Hard Knocks, D13, EA, Closed

[Shinsei]

Though there was a limited amount of fresh water, most of which was being reserved for drinking, there was still a fair amount of lower quality water, clean enough to bathe with but not good enough for consumption. The figure beside Shinsei's tent had a basin of such water, and was casually ladeling it over himself, cleaning injuries sustained from some horrible battle.

Light glinted across the water as it splashed over the contours of his body, tightly corded muscles wrapped beneath windswept skin, carried by a meager frame and covered, for now, only by the barest of underwrappings about his waste. Every so often he'd remove a dirtied bandage with great care, the whole process meditative, in a way.

Here he sat, Shinsei, unbound by his hooded cloak, sitting upon a small wooden stool, tending to injuries sustained by his own ignorance, looking out over the encampment he'd endangered and wondering at any number of mysterious thoughts.

[Hantei Kinsen]

She pours another cup of the cleansing water over his shoulder, holding the long ladle a few breathes away from the warmth he expelled. Kinsen has her hair pinned up, while her summer kimono has both sleeves tightly sashed up around her arms and torso not to get them too wet.

"Sensei, where have you been. You look like you tried to fight a tiger bare handed. You're an advisor and not a warrior." She says, shaking her head in disapproval before looking to his wounds.

[Shinsei]

"I was off getting a summary lesson in prideful behavior. It was quite enlightening."

Shinsei's tone is light, but there's a hint of discomfort behind it. Every movement still hurt a great deal, even breathing. Some of the lacerations along his body were truly frightening, likely even life threatening to another man. A bandage was slowly peeled away from a gash over his shoulder, which was still quite red in coloration.

"I must admit, I'm quite surprised that you were willing to assist me in this process. Grateful, certainly, but still surprised."

Water glistened lightly across one muscular shoulder.

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Well. Dear husband enjoys your company. You're almost like family now, having spent all these years in Seppun lands with us. I hope next time you need to be cared for, you have your own pretty wife to help out." Kinsen teases with the wise man, and asks, "May I... touch you?"

After a sudden silence, she explains, "So I can try treating your wounds. They look rather deep."

--
Medicine/Intelligence VP for Skill: 3d10o10k2 22

[Shinsei]

Strangely, a tiny bit of color appears on Shinsei's face when Kinsen teases about him having a wife. "If you'd mentioned such a thing days ago before,I would have said that my work is too important, and that I must focus solely on it. But recently I am finding myself able to focus on... other things, without losing my sense of purpose."

There was a brief laugh, which did interesting things to the muscles all throughout Shinsei's back. "So polite. Yes, Kinsen-sama, you may touch me. As you mentioned I don't currently have a pretty wife to assist me with such things." Normally he would have asked Phi, but she was still processing the events of the day, and he didn't want to remind he too soon just how close he'd come to death.

[Hantei Kinsen]

The talk of changing his thoughts to get a wife really peaks some interest in Kinsen eyes. She smirks playfully –– he can't see it, or course –– and leans closer, taking a better look at his wide back. The air coming out from her chuckle moves toward his skin, and firmly, she lays her hands over the man.

Her jade painted nails run across the bandages, trying to find the proper one to pull up. To make sure he focus, Kinsen asks, "Sensei, please, talk a bit more about what you would like a pretty wife to do for you."

As he begins to elaborate words, Kinsen rips one of the bandages off quickly.

[Shinsei]

Either Shinsei's resolve was legendary, or his body had taken so through a beating that he barely registered the sudden ripping of the bandage from his skin.

"What she would do for me? Well," he paused momentarily. "I am not a man of high demands. I should be quite content with a woman who looks at me without first seeing my reputation, who can see me as a man, with all the strengths and flaws, and not an idol. I should enjoy if she pointed out those flaws so that I could see them, work on them, and overcome them. And maybe, if necessary, I would appreciate if she were willing to beat me back into my senses should I ever lose them."

He smiled, as there was already a woman who more than qualified for his terms among the expedition.

[Hantei Kinsen]

"So... you kind of would like your wife to be like a mother to you?" Kinsen muses with a shrug, and gets a new and clean set of bandages to circle around his arms. Finding an impediment, she asks, in a sweet tone of voice. "Please, raise your arms, Sensei."

