(Day 9, EE) Hog in the Fog (Khulun's Tent, Closed)

[Moto Khulun]

"Choices are slim cousin, maybe Baatar? Although I think he would be good for pretty Scorpion shrine woman," she replies.

"Shinjo Taichi?"

[Moto Butaj]

"Oooh, so Hotaru and Bataar? Good to know." Butaj nods. "Taichi may be smitten by the frail Ameka. That one is cute but may not even live through childbearing. Hmmm."

[Moto Khulun]

"How many will choose before you?" She asks.

[Moto Butaj]

"Before Yuki?" He stretches out his hand to count. "As it stands, Fukawa, Hitako, Hotaru, Mizuki and Misa. Five. And Kemuri, if he is not picked." He takes out the second hand. "Six."

[Moto Khulun]

"I hope you have the jackals luck. What will you do if another takes you?" She asks.

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj sighs. "Butaj will be someone's husband, will try to move on from his heart being cleaved. It ...it depends who. The only one that has promised that she won't is Mizuki. If she breaks Butaj's trust this way, that won't be a good marriage."

[Moto Khulun]

Butaj sighs. "Butaj will be someone's husband, will try to move on from his heart being cleaved. It ...it depends who. The only one that has promised that she won't is Mizuki. If she breaks Butaj's trust this way, that won't be a good marriage."

"Even with curse, Silvia liked Mizuko, why did you choose Yuki over her?" she asks.

[Moto Butaj]

"Yuki gives Butaj her heart now, Mizuki only makes promises while giving her heart elsewhere." Butaj says without elaboration. That's the gist of it. "Curse Butaj could live with. But Butaj wants to be a husband, not a piece of furniture."

[Moto Khulun]

She wards off evil and says, "Probably for the best. Why not the Tonbo?"

[Moto Butaj]

Butaj doesn't know what to say for a time. Finally, "It could be Misa. There's love between us, different, but a real thing, calmer, deeper, harder for Butaj to understand, but as true as the stars. If she chooses Butaj, he will come around and love her back. But she probably won't. She had that talk with Yuki. Butaj can't have both, and so she has decided to break her own heart for Butaj." Butaj rubs his face with both hands. "It's Butaj's greatest tragedy here, after the death of Chi-Pu."

[Moto Khulun]

"Did you ask her to or did she choose for you?" Khulun adks.

[Moto Butaj]

"Butaj didn't ask her to. But after the singing we had a heart-tearing talk that could have led to that decision." Butaj sighs wistfully. "Tomorrow we'll duel in that iaijutsu way. Butaj seems to be good at this, he has defeated Yuki, but maybe Misa is better. Back before singing, we had agreed on it, and she said she would let Butaj abduct her and have her fully if he won this. Right now Butaj doesn't know what to expect. And bedding Misa now would hurt Yuki."

[Moto Khulun]

"You live a complicated life of romance, cousin. Too many lovers," she says with a laugh.

[Moto Butaj]

"Such is the life of Butaj." He laughs, not boisterously really. It has brought him as much joy as anguish. "Put Butaj and a girl in a yurt and something happens before he knows it."

[Moto Khulun]

"Such is the life of Butaj." He laughs, not boisterously really. It has brought him as much joy as anguish. "Put Butaj and a girl in a yurt and something happens before he knows it."

Khulun laugh and says, "I know the truth of that as much as anyone."

She waves it away and eats. She say after a moment, "What have you learned from these other samurai? I find them not as terrible as I had imagined, they are different but good folk on the whole."

"I don't know about your Doctor friend though, he needs to have sex or drown himself in kumis to loosen up."