A Sort of Freedom (Finished)

[ruma]

Ruma went down to the mess and picked up a couple servings. Some bread, water, a few assorted fruits and veggies, before putting it all in her bag and returning back to her room.

She entered the room to see Jin hard at work. He was just about done, her tools laid out on the bed. She began to pull out the bottles of water, along with the assorted foods she picked up for herself and her new friend/slave/companion.

"Back with breakfast. Eat up Jin, we've got a busy day ahead of us." Since the table was all a mess, she put the food on the bed, away from the tools. She looked to him, impressed. "You know Jin, this may be the first time in weeks my bed has been made. Thanks." Some may have found it strange for her to be thanking her slave, but slaves were people too right?

"So Jin, how good are you with wood crafting?" she asked, taking a bite of bread and a sip of water. She had some ideas for redecorating the room, but didn't have all the pieces she needed. Some construction would be in order.

[Jin Reno]

He didn't hear her come into the room, nodding to himself as he finished up putting her tools on the bed. Jin was about to see what the new change with his armored form was when he was interrupted by Ruma behind him.

"Welcome back! I got your stuff all set up on the bed." He said with a smile, glad that she had food, since he had barely eaten the last few days as well. He walked over to the bed where the food was, and looked at Ruma with a smile, "Breakfast in bed eh? Sounds messy." He picked up an orange and began to peel it, taking a few of the pieces and putting them in front of Lisa before taking the rest for his own stomach.

"No problem, I just thought it'd be easier to see the tools if the bed was made." Jin said, taking a piece of bread and ripping off a piece to eat. "Wood crafting? Like building things? I'm not horrible, but I'm not a carpenter either. What do you have in mind?" He asked, giving Lisa an apple to eat, the larger tortoise requiring a bit more food.

[ruma]

Ruma laughed at the messy prospect. Couldn't be any worse then when tried calibrations in bed. That was messy.

"Great work Jin. My plan was to finally get around to cleaning my room. Now that there's another person here to help me with that, I can finally work up the motivation to do it. Problem is, I need a place for the design prints other than on my table. I thought if a bookshelf was put up I could fit them there, then we can actually use the table for food instead of the bed." She definitely had the raw materials for a decent bookshelf, and building it wasn't too difficult. She wondered if he could handle it alone, while she ate through her bread and moved to an apple of her own. Her eyes eventually found themselves on Lisa.

"Did your turtle grow since I last saw her?" She couldn't help but notice the size change. She seemed to easily fit on his head before.

[Jin Reno]

"Well, I am glad to be of service. I had to clean out my own home daily, the sand kept coming in and the occasional strong gust of wind could send sand flying in." He said, smiling at her. The next issue was that she had so many design prints and no where to put them but the table. She suggested a bookshelf and Jin nodded his head, looking around them slowly, seeing some wood that could easily be used to hold her projects.

"A bookshelf wouldn't be too hard. I think that with the right tools and raw materials, I could get one up and then we can try to organize your projects somewhat," he continued, "do you even have an order in which you want to do all of these or do you just randomly pick one each day before working?" Jin looked at a few, the specs alone making his head spin, unsure how to understand the notes, sketches, and the like.

When she spoke about Lisa, Jin turned his head away from her work and at Ruma herself before down to Lisa. "Yeah... she was kind of growing while we where in the cell, but it seems like she's changed overnight." He said, picking her up and taking her away from her apple, which she struggled to get back too. Ruma could easily see that the turtle that once fit on his head was now twice its size.

"Magic stuff... when it changes... usually the magic changes as well. I want to see how her armor form is now... who knows right?" He said, putting Lisa back down, the tortoise happily munching on her apple once more.

[ruma]

"Nah, I just do whichever one I have inspiration for. Some will sit for a week and some will be worked on every day until they're done or explode in my face again. Granted, all of my work has been sitting the last couple of days so that I could finish your collar. The only other thing I worked on was your hookshot." She took an apple of her own and bit into it. A solid and balanced meal for her so she should actually get some work done today.

She looked at Lisa enjoying her apple and smiled. She was never really into pets but she thought she may have to get used to having two now. "Well, make sure she doesn't grow too large and starts eating my projects." The comment of course was joking but at the same time if Lisa did grow too large then there could be an issue. At the mention of the armor though, she dropped everything and had an idea.

She went over to the table and began to rummage through the papers trying to find a blank sheet. "Put the armor on. I want to take a sketch." She found a blank sheet and a writing utensil and awaited his transformation.

