Ropes, Rigs and Fishermen Sails [open]

[Trios]

32nd Summer A lone Isur sat atop the main top of the mainmast of worn down small fishing vessel. Trios’s bare chest was visible as the hot sun made it unbearable to be wearing any sort of leather or cotton shirt when working. It was surprising that for such a small being compared to regular sized humans or the giant akalaks, Trios looked as though he were made of a chiselled pale blue stone apart from his black obsidian left arm. The large hat that Trios wore to shield himself from the sun cast an ominous shadow over his face as he worked with the head rope of the mainsail. It took a while for word of mouth to spread that a Isur in Riverfall was looking for work in repairing sea vessels, but once Trios had decided spread word that he was doing said work cheap a few offers came running in. Trios had to admit that he didn’t know how quick people would come with work once you lowered the wares of the labour below that of the norm. Todays venture was to repair and rig a mainsail for a local fisherman. The Isur had estimated that it due to the small size of the sail he could have the sail ready in a day’s time. The only tricky bit was the headline atop the mainmast needed to be extended for the new sail to be rigged. It was no wonder the fishermen couldn’t get the entire sail rigging properly. The fool was most likely an idiot when it came to truly appreciating how everything on a ship needed to fit almost flawlessly. “I don’t care that I hear the rain and thunder For these clouds are grey that I’m sailing under Hold on, Hold strong and just listen to the song The sun will come if we sail on just a bit longer Blue sky’s and clear eyes are our rewards For we do not know what we ride towards Hold on, Hold strong and just listen to the song Dry land will come if we sail on just a bit faster The rain keeps pouring on our back But we fear the quartermaster’s whip crack Hold on, hold strong and just listen to the song The work will end if we sail to riches a bit longer” Trios’s voice was a low rumble as he casually sung one of the working songs in his repertoire to add a rhythm to his work pace. The man’s hands calmly were weaving a new strand of rope into the already existing headline atop the mainmast. The work had begun with easy task of cutting the strands of rope at the middle before weaving in an additional strand. Each strand was about twenty inches wide allowing an extension of about eight feet give or take a foot depending on how well the new strand was weaved. Trios was still getting the hang of precision rope work in his trade, his rock like hands fumbled the strands constantly causing him to curse a many things under his breath. At least with rope work if you made a mistake you could always untie and retry. Something that made the working male glad that he wasn’t going to have to worry about wasting materials. Grabbing a cut strand that had been given him the most difficulty, Trios laid it over top of the opposing end to where the new strand of rope had been started. Working with so many pieces of rope forced the Isur to get a bit creative on holding each strand. There were six strands to work with so the man could only grasp one in each, another was held within his mouth, and the last three were pinned beneath the armpits. One could almost say Trios had a pathetic image of a pale blue spider as he weaved so many of his threads clumsily.

[Lucius Maverick]

Timestamp: 32th of summer 511 AV

Lucius had been to the city for 2 days, and had returned to the harbour for some fresh air, and perhaps to earn some money.

Lucius carried with him his fortune telling cards, and looked around for potential customers.
he looked for about 45 chimes before he found an local fisherman that was interested in his services.

The fisherman wanted to hear what Lucius had to say as soon as possible, so they sat down at an nearby table and Lucius started to shuffle his cards.

He drew the cards: 5 of diamonds. Happiness and success. A change for the better. A birth, or good news for a child. A good time to start new projects.

6 of spades. Small changes and improvements.

9 of diamonds. A new business deal; travel; restlessness; a change of residence.

After the fortune telling was done, Lucius summarized the three cards and told the fisherman: "Good changes are about to arrive, and the cards tells of times of travel, perhaps in your heart you know where you want to go, and there you will find a new business deal."

"Nothing about relationships? love? curses?"

Lucius smiled and replied: "Not today sir. However, the future is constantly changing, but for now, i would listen to the cards."

The fisherman nodded and looked towards his ship, while thinking of the travels that this rather mysterious man had mentioned.

Lucius tipped his hat upwards and laid his eyes upon the hard-working Isur. he had seen quite a few in Alvadas. Sturdy people. Somewhat stubborn, but that was only according to his experiences. It was a vast world out there, and Lucius couldn't wait to explore it further.

Lucius shook the fishermans hand, whom walked away, thinking of what Lucius had told him.

The breeze hit Lucius as he walked over to the isur, and stretched out his glove-covered hand in an attempt to shake the isurs hand.
He said:
"Hello there, My name is Lucius Maverick, traveling entertainer and fortune teller. Atleast for the moment. May i ask what you are working with? I'm quite fascinated by boats and large ships."

