Revealing Winds (D9, LA, Expecting)

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

Astride Gekko once more, Kitakuhime hummed a song on her head while waiting for the invited party to arrive.

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

The crimson clad figure of Shosuro Yawarakai crested a slight ridge on the road out of town. As he walked down the gentle slope, the ends of his sleeves and the hem of his kimono caught the wind and whipped around his sleek outline wrapped where the body of his clothing cut tight around his torso. He bore a cloth bundle clasped between his hands, and a metal bracelet glinted of silver just above his wrist. The few minutes it took to bring him from the hill to join the Shiotome passed with the wind and once he was close he bowed politely to her and turned to examine her steed with an impressed smile.

"Konichiwa Otaku-sama, I am Shosuro Yawarakai. It's an honor to meet you," he began, the faint smile remaining affixed to his face.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

The light shining over his metal bracelet adds a special touch to the stoic visage of the crimson figure walking towards her. She had heard he was quite the match, but no one actually saw him before to describe. Kitakuhime looks at the approaching figure with much interest. The wind that whipped his cape runs through her flowing hais. A cooling breeze for a hot... day, such as this one.

The Otaku princess dismounts from Gekko with grace and bows to the Scorpion. The warhorse bows in his own fashion: lowering his neck elegantly. "Konnichiwa. I hope the Fortunes have graced Shosuro-san with their blessings today. This one is Otaku Kitakuhime, shiotome to the Unicorn and heir to the Otaku. Yoroshiku onegaishimazu!"

She beams up a bit, and waves toward the steed. "And this is my devoted guardian, Gekko-kun."

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

"That they have Otaku-sama," he nodded with his warm half-smile, "that they have. My time at the miai is no longer for naught, arigato gozaimasu. If you wish my titles as well then I am governor of the Painted City, home to the academy which trains my family's finest actors, and eldest child and heir to my mother Shosuro Uruwashii, our family's daimyo. I also wish to stipulate and concede that I recognize the magnitude of our meeting and what it implies. I'm also aware that by such an implication, if you consent, then one of us would be required to forgo our birthright.

But the details and the politics... Those can wait, neh?" he suggested, nodding down towards his hands, "I don't know if you are hungry, but I've worked up a bit of an appetite on my walk and just happen to have brought lunch with me. I'm not sure what you like, so I tried to get a little of everything from the opening feast that they still had.... There is rice, .... lamb I think it was? And some nice cuts of salmon, some vegetables, and cheese."

He nodded to the side towards a patch of grass and started to make his way over before he stopped with a click of his tongue.

"Tsk, I almost forgot!" he chided himself quickly. He slipped a hand into the bundle and withdrew a small apple which had been perched on top.

"For Gekko-san, if he likes them?" he offered, extending it towards the pair of them at arms length with a slightly wary look at the warhorse who was far more massive and intimidating this close.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

The Unicorn failed once when honorably declining a gift. Of course it would fail twice.

"Wai-- Gek--!""

Gekko does not allow the apple to remain on top of Yawarakai's hand. In a fast glomp, the massive beast devours the juicy fruit, thinking how many more it would take until he was finally bribed into accepting the Scorpion's friendship. The silvery white stallion smiles after his debouched 'thank you' snort.

Kitakuhime pokes the horse on its neck with serious frown, and bows once more to the Scorpion. "Shosuro-san, please, forgive me and my steed."

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

Yawarakai's eyes flash brightly at the sudden move towards his hand, but perhaps to his credit the short distance his hand flinched was made up as soon as he came to his senses. Considering there might be just something off-putting to Gekko about the young man, this might be a bridge built on the back of many apples and more. (( cursed by chukishudo ))

He inhaled, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly, and suddenly all was cool and warm and well again. The easy smile once again fixed to his lips. He waved the hand glinting lightly with sticky fruit juice and perhaps a little bit of horse saliva as well and chuckled, "For what? Instead I'd ask your forgiveness. I didn't quite grow up with animals, so I'm a little out of my depth here. I'm sure I did something wrong. Least of all, I'm sure that's not how you usually do it. I... I wasn't sure whether apples would be fine, so I asked the cook what a backup option would be and he gave me these to try if that didn't work..."

This time, Yawarakai lifted the bundle of food and tucked it under one arm. Then with one hand, he slipped into the sleeve of his kimono and withdrew a few small, white sugar cubes.

