Closed [Job Thread] To New Shores

The making of a small sailing boat.

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Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Karin on October 21st, 2016, 11:51 pm

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90th Autumn, 516 AV
"Speech"
"Others"


Karin breathed a long, deep sigh, exhaling through her nose as she leant on the edge of pier. So far, this job was turning out to be an interesting one, to say the least. The blonde woman was working with a colleague, an early thirties man with wild blonde hair tied in a messy ponytail. Lucius was his name, but although she knew what he was like (messy, teasing, oddly musical), she didn't know him all that well. That didn't bother her. There were so many faces that passed her by, too many for her to be interested in. As she wasn't someone who enjoyed people very much she found herself perfectly happy to speak as little as possible to Lucius.

Which wasn't that easy.

She stood in front of the utter wreck of a ship that the two of them were tasked with repairing. Well, re-building in an entirely new ship. Their patron was a man named Elijah, a stately man with salt and pepper hair and a fine moustache. A trader. In what, Karin didn't know, nor particularly care. All she cared about was the ship, which was in a sorry state. Lucius strolled up with a rolling gait, and Karin turned to face him with a question on her lips. He had gone to speak to Elijah to ask if they could attempt to move the wreck.

"He said yes, Karin, although gods know how we're gonna move it. The thing looks like it'd fall to the fish as soon as we even tried to step foot in it, let alone pull it. The thing's half-submerged as it is, but we need to get it to the dry dock otherwise there ain't gonna be any way to fix the damn thing." Karin nodded, mutely, having nothing more to add. Really the only thing they could do was fix as many ropes and supports to it as possible before sailing it away.

"If we put the sails on, do you think that would help?" Her partner pondered the proposition, and agreed. "Sure, I think so. You go grab the sails from Elijah, I think he said he had some for it, and I'll get the ropes. Meet back here, Ironyach." He winked, and she scowled in return. With a laugh the man turned away, and Karin walked up the small pier to Elijah's business.

___


It was dark inside the warehouse, with dim light filtering through glassless windows set high in the walls. "Is anyone around?" The Svefra woman walked cautiously, not wanting to disturb or worry the owner. Elijah was a funny kind of man, she had thought when she'd first met him. There was something about the man's direct way of talking that both unnerved her and pleased her. Directness was a quality she appreciated.

Thankfully she didn't have to intrude much further before she heard heavy footsteps approaching, and she straightened from her slightly hesitant stance to one that was a little more... authoritative. Elijah appeared from around the corner, stopped, and then strode up to her with a direct smile.
"Aah hello there," he said. "What can I do for you?"
"Hello. We need the sails for your boat, please."
"Of course, if you'll follow me."

The man's pace was swift, and Karin had to jog a little from time to time to keep up properly. He wound a path through the warehouse, past row upon row of carpets and cloths wrapped neatly with price tags scribbled on. That was his trade, then. The warehouse was only small however, and soon he pushed open a door leading into a sunlit patch of garden. She looked about with interest, noting the usual architecture of Riverfall and the elegant pond whose waters flickered with the shadowy movements of fish.

Then they were ducking under a low, stone lintel and approaching a small outhouse. "Wait here, miss. I won't be a moment." So she did just that, mind wandering as she enjoyed the faint heat of Syna upon her head. The sounds of shifting and a faint cursing issued from within, and she smirked slightly at the distant, "Petch". The Svefra quickly swiped the smirk from her face as Elijah opened the door again, arms laden with heavy sails and ropes. With a slightly red face, he said, "Here you go. Was there anything else?" She shook her head, and conveyed her thanks. "I can find my own way back."

___


Lucius grinned upon her return, a shark's smile in a Syna-tanned face. He was stood on the deck of a small yacht, now half-festooned with ropes. She hopped down onto the deck, relishing at the feeling of being on the water, and got to work tying the remaining ropes to secure the wrecked boat that barely floated. The knotting wasn't too difficult, but she concentrated nonetheless, still not happy with her knot-tying skills. Yet soon the two of them had get the boat secure, or as secure as it could be.

They were off. Lucius had set the sails on the decrepit boat, and had advised they would need to take it slowly. Karin didn't need to be told twice, and honestly she was worried the whole thing would fall apart. The boat was rotten through, covered with seaweed and cockles, with broken boards and debris making it quite the ugly sight. Yet thankfully it seemed to be coping, perhaps because the seaweed was holding it together. She nervously adjusted the sails, trying to remember what she had just seen Lucius do. Their sailing was difficult more in the steering than anything, due to their proximity to the docks and all the other ships. Sailors called out as they passed, joking that they'd, petched the boat up! Karin ignored the jibes, but smiled anyway. Smiling because she was just about managing to remember how the sail was supposed to go, and smiling because she was looking forward to making the boat back to what it would have been like, all those years ago.

