[D15 EE] - A Check In and a Thank You (Expecting)

[Nozomi]

So, this was not ... where she really wanted to be. Visiting with Shinjo was one thing, but being anywhere near Hantei made Phi distinctly uncomfortable in the same way that a few others made her uncomfortable. He was a being with a vastly different perspective from her, and the 'heavenly radiance' of the man did kind of make it hard to miss that. So, she generally avoided this place actively. For her own comfort's sake.

Still, ever since she'd been seen at the edge of the Shadowlands, coming in and out of Shinsei's tent nearby like she lived there in the first place, it was a little... a lot harder to ignore this tent. And she'd heard that Kinsen had helped bandage his wounds, so she wanted to speak to her. She knocked once on wood, speaking after a small cough to clear her throat. "Is ... uh... Hantei Kinsen-sama in?" She knew the way to say it properly. She just didn't like saying it properly, as she'd said to Umeno the other day. "If you have a moment..."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen's voice welcomes her to enter. The wife of the Stag Champion is found sitting in seiza, looking at the equipments she was preparing for Hantei to use the next day... along with her own.

She looks up to Phi and waves for her to sit down in front of her. "Good evening, Phi-san. I hope you have been able to get something to eat today. Would you like some tea?"

[Nozomi]

What I would like is enough fermented goat's milk to drown the insanity of this place for a thousand years right now.

"Tea would be great, thank you." She hadn't quite gotten behind the fascination some people had with boiling scalding leaves in water and drinking the bitter stuff, but if it suited them, it suited them. Settling in across from Kinsen, she tried to relax, though it could be difficult in front of the woman. It was safe to say that the words intimidating beauty applied at all times, even if your heart was set on another. She cleared her throat as she contined, while letting the woman prepare the tea.

"I've eaten, yes. Been keeping rations with me. Too many close calls. Don't like taking risks, so I picked some up with the Nezumi." Was she saying she didn't entirely trust the supplies here? After the Dokufu and the bog hags, yeah, she was absolutely saying that. "I wanted to thank you for helping redress Shinsei's wounds. I... don't have much of a knack for that sort of thing."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen slides to the fire to and pokes the charcoal with a stick to get the flames raging under the kettle. As she sets up the utensils to clean up the cups, Phi's words strike her unprepared. Slowly, she lifts her eyes to look back at the woman. She had already seen her unmasked before, so that was no surprise. Now, mentioning Shinsei, was.

"Thank me for helping who?" The Stag head tilts quizzically, as she completes her rhetorical question. "Shinsei-sensei?"

Long, intimidating eyelashes bat for a moment, as she tries to connect dots. "I merely did what he needed."

[Nozomi]

"Perhaps, but... I appreciate that you did it all the same," she said, reminded looking at this woman just how forceful her presence could be at times. She was very certain that Hantei had never tamed her, not once, even if he had laid claim to her heart. While she attempted to relax some, the topic was a bit awkward. After all, it was hardly public knowledge that she'd been getting close to him of late. Many came to speak to him with regularity, and she wondered just how many knew about the whole 'riding in on the back of Shinjo' part of his rescue recently.

"He's important to m... to all of us, and I'm glad that the wounds didn't get infected. Some of them were rather deep."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen smiles a bit, pressing her lips in contempt that her own actions produced good results. She nods, "They were indeed. One actually made me quite worried. It dug from his chest all the way down into his lower torso."

The Stag sighs, remembering the scene, "He mentioned he confronted a shadow of himself. I am glad his wisdom made him see the truth and defeat it."

[Nozomi]

"It's defeated, but it isn't completely destroyed. That ... thing fled after it tried to attack Matsu. We were mortified that we didn't arrive in time to stop the attack, but thankfully nobody was killed in the fighting and she was unhurt." A shake of the head. That shadow was a ... concern, but it was also a concern or another day. Hopefully it was wounded enough that it could not re-incorporate and return to plague them tomorrow. They had enough to deal with on their own already.

"I know the wound. It was... an ugly thing," she said, swallowing some and shaking her head. "We almost lost him, Kinsen. I'm just glad he's been listening to reason, that he can't always shoulder the burdens alone. I wish he'd seen that truth sooner, but ... he's alive. And that's what's important to me."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen listens attentively to Phi, and folds her hands together under her chin while gently leaning forward over the table towards the woman. The way she spoke definitely weighted up. Too passionate for a simple report. Kinsen expression remains bland, after all, Phi forgot to use the proper honorific.

When the kettle starts to blow steam, she asks, "Why is he so important to you, Phi-san?"

[Nozomi]

Bah. Honorifics. She kept hearing her use them. Finally, she relented and grunted a little. She could feel a bit of the displeasure, though it wasn't like dealing with Nanzi. That man could be impossible to talk to at times. Pretty much always actually, she was finding. She blinked, though, at the question before the color started to flood her cheeks and she swallowed. Was there anything wrong with what she was feeling about him?

