Solo Once forgotten, twice remembered

[Adal Karelyn]

67th of Spring, 522 AV

Although she had learned a great many things from her class, she had yet to understand how she was supposed to access the djed that was supposedly inside of her. It wasn’t as simple as just reaching out to tap into it. Not yet anyways. First she had to find the well she was to draw upon. Following the instructor’s advice she started a bath for herself as soon as she got home, and them promptly immersed herself till just her nose was above the water. It was supposed to be quieter in such an environment, and outwardly it was, yet her mind was constantly running in circles concerning the days events. All of the knowledge she had crammed into it was starting to leak out. Her worries, feelings, outward impressions all came to the fore superseding anything else in her head as those thoughts took over till she was thinking less about how to access her djed and more about the what everyone thought about her living on her own.

Hastily she fumbled for the x shaped charm on her wrist, touching it and bringing her back to the classroom when she first learned about djed. Her thoughts reignited with the small wonder that blossomed out from that lesson. She remembered the lesson about how every part of her was made up of djed, and how even her sentience, her soul was made up of djed. If only she just knew how to access it. With Spiritism she focused on what she wanted, and after some time with the right materials she had been able to produce a small bit of soulmist. Just a smidge but that had been enough to let her know that the lessons had been real and not some strange joke played on her. Auristics though was supposed to use your senses, but how was she supposed to draw her djed out towards that end. Was it something she would feel like flexing a muscle? It had to be right, otherwise how could mages make sure that they didn’t use too much?

Adal emerged from the water with a start, releasing the charm so that she was once more wholly in the present. After wiping her face she settled back into the curve of the tub and took in a deep steadying breath. This wasn’t exactly working. Maybe she just needed to walk away from the idea and give it some air before coming back to it. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. She certainly wasn’t doing herself any good getting worked up over not getting too the bottom of this. After all, Chiona said it would probably be a while before she figured it out, if at all. That last part troubled her as she had a sneaking fear that she would be unable to do it which would be rather disappointing. She had hoped that this could have been something she could do to make herself more capable of living on her own, but if it didn’t work out she was back to square one. Back to square one.

WC - 517

[Adal Karelyn]

Standing out of the tub, Adal quickly dried off and went to get dressed. An idea had struck her while she had been busy moping and Talin’s studio was open for another few bells.

It didn’t take her long to get dressed either. She generally kept her clothes in the same spots after being washed so she always knew what she was wearing. Quietly she changed into her sleeveless green dress, a pair of sandals and threw on her jewelry before hustling out onto the street. From there she had to take things a good bit more slowly, skirting along the edges of establishments as she picked her way across to Talin’s studio. Not for the first time did she wish she had Drooly with her to help guide her across, but unfortunately although he had warmed up to her since she had acquired her charm, he still wasn’t allowed outside for obvious reasons. It was hard going however people generally gave her some space. It helped that Talin’s was across the same plaza so she didn’t have to go very far before the familiar smells and sounds wafted over to her. From there it was a simple thing to feel her way to its entrance and step into the studio.

Someone walked up to her, jingling quietly and smelling faintly floral. They took her hands in there soft, slender ones, guiding her along to a corner of the shop she knew well. She knew it for the stool that always at there, etched faintly with her initials. An impulsive little thing, done when she was a girl with less sense.

“Thank you..” Adal said dragging the word out until the person replied.

“No worries, its Lily. We occasionally work beside each other.” The woman said, giving her hand a brief squeeze before releasing to let Adal find her seat.

“Thank you Lily. A pleasure to meet you.” Adal said beaming as she propped herself up on the stool. From there it was easy to find the tools she needed, as well as her supplies, all of which had been placed particularly around the stool.

