Ring of the Artisan

Act II Ch. 5: A Lovely Family

"Oh, Lloyd," You waved towards the little boy as he entered the room. "Have an... okay rest?"

"It was terrible!" Lloyd immediately complained. "Uh, what are you doing?"

Currently, there was a load of fabric and wool in your hands. "I'm making new mattresses," You said.

"Oh, I can't wait to try them out!" Lloyd appeared beside you. He then noticed Acrylic, who was seated nearby. The dragon had been teaching you new things, helping to guide you with using more of your powers. "...You have a dragon?"

You glanced up towards your dragon before turning back to Lloyd. "This is Acrylic," You introduced. "Acrylic, this is Lloyd."

Acrylic nodded. "It's quite nice to finally meet him in person."

"He's also one of your, uh... Friends made of random things, right?" Lloyd asked. "Paint, yarn, string... whatever else you've got going on."

"Oh, I still wonder how he can see that..." Acrylic muttered. He approached Lloyd, glancing curiously at the little boy.

Lloyd raised a hand and pet the dragon.

Acrylic offered a quiet rumble.

"Yeah," You replied. "My grandma made him, a long time ago. He lived in the Ring I have here." You showed off the Artisan's Ring. "He's its protector, I think..."

"How can he see what I, Hourglass, and many others truly are?" Acrylic questioned, pulling away from Lloyd's hand for a brief moment to stare at Lloyd again. "Lloyd isn't someone your grandmother knew. Only those trusted by her can see us."

"That's pretty cool!" Lloyd exclaimed. "He's also kind of... small, too." Acrylic might be smaller than the other dragons, though he was still up to Lloyd's shoulder in height.

You softly laughed. "I... Last night, I summoned him. It was the first time I managed to do that, and I didn't use enough of my power."

"It's quite alright," Acrylic insisted. "I quite like this size. It means I'm not an inconvenience within the abandoned ship."

You offered Acrylic a smile before turning to Lloyd. "You wanna help clean?" You asked. "It's not as boring as it sounds."

"Sure," Lloyd accepted your offer. "As long as I can paint more!"

~ ~ ~

Despite the ship's dreadful state, cleaning the great ship did not take too much of your time. Other than Zane, no one else had fallen through the floorboards. The rest of the ship was mostly intact; there was just a lot of dust and mold from how long the boat had been there.

Zane and Kai handled cleaning easily. With their combined powers of Fire and Ice, they could easily make water and wash the place up. You had even seen them in action as the two spun within their Spinjitzu to spray enough water throughout each of the rooms.

Cole, with his super strength, brought all the old, unwanted furniture outside, where he set up a garage sale. He had set up a sign and a small table to carry out transactions. You had asked him why he set one up, and he only shrugged in response and said Jay told him to do so.

And Jay, with his knowledge of electronics and machinery, collected as much metal and scrap wires as he could to craft an entire system of lights within the ship. It took him a few hours, but soon lightbulbs were on in every room, with functional light switches and non-invasive wires.

You had a fun time remaking all the old mattresses, blankets, and pillows. Not only was it fun decorating them, but it was also great training for you. Acrylic did attempt to teach you that you could summon wood of all things, though you just couldn't manage that. It was vastly different from string and paint and fabric—was it even an art material? Isn't that the same as Cole trying to summon, clay or mud? They are both a part of the Earth, but Cole hasn't shown that he could summon or control those things.