[D4, EE](Bath House) A Gentle Soak (Open)

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

he drank his sake.

"Won't know until it's over, but I can say I have been enjoying myself for the first time in a long time...not that it isn't still difficult and stressful, but it's easier to fight than a battle."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"You are a very pragmatic man Shosuro-sama."

Or just evasive. He's as talkative as Bai-chan but far more cryptic.

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"Well, if you want me to talk about my prospects, you should just ask me that", he said and leaned back into the water fully with his drink. "But you start."

Sip.

[Asahina Soyokaze]

Soyokaze choked on his sake.

"I...I am not sure I have any to be honest."

Believe in yourself. Try. Do good.

Willing himself to at least sound more confident. "As I said I haven't met many people here and it seems to my eye that a lot of participants have already made their choices. So it is proving difficult for me to "play the field" as it were. Though I am not trying to prod you for names and gossip."

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"A man could choke on his sake, or he could stumble in the street, chances are his thoughts were on a woman", he shrugged. "So it sounds like you have some work to do then. Drink up."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"There is one that I have spent a good deal of time with and I would be most agreeable with a marriage with her but she has her eye on another. I met someone today who I would like to know better but she seemed reluctant to discuss herself in any detail. A strange thing to me when you are trying to find a partner in a short time but she very well may have done that already and I just don't know. My congratulations if you has as well."

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"Well, I have met all sorts", he admitted. "Strange, lovely, funny, interesting...sometimes all of those qualities at once if I'm honest."

He sipped the sake. "There are two though, I'm not certain what I'll do, or which I prefer." He let the silence hang for a while, considering that all again. Then he sighed. "But, I likely won't get to choose anyway. And don't worry overmuch about it, you say you're a smith, there are clans who want you just for that."

[Asahina Soyokaze]

"I suppose that is true but I dislike the idea of being pledged to someone I haven't at least had the chance to meet. But at least you don't have all your eggs in one basket. At least you have eggs in a basket." Soyokaze took another sip and was starting to feel it.

[Shosuro Hikimasu]

"A man is usually doing much worse or much better than he thinks, depending on his confidence, the trick is to strike the middle so you can see the truth more clearly", he told the Crane and finished his first cup. "Ah...perfect." He poured himself more and offered a top-off to Soyokaze. "Though I'm not much one for granting specific advice...if you're worried over it regardless, take that tension and make something out of it. You're a smith, create something, put your feelings into it. Even if you can't show anyone else, at least you've done something with them."