Last forge post before the Allpocalypse

[ostro_goth]

There is a new sign on the notice board.

Please collect all outstanding orders and commission at the forge, due to impending apocalypse.
All else half-price!Then, Teja makes his way to the forge, to finish some projects he has begun for his people in Gotland. When the time comes, he will send them there, with the cats. Ferdinand, patient as he is

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[scots_wolf]

And who would turn up than the murderer, the shameless one, the arch-enemy of Teja's afterlife, Urquhart the Caledonian?

He is leaning in the door on the side where it's open, his dog sitting by his feet, watching Teja work.

[ostro_goth]

The cats do to greet the dog, self-assured as this is their turf, and the dog, in any case, is supposed to be beholden to them, and obey their whims.

Teja looks up from his work-bench, and regards Urquhart with a calmness that even contains some pity.

"Would you buy some little trinket, then," he asks, "so your living bed-mates and little friends will not forget you out in their wide worlds when this place ends, until they hang for their bad deeds?"

[scots_wolf]

"Actually," Urquhart says, "I've got a proposition for you."

Franz the dog settles by the fire, among the cats, who pile up on the dog's back and shoulders.

"What shall we do with them, eh?" Urquhart adds, shaking his head and stepping inside the forge.

[ostro_goth]

"That is a sensible proposition," Teja says, looking up with sudden interest. "Indeed, I was assuming you would ask your friend Alfred to take the dog with him, when he leaves for the apocalypse? I shall send my three living cats to Gotland. Count, alas, is dead like me or you and shall perish with this place."

[scots_wolf]

"I haven't seen him for a bit," Urquhart says. "Alfred is too sensible to walk into dangerous places brimming with doom. If he turns up before the end, then I'll send the dog back with him."

Beat.

"The apocalypse is coming, and you're still making things."

[ostro_goth]

"Things I wished to give to my people in Gotland," Teja says. "Ferdinand is a patient cat who will wear a hat, even, if a child puts one on him; I shall put a harness and a little bag on him, and a message telling my Adalgoth where I have buried the rest of what I have for them. Would you wish for my help with your dog in such a manner, too?"

[scots_wolf]

"Well," Urquhart says, walking through the forge to sit on the rim of the forge-fire, where it's pleasantly warm.

He lounges, relaxed, and grins at Teja.

"Well, then I have two propositions for you."

[ostro_goth]

Teja gets up, and walks over to scoop up Count from the cat-pile on the dog. "If you would ask for me to send your dog to Gotland, in case Alfred does not return before the apocalypse, together with my cats so he will have a life in the open air of the olden times, instead of death in the empty space at the end of time, then yes, consider it done."

He leans against the wooden frame of the whetstone, holding the little grey cat in his arms, looking down at Urquhart.

"Franz is a lovely and loving animal; I would not consign him to such a fate just to spite the man the unlucky hound calls master."

[scots_wolf]

"I can pay," Urquhart says. "I've amassed quite a fortune, in my life and afterlife. For sending Franz to safety, you can have as much as you want of it, to send on to your people if you want to, for board and lodging of my dog, and his descendants, forever. There's more than enough for that."

[ostro_goth]

"There is no need for that," Teja says, "but actually, for the sake of my people, I would take it. There is envy fomenting among the Gotlanders, and that might be assuaged by spreading more wealth around."

[scots_wolf]

Urquhart pulls out a fat leather money-bag from the lining of his cloak, and throws it to Teja.

"Here," he says. "If Alfred comes after all, just keep it. See it as an option on safety for Franz that I'm buying. Good? Then let's get to my second proposition."

[ostro_goth]

Teja catches the bag with the hand that was stroking, not holding, the cat.

"I shall take it, as I said; but will leave my answer to your second proposition open. What is it?"

[scots_wolf]

"Let's have sex," Urquhart says. "No, seriously. This place is about to fall apart, and we're dead and stuck here. We'll go out with a bang, so let's bang at least once before that happens. Don't tell me you've never considered it, the way you've hounded Alfred and me?"

[ostro_goth]

Teja drops the money-bag, staring at him.

"The moment I almost warm in sympathy to you," he finally says, "you go and say such drivel to drive all my pity away. You know what the answer to that must ever be! Why would you still wish to provoke me in that manner, now, at the end of all things?"

[scots_wolf]

"I mean it," Urquhart says. "You don't want to go into final oblivion without a last fizzle of pleasure, a last glass of wine, and the feeling you haven't missed out on something you wanted? Do you?"

He's leaning backwards, smiling up at Teja, teeth white and strong and hair thick and long and blond.

Big and strong and warm, and with a reputation for great bedroom skills.

[ostro_goth]

"You think it would be that easy?" Teja says.

He is tempted, but will of course not show it. He gave in to Adalgoth; giving in to Urquhart would, in comparison, be foully anticlimactic.

He wants Adalgoth to have been the last. The one for that thing you do when the world ends. Without Adalgoth, Teja realises, he might be tempted to say yes. But now...

Now, something smells of burning. Acrid, like fabric or hair.

Teja drops the cat.

"Urquhart! Your hair is trailing into the fire, as you are trying to slouch so seductively on there!"