An Unexpected Request [closed]

Hmm. A twist here, a bend there, the rasp of a sharpening stone over the metal of a simple bronze knife. He paused, regarded it a moment- and sent it hurling across his tent in disgust. He curled his knees into his chest, resting his head upon them to glare at the thing balefully. It wasn't that it was a bad blade- he was Akira, he was the Akira, he simply didn't make bad blades- but while it would serve some apprentice to hack away plants or cut through meat, there was no way the little thing would ever hold up in battle. But what else was he to do? He'd had to get creative in the forge recently, cobbling together whatever scraps of metal he could get his paws on, for though Lunarisclan was rich in metal it wasn't like those metals appeared magically in his workstation. He dreamed of gold and silver, of making beautiful, gleaming, deadly masterpieces- but hey, even iron would be nice, he could work with iron. If he had to make one more batch of bronze he just might drive himself insane.

And so he'd set off for the Grotte Agave early in the morning while the moon was still high, the little staff he called a weapon clutched firmly in his hand, but before he'd gotten more than three steps outside of the camp he'd been stopped. Not that he hadn't tried to charm his way out of it- he was, after all, the Akira- but that had just ended with him in front of their glorious leader. Which rarely ended well for him. At all. Who was she to say that the area was forbidden? It was his territory, wasn't it? And he was making these weapons for the good of her own people! But no, he was fragile, he was precious, he needed protection- and so he'd been unceremoniously dragged back to his tent with instructions to wait for someone to pick him up. Lovely.

He'd always worked better with the moon goddess smiling down on him, and so he'd fiddled with his projects until the small hours of the morning- not that it did much but foul his mood. Maybe if he'd had access to the forges, just maybe, but there was only so much he could do confined as he was. At some point he'd given up and collapsed back into his bedding, drifting into a fitful sleep... And that was the state in which the warrior found him when she tapped at his door. He launched himself into an upright position, a snarl already on his lips, before he remembered the events of earlier and sank back down with a sigh. Ugh, might as well get this over with. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He mumbled, somewhat grouchily, casting a quick eye over the wreck that was his living space and just as quickly deciding that he didn't care what the warrior thought of it. "Just watch your step. Some of that stuff's fragile." And sharp, but hey, if she was stupid enough to step on a sword that was her own damn fault for deciding she was superior enough to 'escort' him to a place that was rightfully his.

words: 540 tag: kira

Oh, for the love of the goddess. There was a reason that he didn't care for warriors, and he certainly didn't want to put up with one in his own personal nest, making her noisy way through all of his things. "Yeah, well, I serve my clan every day, thank you." His hand twitched as she stooped to examine one of his daggers, curling into a white-knuckled fist as she nearly stepped on one of his masterpieces. His voice rose in his throat, cutting off with a strangled noise as she barely avoided dirtying one of his prize pieces in a show of inhuman speed. "Or you could pay attention for once. Maybe." He sniffed, giving her something resembling a pout. "I work best like this, thanks. Let me do my job and I'll let you do yours, alright, sweetheart?" She was going to give him a nervous breakdown- since when were the clan's prized warriors so careless around pointy things? He wasn't going to take responsibility for her stupidity.

It just figured that she would only now pick up on his mood. "Trust me, darling, taking you along wasn't exactly my first choice either." He hauled himself to his feet with a slight grunt, nudging a broken arrow he hadn't quite gotten around to fixing out of the way as he went. He pushed himself past her, rescuing his half-finished sword from the path of her feet and leaning it lovingly against a wall before shoving his way past Kira and out the door. "Well, my little warrior, the sooner we get this over with, the better, eh?" He held the flap of the door open for her, bobbing a little sarcastic bow as he did so. "Lead the way, oh mighty one. Wouldn't want poor helpless little me getting lost on the way, hmm?" The slightest hint of his bitterness slipped out, in the sharpness of his voice and the way his mocking smile turned down just a bit at the edges. Though he hadn't been clanborn the clan life was a part of him- but even he couldn't help questioning his Leader's sanity for this particular plan. He just didn't see how this could end well. 

words: 369 tag: kira

Um. Was that an insult? Akira could feel the animosity in her voice, and yet the words that had come out of her mouth had sounded almost like a compliment. His nasty smile fell away for a moment as he blinked at her, unsure whether or not to be offended. "...Damn straight I'm valuable." He muttered after a moment's hesitation, looking away as his lack of a response made him awkward. He refused to look at her until she went off on her way, trailing behind her with his arms crossed protectively over his chest. He was careful to keep his distance, a slight pout on his face as he sulked behind her, hopping nimbly through the territory until they'd finally come to the entrance of the cave. He couldn't help the little snicker that bubbled up inside him as she hesitated at its mouth- "What's wrong, my dear warrior, afraid of a little rock?"- though he had to give her credit for so readily going in. 

