[Day 9, Early Afternoon] Give Me a Sword and Ship to Sail...

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Reckon we'll see. Or our clans will decide t'do somethin' else entirely to uproot whatever we might get goin'."

[Kitsu Masaru]

Masaru nodded running hand through his long dark red hair "Comes with the whole 'my life is not my own' and 'I live to serve' thing I suppose."

"But ya know can't let the possibility something will fail stop you from trying I think."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Ah, but what're we tryin'?"

[Kitsu Masaru]

The Kitsu's eyebrows rose a fraction "Well I suppose that depends. I was speaking more generally, what do you want to do?" He asked with an eyebrow raised in a questioning manner

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Oh, I was bein'general meself. Whatcha got in mind?"

[Kitsu Masaru]

"Oh well to serve my lord and Emperor like any good samurai of course." He said with his most proper speech

Leaning back against the barrel "but honestly just want to find someone I can be myself with in the end."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"An who might you be, that bein' yourself could present a hurdle?"

[Kitsu Masaru]

A that he gave her a bit of a grin, a sharper expression than the others "Well, that is the question isn't. I respect you Kasumi-san enough to not lie outright but I will say I am more....complicated than I seem."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

She quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Ain't everybody? I mean t'say, if there's one thing livin' aboard a ship teaches, it's that everybody's complicated."

[Kitsu Masaru]

Masaru smiled and nodded "true enough everyone, well most people, have something deeper going on. But some wear these things on their sleeve and it takes little digging to figure it out. Others have to keep it buried as a matter of duty."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Aye, Duty, Duty's a rough'un sometimes."

Kasumi had some experience with the rough side of Duty

"An' in my experience, most folks never like talkin' about their actual Duty."

[Kitsu Masaru]

At that the Kitsu chuckled "Then the Mantis are far different from the Lion. Many of my Clanmates take great pride in their duty and talk about little else."

"Not the most stimulating conversation topic. But I'll take it over discussing the tenets of bushido."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Ah, but I bet they talk 'bout battle, an' honor, an' glory. Doubt they spend much time talkin' 'bout th' details cuttin' people up."

[Kitsu Masaru]

Masaru looked thoughtful for a moment "Well no they aren't morbid about it with details but, while that is involved in their duty, I'm not sure I'd say that is their duty. The duty is protecting the clan, or fighting for the clan or Emperor. The violence is part of that but I don't know if I'd say that is what the core of the duty is."

He paused "I guess to say what they take pride in is the result of the violence rather than the violence itself and the result is what they see as their duty."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"But ultimately, their duty's choppin' folks up. Turnin' living people into dead people. An' nobody likes dwellin' on that."

Kasumi, having chopped someone up herself, knew the feeling.

[Kitsu Masaru]

Masaru nodded "Well I think it comes down to what you think your duty is vs what doing your duty involves. You're right of course we all have to, or will have to, do things we don't like. But we have to remember at the end of the day why we are doing it."

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"So. Not gonna fault y'for not blabbin' your duty around. When it comes t'bushi, we're none of us in the business'a making people smile."

[Kitsu Masaru]

He smiled "appreciated."

He ran a hand through his red hair pulling the silk band holding it together to let the shoulder length red hair fall loose. He shook it out as he scratched his scalp a bit

"Well you certainly seem like you have your head on straight. You're more introspective about things like duty and our role as samurai than most people I've met. Is this common among the Mantis? Or are you just naturally cynical?"

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

"Might just be th'fights I've gotten in, might be th' fights Mantis tend t'find, but there's little dressin' up the kinds'a combat we tend t'find. M'duty's t'th ship, the cap'n, th'crew, but mercenary work's not th'kinda fightin' people write poems 'bout."