Early in the morning, Ko rose just before the others today and lift as they were beginning to stir. A borrowed basket at her side to carry some of her things more easily. Walking the morning paths and passing strangers by in that calm part of the day where many simply go about their lives. Ko's ultimate destination being the Hot Springs. Popular as they would surely be with the rising sun she manages to find herself a place early along the outer edge of the hot springs themselves. Setting down her things, and even removing her outer winter-robe for just the shorter one underneath to give her hands space to move and work.

Leaning down toward the water she works slowly and patiently, working with scooped handfuls of water from the springs and what other things she brought with her to clean her face thoroughly. Looking down into the water, gauging her work in her reflection by this undisturbed section of the pools. Satisfied, she smiles. Pulling the basket to her side she looks within to dig through her things when something catches her eye...

[Expecting!]

It seemed she was not the only one to look to the morning hours to cleanse themselves in the hot springs. A slender figure had entered not too far behind her. It was clear even with their bulkier winter wear that they were a rather small person.

they noticed the other there and bowed their voice somewhat thin but vaguely masculine "O-oh good morning...." He cleared his throat "This one is Yuzuru Hiroya....I see I am not the only one looking to use the spring early this morning."

Ko regards him for a moment. Almost doing so for long enough that one could suspect they were being stared at, but just as that feeling was setting in she said, "Hello," with a semi-distance to her voice like she was uncertain.

Normally, her face was adorned with the markings of green paint but not yet. A furrowing brow, she pauses, glancing to either side of herself. Finding no one she looks back to him, "I like to rise early," she says reflexively as if asked a question, a smile which grows slowly, falls slowly, but is altogether brief.

A brief pause, a moment to blink. Realization dawns. Placing her hand on her chest, "Wu Ko... and, no. You are not. I like to rise early," but she said that already, "it is nice when it is calm," she says, that brief smile again.

he returns her brief smile with one that is shy and small. He averts himself as he disrobes, his body as slender as the small frame promised. He sank into the warm waters with a small sigh. The warmth added a flush to his pale cheeks as he regarded Ko "Well, I hope to not disturb your peace too much Wu-sama." he said dipping his head a little

Ko's eyes do not avert even as he begins to disrobe. Only when it becomes awkwardly far into the disrobing does she actually realize, it seems, what he is doing and she quickly looks away. Focusing on the basket to her side she patiently continues looking through her things. Pulling out first a mat that she sets down upon the rock next to the larger one she is sitting on. "You will not," she adds, sheepishly, a minute after he had spoken and perhaps even when his head had resurfaced.

"Unless you try to. Maybe then," she adds sheepishly as well, and shakes her head. Reaching in and taking another cloth bundle and laying that down atop the first. Unfurling it she reveals a few small sealed containers, a small wooden pallet, a brush and a small bowl. With some internal system she begins setting each of these out precisely in the places she likes it. Looking up toward him with a regarding of his face but maybe looking a little too high as to call attention to her avoidance of potentially peering through the water. "Who is Yuzuru Hiroya?"

The long pause built tension in the young imperial who fidgeted slightly but seemed to relax a bit as she answered in a positive way at her..joke? he wasnt sure but a weak chuckle came out "Well I don't plan to try." he said simply.

He watched with some curiosity as she laid out and small containers, wrapped so into the apparent almost ceremony of it all he was a little starlted when she she looked to him. If he was worried about his, or her, sense of propriety it didn't seem like he showed it. When she asked her question he blinked a few times "u-uh..welll, I-I am." he said somewhat haltingly seemingly unsure of what she means.

Furrowing her brow she looks at him more directly when he answers. Tilting her head a little the realization dawns first in the brow, relaxing, and then she straightens. A brief smile she brings her hand up to her chest, "Wu Ko makes exchange's with spirits. Wu ko also attends Togashi Satsuki's side. I am Wu Ko," she says, a brief smile, and then directs her hand out toward him with an expectant look. "Who is Yuzuru Hiroya?" she says, but her brow furrows as she reconsiders.

Looking down for a moment she returns with a smile, "Who is Yuzuru Hiroya in the eyes of others?" she rewords.

his eyes widen a bit with understanding "O-oh." he stammers a bit as he mirrors his hand to his chest as she did "Yuzuru Hiroya studies history, Yuzuru Hiroya records event uhhh.." he stutters as he tries to think "Yuzuru Hiroya paints? I suppose albeit not very well." he chuckles a little awkwardly.

Ko chuckles as he matches her, finger tips of her once outstretched hand resting on her chin just below her bottom lip. With a nod she lets the hand down to reveal a warm smile taking the chuckles place as he continues, and then chuckles himself. Furrowing her brow a little she regards him, "Is it important that you do not paint well?" she posits, focusing on him rather than the task she had set before herself.

Hiroya smiles a little halfheartedly rubbing the back of his neck a little "Uh, well, no. I guess not since I just do it in spare time. Just..didn't want you to think I was an artist or anything. I'm mostly a chronicler, the study and painting are just well fun things."

Even though his was only half-hearted, when he smiled she smiles. A small tilt to her head in the question, "You said you paint. Not that you were an artist," the smile comes back up a moment, "I would not think something you did not say," a small nod, that she seems to grant as a means of reassurance.

Returning her focus to the things in front of her, she removes the tops from some of the small containers. Within are a few different substances that she removes only a slight amount of from their respective containers and add to the bowl. Brow furrowing as she adds the last of these ingredients for their uncertain purpose, grabbing a pestle and the bowl with the mixed ingredients to hand. "Does it matter if it is only for fun?" she queries, glancing to Hiroya. Focusing back onto her task, using the pestle to crush some but ultimately mix the ingredients together.

