Rinzuki sat at the table in the crew quarters, quietly reading a small pillow book as she nibbled on the remains of her cold dinner. The boat was relatively quiet, save for the ever-present sound of wood creaking against the ocean.

Fidgeting, and somewhat stressed, the young sailor, former merchant patron to be, approached his clanswoman. He didn't like the topic he would be bringing up, nor he was sure where the talk would lead. All he knew he had to do it. He had promised as much.

Reaching the woman, he greeted her nervously. "Good evening, cousin."

"Good evening, cousin." She looks up from her book and sets it on the table. "You look troubled."

"Yes..." he murmured to her. "I heard a rather disturbing story involving you..." he continued, looking at the woman before him.

"Disturbing?" One eyebrow arches upwards. "In what way, cousin?"

"That you openly volunteered to... call the kami when we were.. in there. For some rather trivial purpose." He looked at her, his gaze surprisingly grim.

Rinzuki's face scrunches up in confusion. "I'm not sure I entirely understand what you are talking about, cousin. Could you be more specific?"

"I have been told, you would have Summoned bath water. While we were surrounded by... the foul." he huffed.

"Why would I do that, when there's already plenty of water stored up?"

The man sighed. "You are sure you didn't say anything to that effect, cousin?" he was relieved. relieved, and worried.
Someone was lying, after all.

/OOC: sincerity(deceit) roll, please?

"I may have said something like that after my time with Yasuki-sama, but I was hardly in my right mind, cousin." She frowns at the memory. "She kept pushing me down to the floor, and it was rather painful. I could barely make it to my berth without collapsing in pain, let alone the far side of the ship."


(Sincerity: 25)

"Ah, well... it must have been a misunderstanding then." To him, her explanation seemed feasible. "I was just worried." he sighed.

Wait, what the hell she was doing with the Yasuki... Sounds like hell of a pillowbook scene. Erm... Momentarily, Xiao Hua was distracted. "I will... clarify things with Shiba-san then." he nodded. "There must have been... some kind of misunderstanding."

"Sorry I had to bring this up." He added, looking away from her as he did so.

"There is nothing be apologize for, cousin. Looking back, I can understand how my words would have caused concern." She smiles in a friendly manner. "I will try to watch my words more carefully in the future."

"You should do that... " he nodded. "Wild accusations are the last thing we need."

"Well, I'll leave you to your book then." the man added, shooting a quick glance at the one she had been reading.

Rinzuki nods in respect. "Thank you for your concern, cousin."

"Carry the blessings of the Fortunes." Xiao Hua replied, folding his hand to an auspicious sign. The he bowed, and headed to his own bunk. He was almost as troubled as he had been before the conversation.

/exit

Rinzuki bows as her fellow Iuchi leaves, then retrieves a piece of parchment from her footlocker as she begins to copy something down...

/scene