Apprentice at the Metallifacture [Training][Closed]

[Gintoki]

(OOC: This is a flashback/weaponsmithing-training thread)

37th Day, Fall

Gintoki was just minding his own business, still clueless what to do with his time and life he just meandered around the city during the day. His mornings were occupied with finding firewood, making and lighting a fire to cook his freshly found mushrooms, small animals, vegetables, ... ofcourse there were days with very little luck so that he was forced to fast and endure the growling stomach begging Gintoki to fill him up with delicious, gourmet meals.

His noons were kept busy with drinking water and the occasional beer while lounging around the tavern or walking around the city if the weather was nice.
And as if the Yalel Himself saw him on his path and thought to Himself " Idle hands are tools of the devil! ", Gintoki stumbled upon a man that would change the way of his days for the next month.

Gintoki was sitting on his usual seat in the tavern. He sat there so often he would swear he had left his butt-imprint on the hard, oakwood chair. Out of nowhere a short and sturdy man with a very unorthodox appearance sat next to him at the otherwise vacant table. The man had oceanblue hair with a matching goatee, but the most remarkable about his appearance was his skintone. His face and neck were pale, on the verge of being lightblue with silvery veins, but his hands were deep gray with silver veins.

Gintoki was surprised about the man's appearance and it must've been apparant for sure but the man showed no sign of it. He just stared Gintoki in the eyes for what seemed an eternity before he spoke.

" You, I heard you loiter around here day after day for quite a long time now. Aren't you ashamed of yourself ? You lazy bum! "

Gintoki was taken abast. The man was so blunt and tactless that it was almost humurous if it wasn't so insulting.

" You have no right to talk about someone like that if you have no idea what kind of situation he is in. "

To which the man replied. " Don't act like you're the main actor in a drama. I know that you stay in the forest outside the city gates and since you have no trouble coming through the city guards and roaming the city I assume you are not an outlaw. So you're just a LAZY BUM! "

He shouted the last two words even while speaking in a very loud voice anyway, at this time Gintoki noticed the entire tavern looking at Gintoki, waiting for his reply.

But Gintoki had no response, he knew the man had a point. He shouldn't feel so sorry for himself and start making something out of himself. After a few moments of silence Gintoki said: " So what do you propose to change that fact? "

The man smiled broadly. " Excellent response, don't worry lad, I'll give you so much work you'd wish you never met me. "

Gintoki laughed. " Lead the way! "

[Gintoki]

38th Day, Fall

Gintoki showed up at noon sharp at the designated meeting spot where he and the man from the bar, who introduced himself as Ros Vizeran yesterday, were supposed to meet. The air was crisp and refreshing with a soft, gentle breeze washing over the people. It almost had a sea smell to it, it was acting as a natural rejuvenation and Gintoki felt more relaxed by just standing outside, enjoying the wonders of nature.

Ros arrived at the spot less than a minute later than Gintoki and greeted him with an icecold nod and a beckoning gesture.

" You're right on time, that's a great asset to a man's personality. But let's not dawdle, I'm on a tight schedule. You are approved, by me, to become my apprentice, as such you WILL follow my every order and do so with every intent of accomplishing it with perfection. Failing to do so will result in giving you the boot and possibly the hammer. Understood? "

After some hesitation and pondering if there were any ways to negotiate Gintoki just nodded, he instictively knew there was no such thing as compromising with a man like Ros Vizeran.

" No worries lad, I may sound harsh but it's only for your own good. A mistake may cost your, or worse someone else's, life. In this line of work there's not much room for mistakes. "

" Don't worry, I'm quite able with my scythe. "

" Scythe? What are you talking about son? You are coming with me to work in a metallifacture! "

" WHAT? I haven't got the slightest experience in that craft! "

" I know, that's why you're going to be an apprentice! To LEARN! "

Gintoki's thoughts of working with Ros on daring expeditions, missions and the like seemed so childish now. He could not have been more wrong! The man was a worker, it seemed ever so clear now!

After the conversation Ros and Gintoki hurried off towards The Ironworks at high speed. The man was very fast for his stature and he must have been talking the truth when he said he was on a tight schedule because he ran like the devil himself was clawing at his heels.

[Gintoki]

39th Day, Fall

Gintoki's dreams were filled with coal, fire and metal monsters with their mouths clapping open and shut. Smoke filled the room and the heat was unbearable, just when the iron monstrocities caught up with Gintoki he woke up. He sighed a sigh of relief when he realized it was just a weird nightmare. He looked around the room where he was going to spend the next few weeks. He was given this commodity as a way of " paying " him, since food & shelter was the only payment apprentices got in The Ironworks Gintoki had no choice but to accept.

It was remarkable how pover this room was, it was a small room in The Traveler's Row, Ros had rented it for him for 2 weeks and breakfast, dinner was included. Lunch was to be eaten at the Ironworks cafeteria though. The room was furnitured with 1 bed, 1 closet, 1 nightstand and a clock on the wall. It had no paint on the walls, carpet on the floor, it wasn't even a decent wooden floor. There was no doubth in Gintoki's mind that if he walked around barefoot he'd get more splinters in his feet than hairs on his head. Eventhough it was shabby Gintoki was actually pleased with it, it was no doubth a better place to sleep than his tent in the cold forest at night.

He was also happy that the Traveler's Row owned a rooster that made a LOT of noise every daybreak. Ros told him that Gintoki had to be at his office every day, except every 7th day, 1 hour after the rooster awoke. He specifically emphasized that he HAD to be there on time. So Gintoki made the resolution to leave every day as soon as he can so he wouldn't get in trouble.

