Heavenfall

Riki had been with the expedition for a few days now and had settled in well only one or two violent disputes and those were chalked up to "cultural differences" but he has since behaved himself reasonably well. Helped set up and strip down camp, gather supplies and even treat minor wounds here and there.

Now he sat by the fire with a drink in hand and stared into the flames he had much to think about.

Nanzi was at the fire sipping his water and looked at the stranger, and nodded for now.

Sora, likewise, was nearby- although he didn't look at the fire, keeping his eyes focused away from it, to keep from letting the firelight blind him in case something.... snuck up from the suspiciously lush beauty around them.

Riki eyed the two very different men sitting around the fire with him "Guess this kinda thing takes all kinds huh?" he asked over his cup before he took a drink

"And then some."

Having done his share of regrettable things in his time with the Hikaru, Sora saw no particular reason to turn up his nose at the former bandit.

"I mean, the three of us here are hardly the best display of the variety of people on this mission."

Riki wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 01, 2020 4:28 am

Riki eyed the two very different men sitting around the fire with him "Guess this kinda thing takes all kinds huh?" he asked over his cup before he took a drink

“Considering Nanzi was one of the organizers, yes it does… we even let Jiyo-san in, for his friendly attitude,” Nanzi responded.

“Nanzi of the Crane, daimyo of the Nanzi family, as it were. It is a pleasure.”

"Well you two look about as different to me as night and day." he said using his pointer and pinky fingers to point between the two men at once.

Riki raised an eyebrow "Da-m-yo?" he said carefully like he was tasting the word "can't say that means much to me but based on your clothes being finer than most things I've seen I'll take it to mean you're an important one. I go by Riki, I guess I'm part of the spiderclan now from what I understand."

"A daimyo is like a chief, in some ways. He leads his family in service to Lady Doji. I am Jiyo Sora, of the Imperial Families."

"Then you have sworn yourself to Reiko-ue, she will guide you well," Nanzi said with a nod.

Riki nodded "yeah I've met Reiko a couple times seems smart but can't say I've ever served a blind person before. Usually chief of my tribe was the strongest person around." he shrugged again "But hey, whatever you folks are doin, I can't knock it. Seems to be workin out alright for ya."

"If Reiko is a sign of anything, it's that strength takes many forms."

“Indeed, welcome to the Empire of Shiba, first of his name. Riki-san, it is a pleasure. You serve a higher calling now friend,” he said calmly.

“The Empire will eclipse all that has come before, as long as we work to make it so.”

Riki thought for a moment and then nodded "Well hey like i said to the people that brought me here, whatever you call it it seems to be miles better than what I'm coming from. From what I heard this is just your caravan and where you all actually come from is way more than this." he chuckled into his cup "and well, that's hard for me to believe cause even this is better than anything I've ever lived in."

"This is the palest of shadows of what it's like back home."

Sora closed his eyes and sighed.

"Which is why we are here. What is being built must be defended."

"On that we agree," Nanzi said.

"Well defending things is something I'm pretty good at. Well killing things is and i suppose that works as defending if you're killing the right things."

"It does indeed come to that."

He remembered the feeling of the old man's knives in his side. He remembered the feeling of his sword punching into the would-be killer's gut.

He smiled.

"In fact, I can truthfully say that the lives I've taken in defense of the Emperor's children are some of the only ones I recall with satisfaction."

Nanzi just listened to the two go down murder memory lane.