Lucius didn't know why he had walked up to the Isur.
There was something about him that Lucius found interesting, but he simply couldn't put his finger on it.

He blinked and tipped his hat once again.

[Trios]

“Hmmmmm” Trios didn’t say much once the newly extended head rope had been extended to the appropriate length. It took a few extra tries to get the ends of the strands to tie in right but after that headache had been taken care of the man ran his gem like hand over the ropes to inspect his work. This however was interrupted by some random passerby who chose now disrupt work with moronic chatter. Grunting in a deep disgust at the fact his work could be interrupted Trios didn’t have no choice but to descend the mainmast of the ship to prepare the sail for rigging. Trios would have enjoyed the chance just to relax in the fact that he could work above the man ignoring whatever the man had to say. But the work was needed to do at the ground level and thusly the Isur had no choice in the matter. Once Trios’s foot touched the deck his dense body made the floor creek at each step. Maybe he’d intimidate the fishermen into hiring him to make a whole new deck for the boat, Gods willing it needed it with the amount of screaming that was coming from the planks. “Ya ya! your life’s story is important and all but though your mouth may be working your eyes aren’t privy to such a realization at seeing a man busy with work….” Trios growled coldly as he simply walked past the open hand towards a wooden box of tools resting against a large folded cloth. Opening the box Trios muttered a few length measurements he took from the head rope extension. Finding a hand sized circular ended spike and hammer Trios inspected the tools casually before tossing the hammer back into the box to replace it with a decent amount of fine rope and small iron bands. Casting a cold glace at the other male, Trios thrust the objects into his chest to force him to hold the cumbersome things. “Well as long as your going to stand around and be a nuisance you might as well be a useful one, drop them or steal them I wager is equal too two broken ribs owed” With his hands being freed it allowed the Isur to calmly unfold the large sail against the deck of the fishing boat. The sails sill needed to be cringed and leeched before it could be rigged into place. “I weep for humanity if you don’t know what this piece of cloth is….” The Isur said with slight amusement towards the man as he tried to arrange the cloth into a more workable position.

[Lucius Maverick]

Lucius chuckled when the man told him that if he dropped the objects that he had gotten thrown into his hands, he would break his ribs.

"He sounds almost exactly as the blacksmith who lives just around the corner from pa'" Lucius thought.

Lucius watched as the Isur man did his work when the Isur asked him a question.
“I weep for humanity if you don’t what this piece of cloth is….” the man said.

Lucius eyed the cloth carefully, but he had in fact no idea what the kind of cloth it was that this dockworker were holding in his hands.

Lucius sat down and took of his hat, and replied: "I'm merely a normal man whom knows some things, and others i don't. You say that you will weep for humanity if i do not recognize this item, ah, but how do you know that a stranger you've just met is even a human? What if i'm actually a wolf in sheep's clothing? I sadly do not know what this item is, but can you point out every kind of bird that you see? It's a vast world out here my friend, but sadly, the mind of one cannot hold the information of all."

Lucius smiled and took each of the objects he had been given and started examining them. Some of them were simple items used in the everyday life, and some that he didn't recognize at all.
It was a vast world out there, and Lucius planned to see as much as he could, before the day he passed away.
Afterall, what would life be without such things as knowledge or adventure?

Lucius smiled an asked: "So where are you from lad? Are you from around here?"

[Trios]

