open post, cuts ribbon to musebox proudly

[kbcctv]

[The Citadel is huge, so it's a good thing they have all the time in the world to dick around.

--Well, no, they don't. But the point is, it's a free day. There will be absolutely no work done at all. Unless you want to or something. If you do, you're pretty weird.

The dojo is always open for sparring and practice. If there's any sparring errand you've slacked on, now's the chance to make up! The horse stables are also full of activity, whether the horses are being tended to or rode around-- be careful not to let them trample the fields, though, which is full of rice sprouts and budding cabbage. The lake in front of the saniwa(s)' room has tiny frogs jumping about, and you could catch them in the palm of your hand.

The kitchen is full of food, if you're volunteering to make lunch or have decided that meal time cannot possibly come any later and you simply must prepare something before you die from starvation. While there has been a considerable effort made to make the Citadel look as homely as possible to the swords which come from Japan's past, there's speckles of technology here and there.

The TV room is a good example, with a huge screen sitting on top of a few console systems. Don't break them, you'll only be getting this luxury once. Take turns and play nice. The swords may also find themselves tending the fields with water sprinklers and hoses instead of watering cans, for instance, or heating up some leftover pie in the fridge instead of making another one from scratch since there's technology to preserve food well over a week. The armory and smithy are definitely a little bit more modern than they'd be back in the past, though much is still made by hand-- nothing beats the fine work of a master. Perhaps you'll have a few new friends today, or you want to try creating a cute little soldier spirits to die for you accompany you in battle. Make sure they enter the orb completely, or else it'll turn brown and crack.

Or perhaps you're one of the unlucky swords still stuck in the repair room, sword body still being re-smelted and fixed. Hope the saniwa is good at making you all shiny. If you want to skip all that waiting, perhaps you can try to use a helper token... but they're all in the saniwa's room! Guess you've got to use that Camouflage stat...

But if you truly cannot bear with staying in the Citadel, the time device the saniwa(s) have isn't locked away. You can go on sorties or expeditions to fill your time with something productive.

Just a warning: don't change the past. You won't succeed.

...You could always try, though.]

Comments

[prettified]

[ but does he stop walking, that's the important question. ]

You're never hungry when you're training.

[ and if they ate only when Yasusada's hungry, they'd have starved long ago. ]

[inamorati]

[ yes, kashuu, he's putting one foot in front of the other. stubbornly, but he's doing it. never before has there been a sword who so staunchly keeps his word while sulking every second of it. ]

I get hungry when I'm done. I wasn't done.

[prettified]

[ well, kashuu's giving the most long suffering sigh in...history as he slowly tug-lugs the both of them towards the dining hall. ]

You're never done. When was the last time you took a break?

[ fret fret fret

fact of the matter: unless someone lands some terrible crit hit on him, Yasusada probably could spar all the way till evening. maybe not nightfall but definitely sometime late afternoon, early evening.

Kashuu knows-- he's done that all before. ]

[inamorati]

[ rude, he doesn't deserve that long-suffering sigh, okay, that's all tsurumaru?? kashuu??? there's silence that meets kashuu's words, not so much furtive as it is the non-verbal equivalent of a sulky child looking away and refusing eye-contact because they know they've been caught red-handed in the cookie jar but it's not like they have the maturity to admit it.

though okay, fine, he can be more of a mature adult here. the silence lasts only three whole, immature beats before yasusada sighs, and his hand curls around kashuu's rather than getting yanked along like a limp fish. ]

I get it already, Kashuu. It won't be like last time. [ because yasusada's last full-day attempt at non-stop sparring had left him face-planting outside the dojo, which was both mortifying and somewhat annoying because people keep on making a fuss about it when really, it had only been a... seven-time thing!!! yeah!! a huff. ] You worry too much.

[prettified]

[ he closes his eyes, annoyed. ]

I just don't want us to get into any trouble with the saniwa.

[ and he swings that hand a little harder than he intends to, mouth screwed on in a deep-set scowl. you can practically hear the tch. ]

[inamorati]

[ wow, you prissy princess, it was only a few times, okay?! don't act like this happens all the time, that's just rude (even if it kind of does). ]

If that was all, you could have just walked away by yourself.

[prettified]

That again?

[ he keeps a running count, okay. seven times is a lot.

...or maybe the saniwa may have mentioned to him in an aside, that there were people worried that Yasusada might've been overworking himself. that overtaxing might not only mean a drop in battle performance but perhaps an indication that something was wrong?

"No, that's just how he is."

or well, he doesn't know, he hasn't seen Yasusada much since Ikedaya. he wasn't his keeper, and people change a lot over a couple of years. right?

but no, that hadn't quite been enough. he'd had to promise (but he'd been told after, that she was glad that he was someone she could trust) to keep an eye out, just in case.

(the way Kashuu saw it, the rest of the citadel had more to worry about themselves than of Yasusada overworking himself.) ]

If I can do something about it, I'm not gonna walk away from it.

