Who: Nesta and Leo V What: Nesta visits the forge Where: London Starr Metal When: Sept 17 [Backdated] Warnings: low Status: g-doc/closed
Nesta considered her training. As much as she hated to admit it, having Rhys here helped motivate her into training. But, today, she wanted to go check out the blacksmith place. While her ultimate desire was to wield a weapon, the High Fey wanted to learn how to make one. And maybe eventually make one herself?
Honestly, the High Fey needed to feel safe and didn’t know how to find that unless she could defend herself against anything. Push herself to the limit, dance, and then maybe crash into a dreamless sleep.
When she arrived, Nesta looked around for someone who might work here and could explain to her how one made a weapon.
Leo heard the little chime sound of his door and emerged with grease on his face and some of his shirt, too, even if he was wearing an apron meant to catch all the crud. Somehow with Leo Valdez had a hard time ever being truly grease-free.
When he saw someone he didn’t know, he offered a big smile. “Hi! How’s it going?” He liked when new people came because he always liked showing off what he made.
Nesta should be used to the friendliness of those who owned shops, but it still surprised her, even now. “Hello.” Nesta managed to not look annoyed with the world. After all, the young man in front of her hadn’t done anything.
“I think okay, today,” Nesta responded. “I’m Nesta and still pretty new to town.” The High Fey looked around and figured the grease on the young man probably meant he made weapons.
“I realize how this sounds, but would it be possible to see how weapons are made?” The High Fey saw no reason to hide her intentions.
Leo didn’t think that was a weird or strange thing to ask plus he was used to a lot of god and the like back home. In fact, he looked kind of excited. His face lit up. “Sure! Follow me.” He gestured with his arm, then started to turn. “I’m Leo, by the way. Leo Valdez. I’ve been here for a long while now. Welcome, though! It always takes a bit to get used to this place, huh?”
He led her into the forge area where it was considerably hot. There was a fire going and what looked like lava on one side. “Is there a specific weapon you want to learn about?
Nesta followed behind the young man. At least he seemed excited and not put out by the question.
“I am Nesta.” She didn’t add anything as they walked, at first.
“Thank you. It’s not at all like home.” She chewed her lower lip in consideration. “No? As long as it ends in a blade.”
“Home’s really different, huh? That’s got to be hard.” Leo half understood, but in a lot of ways, his world was similar to Madison. The main difference here was that he didn’t have to worry about monsters trying to eat him. He didn’t mind missing that part.
“Okay. So, we could always do a classic broadsword?”
The High Fey considered her next words. How to explain that home had changed a lot for her over her life. First, her father lost his fortune. Then they lived in a tiny cottage. Feyre’s first love made sure they had a home again…
And then they’d been forced into the Cauldron before the war.
“Sure, a broadsword sounds good to me.” Maybe she should ask Amren, but for once, Nesta wanted to make a choice without relying on her friend.
“Home changed a lot for me too, so it seems to be a theme in my life.”
“Yeah, I get that.” He meant about life and it being hard. “Back home I didn’t really have any time to rest. Here, it’s settled down. So maybe it will for you too, once you’re here for longer.” He offered a hopeful smile before pointing and starting to explain to her what some of the tools did. That was always the first step in making something - understanding the things you were using.
Nesta didn’t mind the idea of things settling down, but it meant she might need to face the constant darkness. Not something the High Fey felt ready to do.
She listened intently, taking notes as Leo spoke. “Thank you. Perhaps I could try my hand at making one some day?” Nesta didn’t want to presume.
"Want to try today?" Leo looked at her. It was a real offer. He had time to teach if she had time to try. Leo might have ADHD, but with this sort of thing, he had a lot of patience.
“Oh.” Nesta hadn’t expected the offer, but found she liked the idea of making a weapon today. “Sure. Thank you.” The High Fey felt grateful her hair remained in its customary braided crown. It would keep her hair out of her eyes.
She offered the young man a smile. The idea of having her own weapon made her feel safe.
Leo helped wherever he could, but he also tried not to do it for her. He knew that would be annoying even when sometimes he fingers were literally itching to help out. Probably the most noticeable thing was that all his gloves meant for handling the heated metal and whatnot were not well worn for someone who made so many things. This was because Leo didn’t need to use gloves at all - another perk of who his dad was.
When Nesta finished, or seemed to anyway, Leo was grinning. “How does that feel? Feel like it’s finished?”
Nesta found this oddly therapeutic. Not that she’d used the word, but having something to do helped focus her mind on something besides the darkness in her. She didn’t find Leo annoying and appreciated his help, since she hadn’t done this before.
When she finished, Nesta didn’t realize she’d imbued the weapon with a death curse; that the blade now held the capacity to kill anyone or anything. Just because the Bone Carver called her ‘Sister’ and ‘Pure Death’ didn’t mean the High Fey knew she could make weapons of death. After all, nobody quite knew what powers she’d stripped from the Cauldron.
Leo also focused better while making things, though he didn’t have a darkness in him. He was used to those who did, though. Nico came to mind quite easily.
When Nesta was done, Leo made a whistling sound. “Great job!” He meant it. He was also someone familiar with enchanted swords and could tell that Nesta had one of those now, though he hadn’t really caught any moment during her making of the weapon where she did anything particular special. He also didn’t know what it did, only that it did something. “You have more talent for this than you think. I don’t think anyone’s ever made an enchanted sword on their first try.”
Nesta stared at him. “I made an enchanted sword? I just wanted to make a sword.” What had she imbued into the sword? Shit, she’d need Amren and probably Rhys to look at the blade and tell her. Nobody really knew or understood Nesta’s powers, including Nesta.
“I’m happy to know I have talent if nothing else.”
Leo wanted to see if he could figure it out too, but he didn’t really know Nesta so he thought that was probably rude. Instead, he gave her a big grin. “Seems you do. If you ever want to make other stuff, feel free to come back. It was nice teaching someone!”