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We're back on the Commission trail today! Today's prompt: Let's see Honored Elder Sister Ame Jichong working on a commission of her own.
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It never ceases to amaze Ame Jichong just how many ways there are to stop a blade.
It makes sense that everyone around the world would create their own armor and shields. After all, for as long as man has known how to heat metal, they have sought ways to introduce the sharpened end of an ingot into the bellies of those they don't like. Longer even; swords and knives can be made of anything after all. And so it stands to reason that every person who has ever wanted to avoid such a fate would work on means to prevent it.
But the sheer
variety of methods that people have created is enough to boggle the mind! In all of Ame Jichong's years of study, she has yet to find two identical styles of armor. And the differences she finds are not small ones either; each has its own variation on the concept of 'solid object to block blades', and each is fascinating in their own way.
The Laughingstar Tribesmen preferred to make their armor from boiled leather and only wore it on their arms and legs. Was that because they didn't want to risk sacrificing mobility or because they lack the ability to properly shape the leather? The Gravebearers in the Trackless Marsh used actual plates of shaped stone tucked into reinforced pockets on ordinary clothing. Did they not fear the extra weight dragging them below the surface? The Northern Savages eschewed metal, stone, and leather alike in favor of heavy fur wraps and oversized bone shields. Why are the shields
only bone? Is it not hard to find a properly aspected creature able to properly 'donate' bones of that size?
Each piece of armor has a dozen questions behind it- questions that can only be answered with dedicated recreation and rigorous experimentation.
One such question is in the process of being answered even now. Ame Jichong is deep in focus over the linkmail shirt that sits half woven on her anvil. Each link is properly forged and assembled using the exact style of the Free City of Osrot, which sits across the ocean and prides itself on the strength of its arms. The strength of the Osrotians is no lie; with the aid of their arms and armor, they are capable of destroying a Spirit Beast that would reduce a Radiant village to embers with minimal casualties. But is their strength in their arms or their armor?
Someone else will investigate their weapons. But Ame Jichong? She is fascinated by their linkmail. Each link is forged above embers birthed from a dozen different aspects and woven together with its brethren with no pattern to speak of. A link forged of Earth and Crow can sit next to a link of Ice and Night with no ill-effects whatsoever! How is that even possible?
To find out, Ame Jichong works day and night. Every moment she has that isn't dedicated to her third's service or teaching her sevens and eights is spent forming forge after forge, creating new and interesting links to weave together. It's a painstaking process; the Osrotian method is not an easy one, and the smallest disturbance can ruin the effort entirely. But it's a worthwhile one. Soon, she will have her answer. Already a picture is being forged in her mind as surely as the linkmail shirt is being forged in her hands. All she needs is time. Time, and peace.
Peace which is broken as the door to her forge is flung open. "Honored Elder Sister!" a voice hisses, cutting through the formerly pristine silence. "I beg your pardon but I have dire need or your assistance!"
It isn't the loud cry of another's voice that ruins the weaving; Chai Ling, though clearly distraught, still barely speaks above a whisper. It isn't the sudden presence of someone new. Ame Jichong has forged amidst far greater tumult than one of her Eights coming in and disturbing her. It isn't the breeze that kicks up from the force Chai Ling opens the door with; all that does is blow back Ame Jichong's hair.
No, what truly ruins the forging process is the sheer
agitation in Chai Ling. The gaunt girl's spirit practically sings with discomfort, to the point where her core seethes with tension. Steel and Fire flow from Chai Ling like steam from a bath, blanketing the room in errant anam. It's all Ame Jichong can do to watch the link she was working quiver in place under the sudden assault- and then, like a flower, it withers into a bare husk of what it once was.
Ame Jichong lets out a low breath as she stares down at what was once the end result of a day's careful labor. Behind her, Chai Ling freezes, hands going to her face as the impact of what she's just done truly strikes her. The elder disciple ignores her junior and instead grasps her sixth sense, carefully pouring over the ruined iron in front of her and then the half-shirt nearby.
Once her inspection is done, Ame Jichong bites back a sigh of relief. The current link is ruined, but the shirt itself is hardier. Even though it hasn't undergone it's final cold temper yet, the links already joined seem no worse for wear from Chai Ling's assault. In fact, some seem stronger. Ame Jichong peers at it curiously. The power spread amongst the links is no longer even…
Did weaker links draw from stronger ones to hold up to the attack?
