[Solo/Research] Pet Carrier

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630 words		The Request
The blue-eyed samurai Caerbannog woke up in a good mood one morning. She had fallen sleep in her cave of plushies out of habit, much to the disdain of her better half Kumori, and right beside her lovely little frenmic rabbit Hrairoo. After having released the bunny creature from her influence as an animal trainer, Caer had been worried that Roo would run off somewhere. But the frenmic rabbit had nowhere else to go, what with the destruction of its family back when the samurai was a mere level 1 adventurer, and so Roo remained by the girl’s side. Well, mostly by the girl’s side when she was in the Abbey. Caer took notice of Hrairoo’s whereabouts whenever she had to leave and insisted that the rabbit remain in the safety of the guild house. Unlike Hyzenthlay and Foreman Mukade IX, Hrairoo could not be unsummoned into the safety of his monster slot should he face great peril so Caerbannog basically grounded the rabbit. That was no skin off Roo’s nose though for unlike Hyzenthlay, he did not want to break faces; unlike Mukade, he was not curious of The Outside. Idle days were becoming of the frenmic rabbit, and he was mostly satisfied with just sleeping and eating all day and all night. The wolf-hair knew, however, that Hrairoo still needed to exercise and frolic in the wild. He was, after all, a wild creature by definition. Caerbannog needed a safe way to carry the rabbit around though, and so she thought that one particular research request was a brilliant idea. Whichever animal trainer who thought about it was genius; probably Capsule. Or a mother who wanted to lock up her son. Either way, genius. That aside, Caerbannog did not sleep in that day unlike most idle days when she did not engage in a boss hunt. Instead, the wolf-hair woke up early to head down to Saint Pancras Station where she would be able to work on the request. Since Londinium was mostly safe, the wolf-hair brought Hrairoo along and with no creature summoned with him. Hyzenthlay would want to pummel the male rabbit’s face as a greeting, and Foreman Mukade IX might unintentionally give little Roo a heart attack. Upon their arrival at Saint Pancras Station, the blacksmith rented the usual place from the usual lander. She had requested beforehand that good quality ingots be provided as her research materials, and so with the proper amount agreed upon, the lander left some of his own supplies for the girl to use. He already made some money so early that day without breaking a sweat, and so the lander happily hopped off to do lander things. Caerbannog put her frenmic rabbit on the work bench as she swapped out her bear pajamas for her work clothes. Yes, she did walk all the way down to Saint Pancras Station in her bear pajamas. One would wonder what her husband thought of having to sleep near a Caer Bear in a cave, but that’s a question reserved for another story. Caerbannog fired up the furnace and then she took out the research request. She weighed the piece of paper down with some iron ingots and once it was in a readable position, the blacksmith reviewed the request once again. It asked for a pet carrier which could be used by animal trainers mostly to carry around or store undomesticated animals. Some special notes and warnings were included, such as the level of the carrier and the beast that it would contain. Clearly, the one who penned it had a sensible head on his or her shoulders and that made Caerbannog’s job easier. No one would think to use pet carriers for any nefarious deeds such as locking up children or transporting unconscious victims... right?

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385 words		Caer-ful Planning
With a clear image in her mind, Caerbannog set to work. First, she had to determine the materials that she would use for research. Iron was very tough yet also very heavy; the pet carrier was supposed to withstand pressure and scratches but it was impractical for anyone to lug around something so bulky. Steel, though less pure than iron, was easier to work with overall and weighed less as well. In the future, other pet carriers that she would make could be made of pure iron especially if the contained beast was massive and strong. In the meantime though, steel would do the job just as well. The blacksmith took out a meter stick and some pen and paper. She was no scribe but simple chicken-scratches describing the length, height and width should suffice. Hrairoo was cooperative as usual and just laid there on the work bench without a care in the world. Seriously, if he was not visibly breathing, one would think that Caerbannog was dressing a rabbit for dinner. First, she took the length of the rabbit’s body from nose tip to tail tip. Second, the blacksmith measured the rabbit’s height from the work bench to its collar bone. And third, she measured its width from shoulder to shoulder. Using those methods, she had an approximate size of the space that the frenmic rabbit would take up within a pet carrier. Keeping in mind the creature’s comfort within a pet carrier, Caerbannog added a few centimeters to all the measurements while minding to separate them from the original measurements. Hrairoo still remained in the same position, slightly curious of the blacksmith’s work but not curious enough to poke his nose into whatever she was scribbling down on a piece of paper. The piece of paper smelled good though, and so the frenmic rabbit turned his little head towards the working wolf-hair. His body soon followed and a moment later, Roo nibbled on the corner of Caer’s notes. The samurai gently tapped Hrairoo’s nose with the butt of her pen and with just that, he knew to stop whatever it was that he was doing. Caer was then able to continue her understandably horrible drawings and measurements. A shaky rectangle with scribbled numbers on the sides : that was her drawn-out plan for the pet carrier.

