Echoes (RP finished)

Sunlight. The day proved to be mild and pleasant, with only a few white, fluffy clouds dotting the canvas sky in an otherwise bright blue day. White smoke billowed out of chimneys within the fortified walls of a Castle-Town, and the resounding clangs of metal on metal indicated another day, and another rupee to earn. Little paid any attention in the scenery; most were just interested in the day's pay, and little else.

Forge, on the other hand, found himself staring upward as he stretched back to take a few moments of respite, having finished delivering a crate's worth of pikes and halberds to the Hylian army, and trotting back the same distance to the fires of the smithy, which served little else at the moment other than to further sap the boy's strength.

Pikes, one of the most common weapons of the Hylian army, became Haris' sole focus of crafting in his line of work. They required less skill to make, required little metal, and was therefore cheap and something he could reproduce easily. Having been accustomed to only a few weeks worth of apprenticeship to the guild he was to be tutored under briefly, he found himself with decent work to steadily build up his skill.

At present, the quiet word of his master instantly perked up the youth's shoot covered ears, and he quickly scurried to the forge to work his sore arms on another flat bar of iron to shape into a pike. Daydreaming, Haris wished he could be forging halberds and glaives...

Re: Echoes (open)

Kikimi ran through the streets, doing a super important job for daddy. A bag of bright, shiny rupees dangled from her waist, given to her by her father. The girl was to take the rupees and give them to the blacksmith in exchange for his new sword. It was a decorative blade, with jems and a curved, sharp blade. Perfect for a man like her father!

 "Shiny things trade for BIG shiny!" She repeated to herself for the umpteenth time. Finally, she found the Blacksmith's she was looking for, opening the door and dashing in. She extended her powerful claws, hooking under the bag and placing it on the counter. The boy working there seemed like he was distant minded, but repeated her orders anyway. 

"Hey! Nice t'meetcha! I've got a pickup for Drenal! Shiny sword for shiny rupees!" The Mogma girl still had her vorpal claws extended the full foot and a half, resting her elbow on the counter and her chin upon her palm. The claws all stuck up at random, though Kiki was lucky enough that none of the blades was causing any damage. Either way, Kiki's mask would halt the blades for her. The girl sat there,  waiting on the boy to respond, though she tapped the tip of her augmented claw against her mask's forehead.

Re: Echoes (open)

Jolted out of his reverie, Haris' hand shook the hammer out of his grasp and his feet scrambled over to the counter, though his mind had yet to fully process what had been said to him moments earlier. The hammer, in the meantime, landed with a clang on the ground near the anvil, and the red-hot iron bar left chilling on top of the anvil.

"Oh, hi," the boy managed to reply quickly, before catching sight of the bag of rupees on the desk. "you needed a sword? The actual smith is in the back, he can probably get the one you were looking for. Can you tell me what kind of sword you ordered from here?"

Re: Echoes (open)

As Haris made his way over to the counter, Kiki was already heavily distracted. "Oh, WOW! Look at all the shiny stuff!" She picked up a helmet, then put it down. Then a hammer, then a sword, then a chestplate, to which she spent the most time on. "It's like daddy's! Oh, right! Daddy's sword! It's long like... three feet or so... And all sparkly from the red and blue pretty things! If... I remember right then it's got...."

Her voice trailed off as she saw the rupees. "These are so pretty... I like them lots... Oh! By the way, I'm Kiki! Kikimi Mikika!" She extended her razor sharp claw augmentations out as if offering a handshake.

Re: Echoes (open)

Forge's reaction to the rather bubbly attitude was mixed with a front of respect but also one of shyness, especially when the claw was offered to him, to which he backed away slightly instinctively. "Eheh...best if you could retract those blades somehow, or else I could get cut...lemme fetch my master."

With that and a quick bow, the boy scurried off to flee to his master. A few muffled words between the two were there, before Haris came out again with a straight broadsword three feet in length, embedded with rubies and sapphires. "Is this the sword you were looking for?"

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki chuckled and slid her wrist back, retracting the claws back into her closed sleeve. "Claws gone! What, are the claws all.... Scary or something?"

When Haris returned with her father's sword, Kiki had already been distracted, looking at her reflection in a helmet while giggling at the distortions it made to her appearance. When she saw the blade, she put it back down though. 

"Oooh! That's so pretty! Yeah! That's daddy's!" She lunged over to the counter and put her face right to the edge of it as he placed down the sword. "Daddy's gonna be so happy! Here's the monies!" 

Re: Echoes (open)

Haris bowed deeply in response. "Thank you very much..."

In the casual conversation, Forge found himself slowly letting down his gaurd. "And yeah, the claws seemed rather sharp. I bet I would have hurt myself if I tried to shake hands with your with them fully extended." The boy remakred with a small chuckle, before motioning to the helmet. "Like the merchandise? My master makes all of that, and he's of good quality. I hope to be good as him someday..." he trailed off, again slipping back into his daydreams.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki dove over the counter, glomping Haris. "Haha! You've gotta dream too! Just keep doing it, and I'm sure you'll be making stuff this shiny in no time!" 

The girl let go and sat casually on the counter. "Ohhh, Kiki has a dream too. I wanna have..." She made huge gestures with her arms. "The BIGGEST collection of shiny stuff... Ever... My daddy has a lot of shiny stuff, so first I have to beat him in how much I have... But anyway!"

She rolled backwards, landing on the side of the counter she was supposed to be on. "You're probably way too busy being all blacksmithy to chat with Kiki."

Re: Echoes (open)

Haris, taken aback by the sudden intrusion, became stunned in a look of sheer and utter horror. He was visibly shaken by the invasion of his private space, something that he liked to keep with him at all times, and fell deathly silent.

