(D1, EA) Not Quite a Spear, Not Exactly Dancing

[Kuni Yasu]

The weapon is handed over with a smile as her breathing slowly begins to return to normal. "I'm not sure even how I'd get sick of you, Tanabe-san. There's a lot of questions, and things I want to tell you first, and some of them really aren't dojo conversation."

"But this?" Her hand sweeps gently to indicate the dojo, the weapons rack, all of it. "I have things to learn too. Like maybe how not to be tossed across the room." Her grin is cheerful and a bit teasing as she walks over to her folded kimono, finding a small towel to pat at her face and neck. "You're a lot of fun to spar with. I know I'm not as practiced as folks who are mostly warriors. I spend a lot of time on research and study. But it felt really good to teach and to...hmm, measure myself against you like that."

"Should tell me which room is yours so I can slip a note under your door to plan out meetings, yeah?" There's nothing in her tone indicating that she wants the information for any other reason. But she's not certain the feline innkeeper would tell her where someone else was staying.

[Susaki Tanabe]

Tanabe took the weapon and went returning them to the rack he turned back around leaning on a support beam he seemed to be in no hurry to cover himself "well nothings changed since yesterday, any questions you have for me Yasu-san I'm happy to answer."

As she continued his grin became a mischievous smirk "So you're saying you enjoyed your little tumble with me eh?" He asked with a chuckle "You're fun to spar with too though." He said with a more sincere smile "whoever trained you did a good job and you train like a warrior, you enjoy it. There's something very fun about going against some who can understand the rush of fighting."

When she asked about his room he nodded "I have no trouble with you knowing where I sleep." He said describing the spot to her "feel free to slip whatever you like through my door, a note, yourself. Both will be welcome." He said with a slight tease to his tone.

[Kuni Yasu]

Yasu laughs. "Shameless aren't you?" she says with no real chiding to her tone. "Mine's the one three doors past the northeast corner, with the camellia buds carved over the door. Not the open camellias across the hall. In case you think to slip hmm...something through my door. I have to assume Otter are great with directions, with all the traveling, neh? So I don't need to warn Daichi you might knock at her door by accident in the dark?"

She finishes wiping at the mess of her mask, leaving smudges of makeup that just look messy rather than hideous. "You're right, there is a rush to it, particularly when the stakes are so low, I can just enjoy the flow of it, the physicality." There's open admiration in her eyes as she looks up at him from her seat near the edge of their practice space. "Can enjoy watching my practice partner too."

"Are the rest of your family bushi, and...well...your size? Seems like that would get crowded on those river boats."

[Susaki Tanabe]

"Well us Otter tend to not have so many walls up in the way we talk to others. So I guess shameless is a pretty good word for it. Though I wouldn't be so bold if I wasn't pretty sure you were into it." He said giving her a wink "as for directions I'm ok on the water should be able to handle a dark hallway." He paused considering "might want to warn this Daichi though just in case." He said with a little laugh "would be a pretty hilarious slip up if I snuck into another's bed though I doubt Daichi nor the Deer would find it so amusing."

He kept on smiling in a more casual way, the smile of a man content with his lot in life at the moment just enjoying where the flow takes him "you're not too bad to look at either. I can appreciate a woman that knows how to handle herself and looks it."

The Susaki Family are bushi for the most part, we were formed by the ronin who were guards for the performers that became the Usogawa. I am larger than most Otter by a fair bit. Some think there must be Crab blood in our line somewhere but among ronin those things aren't as well tracked. I know as far back as my great great grandfather but that's about it. Not all of us end up bushi though there are a couple who became merchants, and a few who became performers but the biggest chunk of us still work to protect the boats." He explained.

[Kuni Yasu]

There's a sudden sharp and startled widening of her eyes as he talks about sneaking into beds, as if the implications of slipping into rooms hadn't developed quite so far in her imagination. She glances away, gathering her kimono to her lap before refocusing, and meeting his eyes again with some determination, red spots visible on her cheeks through the smeared remnants of white. No wonder it had been so easy to ignore more subtle hints when something in her kept looking away from them. "I'll let her know," she manages to say, "I'd hate to see you getting kicked out for an honest mistake. Not when, I... when you're right, and right to be bold." Her voice drops a bit, quieter with a hint of laughter. "I'd miss anything more subtle."

