sunshineverse | So much for slowing down...

Entry tags:

So much for slowing down...

Where: Milani Forge, Konoha Village
When: January 28th
Notes: Open to all

Finally she was home again after what had to be the most stressful set of missions she had ever been on. That along with the disaster of a vacation already left her feeling worn, but at least Adela had the option to opt out of missions for a little while -- if only because she had to favour her other work once in a while.

Aside from the bustling city streets, she was only accompanied by the sounds of metal against stone. She was sharpening her sword, trying to get it down to a razor's edge before running her fingers along the blade. It didn't happen a lot any more, but today the occasion happened where she ended up cutting the tip of her finger, wincing at it. It left a droplet of blood on her sword as she bandaged her finger, sighing softly. Even if it was work, this was the most relaxed she had felt in weeks. Sweet, sweet solitude.

That was, until she heard someone walking into the store. Damn it, and her uncle would be out. A sigh left her as she stood and walked out from the smithy in the back, ashen from her work and a little grumpier than usual as she looked for the customer, "Yeah yeah I'm here, whaddya want?"

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It wasn't often that Sasuke had cause to take his business outside the cluster of Uchiha-run shops that radiated out from the central hub around his home, but there were times when it was just a little grating to know that every busybody second-aunt or uncle-thrice-removed knew his every movement and purchase. Bad enough his mission pay was still getting shucked into savings (for what, he didn't even really want to know), with an allowance granted him per week.

So it was that he ended up further out in the village than he normally would when he found that he'd finally blunted down too many of his kunai to keep using them effectively. The name of the forge he finally stopped in was familiar to him, and there was a slight frown on his face as he opened the door, trying to place the name --

And the voice.

Ah.

"Adela," he recalled, eyeing her scowl with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you graduated the Academy?"

He wanted to piss her off didn't he.

"I'm a chuunin, jerk," Not even a name for him, and she practically bristled at him before taking a breath and sighing, "Doesn't mean I don't have to run the place sometimes. Anyway, there's no way you came in here just to say hi."

A chuunin already? Hadn't she been ... right, a year below, and already the same rank. His shoulders tensed abruptly before he forced himself into a better posture, shifting his attention to the merchandise in the shop to avoid getting mired for the umpteenth time in the fact of his own current status.

"No, I didn't," he agreed to her last statement absently, turning a speculative eye on the display. "I've heard about this shop. Do you make these?"

"My uncle more often than me, but a good chunk of those are my work," She nodded, relaxing a bit more now that the conversation wasn't regarding her rank. It took her three tries at that stupid exam to actually get promoted, and they had been hellish experiences. She wasn't about to let Uchiha-jerk mock her now.

... Heh, she was one step closer. She'd best him yet!

"Lookin' for something in particular, Senpai?"

"Kunai," he said, selecting a particularly sharp-looking one off the wall and flipping it between his hands, testing the balance. It was certainly no worse than what the Uchiha smithies produced, but it was difficult to mess up a simple kunai. "But if you're good at what you do, I may be interested in more."

Clan loyalty made it impossible to buy any major piece of weaponry here, but he'd been itching for something custom-made that could actually be a surprise when he used it one of these days.

"... One moment."

She slipped into the back for a few seconds, taking the katana she had just finished sharpening before approaching him once more. She handed it to him hilt-first, careful to not cut herself again (seriously if just testing the edge was enough to cut open her calloused skin...) as she did so.

"There's enough room in here for you to practice swing and test the balance, so go ahead."

He sorted through some of the other projectiles on offer while she was gone, testing sharpness and balance, pleased with what he found. The katana she handed to him certainly looked like craftsmanship to match what was on display, and when he slipped it from her grip it balanced neatly in his hand, light enough to move with speed and hefty enough to build proper momentum.

It would have taken less than her invitation to try it for Sasuke to want to test it out -- before she'd finished speaking, he'd stepped away from her and found his stance, swiping through a brief kata. A step, a swift cut (slicing the fragile stomach of an imaginary opponent), turn, a second cut (through the neck), the sword whistling cleanly through the air.

"... this isn't bad," he said finally, relaxing out of the final stance and holding the edge to the light. "Who made this?"

She watched quietly, holding in the urge to smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest, "I did. It's my personal katana."

Calling it her personal weapon of choice probably said a lot; it was the sword she trusted with her life, and that she was letting Sasuke use it - if only briefly. Not that she was thinking too hard about the second one... It was just easier to not think about it. Instead, she'd watch and wait until he gave it back.

Her personal weapon? He skimmed a thumb along the blade, watching as blood welled up along a paper-thin cut. Well-maintained, clearly cared-for -- "Do you usually use your own katana for customer demonstrations?"

He turned back to her as he spoke, reversing his grip and presenting it back to her the same way she'd handed it to him, hilt-first.

"Only the ones I know are too proud or smart to try stealing it," She shrugged before taking it back, frowning at the new blood before it was put back into its sheath. Her pride was quick to change to annoyance as she sighed, immediately moving behind the counter to pull out the first aid kit.

... She'd never admit that she only pulled it out to show off, though. Not to Sasuke.

Too proud or smart, was it? He raised an eyebrow, mouth amused: he wasn't going to ask and likely wouldn't get an answer as to which one she considered him. The slight cut on his thumb was negligible enough that he didn't expect the first aid kid that showed up in the next minute when he approached the counter.