"I-I see..." he finally mustered, almost in a whisper, and with a quick pace. "Yeah, lemme get back to work."

With that, he quickly resumed his previous work and shook his head violently, trying to forget what just transpired. He hated overtly hyper people.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki waited for a minute after Haris went back to forging. She'd seen the things when they were done, but never being made. She stealthily stood behind the boy as he started forging, looking over his shoulder. 

This yet again meant she was standing where she shouldn't have been. After a couple seconds she became fidgety though. "So whatcha makin'?"

Re: Echoes (open)

Haris jumped again, and running a hand to his forehead, he said quickly and with an irritated tone. "A pike. And you're supposed to be on the other side of the counter, or the storekeeper will show you out. Please stop bothering me."

Forge resumed his work, now in a worse mood than he found himself to be in before. A sense of miserableness bore down on his form.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki frowned under her mask when Haris warned her. "Oh, I'm sorry, smithy boy! I didn't mean to make you angr-" out of the corner of her eye she saw it. A man had come in, pocketing her shinies and taking a pair of expensive looking gauntlets.

She yelled angrily, almost murderously. "NO! No taking them!" Her claws extended and she dove over the counter in a combat roll, catching the man at the door. Energy swirled towards her claws as she used their power to defend her precious shinies. And Smithy boy's shiny gauntlets too. In a diagonal uppercut, the thief soon fell as he found himself completely bisected from his right leg. 

She grabbed him by the shoulders with her claws, throwing him back into the store. She leapt on top of him, regaining the rupees and gauntlets as the man screamed in agony. "Shush, you! Smithy boy! I got your shiny hands back!"

Re: Echoes (open)

The scene that unfolded before Forge's eyes caused him to recoil in horror. He had yet to see any violence in his life, and the sheer amount of blood that spread accross the floor of the store evoked a sense of intense nasuea which Haris could only barely repress.

"I think..." he managed in a quiet voice, "you should call the gaurds to clean up the mess." Soon after, his voice started to shake, as well as his rather small form.

"Thanks for getting those gauntlets back-" With that, the boy slumped against the wall and buried his face in his palm, finally succumbing to a mental breakdown.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki looked out into the street, seeing a guard she recognized from her father's squad. "Cailos! Cailos! There was a stealy guy here!" The guard looked surprisedly at the Mogma, walking over. 

"Kikimi? What's wrong?" He then saw the robber who was now laying with his leg nearby. "By Din, Kiki! How many times has your father told you to avoid seriously hurting criminals?"

Kiki squirmed apologetically. "B-but he tried to steal stuff! Aww... I'm sorry Cailos..."

"Wait..." He got a closer look at the criminal, tilting his head for a better view. "This is Blake Forly!"

Kiki put her hands in the air enthusiastically. "Yay?"

"Yay indeed Kiki... He's been a wanted their for five years..." He reached into his back pocket. "He's got a bounty of a hundred rupees too. I'll bring him to the jail, and this is yours. Err... Do... Do I bring the leg?" He mumbled, unsure of the exact protocol on severed limbs.

Kiki held the bag tightly. "Eee~ more shinies!" She then ran over to Haris. "Smithy guy! Look! More shiny things!" She saw his distress, and with a sad motion, picked out half of the rupees, laying them in front of him. "Here you go Smithy guy... You okay?"

Re: Echoes (open)

Haris slowly calmed down from his panic-induced hysteria, enough to nod once, now sober and very downhearted from the events that had just transpired. His guildmaster looked out in investigation of the commotion, looking at the bloodied mess, and then at the boy. A small sigh escaped his lips before he signaled Forge to leave early. Slowly, the boy picked up the rupees and nodded to Kiki quietly, with a tinge of a grave expression. "...I will be. Thanks, Ms. Mikika." With that, the Hylian stumbled out of the blacksmith in a daze, apparently headed for home.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki jumped up and down in joy when Haris thanked her, following the boy out onto the street, her father's sword at her side. She had her claws fully retracted, which wiped the blood on her sleeve holes, cleaning them off at the cost of her sleeves getting a bit bloody. From the stains already there, it looked like it was just adding a fresh coat. 

She trailed behind the smithy, jogging lightly till she caught up. "Hiya Smithy guy!" She said cheerfully. "What're you gonna spend your shinies on?"

Re: Echoes (open)

The Hylian gave up on all attempts to be alone until he got home, and slumped his posture in defeat.

"Nothing. I think I'll just save them up until I need them." He had not even bothered to check the amount he had received, his intent solely on finding a place of isolated solace.

Re: Echoes (open)

Kiki nodded excitedly and kept following Haris, despite his intention for the girl to leave him alone. There were many things that the Mogma was distracted by as they passed the market, but the bouncy girl managed to get out a question to Haris. 

"Smithy guy? You seemed really sad or something when I stopped the thief. Why?" A tinge of actual confusion could be heard through her voice.

Re: Echoes (open)

Haris grew distraught, and when the Hylian grew distraught, he became angry.

"I'd rather not like to talk about it." Forge bit out, his voice harsh and agitated, before softening with glassy eyes and a deeply depressed tone. "Please...leave me be. Give me some time for myself today." The boy began to run home.

Re: Echoes (open)

When Haris began running away, Kiki first thought it was just a game. She took chase after the smithy, laughing to herself. Then thoughts began passing through her head...

From when she'd first started talking to Haris, the boy seemed deadset on getting rid of her. Her running slowed to a halt, as she sat down in the middle of the street, a sobbing noise coming from behind her cheerful mask.