Promise to the Crew [Day 15, Map Room, Evening]

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

[Thread isn't closed but the discussion that'll be occurring within is meant to be private. You're welcome to enter but I'll be making no attempt to pull others into the initial chat.]

Though Yakusoku hadn't seen everything that occurred on deck, it wasn't hard to piece half of it together. Bloody samurai, angry heimin sailor being held back, other new-to-the-sea samurai looking mighty pissed off. Didn't take a genius to connect the dots from there. Still, dot-connecting was only part of the issue. Now she wanted to see about helping fix the problem.

After giving a good amount of time for things to resolve up above, the Badger heads off looking for O-Washi. Cornering him for a private chat could prove difficult but in the very least she hoped to find him somewhere where half the ship wouldn't be listening to what she had to say. It'd already be a shot in the dark without a bunch of lubbers feeling the need to share their opinions.

Figuring he'd need to talk with the Captain one way or another, Yakusoku heads off that way. If not there, well, she had no idea where to look. But she'd find him eventually.

[Isawa O-Washi]

O-washi had dutifully draggd Dageki up to speak to the Captain directly, waited to hear the testimony, and then started out of the cabin en route to his watch. It took only a single glance to show that he was angry...his gaze, in addition to being the color of angry storm-tossed seas, were actually visibly swirling, the power in him roused by his anger.

Seeing the Badger, he stopped dead. His bow was swift and sharp and his scowl unchanged as he greeted her. "Yes, Ichiro-san? I have a watch to be getting to, so if this is something that can wait..."

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Yakusoku offers a bow back, her teeth gritting behind her lips as she meets the Phoenix's gaze. She didn't understand shugenja; didn't really feel comfortable around them. And O-Washi looking the way he did now didn't help matters.

"Isawa-sama," she greets him back with a bow, "if yer in a hurry I can walk with ya. After seein' just the ass end of that mess out on the deck, I was hopin' to speak to ya for a few."

[Isawa O-Washi]

This, of course, only made the big man's eyes flare worse and his hands crossed over his chest in a foreboding gesture. "If you're wanting to talk about that mess, get on with it. Sooner done, sooner I can get on with my duties and stop thinking about it in favor of the equally unpleasant but at least different factor of watching for the Tide."

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Yakusoku exhales softly. That had gone better than she'd expected even if the Phoenix did look more pissed off. "I don' know all that happened up there. Best I could tell, Dageki-san socked the Crane a good one so he's in a world of shit. Don't know how ya handle that sorta thing on this here ship but back in Clear Water, his ass would be flogged raw before the Fortunes and everyone." She pauses for a moment, giving just a few brief seconds for O-Washi to potentially confirm or deny if that was how things would be handled.

[Isawa O-Washi]

A muscle began jumping in the Isawa's jaw.

"Which he will be, once we're out somewhere the blood won't call things we don't want around." Almost growling, he added, "My job, of course."

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

Yakusoku nods. "Figured as much. Dageki-san's a helluva a sailor and it'd be too bad for him to be laid up after a floggin' with trainees tryin' to do his share of the work," that muscle didn't phase her. She was used to angry Crab sailors and aside for the eyes, O-Washi looked a lot like one. She could handle that. "I'm gonna talk straight with you, sama. We may just be trainees but since we're servin' on the same boat, I consider us crew. And I've told others in the crew that I'll do what I gotta do to help me shipmates," if the momentary glint of severity in her gaze doesn't bring home her point, and make where she's going rather obvious, nothing will.

"I don' need to be explainin' the rules to no Gunso. Ya don' punish a peasant 'cause he didn't follow Bushido. It ain't his way. Ya do it because what he done reflects badly on his superiors," she pauses for a moment, looking down at the floor. Then she smiles just slightly. "Sorry, sama. I ain't no good with words. What I'm tryin' to say is we don' need one of our best sailors stuck in sick bay or limpin' around cut and bruised. And even more than that, we don' need all the peasants sailin' on board pissed off at us new recruits. Why don' ya let me, as a samurai member of Dageki-san's crew, take his beatin' for'em. Lets me keep my promise to help the crew, mollifies," the word slips slowly from her mouth and for a moment she impressed herself by using it. It had been a favorite of her sensei and she certainly hadn't expected it to slip from her lips, "whoever he's managed to piss off, and even a samurai with a stick up his ass ain't likely to cause Dageki-san more grief if a samurai chooses to take his licks for him."

