(D2 LE) (Shuttered) Window Shopping (expecting)

[Asahina Hoshiko]

As expected, court had become busy almost immediately and Hoshiko had found barely a spare moment that wasn't set for court, or court entertainment, or planned meetings. At this point, she didn't expect anything in the market to be open, but hoped to fix the locations of places she would need to visit through the winter in place. Most would have signs or other indication of their wares, even when closed up for the night...she hoped!

Her heavy cloak was wrapped tightly around her against the chill of evening, a dark haymound shape with her short white hair above in the moonlight could have been mistaken for one of the lumpy ghosts of the theater if it weren't for her very obvious sandaled feet clattering on cobblestones.

She paused outside "Sasuke's Finest Paper" to take note of anything that would help her find it again on a busy market day.

[Kuni Shiori]

It seemed that Shiori had the same idea of venturing out in the evening long after the stores were closed for the night. However, it wasn't something she was unused to. The stores in the hamlet under her House's protectorate were often closed long before the sun had begun to set and sometimes Shiori would volunteer for patrols around town. There weren't many things that would typically lurk around willingly at night. Sometimes a drunkard who couldn't find their way home, a loose mujina, or worse. The evening brought some interesting mysteries sometimes.

Shiori didn't move quite as stealthily as she imagined herself with her sandals moving with some friction on the cobblestones. She would approach the other woman as she eyed the store sign. It was the only evidence they could gather in lieu of glass windows.

"I don't think Sasuke would have anticipated seeing customers this late in the evening. However, it seems that this store had already been shuttered in the afternoon when I passed by. Perhaps, those are his normal hours or there might have been an unexpected emergency."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She startles at the voice, having expected the footsteps to walk on by, but recovers quickly and turns to see who's speaking. Well, the face-paint means she can make a good guess at a proper address. "Good evening Kuni-sama," she says with a polite bow, adding a quick introduction, "Asahina Hoshiko of the Yamada, priestess of the Crane."

Glancing back at the shop, she frowns. "Hmm...I'd hate to get time to come during the day and find them still shuttered. Did you happen to notice other paper shops when you were passing through?"

[Kuni Shiori]

She startles at the voice, having expected the footsteps to walk on by, but recovers quickly and turns to see who's speaking. Well, the face-paint means she can make a good guess at a proper address. "Good evening Kuni-sama," she says with a polite bow, adding a quick introduction, "Asahina Hoshiko of the Yamada, priestess of the Crane."

Glancing back at the shop, she frowns. "Hmm...I'd hate to get time to come during the day and find them still shuttered. Did you happen to notice other paper shops when you were passing through?"

Getting a sense that she might have been probably just as stealthy as she wanted to be, she dipped in a bow as both an apology and her introduction. "My apologies for the abrupt comment and good evening to you as well, hopefully. I'm Kuni Shiori of House Kuroyama. A shugenja, as well."

She supposed a shugenja of the Crab and one from the Crane were very functionally different from each other, despite similar skills, but the formal title was still valid when it came to introductions.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen any other shops myself," she spoke softly with her response. "That doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I was looking for them to notice them. This one just stuck out when it closed earlier than the rest. At first, I had gotten the impression that they weren't receiving enough customers to cater to them but it seemed likely this wasn't an everyday occurrence. As evidence now, there are demands for paper regardless of the hour, especially during winter court. I hope this wasn't an emergency, Asahina-san?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She shakes her head. "Ah no...more that I had a free bit of time and thought to come look for shops I'd likely want to visit before court has run its course. I've paper enough brought with me to start. But halfway across the Empire from home, and along the great river? I did plan to do some paper shopping to see what I might find here that doesn't make its way down our coastline. Different dyes and styles maybe."

A pale hand, a bit smaller than seems to fit her size somehow, points to the sign with its rough-carved kanji. "I'd figured enough of the signs out would give a hint of what all these closed shops were." She shrugs. "Ah well, I've spotted a bookseller I might come back to as well, and hopefully they're not closed later as well. Or out of business. Or... well, for all I know the court bought everything they had and they're spending the winter reading by the fire now." Hoshiko has zero idea how shops work, so that seems sensible. Like a farmer after their harvest is gathered, settling to rest through the cold season.

