Solo Planning for the Future, Working for the Present 2

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Continued from this thread.

Timestamp: 5th Day of Fall, 515 AV

"Well, don't you look busy! Don't you have some beads to make, or something?" an amused voice called out.

Seirei looked up, and smiled to see Teisaia and Rytira entering the camp. Each girl pulled a travois full of willow branches.

"I hope that it was okay for us to come unannounced like this. Since we were the ones who told you about this commission, and asked you to help out, we figured that the least we could do was make sure you had enough wood to fill the order. Will this be enough? Or should we go back out and get more?"

Seirei eyed the the two travois with wide eyes.

"No...that will be plenty. Thank you. And don't worry about not asking about stopping by first. I'm glad you came. It means that I won't have to go out and get more wood later. Are you busy? Or can I ask you for one more favor?"

"You're the ones doing us a favor. Our pavilion owed the people you're making the beads for a big favor, and this is our way of paying it off. What can we do for you?"

"Watch the twins while I work. It really would be a huge help if you could. I'm at a stage where keeping an eye on them is distracting me from a delicate task. I can't give the beads the attention they need if I'm keeping an eye on Lukar and Lira. But if I only work while they're taking their naps, I will never be done in time."

Teisaia and Rytira exchanged glances. Then they grinned, and nodded.

"A chance to play with two adorable children for a while? There's no way we'd pass that up!"

Seirei chuckled at her friends' antics. After a few ticks, they each gathered one of the children up, and retreated into Seirei's tent so she could work in peace. It was time to get back to work. Seirei lifted the tarp she had placed over the pieces of wood she'd cut earlier that day. Now that the twins were safely occupied, they could be left to dry out while Seirei worked on something else.

It would be best if all of the wood dried out at the same time, so Seirei started by gathering up the willow branches her friends had brought her. When she had them all in one pile, she began stripping the bark off of each branch with her knife. She didn't know how long her friends would be able to stay and watch the twins, so she worked quickly. Since she had so much practice at the simple task, it took her just over a bell to get all of the branches stripped of their bark. Cutting them into different sized pieces and drilling holes into them took roughly two and a half bells due to the sheer number of branches she had to work with.

When she was done, Seirei set the pieces of wood over by the others so they could dry out. Her hands were starting to get stiff, so she stood, and stretched for a few chimes. Then she made herself comfortable, and got to work once more. She wanted to make the best of every chime she had to work without keeping an eye on the twins.

Of the work that remained, shaping the beads was the most time consuming, and delicate task. So that was what she started with first. Seirei divided the pile that needed to be shaped into smaller piles. Each pile would be carved into a different shaped bead.

.
.
.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei picked a pile of wood pieces, and selected one. After giving it some thought, she decided to start with making square beads. Squares were nice, generic shapes that many people would like. But at the same time, they were something other than the most basic round or oval shaped beads.

With chisel in hand, she began shaving off bits of wood. As she worked, the square slowly took shape. First one side. Then another. And another. When she was satisfied with her work, she set the first bead aside, and began work on the next. One by one, the pile of wood pieces vanished to be replaced with square shaped beads.

Once she was done with that pile, Seirei began work on the next. This one she decided would be shaped into triangle beads. Like the first set, triangles were a nice generic shape that few would object to. But like a square, triangle beads weren't the simple matter to make that round or oval shaped beads were.

Seirei made those too, of course. Before she was done, she had square beads, as well as triangles, spheres, ovals, rectangles, and some warped shaped ones that had rounded tops but square or pointed bottoms, or ones that looked vaguely tent like with triangle shaped tops, and square bottoms. With one pile left, she decided to get really creative. Seirei began to carefully make beads that were shaped like birds, cats, dogs, and striders, using the smallest chisel she had to shape her beads. With the size of the wood she had to work with, it was difficult, time consuming work. And the beads were basic bird, and so forth, with no detail beyond a generic animal shape. But they were recognizably what Seirei meant them to be. The dog shaped beads looked different that the cat shaped ones, and strider shaped ones.

