Xiao Hua laid in the bath, holding his towel on the top of his head, sighing happily. He was in a new, exciting place, he had eaten well as well as slept well the day before, and now he was getting himself clean. The second time in two days.

Simple pleasures felt like heaven after the ten days spent on the ship he mused, enjoying the warmth that was seeping to his body.

The lap of the water changed as another entered the soaking pool. Kaimenko settled on to the submerged bench and leaned her head back against the edge of the pool. The damp length of her hair was coiled atop her head, a few wet tendrils clinging to the side of her neck. Her dark brown gaze lifts to the ceiling, studying it in stoic silence. She closes her eyes after moment.

Erm...

Shooting a quick glance at the 'intruder', the man quickly returned his gaze to the water before himself. He didn't see particular reason to cover himself, wet towel was of little use later anyway.

"Good morning, ma'm." the man mumbled.

"Iuchi-san," came the flat, cool greeting. The woman must have had ice water for blood for all the emotion she showed in finding another in the soaking pool. "I trust your shore leave has been productive...?"

Today, the baths would run the gamut of traditional statuses for the low and middle ranks, right from half people up through the gunso. The sounds of someone entering the pool after lathering came once again not long behind the Moshi, and a scarred, grizzeled looking woman emerged, giving a quick salute before pausing. "Mornin O-samurai-samas. Pool full, I take it?"

Moshi Kaimenko wrote:"Iuchi-san," came the flat, cool greeting. The woman must have had ice water for blood for all the emotion she showed in finding another in the soaking pool. "I trust your shore leave has been productive...?"

"More or less, ma'm. Can't complain." he replied, making sure to keep his eyes on his knees. The matter of the intruding heimin, he left for his superior.

Kaimenko grunted as the water slapped up against her chest. She opens an eye on Amaya surfacing, before retorting dryly, "Not so much if it can fit you."

That couldn't possibly have been a joke. Still, the Moshi didn't look as if she particularly cared if the heimen was there or not as she closes her eyes again. "Anything of interest...? Sight seeing wise."

Folding the towel and dropping it to the side and settled into the pool, not seeming all that concerned herself. She was accustomed to mostly getting stares for her scars and nothing immodest. Settling back with a breath and sigh of relief, she murmured low. "Ugly, gaudy temples t'monkey gods r somesuch... demons they call Oleephents haulin crap round. Just th'usual," she mumbled.

"New smells, new... sounds... the city throbs with life, ma'm. I am not a soldier so... can't say much about the situation on the streets... " he lifted his head to regard her, making sure he kept his eyes somewhere safe. Like her forehead.

"Not asking after the situation in the streets," she murmurs tersely and opens one eye on the Iuchi, "I do have eyes in my head. I'm asking after what's interested you... you know, like a normal person having a normal conversation in the kami-blessed bath house."

Kaimenko drops her head back against the ledge and mutters something to herself before addressing Amaya, "You seen their cows? They gild the horns and deck them out in flowers. It's crazy."

"Damned thing scared th'piss outta me. Wished I had jade right bout then, but they say'ts not really a monster whatever it looks like," she said, grunting and speaking a bit more openly. "One'f those things'd tear a wall in wood and gore through folks so easy it'd be insane. They put flowers on those things? Think I saw a gold statue'f one with like four arms in a shop yesterday too. Blessed kami, creepy's hell."

"But you said sight-seeing, ma'm..." he stuttered. "Erm.. Well, the city seems very interesting. Many things... buildings, people to see, foreign foods to sample... I wish I could speak the language, ma'm. " His eyes were bravely kept on her.

"Take a translator," she informs the Iuchi as she chuckles at Amaya's accounting, "Aye and tart them up like geisha around holidays. At least, that's what I hear. Haven't seen it myself.

Amaya didn't even bother to conceal the shudder that ran all the way up her spine when the talk of elephants dressed like geisha came up. Her head twisted and popped before going back into place and she shook her head in obvious disbelief. "What folks do w'walkin batterin rams," she muttered, sighing.

"Big gaudy temple things too, b'none of them t'anythin proper fer worship. Suitengu wouldn't think too kindly'f me goin an doin more'n starin at all th'gold an leavin fast. Strange lookin things."

There are waves again in the baths as the Hare enters them, a sigh of contentment escaping him briefly as he finds his seat.

He gives a nod to the others, deeper to Moshi-gunso, and then leans against the backrest, enjoying the sensation of being slow-cooked like a grain of rice added to the pot.

Iuchi, assuming the gunso's interest in civil chit-chat was momentarily over, sighed, returning his gaze to his knees.

A quick nod was given to the Hare as he entered the baths. For some reason, Xiao Hua got an urge to find out if the locals ate rabbits. It had been a while he had had nice, succulent meat on his proverbial plate.

Unfortunately, the Iuchi was not so lucky. The woman seemed more talkative after a good scrub and surrounded by some semblance of civilization. Her hand lifts in a short, wordless greeting to the Hare when he finds his way in to the soaking pool.

"Aye, they're strange but seem devout in their own way. I have a hard time understanding why they do the things they do... luckily their bushi are a bit easier in that regard. Nothing complicated about that," she murmurs, not caring that she sounded more like a bushi than a priestess of the kami.

Punchiru positively dances to the appropriate side of the bathouse.

"If it has baths, it is civilized enough."

He wastes no time in beginning preparations for his arduous new task.

"Agreed, O-Moshi-sama," she said, saluting as the two entered, or at least somewhat awkwardly doing so. She lingered back and gave a bit more room for the growing crowd while she replied. "Killin folks ain't that tricky one way r another. Pointy end goes'n the bad guy until the bad guy stops moving. Besides that, there's th'matter of not gettin hit an makin sure yer help doesn't get hit. The specifics get complicated, but boils down to th'same thing."

She looked at the others, noticing that she was surrounded by samurai and sighing a little. She was going to have to get used to this one of these days. Never an equal but surrounded like this, it felt like working in a palace.

Moshi Kaimenko wrote:Unfortunately, the Iuchi was not so lucky. The woman seemed more talkative after a good scrub and surrounded by some semblance of civilization. Her hand lifts in a short, wordless greeting to the Hare when he finds his way in to the soaking pool.

"Aye, they're strange but seem devout in their own way. I have a hard time understanding why they do the things they do... luckily their bushi are a bit easier in that regard. Nothing complicated about that," she murmurs, not caring that she sounded more like a bushi than a priestess of the kami.

"Yes... I saw some of their temples... they do seem to venerate their Fortunes, as... bizarre they seem to look. I could see Crabs getting worried if they saw those effigies... One can't but wonder, if these are how these people perceive the Fortunes we know, or if their Fortunes are a work of their imagination..." He acknowledged the possibility that there were Fortunes that Rokugani did not know about. Voicing it to a superior just didn't feel like a good idea.

"All is one..." he muttered, quoting the Tao. Whether he was referring to the bushi, or the Fortunes, was left to the audience to decide. His gaze he kept firmly in the water.