(D5, MM) Love in the Trenches (Event Observation)

[Usogawa Emiko]

Stealing the tea from the servant bringing it to Emiko, the one returning with it was Murato. "Good morning," he says with a bright smile that contrasted drastically from his game. He suspected that she would want to talk about the games, and dreaded it a little bit, but he knew that he would enjoy how excited she got about it if she did.

The tea was offered.

"Oh thank you..." Emiko looked up and then paused, confused.

"Kitsu-sama? Why were you pretending to be a servant?"

[Shika Nesshin]

She blinked a few times, her mind still on the games, then understood what he wanted and shook his hand swiftly, in that weird manner the Moto used when they didn't want to offense someone trying to respect their customs, but knew the actual Moto bear hug was way too much for a Rokugani audience.

"So far so good Shika-sama. I actually expected to play Go sooner or later – even if I would have preferred shogi – as it's often used to quickly get an idea of the tactical acumen of a commander outside the actual battlefield.

Though I had imagined it would be half a game and half an interview, instead of a serious, mostly silent, tournament. I have no idea what you will learn from this except most of us are, well, simply average Go players.

But at least it was fun. Even if I could use a relaxing cup of tea right now."

"That, Moto-san, is easily remedied," Nesshin says, and flags over a servant, who delivers two cups of the steeped leaves.

"Not being a matchmaker myself," he adds, "I don't know the purpose of it, either, save for what Zang-sensei has said. I can only believe that it reveals information to Pei-Pei-sama that she finds useful in making her decisions about things."

He sips at the tea and adds "She's had great success thus far, so I do not question the methods. But I would guess things are done differently among the Unicorn?"

[Kitsu Murato]

"Oh thank you..." Emiko looked up and then paused, confused.

"Kitsu-sama? Why were you pretending to be a servant?"

"All samurai serve," he replies, pleasantly. "Nothing wrong with serving a bit of tea to a master. Master of the Go board. Very bold play style. Do you mind if I join you Usogawa-sama?"

[Usogawa Emiko]

"All samurai serve," he replies, pleasantly. "Nothing wrong with serving a bit of tea to a master. Master of the Go board. Very bold play style. Do you mind if I join you Usogawa-sama?"

"I don't normally play that aggressive" Emiko said, looking a little embarrassed "but they seemed very relaxed and not focused, so I considered whether an aggressive approach would unsettle them and it worked. You are of course welcome to join me Kitsu-sama" she bowed to the man "were you in a disguise earlier? And crouching slightly? The servant I saw was smaller than you."

[Kitsu Murato]

"I don't normally play that aggressive" Emiko said, looking a little embarrassed "but they seemed very relaxed and not focused, so I considered whether an aggressive approach would unsettle them and it worked. You are of course welcome to join me Kitsu-sama" she bowed to the man "were you in a disguise earlier? And crouching slightly? The servant I saw was smaller than you."

He smiled. "Not at all. Perhaps you were simply focused on the games and missed me," he said. "Though what does that say about me if I was missed. I'll need to try and be a bit more noticeable for you from now on."

He sat next to Emiko.

[Moto Mitsuki]

"That, Moto-san, is easily remedied," Nesshin says, and flags over a servant, who delivers two cups of the steeped leaves.

"Not being a matchmaker myself," he adds, "I don't know the purpose of it, either, save for what Zang-sensei has said. I can only believe that it reveals information to Pei-Pei-sama that she finds useful in making her decisions about things."

He sips at the tea and adds "She's had great success thus far, so I do not question the methods. But I would guess things are done differently among the Unicorn?"

"Arranging marriages is always a complicated affair, and the Unicorn have their fair share of strange customs in that regard too. But I take for granted that if that miai had taken place in the steppes of the west, we would have spent far more time on horseback. In spite of me taking him out for a ride as much as I can, my poor Avel is just languishing in boredom."

[Usogawa Emiko]

He smiled. "Not at all. Perhaps you were simply focused on the games and missed me," he said. "Though what does that say about me if I was missed. I'll need to try and be a bit more noticeable for you from now on."

He sat next to Emiko.

"No no" Emiko shook her head "I asked a servant to bring me tea, and you came back with the tea. I was quite focused on playing though, and still thinking on that first game. I nearly lost, it was really silly, but I turned it around by making him go on the aggressive and trying to go for a group in the middle, and he didn't notice it left him wide open to take a huge number of pieces."

[Shika Nesshin]

"Arranging marriages is always a complicated affair, and the Unicorn have their fair share of strange customs in that regard too. But I take for granted that if that miai had taken place in the steppes of the west, we would have spent far more time on horseback. In spite of me taking him out for a ride as much as I can, my poor Avel is just languishing in boredom."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Nesshin says, nodding in sympathy. "Although an Ide with whom I've spoken has noted that the forests might well provide some challenging riding."

He gets a sheepish grin on his face and notes "I've never been ahorse, myself. Not a lot of them here, as might be thought, and my work's had me up trees almost as often as between them. Though," and here, the grin turns mischievous, "perhaps the Unicorn have such steeds as can climb the very trees?"

[Shiba Raizo]

Having failed to beat even one opponent, but having evidently spent his focus elsewhere, Raizo walked into the gathering with a thousand yard stare.

[Kitsu Murato]

"No no" Emiko shook her head "I asked a servant to bring me tea, and you came back with the tea. I was quite focused on playing though, and still thinking on that first game. I nearly lost, it was really silly, but I turned it around by making him go on the aggressive and trying to go for a group in the middle, and he didn't notice it left him wide open to take a huge number of pieces."

"Ah, well I saw you ordered something from him when I was coming to greet you, so I told the servant I'd take care of it, that it would be an honor to serve your tea."

Looking to the players.

"That tactic gets me every time. You would think I'd figure it out by virtue of seeing it so frequently from the wrong side. Fool me twice..."