[Moon 8:Morning - Distillery] Er... Hello? (open)

[Shiba Nozomi]

She had said that she'd go and speak with O-Washi. That was before she found out he was Isawa. It couldn't really be helped, now. A samurai's word, and all.

Doing her best to stand up straight and hold her head up in what might resemble proudly, Nozomi manages to only half avoid shuffling nervously towards the distillery. At the door, she takes a deep breath, checks her posture, and peeks in.

"O...ohaiyo?" She calls out a bit timidly, hoping that maybe her luck would hold and the other Phoenix would be out. It had been such a pretty morning so far, as far as Nozomi was concerned... why should it end already?

[Isawa O-Washi]

Alas, it seemed the Fortunes weren't with her. A very large man in bright red hakama, an orange vest with an embroidered wave pattern at it's hem, and generally rakish appearance was busily working at something on one of the large work tables, whistling so tunelessly that it was impossible to identify what song it was he was butchering. At the sound of her voice, soft though it was, the whistling stopped and the man straightened to his full height.

Spotting a...child?...that barely came to his navel, Isawa O-washi stared, his mouth slightly agape in surprise. It took an unseemly number of seconds for him to swallow, bow, and then smile rather weakly. "Ohayou, Cousin...can I assist you with something?"

[Shiba Nozomi]

Oh, curses.

Knowing it'd be incredibly rude to just dash away, Nozomi fully enters the room and gives him a very stiff and formal bow. As if she didn't have reason enough already to be uncomfortable, the guy was Huge.

"Is..." She coughs and clears her throat, trying to rid it of it's squeak. Taking another calming breath, her hand flies to her throat and begins to fidget with the opal pendant resting there.

"Isawa-sama. Captain-tono rec.. recommended last night that I seek you out. I'm Shiba Nozomi. I've some small ex-experience with-being-the-primary-healer-on-board-a-ship-of-this-size-and-would-liketooffermyassistanceinwhateverwaywouldbebest."

In order to avoid stammering she increased her pace a bit. And then again. Until her words pretty much ran together and she said the last bit all in one breath.

[Isawa O-Washi]

O-washi felt his jaw threatening to gape again and cut if off by talking. "Ah. Yes." He smiled again, this time with a lot more genuine welcome. Tiny or not she would be helpful...assuming she could see over the tops of the work tables. "That would be a blessing...I could stand to sleep more than six hours a night due to double shifts, that's certain. We've got the standard sort of supplies for the usual injuries..."

As he spoke, he left off of his work and began gesturing with his large, heavily scarred hands to assorted cabinets.

"Lots of things for splinting breaks and sprains..we get a lot of that. Spools of silk thread for stitching, a whole chest of rough cotton for bandaging...a small barrel of an old Yoritomo remedy for seasickness, not that it seems anyone's needed it so far..."

He paused, looking down at her again. "Have you met the eta yet? Both of ours have surgical training, they're a help. I can introduce you later if you're the sort to care."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Hearing familiar terms and not being completely dismissed as useless out-of-hand by the large man seems to be a good tactic. She nods as he describes the things available, watching carefully to where he points, even if he is just randomly gesturing about.

A small shake of her head and her glance to the door still seems a bit nervous. "Don't think I've met them..."

Her tiny brow creases a bit at the mention double shifts. Shifting her weight on her feet, Nozomi adds helpfully,"Double shifts aren't a problem if you want a day off once in a while..."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Good, capable men." Her reaction to the eta seemed to please him because he nodded approvingly at her. "As for the shifts, well, I'll bear that in mind but I think the Legion likely sent us enough folks that none of us should be too hard pressed unless we get stormswept or some other sort of trouble, Suitengu-kami forbid."

Like any smart, pious sailor, he followed his words by a warding gesture.

"If you want, I'll introduce you to them some time in the next few days. Mausu and Koudou are their names...Masusu's the older one and covers nights, Koudou's chatty and does days. Easy enough."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Her own fingers follow a similar warding sign subconciously, and the realization that they're both doing it makes her falter.

"If you'd like t-to introduce us..." Silently her lips form their names a few times, trying to commit them to memory.

"D-do we have m-many who'll be healing? I met the Iuchi already..." This guy was pretty much nothing like any Isawa she'd ever met. Which was good, cause she wasn't exactly your typical Shiba.

