What the... Oooh! Who: Kyle, Mazie and Adam Where: Lavel When: Morning
Kyle swam into consciousness feeling disorientated, lost and… cold. He pulled the itchy blanket further around his form and tried to cuddle up more - only to find that there wasn’t a body within easy reach. He grumbled. He didn’t like this. And the bed was hard. Far harder than he remembered. Prising his eyes open, he looked around. “Oh fuck,” he cursed. Not another damn day where he woke up somewhere he certainly didn’t go to sleep. “Seriously?? I have had enough of this bullshit!” he exclaimed, jumping up and looking around - and then down at himself. “And what the hell am I wearing???” Some kind of oversized, knee length white shirt and baggy, been washed too many times, brown woollen leggings and who the hell wore something like that outside of a Shakespeare play anyhow.
The yelling woke Adam out of a deep, sated slumber. Though because it was yelling he jolted out of his bed, not realizing it was smaller and he fell off one side of it, winding up flat on his face on the floor with a groan. Only it wasn't the floor. It was ground. "What is..." He pushed himself up, looking around. "What the hell?"
With all the racket, it was hard for Mazie to be asleep although she'd really prefer that. She'd stayed up way too late trying to get internet access on her computer and so when she woke with a jolt because of the yelling, she was already pissed. The stupid, bad straw mat she was sleeping on didn't exactly make matters better, nor did the fact that she was also in a long, grungy tunic and stupid, patchwork leggings. "What the fuck is all this about?!" She asked, angrily glaring over at the two loud boys because, despite not knowing who they were, she immediately assumed they must know something.
Kyle looked between Adam - thank god he was actually still here, one less thing for him to worry about, but why was he on a better… bed was probably too much of a word, but it was still better than the straw, itchy, whatever the hell it was that Kyle had apparently ended up sleeping on and why was he all the way over there anyway and my god, what was with the tent and he still didn’t… that clothes and… “Hey - who… are you?” he asked Random Girl.
Adam's eyes went around the blonde, staring at her. "Where did she come from?" he asked Kyle without looking at away from the girl. He looked down at his clothes, knowing they were there, but making sure that he was dressed because he had definitely gone to bed naked, but thank god he had on clothes now. His shirt looked better than Kyle's, but was of a similar style, but everything he had on was nicer. Turning around to take in the tent he spotted more than one thing that was just bizarre. "Where are we?"
"Ok, right fucking here. Don't sit there and stare at me like I can't hear you," Mazie said angrily, sitting up and rubbing at her shoulder. "I'm Mazie and I'm pissed. First I get transported to this other place, they give me my computer and everything, and now I'm in the dark ages? What the fuck is this?"
“And if we knew that, then we’d say and there would be a hell of a lot less swearing going on,” Kyle snapped. He walked over to what seemed to be the main flap of the tent. “I’m Kyle, that’s Adam and the last time I tried to leave a place, I ended up in someone else’s room, so I’m going to just draw this back so we can look what’s out there, then figure out if it’s worth actually trying to get out of here,” he said, doing just what he said and pulling back the tent flap.
"Uh hey Mazie," Adam said, half waving relieved that they hadn't fallen asleep with a girl. He'd remembered his night with Kyle and that would have been super weird. He got up as Kyle headed to the tent flap, leaning into him and looking past him with an open mouth. "Holy. Crap." More tents, banners and Adam was pretty sure that was a freaking castle just past everything. Without even thinking about it he stepped out of the tent to get a better view.
"Ok, Mr. Sassypants," Mazie said in Kyle's direction, obviously a little pissed about his attitude even if she had been slinging some of her own his way. She looked back at Adam and simply nodded, but then it was much more important to watch the scene behind the tent. "...Are you fucking kidding me?" Sighing, she ran her hand through her hair again. She'd been hoping she wasn't right about the dark ages but now it looked all too real. "...Send me back to the hotel," She yelled, arms out and head positioned upward so she yelled at the sky. Or, well, the tent's ceiling.
"That's a castle," Kyle said in awe and shock. "That's a... There's a castle out there. And tents. And.... Why is that guy riding a horse in full armour? What is this, some kind of Renaissance Fayre?"
"Who are you yelling at?" Adam asked Mazie as he looked around, then back inside the tent, moving to pick up a shield that was resting by his bed with a sword strapped to it. The thing was heavy as hell, dented and well used, but in good shape despite its age. "No...this looks real...This is...heavy."
