4 Early Afternoon Bath - What have I gotten myself into?

[Amaya]

Amaya found herself tagging along just ahead of the Shiba, eyes looking around watchfully. She kept a scowl plastered to her face that set her scars unpleasantly on edge and gave her a more sinister look while she rested a hand on the kama at her side. Once inside the embassy, she breathed a sigh of relief. Yojimbo work wasn't exactly something she was cut out for, and a peasant escort felt odd... however much she might have been armed and ready to bear, especially with samurai around.

Still, it wasn't like these heathens had any clue what Amaya's social standing really was, and even if stayed with the heimin here, she could still mingle with the locals as easily as the others. Besides, she had a trick or two for scouting things out on her own in free hours. Just being here, surrounded by ... everything. How could she miss it, as long as knots had enough help?

...And now, she was ordered to meet the crazed witch woman at the baths. Oh... this would go swimmingly. They could compare scars. Oh wait. No, they really couldn't.

[Shiba Nozomi]

After walking with great trepidation through the streets, Nozomi heaves a huge sigh of relief at finally being within the embassy doors. Making all proper introductions and bows, she eventually finds the way to the baths.

The way everything was built and laid out was so familiar... just like being within the Empire... and the memory of the foreign weirdness on the streets outside begins to melt away.

She murmurs gently, her voice carrying much of her releif,"Amaya, I'm s-so glad you came w-with me... I don't th-think I could have g-gotten here by m-myself. Did you see how f-filthy those streets w-were? And that one m-man, he almost su-stepped on me... But I th-think... I think this will be m-more than worth it."

She gestures for the heimin to follow her into the scrubbing area and begins to disrobe, carefully placing the uniform in a pile to be cleaned while she was bathing.

[Amaya]

"Don't think folks round here seem all that concerned bout touchin," she said, shaking her head as she slipped in. Shrugging her way out of her own uniform once the doors were closed, she slowly began to put it in a spot for cleaning as well. As one might have expected, her body was as littered with scars as the portions that she normally had bare. They mostly bore either claw or bite marks, like things had tried to eat her in the past, which wasn't terribly surprising given her tendencies under water.

"Ya'll be fine O-Shiba-sama. I wouldn't worry too much. Ya can get settled n visit one'f th'local places where it's not s'crowded. That'd probably be good, ne?" she asked, glancing back at the other woman and figuring any comparison of scars would be mosty futile.

[Shiba Nozomi]

"I hear th-they have a proper tea h-house. We should visit th-there after this."

Nozomi goes to scrub herself of impurities in the ladies side of the baths, taking special care to get under her fingernails and toes. She looks up and notes that the scars Amaya has cover almost her entire body. Her own skin is absurdly free of blemishes, only marred by the somewhat notable tan that covers most of it.

"You m-must have some amazing st-stories..." It was an open invitation for the heimin to share some, but also giving her the opportunity not to talk about it if she so chose. while most of the marks looked like they were inflicted by the jaws of animals, you could never be quite sure with peasants. At least Amaya wasn't from Lion lands. Then Nozomi wouldn't have said anything at all...

[Amaya]

"Eh? Stories? What... oh wait," she said, sounding confused at first as she poured the water down her back and lathered up to clean before the bath. She remembered this one. Those Crab had stories about their scars, didn't they? They used to obsess about the things they fought. Well, she supposed she remembered a few.

"I gotta few, though fewer'n ya'd think. Bunch'f these r jus love taps fom lil sharks faster'n me before I jabbed them till they stopped tryin so hard. Thankfully not t'often faster'n me," she said as a form of reply to the Shiba.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Thankful that the Crane were relatively non-violent with their peasants, Nozomi nods to one particularly toothy scar. "Th-that one looks like a b-big one. What was it l-like trying to catch h-him?"

[Amaya]

She looked at it and tried to remember. "Couldn't tell ya. Looks like a shark bite though. That'd hurt like hell. Gotta deal w'him fast. Th'jaw bites down n then bites again. That's when't gets real deep, breaks bone sometimes too," she said, motioning to how those bite marks were bigger in some points than the others. "Gotta knock'm out so their jaw slackens. Kama's good, used right, or punch int'em with a sharpened Sai. Would... O-shiba-sama want me t'tell bout one I remember?"

As she spoke, she finished rinsing and began to rise, leading the way towards the soaking pool with her towel wrapped around her. The heat would be a nice change, leech some of the wear from the bones.

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi carefully covers what parts of her might be considered inappropriate for mixed company with a towel and eritably jumps into the hot soaking water. A soft sigh escapes her lips. "I'd l-love to hear it. I'm h-hoping to learn to fish... b-but sharks are... well they're a bit b-beyond me and will likely be for quite a w-while."