Thread count 1005
Overall 1005


Synopsis :
Karin and Lucius are tasked with copying an old, rotted-through sailing boat for a wealthy patron.
Lucius: early 30's, long blonde hair, devilish grin, singer, carpenter, shipwright, also quite definitely involved in something dodgy.
  • Post 1- Making the frame of the boat.
  • Post 2- Working on mast, one day.
  • Post 3- Working on inside, one day.
  • Post 4- Working on sails, and jib, one day.
  • Post 5- Working on waterproofing, one day, and testing the boat, one day.
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
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Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
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Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
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[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Karin on March 4th, 2017, 9:50 pm

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"Speech"
"Others"


She ducked under the jib, and quickly grabbed hold of a rope that was beginning to unravel. Her fingers fumbled with the knot, and she heaved with a sharp tug to get the rope back in place before tying it badly but firmly. "We're almost there, Ironyach!" Lucius slapped her back, making her stutter forwards, and she grinned awkwardly at the man. But it was true. The dry dock of the shipyard was pulling up ahead, with Picalum craning his head to spot the two arrivals. Although it was there task to rebuild it, to actually get the boat out of the water would take most of the brawn in the workforce. She noticed with gladness that he already had the pulley readied.

She began to slack the sails as they approached, letting the wind billow in the loose fabric. It was a pleasant sound, especially combined with the clinking of the metal fasteners in the ropes up above. With a dull thunk, Lucius' boat thudded to a stop besides the dock, and an Akalak worker grabbed the ropes to tie the boat to the side as the two inside the boat hopped out. Lucius grabbed the nearest rope, and they started to pull the wreck closer. Working together with the others, they managed to get it fastened to the pulley system, and she watched with some degree of fascination as a pomegranate-skinned Akalak manoeuvred the ropes to gently hoist the ship out of the water, dripping like some primeval beast.

Yet the blonde woman watched with horror as a panel, already loosened by the journey over, cracked and fell with painstaking slowness into the water below. The boat now safe on the land, Karin could inspect it properly. She walked closer, and breathing in deeply, savouring the smell of the sea-bed that clung to the ship. It was modest, only the size of a casinor or less, with a small cabin nothing more than a cubby-hole. The cracked remains of a single mast leant crazily in the centre, and the deck was soft with rot. She ran a hand over the barnacles that dotted the hull with splodges of darkness, feeling the rough texture under her fingertips.

Her reverie was broken with a start, Lucius appearing with a sketch page and thin charcoal stick behind her, jabbing her between the shoulderblades with the edge of the sketchpad. Gods but he was irritating. "It's pretty ruined."
"Sure is! I'll get started on the plans, you go see what wood we have, there should be enough for at least the hull to begin with." The Svefra woman frowned internally, but did what he said. She really wanted to try her hand at making the smooth-lined, almost perfect drawings she'd seen others do, but she acknowledged that it would take time to get to a skill level like that. Instead, she walked over to the wood pile, quickly assessing what they had and what they didn't. There was a lot of light wood, probably ash, that was similar in colour to the ship they were reconstructing.

Inside her pocket was a scrap of paper and half a charcoal pencil that she'd borrowed from Lucius, and she grabbed it and hastily wrote out what there was. Her handwriting was terrible, but the woman didn't notice, having never really had much of an education to regress from. Then she began setting up their work area, whilst Lucius patrolled around the boat, making measurements and drawing out every aspect of the ship.

She patrolled backwards and forwards between the tool area and the area she'd set up, grabbing saws, files, measuring sticks and ropes, and all manner of hammers and other tools besides, until they had everything they might need. By the time she'd finished, Lucius had too, and the older man joined her, describing what they'd need and the measurements that he'd collected.

But firstly, they needed to make the frame that would support the hull they were going to make. It was a custom one, made as it were to fit the specific measurements of the boat they were copying. Karin sawed, backwards and forwards, cutting off various sections and stacking them up besides her as Lucius did the same. After a bell or two, they had enough and Karin hammered the frame into place as Lucius held the beams in place.

Thread count 729
Overall 1734
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
User avatar
Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
Words: 384298
Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
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Medals: 2
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[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Karin on March 4th, 2017, 10:33 pm

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"Speech"
"Others"


It was slow work, with just the two of them. Karin's muscles sang as she sawed, the movements pulling on previously stretched tendons from a few days previously. She didn't mind the discomfort, because there was something like satisfaction in knowing she was pushing herself. She felt strong, confident, as her hands worked the wood and her pale blonde hair gently blew in the breeze.

