After practicing riding his new otori for most of the afternoon, Bayushi Akagi felt confident enough to try riding all the way to the farm estate of Shiba Hoshiko and Shiba Moriko in hopes of getting another glimpse of the screamer they had captured the previous day.

Arriving at the ranch house, Akagi secured his mount at the otori hitching post placed conveniently outside, and approached the doorway.

"Hello, the house!" he called out towards the house. "It's Bayushi Akagi. We spoke on the comm earlier?"

Futago Ranch was one of the farms that bred otori, and it was bustling with activity now that the herds were back. Hana, Moriko's newly-broken otori, named for the pink-orange colouration of its throat feathers, had been corralled in a small pen near what would have to qualify as the 'farm house'. It was a two-story construction made by bolting together a number of pre-fabricated blocks.

On the lower level, the internal walls of one block had been cut out, and the interior refitted as as a sort of common area for the ji-samurai lived on the ranch. It was from here that Moriko tossed open the door and waved to Akagi. "Bayushi-san," she had changed out of her armour since that morning, wearing scuffed and faded jeans with a different kimono top from the day they met, she was cradling the screamer in the crook of her arm.


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[D2 EE] Who wants to live a cushy domestic life? You do! Yes you do! (Awareness 3 / Animal Handling 1, 1 CR, TN15): 4d10o10k3 27

“Good evening, Shiba-san," Akagi said, bowing politely. Riding through the cultivated farmlands, the Scorpion had forgone wearing armor, though this left his uniform somewhat dusty from the travel.

“I see Fú has been getting the best of care!” he remarked, upon seeing Moriko carrying the little screamer. “Has he been settling in well, here at the ranch?”

A moment later Hoshiko rode up from another part of the ranch. She pet the otori affectionately after dismounting it. "See? I told you it would be more fun if you didn't throw me off. You make sure you tell the others when you see them."

As far as she knew, Suisei didn't understand her without the spell, but it was worth a try. Leaving the mount with her sister's Hoshi walked towards Mori and Akagi waving. "Good evening!"

"Good evening!" Akagi said, waving back. "Did you have a nice ride, Shiba-san? I had only seen otori on holo before, but actually riding one has been... amazing."

Moriko covered the screamer protectively with her free hand, more to keep Fu from realising they were outside and making a bid for freedom than anything. “Perfect timing, Hoshi-chan,” she turned her attention back to Akagi, “I hope you don’t mind if my sister chaperones, I didn’t want to take anyone away from their duties,” she indicated to the busy ranch where otori were being groomed or trained, stables being prepared, the scent of hot mash being cooked hung in the air.

“Come on in, I made fresh iced tea.”

"It was a very enjoyable ride." she nodded as she came closer. "I don't get out here often enough. I see Fu is doing well."

"A fine idea!" Akagi declared. "Both of you are fine company. I'm normally on shipboard duty, so I would be lost on this ranch without one or both of you to show me around."


"Then, I'm glad we made an excuse for you to come out here today," he said with a smile.


"Tea sounds nice," Akagi said, nodding and following the sisters into the ranch house.

Escorting the pair inside, Moriko closed the door and the overworked airconditioning could be felt, struggling to counter the afternoon heat. The young woman took out a pitcher of iced tea and a bucket of ice, there were clean glasses already laid on the table next to a plate of dorayaki. There was also a container, the type used for storing leftovers, opaque walls hiding the contents.

It appeared Moriko had everything prepared, so Hoshi just stepped aside and waited.

Akagi removed his dusty footwear near the door, before following the others into the dining area.

“Your house is lovely, minna-san,” he commented, looking around politely. “And so spacious! Do you have a lot of family living here too, or just the two of you?”

"Oh, all the ji-samurai who work on the ranch share this space," Moriko explained, "I have a small apartment upstairs, like the others." She poured the iced tea for her guests, the screamer clinging to her arm.

"Thank you," Akagi said, accepting the tea. He watched the screamer with interest. "Fú seems so well behaved around you. You must've trained many animals before?"

“In a manner of speaking, much to our parent’s dismay,” she admitted, “animals seem to trust me and, before I knew better, I would bring home creatures all the time. I didn’t think about how it would affect them, I just thought they were cute and wanted to keep them.” She glanced over as there was a scratch at the door, it was Ten, letting himself inside, approaching the table hopefully.

“I don’t think I’ve ever set about to really train an animal. I suppose I’ve helped with the otori, but that isn’t my role here. I’ve known Ten since he was born, but mostly I just treat animals with respect and their favourite foods, and it’s worked out so far.”

Ren followed shortly afterward, moving over to Hoshiko. "Mori-chan helped me train Ren, too."

"Ren seems very well-behaved, too," Akagi agreed. "You're studying to be a navigator, aren't you, Hoshiko-san? Do you think Ren will be all right on a spaceship? It would be ... quite different than life on the ranch."

"He's adjusted to living in the city, so I hope he'll be okay out there." She gave the dog a vigorous petting.

"Glad to hear it," Akagi said, nodding. "You must be looking forward to a life of space travel, then, Shiba-san? Have you done a lot of travel outside Asakaze system before?"

Moriko took one of the doriyaki and pulled it in half. One hand offered half to Ten, who barely even sniffed the offering before gulping it down, the other hand dropped down invitingly to Ren. She was happy to let her sister talk, the darling of the court was better at the word-things than she was.

"I haven't done any space travel yet, Bayushi-san." she let Ren go, who eagerly pounced on the offered snack. "I needed to learn the basics of spellcraft from the Osprey, before adapting their teachings to service aboard a starship. The resources for such training are limited on Asakaze, regardless."