"What were you coming through the market to see, Kuni-sama? Or just passing on through?"

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori offered Hoshiko a small smile regarding her situation, putting her hands together either for warmth or merely just adopting a posture. "That's a relief to hear, Asahina-san. However, it would have made for an interesting night if that weren't the case. Of course, nothing can be done with the stores here, likely you would have to rummage and scour for the materials with the other delegations at this late hour. Not the sort of interesting you would want, surely."

"Speaking of scouring the Kyuden and the guests, I'm sure that even if the books aren't available here or there was an uncharacteristic shortage, you could consider trading texts with locals and the other. The roads to here are long and some of us had to traverse through our share of mountains to get here. Anyone without at least one book seems unlikely, unless they have some very active imagination or have enough stories themselves to tell. Something you could consider," she offered another smile at that.

"That said, we might have caught the stores here at an inopportune time and we're not giving them the proper chance to speak for themselves," she said as her gaze drifted to the street and the multitude of shuttered windows. "I was just passing by myself. Earlier, I was trying to get an idea of the locals outside of the confines of the courts and the kyuden. It would perhaps be more fruitful to speak to a Lion but I gathered it wouldn't be quite the same as merely watching them tend to patrols and errands."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"Oh! That's a good idea honestly. I'd love to trade books! With the library right there, I kept my luggage allowance for entertaining books, rather than research, so I can easily trade them away when done. Are you a reader, Kuni-sama?" Surely she must be, to think of that sort of thing.

She begins to kind of slowly continue down the street in that way that people do when they're not sure if the conversation is going to be one stuck in place or held while strolling. A tentative half step with shoulders cocked in a sort of questioning body language. "I agree that they shops are probably better clothed with their wares on display. But..." She points... "Just look at that one!" __All Wrapped Up__ was obviously an obi store, with a full length carving alongside the door of a well-dressed woman's back, complete with outrageously elaborately tied obi, looking as if she was heading to the door. "I imagine the colors are amazing beneath Amaterasu's light."

[Kuni Shiori]

-

"I am," she said as she nodded at first, "At home, most of my reading is spent pouring through the texts that are available in our meagre library and any bits of texts that are allowed to see the light among my kinsman. Most of them are academically based than anything but rest assured that they are not the sort that I've decided to bring with me. I did bring two with me that I've already exhausted during my travels to the north. I have Memories and Other Realms but unknown, seemingly a collection of thoughts and memories from a ronin or someone of freedom to travel the Empire. Mostly done in poems and short hand. That made for good reading in short bursts, perfect for a swaying boat..."

"I also have Tails of Fancy, which I think is an anthology of short stories told from the perspective of a kitsune. They try to be vague about it but as a whole, it really seemed like they were obvious in trying to personify the spiritual creatures. It's not very deep reading, I admit but could be considered a guilty pleasure by some," she shrugged at that, allowing her to make her own conclusion if she thought that Shiori was in that group.

As Hoshiko walked, Shiori would follow with her initiative as they continued down the street. It was likely best that they kept moving in the chilly night. She shot her brows up at the find from Shiori.

"That's quite eye-catching, I hadn't expected a little artistic wood crafting to be done on a door and allowed to sit in the open like that," she said as the carving grabbed her more than the idea of the obi store itself. She could only imagine that something like that would be typically treasured more than to be at the mercy of the elements or any one of ill intent. "...There's so much promise here. I'd be severely disappointed if they couldn't get anyone to consider buying their wares and going with a tie like that."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"Well, I do imagine it's hard to walk off with a carving that size, and attached to a building..." While she walks closer to try seeing if it's sealed with anything, that's really not apparent in the dark. "I'll definitely want to come look at it in daylight, so it's at least doing its job, I'd say."

Now the books sounded lovely. "Oh, I'd love to be considered if you want to trade Memories of Other Realms Are any of the other realms mentioned actually spiritual realms, or are they just reflection on their travels?" She can hope for some spiritual reference, but that seems a bit unlikely. "Tales sounds lovely too, but I wouldn't want to be greedy hopefully both will make the rounds through the winter.

