Nakahama

"I didn't," Kisha replies. "Hiniku-sensei did when she was foaled. He has a particular sense of humor. I was lucky to avoid it most of the time.

"But she's a good pony," and Kisha again pats the animal. "Travels well, and travels well. And if you're up for it, I might kick her up a little faster. You might want to hold on a little more."

"I thought you'd never ask! Use the pony nitro, I got this!" She exclaims joyfully and holds on Kisha tighter. It's so easy to entice Senshuken with speed.

"How was her other than that?"

"My older sister is my sensei. She's 21 years older and the next governor of my homeprovince. She's been tough, but undeniably caring. In her own way." She says a bit closer to her ear so that she can be heard. More of a biker's habbit than a necessity.

Kisha shivers just a little bit at the voice in her ear, the breath on it, but she does prod Dento a little harder, and the pony breaks into a trot, moving faster and less smoothly.

After a little bit of trotting, mostly so she can get a feel for how the animal is responding to riding double, Kisha kicks Dento up to a canter. She might be able to go faster with two riders, but the risk of injury is greater than Kisha will run without cause.

"Twenty-one years is a big spread," she says. "Are there siblings between you?"

"Another sister and a brother." She replies and chuckles with joy as they start going faster. "19 and 15 years older than me. I was an after thought. Or an accident. Who knows."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"If you're an accident, you're a happy one," Kisha says as they canter along.

"No siblings," she says. "I haven't really asked why. As far as I know, both of my parents are healthy. I do know I'm a product of their wedding night, or very close to it. They've only been married nineteen years, and I'm eighteen, so..."

Despite being only at a canter, Dento decides to jump over something.

"Hey!"

"Oh! She's rowdy, I like her!"

"Are they happy with each other? In love and such?"

"Oh, now Dento will show off!" Kisha replies, and, true to her word, the pony does, jumping several more times in succession, treating ruts in the road like ravines with raging rivers filling them.

Amid the cavorting, Kisha says "I don't really know if they are. They've always been really very proper around me. Lots about how a young lady should comport herself. It's part of why I can hunt and shoot a little."

"Hunt and shoot or... hunt and shoot?" She asks between bumps.

"It's never late to do the things that you want to do. That's why we go through our gempuku. To be our own people. Our duty to our parents cannot define our whole life."

"I'm not sure what you mean," Kisha replies, "with the difference there."

The road curves sharply, and Kisha guides Dento through the turn, leaning in the saddle to do so. The pony does not slow, not yet, showing off as the shisha said she would.

"But even as me, I have to answer to those above me," she adds. "Especially with the freedoms I do have."

"Oh I like her!" She exclaims regarding the pony and her spirited attitude before leaning a bit closer to continue the conversation.

"Do those above you ask you why you sleep? Why you eat or drink water? Following your heart sometimes is the same. A need not a want. Samurai need breaks of relaxation or their ability to perform their duties will get compromised."

"I--"

Kisha reins Dento in, dust curling into the air around the pony's hooves.

"I mean, I relax," she manages to get out, if with some difficulty and not entirely convincingly. "I dance, I drink, and more than water. Smoke occasionally."

All of which is true, of course, and Senshuken's seen at least some of it happen.

"So you're happy. Without hunting." She whispers to her and pulls back now that the pony slows down.

"Why don't we try a bit of shooting?" She asks and taps her side arm. "For practice. Be warned that I am an awful shooter though."

"I haven't been on...that kind of a hunt before," Kisha says. "I don't know what I'd do, honestly.

"But, yeah, we can shoot," she adds. "I do okay, sometimes."

She straightens in the saddle. "What's a good target? Maybe one of those pheasants managed to make it out...ooh!"

The shisha points, and, sure enough, there's a golden pheasant, looking a little worse for wear, visible in the fields.

"Go for it, Bayushi-san!"

~~~~~
Fluff Hunting / Perception roll 16, https://sakkaku.org/r/21344

Senshu hesitates for a moment. She takes her sidearm out of the holster and aims, but then she lowers it again.

"It hasn't wronged me in any way. I was thinking that we could shoot at cans." A sigh. "I don't want to kill a random bird, sorry. I'm not that kind of a hunter, I fear."

"Oh!" Kisha says. "Well, that's alright, then! Although pheasant and leek does make for an excellent meal."

The Miya shrugs and looks around for another likely target. "Well, if it's cans, looks like somebody had some beer beside the road up ahead," she says, pointing to where, sure enough, some yokel has hucked an empty Kinseka out of his truck window or somesuch thing.

"When I was on Anadan," she says, "I noted that some of the locals would prop up stuffed wildlife with cans in their hands. Seemed to be something of an inside joke, really."

"I'm sorry for the disappointment." She places her sidearm back in the holster. "Ughhhh. So uncool of me." She speaks again but it's mostly intended towards her own self.

The inside joke isn't something she really gets. Perhaps it's her frustration or a random thought that prevents it. (It's definitely my English truth be told!)

"Have you ever shot a person?" She asks after a couple of moments in silence.

"It's not a disappointment," Kisha says. "I know it's not for everybody."

The shisha shifts in the saddle to do something closer to facing Senshuken.

"I mean it, Bayushi-san. It's okay.

"But, to answer your question, once. It was actually on the homeworld. Someone tried to rob me, and I defended myself. Had nightmares for weeks."

She shrugs.

"Why do you ask?"

"Oh dear!" She exclaims and smirks. What an amateur of a thief! She could be way better in such an endeavor despite not doing it professionally.

She leans a tiny bit closer, all her instincts calling out for a test of that theory. "That must have been quite the experience." She whispers to her ear. For the first time in this ride, it's not a random action, but one fully intentional and purposeful.

"But you did so well. You were such a... good girl." With those last words whispered, she lets her warm breath dance on Kisha's neck and ear. Right at this moment her hand slides to her pouch and gently removes it. A soft chuckle follows and another breath explores its power of distraction. Then she returns to her former position.

D10, MM, temptation (seduction)/Awa, plus Bayushi courtier tech 1 | 7k4 ⇒ 35 plus 5 for every 3 points of mental or social disadvantages

D10, MM, sleight of hand/agility, crafty | 5k4 ⇒ 33

Kisha shivers again at Senshuken's words in her ear, her breath on her skin, and her back begins to arch at the brush of the Scorpion's hand against her clothes. Goosebumps spread across the Miya's body, and her eyes close as she draws in and holds her breath, biting her lip ever so slightly.

~~~~~
Roll to resist Temptation failed at 18, https://sakkaku.org/r/21472
Looked at RAW and my sheet...not beating the Sleight of Hand roll w/o Void, and I'm not going to metagame enough to Void this

The way they sit on the pony's back doesn't allow Senshu to see much of the other woman's reaction. What she does feel is that sweet, distinctive twitch produced by her shivering body. Hmmm.... What do we have here

She doesn't lean forward. Only tilts her head closer. "What do you want to do? Right at this moment. Anything." She asks softly.