[Jin Reno]

Jin rubbed his chin and went back over the table, looking at some of them, but not too hard, since there was still so much to take in that he couldn't understand yet. "So you just look through them and pick one out? Why don't you have them hanging on the wall or something so you can see them all and pick the one you want to do that day?" He asked. The last bit made him smile though, "Thanks for the hookshot again. I am going to have fun with that." Jin said happily.

"I can't control how big she gets, she's a living creature, they tend to grow to a set size no matter what." He said with a smile, before looking at Lisa once more as Ruma walked past him. "You want me to put the armor on now? Alright then." He said softly, and walked closer to Lisa.

"Lisa, Armor." He said, and watched as the tortoise turned into a single orb of light, larger then before, and shoot toward his chest. "Thats diffe..." In a flash of light, Jin was covered head to toe in armor, standing there, a little surprised, "rent..." He finished, looking over him and and turning a bit, a tail dragging along the floor behind him.

It took a moment for him to examine his new armor, every bit of his body covered up by both a skin-tight armor and layered pieces. His chest seemed to look as if it was the chest-shell of a turtle somewhat, and his legs had armor similar to his arms, toes and fingers clawed as well. His head was covered fully, the face of it looking more like a monstrous mask with sharp looking eyes and a slightly jointed mouth, though Jin was able to see out of it just fine. His back would seem to be like a turtle's shell, though flat against his back, and the tail coming out from where his tail bone was located looked to be segmented.

He wondered what it was for, but after a moment he realized he could move the tail around, and as he faced Ruma, he smiled, the tail curling around his feet a bit. "Wow..." He said, the mouth of the armor opening slightly, revealing several small, sharp teeth. "So... what do you think?" He asked, noticing that the brown vest-coat he normally wore seemed to be on the outside of the armor, for reasons that he couldn't explain.

[ruma]

Ruma prepared the paper while Jin equipped the armor, with a bright blinding light. "Very nice. Just hold there." She began to do the sketches of his armor outline, any details would come later.

"If I could get the armor on a purely technical level, it would be a great advantage for the gerudo." She moved to his side and back, taking the sketches of the armor. "Arm up." She took sketches of the under arm. "Wow. perfectly secure under the arm. That's not going to be easy to replicate, but maybe I can do it." She was going to do preliminary tests on some armor, but she needed the sketches.

"Done. You can dissipate the armor when you're ready, then we'll get started on the bookshelf. I can't just put them up on a wall, I don't always pin my schematics up on my wall, but when I do, they get incinerated." True story, it happened before.

[Jin Reno]

Jin couldn't help but now and then to swing the tail he had now, the feeling of this extra appendage one that was certainly unique. "I'll try my best." Jin said, trying to keep still, his tail twitching a bit at the tip.

"Well... Minus the tail. But I am sure if we put our heads together we could think of a way to replicate the design. Eventually." Jin said, lowering the vest-jacket a little bit for her to examine his back. Next, she told him to lift his arm up and he did just so, watching her as she spoke about the armor. He couldn't see what she was doing and he couldn't examine the armor himself, but he could tell that there wasn't any real weaknesses to the armor.

"Just have to find something thats strong and very flexible then." He suggested, putting his arm back down and looking back at Ruma. Jin felt different, felt stronger, more protected. It was a powerful feeling, but when she said he could get rid of the armor for now, he nodded. With that, the armor vanished and Lisa appeared on the bed, finishing up her apple before anything else could interrupt her.

"Alright, where can we get what we need for the bookshelf?" Jin asked, dismissing the idea after she said that the wall idea was bad due to incineration. "Wait... why were they incinerated?" He asked.

[ruma]

Ruma finished the sketches and put them down with the rest of her schematics and designs. "Well, there should be enough around here to at least get started. From there, I'll salvage and scrap. There's plenty from the project of getting the levels together in Pirate's Bay." She began to pick up some of the old planks on the floor. She could make a bookshelf and clean up at the same time.

"Jin, take some these planks and a saw and start cutting the planks into equal-sized parts." She handed him a few planks of various sizes. He'd have to probably work from the floor, but she was used to that. She began to hunt around different parts of the room for wood. They'd need quite a bit for the project, though not nearly as much as she needed for Pirate's Bay.