With a heavy, somewhat frustrated sigh the Badger looks up at the massive Phoenix her usual crooked smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "If I'm outta place callin' myself crew ya can punish me for that. Frankly sir, I don' give two shits; sometimes, sayin' yer piece is worth it. But if I can keep one of our best sailors healthy and on deck, while keep this from bein' an ongoing thing, I'm willing to go unda the lash. Wouldn't be the first time I been beaten... though never been done by someone built like the damn Kaiu Wall."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Say instead a pole up her ass." Eyes narrowed in distaste. "Seems our Kitten's overconscious of her honor. I don't think beating a proxy'll satisfy that one in the slightest, though I have respect for your willingness to do such a thing. To be frank with you, I give it even odds him living to be beaten at all...if the Captain decides his temper's gotten too bad, he'll just take his head. No need to beat him first in that case, or anyone. This isn't the first time he's sassed a samurai, you see...just the most recent and the worst. Only thing we might do, and this is a hefty 'might', is let it come to a duel."

A dark smile twisted the man's mouth.

"He can't do it, of course, but one of his 'masters' could. That means me, or Moshi-sama, in taryu-jiai against the Iuchi...and that can only happen back at port. That's Legion rules."

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

"Kitten? Iuchi-san? I see..." she sighs. "However it's gotta go, sama. I can't stand in for him if his head's gonna roll. A floggin's one thing but we have lords to serve. And as ya say, it ain't my place to be duelin' for'em. But if the Captain settles on a beatin', I wanna stand in for Dageki-san. Fix this shit without him bein' messed up and without leavin' those heimin that may end up helpin' people who fall overboard holdin' grudges. Not that they wouldn't do their duty, but a moment hesitatin' and..." she leaves the last bit implied, giving him a serious glance. "I've served long enough to know the value of keepin' the good heimin sailors workin' and all of'em on yer good side."

[Isawa O-Washi]

"None of our crew are fools."

O-washi kicked a convenient bucket, knocking a dent in the wood. "They wouldn't fail to do their duties to everyone because one fool woman holds her insulted pride higher than the lives of every fucking person on this boat. If she went in, mind, I expect the peasant's would be afraid of offending her by implying she couldn't get out herself. Especially if we do have to take Dageki's head...his sister, the one he's fired up over, is the second in command for the heimen. Losing her brother..."

The bucket got kicked again, this time flying across the deck to crash into the rail.

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

"Of course, Isawa-sama," she watches the bucket crash against the rail then looks off into the dark beyond it. The Sea of Shadow was out there and, as far as she was concerned, it was making all sorts of people crazy. At the mention of Dageki's sister she glances at the Phoenix again. So that's what this is all about... "Didn' hear nothin' about no sister 'til now. But that makes sense. I'd slug someone or spout some fiery words for the sake of my siblins. Then again, I'd slug someone for fun so that may not be a good comparison," again her glance turns to the Phoenix, that familiar twitch at the corner of her mouth. "But anyway, ya had a watch to get a so if I'm takin' up too much of yer time..." making her way over to the edge of the boat she picks up the bucket. Letting it fall, or get kicked, overboard would be bad luck. "Just let me know if I got a beatin' to be takin', 'ight Isawa-sama?"

[Isawa O-Washi]

"Will do. Get on with you, Ichiro-san...and if you wanted to mention the sister bit, well, I'll not be considering that violation of my prior edict."

Get up enough sympathy and perhaps they'd be able to pardon the heimen after all. Perhaps.

[Ichiro Yakusoku]

"'Ight Isawa-sama," she replies simply, offering a quick bow. Being dismissed she heads off, disappearing below deck, intent on heading back to the crew quarters for some chatting and a bit of reading from one of her cheap pillow books.

/exit

[Isawa O-Washi]

And the Isawa, who wanted nothing more than for this accursed day to end, moved off to his watch.

/scene