closed |

[vindictam]

CHARACTERS: Corvo Attano & Gendry
LOCATION: the forge
WARNINGS: weapons?? the trauma show inside their heads?
SUMMARY: Corvo wants a sword, Gendry is good at making them.
NOTES: backdated to 12th

[ He'd gotten a little better at forcing himself to walk into rooms, instead of just transversals to and from locations.

But it never did to startle a weapon smith, so he was particularly sure to be obvious when he entered the forge. Though it mattered little over the banging of Gendry at work. If the guards of Dunwall were so loud, he'd have less issue creeping into places he shouldn't be. But he took the time to look around a moment, before his hand lifted to his mask, fingers curled under the cold metal of it before he lifted it to rest on top his head.

But he didn't settle, skin crawling as he looked at the pieces of red hot metal. Breathed through his mouth to cut the smell of burning flesh that came back. After a moment, he swallowed down on his dry throat, feet planted on the ground firmly before he cleared his throat. ]

Sir Gendry?

Comments

[bullshead]

[ gendry sees him out of the corner of his eyes as he works, a half obscured form that appears through the doorway. it gives a pause in the clanging of metal against metal before the sound continues, broken again only by hot metal placed within water. steam rising with the resounding sound. ]

Aye.

[vindictam]

[ He still doesn't settle. Eyes on the white hot metal before they looked to Gendry's face.

But it flickers and passes, and he nods his head in greeting, a half dip to a man who clearly did not earn his position through his father's grace. That alone, Corvo could respect. ]

I'm Corvo, I sent a.... communication to you earlier.

[bullshead]

[ his brow furrows though only a touch, recognition flicking about his expression. the message from earlier, right. ]

I remember. You wanted a blade made.

[vindictam]

[ he nods. hand going to his sword. He holds it forward, to let Gendry see the unassuming piece of smoothed wood. Before he pulled at the lever and flicked his wrist, and in a whirl, the blade tumbled forward and clicked into place. The pieces of steel holding steady. ]

I require a blade of similar kind.

[bullshead]

Seven hells. [ surprise writes itself all over his face, demanding a step closer to get a better look. of all the blades he has seen none were like this. ]

How did it do that? [ he asks the air more so than he does corvo. ]

[vindictam]

[ A smile flickers for a moment and Gendry's reaction. So similar to his own when he'd first found the gifts from the Loyalists.

But instead of explaining, he simply gestured to the working bench. ] If I may. [ He'd watched Piero upgrade it, seen the man pull it apart, and he would never have Piero's skill, but he made sure to know how to fix his own weapon. Enough to pull it apart and put it together again. ]

[bullshead]

Go ahead. [ because he wants to know, gods be damned, he really wants to know how that blade does what it does. ]

[vindictam]

[ He nods, and he's thankful for it really. It's work, that his mind can do and his hands can occupy and he can ignore the smell of burning flesh that echoes in his mind when he thinks of steel and fire and the empty hiss of it.

Corvo put his mask aside, set on the counter edge and he bent to lay the blade flat on the table. Careful to touch no more than he should, less he disturb something. But still he moved with an over awareness, as he shifted to watch Gendry, as if to make sure he was watching ( and nothing, nothing at all to do with making him and his red hot iron was a safe distance away ), as he took a small flat blade to use instead of a screw driver and pieces by piece pulled his blade apart. The case to reveal what was a simple hinge mechanism. ] The man who made it was cleverer than I... the things he could make. I cannot explain it so well as he. [ He used the blade to loosen the screw, and then hinge came apart. ]

But if you make each piece, I can reassemble it.

[ He stepped back, and the strange blade lay in neatly arranged pieces upon the desk in a row, ready to be put back together. ] I cannot offer you much in payment. But you will have this design to make as you see fit, and if there is anything else I can provide, you need only ask for it.

[bullshead]

[ gendry watches in silence, observing the manner of which corvo takes apart the blade, observing the pieces and trying to figure out how they work by simply looking. what he figures out is minor in best, the mechanics of it are beyond his mind and skill set. the pieces of their own do not look difficult to make, he thinks, as queer as some of them look (the screws). ]

Whoever made it is a more than just clever. [ an assassin's blade, perhaps? most men, knights and soldiers, use blades of length to cut down their enemies. all tend to have smaller blades on their person. smaller blades are easier to hide, though a proper search always reveals them. this one is different, changes it form within seconds. who would think it was a blade when it was all folded up and hidden? ]

The materials won't be the same. [ yes, he will definitely try to make this for you corvo. you've just given him a challenge, something to master. instant points to you. ] That won't be a problem, will it? [ corvo understands the blade more than gednry, obviously he will know if a different type of metal for the blade and parts might compromise the entire thing. ]

[vindictam]

[ Corvo nodded, looking at the pieces again. The mask, and the sword. Elegant, terrifying perhaps, but there was such obvious dedicated to the work. ]

He is a great many things, and unfortunately absent. He would be able to make more sense of the ship than I, no doubt.