"If these are alright, and if you would, then perhaps would you show me the proper way?" he asked, opening his cupped hand just enough to show Kitakuhime their contents without holding them all the way out this time lest his backup plan vanish as quickly as the first.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

As Gekko's wide nostrils started to sniff out deliciousness in the air, Kitakuhime pulls the reins down hard to hold him still. The beast snorts again, frowning his horse eyes and wiggling his tail.

"Shoruro-san is too kind. This brute here is unworthy of such treats after what he did!" The Otaku princess reinforces her last words by straightening the reins in her grip.

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

"Then perhaps if you would keep them for me, and give them to him once he has redeemed himself in your eyes. That way I might still treat him and this time it will be done in proper order, neh?" he said, extending his hand slightly while still leaving the fingers curled around to prevent the naughty horse from further temptation.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

She shakes her head. "I cannot. It would ruin any bond you would ever want to make with him. Shosuro-san's hand has to feed him, if the intention is to treat him. Yet, Gekko-san was rude, and not worthy of such."

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

"Growing up, I heard stories about the Unicorn. They were a clan with mounts the size of boulders that could only be tamed by the honorable and fierce samurai-ko that rode them across the plains as though borne on Shinjo's wings. I also heard that it was only to a woman that they would bend, so perhaps it is a futile gesture for me to try and treat him... but if you treated him with cubes you just happened to get from a scarlet-clad man, then perhaps Gekko-san would receive them better. If those stories are true, just as the stories about the wonder of your horses and those who command them, then the future of any measure of true friendship I might have with him hangs on your next words. If you would please Otaku-sama, onegaishimasu," he said, letting the curled hand drift a little further towards her.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

She bows, and opens her hand up, extremely close to his, so that the warhorse wouldn't be able to intervene without taking her down in the ground. Gekko snorts heavily, and shakes his head: as if warning Kitakuhime of something else.

"I honorably accept the offer, Shosuro-san, with hopes this sign of friendship sweetens the words the Scorpion Clan has winded up about the Unicorn until now."

She patiently waits to see how Yawarakai would like to continue.

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

Yawarakai tipped his hand over so that the small, gritty cubes tumbled into her hand. He gave her a warm smile and studied her face, content to enjoy the relative silence around them. The wind puffed once more and brushed across his face and he inhaled. Glancing over at the ground, he looked back at her.

"Would you care to join me?" he asked, lifting the wrapped bundle which dangled from his other hand.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

She nods, and gives Gekko one of the treats. The horse slurps it in a blink, trying to reach for more. She tucks the other cubes inside a pocket in the saddle, and fetches a small blanket to cover the grass. She unfolds it in the air, and gently places on the ground: stretching herself a bit to fixate the corners. Once done, she sits on her legs and folds hands as delicate as a Battle Maiden could.

Gekko starts to spin left and right, trying to fetch the pocket on top of him.

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

Yawarakai bowed thankfully once she laid the blanket out and he knelt with practice onto it. Shifting a little bit, he made himself comfortable on the ground beneath them and then he untied the bundle and began unpacking it. A wooden box with slidable trays, more of a miniature cabinet, took up the bulk of the revealed contents. He slid the top one free and slipped off the lid, revealing an assortment of vegetables. The next was a more traditional spread, with rice and carefully sliced pieces of fish covered with a light dusting of black and brown that smelled of spice and pepper, and the third was the foods the Scorpion had only recently become familiar with. Cheese, of course, and a few cuts of lamb like he had mentioned. There was a second type of red meat Kitakuhime would likely recognize but the name hovered tauntingly beyond his grasp.

After laying out the food, he produced a small bamboo water bottle that smelled like black tea and offered it to her. If she took it, he'd begin arranging the space between them so that the three wooden boxes formed a triangle with the portions of rice in the middle and the rest ringing it. Towards the Scorpion, the vegetables, and towards the Shiotome the small collection of native and 'exotic' foodstuffs.

[Otaku Kitakuhime]

Kitakuhime pays attention to every detail Yawarakai devotes his time to. It catches her eyes in a way her mind deviates from looking directly at him, avoiding any possible blush from being intimidated with his beauty. As he brings the the water bottle, the girl shifts herself forward and accepts it, moving the palm of her hands up, with a short nod of her head.