D5LM, Small Blessings (Expecting)

[Otomo Gusai]

"Now, hand me the working end of that line, and watch."

Assuming she does--because why wouldn't she?--Gusai will tie what might be called an alpine butterfly loop into the line. "Now, you'll run the working end of the line around your other belay and bring it back to this loop, here, and thread it through. Then you can tighten the working end and secure your line, and this'll hold your cargo fast to your deck. Unties easy, too."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Belay?"

Phi had never been on a boat bigger than a small river barge- and she'd been about eight at the time.

[Otomo Gusai]

"Oh! Right! Where you'd secure the line to," Gusai explains. "Apologies; you've not done this before, of course."

[Jiyo Sora]

"And I assume you have plenty of such anchor points on a ship..."

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai nods. "Railings serve well for 'em, in many cases," he says. "Workings on the mast, as well, and hooks and the like on deck. Belowdecks, too, on every bulkhead and rib."

He grins. "Never can have too many places to tie off."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Huh. Kinda what Dad says about knives..."

[Otomo Gusai]

Gusai chuckles.

"He's not wrong about that," he says. "Not at all."

[Jiyo Sora]

"When it comes to practical stuff, he seldom is."

Phi grimaced.

"Shame he's so... bad at the rest of it."

[Otomo Gusai]

"Nothing wrong with handling the practical," Gusai protests. "The more so since it lets others, more adept or inclined, attend to the finer things, the nicer things."

He smiles. "The deck of a ship is a rough place, and has to be--but without it, there's a lot of good that doesn't get where it needs to go."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I suppose, it's just..."

It's just the Phi, unlike her father, had grown up in the center of political power in a growing, vibrant Empire.

[Otomo Gusai]

The brow over Gusai's remaining eye rises as he waits for the girl to go on.

[Jiyo Sora]

"He's so..."

She made a sort of fidgety motion with her fingers.

"How can someone that deliberately crude keep secrets like he does? It drives me nuts."

[Otomo Gusai]

"There're things a person does to protect the ones they love," Gusai replies. "It's clear your father loves you. It's clear, too, that he's a fine protector."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Yeah, I know, it's just... I could help if he'd let me know. With the secrets, I mean. 'Yuki's a bit... open, and Soryu, well, he's only seven, but..."

[Otomo Gusai]

"Might be the case you could," Gusai allows, nodding. "But what if you can't, and then your father's shown you something he'd want to protect you from for no good?

"No," he continues, "I understand the frustration. But you've got to trust your captain to know what he's about. He's sailed longer than you've been afloat, after all."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I guess, it's just... frustrating."

[Otomo Gusai]

"I know," Gusai says. "I know it well."

He grins.

"So, how's your mother?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well. I think she's simultaneously touched and annoyed by how Dad frets over her."

Phi held her hands out in front of her own belly.

"And I think they might be in for another pair of twins. I admit, I didn't see her when we were on the way, but I remember when Soryu was on the way, and... yeah."

[Otomo Gusai]

"How would you feel about that? Twins, I mean," Gusai asks. "Seems you'll have a sizable crew in short order, but you are far from ships."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well, it'll be easier for Mom and Dad if it happens this time. They had to figure 'Yuki and me out without any real help. And we were only five when Soryu was born, but not, we could lend a hand."

She paused.

'It'd be nice to do that for them before we head out on our own, you know?"