Gintoki munched down some bread slices with cheese, drank a glass of milk and left for work with an apple in his backpack, he left the all his belongings, except his backpack, in his room. His scythe and money however he left at the reception of the Traveller's Row to ensure its safety.

{ I'll show Ros I'm worthy of being his apprentice! } Gintoki thought as he arrived at The Ironworks.

[Gintoki]

39th Day, Fall

The sheer size of the industrial complex was intimidating to say the least. Sturdy people running around, either with or without carrying materials. A giant building with huge chimnees and the sound of a mechanical dragon roaring was a sight to behold. Gintoki felt uneasy and quickly went looking for Ros. After a while and after asking several impatient people for guidance, he finally found the main office where Ros was.

" Aah there you are, let's not waste any time. I'll explain you a bit about what The Ironworks does and after that we'll get straight to the practical lessons. The Ironworks is one of the largest industries in Syliras, mainly due to the high demand for our products. Our main customers are the Syliran Knights but the rest of the city needs our products aswell ofcourse, we aren't a weaponmanifacture afterall. We make several metal products, such as: hinges, gates, chains, .... I could go on and on. Anyway, we take our profession seriously and a fawlty product delivered will result in the maker subdued to heavy consequences. "

Gintoki grimaced, he hoped he'd never be on the receiving end of those consequences.

" Ok enough lecturing, let's get started. "

Ros gave Gintoki a map about the building and showed him the most important places for a rookie, like the depot, the cafeteria, the bathrooms, the furnaces, ... Gintoki's memory capacity limit was slowly being reached but luckily the tour was nearly over as they arrived at the apprentice room.

" As to not disturb the other workers we made this room for cases like you, rookies, where they can learn the craft without bothering the others. But remember, you will be graded upon your work even when working alone. Your finished products will show your work, attitude and effort. "

Ros showed Gintoki the sideroom where he could find the materials needed for making the basic items with which he will start. He then proceeded to explain the basics of smelting the ores, processing them into an item and above all, how to do all that while remaining safe and concentrated.

[Gintoki]

40th 'till 45th Day, Fall

Nails, Spatulas and even frames were all being constructed at a high pace for the first two days, Gintoki thought he had gotten the hang of it by now and was even so cocky as to think he was a natural. He was getting ready to find Ros and complain to him about not getting more difficult jobs to do when he glanced over at the boxes full of his finished products. For some reason he felt worried so he walked over to the boxes and picked up some of his self-made products.

What he held in his hands were nails and spatulas alright, but to call them anything more than so-so was being very generous. He remembers only looking at his products just after they were cooled off, that's where his flaw was. He forgot the fact that anything can look good when shiny, and at the time failed to notice the cracks and small flaws.

He decided to keep working on his nails, spatulas and frames 'till he was content with at least 90% of his work. He set aside the boxes of the first 2 days on 1 side of the room and set empty boxes up on the other side of the room for his soon-to-be finished products of the next few days.

[Gintoki]

46th-47th Day, Fall

After working hard on his training, without many breaks or time to sleep, he was at last satisfied with the results of his work. He made fine products, mainly because Gintoki took his time and didn't rush his work, even if they were just some nails and other " useless " items. He left everything in its proper place and then went searching for Ros. As he walked around the giant complex he could smell the ores, the coals and, unfortunately, the vaporized sweat of the hard-working men.

He finally tracked down Ros and asked him if he had time to come see what kind of products Gintoki delivered after this week of harsh training.

Ros went inside the trainingroom and glanced around, he stopped his gaze at the shelves of products and went over to inspect them further. After checking out both sides. The side with the nails, spatulas and frames that were done in a rush only received hisses and mean looks, he had a look in his eyes like he wanted to break them all piece by piece. Luckily he went over to the other side of shelves before coming back to Gintoki and probably shouting him an earful.
The side with the products of higher quality received nothing and Ros had his back turned to Gintoki the entire time so he couldn't see the look in his eyes either.

Finally Ros turned around with a grin and told Gintoki that he was very proud of him and that he understood the extra reasons behind the basics-training well. He still had a few things to comment on but he was pleased with Gintoki's work in general. Next he asked Gintoki if he could show him how he worked and to make 1 nail, 1 spatula and 1 frame.

After showing Ros his work ethics and his will to learn, Ros was pleased again but this time he had a more serious look on his face.

" I'm happy that you're motivated and that you understood that you have to be your own critic about your work, while you certainly have the will and motivation to work here, you still lack technique. And that is something that comes with even harder and even longer work. But for the time being, I'm pleased with what you have accomplished. As I told you before, you will be judged on your products and while I'm not the only judge to decide whether you can continue your apprenticeship here I'm relatively confident the other judges will see what I see. For now, take a week off and get well rested, you'll need it. "

[Gossamer]

. Character: Gintoki Experience: 2 XP Metalsmithing, 1 XP Hunting (gathering food), 1 XP Cartography (map reading/navigation) Lore: Ros, The Ironworks in Syliras Additional Notes: I like the gruff spin you put on Ros. Make sure you ask to use an NPC next time, but be assured I didn't mind you using him this time. You did a great job. One suggestion I do have is since your willing to color text, I'd make your dialog and the npc's dialogs a different hue. Also, you might want a little more detail on your metalsmithing so I can give you more XP! Sometimes I had to read carefully to figure out which one of you were speaking. Also, the sundae in your avatar makes me routinely crave icecream. I think thats evil... but it looks so delicious. .