[D5 EA] Firefly, second season

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"Really? I see..." She said with some careful consideration at that. It seemed quite tempting, especially when she had the horse already going on her command and it seemed like they were already going at a brisk pace.

With that in mind, she did indeed tap her heels on her flank to send Poppy galloping forward and putting some distance behind Dong-Ha. She gasped loudly at first as she did her best to balance on the horse for dear life. At a distance, Dong-Ha could likely hear a cry from Hotaru but that soon turned into laughter. She didn't know if madness had overtaken her, but the galloping horse made thing very thrilling for her all of a sudden. The speed felt great, the ground moving quickly under her and lastly, her hair and layer picking up in the breeze. Oh my Kami! I'm going sooo fast!

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"No wait!" Dong-Ha yelled, grabbing his head between his hands. "Stop!" He began to run towards the horse, knowing he'd have no chance of catching her, muttering to himself as he did so "Stupid girl. Try not to break any bones."

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"Eeppp! Oh, no! Stop! Stop!" Hotaru probably got some short distance before his yell to stop registered with her. She had gotten out of hand with her need for speed. Shortly after her getaway, she pulled on the reins of Poppy with a gradual tug to send the steed to an abrupt stop. It wasn't abrupt enough to send her flying off of the horse, but enough to have her falling into her mane with much of her hair draped over the horse.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

F**k! Dong-Ha thought to himself as he ran after Poppy and her rider. F**k that girl! Not that he meant it literally, being more annoyed than charmed by her actions. Sometime later, panting Iuchi caught up with his horse who stood stupefied, almost as if she had been pondering what had just happened. "Are you alright?" He asked Hotaru, stepping closer to see if she needed help getting down.

[Bayushi Hotaru]

Hotaru slowly straightened from her seat on the saddle, making a slight face as she tried to figure out what just happened and likely dealing with the annoyances of having horse hair on her face. "Yeah...Ugh. Ick!"

She didn't need help getting off the horse as she sluggish slid down from the saddle after getting her other leg on the other side. Her landing was shaky, as her legs were sore even if she did her best to keep herself up from the saddle, but it was good to feel land on her feet again. She quickly fixed her hair and dipped in a deep bow to apologize. "Sorry about that...it looks like I got carried away."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"There is a reason most of us don't try thst until mch later Hotaru san. Even if we know how." He chided her as he was trying to catch his breath. "Takes weeks, months to develop the balance."

"I am glad you are alright." Dong-Ha muttered as he watched her slide down from the horseback with a no small amount of worry in his voice. "I've seen people break bones falling from a horse." He still could not figure what had poses see her to try gallop the first day she was on a horse.

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"Hai...I realize there was that danger now," she said as she caught her breath from getting winded by her reckless ride.

"I'm fine, I probably just need to stand for a bit. Or sit, sitting is good too. Sorry, I guess I was just trying to get a leg up, uhm, a fast track on my lessons. That was pretty silly and dangerous. I've never ridden a horse before, and it was just...so exciting. Maybe it was the allure of the air kami in the wind. Nevertheless, it was reckless." She bowed once more to show the gravity of her apology.

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Good." He muttered. "That was dangerous." Dong-Ha knew he was repeating himself but wasn't as if he could grab her and shake some sense into her even if he wanted to. "We can wait a bit." The young man moved to pat Poppy, brushing her neck after he had ascertained that Hotaru was fine.

"You had time to talk with the kami while doing that?" he sounded surprised as he eyed her small frame, trying to figure what else she could do. It seemed like the Scorpion girl was full of surprises. "I would not try that with anyone's horse either. Poppy is used to others riding her... some horses are not."

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"Whew," she said on an exasperated note once she found her bearings once more. "Okay' I'm all better now!"

"No, no. But I could sense them around me, just passively. You get familiar with the air kami swirling around you after sometime in the Soshi mountains." She said, sometimes there were more material means to commune with the element. Often appeasing the air kami meant playing with the wind, like flinging arrows in the contest. "It's quite hard to avoid their domain."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"You want to walk... or ride back?" he nodded at the hill where they first stopped. "I want to get my mattress." Dong-Ha figured she'd understand. There was no need to toss away perfectly good mattress, even if it was slightly worn.

"I see..." Well, actually he didn't. "That must be so strange. To hear the spirits. I mean, they are there, I trust you, but you cannot see them." Dong-Ha was trying to wrap his mind around the strange concept. "So, basically you could appease to them just by running around?" He tried to imagine Hotaru chasing invisible spirits as quickly as her short feet carried her.

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"I'm fine with walking." She said with a few ready nods of her head, gesturing Dong-Ha to lead the way so that they could return and get done anything he needed to do. "I think I might need a break from all of that horseback riding I did today...It's something to get used to. I can see now by what you meant when you said that it's not something that can be completely quickly..."

Hotaru gave a shrug of her shoulders. She was trying to babble her way out of the reason why she decided to run off with the horse, trying to attribute it more to the air than her suddenly need for speed. "Well! I've done that once or twice before. Usually, the air spirits are a little more reasonable than that! I can get by making things for them to run through, like kites, paper charms or lanterns. They also like layers and long hair, to a lesser extent. It's not something that I do often, but sometimes the need to be appeased when you've called on them far too many times."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Walk it is." Holding the reins, Dong-Ha began leading Poppy back to the small hill. "Take care with your hems." he nodded at the ground that was still damp after the rain the night before. "Uh... you did pretty well, though, not falling off." And breaking your neck. That would have been pretty awkward, having to explain to Ide Dabo that he had accidentally let theig guest kill herself. "It's not as it easy as it seems, but I guess that goes with most things, neh." a careful smile flickered on his lips.

"Hee, that's interesting." He turned to regard the smallest of Scorpions. "They sounds rather playful, when phrased like that. And perhaps... little capricious?" Having magic you could not control sounded both dangerous and exciting. "Hee, hair?" Dong-Ha casually reached to flick the ends of her black curls. "Really?"

[Bayushi Hotaru]

Hotaru walked with a slightly strained pace, her legs still slightly aching from riding a galloping horse. She did her best to keep up, rather than risk further interruptions to their talk. "Hai, will do!" She said with a small chuckle, as she minded her outfit and dodged away from the mud wherever possible. "I'll be more careful next time, I promise!"

"Oh!" She found herself surprised by the flick at her hair but then she smiled it off. "Hai, that would indeed describe the air kami when it comes to their temperaments. It depends on the intensity of the air, but they tend to be usually whimsical as your describe. Hair, especially long hair worn down, is just something the air kami can play with. You know, when the breeze picks up and your hair gets lifted up by the wind...sometimes tangled up. The same with clothes, ropes, and paper streamers."

[Iuchi Dong-Ha]

"Mhmhm." Dong-Ha merely nodded approvingly. It seemed that she had learned her lesson

If Dong-Ha cared about her reaction he didn't show it. "Really?" he was repeating himself. "This is something that is rather hard to grasp. That there are these invisible beings that push around the elements just for the sake of it." the young man soudned dubious. "Yet, I have to take your word for it. Shame that we seem to have lost our connection with the spirits."

[Bayushi Hotaru]

"As I'm sure you'll guess, it's not without its nuisances and responsibilities. I suppose much like your objects and finding them. We don't rely on them as you do, but we just can't cast things so easily without consideration or respect. Such shugenjas will typically find themselves looking embarrassed when nothing happens with their prayers. Or in the worst case, being rendered powerless." She said with a restrained shudder as she walked. It wasn't something she had seen before for herself, but likely an extreme case to give reason to a good habit.