[PCCR] Order 1 (Closed)

[Karel]

OOC: Job thread. M'self and Mutziko - PM to join.

IC:

It was 5 am in the morning and the sun was still yawning, nothing but the light clashing of trickling waves against the rock's cape echoed throughout the many doors Karel had just opened. Spear heading such a programme like this was something he felt calming despite his busy life. Even now on this Saturday morning - with many issues to deal with for the later day, he had managed to sum up the courage and strength to do one of his many jobs - of which, the lovely city state wanted him to succeed in. With a scar over his left eye and the lid lightly shut he made a double check over the latest order.

Production line. Display swords, at that - the one thing he would hardly ever say no to. Getting up he moved over to the front door, sitting down upon a step as his one open eye sighted early morning runners - some jogging alongside a dog, whilst others were practically crawling against the pavement and the one scene of a homeless man curled up in newspapers on a park bench.

5:05.

He preferred being alone... but that defeated the purpose of this establishment. Looking down at his leather shoes, he wondered if the other early morning worker had the same. All he knew was that this would be her first appearance... and it might have been refreshing to have to teach someone a little bit younger...

He looked up, as if smelling something new in the air....

[Shikei]

The alarm went of in the Natsume household, rattling the head it stood so closely too before being sentanced to die at the wall with one fowl swat of the arm it shattered on contact to join the rest of its family in the conviniantly placed bin. It took a few moments until there was more movement, the muffled groans resonating from amongst the heaped blankets as the females head slowly ascended from within them.
Hair seemed to flick out of the sheets as Mutziko's head popped up in a sharp motion her eyes suprisingly wide for this time in the morning, remembering she had work had suddenly hit her with all its force, "Ahh! work!" she yelled, scrambling to the bin to try and see what the time was as she shuffled through to find the remnance of her alarm clock and after a few minutes she did.

5:03AM

Letting out a loud scream like shriek one most likely to deffen her sister were she not up already, though her sister would be aware the reason why and think nothing of it she quickly covered her mouth with her hand as she seemed to stop quietly. The silence broken with a quick yawn she ran down the stairs, rummaging through her clothes to find something to wear for work.
After a good five minutes of rummaging she was now successfully late however, late with an outfit. Placing the last touches to her hair almost forgetting to place the brush down as she went out the door and almost tripping the top step of the walkway up to the house she managed to keep balance and dart off down the road.

5:14

Luckily she didnt live that far from her work place, thus she was only 14 minutes late...

At the work place it seemed like a quiet relaxing calmness filled the air as the more experianced worker stayed in waiting that was until the door was nearly thrown half a mile off its hinges as the girl threw the door open upon her dramatic entry, halting at the door and looking around sharply inside. Her hair flicking forward as she halted so suddenly and fell down the front of her red and black striped sleeveless top, some of the hair trapping itself for a moment on the straps that ran around her waist, a slight sweat almost visible on under her seemingly dark net covered arms as she stood braced in the door, her skirt swaying in the moment of stand still as the wind brushed against it though around 4 inches above the knees and her seemingly undone black trainers to which it was a wonder she had even made it to work alive.

Giving a slight pant as she regained her breath from running she put her hands to her hair and walked in carefully with no initial sign of the more experianced worker she took the moment to fix her hair. Pulling and moveing her hair with delicate hands she eventually tied the long length of it up at the back, giving her what seemed to be like larger bangs and to keep the longer sections of her hair from her face and interfering with work, accomplishing this she gave a sigh unsure of where to go she against a table with her eyes lightly closed and her arms crossed, slowly falling into the world of sleep once again.

'I wonder... were the other person is, I hope im not.. I hope im not too late that they left' her mind droned to herself as she sat in waiting.

((ooc: check profile for short hair'd image))

[Karel]

He had waited for a while, and when he had initially looked up a few minutes ago he had resigned to getting ready for the task at hand after seeing that it was a dog playing catch.

Well, no wonder I could smell it...

