Slice, Dice, and Make it Look Nice. [Crafting/Mentor]

[Saeko]

A large slab of stone stood before the Samurai, her eyes closed as she focused within her mind. She was knelt down onto the ground, her hand was placed upon the hilt of her blade. Her shoulders rose and fell with every breath she took. She visualized what exactly it was that she would be creating here, and thought about how it would be done. The finished image was a simple human sculpture, one that was rather blocky, as it would be near impossible to be able to make something perfect right from the get-go. She began to finalize all the touches in her mind, and practiced them with her mind's eye. She began to slowly rise from the ground, drawing the blade from its sheathe as she did so. Her eyes remained closed, until she got up to her feet. Having a perfect stance, ready to go, and her mind knowing exactly what it was she wanted to create, she let out one last deep breath. Then...

Her eyes shot open. Within a second, her blade was slashing away at the stone, making several deep cuts, going all the way through the stone! Her hands moved fast, as she tried to make perfect he vision that she had seen when she had come up with the idea to make a sculpture. Swing after swing, she kept making as many cuts as she needed, only stopping for just a second at a time to readjust her stance. The blade she held was finely crafted, and cut through the stone like it wasn't even a problem. Truly a masterpiece, in its own right. Such a fine weapon would be used to create a veritable masterpiece of its own! And the artist who would do so, Saeko, had the talent and know-how to do it well! Thus, the final few cuts took their mark, and she slowly began to sheathe the blade. A confident smile appeared on the woman's face, her eyes closed once again. She knew that she had finished what could possibly be the best thing she's ever created. All she had to do now, was open her eyes... And see the beauty that would lay before her!

At least, that was the idea.

What the Samurai had seen before her was a disaster. All she managed to do was cut the block down to a slimmer size, but it had all sorts of jagged edges all across it. Overcome with a blind fury, Saeko stamped her foot repeatedly in anger. "Dammit, why is this never right!?" She howled. "I'm just trying to make one tiny sculpture, but I can just never get it!!" Letting out a disgruntled groan, Saeko began to move the broken piece of stone from the pedestal that it was sitting upon, further back behind it, among the other 16 failed attempts, and placed a new slab of stone onto it. She sat down in front of it, infuriated with how difficult it had been to make just one thing. Sure, the other Artisans she had seen beforehand were using chisels to make small cuts at a time, but Saeko was all about making progress quickly. She hated wasting time, and wanted to be fast in whatever she did. Today, she had a desire to try her hand at Artisan work, but never realized how hard it would be.

"Augh..." She grunted, standing up and moving away from the stone slab. She moved to a nearby desk that she used to hold some minor designs, as well as a few alcoholic beverages. She sat down, opened one of the drinks, and took a big gulp. Slamming the drink back down onto the table, she started to look over everything she had before herself. Saeko had rented a small Artisan and Tailor's hut in the St. Pancras Station, in order to get some work done. It had all the things she needed for working with Artisan things, as well as Tailor items. She rented out the Artisan side of the room, and the Tailor side was still open. Nobody had picked it up yet, which she was quite okay with, because she didn't want people seeing her mistakes. As she thought about this, she got a tad bit more angry, and took another big swig of the drink. She leaned back in the chair, and looked out the window. "Maybe I should try pottery next, instead of this." As much as it pained her to say, it might be best to try something else for the time being. At least, to help calm her down. Saeko let out one last sigh, before leaning forward again, and learning how to make pottery.

[784 Words]
Tag: Kaika Kokoro
Notes: Feel free to assume that you've rented out the Tailor side of the hut, as the how and why the two meet up.

[Kaika Kokoro]

Kaika Human Monk Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

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Kaika thanked and paid the lady behind the counter, and made her way down the path she had been told, holding a small key in hand. Her first attempts at sewing in her room had failed before they even began, and she had realized that until she really had her own house to make a studio, she'd probably have to rent the space and equipment from someone else. Thankfully, these services were not hard to come by, and she found a place with good rates without too much trouble. The hut wasn't very large, but it had a nice location, surrounded by a small grove of trees, with a stream running nearby. She spotted a few similar huts scattered around the area, and speculated that they were probably distanced like that to keep the noise levels down and give the crafters some space.