Which was annoying in and of itself, seeing as he would have loved to make fun of her for cowardice. He was almost disappointed that she was capable of doing her job, go figure. He followed her, gingerly picking his way around the fallen equipment. "Ugh, idiots, leaving their crap everywhere." He'd never leave his precious tools where anyone else could stumble on them; why else would his den be so messy, if he wasn't carefully hoarding away his precious things? He produced his own hammer from the folds of his clothing- he'd grabbed it before they left his den, after all, he wasn't stupid- and he was just about ready to slink deeper into the cave and leave the intruding warrior behind when she brought up that dreaded metal. He shuttered visibly, nose wrinkling in distaste. "Agh, don't remind me." But the gauze? That was just overkill.

He whirled on her, ruby eyes flashing in irritation. "Look here, sweetheart, I've done this plenty of times and I don't need your so-called help." He scoffed at the bandages, at her pathetic attempts at blackmail- but though he was incredibly stubborn something about this girl told him that she was too. He glared up at her (ugh, why did she have to be taller than him? that so wasn't fair) and let his mouth twist in a sneer. "I am going to do my job how I see fit. Now be a good little guard and go sit in a corner somewhere, alright?" He turned on his heel, his long braid flicking out at her as he turned his back on the warrior- daring her to argue, even as his brushed the corners of her mind with his powers, looking for a way in. It didn't matter that on a normal day he would have brought the gauze with him anyway- he was not about to be out-stubborned by some stupid warrior girl with absolutely no idea about his craft.

words: 496 tag: kira

This girl was rather fiesty. Some part deep within him was grudgingly impressed with the warrior, seeing as she was one of the few to put up with him for this long before leaving him alone. No matter how annoying she might be. As for the matter of his own gauze, well, who was it that had dragged him out of his bed just before sunrise? It wasn't like he'd had that much time to get ready- and besides, he hadn't expected her to know the significance of it. It would have made him look weak to an outsider, wouldn't it? It was almost sort of nice to have someone to talk with who would actually fight back... That is, until she grabbed on his hair and yanked, simultaneously shattering his thought process and ejecting him from her head. He gave a strangled yelp and made to whirl on her- except for that she still had a hold on his hair, and all the sharp movement did was make her tug on it painfully.

He outright snarled, all hints of his playing gone in the face of her hostility. He turned to glare at her over his shoulder, thoroughly pissed that she dare defy him so blatantly. He redoubled the assault on her mind, trying to hack his way in by force... but of course that wasn't going to work. His abilities worked best when the other wasn't aware of them; there was no way he was going to be able to surprise her with the state she was in, and seeing the determination in her eyes he doubted his desperate, brute force assault was going to have much affect. If anything, she'd probably just pull his hair again- which was stupid, what was she, five? He gave up on his powers after a moment, glaring at her furiously. "Don't you dare tell me to shut up, you ungrateful brat." He squirmed in her grip, seeing her intent to press dominance and not liking it one bit, though the smaller male found it impossible without yanking his hair out of his head. "You ever hear of asking nicely, you brute?" He knew this was a fight he was going to lose- but he wasn't going down without at least a token fight.

words: 382 tag: kira

This was why he hated warriors; why on principle, he despised the arrogant, bloodthirsty group of know-it-alls that held so much power in his beloved clan. He met her, glare for glare, wanting nothing more than to snap at her and tell her exactly what he thought of her superiority. But she wasn't giving him the chance to get a word in edgewise, pressing herself close into his personal space while he did his best not to squirm, not to let her see that he knew in his heart he was defeated. His every instinct screamed to spit in her face, though the reminder of the wicked-looking sword at her side was enough to keep the small crafter from doing anything drastic. He snatched the gauze from her hand and turned his back on her, head held high, not dignifying any of her speech with a response. Binding his hands quickly with the ease born of practice, he stalked off toward the upper level without a word, paying no mind to how the chemicals thickened, threatening to choke him.

He refused to speak or even acknowledge his guardian for several long, tense minutes as he searched out the best vein of metal- finally settling on a softer iron, one that would take some time to harden but would be less brittle for it. It would also take less time to pry from the earth, which was all he was really focusing on, all his pretty excuses aside. He kneeled on the cold, hard floor, pretending to pay the warrior no mind as he gave his hammer the first swing. It wasn't his favorite task in the world, mining, but there was a comfort in the repetitive, brutal motion that helped to chase some of the violence out of his system. Two, three, four strikes of the hammer- and he spoke, quietly but intensely, still without acknowledging the other. "Stupid, arrogant creature. Like the world revolves around her." He knew very well she would be listening; he meant for her to hear, partly because he couldn't resist one last parting jab and partly because he really did want her to understand.

