(Day 7 Early Afternoon) Ugh Dirty Gaijin Magic!

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Well that shut the Agasha up well and truly. He wanted to be done with this place as quickly as possible.

[Isawa O-Washi]

The man was a Unicorn...odd fondness for foreigners was like a disease in their blood one could only pity them for, not cure.

"The variety of fruit here is impressive, I'll grant them that. You'll get to enjoy it for a while after we leave...I brought some on board for Cook to play with. If any of it really pleases her, I'll be trying to get more, if we have the time."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Hee, really?" he asked curious. Any changes to the rice and dried fish menu were more than welcome. "I didn't have the time to sample all of the exotic fruits I saw." Iuchi nodded.

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Qian-Fan made sure he was looking straight down as he rolled his eyes. Even their food was to be gaijin now. The irony of it matching his name's origin never occurred to him in the slightest.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Why not?" The larger man shrugged as he moved to deal with his other foot. "Fresh fruit is a gift at sea, no matter where it comes from, and given that it was the kami who brought it by way of Inari-kami I see nothing wrong with it. Especailly as it makes Cook happy...which, any career sailor will tell you, is very important. The only person worse to have angry on a ship than the Cook is the Captain and that's a very near race."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Qian-Fan nodded at that. He'd figured out pretty quickly not to annoy the cook or suffer the consequences and had made a point of being polite and friendly to her throughout the journey.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Oh no. I didn't say it was a bad thing." the man apologised. "Just thought that it was a good idea."

"Have you ever been aboard such a ship, gunso? One with annoyed cook." Iuchi asked, scrubbing his armpit.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Oh yes." The big gunso grimaced in memory. "You think rations are bad now? You should see it when the cook decides to punish the crew by not using any seasonings at all. It got bad enough the crew was making our own salt for relief."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

" 'Don't upset the cook or the quartermaster.' Last things my yojimbo said to me before we parted ways."

He half smiled while smoothing wet hair away from his eyes.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Mmmm. Well, in the later case, I'm more direct with my vengeance." O-washi chuckled. "I'm much more likely to knock you on your ass, say, than issue you the worst of the blankets in the hold or what have you."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

"So, Moshi-sama does not have the monopoly on such actions?"

He smiled faintly, welcome of the distractions this banter was giving him.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Fortunes', no." O-washi laughed. "I take a bit longer to lose my temper but, I assure you, I've got one. See these?"

He set the sponge down and made his hands into fists, showing the scars all along the knuckles.

"A lot of these are from cutting my flesh on the teeth of someone I've laid into."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Qian-Fan did indeed look at O-Washi's hands as it was somewhere safe to look. His eyes widened a little.

"But you have affinity with the mizu-kami, Isawa-sama, even more so than I do. You could have called them to prevent such scarring."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Oh yes." The big gunso grimaced in memory. "You think rations are bad now? You should see it when the cook decides to punish the crew by not using any seasonings at all. It got bad enough the crew was making our own salt for relief."

"Hee, and the captain did nothing? He was eating the same food after all, no?" Curious man was curious.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"So I could." The large man shrugged. "I have no shame in my scars, they're all justly earned. I won't trouble the kami for a wound that will heal itself without impeding my ability to do my duties. See this one here?"

He ran his hand down the large scar, thick and puffy reddish-purple , on his right side, running from his shoulder down to his hip. "This one I would have healed fully except I was out cold for days. Others treated it for me and by the time I was in a state to call the kami at all the scar'd already started and it was too late for it."

To Xiao Hua's question, O-washi chuckled. "The Captain was the one who annoyed the cook in the first place. He was lucky to have his rice fully cooked, much less seasoned."

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Looking at the scarred hands had been safe and when the other scar was pointed out, Qian-Fan's eyes followed to that and stayed there . . . for perhaps a moment or three longer than was polite.

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"So I could." To Xiao Hua's question, O-washi chuckled. "The Captain was the one who annoyed the cook in the first place. He was lucky to have his rice fully cooked, much less seasoned."

"Really? And he didn't... punish them?" Iuchi sounded surprised, his hand stopping in his groin. His father had kept their servants well disciplined.

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Couldn't very well do that, they were the same rank. The original heimen cook had been killed in battle and the only other one of us able to do any cooking was the ship's naviagtor." O-washi chuckled. "Seeing as they both served the same lord directly, well, he couldn't just cut the man down now could he?"

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Qian-Fan eventually moved his gaze away.

"The food was edible, yes? Then there was no reason to rise to such anger."

[Iuchi Xiao Hua]

"Really? No wonder they were annoyed." he nodded, scrubbing himself again. "And yes, that must have been awkward... But couldn't he have trained someone to cook? It's not like rice and dried fish is that tricky..." Iuchi, as learnt as he was, had never cooked rice himself.