"The powers that be who are obviously screwing us over!" Mazie said, glaring back at Adam before starting toward the open tent flap and staring out at the scene before her. "This is so wrong..." There wasn't even electricity. She was probably going to die here in this hell…
"There's a castle," Kyle repeated, sinking onto the floor, still holding onto the tent flap, which left him in a really awkward position with his arm up in the air. He didn't feel like his legs would hold him up any longer though, and he was afraid he was about to start hyperventilating. He had been so sure that he wasn't crazy, that this wasn't all some kind of elaborate dream. He looked around for Adam, and caught sight of the shield and sword. "And tents. And you're... A knight," he said, his voice absent. He was crazy. He had to be. Or he'd died on that park bench two days ago and none of this was real. Yesterday wasn't real. Today wasn't real. It couldn't be. None of it. He could feel himself starting to panic, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"I'm a knight," Adam echoed, smile in his voice. It was ridiculous but damn it appealed to part of him. A knight. With a sword and a shield and maybe a horse. He was about to say something else but he realized Kyle was on the ground and he abandoned the shield to go back to him, kneeling in front of Kyle. "You okay?"
Ok, seriously? This guy was having a breakdown right now? Maybe it was true, maybe people did just have breakdowns differently because while he was tuning out, she was fuming. "So we're just gonna sit here and fret about it? So what if you went somewhere else when you left the room that one time. If we go somewhere else, odds are it's better than this place! There's not even electricity here! No running water, nothing!"
Kyle looked at Adam, trying to block out Mazie for a moment. Her freaking out was just feeding his own freak out. "Tell me I'm not crazy," he said to Adam, in all seriousness. "I need to know I'm not crazy. Or dreaming. Or... dead. Or something. I thought I knew, I thought I'd gotten my head round that, but now there's this and... I need to know I'm not crazy." Lie to me if you have to.
Adam held Kyle's cheeks in his hands, smiling a little. "Not crazy. This is crazy but you're not crazy and I'm right here and as real as ever. Promise." And he was relieved he was here. Kyle didn't need him disappearing on him.
"...So this is starting to feel like a real A and B conversation. Do I need to see my way out?" Mazie asked, taking steps toward the tent because she sure as hell felt weird in this situation. In normal situations she felt weird and nothing about this was normal.
Kyle nodded at Adam, taking strength in the affirmation. Sometimes, that was all he needed to snap himself out of it. Pulling himself up, he rounded in Mazie. "Jeez, can a guy not even have a moment to break down for not only having been transferred to who the he'll knows where for the second time in, like, three days, but who the he'll knows when now as well!" he snapped, knowing sarcasm was a good defence for him against everything he was feeling.
"Kyle," Adam said gently as he got up with him, knowing that snapping at her wasn't going to help things. He reached for the other man's hand, squeezing it lightly. "Don't go anywhere Mazie. I'm not sure we should be wandering around alone until we're at least sure of where we are you know?"
"Hey, I don't give a shit what you do. I'm just not gonna sit here and pretend like this isn't fucking awkward," Mazie said, looking back at Kyle with the same sort of attitude in her voice. Slowly her head turned to Adam and she narrowed her eyes a little. "...And what good is keeping the three of us cooped up in this stupid tent going to do? How are we gonna find the answer when I bet you all the answers we need are outside this fucking tent."
Kyle lifted his head, his jawline firming until it seemed it could cut glass. "If two men together bother you, then yes, this is going to be awkward for you," he confirmed, snottily. "Feel free to leave." He squeezed Adam's hand, but his attention was clearly focused on Mazie. "Otherwise, I would suggest we consider getting dressed before we leave. I don't know much about where we are, but I would venture were wearing what passes for underclothes right now."
Adam frowned, looking at both of them. "I don't think she said that," he said. Or maybe he'd just heard what Mazie had said wrong. He made a face then pulled Kyle more into the tent to find clothes. "Come on," he said, sorting through the small stack of his things and finding a tunic that went over the shirt and leggings. "I was thinking we stick together, not just run off into things we can't trust or don't know about."
What the fuck? "That is some real therapy shit you just dropped on me. No I don't care that two guys are together! I don't care that anyone is together. Don't sit there and put words in my mouth!" Mazie said, voice escalating too. Sure, Adam had stuck up for her, but that didn't make her less infuriated that this other guy had seriously just decided she was homophobic. This was a big, fat lesson in why she stayed behind her computer screen, because it was so much easier to deal with than these people. Turning to Adam, she studied him for a moment. "So we just sit here until...what, you say it's ok to go? Disagreed. I think we need to get the fuck out of this tent..." Before I strangle your boyfriend over there.
