Closed Orders Kept (Osd)

[Annalisa Marin]

15th of Winter, 513 AV

Nine days. It had been nine days since Anna had last set foot in the stifling heat of the Forge. Nine days since her life had nearly been ended due to her own madness. Nine days since a mysterious stranger had called off the golems and saved her life, though his reasons still remained a mystery. A lot to consider and ponder in those nine days, a more sane individual might have possessed reservations about returning here but Anna was hardly sane. Besides, she had an order to pick up from a certain slave here, an order that would be most useful in helping to cement her presentation to the Council.

Anna intended to specialize in weaponizing Reimancy via Glyphing, using her aptitude for two fields to bargain her way into a Wizard rank. Scrolls were naturally a part of that, but the sorceress wanted to show her ability to look beyond conventions to create more flexible designs. What had started as an odd experiment regarding rocks and Glyphs was now a rather solid foundation to build up upon. However while the rocks would be used, more to display the early phases of research, the items she would gain today would display refinement of that research.

Osd Messer, a human slave she'd met here was to have the ready by today in exchange for more frequent meals for a time. Anna was confident he'd have them by now, if not she was tossing him into the lava golems or not. They had detected her magic before so no magic for violence today, oddly enough they hadn't activated when she'd been shielding. So they apparently only responded to hazardous magic, like Reimancy or Voiding and likely when it was directed at a slave. Sophisticated, Anna idly wondered if they were designed like that or if they had a Trigger on them that responded.

The tall woman found her quarry and flashed the human smith a million watt smile, approaching him but staying just out of hammer swing range. He couldn't honestly still begrudge her for that little... misunderstanding, what person didn't get through their day without a little life threatening situation. He should be grateful, at least Anna hadn't killed him that day any other insane wizard probably would have. Indeed her mercy was rather too generous, honestly she sometimes surprised herself.

"Osd my good man, such a pleasure to see on this fine Sahovan day. Hard at work I see. How does the day find you?" Anna inquired, bothering with pleasantries because she knew it would irritate him.

She addressed him like an old friend might, her words geared towards generating small talk. It was especially amusing considering she had almost murdered him for really no reason, though the key word there was almost. She hadn't murdered him and wouldn't, at least not while he dwelled in the Forge. He was useful for now and might be useful later, a fact she constantly reminded herself of.

She had already displayed her madness before him, he had seen how deep the mental scars ran in her mind. As such a normal person might have expected her to be blunt and too the point, no real reason to keep up her façade of sanity. Anna however relished in the act for as long as she could keep it up, loving putting people off their balance and ever guessing. She wasn't going to get to the point of the matter that brought her here, rather she was going to make him do that for her.

Part of her wanted to see his distaste and fear, the knowledge of what broken mind she possessed and how easily she could be set off. She wasn't going to set herself off though, not today and not here after having experienced the Forge's hospitality. No, she was going to stay in control and stick to wordplay today. A mad woman she was, but she knew the line and the line was not to break Citadel law. Anything behind that was fair game in her twisted mind.

[Osd]

Osd was having a rather normal day. Yes, today was the day when that crazy broad was going to come back and pick up her order of five small hollow metal balls. Sure he wasn't looking forward to her little visit after her attempt on his life only nine day's ago. Still when living in sahova you got used to a lot of things fairly quickly. Attempts on your life with magic weren't one of them, but talking with people who were obviously completely of their rocker was. He would bet all he owned on the fact that the insane outnumbered the sane by a great margin. Who knows, maybe there was somebody insane enough to take him up on that bet. The monotony of his normal day was disrupted when he saw the crazy woman walk up towards him and flash him a smile. He felt a shiver go down his back. Now that wasn't normal, she was raving like a lunatic at him the last time they met. Why the shyke was she smiling and acting as if nothing happened before. Then it hit him. She was absolutely bonkers. Not understanding her behavior was a good thing, only the insane could truly figure out the reasons of the insane after all. In her mind throwing death threats around might just be completely fine in her shattered view of the world. Better not to try and but heads with her like the last time. That was exactly what set her of.. he thought at least. So he would just have to play along and hope she got out of hair quickly. He smiled back at the woman. “I wouldn't know if it was a good day or not. Haven't been outside today.” It had been seasons since he had been outside at all. Or even outside of the forge. “But I'll take your word for it.” Well he wouldn't normally take her word for anything. He doubted it was really worth much. “The day's been fine, been a bit ahead of schedule for a while. Lets hope They don't see it as slacking off.” He said with what he hoped was a natural shrug. Still, his nervousness wasn't really well hidden as he would like. At least the fact she kept out of “So you're here for the order then?” He pulled out five small balls, just big enough to fit in anna's hand. Give or take a bit. And put them on his work station off to the side so they wouldn't interfere with his work.“It's done just as you asked.” When anna didn't cut to the task at hand. He did. A passing golem deposited an empty bin next to him and took the full one with him. Not taking his eyes of the crazy woman in front of him he took the paper stuck to it. Read the order and began to work on it. He forced himself to keep working as he usually did. As if she wasn't standing right in front of him. He didn't know if paying her only a small amount of attention would backfire or not. It didn't last time, but since when were wizards and insane people predictable to normal ones.

