D5LM, Small Blessings (Expecting)

[Otomo Gusai]

"Would you like to get better with them?"

There's a glint in Gusai's eye. Whether Phi is joking or not, he isn't; a good knot's a useful thing.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well... since you ask? Absolutely."

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai nods.

"Got any rope handy?" he asks. Because, of course, you can't tie a knot in something that ain't there.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Uhm... no. But I can go get some!"

And she was off, with the manic energy that comes so easily to the young.

[Otomo Gusai]

I hope it's from a decent place, Gusai thinks, recalling a time when the length of rope he retrieved had actually been the only thing to keep the second's pants up.

[Jiyo Sora]

Phi came back at a slightly more dignified run, carrying a spool of what looked like...

"Dad brought this back with him from his last trip. Leather- the Ongaku use it to secure stuff on their carts..."

[Otomo Gusai]

"And you're not going to get in trouble for taking this, right?" Gusai asks. It wouldn't do, after all, to have such a thing happen.

[Jiyo Sora]

"Nah, Dad won't even think to look for it until Spring. And by then he'll have forgotten where he put it."

[Otomo Gusai]

"If you say so," Gusai replies. "If I might see it?" And he holds out his hand. "Gotta know what I'm working with to work it well, and, well," he gestures with his other hand to his eyepatch, "I don't quite see as well as might've been true."

[Jiyo Sora]

Phi offered up the coil of braided leather without a word.

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai uncoils a portion of it, perhaps an arm-span, running it through his hands. "Flexible and tough," he says, flexing it. "Good grip, though it'll be murder to keep in hand for long at a time. This kind of thing's good for what you said the Ongaku use it for; it'll do well to lash cargo down. For rigging, for climbing, I'd avoid it as I could.

"But, as to that," and his hands move deftly without rolling, since the new day has started, "if you're going to lash cargo down, you'll do well learning how to put a bend in a line. But before you can worry about that, you've got to make the line fast in one place. A simple hitch usually will do it," his hands move to suit, "though you'd normally have something you'd tie this on to."

[Jiyo Sora]

"What about a tree branch?"

[Otomo Gusai]

"Think you can scramble up and try it?" Gusai asks. "Do you need me to show you again?"

He unties the knot. Either way, it'll need to be loose.

[Jiyo Sora]

"In these shoes?"

She frowned.

"I don't think so."

Phi looked around and hit upon a solution.

"What about an ornamental shrub? Some of these are pretty sturdy..."

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai looks at one of them.

"A stone'd be better, I think" he says. "You're less likely to yank it out."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Hm, but they're bigger around- does that matter much?"

[Otomo Gusai]

"Not really," Gusai replies. "You just make a bigger loop to start. Like this," and he casts such a loop around a nearby stone, tying the knot deftly again.

Then he unties it and hands the cord to Phi. "Give it a try."

[Jiyo Sora]

She did. And failed.

And tried again.

And failed.

And tried again... And succeeded.

"Hm."

She worked on the knot, untying and retying it, as if committing the entire process to memory.

"This is interesting..."

[Otomo Gusai]

"It is, isn't it?" Gusai says, passion for the subject clear in his voice. "There's a lot you can do with a good knot. Save a life, even.

"Now, set that hitch again, and give it a good tug; once you've got it tight, I'll show you a neat trick to help secure cargo."

[Jiyo Sora]

Phi complied in silence.

Evidently, her attention was fixed on picking up her new skill.