Challenging Falls (Open)

[Amakusa Takehiro]

Takehiro shrugged again. Maybe it was that kind of loyalty that some people needed. If every soldier under a daimyo wanted to lead that daimyo's forces, there would be no grunts, no one to actually go out and fight the battles, perform the menial tasks.

"I would not be so sure. Perhaps my lack of a lord for so long has made me too ambitious. There are several sides to any dream, you must understand. Though, I'm sure you do. Perhaps it is your work with the Takeda that you were meant to do. Sure, it may sound trivial, but what would happen if the messages for back-up were never delivered? An entire force would be wiped out overnight."

Maybe he sounded like he was getting overly philosophical, but it was true, wasn't it?

[Yamabara Shou]

Or a family killed in the night. Shou knew what failure to deliver a message could mean, all too well, but it wasn't something he felt like sharing with the other man. Amakusa seemed like a nice guy, but Shou didn't know him well enough to articulate just how much he knew his work could be important and why. 

"Like a katana, one blunt, 2 flat and one razor sharp." Shou said instead commenting on Amakusa mention on the nature of dreams. It was a shoddy analogy but it was mostly meant as form of deflection. Something to say and break himself from being silent, and keep his mind off the rest of what the other man had said.  "But yes, I get what you mean?" Shou added after a short break of silence. 

[Amakusa Takehiro]

"No job has ever been unimportant."

Not even that of the mercenary. It was because of men like Takehiro that those who did not want to fight didn't have to. That was something he reminded himself of daily, and it always served to help him out of rough spots whenever he was in them. They weren't exactly often, but they did come for him. Hell, they came for everyone, now and again.

"I don't mean to get all philosophical on you. Times like this just make me think. It's not often I get to relax and take in the beauty of this land."

[Yamabara Shou]

There had to be some job that was unimportant, but Shou couldn't think of one so he let the comment pass uncontested. And there was nothing wrong with being philosophical, but he understood the man's sentiment. "I take every oppotinuty I can to do so, with in reason. As a reminder there is peace out here, even if sometime I don't think so." Shou told Amakusa, shaking his head at himself. "It's that or otherwise going insane from the strain of it all." He explained, as he got up from the ground and stretched his arms, and back. 

"I don't see a day, were this piece of peace. The rivers and the mountains. I don't see how they could be taken away." He said looking out into the distance, at the other mountains the spotted the lands. Knowing that on them were other rivers that feed fields and crops. And while that were slowly being settled by more and more towns, the rivers and the mountain itself would last, even if over the years they changed. "Now who's being philosophical." He asked himself rhetorically laughing at himself. 

[Amakusa Takehiro]

Takehiro cocked a brow, intentionally going with a literal response to the philosophical statement. "It would take quite a man to make the rivers run dry, and level the mountains." Maybe there was a bit of a metaphor in there as well, though it would be made unintentionally. He found it hard to believe anyone's true goal was to steal the beauty from the land and ruin its life-blood. Such a person was likely to harm themselves in the process, assuming they could even exist.

"You know, friend, you seem to have a pretty good head on your shoulders. Most people I meet seem to be pretty naive, or just plain bitter about the world."

[Yamabara Shou]

Shou imagined what a man capable of levelling mountains would look like. It wasn't really a pleasant image either, but if someone like that actually existed they could easily intimidate the land to piece, how much good would a army be verses a man like that. But shook the image away and nod at Amakusa in thanks at the compliment.

"Well I am bitter to be honest, if you hadn't noticed. I just don't let it stop me from doing what must be done." 'or at least what I think need to be done.' He added mentally to himself. "Thank you though. Likewise, it's nice to meet someone who I can just sit and talk with. Only met a few in my travels." Shou continued returning the compliment back towards Amakusa.

[Amakusa Takehiro]

"Some level of bitterness is understandable, of course. Look at the world we live in." The mercenary smiled, flourishing his arm for visual effect. Then he would shrug, arms falling to his lap. "But I like to think there can still be good found somewhere. Anywhere. Not everyone is a monster, of course."

From his own personal experience, people were mostly bad, himself included. Though, he'd been learning how to change that. Killing people really got to you, even if you did it to protect yourself.

[Yamabara Shou]

It was true, not everyone was a monster. A world in which they were, was not one Shou would want to live in. “Anyway, it’s been a pleasure talking. But I should be thinking about heading to the city.” Shou said standing up, from the ground pulling his bag up with him.

“I don’t suppose you know of another route down from here, or am I going back down the way I got here?” Shou asked with a laugh, as put the bag back over his shoulder in preparation for if Amakusa told him he didn't know of a other route. Either way Amakusa answered, Shou would return a slightly recpectful bow, and nod of the head.