(D2:LE:Open) Sounds of the Night

[Bayushi Luixian]

Reality was starting to set in. Only a few days in and she was already feeling the tightening of the ribbon around her wrist. Forcing her to be forever to one she likely didn't know. Even with her pitiful display in front of the matchmaker she realized all she had truly done was lessen herself as any good candidate. All she had really done was work herself up and now she could feel the stress of the day beginning to wrap around her like an ugly kosode given by ones grandmother or younger sibling.

It was why she was out here in the woods in the middle of the night. In the crook of one arm was Quail. In the other was a bag holding several bottles of sake.

After finding a large enough tree she sat at its base and set Quail in her lap. Then she popped open one of the sake bottles and started to unwind out of sight and under the stars.

All around her were the sounds of cicadas, birds, and more. Creating a soothing lullaby for those who enjoyed the outdoors.

[Seppun Unsei]

Who better to interrupt her night than her cousin? That's right, there was nobody better than her cousin to come and interrupt her night. However, they had also had a rough day so far. Not as terrible as hers by any count, but still not pleasant by Unsei's standards. Slung on their side was a rather large bag that held a folding table and in their arms was another bag full of star charts and their divination kit. It was obvious that Unsei had come out here to sit under the stars and divine what they could.

"Oh, hey Luixian-chan. Uh. You also out here to try to forget the day?" Without asking if she wanted company, they sat down beside her and took out the folding table, then after setting it up, laid out some charts and readied themselves for the evening in the light of the stars.

[Bayushi Luixian]

Luixian's first instinct was to toss out a half hearted insult but her heart wasn't in it.

"Hai. Though I did get my first pass today." She withdrew a letter from her pocket and tossed it over to the Astrologer.

'A letter on paper tinted a rosy red--almost like a blush. The soft scent of the daphne flower pressed in its folds--this time shaped into a miniature tree (unfortunately crumpled slightly...perhaps wilted? No, a sure sign of artistic overreach.)--seemed to hover around it. The poetry inside, however, was far from disappointing.

Winter and summer
Thrust of spear and cut of blade
Gentle violence.

When strength and beauty battle,
Which is sharper--spear or wit?'

"Bet it's from that fuckin' Deer roaming around like some stag in rut trying to get as many notches on his obi before getting married." After speaking she took a large swig from her bottle. "What's got you out here though? I keep wanting to be the self centered angry woe is me type but I'm sure it's rougher for you here. Cursed and all."

[Seppun Unsei]

After looking over the letter, Unsei just sat there for a moment. "Damn. Boy must be really horny. You know I met up with him last night and then all the rumors come out about him and that bitchy Moth even later at night? I feel so stupid about it, but I was also horny. At least I've got standards though! One person a night is perfect. Too much more and you're just greedy. And now he went for you. Hah! What ya say to him?" As they spoke, they had laid out one of the star charts on the table and had started to look over it while occasionally glancing up at the stars to collaborate.

"As for my luck... Honestly? I kind of have my eyes on this one guy, but I know that Benten-no-kami isn't going to let me have any romance, so I'm just... stuck. I keep seeing so many people with little budding blossoms of romance and I know that I'll never be able to have that. I just want to be loved and being here... being here really hurts because I know I can't have it. But, just because I'm in a bad spot doesn't mean that you can't also be in a bad spot, too. Being forced to marry when you'd rather just focus on fighting and now you've already got one person trying to slide into your hakama and no doubt are going to have many more. You're a tall, buff lady that could probably crush heads between thighs and there are a lot of people that like that."

[Bayushi Luixian]

"Deer and their antlers. Perfect joke about how 'horn' y they are. Seems he's going for a record of points on his rack." She snorted out. Her free hand began scratching Quail while the other brought the bottle of sake up to her mouth again.

"Who do you have your eye on so far? It's still early and maybe you can get far enough in this shitty game of theirs to get who you want. If Benten cursed you then curse her back. Do your best to get what you want no matter what she does to ruin it."

Then back to her. She fell into silence while petting the quail. Then responded some time later. "Can't be a good samurai until I make babies. Damned things will take me off of the front lines for a bit and who knows how many people that will lead to be killed. All for a few runts."

There was a shake of her head. "Not looking to sleep with anyone here either or entertain those who think that I'm open for that sort of thing. Don't care if I'm their type or not. They can go to that Kuni that's walking around here. I've heard she's tall too."