“A pleasure to meet you as well. Be seeing you.” Lily said, and Adal listened to her walk off as she wrapped her fingers around a thin metal chisel, then found a small hammer with her other hand. Her work was as she had left it on the wooden base in front of her. She was trying her hand at making an inanimate object. A table actually, one that her mother had owned for many years. She was just now working out the basic shape out of the soapstone. In some ways this was easier than the portraits she usually did. It was mostly flat planes and angles after all. Still the difficulty was on the horizon when she came to the delicate structure of the legs. She hadn’t worked with adding gravity much to her creations but she had been told repeatedly that this would get her more business so here she was, giving it her best effort.

WC - 514

[Adal Karelyn]

To start though, she worked on flattening the top of her table. For this she used a wide edge chisel that she scrapped across the top of her sculpture, slowly chipping away across the top until she cleared a flat strip horizontally across the piece. Then turning the wooden base that swiveled at her touch, she used the space she had created to start clearing the rest of the top of, holding her chisel precisely at the the joint where the rough edge of the soapstone met the flat one she had chipped off the whole. With a little bit of pressure from her mallet bouncing against the back of the chisel, more soapstone came away rendering her closer to completing the top of her table. Of course every few strikes she had to pause, and skirt the edge of her pinky against the smooth stone, feeling the overall smoothness as she added it to the tactile picture she was slowly forming of the object she was working on. When she was truly in the thrall of working like this, it was like being in an entirely different world were there was just her and her sculpture. It required nearly all of her focus to keep track of her tactile sensations, remembering the pieces that would need to be smoothed later and where she was currently at with her sculpture. The pieces all fitting together like a puzzle, only it was a puzzle she was creating herself based on the memory of her mother’s table.


Once the top was smooth and flat, Adal set her tools aside to rest her hands across its surface. She let her fingertips drag across the dimples in the soapstone as she dragged her hands across. It was rougher than she would have liked, but there was still time to fix that later when she was polishing the piece up. For now she contented herself that the basic shape was there, along with the right angles that made up the edges of the table. Before she had taken her break she had taken her chisel to those four corners, sloping the edges down slightly at an angle that she repeated on every side. Now with the tools back in her hands, she used a pointed chisel to break apart the stone a few inches below that slope.

Since she wasn’t going for finesse here she could move a lot more quickly as she broke apart the soapstone, continuing downward for a few ticks till she got the sense she was nearing the base of the carving. It wasn’t a refined sense by any means, just an inkling she sometimes got when she worked on a carving. The reason she often worked with similar blocks of soapstone was that it was something she had already captured in her mind through constant use. She knew innately the dimensions she was working with so in times like these she got a tingling feeling that made her check how close to the base she was getting. About three fingers away, which wasn’t so bad. She could afford to go closer to the base with this sculpture. In fact, she wanted to get as close as possible. She thought it would be more interesting that way if she emphasized the empty space beneath the legs.

WC - 555

[Adal Karelyn]

With her pinky extended out from her chisel hand so she could gauge her place on the block, she resumed chiseling. Knocking out great chunks of soapstone as she worked the chisel in deeper until she had carved herself out a little niche from the middle. From there she worked her way out, still tracing her way by touch until she was a bout two fingers away from the right edge of the block. Then she repeated the process for the other side. The pointed chisel was a blunt thing. There was little controlling the output of its force as it was mostly used as a way to break apart the portion of your sculpture that wouldn’t be in the final product. As she had a lot of empty space to get rid of under the table she put that tool to good use, hammering it in with firm blows as she chipped her way to the design she could almost feel on her fingertips if she concentrated hard enough. The chisel rattled against soapstone, ringing throughout the quiet studio as elsewhere others contented themselves with the variety of art forms the patrons indulged in.

At first Adal had been worried about disturbing the other artists or patrons to the establishment till Talin explained to her why he had put her where he had. In the corner she had about as much privacy as could be had in the studio while an open window took care of most of the noise, letting it out onto the street instead of rattling solely in the quiet shop. She suspected he had taken other measures as well, but those he had not told her about. Probably to protect her feelings. People were always doing that to her, belittling her by babying her in such a way. It didn’t make her feel very good, which is probably why she jumped at the chance to explore magic when she did. Speaking of.. No that can wait.

