[Day 8 - Early Morning] Survivors - Open

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko stood on one leg, bracing himself against the wall with both hands, as he stood looking at the door to the sick bay.

A bloody tsukai, and I hesistated, let others die because I wasn't there. All I could do to save even one life...

The Hare was still dressed in singed tatters, remembering somewhere in the distant past that burns shouldn't have the clothing ripped off.

He knocked, inwardly hating himself for surviving when so many others had died.

[Isawa O-Washi]

The big gunso, having spent his half of the night before healing his shipmates in shifts with Fuichi, was currently in seiza against the medicine cabinet, eyes closed.

It was difficult to tell if he was meditating or asleep.

[Usagi Zenko]

Zenko nods to himself, pushing himself along the wall, muscles sore and not wanting to put any more weight then he had to on his leg.

He coughs, once, hating himself all the more. But he was another's tool...and going on wounded out of humility will just harm the Captain's ability to use me as he wishes.

[Isawa O-Washi]

The larger man's blue eyes opened and, with a swiftly-covered yawn, he pushed himself up. "Usagi-san." A bow. "I see you've got a bit of work for me, eh?"

Unfolding the berth next to the one with the Ashigaru woman on it, he patted the edge. "Have a seat and tell me what happened and how you feel."

[Usagi Zenko]

He nods at that. "Hai, my apologies." He glances at the ashigaru with some worry before moving to the berth. "Sitting is..ah..difficult, Isawa-sama. Got my backside burnt up jumping off the boat, and a piece of wood in my thigh. Don't know if I got all the splinters out, had to pull the piece I could out in order to go swimming and look for survivors."

He frowns. "Earlier wound from one of their goons who hit me." he traces where the blow had fallen. "Agasha-sama had the kami intervene and help me heal from that, though."

After a moments hesistation... "I had my mother's jade, sama. But the sounds coming up from that hold, and then swimming in the ocean after. Could you test me? I'd...I'd like to know."

The way he's talking, its likely clear to the experienced gunso that there was plenty more to talk about bubbling under the surface.

[Isawa O-Washi]

O-washi, not one to mince words when asked to Strike someone, simply nodded, pulled a scroll, and then muttered a prayerthat shot a streak of jade light through the Usagi to absolutely no effect.

"Well, that's one worry less. On your belly, then, so I can look at that leg and your burns."

[Usagi Zenko]

He smiles a bit, and for the first time that morning its genuine. "Hai Isawa-sama." He promptly does just that. "How's Amaya?" he asks, looking to the ashigaru again. "She still seemed to be alive last night..."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"She'll be fine. Needs to eat a good deal to rebuild the muscle that was pierced but fine." He smiled reassuringly even as he concocted a solution to try and soak the tatters of clothes off the Usagi's burns. "They did quite a number on you, didn't they...hold still."

The big man frowned, laying a hand on the Usagi's lower leg. Coolness flooded the burns, easing the pain at once. {{Heal 33}}

[Usagi Zenko]

The Hare, unable to nod, simply agrees, "Hai...was quite a loud noise..and such heat." His wounds knit to such an extent that there are none left to be healed, the physical ones at least.

"Its good, she'll live." He comments somewhat briskly. "Recovered Bayushi Hoshi's wakizashi just before the ship went boom. I think Mirumoto Tomoe got her katana...its a bit of a blur. Ram tossed them up at us, before going back below."

[Isawa O-Washi]

The priest made a gesture of benediction. 'His kindred will be proud of him when they hear how he fell, from what little I've picked up of what happened. Holding the way so others live? That is what it is to be Crab."

[Usagi Zenko]

"Hai. It does remind one of their strength." he frowns, looking down at the berth. "I figure I was one of the last to see him alive. Owe his family a letter, though I didn't talk with him much on the ship."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"The Captain will be certain each of his who fell in the line of Duty is well represented in his reports, Usagi-san, though by no means does that mean you shouldn't write your own letter."

Veteran that he was, O-washi saw that the Hare's spirit needed healed, too, and knew that feeling useful to the dead, even in a small way, helped with guilt and grief.

"Be sure you put in there that he broke my nose in training and that it earned him a name worth bragging on on the ship. It will be something for them to drink to and perhaps gain a bit of levity from as well."

[Usagi Zenko]

"Hai, will do. And I bet they would." He gives a light smile. "There a...procedure or some such, to honor those who've died on the ocean, whose bodies we couldn't recover?" he asks, although it pains him. "Guarding a shrine to Inari...its not anything I ever picked up."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Offerings to Suitengu-kami to bear them to a peaceful rest is the usual, along with the usual offerings to Emma-O-kami. Would you like me to teach you the rite? It is not difficult."

[Usagi Zenko]

He nods. "Hai. It wouldn't anger them or the Fortunes, I hope. And if this is the way of being a Legionnaire...can't always count on a priest being at hand...right?"

[Isawa O-Washi]

"It has always been my thinking that a true prayer, dutifully and faithfully offered, pleases the Fortunes, no matter the place of he or she who speaks it." The Isawa's face was kind now as he stepped back, giving his younger shipmate room to get up if he wished. "The ritual portion is very simple. An offering of some sort is set into some sort of boat...paper or even a bit of wood that can float. Say your prayers to your friend over it and then call upon Suitengu-kami to bear it upon a gentle tide, just as you hope he will carry your lost companion's soul to Meido."

[Usagi Zenko]

He nods at that, trying the whole, 'sitting' thing, and being pleasantly surprised.

"A boat...right. Any kind of paper or wood work better?" he asks. "I've been meaning to make mochi, and I know that was always used as a special offering to Inari-kami back home..."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Make it with some of the dried seaweed we've got, the good stuff, and that should be fine. As for what sort of boat, no, it doesn't matter, really, though the longer it'll stay afloat the better as a rule."

O-washi, leaning against a cabinet, yawned behind his hand. "So, how many other wounded should I expect, do you know?"

[Usagi Zenko]

He shakes his head. "Don't know how many have been here already. Kakita-sama did go into the ship, as did Ichiro-san. If she hasn't been here, she should've, I believe. I don't know if Jayant or any of his group would be back..."

He frowns..."Mirumoto Tomoe, possibly? She seemed alright, but she helped me look for survivors and so I couldn't really tell if she was injured or not."

A moment passes..."Cub, Ram and Bayushi Hoshi should all be here instead of me..." he looks to the statues of the Fortunes...and breathes out. "Though I expect I shouldn't take their choices away from them."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"It's a hard thing to accept, the fact that others died where you didn't."

O-washi's tone was low, gentle even.

"Especially one like yourself for whom this wasn't a sought honor. I understand that, and sympathize. My first battle, I lost half of my crewmates, many of them older and more skilled. Most had families, children and spouses who needed them and who would mourn them infinitely more than my own family would mourn had I fallen instead. For days, I wondered, "Why them? Why wasn't it I who fell? It isn't right that they, who were more skilled and more worthy in the eyes of the Heavens, are now gone to Meido while I yet live."."

Piercing blue eyes that whirled, slowly, like surging tidewaters met the Usagi's squarely.

"The simple fact of it is this: War does not care for fairness, for what is 'right'. It is as unthinking as the killing frost or the raging sea or the all-consuming flame. Nor is Death a punishment. It is simply an event, a single step that we will all take, many times, on our path to Enlightenment. That these comrades took that step before you is saddening if you cared for them, called them friends, but they would not be angry with you for living. If you had fallen, would you begrudge the life of others?"