[Day 1 LM] Animal Housing Area (open)

[Ko]

"I name myself Ko," Ko said. These two had several names apiece, so she guessed they were probably the gods' followers, although they didn't seem as expensively dressed as the ones she'd met earlier that morning... "So you're both people of the Kami? Which ones?"

She shinned up and over the fence, landing nimbly on the other side, then took a moment to gather her courage before approaching Mizuku and the ox with her hand extended, as she might for someone else's dog whose temperament she didn't know.

[Jin Mizuku]

"I'm Jin Mizuku, call me Mizuku though, I'm new to the formalities."

"The formalities are new to the formalities. How's your daimyo doing these days? Letters can only tell so much, but he's a good friend of mine."

"Daimyo... Oh you mean Jin-sama? He is doing well! I didn't know he had so many allies until this trip. It seams like he has met with everyone at least once" Mizuku smiled, admiration for her sensei shining in her eyes.

[Jin Mizuku]

"I name myself Ko," Ko said. These two had several names apiece, so she guessed they were probably the gods' followers, although they didn't seem as expensively dressed as the ones she'd met earlier that morning... "So you're both people of the Kami? Which ones?"

She shinned up and over the fence, landing nimbly on the other side, then took a moment to gather her courage before approaching Mizuku and the ox with her hand extended, as she might for someone else's dog whose temperament she didn't know.

"Shinjo, and no worries, I've been studying with Master Jin for over three years now. Learning the ways of the water and earth. Don't be shy, this one is in a good mood today" She pat the ox for emphasis

[Jiyo Sora]

"I name myself Ko," Ko said. These two had several names apiece, so she guessed they were probably the gods' followers, although they didn't seem as expensively dressed as the ones she'd met earlier that morning... "So you're both people of the Kami? Which ones?"

"I follow Shiba."

A chuckle.

"The the considerable surprise of everyone involved."

"Daimyo... Oh you mean Jin-sama? He is doing well! I didn't know he had so many allies until this trip. It seams like he has met with everyone at least once" Mizuku smiled, admiration for her sensei shining in her eyes.

"He's an easy man to get along with, provided you don't give him a reason not to be."

Sora gave a species of crooked smile.

"We met while Shinjo was building that first bathhouse in the Seppun lands."

[Ko]

Ko rubbed the ox's nose. It was softer than she'd expected! And bonier, at the same time. She began to have a tactile sense of how heavy and strong the creature was--and how tame, as it nudged her hand for more scratches.

"Shinjo and Shiba," she repeated, connecting the two names to the sketchy accounts she'd collected on the road. "How did you come to... serve them?" She wasn't quite sure if 'serve' was the right word or not.

[Jiyo Sora]

"I was at the Tournament. I met all of the Kami."

His crooked smile didn't flicker.

"Didn't like a little over half of them, to be honest. There was a sort of... insistence that what worked in Tengoku would work here, without much understanding that they had as much to learn about Ningen-Do as they had to teach its inhabitants. I was moved to see about the ones who were... different. Ultimately, Shiba won my loyalty for things I don't talk about, because they would create an expectation that is unfair... but safe to say, my eye showed me enough about his character to make him my choice, well before I knew how things were going to turn out."

He nodded toward the Jin.

"Lady Shinjo also impressed me favorably, but her path was not mine. I will admit, however, that had many of the other Kami taken the throne, I probably would have traveled with Shiba for a time, but I woudl eventually have left the lands we now call the Empire."

[Ko]

"You didn't like them?" Ko looks a bit skeptical. "My aunt would say, 'don't share a blanket with a man if you can't stand his brothers.' I suppose that applies to gods, too..."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Oh, there have been... adjustments- but since the Kami obey their Emperor, my concerns have been... Lessened."

[Jin Mizuku]

"Shinjo is amazing! But honestly if it weren't for Jin-sama I wouldn't have known too much about the Kami. He has taught me much, and I trust his judgement when it comes to people."

[Ko]

Ko bit her lip, looking pensive long enough that the big ox butted her hand to remind her she was supposed to be petting it.

"Would either of them..." She resettled her stance and shook her head slightly. "Is either of them the kind of Kami who would listen to a stranger that came to ask a boon?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"Both of them would listen. So would Togashi, probably. I can't promise they'd grant the boon without knowing what it might be, but if Shiba accepted me into his household, I can safely vouch for his compassion. Likewise, Shinjo is a considerate soul. Both would hear the request without too much of a sense of judgment."

[Ko]

"Ah." Ko nodded, slowly, brushing dust and ox-hairs from her hands. "Maybe I didn't travel here foolishly, then. There is someone else I have to speak for, someone who needs... powerful help."