Muse [Mikhail & Leif] - FINISHED

[FeliKal]

It was a drippy day- Rain from aboveground drizzled through the roof of the cave that usually admitted sunlight, soaking the ground in uneven patches. Where the roof of the cave obscured the sky, dampness seeped through the soil to drip down on unsuspecting passers-by, effectively dampening the ground with the help of what wind whistled in through the cracks.

Most of the citizens of Gweillan were holed up in their houses, or in this case, sheltering in the tavern. In a corner by a window, Leif sat with the contents of his bag spread around him. The bar was unusually quiet, perhaps because no one wanted to venture out in the rain. He suspected though, that the Seascape bar would be packed. Settled comfortably with his back against the wall, window to his right, Leif picked up a small knot of wood and began to peel away at it with his knife. This was the third in an installment, tiny likenesses made from varied materials. A wire figure of Renly, a page with a few sketches of the tavern owner and his helper from different angles, some rough impressionist-style watercolors of various cats in the room, and now this wood carving. White ash, slowly coming together into an upright figure. Broad of shoulder, with shorter legs, and a long thin tail that curved around to rest at it's paws. And a single notch in one tall, pointed ear.

Yet however hard he wracked his mind, going over and over the form of the cat in his mind, Leif could not remember quite how his face had looked. He carved and tweaked, brow furrowed in concentration, until at last he gave a frustrated sigh and set the carving (rather un-gently) down. After staring at it for a good few seconds, he reached over to his bag and rummaged around. From deep in one of the corners, he pulled out a rag of black cloth, tore off a small section, opened two holes in it with his sharp claws, and dropped it over the figure's head. Then he sat back and heaved a deep breath.

[Muddy]

A cloaked figure weaved through the mass of cats, his face was shielded by his mask , yellow eyes glinting. Most of Gweillan were in their homes, resting, enjoying a nap, sleeping through the rain, but alas... the Shade Kaiser's job never ceased. He had been traveling between taverns, keeping his ever vigilant eyes open for illegal gambling. He made his way to the back of the tavern and took a seat at a deserted table and slammed his blade in to the wood allowing it to stand upright.

Removing his hood but allowing his fabric mask to remain Mikhail scanned the bar, it had been a slow day. No arrests, nothing. Pathetic. He knew somewhere in the empire, someone was doing something wrong... but where. His gaze rested on the individual carving what appeared to be a figure with a hood. An artist? Mikhail used to have all the time in the world to appreciate fine art, and now that he had been Kaiser for some time those invigorating splurges of appreciation where stretched far and thin. He remembered back to when he worked for a blacksmith and he would craft fine roses with the scrapped swords and pots. A deep rumble sounded in his throat at his magnificent nostalgia feeling.

Mikhail shook his head, he had no time to reminisce. He had to keep focused, stay alert. Crime could happen at any moment, and he would be ready for it. He did however keep his eye on the carving, what marvelous workmanship...

[FeliKal]

The dull thunk of a knife into tabletop was not enough to rouse Leif from his concentration, - after all, he too was putting steel to wood, albeit with different intent - but the low grumble the male emitted did catch his attention. He looked up from contemplating his work and let his flicking ears guide him to the source of the sound. To find such a large, intimidating male watching him was a bit of a shock, and not an entirely pleasant one. His focus shifted from the broad, sloped shoulders, to the deep rip down one ear, to the mask that obscured the tabby’s face. Staring from behind the black cloth at him though, were a pair of hard, yellow-green eyes. After a moment, Leif realized that the male was not actually staring at him, but rather, at his work.

Feeling slightly relieved by the fact, the wanderer flicked his tail and called out good-naturedly, “Like what you see?” He grinned at his slightly suggestive words, and added, “Don’t be shy, if you’re interested, come on over.” Maybe this could land him a sale, and a few extra coins in his paw for when times were tough. Digging into his bag, he pulled out the rest of the trinkets he had, including a couple more wooden carvings, a bell thing (he wasn’t really sure what it was, but hey, bells were cool), and a tin mouse that wound up and rolled forward on its own. Showing off, he turned the key in the mouse’s back and let it wobble across the uneven wooden flooring.

[Muddy]

Looking up to eye the wanderer whom had spoken Mikhail ran his iron full finger in in the grooves of the wooden table. His ear flicked at his words. The tom seemed innocent enough, not likely to be a troublemaker, or criminal. But his assumptions could be wrong. He stop up and plucked the blade from the table, keeping it gripped in his left paw as he made his way up to the bar to observe the carving. "You have great talent" he remarked admiring the detail.

