[D7 - LA] While the Courtiers Court... (Open)

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Friendship Street and the Crane Embassy were abuzz with activity. The Lion were, in many cases, congregating in their castle to hold their own courts. As the refugees settled in and the water poured down from the heavens like the tears of the kami, thunder booming in the distance, the afternoon was just perfect for coming in to bathe away and cleanse the dust from one's body. It was a luxury that ronin didn't always have the money to afford, and there were usually so many higher status folk running around.

So, what better time was there to come here than now, when most folks were busy elsewhere? Mari congratulated herself silently as she was cleansing herself before going to the bath. Yes, today would be a good day, she just knew it. How often could she get into the baths this easily?

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

Another rather unsuited to the speed and passion of the debate at the Embassy had also taken the chance to bathe while things were quiet. He really hadn't expected anyone else to be present and was thus caught looking rather surprised.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

There was a split second's start when she saw him enter. Two things entered her mind as she schooled her features back into a relative neutrality. One of these was a mental chastisement that, of course, the public baths would have some co-ed offerings. With so many peasants and refugees, private baths were a little too luxurious after all. The other was that the Phoenix was a very ... small fellow, wasn't he?

"Ah, Phoenix-sama. Please forgive me," she said, quietly making sure the towel wrapped around herself was firmly knotted. "I wouldn't wish to intrude on your bath." The bow she gave was a bit perfunctory, but then again, they were in the baths, so...

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He recovered quickly enough to bow politely . . . while making sure his towel was equally well placed.

He gestured in a way that could be interpreted as indicating she should stay, but he said nothing. Merely smiled wanly.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Well... this was a first. She cocked her head a little, trying to get a feel for the man who had joined her. At the very least, it was obvious that he hadn't wanted her to leave, and so she offered a small smile before starting to rise and motioning to washing benches.

"In that case, -sama... I will make sure that the bath is warm enough, and see you in a moment. I am Mari. It is a pleasure." Well, at the very least, she hoped so. Did this one take a vow of silence? He didn't look like a monk.

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He smiled with a small nod while inwardly annoyed at himself for not having his wax tablet and stylus with him. A moment to berate himself for those thoughts as he was not in the habit of bringing the tablet to the bath at all anyway.

He moved to the washing benches, carefully selecting one that faced away from the ronin and began what he had come here to do.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

There was a faint, relaxed splash that came right before an exhalation of the air. It wasn't a natural hot spring, but how often could she get access to one of those? This was just right, especially with the chill in the air outside. The damp soaked into the bone and threatened to chill the soul at times like this.

"It is quite warm, -sama. But not too much. Take your time." She couldn't help but take a slightly more relaxed stance in the water, her arms propped up on the sides. Her hands were calloused, like one who had done a life's work, and her skin just tanned enough to speak of time traveling the roads of the empire, but what did one expect from a ronin really?

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

When the young . . . samurai, as there were absolutely no cues to identify clan right now, finally entered the water there was also a sigh. He looked content. Pale skin but some signs of having been outside for long periods of time. His hands, however, said courtier or priest.

There was a brief but noticeable disturbance of the water close to Mari, causing small ripple to form and begin to increase in size. The male fixed a spot about two feet to Mari's left with a stern glare before pointing at something and making a clear 'come here' gesture.

The ripples subsided as the male's hair whipped in a sudden breeze as he gave Mari an apologetic look.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

She was... familiar with the whims of the kami. Their odd behavior could catch one by surprise at times. When the young man reached out and pointed, and the breeze rustled around his hair, her eye narrowed and she glanced to the right, where the force had been and then back at him.

"A kami?" she said carefully, a little bit more rigid than before. "A ... friend of yours, I take it?" She had heard that some shugenja were beloved of that sort of being, after all, so perhaps that was what this was? It was certainly a little bit surprising.

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He nodded with a smile. The slight rustling of his hair stopped, kami bored already and off to create mischief elsewhere.

He looked at Mari and seemed about to communicate something, but ended up looking rather frustrated with no way to put across whatever it was he wanted her to know.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Her eyebrows climbed when she saw the display. She opened her mouth, about to say something, and then froze, frowning to herself. No. No, don't say it. Don't flat out, openly say 'so, you can't talk then?' That was just asking for trouble. You never called someone out on their disabilities, no matter how private it was. She breathed in, closing her eyes while she considered a way to put it.

"I'm impressed at the gift you have, -sama. For them to hear your call so implicitly," she admitted. Yes. there. Phrase it as a complement. She endeavored to be sincere as she did it, to put the right emphasis on this, rather than emphasizing any limitation.

Sincerity: 23

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He nodded again, but he smiled obviously not annoyed at her, only at himself.

Thoughtful for a moment, he looked right at Mari and mimed shooting a bow and then pointed at her, the question evident in his eyes.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Oh, pantomime? She could do that. Shifting a little in her rested seat and glad that the air kami was off to do its own thing. She'd never had much affinity for the spirits of Air, after all. A laugh and a smile and she had to shake her head. "No, -sama. I am not an archer. I am a shugenja, a priestess of the earth and water, though like any of the clanless I do like to think I have at least a little skill in the arts of war." The bare, absolute minimum, but she could handle her wakizashi acceptably.

"I presume, considering your friend, that you are one as well... of the Air?"

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He nodded again, happily. The smile much more at ease on his face now. He always had trouble talkin . . . . communicating with bushi. Other shugenja were much easier. At least when he had his tablet with him, they were.

A breeze rushing past them announced the return . . . and departure of the air kami again. Ayanojo rolled his eyes at the spirit's antics.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

She laughed when it passed by. "I have no knack for your friend's communication. I could commune in the most basic sense, but they are always so flighty and full of whimsy. I know more the gifts of the steady and flowing." As she sad it, she took water up in her hands and let it spill down lightly in a sprinkling of light droplets. "My feet firmly rooted on the ground, that is the kami I know. I envy those gifted with the air from time to time, though. They must be so liberating."

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

She was gifted with a beaming smile for that. Then he pondered for a while before pointing at himself and then the water and shaking his head. He did the same indicating a solid stone nearby. Feeling air had been covered enough he looked for an open flame or such for the fourth element.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

He needn't have explained. Even if she was not all that far of an expert in the arts of the shugenja, nobody in the empire had not heard of the tensai. He did not carry himself like a ronin, and there was only one group quite so specialized. "I see... then you are deeply blessed by the Air, are you not?" she hazarded, guessing that whatever he was, he was a specialist of some sort.

...

Or his training was deficient, but she doubted that.

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

An emphatic nod at this, causing ripples across the water as he practically bounced in place.

His happy smile held as his gaze veered slightly upwards while considering how to convey his next statement.

Mari · **Joined:** Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:43 am **Posts:** 702

Well, this one was a young one at heart wasn't he? It was... a little cute, she supposed, though a child-like prodigy of the Phoenix certainly didn't seem all that unusual. They were usually so deep in their studies that she wondered if any of them truly knew the world outside of the kami.

seeing him consider, she bobbed her head and kept her attention a little to the right of his shoulder, letting him take all the time he needed to get that thought out.

Asako Ayanojo · **Joined:** Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:25 pm **Posts:** 132

He bit his bottom lip as tried to figure out how to sign what he wanted to ask. He started by pointing at her and then paused before shaking his head. No, that wouldn't work. Maybe she could lip read . . .

He tried mouthing 'work . . . for . . . lion' with a questioning look.

[D7 - LA] While the Courtiers Court... (Open)

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