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 Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:11 pm
Fae smiled at Rahujo, admiring her wisdom. "Alright, but if you ever need something, just send me a note."
Pueblo's ears twitched as Rahujo's large hand was placed over her back, but her attention was set more directly on something else. She stared off to the entry way of the forge and soon saw Foenix. "Peep!" She cried out to Fae, then swished her tail tiredly from the apprase of the adult. Pueblo liked Rahujo. ^^
Fae's head snapped as Foenix cried out, quite shocked. "Foenix! How great to see you!" She grinned. "You're late," she pointed out and stuck her tongue out. "But that's okay. How was your...eh...trip?" She had no idea where Foenix had gone too. "Everyone's back at my place. I just had to stop at Rahujo's for a moment to discuss something with her. We're done now, though, so why don't we head back to my place."
Fae turned around and bowed a little to Rahujo. "Just drop by whenever you're ready. Thank you so much!"
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:16 pm
Foenix smiled and fought to contain her excitement. "I know, but there was all this mess with contracts and stuff . . ." She brushed off the past few days and gestured back toward Fae's house. "Shall we go?"
she flushed a bit and shrugged apologetically toward Rahujo. "I'm sorry. I hate to drag Fae off, but I really miss my little girls!"
she was already starting to walk backward down the path.
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:21 pm
Fae grinned, opening her mouth to laugh at Foenix's excitment, but nothing came out. It seemed she was being forced to leave. "See you around, Rahujo!" Hint hint. Fae quickly waved and chased after Foenix, heading back to Fae's house.
Pueblo stood up, tiredly. That was her que, she guessed. Looking up at Rahujo, she didn't want to leave. Her ears drooped and she pawed at Rah's hand before she quickly ran after her guardian.
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 5:09 pm
Rahujo wanders out to find Alyosha to talk about materials and stoves, and ends up in the midst of a drinking contest... RP here
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2005 3:31 pm
As she approached she shifted the boxes from one arm to another for better balance and sighed under the heat. It was a lot hotter when she was getting lost looking for a bloody forge... next time she'd perhaps get the woman's address before swinging by to drop off a gift. Looking around she saw what looked like an old stump near the Forge where hopefully the box wouldn't be melted by the heat. Carefully picking up a nearby rock and putting it on top of the box, she assured herself no small chipmunk could crawl into the box, nor would it blow away. She just hopped that bison-bird-woman would see it. Inside the box was a cake dripping with chocolate: 
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:20 pm
Backdated, 'cos I was being lazy ^^;;
Rahujo had woken up early in the morning after her drinking adventure, on the floor at Ieyasu's house with Sy screaming and a random gryphon honking and a head that felt like it was being slowly crushed.
She'd eventually managed to make it home, shakily climbed up the ladder and collapsed face-first onto her sleeping mat.
--
Rahujo opened her eyes and groaned. The bright sun streaming in her window hurt her eyes, and although her head hurt somewhat less now, she was hellishly thirsty.
She lay there for several minutes before she noticed the fact that the sun was coming in the *west* window, hence why it was shining directly into her eyes rather than pleasantly illuminating the room as normal in the morning.
She groaned. It must be evening already, the sun beginning to lower in the sky. She pushed herself off the mat and shuffled over to the ladder, gingerly lowering herself down it.
Whatever the hell that stuff was, I am not drinking that again...
Shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight, she wandered outdoors and slid the lid off her water butt. A gulped ladle-ful of water cured her thirst, half of it missing her mouth and cascading down her fur. She scooped another ladle-ful and tossed it into her face.
"Hooii...phh!" She let out an involuntary sharp breath as the cold water hit her, then shook her head and blew out her cheeks, water droplets flying everywhere. Another scoop, over her hair, which had turned into something rather like the nest of a very large, very messy bird.
Thus refreshed, she headed back inside to grab her toolbelt.
Well, I suppose I could maybe get some light work done before the sun goes down... perhaps I'll... um, where's my toolbelt?
