[D4 LA] Once upon a time, pony met a bunny

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Some of the stories on how some of the clans treat their heimin... bothers me." Dong-Ha admitted. "I guess it's because we never had any land... so most of the heimin travelling with feel more like comrades rather than someone working for you. I know many were adopted by the samurai during the Dark Ride." Many of the heimin had proven their bravery during those dark years. "They serve a different role in the clan, but I wouldn't think them as lesser men." Dong-Ha's views were shared by many who owed their lives to the efforts of the commoners.

"Even if that was true, I'd still take a foxwife. Samurai is only as good as his.. or her word. If I promise to be true to my wife, I intent to keep that oath." he sounded rather serious in his conviction as his dark eyes rested on Tomoe's features. "Love... love is a tricky thing..." Now Dong-Ha was flustering again. "I think it is bit like a foal. It needs tender care... or it will be never do any good." Feeling bit ashamed, the young man dropped his gaze down.

"Some clans are crueller than others. Some are kinder. The Sparrow Clan, one of the minor ones, are said to work side by side with their heimin and care for them greatly," Tomoe answered. She liked to think that her own clan got along well with their heimin, considering how low their numbers were. They couldn't really afford to not be kind to their heimin.

"Hai... love is tricky," she agreed with a rather thoughtful expression. "It's lauded as a blessing, but there are many stories where people do bad things for love."

She wondered how she really felt about it all. Would she come to love her husband, whoever it would be, because it didn't seem likely she would get to choose... or would she be in a sad marriage with no love? She liked Yuuru, but did she even love him?

"... Can you tell me of the Dark Ride?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"The Sparrow sound much like the Unicorn then, though I have yet to see any of us working on a field. But before coming here, when we were still wandering... everyone helped each other." He wondered if things were going to change, now that some of the heimin had started cultivating land. Would the Unicorn samurai forget their sacrifices and kindness?

"Aye, because they act out of passion, but not out of true love." Dong-Ha muttered, blushing ever so slightly as passions were mentioned. Suddenly the dry grass at his feet looked fascinating. "Not that I would know much about it.. but they say... and looking at my parents I think there is something true there... that true love grows out of respect and compassion over time. And if one is willing to nurture than and doesn't act foolishly, on can live a blessed life." He had had friends... and some he had considered more than friends, but could have not claimed to love, at least not in the sense that his parents loved each other. "Or so I hope...." he looked shyly up.

"The Dark Ride... it's.. you had to be there..." he seemed to be at loss for words. "It's not like we were hounded by something for years... whatever it was it would give us a respite, sometimes for days, sometimes for months. You'd start thinking it was all over... that you were safe... and then it would start again... the nights would grow darker, so dark you could not see your hands in torchlight." Dong-Ha shuddered, moving to wrap his ropes more tightly around him as if he was warding of cold weather. "People would disappear, only to wander back... but not be themselves anymore.. their faces would look like... molten wax... like it was not there anymore. They would always attack us, trying to cut us down.. or cast spells on us... some, we' never hear again." Dong-ha chuckled bitterly. "I am not sure which's worse."

[Usagi Tomoe]

"I hope whoever I might marry will at least share your sentiments, Iuchi-san," the Hare said shyly, her eyes lowered to look away too. There were so many more eligible and talented women here, she knew she had little chance of choosing those she she had met, and those she liked...

Listening to him speak of the ride, she listened attentively. Not horrified by what he said, which probably would have been the expected reaction, but with a sympathy for those who had suffered through it, especially at a young age.

"... Do you know what this was? It sounds... awful. Even that isn't a suitable word for it." What if it has followed them here?

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Mhmhm." Dong-Ha nodded happily. "I'm glad you think so." Kogitsune-chan he added in his mind. "Makes you wonder why the Crane thought this was such a good idea. No, don't get me wrong, it's good that clans are brought closer to each other... so that we can become part of the Empire once more but... like this?" A slight frown marred his otherwise kind smile.

"The elders have some idea... though, no-one seemed to know where it came from. They said that it was... a primal force, from times before creation, when nothing but shadows lingered on earth." Whatever that meant. However, it sounded cryptic and impressive, and so he saw no reason to mention that he was mostly clueless when it came to the terrors of the Dark Ride.

[Usagi Tomoe]

Well-read she was, but this seemed outside of her area of knowledge... primal force of nothingness and darkness? It didn't sound quite like the corruption of Jigoku. Similar, but different somehow. It was something she would have to look into somehow, in the future. There was sure to be someone in the Empire who could perhaps know what it could be.

