Researching (closed rp for Selousi and Kaylex)

The dark skinned girl nervously stood and shifted her weight from foot to foot. Her stomach had butterflies by this point. She always hated waiting for her master to say something let alone show up. She took the opportunity to toy with the pendant around her neck to try to calm herself down. It was a simple shape, a glass ball that was blue in colour with a golden 'cap' that held it onto a braided piece of black cord. She'd been told the cord was made of Shinlai hair so naturally it was her prized possession. It didn't matter if that was true or not.

Today's lesson was supposed to be especially trying. Her master mentioned it the other day but as usual was blunt about it. She prayed it was about the masks of the Shinlai, appearance in particular. She was tired of studying the materials they were made of. She wanted to know the process and why each one looked as they did. After all that was the important part if she ever wanted to become a mask crafter herself.

A door opened and a skinny mid aged woman stepped through, she was dressed in a rather gothique manner and she had a bundle of papers in her hands.

"What,"she said,"Are these?"

The woman slammed the crumpled papers on a table that was sitting in the middle of the room. It was used for crafting, but there were mainly drafts of faux shinlai masks on the table. She unfolded several of the papers to unveil the girls personal designs of shinlai masks.

"I specifically told you not to further yourself in your research. You might think that you are ready.. but you're not! The designs that you made are obsolete, they would never sell and they would break too easily. You certainly cannot make a mask out of strands of woven grass. It would immediately fall apart! You have to hand craft it out of a more solid substance. Not something flimsy and weak!"

The woman placed her hands at the top of the drawing and ripped the paper in half.

"What are several things that are correct to make a faux mask out of?" She snapped, "Tell me!"

(I believe the section for closed RP's is The Library. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.)

Mo wrote:

(I believe the section for closed RP's is The Library. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.)

((Well I've seen closed roleplays on here so idk :V))

The stomach flip-flopping stopped and Laila immediately jumped back. Her eyes fixated onto the paper bundle and she did her best to keep from wincing when they were torn. She spent an entire night once just doodling masks because she couldn't fall asleep. It hurt like a knife cutting into her to hear her master saying they were all failures. Her head drooped and she looked to the floor.

"Skulls if you can find them, woven fibers as long as they're held together properly, and umm..." Her voice trailed off and she fished fo an answer. They just went over materials yesterday! Why couldn't she think of another?

Time ticked slowly by and she swallowed hard. "And umm stone so long as it isn't brittle?"

She raised her chin slightly and peeked through the hair usually tucked behind her ear that decided to fall in front of her face. Hope crept back into her eyes and she swallowed hard. Waiting.

"Correct." She paused, surveying the notes that were on the table. "I suppose we could start on the basics of carving since you didn't miss any subjects this time."
She turned around and got out a large mat and pinned it on the table. Then she turned and retrieved a slab of clay from a nearby cupboard.

"Do you have the model skull for a shinlai? Or have you dissapointed me again?"

She stood there waiting for a reply,

She twitched slightly, her fingers specifically. Laila's heart pounded and once again she found her mind fishing for the answer. Did she remember to make it? Yes. She remembered the calluses on her fingertips from the hours of painstaking work. Her master insisted she make her own since every Shinlai was unique but how accurate would it be since all she had to work off were a stack of diagrams?

"Yes Ma'am!"

Where'd she put it? She hesitantly looked around the room for a moment before moving. It only took her a second more to find the box where she stashed it after finishing it but she knew it was too much wait time. Instead of pausing enough to be scolded she opened the box and withdrew her model. It was crude, based on another creatures skull and sculpted upon with clay to give it a new shape before being hardened and carved into again to make new locations for eye sockets and such but it would do. She even made sure to add in the horns- a detail she forgot last time she was told to name the parts of a proper model.

"Hm, not exactly what I had in mind but it will do. You can use the clay or you can find your own element that you'd like to work with. You'll have the day to work on this. I trust that you'll find it quickly and come back here." The woman snapped the tip of her cane to the ground. " Well?" She stared at the waiting girl. "What are you waiting for? Go get your materials!"

Selousi wrote:

Mo wrote:

(I believe the section for closed RP's is The Library. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.)

((Well I've seen closed roleplays on here so idk :V))

((Sorry for my interruption, but if you want I can move this into the closed rp section c:))

Forrgotenrose wrote:

Selousi wrote:

Mo wrote:

(I believe the section for closed RP's is The Library. Correct me if I'm wrong, though.)

