Fai was curious what all the busyness was about. Sure, there had been brief times he had noticed it got crowded compared to usual and there were strangers wandering in to pray and the ladies would be there, one at the gate welcoming people as she left the gate open and the rest to tend to the guests throughout the shrine but as far as he could tell, Kurogane didn't seem very involved. Rather, he usually went on errands and let him come with. He helped some sure, but lately, Kurogane had been preoccupied primarily with whatever was going on there. Even when he stayed in the same room, his hands and mind were usually busy. From painting the same things over and over on these wooden pieces and once they had a string with a knot secured on, they were placed in these pouches. He'd seen them before, several times, but this was the first time he'd spent watching them be made.
"Kuro Kuro~" Fai cooed.
Kurogane turned to the demon from where he sat, doing calligraphy on the wooden trinkets for the shrine.
"Whatcha doing?" Fai asked.
"Working. If you want I can find you something to do that's paws-on." Since he lacked part of his fingers, some hands-on activities were extremely difficult to do or at least to make it look proper but there was still other stuff Fai could do that didn't require having opposable thumbs.
Fai considered, "I want learn what Kuro Kuro's working on."
"If you're sure," Kurogane said before setting his project down to get some supplies for Fai to work with.
Kurogane pulled out some supplies from the room for Fai to practice on. Since there was some they couldn't sell due to human errors, they would be great for showing Fai how and then he could use ones that could still be sold.
Holding the calligraphy brush like Fai would need to, he practiced the strokes without ink to make sure he could show him how. It would do no good to show him improperly after all. When he was sure he could show him right, he dipped the calligraphy pen into the ink. And Fai chose to settle on his lap to watch Kurogane show him.
Kurogane didn't say anything about that as he simply showed him how to do the lines for the omamori. Fai paid close attention as Kurogane showed him how. When Kurogane finished, he looked between the piece he had been working on and this one and noticed the lines weren't as clean but they were still similar enough that even if he couldn't read the words just yet, he still knew they were the same words.
"What does it say?"
Kurogane pointed at a couple of the words that went down the middle of the amulet. "That's the name of this shrine. Suwa Shrine." Pointing at the words on the side. "These words say it's for good luck."
"You can give people good luck?"
Kurogane made a shrug, "I believe they make their own luck."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think people are lucky or unlucky naturally. So many look for possessions to help create their own luck and others create luck with their words and thoughts."
"So you help them create luck with these?"
"They work best when the person believes in them. But some things are beyond a charm's control."
"Like what?"
"The biggest I can think of is you can't make someone love you."
"Really?"
"Love is something freely given. If it's forced, it's not love."
"Kuro Kuro… what if you really want someone to love you?"
"Ain't nothing you can do but be yourself. If you're not yourself, even if they fall in love with your illusion, it's not you they love."
Fai grew quiet before he asked, "and who does Kuro Kuro love?"
"Well I love Mother."
"Do you love anyone else?"
"Uh…" he then shrugged. "Dunno. Don't really think about it a lot. Gots other stuff to think of."
"What's more important than love?"
"Unless it's Mother, food, obviously. And keeping folks safe from dangerous spirits."
"Do you think I'm dangerous?" Fai asked, looking up at him.
Kurogane paused at that, before commenting "you could be if ya wanted; the fact is, it's your choice and so far you have chosen to get attention by being my eternal leech."
Fai smiled at that. "So kind of you to say that, Kuro Kuro. But then, if you thought I was a danger, I wouldn't get to see Kuro Kuro again, and I would miss your cute faces."
Kurogane turned rather pink at that, and loudly said, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Fai let out a chirpy laugh, "Kuro Kuro shouldn't lie in front of his good luck charm. Now let's make more of these together."
Kurogane made a small huff at that but didn't move away from Fai until they needed more supplies to make the omamoris.
