Two Crafters are Better than One

[Aira]

In this strange

new world we must find ourselves

It had been a long day, she had been applying her lessons She brought the thing out of the forge, it was red hot and waiting to be shaped into the small spear tip that the person of the land had taught her. it was better than making nails, that was for sure. She cursed as she screwed it up and threw it into the scrap bucket in anger. She almost burned herself as she did it but it was done. Maybe she should go back to nails she thought, but this was getting sad. Well if nothing else she would do it again. She squeezed the bellow a couple of times to stoke the fire and .then took the piece of metal with the tongs and held it in the fire. She waited for it to get hot enough to start molding into something worthwhile.


The metal became red hot as she gave the bellows a few more squeezes. It was then she took it out and placed it against the anvil. Aira brought down the hammer and struck just right. The result was just the right angle as she hit it a few more times. She smiled and moved it back in to the fire to get the heat back up. She took it out and began the process again, and began following the steps as she remembered them. It was hard but she managed it, still trying to get use to the heat as she pounded the hammer against the red hot metal again and again.


She cursed as she screwed it up again and dropped it into the bucket. she was terrible at this. She just stood still and tried to remember the steps, it was complicated doing this and it didn't help she had to keep getting materials to do this. So she looked and thought and reconsidered her life choices. It was starting to get her agitated that this wasn't as easy as she had hoped. Not using the menu meant you had to remember the steps and do it the old fashioned way."


Aira was looking at the forge like it was the enemy, she had noted that people found doing things the way they were suppose to was more effective with food. So why couldn't it be that way with blacksmithing. So she had been learning from anyone who would teach her. The people of the land were quite helpful in this but now she wanted to do this herself. The problem is she didn't know where to even began, she was staring at the forge and sighed, she had used the last of her ore. "Damn.. now I am going to have to either harvest some more or buy it." She said out loud mostly of frustration. It was frustrating. "Just when I was starting to get the hang of things too." She said talking out loud to herself again. She turned around and quickly found herself face first into someone else.

511 | Citrine| Thread Type: crafting | Status:closed

ulla

[Citrine]

Citrine Elf Guardian Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

Citrine had entered the small smith shop to find no one there. He had entered this store a couple times in the past and had taken a liking to the Person of the Land who ran it, an elderly old man who was well off enough to not care about profits and just spent most of his time teaching his craft to others. Considering the Apocalypse had dumped innumerable level 1 smiths into the world, he was probably very busy, but he never complained from what Citrine saw. Not that Citrine saw much of the man's teachings because Citrine was not a smith. He had come to this store once before to have his chain mail armour repaired and his halberd sharpened. But that was not the reason he entered Donovan's shop today.

Citrine's combat level had been steadily rising while he neglected his crafting skill. There wasn't much he could do about that because he was lacking tools, that's why he entered the shop. Citrine knew that the master smith was probably in the back either teaching someone, working on someone's order, or maybe just stepped out to the loo for a minute or two. The short elf boy entered and closed the shop's door behind him to keep the warm air in. It was still winter, so even if it was heat radiated from the furnace in the back, it was still precious.

He eyed the items on display mounted on the walls and in locked glass display cases, gripping the wood end of his halberd resting on the ground with the spear tip rising well above his head. It was still his starter weapon and he was still wearing his starter armour. But it was enough to kill his prey for now, so he saw no reason to upgrade just yet. On the walls, iron and steel swords of many types lined the walls. A couple barrels held simple spears and polearms. The glass cases were filled with accessories and daggers of more elaborate design and more expensive materials. One of the daggers was even made of a metal that looked like it had a zebra pattern. He didn't know if this was some fantasy metal or if someone made it with knowledge from Earth. Either way, the price was too high for him even if he was a dagger user.

"What's taking him so long?" Citrine whispered to himself and started moving in the direction of the back room. He turned the corner to enter the smith area and saw a girl with a long black bushy tail and two tall ears working at the anvil trying to pound away at some bits of metal. The girl wasn't the shop owner, he knew that much, so this was probably another of his assistants. The girl was covered in sweat from the heat of the furnace, giving her skin and hair/fur a shine against the light of the red coals. If the girl had been a man, this would have illicit more of a reaction from the Citrine, who was a girl in her shota elf character's body. In her mind she lamented not picking blacksmithing for Citrine. She wanted to see him covered in sweat, too. And be there with him with a cold towel while he wiped his body off of the sweat. It made her face go red just thinking about it.