Sighing to himself, he had gotten up and moved into one of the back rooms - where it was nice and open so as to let as much air and morning light (... mind you, at this hour there was none to be noted) shine through. Of course, from what they had to make he had gotten out a fairly large bag of coals - a few hunks of metal - whether it was iron or steel was something quite irrelevant and... even for Karel, he couldn't care. It was production work, after all - not a custom order. Just as he dropped the final block of metal on to the floor, he had heard the front door being kicked open. No doubt, it was the newbie that he was assigned to work with... well, that's what you get for leaving the roster up to an automated process.

Machines. Hah.

The leather shoes he currently wore had sound dampeners... well, sort of - you see, initially they were designed so as to increase friction with the floor so as to prevent slipping, but it so happens that the same process was used to make one's steps barely audible. With her eyes closed, it was easy for him to approach her - an evil thought came to mind, and he considered stealing a kiss. Why not? T'would have been free. But that was unacceptable - and so was being late. With his left hand gliding over her legs, it came to take hold of her skirt, as he gave it a tug - trying to catch her attention.

Of course, it would of been funny had she forgotten to do it up properly and he would have wedged it off. But had she opened her eyes, she'd have found a fairly neutral face, with a shirt and jumper on - blue jeans and the black leather shoes with a navy long apron to cover the majority of his front.

[Shikei]

Seemingly off in a world of her own the girl haddent noticed him at all murmering slightly to herself in her half asleep form her head dropping slightly as she was falling back to sleep she started to re-awaken as he got closer, one of those sixth sense things when a person gets so close to you that you can practically sense it... though not enough to wake her from her somewhat of a sleep state.

Had the guy actually stolen a kiss he may have found himself better off as he tugged at her skirt her hands suddenly forced themselves into a reaction, one raising to quickly grasp er skirt down against herself another swinging round rapidly for the side of the guys face, letting out a light squeak as she did so and keeping her eyes scrunched closed for the short duration of her lash out.
A short moment passed as she awaited the result of what she had just done she slowly opened one of the scrunched eyes to peek out from behind her eyelids at what had just tugged her skirt with mixed feelings of what she hoped and expected it to be, on the hoping that she had just hit some random pervert trying to get her skirt off as she seemed to be asleep so then she hadnt done wrong with punching them one though on the other hand she had this overwhelming suspician that she had just clouted her co-worker around the face for trying to get her attention.

[Karel]

As her hand came up to slap him in the face, he had considered holding back and letting her do as she wished - but the last time he had let someone try to injure him, they wet themselves realizing they had inflicted absolutely no damage on him whatsoever. So, as his well conditioned body did naturally, it defended itself - the same left hand withdrawing from her skirt and quickly flinging up to slap her hand away by the wrist - as if he himself was being lazy in his own defense.

Why try when it's not needed?

The moment she opened her eyes, they'd have seen his right eye staring down. Of course, he didn't want to look at her either... that... well, you know.

"Skirts. They'll get in the way when working here. For this job, it'll be fine - but next time, be sure to wear pants or shorts."

He looked down to her feet, noting her trainers. His right hand came up - with a pair of black full leather shoes - and it was by damn convenient luck that it was just one size up.

"... and these shoes, will fit you fine for now."

By now, you'd expect a dumb look on her face as if wondering how on earth he could act so natural despite wanting to pull up her damn skirt. He held the shoes out to her...

[Shikei]