Lucius was humming under his breath, some simple tune she was sure she had heard before in a bar or on a ship. She daydreamed about the Mischief, that Alvad performer's ship that had kickstarted her travel. It was almost two seasons ago, or was it three? Time had passed so fast, and now she was here.

She slung the section of the hull over her shoulder and approached the gradually forming skeleton, grabbing a hammer and nails as she went past. Placing the section where it should go required her to measure and mark- that used the measuring rope and charcoal. She remembered the woman, her name began with an 'S', who possessed six arms. At times like this, as she juggled what to hold and where, she fully appreciated just how useful having six arms and their respective hands could be.

The Svefra woman finally managed to make the measurements, and she consulted Lucius' drawing one last time before lifting the rib and beginning to hammer it in place, connecting it to the spine of the ship. She worked up from the bottom, hammering the little iron nails where they should go. It was difficult to hammer up though, so as she got closer to the top, she pocketed her tools and grabbed the frame of the boat to haul herself, putting her feet in the right places to climb up onto the top of the upturned hull. There, she sat herself down on the top and secured the final parts before sliding back down to continue her work.

___


It was almost the end of the day, and Karin and Lucius had worked hard. Sweat was cooling on her brow as she regarded their handywork, and she stood beside the man as she took a drink of tepid water from her waterskin. "Aah, she's gonna be a beauty, don't you think?" She nodded, in agreement with Lucius for once. "It is..." They fell silent, and Karin's mind drifted. With only the cleaning up to go, Karin went about her tasks with half a mind elsewhere, and finally tugged the tarpaulin over their work, making sure the loose ends were secured with heavy stones that she rolled over.

Then she left work, the scent of sawdust on her. Tomorrow would begin the more detailed work, and more in depth examination of the old boat. It was clear that most boats followed a similar pattern and shape, but the differences were in the small things: carvings, fastenings, the shape of the fixtures.

She walked her usual path, down to the beach. Her boots were off almost as soon as she got there, and she revelled in the cool sand dotting her toes. Her boots she put in her rucksack, and she slipped out of her trousers to run down to the surf, running in and diving belly first, getting a noseful of sea water that made her splutter and choke.

Tomorrow would be a good day.

Thread count 561
Overall 2295
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
User avatar
Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
Words: 384298
Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
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Medals: 2
Artist (1) Overlored (1)

[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Karin on March 4th, 2017, 10:59 pm

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"Speech"
"Others"


Autumn was trying to turn to Winter, without much luck. The days still clung onto the residual heat of Summer, although the vibrant red and orange leaves that spiralled down from the great tree she walked under told a different tale. Yet she walked with a spring in her step, glad and thankful to be out of her room and in the brightness of the day, no matter if it was early or not.

Nearby the seabirds were crying over the morning's catch, as fishermen toiled over nets and baskets of fish. The decks clattered with their feet, and Karin added her own thud, thud of footsteps as she walked with increasing contentment towards her workplace. She had decided, thinking it over in her scratchy bed, that she wanted to work on the mast, having never done that. It wouldn't be too difficult a task- the woman had already picked out the piece of wood that they were going to use, but if it was finished sooner then she would feel happy about that.

Lucius was already there, as well as a few others she didn't know. It wasn't busy, but she preferred it like that. "Hello, Lucius." The man turned to her, recognising her voice. She raised an eyebrow at the bags under his eyes, and he shook his head. When he spoke, she couldn't help a slight grin twitch onto her face for a moment, as he sounded like he'd swallowed sand. "Hello. Hangover, Ironyach." Her smile dropped, leaving her face in limbo as she bit on her cheek to stop a retort. 'Ironyach' can petch off.

To work.

The grain of the wood felt cool to touch, and rough like stone. She took Lucius' drawing, and noted down the measurements on her own scrap of paper. A squiggled line of numbers, with little lines to show dimension. Then she regaled her materials. Despite what most might think, making a mast didn't just require one, straight, cylindrical pole. Lucius had explained to her yesterday that it was, in fact, made using two planks. So she had what she needed, and now she needed to do the measurements.

She picked up the measuring rope, and the compass, and began. It was measurements like these that she was least comfortable with. She knew she needed to measure a circle on the end, and a line down the centre, and fix two planks together. The two planks together wasn't too difficult, they had a glue made from the bones of animals that would work. She fetched and applied it, and then stood back wondering what to do next. Circles.

