only one person please ^^ 300+

The day was crisp and cool, and Tsukiko wrapped her kimono tightly around her to keep herself warm. It was fall, but winter would not be coming far behind; she could smell it in the air. The Japanese girl wondered if it snowed here. As she walked out of Wolfville she tried to imagine the lands around her covered in the light pale powder. Even though she was not entirely built to withstand cold well, she had always loved snow. She remembered playing in it as a child while her parents watched, smiles on their faces. The images of those memories flashed through her mind and her hand grasped onto her kimono tighter. Tsukiko missed her parents so much. Not even the time and all this distance helped to ease the ache much. What would they think of what she had decided to do? Even though she knew that they would not have approved of how her uncle had conducted things in regards to her, she couldn't help but wonder if they would frown on her choice. Had there been another path though? If there were, she could not see it. The Shimazu daughter was not experienced enough in the world to know everything though. But Setsuna, she had agreed to this plan. The feline would not have allowed her to go down a bad path. She would never let her go astray.

A sigh was released into the air, nearly invisible vapors leaving her delicate muzzle. This was the first she had really explored the rest of Dahlia de Mai any, especially without some sort of escort. Layla had shown her things when she had brought her here, and she had explored Wolfville with Setsuna, but she was alone now. Her friend had been napping and she hadn't wished to disturb her. Plus, the noble female needed some time to herself. Usually she didn't seek out solitude, having tasted enough of it ever since her parent's death. It was nice to be alone for a little while in the autumn air though. Alone with her thoughts. Sapphire eyes looked out over the land. It looked like some sort of farms had been here once, but things were terribly overgrown. There had been many farms on the Shimazu lands, and even in their dilapidated state this area reminded her ever so slightly as home. What had they grown here, she wondered? Did the wolves here ever try to utilize the land? Tsukiko walked deeper into the area, trying to decipher the answers to her questions.

Yay! Thanks for taking this Kris ! 300+

Somehow, looking out at these neglected farm lands caused some kind of flip to switch within the Japanese woman's mind. Within her mind she trimmed all of the overgrown plants, repaired the unused buildings and could imagine people out working in the fields. While these lands would not be suitable for rice, it was rice paddies that she envisioned before her. Tsukiko was no farmer, but she was a leader, and given the people to do the work she could make good use of these lands, at the very least more use than they were right now. As quickly as it had come the vision faded. This was not Japan. Her clan held no lands. Her name meant nothing here. Conor was Dahlia de Mai's leader, not her. He may have given her a home here, but she was suddenly struck with the crippling knowledge that she was nothing here. Just another subordinate. She was no princess anymore, but a pauper. A nobody. Her shoulders sank along with her spirits. How was she supposed to retain and build up her ability to be a leader when she had come to a place where she was inconsequential? Perhaps this had been a terrible mistake.

Her self deprecating musings were cut short by the appearance of another female and her eyes became more alert again. Tsukiko looked at the other femme, younger than her, though not by too terribly much. As with all the other wolves she had met here, she wore no clothes. At first this detail had been overlooked, but now that she was becoming ever so slightly more adapted to this place it seemed to jump out at her as some gross social offense. How could everyone here just walk around with nothing to conceal their bodies? It seemed the height of immodesty to the Shimazu, but this was not Japan, and there was so little that was the same here in the new world. The monotoned female with the crimson eyes introduced herself and bowed her head, and Tsukiko returned the gesture. "Hello Nayru-san, I am Tsukiko Shimazu," she said politely. Something about this girl seemed slightly different than anyone else she had met here so far, but she could not place a finger on exactly what that was.

^^ 300+

Tsukiko knew that no one around here would understand the meaning of the Japanese honorifics that were commonplace to her. She had thought about trying to stop using them, but they were simple habit to her. It had been difficult enough to come to grips with the fact that given names and not surnames were the ones that people in this hemisphere used to introduce and refer to themselves. Even if it pointed her out as more of an outsider and the canines here did not understand the meaning, she would not give up that part of where she was from. The Shimazu daughter had given up so much of her culture already that she was unwilling to part with the small few things that she could still hold. Plus no one here seemed bothered by her way of addressing them, even if they did not understand it.

Nayru's diction was superb, and Tsukiko thought she had discovered at least part of what it was that set this girl apart from the others that she had met: she acted and spoke with more polite reserve. Nayru seemed more like someone that she could easily meet in Japan (aside from her lack of clothing) than anyone else that she had met since coming here. Her culture was not a particularly emotive or open one, while this one seemed much more the opposite. So while some may have not felt as welcomed by the two toned female, Tsukiko actually felt much more comfortable speaking to her. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Nayru-san," she said, a soft smile of her own forming on her lips. "It is nice here. Very different than what I am accustomed to, but it is not unpleasant." Her own personal home was small instead of large, and the way packs were structured here was drastically different than the provinces of Japan were. Still, Tsukiko could find no outright faults to complain of. "Yes, I did. Over an ocean and around this continent." There were not many places that were quite so far from her home as this land.