"Because Kinsen-sama," she managed to get it out. "I may not have known him long, but I've never known anyone like him, and the thought of him not being there... leaves an ache inside of me. He is important to everyone, but he's precious to me."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen nods, and moves toward the kettle to take it out of the fire. Slowly she starts to prepare tea for Phi, giving her the time she needs to calm down and get her emotions balanced.

As she carefully prepared everything, Kinsen occasionally glances Phi with a gentle smile. Tea is served upon the tray, and slid over to the other woman.

Patienly, Kinsen waits for her to savor it.

--
Tea Ceremony/Void TN 15: 4d10o10k3 31

[Nozomi]

Get her emotions under control. Hah, that was a laugh. She had hidden her emotions behind a cheap, flimsy veil and a hood her whole time she'd been here, and it had worked but now with her face out for others to see it was hard to avoid the warring of them in her features at any time. The stress of this journey was battering at her, and the thought of losing so many things she hadn't realized she wanted was troubling. Her hands went for the cup and then froze there for a second.

"There... is a system to this, is there not? I don't know it," she said, frowning. "Will you assist me, Kinsen-sama? I would appreciate being shown how to do this properly." She had little intention of doing it much herself, but she didn't want to insult the woman in her own home.

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen blinks a bit at the question and shakes her head, asking in return, "System?"

The Stag grins. "Doji-kami-sama taught me much. I would never deny assisting others that seek the light of the Kami. How can I be of service?"

[Nozomi]

"Perhaps not the right word, Kinsen-sama," she said, shaking her head. "I meant that I had heard there was a way to participate properly. Like there are many things of the world that the Lady Doji-sama would fashion, which I do not know." Did she seek the light of the kami? Now that was far more open to debate, but she was willing to accept help today.

"Thank you, again... For everything."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Oh!" Kinsen exlplains kindly, "Turn the cup once. Drink it in your pace. If you enjoy, feel free to provide a slurping noise of satisfaction. Then, put the cup back on the tray. Too much water and even a flower will drawn. I can show you the rest any other time. Now, just relax. Please."

[Nozomi]

The inspection of the elements and the different cups of the strong and the weak could wait for another day. For the moment, Phi was just grateful to understand this much, even if it wasn't something she cared about. She turned the cup and lifted it, breathing in the vapor before it had cooled and taking a sip. She may have made the slurping noise just to appease the person in front of her. But really, it wasn't terrible either way. Just not something that she was accustomed to drinking.

"I did not come to this place looking for what I found. So much has been changed before my eyes. It is hard not to feel a little lost, adrift."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen nods. "It is in these moments that we strengthen ourselves. Find purpose. The Seppun that fish at the bay always say that calm waters never make good sailors."

She giggles a bit, just before cocking her head back in doubt, putting her index on her lips to question, "Or... was it Shinsei-sensei that said that? I can't recall."

[Nozomi]

"The saying certainly makes sense," she admitted to herself as she managed a small chuckle. "And I could not even pretend to have all of the collection of Shinsei's sayings yet. He seems to have a gift for coming up with them on the fly at times. Maybe if you give me enough time I'll try to write them down, though my calligraphy is truly awful." She shook her head and sighed. While she might have allowed herself to use honorifics for the others and was clearly trying to remember, it was pretty clear she wasn't trying to use them with Shinsei and wasn't about to start.

"He is a friend to your husband, is he not? How well do you know him?"

[Hantei Kinsen]

Her eyes go up and she shrugs a bit, confessing, "A difficult question to answer. I've known him for five winters, now. Didn't have the chance to talk much with him prior to getting dear husband to marry me. Yet, he was the one, along Doji-kami-sama, that helped with the preparations for the event. His part with sensible support. Specially to dear husband. After all, he was marrying a savage Noriaki beast that had just... well... detached... off her previous betrothed to favor him."

[Nozomi]

"I... may have heard a story to that effect, or at least part of it once." The part about 'Noriaki Beast gets rid of one future husband to land a god' sounded familiar at least. Kinsen did have a certain unmistakable aura about her, like a prowling tiger standing next to the elegant stag. "I think he is a hard man to truly know, but I think truly, fully knowing anyone is not easy. It would take time. I will say that if your reputation is even half what stories say, Kinsen-sama... I almost pity any monster that gets in your way tomorrow."

[Hantei Kinsen]

She shakes her head, her tone a tad serious, even if soft. "Do not have pity for those... things. They don't deserve anything but our repulse."

Changing her expressions back into a grin while thinking of a good friend, she adds, "Shinsei-sensei might be mysterious in his speech, but his actions are fairly clear. Dear husband, though is the contrary. I take pleasure in discovering much of my husband's mysteries, I confess. I just wonder how Saruko-sama deals with her own husband..."

Kinsen trails off for a moment, thinking about her friend.