Kyle took half a step away from Adam and put his fingers to his temples and dropped his head for a moment. Clearly he was reading the situation wrong and jumping to conclusions, but he felt all kinds of out of sorts right now. He didn’t understand why any of this was happening. Why they had been transported to the hotel. Why they were suddenly here. He didn’t know whether there was a reason behind all of this, or whether it was just a series of random events. Part of him wanted to just curl up in a corner - tell Adam and Mazie to go and do whatever it was they wanted to do, and just leave him behind. The rest didn’t want to be left alone, in case he ended up really being alone - stuck here in this unfamiliar place with nobody he knew. That thought had him shaking himself.
Taking a breath, Kyle straightened and turned to Mazie. “I’m sorry,” he said, politely. “I was out of line. This place had me freaked, but that was no reason to take it out on you. I think Adam’s right though - we don’t know where we are, so maybe it would be best to stick together whilst we work that out. We could get out of here, explore this place together? Would that work?” he asked her.
Adam let out a tiny sigh of relief, looking at his outfit before finding a belt to tie it together. “Well, technically I’m the knight,” he said with a grin, then went to find Mazie’s tunic. “But I say we get dressed and explore. Might as well see what’s going on here. But...you should probably pull your hair up as best you can…” She was wearing guy’s clothes, not a dress, which mean she was probably supposed to look like a guy.
Mazie was quiet for a moment. Quietly seething, really, but then Kyle took a breath and apologized. For a long moment she was still leery, still studying him, and she felt like she probably would be no matter what, but at least the tension she felt had dissipated some. At least in her mind. She took a breath and nodded a little at Kyle, not sure she felt like she needed to apologize back to him. It was probably polite, but right now she just didn't feel the need to fight with him. It didn't go farther than that. Standing up, she shrugged a little at Adam and started pulling her hair back, though she didn't have anything to tie it with. "I can go out first. See if we actually can leave. That way you two know whether or not to like..leave together, holding hands or something so you don't get separated."
Kyle grabbed a tunic that seemed to have some kind of crest or emblem on it and pulled it on, belting round the waist - it was a bit of a shock to realise that the belt he assumed was his had a damn knife strapped to it, which sat at his hip. He pulled on a pair of hard wearing boots, completing the outfit. He nodded to the other two, deciding that, for now, he was just going to keep his mouth shut until he felt like he could speak without massively offending people, or being a complete bitch.
Adam found Mazie a strap of leather to tie her hair with then studied his sword before attaching it to his belt. That was how that was supposed to go he supposed. It was a little uneven, but he could get used to it before he shook his head. “No, we can just go together. It makes more sense not to be separated.”
She took the leather strap and pulled her hair back into a messy ponytail. She felt weird, like she needed to dirty up a bit more. Not that she’d showered all that recently, but if she was supposed to be a dude, maybe she needed to try and disguise herself more. But then she realized she wasn’t sure she cared about it at all and this was probably as good as it was going to get, with her hair back and a tunic on with that same matching emblem as Kyle’s. “Ok, then let’s just...get the hell out of here. Do we do this Wizard of Oz style?” She asked, offering a crooked arm out to whoever might take it.
Kyle actually laughed at that, feeling himself relax for the first time as he did so. That felt good. That felt normal. He smiled as he took her arm in his, stepping to her right side. “As long as nobody wants me to sing, then I’m game,” he promised, impishly.
Adam considered taking Kyle’s side, but while he had no issues with their relationship, he was pretty sure if this was one of those time periods, than others might. So he took Mazie’s other arm. “All together now, off to see the wizard,” he said before taking the first steps forward to take them out of the tent.
When Kyle smiled, Mazie actually felt better. Sure, it maybe was a little weird that he’d gone from breakdown to laughing in zero to sixty, but hell, she’d take this over yelling at him. So she nodded and started them toward the tent’s exit. “Here goes nothing,” She said, and took a step through the flaps to...the other side of the tent. “...Aand buzzkill, I was hoping we’d just go back to that hotel again.”
“Guess that’s what you get for forgetting the ruby slippers,” Kyle deadpanned. He knew that currently he was keeping everything together just by putting up a flimsy front, pretending he was okay and locking all the shit away inside, but as coping mechanisms went, it had pretty much always worked for him. Falling back on tried and tested methods was the way to go, even if he knew that Adam would probably have some kind of big problem with it, sooner or later. “So… Looks like we’re here in Renaissance Fayre land…” He sniffed, and turned up his nose. “...with all the smells that go with that.”