[Isawa O-Washi]

Large shoulders rose and fell in a gesture of ignorance. "No idea...I'm the lowest ranking officer on board so I'm the last to get the word." Blue eyes like sunlit depths glimmered in amusement. "The soldier's plight...'hurry up and wait' and 'you only know if you need to know which is when we say.'. I haven't even met this Iuchi yet so you're a leg up on me."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Nozomi glances about the room. A particularly complex piece of equipment with tubes coming out of it at odd angles catches her attention. "Eto... I've never s-seen one of those in a medbay before..."

[Isawa O-Washi]

Following Nozomi's gaze, the gunso suddenly looked rather sheepish. "Yes, well, I expect not. That's for, erm...well..." Weight shifted from one foot to another in a clear indication of embarrassment. "That's not exactly medicinal, precisely. A personal project, you might say, though sometimes it's helpful with patients, too."

[Shiba Nozomi]

She shuffles over to it, politely refraining from touching it in any way, but managing to put her face rather close. "Oh? What does it do?" A departure from her normal wavery tone, her voice is practically bright with curiosity in comparison.

[Isawa O-Washi]

She stuttered in normal conversation and yet when someone tried to avoid an answer she was all eagerness? Madness!

Refraining, just barely, from sighing, O-washi was silent for a few moments and then decided he might as well spill...no doubt she'd find out sooner or later anyway.

"It's a portable distillery, Shiba-san. Just now, I'm working on a peculiar Mantis concoction that I hear the Islanders are fond of." He coughed. "Purely for the knowledge in it, and the potential medicinal benefit, of course."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Milky white eyes leave the machinery for a long moment, resting quietly on him in contemplation.

A few heartbeats later, she says very quietly,"I... see." She continues to watch him from beneath her bangs before casting her gaze back to the item in question. Following the path of fluids from one tank to another along the spiderweb of tubes, she notices it seems to be in operation.

"So... h-..." Tiny fingers make small wiggling motions and point almost randomly."It w-works, how?"

[Isawa O-Washi]

Well, wasn't she just a credit to the Clan in her quest for knowledge.

Figures.

Sighing, O-washi hovered his hand over the main barrel. "This gets heated." He indicated a small tray, not unlike the sort one took to bed to heat it in the heart of winter in the cold Phoenix mountains, full of coals below. "The fluid inside, which is a sort of mash of a relative of bamboo just now, warms until the alcohol rises to join the air kami. Then that's caught and gets piped to this barrel." His hand over over a smaller vessel. "Then it returns to being liquid again. As to what happens after, well...I haven't quite worked out what I'm meant to do then so right now I'm experimenting with methods that one uses for making sake to see if it's the same."

[Shiba Nozomi]

"M-my cousin's doesn't have th-this many tubes." She turns her head to inspect one line of moving fluid more closely, watching it end in tiny drop of liquid to the second chamber. Nozomi wrinkles her nose in memory. "But he w-wouldn't tell me how it worked, ei-either."

Stepping away from the contraption she adds,"But his ha-had charcoal in it s-somewhere. Said it was a good fil-filter?" The subsequent shrug indicated that the statement meant little to nothing to her.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Hai, it is." Despite not being entirely sure this was wise, O-washi's habitual smile was finding it's way back onto his face...he enjoyed his hobby and very few people ever showed any interest in it. "What sort of wood you burn to make it adds flavors, actually."

[Shiba Nozomi]

"Really? Huh." This was a new concept. Koichi has pretty much exclusively used pine. Nozomi always assumed it was because Phoenix lands were pretty much covered in it, making it cheap and easy to find.

Her nose twitches. "I guess dif-different trees might affe-affect the flow of chi d-differently, wouldn't they?"

[Isawa O-Washi]

"As I view it, the chi flow, the way it affects the body's humors, doesn't change much by the sort of wood. It's more like a spice, really..." One large hand rose to stroke his neat goatee thoughtfully. "For example...imagine sake milled from the same rice paddy that goes through the same distilling and aged for the same amount of time, just in two sorts of charcoal....for the sake of argument we'll say, oh, oak and pine. The sake'll have the same kick, about the same amount of alcohol, but it'll taste different."

[Shiba Nozomi]

Too subtle. He IS Isawa... right?

Focusing on the concept at-hand more fully instead of following that thought, she replies,"But a taste of l-lemon will change the b-body's reaction in subtle ways fr-from that of say, p-ine. It's... a matter of humors an-and essences, not p-pure physicality."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Reaction? Just due to a hint of a new taste?" One black brow rose. "Other than making one pucker, I rather doubt it...unless we're talking about the sort of additions one might do as a joke, in which case that's a whole different kettle of fish."