Completed [The Forge] Luck Is Indeed Strange (Osd)

[Rachel Messer]

Sunberth Streets, 15th of Bell, 27th of Summer, 504 A.V

A blond young girl was trudging through the dusty street of Sunberth, wearing a stained blue dress one-piece dress with a hooded brown coat covering her body and features, her green eyes watched cautiously for her surroundings, her right hand was clutching a small piece of parchment. The girl named 'Rachel' was on an errand to a blacksmith's shop, she was tasked by Calyn to order some new silverware for the Orphanage since most of what they had was unfit to be used any longer.

In this particular case, Rachel actually volunteered to go, seeing Calyn busy with so many tasks, the caretaker initially advised her to stay since only twenty days ago, she was almost kidnapped into slavery by two drunken men, narrowly escaping the fate because of the deeds of a boy named 'Osd'. I want to meet him again... The girl thought as her feet carried her forward, too bad she didn't get the chance to ask where he lived, he already left when she woke up. The girl shook her head, she needed to focus on the task, Sunberth streets were always dangerous and a girl her age was prime target for kidnapping, into slavery most of the time. She would not make the same mistake of letting her guard down.

After a few moments, she stopped, arriving before what appeared to be a blacksmith's workshop, this must be the right place. Rachel walked up to the front door and knocked several times, "Anybody home? I'm uh... I'm here with an order!" She shouted then waited until someone would open the door.

[Osd]

Osd whistled a small out of tune dainty as he hammered the hot rod he was working with into shape. He was making nails. For that it needed to be as long as possible while still being half a pinkie thick over it's diameter. He would then cut it into smaller pieces, flatten one end and make a point on the other one. Making nails was something he had been doing for ages now. It was the first thing he ever made and he would continue to make those things in huge quantities till he got an apprentice of his own. Which could still take a few more years at the very least. With practiced ease he cut the red hot steel rod into multiple pieces with a chisel. “Oi osd, how are those nails coming on? Id like to fix the leak in our roof before summer is over.” Osd rolled his eyes at his master. “They're coming, only a rod or two and we got a box full of em. Probably enough to get the roof fixed. Did you get the wood yet?” His teacher shook his head, a grin on his face. When osd saw that grin he already knew what was going through the old man's head. “Lemme guess, that's what I gotta do after the nails are all done aren't I?” His teacher nodded, causing osd to let out a groan. “Lazy old man.” His teacher let out a laugh. “Well you still got young legs, you could stand to use them more then this poor old man. Now finish up those nails and get going will you?” osd nodded. Getting back to work. Which was interrupted by a timid knock on the door moments later. “Yeah! Coming.” He shouted back before his master could say anything. He finished up the last part of nail he was working in, cooled it off and put his tools down. He went towards the door. He pulled the door open. A careless comment already ready. But he bit his tongue when he saw who was on the other end of the door. A small blonde kid. The same small blonde kid he saved some day's ago. “Rachel?” The lack of rudeness didn't last long though. “The door was open you know. Could have come in any time. Just like in a normal shop.” He pointed out as he stepped out of the way, letting her come inside. “So what did you need. I heard something about silverware. Didn't hear a lot through the door.” He didn't really know what to say about the last time. Should he ask how she was doing? Bring it up and see if she was really doing okay? In the end, osd decided that it probably was better to let it rest. If she wanted to talk about it she would bring it up.

[Rachel Messer]

The girl heard a voice from behind the door, signaling that someone was coming to answer the door, her green eyes widened, not because of the sentence, but the nature of the voice, "It can't be?" She questioned herself, she recognized that voice, it was eerily similar to Osd's voice. Rachel's anticipation grew, eager to find out whose voice it was.

The door opened, revealing an older boy with dirty blond hair and honey-colored eyes, unmistakable, this boy was definitely Osd, especially when he called her name, "Uhm, eh... hello, Osd," she fidgeted awkwardly, tilting her head down to hide her features further behind her hood. Who would have thought she'd meet her savior in a smithy? Rachel just nodded silently as she entered the workshop.

