There was a rather sizeable difference between sailing one of the Lion's little boats and sailing on an Imperial vessel like the Half Moon. The roll of the deck wasn't significant today so Jishaku had decided to see if climbing the rigging would give him the sort of sensation that he was looking for. The higher one climbed, the further one's stomach swung, so it seemed he had the right idea, if such an idea could be considered 'right'.

Ancestors forgive me. This is actually rather fun!

Hanging onto the rope many feet above the deck the young Akodo did his best to try out his sealegs! Occasionally he had to pause to catch his breath, but overall it was a fine start.

A low, almost gutteral series of cries sounded and then the sun was (temporarily) blocked out.



A truly enourmas bird, it's wingspan larger than any man ever born, even likely Hida-no-kami himself, had noticed the newcomer to his territory and come to see what the man was up to.

The Lion's head clamly snaps around and fixates on the giant bird. "What in the world?"

A sane man might have scurried away, but with the force of 1000 Lion ancestors to give him courage, or possibly insanity, the Akodo made his way further up the ropes to get a better view.

"Magnificent!"

The eagle, far from aggressive, cocked it's head as birds are prone to do when interested in something. Feather's ruffled and it called again, shuffling a bit as it's talons, each larger than a man's hand and tipped with talons the size of armor piercing arrows, scraped against the wood of the jib on which it perched.

Grabbing hold of the wooden jib on the opposite side of the mast to the eagle, Jishaku swung himself up into a cat-like crouch. With one hand palm down on the jib he echoed the bird's motion, cocking his head an appraising it carefully.

"My what big claws you have. And here was I, thinking seabirds were just those annoying white flappy things."

Someone's pet I suppose?

With the Lion crouched, he was almost as big as the bird. Almost.

The bird's head tilted the other way, rotating so far that it looked almost physically impossible. It called again, then clacked it's beak at him, claws opening and closing on the wood as it sidled closer.

In for a zeni... Jishaku moved closer until he was at the mast. Curiosity didn't work out so well for the average cat, but this one still had all his lives and a honking great piece of wood between them might help if the bird got frisky.

"There there, who's a pretty...gigantic bird of prey?"

If he expected the eagle to flee, he would be disappointed. It did, however, spread out it's great wings again and flap a few times, sending a respectable breeze Jishaku's way.

From below, a voice, softly female, called, "Erm...samurai-sama? Ya'd best not go closer...last time Sensuifu-kun did that, the fella he was facin' down got knocked down. Broke 'is arm, too."

Calmly he shifts his gaze from the bird to the source of the voice below, giving a nod before returning his attention to the powerful creature. "One would hope that cat-like reflexes might avail me of more luck, but thank you. And its Akodo Jishaku." He gives the bird a nod. "Sensuifu, I expect I'll be seeing you again soon. Well met."

The figure below was a young woman of perhaps twenty in a simple tan jinbei, her skin sunkissed and her features showing the lack of the blood of the Kami in her veins. She held a sander in one hand and was shielding her eyes from the sun with the other, looking up at him with obvious concern. At his introduction, she dropped her face at once. "H-hai, Akodo-sama...I'm sure one so, erm, graceful would, um...not fall..."

The eagle, recognizing his name, settled and folded his wings back again, letting out another call, this one softer and a bit higher in pitch.

"Well fortune favours the bold today." He smiles at the bird. "I think we'll get along fine, eh Sensuifu?" He pauses to admire the power of it, before swinging lightly off the jib and back onto the rigging.

The great bird watched him go, again with that studying sidelong pose.

The woman, meanwhile, let out an audible sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to go and fetch the gunso for a patient before even leaving port.

Jishaku spends a few hours playing around in the rigging, getting used to the feel of being up above the deck. None of his earlier postings had ever approached vessels of this size.

Eventually he

/exits