Fascinating.
But that can be studied later. For now, Ame Jichong has a disciple to see to.
She spins and stares at Chai Ling. The Eighth Circle member's eyes are wide as she stares at the ruin she has wrought before her mentor. But Ame Jichong interrupts her self-recriminations with a snap right next to the younger girl's ear. "Chai!" she barks at her junior. "Wha' is it?"
Chai Ling blinks quickly and jerks her head up, meeting Ame Jichong's eyes. "I… um… my apologies, Honored Elder Sister! I did not mean to-"
"Ah know ya didnae mean to!" Ame Jichong interrupts. "If ah thought ya had, we'd bae having a right different conversation right aboot now! But ya came in here fer a reason. Come on, spit it out!"
The Eighth Circle Member takes a moment to digest Ame Jichong's words before nodding sharply. "My apologies," she grunts out. "I allowed my feelings to distract me from my purpose. I shall endeavor to make certain that it does not happen-"
Another snap of Ame Jichong's fingers cuts through her babble. "Today, Chai! If ah have tae ask again, ah'm takin' out a wing!"
Chai Ling's words freeze in her mouth and her eyes dar to Ame Jichong's chitinous black shoulders. She swallows and nods. "Yes, Honored Elder Sister. Thank you, Honored Elder Sister." She pauses to see if Ame Jichong has any further objections, but when she doesn't Chai Ling continues. "The problem is with Kwan Zedong."
Ame Jichong rolls her eyes. "Of
course it is. Wha's his issue?"
"He does not like the fact that I am working on his armor!" Chai Ling spits out. Now that the topic is changed, fire has returned to the smith's apprentices' eyes and heat to her voice. "No matter how many times I assure him that I know how to properly work shell, he will not hear it! He is now threatening to withhold payment unless
you see to his breastplate yourself!"
The Sixth Circle Disciple considers the words and nods. "He is, is he?" she muses. "Whateva he wants." Then she's up, leaving her half-finished linkmail in a heap as she strides from her forge. Chai Ling pauses only to close the door behind her and then she too is moving, racing to keep up with her mentor.
Ame Jichong burns a path right through the Creator's Garden. All around her, lower disciples dodge to avoid her path, and even her fellow Sixths quickly duck out of her way when they see the look on her face. Only once does Ame Jichong have to change her own course, when a Third Circle disciple demands the entire path upon which they both walk, but besides that it is a clear trip right to Chai Ling's usual workstation.
The small, simple workshop is a crowded place dominated by a wide table covered in odds and ends. One side is emptier than the other however, and is occupied only by a simple breastplate of leather and tortoiseshell. It's at that side that another disciple sits.
The other disciple couldn't look any less like he belonged in the Creator's Garden if he tried. His hair is brushed back and tied into a neat braid with silver cord. His nails, perfectly manicured and entirely without calluses. His robes are pristine, save for a light coating of dust towards the lower edge which he glares at as if it has personally offended him.
But he's not the only one here personally offended. He's just far worse at hiding it.
Ame Jichong stalks up to the disciple and stops only feet away from him. "Ya got a problem?" she barks out.
The disciple, Kwan Zedong flinches at the sudden arrival of the elder disciple. He recovers in a flash though, resuming his imitation of a portrait of poise and elegance. "Ah! Ame Jichong! It is wonderful to see you!" he exclaims. "Perhaps now we can guide our business to a satisfying conclusion."
Ame Jichong stares at him for a moment. Her shoulder vibrates, the motion far too slight for Kwan Zedong to notice. But Chai Ling's eyes are trained on her mentor's shoulders; she recoils at the twitch. Ame Jichong doesn't pay her student any mind. Instead she reaches out and raps two knuckles against the armor next to her. "Business seems finished," she replies. "Work's done. All ah' need is the rest of ya' payment."
Kwan Zedong shakes his head slowly. He looks almost like a disappointed father who is very sad that his daughter could not come to him with her feelings. "I apologize, but I must beg to differ. After all, I commissioned
you to personally craft my armor- not your
apprentice. And from what she tells me, you did not so much as look at her work before pronouncing it complete."
