[D10, ME] Girls meet up! (Open!)

[Kuni Shiori]

.

Shiori smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Only if Agasha-sama would be fine with me there. Yasuki Masaki and Ryoichi have done much on their own as is. The most I'll likely do is observe. It's not surprising that they might be preoccupied with a few things already, especially Masaki-san. If it helps, I could do my best to remind her."

"I find it hard to believe that nobody has managed to achieve that yet but perhaps it's likely much easier to capture that scent reminiscent of where parchment and ink could be found? The smell of fragrant wood of a study or maybe the smell of a lit incense blowing in from an open window? A camphor tree in the gardens? Would that capture it to some effect?" She offered curiously.

"Crab seafood is its own delicious cuisine. Everytime I visit the south I enjoy the bounty of the sea. Perhaps one day we can enjoy a meal their and compare the two? I am often in the south, my fiancé's family is in the Asahina lands there.

"Oh, your work also brings you to the south sometimes?" She said with a raised brow. "If you find yourself by the River of Gold or Sunda Mizu Mura, I'm sure a meeting could be arranged. That would work best as I have to admit that our current land lease is rather plain and nowhere as close to water for the best seafood."

Being less familiar with her arrangements, Shiori was content to listen to the two talk as she took a nibble from her artisanal confectionary. It only got as far as a chew before she bowed deeply to the Otomo's arrival.

[Otomo Mariko]

"Oh, no need for that here, is there?"

Mariko waves off the deep bow.

"Besides, I brought refreshments!"

The cask is placed on a stand, and it is opened.

[Daidoji Sae]

"The baths are very soothing and quiet if you need a place to escape."

"I should probably spend longer in them at quieter times. Maybe with some of that perfume Kuni-san has mentioned."
Sae looked slightly more relaxed at even the prospect of a soak.

Party Queen

Sae's eyebrows try to jump off her head as Mariko turns up with a keg.

"Otomo-san, it would hardly be a party without you."
Despite any protestations she bows respectfully.
"Can I ask what brew you have brought all this way?"

"Oh, your work also brings you to the south sometimes?" She said with a raised brow. "If you find yourself by the River of Gold or Sunda Mizu Mura, I'm sure a meeting could be arranged. That would work best as I have to admit that our current land lease is rather plain and nowhere as close to water for the best seafood."

"I was on the River of Gold only last week, although there was considerably more opium present than seafood. Should I sail further south on it again, I will of course call on you. That is, if you still answer my letters after the Court is completed."
She smiles slightly to demonstrate it's all in jest...mostly, she might have to ask Shiori to do Kuni stuff at some point.

[Kuni Shiori]

"I was on the River of Gold only last week, although there was considerably more opium present than seafood. Should I sail further south on it again, I will of course call on you. That is, if you still answer my letters after the Court is completed."
She smiles slightly to demonstrate it's all in jest...mostly, she might have to ask Shiori to do Kuni stuff at some point.

Shiori tilted her head with a slightly bemused expression and offered a small smile. "At the present, I don't have any reason I would avoid writing back to you, Daidoji-sama. Your cousin in Daidoji Ryu-san has been exemplary and Asahina Hoshiko-san has been good company. I don't doubt that you'll find yourself in at least the same sort of standing by the end of the season."

She would take another nibble from her confectionary, more wanting to savour the sweet than rush headlong into alcohol. Wasn't there drinking later on, anyway? She walked over the cask tentatively, not pulling out her sake cup just yet. "...May I ask what Otomo-sama has brought today? I can't say I'm familiar with many of the local brews here and I suspect this one has traveled some ways with you."

[Agasha Yuna]

"Am I too late?"

Yuna smiled brightly to see Otomo-sama. "Not at all. I'm so glad you could come. You didn't need to bring anything! But please, help yourself to the snacks. And I'll gladly take a sip of the drink you've brought."

Normally, she would go through the dance of refusals, but the cask was a gift to everyone here, and not solely to her as the hostess.

"A chance to practice before the Floating Banquet!"

"I have been encouraging the ladies here to share at least one pastime that brings them joy, and one anecdote about their family. To help us get to know each other better."

[Otomo Mariko]

"Well, ladies," Mariko says, "this one's actually from the area around the Capital, north shore of Golden Sun Bay. I thought that it would be a good addition to Agasha-san's delightful little gathering of young women."

The cask is opened and drinks are poured.

"Think of it as a warm-up for the Banquet!"

