Test drive post for demeleier

[durinsdaughter]

[It's been a few weeks that she's been in Demeleier now, and since a while ago she has accepted that she won't be able to leave immediately. She might not even want to, now that Kíli has arrived as well. There is a difference between knowing that a reunification with her family can't be further than a few decades off and actually having one of them around. Still strange, but still just as precious and full of wonder and joy. To have her youngest back, it's a thing that she doesn't want to leave behind. ...And even if the word that no time passes back home while they are here is a trick to subdue them (and that is a constant worry), there is a certain reluctance to desiring a way home. Not that, should a path open itself, she wouldn't immediately take it. She has a duty to her people, and while she is certain that they would not let the lord of the black messengers blackmail them into anything should he claim to have taken her as a hostage (though avenging her would be an entirely different story - she might not be a king, but her blood is still among the most noble of all dwarves in Middle Earth) she would not leave them in times of need if she could help it. And times of need they are.

But she is needed here as well, by her son and maybe others as well, and looping back to this point she opens the feed. She has an announcement to make.]

I've now set up everything in the smithy to be able to do proper work there. [As opposed to the above average but in her eyes sub-par work that she could do with an anvil and other things that were simply too large for her.] As such, I will now offer the services of a smith. [She won't mention that her smithwork is, by default, far better than any human's (though she does consider Matsue very capable. But. For a human apprentice), because that should be clear to everyone who knows dwarves and the others will see, no bragging needed - those are her thoughts, anyway.] Contact me if you need anything. Even if the item in question is unfamiliar to me, I might still be able to work with it. [Or maybe collaborate on it with the other woman or her son, two or three brains can think of more than one. She almost mentions payment modalities out of habit, but then stops herself, no. Things work differently here (and that unsettles her, but what can you do).]


[ooc: All of this is absolutely not supposed to be game canon, but simply a throwing together of something for the sake of a test drive. She's been in Deme for 1 1/2 months, Kíli arrived a while after her, and she gets along with Matsue. Everything else is up in the air.]

Comments

[spilled_ink]

[He pauses a moment considering what she was asking.]

...No, not only. As much as I would like to tell you otherwise, there are some Travelers who cause trouble for their own amusement. Thankfully they are, however, few.

[durinsdaughter]

What are their names?

[She is not sure if his answer will be truthful, or if it will complete, but it would be a point to start from.]

[durinsdaughter]

You're not him. [She places the bread in the baskets that hang under the ceiling and then turns around.] You're different, and each of you has his own charm points. [She shakes her head, referring to what he said a short while ago in her next words.] You just said that we look very alike, and there once was a wonderful young dwarf who liked what he saw when looking at me very much. It's just a matter of time and the right one coming around. [It's a delicate subject, and hard to navigate because he is right - he is not conventionally attractive the way he looks like now, and his brother really is blessed with that in droves. It probably would be less of an issue without that. And she knows that it is an issue for Kíli, also and maybe especially in connection with the dating complex. Her younger son definitely swings that way. She just wishes she could really do something to help him.]

[kurdith]

[He thinks of Tauriel for all of a moment before pushing her from his mind. It was just a dream.

Instead, he blushes at his mother's words, shrugging a little]

If you say so. Honestly, though, I don't think you can use Da as an example. From what I heard, he was pretty much smitten at first sight.

[durinsdaughter]

So what if someone will feel the same about you one day?

[The hurt of his death has long healed over, the faintest scar of them all, fainter maybe than the one that her parents and brother left despite him having died later. The support that she enjoyed then, and the joy that she had despite his death, just was much greater than for any of the other deaths.

It doesn't hurt anymore to remember any of the happy times they had. Hasn't in a long time. Instead, she can recall them with happiness.]

[kurdith]

I'm too reckless.

[This conversation is going nowhere. He finishes his apple and tosses it out the window like the lazy ass he is. At least it's not littering?]

So you got the forge fitted out properly, yeah? Room for two Dwarves, if I can't find something else?

[durinsdaughter]

[He'd not litter again.

She shakes her head at his words with a smile but moves on as well, coming back over to the table with a knife and a cutting board to start and prepare dinner, shoving potatoes at him so he can start peeling them.] Of course. You'll have to meet Matsue as well, should you think of joining us. [A thoughtful pause.] For a daughter of man, she seems full of potential. [The tone falls slightly at the last words - no matter the friendship between Laketown and the Lonely Mountain, no matter the many contacts with humans that she's seen over the years, none of that ever broke the simple assumption that dwarves simply are the best race. That in at least the crafts that assumption is objectively justified doesn't really help with easing her out of that.]

[kurdith]

[Why always with the potatoes and the peeling and the ugh. He makes a face but he obeys wordlessly, making a soft noise at his mother's praise.]

Of course, with Men "potential" is all they might have, at least compared to us or even Elves.

[Because you can't deny that some Elven craftsmen are pretty good]

But she's that good?

[pterosaur]

[An immense pterosaur strides along the path, head high. Her rowan is less a crown than a ring around the base of her thick neck, largely covered by her pelt. She's not more than a few days into this setting, and may have been seen in the air at some distance.

Janine's still kind of weirded out by how humans are so small to her. This one's smaller than most. Also stouter and bearded, but doesn't quite look like a man. Should she comment?

Of course not. Maybe not even when her body was human. It's petty to think much about those things, especially now. Janine stops some distance away.]

:You're the smith?:

[durinsdaughter]

[He can cut the onions if he'd rather do that.