When Seirei was finished making several of each new type of bead, she paused to examine her work. These beads were larger than most of her others were. They were meant to be the centerpiece of a necklace, or bracelet. As such, Seirei wanted them to be as perfect as she could make them. She had a few pieces of wood left over, so once she was satisfied with her work, she tried her hand at making some spiral shaped beads. If anything, these were more of a challenge than the animal shaped beads had been. While a spiral was a simpler shape, her goal was a thin, elongated spiral. Creating that out of a small chunk of wood was a difficult task indeed. She broke at least half of them in the process. Some cracked as she tried to shave off too much wood too quickly. Others ended up so thin that they simply snapped in half as she attempted to finish the shape. But she persisted, and she slowly but surely began to get the hang of it. And when she was finished, she still had a few spiral shaped beads that she was happy with.

Seirei took several chimes to examine each bead she had made carefully. Most of them passed her inspection, but there were a few that had minor flaws that needed to be corrected. These were set aside until she finished her inspection. Once she had, she gave each of the flawed beads an even closer look. A few were slightly misshaped. These were corrected by a few alterations with her chisel. Then they were put back with the others.

Some of the others were either thicker or thinner than they should be in one or more areas. It wasn't enough to affect the general shape of the bead in question. But to Seirei's critical eye, it made the beads look slightly...off. As if an amateur had made them. They were not up to her exacting standards, and as such, they had to be corrected before she would offer them as part of her commission. Using her chisel, Seirei shaved off thin bits of wood from the areas that were too thick. And in places where she had taken too much wood while shaping the bead, she shaved off a slight bit from the surrounding area to make it less noticeable. While doing so, she reshaped each bead as needed once the proper corrections had been made. Then these beads also joined the ones Seirei was satisfied with.

A few of the beads were rough in areas that they shouldn't be. These were set aside for now. It would take a little more special attention, and effort on her part, but their flaws would be corrected as she smoothed each bead she'd made out. Those were the easiest of the flawed beads to fix. But there were a few that worried her. These had very thin cracks running through the wood. A couple of these were set aside as useless. Their cracks were either numerous enough to affect the stability of the bead, or too noticeable to cover up with a layer of paint. The rest had cracks that no one would be able to see once Seirei had painted the beads.

Seirei had mixed feelings about using these beads for her commission. On the one hand...the cracks would be invisible once painted. And they were shallow enough that they wouldn't compromise the bead itself. They weren't likely to shatter if too much pressure was put on them, or anything. And yet...she would know that she had offered flawed beads as part of her commission. And Seirei wasn't certain that she could do that. So she set these last few beads in a separate pile. She would paint them with the others, but she would only use them in her commission if she would be short otherwise.

.
.
.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Once she had finished examining the beads for flaws, it was time to move on to the next task. Seirei exchanged her chisel for her smoothing cloth. Then she picked up a bead, and used her cloth to smooth out the rough areas created when she had shaped the bead. When she was satisfied that there were no rough areas left, she set the bead down, and started with the next one.

Smoothing the beads was a time consuming task since there were so many of them to work on. But other than keeping the beads organized by shape as she worked, and checking periodically to make certain she hadn't missed a rough spot, it wasn't a task that required a great deal of thought. As a result, her mind was free to wander as she worked. She had six cakes of paint she could use when it came time to paint the beads; black, white, blue, red, yellow, and green. That meant if she wanted to paint some of her beads with clan colors, she needed to buy some purple paint to represent the Amethyst Clan. Her blue, red, and green paints would work for the Sapphire, Ruby, and Emerald Clans. The yellow would hopefully be okay for the Topaz Clan, though she remembered Rytira saying that they liked to wear gold jewelry as well as yellow. And white would work for the Diamond Clan. But she was pretty sure they liked to wear silver jewelry, too. Seirei was uncertain if white paint would be okay to represent the Opal Clan as well as the Diamond Clan, or if she should try to buy some of the more expensive iridescent pearly white paint she had seen for sale a few times.

