Wedding at Fire Shrimp Village an L5R PbP

After being allowed into the region at the border without incident, Yue wasn't exactly eager to head directly into the civilization proper. Instead, she roamed the rural area and was on the lookout for the same critters that called the farmlands home. She had heard of tales of goblins and ogres being found in the countryside of the Crab lands, getting through the cracks of the Wall's defenses. While she didn't think they were that close to the Wall, she didn't want to dismiss that possibility from the back of her mind just yet. She was more on the lookout for rodents and other pests. Some of the farmers could use a hand in pest control.

At the very least, it could make for some good eating in a pinch.

Koemi eyed the farmers mulling about, particularly eying any that possessed kama. While theirs had cleaved through crops, hers had worked on rope and had tasted blood. She smiled to herself for that fact, which may or may not have disturbed somebody else's day.

"Oh. Another ronin," she said, a hint of disdain obvious in her voice. She gave a proper nod as an address, nothing more. "I didn't realize the Crab invited so many of your kind here. It couldn't have been the Crane, right?"

Yue blinked as she was approached by a Mantis and not a Crab, as well how she was particularly addressed too. However, she did bow back in return. "Sorry, Mantis-san...Hai, another ronin. I was just following the large crowd of people heading toward the settlement here. Honestly, I didn't know if there was something to be invited to."

"And they let you pass. Intriguing," she said, apparently satisfied with the answer. "Did you come in hopes of an easy meal? You don't look the type." She looked over the ronin. Her words were meant to be a compliment but the damned eye loved to interfere. "Curiosity perhaps?"

Yue's posture went rigid for a moment, thinking the other was challenging her right to be here. It almost seemed like she was at the border again but this Mantis didn't have authority here.

"Yeah," she said simply on the matter about passing through.

"There's no such thing as an easy meal, at least with what I do. I'm not much of a talker or artist. Work dried up at the last place and I followed the crowds at the next town over. And now I'm here. I just go where I can get work," she gestured to the farmlands, "Sometimes farmers have trouble with foxes and wild dogs. I was just wondering if it was the case here."

"Maybe they do," Koemi offered. In a way, the wild animals felt like the pirates she hunted aboard her former vessel. Of course, she found a human head to be far more glorious than bringing in an animal.

"I think I like you," she continued. Her words were genuine, though of course tentative. But the little smile she gave afterwards could send shivers down someone's spine. "I always felt that ronin courtiers were a particularly useless bunch."

"Me?" she with an uncertain air, truly wondering if she was talking about her or someone else who just wandered in. Who likes a ronin who hasn't proven herself yet?

Yue gave a shrug of her shoulders, not wanting to dismiss the occupation of a ronin courtier outright. It was hard to look down at something that hardly existed, like an albino squirrel. Or a woman with strange eyes for that matter. "There aren't that many of them...the ones that do well get their own personal room and dine with clan samurai, the ones who are average and worse probably just starve to death. Any ronin who serves as a courtier can't be that useless."

"I did say that I think so," Koemi pointed out. "I have only met you. Just a feeling." The Mantis scratched the back of her head and looked over the ronin once more. "What's your name?"

The sailor chuckled a bit, a gravely odd one at that. "Or they are new to being a ronin. I can't imagine those types lasting long. Otherwise, why would they be cast out?" She then shook her head. "An extra hand in battle or other physical work makes sense to me. But relying on a ronin to get the word in? Who would stoop that low?"

It was good that a random stranger liked her but it did make her wonder if she was equally volatile in other aspects. She gave her something of a quick bow as she introduced herself, bringing herself to look at her eyes. "I go by Yue."

"I don't think I've really met one but my type of work doesn't bring me near the courts. I just kill game and move on, leave the stories and bragging to my clients on their own time. And not all ronin are outcasts. Some are just pretty enough to survive on that. Ronin courtiers are more likely to get paid at least."

Koemi did not have mere heterochromia. Her oddly-colored eye was further marred by a strange discoloration in the form of random spots and odd patterns. To anyone skilled in anatomical science, it did not seem to affect her vision. She certainly never noticed it.

"I am Yoritomo Koemi. My primary role aboard The Sea Fox is to serve as a rigger," she introduced herself with another nod. "I attend to the integrity of the ship's operations." It was probably a safe assumption that this ronin huntress did not know anything about sailing.

"A good enough tongue and they could simply marry in. Or is there some sort of appeal to continuing that sort of lifestyle?"

"Pleased to meet you, Yoritomo-sama," she said with a bow. Koemi would be right to say that Yue didn't have much of a clue regarding sailing or whatever a rigger was. A boat was a boat?