She shrugs.] It's hard to tell; an apprentice, she calls herself, and still young by the standards of her people from what I can tell. [Not that she's never met men who appeared to be of Matues's kin (if looks can be interpreted that way), but judging human ages in general, between a rough estimation of "child-adult-old" is a bit hard even after over two centuries of more or less frequent contact. They just age differently from dwarves in more ways than one.

The simple fact that Dís doesn't add any negative comments here should be a clear statement in the positive, though.]

[durinsdaughter]

[She's seen a number of strange things since arriving here, and learned to not trust her own initial reactions - remain weary, but not show immediate hostility either. Still, her hand goes to a position where it'd only take a split moment to reach the hilt of the dagger at her side - going unarmed isn't something that she would do in a place like this, going out without weapons feels pretty much naked - and she keeps a distance.]

That I am.

[The speech isn't really a surprise to her, though the pitch and tone certainly are. She almost looks around for the source, but... no, it's fairly clear that she must have been addressed by this being.]

also does her voice sound female or male-ish?

[spilled_ink]

[He shakes his head.]

Truthfully, I only know only one or two, however I don't believe this is the best topic to discuss through the mirror.

[A pause, unsure what the other planed to do with the information. Perhaps he could find out her intentions first.]

If you like, we can meet to discuss further.

Male-ish to a human, I'd say.

[durinsdaughter]

[She thinks it over for a moment, and then has to agree.]

Where?

[She won't invite a stranger into her house, and while the smithy is an option it also is not necessarily a place where they will be without interruption.]

[pterosaur]

[Short pudgy bearded lady. Okay, sure. Janine lowers her great head until it's out before her with her neck like a horizontal beam so that she can peer in at the smithy with one startling eye.]

:Cool. So, yeah, they were saying get some iron, that'll help with things. I think I need to get like a cord or a pouch or something. Vines, maybe. You guys don't have any proper ones, it's too cold.:

[Not wholly aware she's doing so, Janine abruptly raises her neck back to vertical, scans the landscape with those wide-set eyes, and not finding threats lowers it again.]

[durinsdaughter]

[She remains tense, but stands her ground, not moving even as her hand comes to fully rest on the dagger, which is drawn when Janine turns back to her.

But it's not pointed at the dino, instead just firmly in her hand, pointing downwards. A warning, not a threat. Her eyes slide over the body, swiftly, trying to keep that head in the corner of her eye.]

A necklace, maybe.

[She won't turn her back on the being, but she won't refuse to equip them with the much needed defence against the fairies, either. Nobody wants a being like that in the hands of a fae.]

[pterosaur]

[Janine's inner pterosaur stirs and gives her a rapid wordless assessment - prey is (by dinosaur standards) unarmored, has a large fang or claw, looks difficult/dangerous to subdue - and subsides again. Well, that was disquieting. She doesn't fear the blade. Janine's beak is far larger, and with her neck her reach is considerable. Still, being attacked would be no fun.

She heaves a very deep breath and, ponderous, lies down on her chest, wings crooked at either side of her body, legs stretched out behind her. A kind of peace gesture, though she doesn't go so far as to lay down her head.]

:Sure. I might have trouble with the whole 'touch something with it and it'll go away', but I plan on mostly flying, anyway.:

how obvious are the boobs in person? /so sorry for asking

[spilled_ink]

The library might do, if there aren't many people to disturb. If not, I live just across from it. Do you think you can find your way there?

My name is Eiyan of Kriev, though Eiyan is just fine. Who shall I be looking for?

[durinsdaughter]

[She's unfamiliar with him (and still very much doesn't trust the village and general world) and will thus be wearing most of what she arrived with (including chainmail and such) so no. Normally, they'd be visible, depending on what she is wearing even when not expected.]

I will find my way. Half an hour from now?

Dís of the Lonely Mountain. [She assumes that "of Kriev" is a descriptor of his kin or otherwise belonging, so she mirrors his words - there is a number of ways in which she could introduce herself, but in the end all of them will be meaningless for those from another world, and all of them will carry similar meaning from those of her own world.] I'll be looking forward to meeting you.

[durinsdaughter]

[The lying down puts her at an uneasy peace - the being is so strange, she doesn't know what to think of it nor its ability to move.]

Should you have the means to touch another being with the iron, was it fastened to another part of your body?

/slips into action

[spilled_ink]

Yes, that will be fine. I will look for you... and likewise.

[Eiyan will be standing just outside the library around the time he should be expecting the other (presumed) man.]

[durinsdaughter]

[She's on time (unlike her brothers, she doesn't tend to get lost) and comes over to him directly, remembering his face well enough.]

Well met, Eiyan. [She stays at a distance that makes the conversation easy enough despite the difference in height, seemingly not at all bothered by it and rather used to handling it.]

[spilled_ink]

[Eiyan greets the other with a smile, not particularly startled by the difference in height.]

Greetings. I take it you are Dís? The library is nearly empty at the moment, thankfully. Would you care to talk inside?

[pterosaur]

:Maybe. These aren't quite like your arms.:

[Still lying down, Janine shifts one wing. The claws on it make a padded, three-fingered sort of hand or foot. Laying like this she can't use them like hands at all, or almost. The structure of her arm is very inhuman.]

:If I can take up something in my beak, I can manage. Carrying stuff so I can get to it while still being able to eat is always an issue.:

[kurdith]

[He's fine with the potatoes.

It is, and he smiles]

And of course you'll be teaching her how to do things properly as best you can without sharing any of our secrets, hm? Or are you tired of teaching young ones?

[westboundwounded]

It was the capital of Eregion. West of the Misty Mountains. Only a few miles from Khazad-dûm.