The senior disciple stares at Kwan Zedong as she tries to determine if he's joking or not. Finding no humor in his face, she snorts. "I looked at it," she answers. "It's good work. Chai's gotta gift wit' shell. Should last ya through whatever ya run into. Happy?"
"...no!" Kwan Zedong exclaims. "I paid
you to craft my armor! You! You were supposed to create it with your own hands! You said that you would!"
Ame Jichong stares at him without a drop of comprehension in her eyes. "Ah did," she slowly states. "Chai
is one o' mah hands. Real talent, tha' one." She glances over her shoulder. "Chai, how long've you worked shell?"
"A year, Honored Elder Sister," Chai Ling answers. Her eyes haven't moved from Ame Jichong's shoulder, but she gives her vigil a rest just long enough to send a poisonous glare Kwan Zedong's way. The other disciple doesn't seem to notice; all of his focus is on Ame Jichong.
Ame Jichong doesn't return his gaze. All of her focus is on the armor. "Just a year," she muses. "And she's already this good. Trust me, you're in good hands here. Now, if we can just ha' the rest o' your payment, our business'll be done."
Kwan Zedong scoffs. "I care not how skilled your junior is! I paid for
your work, not the futile attempts of an apprentice! Now, are you-"
His protests die in his throat as Ame Jichong fixes him with a steady look. "Nah," she corrects him. "Ya didn't. If you were payin' fer
my work, trus' me, you'd have paid more than jus' fifty points. Now, fer the las' time, ya gonna pay up or what?"
Silence settles on Chai Ling's workshop for an endless moment. It's broken when Kwan Zedong stands and pulls his token from his pocket. "I will say 'or what'," he barks out.
Ame Jichong lifts an eyebrow. "Oh?" she drawls.
Kwan Zedong brandishes his token at her. "I demand my points back. I will
not pay for slipshod work! And since you refuse to get up and actually do what I've told you, I will take my custom elsewhere. You have twenty-five of my points and I want them back!"
The chitin-shouldered girl looks from the token to Kwan Zedong and then back again. She scratches at her chin for a moment as if in thought. Then she shakes her head. "Nah, I'm not gonna do that."
Then she stands up and gestures at the armor on the table. Chai Ling obediently scurries forward and plucks it from the table. "But if ya' change ya mind, feel free to lemme know," Ame Jichong drawls. "Have a nice day now, ya hear?"
With that, she turns and strides from the forge. Behind her, Kwan Zedong stares in shock. "You- I- you have to give me my points back!"
"Nah."
"I… then you're agreeing to make my armor!"
"Nah."
The well appointed disciple's jaw drops open. As the two girls make their way from the forge, Kwan Zedong's voice comes with them. "I won't stand for this!" he calls. "I will get my points back
and I will have you properly make my armor! I don't care how long it takes! I will take this to Elder Tian if I have to!"
"Good luck wit' that!" Ame Jichong calls.
Kwan Zedong's footsteps echo on the stone as he chases after them. "Who is your master?!" he barks at Ame Jichong as he reaches her. "I will be having words with them about how poorly the Creator's Garden has treated me today!"
Ame Jichong glances at Kwan Zedong out of the corner of her eye. "I answer to Chu Yan o' the Third. He's over at tha' glassblowers if ya' wanna talk to him now."
The former client doesn't answer Ame Jichong. He turns from her instead and speeds up, power walking away from the smiths, moving towards one of the upper circles of the Creator's Garden. Ame Jichong and Chai Ling just stand and watch him go.
"Will… will you get in trouble for that, Honored Elder Sister?" Chai Ling asks.
Ame Jichong smiles.
It is not a nice smile.
"Ah highly doubt it."
Moments later, a yell comes from the glassblowers section of the Garden, and from off in the distance sounds a crack like thunder. Wind blasts through the Garden. With it, it carries a figure dressed in long flowing robes, a sect token stuffed in his mouth and a look of utter misery on his face.
Ame Jichong watches Kwan Zedong's arc until he's out of sight. Then she gives it a sharp nod. "Yeah, that seems about right."
Then she's gone, mind already back on her current project. What kind of aspects can she use for the next link?
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