Not quite ghost Mantis (Day 5, EA, Yuzuki's yurt)

[Yuzuki]

She leaned back slightly, adopting a more comfortable position again once he'd finish up.

"It'll certainly be a story to tell your grandkids. Fighting an Orochi and actually winning the fight. And so far from the sea too. Wonder why it was out here."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira glanced at the mantis.

"You've seen those before?"

[Yuzuki]

"Once, when I was little. But stories of Orochi are common among the Mantis. They live in the sea, after all."

[Soshi Taira]

"Ah."

Taira looked mortified.

"No wonder it was so angry."

[Yuzuki]

She wasn't quite sure how to interpret the expression on his face. What did he have to be mortified about?

"I suppose? That could be it. Maybe it was lost. It's hard to tell, since it didn't really say anything."

[Soshi Taira]

"Yes... I would have thought getting away from the ocean would have pleased it."

To his mind, there was nothing more horrifying.

"After all, around here, it has good solid land to rest on."

[Yuzuki]

"Ah... uh..."

What?

That response was certainly outside of the normal range of things one could expect to hear.

"Could be. Though I suppose they do live in the ocean for a reason. It seems like they wouldn't if they didn't like it."

[Soshi Taira]

"Oh, that's true."

Taira shrugged.

"I guess it was pretty crazy."

[Yuzuki]

"Anyway," she closed her eyes for a moment, then changed the subject. "Aside from all that, how has the Miai been going for you? It's been quite the experience, I think."

She didn't quite feel like going back to sleep; and it wasn't a bad thing to be able to talk to a guy who wasn't on her list of possible marriage prospects.

"I'd almost say the Orochi wasn't the most unusual thing I've seen these past few days."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira blinked, his answer to her question collapsing in the face of that statement.

"You've had a stranger experience than a dragon falling from the sky?"

[Yuzuki]

"I just meant..."

That might have been rude...

"...I just meant that you know, the Unicorn are different. Takes some getting used to. I didn't really mean stranger than an angry Orochi."

[Soshi Taira]

"Ah, well... some of what I've heard has been very, very strange."

Like shadowlands beasts...

"I've had an, interesting, experience so far. Benten proves herself a trickster without compare."

[Yuzuki]

"Uhm," she seemed yet again perplexed by one of his responses.

"I suppose?"

She obviously had no idea what he was getting at, though there was a question in her voice.

[Soshi Taira]

"Oh, just that sometimes what you think you know about someone is not true. What they intend. What they think."

[Yuzuki]

Odd thing for a Scorpion to say, isn't it?

The mood was strange, even Yuzuki grasped that. She didn't want to ask for details, that'd be rude. And probably something of a bother if it turned out to be something she didn't really know how to deal with. Which was likely. At the same time, he was obviously upset, and he'd done alright by her. So she wanted to be at least supportive, somehow.

"Uh yeah. Sometimes it'd probably be useful to be able to read minds. Would save a lot of trouble wouldn't it?"