[Morning 8, Deck] - Swabbing

[Amaya]

Day two dawned with the idyllic cawing of gulls far in the sky overhead. Their keening cries as they sought the shallows for fish could be heard throughout the growing light of the Jade Sun while he crested the lip of the world to grace it with his eternal light. The motion of the ocean lolled along with the pitch and the heave of a large vessel. It was more stable than a sampan was, but at the same time, it heaved differently in strong current. Still, as it rolled briskly along the waves, it moved with a flow that you could get used to if you knew how it felt.

*plop*

"Death-besotten birds," Amaya muttered to herself, wishing she'd learned out to shoot a bow. Bird might be gamey, but it would taste sweet considering the 'offering,' she was forced to deal with under the circumstances. It wasn't like she didn't expect this sort of work. She'd swabbed at least twenty different boat's decks in her life. But wishing sweet, sweet vengeance upon those mangey rats of the sky would be lovely.

Her eyes stayed low. She didn't care what they said about respect for heimin. She was not accustomed to being anything other than a forgetable asset and unless someone came looking for her, it was usually a good policy to be busy about whatever task Herr O-Moshi-sama had for her today... and today involved cleaning bird shit up apparently.

[Yasuki Himiko]

Some people had to work hard in the mornings, mopping the deck and things of that nature.

It seemed that Himiko was content to just walk around, exploring the ship with rampant curiosity.

Of course, with only the chest wraps and hakama, and with her Daisho placed in her room, it was pretty hard to tell she was a samurai. Hell, her more relaxed posture and the song she was humming, popular in the less reputable sake houses, might have had some mistake her for a heimin. After a moment of exploring... and offering a polite nod to what she assumed was a heimin (cause, I mean, only peasants mop, right?), she took a look off the side of the boat, staring in wonder at the sea around them.

[Amaya]

"O-samurai-sama," the girl said, putting her head to the cleaned planks for a second, her voice as chalked and rasped as it had been for the bird a moment ago. She rose and returned to her work as soon as the woman was at the railing. She'd make it a point to know who was heimin and who was not from the other crew. That would tell her who it was safe to just go up and talk to right off of the bat. She hazarded a small glance out of the corner of her eye as she scrubbed, raking over the wood hard to get the grime out and keep it out.

Not a Crane. She knew cranes. Powdered blue and skin as pale as a sheet. You learned to know your lords, and that wasn't a one of them... though... were the Cranes still her lords now that she was on some imperial galley? That merited some consideration. Certainly, she'd better hop if that harpy of a hag in green showed up barking orders again.

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Yo." She spoke without any indication of care about how the Peasant regarded her. She continued staring out the side of the boat for several minutes before looking back to the peasant. "Hey! Quit moppin' for a second and get over here."

[Amaya]

For a split second, the old war in the mind of a peasant came. Follow orders, listen to pissed off samurai right next to her? Both could get your head chopped off on the shore. But, at the same time, the old rule of thumb went something like this... If there's an angry bear in front of you, it's better to worry about him than the cougar in the woods up the road.

Getting up, she carried the brush and bowed again to the woman. "Yes, O-samurai-sama?" she said in a guttural tone of voice. At closer inspection, the drab clad woman was littered with as many scars as the average wall-thumper. They weren't the little nicks you got from a fist fight gone wrong or someone pulling a knife, either. There was a nasty looking trio of claw marks along one side of her neck and a harsh thing covering the right side of her face that almost had claimed her eye but not quite.

[Yasuki Himiko]

Himiko, however, didn't seem so concerned about the peasants appearance as much as the waves crashing on the boat. "Look out to the sea. Ain't it beautiful? Fortunes must be smilin' on you for you to get placed here." She finally took a moment to look at the woman, and instead of seeming surprised, she nodded. "Ashigaru, huh? Good to know that the Legion has the good sense to choose peasants who can defend themselves for crew duties. What do they call you?"

[Amaya]

It was true, after a fashion. Suitengu seemed to wish her close afield as a general rule, rather than far inland. She didn't exactly give a whole lot of thought about the assignments or what was most honored. All that she knew was here she'd have a full belly and work to do.

