Another Day Another

Repairing a Damascus steel sword at the request of the Warlord's daughter had turned into more of an undertaking than he had originally anticipated when she first brought the weapon to him, but in the end it was turning out to be a lovely piece of weaponry. He was almost sad to see it go. In the end he always liked seeing a piece he worked on in use rather than just sitting around being beautiful, but he certainly hoped that this Artorias he had heard about from Briar was going to be appreciative of the work he had done. Of course he had no way of knowing what the sword looked like originally, but now that it had a brilliant, feiry luster to the metal, a fresh wrap of leather around its grip, gleaming topaz stones reseated into the guard...

Gods it was hard to see it go. It was really the look in Briar's face when she saw it restored that made him realize that it was not just a sword he was working on and it did truly mean something to her and to the boy she was apparently going off to lead this other pack with. He was not necessarily the sentimental type, but it did make him feel good in knowing that he had done something good for them. It was one of the things that kept him doing what he did and what brought a bit of enjoyment to all the crafting and creating he did. He could create beautiful, useful things, but they only really meant something if they were actually being used.

After several long days of rushing to finish the project before the turn of the season so that it would be done in time for Briar's move to Auster, he felt like he needed a moment to step away from the smelter and the fire. The fur around his paws was pretty much always in some sort of state of singe, often blackened with soot and ash, and his paw pads were tough and worn with all the work he put them through. Now though it had gone a step further and the pads were starting to get cracked where even the thick calluses could not protect him from himself. He had one of the healers in Armada look them over and slap some herbs onto them, but he ultimately knew that the only real fix was to take a few days off and let them heal on their own. He had cut up and ruined his paws more than enough times to know that.

With the sword finished and most of his other projects not in dire need of completion, he wandered out of Armada lands to go do a bit of exploring in his down time. He had traveled around these parts and criss crossed around these lands for a while prior to finally settling in Armada thanks to Sirius' generous offer of a home and a place for him to set up his shop, but he had not done much casual exploring in that time. He had mostly been traveling with some kind of purpose and rarely ever just stopped to see the sights. He walked out toward the near by falls, following the sound of flowing water in the hopes that he might find some clear, cool water to soak his feet him. He did find that, but what he ended up finding in it was far more violent and much more of a problem.

He was just beginning to follow the rolling falls up an incline when he heard a crash of water and a struggle that sounded perhaps like someone was coughing up water after being thrown in. His ears perked and his hackles bristled immediately and he ran forward, pretty easily spotting the giant, crystal covered bear that was standing in the falls with its attention turned down to whatever was under it. If it was not for the wolf's vibrant pink coloring he might have had a hard time spotting her before she scrambled back from her attacker. He had no idea what had made the bear go after her seemingly out of nowhere, but he also knew how much the crystals and mushrooms messed with the brains of the creatures they infected so he also was not entirely surprised. Ruga darted forward as the bear began to make another charge at the startlingly pink young woman, intercepting it with his jaws clamping onto the side of the bear's face as he barreled into it, finding a spot that wasn't encrusted in crystals for him to hold onto as he shoved the predator away.

WC: 782
Total: 1180/1500

"Ruga Amanto"