Jael had collected— wait a minute was that bin full already? More things than she’d actually planned, now that she looked. They were various bits and bobs— glass worn smooth by the sea, pretty shells, interesting colored or shaped plastic shards, teeth and claws, bones not good for anything else. Junk, but pretty junk.

All things that she fancied making into beads eventually, things that could be traded away at market. Things that were light and easy to carry, but pretty. Now that her bin was full, Jael figured that today was the day. Sighing lightly to herself, she figured she should arrange some help. Sending her little bird off to find Kenway (he usually liked this sort of thing), Jael brought her bin of treasure-trash and anything that could be used to poke a hole down to one of the common areas. Building a fire (she’d need to heat a nail to drive a hole through the plastic tchotchkes), she was keen to crack on. Hell, when was she not?

When Jael's little bird came and started cheeping around his head, Ken's tail started to wave. He raced about his room gathering up his leather cords, feathers, scraps of fur, bits of bones and teeth he had been hoarding, even thin pieces of wire and other bits and bobs. He threw them all into a loose bit of cloth that was laying on the floor and bunched them all together, so that he wouldn't leave bits laying in a trail behind him as he charged down to the beach, spraying sand in his wake as he barrelled towards the tiny dog.

He left deep gouges in the sand as he slid to a stop, dropping his bundle down beside her bucket. "Wha'cher makin?" he craned his head to see what she had gathered. "We can share my stuff if you want!"

"speech"

-Crafted an item not related to any other skill 1/3-

He doesn't keep her waiting that long, and her little bird seems to be going back and forth behind him. Tidying up the scraps and strange things dropped behind him, dropping them bit by bit on the hearth as well. Jael's gaze flickered up from her work-- carefully wrapping the ends of the long, sharp nails in a strip of thick cloth. Right, couldn't go burning herself. Looking up as Kenway came close, bundled down with all manner of trinkets and fun things. Lovely.

"I'm going to make these into beads, so we can trade them at the market." She gave a little smile, a little tilt of her regal head. "We can work together, and then we can trade them together, how's that?" Modesty would probably come with them too, but it only made sense that the boy learn how to trade for himself at the market too. Having a cute, chunky, dustbunny of a kid by her side would hopefully score her points with the more tenderhearted crafter types, too. Carefully, Jael sets three long nails of different widths, ends wrapped in cloth, against the fire. The tips would heat, and the handling end would remain insulated and cool enough to handle. Right, as long as she's careful.

"Do you see how I started to sort the things we've found into piles here?" Jael motioned to the three piles sitting on the coffee table beside the hearth. "Stuff that comes from animals-- bones, shells, teeth, they all go here. She indicated the first, a pile that included the bear teeth and claws from a little ways back. "Stuff that comes from plants, like cool seed pods, or nuts, or wood, goes here." A few such items sat in this pile, though it was far smaller than the others. "Glass, like this goes here. There shouldn't be anything with sharp edges in my bin, but if you find any please be careful." Jael holds out a piece of smooth sea glass for the boy to touch.

The last pile was all manner of colors and shapes, tiny relics of days long before theirs. Clues. "And then plastic. It all looks pretty different, if you don't know what something is or need help, I'll help you." Jael explained, a little wag to her tail. "If anything has a hole through it already, I'm putting aside here." Jael indicated a shallow tray, already filled with a handful of different objects. A little green army man, a shell that looked as if it had been pecked through by a bird, the pull-tab from a soda can. Things that could already be strung up and worn or sewn into a project.

There were a lot of instructions for the boy, but then, he was faced with a border collie in task mode. Sorry buddy.
J A E L

table coding created by bunni ♥

Kenway eyed the nails with interest enough to rival the border collie's stare. He was pretty keen to put the tools to use but first she directed him to the pile of things to be sorted, and she wanted them sorted by type. He could do that, he was sure! Starting with the bits that were easiest to identify, bones and bits of shell, teeth and claws were set aside quickly, the other bits though, the seaglass and the plastic, were harder for him to differentiate, until he licked a piece of the glass and found it cooler on his tongue than the plastic. The plastic also tasted strange on his tongue. Well, if it worked, right?

He tried to keep his slobber to a minimum as he sorted the rest of the bits and bobs into their proper piles. He worked really hard to keep any feathers from blowing away by tucking them into the bottom of Jael's bucket. As the last item found it's place he turned back to the wolfdog. "'S now what?"

"speech"

-Crafted an item not related to any other skill 2/3-

Jael heats the nails, all different widths, a few different lengths. Beginning in the pile of plastic objects, she slowly and carefully drives a hole through each. Trying to find the best spot, the most artful. All the while, Kenway works away at the sorting, squinting at the boy as she finds him... licking a piece of glass. Well, at least it was sea glass, that... fine. Fine. Something about picking her battles, and it wasn't sharp.

"Now, we figure out how we're going to put holes in the things without them." Her tail gives a little twitch. "I'm going to do the plastic, which involves poking these through with a hot nail." Jael explains, as she demonstrates on a chipped piece of tail light. "Here, I'll have you do the wood, if you're careful. Work over this piece of scrap leather, so if you poke through it won't hurt anothing. You're going to look for a spot that will support the object on a string, so go through the middle-ish. Take this tool and carefully start drilling into it, until you go all the way through." The girl takes a small piece of driftwood from the pile to demonstrate, getting it started for the boy before handing it over.

J A E L

table coding created by bunni ♥

Ken had an artists eye, so when Jael told him the purpose of the holes and demonstrated on a bit of driftwood he grinned widely and got to work. He wasn't in a rush, each piece observed from multiple angles before he took to it with the hot nail, rocking the tool from side to side, twisting it this way and that, firm but sensitive to the slight give in each piece that indicated he was almost through. He looked to the other piles of bone and glass, puzzling over how they might possibly achieve the same with the tools they had on hand.

It was like a switch had flicked in his brain and he wandered off briefly to pick through the undergrowth. Too thin, too brittle, too straight, each stick was picked up, looked over and tossed aside until the perfect stick was found. He then dove into his stash to retrieve a length of leather cord, tying it about each end of the bent stick until it looked like a childs play bow. Wrapping the cord so it controlled the spin of the nail, he held the metal steady with his other paw, taking care to balance it with a single pawpad before rocking the bow back and forth. There, much more efficient. He side-eyed Jael, wondering just what she might make of his mad science experiment, silently hoping for some sign of approval.

"speech"

-Crafted an item not related to any other skill 3/3-