Never Idle [Solo]

[Enric]

Timestamp: Day 1 of Winter, AV 511 Location: Enric's Home Purpose of Thread: Training Tanning, Poetry, and Writing

It's been a long first day of winter. Winter, petch winter. Enric hated winter, and there was a good reason for it. It got colder, food was scarce, and Endals became assholes, worse than they usually were. Enric examined the pelt he bought earlier that day. It was fresh, a quick skinning, but far from professionally done. More than likely, it was hastily cut so that the meat could be stored, or bartered, for the winter. Final preparations. Last year it wasn't so tough, but Enric had a feeling about this winter. It wasn't going to be easy, especially not for him. Who was Enric? A tanner, a leatherworker. Sure, there would be plenty to keep him busy, but nobody was going to give him food, and even trading his services for a full belly seemed unlikely to happen. Well, regardless of how winter was going to be, Enric had to keep up his work. Leather wouldn't make itself, and hides would do nothing except putrefy and fester if they weren't prepared. What good was anything if it was hard and brittle? The process wasn't entirely a complex one, though he had done it long enough to where Enric smelled like Shyke and his home even worse. There were reasons he was a Chiet after all. Who else would do such a horrid, yet necessary task? A Dek would kill for the chance, sure, but they didn't have the skill, the knowledge, or the physical ability to do this. At least Enric didn't have to worry about falling any lower on the social ladder. If he did, he might seriously contemplate murder, or running away. Enric placed the butchered hide into a barrel of water, or more specifically, a water with minerals dissolved in it. The hide would soak for a while before Enric would clean off the gore and flesh, the solution would work on eating at the flesh, gore, and hair of the hide. It would take time, but it made the work easier in the long run. In several days, Enric would return to that hide to scrape off everything that wasn't wanted. Luckily, he had started this very process several days before Fall had come to a close, and from another barrel he pulled out another large skin, a buck's to be exact. This would be the one worked on today.

[Enric]

With this hide well soaked, it was time to clean off all fat, flesh, and hair that might have clung to it since it was skinned. Enric draped the soaking wet skin across a wooden beam as the spiced scent of the mineral solution filled his nostrils and brought a watering to his eyes. Next, a knife was produced, which was intentionally dulled for the very purpose of tanning. Too sharp, and you risked butchering your hide. Dull knives worked just fine, since the hollow hairs of the deer-family easily came off from soaking for so many days. Well, with one more step it would easily come out. Thankfully, there was no shortage of water... Enric dropped his drawers, and without a moment's hesitation, he drenched the hide in his own urine. This was why his home smelled so bad. This was why he was a Chiet, and not an artisan. He smelled, his home smelled, yet it was necessary to make the process easier, and higher quality. After draining his system onto the hide, he got to work rubbing the urine onto the outer surface of the skin, then with that dulled knife, he began to gently scrape at the surface. Large brown globs of hollow hair would accumulate on the blade as a thin line of exposed, pale, slimy hide skin was left in the blade's path. This part of the tanning process took a while, dragging the dull blade across the skin over and over to peel away the hair and fat, until it was stripped bare of all such unwanted substances. Enric would finish the tanning of the hide by grabbing a jar of fish oil and once more soaked the hide. He took his time to rub the oil all over the hide, an important process to keep the leather from rotting and becoming brittle. Such leather would be, without a doubt, worthless. Enric fell back onto his bed and sighed for a moment. The leather wouldn't be ready to work for a while longer. He would need to soak some more hide to prepare for the working process though. Soaking for hair removal, disgusting, painful, annoying, necessary work. He was accustomed to it, though the lingering stench of nasty smells cake onto musty smells blended with deathly smells, it just made him an unpleasant person to be around.

[Enric]

After a few moments of rest, Enric rolled off his bunk and retrieved the only books he owned. The first was a common book of Poetry, by some guy that died several decades ago. Many people claimed his work was pathetic or miserable to the core, but Enric had nothing to judge it against. It was the only book he had that he could read. The other book was blank, a place to write or draw his own mind into it. More likely than not, the book would never receive popularity or notoriety, but that wasn't the purpose of this blank book. It was practice. Its value would exist only and entirely to him, and very few people these days (especially in the winter of Wind Reach) had any understanding or love of poetry. This made it, overall, one embarrassing hobby he had. It was his secret, a way to calm down and relieve stress. After rummaging through his cramped home and dove into that chest of his, he retrieved a brand new vial of ink and a quill. "My Bow and Arrow." Enric chuckled at himself as he shook his head. It was a fairly decent line, and that would even mean a good deal to your average Inarta, but he probably wouldn't use it. No, that was too weak, too cheesy, though he would remember it later on. Enric gently dipped the tip of his quill into the ink and opened the book to the front page, then stared at the empty paper for a long moment. He may have loved poetry, writing, and reading, but he wasn't particularly adept at them. They were hobbies that he rarely could spare time for. "Never fly. Yes, that's a good title to work with." A nod, and a few cautious quill-strokes later and Enric was staring not at a blank page, but a page with promise, a title with an unseen poem to follow. "He's bound to fall, He's bred to do, He's no wings to catch himself, He's nobody to catch his stumble, He's falling forever. He's hard and stained, He's poor and hungry, He's strong and brave, He's legs firmly planted, He's no wings to fly." Enric stared at the words for a moment, a long moment. He read the words to himself, reread them, considered them, then pondered again. He wasn't sure if he liked the words, the meaning. This was the only time he was really honest with himself though. This alone was the time he was comfortable enough to spill his guts, to release the dams that held his true emotions at bay. He sighed after dropping the quill onto his bunk next to him, a thin stream of blank ink sputtered onto the cheap, worn, and torn blanket. "Ugh, I'm so tired." Enric muttered and moaned as he closed the book with in defeat. His fingers slowly caressed the surface as if feeling for what he knew wasn't there. His book had no title. It was a personal journal of sorts. Enric was about to give another attempt at finishing his poem when he heard a pounding at his door. A visitor, they were rare, and always meant his work was needed. Someone needed leather to be worked, or a fur tanned, or the entire process. Occasionally they came to collect the tax, or even to harass him (though the smell of this place drove most of that trouble away from him). "Hey! Chiet, I know you're home. I need a quick repair!" Enric glanced at the book on his bunk, the quill, and the ink and shook his head slowly. He muttered a soft "Sorry." before getting up from his bunk and answering his door. Enric, the young man that could never afford to be idle. End

[Gossamer]

. Character: Enric Experience: Tanning +3 XP, Writing +1 XP, Poetry +1 XP Lore: Surviving winter's boredom, Owning a Book and Enjoying it despite what others say. Additional Note: Nice thread even though its short. I just wanted to say that most tanners don't urinate on their hides. Instead they urinate in large buckets and save all their urine to soak their hides in. It bleaches the hides almost white when you do so (Same with using the commercial uric acid) so you can then fresh bleach any color. But I enjoyed reading your thread. You should start some relationships with Endals so they bring you their hides directly and you craft leather for them specifically. . .