Ashigaru... Ashigaru... a peasant levy? "Yes, I was conscripted last week and sent to meet with this fleet, -sama," she said, nodding. "I am called Amaya." She kept her attention divided between the person who was addressing her and the waters belong. There was a sense in which they were home to her, moreso than the land, but this was the farthest from shore she had been ... ever.

[Yasuki Himiko]

Himiko frowned, clearly uncomfortable with the honorific. "Amaya, eh? Good name. Name's Yasuki Himiko. I guess you gotta call me Yasuki-sama, you bein' a peasant and all." And again, her attention is back towards the see. "I'm glad I actually get to experience this. Lot of good stories come from the sea."

[Amaya]

"If that's Yasuki-sama's preference, then that's what she'll have," the peasant said, bobbing her head in response to that. "Lots of stories about the seas, yes. Suitengu's lands are his own and follow his rules. Most folks are just guests."

She chuckled a little and coughed, her head bobbing again. She was just as uncomfortable with the lack of distance that this place was going to breed. Some of these people actually spoke to her, and that was probably one of the creepiest thoughts in the back of her mind. She was the equivalent of a fishing net to them. You didn't talk to your fishing nets now did you?

Ok, well, she did, but she also didn't expect it to answer back.

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Most are. There are some i wouldn't a called guests, though. Some people show themselves to be quite agreeable to Suitengu's land." If there was someone that didn't seem to even note the peasant's status, it was Himiko. "So what's the story behind them scars?"

[Amaya]

She shrugged slightly before answering the woman. It wasn't exactly something she gave a lot of thought to. "The one on my face's from a Jellyfish. Didn't see the damned thing out of the corner of my eye and it lashed me with one of its tentacles hard to the face. Nearly lost my eye that day, and it hurt like Isora's tears," she said, shaking her head and growling at the memory. "The things on my throat're from a pissed off snapping turtle. That was some good eating that night, I promise you. The rest? I've lost track of how many things have tried to eat me in the ocean. I was just faster."

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Ahh. Good to hear there're some good scars to find in the ocean. I've fought in a war and on the wall, and somehow my skin has managed to stay mostly unscarred. Ain't effin fair." She sighed a bit, clearly legitimately disappointed to not have scars to tell stories about.

[Amaya]

Advice was almost on the girl's lips and died away. A peasant only gave advice when her better requested it and Himiko hadn't asked for it. "You can find plenty of scars out here in the ocean, Yasuki-sama. Lots of things here will maim but not kill. Most jellyfish aren't big enough to eat a person, after all."

That one had been, but how a man of war had gotten that far inland was a mystery on its own. Of course, she had been out a bit into the bay that day swimming, so it was her own damned fault.

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Fantastic," she muttered. "Couple good scars'll keep the men from doin their stupid catcalls. Besides, scars build character." Lots of things built character to her, admittedly.

[Amaya]

I always preferred beating them senseless with a Sai. Much more rewarding.

"I suppose there is some truth to that, Yasuki-sama. I certainly avoid jellyfish when I see them, after all," she said, electing to not interfere in the woman's private affairs with men. After all, what business was that of hers what a samurai did or did not do in their bed? "I imagine that there will be fishing trips when we hit the shallows that will increase the likelihood of various animals being about. Hopefully no sharks though. Those are trouble."

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Sharks?" She was clearly interested. "Lotta sharks out on the open sea, Amaya?"

[Amaya]

"Depends on the sharks. Sometimes they like it closer to land. Sometimes they prefer the deep. The big ones like it in the deep," she said and shaking her head slightly. "Fast ones come into land, though. You'll barely know they're coming unless you're lucky."

[Yasuki Himiko]

Himiko didn't seem terribly concerned. "Bet those things're strong, eh?"

[Amaya]

"The bigger they are, the stronger the jaws. Big ones will bite clean through a piece of a person. The smaller ones aren't quite as good at tearing in, but they can hold their grip pretty strong," she said, shrugging again before realizing she'd done it and bobbing her head. It wasn't an expression she felt appropriate with one of higher station. "It's less how strong they are and more how big their jaws can get, since those flippers don't grab much."

[Yasuki Himiko]

Oh, now she got the Yasuki interested. "Sounds like a fantastic challenge, if ya ask me." She almost looked like she was tempted now to jump into the water to find a shark, and was only tempered by the duties she had upon the ship. Oh, to choose which dream to live.