Blinking at him slightly for a few minutes with a blank expression on her face as her hand was knocked away and for the moment she brought her hands back together rubbing the back of the one that was just swatted aside seemingly ignoring all else for the moment. That was until he began talking, looking up at him with a content face she listened carefully to what he had to say assuming this was her co-worker.
"Skirts. They'll get in the way when working here. For this job, it'll be fine - but next time, be sure to wear pants or shorts."
Her blank face returning for a moment as she took it in, with the warm weather like it was she wasnt allowed to wear skirts? 'aww... that sucks... well pants are out of the question its way to hot for them' she thought to herself, confirming that next time she would be wearing shorts.
Her eyes followed his own as he next turned his gaze to her trainers tilting her head in wonder as to what the attraction to them could have been she was quickly and surely informed of the reason why.
The pair of boots suddenly heald up to her causing her head to jerk back slightly banging her head on the wall with an off cringe, quickly bringing a hand to rub the back of her head she looked at the boots through half squinted eyes, such large clumpy boots were never something she would have expected to wear but she had already worked out for saftey reasons it was most likely a must.
"... and these shoes, will fit you fine for now."
Giving an obediant nod she took the boots from him, sliding her undone trainers off seemingly naturally as gravity finally took its affect and bringing her feet up to herself she slid the clumpy boots on and stood up slowly facing him again off in what seemed like her own world for the time being she was lost in her own senseless thought, 'man this sucks... why'd I sign up for a job like this... I should have just worked in a news shop my outfit would'a been fi' she was abruptly awoken from her own world of self complaint as she realized she had just stood up in front of him allbeit but a few inches seperating her face and with a light blush from the closeness coming over her face she turns it to the side looking at the equiptment and etc that stood over that side of the room.

"S-so... whats on the agenda?" she asked quietly whilst deliberately denying the awkwardness of such close eye contact.

[Karel]

He was considering kissing her right on the spot - knowing full well she'd have little resilience - having had much experience with the opposite gender's body, he knew full well how to disarm even the most able of women. Of course, this was by no means a skill to brag about... but for the underground nature of his old employment, it was simply part of the job description.

Geez, it took a lot of drinks to get it right too... and persuading the bar keep that you're older than you look.

As she looked off to the side, he turned his head to gaze alongside her - the bag of coals was the first thing he saw.

"We've got two orders from the same client. A few production display swords and a custom job. I'll be taking care of the latter personally... but, it looks like I'll have to teach you how to make a production line sword and some basics first."

He moved so he was right next to her, and sat back against the table like she had previously. Of course, the close quarters had gotten closer... but he, personally didn't care. Turn around and make out?

Maybe later.

"Have you had any experience in a workshop?"

His voice was far from monotonic... it was cold, raspy yet still moist - no doubt the early morning had contributed to it. But for now he was her instructor.

[Shikei]

Nodding quietly and being un responsive to his sitting beside her she looked around the workshop curiously. She'd never really been on one properly and the swords she had, had previously were all baught for her or at a store never seen one in the actual making so at this point it was hard for her to keep down her ecstastic excitement of making one of her most loved objects in the world.

"We've got two orders from the same client. A few production display swords and a custom job. I'll be taking care of the latter personally... but, it looks like I'll have to teach you how to make a production line sword and some basics first." Taking a deep breath she gave a final nod, "Hai! just tell me what to do and I'll do it!" she excplaimed in her excitement her hands fighting off the urge to fidget furiously in her excitement.

"Have you had any experience in a workshop?" She was suddenly tugged away from her verging on daydream state when he put forward the question to her and for a moment she had to stop and think, if she said no would she give off a bad impression? if she said yes would he expect her to get on with it?
"err well... yea er.. I mean no well a little eh..." she informed him with a slight unsure tone before finally hanging her head slightly, "No, I've only ever used swords, sharpened and cleaned them... I havent ever made one or worked in a workshop" she said finally admitting to the truth and waited nerviously for her reply as her hands played anxiously with the bottom of her skirt.

[Karel]

He could guess she had common sense... else, she wouldn't of been able to get here in the first place. With that in mind, he need not worry with her capabilities, as he knew from the tone of her voice that she would most likely do her best to become good at this. He could understand her enthusiasm - he too shared a love for swords... but it had been quite a while now since he felt a proper blade in his grip; all other times, they were moments just like these - where he had to make them for someone else. It's a spiritual experience - when one sees their sword broken, they too would feel that way... likewise, when a sword smith pours their being into creating one, it is always difficult to part with. But they were lucky - she would have plenty to work with and muck around... and they were simply display swords, so it wouldn't matter about their quality... so long as their final presentation was convincing.