Setting the compass wasn't as difficult as she might have thought, but even so she struggled with it for a few moments as the pencil kept slipping out. It was only when she realised she could adjust the tightness that she stopped it, and then felt her cheeks flush. She hated getting things wrong, and resisted the urge to look around to see who might have spotted her blunder.

Drawing the circle wasn't too bad, once she'd found the centre. She carefully traced the circle on each end, and then made the eight edge marks to make it easier to plane down. Next came the sixteen edges, a slightly more confusing venture. She had her lines down, but she called Lucius over anyway to check them. "Yeah, they're alright Karin." He strode away, nursing his head, and she grinned, thankful she hadn't petched up.

Yet.

Thread count 583
Overall 2878
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
User avatar
Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
Words: 384298
Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
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Medals: 2
Artist (1) Overlored (1)

[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Karin on March 5th, 2017, 12:40 pm

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"Speech"
"Others"


A few days passed by. Each day was filled with the ship, and Karin's thoughts rarely strayed further than that. She was satisfied with it, glad of the challenge. And it was a challenge. Some parts she was good at, but others were more challenging. The mast had taken forever to craft perfectly. Making it smooth with the plane had been the problem, but she felt she was accustomed to the technique of it now.

Bringing herself back to the present, she arched herself in a cat-like stretch, a yawn escaping her lips that caught her by surprise. The young woman had spent the majority of the day on deck of the new ship, working her way around the fixtures and trappings of the boat. Karin was surrounded with wood chippings, and in front of her lay a recently finished cleat. There wasn't much more to do, if she was honest. Lucius had been working on the more detailed and intricate work, and she had been left to finish on the top.

Now her attention was being drawn, more and more, to the pile of sails that Elijah had given them. She had discussed with Lucius whether they would need to buy new sails for the ship, but he had said, "No need, you can fix 'em up!" At the time, she hadn't bothered to correct him. Now though, the sails were lying in a crumpled heap and Lucius had lent her a sewing kit that morning...

Karin stood up, abruptly. Sails it was. She picked up the sewing kit and looked through it's contents. There was a reel of thick thread in a cream colour, a set of needles and a small pair of scissors. She knew roughly what to do with them. Despite being relatively uneducated, Karin wasn't stupid. No, simply... experienced. As time wore on and on, she was beginning to find it frustrating. So despite her slight apprehension as she threaded the needle, she had a kind of steely determination.

The sail was old and subsequently ripped in a few places. However, the material was still of a good quality. Karin scanned the cloth, running her hands over the surface to search for rips. The first was quite large, a ragged scratch that looked to be caused by some kind of weapon. All she needed to do was sew the two sides together. Not so difficult, right?

Her hand wobbled slightly as she drew the sails closer to her face and hovered the needle underneath the fabric. Then she punctured the sails, and got to work. She got part of the way in before realising it would be better if she kept pulling the thread tighter. She did so, keeping the tension in the material and after a while of her pushing and pulling the needle in, she had repaired that particular scratch.

The rest of her day was spent mending the sails. Her fingers were aching as the sun went down, but the sails were patched and repaired. They didn't look too neat, but then if Elijah wanted new sails he would have to buy them. After all, they were a shipwright, dealing with wood. A sailor that frequented the docks was good at sail-making.

Karin smiled to herself as she went back to her room for the evening. The ship was almost complete, and she suspected they would be able to contact Elijah in the next few days. She may even get to sail the boat back, a thought that excited her somewhat.

A job well done.

Thread total 593
Overall 3471
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10/7/17- All my threads are marked [open] and as such are open to all. :)
User avatar
Karin
Ocean gazing
 
Posts: 568
Words: 384298
Joined roleplay: July 7th, 2015, 10:05 am
Location: Riverfall/Syka
Race: Human, Svefra
Character sheet
Storyteller secrets
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Medals: 2
Artist (1) Overlored (1)

[Job Thread] To New Shores

Postby Grim Ravenwood on June 29th, 2017, 2:30 pm

Your Grades

Skills:
Shipbuilding: 3
Observation: 2
Carpentry: 1
Sailing: 1
Knot tying: 1
Writing: 1
Planning: 1
Drawing: 1
Sewing: 1

Lores:
Dry dock: Place to repair ships
Ash: Light and tough
Self: Bad handwriting
Self: Enjoys a challenge
Mischief: Ship where everything began
Mast: Made out of two planks
Glue: Made out of animal bones

Comments:

Please make sure to delete your request from this thread. Enjoy your grade, and if there is any problem, be sure to shoot me a pm.

Grim~
Grim as an Eiyon, appears to undead as either something to be fearful, or weary of, depending on their personal power. To others, he might seem like a mystery, or just odd.
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Grim Ravenwood
You reap what you sow~
 
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