Sprucing Up the Library, Part II

Once an isolated and dying township, an influx of academics, adventurers and thrill seekers have made Scalvoris Town their home. From scholars' tea shops to a new satellite campus for Viden Academy, this is an exciting place to visit or make your home!

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Joseph Meier
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Sprucing Up the Library, Part II


Saun 4, Late Afternoon

Joseph had reached the Scalvoris Public Library. He really didn't know what to expect upon entering the building, but it did seem a bit spartan. It was open and airy, the type of place he would definitely relish curling up and reading in. He made a mental note to return there as a patron. Being a seafaring town this place was bound to have books on woodcarving and the like. What he did mind was the smell. There was this sort of sallow scent of old florals, like a gaggle of old women had wandered into the place just to stink it up. Someone must have been having a tea here or something. He curled his lip a bit, but fought the urge to open the nearest window. If he had a client here waiting for him the last thing he wanted to lead with was 'your building stinks'. He busied himself looking at the walls while he was waiting to be addressed. The bookcases were reclaimed from ships, that he could be certain; the planks were old and stained with pitch. It wasn't at all a bad thing, and when he removed some books to look on the insides of the shelves, he could see the wood grain better. Spruce, again. A decent hardwood. It wouldn't be half as stubborn as the walnut on the Dahlia.

There was...another thing that caught his eye. Maybe he could find some information on Aberration here. His Harvester was disgusted and bored by the state of him the last few days. Joseph had just been working and not practicing his magic, which was what the creature wanted. Joseph wanted to accommodate it, he just needed to be able to travel back to the woods to do it. He wasn't practicing it here in the city. That was asking for trouble. Abrogation could be given a pass given its nature, but from what he was hearing Aberration just wasn't tolerated anywhere. So he decided to look while he was studying the bookcases and identifying little spots where he could add designs here and there. He slowly formulated a plan. Where the books were segregated by subject, so too could the shelves. People didn't have to go by a number system, they could look at the carvings. Florals for herb and gardening books, scenes for history. Maritime themes for maritime books, that sort of thing. That was, of course, given all the time and money in the world. A project like the one in his head might take half a season or more.

Suddenly, the smell was back and with a vengeance. Joseph unconsciously moved to cover his mouth and nose, his head stuck examining one of the joints on the inside of the shelves.
"Evening dear!"
Joseph whacked his head on the underside of the shelf above his head trying to yank himself out. His lips curled in a snarl and he was about to tell the old lady exactly where she could shove her evening when good sense crawled up his throat and throttled the words. That could be the woman he was seeking. She was astoundingly loud for a librarian; she'd practically shouted in his ear. When he turned to look at her, she looked even less like a librarian. More like she was headed to an event. She was wearing a fluffy floral gown and a large pink hat that might have doubled as an umbrella. She was on the older side, but her eyes were bright and she had nothing but a smile for him. Gods, he hated people like this. People who had obviously never suffered aside from the occasional bout of back pain.

"Rose Lefleur?" he asked.

"At your service. I'm the Head Librarian here." she smiled and offered a hand, limp wristed, as if she expected him to kiss it. The absolute stink of her. If he got his lips anywhere near the back of that hand he might never scrub it off his face again. He cleared his throat and nodded.
"Joseph Meier. I was told you were looking for someone to do some carving work." he said. Right down to business. Best to get what she wanted and then get her the hell out of his nose. She looked slightly miffed he hadn't kissed her hand or at least shook it, but she smoothed down her dress and recovered quickly.

"Absolutely! Come with me. You must be the carver Captain Rey was telling me about." Ms. Lefleur swanned not to the shelves, but worryingly to the tables where people could sit and study. "I was looking at furniture last week to replace these chairs we have for people to study. As you can see I found these lovely little clawfoot chairs, but the tables don't match at all!"

Oh gods. Joseph stared for a moment. The legs of each chair ended in an elegantly carved little raven's foot, curled around a plain orb. The work was quite pretty, and tapered down the length of the leg to give the claw feet some authenticity and less clunkiness. Working on the floor was his worst nightmare. He nodded to her, and picked up one of the chairs by the back so he could flip it over and look at the feet a little more closely. Someone had spent weeks on this, but he might be able to work something out over a few trials. "A trial a table, I should think. And you've got... how many tables you'd like matched?" he asked, feeling dread curl up in the pit of his stomach. It would be good work, but painful work. His leg would be screaming at him for every moment he spent setting the table down and making sure it was level.

"Oh just the two in front I should think." Rose said cheerfully. That was a relief.
"I can start today, if you'd like." Joseph offered.
The librarian brightened. She had probably been expecting to make an appointment. Lucky for her, she'd stumbled upon a woodcarver who was just starting out.
"Wonderful! Set up anywhere you like." she patted him, and flounced off.

Joseph subconsciously sniffed at the shoulder she'd touched. Ergh. He sighed, and moved to yank the second table over by the first. He set the chair on top of it so he could examine it while he worked, and tilted the first table he was going to work on gently over to the floor. A footstool got him eyelevel with the first leg, and with his subject in front of him, he pulled out his blade and sharpened it. He looked at the chair leg while he did so. It was old, timeless wood rubbed down with lemon oil. Thankfully the legs hadn't seen as much attention as the top of the table, which meant it would be easier carving. He worked on tapering the leg down slightly, pulling off great curls of wood and making the square table leg more of a hexagonal shape. That would give him the space to make the ball the claw would clutch, and the claw itself. Thankfully the chairs Rose had bought had focused on a more simple design. It hadn't gone into the detail of the scales on the claw clutching the orb, and had just given the idea of the claws themselves. That made Joseph's job so much easier.

He sighed deeply, resharpened his blade, and started to carve out the first claw. It was going to be a long trial.

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            Mads
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            Re: Sprucing Up the Library, Part II

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            Joseph Meier
            Knowledge.........
            Woodcarving: Copying a design
            Woodcarving: keeping your tools sharp
            Woodcarving: Making a matching set
            ...exchanged for Woodcarving: Starting with a gestural sculptural outline
            Design: examining a subject
            Design: Age of a design
            Design: Filing away ideas for later.
            Loot....................
            None
            Consequence......
            None
            Renown..............
            None
            Experience...........
            10
            Please add the year to your timestamp.

            Fortunately you had no Knowledges revolving around this, but it's beyond ridiculous he would know that the origional woodworker used lemon oil. This is another example of a place where elaboration is very, very useful. As for the rest of it, assuming he's competent in woodworking, he's definitely being very over confident if he thinks he can accurately replicate a design that took a week in a day. If he's expert or master, that wouldn't be a problem. Replicating the design closely would require him at least the same amout of time the other artist took, maybbe a little less; in a trial, any finished work should be much lower in quality than the origional at competent. However, the actual carving done was within the limits of his skill, so that's good.

            I could smell Fleur. I know that smell and it's filled with those little strawberry candies and tums. Whew. Other than that, it was a pretty straight forward thread without much development of story or character, which is fine. It was linear, but grammatically sound and not unpleasant to read.
            Please edit your grade request.

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