Ah, crap, she's looking at me now. Back to reality. Hey, I'm Citrine now. Back into character, damn it! "I- Uh." Uh. Huh? "Is Donovan anywhere? There's no one up front." Crap. She probably thinks Citrine was perving on her now. But, now, isn't that natural for a young boy to do? The mind inside was conflicted...

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Aira

NOTES: I took the liberty of elaborating on the setting beyond what you did. Hope that's fine. Let me know if you want me to change anything~ Also, Citrine's pronouns slip back and forth between male and female sometimes. It's mostly just an internal thing, so don't let it confuse you too much.

[Aira]

In this strange

new world we must find ourselves

Aira had not seen where Donovan had gone her mind was wrapped around the task at hand. She took a nearby towel that she had brought to wipe off her face as she noticed their was a person here. She had been told if someone came in to help them until he got back. "Hello" She said trying to clean up a bit, feeling self conscious with the boy staring at her. She wiped the sweat away and blushed looking at him he was lbushing back, that meant he was indeed looking at her. She was still getting use to that. "Donovan is out but I can try to help you but if you need anything more than a purchase and I am afraid you will need to wait for him to get back." She smiled looking over the elf, he was low level like her. Aira looked down. "sorry I am a mess, I have been working on trying to craft spear tips all day, but I just ran out of materials so feel free to ask me anything, I will try to help. I have helped around the shop in return for Donovan's lessons. " She said looking at the elf and hoping she wasn't talking to much.

She looked around and then back to the elf. She had been here for a while, if she judged the position of the sun from outside the window. She did admit that it was nice and warm in here compared to outside. She put away her tools and stepped towards the young elf. "So how can I help you?" She was not entirely sure if she could but it was worth a try. It was the least she could do to repay the nice man who taught her how to craft things. She was getting better, not long before she hadn't had any clue, now she was almost shaping spears, she was sure she could get it on her next try. "I can't help too much to be honest, I am an adventurer but it is the least I can do to repay Donovan. I am Aira by the way." She smiled it was nice to have a bit of a break, she had the few spear tips that she had finished sitting on a table near the forge and her tool bag near it. It was nice that she had such a nice place to practice.

The fact was that she had been hesitant to go out alone so here she was. She would probably buy the materials and just get it over with and start crafting again. Aira needed to get better so she could find a way to make money in this world and everyone needed a blacksmith she thought. She wished she had chosen alchemist, now that she was stuck in this world but it would work. She would be admiring the elf infront of her if he was a she but that was not the case so she instead met his eyes and hoped she could help him.

512 | Citrine | Thread Type: crafting | Status:closed

ulla

[Citrine]

Citrine Elf Guardian Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

"A-ahh..." was all Citrine could utter when the woman spoke to him. Crap, I still suck at dealing with women as Citrine. It was so easy with men for some reason. But with women, it's like talking to an alien, despite his experience with once being one... How much staring was too much? If he didn't stare, would she get offended. If he did, would she hate him. Fμck, is this what men go through normally, too? He never thought about it too much when he was a girl. He decided to just stand there and look over the workshop while the foxtail girl wiped herself off. Not like she was really dirty or anything, the game world's automatic cleaning made it so she wouldn't even smell shortly after how much she's clearly been working. Ahh, that's another sad point of this world, she would never be able to enjoy Citrine's sweaty scent. Buu...

Yellow eyes scanned the room. He'd seen the back here before once. It wasn't much different than how he remembered. Though the bucket of scrap metal by the anvil was new and some tools were out of place, which the foxtail woman casually put away.

