Whew, Hard Work Sure Does Smell

[Kaito Haruki]

Rising from his futon, Haruki notices some of the servants gently waking other students. Strange, his sensei back home made sure to remind the oldest students that they were so close to adulthood that they would be trained like adults when they came to him next. That meant waking everyone up at once with percussive cookware, using a trusty stick to be more . . . forceful to the deep sleepers. Well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, best to get up before they change their mind. He thanks Ebisu for granting him enough strength to not only march in line, but to do so with a heavy stone in a sac in one hand, a lantern in the other, and a bucket of water on his head all the way here. He should find Yotsuo-san and Asako-san and thank them for their help yesterday, these alternatives to Haruki's original idea are the only reason his clothes aren't crispy right now, but that doesn't change that musty smell. Best to ask one of the adults where I can wash these now before everyone else wakes up.

[Asako Saburo]

There was no time in the morning to yawn. Yawning was for quitters. The moment that the Tiger rolled around, the Asako was up on his feet, brushing the sleep out of his eyes and stretching to get the kinks out. He moved like someone very much accustomed to being woken at this hour, so when the servants came, the merely nodded and moved on.

Stretching and performing quick exercises to get the blood flowing, he began to get dressed for the day's work, the pallor of his skin hidden away behind student's robes once more. There would be time for bathing once the floors of the dojo were scrubbed so cleanly he could eat his morning meal on them. He wasn't going to do that because he wasn't a heathen, but it was the principle of the thing.

When he stepped out from behind the screen, he froze. He did manage a bow, but he was looking straight at Haruki with a very ARE YOU WEARING A BUCKET ON YOUR HEAD look plastered all over his face. "Good morning cousin."

[Kaito Haruki]

Bending his knees to get lower to the ground, Haruki drops the lantern gently so as to not make a noise, then grabs the bucket with his newly free hand. "Good morning cousin, now that I know you're awake too, could I ask for a little help. I was going to carry them all myself to avoid troubling the adults, but it would probably be better to get some help from another early bird right? Do you happen to remember where the well was? I need to refill this bucket."

[Asako Saburo]

Oh thank the kami. It's just a lazy man's load. I was beginning to think you had some Togashi in you...

He nodded with a quick look back at his things before walking up to the lantern and plucking it up. "Of course. The work won't do itself," he said simply, his voice as gravelly as ever. He took up point and with a firm, confident stride that didn't seem especially concerned in letting his fellow students get their sleep, he started to make his way towards the door of the barracks they were set up in.

"I recall the well, yes," he said, collecting a second bucket. They were going to both need a fair bit of that. "I'll lead the way."

[Kaito Haruki]

"I still have a little bit of extra duck fat if you got some scents you want me to mix it with if you need some more detergent. I feel like this year will be the most physically demanding year of our young lives." Haruki speaks normally once they are out of the sleeping quarters and into the quieter hallways.

[Asako Saburo]

This man was kin, even if very distantly so. There was less reason to be unecessarily circumspect in all things they spoke of. So, Saburo nodded once once the doors were closed and they were more or less free to talk. "I have no need of scented soaps, though thank you for the offer." His tone had the qualities of creaking floor boards in the morning. "And I would assume as much. We have been sent to the grounds of Otosan Uchi, to the court of the Ruby Champion. They will grind us into a fine powder and the ones among us that emerge from the ashes will be refined like proper steel. The ones left wanting swept away like chaffe."

A grunt. "Exactly as it should be."

[Kaito Haruki]

The change in tone did not escape Haruki's notice, but it would be rude to point it out. "Each clan only had a handful of invitations to this dojo, they did their best to make sure that only the best were sent. I wonder who will have the honor of being able to call themselves the top of the class."

Haruki gently sets down the lantern to open the door to the open air.

[Asako Saburo]

"Yes. The numbers who were sent are an honored few. I am hopeful that the Ruby Champion intends not to give us the slightest ease in our studies. With luck, there will be little chaffe." He didn't really give the air of someone who fully believed it. There was a bit of that cool ego that only the Isawa seemed to have, though he wasn't pressing it. He glanced over at the Kaito as the door opened, breathing in the morning air with relief. It was fresh, crisp.