The door to the hut creaked open to reveal a workspace about the size of her living room back home. The room was roughly divided into two halves, with a general area for tailoring work, and a general area for artisan work. Kaika had rented out the Tailor half. It was far from deluxe, but it had a few basic necessities: a large table, a counter along the wall, a mannequin for measurements, and a small array of leather working and fabric tools. The floor appeared to have been swept clean, but closer to the middle, it was littered with small chips of stone. As she looked over towards the Artisan side, the stone chips increased in both frequency and size, until she was looking at a medium-sized chunk of rock that appeared to have undergone an unfortunate attempt at carving. Behind it were a dozen or so similar... uh... sculptures, in increasingly worse condition. Next to the assortment of rocks was a young woman, about the same age as her, sitting at a desk and drinking something that certainly didn't look like water. 'Oh, good! That makes this much less awkward.' The woman's back was turned, and she had gorgeously long violet hair - a little longer than Kaika's had been back in the real world. She closed the door behind her, and started unloading supplies from her inventory. Her goal was to make cloth armor that was both colorful and comfortable, and allowed her free range of movement. A little style would be nice, too, but anything would be better than the boring, white starter gear. 

"Hey there." She announced as she continued to unpack. "Name's Kaika. I rented out the Tailor side of the hut. I'll be keeping out of your way, but let me know if you need anything." Kaika wasn't sure why she had added that last part, but it seemed like a reasonable courtesy since the other woman had been here first, and she felt a bit like she was intruding. She had never really attempted to make clothing before, let alone armor, but she had sketched out a few ideas in her note pad, and she had her starter cloth armor to use as a guide. She casually undressed down to her undergarments, and set her starter armor up on the mannequin so that she could figure out where the pieces were sewn together, and how the material had been cut. She really didn't want an exact copy of the starter gear, but since it was all she had to work with, it would have to do for a baseline. She could tell immediately that the armor was poorly put together. The stitches were sloppy at best, and the fabric was frayed at the edges. She grabbed a thin strip of cloth off of the nearby counter and began to take measurements on the armor, marking them on the strip with a small stick of charcoal.

[Word Count: 635]
+10%, Celestial Arms Event
+25%, Mentor Bonus

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Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Saeko

NOTES: I took a few liberties with the hut location based on how I pictured it. Hope that's okay!

[Saeko]

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As the violet haired Samurai was thinking about trying out a different crafting method, she thought she heard something from behind her. Saeko didn't necessarily care enough to turn around and look, but she figured that it was just another hut nearby. Silently damning them for causing a ruckus, she continued along with her work. Saeko wanted to think about why she wasn't doing all that she could with the stone slabs, but figured that her sword and skill weren't the problem at all. Perhaps if she tried cutting deeper and harder? "Ah-ha!" She mumbled to herself, feeling like she heard an echo or something. "Maybe if I use that one skill, while trying to cut, that would make things even easier to go along with. And then if I use that skill again, I can cut even deeper. Maybe I'll be able to get rid of the jagged edges like that? Hmm..." Saeko brought her hand to her mouth as she thought. "Perhaps... It's worth a shot." She was silently mumbling to herself the entire time, and for a little bit, she thought she heard an echo, but that had died away a little while ago now. Instead, she stood back up, focused on her pedestal and moved it.

Saeko moved over to grab another stone slab, placing it on the pedestal for herself. She would need to use Zantetsuken in order to get a much deeper, cleaner slice, as the skill was known for its use in cleaving through objects much easier than other skills, or just using the sword itself. Granted, she didn't have that nice of a weapon to begin with, but it would have to do. Saeko closed her eyes again, and summoned up the will to use the skill. Her blade began to glow, as she drew it from the sheath. "Haaa!" She shouted, bringing the blade up and to the side a bit, following it through with a diagonal cut from that direction. She sheathed it quickly afterwards, noting her MP had dropped slightly, and saw that the cut itself was very clean, very refined. She knelt down to take a good look at her work, just to make sure that it looked good enough for her. After getting a much closer look, Saeko nodded to herself. "Yeah, this looks to be just fine. Actually, it looks damn good!" Saeko was in the middle of congratulating herself on the job well done, when she slowly turned to look over to the side, noticing a female, who was stripped down to her underwear.

