(Moon 13, Afternoon, Foredeck) Watchful {Dragon Clan/MCA}

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Yakusoku looks around, one arm gripping the ropes while she turns about. The frown on her face suggests she isn't seeing anything beyond the obvious, a fact that's confirmed when she turns to O-Washi and mutters, "this ain't exactly my strong suit, sama."

[Suzume Satsuki]

"Um... I can see that we're sailing down a sort of calm path, with stormy area on either side. Even though the clouds are heavy everywhere, the water looks darker over there..." the Sparrow offers.

[Kitsuki Kotsu]

The Kitsuki looks around at the ships....

[Usagi Zenko]

Usagi Zenko braved the open deck, his eyes firmly on the boards before him for as long as he can manage, before trying to look about quickly. He seems to attempt to skip right past the horizon and look upwards when at all possible.

Scanning the, what was it called again...dock?, whatever the thing was, he looked for the large Phoenix who was his instructor.

Having of course arrived nearly on time, he finds himself failing at climbing upwards. There are frequent glances sideways at the ocean which are perhaps distracting him.

A rope being lowered down leaves him struggling for awhile. "Uh...my apologies..."

Swinging a little from the rope, he gulps and closes his eyes a moment, pretending that he couldn't possibly be stuck on the end of a rope, and that he certainly never swung out over the ocean. No. No way.

[Isawa O-Washi]

Well, if that didn't manage to get a temporary grin out of the Isawa today nothing would.

"Look, ladies and gents...we've got ourselves a snared rabbit."

Snickering, he slid down the mast again and began to work his way toward the awkwardly dangling Hare. "Good thing you carry knives...I'm going to have to cut you out of there. What the..." He caught himself before using the usual curse and changed it to, "...damned cockamamie thing did you do to end up like that, anyway?"

[Usagi Zenko]

"Ah, yes. A knife. Uhm..." he pauses in speech as he tries reaching for the knife. "How do you know which ropes are too important to cut?"

He then shrugs in answer to the question. "I was trying to climb up...and then looked over at the oce...water and the next thing I knew ended up here." He tries not too look too sheepish.

"Not quite like climbing trees back home, is it."

[Suzume Satsuki]

Satsuki peers over the edge down to the caught Hare. "Oh... that almost happened to me, too."

[Kitsuki Kotsu]

"The flotilla seems to be in a tighter formation, following the narrow strip of normal waters in these dark seas. Furthermore, the nearby supply ship is flying a sail with an odd marking I can't make out due to the winds. There also seems to be some sort of blackened, possibly scorched area on the aftdeck of our fellow training ship..."

The report comes out smoothly and loud enough for the others to hear. Taking a moment to get his mismatched eyes off the dark waters that make him feel strange, Kotsu looks down at the entangled Hare.

[Isawa O-Washi]

Working the knife loose, the Phoenix began to undo the Hare. "It takes practice, that's how. Brace yourself."

With only that much warning, the Hare was suddenly free, falling to the deck where he landed with a nasty 'thud'. {{9 damage}}

Wincing, O-washi, who still dangled from the ropes, called down, "Oi! You braced the wrong way!"

Then he maneuvered himself back to the mast and shimmied down it, trotting over to Zenko to see if he'd done himself any serous damage or if he'd need medical attention.

[Usagi Zenko]

Oh my kami please let me hit the sh-UUDDDD.

The Hare blinks a few times, then pats the good wooden ship that is all that exists between him and certain watery doom. "Good ship."

He doesn't seem too hurt, beyond his pride of course. He sits up. "Ah...bit of a fall there, eh? You recommend any rope to use to start my way back up?" He offers a wane smile, although his eyes seem to fix on the Isawa and not glance off to either side where the ocean might lay.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Ichiro-san? Let the rope down again, if you would."

Once it was down, O-washi bound the Hare into it himself. Now if the lad failed, they could just drag him up by pure brute force.

(Athletics/STR (climbing) vs. TN 5 this time since those above are actively hauling)

[Usagi Zenko]

"Right. The like a sack of dirt going up a castle wall." He tests the rope a little. "What kind of knot was that?"

He asks it, and then he starts pulling himself up, sped along by the help from above. He seems to look up, more and more the higher he gets...looking down just gets painful with what he sees there.

[Isawa O-Washi]

O-washi, who had followed with a grunt after his first attempt got him tangled in the dangling line, answered patiently. "Bowline. One of the basics."

Once everyone was settled, he said simply, "This is where a prudent ship keeps it's scout so that the sails and ropes of the rigging don't obstruct the view. Take a look at the other ships and tell me what you can make out."

{{Investigation/PER, raises matter}}

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Once again Yakusoku looks out over the water and sees... a lot of water. Couple other ships too. They look like... ships.

Grumbling to herself she shifts in the rigging a bit, enjoying the familiar feeling of rough ropes beneath her calloused hands. "Ain't no scout," she replies with only a hint of frustration, clearly at herself and not her superior. "Use'ta havin' others tell me what they see and then bein' told ta hit it. That or spendin' my time carryin' heavy shit. Gomen, Isawa-sama."

[Usagi Zenko]

Despite the rope attached to him, Zenko holds very tightly to the spar, attempting to move very little. "Other boats...right." He nudges himself upwards with a grimace, and then looks all around in a quick scan before coming back down to hold himself as close to a solid object on the boat as he can.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Fair. Kitsuki-san, listen up...you're likely to be needing this in particular."

O-washi pulled out the whistle he carried and flipped it in his hand casually. "On a big ship like this, you can't just holler down what you see to the crew, especially in high winds, storms, or battles, which is of course when a scout's the most needful. Happily, there's a workaround for that." He stopped tossing and displayed the wooden instrument. "This here pierces all but the loudest sounds well enough. There's a language of sorts that everyone needs to learn, simple enough really but vital. By the time we get back to port, I expect every one of you to be able to respond to the most vital calls by instinct. I don't expect you to master it right off, though, so if you need a refresher you just come see me."

Then he demonstrated the thirty or so calls, slowly and thoroughly explaining the point of each one. They were quite simple, being so few, and should be easily mastered with a bit of effort. {{Sailing/INT TN 10}}

[Suzume Satsuki]

Satsuki concentrates on listening to the differences in the whistle calls, and, surprisingly, turns out rather apt to learn them, despite having never been around a boat before her assignment here. She nods firmly when the instruction in them is finished.

"All right... that's pretty easy to remember."

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Yakusoku listened to the calls and committed them to memory, nodding at those that were already familiar and paying closer attention to the ones she wasn't used to. "Ya, I got it. Hear'em 'nough and you can't forget'em."

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko sits upright again, forcing himself up. He closes his eyes as he listens, to better hear the various tunes. "Tweee-TWWee-twwwe....is that the enemy boarding at the fore-deck?"

He seems skittish yet, but keeps his upright seat this time.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Indeed." Pleased that the poor Hare could manage that, at least, O-washi found a smile for him. "If no one else has a question on that, we'll get to the hard part."

He looked at the Hare askance...this might turn ugly.

"If you're up here when a storm blows in or if you start taking fire during a battle, you'll need to get down from here in a hurry. Who's got an idea of how to do so swiftly without getting themselves killed?"