(Untitled)

[mm_danii]

The wolf is in woods very different from his own, but it doesn't really bother him. It's not as if he can't find his way back by scent alone as soon as he decides to, and he doesn't have anywhere to be at the moment... and so he's here, padding about in these woods. He sees a light, though, and lights mean people and people mean interesting

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[mm_azy]

The light is the lamp that Kenshin's using to clean his sword by. He's started doing it at night, so as not to bother Kaoru-dono; she says it doesn't, but there's always something in her eyes. And the habit's stayed with him, even away from her, forever now.

He looks up sharply before the man comes into view; his senses are very keen, and he's been forcing them to become keener, more than they have been in ten years.

"Hello?" he says, pitching his voice softly, carefully.

[wellthrownstone]

"I mean no harm and am unarmed."

He lies. He's very very armed. The Orb is, in fact, a little offended on behalf of the Sword. That said, neither of them should be visible unless someone is aware of them... or very specifically looking for them.

He steps further into the light, his dress the same as Kenshin's except that he's in grey and blue.

"I'm just a traveler," he says with a smile. "I tell stories, mostly, but I also do tricks. I saw the lights and I thought I might ply my trade for a place to stay for the night."

[mm_azy]

"This one, also, is just a traveller," Kenshin replies. "This place is as open to you, if it pleases you. Although, if this one may say, it is not common to see foreigners so far from the coast."

Or to see them dressed in kimono and hakama, but this man wouldn't be the first Kenshin has seen who appeared to have 'gone native.'

[wellthrownstone]

""What is foreign to a wolf?"" he asks, realizing only a moment later that he'd spoken in the language of Wolves. This man's speech patterns were remarkably wolfish, but no doubt he had no idea what he'd said.

"My apologies," he says after a moment. "I wasn't thinking. That said, I do get around a bit. All part and parcel with the job. You don't get good stories if you play it safe."

[mm_azy]

Kenshin smiles at him. "As you say. This one cannot disagree, if it pleases you." He doesn't sense any hostility from this man, although his kenki is undeniable; to think him harmless would be incredibly stupid. He gestures at the other side of the small deck he's sitting on.

[wellthrownstone]

He bows his head in thanks before walking up and sitting down, turned somewhat towards Kenshin.

"Your speech reminds me of my grandmother. I spin a good tale nowadays, but I think she'd prefer if I had a bit of elegance to it more than anything."

[mm_azy]

Kenshin bows back.

"Your honoured grandmother speaks formally then?" he asks. His hands move automatically over the sakabatou, wiping it down, and oiling it.

[wellthrownstone]

He chuckles, just a little.

"Extremely. She's surprised more than few people who'd heard of her with how elegant and eloquent and formal her way of speaking is."

Those who'd heard she was a wolf had thought she'd be animalistic, not the elegant, poised woman who made even Polgara look like a mere girl.

[mm_azy]

"If it does not offend, there is something about her that makes one inclined to think otherwise?"

There's something about him, and Kenshin can't quite put his finger on it. Some subtle thing... He starts looking a bit closer, paying attention to the folds of his erstwhile companion's clothes, to his posture, to the way he moves when he speaks.

[wellthrownstone]

Then perhaps he notices that there almost seems to be something long and bulky attached to his back even if nothing appears to be there. As for the man himself, there's a preposession, a certain confidence, an ease with his body and mind that usually goes with a much older man whereas this one looks no older than 23 or 24. Of course Kenshin's aware that people can often be much older than they look, but it's more than that.

"She has an interesting past. And her origins were humble."

[mm_azy]

Kenshin laughs. "There are those who would say that this one's own story is not so dissimilar, in the broad strokes, if it pleases you."

He notices. And immediately starts looking for reasons why he's not noticing what else is there.

[wellthrownstone]

"Oh? Do you have a story to share with me then?"

He looks genuinely interested, and he is.

"Perhaps... accompanied by some wine or a touch of bread?"

[mm_azy]

"One prefers not to speak of one's past," Kenshin replies. "It is not... safe. ...Although if you are offerring food, this one would not refuse, if it pleases you." And he looks a bit sheepish at that.

And he's not distracted. There's something that he can almost see.

[wellthrownstone]

It's hard to say where the bread or the wine came from, but it seems almost as if he'd had a bag behind him all along and since they come from there, as normal as such items may be, they should be all right. He pulls two small cups from the same place and pours out the wine.

"Don't look unless you want to see," he says quietly with a calm little smile on his face as he pulls the bread apart and puts a piece on top of the wine cup.

[mm_azy]

Which tells him that there is, definitely something there.

The second he realises that, he sees it.

"It is too late for that, if it pleases you." Kenshin's voice is just a hair cooler than it had been, although no less polite. "If this one is not mistaken, then that is an awfully big sword for an unarmed man, if it pleases you."

His own sword, cleaned and oiled, slides back into the saya with a soft click. Unless you know better, there's nothing threatening about it; just the opposite in fact. Of course, a storyteller might know better.

[wellthrownstone]

The wine cup is pushed towards him, bread piece and all. And he acts as if nothing has changed. Perhaps he is aware of the danger, perhaps not. He seems to be ignoring it for the moment.

"It's big enough for it's job," he offers with a friendly smile. "Or what job it once had. I carry it nowadays as a companion and a means of travel as opposed to a weapon."

He looks to Kenshin, blue eyes guiless, even as the blue stone at the pommel begins to faintly glow. He looks to it, almost seeming to commune with it, before smiling and shaking his head.

"No worry. The bread is getting cold though."