[Moon 15, Galley, E Afternoon, Open] Preservatives for Lunch

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Sliding the tray of food on the circular table,Hoshi settled down to a spot on the outer ring. It was dried fish and cold tea for lunch it seemed. She was personally surprised how the catering hadn’t made it to the complaints list with the new crew as of yet. After what felt like a lifetime with preserved foods, she came to realized that she must have been really spoiled as a guard working city side. It'll probably be a long time before she sees curry again.

Hoshi removed her mask and offered her prayers to inari, then came the trouble of finding a new way to approach the ship's...delicacy.

[Kaiu Seiko]

Seiko wandered down into the gallery. She was hungry. So it was time to fix that.

Spotting the Scorpion, she gave a small, polite bow as she entered.

"Bayushi-sama," she said, her voice the soft lilt of someone not quite there. "Oh. Dried fish. That's nice. I like dried fish."

She looked at Hoshi's meal for a moment longer, then looked back up at Hoshi herself. Then she smiled, a polite, not-quite-there smile. Without a further word, she went looking for something to eat herself.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

With no hurry in taking on the flat piece of salty fish and minding her manners, Hoshi placed her chopstick aside and returned the bow. "Konnichiwa Kaiu-san." Her words trailed off after that as her attention turned on the fish. There was a moment where she wondered if she was going to seize it from her, not that she would complain.

When Seiko was seemingly satisfied with her inspection, she spoke again. "-Ah...There's plenty of it in the hold, I think the chefs would be more than happy to serve you a share of it..."

[Kaiu Seiko]

Seiko simply hummed to herself as she continued to look around the gallery.

"I'm not sure if it is right for me to be eating yet. I'm letting my body tell me. That way, when it is right, I know that the dried fish will be a delicacy." She tilted her head slightly to one side. "Don't you agree, Bayushi-sama?"

For a moment, she just looked at Hoshi again. Then, before she got an answer, she turned her attention back on the gallery.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Taking the chopsticks again, she split a semblance of meat from the fish's body and took a small bite. There was something different in it than the sort of fish preserved for the winter, she couldn't put on her finger on it. Her gaze drifted back to the Kaiu, not knowing to be whether concerned or amused. "-Ah, hai..." She murmured. "At this rate, you may even find white rice to be a delicacy...ne?"

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi had hardly eaten anything since they had entered the Sea of Shadows, but the lightheadedness she felt wasn't from hunger. Rubbing the back of one small hand against her forehead, the Shiba decides that she's got to try and get something down, or she'll be no use to anyone.

She grabs a bowl of whatever was set out and is about to take a seat at the table when she notices the others already there. Bowing, she apologizes, her voice tired and half coherent, "S-sumi...-en, s-samurai-samas. I... Sh-shi... -omi. Hon... m-meet..."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Sure a lot of quiet people on board, this one stutters too though... Hoshi showed barely a smile and returned the bowed to acknowledge the little Shiba. "...We meet again Shiba-san, we're pleased to have you with us."

[Shiba Nozomi]

She climbs onto one of the benches, and finally gives the food in her bowl a real look. The dried fish all gets gently pushed to one side and Nozomi's chopsticks seek out a small clump of rice, which gets gingerly moved to her lips. She chews carefully and swallows.

"I hate this place." The words had utterly no emotion in them and seemed to be spoken almost more to herself than to anyone else.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

It was probably a bad idea to discount the Scorpion listening in casually to catch the statement. Was the about the ship or the sea? She was going to assume the sea for now, since it did havoc with the shugenja here. "Yet it's the only galley we have on the ship it seems..." Hoshi murmured back casually before going back to poking her fish.

[Shiba Nozomi]

"Oh... the s-ship is fine. She'd b-be prettier under a c-cl-clear sky, th-though." She forces herself to take another bite and glances around the galley for a bit.

[Kaiu Seiko]

Seiko looked back at Hoshi.

"Hai. Plain rice is a delicacy, when the time is right," she finally replied. "When it is a delicacy, you know the sweetest of all favors."

She paused, thinking.

"Although... to dine on delicacy alone is decadency. So one must remember when to eat plain dried fish to keep strong, and when to eat plain dried fish as a meal fit for the Emperor."

Then she blinked, looking still at Hoshi. A moment passed.

Seiko turned towards Nozomi and gave a small bow to the Phoenix.

"Hello." Her voice was matter-of-fact, certainly not unfriendly, but seeming a bit as if she was not all together there. "I am sorry I cannot make the sea that should not be go away. I would if I could."

She still hadn't introduced herself. It was as if the concept had eluded her for the moment.

[Shiba Nozomi]

The Shiba looks at Seiko and blinks. The reply comes to her after a moment. "S'ok C-crab-san. I kn-know your cl-clan works h-hard."

She glances at Hoshi to see if the Scorpion had any comment.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi kept her eyes on Seiko as she spoke, This is probably going to be one of those stays... "-Ah...hai, of course. Of course Kaiu-san. Indulgence and necessity are one those elements we just have to balance ourselves correctly when we prepare ourselves fit for duty."

She breathed out a quiet breath and took a sip of cold tea, "I think the captain is doing his best to clear pass these skies as best he can. I do wonder if the skies will still look as strange in another world once we're passed."

[Kaiu Seiko]

Seiko looked at Nozomi a moment longer. Then she smiled.

"It will be okay soon." She turned to look at Hoshi now. "The captain will get us through. Getting through the sea that should not be is just like eating when the time is right so that it is not indulgence or necessity."

She went back to looking about the galley again, an almost... vacant look on her face now.

"You'll see," she said, her voice seeming to come from behind a dream.

[Tsuruchi Kiyo]

Kiyo enters the galley and nods to the other samurai-ko before she ducks into the galley in search of a bite to eat. Moments later she reappears snacking on a carrot, "Konnichiwa mina-san."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"Mm, like going down the fine line of intuition Kaiu-san?" Hoshi asked Seiko plainly after a bite of cold fish. "Hai. We'll all see eventually...do you speak from experience?"

When the Mantis joined the galley, Hoshi acknowledged her with a bow. "Konnichiwa Tsuruchi-san." Cursed eyes on that one. Two for eyes. One for enlightened madness?...I really must change my schedule if this is the company...

[Kaiu Seiko]

Seiko turned to look at Kiyo after Hoshi spoke. She blinked, once, twice, as if trying to register what she was seeing.

Then she gave the Mantis a small, polite bow.

"Konnichiwa." Her voice was distant, distracted.

It seemed that the arrival of the Tsuruchi had made the Crab completely forget Hoshi's question.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Not indulgence, not necessity... ok... Nozomi takes a bite of the dried fish, working over it's very tough consistency with patience.

To the Wasp, she nods a hello, not wishing to speak with her mouth full.

[Tsuruchi Kiyo]

Looks like I still got it... Kiyo thinks when the conversation dies. She still returns any bows politely enough, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

[Kaiu Seiko]

"You were interrupting dried fish, Tsuruchi-san," Seiko replied, almost immediately. "When do you eat it, when it is necessary or when it is an indulgence?"

She calmly looked Kiyo straight in the face as she said this, her own voice coming as distant and not altogether focused.