(D1, MM) Bits and Bones

[Kuni Yasu]

While her new outfit wouldn't pass as winter court formal wear, it's suitable for minor clan miai levels of formality. The light summer fabric is richly printed with a fan pattern in deep blues and rich reds, the handle echoing the third eye painted on her forehead. A simple black obi with embroidery depicting a winding river in low-contrast midnight-blue silk holds it in place.

Yasu's taken care to get her face paint just right this morning. The sense that her forehead's baleful glare is hastily smudged on is a carefully crafted fiction.The smooth white of the paint does wonders to hide any dark circles last night's sake indulgences might have caused.

Her approach, on stockinged feet, is not particularly loud, but there is an unmistakable sense of her size and solidity in the steady footsteps. Once before the Shika Champion, she bows deeply, perhaps too deeply, not having mastered the dozens of precise angles one should use to indicate this person's status is thus far above or below this other person's status. It is respectful and neat, and little more.

Yasu presents a small box of some dark wood, her painted eye meeting the champion's gaze before her true eyes as she rises from her bow. "Thank you very much for your hospitality, Shika-sama. In gratitude, I would like you have this divination kit crafted by my mothers at my birth. It has guided a number of their decisions, including that of sending me here. In recognition that the last decision they may make for their eldest daughter was to send her here, placing the next steps of her future into your hands, they asked that I bring this for your examination, and possible use." The opening offer had been crafted well ahead of time, and rehearsed to a smoothness that doesn't feel entirely natural to the Kuni, but she'd been assured by her mothers that it sounded just fine.

[Shika Renji]

Renji returns the bow with the full etiquette one of the Kuni's station deserves, though the smile on his face is a bit more friendly than Crane standard etiquette would dictate.

"Ah, a momentous gift for a momentous occasion, truly Kuni-san. The Deer have a long tradition of divination, and I'm sure there are many around the kyuden who would be interested in discussing the differences in styles between the Deer and the Crab." he offers, quite warmly.

He shakes his head slighty.

"But perhaps it would be unjust to accept this gift from you Kuni-san. After all, we are seeing you on to your rebirth in the ceremony of marriage. Surely it would be more comforting to you to retain this physical reminder of the family that you leave behind to start your own." he says, giving the first refusal.

[Kuni Yasu]

This part was harder, and unrehearsed, though maintaining her smile as she thought of a response was definitely a matter of some training.

"It's really kind of you to consider my comfort and connection to my family like this, Shika-sama. I truly appreciate it." There was the stalling for time to think bit out of the way.

"But, even if I leave them behind entirely for the other side of the Empire, I've got my mother's eyes, and my other mother's blade. My consort-father's height and hands are always with me; so's my great-grandmother's wisdom. We can't really leave our ancestors behind."

The box is shifted to one hand and the lid removed. Inside are an odd collection of items, most with kanji painted or scratched or scratched and then painted onto their surfaces. There are three wooden 'coins' of different colored woods; three more that look like polished bone; a tiny lock of hair crimped into a short tube with a triangular cross-section, and a cricket netsuke carved of stone of swirled white and green.

"If it might aid the Deer diviners in settling me to a good future, I know that all my family would urge me to pass these to you. Even if it's just going to be a pleasant reminder of another good match made, and no actual use at all, they'd say the same. It's played its part in my mothers' hands. Time for others to hold them."

[Shika Renji]

Renji paused a moment, taking the time to appreciate the various bits and bobs that the Kuni showed him, as well as the Kuni herself.

"Hm, indeed, Kuni-san truly combines the best features of those who have come before her, and I am certain this is quite pleasing to them." he offers as both praise and appraisal.

"I agree that it it time for the other hands to hold these tools, but I wonder if the Deer are truly the best hands for them. While they would certainly be a wonderful reminder of Kuni-san's time with us, could they not be better utilized by Kuni-san's descendants? After all, Kuni-san should be able to give both the tools and the knowledge to her children so they may pass it on to theirs." he says giving the second refusal.

[Kuni Yasu]

She shakes her head with a gentle smile. This one was easy.

"As is my mother's tradition, I'll make a new set for each of my own children."

The lid is replaced and the box held forward once more.

"My mothers, and I, would be honored if you'd accept this symbol of their hopes for me, with all our gratitude for your part in them."

[Shika Renji]

She shakes her head with a gentle smile. This one was easy.

"As is my mother's tradition, I'll make a new set for each of my own children."

The lid is replaced and the box held forward once more.

"My mothers, and I, would be honored if you'd accept this symbol of their hopes for me, with all our gratitude for your part in them."

Renji bowed.

"Then allow me to accept this as such, Kuni-san. May your gratitude be truly well deserved as both the hopes of you and your family are placed into the hands of the Deer just as you place this gift from you and your family into mine." he says, accepting the gift.

(Kuni Yasu earns 1 ourtship point, 1 glory, & 1 Honor!)