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.
759
750/750
142 discarded.
[Second Mission Complete, End Thread]