Osuteno sat below deck of the trading vessel studying diagrams Kitsune had assigned him to examine. Specifically they were prototype blueprints for prosthetic limbs. The difficulty with prosthetics was mostly that depending on the size of the patient and how much of the limb was missing, the muscle connections had to be adjusted for proper use… Which led to many, many diagrams to study. Of course these were not the run of the mill prosthetics he was trying to puzzle out but rather closer to the most complicated puppet he had ever seen (not that he had seen many) while still just being an arm or a leg. Legs were actually a bit simpler though getting the size right had a much greater importance.
The reason he was looking over these now was that one member of the crew had the most tragic excuse for a hook to work with and Osu felt like he could do a better job himself using some spare wood on the ship than what the sailor had basically been charged another arm and a leg to have made for him. If Osu ever found this quack who ever left a patient with such a… but that wasn’t important right now. The main problem was that a majority of the designs were still too difficult for him to work with and he didn’t have the right materials with him, so what he would end up with would be a bit basic, though more reliable than what he had.
In fact Osu had the measurements of both the man’s good arm and the stump were written down as the sailor sat nervously in the seat across from him. “Are you sure the captain said it was okay to use some of the cargo for my arm?” It was a perfectly understandable question to Osu having met the captain.
“Well I offered to do this for free and I promised you would be able to do your job with greater ease after you got used to working the prosthetic. He might be a bit protective of his money but he understands long term investments and doesn’t want to go through the effort of finding and possibly having to train a new man to replace you. Especially since I am only taking wood, wire and some sealant.” Osu didn’t mention that he was having to pay the captain for the sealant as he didn’t consider that a necessary expense but as he was having to use wood he needed to protect it from the sea and the sun.
Osu slowly created and measured molds using his henomancer’s gift. Even for such a basic design each finger section was taking him several minutes of measuring, adjusting and "sanding" before he would get one worth wiring to the next. The first finger took Osu nearly 40 minutes to get correct and treat and his time didn’t go down much from there though the thumb proved to be particularly annoying. He was admittedly embarrassed with the design he was forced to go with. The fingers could not be flexed individually though the sailor would be able to spread them and it would allow him grip things and pick them up. Osu even managed to make it to where if one finger was griped as far as it could on an object the other digits would still be able to keep squeezing.
Yes, after nearly four hours… he only had the hand finished with an arm to go and he was exhausted. As Osu began to apologize to the sailor for needing to take a break, the man waved him off. In fact as he pulled on the wires to get the fingers to move he didn’t seem tired or bored at all from watching Osu work. “Nonsense. I could have a go at what you have been doing for months and not have a hand this pretty, particularly since I can’t do that hocus pocus you were doing there with your blood. Hah! You’ve actually put your blood and sweat into this. To be honest though, and no offense meant Sensei, but that is rather spooky stuff.”
Something about that caught Osu’s attention. “What did you call me?”
“Huh? I called you sensei. Was always taught to treat doctors with respect, isn’t that right?”
Osu grasped the man’s uninjured arm and started shaking his head with excitement. “No that is exactly right, perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary.” And it wouldn’t have been for any other medical practitioner, but Osu had never once been given the respect of being called Sensei. “Rather who needs a break? Let’s get that forearm started, in fact I think I might want to speak with the captain about using some leather. I might be able to make a sort of brace to go up your arm and around your torso so it might be able to support your weight if you find yourself falling of something. Tell him I have the money to pay for it…”
Five hours later Osu was finishing up attaching the wires to the man’s anesthetized arm. This was actually the fourth attempt for Osu to get the connections right, something he would be embarrassed to explain should anyone ask considering the arm’s limitations. When working properly it would be able to bend independently at the elbow, the wrist, and the fingers jointly. After his third attempt the fingers were correct but the wrist was bending when the elbow should and the elbow wasn’t doing anything. He at least near where the wrist wires needed to be connected but he was having to study through his medical text to figure out precisely what he was doing wrong with the elbow. This was supposed to be fairly straight forward in his opinion but already he had made the sailor lose some sense of touch near the end of his stump. It didn’t help he wasn’t really working from a set blueprint but he thought it was enough to make the connections based on what he noticed what the other more complicated prints did. Osu got so wrapped up in trying to figure out what he was doing wrong, that it took him a while to figure out that maybe the sailor had gone so long without an arm that he couldn’t remember which muscles he needed to flex to use his arm properly.