As Seirei continued to work, she decided that she would need some other colors as well. Orange, darker, and lighter shades of colors she already had, shades of grey, brown...there were many she could choose from. Buying that many different colors of paint would be expensive, though. On the other hand, it would be a good investment for the shop she hoped to open in the future. The more varied a color selection she had for her beads, the more she would be able to sell. And if Seirei were to buy a few at a time, she would be able to manage the expense of it more easily. She would need more mixing bowls for her paints as well if she was going to be using more paints at a time. And more brushes. She was no painter, but even she knew that mixing paint colors was a bad thing unless you were deliberately trying to create a new color. Otherwise both batches of paint would be contaminated by the other color, and ruined. She had learned that much by painting beads in the past.

By the time she had finished smoothing out the beads in her first pile, she had decided what colors of paint she wanted to buy now. So she went into her tent to get some mizas.

"Rytira, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I need some more paint for the beads I'm making for this commission. But I'm not going to have the time to go buy them today. Would you be willing to do it for me? I'll give you the mizas you'll need."

"Of course. What colors do you need? And how many of each? I know several pavilions that earn a living by painting. Some are artists while others paint wagons, and such. Depending on what colors you need, I may be able to get you a good price if the people I know have a surplus of those colors."

"That would be great. I need gold, silver, the iridescent pearly white that members of the Opal Clan like to wear, dark blue, sky blue, dark green, light green, dark red, grey, dark and light, brown, both dark, and regular brown, and orange; a cake of each color, please. I'm also going to need 13 small bowls that would be good for mixing paints; one for each new color I need. This should hopefully be enough, but if it isn't, please let me know, and I can give you some more." Seirei said as she handed her mizas to her friend.

Rytira counted the mizas, and added up the costs in her head. Then she nodded.

"I think I can get all of that for what you've given me. With a bit of haggling, I may even be able to get some of it for less."

With that, Rytira left. Seirei watched Teisaia playing with the twins for a few chimes, smiling softly as she did so. Her friend would be a good mother when she found someone she wanted to marry. Seirei had a lot of work to do if she wanted to be ready for the paints she had asked Rytira to get when her friend returned. So she went back outside and began the task of smoothing out the next pile of beads.

NoteThe cost of the paints, and bowls have been deducted from my ledger

.
.
.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

After Seirei finished smoothing out the last of her beads to her satisfaction, she paused to study her beads once more. As she examined them, she divided each pile of beads into two more piles. The best looking beads of each different shape would not be painted. All of the rest would. Further examination of the beads had Seirei dividing most of the new piles yet again. This time, some went into a pile that would have designs carved into them, and the rest would either just be painted or left as they were now. The one exception to this was the pile of animal shaped beads. All of those would be carved because Seirei wanted to etch details into them. Eyes, feathers for the birds, and such.

Once she had gotten herself organized, Seirei selected her first bead, and picked up her pick. After she stared at the bead for a few ticks, she used her pick to etch two lines around the middle of the bead, dividing it into three sections. When it came time to paint the beads, she would paint the middle section a different color than the the rest of the bead. It was a very simple design, but it would be a pretty one.

This was one of Seirei's favorite parts when it came to making beads. They were a good way of showing potential customers what she could do, and it was a lot of fun to challenge herself to see what kind of designs she could come up with. Simple ones. Complex ones. Lines, shapes, pictures...her imagination was the limit. And Seirei gave her imagination free range now. Some of the designs she came up with were meant to be painted. These beads would not be dipped in paint before being painted with another color. Others were meant to be left alone rather than be painted. Complex weaving lines mimicking the graceful web of a spider with beads of dew forming along the strands. Still others, like the ones she carved onto the animal shaped beads were meant to add detail to her work.