Once inside, she removed her head and lightly shook her head, shoulder-length blond hair cascading down her head, the young girl fidgeted for a few ticks before she answered him, "W-well, Madame Calyn wants to order some silverware," She gave the parchment to Osd, in it were the orders detailing the purchase of twenty pairs of spoon and fork, "I uhm... also bring the mizas for the order," Rachel procured a small leather pouch filled with mizas.

The girl averted her eyes from the old man, likely the owner of this workshop, focusing on Osd instead, "So uhm... you work here?" her question sounded awkward, like there was something she wanted to say, but couldn't say, replacing it with common questions, "Who's he?" She gestured to the blacksmith, "Your mentor?"

[Osd]

Osd nodded as the little girl gave the slip of the order. It took him a while to decipher the handwriting. All neat and elegant writing. Not the rough and tumble chickencratch he usually had to read through and had himself. “Right, twenty spoons and forks.” He accepted the money bag and opened it rummaging through it. 'A copper each for forty. Ten to a silver means four silvers.' he shook four silver miza's out of the money bag before handing it back. “That's about it, the order should be ready in a few day's. We still have some other work to do at the moment. Some more orders, a damned leak in the roof.” He pointed out the leak. Then again, this was sunberth, if you found a building without a leaking roof or sketchy construction it would be like finding a diamond inside a pile of shyke. Pretty damn rare. “Move that up too tomorrow Osd. It's a orphanage order. I always bump them up in the queue.” At that Osd gave his teacher an annoyed look. “Fine fine, But I'm not the one whose goign to explain the slight delay to the other customers. I like my ribs unbroken you know.” He grumbled. He turned back to Rachel. “I work here yeah. It's not a job most people would like. Seeing that it's hot, dirty and tough work. But I like it. More then beating the crap out of others to steal their miza's at least.” He said with a shrug wiping his dirty hands on his leather apron, the black streaks on it proving his point. “Yeah, He's my teacher, boss and more or less adoptive parent all rolled in one. Though he does a pretty damn shitty job of the latter one at times.” He said the last part louder, so that his teacher would have heard it for sure. The snort of laughter that followed confirmed that he really heard it. Osd just shook his head, though osd was smiling slightly.

[Rachel Messer]

Rachel just kept silent, fidgeting her feet together as Osd took care of Calyn's orders. The Orphanage ordered twenty pair of spoons and forks, that was a lot in the girl's opinion. She had no sense of monetary value so Rachel couldn't give a proper reaction whether four silvers was a high or low amount. She just smiled sheepishly, taking the pouch back then put it back beneath the folds of her coat. The girl felt like it was not her business to question the workshop's policy so she just nodded when the blacksmith moved up the Orphanage's order.

The girl was admittedly worried about the customers breaking Osd's ribs, she took his words seriously, Rachel whispered to him, "They will not really break your ribs, right?" Hoping the boy was joking. The girl completely agreed with Osd, his job was so much better than crimes, at least he contributed something to society, not leeching off other people's hardwork. Criminals disgusted her, but she was just a child, powerless in the city ran by gangs and thugs. Rachel was envious to Osd, he had a parent, an adoptive parent, but still a parent, while she had no one, Madame Calyn barely had enough time to personally take care of each children. The snorts of laughter indicated he was joking though.

"Uhm..." After a few chimes, Rachel finally built up the courage to speak her mind, the one she had been holding back, "Osd, about... earlier," She assumed he know what she meant by 'earlier', "I don't want it to happen again, s-so... can you teach me how to fight? I... I'm afraid if you're not there then..." Priskil would always find a way to help her, but it wouldn't hurt for her to defend herself, "Please, at least tell me how to hit people so they uhm... get knocked out".

[Osd]

"Depends on the bastard that complains that his order is late. Some just throw a hissy fit, some accept it and some others get violent. It doesn't happen often that people get voilent. But when they do, they only do it once." He said with a shrug. Not saying why they only did it once. But being where they were and how most people here dealt with thieves or murderers when it concerned their own business. "But usually I just need to plow through a whole lot of whining and people who think they are better then others. Wears on the nerves to hear their annoyed whining. But I'll live through it." He said with a shrug, not noticing the fact she found the idea of getting one's ribs broken to be slightly strange or worrying. It was sunberth, everybody fought here. Then she brought up what happened day's ago. He didn't need to be told again. It was hard to forget what she said. HIs teacher knew that it was serious and for once didn't but in with a joke or sarcastic comment. He let out a sigh. "I know it looked otherwise, but I'm a horrible fighter. I never got any training on how to fight. I just fought and winged it. I don't think I can really teach you anything." He said gently. "If you wanna learn how to fight, well all I can really think off is to actually fight. Insult a few people till the fists come out and just try to put the other one down before he does the same to you."