Rahujo blinked. She was very finicky about where she placed her belongings: her toolbelt, hung with tools and the sledgehammer to which she was spiritually bonded, always sat on the small bench near the door. Her knapsack of random accessories, chewing leaf, and works-in-progress sat next to it, on top of a barrel. Neither were there.
She scritched her head, calloused fingers raking through thick still-damp hair, and tried to remember the events of the day previous. She'd gone out to see Alyosha about Fae's fireplace... so she'd have had her bundle at least, if not her toolbelt - and she almost always wore her tools out of habit anyway.
So... she'd gotten sidetracked and ended up on Ieyasu's porch all evening. Then woken up this morning without her stuff. Her memory of the night was patchy after the first few drinks - how much had she had, anyway? - but as far as she remembered she hadn't gone anywhere but Ieyasu's... so her tools must still be at his.
A couple of other memories of the night surfaced, and she winced.
She shook her head in annoyance at herself, and set off in the direction of the village.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 9:15 am
2005-03-21
Rahujo strode out of her gate into the main village, and stopped for a moment.
Wait ... where exactly was I last night? She scratched her head. Her memories of the night were slightly fuzzy. After a little thought, she remembered the reason she'd ended up at Ieyasu's: it was on her path from the forge to the centre.
She started walking, and although most of the village's houses were rather similar - simple two-storey wooden constructions with thatched roofs - she recognised the bamboo windchimes and ornaments on Ieyasu's porch.
Wondering if anyone was home - and if she'd done anything potentially embarrassing last night - she stopped near the front of his house.
The front foor of Ieyasu's home was slightly ajar, as was usually the case during the warmth of the day. Neither he or his gryphon charge were outside, however. The porch had been tidied since the impromptu party, with nothing there except the windchimes and garden ornaments.
The bamboo deer chaser 'thunked', spilling its water down into the shallow bowl. Ieyasu was indeed inside the house, but he had no idea that there was anyone outside. He had been busy making a few snacks for himself and Osu, with a little fish and some rice.
It was a little difficult, though, when Osu was too impatient to wait for them to be finished. At first nosing around, he sat back eventually with a rather loud, indignant trumpet. Ieyasu glanced at the impatient Aerandir before grinning.
"Not much longer. Then you can have one."
A muffled call came from inside the house, through a small gap in the doorway. Looked like someone was in, then. She stepped up onto the low wooden porch and knocked gently on the door.
"Hello? It's Rahujo - I think I may have left some things here when I left yesterday..."
Ieyasu stood up from his spot next to the cooking pit on hearing Rahujo. Turning, he headed for the door, pulling it open. As he saw the Aerandir, he grinned at her. As usual, he was dressed simply in loose cargo pants and an open, light shirt.
"Hey Rahujo. What did you leave? I found more than a few things that were left behind."
Meanwhile, Osusuki had remained behind in the kitchen. With the onigiri. With a quiet, almost inaudible chirp, he tilted his head, staring at the rice balls. Standing up, he stepped forward carefully and quietly, craning his long neck forwards. They were there, he was there and there was nobody to stop him.
He then poked at one of the wedges, before pulling it off of a plate, scattering little clumps of rice. Lying down on the kitchen floor, he nudged the onigiri between his front paws before beginning to (very messily) peck away at it with his long beak.
Rahujo smiled a little as Ieyasu came to the door. "Good morning... uh ... evening." She winced slightly, inwardly. Waking up in the evening was a truly odd experience to the normally early-rising blacksmith.
"Thank you for your hospitality last night. I believe I left without my toolbelt, and I think I also left a small cloth bundle of tools, plans, and assorted things."
Nodding his head, Ieyasu drew back from the door, opening it a little wider. "Come in. I remember seeing those - I'll just go get them for you."
Turning, the youth headed for the alcove where the runged ladder was. He'd stored the various leftovers underneath it, in case the owners came back to claim them. Crouching down, he searched through the clothes, before finding a little cloth wrapped, heavy bundle and a toolbelt. With a soft grunt, he hefted up the rather heavy belongings, before heading back over to Rahujo.
Rahujo nodded, and smiled at Ieyasu. "Those are the ones. Thank you again."