Adam saw it, the way the smile was suddenly there and Kyle was just fine, but he would have to deal with it later. When they were alone though. When he could properly fix everything. Right this second he was smiling, kind of excited despite it all being really weird. “Yes. Come on. Let’s see what there is.”
“Well, then I better be able to get a turkey leg and watch some jousting.” Little pieces of this were starting to come together. They were dressed like they were supposed to be here, and Adam had on way fancier stuff than they did. And…”So wait, I’ve never actually been to one of these things before. Has anyone else? Does this look normal for a Ren Faire?”
“Never,” Kyle said, with a little laugh that sounded very much like ‘you’re joking’. “This was hardly in my social circle.” He inwardly cringed with that - unfortunately, one of the side effects of him slamming up his walls to hold himself together, was that he tended to channel his inner Upper East Side and occasionally sounded like a pompous ass. “I’ve seen some pictures, heard some stuff - but no, never actually been to one. I’d hazard that this seems… pretty realistic,” he offered up, still looking around with wide eyes. There was a couple of women sitting on a bench not far away, plucking chickens and gossiping whilst at a stall next to them it looked like someone had set up as an honest to goodness blacksmith, complete with furnace and white hot bits of metal being hit with large hammers.
“Uh yeah, I think if this was a Renaissance Fayre there’d be more people in regular clothes...And...well I don’t know.” Adam looked around, thinking it all looked too real. “Wouldn’t there be a parking lot somewhere too?”
Mazie was caught up in the blacksmith and his rhythmic motions so it was hard for her to really listen to Kyle and Adam. She caught the tail-end of Adam’s words, something about parking, and it drew her back to whether this was real or not. “And someone would have a phone out by now….Also I don’t think they let you pluck actual chickens at these things. So...this and the no electricity business...How the hell is it possible that we might not even be in the same time period anymore?”
Kyle inhaled and stood taller, his posture getting even more perfect as he determinedly didn’t overreact to that. He tightened his grip on Mazie’s arm. “Timetravel?” he asked, his voice strained through his fixed smile. “Do you really think that kind of thing’s possible. Though, I guess, suddenly appearing at a mysterious hotel isn’t exactly possible either so. Oh god - Adam has a real sword. That guy is making real swords. There was plague in old times! And you couldn’t even drink the water!” He could feel his control slipping as he thought of all of the different and horrible and certainly painful way they could die.
Adam’s eyes were on Kyle, seeing that perfect posture that started to slip a little before Adam wrapped his arm around Kyle’s shoulders. “Timetravel or not, this is kind of cool. Let’s see if we can find something to eat and figure out why all these people are here.” His tone was very much one of ‘everything’s going to be okay’, even if he was a little freaked out himself. He was just doing his best to try and enjoy it.
“Turkey legs! If this is real and there’s no computers or electricity or anything, then I better get a damn turkey leg out of it.” Mazie felt Kyle tighten his grip on her arm and she gripped it back, not really sure why he had since he still seemed ok to her, but whatever. At least there was no more screaming. “And some ale. Let’s get our knight over here trashed!”
Kyle felt a little more stable as he was suddenly sandwiched between Adam and Mazie. Adam was being cool, calm and collected and Mazie… Mazie he was beginning to appreciate. She really seemed to have no problems with any of this, going at it all with a certain lightheartedness which really helped his frame of mind. “Sure,” Kyle agreed, leaning into Adam a little more, whilst not letting Mazie go in the slightest. “A beer would probably be good right now, actually,” he added. He couldn’t hold his alcohol at all, but right now, that didn’t seem like a bad thing. Maybe this would all be easier to deal with if he was drunk.
Adam leaned closer to Kyle. “If you get me drunk, we need to find her another tent,” he teased in a low whisper. He nodded with Mazie. “Turkey leg, ale, and we try and have a good time. For now at least.”
“Yeah!” Hell, maybe this was all a big dream. Sure, she wasn’t really stoked about her missing computer again, but she was in a fucking Renaissance Faire and there were chicks plucking chickens right before her eyes. In a really weird way, part of this reminded her of home. The working class, the people with hunched backs and blackened fingernails, and it was nostalgic in a way that made her happy. So she led the boys toward a nearby stall, following her nose to try and find food, despite the strange looks they were getting from being so wrapped up in each other. “Maybe that blacksmith’ll let me make something cool…Or at least hammer something.”
