[FORGE, OPEN] Toymaking Tumble

[skinstealer]

MISSION: TOYMAKING TUMBLE


The name's Esther. All of this Forge stuff seems kinda sappy to me, but the lab says that I can get some loot from running one of these events...worth a shot. The housing setup I'm at taught us how to make kinda living things in these weird pocket dimensions and I kind of want to get in on that and make 'em fight! I'm probably gonna get in trouble if any of them get killed, though...eh, I'll handle that another day. Gonna steal an idea from my neighbor and start with plush bodies, easy to repair- so show the hell up if you wanna make some messed up toys!

OBJECTIVE: Create Pocket Plushes in two person teams!
PARTY: [0/4]
RULES: No PVP, no items required, tiny trinkets recommended, various fabric/materials recommended, potential weapons/potentially weaponized material (that you don't mind giving up) recommended.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Plush creatures are gonna end up fighting, and could get seriously damaged or injured. Also, Esther is a bad person.
No ID cards are required for this mission, and once completed, people will be awarded Forge Tokens. Only one forge token can be earned per player during this year's event, but you can enter multiple events if you want. Just don't be too greedy!

[knux400]

NAME: Petra

Plush combat sounds cool! I brought some fabrics, a sewing kit, and a cheap set of kitchen knives from the local dollar store.

[Pichi2214]

Name: Misstep

"I'd enjoy to have a sturdy companion for my travels."

[skinstealer]

Ready and raring to go- I'm Limerick!


I'm Fixture. I'd like a fighting companion to help me on the job.

[skinstealer]

TOYMAKING TUMBLE: BEGIN!

The world comes into focus quickly, almost like a thick fog dissipating. There's woods all around the clearing functioning as a starting point, and a cabin sits nearby. A masked slime type leans against the wall of it, waving people over. 
"Took you long enough!" 

OBJECTIVE: Introduce yourselves!

A similarly masked quilt type stretches out, doing a spin before heading over to the slime type.  "Name's Limerick!"

Unlike the quilt type, a spider type lingers by the starting point, waiting to see what the others looked like.

[knux400]

Petra steps forward confidently, carrying a small pack over one shoulder. She turns first to each of the three other participants and then to the slime-type host as she speaks.

"Hey! I'm Petra. How's everyone doing today? It's my first time in one of these pocket dimension thingies."

[Pichi2214]

The icicle type just stands still for a few moments, seemingly completely frozen before taking a few steps forward, slightly bowing (or maybe just nodding a bit?). "...Hello. It's nice to meet everyone. My name is Misstep."

[skinstealer]

"I'm Fixture." The spider type keeps his words straightforward, looking over the other contestants. None of them seem to be particularly threatening, which is a plus. The host, however...

Their masked host crosses her arms, clenching her claw mitts. "I'm Esther! This here cabin's got all we need to start a proper rumble, and make the monsters to do it!"

"I thought we were making plushes." Fixture pipes up, only to be given a dismissive gesture. 

"Yeah, sure, they'll be plushes- but we're gonna make em monstrous!"

[Pichi2214]

Misstep looks at Esther for a moment, slightly tilting its head as they observe her. "At least "monstrous" will mean that they'll be able to defend themselves. ...I feel like that might be a good trait to have." It pauses for a moment and looks over at Fixture and the rest of the group before turning its attention back to Esther. "I brought some trinkets from my travels for the plush... I'm not sure how they will be useful, but... I have them."

[skinstealer]

"Excellent! Bringin' your own materials means it'll be more special, or something. That's what the lab folks in their white coats told me, anyway." Esther rubs her hands together, opening the cabin door.

"Cmon in, get settled."

[knux400]

Petra walks into the cabin, glancing around. She sets her pack down by the door.

[skinstealer]

The cabin has hunting trophies hung on the wall over a large brick fireplace, animal pelt rugs, a bunch of armchairs, and a table big enough for everyone to sit at. "Flop wherever, but! You probably want to know your partners first." 

Esther fishes out a piece of paper out of her back pocket, trying not to get slime on it. "Limerick, you're with Petra. Misstep, you and Fixture are working together."

Limerick approaches Petra, his enthusiasm barely masked by his well, mask. "Nice to meetcha! Hope you like adventure!"

Fixture does not approach Misstep as readily, waiting to see what the icicle type does first.

[Pichi2214]

Misstep steps into the cabin last with careful steps, a soft "clunk" noise whenever they take a step inside. They again take a moment to just look around, eyeing the many hunting trophies and the rest of the interior before walking over to Fixture. "A pleasure to meet and work with you. Shall we move over to the chairs? Or do you have a specific spot in mind where you want to sit?"

[skinstealer]

"The chairs sound ideal, they look comfortable enough." Fixture already starts heading over, hopping into one. "I hope our partnership for this goes well- I could use some more acquaintances. My job doesn't really allow for too much socialization, so this is a nice break."

[knux400]

"Oh, absolutely! I'm actually working for the TCPDex research initiative, so I get to travel a lot." Petra extends a hand for Limerick to shake.