[Agasha Yuna]

She took a cup of the sake, and took a generous sip.

"Ah, that's very good. Thank you so much."

"I've never been to the capital. Is that where you spend the most time during the year? What are your favorite places to spend time in the capital?"

[Otomo Mariko]

"Oh, yes, very much so," Mariko replies. "A young woman finds herself most often in the Guest Home, as might be expected, but she and Husband-san have a little cottage in the Outer City, as well, looking out over the Bay. The sunrises are simply splendid there."

Her cup, full just a moment ago, is already empty. How this happened is, of course, anyone's guess.

[Daidoji Sae]

Shiori tilted her head with a slightly bemused expression and offered a small smile. "At the present, I don't have any reason I would avoid writing back to you, Daidoji-sama. Your cousin in Daidoji Ryu-san has been exemplary and Asahina Hoshiko-san has been good company. I don't doubt that you'll find yourself in at least the same sort of standing by the end of the season."

"Kuni-san is very kind. I am fortunate to be surrounded by such exemplary samurai in my Clan to vouch for my character.

Sae nods as Mariko speaks of the Capital.

"It is indeed a wonderful place, like nowhere else. Although much like Otomo-san, I enjoy it more from the outskirts or the outside."

She cannot hope to match Mariko at drinking, but at least makes a show of draining her cup and complimenting the brew.
"Very fine indeed. You may have given Agasha-san another reason to visit."

[Agasha Yuna]

"I am not sure my duties will ever take me to Otosan Uchi, but it is fun to imagine."

"Now I will particularly want to visit to see the places you have mentioned and the new Imperial Library. What a wonderful resource that will be!"

"If a trip ever brings me there, I will hope to visit and say 'hello'," she said with a genuine smile to Otomo-sama.

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori would finish her treat and make a move to fill her sake cup with the offered cask. She supposed that one drink wasn't going to hurt, especially when it came to a social call. Perhaps when she would later not do so well in the contest, she could blame it on this moment...but that was unlikely.

"I can't imagine that an active role in the courts and a good word won't earn you a potential promotion where you'll find yourself in the Capital, Agasha-sama," she would say before taking a sip of sake.

[Agasha Yuna]

"I shall be very content to manage the House Shigi holdings and remain primarily there. But none of us can foresee what duty shall ask of us."

[Otomo Mariko]

"That much is true," Mariko replies, and her servant makes sure to refill cups.

"It seems the Tortoise will have a lot to do in the coming seasons, with all the construction to be taking place," she continues. "I doubt any of what has been proposed will be set up in the Inner City, but there is plenty of space in the Outer."

She lifts her cup. You can see it, this time.

"For the Empire!"

[Agasha Yuna]

She lifts her glass.

"For the Empire!"

[Kuni Shiori]

"...Thank you" The servant refilling her drink did put a damper on her 'just one cup' plan but she wasn't going to be a lousy guest and not join in the toast. She would also raise her cup. "For the Empire."

[Daidoji Sae]

"For Rokugan! Kanpei!"

Sae's response was an automatic straight backed and full throated yell of support.

[Otomo Mariko]

Mariko's servant moves to refill cups. She, of course, accepts.

"Now," she says, "what all do you ladies have planned for later this evening? It often helps to go in with a plan."

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna smiled.

"I haven't got a lot of experience drinking, but I know the poems I am going to use. As long as I can make it. There is an Ageki ancestor - my great-uncle Isao - who wrote poems to the earth kami and to our mountain. The poems are wonderful. It's one of the few books in the Ageki libary that doesn't require being a shugenja to understand. I mean, I'm sure it allows you to relate more deeply to some of the poems, but it was something I could read and enjoy and now remember."

[Kuni Shiori]

"Oh, uhm..." she murmured when she was given another pour in her cup but she wouldn't voice her objection to the offer, giving a small bow of her head when it was given to her. "I have some experience with drinking but not a lot when it comes to poems. I dipped my toes in crafting one with the Past Lives gathering. Considering that you have to both drink and think of one, you do bring a good point of being prepared, Otomo-sama. I could consider past poems I've read before but of course, only consider them inspirations rather than take them word for word."

[Daidoji Sae]

"Otomo-san has put far more thought into this than I have."
Sae shifts her arms and looks pensive for a few moments.

"I was hoping just to drink a little and perhaps provide a few basic poems, I have no great talent for the arts myself. Listening to the works of others would be my goal, there are some wonderful artisans among us."