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Well fancy that. There was Ruuvan with nothing to do, and there was Dante with a job that needed doing. However could such a situation be resolved?
"Well then, if it is in both our interests, I'll go and fetch some of this stone for you." He was always up for a job of such description; the more danger associated the better, "A piece for myself and perhaps a lining of it in my sheath for payment?"
Perhaps the last part was asking too much, but Dante would know that - if his request was too much, of course - Ruu would make up the difference out of his own pocket. After all, a sheath that sharpened your weapon was very handy.

Just as carefully and quickly as he drew it, Ruu had the blade in hand and slid it onto his back. He had his bow, since the sword would not be sharp enough for defense, and a projectile weapon-come-quarterstaff was just as good in a fight.

Ruuvan had no doubt that this would be hard, that was why he suggested it after all, but the warning Dante gave still didn't hurt. It was always better to go in prepared, otherwise death could be around any corner in those kind of place. He took a moment to examine the stone, not requiring touch as he could guess the outcome, and affirmed it in his mind for recollection later.

All the way to the Mithral Mountains, then hours trudging around in the dank caves looking for either used stones or amongst the ore. Hopefully he wouldn't need to actually mine it from the walls - though that would be an easy enough task - and it would simply be sitting in piles of ore. It was nice to have hope.

The comment of light made him smile; magic was as good as technology, and he could light his way easily enough, but being an Elf he could see in the dark. Maximos' floating home was pitch dark inside, he could see it as if it were a bright day.
"Give me directions and I'd be more than happy to oblige, Dante."
Finally, something exciting.

Ruuvan made a mental list as Dante spoke, securing all the information that was necessary; the directions, what he required, and the payment to be received. It all sounded simple enough, if one disregarded the earlier warnings, but things never went as smoothly as you thought. If it ever happened once in your life, consider yourself lucky.

With a nod once Dante was done, Ruuvan took a few steps back towards the door.
"Well I can't put say how long it will take me, but the next time you see me I'll have a bag of stones for you." Said as a statement of fact.
And with that, since the business was concluded, Ruuvan pulled the door open and slid back out into daylight.

How much could he carry? It had been a long time since he actually tested his strength, like trying weights and all that business, since spars hardly gave you a measurement to go by. He would play it by ear, or by pain in this case. Once he found the mine, a few journeys back and forth to get a few more bags of stones, maybe. Pay a local trader to deliver them? Thoughts for another time.

Ruuvan took off towards the mountains.

Ah, a brief hold on his departure for... supplies? It took a moment to Dante to find whatever it was, but soon Ruuvan was looking down at five expertly crafted arrows. Aside from the magical ones in his quiver, Ruu doubted he could've made a finer arrow.
"A wonderful surprise, Dante. Thank you." Ruuvan smiled and took the five arrows carefully in his hand.
His own quiver was no place for these, too much conflicting business going on in there, so he slid them carefully in slots around the sword sheath; a small addition for the archer in the field, you never knew when you could use more arrows.
"They'll get me farther than you'd think." And with another smile he was out of the door.
It had been a while since he had hiked a mountain; good exercise and all that.

To be honest Dante was getting surprisingly little work done on his contract. First the interruption by Fae had emotionally thrashed him, and the second interruption by Ruuvan had left him more than a tad confused and weary. He wondered earnestly what it was like out in the wilds these days, though he had just returned from a rather harsh outing in the Barthavos foothills he had almost specifically avoided the northern parts of Gaia. ‘It’s the cold’ he told himself as he cleaned up the counter and popped into the storage room to finally take a bite of his sandwich. And though the stale bread and now less than cool meat had sated his hunger, his wanderlust still tugged at him slightly.

His sandwich now little more than crumbs on the inventory he began to organize some of the items he had disturbed while looking for Ruuvan’s arrows, but before he could finish his task he once again was disturbed by the shops front door.

He was beginning to hate that bell, and though perhaps it was the cost of doing business this had been a much more active first day than he ever imagined. Walking out into the front room he closed the storage room door behind him and walked to the front counter to see no one standing there. That was odd usually when people entered they went right to the front counter. Now however Dante was met by a customer who seemed to just be browsing some of the mundane weapons he’d made in the last few years.

At first he wondered if he should address him at all. His clothes were worn and dirty, and he was obviously a vagabond of some type, but Dante could tell a traveler when he saw one and figured the man was merely on the road between towns.

“Can I help you sir?” Dante asked politely but somewhat bluntly, though not approaching the man directly Dante knew better than to approach someone unknown who seemed to not be carrying any weapons. So he stayed behind the relative safety of the heavy wood counter and sought the strangers attention.

“Well lets just see what you’ve got here…” Dante said his voice trailing off as he picked up the crinkled piece of paper off the counter and began reading it to himself. Though the more Dante read the more his jaw seemed to hang loosely, he could not believe what he was reading, more so he could not believe what this man had just found. Dante lowered the piece of paper, as his face grew stern as he looked at the man in front of him.

“Do you know what you have here? Do you have any ******** idea?”