Having spent most of the trip working on the sailor's new arm he finally had it working as it should and showed the man roughly where to tighten his muscles to flex the different parts and explained that when he got some shore leave to find an actual leather worker to improve the rather sloppy brace Osu made. Now he just needed to go back up on deck to check on how Tama and the rest of the crew were doing... Only to find them giving a very obviously anemic and malnourished man rum to "make him feel a bit better."
The reason he was looking over these now was that one member of the crew had the most tragic excuse for a hook to work with and Osu felt like he could do a better job himself using some spare wood on the ship than what the sailor had basically been charged another arm and a leg to have made for him. If Osu ever found this quack who ever left a patient with such a… but that wasn’t important right now. The main problem was that a majority of the designs were still too difficult for him to work with and he didn’t have the right materials with him, so what he would end up with would be a bit basic, though more reliable than what he had.
In fact Osu had the measurements of both the man’s good arm and the stump were written down as the sailor sat nervously in the seat across from him. “Are you sure the captain said it was okay to use some of the cargo for my arm?” It was a perfectly understandable question to Osu having met the captain.
“Well I offered to do this for free and I promised you would be able to do your job with greater ease after you got used to working the prosthetic. He might be a bit protective of his money but he understands long term investments and doesn’t want to go through the effort of finding and possibly having to train a new man to replace you. Especially since I am only taking wood, wire and some sealant.” Osu didn’t mention that he was having to pay the captain for the sealant as he didn’t consider that a necessary expense but as he was having to use wood he needed to protect it from the sea and the sun.
Osu slowly created and measured molds using his henomancer’s gift. Even for such a basic design each finger section was taking him several minutes of measuring, adjusting and "sanding" before he would get one worth wiring to the next. The first finger took Osu nearly 40 minutes to get correct and treat and his time didn’t go down much from there though the thumb proved to be particularly annoying. He was admittedly embarrassed with the design he was forced to go with. The fingers could not be flexed individually though the sailor would be able to spread them and it would allow him grip things and pick them up. Osu even managed to make it to where if one finger was griped as far as it could on an object the other digits would still be able to keep squeezing.
Yes, after nearly four hours… he only had the hand finished with an arm to go and he was exhausted. As Osu began to apologize to the sailor for needing to take a break, the man waved him off. In fact as he pulled on the wires to get the fingers to move he didn’t seem tired or bored at all from watching Osu work. “Nonsense. I could have a go at what you have been doing for months and not have a hand this pretty, particularly since I can’t do that hocus pocus you were doing there with your blood. Hah! You’ve actually put your blood and sweat into this. To be honest though, and no offense meant Sensei, but that is rather spooky stuff.”
Something about that caught Osu’s attention. “What did you call me?”
“Huh? I called you sensei. Was always taught to treat doctors with respect, isn’t that right?”
Osu grasped the man’s uninjured arm and started shaking his head with excitement. “No that is exactly right, perfectly normal, nothing out of the ordinary.” And it wouldn’t have been for any other medical practitioner, but Osu had never once been given the respect of being called Sensei. “Rather who needs a break? Let’s get that forearm started, in fact I think I might want to speak with the captain about using some leather. I might be able to make a sort of brace to go up your arm and around your torso so it might be able to support your weight if you find yourself falling of something. Tell him I have the money to pay for it…”
Five hours later Osu was finishing up attaching the wires to the man’s anesthetized arm. This was actually the fourth attempt for Osu to get the connections right, something he would be embarrassed to explain should anyone ask considering the arm’s limitations. When working properly it would be able to bend independently at the elbow, the wrist, and the fingers jointly. After his third attempt the fingers were correct but the wrist was bending when the elbow should and the elbow wasn’t doing anything. He at least near where the wrist wires needed to be connected but he was having to study through his medical text to figure out precisely what he was doing wrong with the elbow. This was supposed to be fairly straight forward in his opinion but already he had made the sailor lose some sense of touch near the end of his stump. It didn’t help he wasn’t really working from a set blueprint but he thought it was enough to make the connections based on what he noticed what the other more complicated prints did. Osu got so wrapped up in trying to figure out what he was doing wrong, that it took him a while to figure out that maybe the sailor had gone so long without an arm that he couldn’t remember which muscles he needed to flex to use his arm properly.
Having spent most of the trip working on the sailor's new arm he finally had it working as it should and showed the man roughly where to tighten his muscles to flex the different parts and explained that when he got some shore leave to find an actual leather worker to improve the rather sloppy brace Osu made. Now he just needed to go back up on deck to check on how Tama and the rest of the crew were doing... Only to find them giving a very obviously anemic and malnourished man rum to "make him feel a bit better."
