Flashback Carving Something New

[Auriga]

The 20th Day of Winter, 509 A.V

In the quiet of Skyglow Hold, Auriga sat at her work desk, the surface bearing numerous tools used in the art of carving. Adding to this, she had a large chunk of clean bone in the center of the desk, seemingly staring at her. The Ethaefal had borrowed the tools for this purpose, with the promise she would take care of them. After all, right now all she wanted to do was to make the image in her head a reality. She had a simple goal, to carve the bone into a much smaller spiral. While it sounded rather easy, to the Novice carver it would take quite a bit of effort to not mess up completely.

Taking a deep breath, she picked up a pencil and gently drew out a circle roughly the size of her palm near the edge of the bone, going over the shape a few more times to darken the outline. Then, carefully, she sketched out the direction of the spiral, before placing the pencil back down on the table.

Now for the work to begin. With her right hand Auriga picked up the saw she had been told was the best for this task, while she placed her left hand on the part of the bone bearing the sketches, intending to saw off the excess bone she wasn't going to use.

Carefully, she began to saw off the excess bone, doing her best to angle the instrument away from the hand steadying her work. The teeth of the saw bit down on the bone, slowly carving apart the two different sections - the soon-to-be-spiral and the uneeded material. At one point the saw caught on the lower part of the bone, and Auriga momentarily panicked, before angling the saw downwards and pushing past the obstruction with unnecessary force, resulting in a few fractures reaching into the bone intended to be part of the spiral.

[Auriga]

The 20th Day of Winter, 509 A.V

Upon finishing the carving process, Auriga put down the saw and picked up the remaining bone, examining the small faults with worry. In the process of sawing away the unnecessary material, she had placed the saw too close to the bone she wanted to turn into a spiral, a mistake she had performed unknowingly before it was too late.

At least there's a way to get rid of it, Auriga thought as she picked up the pencil once more, though I'll lose a small part of the spiral. Lightly, she redrew the circle for the spiral, making sure it ended before the questing fractures. That left her with around half an inch to remove, which would result in the spiral being smaller then she originally intended.

Slightly reluctantly, Auriga reached over for a chisel, and paused, before picking up the bone and placing it in the vice attached to her desk, tightening the apparatus carefully until the bone was secure. Only then did she pick up the chisel and stand up, moving in front of the vice and balancing the chisel where it needed to go, with her left hand.

Picking up a mallet with her right, she gently but firmly tapped the chisel on it's head a few times, watching it sink into the bone with each hit. Auriga repeated the process until it broke off a small section of unneeded bone, moving the chisel blade to another spot and continuing to perform the action, the task going for around 15 chimes.

Loosening the vice and putting the chisel back down, Auriga took a few minutes to sit down and rub her hands, feeling them begin to protest from the task of holding the tool in place for so long. Little pin pricks of pain danced in her palms for almost a chime, before receding and leaving in their wake a quiet ache.

Her quick breather over, she stood up once more and turned the bone on it's side, the lines showing the curve of the spiral facing the ceiling. After tightening the vice carefully, she picked up a curved gouge, determined to complete this part of the process with her strength alone. Taking a calming breath, she put the tip of the gouge to the center of the bone where the spiral concluded, intending to start from the inside and work her way outwards, which would hopefully turn out to not be too foolish of a decision.

Slowly, Auriga pressed down on the bone, gradually exerting more of strength to dig in to the material, before changing the angle of her pressure, roughly following the line she had drawn as she carved into the bone. Gritting her teeth, she repeated the process over and over, gradually working her way deeper and deeper into the bone, the handle of the gouge growing slippery in her hands from sweat.

Stopping to wipe the sweat from her brow and to dry her hands on her pants, the Ethaefal looked at the shape she had made, which nearly matched her mental image. At one end of the bone, a few fractures were visible, caused near the end of the gouging process where she had exerted too much pressure, putting too much force on the bone.

[Auriga]

The 20th Day of Winter, 509 A.V

The Ethaefal inspected the new problem in her work, biting back a curse. She had been so close to finishing too, and would have to go to extra lengths to remove the dangerous addition to the spiral. The fractures appeared to be small enough to be easily removed by the file she had borrowed, which she was thankful for.

Stretching her hands for a moment, Auriga picked up the file lying nearby on the desk, her back bending slightly to bring her closer to the bone. Holding the instrument by it's handle delicately, she placed her left hand on the vice, giving her support and a way to guide her hand better.

Bringing the file to the start of the fractures, she gently began moving the tool in an up and down motion, exerting a small amount of pressure to get the process going. Soon a small amount of dust was regularly dancing down from where the chisel met bone as she worked, moving the chisel around to work on different sections of the spiral as she noticed them. As her back muscles protested at the position she had been holding, Auriga straightened up, realising nearly two bells had passed since she first started her work.

Raising her arms above her head and stretching her upper body wearily, Auriga gave a great sigh. Time to see if this turned out to be okay, she thought, loosening the vice and drawing the bone spiral out from it's grip.

Upon close examination, the spiral hadn't turned out too badly. One side did bear a few scratches and a small indent where she messed up with the file, and the spiral's curves were more angular then smooth, but ultimately, it was alright.

Gently placing her completed pendant on the table, Auriga felt the first tickle of weariness in the back of her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. I'll..just take a quick nap, she thought, brushing off her clothes and almost stumbling to her bed.

As her mind began to drift away, a tenative thought danced up from the depths of her mind, reminding her of the mess coating the floor of her Arvinta. Brushing it off, she slipped away from consciousness, while Syna was still in the sky.

[Ablation]

Auriga :

Experience:
Carving +2

Lores:
Carving: Rounded Edges
Carving: Chisel
Carving: Vice
Carving: Mallet
Carving: Saw


Other:
+Novice Bone Spiral Carving

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