Wedding at Fire Shrimp Village an L5R PbP

Yue did the mistake of entering the Sleepy Willow Inn and was quickly accosted for her choice of dress of an old straw cloak, as well as being a ronin. However, she made no scene of it and was more than willing to accept that there were more than a few establishments out there who didn't want her kind around. It was perhaps strange to find such restrictions at the border but it seemed this was indeed the Last Chance, as they called it, where the Crane held on so desperately to their customs. That included their stance on ronin it seemed.

She meandered outside and sat down across from the building, not exactly asking for alms or aid but mere just watching the traffic that passed before her. It seemed like another night of sleeping outside but least there was bound to be some entertainment.

Another ronin came and took a seat, an older man with a ponch and dirty stained traveling clothes. He grunted and said, "Pissy Crane, too fancy to rent me a room."

"Think I am not good for it, they do."

Yue perked up and looked at the other ronin up and down, his age and dress probably indicated where he had been to some degree. There was no doubt this man was supposed to be her senior and she did acknowledge this with a bow given at his direction.

"It's their house and their rules," she said with a simple shrug of her shoulders, "I'm not too bothered by it. Sleeping outside will save me the coin at the very least."

He grunted and said, "Still, be nice to have a good roof and not just me tent. Where you headed? Lookin' to fight for the Crab?"

"Roofs are nice, yeah," she said as she angled her hat to look upwards at the sky. It didn't look like the rain was going to let up today and ground that wasn't going to be muddy was going to be a commodity for ronin. Maybe she should consider sleeping at someone's doorway for the night.

She raised her brows and looked at the other ronin. "I'll go wherever this road takes me. It seems a lot of these folks are going somewhere and I'll follow them to see if there's work. There's a bit of a dry spell for work in the Crane lands. Don't know if I'm really looking to fight a war for anyone..."

"...but if that's the only work they have there..." she said before giving a slow reluctant shrug of her shoulders.

“Crab ain’t bad to work for, sure they still treat you like shit but they don’t put on airs either. You did good work, you gets good coin, straight and to the point. They even do that thing with killing monsters, but I ain’t so in love with their Wall to get mixed up in all that,” he responded.

He pulled out a pipe and added, “Maybe one of them Crane will need a yojimbo, good work if you can get it.”

"I don't plan to go that far south that's for sure, coin isn't much good if you can't spend it," she said as she pulled the straps of her pack closer to her, "I won't ask questions and get straight to the point too. Can't say I've never killed a monster before..."

She brushed the back of her hand on her cheek for a moment, maybe to clear an itch, "Maybe...but I don't duel, sorry. No court stuff for me."

"Well what kind of work you looking for?" he said lighting his pipe.

Yue shrugged, "I'm not looking for any sort of work specifically but I know my limits enough to avoid things that are bound to get me in trouble. I can probably fake it...these Crane types are going to use their own duellist first and foremost, can't take that chance. I mostly do hunting work, for both heimen and samurai. I can provide security but I don't think that makes me a yojimbo."

"Well if you ain't picky I might know folks that need folks to get things done. Don't ask questions, swing your sword, keep it clean; good coin in it. Good work back when I could do it, leg's all busted up now, best I can do is sentry work when I can get it or just look tough for a merchant. But you still got your youth, easy coin, not as easy as spreading the legs but work is work," he said taking a few puffs and then letting out a drag.

Yue narrowed her eyes and looked distant in thought for a moment. She eventually nodded to his words and glanced down to the ground, it was true that she was pretty young and likely one-third of this man's age if she had to take a while guess. "Yeah, work is work. I guess. So then, who are these folks you're talking about?"

He took a deep drag and said, "Mention the name Brass Orchid, mention your lookin' for work. Mention you heard from Kinto, they'll set you up with work. Don't ask questions, forget what you need to forget and you can earn easy coin."

"Even more if your willing to do a little mortality work."

Her gaze went down on the ground as she gave this some wordless thought. She wasn't going to ask about this Brass Orchid and there was a chance that this wasn't Kinto either. She wasn't sure why she was approached with this opportunity, however, either this wasn't a big deal or this was something they were just looking for bodies. Seeing as she was sitting outside of the Inn, she wasn't exactly a chooser at the moment.

She gave it a few small nods, "Is there a place I need to mention this name? Is this...mortality work common there?"

"If you're going to Crab lands, probably best to ask in sake houses or brothels, you know the kind of places?" he said with a chuckle.

"Someone always needs killing, best to pay us to do it."

"Yeah, I know the kind of places," she said a grim nod.

She kept quiet for a few moments before she said, "...Killing? I didn't know there was some sort of war or skirmish that was happening at the moment. Are the Crab up to something?"

"Didn't say it was for the Crab, specifically," he responded.

"Sorry," she said in a quick apology, making it sound like she got her hopes up for a moment on the job prospect. It wasn't like Crab needed some special contact or password to get killing done. It didn't sound like something that was on the up and up.

She gave a dip of her head in a quick bow. "Thank you for the tip, I'll look into it when I get to the next settlement."

"Think about it young wolf, easy koku," he said before looking back to the road and smoking.

"There's no such thing," she said in return. It was perhaps easier for ronin who had a good sword or could talk but she was often shooting her money away and she wasn't getting paid more to make up for it.

"Is there a good place to stay there, too?" she asked, not really relating it to the job offer but in general.

"Inns are more open to ronin, so if you got coin should be easy, and if not maybe you can do some labor," he offered.

"So the standard stuff, that's easy enough," Yue said with a faint frown that made it seem she thought otherwise, perhaps recalling the time where some inn thought it was a good idea to have her heft some sake up some stairs. She supposed she still qualified as muscle, just not much of it.

"It doesn't sound like they think ronin as some rodent in the floor boards, at least..."

"No, Crab need bushi for their constant wars, so you get a little more respect," he replied.

"But just a little more."

"It sounds doubtful...but I'll see it when I see. Of course, I know you're probably not talking about kind words and smiles," she nodded.

He shrugged and then said, "best of luck then, still got some hours maybe I can find a place to drink and sleep before dark."

"Best to put these old legs to work for now."

Yue stood too for a moment, not exactly planning to go herself but just to make sure in case the older ronin stumbled. She also gave a bow as well. "Thank you and thank you for the tip. I wouldn't mind some luck and there. Hope you keep warm at night."