"Wh-what!?" Saeko shrieked, completely shocked at the sudden sight. She fell over to the side a bit, almost landing atop her sword. Why was this person here? Where did they come from? How the hell did Saeko not notice this person show up? It should've been obvious to sense someone else in the room! What trickery is this? She found herself getting more angry than surprised by this point, and she decided that she would need to calm down a bit. Letting out a disgruntled sigh, she sat back up onto her knees, giving a half glare to this other person. "So, you here for the tailor half or something?" If this person had said anything beforehand, she had completely missed it, but she didn't really care if she had or hadn't. She stood up and walked back to the table, grabbing her drink, and taking a large gulp of it. Saeko turned around to look at the girl again, wondering why she was naked. Perhaps it had something to do with the clothing on the mannequin over on the tailor's side, or it could also be that she was trying to show off her body or something. She had a rack, yeah, but that didn't make her any better than Saeko was. As if trying to prove a point or something, Saeko let out a sigh, turned her head to the side, and stretched her arms over her head. "Any reason you're in your panties, kid?" She asked to the tailor.

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∝: 681
♫: Tomorrow's Dreams
✏: Testing out one of Benet's templates, see if I got it right.
@: Capsule

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[Kaika Kokoro]

Kaika Human Monk Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 85%

STATUS: None

---

Kaika began laying out some of the fabric, trying to picture how the different colors and styles could work together. The material was thick, which made it hard to work with, but she was hoping that its thickness would add to the overall durability of the item. Her fellow crafter, on the Artisan said, seemed pretty quiet and reserved. She had overheard her mumbling to herself, but aside from that, she hadn't said a word. Kaika marked out a few basic points on the fabric with the charcoal, using her measuring strip to figure out where to place them. She took a step back to evaluate her work, comparing it to her sketchbook and trying to visualize how the various outlines would piece together into what she had imagined for the armor. It was at this point that a loud feral yell echoed through the room, followed by a violent, grating sound of metal against stone. Kaika startled, and dropped her sketchbook on the floor. 'The hell was that? ' She glanced back to see the Artisan sheathing her sword, a large, cleanly cut piece of rock laying nearby. Kaika turned back to pick up her sketchbook as the previously quiet tenant began congratulating herself on her work. 'What is she even doing? This room is for crafting, not sword training! And how did she just cut straight through a rock like that? What happened to quiet and reserved? ' The other woman's self-congratulation quickly turned into an expression of surprise, followed by a sigh. Kaika smirked a little as she went back to comparing her sketches. The sword lady didn't seem to know what she was doing, either.

"So, you here for the tailor half or something?" A cold, even slightly irritated voice asked from the Artisan half. Kaika paused in disbelief, as her image of the lady as shy and refined quickly crumbled away. 'I... I told her that already! When I first came in! What, does she suffer from short-term memory loss? Or maybe...' Kaika let out an exasperated sigh. '...she really just wasn't listening, was she? ' 

"Uh, yeah. I'm renting out this half to work on some armor. Let me know if y-"

"Any reason you're in your panties, kid?" Kaika blanched at the interruption, and glanced over at the woman, who couldn't have been much older than Kaika was. And she seemed to be... posing? It looked like a stretch, but she was holding the position for too long, and jutting out her chest. Kaika looked down at her own body, and blushed a little. Was she jealous or something? Kaika waved her hands in front of her chest defensively.