As they approached the stall, Kyle extricated himself from both of them, stepping back behind them and letting either Mazie or Adam lead. He didn’t mind which one, as long as it wasn’t him. Maybe once he found his feet, he could pull off Mr. Confident once again, but right now, he was happy just being the guy in the background. He did, however, glance at Mazie as she talked about the blacksmith, a strange kind of smile lighting up his face. “That would be cool,” he said, his tone almost longing. “The blacksmith - I’d like to try that.”
Adam looked at both of them, worry etched on his face that Kyle was moving away from him, but he heard that bit in his voice, then looked at Mazie. “Should we stop here instead?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest with an amused smile.
“Uh, duh,” Mazie told Adam, grinning a little as she looked back at Kyle. “Let’s see what we can trade this guy for a round at the hammer? Any thoughts? He’s probably not gonna be too keen. I mean, if this anvil is anything like my computer, I wouldn’t let just anyone touch it so….we need a decent trade.”
Kyle thought for a moment or two, then turned on his heel and hurried back toward the tent. His sudden realisation of what could be accomplished overcoming his fear as he weaved in and out of the other people wandering about the place. Thankfully nobody actually paid him much attention and he got back. Rooting through their belongings, he found what he had spotted before. A small pouch hidden at the bottom of his pile of clothes. Opening it, he found a small haul of coins. Some copper, a few silver, a handful that seriously looked like gold. Grinning, he hurried back to the pair and held the bag out. “How about this?” he suggested. “Though, not all of it? In case that does end up being all we have? Either of you any good at bartering?” he asked.
Adam had turned to follow after Kyle, worried, but then the other man was back and he looked at what was in his hands. “Um… That would probably do that job. I’m not so great with the bartering though. I could try, but I’m not sure what I’m asking for for the two of you. Mazie?”
Taking the bag of coins, Mazie grinned. “Leave it to me, Gents. These are my people.” She tried that sentence out in her best man voice but it kind of sucked, even she knew that. Clearing her throat, she shrugged and pulled out a gold piece, a silver piece, and two coppers. She had no idea what kind of money that translated to, but they still had more of each kind left in the bag and that felt pretty logical. Handing Kyle the bag back, she started toward the blacksmith. After a few minutes of discussion with the man, she produced the gold and a copper piece and held it out to him and then bolted back to Kyle and Adam. “Ok, so here’s the deal. We give him the other two pieces when we’re done, but we have to use our own materials. And there’s a fucked up shield back in that tent so let’s bang out those dents!”
“A shield?” Kyle asked, all but bouncing on his toes. All his anxiety and all those issues were pushed to the back of his mind, and he was no longer having to pretend to function. The enthusiasm for what Mazie had given them was more than enough to keep him stable for now. “There’s got to be more than that. I… Anything - I - We… I want to make something, I don’t… I… Have no idea, but we have to go look,” he said, grabbing hold of Mazie’s hand to drag her back to the tent again, sparing a glance to Adam in the hope that he was okay to just go with this.
Adam wasn’t at all sure what was going on but he was along for the ride, so he followed after them, glad they were excited and glad they weren’t fighting. He kind of liked Mazie and her sort of rough and tumble attitude and seeing Kyle at ease and bouncing up and down at was more than enough to pull out his smile. “You’ll have to tell me what you’re looking for,” he reminded Kyle, but didn’t see anything else wrong with what they were doing.
Mazie ran along with Kyle, pretty impressed that they’d gone from yelling at each other to running hand-in-hand together back to the tent. “So we’d need raw materials, right? For you to make something. Like...metal we could smelt down and then you could mold and stuff. And I could just hammer the hell out of that shield!”
Smelting… Kyle didn’t even know. He’d taken some classes. Knew the very basics. Had instincts for the rest, but instincts which had been steadily crushed over the last few years, until he found himself faced with an honest to fucking god blacksmith and the chance to actually work it. “I… I like to fix broken things,” he confessed. “Or make new things out of old things.” That last one, really. Definitely that last one. “So… anything that’s broken is what I want and I have no idea what I’d do with it, but… I’ll think of something.”
Broken things. Adam thought about that then stopped in his tracks. “I have an idea. I’ll meet you guys back at the blacksmith’s shop.” He’d seen something back that way that might just work for Kyle.
Mazie watched Adam and then shrugged, holding out her arm for Kyle again after she hoisted up the shield. “Damn this thing is heavy…” She said, trying to balance it against her shoulder to help offset the weight. “Ready to head back to the blacksmith?”
