(D8, EM) Breakfast of Champions

[Isawa Natsuko]

"I think I have been taught so long to hold on to who I was, an anchor against the void, that I may have forgotten I can change and still remain myself. But everything is changing now, down to our names. So yes, I had better learn."

There is a single bit of some red fruit left in the bottom of the bowl as she pushes it aside. "Harder for those moving into new clans though. What would be different on Crane ships? Fancier sails?"

[Funegao no Hirame]

Hirame chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. Only the finest silk!" He shook his head. "Crane boats are actually pretty well made, but, well, boats are rough and dirty. Stuff breaks. And you've gotta be able to swap one piece out for another if you need to, no problem."

After a moment, he made a face. "Are we talking about ships, or changing yourself? Because I feel like the same thing holds true for people."

[Isawa Natsuko]

"That people need to be able to swap out broken pieces for other ones?" She lifts the hand with missing fingers and the scar that continues up under her sleeve. "I would be convenient if that were so easy." Someone else might offer the observation with amusement...or reproach. The ishiken's steady tone hints at neither.

"But perhaps you meant internally, moving ideas and information that is proven wrong away to allow something new in?"

[Funegao no Hirame]

Hirame winced. "Uh, yeah, I meant internal bits. My bad." He sorta apologized.

He tilted his head, considering. "I don't know about wrong. I was thinking more about me becoming a Crane, or Ahiru-san becoming a Mantis. Either way, it's different, and maybe means changing a bit. And maybe that's okay."

But then he nodded. "But yeah, basically. And I also expect every marriage has a bit of that, not just the ones between clans."

[Isawa Natsuko]

Natsuko sips at her tea, staring into the (rather shallow at this point) depths of the bright green liquid. "Hmm, The hand is just an example. There is nosocial weight to it."

"But yes. I think moving into adulthood holds change. Marriage holds change. And here we are combining them. A new name is a new self...and I will only hold it for perhaps a year. Shiba-san is not what I expected. Nor am I what I think he might have imagined an Isawa bride would be. Change and learning."

Looking pu, she asks, "What do you expect to change, if you remain Mantis?"

[Funegao no Hirame]

"Hrm..." Hirame said, chewing his lip a moment. "What did you expect? And you're pretty much what I expect from an Isawa. From him..." Hirame shrugged. "I don't know." He didn't have a strong impression of the fellow, except that Kasumi liked him and that was awkward.

His eyebrows went up. "If I remain Mantis? Hrm..." He pursed his lips as he thought. "It feels like nothing... and everything." Shaking his head, Hirame gave Natsuko a sheepish smile. "I'll be on the same ship. Better position, but not too different. At the same time, I'll be an adult. I'll be married." He took a deep breath, looking briefly daunted.

Then he shook his head again. "It sorta feels like my life is actually starting, or something? It's hard to explain, but for a few years now, it's felt a bit like it's just practice."

[Isawa Natsuko]

"I expected another sort of guardian, someone accepting a duty. I hoped for harmony, of course." Her eyes close for the space of a long breath, though nothing else in her expression shifts. "I am still coming to terms with the incorrect assumptions and the more recent incorrect...beliefs. I think I am still very uncertain of the shape our lives might take."

"You may be surprised by other Isawa though." she says as a mild warning for his future.

She laces her fingers around the cup, a slightly odd sight given the missing pair. "It is the beginning of life for Funegao no whatever your name becomes. That person isn't here yet." A slight crease forms on her brow as she looks down to the tea again. "I should remember that as well."