"Are you skilled with the bow, as are many of your kin? Or does your path take you elsewhere?"

[Kaito Haruki]

"My path takes me elsewhere, I take after my father more. I train to one day guard our lands as only a member of the Shiba guardians can. Are you per chance a shugenja in training?" Haruki then picks up the lantern and motions Asako-san to lead the way to the well.

[Asako Saburo]

"I see. There is always a need for both schools." He nodded curtly once the door closed behind the two of them. "And yes. I am. I have been in private tutelage since my youth by one of the local Isawa sensei. The fire kami heed my call and I look to master the prayers of all of the kami while we are present in this place." He started the walk towards the well in the chill of the morning, stifling a shiver out of habit.

"I was not born with the constitution of my brother or sister, and so cannot serve in the frontlines of the military." He certainly hoped that the regimen here would help with that.

[Kaito Haruki]

"Private tutelage, I haven't heard of an Isawa giving that unless the student was an Ishiken. You must be quite the shugenja to receive such an honor! No wonder you were invited here."

[Asako Saburo]

"I apologize. I might be overstating. My tutor had a few students in town. But regardless, it is a distinct honor. And he... may have been testing to see if I had that affinity, yes." Whether he did or not, the tutor had been... unsure, oddly enough. But that had been something that he had decided that he wasn't going to say one way or another, not until he was certain himself. "But I am grateful for the effort my father went to on my behalf. I do not wish to disappoint him."

(OOC: Heh. I 'might' be picking up Ishiken post-game when we get new disadvantage points, pending Vutall's approval. So... he's not sure for now.)

[Kaito Haruki]

"It takes a great deal of time to divine individual expressions of the void. My parents took over a year to figure out that I was blessed with good fortune and the guidance of my grandfather." He rushes ahead once the well is visible, hiding his inner thoughts. Even if he's more judgmental than guiding half the time

[Asako Saburo]

"The void is a thing that cannot truly be embraced or understood. It is experienced, usually in its after-effects. Within us and through us. To sense that which binds all is ... a strenuous and hard thing. It has, I will admit without reservation, eluded me to this point." There was no shame in that. Ishiken were a rare breed, after all. "You have the ear of your ancestor though. An honor in and of itself."

Hey, a critical ear was a good thing in this kid's book. Your own personal sensei with a rod.

[Kaito Haruki]

"Honors like these are exactly why we are standing here now. If it weren't for the chores we need to do now, I wouldn't be surprised if some of us hold our heads a little too high." Haruki, now being in front of the well, sets down his things and pulls up the rope to get water.

[Asako Saburo]

"I imagine you are correct. It is easy to allow the Ruby Champion's invitation to go to one's head." If he caught that he might very well qualify, it was impossible to say. It didn't show in his features as he started to help draw from the well. "I look at it as an opportunity to be purified and perfected, to rise above what I was, instead of remain in my limitations."

[Kaito Haruki]

"As all phoenix try to, so we shall do it together. Do you have an adult name already picked out?" The first bucket is pulled out, Haruki sets it on the ground and connects the next bucket to the hook.

[Asako Saburo]

"I have considerations, yes. But I do not wish to put the plow before the oxen in this. I will consider when we are closer to a gempukku ceremony. It is my understanding that those who are participant here may be asked to complete theirs with the championship in some cases." It seemed unwise to assume what was going to happen before that august assemblage. He may, however, have read the history of all of the former masters of fire to pick out an appropriately uncommon and auspicious name.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

Aiichiro arrived to the well, walking in the morning air, his hands holding a long coiled piece of rope. Seeing there were more people here, including Haruki, he smiled slightly, in a sympathetic way, resting the rope on the borders of the well so he could bow before picking it up again. "Hello. Didn't expect to see people here. I was sent to change the rope of the well. They said that this current one is a little old and might break."

[Kaito Haruki]

"We're just about finished with the well. Here's the bucket." Haruki unties the last bucket and steps aside for Aiichiro to do his morning duties.