He looked down at the supplies and weighed the importance of the different things he wished to make. First among them was...

Well, he wanted to make the fan for Kasumi. He didn't wish to rush on the gift for his hosts. But before all of that.

Sigh.

The proper choice was for Natsuko. And so he began carving from the chunk of branch.

D4 LA, Carving Netsuke, Resplendent? | TN: 3 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0

Success, opp for making additional copy, 2 resplendent netsuke will be finished

Walking to his lodging Kuroneko as he saw his cousin. Seemed that Kuroneko's demeanor had grown a bit of perk. Knowing how he felt the previous night he decided to accompany his friend. "Oi... Shiba san..." He called.

"Hey, Shiba-san. Join me?" He smiled up to Kuroneko with the greeting, before looking back down to the blade and wood in his hands. "How are you doing today?"

He moved closer. "Feeling a bit better than this morning. I found a new friend." He chuckled.

"Oh? What new friend is that?" he asks, expecting a competitor's name.

He opened his hand slightly. "I caught this little guy out in the forest." He chuckled at the squirrel. "I need a box to keep him."

"Hmm. I don't have anything that he couldn't just tear through. I could make something but it would take time," he offers. His hands continue to work.

"It is fine... I also need a name." He wondered. "Might need a gender neutral one. I don't know if it is a boy or a girl."

"Shimei?" he said with a smirk. "I think you could maybe ask for a covered basket? That could work well."

He looked at the squirrel in his hands. "Do you like Shimei?" The Little guy chirped. "A basket would suffice but I think I have to make it comfortable with some straw."

He looks at the slight mess on the floor he has yet to clean. "How about sawdust?"

"That can also help. I would like to make a small bed for the guy. The saw dust might help to keep the basket clean." He nodded.

"Ill be sure to put it together somewhere for you when I clean it up then," he says. "Farmer I worked with used it all the time for his animals."

"Yeah... we use some for the rescues so they have the feeling of nature." He nodded. "My cousins and I like to rescue these little guys."

"I see. Probably gets pretty busy then, taking care of so many animals," he says with a nod. "Do you get many injured ones to take care of?"

"That is my friend's job... I should learn medicine at some point... So I can take care of them." He nodded. "I just wish the poachers would stop their contraband."

"They are a large problem then?"

"Yes... lords don't like strangers hunting in their lands." He nodded.

"I would not have thought that it would be difficult to manage them. With professional troops and magistrates available to most lords."