[Jin Reno]

Jin nodded to Ruma and began to get a few planks of wood himself and began to sort them into different lengths and widths until he had a pretty good idea about how big he would make the bookshelf. "Alright. I think I have a plan to get this all working out swimmingly in the end." Jin said, taking two of the longer planks and laying them out side by side on the floor.

They were the same length and width, which made things simple, and with a ruler he marked every foot with a line in lead. There were 7 lines on each of the planks, which meant that it was at least 8 feet high. He picked up the two planks and put them against the wall before he found a few similar width planks and laid them out on the ground. There was about 12 different planks that were possible shelves for the project, but 2 of them were too short.

Jin took a few measurements of the 10 remaining planks and soon had them each measured out. He had a few that were 5 feet by a foot, four that where 4 feet by a foot and a half, and three that were 6 feet by 8 inches. It seemed like the size of the shelves were going to be 4 feet long, and he got to sawing after measuring and making sure.

One of the 4 feet and a half planks he nailed to the bottom of the two 8 foot planks and slowly began to add in the other shelves every foot still each shelf snugly fit against the 8 foot planks. Jin had gotten so into the work he forgot about things around him and nailed each of the shelves in bit by bit till, with a bit of a struggle, he sat the bookshelf up and pushed it against the wall.

The top two shelves were only 8 inches long, the middle 6 shelves were a foot long, and the top of the shelf and the bottom 3 shelves were each a foot and a half. With his work done, Jin took a few steps back and nodded his head, a little sweaty with the hammer in his hand. "Ha... not too bad, if I say so myself." He said proudly.

[ruma]

Ruma watched him work like a busy little bee, impressed by his efficiency. She began to roll up some of her schematics and when Jin was finished, she started to put up the schematics, cataloging them by make and model. Finished ones on the top, those that haven't been started on the bottom. Organizing them and cataloging them took about as the building of the bookshelf did. And when it was all finished, she gave him a big hug.

"Phew. Thank you so much Jin. My room looks so much better now. The bed is made, the schematics are put away, you've been such a great help." She had to reach to get high enough, but she kissed his cheek. Looking into his eyes, smiling, to anyone with dating experience, her feelings would be obvious.

[Jin Reno]

With the bookshelf done and put up, Jin sat down on the bed and picked up a bottle of water and drank some of it. While he relaxed, he watched as Ruma began to sort things out with all her plans, but he had no idea the number of them that she actually had, and after about a minute, he got back to his feet and decided to clean up the mess he had made the best he could. Pieces of wood with nowhere to go were piled up in a corner. The floor was swept somewhat, the sawdust being swept into a little trashcan, though he was sure that a use could be found for it.

He took a moment to look around the room, feeling like it was much more like a room now then it was before. In fact, he could tell that once, it had been a really nice room, and that fact made him chuckle a bit. When Jin looked up to check on Ruma's progress, she had finished and came over to him, hugging him. A little moment of confusion, he hugged her back with a bit of a smile. "No problem Ruma. It's my room now too, and I figure we at least have to keep it decently cle..."

The last bit of the sentence vanished him his mind the moment she gave a kiss to his cheek. He really didn't know how to act now, and Jin just stood there, a little dumb-founded, looking back down at Ruma, blushing brightly. "Uh... um..." Jin muttered, a little lost.

[ruma]

Ruma giggled at Jin's blush. He really wasn't very experienced in this field, maybe she should get some pointers from Kotone later on. She brushed some of the sweat off of his brow, looking at him, creating an awkward silence that would probably worry anyone who walked by Ruma's room, since silence meant she wasn't working, and she was always working.

"So...I...uhh...is it hot in here?" she asked, tugging at her shirt. It felt warmer. She didn't know why though, it wasn't like the room had suddenly gotten hotter. Unless it had and she didn't notice. She scratched the back of her head, signs of blush barely showing despite the helmet.

[Jin Reno]

Jin flushed a bit darker when she wiped the sweat from his forehead, and the poor guy was freaking out just a bit. He didn't know what to do, how to react, or even what to say. He was just flushed and lost in a wave of thoughts and emotions. "It... seems like it might be..." Jin managed to finally say, lucking breaking the contact between the two for a moment.

A part of him wasn't happy about it, but now that they had some space, Jin's mind began to work again and he rubbed his head a bit. "No problem Ruma... about the stuff I've done..." He said, before spying the tools on the bed. "I think you might need a toolbox... or something." Jin said, suddenly flushing again, his thoughts returning to the moment.