[skinstealer]

 "You choose to work for the nerds? Cool." Limerick extends a quilt flap, returning the shake as best as he can. "I just get up to whatever hijinks I can, lots of stuff like abandoned exploration, that kinda thing."

[Pichi2214]

It slowly walks over to the chairs, sitting down on the one furthest away from the fire."I'm sure there won't be any problems with our partnership. Though I must apologize I... can tend to come off as very distant. I do not socialize often and frankly I don't... have the biggest interest in socializing. But I do find it nice to form new connections and exchange stories of travels and work every now and then." It rests its arms on the table and looks over at its small companion.

[knux400]

"Working for the nerds isn't that bad, honestly. They always want me to do field research on whatever weird science thing they're looking into, and the places I go for that can be pretty exciting. Have you ever been to Mockery for their Darkest Night festival? It's a pretty uptight place normally, but DANG do they know how to have a good time."

[skinstealer]

"It sounds like we have similar dispositions, then. Perhaps our host is better at this than I anticipated." They keep their voice low on the last sentence, almost conspiratorial. "If work is our biggest shared interest, we'll have a lot to talk about."

 "I love Darkest Night, are you kidding me? I haven't taken this mask off ever since I got it!"

 "Alright, alright, settle down! You two-" She points to Petra and Limerick. "Go sit down at the table or something."

[knux400]

Petra mutters something about missing the entire point of a Forge event, but her exact words are incomprehensible. She grabs he pack and sets it down next to her as she casually plops down in the nearest chair.

[Pichi2214]

They nod a bit knowlingy at Fixture's statement about their host. While speaking they gently grab their bag and put it down on the table, opening it to look at the trinkets they brought. Some are fancy stones and crystals, one seems to be a flower in a jar, some folded cloth is in there too and a bunch of other things buried beneath that. "I hope that we will have a pleasent conversation then, I'm curious to learn about your work if you're so eager about it. Though I must disappoint my biggest interest is not so much my "work", as I don't really work generally, unless one would consider my travels my work."

[skinstealer]

Limerick follows suit, settling in. "Wow, you brought your own stuff and everything. Fancy."

OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: Introduce yourselves!

"Listen up! The way this is gonna work is that you're gonna make your monste- plushes in pairs, and we're gonna make em fight at the end, 2v2! You don't gotta have everything be the same between your pair, but some of it you gotta work out and agree on. I got a list of steps here, and we're gonna follow em to the letter. If you brought your own materials you can use those and don't have to share whatever it is, but I've got plenty of shit to use here."

NEW OBJECTIVE: Make your Pocket Plushes!

 "Alright..." Esther looks over her papers. "I got basic patterns to work with, but I need to know what size you all want, and some other details. Remember, you're making these dudes to win."

Size (Must be shared/agreed on!)

• small
  
• medium
  
• large
  

Main Material (Must be shared/agreed on if not substituted in with own materials)

• fur
  
• plush
  
• latex
  
• fabric
  
• plastic
  
• bring your own
  

What colors? (Requires one main color and one accent, can be anything, does not have to be shared)

Tail Style (Must be agreed upon)

• short
  
• medium
  
• long
  
• none
  
• choose your own style
  

[knux400]

"Hmm, okay. I think we should go for Medium size, and I didn't really bring any materials of my own, so... I guess fur? Or plush maybe? I want them to be able to move around decently well... And do you think they should have a long tail with, like, a knife on it? I brought some cutlery. I dunno. What do you think?"

As she speaks, Petra opens her bag and produces a sewing kit, and a TCP-sized knife set. Some various fabrics are also visible in her bag, but she hasn't gotten them out yet.

[skinstealer]

"Medium's good! Too big would be bad for getting around, and too small leads to a bad fighter. Knife tail sounds cool as hell- thought you said you didn't bring your own materials!" He pokes at the bag. "I can see some goodies in there."

[knux400]

"It's... Mostly just old quilts. I think the stuff they have here might be better."

[skinstealer]

Limerick gestures to himself. "You kidding? I'm a quilt type! I'm all for using quilts!"

[Pichi2214]

Misstep listens to Esther's explanations closely, carefully considering its options. "Do we have to settle on one singular material for the main material right now? I... brought some cloth that I might want to use, though I suppose not as the main one, and rather later on. I'm... not quite sure how this will all work yet."
They tilt their head a bit to look at Fixture questioningly. "Do you have any preferences for our companions? I personally would prefer them to be large unless you have an idea what would... be better for, well... combat. Or just a general personal preference is fine too. Oh... also unless we find a way to make the tail "useful" I think that a short tail could work well and look quite good? Or maybe a long easily moveable tail and we could work in something with which it can defend itself."

[skinstealer]

 Esther walks over to the armchairs, bringing her paper along. "I guess you can save some for like, the accent areas here-" She points to the pattern sketch, outlining the paws and muzzle of the creatures as areas of a different color. "Or accessories or the ears. I guess? Should work fine, but these are gonna be pretty simple little dudes."

