Dark Edge Village

Damned Rain! It hadn't looked that bad when he had left the Administration Center. Soaked near to the bone Daisuke ducked into the dojo entrance way to get out of it at least for the moment. He wanted to go in further but as soaked as he was....

After a few moments hesitation he removed his sandals and placed his daisho to the side, before beginning to loosen his obi. No one was here to see anyways. What could it hurt?"

Arms flung over her head in a wholly ineffectual effort to keep off some of the rain, Saksaha trudges toward the tent village. Should... have... just... slept... in... Gio's... stall, she thinks wearily. In the dark, with water in her eyes, she almost trips over the dojo steps.

"I thank thee, gods, who bring water in the desert," she mutters, a formulaic expression of her grandmother's which is, on reflection, a little ironic under the circumstances.

She trudges up the steps and almost runs into a hanging lantern. Dodging, she shakes her head and wipes at her face to clear her vision.

"Hida's balls." Came the quiet curse as the Badger realized he really wasn't alone. The struggle to get his clothes in some sort of order a bit noisy but he accomplished it. Well mostly.

Clearing his throat he tried his best not to sound embarrassed as he greeted the newcomer. "Ah... Good evening." He said with a awkward bow. Struggling a bit to recognise the half drowned woman in the dim light.

Whoops, that was a bit more Badger than she'd been planning on getting a look at tonight... Saksaha feigns wiping more water out of her eyes as if she'd been able to see nothing, though the slight flush that colors her wet cheeks might give the game away.

"Good evening," she says in return, her voice's usual husky quality shading over into hoarse from the cold and wet. She clears her throat, wrings rather ineffectually at one of her soaked sleeves, and manages in a more normal voice, "I did not come here to intrude. Sorry. It is just... wet." She shrugs fatalistically.

"Ah, your not intrading I was just stopping by to get out of all the rain as well." He cough and shifted his clumsily tied obi.

"You just caught me when I was just..." He cleared his throat his own cheeks a bit pink. "Trying to wring out my kimono." He admitted. "Figured if I was going to be stuck here a while I may as well be a bit drier."

"That is very sensible." Saksaha sighs, looking down at herself. Water drips from her skirts and pools on the wooden step below. At least her feet inside her felt-and-leather boots are still nicely dry, but all the same, she doesn't quite dare to climb up on the tatami floor like this.

"Maybe... we can still come to an arrangement?" she suggests, cocking her head inquisitively at him. With her dark eyes reflecting sparks of the low light, and her black hair slicked smooth to her head like a magpie's wing feathers, there's something a little birdlike about the gesture. "I will turn my back, and you wring out your clothes. Then you turn your back and I will do mine. Each can guard the other in case some third person comes along." She smiles, a glint of white teeth in the dimness. "I once did you a favor, so I trust you."

Daisuke had been making a distinct effort not to let his eyes wander over her soaked form, certainly the sight was a pleasant one, but he didn't wish to be rude, and if he looked once he'd probably stare.

"An arrangement?" His eyebrow rises curiously, but he lets her continue. After she finished he thought about it for a few moments before nodding. "If you are fine with that, then so am I. Though you are free to go first if you like." She did seem a bit worse off then him after all.

She shrugs. "I cannot get any wetter. You might as well continue as you were."

Wet Badger is also an interesting sight, to be sure... but pride is stronger than concupiscence in this one. If she's said she won't look, she won't look. Even if, perversely enough, the act of promising this fires her imagination just a bit.

It made a bit of sense so after a moment he nodded, and moved his hands to his obi to begin. Pausing a moment to make sure she had turned around. Of course he believed her when she said she would, but one couldn't be too certain.

Soon enough the sound of dripping water could be heard as he wrung out his clothes as best as he could, after that it was only a few more minutes before he called out. "I'm done Iuchi-san."

Saksaha keeps steady watch out on the rainy night while Daisuke does whatever he needs to do over there, her arms crossed for warmth. When he announces he's done, she nods, but then realizes he might not be looking in her direction. "All right. I am turning around again," and she does so. Well, he still looks a bit damp, but that does seem more comfortable.

"My turn now?' she asks, one hand already going to the top button of her high-collared robe. She pauses there a moment to make sure he follows through.

He felt better too, though if he was alone he might of attempted to hang his garments to dry for a bit, at her question he nodded. "Of course." Then turned to resolutely watch the night. Peeking wasn't something he planned to do, but it was certainly hard to get the idea of a attractive woman stripping just behind him out of his head.

Maybe he should try counting or something?

The sound of rustling and dripping punctuates Saksaha's movements as she strips briskly out of her outer layer, and then, with a resigned sigh, her inner one as well. Next, two thumps are her boots hitting the wooden floor of the dojo entryway. Then some slightly heavier breathing and even more dripping as she wrings each piece out with all her might. Finally, there's a bit more shushing of damp fabric, a cough, and some sotto voce muttering in Mekhem as she reassembles herself.

"Ready, Ichiro-san," she says at length. "This is better." Not perfect--that would be dry clothes in her own tent, where she devoutly hopes she remembered to cover the smoke hole before leaving--but better.

Once unbuttoned (after much effort), the knotted fabric buttons and loops of her embroidered wool outer robe had proved too hard to fasten again thanks to the water they'd absorbed, so instead she's just crossed the garment over in front as best she can and closed it at the waist with her belt. A little of her soft white cotton underclothing now shows where the high collar falls open, but she's still definitely decent by any Rokugani standard. She's barefoot and has now moved on to trying to squeeze some of the rainwater out of her long braid.

38 weasels, 39 weasels, 40 weasels. Daisuke wasn't sure why exactly he decided to count weasels, perhaps because he had seemingly been cased by a army of the damned things earlier. It did keep him distracted though, and facing the rainfall outside.

When she signaled he turned around and offered her a smile. "Aye, at least a little." He couldn't help but look her over a moment before turning his eyes away eventually letting them fall on her boots, where his gaze lingered. He'd seen the Unicorn wearing some odd things on their feet, but he'd never gotten the chance to see them off... they looked decidedly uncomfortable.

Noticing himself staring he coughed and looked towards the interior of the dojo. '"Shall we go in? It might be warmer in there?"

"Yes," she agrees, and leads the way in without further ado.

It is definitely warmer, if only by virtue of being out of the way of wind and blowing raindrops. Saksaha gets to work finding another lamp and lighting it from the small watch-light over the door, increasing the light-level a bit. "Some day I might meet you in daylight, Ichiro-san, and when we are both fit for company," she remarks wryly as she sets the lit lamp gently back onto the floor matting.

Daisuke followed, his own bare feet making barely a whisper of sound as the stepped onto the tatami mats

"That would be nice." He replied with a chuckle. "I'd hate to imagine what kind of other embarrassing situation I could meet you in after all." Sick and half naked were already bad enough, "Perhaps I'll have to invite you for a meal or tea sometime?" He offered as he watched her work.

"A way of saying thanks for your help last time if nothing else."