"I mean... we can't keep the bed covered with them... right?" He asked, trying to control his mind and the situation.

[ruma]

Ruma wasn't sure where to go from here. It was certainly very awkward. Outside of Merik, she never spent so much time with a man before, and certainly had never slept in a bed with one.

Her mind was racing wondering how this was supposed to proceed. Was there...no, can't think of that. Not now. Her mind snapped back to attention when Jin mentioned the toolbox.

"Right, right. Toolbox. Yes, that shouldn't be difficult. Simple metalworking, give me a few minutes." She went across the room, still tugging at her shirt, trying to air it out a bit. The room was getting much warmer, and was sure to heat up soon.

She took a piece of piping and a sizable sheet of metal. Activating her ability to superheat objects, she bent the metal into a boxlike shape. Taking the pipe she did the same thing, bending into a shape like a handle. Then she connected the two parts and welded them together using only her hands. Picking up the newly welded toolbox, she smiled.

"Well, that wasn't so bad. A bit crude, but we're not looking for anything flashy." She placed the toolbox on the bed and began to place all of her tools inside. Looking at him, she smiled and scratched her head. "Well Jin, uhhh, what now?"

[Jin Reno]

Jin felt a little bit better when she had begun to work on something new, and he watched as she collected the necessary materials to make a tool box. He watched and expected her to come back over to him and use some of the tools near him to work on the toolbox, but nothing had happened.

Instead she suddenly began to bend and melt the metal with her hands, working on making a toolbox through what Jin could only explain as magic. He had never expected that she had some sort of magic ability, and one that would allow her to work on metal so easily. "Amazing!" He said with a smile.

As she picked up the finished product, Jin smiled and clapped his hands at her finished product and watched as she came over toward him. "I think it's amazing, really amazing." He said, and began to help her out in putting the tools away.

Jin looked at the tool box for a moment before looking back up at her, smiling a little sheepishly. "Well... you haven't given me the tour yet..." Jin said, a little too distracted by her and just wanting to get some of the extra energy he was feeling out. "If you want though... we could do something else if you want..." He added.

[ruma]

Ruma looked at Jin, a little embarrassed by his compliments. "Thanks. A little something I learned over time. It helps since with it I can avoid having to use a furnace or something to weld metal." She looked at him, knowing he was getting a bit antsy.

"Actually, I need to talk to my cousin for a few minutes. Meet me at the sparring grounds, let the guards know you'll help them out. Your gear is in the armory. Make sure you let me know if the guards start to abuse you, especially with your ribs still healing." She opened the door, adjusting her helmet and motioning for him to get going. She'd accompany him up to Kotone's room and then they would temporarily part ways.

[Jin Reno]

"Oh yeah? Ok... I think that getting out of this hot room for a few minutes might be best..." Jin said, walking over to Lisa and picking the tortoise up, holding her in both arms. He made his way back toward Ruma and nodded his head. "So should I just spar for a bit with them, or wait for you to get there?" He asked, walking out of the room with her and waiting for her to lead the way.

"The Armory, where exactly is that? And where are the sparring grounds?" Jin asked, rubbing his head a little nervously. It wasn't his fault he didn't know where things were, he was new to the area. At least he knew that most Gerudo would know that due to the fact that he was one of the few men in the fortress and that the collar on his neck would show him as Ruma's slave.

How much that would protect him, he didn't know, but he hoped it would be enough to keep them from directly attacking him.

[ruma]

"The training grounds are down a floor, right outside the side entrance. Ask a guard if you get lost. The armory is right inside the fortress, on your left. Grab your gear, and put it back when you're done. You don't want to be seen in the fortress with weapons. They will kill you on sight." She walked down the hallway, stopping in front of another door.

"This is my stop. I'll see you down by the sparring grounds, ok?" She gave him another quick hug and opened at closed the door, waving goodbye to Jin.

EXIT[/i][/u]

[Jin Reno]

Jin rubbed his head and nodded. "So even though they are shields, I'm not allowed to wear them within these walls unless I am in the Training Grounds. Got it." He said to her, nodding his head and making sure to keep the directions in his head.

When they came to a stop, Jin looked at Ruma and gave her a nod. "Alright Mistress Ruma. Take your time if you wish." Jin said, bowing to her before he was caught off guard by the hug. He nodded his head a bit and made his way toward what seemed to be the way to the Training Grounds.

EXIT

FINISHED