"It sounds terrifying... but different from the terrors of the Ninth Kami," she shuddered a little. "Thank you for telling me. I can't imagine it must have been pleasant for you..." to have survived it, to have to remember it. "I apologise for asking about such dark things when we're supposed to be having fun."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"It was... and what bothers me the most..." Dong-Ha licked his lips as he brought Poppy to a gentle halt by tapping her muzzle. "...that thing is still there. We rode past it, yes... but what if it follows us? It hasn't, so far... but how can we know?" Not that that was the only worry the Unicorn had. "It's ok..." he waved his hand. "Better you know. Better everyone knows. So that no-one else has to suffer what we did."

"Say, do you like shochu?" he asked, trying to sway the discussion towards more pleasant topic.

[Usagi Tomoe]

Tomoe could only nod quietly as Dong-Ha spoke, as he had voiced some of the concerns she had. It was just something they had to prepare for, right?

"Shochu? Hm, it's alright... some of them I find a bit too strong for my tastebuds, but I've tried some more enjoyable ones. Is it a favorite of yours?" she gladly accepted the change of topics. And it was a little less embarrassing too than love and passion.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"The one I have." Dong-Ha laughed, realizing how little he actually knew. "I got few bottles from my father, who got them from a Yasuki I think? There's a picture of an orange carp on the bottle." he shrugged a little. "I was just wondering..." nervous, the young man bit her lower lip. "If you'd come drink with me tomorrow? We could exchange more stories..." Judging by the sun, they would need to return sooner than later.

[Usagi Tomoe]

The Hare smile with a faint pink-color on her cheeks. "I'd like that," she nodded. "Not that I don't mind the kumis, but shochu sounds like a nice change of pace. And since it's in good company..." the color turned a bit deeper. You seem like a good man. I hope he, or someone like him, will pick me.

"Where would you like to meet?"

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

He too, turned positively crimson. "Uh... if you don't mind, I could come to your tent?" Dong-Ha figured that would be the least embarrassing option. It wasn't that he hadn't hung out with girls before, and it wasn't as if he had issues calling his kinswomen over. It was the notion that there might be something more than a budding friendship that made him nervous.

She called me good company... The mini-Dong-Ha in his mind was ecstatic.

"Also.. uh.. if you could, could you call me by my given name?" his friends did, and it was natural. Yet, asking this question filled his stomach with butterflies.

[Usagi Tomoe]

Her head dipped in a light nod. "Hai... if you call me by my personal name as well... uhm, Dong-Ha-san?" her pronounciation of the foreign name wasn't perfect, but she made her best effort.

"I hope you don't mind the mess that can be books and scrolls," she said with a shy chuckle in her tone. "I... kind of brought a lot of stuff to read, but I'd be happy to host you."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Hai, Tomoe-san." the young man was smiling happily. "Or just Dong if you want. It's a mouthful." He added almost apologetically, still feeling somewhat lost and happy at the same time. He had found someone he could connect with, but would that mean anything, given the circumstances? Also, there was the other pretty girl he had been talking to. He made a mental note to ask what she thought of him. He didn't want to mislead either of them.

"Books, what kinds of things you read then?" Dong-Ha didn't seem to care about the self-professed lack of organization. Most of the Unicorn did not have enough possessions to have such an issue.

[Usagi Tomoe]

"A lot of different subjects. Historical texts, theology, fables, classics like Leadership, Niten and The Sword, works on strategy and warfare like Sun Tao's writings, or the Thirty-Six Stratagems, texts on law..." she stopped, realising she was going on and on, and she let out a small embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. I've always had a love for reading and learning. I pretty much read anything, really."

"... I guess I'll have to learn a bit more about all these new names I'm learning while I'm here. I'm not familiar with the meaning of the name Dong-Ha...?" she looked to him to see if he would enlighten her on the nature of his name.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"In Rokugani, my name would be..." he held up his left palm for Tomoe to see while he 'drew' kanji on it with the index finger of his right hand. "Touka." Character for 'east' was followed one for the 'river'. "Or Higasisawa, I guess." The alternative, more formal reading produced longer names. "East stands for rising sun and the hope Lady Sun brings. River... is just a river I guess?" he scratched the back of his head.

"Tomoe would come from... blessing of wisdom, right?" Dong-Ha's fingers scribbled two more characters against his upturned palm.

"Oh..." He had heard of those books, of course.

Dong-Ha's eyes brightened. "I... would like to read all of those, one day. I have heard the names... well, most classics anyway. But we didn't have complete copies of them. I am not sure anyone among the Unicorn has."

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Ah, I see," she nodded as she understood the meaning of his name. And as he wrote her name, she nodded again. "You're skilled with kanji, I can tell. There's a few other ways to write Tomoe, but that is how I write mine," she awarded him with a bright smile for getting that one right.

"I would be more than happy to let you borrow one to read for the miai. That is why I brought so many, after all, as I figured there would be Unicorn interested in reading them... well, that and because I enjoy refreshing my own memory too on them."

Since he had said they should consider heading back soon, she tugged on both reins to make Poppy stop. "So... going down is the same as going up?"