He lightly scratched behind his right ear, which had become a habit for him since coming to this world. His pointed ears catch a breeze and get ticklish. It's also become a nervous tick. She mentioned materials and it reminded him why he was here himself. He looked her in the eyes and spoke. "Ahh! Actually, that's why I came here. I was hoping the old man had some tools for sale for woodworking. Things like hatchets of various sizes, files, handsaws, and knives. See I'm in the same boat as you, 'cept the only folks willing to take me in are carpenters. I dun't wanna build houses, though. But I guess that might be in demand right now all things considered..." He let out a sigh between his lips and looked at the coals in the furnace. "Maybe I should just suck it up and go that route..."

"AAAAAANYWAY!" He spoke loudly to throw that last thought away. "The tools. Does Donovan have anything specific for woodworking? If not, maybe I should commission you to make me some then!" He lifted his right hand a bit, forgetting it was what held the halberd up. He grabbed it quickly, put it in his left hand and held his right hand out toward the fox woman for a handshake. "My name's Citrine! Nice to meet ya, Miss Aira!" he said with a bright boyish smile.

"Oh, but no materials. Ah, conversation details." After the handshake, he took a step back and knocked on his forehead with his knuckle to remember what all was said in order. He had been too lost in his own thoughts while Aira was speaking... "So things like ore and coal? I explored about in some small caves a couple weeks ago and saw some shiny rock walls. Couldn't tell if it was anything useful, though and I really couldn't collect any myself... We need a pickaxe for that, right? Does the old man have one of those laying around at least?"

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Aira

NOTES: N/A

[Aira]

In this strange

new world we must find ourselves

Aira smiled and thought about it, not really paying attention to how long or if Citrine was staring at her. She had learned to accept it if they did or didn't. After all it sort of came with the territory. It was new to her still but she was getting use to it. She didn't pay much attention to the auto cleaning, Still feeling self conscious Aira wiped herself some more. She put away the tools, and nodded to him. " Well I can indeed make you tools, for now, we can borrow Donavan's. He let me earlier, I am sure we can borrow an axe or something too, so you can make the wood parts of your tools." She smiled and thought about it. "If you don't build houses what do you want to build? I think one should go with what they want, not what is easy. Take me for instance, I am learning how to make things this way rather than the menu, its more fun." She said using her best feminine voice. It was a challenge but she was getting better. It helped she had practiced in real life, she wished her voice matched this body. "I think he might have some for sale too, so if you don't want to commission them you can buy them from him. So shall we go, I will leave a note for Donovan and we could go to those caves."

Aira smiled and went in back grabbing the tools and writing a quick note. "So where is this cave?" She asked ready to follow the boy to the cave. This was going to be fun, and a nice relief from the forge. "when we get back.. I could make you your tools or something else. Maybe we could work together, after all there are plenty of things that take metal and wood to make. " She said scratching her ear, it was weird reaching up and feeling the fur fox like ear she had. It was weird having a tail too, but it was wonderful being a her. She had always wanted to be so this was the perfect world. She loved every part of this world because of the reason she was a she.

Aira felt a lot more confident and comfortable in this world. "So, how are you faring... since we are stuck here?" She asked trying to keep up conversation, not wanting to have a silent walk to the cave. That would be terribly boring and weird. The cave would be interesting and a change of pace. Hopefully nothing too nasty was inside of it, she was still bad at the whole combat thing. She was also terrible at directions and thus followed Citrine closely. It was funny how she got lost so much easier here than she did in the real world, it would seem she would have to get a hang of it here. The maps that she saw in a shop would help if she could get one. That would require coins though. She would try to save up for some. They might prove invaluable some time.

522 | Citrine | Thread Type: crafting | Status:closed

ulla

[Citrine]

Citrine Elf Guardian Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

"Weeeeell, I don't know what I want to make. I just sorta chose the class on a whim. But I know what I DON'T wanna make. That'sa start I guess?" Citrine's face bore a sort of half-smile at his little admission. He decided somewhere along the way he'd figure out something to make. Her voice seemed kinda hoarse. Probably just a side effect of working in front of the forge for however long she'd been here. Can't be good for the throat. She mentioned buying tools. "Well, buying them was my original goal. But if I can get them custom made by an aspiring blacksmith, they'd be more special I suppose~" And cheaper. He wouldn't say that, though. He brought his hand to his right ear and scratched behind it again unconsciously. Part nervous tick, part just loving to touch his own ears are the reasons deep in his subconscious.

