a pair of shoes."
He glanced down at his feet and wriggled his toes. They peeked out from his boots, as the sole was separated from the rest of the leather. "I mean, sure I've got this pair and they technically still covers what I call the essential bits, but I'm tired of constantly checking to make sure I've still got all my toes."
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:18 pm
His head jerked up when the door slammed open, and Pinch screeched in fright before disappearing into the open workroom door beside the counter. Jacob watched him out of the corner of his eye, but the newcomer arrested his full attention the moment he opened his mouth. The more he rambled, the broader the grin that grew on Jacob's face.
When the other man finally stopped - and introduced himself finally - the cobbler offered him a polite nod. He didn't attempt to pronounce the other's full name. "Glad to meet you, Ilmar; my name's Jacob, and if you can provide the coin I can provide the shoes."
He leaned over the counter a bit to get a better glimpse of Ilmar's shoes and almost immediately grimaced. "I can't believe you went through that," he gestured at the shopfront windows, more specifically the blizzard howling just outside them, before gesturing at Ilmar's sorry excuse for footwear, "in those. I'm surprised you haven't got frostbit yet with that sorry lookin' pair. Come on in and we'll get you a new pair - I don't know if I could salvage those ones. Probably could, but I doubt it'd be worth it."
It was around then that a new face appeared through the workroom door that was left ajar, and Eve peeked her head around the doorframe to thoroughly inspect what had briefly startled her chosen.
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:27 pm
Smiles were officially Ilmarinen's favorite expression to see on someone else's face. Well, usually. There were, he'd learned, many flavors of smiles. There were the genuine bright grins (those he liked), but then there were the slightly glassy looks (those generally meant, 'I disagree but I don't want to cause a fuss by actually saying so' or 'I am desperate for the toilet, but don't dare say it out loud') and then there were the toothy smiles that were downright predatory (typically accompanied by the words 'pal' or possibly 'friend'. People who called you 'friend' or 'pal' were never friendly). But this man's? His smile looked pretty darn genuine, like he was happy to see a customer.
Scratch that; he was happy to see a paying customer. Ilmarinen decided to keep the fact that 'paying' was a bit of a difficulty, vis a vis the lack of coins and such, to himself for the time being. No reason to ruin the overall friendliness of the area.
He barked a laugh instead. "It was either these or going barefoot. Considering the choices, I decided these would be just slightly better than nothing." Anyway, his socks were knitted wool and could probably stand up on their own. Not through lack of washing, but simply because his mother had never caught onto the idea of comfortable socks.
"Sorry about scaring your bird, by the way. Poor thing," he added as he walked closer and started struggling out of his shoes. Probably ought to be scrapped, but there was probably something that could be done with the leather. Proba... at the sight of a deer in a shop, he froze on one leg, staring at the dark deer. Another Guardian! Well, this was his lucky week, wasn't it? "Hello... err... miss?" he hazarded.
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:51 pm
"Yeah, I suppose broken and battered shoes are better than none at all, especially in this kind of weather. I'd probably say different if it were warm and sunny though." Going barefoot in good weather wasn't a bad thing, usually. You could at least easily get away with it, as he supposed in good weather you didn't need footwear. He'd just grown far too accustomed to making and wearing amazing shoes that to walk around without just seemed odd.
At mention of the bird, Jacob snorted as he pushed his materials off the counter with one hand, and into an open drawer directly below. "Scare him all you like - Pinch is an absolute nuisance on a good day. Sounds like an angel, though, whenever he condescends to sing."
Eve had been watching her chosen as he conversed with the other man, but at Ilmar's sudden greeting, she turned her head to look back at him. She blinked her large eyes once before she moved fully into the room to could get a better look at this newcomer. The doe stretched her neck across the counter, her ears swiveled forward as she leaned her head closer to thoroughly inspect him by sight and smell - even if he wasn't very close to the counter, it was better than nothing.
"Her," Jacob confirmed with a broad grin as he patted the doe's neck affectionately. "Her name's Eve. Very friendly too, don't worry." That was always something he added to her name, in all likelihood because some customers were worried about having a deer in a shop. Oddly enough, that hadn't happened lately..
