Kyuden Shika

Relaxed and recentered, Raizo strode into the dojo... and picked up neither bokken nor practice naginata.

Instead, he started working through his unarmed forms, which... made up for what they lacked in polish with a certain pragmatic brutality.

The dojo was probably the place where Tanabe spent most of his time when not shadowing Emiko or enjoying Yasu's company. He also found that he met a variety of people who also took part in the dojo.

Tanabe observed the proper ceremonies of entrance and the bowed to the other man "good afternoon Shiba-sama, right? I have seen you around the miai. This one is Susaki Tanabe."

Ah, the Otter Yojimbo...

Raizo returned the bow, as to an equal.

"Good to meet you, Susaki-san. This one is Shiba Raizo. I've had the pleasure of meeting two of your fellow Otter, and I should warn you, they impressed me so favorably that you have a tough act to follow."

He appeared to be kidding. Kind of.

Tanabe laughed a fully belly laugh "Well if im being compared to Usogawa-sama and Narumi-san then I am sure to disappoint because heavens know they are far more agreeable than me." He said with a good humor "but I am glad that my clan mates are doing such a good job of representing our Clan."

"I see a lack of practice weapons Shiba-sama, are you perhaps training in unarmed kata today?" He said with a bright almost excited energy.

"Oh yes. It's not a focus in the army, but it's a stupid soldier indeed who never prepares for fighting unarmed..."

He cocked his head to the side.

"Usogawa-san mentioned you having an enthusiasm for unarmed combat."

Tanabe nodded an excited expression on his face "Hai, I am a trained sumai, spent years with the Badger learning the art from them. That coupled with training in unarmed kata I would say I'm pretty good at it. I trained in other forms, know the basics of polearms, a decent amount with a katana but unarmed combat feels different."

he did some standing stretches getting his arms loose "Do you have a favored weapon Shiba-sama?" he asked while he loosened up.

"Well. I practice with the naginata a great deal, and I also practice kenjutsu, but I wouldn't say I favor them exactly... It's more a case of what my unit is equipped with. Generally speaking, I've found them all equally useful, and equally unpleasant."

The memory of a young bandit screaming with the tip of Raizo's naginata in his gut welled up, but with no more impact than usual.

"Luckily for me, my soldiering has been longer on marching than fighting."

Tanabe nodded with understanding

"Otter don't have much of an army so i mostly act as a guard. Luckily my hands are usually enough to deal with most problems. Only a handful of times i've needed to draw my katana." his usual sunny nature was still there but subdued as he spoke about it.

but it returned soon enough "But yeah most of my job entails throwing people that have had a few too many off the boat to cool off." he said with a little laugh "Not the most honorable of opponents, I know."

Raizo made a dismissive gesture.

"'Honorable opponents' is just a pair of words thrown around by people who want to feel better about what we do. Your way seems better. People might even learn something from the experience."

Time to practice something that would actually be useful in her duties, vs. pushing stones around on a board. Yasu arrives at the dojo, performs the appropriate entering rituals, and glances around for a space before moving to the racks of practice weapons to find one she likes.

It's not like she can miss the big Otter in this space, or like she can help smiling at the sight. She pauses for a moment, hand against the rack, enjoying the chance to watch him without being noticed.