[Crew Quarters, Moon 7 - Morning] The Stable of the Sea

[Yasuki Himiko]

The door to the Women's crew quarters swung open with a heavy start. Looking to the threshold, one would see what many would perhaps consider a strange sight: a young woman of the crab... or at least the Kimono was that of a crab's. The body wearing it couldn't possibly have been crab in nature. It was too... pretty.

Any notion of a delicate flower was, of course, completely negated when the woman walked into the room. Now that there was a clearer view, one could see that she held a piece of straw in her mouth, chewing on it nonchalantly. Her bag was hoisted over her left shoulder, almost threatening to slide off the tiny thing. When the fact that two other women were in the room finally registered with her, she looked to them and offered the basest of polite bows, then spoke with a word that proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she truly was the delicate flower that had been alluded to earlier. "Yo."

[Shinjo Qulan]

Qulan stared a moment at the, rather odd, Crab arrival. Then she looked back at her hand. It was still in Rinzuki's. Things got a bit more awkward, and it showed on the poor Shinjo's cheeks. "Ah... G-good morning, Crab-san, I am Shinjo Qulan." She bowed after awkwardly pulling her hand from her clan mate's. "Please make yourself comfortable."

The tall and willowy Shinjo rose, and had a friendly smile on her face, still a bit rosy in the cheeks.

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

Rinzuki pays no attention to Qulan's hand as it slips out of her own. "Iuchi Rinzuki," she says, bowing gracefully to the new arrival. "Shugenja of the Unicorn."

[Yasuki Himiko]

A perceptive eye noted the hand of one slip out of the hand of another. She didn't flush or anything, didn't even really respond. Just kept chewing on her piece of straw. "Yasuki Himiko. Bushi of the Crab." She walked over to the nearest berth and tossed her bag on top of it. "So, that hand thing y'all were doin'. One of those strange Unicorn greeting rituals, right? Kahachi-sensei told me y'all were all about the touchin' and the eatin' of strange stuff." Her tone was very casual and nonchalant, and her face really didn't betray anything more than a bit of simple curiosity.

[Shinjo Qulan]

"You mean a handshake?" Qulan was a bit relieved. At least this could have been confused for something else. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Yasuki-san. I'm glad to see one of my cousins among the Crab here."

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

"Something like that," Rinzuki says with a faint nod. "During their time beyond the Empire, our ancestors traveled far and wide, and met with many tribes and foreign cultures. It was a common practice for two warriors to clasp their weapon hands together when meeting, to show that neither meant any harm to the other."

She casts a brief glance towards Qulan.

"The tradition has carried on since our return to the Empire, though of course it has lost much of its practical aspects and become one of symbolic brotherhood." She smiles warmly as she turns back to Himiko. "Or sisterhood, in this case."

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Y-yeah..." Qulan nodded in agreement. "Especially after she helped me get off the floor."

... That sounded weird in my mind.

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Off the floor? Hard workout or somethin'?" She shrugged it off, reaching into her bag and finding a long, ornate kiseru. A devilish grin appeared on her face, and she began searching for the flint and tinder to go with it, as well as the tobacco. "Gotta be careful with those workouts. Betcha a koku the cap'n'd be pissed if you hurt yourself before we even set sail."

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

"I was tending to some of Shinjo-sama's sore muscles," Rinzuki explains. "Nothing terribly serious."

She motions to the Crab's pipe with a finely manicured hand. "My apologies for mentioning it, Yasuki-sama, but I am not entirely sure that smoking is allowed down here, on account of the ship being little more than a collection of cramped kindling."

[Shinjo Qulan]

"Ah, yes... Sore muscles..." Qulan nodded. It was the truth after all. "And, yes... Fire is bad."

[Yasuki Himiko]

"Don't worry, I'll take it outside before I light it. I know a little bit about what goes on on these ships. Wouldn't wanna hafta seppuku on my first day because I screwed up the boat, eh?" She began casually packing the kiseru with tobacco, humming what sounded like the base tune to some song from the wall. "So, treating sore muscles, eh? You spend a lot of time doing stuff like that?"

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

"A fair amount." She smiles warmly as she pushes some invisible strands of hair behind one ear. "Most of the time, you only need to massage the muscle for a little bit, but for sore arms, shoulders, or backs, most bushi prefer to have someone else assist them."

"It is a much more enjoyable task than amputating limbs or digging around in someone's guts." Rinzuki taps at her scroll satchel. "And for everything in between, the kami do a far better job of healing than mortal hands."

[Yasuki Himiko]

"I see. If it helps, I'll do mah best to stay healthy so you can keep yer hands outta my gut." Himiko grins briefly, then looks over towards the door, which of course she never closed. "If you will excuse me then, I gotta date with some bad tobacco." She offers a sloppy bow, then begins making her way to the door.

[Shinjo Qulan]

"It was nice meeting you, Yasuki-san." Qulan weakly said after having the disturbing picture of Rinzuki's hand in Himiko's guts. She didn't want to imagine that.

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

Rinzuki bows to the Crab woman as she leaves, and then casts an amused glance towards Qulan.

[Yasuki Himiko]

And, with a devilish grin, Himiko

/exited.

[Shinjo Qulan]

"My imagination is a bit... Odd." Qulan turned her head to her clan mate and forced a smile. "Sorry."

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

"For what? You handled yourself just fine, Qulan-chan."

Rinzuki smiles as she glances down at the other woman's hand.

"Would you like to go back to holding hands for a bit more?"

[Shinjo Qulan]

Qulan looked down at Rinzuki's hands and paled as she had a flashback to her odd choice of imagery. "N-no thanks... I don't think I even want to look at hands after I imagined them in guts."

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

Izumi rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

"I wash them, Qulan-chan. Would you rather your fellow bushi die because nobody was willing to fish the arrowhead out of their guts?"