"Alright."

He pushed himself off the table and silently encouraged her to follow and watch.

"Well, we start from the beginning. When making a katana - we start with the blade."

Which part of the blade, you ask? Well he could go into extreme bits of detail - but that wasn't needed for now and he could always teach her later. But when it came to display swords, it was a much simpler job.

"As you can guess, the blade is made out of metal. Steel - titanium... gold, if you want - silver... but today, we'll be working with refined iron."

He pointed to the huge cube-like iron block that sat just next to the furnace.

"So, we start by getting the coal" he spoke as he reached for the bag of coal, tipping some on to a nearby bench as it fell into a tray "... and cutting it with scissors, the old-fashioned way."

Now, this was the part she could actually participate in. Lying by the side of the tray was two pairs of scissors... Karel took hold of one, and made a perfect snip as he bisected a lump of coal - turning it over, the halves soon turned to fourths, then eighths... he would place it down on the tray, and repeat.

"Help me out?"

[Shikei]

Following him as he moved over to the equiptment she listened in carefully to what he said, memorizing the types of materials that could be used as well as the order in which they were to make the sword.

"Well, we start from the beginning. When making a katana - we start with the blade." Her favourite part of the sword, beyond that of the fancy look of the handle and sheath it was the blade, the heart and soul of the blade that she truly admired, the fine art of making a reinforced sword with a deadly cut... she knew how though only one varient style of a sword but she knew how. she had been 'told' the recipe if you will for the Takanawa family style blade during her time away from her sister, she even analyzed and wrote essays on the blade itself, about the steel folding, the inner core comprised of a chain mail like set of material and the pattern used with the sharpening stone to provide the perfect cut though she had never been allowed to truly make a sword outside of theory as well as she was forbidden from making this form of blade for anyone else but herself and that included for use as an example.

Bitting her lower lip gently as she remembered it she watched him carefully continuing to listen, "As you can guess, the blade is made out of metal. Steel - titanium... gold, if you want - silver... but today, we'll be working with refined iron." Nodding her head in an understanding fashion she remained quiet as he spoke and waited patiently for him to ask something of her.

"So, we start by getting the coal"
"... and cutting it with scissors, the old-fashioned way." coal? she had never even researched the actual full production of the blade, only the way in which her family sword was made - heat source not included so she watched with upmost concerntration as she watched.
'scissors... one... two, four, eight peices got it' she nodded confidently.

"Help me out?" "hai!" she exclaimed sharply in reply, taking to the scissors she swiftly began to replicate what he had just shown her with good precision and speed she began to quickly go through multiple peices of coal.

[Karel]

There was a reason why he was doing this by hand - and should she so choose later on when they were doing other orders, she might have noted the difference. But what Karel tried to do most of all was do it all by manual labor - making it with machines might have been faster, but when it came to this sort of thing that didn't always mean better. As they continued cutting through coal, he had decided to continue on with what he had been saying so that she could understand the plan right now and just demonstrate it to her when they got to that point.

"When you cut the coal, you try to make each piece even - so if you rush this and grind them all up you're going to have different sized chunks of coal. It makes a big difference when you put in the furnace, because obviously coal is a fuel for the fire - if it's inconsistent, then the heating of the metal will also be inconsistent."

He snipped into another piece of coal and laid it out onto the tray, as he waited for her to finish up on her piece - as well as acknowledge the information he was giving her.

[Shikei]

"When you cut the coal, you try to make each piece even - so if you rush this and grind them all up you're going to have different sized chunks of coal. It makes a big difference when you put in the furnace, because obviously coal is a fuel for the fire - if it's inconsistent, then the heating of the metal will also be inconsistent." She paused for a moment and looked up and over to him watching the speed and careful cuts he made unrealising of the difference it really made. "Oh... I see" she replied taking in the information and looking down at her own peice of coal that she was just about to start, this time at a slower pace and paying more attention to her cuts she managed to get them all roughly the correct size before holding them up to him. "Is that ok?" she asked curiously holding out the coal in comparison to the others she had cut to which there was a rather large difference, her previous pieces showed inconsistancy, lack of attention and effort and the more she stared into her newly cut peices of coal the more she realized it. Swords were made with the smiths heart and soul poured into there creations, it was a factor of great swordmaking that she hadn't been taught in that respect. She always knew that the owner and blade always had a connection but it was the maker who essentially gave the sword its soul...

