[Day 4 - Late Afternoon] Reconnaissance? (Open)

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi gave the skies a casual glance as she walked on to where their barracks were housed in the city. If the city was in this shape, the city guards were bound to have their hands full with keeping order in the city. When she was brought to where the soldiers called their home, there were a few moments of hesitation until she realized that the colourful building were actually the barracks themselves.

"-Ah..." She murmured in discovery when she inspected the grounds.

[elonweis]

Trailing her was a quiet, serious faced young man. He didn't appear to be armed and kept a watch around him. Sampo pauses a moment before asking the Scorpion, "... did Bayushi-san wish to go in...?"

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi glanced back to Sampo, "They don't seem to be overrun...yet. Hai, I want to go in and see more of the place." She motioned him to lead the way, as he was a translator after all.

[elonweis]

"Appearances can be misleading," he replies with a shrug. The man walks right up to the gate and bows in that, foreign manner. He speaks with them for a moment, the guards turning to glance at the Bayushi with curiosity before nodding. They bow respectfully to the woman before allowing both Rokugani to enter.

"I told them you are kshatriya, which is the their equivalent of samurai, and interested in seeing their facilities," he supplies as he leads the way into the barracks. There were gaijin everywhere, talking quietly, relaxing and practicing. It seemed like any barrack in Ryoko Owari, with the occupants being courteous to their neighbors.

Although it wasn't as crowded as the street, there were still more people than the buildings could hold comfortably.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi kept stoic throughout the interaction with the guards and after she was let inside to better inspect grounds. She was a stern pause before she returned to the guards in kind. The fact that they were ready to let in a foreign on short notice didn't escape her, many samurai were less ready to even let in others of the same Empire into their property. She scanned the area before turning to her companion. "Who have they been admitting in, anyone?"

[elonweis]

"No. It's only because you are Rokugani and kshatriya that they even consider it. Normally, foreigners are not included in their caste system and considered eta." Sampo replies, looking a little uncomfortable at having to tell a Scorpion that.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"Mm. That's gracious of them then." She gave a few sound nods as she surveyed the over packed barracks. "At least they won't have to worry about everyone being here at once with so much work to be done. How long was it like this? Since the city started taking in refugees?"

[elonweis]

"I do not know the exact time, Bayushi-sama, but it became noticeable over winter," he replies.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"I noticed there were farm lands and forests outside of the city walls. Does anyone venture there now? Patrols or otherwise."

[elonweis]

Sampo looks slightly embarrassed and starts to shrug when a thickly accented voice answers for him.

"Yes, some. They go, put seeds in earth and hope."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Better to ask more with somebody else other than the guide, she asked. "Who is in charge during all of this?"

[elonweis]

The gaijin who spoke steps away from the game of dice he was watching, approaching the woman with a small, odd bow. His friends watch from behind him in open curiosity. He was tall, lean and muscular, striped down to nothing but a pair of trousers. There were scars along his torso, light score marks from knives.

"My apologies Dark Haired One, I do not speak so well. To what does she question?"

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"Good enough." She casually complimented without a glance at the game of dice. "I was just curious as to how you're doing here. Some would have an organizational nightmare by now."

[elonweis]

"Is messy," he confirms with a nod, looking pleased at the compliment. One of his companions shouts a question at him to which he turns and makes a rude gesture. He turns back to the Bayushi and apologizes, "Very sorry. Friend is shark dick."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"-Ah. Shark dick? That's charming..." Hoshi said with an humoured tone. "I heard you still have farmers out of the city, are there patrols that are still being run? Where is the nearest town or city to here?"

[elonweis]

"Few. Err... what is word...?" he turns to the heimen, asking him quickly before being provided with the word 'scout'. "That. To watch. Three days away. Town five days away. Far."

Despite his broken Rokugani, there was a shrewdness in the man's eyes as he asks, "You are here to fight? Like before?"

[Bayushi Hoshi]

"The scouts have been gone for three days now?" Hoshi asked with some concern. "I'm guessing that everyone from that town has been directed to here now. Is this truly the last place...for everyone in the region?"

She paused at the question. "Before was just the Mantis Clan alone. We could be here to fight." Or they could not be, Hoshi wasn't particularly shy with breaking her word when it came to that.

[elonweis]

"No, no, no. They are stay in same place three day away," the man's hands move together, thumbs curling around each other as he makes a flapping motion with his fingers, "They send bird if trouble."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Three days away is a generous buffer time from whatever is approaching... "Will you let the Mantis at the Embassy know if that bird comes? There's something that could be worked out perhaps."

[elonweis]

The man's hands lift, "It is not for me to say. I am, how you say? Not so tall."

Which was an odd thing to say considering the man was fairly tall.