He pulled the mask from his face and let it hand around his neck as he looked down at the scuttling mouse. " Impressive." he truly missed being able to work with metals, not tin perhaps, but iron, steel, or even more rare metals.

[FeliKal]

Leif grinned cheekily at the stranger, replaying with an sly, "No need to flatter me, sir." The windup mouse hit a bump in the floor and flipped over, its rough-hewn wheels spinning futilely, and the wanderer snagged it to let it run out in his paw. Setting it back down, he exchanged it for his sketchpad, which he nestled in his lap, fresh page exposed. Pen in paw, he began to shade out the rippling strength of those broad shoulders, gaze drifting between his subject and proper eye contact.

As his paws moved, he spoke. "You seem like you're pretty familiar with this sort of thing. Or at least, pretty interesting in it. You ever tried your paw at carving? Painting?" His thoughts flicked to the cats' apparent fascination with the ashwood figurine, comparing it to the thinly veiled nostalic feel he gave of at seeing the tin mouse. "Or maybe you're more of tinkerer kinda guy, hmm?" He locked eyes with the now-unmasked male, appraising his reaction. Then he continued, almost as though there was no change in subject, "Don't think I introduced myself. I'm Leif, wanderer, part-time artist. And you?"

[Muddy]

Mikhail flicked his ear in response and eyes the sketch pad. This tom was quick to create, that was for sure, and had a variety of talent. He watched each stroke of the pen, each line so carefully nestled in with the others creating the outline. He cleared his throat " Flattery should be given when real talent is present."

He looped the blade and chain over his shoulder and took a seat next to him. " I admire a good piece of art yes. I am a former apprentice to a blacksmith, and i still dabble with creating weapons, but i also worked with crafting archways, roses ect ect" he explained clicking his iron ring on the bar " I crafted this myself, my blade as well. I don't have much time to do so now anymore" he said with a twitch of his stumpy tail. "Ive never worked with wood, nor painted" he looked into Leif's eyes, scanning for any falter of truth, a common habit of his " Mikhail...." he added the second part in a whisper "Shade Kaiser"

[FeliKal]

The wanderer flicked his tail but didn’t respond to the other’s male’s reassertion of his talent (more flattery?). Secretly though, he was quite pleased. It was one thing to have people willingly buy his work, and quite another to have someone tell him, with such genuine honesty, that he had talent. And what was an artist’s work for, if not to be enjoyed? Well, okay, that was a bit of a stretch, given that this was a hobby, and done mainly for his own enjoyment. He had to have some way to let all his ideas out of his head, after all.

He was quite interested though, to hear about the stranger’s experience in blacksmithing. That was something he had never gotten much of an opportunity to practice, having had little access to any forge, even while he was still at home. (His father was fiercely protective of his smithery, and only allowed his son to use it with close supervision. Naturally, he was often busy, so free time in which he could supervise his son’s work was rare.) “Really? Aesthetic metalworking is tricky, or so I hear. But you certainly look like the blacksmith type,” he joked. “I would say that’s plenty impressive too. I’ve never been great with hammers.” Probably because he had weak arms, but Leif would never admit that. His ears twitched slightly at the quiet introduction, barely catching the last words over the sound of rain hitting the window. “Well, Mr. Mikhail sir, it’s certainly a pleasure to meet you. I don’t suppose you get a lot of time to play with metal though, with a job like that.” Doubly a shame, because Leif had been hoping he could wheedle a couple lesson out of the male.

[Muddy]

Mikhail picked his blade up and set it on the table, running his hand along the dull edge. " Blacksmithing is quite difficult, but for those who work at it long enough, the things you can create... And type has nothing to do with it" he said lookin gover Leif "It's the heart, thats what my mentor taught me." He looked around the bar to make sure everything was still at peace. "Yes it is true, after i joined the Shades i had to relinquish my job, but i still have my old forge and smelter. Perhaps sometime i can show you?" he put his blade away and picked at his teeth with a claw " When im not working that is. "

[FeliKal]

Though he wasn't sure how much he believed in the whole 'heart' thing Mikhail was saying, the wanderer was quite in agreeance with the rest of it. He certainly recalled all that lifting and hammering and poking in and out of blazing fires as somewhat tricky. As the Kaiser spoke of giving up his job, Leif's hopes of Mikhail giving lessens fell.