“You want a hand with that?” Kyle offered. He moved to take some of the weight and then set them walking back to the blacksmith. He had no idea where Adam had gone to, but right now, he wasn’t that bothered. They had a plan and if all he could do was help mend an old shield, then that would have to be enough.
Mazie gave Kyle a smile, actually really liking that he had offered to help. The whole situation itself was still kind of weird but right now she was having fun and he looked like he was having fun too. “Thanks,” She said, starting back to the blacksmith’s area. “Now we just need Adam with his bright idea…”
They walked together toward the blacksmith and Kyle helped Mazie put the shield down when they got there. “How about you go first and I’ll watch while we wait for A to come back?” he suggested, settling down on a bench. In all honesty, as long as he knew that he would eventually get his turn, he was just thrilled to sit here and soak in everything going on around him.
“Deal,” Mazie said, grinning as she started toward the blacksmith’s area. To Mazie, he seemed a little annoyed at the interruption, especially when the person in front of him didn’t really appear to know what they were doing, but he stepped back and just let Mazie loose in his shop. And she instantly went for the hammer and began wailing on the dents from the backside of the shield. “This is awesome!!”
Kyle let her at it, occasionally sharing glances with the blacksmith. He got the feeling that the man thought that maybe Kyle would vaguely know what he was doing, yet also was doubtful looking at his size. Really, the blacksmith was all muscle and bulk, and Kyle knew he was anything but. He just hoped he wouldn’t be a let down. He didn’t want to be a disappointment, even to a total stranger. Of course, unless Adam followed through, he wouldn’t really have anything to be a disappointment with - but he was hoping that if it came to it, the blacksmith would let him have a got at one of the broadswords he was working on.
Adam took a little longer than he would have liked, but he eventually came back with what he’d thought he would find. “You wanted scraps,” he said to Kyle, dragging a makeshift sack behind him. “I found the trash.” He set it in front of Kyle with a big grin. It was a pile of metal scraps, twisted horseshoes, broken bits of armor and some other unidentifiable things.
Mazie took a break when Adam came over and headed back to the group, wiping sweat off her forehead with a dirtied arm. “Hey, what’s all this stuff?” She asked, peeking at the discarded metal and then looking back at Kyle. “Gonna make something cool? We could melt it onto that shield when I’m done fixing the dents?”
Kyle’s eyes ran over the pile of crap, taking it all in with a certain amount of wonder, before he looked up at Adam in awe, then across at Mazie. The blacksmith was now just staring at them in disbelief - just nodding a little as Mazie suggested melting it down. “I… I… I’ll let you know,” Kyle said, in the end, picking up a couple of pieces and starting to run his hands over them, already planning.
Go Adam. He grinned at himself and found a place to sit, letting Kyle work and mostly just enjoying things. This was what he wanted, them to be happy, smiles on both their faces despite the weird situation and clothes and time period.
“Cool. I’m gonna go hammer this thing again. Adam, you could do it too if you want. Might be weird, though. You’re obviously not the working class one here, judging by your clothes. But hey, we’re already weird. Why not just be weirder?” She asked, offering to see if he’d take her up on it and come hang out in the blacksmith’s area with them. Turning to watch Kyle, she came up beside him. “So...you some sort of artist? Making stuff out of other stuff seems really hard.”
Kyle found one larger piece from the pile Adam had brought. Smoothing his hand down the metal, he picked up a horseshoe in his other hand. Placing them together, it was clear that he saw something that was for his eyes only. “Metalworking,” he breathed, not looking up. It was nothing he would admit to before. He’d confessed his dreams to Adam, but phrased them as failed dreams. Here, they felt like anything but. He knew exactly what he was going to do. He only hoped he had half the skill that would be needed to let him succeed. Taking a breath, he stood, moving to the other side of the forge - there was more than enough room for him and Mazie, and even Adam, to work side by side. Smiling to himself, he plunged the larger metal and the horseshoe into the flames. He needed to destroy them before he could recreate them, after all.
Adam was going to join Mazie, halfway up when Kyle said that. Then he had to sit back down again, looking at the other man. “I’m okay just watching,” he said softly. He wanted to see what Kyle did when he spoke like that. He’d said what he wanted to make, but this wasn’t really what Adam had thought exactly, but Kyle was doing what he loved and not freaking out about it. Adam wanted to watch.
Mazie moved her things over to beside Kyle and then began hammering out the dents again, that big goofy grin still on her face. “So, what’s the deal with you two? How’d you manage to get to this place together? I’m kinda jealous, getting to bring someone from your life with you.”