"Sorry, I wouldn't know," she said with a shake of her head, "but I have heard of tales where a ronin could be so charming that she could convince a noble to wed her and take her into his clan. Or that their talents and loyalty are so impressive that they are given an offer of fealty. The appeal is in being free, at least, we could go almost wherever we please...although there are also many places we can't go. Maybe the uncertainty of it all is more comforting than a routine."

"Yes, good to familiarize ourselves to each other," Koemi said, scratching at her throat. Ronin were a dangerous sort. Enough desperation and they turned to banditry or piracy.

"I think I can understand that last part. There's a comfort to a rocking boat as opposed to solid ground, at least for me." She peered at the ronin and then shrugged. "Maybe you would find nautical travel to be uncomfortable."

Yue scratched her cheek in consideration as she looked off at that thought, perhaps imagining herself on a boat. After a moment, she let out a sigh. "Sorry, Yoritomo-sama. I can't save I've ever been on a boat before but I have heard tales that they are rocky and tend to bounce a lot. It sounds like a really easy way to get sick. It's probably more poetic that we're samurai of the waves than literally of the waves."

"There are wave-people who take to the seas. They usually don't last long," Koemi said with a wicked grin. That time, at least, she had actually meant to do that.

"But yes, the rockiness brings me comfort because I'm so used to it. The calmness of a building doesn't quite do it for me."

"Oh," Yue murmured on the topic of ronin in the seas, half wondering if it meant to be some cautionary statement or perhaps just an expected trend in life.

"I think I get by what you mean by that, Yoritomo-sama. It's far different here when you're not surrounded by water and around people you don't know. It's not something I'm used to yet, having to meet people again and again. Sometimes it starts to get more awkward when you don't have to meet people for the first time."

"That hasn't always been the case for you?" she asked in regards to meeting new people all the time. It seemed like part of the life of a ronin. "Sailing is a weird mix itself. Always the same crew but, upon reaching port, it's a whole new world to explore."

"It has," she nodded, "I don't end up sticking around or I'm forced out, one of the two. It gets tiring but...feels natural? I guess it's probably why I end up roaming the wilderness more, it's less likely I'm end up meeting the same critter or rodent twice. And it's just me and myself. I take it that it's very exciting for you whenever you see a new place and meet new people?"

"How do you know it's not the same critter?" Koemi asked with a mischievous smile. "Who knows what the wilds really have in store for us?"

She nodded. "In a way. Not that I like to meet all the new people very much myself. But there's something to be said about the little differences between every place, the architecture, the layout, all that."

"I don't know for sure..." she admittedly reluctantly, "but it's hard to tell the difference between the two. And often, I kill what I see, so I know it's very unlikely not the same critter."

"I do plan on visiting the wilds maybe tomorrow, after I get some rest in town and maybe get a roof to sleep under for a change. It would be good to know if boars or badgers are common place around here," she said with a nod given to the direction of the wilderness past the farmlands.

"Seeing new places can be fun, I'll agree on that but sometimes the hospitality wears off quickly...at least, in my eyes."

"Those are good points," Koemi said. "I can't say I've ever gotten close to a fish that I didn't intend on killing."

She glanced out and then shrugged. "I honestly couldn't say. Outside of my field of expertise."

The Yoritomo looked over the ronin and let out a soft sigh. Yue seemed pleasant enough and, well, the sailor realized that she was giving her a hard time. "It can be hard when it's based off stuff you can't control huh?"

"Yeah..." she said with a sigh, "but you get used to it. There's at least a certainty out there that nothing lasts forever."

She gave a shake of her head, not intending to turn this into a sob story about just another ronin on the road. "Sorry, I really meant in general. It should be my job to find out what sort of things around here. It might be concerning if the wilds are dangerous but if they were too safe then there would be no need for someone like me, right? There's more glory to be found if someone can come back with a pack of dholes than just some squirrels."

"Everyone needs a purpose," Koemi said blandly. "Which is why I don't see much value in ronin courtiers." She chuckled a bit, still on the sinister side but, for once, edging more towards normality.

"That much is true, Yoritomo-sama. I tend to do better with purpose, otherwise I feel like I'm just taking up space and don't really belong. More than usual, at least," she gave a shrug afterwards, "I'm sure that you have a very important purpose and mission set out for you here at the very least."

Koemi shook her head. "Quite the contrary," she admitted. "This is more like shore leave for me." Although it did cross her mind that her clan wanted to ensure the happy marriage between the betrothed. For the moment, she doubted that anything great would happen. Lest there was a sudden battle, the things she could prevent were on a short list. "At sea is a different story."

"Would a ship be much like someone serving at a castle, court or garrison? You probably have all sorts of daily routine and things to do with being at sea. Working the sails and other...sea things?" she said curiously as she already ran out of things she could imagine goes on serving on board ship.

"Not that you're no longer on board, then you're without purpose?" she said, sounding not entirely convinced.