(D3, LA) Drinking Up While Lady Sun Goes Down

[Seppun Yuzu]

"They have been quite welcoming, mostly." He nods and takes another sip. "My first assignment is to get matched to a good bride. Being appointed by the Shika is a great honor for one in my position. A good starting relation with the Minor Clans."

[Moshi Shizuka]

Shizuka seemed content enough to play the role of solacer in this conversation: she kept her movements slow and small, her voice quieter though the smoky, husky edge never really smoothed out to the delicate crystal tones popular with ingenue Crane (or those who aped their style).

"Good relations are built on harmonious pairings, Seppun-sama. At least, that was the advice I was given before my family sent me off here. Though nobody is every really in agreement on what makes a pairing harmonious. Everyone seems to have their own opinions on such things: our hosts' matchmakers, our families." Shizuka paused, considering the glazing on her tea cup. "Ourselves."

"What is it you look for, neh?"

[Seppun Yuzu]

"My preferences are secondary compared to that which my Family understands it is necessary to protect our Emperor and his Empire. So, what I look for," He sips looking at Shizuka for a moment and then outside, "it doesn't really matter in the end. Does it — Why dive into it?"

[Moshi Shizuka]

"Your selflessness is admirable, Seppun-sama." Shizuka conceded. "An example that many, myself included, should strive to live up to."

Despite the flowery words, Shizuka's tone wasn't fawning. She wasn't trying to ingratiate. She said what she needed to say, what society expected her to say and demanded her to say - and there was none of the passion that Shizuka of the previous morning had in her motions and speech.

For once in this whole miai, Shizuka seemed content to let the silence settle between the two. She looked out at the rain and the view, taking counsel with her own thoughts.

[Seppun Yuzu]

The boy keeps sipping his tea. Looking at Shizuka proved to be very difficult, for some odd reason. Pleasantly difficult, perhaps. Courageous, though, he does get a moment to look sideways and steal a glance at the curves about in the landscape.

/Scene?

[Moshi Shizuka]

If Shizuka noticed, she didn't show it. Perhaps she knew. Perhaps she didn't. The quiet and the tea was pleasant enough a way to pass the rainy afternoon in its simple, traditional tranquility.

Perhaps, she knew that when people look, they expect to see a certain thing.

And Shizuka was many things in life, but someone to disappoint others was not one of them.

/scene