(D11LE, expecting) Not-quite-midnight snack.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

“Oh, meeting people. Reestablishing old friendships. Trying to determine what happens when I leave the Dragon.”

She considers him, tilting her head slightly. “What will you do if you are married out? How will you fare with no mask and no school? Will you be accepted in a new Clan?”

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"Either you are accepted as family when you wed or the clan you come to faces great shame", he said. "I can't imagine any clan allowing someone to marry in and then treat them as an outsider. I find the idea bizarre."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

"Either you are accepted as family when you wed or the clan you come to faces great shame", he said. "I can't imagine any clan allowing someone to marry in and then treat them as an outsider. I find the idea bizarre."

Her head stays tilted, though now she sighs. “Hai Shosuro-san. We are all honorable samurai, yes, yes, I know. I also know, as do you, that there are many ways to be outsider.” Her hand strokes her chin pointedly.

“But tonight we do not speak in hypotheticals, we speak as they who will be confronted with the reality, at least I do. Will your suitors be changing their colors or will you, do you think?”

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"Odds are looking even", he said easily. "I admit one option is much more bright and noble pillow book than the other, but I think I will find proper happiness and challenges on both ends. They are both good people anyone would be honored to marry, at least to me."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

She nods.

“So then, what will happen to you if you change your colors? Will your sensei still teach you? Or will you need to learn another path? If I change to what my stories tell me I will, I will be alright one way or the other, yet I find myself curious. Hat would it feel like without mask after all the years you’ve worn it?”

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"I would be fine, I believe", he said sincerely. "Putting down a tradition can be hard, but I don't believe that is your point. Isn't the question more about the change life takes with marriage? It isn't simply lowering a mask forever, it's taking on a new philosophy. However, were I to become a Lion for instance, I would be fine. Certainly they would never expect honorable ideals from me, but they may be surprised. The Scorpion have their own very hardened virtue they take quite seriously. Over time they would see that, and I may learn something of their Bushido as well. Were I to become something else, say an Otter to go the opposite direction, well...my upbringing as a Shosuro would ensure I could be whatever it is they require of me, and I think I would get along fine. I think the only clans I would have difficulty with joining would be the Phoenix, the Dragon, and the Unicorn. Their ideas are simply too different from mine and from what I know, they would have little use for my talents unless I could make them see their worth somehow."

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi ponders this.

"I suppose your words are mostly true. And I have more of a niche than most, it's true. I'm certain the Crab would put me to work divining the next big oni invasion. Which sounds...traumatic. The Lion at least have the Ikoma. The Crane would likely have me make instruments or something else I'm not good at. Sigh. Well, then it's good I'm destined to be paired with a Lion.

I suppose I'm mainly pondering because my parents were both Dragon. Oh well."

She's still eating and thinking, for the moment.

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"And my parents were both Shosuro, though from very distant branches of the family", he said with a nod. "Though now since you say it, I am curious as to your claim. You say fate has placed you with a Lion?"

He eliminated Moshu from the running, though despite surface interaction he'd had he did believe he could match this one, he didn't believe the Agasha saw it that way. Next was Murato...and just no. He was far too in on another avenue. Tsugumau perhaps? Dragon are mytics in general, but he decided not, as Inoshishi didn't seem the type to see that as fortunate, it would have been closer to her comparison with the Crab.

That left Ishioka.

Really? Ishioka?

Perhaps she is in love with his event success record...?

He smiled pleasantly beneath his mask, trying to get the effect to show despite his eyes not being great for it. Not only was Narumi quite desperate in a way for him, he was also...well, an obtuse lump of coal. Perhaps he has some sensitive side he refuses to share with the rest of the world.

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi appears to have drifted off into a vaguely happy daydream, but pops right out of it.

"Oh, it isn't MY claim. But yes. The stories tell me that I will be part of one of the Great Romances. As I am a Dragon who the Lion trust, and the Dragon and Lion have had great enmity between them, the stories have told me that we will wed, the Lion least like myself and I. And there will be another, though I am uncertain of their role, because there is always another. But I have a plan, an idea, a way to escape the dark fate of all Great Romances. My stories have not told me it won't work, but neither have they told me that it will. Last I tried, they said, "And many years had past, and she became greedy." which made it clear that they did not wish me to pursue my answers further from within them."

She shrugs.

"So yes, I know what is in store for me, in broad strokes."

She eats a mushroom and some wild onions. Her breath is amazing.

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"Uh-huh...I assume this is fortune telling of some kind", he decided with a nod. "You know I've had it done already, but it was what you expect. I have a choice coming, I will struggle, you know, what fortune tellers say."

Honestly he didn't toss Koi's method in the garbage, but broad strokes mean noting to someone who can see them without a fortune teller.

"So have you found this Lion already?"