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Re: A Song for Shinsei [Talon]
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 7:55 pm
by Finn
The minstrel was quiet while Talon spoke, only nodding and making small noises of understanding when the Avialae prince made eye contact. His eyes saw less than Talon's, but he beheld the dragonshard, a bit more familiar with them since the Warrens. He wondered if someday his lute would be strung with pure spellthread, fretted and pegged with dragonshard, and his song an enchantment. Lyra had made him a grimoire, after all, to hold his songs and his stories. Despite the Rune writ under his hair, he didn't feel like some magus. He only wanted to be a bard. But he supposed if becoming Leh'anafel were more than a fairy story, he would have to become both.
Time would tell. He wasn't certain Lyra wasn't toying with him.
When Talon bade him don a pair of gloves, he quickly unslung sword and lute, leaning them in an out of the way corner far from any flames. He doffed his doublet too, and slung it over the pommel of his longsword. Working in a forge, he remembered, required a balance of wearing enough to protect from sparks and heat and wearing less so as not to overheat oneself. For a brief moment, he imagined Talon at the forge without clothes on, then quickly dismissed it.
He rolled up his sleeves and pulled the gloves on, flexing his fingers to get the warming leather to conform a bit to his hands. Carefully taking wood and arranging it in the furnace such that the exacting eye of his mother wouldn't find him wanting—she would have been quite upset if he shamed her before the Shinsei—he did his small part to support Talon's efforts here.
"Kalzasi does seem to have struck a balance between magical and mundane," he noted. "And it makes sense to me. "My mother taught me the forge because that was her craft. Thankfully, when she saw I was better suited for other things, she supported that. And she has two other children to perhaps follow in her footsteps. More depends on you, I know, and your choices. I don't imagine you will have a dearth of people wanting to work for you, but I suppose you have to make sure they have the skills and the goals you want, not just here to curry favor with the next Shokaze."
He realized it was quite probable that thought had crossed the prince's mind when Finn himself came calling. One could only prove oneself over time, though, with one's actions.
"Well, I'll try not to bow and scrape here and at your brother's place. Otherwise, I ought to show proper deference. Don't want to lose my head... figuratively or literally." He grinned. The forge was familiar ground, at least, even if it was partially heated by a magic rock.
Re: A Song for Shinsei [Talon]
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 12:29 pm
by Talon
“My mother’s lessons to me were always in the subjects of magic and reasoning. What she has taught to me she has taught to my brother.” Talon remembered well being a boy and spending hours with his mother learning to read esoteric tomes penned by members of her family generations ago. Each book had been a test, a puzzle to unlock in and of itself. If one did not possess the right insight then they would not be able to grasp the clues left in the writings themselves.
“My father would have preferred I become an officer in the Sky Guard. The thought appeals to me, but I find more purpose in this. Besides, I can still use much of what I craft. As you might recall.” He smirked, remembering their encounters in the Warrens. When Finn commented on the balance between magical and mundane that was to be found in Kalzasi, Talon paused for thought. He had spent the majority of his life steeped in arcane powers. His mother was a formidable sorceress. The Briathos side of his family were known almost exclusively for their arcane prowess. He, himself, was a sorcerer of significant skill and power.
“When I think of Kalzasi, I think of a place filled with wonder.” Talon’s thoughts turned to the floating mountains that drifted among the peaks of the Astralar mountain range. He thought of the hovering platforms that served as docking stations for the skyships that came and went. He thought of the many curious, wondrous and even dangerous things that came from the Warrens. He could not imagine living in a place so barren of the incredible things that they were capable of. It was one of the reasons why the motivations of Zaichaer and the Reconciliators did not make sense to him. He knew that there was much to fear about forces that were capable of tearing one asunder with merely a thought. There was also much to be gained by channeling those powers to good use.
“We live on a razor’s edge between ruin and prosperity every day. Somehow, we continue to prosper. Not because of what I do. Not because of what any of the Houses do by themselves but because of ordinary people who do extraordinary things every day.” To Talon, magic might have seemed commonplace but to the average person it was still something rare and not fully understood. He recognized that out of the millions of people living in Kalzasi and its territories, there were only a droplet of them that were capable of using magic to any great efficacy. Which was what made the fact that so many people still managing to thrive, such an inspiring thing to him.
“I can see people’s motivations easily enough. So you have nothing to worry about. Besides, surely you know that Kalzasi does not execute the guilty?” A wry smirk played across Talon’s features. “You are just consigned to the Dead Legion.”
