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Post by bookity101 on Jul 10, 2009 17:09:07 GMT -5
Luxe nodded as the kit decided to move on for now. He too moved back to his place in front of the forge. Silently, he got the coals back to the right heat before turning them over to Caden again. Picking up the piece of bronze, placing it on the coals to soften as he began to work with the gold.
Placing the piece in the hottest part of the fire, he felt, and saw, it melt on the out side before the inside was even soft, no biggies, he only needed so much. When they were soft enough, he moved a cast iron pot over the coals and placed the gold in it, watched for a moment as it melted in to sort of a thick-ish soup, then maneuvered part of the melting bronze into the pot as well, once he had enough of the mix he began to mix them, and cool them a little bit by taking it off the fire. There was a stool across the work bench that Caden could stand and Luxe hoped that he would, he needed an extra set of paws that half second.
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Post by Ladorak on Jul 21, 2009 9:20:28 GMT -5
Caden watched all of this with some interest. He could see how Luxe intended to mix both the gold and the bronze together to give the gold strength and durability so that it wouldn`t bend and mush into any sort of shape after it was formed.
The kit wasn`t exactly sure what they`d be doing after they took the mixture out of the fire, but the albino felt fairly certain it`d involve some hammering and molding as he`d seen done before in other blacksmith shops. It was strange though, to see Luxe working with gold. Caden thought that that was strictly a goldsmith`s job, but it seemed Luxe`s studied talents were manifold.
He could see that the stoat was manuevering the mixture off of the fire. The hissing smoke from the bottom of the pot quickly evaporated and Luxe was bringing it over to another pawstool. Caden wasn`t sure what happened next, but Luxe was leaving the pot in that vicinity...to cool off maybe? Thinking quickly, the marten climbed up onto the pawstool and balanced himself, his pink eyes searching the stoat blacksmith.
"What do I need to do now?" asked the young albino, unsure really as to the next step. "Do you need me to bring you anything or stay here?" he asked, ready to spring down and grab somehing in paw if needed.
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Post by bookity101 on Aug 5, 2009 20:27:21 GMT -5
Luxe looked up at Caden smiling slightly to the kit. “Ah, good Caden, I need you to take this paddle and keep mixing these things together.” Luxe said as he pawed off the paddle to the lad. He bustled around the room, grabbing a large heavy metal cast from one of the shelves and laying it on the table before grabbing a long low sided pan from under the table, setting the cast inside it. He grabbed the ladle from the water barrel and poured a couple of cups of water into the pan. He turned back to Caden
“Alright bud, it’s time for the hard part, I’m gonna need to you to come over here and hold these steady so I can pour the mix into the pockets so they can be all uniform.” Luxe stepped around to take the pot from Caden, waiting until he got around the table to pour the gold-bronze mix into the casts.
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Post by Ladorak on Aug 8, 2009 17:27:47 GMT -5
Caden did as he was instructed, stirring the thick, soup like mixture and wondering at how long Luxe had been doing this. For awhile it seemed....maybe even as young as Caden was now was when he had started training. It required skill, and not just anybeast could do it. Caden couldn't exactly say it was his favorite thing to do...but he respected the skill at least.
But Luxe needed him shortly after that to hold the molds steady while the mixture was poured into them in order to give each one it's shape. He held his paws firmly over the molds, using all the strength he had (which wasn't bad, all things considered, for his age) and kept them steady, ready for Luxe to pour the mixture out.
"Hey Luxe....can I ask you something?" the albino piped up, not waiting for a response from the stoat blacksmith before he went ahead and asked his question. "Do you have any other skills? Skills that might be useful on a warship? I'm sure Ladorak would like to take you along with us when we do sail....or is that not really your thing?" he asked, shifting his head to one side and letting his big ears flop a bit on top of his head as he studied the stoat with his pink eyes.
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Post by bookity101 on Aug 8, 2009 19:42:51 GMT -5
Luxe looked up at the kit, a gleam appearing in his eyes. He continued pouring as he answered Caden. "Well I'm handy in quite a few areas, and I'm not a bad shot either." Luxe finished pouring the mix into the pieces, he had used more than Caden would need, but the pieces made nice adornments for some of the things that he was working on. Luxe went about cleaning up and banking the fire till he would need it again. "I don't know much about sailing though." Luxe finished with the clean up, and then he got an idea. He walked over to a wall that he hadn't gone to in a while, removing his double headed axe from it,
"Caden, has Ladorak started you on weapons training yet?" He continued speaking with barley a pause. "Well, even if he hasn't I think I'm going to show you what would make me useful on a ship, if you want me to that is Cade." Luxe has turned around by now, a mischievous gleam in his eye.
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Post by Ladorak on Aug 8, 2009 20:34:26 GMT -5
The work was now mostly complete. They just had to leave the gold to cool now and harden in the molds. Caden backed up a bit, wiping his brow. It could get hot in these forges. He watched as the stoat moved over to the wall and removed a large, double headed axe from the wall.
His pink eyes went quite wide, almost popping at the sight of the weapon. Hey wait....wasn't that...swallowing, the marten watched apprehensively as Luxe looked at him with a strange look in his eyes. "Uh....well.....so long as you promise me ONE thing." the dibbun said, regarding the axe with suspicion. He was glad to hear that Luxe would consider joining their warship when Ladorak got one but.....