[Amaya]

"Fishin n shark huntin're different things. Ya gotta either spear'm from above or well... there's my methods," she said, nodding. As she slipped into the water, she set her towel to the side, not seeming remotely concerned about the subject of mixed company. Riddled with the subject of the day, that wouldn't be too much of a surprise.

She reached up and tapped the gnarled flesh underneath her eye. It was bumped and raised, puffy and hardened all at once. It didn't actually lookl iike a claw or bite mark. "This's a jellyfish. Might've told ya bout it 'fore. Ya ever seen one'f those?"

[Shiba Nozomi]

"A few d-different kinds... Is that from one? They can leave n-nasty stings..." Nozomi steals another glance at all the scars on the peasant accompanying her. Good thing she's going to have access to a proper healer from now on... she looks like she could have used one more often.

[Amaya]

"Guy called th'type I saw a 'Man o war,'" she said, nodding and leaning back, breathing out as she began to relax. "Big... purple, bloated thing. It hung there't th'top of th'water an the tendrils ran down real far. I was comin'p an I didn't see it till it was too late. Stinger grazed m'head an tried to wrap round m'neck. Barely got away, an it hurt like ya wouldn't believe."

[Shiba Nozomi]

The Shiba's eyes widen a bit. "Really? I've s-seen them before... w-watched as a group of th-them ate half a s-school of fish..." She'd watched in morbid fascination and horror as the fish would slowly stop struggling.

"Wh-what was it l-like? H-how did you g-get away?"

[Amaya]

"It didn't getta good hold'f me. Plunged down 'fore that stinger got'n my eye an went real deep. They don't go under th'water after all, so there's less problems. Had t'skim th'water. A couple'f them got'n real close to th'shore that time. They said that's real rare," she said, shrugging a bit. "Real hard t'concentrate when it feels like someone spat acid on yer face."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Her muscles had been unable to hold their knots in the face of the unrelenting heat of the water, and Nozomi slides a little deeper into the warmth. "Mmm. It d-doesn't still hurt, does it? I hear s-sometimes stings like that can still c-cause trouble... M-my cousin..."

She glances around to make sure they're alone and leans in towards the heimin a little for the next part. "My c-cousin says that you've g-got to pee on it right a-away to take away the st-sting."

Sitting back, the little Shiba wrinkles her nose. "Thankfully, he's not a sh-ship's healer. I can't say I've ever had the inclina-nation to try it, either..."

[Amaya]

"Did somethin like that actually," she said, shaking her head, grunting. "Don't sting t'much anymore, 'scept when there's a realy nasty storm comin through. that's years go anyway, so it stopped hurtin bad a long time back. Most'f th'wounds I take don't hurt that much."

[Shiba Nozomi]

A small frown (as if it could be anything but) crosses Nozomi's brow. "D-does it take l-long for most of your w-wounds to heal?"

[Amaya]

"Well, been nettin'm fer around five years'r more," she said, laughing a bit. "I'd say most'f em take a week'r two to heal up th'scars, unless they're real bad. Functioned pretty decent after bout a day'r two as well. Lot'f them look worse'n they really were."

She leaned back, head right at the edge of the water while she gave a very relaxed sigh. "th'claw mark'n my neck was probably th'most painful. Didn't go swimmin gain fer a month. Pissed off snappin turtle did that."

[Shiba Nozomi]

"If you g-get it in your head to go h-hunting for such things again, l-let me know ahead of t-time, ok?" Nozomi shakes her head at the insanity of it all. If this heimin wasn't careful, she'd be dead before she hit twenty.

"I'd l-like to know you'll be needing s-some patching up bu-before it happens."

[Amaya]

"I ... kinda doubt I'll b'huntin sharks anytime soon. Long's ... certain things don't happen, I don't think it'll come up, O-shiba-sama," she said, suddenly sounding incredibly uncomfortable and rising partially up from the water to look at her. "Wh...why ya care so much? I know bout compassion... b... ya hardly know me. I ain't plannin t'need patchin up anytime soon regardless."

[Shiba Nozomi]

"B-because I'm a healer, it's wh-what I do. Asking for a l-little warning before you d-decide to bleed out over t-the deck is hardly a st-stretch is it?" Nozomi raises one eyebrow, surprised at the other's sudden defensiveness.

A snort comes from her small nose."If I thought s-such a request w-wouldn't be lost on t-types like that Hida M-Musasha, I'd ask for a similar courtesy f-from him, too."