“They call you ‘Mister Blade’?” The surprisingly tall brown and tan rabbit ran a hand over the finely crafted display cases before meeting eyes with the buck standing in the shade behind them.
“Thats right. Post even redirects any mail in my region by that name to me. Hand forged custom blades, carved horn handles, variety of metals and decorative stone insets. You can find me at fairs like this all over the central and midwest. Just last week I sold my masterpiece in Algonquin, a 38 inch short sword with ivory and jade ivy inlays.”
The rabbit nodded courteously under his wide hat as Blade started into one of his standard spiels before finally stopping him. “Sounds like a lovely wall piece, but I’m looking for more functional blades. Something with a little more… shine.” He softly ran a paw down one long lapel of his brown duster as children ran by giggling and waving fresh cotton candy from another booth.
Mister Blade nodded back, holding his arms such that he could hold the underside of his chin contemplatively. “Hmm. More shine and functional? Well, I’ve already told the Order I’ll not do their dirty work.”
“What? I’m not, … The Order? There’s an Order?” The rabbit was visibly shaken and leaned forward to rest his elbows on one of the more sturdy looking displays. “No, I, I just need something to defend myself in there.”
Blade smiled weakly as if he’d just remembered a favorite stupid joke from a long dead friend. “Alright kid. You must be really new to this stuff. Don’t tell me how ya got in, the Order might overhear ya. I’m not yer mentor, I’m not yer guide, but the least I can do is sell ya the tools ye’ll need. If you can pay.”
Blade waited for the rabbit to nod his agreement before going to the back of the old military tent that served as his fairground booth. He pulled a leather roll from a tote and unrolled it on top of the display cases. The rabbit had to shield his eyes with his arm at the light shining off the many tools in the roll.
Blade harrumphed and gave a soft chuckle as one of his ears twitched in interest, “Well, obviously I don’t need to sell you any specs to see into the other plane. Pull yer arm down kid, those eyes need to adjust to it just like yer normal ones, and yer lookin a right fool that way.”
The rabbit pulled his arm up and took off his hat to stroke the ears it had been pinning down. He took a deep breath, “Ok, I think my visions starting to clear up, but I’m not quite sure what I’m looking at.”
Blade pointed to a few different knives in turn. “Gold, silver, platinum, titanium, pyrite, copper, lead, cold steel, iron, cold iron, and magnetite. The handles are all my own antlers, soaked in holy water, and each tip is embedded with sodium chloride, that’s non-iodized salt. These will cover about 99% of what you could encounter over there. But obviously, you really gotta know the right metal for the right beast. What’s more, ya flash the wrong shine and yer gonna make enemies, so keep um sheathed unless ya mean ta use it.
“I’d recommend a beginner like you take a silver hook and both a gold and platinum blade. The hook’s got alotta uses. Snag a sleeper’s line, give ya an edge against a wolf, pry open a crack.”
The rabbit reached out tentatively toward the magically glowing blades. It was hard for him to believe that the other fair goers couldn’t see the intense illumination they shed. He listened to Blade, soaking up as much information as he could. “Wait, a hook? Why not a silver blade?”
Blade twitched nervously side to side, “Uh, well, that’d be because of the wolves, ya see. And the sleepers, I suppose, but mostly the wolves. They more or less rule that side of things, you go astral and bring a silver weapon with you they won’t hesitate, they will see you as a threat and eliminate you. A hook, it’s a tool. It’ll help if ya happen to fight one a them, but they don’t see it as a direct challenge. And it’ll let ya move a sleeper’s line without accidentally cutting them loose.
“Most sleepers aren’t very considerate when they float about the plane, they leave their thread everywhere. They don’t even know what kinda danger that puts um in, or what a mess it is for everyone else, cause most everyone there agrees to leave the lines alone. Never know who’s line it could be, maybe a loved one, maybe an innocent cub. Despite appearances, most travelers aren’t monsters.”
The rabbit rolled his eyes and nearly turned around, facing the stalls across the walking path. “Yeah, almost everything I’ve met either wanted to fight or fuck. I think some wanted both. But a lot of them … well, I’ll just say their appearances inspired more of the former and less of the latter.”
Blade chuckled and reached for a small ring shaped stone. “Sounds like ya probably ran afoul of a Cubi meetup. Unlike Norms, like me, Cubi and most other Supernaturals don’t dream into the Astral. They actually have to do a full crossover to be there. But they can give Norm sleepers some amazing wet dreams, or terrible nightmares. Eventually, you can learn to tune out most of the people you don’t want to meet. Geography in the plane is… weird.”
He placed the stone ring up to his eye and jerked back, almost dropping the ring. “Oh, fuck! Uh, kid, you’ve got a lot of imps all over you. How are they….? Oh, you… ok. I think I’ve taught you enough. You want the gold knife, the platinum, and the cold iron. 1200 for the trio. ”
