Kyuden Shika

Raizo knew that most regarded tea as a morning thing, but...

But if I go to the sake house, I may well leave feetfirst. Besides. Tea's better for following up practice anyway.

And a tea house had pretexts. He didn't need to prance about odd issues. He could just order some damn tea, and...

The teas are all named after girls. Of course.

This entire Kyuden is fucking weird.

"Uhhh... the oolong with the cinnamon? I guess?"

"The Akina, you mean?"

"Er. Yeah."

As part of her evening exploring now things were calmer, Emiko located a tea house. Exciting, a real one! Well, not like Crane level real ones, those were more expensive than most of her clans yachts. This one was nice though, and she was looking at it with a smile before entering...and tripping over the entrance, ending up face-first on the floor.

"Ow..." she muttered.

Raizo stood up, strode over, hunkered down, and offered his hand.

"Don't think you broke your nose, but that didn't look pleasant."

Emiko sat up, wiping her face a moment before noticing there was a hand in front of it.

"Ano..." she looked up at the man "it's ok, but thank you."

She rose on her own, wiping down her pretty kimono before bowing.

"Please accept my apology for disrupting your evening."

"No apology is required, er... samurai-san. Hell, I should thank you for giving me something I actually knew how to respond to."

His own attire was still the simple garb he usually wore under his armor. He'd laid out his finer clothing at the inn, but hadn't arssed himself to put it on.

"This one is Shiba Raizo. Bad at social niceties. Good at straightforward tasks."

"Lovely to meet you Shiba-sama, I am Usogawa Emiko. Good at performing arts and bad at walking through doorways safely" Emiko brought a hand up to cover a laugh "I haven't been here before, how is the tea? Would you like to join me for some, in apology for having disturbed your evening?"

"I think having tea with me might disturb your evening, Usogawa-san... and please, the only guys I'm a 'sama' to are ashigaru."

He didn't actually comment on the tea, it had to be said.

"Still, if you feel like offsetting some karma, I don't mind the company."

"I'm sure it won't ruin my evening Shiba-san" Emiko said with a warm smile "company is always enjoyable!"

She let him lead on, until they could find a table to look at the options for tea.

"What is a typical tea from Phoenix lands?"

"Dunno, really."

He shrugged.

"Most of the time, for me, tea's tea. I know Father has his favorite blend of some damn sort, but I also know he gets it from Crane lands as a sign of status. And my life hasn't exactly encouraged epicurean tastes thus far."

"Please forgive me for the correction, but tea is never tea. Sometimes it can help a soldier remain awake during the night, other times it can soothe an ill patient. For now? It's bringing two people together to enjoy the evening. Magical, ne?" She brought a hand up to cover a laugh "what was the name of your fathers favourite blend? The Deer appear to have planned well so perhaps they have it? If not, I suggest we let fate decide."