Grabbing a pair of tongs, Kyle moved his metal round in the coals so it heated evenly, his attention mostly on that, though he cast half an eye to Adam, sitting and observing, and another to Mazie as she questioned them. “We didn’t bring each other,” he said, mildly. “We’d met a couple of times and then…” He glanced back at Adam, leaving it to him to fill in the gaps.
“Just good luck really. Last time Kyle saw me he didn’t want to see me again,” Adam said, teasing just lightly since things were different now. “But no, if I’d been asked who I would have brought it would have been someone else. Glad I was wrong.”
Mazie nodded a little, listening but not really understanding. Relationships were were. “Well at least you guys are here together now, I guess,” She said, moving to switch arms and keep working out the kinks in this shield.
Kyle glanced over at Adam and gave him a good natured glare, before redirecting his attention back to the fire. He shifted the larger piece of metal to the hotter part. "That's not true and you know it. I wanted to see you again. It was just... difficult," he said as he pulled the horseshoe - now glowing hot - out of the coals and placed it on the anvil. Taking a hammer, he started to beat it flat, hard hits in a steady rhythm. He was already starting to sweat with the heat and effort, but he had never felt so at home.
"You were determined not to see me again then," Adam corrected, but his focus on the conversation part of being there was lost as he watched Kyle. That was a sight if there ever was one.
Yeah, relationships were weird. Confirmed. She went back to hammering her own shield, happily sweating it out with the effort until she dropped the large hammer and stepped back with her hands on her hips. "What do you guys think? Is it good?"
Kyle paused and looked at his own work for a moment. Happy with the flattened and widened crescent he had created, he thrust the metal back into the coals to reheat once again. Turning to Mazie, he picked up the shield, angling it toward the light. "Good as new," he told her with a smile.
Mazie's voice pulled Adam from his own little revery, watching them work, amazed that Kyle was at such ease at this point and that he seemed so familiar with what he was working on. He got up to inspect Mazie's work, running his fingers over the shield and the straps that would keep it held against his arm. "I'm wondering how it got like that," he said, looking at both his companions. "Or if I'm supposed to be using it."
Mazie grinned at the praise, happy for it even though she'd really just banged a hammer against the underside of a shield. It probably wasn't good as new, but she didn't care. "I guess we'll find out," She said, a question tilting the end of her remark as she shrugged. "You should hold it or something, get used to it. It's kind if heavy."
Kyle frowned a little, looking between the other two. He knew what he was thinking - that to get like that, that shield had to have been hit with something very heavy. Possibly repeatedly. What stopped him, however, was the way that Mazie said that they might be finding out. And that Adam would be being the one holding that when it got hit. He hated that idea, and so, because he hated that idea, he kept quiet, instead turning back to pull the larger piece of metal from the coals. It was now bright white and he bowed into starting to shape it, twisting the heated metal round into a circular shape, twisting round as a base, the ends of the circle not quite meeting as he pulled the cooler end so that it stood up straight.
Adam took the shield from Mazie, wincing a little at how heavy it was, but he did manage to get it onto his arm even if it hung a little low and his forearm and bicep already burned with the effort. "I don't know if I want to find out." At least it offset the sword on his belt a little and instead of feeling weighted down on one side he felt it on both. His thoughts were distracted by Kyle though, turning to see what he was working on. "Whoa...cool..." he breathed as Kyle twisted the metal like it was nothing.
"What are you making?" Mazie asked, looking back over at Kyle. She was pretty impressed, getting to watch him manipulate the metal and bend and shape it to his will. It seemed effortless, even though she knew it couldn't be.
Kyle pushed the metal back into the coals, only this time, he reversed it, leaving what he saw was the base out. He pulled the smaller piece, now heated again, our, and started to shape it once again. "Do you want to know, really - or do you want to wait and see?" he asked with an air of confidence which was so unusual that it even suppose him.
"Wait," Adam said first, smiling and shifting out of the shield to set it aside. "Come on Mazie, help me with this too while we wait." He pulled the sword loose from the scabbard amazed at how heavy it was in just one hand. "This looks easier on tv."
Mazie nodded again and turned toward Adam, hoisting the shield up to help him get used to having both on. "So how's that feel?"
Kyle watched the other two out of the corner of his eye while he worked, choosing tools as he went. Some he recognised, others he would have to ask the blacksmith about. "Do you really think you're going to have to use that?" he asked, with some trepidation.
