To the Basics [Solo/Crafting]

[Pandemonium]

Where to start than the one thing that you do know in the nonsensical world? That is how the feline thought process went when she purchased some 'mechanical' goods to craft with. Honestly she was newer than newborn baby at this whole game thing, having only ever really fiddled around with the simpler browser games. So, she thought; that it would be best to start where she already had some more expertise in and that was engineering. Mechanics. That was actually the main reason why she even bothered to start the game off for her cousin, because there was such a class and she had to admit she liked the idea of being able to use something she knew about in a game.

It had been only recently when she learned how to use the blasted systems for this 'game'. Poking random buttons to figure out what the heck she was supposed to do didn't help too much as the most she got out of was her stats and equipment. Oh and the inventory, can't forget the inventory. That would be very, very bad. Apparently. Well she would lose out on the materials she had just bought from that nice NPC man. A kind fellow he was, even gave her a bit of advice how to use the whole of what she had bought. Odd how little it took to make something when in the real world there was multiple other things that were required in the building process. For now her goal was simple - create a music box.

Pandemonium could remember a time when she had first aimed toward the mechanical world, her first ever creation being a music box. So in a way it was like restarting from scratch. The Were-Cat made her way toward a more enclosed area, careful to stay away from as many of the other NPC's and players as she could lest she lose one of her very few and very valued pieces. It didn't even bother her that she was walking slower than a snail's pace to get there.

She found herself a nice little shady spot that was relatively open but had moderately flat level with little to no grass. In fact the ground looked like dirt covered concrete. Perfect! Settling down the woman rustled through her inventory (which took her a few moments to remember where that was) until in her hands were the materials that were needed. First, the Wind-Up Mechanism. "Okay let's do this." A little bout of confidence for luck.
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Word Count - 423

[Pandemonium]

"Put this here... Fix this one up a little... Wow these things are really nasty..." Pandemonium mumbled to herself. Just starting seemed like it would have been so simple and yet these pieces of scrap metal were not making this look pretty. Not in the slightest... and she was usually surrounded by dirty things on a regular basis! It was a good thing that she wasn't quick tempered or this would've gone south very quickly. No, instead the feline was as focused as a still camera on shot. Her crimson eyes stared at the little windings in her hands, unblinking even. Twisting, fitting; it all felt so natural and yet so foreign in that body of hers. Yet her mind was completely at ease while she toiled away.

She hadn't noticed how quickly the day had been going while she correcting the gears and rewinding the coil back into the Wind-Up. From morning to noon she had sat in that spot, fixing the item into what she wished it to be. When she had actually finished Pan was more than certain that there were bugs in her eyes. Rubbing her eyes with one free hand and grumbling some nonsense, she took to admiring her little piece of handiwork. It was so amateur and yet she felt so proud. It was an... odd feeling to say the least. But then what was one to do when the world itself wouldn't allow her to use her actual skills? A little smile flashed across her lips, "Heh, gotta start somewhere. Like Ma always said I guess."

Giving the piece on last look over, Pan's smile turned into a grin. Stroking her whiskers, which quivered in response; with a sense of pride. The same kind of pride that she first had when she created her first instrument. "Now then I suppose I should start on my next project before I get hungry then."
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Word Count - 320
Crafted - Wind-Up Mechanism
Materials Used - [Old Gear], [Old Coil], [Old Screw]

[Pandemonium]

No this was to be the more complicated part, much more complicated. Working with a wind-up was much simpler that figuring out how to turn that into a music box. The notes in her head from when she had gotten the advice played over and over until the girl began to doubt herself. Why? Well first off what was she supposed to use for the ‘box’ in music box? All she had left were the three remaining materials and then this new piece that she had crafted just for this. Maybe the box would magically appear around it? This was a game so it wasn’t out of the question, right? Right?! It had better or this cat girl would literally rage out trying to figure how to make this damnable system work. Well with that in mind Pan returned all the items to her inventory, making sure that the item she had just crafted did indeed say ‘Wind-Up Mechanism’. A sigh of relief left her when it did say so. "Now then… Lets scratch my brain to figure this out. Like that creepy long face dude from Nightmare for Christmas! Oh that was such a great movie.”

