fandomhigh | Living on Your Own, Friday, Aug. 15, period 1

Tyler didn't seem especially inclined to chit-chat as he started class today, but that wasn't so far from his norm.

"All right," he said, once the students were all seated. "So you have a house -- decorated to your specifications -- and a job, and what you need is something to do in your down time. Drinking yourself into a coma is always a popular choice, and so is watching TV until your brain turns to goop. But on the off chance you need something more active to do and don't already spend all your time on the Internet arguing about plot holes in the new Z-Cases Movie, hobbies are good things. And knitting is a really popular hobby."

He held up a skein of gray yarn with knitting needles through it. "I learned to do this here. Eleven years ago, I could make a scarf. Right now, I can make a slightly better scarf. Here's how." He explained and demonstrated knitting, looking oddly proud of himself as he finished a few rows.

"The other popular thing to knit in Fandom, and I do not wanna know why, is dildo cozies." He held up one that looked like a very long, very skinny sock made from neon purple yarn. "There are patterns for those on your tables, should you feel so inspired."

"And that is it from me for the day, go ahead and knit. I'll be around."

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At least she wasn't laughing at him. Stupid Ino.

"Well, I don't think I'm going to get there like this," he mumbled, which might have been a yes.

She was doing her best to keep her amusement to herself.

"It's always complicated, at the start," she explained. "At least it was, for me. I fidget terribly. Start slowly, you needn't be clicking along at any great hurry. First, the cast on ..."

She demonstrated, holding her own needles, twisting the yarn and moving through the steps.

Sure, that looked easy enough. Ichigo tugged his thumb free from the knotted up yarn. He dumped it on his desk and grabbed another one, best start afresh.

"So... like this..." he concentrated on the needles as if he was trying to do kidou. He had about as much success at it too as he somehow managed to tie together the needles. It was best not to ask exactly how he did it, that'd just be embarrassing. "Or not."

"Here," Alice said, reaching over. "Grip them a little more like this. And when you hit a step where you've completely forgotten what comes next, hold everything very, very still while you try to think it out. I always wanted to pull things along until they made sense again, and that's a good way to get enormous knots."

"For that matter," she added, "so are cats."

"Cats?" Ichigo asked confused, flustering a little at needing to get this explained in baby steps. He somehow doubted holding still was going to make him remember.

"And now loop around with the left needle," she prompted, watching his hands carefully. "Yes. Cats. They watch the string moving along in little jerks and tugs and declare war. I had a very eager kitten once who would knot the yarn all around herself and then meow pitifully until she was freed."

"I'm thinking the cats are on to something," Ichigo replied. To declare war, that was. It didn't cross his mind that it might sound like he wanted to be freed.

He looked the thread over the needle like she said, totally pwning the whole knitting thing right now. At least, he thought so.

"Very nice," she said, smiling. "And now under, slowly, without losing that loop. That makes me wonder, perhaps, if there's an ancient cat-and-yarn war that we humans aren't privy to. Perhaps the twitching of the string is a siren call that no feline can resist. A way of luring their prey into the knotted, knitted trap."

How odd, that the side without claws appeared to be winning.

Slowly. He was going very slow. Someone might ticket him for how slow he was going.

"So what do they do with the cats?" Ichigo asked, not sure exactly how they got on this topic.

"Good," she nodded. She was still watching his fingers, carefully, even as her mind went wandering once again. "You know, I don't believe I know. Perhaps we could find out. Send a decoy cat in to report back to us. Or perhaps they're only hoping to make the cats admit defeat. There, conquered you again, say uncle and we'll let you go. Their strategy doesn't appear to be working."

With Alice, bizarre topics just sort of ... happened.

Well, it seemed to be distracting him and he stopped flailing about over it, moving slowly like she'd said. The knitting was definitely way too tight, but he hadn't tied himself to the needles... yet. "Or maybe the cats just have a strategy of themselves and they're just trying to make the yarn get overly confident."

"So the eager kitten was actually a quite savvy spy?" she grinned. "He must have been terribly upset at taking orders, to know he had to appear dim to his colleagues. But then, it's a small sacrifice in the greater good of the yarn/cat war."

Living on Your Own, Friday, Aug. 15, period 1

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