>>5837463Sumika stepped aside and gestured you within. The interior of the home has clearly been modified for the tall eastern woman, for it has a strong eastern aesthetic. Past the vestibule that's four steps down from the front door, you can see a set of samurai armor and several swords on the far side of a large padded floor room. She let you get a closer look at them as she got dressed in something more befitting to physical activity than a casual sundress. Some shirt-like robe and pants made of the same material.
“In my home village, I fought the oni that came from the mountains, and in Akihabara, I fought criminals,” Sumika began, walking over to a rack of wooden weapons of various sorts. She set down the real blade she answered the door with and grabbed a wooden version of it. Among the rack were various training stand-ins of approved Stormwatch weapons, a non-pneumatic wooden axe included. “There were so many criminals... not just illegals. Documented, rights-bearing men and women driven by greed and savage satisfaction derived from violence and vice. They wanted power. I showed them it. I was... <span class="mu-i">exported,</span> for my <span class="mu-i">'safety,'</span> after I cut down an heir.” Her voice dripped with venom at those words, though you're not quite sure who it was directed at.
A bit of a tangent. “Sounds like they deserved what you gave them,” you say. Nonoka goes to produce some fancy wire masks from a closet. You've seen maybe a picture of these used in eastern sword training sessions. She hands you one.
Sumika tightens belt of her wooden nagamaki's scabbard. “Tell me, Fiona. What are you supposed to do if they only understand the language of the sword?”
You fit your helmet on and your get a feel for the training axe. You ignore the rhetorical question, and get your body physically ready to see what insights she has to offer you.