"I've a battered copy of Lady Nightingale's Moon Underwater" Almost anyone in a Crane court would recognize the work and the pen name that continued to spark debates about the author's real identity, but Hoshiko wasn't certain it was widely read outside the clan. "Rather moody poetry. The author is portrayed as a noble in exile from court, and living in a very remote estate. The grasp of form is excellent." One could see why it might appeal to the Crane.

"I'm nearly done with The Cartographer's Tale, Miya Kiku's latest memoir." While they were styled as memoirs, the tales were purest adventure fiction with a light gloss of actual cartography in the mix. Reasonably popular. "This one has her mapping in northern Phoenix lands...Yobanjin attacks, a spiritually displaced bit of forest that...well it causes problems, I'm still getting to the part about how she gets out of them."

[Kuni Shiori]

-

Shiori gave a slow nod regarding the store as her gaze continued to linger on the door a little longer. She was in agreement with Hoshiko that the carving certainly did its job of fixating her attention as a peculiar curiosity as a Kuni. It's not like the region had much to worry about potential goblins trying to make a raid or mujina vandalizing home for amusement.

She smiled faintly and inclined her head once at the offer to trade books. "Memories was good company on the river and road here but it was a short enough read that I've probably managed to read it front to back almost three times already. I think I might have it committed to memory now. I'd be more than willing to trade it so that someone else could go on the same journey as I did. That said, I suspect that no actual spirit realms were traversed by the author. There's a bit of flowery language by the author thinking that certain parts of their travels brought them to certain realms. Without actually having crossed realms myself, it seems a bit difficult to refute the claims, no matter how doubtful I might be."

There was a momentary pause as she looked Hoshiko carefully up and down, wondering if the latter book would even appeal to her. "I could trade Tails too, of course. I haven't quite finished all of the varied stories in it but I have to admit that my attention might have thinned without something tying them all together. I have to admit that both of these were brought with me because of my interest in the spirit realms but both Moon Underwater and The Cartographer's Tale sound like a much welcome change. Actually, the former would be a sobering palette cleanser, in a way."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"I admit, I'd like to read Tails too, I just didn't want to be greedy! But I'd be happy to trade pair for pair and move them along later in the winter. I'm sure I'll finish finding out how Miya-sama escapes before the night is done. Just a little bit more to read before bed."

She pauses a moment before a shop that looks to sell fabric, but it's more the sections of impressively wide bamboo being used as planters in front of the shop that caught her eye. The nearly wild chrysanthemums were likely at their best a month or so ago. Nowhere near as refined as those bred and traded among nobility, they still must lend a cheery note to the shop until a good freeze finished them for the season.

She warms to the topic as she goes on. "I know what you mean about memorizing, there's a reason Moon is so battered. The poem about the baby wood ducks...well, I should let you discover it in it's proper place. I want to hear what you think about it later. And I'll let you know if Memory sounds much like the author'd ever seen other realms. It's pretty unlikely that they have, but unless they decided to get fanciful with their details, there isn't much way to tell, if they've done their research. I've found the better known texts to match reality pretty solidly, except for Yume-do where nothing is terribly set." She ponders a moment. "I expect there are just enough of us able to set eyes on things to keep the record mostly correct."

"How did you come to be interested in the topic?"

[Kuni Shiori]

-

Shiori tittered softly at Hoshiko and gave a shake of her head to assuage her concern. "I would hardly consider it being greedy in the slightest. I'd rather you'd ask than be left wondering all season. In this case, it seems that it'll be a beneficial trade for both of us. Honestly, it'll probably be better that my books have a different set of eyes on them after mine have already been exhausted by their company. I'm sure they'll appreciate a new audience, so to speak."

At the planters, Shiori couldn't help but again be a bit bemused by people's willingness to leave such things out in the open. She supposed that these could have been the exception since plants did better outside than begin shuttered in the confines of home. Her upbringing just couldn't help but picture the planters being smashed and littered on the ground.

"Seeing such flowers in bad shape this early in the season is a surprising sight," she quipped in a passing observation.

