Open Post: Hooked On A Feeling

[rememberettersberg]

What hobbies have you got? Susan had asked him, and he had to admit to not being sure. At school and for some time after, he played rugby. More recently, he only watched it on the television Peter had set up in the tech cave. Here at the mansion, he has books and research and the beginnings of mentoring, but it occurs to Nightingale that he has been building himself a facsimile of work and very little else. He's survived that way for half a century and been perfectly all right (though others may disagree with that assessment) but here, in this hinterland between realities, he is feeling a growing itch for... whimsy, perhaps.

At this moment, propping up the bar with a pint of bitter and a crochet hook, no one would dare accuse him of being whimsical. Nightingale is scowling fiercely at the hook, the yarn, his pint, and the book sitting open beside it. Company would be more than welcome.

Comments

[sagramore]

He smiles slightly at that. "He is interesting. He must have been astonishing in the attack, with his full power." Then he glances down at the books he's set on the bar. "Oh, nothing yet, this is research."

[rememberettersberg]

"Ah. Plenty of work to be done for midwinter?" He cranes his neck to look at the titles.

[sagramore]

One of them is The Essential Guide to Dinner Parties, but he still has the book on leatherworking, which he's been struggling through. He has a great deal of patience with people, but not with things, and reading about a tactile skill without doing it is basically pointless, so he'd tried put some of it into practical application with absolutely no success. "I'm trying to make a gift for Laertes."

[rememberettersberg]

Leatherworking. Nightingale makes a mental note to add that to the list of things he'd like to try. "What sort of gift did you have in mind?"

[sagramore]

He hesitates, only because Laertes is Nightingale's student, and he doesn't want to embarrass him. He settles for, "Something he could wear, like a belt. Something fairly simple, but that hasn't helped me much."

[rememberettersberg]

"It's not a craft I have any experience with." He smiles. "It's wonderful that so many of us are attempting to learn new skills rather than letting the mansion provide everything. I'm sure he'll appreciate whatever you come up with."

[sagramore]

A warm laugh. "I hope so. --He's certainly delighted by the new skills he's learning from you. I'm glad you took him on as a student."