Aira was going about what was probably the usual for her as she worked under the old man. Putting away tools, gathering a couple pickaxes of different sizes, and a hatchet. All of the tools looked worse for wear. Probably equipment the old man Donovan used a lot or lent out to others willing to either pay or cut him a percentage of the haul.

They left the store unmanned, not worried because Donovan would likely return soon enough anyway. Outside, Citrine got a look at the foxtail girl in the light of day. She was wearing the starter chainmail, just like he was, and had a longsword at her waist. Side-by-side, she was at least a head taller than Citrine was. The top of his head only reached to her shoulders. The two ears on her head made her look even taller.

While walking down the street toward the south of the city, toward the direction of the cave mentioned, Citrine was trying to remember exactly where it was. It wasn't like he was originally out looking for caves to explore in at that time. He kinda fell into it.

Deep in thought, Aira asked him a question to fill the air of silence only broken by other pedestrians walking by. "Hm? Oh, I'm good. No complaints! Though, I wish I had made myself taller. And stronger looking..." His voice kinda trailed off. It was a lie. But to play the role of Citrine, a young boy, it was necessary. A young boy his age would want to be big and strong! That's part of their charm!

"Oh, right. Party. That will help if we have to fight together!" Citrine said with the sudden though popping into his head. He pulled up the UI and sent a party invitation to Aira. It was then he got a good look at her stats. "Sorcerer is a magic class isn't it? Where's your staff?" He asked without thinking about whether she wanted him to know about her character stats or not. Impulsiveness, another trait of the young boy Citrine. They crossed a bridge and started to walk through the dilapidated suburbs of the city. They were outside of the Royal Guard protection ring, though. Weak animals and monsters liked to hide in the alleys and inside of the rubble of houses. Though as long as they stayed on the main road, nothing should attack them until they left the suburbs and entered the plains and forests.

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Aira

NOTES: N/A

[Aira]

In this strange

new world we must find ourselves

Aira smiled and nodded, " I will make you some then, and I can understand, I am just making whatever I can at this point to get practice. I don't really have anything specific in mind when it comes to what I will do as a blacksmith, though I want to help other classes and build even better things than one class alone could ever manage. I suppose that is my goal really. " She said shrugging and walking with her, The tools in her magic bag, she was now just with her sword and armor. she giggled when she heard him talk to be stronger and taller. "It is ok, I think you are fine just how you are, plus you never know you might grow, I don't know how these bodies work in this world but we might age, might not. I am rather curious to find out." She accepted the party invite and walked along with him and nodding to him. "Well I don't have a staff, just a sword. I practice a specific type of sorcerer that focuses on enchanting my sword with magic and using it to fight. " She explained curious what he would think of that.

It was nice partying with someone else though she hoped he didn't figure out that she had been a male in the real world, she hoped that perhaps she could find a potion to change her voice, or just get so good at keeping her voice higher, that it might become second nature. She would have to find a pharmacist that would be willing to try. After all surely with all the magic in this world someone could alter the vocal cords, as one does an entire appearance. Aira sighed and kept walking. "So, if we get some wood and ore, what should we make besides some tools for you?" She asked curious what he might have in mind. This whole crafting thing was never boring, she was constantly learning to do things that were more or less lost to the world she came from. Add magic and the possibilities were endless. She wanted to work with others to make something truly grand, perhaps a magic powered transport of some sort or a weapon of grand power, the possibilities were endless with the vagueness of the recipes and the possibilities that were unlocked as the whole food thing had shown.

"You know if you really wished to be taller, I am sure you could take one of those potions I heard they can make, they change your appearance to be whatever you desire at the time you drink it. That way you could be taller and I am not sure if it would affect your strength stats, but you never know I suppose. You would just need to track down a high enough level pharmacist. then you would be able to look however you want. " She smiled trying to help after all if he was really unhappy with his form, she could relate and hopefully help.

506 | Citrine| Thread Type: commerce? | Status:closed

ulla