Researching (closed rp for Selousi and Kaylex)

"Oh, I see.." Selo said. "Well it's plenty good then. Was it practice maybe?"

Selo noticed the girl was a bit nervous. "Um, I'm sorry if that was rude.."

"N-no!" she stammered. She held up both hands, palms out in a gesture. "It's fine. It umm it wasn't rude at all. I just...I mean I wasn't sure if a real shinlai would think it was alright. I mean I know it's small and all but it took me all day and I wanted it to be shaped right and all."

She took another look at Selo's mask. "Did you make yours?"

"Oh? My mask? Um.. Yes I did. But I'm an earth shinlai, so it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be." Selo said in response. "How do you make your masks?"

"Well umm... we have diagrams of shinlai skulls and such. My master has made real ones but like I said I never saw one. So I had to use the papers to make a model skull."

She fidgeted with the shinlai hair cord of her pendant and pondered how much detail to go into. "We pick a material, or I guess the shinlai we were making a mask for would, and we work from there. For this one I took a piece of wood and attached two pieces and them umm shaped it into the right way. I didn't get to paint it and make it look as fancy as yours but I'd hoped it would be decent when I was done. Wood's hard to work with because you have to sand off all the splintery edges."

Laila relaxed a little. "And my master has worked with all kinds of materials unlike me. She's used clay, stone, and woven ones too. I think she mentioned doing a steel one before too. I umm guess they'd all be better suited to an earth shinlai like you than another element but umm we try to make them look nice. Or rather she does since I only get to practice and learn for now."

"Well, maybe I could help you impress her?" Selo said, eagerly warming up to the human."We could also try to mix something to paint with."

She'd been worried she was going to bore Selo. Instead she was being offered help? The joyful flutter started back up again. "Well er, thank you! That would be amazing! She's awfully hard to impress."

If nothing else she hoped she could keep the result. After all, her master would likely scold her but she would be proud to own something a real shinlai helped make. She wondered if Selo could even tell if the cord around her neck was real hair or not.

"Well... What If you used an old mask of mine?" Selo said shyly." Would she be upset if you referenced from that..?"
Selo was imagining her mentor scolding her, the very idea was very repulsive. She felt incredibly sorry for the human.

"She would ask where I got the model, materials, and umm how I went about making it. She'd never believe a real shinlai let me make them a mask let alone keep it afterward. She would find something to say about it. Perhaps that I erm that I failed and that the shinlai didn't want to keep it because of that."

"Oh I see.. I guess I could just help you then..." Selo said. "Well.. Would you want some help?" Selo asked, worried that she might turn her down again

"I would. I mean I could learn so much from a real shinlai... Er I should probably stop calling you that though. You must have a name right?" Laila asked, not sure. She read about masks not about their society. She certainly had a lot to learn and she wasn't sure if Selo would want to teach her.

"But you know we should pick a material for a mask. Clay's easy and can be found around here. Or stone but you'd have to dig for it. Wood's probably the best. I could show you where I found the piece for my practice mask?"

"Oh, sure. It seems like a good thing to use anyways." Selo glanced at the smooth wooden mask. It was actually very nice. She wondered how she got all the bark off though. She found that to be most annoying. She heard her ask another question, she responded quickly, "oh, you can call me Selousi or Selo. And what do you call yourself?"

She smiled and picked up the mask, standing. "Well then umm follow me Selousi." She heard the same asked back and smiled. "I'm Laila. I'd give you another option but it's already a short name."

Laila led the way back to the log closer to her master's home and pointed to it. Luckily it was far enough away from Twine that she was sure her master wouldn't hear or know about her and Selo.

"It's sunbleached and such so the bark's off already. Smooth too. I don't have any carving tools but I'm sure we could use a stone or something if its sharp enough."

"Alright, it looks great. I guess you could use my mask as an example for size,"

Selo leaned down and bent her neck so that her nose was nearly touching the ground.

"what shape will you make it?"

(sorry my replies are so short. It's horrible typing with an iPod >>)

She pondered it for a moment or two and shrugged. "I don't know. All the ones I've ever seen pictures of are like big and smooth with little spikes and such. Maybe I'll go for more decorative type stuff... Maybe like umm leaf themed or something. Like the sides where it comes out along the cheek bones are a fan of leaves?" she suggested.