She took the belt and cloth bag, and slung the former around her waist, fastening the hefty brass buckle at its side. "I felt somewhat... lost, without my tools to hand. Especially this one."
She tapped the head of a large hammer that hung at her hip, its shaft over three feet long. The head looked like dark, hard stone, the sides streaked with rust marks but the face polished to a sharp gleam.
"This is the hammer with which I was born," she said softly, lightly lifting the hammer out of its loop and turning it in her fingers as if it weighed almost nothing. "From what I was told, Alyosha found the stone head on a dig. He got one of the team to put a rough handle on it. I remember Mhairi saying that the hammer was one of the first objects I was really interested in, as a gryphon."
She looked down at the polished stone. "I have always had it near me since I was a child. It feels ... odd, to be without it. Disconcerting."
Rahujo looked up, her reverie ended. "Anyway, if you ever need something made, drop by the forge. I can usually be found there."
She gave a quick grin. "I will probably see you around, regardless." She turned and stepped off the porch, half-turning and waving when she was several yards away. "Goodbye."
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2005 10:21 am
Rahujo studied the plans intently, the rough paper spread out on the ground in front of the stump on which she sat. This would be an interesting project...
Alyosha had dropped by last night, handing her a small packet of paper with a grin and the words "Hey Rahujo, I know you were looking for a job to do..."
Her hands twitched slightly, a faraway look in her eyes as she ran through the process of creation in her head. After about half an hour's pondering, she stood up abruptly, plans in hand and a smile on her face, and headed into the dark coolness of the forge.
This kind of thing was always her favourite type of work, she thought, crossing to the series of shelves which held most of her metal billets. The creation of a tool for a fellow Aerandir, a solid implement which would be in their hand daily for years to come, then would come back to her when it broke or dulled to be re-forged into something new and different but still containing the essence of the original...
She pulled a long block of bronze from the shelf, weighed it in her hand with eyes closed, replaced it and pulled another.
Regardless of whether her tool was to be used to bond an Aerandir's spirit, or simply as a normal implement, she always went about creation the same way. She would lay a hand on the metal and feel its energy, sense the best way to make it flow to her will with the aid of the hearth and the hammer. Then she would lead the metal to its final form.
No meditation under a waterfall was involved, no praying to the gods of the smith and the forge, just an instinctive knowledge of metal (perhaps with a little short-range telepathy for good measure) and a deft touch.
An hour later, Rahujo had everything she needed ranged on the workbench in front of her: an ingot of bronze, a small lump of copper, a block of blackwood gathered from a lightningstruck tree on the plains of Ar'Idil, and another of shedua from Cetalu's forest area.
The hearth was crackling, the forge lit by its orange heat. Time to start...
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2005 4:37 pm
Heat, quench, anneal, heat, draw out, shape, heat, reshape, heat, quench, draw out, heat...
The forge echoed to the sound of hammer blows, the whoosh and crackle of the bellows feeding air to the greedy fire, the hiss of red-hot metal quenching in the trough. The air was hot and smelled of burning wood and hot metal.
The chunk of bronze that Rahujo had started out with had been split into two parts, one large and one small. She'd set the small one aside for the time being, and was currently engaged in flattening and drawing out the larger piece.
Hammer, fuller, anvil, trough...
Clad in a long leather apron to protect her coarse fur from the flames and sparks of the smithing, Rahujo swung her hammer, curving the metal around a bronze cylinder clamped to the end of the anvil.
She lifted the tongs, bringing the workpiece to eye-level, and inspected it critically. Thrust it back into the fire for a re-heat, keeping a close eye on the metal's colour. When it reached a dull cherry glow, she pulled it out and set it back on the cylinder with a clang, and resumed hammering.
Heat...
Once it was curved to her satisfaction, Rahujo placed the thick C of metal onto the cool granite of the anvil. Slipped her hammer back into her toolbelt and selected a different one - a heavy, long head with a small face. With each patient stroke, the metal flattened and stretched, the points of the C tapering and growing longer.
