[D7, ME, Crane-open] To be fully prepared

[Kakita Masao]

Masao shakes his head, and smiles at Yuuwaku: "Your friend is irritatingly proper," he says, half-joking.

"Enter, please, Asahina-san," Masao calls in a warm voice.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"It's endearing, really," she replies as Sanaharu enters. "Having the touchstone matters."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He entered, the servant following. "It's a lot of things because I couldn't filter which ones would get well on you. So I brought everything available."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku nods.

"Asahina-san," she says, "what in your sartorial splendor speaks most surely to hope?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"A clothing that balances him out and is on the theme of the party. Masao-ue, could you grip your kimono the nearest to your person as possible? I need to see your body shape."

[Kakita Masao]

Smiling, maybe slightly goofy, from his talk with Yuuwaku, Masao happily complies with all of Sanaharu's requests.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He looks for a time at the bushi, then at Yuuwaku. "He needs volume at the waist line. I also do and I get the obi up. A slight thicker one would do nicely but would be too feminine for him... Do you think that bringing up the obi would be too feminine as well?"

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Oh, no," Yuuwaku adds. "You'd want an underlayer along the midsection, really, or a haori to hide it. And an accessory might help, as well."

She pulls a particular feather from her sleeve. "A falconer I ran into suggested, rightly, that a feather would serve well for, shall we say, many things."

She offers it to Masao.

"Now, it's not a gift, mind, not as such."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"A haori would call attention to the shoulders and an underlayer will definitively make the silhouette too feminine. I was personally thinking of getting sleeves with volume and getting something that calls attention to them. We have not the time for embroidery, but we have for painting."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"Yes," Yuuwaku agrees, "the sleeves might work. But we are in Crab lands, and Kakita-nikutai is a soldier. Perhaps an inner kimono with sleeves slightly longer than the outer--and folded back over them, so that the color contrast marks then and retains the elegant simplicity of a soldier's style?"

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"This would draw attention to them indeed, and is fashionable as well. What do you think of the idea, Masao-ue?" He said, looking to the servant who carried clothes. "Where could those be put so I can separate what would work, Masao-ue?"

[Kakita Masao]

Masao is not sure what to make of the feather, and doesn't get much chance to ask before he's lost in the artisans' conversation and then Sanaharu's questions.

"Uh, here..." For the sake of their work, Masao unrolls a tatami mat in one corner and moves his daisho stand and its contents there. He places his flute there with almost equal reverence. His pack and few other belongings are similarly shifted out of the way.

"You can use the table, unroll that second mat... It's not a lot to work with, but use the space however you need to."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku nods.

"Kakita-nikutai," she says, "you wouldn't happen to have a ribbon or some such thing, would you? Asahina-kohai, do you?"

[Kakita Masao]

"Uh, the only thing I would have is some simple string, sturdy though. In the pack there."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

"That would work," Yuuwaku says, and rummages about in said pack for said string. Finding it in short order, she takes a length of it, ties it to the feather with a graceful knot, and then sets up a loop through which an obi might pass.

"Leaves it where it can be seen well, but it keeps your hands free. Unless you think it would go better about your wakizashi?" Yuuwaku asks Masao. But I would not presume to put my hand upon your blade, unless you asked me to."

[Kakita Masao]

Dense creature that he is, even Masao senses a double meaning there. "Uh, no, probably not right now," he says, distracted by his small confusion about the meaning of the feather. "The obi idea is nice."

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku hands him the loop.

"The falconer of our mutual acquaintance will be happy to see you wearing it, Kakita-nikutai."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He smiles slightly. "I do like this idea, Yuuwaku-senpai. Truly, your help has been a blessing this evening so far. Mizu, put the things were Masao-ue cleared space."

[Kakita Masao]

Masao's eyes light at the realization of where the feather came from. "Ah, Kakita-san, thank you. How did... What does..." He looks sideways at Sanaharu. "Um, does it... mean something?" He quickly ensures it's secure, then looks back at her expectantly.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku chuckles.

"My dear Kakita-nikutai," she says, "everything means. But in this case, you have an appreciation for hawking, I think is the message. Certainly it is the one the falconer will read. Or so I believe."

[Asahina Sanaharu]

He would let Yuuwaku have this talk with him, she was better on those matters. He separated what would be viable... And found the little space not to be enough, so he made two or three piles outside the tatami as well, for the options he would not use anymore. They would be re-washed anyway.

[Kakita Masao]

The soldier nods, not grasping any more than the most basic understanding of this symbol.

"Well I do appreciate her. I mean it. The hawking? I guess. I mean, there's not... not something bad about it, right? I mean, if she'll like it, and I want to be with her... No one's going to be offended, right?"

Masao tries to think it through carefully, surprised there hasn't been more commentary inside his head.

Oh, I'm here, grandson. Never far away. But this effort is all yours. Think of it like a test at the academy. Thank you, grandmother. I already felt it was.

[Kakita Yuuwaku]

Yuuwaku's face falls slightly.

"I cannot promise none will be, Kakita-nikutai," she says. "And I am sorry about that. But there is nothing that can be done that might not offend someone. How the prancing purple pony people are perturbed that we draw breath is an example; that many burn with jealousy when we move with grace is another."

She shakes her head. "But we cannot be so afraid of offending that we do not act. And even our staying our hands can offend, as well, so it is of no use."

She smiles again, then. "But I can think that many would be flattered to have a token worn by so fine a man. Myself among them, were things other than they are. But they are as they are, and I am happy for you!"

[Kakita Masao]

Masao smiles sheepishly. "Kakita-san is too kind, but her words and friendship are most genuinely appreciated." After a breath, his confidence returns. "And you are right, those who wish to take offense will always find means to do so. I care not for their petty efforts. I should only stay myself in this regard if some harm might come to her, but who would wish to do that?" He seems to laugh off the possibility, though his eyes search Yuuwaku for validation.

[Asahina Sanaharu]

"I have found, personally, my fair share of those who try to find fault within me and lower their eyebrows on myself being too proper. For the quality of character, Masao-ue, that righteousness is. With time it can be learned to see others' exasperation when they fail to find insult, to recognize envy in others' eyes, and to rise above the fear of reprobation of those who are desperate to reprobate. Do you remember how we were treated today morning with scorn, Masao-ue, when we had all but offered our most polite greetings? Not all can reply to the Crane on the level of the Crane. This was when I had noticed it that I had found peace of mind."

He finished the piles at least. Now was just to find the best combination amongst then... He moved the piles a little. Sadane was a core subject in the academy. An artist needed to live with the feeling quickly or be overthrown by it.