shoyuumono:
What escapes as an initial response is a soft hum of thought, and Souza’s gaze flickers over her before shifting away again.
“Without them around… what about it worries you?” He pauses, briefly, before continuing, “Nothing about me will change, whether they are present or not. No matter where I am… I am still the caged bird I’ve always been.”
But then, he’s silent–for a longer moment this time, as if he’s considering more his response to the question than anything else prior. Does this suit him? What does suit him?
“…I suppose I can’t say it doesn’t,” the uchi finally speaks again, although slowly, as if he’s still mulling over his choice of words, “At the least, I have been more useful to you than any of the others past, haven’t I…?”
Than his former masters, though he feels his meaning is clear without such specifications.
Reticent as ever-- all three of the Samonji are so, in their own ways, though each a disparate sort of silent that she has to adjust to, when going between them. Souza is easily the most difficult of them, though he has his reasons; Ryuubi nevertheless tries her best, if only because she would not forgive herself if she gave less than her all. “Even a bird in a cage fares better with the companionship of those it sees as its own, no? Though that you still use such a comparison-- have I been so ill-fitting a commander, then?”
Though she reminds herself always (and them less frequently) that they are her soldiers before they are anything else, Ryuubi would like to think she is better than treating them all simply as property. Though she can be admittedly harsh, she has always thought she has given her blades plentiful opportunity to do as they wish-- to make of themselves what they will to be happy, for whatever time they serve her. “That you have been,” she agrees, tilting her head, a faint trace of consideration crossing her features. “Though I will admit, I will never understand the point of keeping swords as simple trophies. Not allowing a tool to fulfill the purpose for which it was formed, if you will pardon the analogy, seems like an utter waste.”
