Story Time with Cook (Moon 15, Galley, Morning, Open)

[Volsung]

Supaisu was sitting in the galley, calmly sticking her hand in one barrel, pulling out a potato, peeling it, and then setting the peeled potato in another barrel. She'd been doing this for awhile and from the size of the barrel it looked like she'd be at it quite a bit longer. As she peeled she hummed an old pirate tune to herself, occasionally chuckling to herself.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

With a lesson-less day given to the, Hoshi spent her free time meandering the corridors of the ship. There were no large estate hallways or well kept gardens in this ships unfortunately. That would only leave the galley for idle feet wouldn't it? Hoshi stepped inside just in time to catch that chuckle from Supaisu. If there was a joke, she missed it.

[Volsung]

Supaisu noticed the Bayushi enter and smiled to her as she continued to peel the potato without even looking at it. "Just getting lunch ready." She says quite simply.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi lifted her brows at the response given by the heimen, finding some surprise that she spoke up first instead of waiting for the samurai to address her. "Mm, hai. I tend to miss the cooked meals. What's on the menu?" She asked as she approached.

[Volsung]

"You haven't had one of my meals yet?" The heimin gave the Scorpion woman another look over, noting how skinny she looked with a slight sigh. "Well, unfortunately we don't have anything special planned for today. Tofu, potatoes, and rice. Everybody gets a slice of lemon too. Gotta keep your constitutions up after all."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

She frowned a touch behind her mask when she heard from cook. "-Ah...Iie, I don't think have. From the sounds of it...I must be missing much ne? Maybe when the schedules are set, I could catch the platter. The lemon alone sounds like a treat alone."

[Volsung]

"Missing much?" The old cook smiled. "That's just a usual meal dearie. You should see what I can do with proper supplies. I remember two years ago we had a Scorpion on board who got himself a new mask specifically so he could eat my food without having to worry about taking his mask off."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi let out an amused breath at the boasting from the story and gave the cook another glance. "Really? It was that good? Okay then. That's something I'll truly have to make an appointment for..." She trailed off with a look given to the heimen for her name.

[Volsung]

The cook plopped the next potato into the barrel and paused, looking at Hoshi for a moment as though curious as to what she was waiting for.

"Oh! Bless me dearie, I'm sorry. I'm Supaisu, but most just call me Cook." She smiled. "I'm so sorry, just sometimes I get talking and I forget my manners."

The portly woman gets to her feet, setting her knife aside and bows deeply to Hoshi. Then she sits back down. "May I have the pleasure of hearing your name?" She smiles up at the Bayushi.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

The heimen were very curious on this ship, different from the ones at home. She nodded back to the woman when she bowed. "You were preoccupied. Supaisu? All right then. I doubt you would have earned that name without being known best at it. This one is Bayushi Hoshi, formerly of Ryoko Owari Toshi, pleased to make your acquaintance." She smiled faintly through her eyes.

[Volsung]

"Ryoko Owari? Oh I've been there once before. Back when I was still young and charming." She chuckles some. "Though I wasn't half so fetching as most of you Scorpion."

Cook grabs another potato and gets to work. "Still. It was certainly quite an experience. Got my first taste of love there." She smiles a little mischievously.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

...Love actually exists in Ryoko Owari? Hoshi shrugged sheepishly. "Only once? That almost doesn't seem like enough Supaisu, then again...it'd be hard to truly know the city even after a few years there really...How did you come across it?" She asked, wanting to hear this story.

[Volsung]

"Well I spent quite a bit of time there, but yes, only the once. I didn't see everything, but what I saw was quite impressive." The cook nods as she continues to peel. "Oh it's quite a story really. I was brought there by my lord, but it wasn't hard to get lost in that city. Back in those days, like many women, I liked the darker side of life, it was curious and I was drawn to the shadier spots of town. Which isn't too hard to find in Ryoko Owari." Cook smiled.

"I managed to drag a few of the other servants with me while we all had a spare hour and we all went for a walk. That's where I found him. He was out front of a store, peddling their goods when our eyes met. He grinned as only a bad boy can and I blushed and giggled and was quite taken with him right off the bat." As she spoke, the older woman seemed to peel the potato as an automatic function. "He was quite a rogue and got off work, taking side streets to get ahead of us, watch me pass again, and then do it all over again. By the end of our trip we were all a titter over it." The matronly woman chuckled again.

