Stick That Finger Up (D11, EM)

[Hantei Kinsen]

Now, she laughs, holding her stomach. Then, stopping, she shakes her head while apologizing, "I am sorry. Taochusu-san. I'm not sure I am good at planning ahead, either. I often go with the flow and get rather creative here and there to motivate people. I guess."

[Taochusu]

"You got kids, right? I'm sure you think about their future all the time."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Oh!" She grins, beaming up her starry eyes. "Genji-kun is my little, brave boy. He's three winters old, now. The cutest thing in this whole land."

[Taochusu]

"And building the strength of your clan is at least in part for his future, I'm sure. That's a level of looking to the future that my life doesn't need."

[Hantei Kinsen]

She blinks. "Why not? All that muscle is for what, if not to make sure you're protecting your children and who you care for with them?"

[Taochusu]

"I'm not saying I don't want children. Im saying I don't have children so I don't need to plan that far out. If I ever do get them then I will need to. But the way a wanderer lives is day to day."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen gets pensive for a moment, and replies with a chuckle. "Everyone lives day to day. That's not an excuse. Saying you don't want children is ok. Yet, you kind of contradicted yourself a bit there."

She pokes him again. "So, how many?"

[Taochusu]

"I don't think I did?" he says confused. "When I said I didn't need it, I actually meant I didn't need it. Not that I didn't want it. I don't even know what I want really. And I couldn't tell you how many kids I would have. For all I know I might end up not wanting any or I might build a place for kids like me that got no place to call home and give them a safer life than I had. I can think up lots of different ways I could go, but I don't know what I want to do. Could I handle the responsibility of a bunch of homeless kids? Could I handle the loneliness after meeting so many folks that have been friendly? Just don't know yet. Can only go day by day until I figure it out and see what changes. Probably a lot of things are going to change for me with how much the world changed while I was out in the wild by myself."

[Hantei Kinsen]

“I like your idea of building a place to take of children that have none else to count with.” Kinsen looks to Taochusu with kindness and admiration. “I would love to hear your ideas about it.”

[Taochusu]

"I been alone for so long. You daydream. Used to think stuff like, 'What if I found someone that let me live with them' when I was much younger. Hoping I might get that lucky. Problem is I don't have any real way to find folks that might just be kids without families out in the wild. I'd guess that most tribes would just take care of kids if their parents died. Uncles and aunts and friends or something. But how many kids are there like me where they lose everything and don't get killed by what kills everyone else? But if I could find kids like that I'd be able to help them out, teach them hunting and survival, how to do woodworking, how to protect themselves. And provide food so they could do that without having to worry about their next meal. But that would take a lot of work that I can say I'd be willing to do now, but would my body be able to keep up without collapsing. Providing for myself can be hard enough at times."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen nos in understanding and takes a moment to reply, willing to respect his thoughts. "If I can suggest. Build it. I am sure once people know there's a place for that specific goal, they'll know. If you need support to build that, I am sure the lands of the Stag should have a proper place for such act of compassion."

[Taochusu]

"All depends on where I end up. I will be traveling north again after the expedition if I'm still alive. I promised to escort the Ryoshun back home. They didn't bring any warriors so I wanted to make sure they stayed safe from any dangers of the road," he says. "It will be some time before that is complete. But again, gotta survive this mission before I can do anything else."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Let's do our best!" Kinsen beams up, poking him again. For some reason, she liked poking him.

/Scene?

[Taochusu]

"I plan to," he agrees with a nod.

/scene