D8 LM Baths, Soothing Aching Muscles (Open)

[Aimi]

Grumbling under her breath in the wake of the grappling contest, Aimi returns to the inn to collect a fresh change of clothes and then heads to the baths. She's all sweaty and sore after that bout, and not even in the way where she could particularly enjoy herself either. Not that she'd particularly minded being manhandled by her handsome sweetheart in front of everyone, but... ok maybe she minded a little bit...

Sighing, the ronin sinks in the hot water and lets her head rest back against the rim, hoping that the warmth and relaxation will take the soreness away.

[Moto Mitsuki]

Once again, Mitsuki wondered why there were so few people in the baths just after an intense physical activity.

She had washed thoroughly, face included, intended to return her makeup to a less aggressive shape after her bath. For now she was slipping in the main pool, looking like any other samurai-ko.

"Good morning..."

She recognized the girl, but had to dig into her memory to retrieve her name from a talk with Raiko.

"... Aimi-san. Have your day been amendable so far?"

[Aimi]

"Hrm?" Aimi cracks open one eye to look across the bath, "Oh, amenable enough. Raizo-san was very considerate as he manhandled me across the arena in front of everyone."

She pauses. "Ah, forgive me sama, I do not think we have been introduced?"

(Something about the other woman's face nags at her, like she should recognise it, and yet...)

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Moto Mitsuki, of the ten thousand blades of the Khan. We've crossed paths several times, but I don't remember us having an actual talk before. Well, maybe it happened at the bar the other day, but if so, alcohol washed any memory of it. I'm the one who..."

Did she do anything people might have remembered since she arrived actually? And remember in a good light?

"The one with the scimitar, the horse and the thunderous voice.

And yes, I got the idea you and Raizo were acquainted. Did you really meet for the first time barely one week ago? There's already an old couple dynamic to you two."

[Aimi]

"Moto Mitsuki, of the ten thousand blades of the Khan. We've crossed paths several times, but I don't remember us having an actual talk before. Well, maybe it happened at the bar the other day, but if so, alcohol washed any memory of it. I'm the one who..."

Did she do anything people might have remembered since she arrived actually? And remember in a good light?

"The one with the scimitar, the horse and the thunderous voice.

And yes, I got the idea you and Raizo were acquainted. Did you really meet for the first time barely one week ago? There's already an old couple dynamic to you two."

"...I don't believe I've ever been referred to as 'old' anything," Aimi says with a wry smile, "And yes, we met only a week ago, but I am quite used to forming relationships quickly. One scarcely gets the chance to spend a prolonged period of time around someone, getting to know them and work with them, before a bond starts to form. Especially not at an event such as this - by its nature, we will all leave here married to someone we have known for scarcely two weeks."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"By 'used to it', I guess you mean that you're often on the road, going from one place to the next? Which ones did you get to visit before this one? My own experience of the world east of the Spine of the World is still only made of stories as of now. Except for Kyuden Shika itself of course.

And yes indeed, adapting swiftly to change is a requirement in a samurai's life, and the subject of marriage is no exception."

[Aimi]

"I mostly roamed the north and east of the Empire - the lands of the Lion, Crane and Phoenix," Aimi explains with a nostalgic smile, "The Dragon lands were always too barren to really support a wandering samurai, and though I visited the lands of the Unicorn once or twice, I never had cause to stay very long. Your people were always much better at looking after the concerns of their common folk, which is virtuous, but certainly left me little to do."

She shakes her head slowly. "I cannot claim to have ever crossed Beiden Pass and visited the lands beyond, though. I considered it a time or two, but such would mean travelling through the lands of the Scorpion, and the thought did not appeal. Alas, I am afraid I can name few famous landmarks or great castles - my work was always done in shrines and villages, isolated settlements without the fortune to have a shugenja to hand before my arrival."

She chuckles briefly. "As for change and adaptability... well, many praise the virtue, but only those who wander I think truly understand it. A courtier in the capital might think himself worldly, for stories and travellers from across the world pass through his home, but he has never seen any of it, never felt the wind on his face or the hot sun on his neck."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Thanks for the compliment.

We're always less worldly than someone else. I know of people who have traveled the Burning Sands from north to south and west to east, a distance akin to going through all of Rokugan, and yet have always avoided, with an almost religious fear, to cross the last miles that would bring them in another land, with other usages.

Though, at least, they don't get to decide what people outside their home do. As opposed to some prominent courtiers in Otosan Uchi and elsewhere indeed, who have never walked on an unpaved ground of their life and yet have authority on who's allowed to roam the Empire."

She explained what was clearly a rant:

"Getting through the Lion border has been an administrative nightmare even with my invitation, and I could only go on after finding a local Lion to travel with me."

She smiled at the realisation of what she was saying to whom:

"Though my conundrum must sound like a bourgeois complaint to you, since that's the kind of issues you likely have to deal with far more frequently than myself. We're always the privileged one of someone else too."

[Aimi]

"Though my conundrum must sound like a bourgeois complaint to you, since that's the kind of issues you likely have to deal with far more frequently than myself. We're always the privileged one of someone else too."

"Ah, being a shugenja helps there," Aimi laughs, beginning to really relax at last, the heat and good company coming together in the best of ways "wandering ronin bushi get mistaken for bandits, but it would take a rare kind of fool to doubt that the priestess of the kami is anything but a samurai engaged in righteous business."

Her smile softens a bit as she sighs, "But yes, there is always someone below you. Unless you're hinin, at least. Near as I can tell, their whole purpose in the Empire is to be the foundation upon which infinite layers of rank and status rest. None above the Emperor, none below the leatherworker, everyone happy in their assigned place... and pay no attention to the exceptions."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Leather work is actually a respected activity in the Sands, where everyone needs good saddles and riding boots. Not to say there isn't a social order there, and no people at the very bottom of it. Just that that role is not assured by the tanners, but by the 'horseless' people. Not owning a horse, a camel, a mule, anything you can ride through the desert, will automatically put you in the 'parasite' category, regardless of your actual contribution to society.

Well, unless you're some kind of holy person walking through the desert. People blessed by the gods get more leeway there, as they do in Rokugan.

Out of the curiosity, what's the story behind your invitation to this miai? Did you save the life of a Deer scout one day or something? For a lot of us, our powerful families just pulled a few strings, but that's an option only available to great clanners."