D0EA, Tea Time (Open)

[Usogawa Narumi]

"An honourable sort is what we should all look for, ne?" Narumi nodded a few times in response, before glancing to the Deer, then back to the Crane with interest. Narumi herself would not say she was ever mean, her thoughts rambled ahead of her. She considered.
"As for myself, much the same. Honour above all things. But, being bold... one who would like to travel... if I could ask for as much. I have grown up on the rivers of Rokugan, and I could not imagine planting roots... Not so soon, anyway.
And you, Shika-san? If you had your choice of suitor, what would call to you that this one might keep an eye out for?" she enjoyed this little game of getting-to-know-you very much.

[Shika Nesshin]

"Oh, I haven't thought much about it," Nesshin says. "Living among matchmakers, I've always figured I'd be matched.

"But if I had my druthers," he continues, "it'd be someone who's willing to try new things." He smiles. "Open to new experiences might be how to describe it. And who appreciates the outdoors and what it offers."

[Kakita Akihiro]

Akihiro nods thoughtfully. Or he hoped he looked thoughtful. Not having half of his face made it difficult to be sure.

"New experiences, Shika-san? If you were to marry into another clan you might be the one having a new experience. Though I imagine married life is a new experience in and of itself. My parents are not a love match but they have indicated some fondness for each other on occasion." The Kakita discloses without much shame. "Perhaps a willingness to have many children is another point in a potential match's favor."

He looks between the two of them and imagines what their children might look like. Another smile before he banishes it with another question to the pair, "What about something in your candidate that you could not stand? Something you would request the matchmakers avoid at all costs?"

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin looks to the Otter, deferring to her.

[Usogawa Narumi]

"Oh, I haven't thought much about it," Nesshin says. "Living among matchmakers, I've always figured I'd be matched.

"Aha, you and I are much the same, then, Shika-san. My aunt raised me, and being a matchmaker herself, I assumed..." she lets a quiet shrug finish her sentence for her.
"I shall keep an ear to the ground for those who enjoy the sound of the woods!"
Narumi caught the thoughtful glance from the Crane, and her smile returned. "You want many children, Kakita-san? Do you have many siblings, or just an overarching fondness for children?" This pleased her to hear, and that too surprised her. Narumi had truthfully not given much thought to children in her future. At least not until this moment...
"Oh! Something I would not stand for? That is a most valid question, a good one, indeed. For me, it would be no spark of imagination for what could be. Someone who does not ask themself, what else is there? Who does not look for something more beyond the horizon... Simple contentment with ones lot in life seems a very sad life, indeed."

[Kakita Akihiro]

Akihiro nods in reply. "Not quite either. One, it is my duty and glory to bring more servants to my lord. Two, my mother had several births but few children. I am the oldest."

That depressing subject put out there the Kakita decided that answering his own question would be best. "I would find it difficult to be married to someone who was overly slovenly. A bunkmate when I was the Academy would chew on sunflower seeds and rain the remains upon me while I slept. It...caused me to be very clean in my living arrangments."

He puts out his hands to show that they have been washed and cleaned very precisely.

[Shika Nesshin]

Nesshin winces.

"I've caught some of those barefoot," he says. "Not nice at all.

"But for me...someone who's so stuck on what's polite that they can't get things done would be...difficult. Don't get me wrong, behave, but you can't treat the world outside like it's high court and expect nature to obey."

He shakes his head. "I've known a few like that, in fact. They...did not enjoy things as much as they might've. Felt sorry for them, really."

[Usogawa Narumi]

"Oh. Oh I am so sorry, Kakita-san," any hint of remaining smile at the thought of children was unceremoniously swept away and Narumi grew thoughtful again.
"Hai, nature has a way of laughing at the best laid plans, and doing what she likes instead... I find it better in my experience on the river to expect the best, prepare for the worst, and live my life somewhere in between. Always preparing for the worst, of course. It's only sensible," at least living afloat as the Otter do.

[Kakita Akihiro]

"The Crane know well the power of the water and wind. Their kami have been...active in a way that no amount of courtly elegance can turn aside." The storms that destroyed portions of the Crane coast were fresh in his mind at the Shika's words.

"I will live as I must, I am not so high born as to expect more than making decisions for an estate. Though...preparing the worst tends to betray what the prepared think is important. Maybe betray is a bad word. Reveal?" Akihiro considered the question before shrugging. "My lord prepares for battle with the Lion. He does not prepare for battle against the elements themselves. To those he must merely submit."

[Shika Nesshin]

"All we do reveals who and what we are," Nesshin comments. "That does not mean all of it can be read by every eye, of course, but it is written there upon us."