The words were stern and matter-of-factly as Dante stood there without saying a word for just long enough for a short silence to sneak in between the two strangers. Though he was sure Reyin would attempt to answer he was never going to give him a chance. The stern eyes and set jaw began to soften as Dante’s smile grew his eyes closed and he jumped around a bit behind the counter excitedly, an odd sight for anyone who knew Dante… and an even odder one for a stranger to behold.

“THIS!” Dante exclaimed and turned it around so Reyin could see the coupon. “Is a coupon I issued randomly to someone I met in town several years ago when I entered a partnership with the former owner of this location! This is astounding to find it now after all these years…”

Obviously the smith was smitten with the history this piece of paper had brought him, and despite all the interruptions of the day this had indeed made Dante’s day.

“But that’s not why you came here is it?! No you came for a weapon! So tell my young man what can I make for you.”

Dante again wouldn’t let the man speak, it felt as if his mind was going a mile a minute and he was already onto a new topic.

“Wait- hold that thought, we need to get you cleaned up first, cant have my clients looking like that. Quickly follow me we’ll give you some time to freshen up then we’ll talk business. I’ve got many questions and measurements to take depending on what you have in mind... so quickly, quickly, follow me!”

Dante flung the door to the supply closet open and disappeared into the darkness.

"Mind your head!"
Dante warned of the closet door, and just like that Dante had become the white rabbit and was leading Reyin down the rabbit hole…

“You’ll have to work on that awareness if you’re going to be a fighter…”

Dante said as he waited for the man to enter the closet then closed the supply closet door behind him, before opening the door to the workshop. It was obvious that the workshop door wouldn’t have room to open of the other door was still open. Whether this was a security measure or am design flaw was hard to tell but Dante wasted no time in explaining it as he continued out of the closet at a whirlwind pace, through a cluttered workshop the massive steel armature filling a whole corner of the room, through the metal dividing wall that separated the forge from the workshop and finally to the stairs while he waited for Reyin to catch up.

In the forge proper the sound was almost deafening the roar of three fan-stoked forges filled the air with heat and wind as trip hammers pounded away in another corner grinding up ore for use in making alloys. When Reyin was close Dante tried to say something to him over the cacophony but it was lost to the noise around them, though this was probably bad as the doorway to the stairwell was another low doorway.

Up the stairs they went, Dante though smaller and not very muscular seemed to be filled with the endurance of a rabbit in heat as he had moved so quickly that he barely seemed able to stand still. Once upstairs it was like another world, the sound of the forge was almost gone and the aire of the upstairs was clean and relaxed. As they reached tot he top of the stairs Dante pointed to an open door leading to a small dorm like room, though the only thing visible as was small single bed with a brown blanket over it.

“To your right…” Dante's his voice now easily understood compared to the past. “…Is room with a shower and sink, sorry no tub, but it should do for getting yourself cleaned up.”

Dante walked past the open dorm room door and pointed to a similar door just at the end of the hall before the hallway opened up into the commons and kitchen area.

“Here is the laundry room, if you’ve got some clothes that need to be cleaned Id put them in there to wash first then go take your shower, with any luck you’ll get cleaned up and you and your clothes will be ready to go at the same time… I’ll be downstairs tidying up and getting my tools ready while your freshening up.

If all goes well it should be very efficient…

Yes, Efficient.”

Dante took a deep breath trying to calm his self, but this was all so exciting. It had been so long since such an auspicious connection would be made. Of course he was coming off as sort of a loon, but who’s to say Dante wasn’t just a tad crazy… A little insanity every now and then was a healthy thing.

"If you need anything, just yell, and I'll try and get you what I can, though I'm sorry to say..." He looked the larger man up and down. "None of my clothes would fit you..."

Reyins fears were unfounded though, As Dante was already half way down the stairs by the time Reyin had even given his thanks for the facilities, Dante was starting to calm down bit by bit but it was a whole lot of energy surging through him that even stopping to take a nice slow breath took some effort. The raging emotions in his body just seemed to fluctuate endlessly as the day had gone by. But now there he was with actual work to do… Though work in its own right was invigorating the initial part was more than slightly calming. Measurements rarely inspired the kind of emotional response reconnecting with ones own past.

Dante grabbed a few lengths of measured cord, and a T-square, some chalk and a two-inch wide plank of metal to make a template and mark out measurements. All very mundane items really, but the right tool was usually just that, the right tool.

‘Okay deep breath… tools assembled, client cleaning himself up, all is good’

Everything set Dante, began to arrange the tools in order he would need them, but even that did not fill all the time, He knew the man needed a chance to refresh himself, but for someone so jittery it felt like forever. To assuage his hyperactivity for the moment he closed his eyes and took several long breaths.

Some cultures would call this meditation, others searching ones self, Dante just called it a nap, and he wasted no time to relax when he had a chance, taking his hat he tipped it forward over his eyes to block out the light streaking into the workshop. Who knew perhaps Dante would find something deeper about himself in his dreams.

Doubtful though…