[Day 5, Late Evening] The Fortune of Bad Decisions (Expecting)

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

Murato walked into the bar. His eyes lacked the shine they usually held. They were still orange, but there was something dull about them. Something missing?

He sits at a small table by himself in a corner and orders a bottle for himself. Which he sips, from the bottle... alone.

Seeing his fellow Kitsu as they are, Moshumaru grabbed his own bottle and bowed, seeking an audience.
"You seem troubled, cousin. Care to share your worries?"

[Asahina Soyokaze]

Raizo shrugged.

"They have their reasons."

He... sipped, rather than knocked back the next cup.

"But I can also say that about the superior officer who sent my unit into the mountains in the dead of winter looking for lost pilgrims. Beyond the general situation, what troubles you?"

"I just...I just feel like I'm not performing well. If this is really how they are going to determine out fates. Then I am doomed." He let out a ragged sigh. "I can't return to my home Raizo-san. While I am no wave-man I cannot return to my lord father, not without a promise that I am leaving for another clan. Without that, I may as well walk into the ocean, it would be faster and less painful." Another drink. "I am not a good samurai Raizo-san, I know this, I've been told it many many times. I lack Courage, I an weak, I am a terrible candidate for marriage; incapable of defending myself let alone a wife a family a home and a new lord. Why would anyone accept me? I do not come to you seeking a shoulder to cry on, someone to cheer me up though I have no doubt you will try." He managed a weak but honest smile. "I just wish I could get a straight answer about...anything."

[Shiba Raizo]

"I just...I just feel like I'm not performing well. If this is really how they are going to determine out fates. Then I am doomed." He let out a ragged sigh. "I can't return to my home Raizo-san. While I am no wave-man I cannot return to my lord father, not without a promise that I am leaving for another clan. Without that, I may as well walk into the ocean, it would be faster and less painful." Another drink. "I am not a good samurai Raizo-san, I know this, I've been told it many many times. I lack Courage, I an weak, I am a terrible candidate for marriage; incapable of defending myself let alone a wife a family a home and a new lord. Why would anyone accept me? I do not come to you seeking a shoulder to cry on, someone to cheer me up though I have no doubt you will try." He managed a weak but honest smile. "I just wish I could get a straight answer about...anything."

Raizo slammed back his cup. Then another.

To offer a thin veil of excuse for the next words out of his mouth.

Just the booze talking.

Honest.

"Sounds to me like your old man doesn't know what he's got. But fine, you want a straight answer about something? How about why anyone would accept you."

He started counting on his fingers.

"You're a fuckin' brilliant artisan, as anyone who's looked at that hairpin you made can attest. Aimi loves it. You're generous in spirit, with a truly samurai disregard for the details of commerce. You're a damned sight better looking than plenty of us here. You've got a way fuckin' better handle on decorum than a fair few of us. You care about far more in a woman than how she'd look naked and screaming your name."

He paused. Poured another cup. Drained it.

"And if your old man thinks you personally need to be a fighter to be a good husband, he's welcome to swing by Nikesake to meet my father, who couldn't fight his way out of a waterlogged paper lantern. Fighting is what stupid bastards like me are for. All I know how to make are corpses. You've actually got something to offer."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"You're a fuckin' brilliant artisan, as anyone who's looked at that hairpin you made can attest. Aimi loves it. You're generous in spirit, with a truly samurai disregard for the details of commerce. You're a damned sight better looking than plenty of us here. You've got a way fuckin' better handle on decorum than a fair few of us. You care about far more in a woman than how she'd look naked and screaming your name."

Another.

Another.

"A brilliant artist." he laughed. "Do you know what I have been doing all day Raizo-san? Crafting a bell. No, allow me to correct that, FAILING to craft a bell. A bell. I owe a prayer to Ebisu-no-kami on behalf of the men who will have to work to replace it. Oubaihime-sama came to me, asked me to craft her a bell, she blessed my tools, and I produce slag. I got lucky with the pin, nothing more, and now I can't produce anything. The only thing I had going for me was my usefulness as a weaponsmith and now I can't even make a damn bell."

He looked down at his hands, they were swollen and shook slightly.

Another.

[Shiba Raizo]

Another.

Another.

