Setting Up Shop, So To Speak: Part Two (solo)

[Nari]

12th day of Fall, 510AV Upon waking, Nari was at once both incredibly sore from her heavy lifting and glad that she lived closer to the edge of the water than the shops. She would be in desperate need of a bath after today, and two buckets were not going to fill a wash tub with less than a few trips to the shore and back. Her arms rebelled at the thought of lifting the buckets empty, let alone full, and their weight tugged at her shoulders, her hands drooping at her sides like wilted flowers. The rewards were, thankfully, greater than the exertions, so she was able to convince her body to follow her directions. Within a few hours, her tub was full of water for later use and she was dressed in her new work clothing. She attached herself neatly to her rucksack, leaving her hands free for gathering. Only her spade, gloves, and knife weighed her pack down, while her water skin was tied to one of the straps. The material of her new clothing was thicker than Nari usually liked, but it would protect her from scratching of weeds and thorns as well as sunburn- both things she did not particularly want to suffer- and her hat’s wide brim would keep the sun from her eyes. Before leaving her cottage, she dabbed insect repellant behind her ears and at her chest and wrists. It may not be perfume, but the action was habit. She grinned joyfully at the sky bereft of clouds, a soft breeze keeping the temperature from becoming unbearable and marched out of Mura, breathing in the crisp air outside the city. Her arms swung purposefully, and she hummed a tune in time to the rhythm of her steps. Today was going to be ‘fruitful,’ she could tell already.

[Nari]

Reaching the top of a grassy hill in the middle of the forest, Nari sprawled on her stomach in the shade of a birch tree, leeching coolness from the blades and dirt beneath her. She was exhausted and sweaty, dust clinging to every pore and crevice of her body, and most of her day had been spent walking aimlessly. She had gotten far too much enjoyment from the outing, and far too little actual vegetation. Her pack was only one-fourth full- and even the plants she had shared few complementary qualities. She did have quite a few seeds, though- enough to start her own small garden of herbs and flowers. Plus, she had had no problems collecting tree bark. She would have plenty of work to keep her busy over the next few days, if nothing else. Her head pillowed on one crooked arm, Nari spied a patch of firewood blooming bright pink between some trees. Hauling herself into a sitting position, she drank sparingly from her mostly empty water skin and groaned. No time to rest, not on a day like today. As many needles from the ground as she could hold in two cupped hands were tossed carelessly into her pack, since they were a popular scent. She also cut some extra tendrils bark to use as a decoration. It never hurt to add special touch to your product. “Thank you, Caiyha,” she said, crawling toward the growth of weed and kneeling to admire their delicate petals. She had a special reverence for the goddess of flora and went out of her way to say a small prayer of appreciation every time she plucked a plant from the soil. It couldn’t hurt to show respect, at least. “I will use this plant to preserve health and life, and I will create a small garden in your honor so that I will not need to take as much from the forests you safeguard.” Her now dirty spade flashed dully in the sun. She dug shallow holes and pulled up an entire row of the flower, root and all, and stuffed them in her pack. Their sour odor tickled her nose, causing sneezes to catch in her throat. Such a vile smell for such a lovely flower. The odor and its tendency to strangle other plant life that tried to grow around it kept Nari from planting it in her own private garden. It was useful, however, and she noted where it was growing so she could get more on her next outing.

[Nari]

As the sun began its decent into the waters surrounding the Isle, Nari made her way home, choosing her footing carefully. Her packs weighed significantly more now, so she needed to be careful not to overbalance and tip over. Nothing like spending a full day gathering, only to stumble and crush them together, ruining them right before they could be used. Left foot, right foot, left foot- she stopped counting her steps, her mind focused only on reaching her house and the rest it provided. After two days of solid work, all she wanted to do was bathe and sleep. Even then, however, she was thwarted. She entered her house with a sense of dread, realizing that all her purchases from the day before as well as each of her gatherings from that day needed to be put away, at least, before she could rest. Just dropping them on the floor wouldn’t work again today.

[Nari]

13th day of Fall, 510AV Nari woke late, having spent half the night separating her plants, cleaning her tools, and rearranging her house into what she liked to call her ‘workroom with a bed.’ She had also bathed last night in the room-temperature water and washed her already-dirt-stained new clothing, but she had, sadly, neglected to dump out her dirty water before giving in to her weariness. Wrinkling her nose, she re-dressed in the still damp shirt and breeches and set to the task at hand. After dragging her tub through her doorway and away from nearby homes, she tipped it until the water surged over the rim and down the hill in a muddy line. It was somewhat easier to pull back inside empty, and she shoved it back in its corner with rather more force than she’d intended. She hated these tedious tasks and occasionally seemed to sulk at the prospect of taking care of them, but she never knew when she’d black out. It would be just Nari’s luck that she’d do something stupid like try to cook with the tepid, dirty water- so it was better to get rid of it as soon as possible.