And then, almost as though the male had read his mind, he offered. Leif's ears perked, the prospect of learning something piquing his interest as always, and he purred a hearty, "That'd be great!" His tail flicked, sweeping along the ground and sending a few stray items skittering away, as anticipation prickled through his fur. "Any time you're free, just come and find me. I'm never too busy, since I'm just a jobless scoundrel." He grinned at the Shade, thrilled to have made such an acquaintance. This day was turning out to be just spiffing! Chatting up the Shade Kaiser, who was willing to teach him some of the finer points of blacksmithing... "On second thought," he meowed, thoughtfully, "I'll find you. S'easier that way. Got any days off coming up?" Given that he could be anywhere between Gweillan and Rithengar on a single given day, it was probably much simpler for him to go hunting for Mikhail instead of the other way around.

[Muddy]

Mikhail traced the grain in the wood and nodded slowly, it was always nice to see a cat so inspired, he just wished more cats would be like him. " Yes, well unfortunately my job is a tad bit demanding... Crime never stops" he held up his paw to beckon over a drink. It was difficult, having to work with criminals, But the Shade Kaiser rellished his time using... his own methods to punish. "If i have any time off i will try to find a courier to send you a message. " he meowed, picking up a drink with his massive paw and taking a good swig of ale. He should probably get going, too much time had been spent chatting it up with the wanderer, but he did enjoy the company.

[FeliKal]

Leif let a small, slightly sympathetic, purr of agreement rumble in his chest. “There are rather a lot a’ thieves in this town,” he meowed. “I imagine keepin’ up with them all is quite a challenge.” His tail twitched just thinking about tracking down all the possible troublemakers, and he vaguely considered if becoming a Shade might not have been an interesting occupation. But no, even then, too much repetition. He was much happier as a wanderer, free to go where he chose, tied down by no one and nothing.

To the large male’s proposal, Leif nodded his affirmation. “Sounds like a plan, then.” Clasping his paws and stretching them out in front of them, he gave a wide, awakening yawn and glanced out the window. Already the sun was beginning to flicker through the clouds, shedding watery light into the cave. Sweeping his trinkets towards him, the wanderer concluded that Mikhail was probably not interested in buying anything off him. That was alright, he had enough coin to get by, and he would feel bad pawning anything off onto a cat he had befriended. Stuffing everything into his shoulder bag, Leif turned back to the Shade Kaiser. “Well, it was lovely to meetcha, but I oughta be heading out now,” he said casually. “And I’ll bet you need to get going now. A Shade’s work never ends, eh?” He smiled cheerily.

[Muddy]

Mikhail nodded again in agreement. He along with the pompous air headed Legionaries were the only line of defense against the most revolting of crimina;s. Mikhail had taken an oath of his own, to punish each and every one of the criminals he would meet. " Quite a challenge in deed, especially the Guilds and all of their vermin" he spat a little and took another swig of his drink.

He looked over at Leif and twitched his whiskers "I will find a way to contact you as soon as i have time off." he promised pulling his mask and hood up to conceal his face, yellow eyes glinting. He reached into a leather pouch and pulled out a small pile gold shillings " If i may, I ask you to create me a piece for my den. Does not matter what form of art it is. I trust your artistic ability." he said giving a slight bow before grabbing his blade and moving through the crowd to the exit. Back to work.

[FeliKal]

The wanderer was just getting to his paws, nodding along to Mikhail’s words and silently wondering what the male had experienced that made him so hateful towards the Legionary. Being a casual friend of the Lord of the Legionary himself, Leif felt mildly offended, but more curious than anything. He nearly asked about it, but the next words that the Shade uttered made him raise his eyebrows in surprise, all mundane thoughts banished.

“A piece for your den?” he echoed, secretly delighted at the prospect. “Anything I wish...?” But the male was already walking off, leaving behind him a small pile of coins. The wanderer grinned, scooping them into his paws and stuffing them into his bag. For several minutes he simply stood, a thoughtful look on his face, eyes slightly unfocused. Then, abruptly, he plopped himself back on the ground, pulled out his sketchbook, and began to draw. All the while, as his paws moved furiously across the paper, he wondered with half his mind where the Shade Kaiser was planning to go off to.

Not that it really mattered to him. He had a commision to complete.