********* (I Love You)Chapter XVII:Lotion-A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is Chapter XVII of my love story ************ (I Love You)[/i]. Not much else to say, other than read and review. Just a bit more...and we can get back to the full romance.

(Part I [Complete text])
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/journal2.html?user=385748&mid=1118071855825271130

(Chapter IX)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1117983046871021340

(Aki X)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118072613119019026

(Chapter XI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111815056226475773

(Aki XII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111824214766442360

(Chapter XIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111832408433071084

(Interlude I)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1118411373479543110

(Aki XIV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=111870946755572527&num=2

(Chapter XV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118753328163036732&num=0

(Aki XVI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118842859542566535&num=1

I don’t own anything FFXI related...so SE DON’T SUE ME!
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Chapter XVII: Lotion
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The fire crystal shattered into thousands of fine glittering red pieces, and fell down to the concrete flooring from my hands.

"No...no..." Momiji told me in a very teacher-like voice.

"You are attempting to exert your own will upon the crystal too much. You have to let your muse take over, guide your motions. If you don’t, you will attempt to mold the fire crystal too much and it will then break on you."

It was my first full day at work.

She then picked up another fire crystal from the stack set up in the corner of my workroom and held it up to the light, when then caught it and prismed out a red rainbow across the plaster-white wall opposite of us. She pulled her own pair of shades out of her pocket, and put them on one handed as she started to kneel on the ground. She then pulled a couple iron ingots, a silver ingot, a log of ash lumber, a chunk of cermet, and a small sample each of raptor’s skin, something called a Tama-Hagana ingot, and some silver thread out from their respective boxes, and tucked them tightly between her legs.

"Watch me, Dimitri." She said as she started to close her eyes. She began to pace her breathing, slowly drawing in and then expelling each breath. As she did this, I could see her body become limper and more at peace, as if she was achieving some sort of spiritual purity not brought by the Goddess.

It was then that the crystal started to light up with a whoosh sound.

I saw Momiji’s’s young fingers glide up and down the crystal’s length, gently stroking its sides in an intricate pattern that seemed to have no rhyme or rhythm to it. As I looked down at the materials, to my amazement, they were coming together and combining in tune with how she was manipulating the crystal. As she would gingerly swirl one side, the raptor’s skin would melt with the silver thread and the cermet, and as Momiji’s tapped the top of the crystal, I could easily see some sort of metal blade being tempered from the fused ingots. And with every move she made on the crystal, drawing its power further and further out of it, the crystal dimmed just a bit more until it finally went out.

Momiji’s then stood up with a slight wince at having been on her knees so long, then pointed down at the freshly crafted object as she chucked the now useless drained crystal into a waste bin next to me.

"This is a Hosodachi sword. These swords have quite a long history with the samurai in the Far East, and are normally made by their masters. However, due to the war...the Far East is preparing themselves for a possible invasion of their homeland should the forces of Vana’diel fail." She then picked up the sword and delicately laid it in an open velvet case on a nearby table. "However, the demand outstrips the amount of people that can make them, so we were hired to make them a few dozen swords." The case snapped shut with a click, and she then lugged it over to a cart where six were already stacked up, ready to be sent back to the empire.

"You, Dimitri...you will be crafting these swords. Elayne said you were quite good with your hands, so I don’t think it will be too hard for you to get the hang of. Just relax, and let your muse take over. I have to go now...but I will expect that there be fifty of these swords made by closing time." She paused for a moment then took off her shades and handed them to me. "You will need these, if you are going to attempt to make the best swords possible. These glasses allow you to see the energy that the crystal throws off onto the base sword materials, and will help guide you to making them properly."

I put the glasses on, and immediately the world was changed into a warm golden tint. I could then see the heat radiating off of Momiji’s and my own body in wavy strips. I turned my head and I was then nearly blinded when I looked over at the stack of fire crystals and saw their energy.

"GAH!" I shouted as I tore the glasses off, and started to rub my watering eyes.

"Oh yeah, and do be careful while wearing them, they can make you blind if you look at something with too much natural energy in it." She chuckled.

"Yeah yeah...I got it..." I muttered, feeling like quite the idiot.

She nodded self-satisfactory once, and then turned around.

"Remember, the end of the day Dimitri." she said as she exited the room and shut the door.

Being careful to not put on my glasses first this time, I grabbed a fire crystal and an armful of materials which I then dropped onto the floor in a big pile. I knelt down, put on my shades, and then tried to relax like Momiji’s did, and then I started to synth.

Whoosh

The fire crystal started to crackle, and I could feel a warmth spread through my hands. I closed my eyes, and let my muse take over to shape the crystal as it will and in turn, the various materials beneath it.

After a few moments of synthing, I felt the crystal burn itself out and I opened my eyes expecting to find a masterpiece...

But instead, I found a messy lump of metal and skin laying there.

"Oh. That sucks." I said, refusing to give up hope.

I gathered more materials and crystals, and attempted it again.

And failed again.

And again.

And again.

And again...

After the tenth failed synth, I sighed in deep frustration. I realized with a startling clarity that my first full day on the job...and I would most likely be fired.

Not exactly a comforting realization.

It was then that I heard the door open softly behind me. I started to turn around to see who it was, praying that it wasn’t Momiji’s to check up on my progress so far.

But all I could see was some figure shrouded in a black cloak, whose fingers quickly jerked around into what I knew w as a sleep spell.

"Momij-" I started to shout, before the spell went off, hitting me square in the chest and throwing me down against the ground among my many failures. I then felt my arms and legs get extremely tired. I tried to fight the urge to just give in and go to sleep, but my body refused to cooperate with my mind.

I guess this is it...

Were my last thought as I then fell into oblivion.
___
"Dimitri! Wake up!" I tried to push the button of my alarm clock, and was responded with a shocking "OW!".

My eyes suddenly fluttered open when I remembered where I was, and I realized what I had just attempted to push.

Ellard’s face.

"Ellard..." I mumbled, desperately trying to come up with an excuse, any excuse as to why none of the swords were made, "About the swords..." I began.

He cut me off with a sharp wave of his hand as he rubbed his sore face with his other hand. "None of that. When I came in here, I was positive that you were just sleeping on the job and had accomplished very little." He then smiled at me, and offered me a hand to stand back up. I took it, and was up wobbling on my feet in an instant. "Then when I saw the velvet boxes full with what is easily some of the best work to have ever come out of this guild...I knew that I was wrong."

He slapped me on the back, and nearly sent me sprawling back to the ground.

"So anyway...thank you. That will be all for today, just be sure to go home and get some rest." He picked up the cart’s handle, and started to roll it out of the room with him to the shipping department. He was nearly outside the room when he turned around to me and said almost as an after thought.

"Oh, and Dimitri...go easy on the rolanberry scented lotion in the future okay? I’m not one to judge you, but others...wellll..." he broke off with a slight grimace.

My eyes went wide at that, and I suddenly found myself at a loss for words.

"Ummm...sure..." I stammered out as the door then closed again, leaving me alone. I then sniffed the air, and surely enough...there was the scent of rolanberries hanging in the air. It was light, almost undetectable, but one could tell it was there.

Rolanberries?

I don’t wear rolanberry lotion...or any type of lotion for that matter.

Do I know anyone who wears that scent?...

My eyes suddenly went wide, and I bowed my head as I then softly laughed.

"Hitomi..." I said quietly, "I can tell that you are still here...somewhere..."

-fin Chapter XVII: Lotion

dang nice story. I recently started mine but has nothing to do with FFXI. Mine can't go up agaisnt yours lol,