Re: A Song for Shinsei [Talon]
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:00 pm
by Finn
"When I think of Kalzasi," he said quietly when it seemed appropriate, "I think of opportunity. Any bits of magical convenience we had trickled out of Kalzasi, and everything seemed to flow there from the rest of the world. We were just in the wake of it all, or swaying in the tides, or... watching the city breathe from the way the world around it gets inhaled and exhaled. My grandmother was a witch. I don't know if she had any actual magic, or just knew enough about herbs and magic rocks and whatnot to help people and also make them uncomfortable. Most people just want to live—to always have food and water, shelter, space to fall in love, raise families, keep the cycle going. I think that's true here, as well, in the city, but there are more things to complicate it, to expand upon it. In good ways and bad ways. But we still want to huddle together because there are monsters out there, real and imagined."
He continued to do the dance around the forge, having the knack for knowing what to do to adjust the temperature, even though he was having to adjust for the parts that were powered by dragonshards. Perhaps he could bring such a thing to his mother for the holidays and show her how to use it in her smithy. Likely, she would tell him not to tell her how to do her own job, thank you very much, but then, the next time he visited, it would be old hats and she would have figured out how to make the most of it.
Parents were funny things. And his mother was imposing enough; Finn wasn't sure how it must be to have one so imposing as the Iron Queen. But there must have been some tenderness, he imagined. Life had a way of perpetuating itself, and that included bonds between parent and child.
"Oof!" he answered for Talon's joke of a veiled threat. "I'll be sure to practice with my sword before I sing for you next. If I'm for the Dead Legions, I ought to be prepared." He laughed. "Critics can be harsh."
Re: A Song for Shinsei [Talon]
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:34 pm
by Talon
Talon listened to what Finn had to say. There was a great deal of truth to his words. Did he not want to live just as the man had described? He did. Talon wanted love. He wanted to raise a family. He wanted to see his family happy and in turn see his people prosper. He could imagine the kind of monsters that Finn had faced. He did not know much about this man but he was clearly someone who had a great deal of earthly experience, something Talon lacked if he were being completely honest with himself. What did he know of the struggles of the common man? His was a place of great privilege. While he had been raised to see that privilege as exactly that, something he was not entitled to but had to earn to be worthy of, that was not true for everyone in the nobility. Had Finn not expressed fear for offending a nobleman of House Senue? Had he not believed that his very life was on the line for cause of that offense?
It was a stark reminder of exactly who Talon was compared to who the people around him were. It was something he sometimes forgot. He would make a point to learn more of others things he had forgotten or took for granted.
“If what you displayed in the Warrens is anything to go by, I think you are skilled enough to hold your own.” He smiled as he worked on tending to the forge at hand for a few moments more before the sound of the bell drew his attention. He sighed, looking from Finn to the front of his shop.
“Another customer calls.” Talon set down his tools. He stepped away from the forge. Reaching over he grasped Finn’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“I look forward to what you bring to Kalzasi, Finn. I think you have incredible potential. I know that I do not know much about you but…” Talon shrugged one of his shoulders. “...call it a feeling.”
With that, the Avialae stepped away from the forge in order to tend to the customer that had arrived.
Re: A Song for Shinsei [Talon]
Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2021 4:19 am
by Mirage
Talon
Lores
Semblance: Observing aether pathways in a construct
Semblance: Observing where another’s attention is drawn
Semblance: Common Aetherite Aura
Semblance: Observing a pyrolyth to ascertain temperature
Semblance: Finn’s Aura
Persuasion: Convincing another of their worth
Persuasion: Convincing another to accept a heartfelt gift
Philosophy: The Burden of Power and Responsibility
Etiquette: Stepping away from royal protocol
Smithing: Tending the heat of a forge fire
Smithing: Working alongside another at the forge
Loot:
-600 gp (1 Spool of Spellthread)(Average Dragonshard Quality)
-200 gp (1 bottle of Spellwright's Ink)(Average Dragonshard Quality)
Injuries: N/A
Points 8, Can be used for Semblance
Finn
Lores
Blacksmithing: Tending a Forge
Blacksmithing: Use of Leathers
Blacksmithing: Adjusting for Magical Heat
Composition: Interpreting Personality into Music
Composition: Useful Appropriation
Etiquette: Compliments
Etiquette: Proper Deference
Etiquette: Gifts as Thanks
Negotiation: Use of Humor
Persuasion: Giving Secrets
Persuasion: I'm Your Man
Persuasion: Make Use of Me
Loot: +1 Spool of Spellthread)(Average Dragonshard Quality
+1 bottle of Spellwright's Ink)(Average Dragonshard Quality
Injuries: N/A
Points 8