"Well eventually we started back, but I was running a little behind the other two. Suddenly someone grabs me and drags me into an alley. It was him, and oh he was even more handsome up close. Still, I was a little terrified that he was going to steal me and sell me away to one of those whore houses and I almost screamed before he kissed me." Cook smirked. "Such a good kisser too, but I won't scandalize you with the lovely details."

Having finished another potato she set it in the barrel. "That was just the first time though, we met quite a few more times before I left, but those stories are meant for less polite company."

[Bayushi Hoshi]

That earned a short chuckle from Hoshi, That's pretty debatable when it comes to love at all really...but okay, I'll take the story as is... "If anything, it sounds like he found you since he was willing to trouble himself over you for another blush and giggle..." She smirked while brushing some hair behind her ear. "I"m not one to balk at the idea of continued tales...but you have told me a good amount of juicy details already. It's heartening that you found a good time there. Thank you for sharing that."

[Volsung]

That got cook grinning. "Well I did say I was fairly fetching back when I was your age. Hadn't put on all this weight yet." She patted her belly. "That's a good love story though, Isawa-sama's is quite a bit more tragic."

She shook her head and reached into the barrel for another potato. Like all storytellers, she wanted her audience to want the story.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi lifted a brow at the cook, "Really?...Now, which Isawa-sama are we talking about exactly?" She asked before glancing to the barrel of potatoes that was near her. "Do you have an extra knife around here?""

[Volsung]

"Isawa-gunso of course." She smiled a bit. "Haven't gotten to know all you new people well yet."

Then she peered carefully at the Bayushi after she asked her question, looking down at her hand with a careful eye. "That's alright Bayushi-sama. Peelin' helps me keep focus."

"As for Isawa-gunso." The woman quickly returns to the story at hand before the Bayushi can ask further about peeling with hands that didn't look like they'd ever served in a kitchen. "He's been in love with the sea for years, but after the War of Fire and Thunder, he found a new love in his life. A pretty thing who served as a Shugenja aboard a Mantis ship. Needless to say, the first time they met it was less shy glances and pretty haikus and more lightning bolts and tsunamis." She chuckled.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi nodded once when she turned down the offer for help, figured that she should at least repay the favour from stories. Apparently something like peeling potatoes was going to be consider samurai duty around here anyway. She had touched a peeling knife before, if she was any good at it, was debatable. "An interests who topped the seas for him? -Ahah, it sounds like the makings of a tempestuous relationship. Naturally old woulds never heal easily but...how did Isawa-gunso ever see beyond it?"

[Volsung]

"Oh there are ways. Some like the confrontation. And since Isawa-sama'd always had a love for the sea and isn't one to hold a grudge. They fought each other a few times over the war, but each time they grew a little closer. A little less eager to attack the other. Then one day they found that the war was over and that they were in the same bar. It was quite awkward I assure you and it took them quite a bit of time but eventually they took to each other."

Supaisu sighed sadly. "Wasn't meant to be though. While they were sailing one day, they came across an old sea witch and knocked her into the sea without realizing it. That sea witch though, oh she was furious at them and chased the pair across the sea and back to shore. Catching up with them on the docks. She pointed one gnarled finger at the pair and cursed them." Supaisu stretched one hand out, a finger pointing at Hoshi as her voice grew older and shriller to imitate the sea witch. "Never more shall your love be tangible, the rest of your life will be by the sea, but you will never again sail it. Your arms will never hold, your feet can serve only death. No more will you speak the tongue of man."

Supaisu lowered her finger, "As the witch spoke, the air grew cold and the light began to fade. Soon it was pitch black on the dock, and when O-Washi-sama could see again, it wasn't his love he was standing beside, but a giant sea eagle who was screaming in fright. Poor Isawa-sama was heartbroken about the whole thing, but before he could grab the Sea Witch she was gone, leaving him alone with the bird."

Cook had finished another potato as she finished her tale and set it in the barrel, quietly collecting the next one.

[Bayushi Hoshi]

Hoshi could only find herself tensing with narrow eyes on the defensive when that finger was pointed at her with the witch’s words. Cook couldn’t possibly be that same witch...but she couldn’t discount that possibility that her words alone could spell similar omens to Hoshi. She wasn’t a bird, not yet anyway.

She had little to say afterwards, wondering if there was a punch line involved. The Gunso’s love is now a bird? This had to be a joke right? It must be the local heimen trying to toy with the new recruits. Trying to pull a fast one past a Scorpion? Maybe if I was on one the other two... Hoshi let out a small breath and gave a few nods. “-Ah...That was a very interesting tale Supaisu...I wonder which of the two is truly the cursed one...”