[PRP] The ice is getting thinner (Bastion/Yuzhi)

[Pales]

She felt ashamed that she was carrying on like this.

It wasn't normally even a tactic that she let people coddle her much less start crying. Yet, all the same, it seemed that the situation had triggered things within her that she normally despised. He was hugging her and she felt ashamed of herself and yet comforted. So many conflicting things just flowed through her and she felt ready to explode and tell him she was pretending to cry to see how he would act.

That would have been yet another lie. She was not capable of guile.

So she just let it happen and her sobbing settled to soft hiccups and a few sniffles, "Oh-Oh-Okay," she mumbled softly. There was a quiet pause before she went on to say, "You may call me what you wish."

The promise he made actually made her smile a little. What teary eyed maiden didn't want a knight to slay things for them?
 

[Nio Love]

There, she sounded like she was recovering. He patted her back and felt rather proud of himself for managing to calm her down. Perhaps he wasn't as useless around women as he'd led himself to believe. "All right. I will call you Yuzhi, but I may sometimes call you a lady, because I believe you to be one. But most of all," He tweaked her wet cheeks with a pinch of his fingers. "I will call you friend. Is this an acceptable compromise?"  

[Pales]

Yuzhi's hiccups settled down at this point as she looked up at him, even though he pinched her cheeks, she still had somehow managed to have a higher opinion of him within just a short few moments.

"It is...acceptable." She agreed softly.

There was a small pause, "...Do I get to know your name or are you going to forever be a mystery phantom in my mind?"
 

[Nio Love]

He gently let her go, and started walking back to his tree. "I am forever a mystery! A phantom! A figment of your imagination!"

He plopped down where he'd originally been sitting, and picked up his wood and knife, grinning at her toothily. "I am Bastion, of the Death Clan. It is an honor, and a pleasure, to make your acquaintance, my lady Yuzhi."  

[Pales]

Yuzhi actually let out a small giggle while she cleared up her tear tracked face with a sleeve. Quietly she moved over toward Bastion again and this time she sat down more comfortably than she had earlier.

"Pleased to meet you," she said softly, her tone still a little uneven from when her emotions ran away with her.

She quietly pointed at the tools in his hands, "So. Did you always know how...?"  

[Nio Love]

He looked up, and followed her gaze, holding up the knife for a moment. "This? Medea help me, no. Look at this mess beside me! I haven't made a single actual thing since I've started. Perhaps you're not supposed to rip the tree apart like I have. Or perhaps you just need more nimble fingers." He looked at her hands. "I bet you would be good at it. Better than me, at least!"

He carved out a head, and then started trying to carve out eyes.. accidentally stabbing through.

"Cursed wood.."  

[Pales]

Yuzhi watched him and tilted her head, "Do you not have an instructor to help yo--What? No. No. I cannot carve wood. I can do some nice knot designs, though." There was only a few hobbies that Yuzhi felt she did well and the rest? Well. They were considered more like interests.

The mare quietly watched for a moment, "I think you are trying to be too impatient with your actions. Try going more steadily when you do the finer details..?"  

[Nio Love]

"Impatient? Me?" Bastion looked at the wood, and then his knife. "I don't understand what you mean. How can I do it differently?" His hands were far too used to needing the hard press to break and cut gems.. wood was simply too soft for him.

He gestured to the wood and knife he'd lent her. "Show me."  

[Pales]

Yuzhi did something she rarely ever did and moved closer and sat right next to Bastion until their arms at least touched a bit. She made sure to give herself room to carve and she started trying to carve at the wood, at least giving herself a surface to carve in. It wasn't easy for her but she certainly had determination.

After a few seconds she made a small uncertain sound as she paused.

"I am not like the Artisans in my Clan but..." She let out a small thoughtful sound as she carefully took the knife-blade in hand and began to make small careful etchings into the wood.

In the end she managed some lopsided set of eyes carved into the wood with nothing breaking too badly, there are some splinters, however.

(Odds she cuts herself, Evens she manages without a scratch)  

[Nio Love]

He was glad for the proximity, because he really wanted to see exactly how she was going to carve the wood without breaking through it. He truly felt like he was doing everything right, and even as she carved the little eyes, he didn't understand the difference.

"But I thought that was what I was doing. Look, here, I will show you." He took the wood out of her hands, careful to move slow so as not to startle her and make her catch splinters. Then he put his own knife to the small, formless face, carving out a crude muzzled mouth.

Which he didn't break.

"Wait, what did I do different??"  

[Pales]

She seemed thoughtful, "You were making a lot more careful movements than you were when you were trying earlier. At least that is how it seemed." The mare shrugged.

"Everything needs practice if you want to get better at it, right?" Yuzhi asked curiously. "I was not born with the knowledge of Scholars from day one, I had to learn my role. It took time. I can do knotwork but I had to learn it through trial and error."  

[Nio Love]

Bastion achieved level one woodworking. Bastion has leveled up!

"Hmm." He held the figurine closer to his face, inspecting it carefully, before a proud little smile lifted the corners of his face. "I suppose you are right. Though I admit I was only being more careful because you were sitting beside me, and I had to try harder than usual. Perhaps that is the trick. I need an audience."

He turned and rammed his knife into the tree, carving out another chunk to work with. He returned the previous ont to Yuzhi, and started to carve out another little figurine of his own, more carefully this time.

"So your craft is knotwork? What do you use them for, or do you sell them for decoration?"  

[Pales]

Yuzhi let out a small giggle, "It seems like a hard thing to turn into a performing act," she pointed out with a small shrug. "Unless maybe you do it while performing a poem or a song.."

There was not much said as Bastion got himself a bit more wood.

"Yes...They are more for decoration but they are fun for me to do," quietly she dug up a small one from her sash and offered them up for Bastion to see.  

[Nio Love]

Bastion put down the wood as a small, but complicated little knot was handed to him. "Ah, that is not what I was imagining. This is much more intricate. How fascinating!" He put his hands through the holes, and tugged the thin rope to test its strength.

"It would be a lovely decoration if it had some gems on it. May I?" He was already standing up, as though Yuzhi had little say in the matter.  

[Pales]

Yuzhi let him do as he liked, not really protesting as he tested the strength of the object. The scholar knew she had done absolutely perfect work on that particular piece and that nothing could break it.

..Except for scissors and other sharp implements.

As he got up, she also got up, "Gems...? You...may," she gave permission anyways because she was curious enough to see what he meant.