'Seikatsu' sauntered away from a stall selling dango loaded down with a large box of the sweet dumplings he'd taken to eating just about every day since joining the festival. At this moment, he was currently on his way to the workshop of a particular oni ceramist. It had been a couple days since he started working with the oni to try and get a mask made for some yet unannounced masquerade ball. He had so far had to convince the oni to go back to work and on top of that get the materials for him. 'Seikatsu' had decided that today he would bring food to the workshop to hopefully help convince the oni to complete what they'd set out to do. It wasn't till he'd arrived at the work shop that he found the ceramist oni opening up his shop. "Oi!" The ceramist turned to look at him and bowed his head, waving the man in. Upon entering the shop, 'Seikatsu' set down the box of dango on a nearby table, watching as the ceramist cleared a work space near a kiln. When it was cleared, he set a book down in front of his guest and opened it to show different mask styles. When he'd done this he plopped down a large ball of clay, the clay that had been recovered for the ceramist by 'Seikatsu', and went over to a chair beside the dango table. Upon sitting down, he immediately fell asleep.

'Seikatsu' looked incredulously from the book to the oni and made to move towards him. With a sigh he stopped himself and went to the book, tilting his head. It seemed simple enough, and with the clay being so malleable he would be able to finish in no time at all. With a yawn, the man began to look through the images in the book, finding most of them to be rather basic and boring. He wanted one that looked somewhat close to his porcelain mask but could find one that wouldn't be instantly recognizable as what he had. He stopped as he found one that was actually pretty interesting: the Tanuki mask. Grey with black stripes and black rings around the eyes, it was a perfect substitute for what he wanted. Especially given the history of the Tanuki. With his course set, he began to shape the clay ball. Slowly and surely, he'd use his hands as well as specialized tools that were on the work space table. It was a bit easier and more.. fun than he thought it would be. It was definitely worth it to learn something like this, if he did say so himself. He worked long into the night, shaping clay.

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It wasn't too long before the mask began to look more and more like the image in the book. He was starting to feel proud of himself, as the mask really was starting to look like a Tanuki: the trickster Yokai. It was known for many... features that seemed to be strange on most animals, but gladly the mask was the only thing he needed. The ears were looking perfect and rounded, the eyes looked great, but needed paint to really drive it home. The features of the tanuki's mouth and jaw were perfect, but something seemed off. With a sigh, the man raised the mask to his face to find the it wasn't big enough for his face, mainly the jaw and nose portions. With a bit of under his breath cursing, he set back to forming the clay and molding it to what he saw in the book. He widened it out the sides around the face and jaw, pushed out the nose part and even made the mouth more accompanying. After another test up to his face, it was done. After he was happy with the results, he poke a few holes near the nose and mouth for air, and cut out partitions in the eyes for him to see through when it was ready. He had finished.

When he'd finished he heard a snort from behind him and turned to see the ceramist yawning and sitting up. One of his snores had interrupted his sleep and so he came over to inspect the mask that the man was working on. He took the mask in his large, but surprisingly gentle, hands and turned it over a few times, glaring at it like an artist over fine art. He was trying to distinguish any and all faults he could. Shrugging, it seemed it was passable at least and he clapped his guest on the back merrily. The two then went to eat the dango that 'Seikatsu' had brought in for them. As they sat eating, the oni nodded over to the mask and looked to his guest. "It'll be time to fire that on the kiln soon. No, not the one you worked beside, I'll show ya after we eat. Good job though, and nice choice on the Tanuki shape. I rarely see that one get chosen due to the history surrounding them. You don't seem to mind it seems." With a shrug, 'Seikatsu' ate the dango with the ceramist, eager to continue.

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[Mission Complete, Next Mission]

133 Words left for next mission in thread.

Seriously, Why Do You Even Have A Shop?:

133/750 [Thread Continue]

It was after they'd finished their dango that the ceramist stood once more and motioned for 'Seikatsu' to follow him. When the two were standing next to each other, the ceramist moved over to a shelf and plucked a large jar from it. There was a bit of dust upon the outside of the jar, but one could see a blue light behind the dust moving erratically within the glass container. The two of them moved outside at the behest of the ceramist and made their way around the side of the building towards the back. As they walked, the man looked over the oni's broad shoulders to speak to him, eyeing the jar. "So wot've ye got in the jar? Is it some sort of magical fairy that will bless the mask? Is it a wish grantin' genie?" The oni chuckled heartily and shook his head, moving towards a very old looking kiln. When the two stopped, he held out the jar for the man to take and crossed his arms. 'Seikatsu' took the jar and held it gingerly, wiping away the dust and grime to peer inside at a small blue ball of flame. The flame appeared to be sentient, and bounced against the glass towards its new captor.

"Fire spirit. It will be used in my spirit kiln to harden the mask you just created. After that you can paint it if you wish, but this will be the end of the process for the most part. The art of it is not a product of the hands that make it, but of the soul that fills it with passion you know? Alright, be safe and work quickly. Oh! And do be careful, that little bugger will do its best to escape. If it touches anything, it will bounce between different items and set them ablaze. There is a fire extinguisher nearby, but just make sure you don't need it. I'm going off to eat, later" With that, the ceramist turned away and walked off, leaving the man there holding the jar with an angry fire spirit. With nothing else to do, the man shrugged and moved towards the kiln, lifting up a latch for where the fire should go. He carefully unscrewed the top of the jar, noting the holes and.. boom! The fire spirit jumped out of the top of the jar as quickly as possible. It was heading towards some nearby oil with its jump but.. Too bad! 'Seikatsu' immediately tracked it and leapt over, smacking it back with the jar lid. He dashed over to the kiln and used the lid to push the flame into the slot, closing it and having the kiln roar to life with blue flames.

With a sigh of relief, the man began to slowly push the mask into the kiln using a special pair of metal tongs, black smith gloves, and a plate used to cook ceramics in a kiln. It would only take a few minutes for the heat of the spirit flame to harden the mask to what it needed to be and that meant it would only take a few minutes before he'd have to pull his mask out carefully and attempt to put the flame back into the jar. If he could, that is. After a few minutes of waiting passed, the man looked in on his mask and smiled. It was definitely ready! He pulled the mask out with the same tongs used to put it in and set it off to the side. When he'd done that he used the tongs to hold the jar, pushing it to the slot he'd placed the fire spirit in and used the jar to open the slot. Almost immediately the spirit tried flying out to freedom, only to end up right back in the jar. It was set down to keep the spirit inside while the man grabbed the lid. Once he had it, a careful grab of the jar and the lid was back on, twisted into place. The ceramist likely would be doing his own thing for a while, and so 'Seikatsu' would wait for an hour or so to ensure the mask was cooled off and when that was done, he would set to painting it to match the mask he'd seen in the book. When he showed the ceramist, it would be fully complete. True, it didn't need painting, but he wanted it to look as nice as possible.

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142 discarded.

[Second Mission Complete, End Thread]