[Rachel Messer]

The girl looked down, feeling pity for Osd, knowing he had to deal with violent customers. How cruel and unnecessary, beating up a merchant just because some late deliveries, but then, Rachel thought about his words that violent customers could only do it 'once'. That meant, Osd indirectly told her that violent customers would not be tolerated, perhaps they were kicked out and black-listed, after a deserving session of punishment most likely. The blond girl smiled at him, chuckling lightly, "You beat them up, don't you? Ehehe, bad Osd~" She gave him a playful jab on the shoulder, though Rachel would prefer not to fight, she knew violence was sometimes necessary in upholding one's ideals, justice without power would be meaningless.

"I agree..." Rachel's voice trailed off, saddened by how arrogant and condescending people could be, they never cared for anything other than themselves. So blinded by their own vanity, no one noticed the frail old woman sitting by the sidewalk was actually Priskil, no one but her. Her encounter with the Goddess of Hope directly changed her life, including her personality, Rachel found herself less selfish than before, also a heightened guilty feeling every time she desired to do something bad, it might be just her but nevertheless, she was thankful for Priskil's aid. However, hope alone wouldn't be enough, one needed actual power to back it up, evil would not bow down with mere words alone, those two drunks clearly didn't relent when Rachel kindly asked them to let her go, Osd's actions forced them to.

"Uhm... I can't fight at all," If Osd was a horrible fighter, then Rachel was an abysmal combatant, she even hesitated to throw a desperate punch. This needed to change, she must at least learn how to properly attack in panic, no matter how nonsensical it might seemed. Osd's idea of 'teaching' her was horrible, she wasn't going to insult random people to pick a fight them, that was suicide and wrong. The girl didn't tell the boy though, she lets him speak. The insulting plan was out of the question, Rachel fidgeted with her dress and sheepishly looked onto the ground, "At least, tell me how to defend myself, f-for example, c-can you uhm... play the 'bad' guy? What if you attack me, what should I do?" Yes, playing roles was acceptable, she hoped the boy would accept.

[Osd]

“Me and him.” He pointed towards his teacher. “You'll be surprised how many people back off when they get a hot piece of metal shoved in their face.” He said with a wide grin on his face. His teacher however had been shaking his head at the idea he just threw out a few moments before. “Osd, not everybody is as crude and rude as you. Granted, most still join in a brawl just for fun when one happens. But I don't think rachel really likes fighting just for fightings sake. Unlike you.” Osd gaped a bit, looking to rachel, then to his teacher and then back to rachel. Seemingly having a hard time to grasp that somebody wouldn't like to have a brawl now and then. “Yeah.. that complicates things a bit.” He tried to come up with another plan. But his train of thought was interupted when rachel spoke up and asked if maybe he couldn't play the bad guy. Playing out a brawl as it were. It just was that osd was busy at the moment. He needed to forge the nails, get the wood from the carpenter. Help fix the roof with it. Then he needed to go back to the orders. Sure he could squeeze it in somewhere, but that would cut into his free time. “I think that's a great idea.” his teacher answered for osd. Causing him to whip around. “You do? What about work?” “Osd. You aren't going to teach her for free. In exchange for you playing the bad guy. She'll help out a bit with some of the chores. She's pretty small, but so are the planks you're supposed to get. She can help out a bit with fixing the rooftop as well. Both you and her are light. So there is less of a chance that the roof will give out with you two then with us two.” Osd though it over. That would make his job go a lot faster. “Yeah, you got a point.” He turned back to rachel. “Sure I'll play the bad guy whenever you wanna practice. I'll just finish this batch of nails.” He got back to his forge and got back to work. Efficiently going through the bar of iron and forming them into nails with quick and strong blows.