((Well I've seen closed roleplays on here so idk :V))

((Sorry for my interruption, but if you want I can move this into the closed rp section c:))

sure

At the sound of the cane tap she squeaked a very rushed "yes ma'am!" again and bolted off. She wasn't sure what materials to pick. She was a fairly good weaver but it would take too much time to gather enough fibers and make the basic cords let alone start a full mask. Laila pouted. There wasn't a good enough source of stone either since the good, hard stuff was buried deep within the earth. She settled for wood. There was plenty of that around after all plus it was relatively sturdy. Now all she had to do was find a good sized piece!

Laila scrambled around for a while and jumped from log to log until she at last found one suitable. She braced her weight on it and grabbed one end, pulling upward with all of her strength. The resulting snap made her smile. She picked up the piece she broke off and examined it. It was hollow and barkless, smoothed by the weather, and there didn't appear to be any rot. She peered inside to double check. Nope, no rot and she could easily cut it in half and use the two halves separately to join together in the center of the Shinlai's face.

"That way I can use less carving and more crafting," she assured herself while she returned to her master with it.

Twine, the shop owner was reading a book as Laila came through the door the teacher looked at her, surprised at her timing. "That was quick," She said snidely, "Show me what you have. hopefully you didn't put too few fibers in your pack. Or more grass augh!" She furrowed her brows. "So what do you have, Laila?"

She pulled the piece of wood from behind her back and set it on the table next to her model. It looked like she would have more than enough materials wise. Good that gave her a little wiggle room if she made a mistake or two. Laila sheepishly waited for a response. If Twine rejected it then she could always go dig up some more clay by a river but she really didn't want to.

"I know it's not the best but you mentioned using wood in another lesson and I thought I could give it a try. I mean umm if you would let me, right? I'm sure an earth shinlai would use a mask like this."

Even if I have never seen one... she added in her mind. All she knew about Shinlai was either word of mouth from her master or from diagrams and drawings.

Twine stared at the wood. She picked it up and examined it.

Twine stared at her. "It's high quality wood. It seems like an actual substance that a shinlai would use."

She put the wood down. "I'm just curious as to how you found it. it's rare that anyone comes across such a great specimen. Hopefully you just don't ruin it." Twine snapped. "Get to work. The materials are in the cabinet where the clay was."

Laila was shocked to hear praise instead of nasty words but she shook it off. Standing around dumbfounded would do no good. Instead she offered Twine a quick nod and made her way over to the cabinet. She unhooked the clasps on her vest and slipped it off over her arms, folding it and placing it over the back of a chair out of the way. She removed her pendant and set it on top. she made sure it was exactly placed the way she wanted it to be so it wouldn't be harmed in the chaos of mask crafting.

Then she set to work. She flung open the cabinet door- likely a bit too roughly- and rummaged through the materials. She found a vial of rough sand that she slipped into her pocket. She'd use it to smooth the edges later. Laila continued until she located a carving tool or two and a blade that could cut through the wood. She also found some nails and a hammer for attaching the two halves over the front of the Shinlai skull.

After she decidedly gathered all her materials she set to work, laying them out in a neat arrangement on the table near her wood and her model. The girl tried to calm her nerves by taking a deep breath or two then picked up the wood.

"Don't be so tense. This is your first try," Twine said, "And it wouldn't be your first failure."

Twine crossed her arms and watched her pick her materials and carry them to the table mat. Her cold greenish grey eyes surveying every move.

Try as she might Laila couldn't bring herself to relax in front of her master, especially when "it wouldn't be your first failure" echoed through her head. She did her best to distance from it. When she did things became a little easier. Her fingers started to work of their own accord and before she knew it she was cutting the wood in half instead of thinking about how Twine would do it. With that down she let her instincts go to work. Even if her designs on paper were failures material-wise they still showed the basic appearance of a shinlai mask and she intended to go through with them.

She carved away at the two halves until they fit snugly against the model's skull when she pieced them together. She started shaping it, giving it a spike on the nose that swept backward. She made sure to leave room for the horns. She even curved the wood so it would loop around the sides of the horns to add stability.

Laila placed it onto the head and carefully marked the spots for the eyes. Her model only had two of course but they were tricky to place just right in masks. One small mistake and they would be too low or too high or even too far over to the side. With that crisis averted she attached the two halves, nailing carefully at an angle so they'd anchor together without poking through the other side. The last thing she needed was to be scolded for stabbing a shinlai in the face by mistake!

She took a specific tool and scooped out the section of wood marked and shaped for the eyes, making sure it wasn't too deep or too shallow. Too deep limited vision but too shallow and it would make the mask brittle she remembered her master saying. She paused over her work and looked at it from all angles. Once she was satisfied Laila poured some of the sand into the palm of her hand and rubbed it against the wood's edges until it was smooth.

