The Welcome Dinner (Post-Event Thread) [D1, Early Evening]

[Doji Fukawa]

Fukawa's perfumes tickle Butaj's nose but he doesn't seem to be getting what the scent is about. In a legitimate Ujik-hai greeting custom he leans in and takes a hearty whiff of he Doji's hair, then withdraws with a thoughtful 'hmmm' while blinking and rubbing his nostrils.

"Butaj feels it holds true for more things that bring the Unicorn traditions and the traditions of Rokugan back together. Butaj imagines that strong community between Clans pleases the Emperor. If it is through cooking experiments, so be it! Butaj would volunteer to try fish with cheese!"

They had been sitting there, conversing like two normal samurai. Sure, one was the craniest of doji courtiers, and one was a Moto barbarian. But pleasant words and sentiments were being exchanged.

And then it seemed as if time were slowing down. The Moto leaned his burly body in, and attempted to inhale the Crane's petite head.

Fukawa's beautiful fan with the cherry blossoms upon a spring lake lay uselessly by her side, set aside to eat.

Her face seemed to be frozen, in an expression much like shock, as her eyes filled with horror.

Did.....he...just....SNIFF...me?!?!? Fukawa mentally screamed.

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj looks at the horrified with a disarming smile, not quite getting where the pause is coming from, but increasingly perturbed by lingering silence. Quick, compliments!

"Butaj thinks Doji Fukawa smells really nice. He doesn't know what the fragrance exactly is but that only means Butaj has a lot to learn about the scent of flowers in the eastern lands." Butaj tries to call upon a bit of insight from his foreign experience. "Butaj thinks it's more sandalwood than musk though?"

[Shinjo Hanashi]

....

He ponders that for a little while. "I don't believe there's ever been the opportunity for anything quite like this. May not be ever again. There are strict laws we must obey with marriage; in future generations it will be much more difficult to insure clarity of bloodlines."

[Doji Fukawa]

Very very slowly and carefully does the Doji set down her chopsticks, into the proper position on the table. Slowly, she picks up her fan. The Crane used their fans in a myriad ways. Simply by how one opened or closed one's fan, could one express their emotion.

With a sharp motion of the wrist, the fan opens with a very audible *SNAP!*. Those who were very courtly would not that was a very very angry opening. Not angry enough to risk breaking the fan, but very angry. However, this was not the lesson the Doji wished to impart upon the Brute at the moment.

"Moto-san." she says, her voice low and serious. "It is....not socially proper....to lean into an acquaintance so close and...do what you did. It implies....a great amount of intimacy between us...that does not exist. It is very disrespectful to me, for people have seen this, and will draw false conclusions about what I am like."

When said like at etiquette lesson, the Crane could mentally distance herself from what Brutaj did to her...(in public, no less!)...if only a little bit.

"Do you understand, Moto-san?" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

[Usagi Tomoe]

...

"Huh... strict laws?" she cocked her head to the side as she considered this. "I guess it would make sense that Shinjo-kami and followers would have set their own laws," Tomoe realised as the Unicorn weren't around for when all the laws and such were properly coming into place in the Empire.

"... that will certainly be a difficult challenge, to adjust to all these laws that have been set in the Empire while you were gone, so that they correspond properly with the ones you have. So you have strict laws for insuring bloodlines are kept pure then?" the Hare assumed, thinking the Unicorn might've tried to preserve the lineages of the really important families as much as possible.

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj takes in the aura of grave seriousness and displeasure, and gets truly confused. When explanation follows, it turns into perplexed disbelief.

"Butaj does not understand why anyone would ever think bad things about Doji Fukawa. You are both younger and more delicate than Butaj, and Butaj has been informed that touching is bad, so he hasn't offered a handshake for a greeting, but proper greeting must be! Smelling hair is how an older greets a younger among the Moto, and it implies not what you say!"

Butaj's expression turns into a sad scowl. His shoulders slump a little but then resolve infuses his features.