Seirei got so involved with her work that she lost all sense of time. From time to time, she heard happy shrieks and babbling coming from her tent, but it was as if it came from a world far distant than her own. All that existed within her own world was her, and the beard she was working on. Seirei didn't emerge from this world until a gentle hand on her shoulder startled her back to reality. She blinked as the world refocused around her, and looked up. It was Rytira, and she had the paints she needed.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to let you know that I was back with the paints." she said quietly.

Seirei nodded, and thanked her friend. Then Rytira walked into her tent to help Teisaia with the twins, leaving Seirei to her work once more. Seirei looked around. While she had been lost in her work, she had finished all but one of the bead she wanted to carve before they were painted. So she finished that one now. It was a square bead with flowers decorating two sides, and interlocking triangles carved to form a star decorating the other two sides. As Seirei finished carving the last few petals on the final flower, a sharp pain in her abdomen made her wince.

The baby was kicking...again. It was a feeling she knew she should be accustomed too after all this time. Especially as this was her second pregnancy. But that sharp jab from within still managed to catch her off guard every time. Memories rose from deep within her. The pain she felt now was nothing compared to the agony she had felt when the tiny life growing inside of her had been created in an act of brutal violence. "Punishment," the men had called it as they forced themselves on her. Punishment for not bearing children fast enough for her master. Punishment for not being Drykas. Or Drykas enough, since her father was a Drykas. Seirei shuddered. For several long chimes, she fought with the dark, terrifying memories, struggling to shove them back into the depths of her mind once more.

Lukar shrieked with laughter. Lira babbled excitedly. Hearing their happy voices gave Seirei the strength she needed to overcome her dark memories once more. The twins had been forced on her against her will through repeated acts of rape. They were the result of an uncaring man breeding her like an animal. And yet...Seirei loved the twins with all her heart. They were hers, and she was theirs. Seirei could no longer even imagine her life without them. And she was certain that it would be the same with this child once it was born. Like Lukar, and Lira, this child could not be blamed for the pain its father and his friends had inflicted on her.

The pain eased slowly. But Seirei felt stiff from sitting in one place for so long. She needed a break. Seirei stood slowly, taking the time to stretch stiff, aching muscles. Then she entered her tent to gather up the paints, and bowls, she'd need along with her paint brush, and her waterskin. As she did so, she thanked Rytira again for being willing to go buy the paints she needed for her commission. Seirei took longer than she truly needed to gather up her supplies because she was also watching the twins play. But once she had what she needed, it was time to go back out and get to work.

.
.
.

[Seirei Dawnwhisper]

Seirei spread out her bowls first. When she was done with that, she unwrapped each cake of paint she owned, and broke off a small piece that she then crumbled into the bowls; one for each color, plus one for water so she could rinse her brush off as needed. Once that was done, she wrapped each cake of paint up carefully, and brought them back into her tent. As she was putting them away, she realized that she'd forgotten to get the strings she would need when it came time to dip her beads into the paints. So she grabbed several, and headed back out once more.

She tied a knot at the bottom of each string. Then she filled each one with beads that she wanted to paint. By dipping them into the paint while they were on the string, she would prevent paint from getting inside the holes in the beads. Were that to happen, the paint would dry inside the beads, making it impossible to string them into necklaces, or anything else later. After she was done with that, Seirel used her waterskin to fill each of her bowls with water. Using her brush, she carefully stirred the water in each bowl so that it mixed with the paint. But she was careful to rinse the brush off in between each color so she wouldn't contaminate them.

Once the paints were ready, Seirei began dipping her strings of beads into her paints. She started by dipping one string into each of the clan colors; blue, red, green, yellow, purple, white, and the new pearly white that would represent the Opal Clan. She also dipped strings of beads into the black, brown, white, grey, gold, and silver paints. To help ensure that each bead was thoroughly coated with paint, she used her paint brush to dunk them under the surface of the paint, and spin them around. When she was done with each color, she would rinse the brush well before dipping it into the next color.