"There's no need for that," he said, waving it off, and then scrounged a piece of paper and pen from one of the many chuunin vest pockets. "I'm looking for custom work if you can do it."

"I don't care, we're in the village and we can patch it up here," She shook her head as she pulled out a small bandage, handing it over to Sasuke before continuing to add, "Depends on if you can afford it. We're not cheap, though I'm pretty sure you already know that if you looked at the prices on the weaponry we have too."

"If you're that insistent --" he sighed, gathering chakra to his uninjured hand and pressing it over the tiny injury. It took barely a swipe of chakra to heal something this small, and he showed the unblemished thumb to her a moment after, expression impatient.

"Happy? Now let's talk weaponry. I have savings for this purpose."

Adela had to blink for a second before sighing. She didn't know he was practicing medical ninjutsu... Something she'd never be able to do.

Still, she could dwell on that later. Focusing on the topic, Adela just nodded, "Then tell me what you want. I can work on it while I'm here, and my uncle can work on it if I get called away on mission in the meantime."

"It'll be easier if I show you," he said, bending his head over the counter to draw a rough outline of the weapon -- something modified from an enemy nin they'd run into on a mission a few months back, a weapon that could bring a medium-range opponent into close-range.

"It's halfway between a trap and a weapon," he explained absently, doodling out the chains as he spoke. "I'd like it portable enough to fit in a regular weapons pouch, but if there's no way to do that I'll figure something out."

[OOC: I don't have an actual image, so we can just make something up as we go? :|b]

Immediately she seemed intrigued, her eyes lighting up as she looked over the design. Interesting... She might make one for herself. It'd have to be strong enough to pull human weight, but light enough to carry on his person in his pouch...

It seemed like a weapon that matched him.

"I can get this done in a few days, give or take. I'm guessing standard steel would work, for strength and durability, but you might have to give me time to test it first."

Two of their three-man cell were close-range fighters, and Sasuke himself wasn't so much long-range as mid-range by necessity. When Obito joined them in a fight things changed, but until they got better at their teamwork when it came to taking on a large group, they needed something to draw the enemy to them -- willingly or not.

If she could make this, it would be absolutely useful. And a few days for turnaround time was better than he'd expected -- he pushed the drawing over to her side of the counter, pleased.

"I'll be in the village at least until next week. Let me know when you're ready and I'll test it with you."

"... Yeah, sure Senpai. I'll let you know," She nodded, a little surprised at the expression. It wasn't arrogant, but sort of eager - it was the first time she had seen an expression like that on Sasuke.

She flushed, a bit, glancing away as she lifted the paper, busying herself with looking it over in more detail, "I'll send you a missive when it's done."

Annis raised her eyebrow at the woman's attitude, but decided not to take it personally. She thought to herself that sometime it might be interesting to do a study on why so many smiths were basically laws unto themselves. But, that wasn't why she was here today.

"I am attempting to find a smith with familiarity working with chakra conductive metal for a special commission. Can such be found here?"

"We don't forge with it a whole lot, but we do have some chakra-conducting ore here to work with, along with pre-forged kunai, shuriken, and knuckle-blades for it. There anything specific you're looking for?" Huh, interesting request. She blinked at Annis, a little more amiable now that she knew what the request was. Honestly she had thought that it was just going to be someone trying to ask for something unreasonable, or an annoying window shopper...

Annis pulled a notebook out of the pouch at her side and flipped through past various notes and drawing until she arrived at a page of small diagrams. She tapped the page with her finger to direct the woman's attention to it. It depicted two lengths of fine chain, each totaling about five feet in length attached to an arm guard with a special twist pin release that could be used to release the chains if necessary.

"I need to commission a version of this with chains as fine as possible that are still capable of bearing my body weight at need. I could also use an experts eye on the release mechanism, as this is not my area of expertise."

"Seems difficult, but between my uncle and I we should be able to pull it off. I warn you though, it's not going to be cheap - since it's chakra steel," She nodded, looking over the notes intently as she thought it over. A release mechanism too... Hm. That's probably not going to be so simple, lots of small parts that have to be just right or they won't hold and do their job. That could be dangerous, especially in their line of work...

"This might take a while - a week at the most, though depending on how much we need to work with the release mechanism it might take longer. We'll tell you if we end up having trouble with it."

"Take your time," She said, nodding her head and detaching the paper from the notebook and handing it over. "I would rather it be done right than done quickly. If you need me for measurements or...whatever it is you will need for this process, I will make myself available."

She paused for a moment, thinking. She had quite a bit of funds saved up from missions but still.. "Do you have any idea of how 'not cheap' its going to be?"

"Looking at it, and with the type of steel that'd need to be used to support your body weight yet still be light enough for easy use... Around 2,250 Ryo, if I had to estimate. For materials and labour," She nodded, frowning at the design. It'd definitely be more for the labour than the material, if what she was looking at was accurate. Still, the estimate was fairly generous; she wouldn't be surprised if, commercially, her uncle sold this type of weapon for more. It's worth more because it doesn't seem like a disposable weapon in the least, and like it or not metal was expensive... Especially if she wanted to make it as high a quality as she's used to.

Not that she thought Annis was anywhere near the weight she was thinking of, but already the red head was planning for the chain to try and hold around 110 kg at least. That would give her leeway, in case she had supplies on her or, possibly, another person... Yeah. That would work.

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So much for slowing down...

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