Cleaning with the Unclean

[Yogo Otoko]

Everything just got dirty again, or broke. Dust and decay were natural. The wood would eventually rot or warp, or get marked beyond repair. Cleaning was always pointless to Otoko... but at the same time, a bit of cleaning meant she could be silent and by herself.

In this case, she had taken a light meal and went to clean up and organize the practice weapon racks from the earlier practicing. Most had been good about returning their items, but there was no harm in making things a bit more neat, and lightly dusting and scrubbing at certain areas. It made her look busy (as she was) even with minimal, basic work.

[Utaku Nesrin]

Usually, a few hours of practice on martial forms meant it was time to go burn off a bit more energy on horseback, particularly in the hour of the Horse. But here, here it's time to clean. Nesrin sighs as she replaces her not-regulation-enough-for-actual-practice stick into her obi and trots over to wipe off and replace her bokken on the rack. There's a wooden dagger among the longer blades and a tall wooden naginata leaning haphazardly against a well. Hmph, and I'm the barbarian for wanting a handshake? she thinks as she lifts the polearm and looks for its proper place in the racks.

Spotting the Yogo, she awkwardly shuffles her hands a moment as if to extend one again, realizes that not only is that a mistake, but it's not a good idea to run around with even a practice naginata one-handed, and then plants the butt of the weapon on the mat and offers a short bow instead. "Yogo-san, sorry, you were here first, just tell me if I'm getting in your way, neh? I'm kind of surprised people are so sloppy with their weapons at a place like this."

[Yogo Otoko]

The tall masked girl glanced over for a long, drawn out moment before she gave a slow bow. She spoke up in a soft monotone as she went about her work. "...You are not in my way Utaku-san. I am not even certain... what that would entail. I am likely much less surprised than you at the state of things however."

She gave another glance over for a long moment, placid brown eyes staring out from the shadow of her mask. "...Yogo Otoko," she said simply. She extended out an arm, thin pale hand barely sticking out from the sleeve.

[Utaku Nesrin]

The Unicorn girl paused, straightening a bit, eyes widening in surprise before brightening with the grin that quickly plastered itself to her face. Steadying the polearm, she thrust out her own hand, dark and callused, to engulf the Yogo's delicately offered grace. Two short, quick shakes, in much the same rhythm as clapping before a shrine, complete the minor ritual. "Utaku Nesrin, daughter of Utaku Kyo and..." she pauses. You really didn't need to add horse lineages with non-Utaku. They had no idea which of Shinjo's children any given line ran back to. "and, I didn't think anyone outside of the Plains shook hands! Is that a Scorpion thing they never taught us?"

"Oh, really honored to meet you Yogo-san. Are all Yogo so tall? I'm just hitting my growth and all, but I don't think any of my cohort are anywhere close to you."

[Yogo Otoko]

The Scorpion girl's expression was impossible to read with the mask, but she didn't flinch at the hand shake, even if her hand remained mostly limp. As her hand was released, she folded her hands into her sleeves. "...It is not a Scorpion custom, it is a Unicorn custom. It is something I have grown... accustomed to. I was... taught by the Iuchi."

[Utaku Nesrin]

Nesrin lets her eyes glance curiously at the limp hands for only a moment before returning to all the questions that bubbled up."You did? Is it really hard? Everyone says the shugenja from the rest of the clans work with the spirits completely differently, like trying to ride with your head on the saddle and your feet on the reins. Have you met Utaku Kimi? She's my cousin through mom's grandaunt and headed to training just a few years ago."

Belatedly, she also returns to the actual task at hand, hefting the polearm into a proper spot on the racks.

[Yogo Otoko]

For the moment at least, the masked girl seemed to take a small break. She shook her head, though at what question was hard to say.

"I have only trained with the Iuchi, so I cannot say the true difference. My family also creates magic in objects however... wards. Perhaps I am better attuned for that reason."

There was a pause. "...You are the first Unicorn I have met here."