When she was finished she placed it on the model for a double check. As far as she could see everything was fine but would her master approve?

She set the tools down. It was almost night fall. She hoped her hours of work were worth it.

Twine examined the mask, she picked the model head up and turned it around, looking at every edge, every curve and every part that she added to it.

Finally, she spoke. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a fine mask. Especially for your first." Twine said. "However, the model itself is unsellable for unrealistic reasons. A shinlai this small would not have it's mask yet." Twine stared at Laila. There wasn't a trace of dissapointment, but rather, an impressed look in her eyes. "You did well. Although your timing was very slow and you might get very exhausted if you try to do as much work as some do daily. You took hours compared to a mask that a master would make. But I believe in learning on the job, you should get faster eventually."

Twine turned around and sighed. "You're excused from work today since you were successful in your job. Come back tomorrow in the morning."

Twine twisted her head around again and halted her for a moment. "Wait! Take your mask as well. I don't want it crowding my work shop."

"Yes Ma'am!" Laila replied as usual. This time it was a little excited. Her master approved! That in itself made up for the hours of slowly trying to get it to match the model's contours. She carefully packed away the model into its box, putting it back into a corner out of the way and returned the tools to their spot in the cabinet. She swept the sand that couldn't be put back into the bottle into a bin beside the table along with the wood shavings. They were scraps, unable to be reused and would be thrown out later.

She scooped the mask up into her arms proudly and grabbed her vest which she held in her arms. She was too happy to try to fumble with the buttons and look silly trying. She put her pendant around her neck and left with a quickly said 'see you tomorrow!'.

Her master snerked. "Children these days! Ha!" She walked back into her workshop after observing her exit joyfully and began to work on a full sized, stone mask. She had work to do.

_____

Selo sniffed through the forest. She could have sworn that she left her feathers that she had been collecting here, but it had been windy so she was worried that they could have blown away. Either way she couldn't find them anywhere. She was getting tired, after running away from a group of other humans and shinlai she was exhausted. She decided to lie down for the time and take a short nap. She would probably be awake in a half an hour anyways.

She paused in the forest and put her mask down. Now that she got over the initial excitement but was still quite thoroughly buzzed from the happiness of the approval Laila felt she could actually manage to put her vest on. When she tried to do the clasps however a rustling caught her attention. She picked up her mask protectively and crept forward, hiding behind the treeline. Something was there.

Laila gasped when she saw what it was. She wasn't entirely sure but she knew that head shape anywhere. A real shinlai! She observed it carefully at first but her curiosity got the better of her. She forgot all about how some were hostile to humans. Instead she came into plain view and started studying the mask as best she could from the angle she was at. Amazing!

Selo wrenched her head up as she heard movement near her, then, se saw the human. She stared at her a while then noticed the mask in her hands, what was she doing with that? Surely not trying to wear it. The human was curious just as she now was. She was pretty sure she had no intent of hurting her, so she continued to lay down in the soft, cold dirt.

"Are you just as surprised as I am?" Selousi asked.

Taken off guard by the sudden voice coming from the shinlai, she yelped and almost fell backwards. Laila carefully nodded once her balance returned and she sat on a nearby log. "A-a little. I've never seen a real live shinlai before."

She took a quick sweeping glance around. "Are there any more of you? And how come you're way out here, I thought the shinlai didn't generally live near the human communities and only visited if they needed a mask made?" She put the wooden mask in her lap, holding a hand on top of it almost protectively.

"Oh..?" Selo said curiously."Am I near a human community? I didn't realize it..."
" What is the mask for? It looks as it would fit an infant," Selo tried not to sound rude. " Are you going to paint it at some point?"

Selo was ignoring the question about the other shinlai. She wasn't too great around others and didn't want to get dragged into it.

Laila winced. Happy-buzz killed. It was one thing for her master to say she'd done well but another thing entirely to have the approval of an actual shinlai and this one just said it wasn't nearly as good as she hoped. "Oh umm... I'm a mask maker. Well in training anyway."

She put it down beside her, almost hiding it with her foot. "It was my umm first real try." A blush crept across her face, barely noticeable thankfully against her skin tone. She tried not to be hurt by Selo. After all, it didn't seem like the shinlai meant to offend.

Then the question about the human community registered. A little late of course. "Well yeah you're sort of near one. I mean you're not so far away from my master's shop. I was heading home after all."