[Annalisa Marin]

Anna's smile didn't lose its luster when he played along, likely he wanted to toe the line after her little display. The sorceress couldn't blame him, that was probably wise when dealing with a woman with powers beyond the ken of most mortals who also had a tendency of going off. His mannerisms betrayed his unease though, he probably wanted her gone from this place as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for him she had a bit of a plan she'd been working through, a means of possibly salvaging the situation or at least putting Osd further off his guard.

She was mad however even she realized she'd alienated a potential resource, not exactly wise. Anna had given it some thought as how best to rectify that while keeping the intimidation factor up, to have him wary but less hostile towards her when lucid. She'd come up with something but it was going to take a bit of doing, and a little bit of exercise for her ability to play on words.

Anna took the metal balls with her brilliant smile still on her face, but as she looked at him she forced the smile to diminish ever so slightly and allow a look of confusion to cross her face. The accomplished she seemed to think back over something, annoyed by something she noticed. It was a pity she was no hypnotist like Daren, toying with emotions like playing a musical instrument. All she had was her own wits for now, no force of Djed to back her up. Persuasion was so much more difficult than intimidation, as the latter could be accomplished with just a little bit of magic or threats. The other required a friendly disposition and more work.

"You seem a little uneasy, Osd. Tense. Was it something I did? I can't quite remember much after the Shielding, just walking out of here. I didn't do anything embarrassing did I?" The tall woman inquired, her tone as sincerely confused as they got with just the tiniest bit of embarrassed concern thrown in there for good measure.

Anna remembered everything that happened that day, down to the smallest of details. Madness however came in many forms, some complete and utter and some episodic. She just needed to lay the hook, confuse his perception of the events that occurred. She was no Daren Marlow, but she was hardly stupid or naïve towards the methods of manipulation. Was she a completely mad woman? Or was she only partially mad? Or something else entirely?

The woman made show of examining the work offered to her, admiring the size and the lightness. Yes, this would serve her purposes very nicely when the time came for her presentation to the Council of Five. Osd had earned his payment most certainly, a trip to the Syncrograph office was going to be needed very soon. It wouldn't drain her funds over much anyway. If this Glyphing construct worked out Anna was very certain she would have more work for the man, especially if he could deliver this good of a product for relatively cheap prices.

"Hmm... this is nice work. Exactly what I was looking for, you have my thanks Osd. I'll be certain to make a trip to the Synchrograph Office as part of the bargain." She said at length.

Gods, she was even thanking him. Certainly her mood was far detached from the homicidal insanity it had been before, almost like she was different person. She made certain to keep this hook as natural as possible, organic by its very nature. If she laid on this act too thick then he might see through the ruse.

Not that it was particularly hard to feign failure of recollection, her memories were altered many times by Daren Marlow. The Hypnotist was powerful, too powerful for his own good, he also made memory loss a frequent thing so she knew how to act when failing to recall something. Missing chimes, bells, even days fragments stolen at a time but still some recollection remained. She hadn't forgotten the meeting, but rather little slip into madness, like a blackout almost. A disconnect.

She regarded him a little uneasily herself, almost as though she were unsure of something. That he might know something she didn't know, that he had seen something he wasn't supposed to. Or something that made her uncomfortable. A normal reaction to memory loss or memory gaps, just like when Amaryllis stated something that Anna had no recollection of occurring. She'd had quite a bit of practice at this sort of thing.

[Osd]

Osd mentally dropped a string of swears when she mentioned he was being uneasy. Just like his mother had said, he was pretty shyke at the whole being subtle in social situations. When she mentioned that she didn't remember though that was cut short and he looked up from his work. Giving her a look that clearly said. 'are you pulling the shyke on me?' He quickly recovered playing it of with just a shake of his head. “Nothing another wizard hasn't done before. I wouldn't worry about it.” Granted, not every mage on the island tripped the security. But quite a few threatened the slaves with death or worse. So it wasn't really a lie. It didn't matter if she was lying to get back in his good graces or not. He wasn't letting his guard down around her again. Especially now that she put the doubt in his mind that she just might be cracked enough that her mind even began to lose bits of herself along the way. Or worse, that there are two people crammed into her head. The lack of space in there probably could explain quite a bit about why she was so twitchy as well then. Aside from the magic of course. He was glad when she scrutinized his wares instead of making conversation with him. Gave him the time to calmly read over the orders once more. To make sure no mistakes were made. A knuckle joint rods on the eye side had to be three long and on the hook side it had to be 6, 4 holes below and above, with above it had to be flattenend in a horizontal plane.. Probably an animator's order then. He grabbed a bar of steel with his tongs and put it in the forge to be heated. “Sahova's craftsmen always deliver good work.” Osd said. The reason why was obvious, the ones who didn't provide good work ended up as target practice or a test subject. He pulled the hot bar out and began to lengthen it out with quick but careful hits. When he had the desired length he bean to flatten out one part of the bar. Before piercing a hole in it and smoothing it out. He put the bar of metal back in the forge to heat it back up a bit, keeping the metal malleable. He then flattend out the behind part of the part and punched four holes In it, each in every corner. Then he rounded out the head of the joint he was working on. That was one third of this knuckle joint done. He picked up another piece of metal and heated it. “So did you have another order you wanted to make?” He just needed to keep his guard up and just kept walking on the line with this dangerous and completely nuts wizard.

