(Day 9, LM) Bariqu Unofficial (Open!)

[Moto Butaj]

"I wouldn't say we are all that famous of a clan. Though some of our Sumai are quite well known." Most of the Unicorn didn't seem to have heard of them.

"We are a minor clan, and your neighbor to the north. Our duty is to protect the Empire from any foreign forces trying to invade through the path of woe."

"Oooh, neighbor? Good!" Butaj smirks. "Do your Clan often stops invasions? But more importantly now, do you wrestle?"

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Most years, though they tend to be on a small scale." At the question on wrestling he shook his head. "Not since I was a child unfortunately."

[Moto Butaj]

"Pity. In the future Butaj will seek your fellow Badger then to try bariqu on them." He pauses. "Yobanjin?"

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

"I have heard of the Butei," she shook her head needing to clarify that. "I have hear that your family hosts talented performers. A Matsu, Matsu Yurio, informed me of them. Though I wonder if he was mostly speaking so positively of them as a result of a suitor of mine that was present, another Scorpion," she offered honestly. When he has stepped back she didn't press the attack. Letting him take it at his own pace.

Instead, she remained ready on the defensive for when he wished to resume, "A beautiful city and you are it's governor," she repeated to call back to this information. "Well, just more proof that the Scorpion seem to have sent some of their best to welcome my Clan, my Family, back to the Empire."

"I'm glad you view it as such, this was partly the intention," he said with a half-warm smile, cooled only by his lithe form hunching over the bamboo stick for support while he caught his breath.

[Shinjo Liu Fei]

Maybe not their best warriors though... she thought, casting only a slight glance to how easy it was to have worn him down.

"Have you managed to meet any of my Clan that caught your interest Soshuro-sama?" she asked, picking up a topic that was at the very least... topical. "Given yourself quite the handicap in ability of picking spouses."

[Shosuro Yawarakai]

"I've met a fair few that I found interesting, though most only in passing," he explained with a gesture that was equal part shrugging and him recovering from heavy breathing.

"And yourself?"

[Otaku Imane]

It was getting rather busy in the dojo when Imane arrived. She left Almatar to do her own thing outside as she entered, bowing to all but favouring Ichiro Daisuke with a smile. Moto Butaj received a little wave and she noted a cousin she had not previously met, as well as a masked man she did not recognise.

Removing a few pieces of her riding gear she approached the weapon racks and collected a training sword. She started with a few stretches and worked hard on some strength training before beginning a few drills, although the hardest part was trying to stop herself looking over at Daisuke.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Pity. In the future Butaj will seek your fellow Badger then to try bariqu on them." He pauses. "Yobanjin?"

"If you make it to my families lands I'm sure you will find many willing to wrestle you Moto-san, most of my cousins are a fans of sumai and wrestling, and have at least a little skill in it."

"The invaders? Aye for the most part, though they seem to come from different tribes. The ones we've been fighting most recently ride on giant lizards to fight." Imane received a smile and a bow as she arrived, but the Badger didn't part from his conversation partner.

[Moto Butaj]

"Wyrms? Like the one that made the crater?" Butaj is interested. "And rocs, have you fought them? How far into the north do you send scouts?" He waves back to Imane, then observes the vibes between her and Daisuke with some curiosity.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

"Wyrm?" The word was foreign to the Badger, he couldn't mean the ones that crawled in the ground, could he? "They aren't large enough to make a crater like that." He offered after a moment. "They are closer to the size of your horses."

His gaze drifted over to Imane for a moment to watch her before he looked back towards Butaj. "I've never fought rocs, and I don't think any other of the Badger has, though I've heard them mentioned by several others of your clans. As for Badger scouts, we don't travel to far from the borders of our lands, a few days walk at most, though the patrols themselves last longer then that."

[Moto Butaj]

"Wyrms are big flying lizards that spew fire. Or so the Ujik-hai lore says. Butaj hasn't seen any." He shrugs. "Good you haven't had to fight rocks. That was a very bad fight for the Ki-Rin, lost many and much in it... Butaj wonders how far to the Chengzhong He Valley is from your Path of Woe."

[Ichiro Daisuke]

His gaze had drifted off for another moment, he had never had the chance to watch Imane practice after all, and as interested as he was in the conversation he couldn't help it. His attention snaps back a few moments later though as Daisuke notices the conversation flowing back to him. "I'm glad as well, dealing with these lizards is bad enough, they can nearly bite a fully armored samurai in half with a snap of their jaws, just thinking about if something like that could fly." He shook his head.

"As for the valley, I can't say for certain as I don't recognize the name, but the path of woe is the pass the Unicorn used to leave the empire all those centuries ago. Maybe that will help you more with the distance?"

[Moto Butaj]

"The Ki-Rin travelled northwest, across the Ujik-hai deserts, not straight north or northeast. We know there are Yobanjin tribes there, or were so much time ago, but we have not been there. Well, Butaj's ancestors probably had been, raiding Yobanjin well before Lady Shinjo arrived, but this has been lost in the lore after the Moto joined the Ki-Rin, as many other things. But it is interesting to Butaj that the people of the East don't know either what lies in the North, having been not that far for all those centuries." He strokes his growing beard. "So you and Sayyeda Imane are a thing?"

[Otaku Imane]

Imane fished her warm ups and started a series of Shiotome kata designed for the unfortunate event in which one is not on one's horse. It kept her mind focused and prevented her from looking over at the Badger or listening in on him and Butaj.

It was quite clear that Imane was very skilled with the sword, even if the bokken looked like a no-dachi in her small hands.

[Ichiro Daisuke]

He listened intently as the Moto man spoke, managing to fight off the urge to look back towards the Otaku woman. "We find no need to travel to far, at least among the Badger. Our task is to defend after all not to explore." Though it might be wise to see if they could find the source of the lizards, maybe rwith the help of the Unicorn?

The change of topics brought a bit of pink to the Badgers cheeks. "Imane-sama and I have spent quite a bit of time talking." He offered as an explanation. "And we hold a similar regard for each other. In the future that may be something more." His eyes drifted back towards the Shiotome, his lips spreading into a smile he didn't notice. "If the heavens allow it."