"Promise me you won't cut yourself in the leg again....like you did last time...the day you arrived in town. I saw you from the window of Ladorak's house. Uh.....so don't.....do that again OK?" the marten just had bad memories of what Luxe had done, and didn't want it to repeat itself today. Caden knew next to nothing about medical treatment of injuries after all.
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Post by bookity101 on Aug 9, 2009 21:05:08 GMT -5
Luxe laughed, glad that the kit was thinking of others, one thing he was pretty sure that had rarely, if ever, crossed his mind before. Luxe hefted the axe, liking the feel of holding it in his paws again. He grinned at Caden, "Don't worry Cade, I promise, just as long as you promise me one thing." He made his face grow sober, after he thought he had gotten Caden's attention he spoke again. "That you won't try to wrap a whip around the haft of my axe like that beast who pulled me off balance that day." Then Luxe winked at him, " Let's go out back Cade, I'll show you my favorite way of fighting." ********* Luxe lead the way out the back door, his shop being near the edge of the small town, he had been able to purchase a sizable back yard were he was able to set up a training yard,. Luxe directed Caden to stand well away from a medium sized circle in the middle of the area. With out another word, Luxe moved to the center and drew the axe, setting it to he could swing it easily. Luxe started with some basic moves, side swings and over the head cuts to loosen up, after a few minutes of that, he moved onto an easy training set that he had devised. It involved pretending to fight three opponents, keeping them away with the flat of the blades. Soon though he moved onto one of the harder ones, speeding up as he did so. For about ten minutes, Luxe concentrated on keeping the axe spinning in his paws, trying to work up enough force to the good sized block of wood that sat inside the training ring. It was about the thickness of the mainmast of a medium sized ship, so about three feet in diameter.
Luxe turned to face it, spinning the blade faster and faster, sweat dripping into his eyes when he finally got it going fast enough. With a shout he copped diagonally down the block, cutting it nearly in two. Luxe heaved the axe head out of it, turning to face Caden with a satisfied grin on his face. " That Caden, is one of the uses of momentum."
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Post by Ladorak on Aug 9, 2009 22:38:21 GMT -5
Caden sat down on the grass to watch. Burnham Thorpe was a small enough town and there was plenty of land to go around. It seemed that the blacksmith had kept his lot as a training ground. To Caden, this was almost too good to be true. He'd get to watch a beast use an axe and maybe even cut some things up!
He watched, his pink eyes attempting to follow the movement as Luxe began, eventually growing faster and faster with each pass and swing. Finally, with enough momentum and force behind his swing, the stoat was able to sever a very thick looking block of wood clean in two. The marten's eyes widened to huge proportions at this. That.....chunk of wood must have been as big as the mast of a ship!
Getting up, he winced a bit as he realized he'd stepped on his rather large tail, but he kicked that appendage behind him as he moved over to Luxe. "That's....rather incredible! I've seen Ladorak fight and well....he's amazing too! What makes you adults so good at this stuff? I've never actually tried fighting with a blade....only a pretend wooden sword...though I've been in fistfights before. I'm not afraid of getting into fights. I mostly win of course....Helandria showed me a lot of tricks to use to come out on top." he said, sounding proud of himself now as he folded his arms across his chest.
"Though still...you and Ladorak seem to be in a league of your own." he said incredulously. "One day....I'll learn to fight like that." he said, though he was more excited about looking good in a fight than anything else.
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Post by bookity101 on Aug 10, 2009 13:19:27 GMT -5
Luxe's chest was still heaving slightly as Caden approached him, asking his questions and staring in amazement at the block that was now fire kindling. "What makes adults so good at fighting?.." He reached a paw up to wipe his brow. "Well it might have something to do with the fact that I've been practicing at this for a good seven years," He swiped a paw across his upper lip. "And lot's of sweat."
Luxe looked down at the kit, understanding that he had felt the same way that Caden did when he was first shown what real fighting was. Luxe smiled at his remark about fist fighting. "Yes, I figured that much out all by myself Caden." Luxe walked over to a rack where he put his axe down, then walked back to Caden, thinking about a way to show him how to fight, without street fighting, and at the same time not straining the kit's still healing arm. Then he remembered the design that Gaylor had sent him for the training dummy, he had gotten all the pieces ready, maybe Caden would help him build it...
He turned back to Caden, "Hey Caden,, I got this new training dummy in from my old master last week, you want to help set it up? We've got a while before the plates set."
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Post by Ladorak on Aug 10, 2009 15:06:27 GMT -5
"Seven years!?" Caden asked, rather dumbfounded at that fact. Seven years? Would it really take him that long to get good at sword fighting...or blade fighting in general? It seemed like an awful long time before he'd get as good as Luxe....or Ladorak for that matter. Why he'd be....19 years old at that point. Well into adulthood as it were.
"A training dummy?" the kit asked now. "Well sure...I can help with that." Caden offered, knowing he should do his best to not strain his arm so much. It was still in the process of healing after all. Fortunately for Luxe, Caden had all but forgotten about that incident. He no longer harbored nearly as much resentment as he had. Maybe if something reminded him he'd be a bit bitter, but right now it was out of the dibbun's memory.
Walking around the circle a bit, he looked from Luxe down to his footpaws and then over at the chopped block. "What do I have to do?" he asked, eager to get this started so he could start learning the basics of blade fighting. It couldn't be too hard...right?
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