Right now she wanted to concentrate on finishing this. She’d knocked out most of the negative space below the table so it was back to a chisel with a flat blade, this one narrower than she had used before. As she set it against the edge of her table’s top, she tried remembering the bevel she had felt so many times before but it was difficult to dismiss the thoughts that magic had roused in her. Finally, frustratingly she dropped the hammer in her lap and reached across the grasp the x shaped charm on her wrist, reliving the memory of that table instantly in her mind. Diamonds. Small little diamond shapes interspersed with triangles that felt a lot like teeth on the top and bottom of the bevel. Adal released the charm, and sank back into the moment That’s right. She knew what she needed to do for the rough edge of this table to truly shine.

Picking up her hammer, she set the edge of her chisel carefully back across the corner of the table angling it slightly downward and away from herself before bringing the hammer down.

WC - 521

[Adal Karelyn]

She brought it down with the lightest of taps so that when the pressure released it only made the slightest of chips across the edge of the tabletop. Then she felt the mark she had made with her index finger, frowning as she wasn’t quite happy with the results. Its was a deeper and sharper angle than what she had been going for. Resting the edge of the chisel opposite of the angle she had just made, she hesitated before swinging the hammer. She pulled herself back into that design, concentrating on how it had felt against her fingertips. Then she imagined what sort of mark she would make with her chisel, how she could make it match up with the design she held in her head. Then she felt something that she couldn’t quite explain. A vibration coming off the soapstone that was resonating off her chisel, and on up through her hands till it reached her arms. As she shifted the edge the vibration changed. Adal dropped the chisel and reached out to touch the soapstone with her fingertip. There was a warm feeling concentrated on the tip of her finger as the vibration softened until it was almost unnoticeable. Shifting her fingertips along the rough surface she felt the vibration rise and fall occasionally, rising across the flat surfaces while increasing in pitch when she reached sharp angles.

Adal pulled her hand away, rubbing her fingers together as the feeling slowly dissipated. She felt suddenly drained, and caught herself on the edge of a shelf to her right. Was that what it was supposed to feel like when she tapped into her djed? It certainly was something that was entirely out of her experience, but before she could think on what had happened anymore, someone walked up to her. It was Lily she could tell from the familiar cadence of her footsteps, and her soft fragrance.

“Everything alright Adal? Do you need a break?” Lily asked gently.

Adal blushed and rubbed at her face with the heel of her hand. “I’m fine really. I just forgot to eat earlier. I’ll take care of it here soon.” She said with a bit of a strained grin.

“Well, I’m almost wrapped up here. Perhaps we can go for dinner after?” Lily asked.

Adal grinned. “Sure. I’m just wrapping up myself. What are you doing by the way?” Adal asked curious.

“Oh.. Well I’m working on a painting. Someone wanted one of the peaks.” Lily said somewhat awkwardly.

Adal immediately intuited why, but kept that to herself. “Good luck with your painting. I should be finished in a bell or so if you are still around.”

“Okay, see you then.” Lily said, drifting off back to her station.

Pursing her lips, Adal put her hand back on the soapstone table but the feeling was gone. It was back to the same immutable block as before. She sighed, and got back to work.


WC - 492

[Cleon]

Grade Award!

Adal Karelyn:

Skills: Auristics: 1
Observation: 3
Meditation: 1
Sculpting: 3
Socialization: 1

Lore:

Meditation: Immersing oneself in water to focus
Sculpting: Making a flat plane with a chisel
Sculpting: Guiding proportions along with touch
Sculpting: Creating empty space in a sculpture
Sculpting: Shaping a rounded edge
Auristics: Touching her first aura
Auristics: Feeling physical properties as vibrations

Feel free to pm me with questions or concerns about your grade, and don’t forget to edit your grade request!