[Nari]

Wiping her hands on her slacks, Nari bent over the hearth and started a fire. As she waited for the flame to eat up one of the logs and become consistently hot, she ran down to the water edge with her buckets and filled them. It was almost baffling how many times a person needed water, even in just one day. When she got back home, she hung one of the buckets above the flames, setting the other next to her table. It needed to boil before she added her special ‘ingredients.’ First, she would boil down her foamflower. The roots, she carefully ground with her mortar and pestle into sticky, fleshy chunks. By the time she was finished with her grinding, her fingers were covered in whitish paste and the room smelled like the forest floor. Foamflower couldn’t be used for fragrances, but it was certainly helpful to have around. After cleaning, crushing, and boiling, it was mixed with oil and left to cool and condense. Afterwards, it could be used as a poultice for wounds, and who didn’t want to be protected from infection? If nothing else, she could always sell it to a healer. Gurgling accompanied the bubbles forming at the surface of the heating water, and Nari scooped up her root bits to dump them unceremoniously into the bucket. They splashed and sunk to the bottom, filling almost a quarter of the container. They would expand and become sticky as they soaked up the water, so she couldn’t add more even if she wanted to. She covered her concoction with a large bowl, careful not to touch the bucket and burn herself. This step would take at least two bells, which was just enough time to soak and mash her Sweet Cicely flower. The hairy plant wasn’t her favorite, nor was its too sweet, licorice scent. The sweetness, however, was a good contrast to some of the earthier undertones she used. A popular fragrance was one with multiple well-balanced layers, she had learned, so it was necessary to deal with the scents she didn’t enjoy. Pulling the unused bucket from beside the table up between her feet, Nari started dropping flowers into the water. After every handful, she would stir the soupy mixture to allow equal absorption. When all the flowers were soaked, she scooped them up and placed them on the table next to her. Each one was ground up by itself before being dumped collectively into a clean bowl for later. Her fingers were getting sore, so she flexed them slowly and glanced into the bowl of fuzzy, slimy goo next to her. It was lucky that her customers never saw this part of the process or else they may never buy fragrances again.

[Nari]

By this time, her root mixture was just about finished cooking, so she used a bit of fabric to carry it from the fire to her table. She stirred it as it cooled, being careful not to touch, and watched the liquid congeal into a thick, chunky substance. It was opalescent, almost translucent, the color having been drained and evaporated with much of the water in the bucket. When it was cool enough to touch, Nari pulled out handfuls of slimy roots and chopped them up carefully into tiny pieces. Into their bucket, she poured two large handfuls of safflower oil, and slowly added half the warm root chunks, stirring as she combined the two elements. She repeated the process for the second half of the foamflower root poultice, until it was all mixed together to create a smooth, white cream. A few of her larger jars and bottled were filled with the poultice, labeled, and set aside. The rest of her day was comprised of chopping, boiling, grinding, mixing, stirring, and cooling. It wasn’t exciting; it wasn’t backbreaking. It was, however, relaxing and productive; it was the work Nari loved and had missed. With jars, bottles, buckets, and bowls strewn about the room with various mixtures and components within them, Nari couldn’t have been more content. In the back of her mind, a niggling sensation pricked at her consciousness, but she pushed it away. Supper beckoned, as did another good night’s sleep, and Nari wasn’t inclined to say no to either of those ideas, at least right now. {end thread}

[Nari]

Items Purchased :

1 pair Cotton breaches, 1 pair Leather gloves, 1 plain Linen shirt, 1 broadbrim hat, 1 Backpack, 1 Rucksack, 5 Candles, 1 Spade, 1 Mortar & pestle, 1 blank book, 2lbs soap, 2 buckets, 20 small empty bottles, 10 medium empty bottles, 1 container insect repellant, 1 knife, 1 set of bowls, 5 gallons ale, 3 gallons safflower oil, 1 basket of fresh produce

Mizas Spent :

41 gold mizas, 2 silver mizas, 15 copper mizas

[Alice]

Nari Experience: 2 Organization, 1 Gathering, 2 Perfumery Lores: Collecting Plants from the Wilderness, Disposing of Dirty Water, Boiling Foamflower, Working with Sweet Cicely Flower, Creating Foamflower Poultice, Spending Time Doing what One Loves, Being Content Comments Nice thread. I especially liked how you described that Nari is working really hard, but still loves what she does. Again, I’m not sure what kind of xp and lore to award … if you’d like more xp in one particular skill (i.e. perfumery), you should rather write a whole thread dedicated to that skill only. Just my two cents.