A-Zenko

[Usagi Zenko]

Whatcha want to know or say?

[Akodo Jishaku]

Did you really take Phobia: The Sea?

[Usagi Zenko]

Did you really take Phobia: The Sea?

No. Phobia: Ocean

Disadvantages (point values)

Conscripted (9): Some action of yours has gotten you assigned to the Naval Division, quite against your will. For each rank you take in this Disadvantage, you may be assigned to potentially deadly mission without your consent. Unused counts of this Disadvantage WILL carry over into the next game, though they will not gain you any new points. This Disadvantage cannot be bought off during play.
Phobia: Ocean (1): +5 to all TNs when confronted by the Phobia.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Since Zenko was perhaps the most affected on the ship by it...his thoughts on the fallen?

[Usagi Zenko]

This was the first time Zenko had seen actual battle.

And they fought against someone that Zenko was trained to fight, and essentially lost. The mission the characters had been given was to kill everyone on the ship, but leave the ship intact. And good people died. Hell, Cub and Ram had shown themselves to be two of the most useful of the recruits on the ship. Hoshi was pretty much around every corner Zenko walked, and her dangerous beauty had definitely attracted his eye when she returned home in gaijin clothes.. And Zenko was heavily a conscript. He should have been there, but wasn't.

It'll scar him for the rest of his life. Sure it'll scab over and eventually there'll even be days where he won't think about it.

But in the end, he utterly failed to confront the thing that is his clan's duty to confront. He'll doubt himself for a long time. Was it his fear that led him to hesitate in the doorway and let the others go without him, did he worry too much about his comrades...what?

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

You made me laugh. My previous Hare, Ujina Kozakashi, also had Phobia:Ocean. It must be a Hare thing!

[Volsung]

Zenko was good fun. It's too bad we never got into a real naval battle. Rixy and I determined that with their Rank 2 Technique, the Hare are absolute monsters when it comes to boarding actions.

[Usagi Zenko]

Yeah, the whole: Make an athletics check to jump 15' feet thing. and then getting to say: "No, I go full attack and make it." is a beast, and *then* getting to move further to attack past the defenders is monstrous.

Or: I jump 15' over the rails for nothing, attack and now I'll do the athletics check in order to jump back into friendly territory.

[Kaiu Seiko]

Twitchy was a lot of fun to read. It's too bad that we didn't get more scene time.

Considering that the first scene I actually got to post (during Pre-Game) was with Zenko, what were the Hare's thoughts on Seiko?

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko thought she wasn't anywhere near as fun as she heard the Crab could be, but had respect for her. Engineering is something Zenko can't do, and generally when someone is good at something that Zenko doesn't even have a smattering of teaching in, he respects that.

[Usagi Zenko]

Post Script
Sometime in the year 1173

The small fleet of boats carried their cargo out on the tide, as their erstwhile 'engineer' watched from where he stood at the shore, holding a long and 'y' shaped stick. The boats were rather cleverly folded from the leaves of nearby trees as well as twigs from those same branches, each 'ship' holding an offering of rice.

His annual offering had grown over the last two years, the well-scarred Hare had noticed. Truly, this was one art that was learned through suffering. As he had done for the the last few times, the last three small boats that went out carried those offerings for the first three comrades he had lost.

A four-fingered hand set the last into the water, as the one who bore it straightened, ushering the boat out in a series of nudges with the stick he held, in order to get it past the tendency to come back ashore. This one held the largest of the offerings, although more as a favor to the former shipmate, whose appetite had always been large.

"Starting my third year of service guys." he whispers to the sea as it seemed to capture the setting sun. "Empire has...been through some tough times of late. Things look pretty bleak really. I try not to wonder if we could of done things differently, if we could have stopped any of it."

He sets one of the ships back on course with the stick before continuing. "Others are already seeing me as a veteran. I suppose, technically on my ship, I've been fighting these Destroyers and their master longer than nearly anyone else."

The Hare turns his eyes skyward, one of which peers dimly through eyelids that, because of scarring, doesn't fully open. "Small bit of good news I guess. Got married this last winter. Lovely woman, if a bit sheltered. Cub, I think you would've liked her. Brave, strong and her every spare moment is spent nose deep in a scroll she found 'somewhere'." He shakes his head a little, looking back to make sure his armada is on course for the ocean. "She chides me about getting people with spicy mochi, Hoshi. So perhaps she has the wisdom enough to raise any children we're lucky enough to have...if there'll be a place for them to grow up in."

Zenko sighs a bit. "That's really the news. Well, other than the enemy doesn't swim anywhere near as well as you Ram, despite that you likely out weighed and out armored them. They don't have many ships anymore, but I'll be off soon to shrink their navy even further. Its been a real cold winter this year...I'll do what I can to see next spring."

With a final nudge of the ship meant for Ram out to sea, the Hare jabs the stick into the shore, then clapping his hands and bowing to the sea. He then backs away and heads down the beach to where a rowboat sat, one of his crew mates there waiting, with a yell of, "Hey! Cook! Hurry up! Captain says we're to be shipshape by morning!"