<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/68/Utaku_Kotone.jpg)</div><strong>Utaku Kotone</strong>(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pDiKxEC0U2ndYLtYCctV2CTnKtkmEDs-D6mROL-DpbA/edit)<br/><br/>It was actually noting the long, flowing, splendidly thick hair of the Matsu 'girl' reading the book that started helping Kotone to relax.<em>Maybe I can brush her hair...</em><br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote"><a href="https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=234498.msg11532618#msg11532618">Quote from: Annaamarth on 10-08-2015, 08:52:07</a></div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"Well, that's another lady for the Owl, and one of the Unicorn no less.  Welcome to the waiting room- I am Koseru Maseko.  I-" She interrupted herself as she paused in thought for a moment, before continued with a reflective "I wonder whether we keep our family names? Bah."  She returned her attention to the Utaku.  "Pardon me.  As I was saying, I hope I can serve our soon-to-be-family with you, honorably and well."  The phrase sounded a little memorized.<br/><br/>For a Scorpion, she didn't seem very sinister.  Or deceitful.  Or comfortable in a formal situation.<br/></blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Her attention focused in on the scorpion when she was greeted.  The other shugenja was lovely and polite.  Her discomfort with her kimono reminded Kotone of one of her Utaku sisters—Nobuko.  It had been the poor bushi's first year at court.  She'd just undergone a growth spurt, gaining five inches in height and in the chest, giving her a gangly look and poorly fitted kimono to go with her awkwardness.<br/><br/>Kotone hesitated for a moment.  She wanted to reach out to the other girl despite her untrustworthy clan.  Kotone knew it was mostly loneliness, but she was more hesitant to let the warmth into her voice for fear of offending Noboku's place in her heart than for a clan's reputation.<br/><br/>But neither of those were any reason to be rude.  Kotone offered a soft smile to the scorpion girl and bowed politely, hands on her hips.  Her natural warmth came to the fore when she replied, “Pleased too meet you, Maseko-san.  I am—for now at least--Otaku Kotone.  It would please me to be called Kotone by one who will be my sister.”<br/><br/>The unicorn girl paused a moment, then took a stop closer to the scorpion girl, “Please excuse me,” she said softly as she fixed the scorpion girl's kimono, drawing it closed enough to show just the slightest hint of cleavage and adjusting the shoulders to be more modest.  She was careful not to acutaly make skin to skin contact, they were close enough that Maseko could feel her body heat.<br/><br/>Kotone took a step back, then nodded, “I saw a few girls wearing it about like that at winter court,” she explained, offering the girl a way to save face for a kimono she'd clearly either borrowed or recently outgrown.<br/><br/><em>More</em>