[Shinsei]

"Not a mother to me, no, though I would not lament having children of my own. I want someone unafraid to be my equal, someone strong, maybe a bit fierce." Seemingly a lot of the qualities he appreciated in Phi could easily apply to others as well. "I have spent much of my life seeking balance, and much of the past few days realizing I can never hope to do the alone."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"A bit fierce, hmm." Kinsen smiles, and presses her body forward at his back, so she has room to maneuver the bandage around. Near his ear, she says, nonchalantly, "Being equal to one such as you, that have the ear and minds of the Kami, is something rather difficult to achieve."

[Shinsei]

"It is, and it is not. I hold faith that any can prove themselves equal, but few will ever actually find it in themselves to try."

Shinsei was quiet a moment as Kinsen leaned against him, and one thing was very clearly evident; Shinsei's muscles were dense. The man must have spent most of his free time training to maintain himself, to keep in such condition. He didn't move away even in the slightest as Kinsen pressed forward, she might not even be capable of moving the man if she'd tried.

"Did you think you would be where you are now, anytime before Hantei entered your life?"

[Hantei Kinsen]

"I would either be dead fighting other tribes, or would have killed my previous husband-to-be. Which means I could have taken command of the Noriaki at a point." Kinsen inhales deeply, and then moves back to give room to pull up the bandage in a firm knot. "But no. I don't think I would ever be here, being kind to others. Learning from them."

[Shinsei]

"And yet here you are. The future is a strange place to imagine. You, here among gods as their equal. Me, talking about taking a wife and having children. Neither of our past selves would ever have guessed at such a thing." He chuckled. "Me, children. Can you imagine?"

He rolled his shoulders a bit, then began unraveling the worst of the bandages, the one that wound around the largest gashes on his chest and back, and continued down to his abdomen.

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen gets another scoop of water and pours down his neck, making sure it also runs down his chest and down to the abdomen. She says, moving around to check the wound at his torso, adding, "I believe you would be an amazing father, being so wise."

Once Kinsen gets a good image of his condition, she sighs, rolls her eyes up, and then kneels down to treat it. Frustrated, she asks, "Which sort of creature did this do you, Sensei?"

[Shinsei]

"I appreciate your faith in my ability to do things I have neither prepared for nor attempted in the past, Kinsen-sama. Being a father is a... strange prospect, but also a natural consequence of certain new lines of thought."

The injury to Shinsei's chest is substantial. Though it has healed over somewhat, it runs in a neat line from one hip all the way up to his heart, where the gash itself becomes mercifully shallow. It's a real nightmare to bandage efficiently, and very much needs to be cleaned near the deeper places to prevent infection.

Shinsei frowned deeply at the question, looking away slightly with a sigh. "I understand it to be called an ikiryo, a ghost made from one still living. I desired something, desired it so greatly that my spirit, restless and angry at being unable to achieve its desire, created a dangerous spirit with only the will and desire to do what I myself could not. My foolishness could have gotten someone killed..."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Shit!

Kinsen stops whatever she was doing, and closes her eyes, hands off the man's body and back onto her lap. She closes her eyes and lowers her head. The wildness within her soul was indeed just the same. Deep desires and instincts controlled by sheer temperament and will to become a better person.

"This is... dangerous." She comments, in a lower tone of voice.

[Shinsei]

Shinsei returns his gaze to Kinsen with a curious expression. "I... well yes, much of this is. But if you mean the ikiryo, mine was uncommonly disastrous because the nature of my desire stemmed from an inherently violent place in my soul, one I had believed myself beyond capable of having. I imagine they aren't so physically violent depending on the nature of the feelings inherent to them."

Thinking about the ikiryo seemed to greatly distress the poor woman, so he placed his hand on her shoulders softly. "Nobody was irreparably harmed by the creature I created, and I shall not be creating another. I have mastered the feelings which gave it life."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"How does one master these feelings? Which feeling was it?" She questions him, opening up her golden-lit eyes.

[Shinsei]

"In my case it was a desire to end the war we are about to face before it begins. I have since learned that I am incapable of doing such a thing, and accepted that I am but one man." The deep gray of Shinsei's eyes turned to meet Kinsen's gold. "That was a difficult pill to swallow, but the feelings were clear and easy to identify. Other feelings were less extreme, or had a measure of fulfillment, and never reached the point where they needed to split from me. Each such emotion must be handled differently, in order to achieve balance."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Hoping her own emotions wouldn't either split from her or assume total control, Kinsen nods, and resumes taking caring of the man. Her hands reach out to his muscled abdomen and begin to cleanse it with water and a clean bandage. "You should rest after this. Others are saying we have reaching the pit. If there's a war we are about to face, you should be healed to guide us in fighting our own shadows, like you did."