She flipped the work over and began hammering the opposite side, taking care not to twist the metal out of alignment.
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Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 5:51 pm
Foenix looked behind her to check that Nehanda was keeping up with her. Sure enough, the little gryphon was several feet behind, snuffling in the brush lining the path. No doubt she had found yet another interesting plant.
"Nehanda, come on sweetie. You can look at it on our way back, but I really want to talk to Rahujo, okay? I'd like a full stove to cook on again."
Nehanda snaked her long white neck around and merped, then took to the air in order to more quickly reach her guardian. This time, she perched on foenix's shoulder. Foenix lifted a hand to stabilize the gryphon as she landed. To be honest, those toed hooves weren't the best "landing gear" when it came to roosting on a body part.
As they drew closer, Foenix smiled. The clang of a hammer upon metal was plain to hear, indicating that the Aerandir was indeed at home. They walked past one final turn of the path, and foenix waved to Rahujo.
"Afternoon! How are you, Rahujo? I've got a bit of a favor to ask of you."
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Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:26 pm
Rahujo hammered through a haze of steam and charcoal smoke, the sound of the hammer blows ringing out through the forge and drifting over the small village. She didn't notice Foenix for a little while, her call masked by a hammer blow, but eventually she realised, looked up and grinned.
"Good evening, Foenix," she said, slipping her hammer into an empty loop on her toolbelt, and put her tongs down on the anvil, wiping the sweat from her brow with one large hand. "What brings you here today?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:33 am
((Gah. I'm sorry it's taken me so long-!))
Foenix smiled at the tall, muscluar Aerandir. "I don't know if you heard about the little fire we had over at my place, but the right side of my stove is totalled. Do you think you could take a look at it? I could always get it replaced, but I'd prefer to simply have the old one fixed."
At her shoulder, Nehanda merped in greeting and stretched her long neck out, hoping for a caress from Rahujo. She hadn't spent a lot of time with her, but she liked the calming presence of the Smith.
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Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 12:05 am
(( I apologise myself ^^; I'm running on not too much sleep at the moment - got in yesterday and collapsed into bed... ))
"I hadn't heard, no." Rahujo looked concerned. "What happened? Was anyone hurt?"
After a pause for thought, she continued: "How bad is the damage to the stove? I have little experience with metal stoves, unfortunately. However, I am fairly adept at repairs, and Alyosha has a stove I could use for reference if necessary. It would really depend on the amount of work needed, of course."
She smiled at Nehanda, raising her arm and stroking the little gryph's soft-feathered head with a single calloused finger.
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Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2005 6:59 pm
((And again, I'm so sorry. Was at an all-day competition, after getting up at 4:30.))
Foenix shook her head and waved a head at Rahujo's concern. "The wall was scorched, and the stove top messed up, and Kylara, my oldest, burnt her paws a bit. But there weren't any serious injuries."
She paused and rolled her tongue around ehr mouth, thinking about the stove. "i don't think there's anything too serious or major that will need repairs. The two right burners are crispy, and won't work. Other then that, the damage is primarily cosmetic."
Beneath Rahujo's hand, Nehanda closed her eyes happily. How was it that other Aerandir instinctively knew the perfect way to pet or scratch? Mmmmm, yay. Scritching. Her usual merp was low and happy as it emerged brom her bill.
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Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:09 pm
Rahujo nodded. "Good to hear." She thought for a second. "I'm not sure whether I could repair the damage. From what I remember of the gas stove in the Centre, the burners were cast in iron, which I have trouble working with. My ..." she paused for a second, trying to think how to describe it. "My way of feeling metal, of being able to tell its structure and properties ... is less effective on iron. You might have more luck asking Alyosha to arrange for replacement burners to be shipped."
After a little reflection, and a grin at Nehanda, she added: "I might have more luck with the cosmetic damage, however. I believe there is some painting equipment in the Centre - in fact, coming to think of it, there should be some stove paint and tools as well. Alyosha bought his stove second-hand - actually, it was probably sixth or seventh hand - and it had been unused for quite a while, so he had to restore it before installing it.
"When would be a good time to come around?"
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