(no subject)

[tragic_mask]

Arriving at the Visitor's Center, Melpomene takes a look around.

"Well, this is it. In all its touristic glory. "

Comments

[tragic_mask]

"Almost everything. Like I say, I can't pretend," she says softly, but adds less gravely, "And I still do want to go down the falls in a barrel."

[mechanicalswans]

"We could do it in my world, if you like," he says, giving her a small smile. "I feel more in control of the elements there."

[tragic_mask]

"Yes... in between the lessons, in the forge, you promised me."

[mechanicalswans]

"Is there anything in particular you're looking to learn to make?" he asks.

[tragic_mask]

"Just wanting to learn," she says. "I'm not much good with my hands-- doesn't seem that was something I needed, so I wasn't given it."

[mechanicalswans]

"We'll find something you will enjoy and be good at making," he says, nodding. "Not like when I started, and spent my time making nails. They're necessary, of course, but dull."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh..." she says, wrinkling her nose at him. "Well, that's better than making things that are extraneous and dull, I suppose."

[mechanicalswans]

"It's so much easier now that people can buy mass-produced nails," he says, "if they want to make simple repairs or hang pictures or whatever. I still make nails sometimes, but they are special then."

[tragic_mask]

"Special nails," she murmurs. "Must be for hanging special things."

[mechanicalswans]

"Among other uses," he says with a nod.

[tragic_mask]

She tilts her head.

"Well, I think I can just about handle nails, in any case."

After a pause, she adds, "Maybe."

[mechanicalswans]

"They need to be made relatively straight, and pointed at one end, and flatter at the other to give you a surface to strike," he says. "Very basic. I had to make so many of them, when I was young, for my father to build and maintain our home and outbuildings."

[tragic_mask]

His father. She looks at him, surprise mixed with pleasure.

"You've never told me about how you lived when you were young. Just... what happened after you were exiled."

[mechanicalswans]

"No?" he asks, faintly surprised. "There isn't much to tell, really. My mother died when I was young, so my father raised us. I showed talent, so he sought the best teachers for me."

[tragic_mask]

"So you weren't born with your smithing ways, then," she says. "Did your father do the same for your brothers, with healing and hunting?"

[mechanicalswans]

"He sent all of us to learn to work metal, actually," he says. "We were sent to be apprenticed to Mimir, but he had Sigurd as a pet at the time. Sigurd was a tosser."

His dislike is obvious in his tone.

[tragic_mask]

"So you've said," she says carefully. "But why?"

She feels as if she's unearthed something huge, now that he's telling her these things, and isn't sure how to wield it all.

[mechanicalswans]

"Why what?" he asks.

[tragic_mask]

"Why was he a... tosser? Unless, of course, you meant he was someone who tosses things for a living."

[mechanicalswans]

"He was a bully," he says quietly, with a shrug, "but only because Mimir would let him do whatever he liked. An apprentice dare not disobey his master, even when he is clearly in the wrong, so all we could do was endure it."

[tragic_mask]

"That doesn't sound like a good rule," she says, looking up at him.

[mechanicalswans]

"It has its uses," he says. "When I take apprentices, I expect obedience from them. Of course, I'm more fair to them than he was to us."

[tragic_mask]

"Oh, I'm sure you are," she says. "Do you have an apprentice now?"

[mechanicalswans]

"No, but I'm not opposed to the idea of taking one on," he says. "They need to have very particular qualities, though. I wouldn't take just anyone."

[tragic_mask]

"What qualities do you look for, in an apprentice?" She pauses, adds: "Besides subservience, that is."