"Now, this here is Murkwater Lake. I bet you can guess how it got that name!" Atsumori informed his hovering drone camera cheerily. "It's still an under-studied biome, which is really exciting! There's still a lot that even the Asakaze settlers don't know about ol' Murkwater yet. I'm out here hopin' for a glimpse of one of the big aquatic lizards that live in here." A sweeping gesture from otori-back indicated the open water. "But if I'm honest, I'll be happy just getting a look at some of the smaller marine life down along the water line. Let's check it out!"

While some of the biathlon competitors had probably been only too eager to head from the finish line straight back to town--where a shower, a change of clothes, and some air conditioning awaited--Atsumori figured there wasn't much point in that when he only planned to get mucky again later. He'd made himself more presentable with a damp handkerchief and a comb (you'd only believe the latter had been involved if you'd seen his hair before it was applied) and carried on with his extramural plans for the day.

Princess the otori had sat out the biathlon, making her more rested than her rider and eager for a jog out toward the brackish lake...

As the Shiba was going toward Murkwater Lake, there was another samurai who was coming from Murkwater Lake. Whatever she did, looked like she already had her share of adventuring already. She was dressed in what looked like a grey wetsuit, half-zipped open at the top. Her hair had been bundled into a ponytail messily and her facepaint was obviously worn with cracks, incidentally rubbed off in some places. She carried her things in a backpack with a handle of a shovel jutting out and some other tools.

"Oh, hey there." Atsumori had dismounted from Princess's saddle and was hobbling the otori to keep her from wandering too far when he spotted Eriko. Straitening up, he stepped out from the shadow of the giant bird and waved a greeting. "Looks like we've got company, Princess. Besides whatever's in the water, that is."

He took a few easy strides toward the waterline in the Crab's direction. "Lookin' for something out here, Kuni-san?"

The face paint needed touching up, but it was certainly still recognizable for what it was. Only a Kuni would wear heavy makeup like that to go digging around in the wilderness.

While Atsumori had the benefit of Princess's company and transport, it seemed the Crab was travelling entirely by foot and making her way back to the Shiro proper. She gazed up at the approaching man and lifted a hand to give him a small wave instead of a bow, which would have been more proper. "Yeah, I was looking for something...but clearly not there or buried in the earth for several thousand feet. Who knows?"

She took a moment to take a water canteen from her belt to hydrate and take a breather. "Say, can your feathered friend dig through the beach for me?"

"Well, I dunno!" Atsumori seemed to find the question genuinely interesting. "They scratch for their fodder, y'know. Could be worth a try." He eyed Princess's feet--and poked the bulky drone controller strapped to his wrist so that his hovering drone could take a closer look, too. Princess had no choice to get used to the little flyer's presence and it's distinctive noise, and Atsumori was pleased that it hadn't even taken her very long--she tracked it with a long-suffering one-eyed stare, but didn't mind its closeness.

"If you need to dig a few thousand feet, I doubt she's your bird." He scratched his cheek, thinking. "Though if you just want to turn over the top few centimeters, I reckon she'd be faster than a shovel. If she understood what we wanted."

He scrubbed a hand through his hair and then remembered to bow. "Shiba Atsumori, at your service."

"Aw, ain't that a shame then," she said with a bit of disappointment but she wasn't exactly banking of the bird finding what she wanted to begin the first place. "With a name like Princess, it's probably best that we don't fuss her all that much, especially when she probably has all sorts of bird-friends and bird-suitors. I doubt I'll find what I'm looking for anyway but it's a pretty nice beach if you don't mind the gigantic creepy crawlies."

She took another swig from her canteen. "Nice to meet you, Shiba-san. I'm Kuni Eriko. Are you here to take pictures of the memorial they have out on the beach?"

"The memorial?" Atsumori's brow furrowed slightly as he looked back over at the Kuni, abandoning for now the problem of whether and how an otori could be trained to hunt for buried treasure. "Actually, I wanted to get a look at the shoreline and the lake biome, see if I could spot any wildlife I'm not going to see in the forest. But, uh... what memorial? I don't remember seeing that in my guidebook file." Admittedly he didn't always pay the closest attention to the "historical landmarks" part of any tourist guide he happened to be handed, but he thought he might have noticed that when he'd flipped through the Murkwater Lake entry this morning.

"Oh...I guess it's not something that locals talk about here, I kind of get why. It's sort of depressing stuff and not exactly a bright spot of sunshine to make us smile," she shrugged before closing her canteen and clipping it on her belt.

"You know that the Phoenix weren't exactly the first settlers of Asakaze, right? I guess as is with most planets, someone finds it first and ofter another ends up colonizing it. The first ones here weren't exactly lucky."