[inamorati]

[ "if i can do something about it, i'm not gonna walk away from it", yes but, what can you do about a sword who obsessively spars to burn the violence and grief from his blood? what can anyone do about a sword who is still so in love with the memory of his old master that he still smiles his smile even when it doesn't reach his eyes, kind of like now? and what, really, should be done about a sword that insists on being so very sword-like down to the last fibre of his being? swords are meant to be swords, and swords are meant to do sword-like things. it stands to reason that yasusada doesn't consider any other way to spend his day off because there's no day off when it comes to being a sword.

kashuu may have his obsessions over his appearance. yasusada has his own, petty, deep-rooted obsessions. ones that he fully embraces and understands to be a part of him. he knows others worry, knows that swords look out of the corner of their eyes at him and see obsession, a mirror of a master long past, a linger ghost in the form of a sword with shisengumi colours like chains around his back. but that's not it at all, and he'd have thought that kashuu would've understood, of everyone -- but then again,

they've been apart for so long, haven't they? he laughs a little, a pleasant little thing, as though shy. ]

It's not like you, to be so altruistic. [ the laughter softens. he pinpoints what he feels on instinct, forming simple suspicions into words. hardly accusatory, statements of facts, curiosity. ] Did the Saniwa say something?

[prettified]

[ "Aren't you worried about him too?" he'd been asked again, after that. How could he explain that he was his own person and so was Yasusada? Yasusada had always been the more well-adjusted one, the one with the more ready (and decidedly less shit-eating) grin. he'd handled himself a lot better.

Kashuu Kiyomitsu had been sure that there wasn't anything to worry about. Yasusada was capable of looking after himself. ]

You can't blame someone for being worried.

[inamorati]

What's there to be worried about? [ it's a question with a different inflection than it initially appears. it seems like it's been answered already -- kashuu trying to avoid the ire of their saniwa -- but it's a bit different than that.

that uncanny smile again. as though echoing kashuu's prior thoughts: ] This is just how I am.

[prettified]

It's not normal.

[ "normal" is too vague a term to use-- they're sentient swords with individual personalities; that by itself is hardly commonplace. but between the both of them, Kashuu had always thought Yasusada to be the more normal one, the one who was closest to human ideal while he himself lounged far far below in the dregs of the riverbank. wasn't Yasusada the better one?

(thankfully, Kashuu knows better than to tolerate these thoughts for too long, it never leads anywhere good.) ]

So not everyone understands that.

[ but as he glances at that bright odd sustained smile, there's a little creeping doubt, just for a moment.

how well does he really understand Yasusada anyway? (has he ever needed to?) ]

[inamorati]

I don't care if anyone else understands, Kashuu. [ what did you think he was, you? okay, that's kind of an uncharitable thought, but yasusada could honestly care less about what others thought of him. as long as kashuu understood, it's fine. but even if kashuu didn't understand, it's also still fine. unlike most swords, understanding and reciprocation aren't things that yasusada looks for in others. all he needs is his own obsession: everything else is an unexpected boon on top of that.

but he's also not the sort to explain himself, finding words both hard and cheap. therefore, he just breathes out, and squeezes kashuu's hand again. hardly to comfort, but as his own way of signalling that this conversation matter can be dropped. ] Well, you've gotten me out of the dojo. You're even going to make me eat.

I think it's enough.

[prettified]

[ Ah.

He really doesn't understand. ]

[prettified]

[ Or so the thought runs through his head as he glances absently at their hands and back up front. He understands that one signal at least, and there's a mild curiosity that wants to prod more--

--but instead, he throws his head back, straightens and exhales. ]

Heh...am I supposed to settle for that? If you won't put down your sword, that can't be enough.

[ Fall back to something familiar and regroup, the safer option. ]

[inamorati]

[ and whatever it was that constitutes for navel-gazing between them passes, like a pall lifting in the air. safer, more familiar -- and far more practical ground. yasusada frowns. ]

It will have to be, seeing as I have no intention of putting it down.

[ he's going back to the dojo after you're done force-feeding him, after all. can't do that without his surrogate fourth limb. ]

[prettified]

[ Yasusada & training sword sitting right close as he shovels rice into his mouth. Yasusada sipping tea, trusty sword by his side.

...no, no, there's something wrong with this image, isn't there?

(the answer isn't "it lacks Okita") ]

It's not going to grow legs and run away if you put it down for a sec.

[inamorati]

[ lbr the answer is always "it lacks okita". but here, have a pointed look from yasusada. even if you can't see it, with your back turned to him, you should still be able to feel the dryness of the sheer amount of judgement radiating from him. ]

We did.

[ we're literally walking, talking swords, kashuu. ]

[prettified]

[ ......................... ]

You know what I meant.

[ he tches as he walks a little faster and into the dining hall. if Yasusada doesn't catch up, there'll be dragging. ]

[inamorati]

I did. But I also reserve the right to make fun of you when you're being silly. I'm obviously not holding onto it because it might run away if I didn't.

[ he's holding onto it because you'd confiscate it if he let go kashuu. but okay fine you prissy princess, take it out on their walking speed. he'll hurry a little to catch up. dining hall, here we are...

it's mostly been emptied out now, since the call for lunch was two yells ago and they're late, but mitsutada always seems to save some food for the stragglers (mostly because there are almost consistently stragglers to meals in this camp; yamato's here, after all). they'll grab food and sit down together. yamato carefully rests his training sword next to him, not even looking kashuu's way but expecting judgement and completely ignoring it... ]

Itadakimasu.

[ yadda yadda yadda okay white rice go. ]