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Customizing || Thorn Bow
Luck Stat || 22+4
Item Durability || 11
Rolls Needed || 60-100
Rolled || 73
Outcome || Success
Resulting Item Tier || Tier 3

Tempering || Thorn Bow
Rolls Needed ||
1-60 safe range // 61-100 breaks: Second attempt
Rolled || 3
Outcome || Success
+1 to attack
+1 to Defense

Dyakida's thorn bow was not something she wanted to give up on, not when she so desired to have Semashi see it and be impressed. Semashi loved Dyakida's crafts, and through those crafts, Dyakida hoped to cultivate more of that love for herself. She hadn't realized how much she wanted to be loved, not until she had tasted it for herself. Now that she had, she knew she was hungry for it – had been hungry for it for a very long time. Since, perhaps, Maya. Since, perhaps, before Maya had left and burnt their home to the ground. Yes, that friend had not been much of a friend at all in the end.

Maya was not the only friend she had once had, then lost. Some friendships never truly got started in the first place – sparking hopefully like struck flint before dying out into nothing.

Tahira.

The name echoed in her mind occasionally. It was a good name, flowing and soft like water, but Dyakida couldn't remember much about the woman behind it. They hadn't met for long – Dyakida remembered a swimming race, and a chat, but other than that... nothing. She had been hopeful for more – a new friend, a hybrid at that – but in the end... nothing.

Nothing, nothing, nothing, like her old home, like her sight, like her old friends that were gone or dead.

Dyakida had truer friends now, stronger bonds that went beyond sisterhood. The friends she made now would last a lifetime or more. She treasured these friends.

But what she had with Semashi was different and new, and she wanted to feed it. Her thorn bow, maybe, would help her do that.

She ran her hands over the prickles and pokey bits, savoring the feeling. It had been a while since she had touched it's components, and the idea of finally putting it together, of finally making it real, was an exciting one. Today she would give it another try, and hopefully she would, finally, succeed.

----

That day was not to be – there was simply too much to be done. The next day, however, she attended to the thorn bow again, perfecting it's spikes and the sensuous curves of the wood.

She smoothed it lovingly, strengthening the smooth back with layers of other wood to change how the tension flowed through it. She put a layer of flexible varnish on it to protect the wood and bring out it's natural bright colors. She selected her best bowstring and strung it, testing the way it pulled. She modified it further so that it would work exactly as she hoped.

Finally, she showed it Semashi. Semashi was a bladewielder, but her gasp of awe when Dyakida handed her the bow was real and appreciative. It warmed Dyakida's heart and stoked her blazing pride.

“Do you want to try it out?” she asked.

Semashi's answer was emphatic. Of course she did! She took the bow and Dyakida's offered arrows and shot a few of them on the nearby practice range. Twang! Dyakida listened to the sounds of the arrows, hoping to glean anything she could from them. Plok!

“It pulls hard...” Semashi said, “And the aim is off...”

“O... oh, really?”

“And some of these thorns... they interfere with the grip...”

“Oh.” Dyakida's pride guttered and faded as she took the bow back from Semashi.

“It's beautiful, though – gorgeous.” Was that a note of disappointment in the woman's voice? “You'll make it better, I'm sure.” Dyakida felt her come closer and tilted her face for an expected kiss.

It didn't come.

Semashi moved away, back inside, and Dyakida frowned in the breeze of her wake, her fingers dancing over the thorns of the bow – a bow she would have to finish later, if ever.