"It’s going to be a mainsail, that’s if I don’t piss time to entertain myself on the idea of strangling a certain fortune-teller, I could prolly blame it on fate HAHAHAHAH” Trios’s cold laughter seemed to vibrate on the coastal winds that gave gentle relief to the relentless summer heat. The sail had been oriented so that Trios had a proper indication of where the peak of the sail would be in relation to the foot and throat of the mainsail. It’d be an idiot of a mistake to add cringles to the wrong section and thereby ruining the entire project. Once satisfied with the unfolded sail and once a mental image of what went where was established Trios turned his attention back to the other male. This Lucius was a Fortune teller?! It almost made the Isur feel pity for the man if he believed he could see such things. Fate, destiny and the like were just ridiculous notions in life. Ivak’s Prison, Trios had seen more believable things in his bowl movements. Like the rest of these so called seers into the unknown this man was probably a conman. Not that Trios hated conmen, so long as they were after his gold they could do their business as much as they wanted the Isur could care less. Grabbing the iron spike and a small amount of rope from Lucius’s hands Trios then turned back to the sail. Placing the circular spike along against the cloth Trios would use his a clenched left fist to slam against the top of the spike. This was to cut and pinch a circular hole into the sail in order to form cringles. This small of sail however cut the amount of cringles needed. Two on the corners of the clew, one at the peak, five down to the throat and four down to the track. The muscled Isur made quick work walking along the parameter of the sail as he cut the appropriate cringles in the sail. “And that other statement was a turn of phrase boy, but I honestly could care less even if you were king of Syliras let alone a stranger…..Now put them iron bands into each of the holes.. I need to tie up these corner cringles” Trios commanded in his emotionless and rock hard persona as his obsidian like hand pointed towards the open in hopes that Lucius would understand the simple order. The holes had been imprinted into the cloth so that Trios could insert the small iron bands around the hole to begin to form cringles in their proper place. After that a rope needed to be tied around them to make sure the bands wouldn’t come lose or rip the sails in harsh winds. “I may be pale blue but I don’t think I match the Akalak look they got going in this city to be a local so no I am not from here….You could also say I’m from the sea. I also hope this is not what you do when you charge people for entertainment talking their ears off…"

[Lucius Maverick]

Lucius laughed as the man finished his last sentence, and started doing what he was told.

He started to put the iron bands into the holes, as he had seen the dockworkers do back in Alvadas.
It was a repetative task, but the feeling when the boat was finally was repaired (or built) was a feeling unlike any other he had experienced.
The feeling of accomplishment.
True, he did not know about the cloth that was being used, but that's because it wasn't interesting enough for him to learn.
"If i'm going to fill my head with information and knowledge before i die, it might aswell be things that i consider fun or worth learning."

This was the philosophy that Lucius followed.
Atleast his life would be entertaining all the way until the end.

"Unless you're an old man or an sweet old lady interested in wive's tales, i won't feel forced to actually try to talk your ears off." Lucius said with a smile.

Ofcourse he knew this was something you said when you were tired of someone talking, but Lucius could not for some reason stop the urge to tease this Isur man.

He contineud doing his work as requested, while thinking of how he had helped the fishermen and boatcaptains back in the Alvadas harbour. It's was quite well payed, especially for a youngling of his age.

Lucius observed as the Isur man kept working, and decided to break the silence.
"So from the sea you say? Surely this mysterious man from the Suvan sea have a name right?"

Lucius simply couldn't stop asking questions.
This was the first man that he could actually got to talk to outside of Alvadas.
Someone outside Alvadas, someone whom seemed to know a bit about the vast world out there.

[Trios]

“Learning and having fun?! I hope you brought a cart of gold for that cus that line of work doesn’t fill the stomach or line the pockets….I do hope your fortunes con enough gold into your pocket!” What kind of naïve man would hold onto that idealism? Life just wasn’t that simple or nice to allow that sort of dream to be lived out so easily. But the Isur didn’t really care what Lucius wanted to do with his life it was none of his business to get involved. Since Lucius had followed his simple directions of placing the iron bands within the sail it required a bit of simple rope to tie them in. Trios needed to lay up two strands from a single length of rope together. Three lays were needed due to the size of the bands, Trios would have wanted to five lays to be absolutely sure that his work would last but due to his inexperience and size of the band it was an impossible task. This work on the sail had an average lifespan of three years, depending if the fishermen knew how to maintain his ship. “And names Trios, but keep your lip shut, if your going to provide me free labour I might as well teach you something useful. You see these rope strands! You reeve the longest of the rope strands, loop them into the eyelet-hole before throw those iron bands to form what we call cringles.” Started Trios pulling the sail up just enough to show the human what he was doing with the rope and the sail. “Once that is done it leaves a vacant space where you unlay the short strand of the rope into before you whip both ends like soo….Reeve em into the eyelet of the sail…damn one moment the last bit is a bit tricky my fingers always fumble this petching part…..” Trios said grumpily as he kept messing up the one step. Each attempt had the same result with his bulky hands losing grip on the rope and the knot wouldn’t form. After a few tries the strands were finally weaved into place “There, and that’s how you make a cringle into a sail…..now get tying” Trios commanded in a cold tone tossing a small amount of thin rope to Lucius. The Isur knew the man would mess up a few times but it was rope work so the man could attempt the work for all eternity till he got the right method.