"D-don't make it awkward! I just needed to use my starter gear to take measurements, and I didn't have anything else to wear! Which is... well, it's why I'm here, really. Gotta make new clothes. Everyone else charges too much." Kaika couldn't help but glance back at the woman's body. 'I mean, sure she's attractive... and toned, wow... and she's got nice legs...' Kaika shook her head. 'Snap out of it, Kaika! You're here to make clothes, not to flirt with the crazy sword lady.' She started to blush again, suddenly self-conscious of the fact that she was in her underwear. She cleared her throat and turned back to her work table. *ahem* "Anyway, I've... uh... got lots of work to do! N-nice meeting you!" 'Stupid! Why did I add that last part again? ' Kaika began hastily cutting the fabric along her outline, using an extremely sharp knife. Scissors and fabric cutters apparently weren't a thing in this world, or at least weren't readily available. Her cuts were a bit rough, but they didn't look terrible. She fumbled with the knife a little, and a thin line of red appeared on her thumb. It was shallow enough that it wasn't really bleeding, but it stung. Kaika looked around for a scrap of cloth to tie over it. 'Ugh, that's just gonna be more of a pain, though...' She sighed, and focused inward. 'Heal! ' A glowing green aura surrounded her briefly, and her HP bar jumped back up from 99% to 100%. She felt a bit foolish for wasting a skill on such a small thing, but it wasn't like she was going to be in combat anytime soon, anyway...

[Word Count: 706]
+10%, Celestial Arms Event
+25%, Mentor Bonus

---

Skills Used: Heal

Tags: Saeko

NOTES: Sorry this took so long! My life got a little crazy. I had always imagined that Kaika was just awkward around boys, but she seems to have proven me wrong. Kaika is awkward around everyone.

[Saeko]

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As the girl reacted to Saeko's questions, she noticed that this other person had suddenly blushed a bit when Saeko mentioned the fact that her clothing was, well... Not really there. After that moment, she began to see the other girl act a bit flustered. Uh oh. Saeko thought to herself. She might be into girls. I should probably ease back a bit. The thought had just finished crossing her mind when another, conflicting thought brought itself to light in her. Maybe Saeko could mess with this girl, just for the sake of having fun? That would be entertaining to see, but it would defeat the purpose of being here in the crafting hut at all. She pushed the thought aside in her head, shifting back to a more neutral stance, and turning back to the stones she had before herself. Maybe it would work better if she used a chisel and hammer instead of a sword? Who knows. As she wondered, she walked over to the chisel and started to look at it inquisitively. Not exactly sure how to use this, but it might be interesting to give it a shot, anyways. She shrugged, picking it up.

Saeko was stopped though, when a soft green light appeared on the other girl, and the sudden tick in her health from not-100% to 100%. It was such a small increment that Saeko didn't really even consider it as a big difference, so she didn't even look at the numbers. As she sat down in front of one of the stone slabs, which she had moved onto the pedestal, she began to place the chisel on top, and started to chip away at it bit by bit. This one was just going to be a practice slab, since she didn't really know what she was doing. Lightly tapping on the chisel to get into the stone, getting it just inside, before she let go of the chisel and started to hammer away at the top. Saeko had hammered in a few nails in her time, a long while ago, and the motions felt fairly familiar to her. When she went to help her mother make a flower bench for the two of them to set up in front of their home, Saeko helped with creating it. The thought brought back a sweet memory in her mind, causing her to smile a bit. A lump made its way into her throat, as she missed her mother dearly, but she managed to force it back with a deep sigh.

After she'd made a decent enough indentation in the stone, Saeko began to form around it into a shape much like a sculpture. As she worked, she thought again about the other girl nearby, about how she was rather awkward beforehand. Maybe not her fault, since Saeko did cause a bit of distress. Either way, though, she wasn't going to try and make it up to her, but instead at least try and calm the waters a bit. "Saeko's the name." She said, after a little while, letting a pause continue on for a bit longer. "You got a name, too, don't you?" She didn't even look to this girl at all, instead just focusing primarily on the sculpture before herself. Whether the other girl had given her name or not already, restarting from a neutral point was probably the best idea at the moment. Given that this other person has exhibited embarrassment already, it would do Saeko some good to get some decent conversation going at the same time, especially because she didn't want her sole focus to be on the slab of stone in front of her. Saeko kept quiet, until the other girl eventually responds, all the while chipping away with the hammer and chisel at the stone, in a near-futile attempt to make another sculpture like she had just a little while ago, before now.

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∝: 654
♫: Waltz for Life Will Born
✏: Don't worry, life happens~
@: Kaika Kokoro

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