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590 words		Construction
A rectangular metal carrier with some holes on the sides and grids for the door; Caerbannog could not replicate the real-world bolted or snap-up carriers so she had to work with what she had. The blacksmith took out a slab for making plates and then she heated a steel ingot in a small soaking pit. Once the ingot was heated sufficiently, Caer cold-rolled it onto the slab until it created a steel plate. One down, four to go! While the carrier had four sides if seen from up front, the back part of the pet carrier had to be a full plate as well and then she would just put breathing holes on it. The wolf-hair repeated the process four more times, rather tedious to be honest. Hrairoo continued to look on and he yawned every now and then while he tried to ignore the piece of paper which was right beside him. Oh, it looked and smelled so delicious... but the wolf-hair would be upset if he ate it right up. Such a dilemma. Caerbannog all but ignored the frenmic rabbit until she turned to check her scribbles... and found him nibbling on the other corner of the piece. The smith sighed; she took out some of Rien’s Ice Cream cake from her inventory and gave it to the rabbit who was rather pleased with the outcome of his mischievousness. Once Roo was visibly preoccupied, Caerbannog checked off the parts of the drawing which she already finished. There were five steel plates cooling near the work bench and all she had to do was to bolt or weld them together. Wait... speaking of welding, she had no welding tool! The idea for the door had to go then because it was not wise to do a research while doing a research. If she worked on a welding tool then and there, she would have to hold off on working on the pet carrier. And so Caer turned to the furnace once again and made yet another steel plate, this one to be used as the pet carrier’s door. Caer afterwards set to work on the steel plates’ breathing holes. With smithy implements in her hands, those which were already available as basic smithing tools, the blacksmith created holes on the plates. Each hole was not circular; rather each one was an oblong with carefully curved ends. It would be unfortunate if sharp edges injured some poor beast (or person) to be put in the carrier. Two of the steel plates, the ones to be put on the left and right face of the pet carrier, were given those oblong breathing holes while a third one, to be used on the back part of the carrier, were furnished with completely circular breathing holes. The last thing that she needed were some steel rivets, all of which had been provided by the lander who owned the blacksmith stall. She had paid for that material too so that she would not have to craft it, as crafting so many little things would be even more annoying than crafting steel plates. With the steel rivets in hand, began to join the steel plates together. She first worked on what was to be the left side of the pet carrier and riveted two steel plates together. Caer then set that one side on the work bench as she took up two more steel plates and riveted them together. Now with that, she had four faces of the pet carrier which only needed to be joined together.

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445 words		The Finishing Touches
Another handful of steel rivets were used to bring the many faces of the pet carrier together. The two halves, each made up of two steel plates that Caerbannog had already adjoined earlier, were put together to form the rectangular body. The fifth steel plate became the closed end of the pet carrier and was placed securely as the fifth face of the metal contraption. It seemed pretty solid so far and with a few taps with her smithing hammer, Caer made sure to flatten any protruding parts. The final piece of the pet carrier was the door which was made up of a slightly smaller steel plate. It had to fit securely against the remaining opening of the carrier. The wolf-hair made some last fittings and adjustments so that the door would be able to swing open but only if a simple lock fixture was unlocked by the owner. Caerbannog swung the door open and close a few times to make sure that it was not jammed or anything, and she also checked that the lock was working just fine. The metal was still a bit warm to the touch so she let it cool off on the work bench right beside Roo who thankfully had not done any more mischief. “Look! I can carry you around in this thing!” the samurai said to the frenmic rabbit. Roo twitched his ears at Caerbannog who had forgotten to use Tongue of Nature; he understood the words “I” and “you” at least. The rest sounded like gibberish to him. Once the pet carrier was completely cooled down, Caer gently lifted the rabbit and put him in the carrier. Roo was slightly afraid because the carrier was rather smaller a space than what he was used to, but the samurai only put him in it momentarily for the final testing. “Because you were a good snuggly bunny, I’ll treat you to some fresh veggies, okay?” Caerbannog nuzzled Hrairoo’s forehead after she pulled him out of the carrier. The blacksmith then made sure to clean up after herself by putting her tools away and by storing the extra materials in the lander’s cabinets. The last to be tended to, and this one took a bit of time, was the furnace. Once the fire was out, Caer checked it thoroughly for any remaining embers. She then scooped out the remains of the used fuel and put them in a waste bucket specifically used for that. When every was in its proper place, the blue-eyed samurai stored away the newly-made pet carrier in her inventory and hopped off farther down Saint Pancras Station to get a fresh salad for Hrairoo.