Bored with a Broken Knee

[Timmean]

[Aug. 17, 2:00 PM]

Timmean sits in the inn, resting and watching for anyone to come through. His knee is still broken, as Horns was still getting things ready for the surgery, and Timmean was hoping for someone to talk to to replace the dull silence.

[Ravira]

Ravira wanders in from a morning of successful hunting and grabs a tankard of water. Sitting across from Timmean she offers some rat jerky, "Still not fixed up yet I see? How are you feeling?"

[Timmean]

Timmean tilts his head, looking somewhat confused. "Um, fairly good actually, if you ignore the broken knee. So, um... how do you know me?"

[Ravira]

"I saw you when you were brought in. I was just recovering that day myself actually. I'm a new resident here. Ravira." She extends a clawed hand as a greeting.

[Timmean]

Timmean blinks, thinking for a moment before extending his (left) hand to accept the greeting. "Ah, yes, I think I remember that now... you seemed rather upset, if I remember right?"

[Ravira]

"Thankfully Horns had time to heal me. Being healthy always puts me in a better mood." Shakes his hand.

[Ravira]

"What was your name again?" Tilts her head questioningly.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! wanders in with a rat on a leash.

"Come on, now, Dinner. Sit! Sit!
. . . no. Sit! Nibbling on my ankle isn't sitting in place. Sit!
Oh, that's it, in the cage with you!"

Torvallis! sighed and left the inn in the direction of the bunkhouse. They came back in with a sizeable sheet of leather and some tools, and began drawing on the leather.

[Ravira]

Watching Torvallis come into the inn with a rat her ears and whiskers twitch for split second.

"You do leatherwork Fire Mage?"

[Torvallis!]

"Hm? Yes! I made my gauntlets myself! Pure rat leather! This scrap here isn't big enough to make anything from, but I was going to use it to design my next piece. Other scraps, I use for repairing armour, like Aster's"

[Ravira]

"Mmm. I don't suppose you'd mind teaching me to work with hide while you work, would you?" she asked as she stands up to get a better look at the scrap they're working with.

[Timmean]

Timmean watches for a moment, then speaks up. "My name is Timmean. And good to meet you; welcome to the area."

Turning to look toward the fire mage, Timmean continues, "Torvallis, are you able to tell me anything that happened while I was away? Was there anything dangerous?"

[Torvallis!]

"No problem! So this scrap has already had some work done to it; namely, it's already been cased. Casing leather is when you get it wet for the purposes of working with it easier, or staining/dying it with something water-based. Casing isn't as simple as just soaking the leather: you want the leather to actually still be 'dry' when you work with it. You have to lightly sprinkle the water, so lightly that puddles don't form on the hide, and stop just as you start to see speckles of water on the backside. The leather will then be carrying more water than it needs already, and will take some time for the water to spread evenly, and to evaporate slightly.

Now, once that's done, working with leather is a lot like working with fabric: You sew things together in much the same way, but with leather straps rather than needle and thread. There are a few differences: Leather stretches much less than fabric, so you need to be more exact with some things. Obviously not with the leather straps, since they're much bigger than thread, but with any holes you punch or buttons or catches you attach, you need to careful. You can't afford to redo them because the leather can crack and ruin it's longevity, and you can't make as big of a mistakes as you can with fabric because of the stretching issue.

Then afterwards, you need to do a few extra steps, such as needing to bevel any edges that will sit against flesh, because leather is much tougher and thicker than fabric, and thick edges will chafe. You also need to seal the leather with oils to make it last longer and never dry out. This is perhaps the biggest advantage to Elven and Dwarven leathers, as the elves use special plant-oils, and the dwarfs melt oils from rocks for their leather oils. Those careful artisinal secrets are what allows certain famed fae artisans to create garments that can live as long as their owners.

Humans, Kaern, and others have no need for such longevity in our clothing and armour, but our somewhat cruder leather is just as hard & tough as theirs is, with much less work and arcane alchemy.

Come now, let's teach you how to design a piece of clothing. Here's the charcoal I was drawing with, careful, it's still hot from the fire, and let's see you draw, in miniature, the pieces we would need to cut out and sew together to make . . . what is it you would like to make?"

"Timmean, there was quite a bit that was dangerous. We met a friendly bear though: He passed the military exam and has already been promoted to Corporal if I recall correctly!"

[Ravira]

Looking over her shoulder at a new acquaintance she says "There are many dangers out here apparently.  So far I've seen spiders, large snakes, bear cubs, rats and an enormous bug of some type.  The bug's front legs had quite a reach and it's butt kept us at bay during the attack."  She sighs.  "At least there's lots to hunt,"  she whispers with a smile looking back at the leather.

[Ravira]

"I do remember a not so sweet bear." she growls softly. "Hopefully it's not the same one. Anyway back to the leather. I'd like to make a new bag to carry my mana and one for my throwing daggers." Taking a seat next to the 'Rat Man' she takes the charcoal from them and starts to sketch out a tiny bag with drawings for mana.

[Torvallis!]

Torvallis! chuckles,

"I meant to make a drawing that we could cut out to make a bag! In this case, I think we're best served by making a large circle in the middle, and then cutting out a ring around that that we'll use as a strap. We'll weave the strap through the leather circle at the edges, and then by tightening it, the circle will close up to become a pouch!"

(OOC: Would you like for me to make you a mana pouch out of Torvallis!'s 'rat leather' (the red fur) for next game?)

[Timmean]

Timmean purses his lips, watching the leatherwork. In a moment of quiet during the sketching, he speaks up, "Is that everything? All the creatures that appeared?"

[Torvallis!]

"Well, there was also skeletons, a transforming man-wolf, a mantis, parasites that stick onto the back of your neck and make you dance, Lord Waters, (Horrible beasties, those), the usual rats, spiders, snakes, demon sheep, flesh-eating ghouls, small goblin children, undead wolves, ghosts, an Edwin of Toth spider, and a few lizards"

[Timmean]

Timmean sits up a little as he hears some of the labels; "Wait, what? Flesh-eating ghouls, more skeletons, and demon sheep...? Er, by which, do you mean the dream sheep?"

[Ravira]

Shaking her head at the list that is longing than she realized she replies to Torvallis "Drawstrings would be nice as well as a strap that could go over my shoulder. My belt is starting to get heavy with items." She chuckles.

(OOC: Sure. It could be a result of this discussion. Thanks. )

[Torvallis!]

"All sheep are demons!! Turn them into sausages!", Torvallis! was almost shouting.

"Phineas suggested we buy them from the faun who brought them near, and turn them into mutton. That also seems a good idea to me, but I'm not sure I want to encourage a demon breeding industry"

[Ravira]

Ravira's ears flick back to her head for a few seconds as the 'Rat Man' has a mini rant.

"Mmm mutton. Such stupid little creatures though. So easy to kill and a pleasure to skin." she says to no one in particular.

[Timmean]

Timmean is quiet for a moment, looking dumbfounded. Then he shrugs, rolls his eyes, and goes on; "Okay, but what about the skeletons, and the ghouls?"

[Ravira]

Looking at Timmean out of the corner of her eye she shrugs back, "I didn't see them while I was hunting so I wouldn't know how quickly they go down under my claws."

[Torvallis!]

"You'd have to ask someone else. After we were no longer trapped in the inn with them pawing at the doors, I went off to check the elemental circles. Speaking of, I should do that again after I'm done teaching Ravira here.

Now, what've you got drawn, Ravira?"

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