[Annalisa Marin]

Distrust, she could still work with that, honestly it was expected considering her rather unstable state of mind. If it was even more unstable then Osd was well within his rights to be cautious around herm, guarded even. He was being careful, watching what he said to try and avoid setting her off. It was obvious as comparing how he was now to the rude mannerisms from before, so at least she'd put fear in his heart. Always a good thing to have, though the distrust bred was less than ideal. It could be used but it was less than ideal.

'Nothing another wizard hasn't done before.' An interesting choice of words, one that had any number of implications. The first one being that he followed the age old axiom of 'behind every wizard is a potential mad man'. Most common folk were highly suspicious of magic users, for good reason as there were many who lacked her pragmatism. There were those far more twisted than her, Daren being the prime example.

"I see, I'll put it out of my mind then. In any event, no, I don't require further orders at this time. However if all goes well with the Council I might very well have reason to make you a busy man. Not a free man, though I'm certain you are aware of the benefits of working for one with my connections." Anna said.

Yes, this slave would be very useful to her later especially now that he was likely piss scared that she'd fly off the handle and murder him for the smallest slight. Technically he'd still belong to the Citadel, Anna really only had two kinds of slaves she'd consider buying. Those used for testing, target practice if one was feeling blunt, and those for more... personal matters. Since he belonged to the Forge he would have access to good materials and Anna would be able to avoid official channels in some acquisitions.

That and hinting that Osd might be getting more frequent visits from her was intended to be an extra bit of security. He was useful, she wasn't going to kill him while he worked in the Forge and remained useful. Outside of that... Anna made no promises, least of all to herself. He'd inconvenienced her once by having golem's rise to his defense, that was grounds for most people to earn death at her hands at some point. It was a pity she lacked access to poison, would be a useful thing and avoid the intervention of those pesky golems. Ah well.

She looked upwards for a moment, searching idly for that strange man that had called off those golems. He either wasn't here today or just someplace she couldn't see, a pity as she would have liked to talk to him after that intervention. Perhaps she'd run into him another time, a time to interrogate him. She needed to know just who the petch he was and why he'd called off the golems. Was he an enemy of Daren's? An ally of Amaryllis?

"In any event, I'll be off. I have a feeling I'll be seeing you soon Mr. Messer. Very soon." The tall woman said, striding away from him with her acquisitions.

Already she was putting him further out of mind, in favor of just what Glyphs she was going to place upon the balls. Verbal triggers most likely, at least for now, perhaps trying her hand at etching the Glyphs into them? With these, the rocks, and a few scrolls her aptitude wouldn't be in doubt, she'd be a full Wizard yet. Of course, the main thing she wanted with that Lab wasn't apprentices, or slaves, or a massive workspace but rather a bed. A real bed, not those piss poor mats. She'd give every Miza to her name for a bed.

OOCWell, that should be it for me. Not much to lengthen out this thread.

[Osd]

Osd nodded at her comment about her connections. Though he wasn't putting much stock in what she was promising. She was cracked completely, the chance she was going to ever become anybody with any kind of influence wasn't very sure. Not to mention she just might off him to get rid of a debt in her cracked mind. At least she didn't require any further orders at this time. So he wouldn't have to deal with her. He heated up the next iron bar and once more hammered it to the desired length. Then he put it right up on the anvil and hit it on the top. Creating a flat end. Like the top part of a nail, only bigger. He punched the required holes in it. He then punched a hole through the other end. The next part was tricky though. He needed too split the end in half horizontally without damaging the hole in it. Pull them appart enough so that the other part would fit in between it and then round them out so it could easily move in between. When she mentioned he would be seeing her soon he jut hoped it was some weird mind game she was trying to do and that she wasn't going to show up again very soon. “Yes. See you then” He managed to say in response to her. He kept a weary eye on her the entire time as she was leaving the forge. When he was sure she was gone he let out a sigh of relief and focused back on his work. A lot more at ease now that she was gone.

oocYup, extending this thread won't have much of a point

[Mirage]

Annalisa

Socializing

+2

Lores :

• N/A

Item's Obtained :

+5 small, hollow metal balls

Osd

Socializing

+2

Lores :

• N/A

Truth Hidden by a Mirage :

Great thread you two! You may each add +5 GP to your ledger for making a new PC contact/enemy! Also in the future Osd when you make an order for a player please do the solos to actually craft them. I'll let it slide this time because I am sure you simply didn't know, but from now on know I expect it! Besides it gives you a good boost to your Blacksmithing . PM me if you have any questions! Sorry there were not that many points, or any real lores to be found this go around. Happy Writing!