"Butaj meant no harm. If it pleases Doji Fukawa, Butaj will now rise and tell everyone loud and clear that you are in not intimate relationship with Butaj! Butaj is an honest man and believes truth will always defend itself!"

[Shinjo Hanashi]

...

He shakes his head, "The opposite, actually. By Shinjo-kami's words we are forbidden from marrying within our own bloodlines." He looks over the crowd. "If the Kitsune were once our cousins, he may be a problem for the most staunch traditionalists within the clan, but I expect few of them are at the miai. Most think that seven generations is enough of a gap, but there are many who will trace lineage back to the original followers of Shinjo to insure her words are followed."

[Shinjo Liu Fei]

"I don't understand. Horses can't talk, so how'd he have a say?"

"I.. do not know how to explain it to you Mantis-san. If you do not already understand I believe there is just a difference in the strength of our bonds with our partners, our horses, compared to what you have here with your own..." she hesitated to call a Rokugani pony a true horse.

[Moto Baatar]

"But as your people have been away for so long..." She took a slight breath, "No one truly understands why the kami are harder to speak to - or why trying to speak to them is a cause of sickness for some now."

"Huh, okay," Baatar said, silent for a moment at this response. Then, after some thought, he asked, "But can't you ask them why? Since you can talk to the kami, you said."

[Usagi Tomoe]

...

"Sou desu ka," she contemplated this turn. Not what she had expected, but she assumed that Shinjo-kami must've had a reason to issue such a decree.

"It sounds like it certainly makes record-keeping of genealogies very important... Is that something that falls within your duties, as a keeper of your clan's legends?"

[Doji Fukawa]

Butaj takes in the aura of grave seriousness and displeasure, and gets truly confused. When explanation follows, it turns into perplexed disbelief.

"Butaj does not understand why anyone would ever think bad things about Doji Fukawa. You are both younger and more delicate than Butaj, and Butaj has been informed that touching is bad, so he hasn't offered a handshake for a greeting, but proper greeting must be! Smelling hair is how an older greets a younger among the Moto, and it implies not what you say!"

Butaj's expression turns into a sad scowl. His shoulders slump a little but then resolve infuses his features.

"Butaj meant no harm. If it pleases Doji Fukawa, Butaj will now rise and tell everyone loud and clear that you are in not intimate relationship with Butaj! Butaj is an honest man and believes truth will always defend itself!"

"Please do not do that, Moto-san." she asks, very politely. "I can tell from your words you meant no harm. If you call attention to it loudly, then it will attract the notice of those who might have missed it. Those who have already noticed it, and wish me ill, will not be swayed by your words, no matter how honest and sincere."

[Shinjo Hanashi]

...

"Each Unicorn, or at least someone in their family, keeps track of their lineage. It is with some pride that I can trace my line back to its many starting points within the clan, most from those we met and grew to trust on our journey, the oldest of which is said to be the 44th person to swear fealty to Shinjo; although I admit it is quite a convoluted path to reach said starting point."

[Usagi Tomoe]

"I can imagine," she chuckled. Perhaps it would seem likely for the hosts to give Unicorns and guests alike a chance to tell about their ancestry, seeing how such could effect a match according to their traditions. "My family line goes back to the Ki-rin who remained behind in the Empire... who became the Fox Clan. My father married again after the death of my mother and joined the Hare Clan not long after its founding."

[Shinjo Hanashi]

He blinks a bit at that.

"Oh? That will mean lineages should be checked. At the least so whomever you marry is prepared to face any of the more traditional among our clan. Enough generations should have passed, at the least."

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Now you almost sound interested, Shinjo-san," the Hare teased with a friendly smile. "Seeing as I was trained to keep track of history, I have of course done my homework on family's... both from my mother's and my father's side."

"I am certain Shinjo-Kami had her reason for such a law, but it's been different within the Empire. A large number of the Emperor's wives and concubines come from the most presitigous Doji lines, and some Families are very strict on marriages to ensure pure, but healthy, bloodlines."