"A brilliant artist." he laughed. "Do you know what I have been doing all day Raizo-san? Crafting a bell. No, allow me to correct that, FAILING to craft a bell. A bell. I owe a prayer to Ebisu-no-kami on behalf of the men who will have to work to replace it. Oubaihime-sama came to me, asked me to craft her a bell, she blessed my tools, and I produce slag. I got lucky with the pin, nothing more, and now I can't produce anything. The only thing I had going for me was my usefulness as a weaponsmith and now I can't even make a damn bell."

He looked down at his hands, they were swollen and shook slightly.

Another.

Raizo snorted.

"Horseshit. You're just rattled by everything else that's going on."

He peered at his friend's hands.

"And you appear to have been overdoing it. Unless you usually forge things by beating them with your bare hands."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

Raizo snorted.

"Horseshit. You're just rattled by everything else that's going on."

He peered at his friend's hands.

"And you appear to have been overdoing it. Unless you usually forge things by beating them with your bare hands."

Soyokaze lifted his hands to brush back some wet hair, when he lowered them they were in his sleeves. "It has been a difficult day. But enough of me, I caught that name you slipped in earlier, I believe I understand more of your dilemma now. We have not met but I am aware of her. I don't know what to say my friend, how do you imagine your lord will feel do you have a sense of it?" While his words remained just as clear as ever his eyes were beginning to glaze a bit.

[Shiba Raizo]

Soyokaze lifted his hands to brush back some wet hair, when he lowered them they were in his sleeves. "It has been a difficult day. But enough of me, I caught that name you slipped in earlier, I believe I understand more of your dilemma now. We have not met but I am aware of her. I don't know what to say my friend, how do you imagine your lord will feel do you have a sense of it?" While his words remained just as clear as ever his eyes were beginning to glaze a bit.

"Well."

He sipped at his next cup.

"I'm not supposed to marry out, since I haven't got any siblings. So that part's actually good. In its way. But I imagine they'd want some improved ties with another Clan, or a way to blend two families, and that's... harder."

He rested his chin on his free hand as he took another sup.

"But! Shugenja are always valued, even if the Isawa think they know it all."

He glanced sidelong at the Crane.

"I mean, assuming things even go that way. I might have nothing to explain at all. On the other hand?"

He poured another cup.

"If my superiors didn't want me having a high regard for ronin, they shouldn't have had me serve with so many."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"Well."

He sipped at his next cup.

"I'm not supposed to marry out, since I haven't got any siblings. So that part's actually good. In its way. But I imagine they'd want some improved ties with another Clan, or a way to blend two families, and that's... harder."

He rested his chin on his free hand as he took another sup.

"But! Shugenja are always valued, even if the Isawa think they know it all."

He glanced sidelong at the Crane.

"I mean, assuming things even go that way. I might have nothing to explain at all. On the other hand?"

He poured another cup.

"If my superiors didn't want me having a high regard for ronin, they shouldn't have had me serve with so many."

"If your half as valuable to your lord as you have been me this past week I'm sure he will permit it. But this is the problem, it pains my heart to think that in a place so devoted to the idea of love that you might have yours denied." He glowered at his cup as he spoke. "If it were, denied, and I pray for you that it isn't but if it were would you..." He let the sentence hang there hoping he didn't need to finish it.

[Shiba Raizo]

"If your half as valuable to your lord as you have been me this past week I'm sure he will permit it. But this is the problem, it pains my heart to think that in a place so devoted to the idea of love that you might have yours denied." He glowered at his cup as he spoke. "If it were, denied, and I pray for you that it isn't but if it were would you..." He let the sentence hang there hoping he didn't need to finish it.

"Oh, I wouldn't do anything to sour her new life, or that of whatever woman they did pair me with. I can be pretty selfish in my way, but I have my limits. And I try not to hurt anyone who doesn't have it coming."

Sip.

"Sometimes duty means I have to, but I never... enjoy it."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"Oh, I wouldn't do anything to sour her new life, or that of whatever woman they did pair me with. I can be pretty selfish in my way, but I have my limits. And I try not to hurt anyone who doesn't have it coming."

Sip.

"Sometimes duty means I have to, but I never... enjoy it."

"You know her story and you say you have served with wave-men in the past so let me ask you, how hard IS the life of a Ronin?" Dark gears were turning in his head suddenly.