[Rachel Messer]

Now that the older boy explained it, the girl could see why those unruly customers backed away. No sane man would want to have a face full of hot metal, Rachel shuddered at his words though, imagining Osd threatening older men with a hot piece of metal was... disconcerting to say the least. Still, he did what must be done, it was either that or those customers would end up being violent, robbery and mugging were commonplace in this anarchic city after all. "Well... I hope they learned their lesson, Osd." She tried to give reassurance that his actions were right, but her voice still showed hesitation.

"Ahaha..." She gave both teacher and apprentice an awkward chuckle, she agreed with the blacksmith, that picking fights randomly was one sure way to get oneself horribly maimed or worse, killed. She couldn't bring herself to directly confront Osd about it for it was the very same attitude that perhaps drove the boy to go save her despite facing the prospect of fighting against two adult men, drunken men, but still stronger than Osd. In the end, he won though, but his luck couldn't last forever... Rachel just hoped that Priskil would watch over him. Thankfully, Osd understood his teacher's words, she just nodded silently when he mentioned complications.

"Eh, really?" She couldn't believe it at first, she had the thought that her idea of Osd pretending to be a bad guy was rather nonsensical. It relieved her to see that Osd's teacher gave his consent, the girl giggled then nodded at him, "Sure! I'll help around here!" She immediately agreed, it was better than lounging around in the Orphanage, doing nothing. The girl was ecstatic to find Osd agreeing to the plan, she wanted to say about her being ready right then and there, but it seemed he wanted to do some work first, "Okay, we'll do it once you finish those nails, Osd" She could comfortably call his name now, it was a good sign.

The girl would wait until Osd finished his work before approaching him, green eyes eagerly waiting for instructions, "So, what should I do first if a bad man comes after me?"

[Osd]

Osd looked up from his work with a wide smile on his face as he heard Rachel's question. “They sure did! A burned out eye usually is a pretty good reminder for any kind of lesson.” He said with a grin on his face before turning back to his work. With quick and skilled blows he turned the rod he had been holding in a bunch of smaller nails. It was quite obvious he did that particular job quite often. After the bar was done he put his tools back in their place, dropped the nails in their box and wiped his sooty hands on his apron. “eh that's an easy question. First of you gotta figure out wither you wanna run or you wanna stand your ground and fight.” He said as he continued to tidy up his workspace. “Don't feel to confident in the decision though. Sometimes stuff just happens and you gotta hightail it out there when you thought you could handle it. Like when the buddies of the guy you're beating down show up.” He said giving his workspace one last lookover. Deciding it was clean enough for now at least. “After you know if you wanna run or if you wanna fight. Then you know how to approach the fight. If you wanna run you just wanna confuse the other guy long enough so you can get away and find an escape route. If you wanna fight till the bitter end you usually start looking around to find something to bludgeon him with before he does the same.” He said in a matter of fact tone, he turned towards his teacher. “We'll use the backyard for a bit if that's alright with ya.” His master nodded. “Sure, just don't trample the flowerbeds. I've got enough trouble trying to get them to grow without two youngers stomping all over them.” Osd rolled his eyes and motioned to Rachel to follow them. He led them through the forge, through a part of the house build right against the forge, if she looked around it would be easy to notice that everything was neatly ordered and while most things that weren't made out of metal were worn and old but still, they were cared for. Another glaring thing was a large hole in the roof. It was obvious why they had been talking about getting wood and making nails. After a short walk they ended up in the backyard. It was a bit of a small and rather sorry affair. Most of it dirt and grass, but at the side there were two flowerbeds where small and hardy flowers were blooming. Most likely just seeds randomly taken from the wilds and planted. There wasn't any order or pattern in them. “Right, so where were we.” Osd said as he stood in the middle of the backyard, motioning rachel to join him at the middle. “Oh right. Fight or flight.” He cracked his knuckles and circled around rachel standing between her and the door. Blocking of the road of escape. “Lets see how good you are at the running away thing. Get to the door, you'll lose if I floor ya!” He said with a chuckle. He didn't let her make the first move. As soon as he explained what he wanted of her he already took a step towards her punched at her face. He was holding back as good as he could though, he didn't wanna hurt her. It was just practice.