The newly painted beads would need time to dry before they could be carved, or have designs painted onto them, so Seirei took the strings, and tied them to her cooking stick. Doing so would keep them suspended in the air, and exposed to Syna so the paint could dry. While she waited, she went back to the beads she had carved earlier. With smoothing cloth in hand, she began smoothing out the rough areas in each bead that had been created as she carved her designs.

As she worked, she allowed her mind to drift. Some of the beads she had painted would be left as they were; single colors. Plain, and simple, but they could be combined in many different ways to create things of beauty. Other beads would be carved once they had dried, and some of the ones she carved would get their designs traced with a different color, or painted. Still other beads wouldn't be carved, but she would paint designs on them. By necessity, they would have to be simple designs, given her very limited skill in painting, but even so, they would add more variety to the beads in her commission.

When she was finished smoothing out the beads she'd carved, she put the ones she didn't plan to paint away. By the time she was done, the painted beads were dry. She poked her head into her tent to ask if her friends needed to head home soon. She felt guilty for allowing them to babysit the twins for so long. Surely they had other things they needed to be doing? And yet...they truly seemed to enjoy playing with her children. So when they said they could stay until it started to get dark, Seirei thanked them, and left it at that.

Seirei gathered up the painted beads and took them off of their strings, separating them into piles according to color as she did so. Then she refilled the strings, painted each new string of beads, and set those out to dry while she worked. When that was done, she turned her attention back to her beads. Since she would need time for the paint to dry on the beads she painted designs on, she decided to do that next.

She selected one of the green beads, and studied it thoughtfully. The green beads would be good to represent the Emerald Clan...and the Emerald Clan were known for being skilled hunters. So images related to animals would be a good match for them. After a few ticks of thought, she dipped her detail brush into the black paint, and coated the bristles thoroughly. Positioning the brush against the surface of the bead, she painted a thin, black, curved line. When she was done, it resembled a bear claw she had seen in the past.

The next bead she painted had a similar design, but rather than a single bear claw, she painted a circle of them around the whole bead. On the third, she attempted to paint a bear paw. Since she didn't have one to look at while she painted, her attempt turned into more of a generic paw shape rather than being recognizably any one animal. But it wasn't a terrible picture.

One by one, Seirei painted her beads. She tried to think of images that would make a good theme for each clan. She had more success with some clans, than others. The Emerald Clan got animals, paw prints, claws, teeth, and weapons. The Diamond Clan, being known as warriors got weapons. And the Amethyst Clan got horses. But the other clans were harder. The Ruby Clan was a clan of craftspeople, but Seirei's painting skills weren't up to the task of painting pictures of most of the tools they would use. She did, however paint a few red beads with paint brush and carving tool images.

Seirei also tried to paint several beads with generic designs. Spirals, shapes, lines...anything she could think of. It would give her variety in her work for her commission, and give her practice painting at the same time. Seirei got so lost in her work that she didn't notice the time passing until the light started to fail as Syna began her slow descent into night. Knowing that her friends had to get going, Seirei quickly set her newly painted beads out to dry, and pack up her supplies. Then she said goodbye to her friends, thanking them again for coming by to watch the twins while she worked. When they left, Seirei turned to the twins, wanting to get them fed, and settled down for the night. With as much work as she had left to complete her commission, tomorrow would be another very busy day.

.
.
.

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Let me know if I missed anything.

 

Seirei Dawnwhisper

XP

• Socialization: 2 XP
• Carving: 4 XP
• Planning: 4 XP
• Observation: 3 XP
• Persuasion: 1 XP
• Painting: 1 XP
• Logic: 1 XP

Lores

• Carving: delicate and time consuming
• Squares and Triangles are generic shapes
• Opal is a very basic shape
• Spirals: simple but challenging
• Seirei: expects more of her work