[Seppun Unsei]

"Don't know if I should tell you, really..." They looked over to her and frowned. Then they just shrugged. "Your clanmate. They're a bit boring and dry, but... I kinda like that. Of course, it's not just him either. There's a Shiba I've been talking to that I find kind of nice, but at the same time all we've done really is talked and I'm sure that my liking of them is really only because I've spoken the most to them. It's something I need to get through my head. Just because we've talked doesn't mean that it's attraction." They furrowed their brows. The one thing about being high void is the keen self-awareness that comes with it.

Unsei didn't like that keen self-awareness. It just made them sadder.

"I think it's really just because I've been so long without any actual romantic affection. Now that I'm here, I'm starting to mix up just friendliness with that romantic spark -that I don't even really know what it feels like- and I need to stop it before my feelings get hurt even more than they already are. Also I need to stop so I don't come off as weird to those two. At the end of this all, I would still like to at least be friends." With that said, they groaned and leaned back into the grass dramatically. It was now that they tried to ignore the amount of bugs that were likely now trying to make a home in their luscious hair. "I don't think I could curse Benten-no-kami though. Sure, I'm angry, but the last thing I need is to lash out at her for whatever reason she's done this. The Fortune's work in mysterious ways, you know."

Their honey-colored eyes looked over Luixian. "You know... Just because you're a defender doesn't mean that you shouldn't take some time for yourself. I hadn't really connected all the pieces before, but what you just said kinda put it all together. It sounds like you don't wanna get married because you're afraid that if you aren't there to defend, they'll die." Almost like she literally just said that. High void didn't mean awareness for others. "But you can't always be there to protect them. You aren't the unwavering wall. You are a wall, but you're also still human."

[Bayushi Luixian]

"The creep of a Shosuro? The one who looks like they don't have a soul left? The one who hides in a corner anytime he's mentioned in a conversation?" A pause. "That isn't surprising that you'd go for him. You really like to go for your opposites. I don't know about this Shiba to say anything about him but I do think you're going at this too hard. We're two days into the miai so stop trying to immediately find someone."

"The best type of romance comes from friendships if you listen to the books and plays. Stop pushing it so hard and just relax but this entire conversation sounds like two blind men trying to describe how the sunset looks to the other. I don't know romance and you're cursed so before someone starts eavesdropping and thinking we're dumbasses we need to stop." She leaned over and set Quail on Unsei's chest.

"Here. Pet her for a couple seconds or tell Quail her fortune."

Quail as a quail seemed clueless about what was going on in her life and once set back down turned into a round ball.

[Seppun Unsei]

Unsei was about to respond to all of that, but when a quail was just dropped on their chest, all they could focus on was the thing. They weren't entirely sure what to do with it, especially given The Incident at Shiro Kuni. So, they clutched the thing to their chest and sat up. "I, uh, don't know how to tell the fortune of a... quail. It's a quail, Lui-chan. I don't... I don't think that's how it works..." Still, they did start to pet Quail and had to secretly admit that she was very soft and cute.

"I can see why you like them so much. Cute, compact, and surprisingly soft. But, also, I guess you're right. I did get a bit dramatic there, but... It's just something that's been eating at me for a long time, you know? And I finally think I could get out of this, but it feels like I shouldn't. Also.. Shosuro-san isn't a creep. He's sweet, as is Shiba-san. Also.. may have sort of.. ran from Shosuro-san today. I just got this feeling like I was bothering him, especially after I sorta... maybe... tiny bit used compliments to force him to talk about this one Lion... He wouldn't tell me and so I told him that if he didn't, I was going to compliment it out of him, since compliments apparently made him super uneasy, but I also really enjoyed giving him compliments because they were all true and he's easy to compliment."

Unsei was also not dumb enough to notice that Luixian so easily ignored when the topic was on her, but they let it fall to the side for now.

[Bayushi Luixian]

Luixian took the time to drink while the Seppun spoke. They were ranting at this point which was fine. She didn't mind.

"Then don't chase after them and let them come to you. You could be going about this the wrong way but I don't really know. Best I've had is flings."

She offered a bottle of sake out to them.

[Seppun Unsei]

Unsei let out a mighty groan that probably shook the little quail a bit too much. "But you're a Scorpioooooooooooooooooon. Them and the Crane are supposed to be super good with stuff like this. Usually for not great reasons, but... You get what I mean. Anyway, I guess I'm not exactly the shining example of my family either, so..." They shrugged and moved Quail back over to Luixian.

"I'm thinking tomorrow I'm going to go around looking like a guy. Or do you think a lady would be better? I'm not sure, but I want to trip people up, because I'm sure some people are curious about it and if I look like a guy one day and a girl the next, then it'll cause more confusion! And... I kind of want that."