"But, I meant the smaller family rather than the larger," she carries on, with a definite chuckle. "Not that I mind the Otter history lesson, but...parents? Siblings?"

[Susaki Tanabe]

Her reaction was of course easy to spot and his own smile dropped a bit of the tease and softened "I was only joking Yasu-san. Well, partially joking I should say, most Crab I've met on the river have a more coarse sense of humor. It was....something I thought you'd be used to. I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable." His tone was still light and happy though there were threads of concern woven in them and his posture was no longer so relaxed. His eyes also softened a bit as he looked to her a bit of Sincerity in his look "Something like that wouldn't be a surprise though, just so you know, I wouldn't sneak around like that. Unless you wanted me to that is." He added at the end with a bit of mirth in his tone.

"Ah! I understand um, I guess the answe is much the same my father is a bushi and my mother is a performer and cook. Both of my little sisters are much smaller than me but one is twice as fierce and will make a fine bushi someday, the other takes after mother more having a passion for cooking. My youngest brother is only two so it's hard to tell where he'll land yet." He explained.

"What about you? Is your whole family in the same business or what?"

[Kuni Yasu]

She shakes her head, rising to walk over to him so she can speak a bit more quietly. "No, you're right, I'm kind of used to he teasing, just...it's different when it's maybe not entirely teasing? When, maybe I don't want it to be teasing? When I'm not sure what..." She takes a deep breath. Her own smile is genuine, while her tone has a hesitancy that speaks of thoughts working themselves out in the moment. "My training didn't include this!" She says with a happy laugh. "You remind me of my mother a bit. Not...I mean...she's maybe less teasing, but the way she looks at my consort-father and the things she says. And that's not unwelcome. I'm just," she pauses with a bit of a laugh, "very unpracticed. You throw me pretty easily."

She listens to the recitation of family with an observant focus. "Only two? They're fun to watch at that age though. Really developing a personality, you know? My youngest sister is five, so a bit older, and definitely following in the family practice." There's a happy peacefulness to her demeanor as she talks about her family and hears of his. "My mothers were paired by politics, Kuni and Isawa match, both priests. My consort-father is a warrior, originally Hida and looks it. I take after him quite a bit. Other consort is a scout." She pauses a moment, ordering siblings in her head. "So, mentioned the baby, then there's the twins, I think they'll be taller'n me, and not a lick of sense for anything spiritual, but Rin's got a knack that got her into training with the Kaiu. Then two more brothers and a sister, all Purifiers so far, though Niko's showing a stronger affinity to fire and maybe will end up married back to the Isawa." She smiles, "sounds like we're both eldest children then."

[Susaki Tanabe]

"Yes I do we've demonstrated that already." He responds with a smile as she draws near to him "but I know what you mean, they don't train us for romance." He says with an understanding smile He looked down to her eyes " it's not just teasing and I admit that does make it feel different, when there is a Sincerity behind it." She can see just a touch of uncertainty peeking through all the bravado and humor.

He listens as well as she goes through the list of her own family "wow that's a big family, I know the Crab focus on that a bit so I guess it makes sense. With the whole consort thing do you have four parents or three? I guess I mean obviously your consort-father is your father but what about your other mother's consort?"

[Kuni Yasu]

She glances down at her ankle with a small laugh. "Yeah...we have demonstrated that pretty solidly." Utterly transparent, she adds, "might want an arm to lean on back to the inn." The ankle very obviously offered no impediment a few minutes back through their sparring. "I'm very sincerely teasing," she adds with a slightly uncertain smile.

"As to all the dynamics, consorts aren't official parents, so they're neither one going to be in any record of lineage and all that, but they're all my parents. I'm closer to my da, but Niko, full sister, is closer to our other father, has his sense of humor. I roll my eyes a lot at them both a lot." She considers. "I guess smaller families make a lot of sense on boats, huh?"

[Susaki Tanabe]

"Of course, feel free to lean on me when ever you like." He said with a smile seeing the little game she played quite clearly "I would be happy to escort you back to the inn."

"Very interesting, we don't have too many consort parent type situations at least on the boats I've been on. I'm sure they are out there in the clan, just not something I have much experience with." He considered her question for a bit "Well, it depends on the size of the flotilla you're with. Obviously space can be a concern but many hands male light work so more kids means more people to work the boat as they grow up."