'Interesting...' she thought to herself as she awaited his reply.

[Karel]

It was kind of funny - Mutziko's family might have had some big family secret as to their sword design... but to Karel, it would have seemed more like a preferred style of forging. Having worked with many custom projects, he himself had a preference for what he was going to forge in the future.... dual helix-weaved core adapted to the hilt's binding - 3 piece blade with two pieces for the tip, and... well, boy oh boy he could go on. It was almost like a familiar someone's obsession with guns... oh he had sated those urges quite a while ago. But when the time came, he could always teach her.

He looked down at the coal she had spent time to cut again - this time they were much more acceptable. Using his hand he helped clear off her previous attempts and mixed his own pile with hers on the middle of the tray.

"Those will work fine. "

He took the entire tray now, and slid the cut coal evenly into the fuel compartment of the furnace - tucking it in and setting it alight almost instantly as he watched it burn - if she was paying attention, she'd have noticed it too - the coal was red altogether - as if it was one big sheet rather than flecks of fire had they been inconsistant. In hand he took something that looked like an oversized tong and gently placed the cube of iron into the appropriate place of the furnace. He closed it - knowing that it would have take a little while for it reach red-point. At least, that's what he chose to call it... easier to say and it rolls off the tongue.

"I've placed the iron in. For most of the metals, it's the same process - you let the heat do its job and soften up the metal - after a while, it gets so hot that it become malleable. That's where we move on to the next part and grab the hammers to shape it up."

[Shikei]

"Those will work fine. " She smiled happily at her achievement as she pushed the bits that didnt match the right size and shape to the side so that only the best cut peices of coal were left and watching him set alight the coal her eyes became fixated on the orange glow resonating from them all, it wasnt like a usual fire with white patches developing on the coals, black parts visable with flickering flames and sounds of cracking and splitting instead the entire layout of coals had become red embers scolding at an unfathomable heat compaired to that of a simple fire.
The light of the embers glowing in there head caused her hand to move to her chest to grasp her top lightly as she was entranced by its mighty glow and not noticing his adding the cube of metal until he had stated it.

"I've placed the iron in. For most of the metals, it's the same process - you let the heat do its job and soften up the metal - after a while, it gets so hot that it become malleable. That's where we move on to the next part and grab the hammers to shape it up."
"eh" her head turned to look at him before the metal cube, finally realizing it had been placed into the furnace she gave a light nod, "yeah ok" she nodded before leaning against a table wiping a bit of sweat which she had developed from standing so close to the furnace off her face though replacing it with coal in the process.

"So... is there anything else to do in the meantime, I mean surely its got to take a while to soften up that huge block of metal" she asked curiously though it were just something to break the silence more than a genuine question, her mind lost in the connection between smith and sword, sword and owner, the swords soul, structure, strength and the excitement in thinking of the best sword she could make.

[Karel]

"Mmm. Well, by now I'd usually go on and do other tasks... for this, I would usually start working on the hilt wrapping - but I think it would be better for me to explain how that works a little later."

He sat back next to her - thinking on the things that were the best things to talk about while their lump of metal was heating itself up. His arms folded in front of him, and had his sleeves been rolled back she might have noticed the glistening of his skin - the lovely texture one would get from being so close to such a high degree of fire without getting burnt. It was a smith's blessing really... but alas, unless she was content with staring at the back of his hand she wouldn't get much more. Call it a tan, if you want.

"I guess I should explain the various types. I'm betting you know the huge difference between a display sword, and one that's intended for practical use, right? Well I guess you need to understand this, but what do you think a production line sword is?"