"Ah alright." Selo said,"I always thought it was about the color bit oh well, just try not to pressure yourself too much!"

"Oh right..." she said, kind of embarrassed she'd forgotten the paint part already. Laila looked around. "Umm I should find a rock or something to carve with. It won't work as well as actual tools but it'll be good enough. I guess I'll just make it kind of spiney or something near the cheeks instead of um making them all leafy."

"Oh dear, wouldn't stone be heavy though?" Selo said, but then took it back, " Not that there's um... A problem with it."
Selo winced at her mistake a bit. She felt incredibly uncomfortable in this social situation. It was very awkward.

She shook her head. "Well no... umm I'm just looking for one that's small and sharp to use to carve the wood. I mean I don't have my carving tools with me since they are kept in a cabinet in my master's home. I can't really work the log into a mask otherwise. I mean umm unless you could shape it and I could direct you? I'm uh not sure what a shinlai can use its powers for."

Selo Didn't exactly confide in her abilities, she shivered a bit as she thought about upsettig the human in any way. She didn't like the idea. She had disagree.

"Er, maybe you should show me what you can do first?"

(Sorry that took so long, I wanted to type something that would end up longer but I still don't have a computer avaliable. Also, a friend is going to bring their Shinlai Hallow into the role-play.)

((Hello there, hope you don't mind me joining in Kaylex))

Ahaloh was definitely the worse for wear, it had taken him a few days to recover from being completely stunned from his accident but with that he was missing most of his right horn and his mask was broken into pieces. There was one bit that was still useful but even it had a huge crack that would most definitely grow if it wasn't taken care of soon. He loved his mask, he wore it proudly and to see it shattered made him sad. "I am a fool..." he whispered to himself. The elder shinlai that had healed the gash in his head and helped ease his pain told him of a mask maker and apprentice he might ask to fix what he had destroyed. It would never look the same way again but he had to try.

(oh I'm fine with it ^^ I need to interact with more people anyway)

"Umm alright. Hang on a moment then," Laila said. She glanced around and picked up a rock with a edge. She ran it across the palm of her hand to test the sharpness. It didn't cut her skin but it stung so with enough pressure it would certainly go through the wood.

She broke another piece off the log and then started to walk back to where she and Selousi had first met. "It's probably better we get a little further away from my master's shop. We don't want her coming out and finding us. I'm umm...I'm technically not supposed to work on masks without her permission. She gets a little upset."

"Oh I see. She sounds horrible indeed, why should she be able to control you though?" Selo said, also putting her front paw on the log, snapping a piece off easily.

"Maybe I could work on my skills too," Selo said with a shy chuckle.

She began to carve the basic shape out with her claw, it looked somewhat like a shield.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Selousi who already started a mask. Deciding not to try to run away back to where they met Laila nodded. "Well umm she's my teacher so she kind of has a say in what I do. But I guess you're right."

She started to carve away at the edges of the wood with some difficulty. The stone wasn't exactly as nice as her carving tools were but she continued putting pressure on it until her fingertips were white. She flexed her fingers a moment to get the feeling properly back into them and started again. Eventually the mask resembled the basic shape for a shinlai. It was a little small once more but much larger than her original attempt.

"What do you think so far, Selo?"

"Oh, um. it looks like a proper mask. Maybe a first for a young shinlai."

Selo continued onto her mask, getting the basic shape and rounding out the sides. She knew the actual inner mask carving might be hard. But she knew her basic head shape so she was trying to fit it to look like her own mask. She was really getting into it. she wanted to make contours and spikes on the sides, but she didn't have thick enough wood to do so. So she settled for a plain mask with small spines to protect the base of a shinlai's horns.

"Um.. so, do you have enough wood for the design you want to make?

Hallow carried his shattered mask in a small bag along his back as he wandered in search of the mask makers. He continued on for a few more minutes before he stopped and listened. There was quite banter between what sounded like a young human and another shinlai. Carefully he crept forward not wanting to walk into the middle of a darkblood trap and peaked out from behind a tree. He was massive so even his best attempts at hiding were terrible but he figured he could try. He saw a smaller female shinlai pale colored with almost a mossy green color running along her back and smiled. She was beautiful. Then he saw the human, they were doing something with wood it appeared and even if this wasn't the place, he could ask and maybe they would know more about where he should be heading.