You know the drill?

Seiko was odd, but fun.

Shinjo Qulan wrote:Seiko was odd, but fun.

Thank you.

I originally based Seiko off of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series - someone who was not quite there, but had a good heart nonetheless.

I was hoping to pick on Seiko's mind a bit...a few questions, why was she trained as Yasuki courtier while being a shipwright (not school availability I hope)? What was the story of her late husband? And finally, her thoughts on Hoshi?

Bayushi Hoshi wrote:I was hoping to pick on Seiko's mind a bit...a few questions, why was she trained as Yasuki courtier while being a shipwright (not school availability I hope)? What was the story of her late husband? And finally, her thoughts on Hoshi?

While unfortunately, yes, part of the reason I went with Yasuki courtier was because of the lack of school availability, I did have an IC reason for it. Kaiu Seiko was born from a family that had strong Yasuki ties. Kaiu-made ships, Yasuki-merchant skills, good combination. Seiko's uncle, Kaiu Taizo, owned the shipyard that was a big part of Seiko's life growing up. Unfortunately, her father, Kaiu Ryota, disapproved of how close the friendship between the two was, and after a childhood incident when she tried to smuggle herself abroad one of her uncle's ships, decided it would be best if she was trained on the merchant-side of the business instead.

As for her late husband, the short version is that he died in an accident at the shipyard. The longer version involved her mother-in-law, the man she THOUGHT she was going to marry, and ultimately how she ended up with the Ninth.

Finally... Hoshi. Honestly, they didn't get a lot of time together. She found the Scorpion to be friendly, as Scorpions go, and she knew that trusting a Scorpion was a bad idea... so she decided that it would be best to be open and honest and tell her, basically, "look, I'm not worth manipulating. I'm going to be a shipwright, not a mover and shaker of politics." The fact that Scorpion lands are pretty much landlocked anyway means that she wouldn't ever worry about her ships being involved in battles against the dreaded Scorpion navy (I don't know if the Scorpion have any riverboats worthy of battle). That Hoshi died was a little sad for her, but she respected the fallen as is proper.

The long story sounds like a bundle..but very well. Thank you.

You can ask for the long story if you want...

Then what is the long story?

After Seiko went to be a Yasuki Courtier, Taizo died a few weeks before her gempukku. Taizo and Ryota had a strained relationship, so Ryota refused to let Taizo appoint Seiko as his heir. Therefore, the business of the shipyard fell into the hands of Taizo's partner, Yasuki Eriko, who had two sons, Masashi and Tadahiro.

Since Eriko was a businesswoman first and a crafter second, Seiko felt that she should try to re-claim the shipyard. After her gempukku, Seiko approached Eriko to make a deal, but was out-matched by the more skilled Yasuki on the deal. Seiko believed that she would be married to Masashi, who was destined to take over the business after Eriko retired (or died), the wedding to take place after her first tour of duty. Instead, unbeknown to Seiko, Eriko arranged the marriage to be with Tadahiro, the younger brother, who only worked in the shipyard.

Because of the time between when the nakado arranged the marriage and when Seiko found out the truth, there was no way to get out of the marrage without causing serious loss of face and dooming any chance of obtaining her uncle's shipyard back. Then, when Tadahiro died in an accident, that doomed her chances altogether, especially as Masashi was married and his wife expecting by then.

Given that she had lost her dreams of owning her uncle's shipyards and some developments made while she was at naval duty, her daimyo and her agreed that joining the Ninth would be the best course of action.

I shall return the question. Seiko's summary of Sugita?

Top of the line: confused.

Her marriage to Tadahiro was a business deal in which Seiko had been out-maneuvered. She had no passion for her husband and had never felt anything strongly for anyone in a romantic sense. Since the marriage ended in his accidental death and they had no children from it, she was free to remarry if she wished. She mourned as appropriate, and the moment it was no longer socially necessary, away went the white. Seiko figured that she would eventually make another deal to further her career.

Then Sugita showed up.

She didn't know what to think of him. He showed an interest in her, but that could also be flirting. Then the storm happened, and that got her all excited, and some of that excitement rubbed off in connection with Sugita, and she found herself very interested in him without quite understanding why she should be interested or even what all these emotions were.

I think if things had gone on longer, she would have settled her thoughts down and sorted out her emotions to decided that she liked Sugita a lot. She probably would have confessed that she was thinking about marriage again some day for gain (and not for love), but that she definitely would have been willing to see Sugita as much as possible.

That could become verrrry interesting.

What was with Seiko during the storm anyway?

Seiko had Fascination: Sea, Ship, Storms. She was one of those people who absolutely loved storms, and being on a ship during the middle of a storm that came on them suddenly - very much into the moment. The only two things that would have made it better would have been if they were actually out to sea instead of being in a harbor and if they were actually alone. If both of those had been going on, Seiko might have jumped Sugita right then and there.

OK then! lol


OOC: The character was interesting. Unpredictable certainly. Enjoyed RP'ing with ya.

Some interesting insight on her background, thank you.

*laugh*

Thank you for the compliment!