"Such a stereotypical, warrior-like response. Like us poor crafters aren't good for anything but serving them. Poor, weak, helpless crafters." His voice low and rough, full of some emotion he dared not try to identify, even as he swore to himself as his hammer missed its mark and nearly took off his thumb. "Not like there's been a war in ages! Just more hungry mouths to feed, really, loud and noisy and-" a hiss, as this time he really did manage to hit himself- "and useless." A remark he might pay for dearly, he knew, even as he hunched protectively over his work. His Leader must have had a temporary fit of insanity; this girl was driving him up the wall, certainly not helping production. He was confident, he was precise, he was a crafter, and his hands did not shake as he struggled to line his hammer up with his target. Goddess help him, how was he supposed to work like this?

words: 523 tag: kira

Ugh. He was a member of Lunarisclan, tried and true, but in that particular moment Akira could see some of the merit in the Solarisclan goddess- he had to admit it was tempting to ask for some of the goddess's brute strength, a clear sign to strike this fool down. What? He could hope, right? Seriously, this goody-two-shoes act was irritating to the extreme. Suddenly he was the bad guy? No, he didn't think so, no matter how his pride swelled and his ego preened at her almost-praise. Finally, someone who understood how valuable he was- or at least, that was what his subconscious was trying to say. He wasn't going to fall for her tricks, goddess, no. He had no quarrel with hunters, finding them less egotistical and much more immediately useful than their more violent counterparts, but of course voicing this opinion would require acknowledging her presence, which he had already determined he wouldn't do.

But there was no denying how acutely aware of her he was, as she slid down the cave wall not too far from where he was crouching. He could grudgingly admit that she might have a point with the goddess thing- their beliefs were one of the few things that every single clan member had in common- though the comment about him being impossible to deal with was annoying. He very nearly broke his ruse just to respond to that- just a simple "Yeah, warriors are like that, aren't they?" would have been satisfying- but he sensed that she wasn't done talking. Not that he cared, of course. He just didn't like it when she got all temperamental and started tugging on his hair. Yeah. And if he was preening a bit at all of these compliments, well, that was just a happy, coincidental bonus. Yup.

He was actually feeling pretty proud of himself for ignoring her this whole time- until she dared to attempt to critique him. Alright. There was definitely a line there. He turned to her with a gasp, eyes wide, playing at offended though he was sure that she would be able to tell that some of his playfulness had returned. "Hey, who's the crafter here, you or me?" He watched her technique with wide eyes, giving her a scoff and a disbelieving look. "Um, I like walking too, thanks. Least with my hands I can actually control it." Kind of. Mostly. Strength wasn't really his forte, alright? Not that it was her problem! At all! "Besides, I do work far more delicate than this on a daily basis. I'm not going to break my hand." Though when he opened his palm to examine it, it didn't escape him that his hand was shaking. Badly. Ugh, stupid warrior and her stupid irritating ways. Before he could say much of anything about it, though, she was moving away, stumbling uncharacteristically and mumbling to herself. He wasn't the best at reading social cues, but he was pretty sure that this was awkwardness...

Well, damn. What did he do? He turned to stare at her, just a moment, in an attempt to satisfy his curiosity- before turning his back once again with a grumble. He wasn't disappointed that she seemed to have grown tired of him- wasn't like she was the only good conversation he'd had in days or weeks, no, that was ridiculous. He fiddled around awkwardly for a few more minutes, even going so far as to kick off his shoes and try her little foot technique for a bit, though of course that only served to make him fumble around like an idiot and give up with a curse. Finally he let his hammer fall to the floor, resting his head between his knees with a frustrated huff. "Might as well take a break. If you wanted to head back to camp and grab a bite I wouldn't object. Just bring me back something, yeah?" Part of him hoped she would recognize that for what it was- the closest thing to a peace offering she was ever likely to get.

words: 681 tag: kira

...eww. This was almost... pleasant. Akira wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, other than it was strange and uncomfortable and he didn't know whether or not it would be bad for his image. What kind of image was he going for, anyway? Did he just want people to respect him, or leave him alone? He was busy enough attempting to figure this out that her question very nearly went unnoticed. The only response he gave was an absent scoff- after all, he wasn't usually this much of a klutz, it was just the early hour and his distracting company that was giving his usually-steady hands problems. He tried to go back to work even as she talked, but alas, it didn't seem meant to be, as she grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to his feet. "Hey! I was... working..." He trailed off as his hammer fell from his hand and hit the cave floor with a great clang. "Aww, come on now, I know you don't think much of that thing but there's no way I'm going to leave it and woah woah woah what in the goddess's name are you doing?"

He yelped as she peeled the gauze forcefully away from his hands. He dug his heels into the ground, hard, but it was to no avail as she dragged him bodily away. "Food is for the weak and the lazy, I can keep workin- aww, come on, people are staring, I can't be seen with a pers- and what do you mean there's no food?" His mouth had been running the entire time she dragged him back to camp, but at the revelation that the eating area was empty he wrenched his arm away from her and tried to regain some control of the situation- though he was equally stunned by her answer to the dilemma. "Um, no, I'm pretty sure standard protocol is to complain loudly until the hunters themselves fix it." She took off toward a nearby cave and he trailed behind her, whining loudly all the way. "If you pick up their slack you'll just encourage them!" He whined, sounding almost desperate- ugh, he was never going to win an argument with this girl, was he?

He finally caught up to the place where she had stopped, standing beside her with his arms crossed almost self-consciously over his chest. "We, um... I mean, you've been bossing me around all day, why stop now?" He looked away crossly, his lower lip jutting out in a bit of a pout. "I've already done my job. Maybe you can do something for a change." She didn't need to know that he had no clue what the good hunting areas were. His time was much too valuable to be spent on such menial tasks, thank you very much.

words: 474 tag: kira