Sapphire Ambassadors

Freshly back from his shopping trip, Choudai had taken a moment to make sure the kite he had made the day before was still in working order.

Then he prepared to make delivery. He stood outside of Ameiko's room and scratched on the door with one hand, while the other carefully held his delicate creation out of harm's way.

"Come on", said Ameiko's still teenage not quite chirpy, but certainly not yet sultry voice. She was practicing her tea etiquette, a small set laid before her on a table her hands moving slowly with elegant practice.

The young viper practicing her craft in other ways.

That's... oddly reassuring.

"Good afternoon, Bayushi-san, and I hope the day finds you well. I believe there was a request for a kite?"

He held up his work. It would never be confused with a masterpiece, but it looked perfectly serviceable, a mostly-black kite with gold accents.

"Ah, Bayushi Choudai-san, welcome", she said, knocking the last of the matcha out of the chashaku and laying it down properly. "Good of you to come, and thank you! It will do well." She shifted and turned to face him, offering a bow from seiza. "Well you join me for a time then? Or do you have a pressing matter?"

He offered a bow of his own.

"Bayushi-san, how could I refuse so gracious an invitation? Particularly whern I know your duties leave you so little time to yourself."

"It isn't entirely untrue", she admitted. "Most of my time is spent doing thing such as this, so that when the time comes to do them, they can be done properly." She did not sigh, but wanted to. She stood and accepted the kite, placing it to the side against a wall, as if on display, then offered him a place to sit across from her. "You have of course taken part in such a ritual in your time, I would think?" she sat once again, legs folded under her properly and adjusted her long sleeves so that she didn't hit anything on the table.

"Seldom, and almost always as more of a spectator than a participant."

He nodded to the arrangement.

"But I would be happy to help Bayushi-san practice."

"Dozou", she said merrily enough. Ameiko performed the task well, slowly, deliberately and with a surprising amount of grace for one with such calloused marks of bugei on her palms and fingers. When the tea was first poured, she offered it to her guest.


OOC
Tea Ceremony, TN 15: 24
yay void points

Choudai accepted it with a grateful bow.

"If your performance today matches your grace with the te ceremony, you should do very well indeed."

"Oh well the tea is only what it is, I don't really make it any better", she said, after accepting the cup and performing the ritual. She set it down now between them, now that the etiquette is out of the way. "But please call me Ameiko, someone from my family calling me by my family name always seems strange, don't you think senpai?"

She appeared to be teasing him, but it was actually a correct use of the term.

His lip twitched into something of a smile.

"Very well, Ameiko-san, then you should call me Choudai. Fair is fair, after all."

"Oh that's very generous of you, senpai", Ameiko remarked with a grin. "Though using the name of one of my seniors seems improper to me."

She might out rank him socially, but she did have some respect for his service.

"I also believe calling you Choudai-san might cause a stir with some."

That... got a chuckle.

"I leave it to your discretion, Ameiko-san. Might I ask what the kite is required for? Does Otomo-sama fancy flying one during the competition?"

"Not for the competition, no... Unless there was a kite flying event I have not heard of", she said curiously. "Truly, it is a hobby of his, one that he seeks still...new heights in."

Which he might attain this time if the trees aren't out to get him again...

"Well, its construction was a fairly simple affair, so if this one comes to a bad end, let me know. Having your charge think well of you in the small things as well as the large can only be to the good."

"Your thoughtfulness is appreciated", she said with a bobbing nod of her head, it made her pigtails dance a bit. "So what will you be cooking tonight and when do I get to try it?"

"Ah, as tonight is about Compassion, I doubt the fare will be of much interest- I intend to cook food for peasant tastes, and send it off to peasants."

He shrugged.

"I will try to prepare more interesting fare in the days ahead, but today it's all barley and vegetables. Still, if you want any, I will make a little extra..."

"My mother has cooked such before, something she learned from her family, who weren't always on the side of opulence", she said. "We would eat it from time to time, much to the disappointment of my siblings and I, as a reminder that fortunes can change at any moment."

"It's really not bad, it's just not as refined as some allow themselves to grow accustomed to. And I hardly need to tell a fellow bushi that the best food is the food you can actually get."

Aside a specific instance only a short while ago, Amriko knew little of that. She had to use her imagination.

"Well, when times are difficult we do as we must and accept what fate brings, yes", she said. "Did you spend much time without food during the Naishou War?"