[ Or suitable ammunition to replace his whale oil powered weapons. A sigh, and he looked back up to Gendry, nodding to answer his question. ]

It is for a lady who needs to find more suitable ways to defend herself. So I ask only that it be light, however you prefer to meld your steel to that end is to your discretion.

[bullshead]

[ gendry takes the nod as permission to get an even closer look, hands carefully picking up one of the larger pieces to inspect it. he listens to corvo speak though his attention is rooted to the challenge placed before him. ]

I will make it. [ or at the least try his gods be damned hardest. ] But I can't promise that it'll be done swiftly, all of this is new to me. [ he puts the piece back down in the same place he lifted it from. ]

[vindictam]

[ he steps back to let Gendry look. He knows that expression. On Piero and Sokolov, the look of a mind occupied. The heart had whispered to him, of the way they saw the world, in the way that most could not fathom for its complexities.

The similarity now was enough to make him tug a smile before continuing. He wasn't sure when he'd made a habit of this, finding the things of home, even if home meant little good. ]

As long as you need, this ship does not create the best working conditions. [ one day, fine, the next a tumult. ] If you would like to look at any of my other weapons, you are free too, I only ask that you leave me with at least one at a time -- [ and he lifted his gun, tugging it free from his chest and he removed one bullet. He held it up, and even contained in its little glass tube, it glowed bright. ] and if you are handling these, never let them sit near the fire. Or anywhere the glass might crack or shatter.

[bullshead]

[ the substance looked like something out of stories, like the magic that supposedly used to inhabit the world alongside the dragons. gendry's brow furrows. ] Why?

[vindictam]

[ There would always be something to whale oil, he supposed. That bright light that the sick huddled around in the dark. ]

Highly explosive. I could show you how it works, but this is not the best place to do so.

[bullshead]

[ oh, OKAY THEN. gendry takes a cautious step away from the glowing blue object, a sign, at the least, that he recognizes the danger even if he doesn't fully understand it. ]

No, Fili might kill me if I ruined the forge.

[vindictam]

[ a wise choice, Corvo quickly slots the bullet back into the gun. Not half as sleek as the ones used by those on the ship. But he wields it comfortably, holstering on the chest strap again. ]

This comes from the belly of whales, it's an oil. [ he doubted he needed to explain burning oil, it was older than he was in the Empire. ] One bullet alone will not ruin this place, but set a few men on fire? Certainly.

[bullshead]

The smell of burnt flesh ruins every room. [ he says it perhaps too casually. ] Some men don't have the stomach for it.

[vindictam]

[ a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Good, he didn't have to temper his words.

Easy to slip into being nothing more than a soldier, blunt with the cruelties he'd grown accustomed too. ] As bad as blood to get out.

[bullshead]

[ you don't know it yet corvo, but this guy has seen some shit.

the corners of gendry's lips twitch though do not form a smile, his shoulders rise and fall in a flippant shrug. ]

Blood is worse.

[vindictam]

At least here, there are no state dinners to be presentably unstained for. [ Having the discussion seems to settle him a lot more. Less paranoid about the heated metal. ]

Not that it's ever worth telling nobles how soldiers keep their clothes clean.

[bullshead]

[ he scoffs, busying his hands with gathering objects for corvo's request. ]

It's not. Highborn lords and ladies never care about what the common folk have to do to survive. They only care about titles and lands and marrying off their daughters like cattle.

[vindictam]

[ He snorted, all too aware of the discussions he'd heard about how Lords saw the world. ]

It's a special trick to be counted amoung them and hold your tongue.

[bullshead]

Don't know how anyone could do it. [ says the guy who will talk about to a king and give zero shits about it. ]

[vindictam]

[ shit he is never telling robb-; ]

I was lucky enough to occasionally be able to put them through windows, if they became too unbearable.

[bullshead]

[ the look gendry gives him is quite dubious. ]

Truly?

[vindictam]

[ there's a nod. ]

Through a window and down a flight of stairs.

[ Custis deserved it, w/e ]