[Utaku Nesrin]

"Oh! I meant Kimi-san was studying with the Iuchi too. Thought maybe you'd met her. But I imagine she'll remember you as the only Scorpion around better than you'd remember one more Unicorn there." Head tilting to the side in thought, Nesrin adds, "at least I imagine there weren't many Scorpion there."

"But your family puts magic in wards?" Brushing her hands off, Nesrin turns back to look up at the Yogo once again. "Never thought of ward as a thing before. How's that work?"

[Yogo Otoko]

"I would have to have been trained by my family to know the answer to that. They would not share the secret with me just because of family ties alone." She had a general idea, but she wasn't about to delve past that. Slowly, Otoko resumed straightening out the weapon racks. "...I am not certain if I met your relative Utaku-san. I was not... close to many of the other students. Sumimasen."

[Utaku Nesrin]

"Oh, right. Guess I figured you'd have seen some if they were things. But...can't say I've seen any meishodo bits, so I guess that's not surprising."

She plucks a small dagger from a rack that's obviously meant for much longer blades. "Iuchi school sounds a lot different than Utaku. We're all together so much, it's hard not to be close." There's a long pause as the cheery Utaku's smile fades a bit, eyes focused somewhere well past the bit of wood in her hand. With a small shake of her head, she returns to the moment. "It's really odd not having them here,"

[Yogo Otoko]

"...I am certain there were Iuchi that got quite close indeed, but there were many times where private study, meditation, or time out on the plains. It seems logical enough for the difference. Bushi schools must teach things like group tactics and formation fighting, yes?" She glanced over.

[Utaku Nesrin]

Nesrin nods. "Oh definitely. Even growing up on a horse, it's so different everyone riding together and swinging a blade without hurting anyone you don't intend to." She hefts a bokken. "There'd be a lot of us with missing limbs and eyes if we didn't start with wooden weaponry."

"We'd have time alone out on the plains too. After tending the herds as little kids, everyone still wants to ride alone from time to time, just you and a horse and the wind." The wistfulness drops from her tone as she replaces the bokken and asks, "do you miss it?"

[Yogo Otoko]

Her head tilted slightly. "...Do I miss what?"

[Utaku Nesrin]

"The plains. The wind when it doesn't have to zig and zag around all these buildings."

[Yogo Otoko]

Otoko was silent a moment in seeming thought before she finally gave a slight shrug. "...I miss the solitude at least. I'm not very good with the outdoors."

[Utaku Nesrin]

Nesrin's brow crinkles in thought. "How.... how can you not be good with the outdoors?" It's obviously an utterly foreign concept. "It's just there. Like air."

[Yogo Otoko]

"...I am not very good with the air either," she noted. "I know little about it is what I mean. Most of my life has been indoors studying and meditating. My only real experience is with the Iuchi horse rides."

[Utaku Nesrin]

She shakes her head slightly, not in negation but confusion. "Oh, that's..." she waves her arms through the still dojo air, growing more animated. "The air is just there, I mean here, er, everywhere. I don't even know how you could be bad at...at air? at breathing? or with walking through a breeze?" She pauses. "Ok, I did know a boy with choking sickness. I guess he kind of was bad with air."

Her chest lifts with an exasperated sigh. "Well at least you got the best part of being outside if you were riding, and riding real horses." She looks pointedly up and down the much taller girl, "you'd be dragging your toes on one of the ponies here if you weren't careful."

[Yogo Otoko]

"...I meant communing with the air kami. It was... a joke." There were 0 hints in her tone that said it was, in fact, a joke.

[Utaku Nesrin]

"air kami...oh..oh!" Nesrin scratches at the back of her neck, looking down at her bare foot scuffing at the floor. "Sorry, I've studied like none of that."

When she looks up, there's a bit of a smile. "it's kind of funny then." After a pause. "It's funnier if you're actually really good at talking to air kami though. Are you?"