 "Perhaps I could pick the main material, and you pick the accent? After all, you seem to have come prepared. Large and short tailed is also fine by me...I wonder just how large large is, though. Perhaps I could ride mine." Their tone is as close to joking around as it's gonna get.

[Pichi2214]

They nod. "Yes, that should work. Honestly... even if you may have been joking, I have to admit that "big enough to ride" would be my ideal plush companion height. Though that probably would be a tad overdoing it sadly." It pulls out the cloth that could be seen earlier out of the bag, it's a bit of a dull orange-reddish woolen cloth with an autumn leaf pattern, clearly more vibrant in its past. "If you don't mind I'd like to use this for the accents. Feel free to pick whatever you think will go well with it as the main fabric."

[skinstealer]

 "A dark brown for mine, then, and perhaps a light tan for yours...nice autumn colors. Personally, I'm more of a winter person, but autumn in Wonder is really lovely as well."

[Pichi2214]

They nod in agreement. "Wonderful choices." They take a moment to think. "So... we have the size, colors and the tail... Oh. We do still need a material type for the main body."

[skinstealer]

"Fabric, I think. It'd match the wool a little better than fur."

[Pichi2214]

Misstep nods again. "Then all is settled I believe! Large companions with a short tail, brown fabric and tan fabric main bodies respectively with this wool cloth as accents."
"Oh, also, winter as well as autumn are my favorite seasons. I do prefer the cold, but I suppose with my typing that is of little surprise. I picked up this cloth after I had traveled through a giant forest during autumn time as a reminder of the beautiful memories from there."

[knux400]

"Well... Alright, if you say so!"

Petra pulls three old-looking quilts from her bag, each large enough to fit comfortably over a medium-sized TCP.

The first quilt is dark blue with a copper-colored gear pattern sewn in.
The second quilt is a deep reddish-purple with white fluff around the edges.
The third quilt is black with silver and gold beads on one side, resembling stars.

[skinstealer]

 "Hmmm..." He points to the night sky quilt. "I'm feeling that one. Good camouflage!"

[knux400]

"Sounds good to me!" Petra pulls the starry blanket onto the center of the table and shoves the other two back into her bag.

[skinstealer]

"Okay, so if that's the main one...what kinda material are we thinkin for accents? What color? I'm thinking silver for mine."

[knux400]

"Well, if yours is silver, I'll make mine gold! That way they'll be matching, but still different. We can use some of that silky shiny stuff for the metallic colors."

[skinstealer]

 Esther starts handing out paper patterns and materials, practically dumping them on the pairs. "Alright, hope you're good at sewing- I guess I can help if you need it, but just follow the patterns and you'll live."

[Plushes will be made and you can proceed to the next step after a certain amount of posts are made- make conversation!]

[knux400]

Petra takes a needle and thread and passes another set to Limerick. She hesitates slightly, glancing at Limerick's flappy corners.

"Um... I don't mean to be rude, but are you going to be able to sew? Not that that'll be an issue or anything, I'm just curious."

[skinstealer]

 "Yeah! I helped make my own costume, after all!"

[skinstealer]

 "You're a traveler as well, then? I mean, you mentioned earlier that you travel for work, so I suppose that answers my own question..."

[Pichi2214]

They nod. "Indeed. It is not so much work as that I just generally travel a lot, I never quite like staying in cities near many people, so after I have been at a place for a bit I always get the urge to leave again, see nature, have some time alone. It is very calming out in nature, even if dangerous for someone as small as me.
May I ask what your work is though? I am quite curious which job has you travel so much with so little spare time."

[skinstealer]

"Ah...it isn't a career most would consider ideal, or pleasant in any capacity." He fiddles with his pattern, laying out the fabric to cut. "I hunt down creatures causing problems in their environments, though I'm fairly limited in what size I can handle. I can't handle complex-sized creatures, obviously- but I've taken out TCPs gone terror before. It's...grisly work."

[Pichi2214]

"Ah I see... It sounds like it would be a very taxing field of work, but quite interesting." Misstep sounds genuinely impressed. "You must be proud of your strength then."

[knux400]

"Alright, neat!" Petra passes Limerick the supplies and starts work on her plush.

"So a costume, huh? What did you go as?"

[skinstealer]

 "Oh I mean, not a Darkest Night thing! What I got on now...though I guess I pull it off as a normal outfit, huh?" He taps his skull mask. "Looks sharp!"

 "Strength isn't as important as wits and knowledge in this kind of work, honestly. You need to be able to get into the mental workings of what you hunt, try to make moves before they do...it's particularly difficult with terrors, seeing as they do somewhat operate on patterns they had before turning."

[knux400]

"OH! Yeah, that looks great on you! It makes you look like a ghost or a reaper or something."

[skinstealer]

 "A reaper, huh? Sweet." He would be grinning if he could. "You like that kind of horror stuff?"

[Pichi2214]

They nod a bit, as they listen to Fixture while working on their plush. "That is part of what I meant with strength. Strength can come in other forms than just physical, though I suppose I should have rather said "proud of your abilities". It is quite impressive either way, especially considering you still have all your limbs."