"I do not think so. If you paint, you are a painter. Even if only for fun. Even if your art is not as good as others," she pauses, mixing the ingredients. "Is a scholar any less a scholar if it takes them more time to learn?" she posits, looking up to him with a slight furrow to her brow as her hands continue to work the material, which slowly turns to a liquidy-paste like substance with a vibrant green color.

He again watches the process with great interest turning in the spring so his arms rest on the edge with his chest against the edge of the spring. He watched her add the different ingredients nodding along with her points about being a painter.

He slightly shook his head breaking from the reverie "uh, well, I guess not. It just uhm feels weird saying I'm a painter when there are people that do it for a living. Like uh like if someone who went to a library a few times compared themselves to someone who was a scholar by trade. One dedicated their lives to it the other just sort of casually engaged with it. Maybe? Maybe the distinction doesn't matter." He finished, a little uncertain.

Ko looks to him with a warm smile, "Are you someone who enjoys nature?" she asks, there's a glint in her eye in the moment she does.

Looking back to her task, as the liquid-paste comes into form in the bowl before her she rubs the edge of the pestle off inside the bowl. Cleaning it fairly well but some still remaining around the business end. Setting the pestle down to the side, and then the bowl in the middle, she seeks the brush next. With a careful hand she fills the brush with the substance. Holding it in her off hand, satisfied by the amount on the brush, she scooches a bit closer toward the water and in the process Hiroya as well.

"Um. It can be pretty." He replies looking at Ko as she continues messing with the bright green substance "I don't often like go out in it but I enjoy seeing it. I usually enjoy books and reading more."

As she leaned in closer he examined her face and the brush she held with rapt attention.

Glancing to him briefly, regarding him for a moment, "If you decided you liked it, and claimed yourself a man of the woods," she smiles briefly" I would not hold it against you," she chuckles, shaking her head a little. Leaning over the water she finds her reflection in the renewed stillness of it, leaning her chin up to get a better view of her neck.

"I do not think a scholar who would claim you not a scholar only by your years of studying being far lesser than their own is much of a scholar," she says, taking the brush and placing it against her neck. With a careful hand and precise movements she draws one designed line up along her neck, around her chin to her jaw. Bringing her head back down she matches the first stroke and with a slight curve to the pattern brings the line up from her jaw and over her cheek passing just up to the height of her lips and then diminishing with a slow pull away that leaves a slightly thinner trail.

"I do not think an artist is a worthy artist if they were to claim you as not an artist because you only painted few paintings, and they were not as beautiful as their own," she says, focusing on the line in the water. Finding points where she can touch up on it to make it as smooth as possible to the eye. "I like books," she comments idly, after fixing a line, pausing for the moment.

Hiroya is mildly fascinated by the process as she painted the designs on her face. He was likely only half listening as she spoke as he paid more attention to what she was doing. Unconsciously he leaned closer to her getting a closer look in his fascination.

Her last line caught him and her turned looking from the lines to her eyes "Oh do they have many books in Dragon lands?" He asked somewhat excitedly. "We don't have many here, we are slowly making them for the Imperial libraries but we still mostly have scrolls and the like but books are easier to store for the library."

Ko looks down to the water for a moment, not at her own reflection as she considers something. Raising her brow she turns her gaze onto him, the closeness creating a brief smile as she reads the interest- in what she says at least. "Some. I am close?" she hesitates, uncertain. A small shake of her head she commits, "I am close with Togashi Saruko, but closest with her daughter, Togashi Satsuki. I am allowed to the ones that have been gathered. It may not be-" she furrows her brow, searching for the right word- "representative?-" a nod- "It may not be representative of what the lands the Dragon clan claim to have hold."

"But I have read all I can from scrolls and books once I was able. I needed to. Society has moved," she sighs, a rise and fall of her shoulders, "quickly since the time I was little," she looks back to him with a brief smile before turning attention back to her task. Raising the brush and focusing on her reflection for the second line.

he became slightly aware of their proximity and had been about to back away when he saw her smile and figured it was ok, he did however seem to flush a shade slightly deeper. "I have read of Togashi Saruko a little here and there in the libraries. As the wife of a Kami she is mentioned often in the histories of their arrival and years following. Her daughter however I know in name only."

as she went back to reapplying he continued to watch for awhile "So what, are the markings, for?" he asked slowly.

"They are symbolic. My mentor wears these and so do I," she says, pausing in speech monetarily for her to get the brush along her neck without disturbing the line too much. Completely the full length of it before she spoke again. Looking into the water to search out those spots where it was not quite neat.

"I taught myself first. Watching him paint them on each morning. I believe they have purpose. I do not know if he chose these or another did, but I like them. They remind me of him. Of his lessons," she focuses in on fixing the left side of the fresh line. Looking up to him with a brief smile as she holds the brush just an inch away from her face. With a brief smile, "Does this make me a painter too?" she asks, a small turn of her smile and teasing raise in her voices tone.

Hiroya swallowed as she looked at him with that smile and teasing tone "It, uh, it certainly makes you something. A-a painter sure." He replies with a very-"-beautiful canvas." He mumbles the last part of a thought out loud. And then clears his throat praying to whatever Fortune would listen that Ko did not hear.

"Uhm well what sort of lessons did your mentor teach?" He asked in hopes of shifting focus away from what may or may not have been said.