[Lucius Maverick]

Lucius observed as Trios showed him how to form cringles.
Lucius started doing as he was told, while thinking of what an odd couple the two of them seemed to be.
Lucius shrugged and kept working.
Lucius reeved the rope into the eyelet-hole with small but quick movements with his fingers.
His hands and his fingers was his pride afterall, since he used them everyday in his work. In order to do card tricks and such, you had to make sure that you we're fast enough, and steady on your hands and fingers.
Lucius struggled a few times, as he had never done this before, but on the fifth try he got it down and did the rest of his work with ease.

Lucius looked out over and vast sea and sighed.
"So according to you Trios, you can't have find joy in your work, and learn new things while doing it?"

Lucius took a deep breath and spoke out more to the sea than to Trios:
"Do you know why i decided to leave?"
Lucius waved his hand against the sea and the sky, that stretched far beyond the comprehension of the human eye.
"Freedom, my friend. To not have a care in the world. To be able to do what you want with your life. There's no one that has the right to say i'm wrong or right. Only i decide where to go and what to do next."

Lucius looked at Trios with a smile on his face.
"And that's why you are out here, isn't it?"
Lucius waved his hand at the sea, and the boats and ships in the harbour.
"This is your freedom, am i correct?"

Lucius threw the cringles at Trios chest.
Lucius smiled and looked at the ships.
""I can definitely see how this is a form of freedom.""
Lucius thought to himself and then looked up towards the sky, expecting Trios to simply grunt and have him help him some more.

[Trios]

“Work is work, no sense in trying to make it something more” Shrugged the Isur checking over the humans work. It would be hell to pay if the work was lost to a single loose knot tied by the hands of the human, but Lucius had done a fair job on his part from what Trios could tell. But the man did bring up an interesting concept. Did Trios enjoy his work with ships? He had done this work for most of his life, but the thought of doing anything else had never occurred to him. The Isur just did what he was good at and that was that. Life was just better if left uncomplicated or bogged down with labels. Plus everything the Isur did were all means to a desirable end, he’d muck stalls for a month if the plan had called for it. “But you talk of a carefree life with delightful freedom, I’ve been living long enough to know those two things don’t coexist.” Trios stated in his stone cold voice, shaking his head as if the man’s comment was an insult. As Trios gave the sail its final touch-ups with seaming twine the fortune teller would get a closer look at the shipwright. The Isur’s body was riddled with scars, some deep, some long and some in such density it could be said that Trios’s body was more scar than skin. The most interesting as well as the most recent mark on Trios was a yellow and white sickly swirl of a hurricane on the square of the man’s back. “If you want freedom you got to care so deeply that it hurts some days, if you want carefree I’d suggest you pick a nice quiet box of a house to live in for the rest of your days…I am sure the Akalaks here could use a good worker here in Riverfall” Trios’s chuckle was more solemn and dark than cold as he had finished his touch-ups on the sail. Trios's blue beard shifted in the calm ocean breeze as he walked leisurely towards a heap of clothing and sacks. Rummaging through them the Isur took out his water skin and thusly quenched his thirst before wiping his face with his cotton shirt before putting it on. “But there’s still a jobto be done, no sense to be wondering why I’m here when a ship has no sail..” Trios had returned to his rocky exterior holding up the corner of the finished sail. All that was required now was to rig the damn thing into place. This was the easy bit since the proper rope extensions had been made. All that was needed was for Trios to scale the mainsail and tie the thing into its proper place.

[Lucius Maverick]

"You've lived long enough to know that? You look like you're only a couple of seasons older than me! Besides from all the scars that is.. "
Lucius said with the expression of surprise on his face.
Trios was indeed covered with scars, but it was nothing he hadn't already seen back in Alvadas.

"Freedom and the ability to be carefree cannot coexist you say? I am not one to say they can, but neither can you say that they can't. The only way to know is to live life in every way possible until you either live the one that manages, or simply live them all to prove that they cannot."

Lucius hesitated before contineuing.

"But if i had to choose to be carefree or to recieve freedom, i'd choose the latter i suppose..Better to live life with regrets than not live at all."

Lucius got up and stretched his legs, as he observed Trios managing the last part of the work and the finishing touches.
He smiled behind Trios back and pulled out his deck of cards.
He shuffled it and took the top one to inspect it.

9 of Hearts, The card of wishes.
Lucius smiled and mumbled:

"So he does have a goal to fulfill.."
He quickly put the card back into the deck, hid it and sat down again, waiting for Trios to finish.