Lost in her thoughts for a short while, Pan jolted herself back into attention. Giving herself a little pinch on the nose helped with the focus. ”Right then, on to stage two!” A little mmf sounded from her in her little cheer. Once again the items were summoned from their placing on the lists. This time leaving one last bit of material to sit there all in its lonesome. Two screws and the Wind-Up I just made. Okay. But… just what was she do with these? It was probably a few hours just staring at the three pieces in front of her before Pan began to grumble aloud of this was to go on. One hand scratched at her head absently. The other tapped at the soiled ground impatiently. If she had a tail it would’ve been thumping about like an agitated snake. Instead only her ears gave away her deep thinking. Both triangles going from pinning to her head to standing up for a mere second before returning back to their original position. Even her whiskers flicked about in rhythm with furrowed brow.
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Word Count - 381

[Pandemonium]

After much mulling and grumbling and mulling it over Pandemonium finally just winged it. Poking at the Wind-Up Mechanism with one screw – nothing. Poke it with two screws and suddenly there was a makeshift toy that had the chimes for a music box. It was dinky looking thing but somehow it just felt like that was indeed something natural to happen. Especially in this virtual world. Rubbing her temples with both her thumbs, Pan couldn’t help but sigh. Just sigh. It was like a mixture of irritation, sadness, giddiness, and a quite a bit of disbelief. ”Well that’s one way to do it I suppose.” Skillfully she tightened the screws to the grips, careful not to break any thing.

A little tightening here, some minor improvements over there… Routine checks, and best yet she got placing how she wanted it to be formed. How lovely. Oh how she wanted to cry at the simplicity of this contraption. The NPC who had told her of this certainly did know how to make a girl wrack her brains out and end up wanting to just break down laughing. And laugh is what she did. All while her hands worked in their fluid motions. Her feline features were lit with humor. Small chuckles and giggles escaped her in whispers, sometimes forcing her to stop her hands in order to burst out into laughter. Both ears were perked this time and more than once did the Were-Cat have bite her own finger to keep herself from dropping her charge.

”This game… hehehe…. Is insane… heheheh…” Tears were forming at her eyes from the effort she was taking not to burst. Even her white muzzle, usually so clear; was stained in a bright pink from the internal embarrassment that she felt. No time like now was any better time to get so horrible embarrassed about something. At least she could laugh off, well she could laugh it off anywhere but here there was only her. Thank goodness it was only her. Thank goodness indeed…
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Word Count - 339

[Pandemonium]

After much tinkering and moving around Pan had finally managed to create what had caused her face to go as red and bright as a cherry. A music box. ”Finally.” She breathed, setting the contraption on her lap while she rubbed the tears from her stinging eyes. This was a game and yet she could feel pain. The fruit of all her efforts forgotten for a moment, the feline held her hands against her eyes. Moving much more slowly to cup over her mouth. From under the tree she sat the ground around had dimmed considerable. Time in this game felt so quick, and worst of it is that she hadn’t the slightest idea of how long she and the others had actually been in here for. She couldn’t help but smile somewhat to think of what her friends and classmates would say about her back at the College. Heck, they were probably laughing like a bunch of hyenas those twerps. In fact, Pan was absolutely positive that was exactly what they were doing! Those jerks! Not even concerned by a little bit for their dear classmate and project leader who held all the blueprints and notes from their current project. Heh, suckers.

A light giggle escaped her. Just the thought of those idiots flailing around trying figure out where the notes went enlightened her. Though it didn’t seem like anyone was going back any time soon in the ‘gamer paradise’. Pandemonium let out a soft sigh, returning her attention to the contraption in her hands. She had finished building it and now she just had to figure out what song to put in it. She sat there for a long time, long enough for the sun to disappear somewhere leaving the sky to look deep and purple-ish. Sunset… Hm – sunset eh? Sunset to night… Ah! There was a time that she could remember when she had to play again that was based at night. Jenny wouldn’t shut up about and kept pestering her all through the day, going so far as to even spam her every waking and sleeping moment with text messages about. There was no way she could ever forget having to play that game and that two year old in a high schooler’s body hovering over with a waterfall freaking cascading down her face. Jenny had cried like it was some super sad drama or like someone does when their kitten dies. Which… is pretty sad. Scratch that last piece, kittens can’t die.

”To The Moon it was called I think.” With a satisfied smiled Pandemonium began her finishes, placing the music in. From what she could remember it was part of the soundtrack or specifically it was called For River. A sad song but it just sounded so pretty when she had heard it. But then it was also on the piano but who cared about such details. Pan certainly didn’t. In fact the woman absolutely loved to guess those little tidbits of information. It was like fishing. Shrimp! Wait… were fish shrimp?

Hunger growled from deep within her stomach as she finished the last touches. She hadn’t eaten all day so it was understandable but the question now was: where to eat? Or more like what should be for dinner? Nah dessert sounded better. Dessiner? Dessiner it was. Satisfied, the feline wound up the new toy that had taken nearly all her supplies to create. With the music inputed it was a fairly lovely sound. It was combination of rustic yet clear. Like a record player. ”Ooo~ Maybe I should try and make a record player when I figure out how.” Pan mused, placing the box in her inventory. Satisfied with both her work and what to do for food, the feline jumped to her feet. Even her hesitation to use those pawed feet of hers couldn’t stop her from having her happy success.
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Word Count - 650
Crafted - Music Box
Materials Used - [Wind-up Mechanism], [2 Old Screws]