My turn to apologize! Sorry DX

Nayru's expressions were subtle, as well as her mannerisms. Much like herself, in that regard. Tsukiko had to admit that she was quite intrigued with the younger female coloring. She did not think she had ever seen someone who was marked in such a way. Layla had been similar, but her patterns were more clean cut and expected. Nayru looked as if someone had thrown splotches of ink upon her ivory coat. Thinking that reminded her of some of the stories and legends she had been told as a child. Inexplicably, being around this woman made her feel as if she were not quite so horribly far from home.

Surely there were countless questions that the ink-marked fey could think to ask her, and yet the question she did ask was restrained and polite. Tsukiko did not hesitate to answer the kind query at all. "Well, for one instance, all this land would likely be put to agricultural use," she said, her blue eyes sweeping over the field. "It is not nearly so populated here. I had never seen so much open and unused land before I came here. In Japan where there are not farms, there are houses and larger buildings. Marketplaces and noble estates. Even the land not for any practical use is well groomed and decorated." One of her favorite places on her parents' estate had been the gardens with the koi ponds and stone-lined paths. "People are more open and relaxed here. Perhaps some in Japan are that way, but I belong to a noble family and we were not that way." Everything was strict. There were appearances to put forward and social rules to follow in exactitude.

SoSuWriMo 375

If she had known of Nayru's inability to picture what she described, she could not have blamed the female for it. Before she had left her home she doubted that it would have been easy to picture anything so drastically different from what she had always known. Sometimes she had overheard the samurai speak of great battles on farther corners of the large island and often she would picture those battles taking place around the estate. Those thoughts had scared her as a girl, but the Shimazu lands thankfully knew only peace with minor disturbances, nearly all of which were kept from her young ears. Her father had wanted to prepare her for the life of a leader, but he kept some of the more unpleasant truths away from his young daughter. Eventually he would have told her, but he had never had the chance.

Tsukiko would be lying if she said she did not find this place uncivilized. Compared to Japan it was horrible unsophisticated. Thankfully the Shimazu woman had the good grace and manners to never make these views explicitly known. No matter the shortcomings that she found, Conor and Dahlia de Mai as a whole had given her a place to stay in her exile and she could be nothing but thankful for that. Tsukiko may have lead the sheltered life of a noble up to this point, but she was not so naive as to think that she could survive on her own. She simply did not have the skills to "rough it". This was no shortcoming in her mind, it was simply knowledge that was not necessary for her hold.

Nayru's question did not startle her. As far as she could tell, lineage was not taken very seriously here. In Japan you introduced yourself with your family name first, and then your given name. Here it was the opposite. "You are either born into a noble family or you are not." It really was just that simple. "Most of the noble families have held power for generations. As far as anyone alive can remember, it has always been as it is." Tsukiko knew the story of her own family's rise to power, but it was not something to be shared.

SoSuWriMo 392

Tsukiko could not say that she was particularly offended by the way the social hierarchy was arranged in these lands. It was odd to her true, but she did not see it as wrong either. Perhaps it was because no matter what, she knew she would be at the bottom of the social ladder here. As soon as her feet had left Japanese soil any power and influence she had had was left behind on those shores. During the weeks of her voyage across the ocean she had mentally and emotionally steeled herself for the fact that no one would know the Shimazu family where she was going and that she would have no advantages. In these vast, unpopulated lands, she was just another wolf. Different from the others, but no more important.

What advantages did the nobles have over the commoners? Well, they were vast, but at the same time her father had made sure that she did not look down on the common people. It was not okay for her, as a noble, to partake in many of the things that they did, but that they were not bad or worthless people. Everyone filled the place that they were meant to fill and there was no shame in that. "The noble families are the ones that lead. We oversee the lands and keep the peace. The common people do all the menial tasks and labor, such as farming and crafting and building." It was a bit of an oversimplification, but it was true. Plus there was the ability to climb higher socially if one were to prove their worth to the noble families. The only thing a commoner could not do was become an actual noble.

The next question from the monotoned female was easier to answer. "We do not really have packs in Japan." This way of organizing a group was as foreign to the moonlit woman as the soil she stood upon. "Japan is divided into provinces, very large pieces of land. Each noble family is in control of a province and the citizens that live within their jurisdiction." Provinces were much larger than packs. Here, it would in theory be easy to know each individual that you shared membership with. In Japan, it would be nearly impossible to know each individual soul who lived in the province.