“Feels heavy,” Adam said, shifting his feet to really balance the weight. “But at least it’s a little even with the sword,” he said trying to raise the sword. “I dunno. Seems a weird thing to have if I don’t have to use it.”
“We might just have to wait and see. Could be good for us to practice, though, you know. Spar. Something.” Mazie said, shrugging a little. “If you want, I can get a stick or something and spar with you.”
Kyle wondered if he was the only person in their little trio who was worried about the whole ‘sword and shield in a medieval setting’ thing. Sparring with sticks was all well and good, but that really wasn’t the same as a fricking sword. Which suggested another person, with another sword. And a reason to use the shield to, say, stop the other person cutting into your damn flesh with their sword. Kyle turned back to the furnace and increased his tempo in his work, taking everything out on the metal he was working on just so he didn’t do something stupid like have another breakdown over the very idea of Adam going into anything remotely dangerous.
Adam’s face lit up a little and he nodded. “Yes, that. Totally. Let’s do that.” He was starting to get used to the weight, moving the sword a little bit. He glanced over at Kyle hoping Kyle would notice and be impressed, but Kyle wasn’t paying attention.
Once she found what she needed, which wound up being a wooden practice sword, Adam and Mazie kept at their sparring until Adam was worn out. He was covered in a dirty sheen of sweat and a few spaces that would turn into bruises where Mazie got him, but he was grinning when he dragged himself back to Kyle. Being a knight was kind of awesome.
Mazie hadn't gotten out of the sword-fighting unscathed. She, too, had a group of bruises and was definitely sweating, but she was beaming from ear to ear by the time they headed back to Kyle. "So, what's the deal? How's your masterpiece coming together, because I gotta say...that shield did a damn fine job of protecting his ass."
Kyle had actually finished his work a little while before, and had spent some time surreptitiously watching the other two practice. He hadn’t wanted them to realise that they had an audience, because he winced each time Adam got hit, and because he couldn’t rid himself of feeling of unease about this entire situation. So, when they looked like they were finishing up, he’d back away from the entrance to the blacksmiths, and picked up the statue he’d made. It was something silly, he figured. A dragon, and a pretty cartoonish one at that, but it was something that hadn’t taken him that long, and it felt good, working with metal again. He had actually enjoyed himself, and it was with a shy kind of smile that he handed it to the others, his heart rate picking up with nerves over what they would say. His gaze flickered between the two of them.
Adam had set his things down so his hands were free and the moment Kyle produced his work he was reaching for it. "You did this? This is so cool!" He turned it around, looking at it with grin before showing it to Mazie.
"It's damn cute, that's for sure. I could get down with this dragon as a friend, like Mushu in Mulan," Mazie said, grinning a little more as she stepped closer and touched the top of its head gently then smiled specifically at Kyle. "Really cool."
Kyle smile widened at the praise from the other two. He bit his bottom lip as it spread into a grin, and looked at Mazie. "You... you can have it, if you'd like," he told her. He would have liked to sound more confident than that, but his confidence in his work had been well and truly crushed. He didn't even know if she would actually want it, or if she was just being nice. Stepping round them a little, Kyle exited the blacksmith's, taking in a deep breath of cooler air. He was hot, sweaty and grimy now. Fresh air would have to do though - he knew there was probably no chance of a shower here.
Adam smiled, mostly at Kyle's grin and handed Mazie the dragon. "You should keep it," he said, sounding more confident than Kyle, but it was easier for him to be confident for Kyle rather than himself. As Kyle left, he followed him, slipping his hand around his waist. "I don't think I really understood what you could do."
Mazie stared at the awesome dragon in her hands then watched Kyle and Adam start to leave and carefully followed after them, but at a distance. "Damn right I'm keeping it! It's kickass!" She yelled at them, but headed back toward the tent so she could put it somewhere safe while they were in this place. That dragon was definitely staying with her.
Kyle laughed a little at Mazie's comment, then turned his head slightly, leaning back against Adam infinitesimally more, only enough that they'd with know. "It's just a little thing," he said, downloading his work. "But, it felt good," he admitted, slipping out of Adam's hold somewhat reluctantly. After all, they knew nothing about the time or place they were in, and history generally wasn't remembered for being kind to same sex couples. "Come on, we should get her and go find that tavern. See if we can work out what's going on."
Adam hated Kyle pulling away but at least he had a purpose. It probably was a good thing to keep up with Mazie. "It's still a cool thing. And I'm glad it felt good. It was supposed to." He smiled and started after Mazie, walking backward a little to look at Kyle. "Let's get her then. I could use a drink."