re: your writing prompt post; Danger Noodle takes up knitting or sewing, struggles a little bc of his snake hands, makes his dads Dare handmade gifts
Noodle was having the absolute damndest time!
He way trying to learn a yarn craft. Danger Noodle started off with knitting, but when that proved too difficult he switched to crochet; but crochet was shaping up to be too difficult too!
It wasn't that Noodle didn't understand the concept of looping the yarn and pulling the thread through. It was that his body was not built for this very human (and humanoid) craft.
Danger Noodle was a Snakeman. He stood and walked upright like a humanoid, but he was a snake and so did not have arms. Instead, he had four extra serpentine necks that ended in equally serpentine mouths. He did not have hands or fingers to hold the yarn and crochet hook with.
One of his adopted fathers, Tri-Klops made prosthetic hands for him. They were an attachment of his armor. Metal plated sleeves that hugged his extra snake-necks together on either side to give him the silhouette of arms, and both 'arms' ended in three toggle-like fingers that Noodle could manipulate mechanically with the mouths of his snakeheads inside the sleeves.
But the toggle-like fingers did not serve well for something that required fine motor skills like knitting.
Crochet he thought would be easier, you were just pulling the yarn through the loop to make another loop. Much simpler than knitting. But even crochet was proving to be difficult.
In his frustration, Noodle pried his armor off to try and hold the hook and yarn with his snake mouths. But now the yarn was getting caught on his fangs!
Noodle just wanted to make handmade gifts for his dads and his secret-boyfriend, Prince Dare.
Was that so much to ask?
Since he wanted it to be a surprise, Noodle couldn't ask his dads for advice. Tri-Klops might be able to think of a solution for the issue of fine motor control with his prosthetic fingers, but then Tri-Klops would know. Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw told each other everything, and so if Noodle told Tri-Klops, then Trap Jaw would know too and the surprise would be spoiled for both dads. Noodle had to ask someone else.
Beastman knew how to crochet, and knit. Both. He made baby blankets for both Danger Noodle and Prince Malkyn when they were still babies. Noodle could ask Beastman for advice on how to do the craft. But Beastman was also not known for his description and might carelessly blab to Noodle's dads. As helpful as Beastman might be, Noodle couldn't go to him either.
There was only one other person Noodle could think of that might be able to help him.
Danger Noodle went to Zalesia.
Zalesia was a ruin far to the south of Snake Mountain. At one time it was thriving metropolis, but now it was a labyrinthine warren hurried under the sand. The only part of the once great city that remained on the surface was the giant stone sculpture of a ram skull, the head of Zalesia's Goddess, Bash-Or. The massive ram skull also served as the entrance that lead into the cavernous ruins bellow.
Inside the ruins, Noodle was met by the Faceless One.
The Faceless One had been the last King of Zalesia, the one who oversaw the city's fall. For his failure to protect his city, the Faceless One was cursed with immortality. He was confined to the ruins of the city he could not protect and spent the last 1000 years being its caretaker. He must have picked up some skills in that time. If for no other way than to pass the time.
"I don't usually see you here without my grandson." Commented the Faceless One.
That was true, Noodle's best friend, Prince Malkyn, was the Faceless One's grandson. Noodle only knew the Faceless One because Malkyn brought Noodle with him when he visited Zalesia. Sometimes, when they were younger and the adults had Evil Warrior missions that were dangerous, all the adults sent their kids to Zalesia with Malkyn to be watched over by the Faceless One while their parents fought. All of the New Evil Warriors knew the Faceless One.
But they didn't usually come to Zalesia without Malkyn.
Noodle held up his incomplete and misshapen crochet project. It was supposed to be a cap for Trap Jaw to wear under his helmet. But it looked like a lumpy wide-net sack. Something to catch fish with, not something to be worn on a head.
"I'm trying to learn a new skill." Noodle explained. "But-"
He held two of his long serpent necks out so the Faceless One could see that he had mouths instead of hands at the ends of them.
"I'm having trouble just holding to hook and the yarn." He finished.
The Faceless One was hard to read. True to his name, he did not have a face, and so there was no expression on his sanded smooth head for Noodle to read.
Noodle stood with bated breath and slightly apprehensive.
Another reason he did not usually visit Zalesia without Malkyn was because Noodle was afraid the Faceless One did not like him.
Danger Noodle might have been adopted and raised by Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops, but his biological father was King Hiss. A thousand years ago, it was the very same King Hiss who razed Zalesia. Noodle was the son of the man who destroyed the Faceless One's city. The Faceless One was an immortal ghost because of Noodle's father.
Noodle tried to give the Faceless One his space.
It was impossible to say exactly what the Faceless One was looking at since he had no eyes. But he did tilt his head down at the incomplete and lumpy crochet cap, then lifted it to look at Noodle's face.
"What tool are you using?" Asked the Faceless One.
Noodle pulled out his crochet hook.
The Faceless One shook his bare head. "That is shaped for a human hand. You need a hook adapted for a hand with no fingers."
The Faceless One trend around and started drifting down a corridor.
Was Noodle supposed to follow him?
Noodle did follow the Faceless One. In his 1000 years of haunting, the Faceless One had cleared the passages of debris, excavated some of the buildings, restored some parts of the ruins, and started using some chambers as storage for artifacts while he cleared out the places they were supposed to go.
It was one of these storage rooms the Faceless One led Noodle too.
"In Zalesia, sometimes, people would be born with their fingers fused together." Explained the Faceless One. "Or someone might lose one or more fingers to accident or violence. The Shepherdesses redesigned tools so that people who didn't have all five fingers could still do things."
From out of a trunk, the Faceless One pulled out a bulbous handle that looked like a fat teardrop shaped from wood, and coming out of the tapered end of the teardrop was a metal hook, like a crochet hook.
"Try using this." Suggested the Faceless One.
Noodle accepted the adapted crochet hook and had to admit that, yet, the thicker shaper was more comfortable to hold in one of his hand-mouths. He tried doing one stitch as an experiment. Now that it was more comfortable to hold, Noodle found that he also had better control over the yarn too.
"This one is an antique." Said the Faceless One. "If you are willing to wait, I shall made a reproduction for you out of new materials that you can take with you back to Snake Mountain."
-
A better tool was not the sole fix, but it did set Noodle in the right direction. Now that it was comfortable for him to make stitches, and had better control over the yarn, all it took was some more practice and Noodle became proficient enough at crochet that he was able to make grifts for both his dads and his secret boyfriend in time for Lifeday.
A cap for Trap Jaw to wear under his helmet.
A cozy to put around his visor when he wasn't wearing it for Tri-Klops.
For Dare, Noodle made a scarf and gave Dare very clear instructions not to wear it to the battlefield. If any of Noodle's friends saw it, they would recognize it, and then their secret relationship would be exposed.
And, Noodle also made cap for the Faceless One. He didn't need it, the Faceless One did not get cold. It was not a practical gift for the undead sorcerer. But Noodle wanted to thank the Faceless One for the adapted crochet hook, and also show him how much better he'd gotten.
Noodle liked to think the Faceless One liked his gift. He was wearing it the next time Malkyn brought him to the ruins.
Noodle didn't mention it and neither did the Faceless One, but Noodle liked to think they understood each other.
END