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 1:39 pm
Ilmarinen briefly considered just what would happen to his feet if he tried to go barefoot in nice weather. His mind quickly rebelled at the thought of the stinking muck that quickly covered the typical Palisade street (or at least the typical ones he saw).
For once, the bard tried to be a bit more tactful. "Weeelll, let me put it this way: running through the forest barefoot certainly has a certain romantic appeal to it. The sheer freedom of movement and delight in life all around, that style of thing. But all of that tends to wear out around the first time you step on a hedgehog. Or suffer a sudden attack of thistles." Boldened by the fact that the shoemaker wasn't annoyed at him for scaring the bird and by the interest the dark doe showed, Ilmarinen approached the counter.
How were you supposed to greet a Guardian? 'Who'zagoodgirlden?' was clearly out of the picture, as were many other nonsense phrases. In the end, the bard just stuck out a hand, palm up. For sniffing purposes or something. Dogs worked like that; he knew of no reason why deer would be any different, besides the fact that they weren't dogs at all.
"Funny. I've been seeing more Guardians. Before this week, I'd never seen one up close but now I've seen two in one," he commented before glancing around at the various tools of the shoemaking craft. "See, I just need a plain pair of boots. Size of... of..." he trailed off, suddenly acutely aware that he didn't know his shoe size.
"Size of these shoes, I guess," he finished lamely.
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 2:08 pm
Jacob shrugged off Ilmarinen's hesitance on being barefoot outside. "I know what you mean - I never go barefoot if I can help it. And I usually can," he chuckled. "Spoiled myself, I think." Once his various tools for making that particular shoe were put away, he pulled open another drawer and withdrew from it a long, flat bit of wood with various notches, as well as some paper.
He was momentarily distracted from this task as Ilmar went on, and looked up at the other man. "What's all this about Guardians, then?" Said the clearly oblivious man who probably didn't follow the Old Ways nearly as much as most people. "I started hearing people talking about them recently. Never heard talk of them before," he grumbled with a furrowed brow as he dug around in the drawer again for a pencil. "All that's just legends and stories, isn't it?" When he finished his sentence, he found himself looking not at Ilmar, but at Eve, who just returned his questioning gaze with her steady one.
After the quasi-staring contest, she turned to briefly inspect Ilmar's hand before bypassing it altogether to sniff at and ruffle her nose through his hair. Her inspection lasted for only a few moments before she retracted her head and instead studied him with her large, gold eyes.
"Either way," Jacob continued, looking as if he wasn't sure of about his deer anymore, "it'll be a lot easier to just measure your feet. I'll see if I have any boots in your size, and if not I'll make you a pair."
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 4:26 pm
Up to this point, Ilmarinen had been doing a pretty good job of keeping track of the conversation. It wasn't horribly difficult, even for someone like him, who had all the social skills that were generally reserved for specific species of mosses. He was doing so very well, right up to the point where the shoemaker got a puzzled look on his face and repeated the word 'Guardians' as though tasting it.
"...sorry, did I just enter some sort of alternate dimension where deer are typically black and much larger than normal?" Ilmarinen asked, glancing back at the hind once more. She certainly seemed solid enough. He could feel her warm breath whuffling through his hair, like an affectionate dog nuzzling a person who might be hiding foodstuffs in his hair for some reason. And, unless he and the cobbler were having the exact same hallucination, it was fair to assume she was there...
Ilmarinen tilted his head to one side, now convinced that this was absolutely happening. "Sure. Of course they're stories and legends. Why would that mean that they're not true? Stories and legends are just the way people pass down information. Things that wouldn't be believed unless they were cloaked in mythics. She seems real enough to me." But this probably wasn't the time to debate or give a lecture on storytelling.
This bit of logic absolutely failed to stop Ilmarinen. He scratched one cheek idly before he slipped his boots off completely and nudged them to one side. "It's my line of business, see? It's like when you were a little kid; you don't remember everything you did but, if you ask around enough, someone will remember what you've done. A parent, sibling, an old friend... my point is, people don't remember well. But the society does. And it remembers through stories and song."
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