"The mind does find ways of capturing nuggets of information unintentionally," she chuckled in a small muse. "I don't know if we'll be tested in our choices of reading down the line but it's a part of us now in many ways. That said, I did find myself suspecting if Memory was actually written in the Golden Plains of the Lion. The bits about combing through endless fields that many traverse in time, akin to putting one foot in the realm of the past, or did they mean ancestors? Anyway. I'm sure you can make some comparison, especially given what we might have seen abroad."

Her brows raised as the topic of conversation would itself toward her interest in the realms, that was something she found herself wanting to keep her cards closer to her chest she suddenly realized. "It's a bit more of a professional interest, admittedly. I know that I was never supposed to gleam some academic incite with these texts but it was a means to float my head in something more leisurely in the realm than to tire my mind trying to pour over research. I will say, It's a bit interesting to see so many incursions into our realm but know so few of our incursions into theirs."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"Wouldn't want the texts to lie neglected and birth a Kyōrinrin, right? I think swapping books around at court has a great spiritual utility in that regard." There's a lightness to her voice, a bit teasing, a bit pleased. It's nice that not every conversation must be about important things.

She nods to the plants. "It grows cold here sooner, and the sun isn't as strong as in my lands. I imagine you're further south still and warmer. So even if the frost hasn't killed them outright, they're not terribly happy plants." With a gentle laugh, she adds, "I know how they feel...I'm pulling on my coat already here and fear I'll be frozen when it actually starts snowing!"

She considers the possible meanings in Memory without having read it yet. "Given the Lion's stronger spiritual attention to their ancestors, and the Kitsu's connection to Yomi, that would seem a reasonable symbolic connection. I look forward to seeing if it's anything stronger."

"And, of course, the Kitsu are one of our best known, regular incursions into another realm, but they hold that information a bit close, most of the time. The folk tales of stumbling into a portal to Sakkaku and the like are common, but it can be hard finding truths in the mix of embellishments that have been attached at the story grows over time." She thinks a moment. "It was definitely a hinderance when I began to cross into other realms...very little research go on if I wanted to figure the right form of address for a talking squirrel, you know?"

[Kuni Shiori]

-

Shiori narrowed her eyes and found herself taking a pause of consideration when Kyōrinrin were mentioned. However unlikely, would surrendering her texts now rid her of an opportunity to summon one for study? She gave a shake of her head to dismiss the thought, especially when an amicable trade had already been agreed upon. "It's not like the trade of literature would preclude the possible appearance of the spirit. I'm sure if we managed to get enough of a trade going, one could be encouraged to show up and be included," she said in a bit of self-reassurance.

She crossed her arms almost immediately when Hoshiko mentioned snowed, likely out of instinct to keep herself warm. It was already chilly in the late evening so it wasn't like Shiori needed anything else to emulate the feeling of colder weather to come. She chuckled at herself. "And here I already deluded myself into thinking we were just south enough that we won't see snow until the next month."

"The yomi and ancestors are understandably a bit of a personal experience, I suspect. I'm sure it could be excusable that any wisdom they gleam from their travels there is more tailored to the ears of the Clan. I'm not even sure if they are willing to share with Lion who aren't the family of kin," she said at first before looking at Hoshiko with some increased scrutiny. There's a bit of an internal double-take given to make sure she didn't quite jump to conclusions based on casual words. "...But I take it that you've had experience with the realm of animals?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

[snip

Hoshiko nods, continuing to move slowly past the empty shops. "A bit. It's interesting. And definitely offers some views on the spiritual cycle that you don't see as often in training. Animal spirits have some really strong opinions! Folklore focuses on tricky kitsune and tanuki and the like because they're the ones interacting with humans the most, I think."

"I imagine experience with other realms is less...hmm, desired(?) to the south, considering that it's likely to be darker realms making that connection?" She asks a bit apologetically.

[Kuni Shiori]

Hoshiko nods, continuing to move slowly past the empty shops. "A bit. It's interesting. And definitely offers some views on the spiritual cycle that you don't see as often in training. Animal spirits have some really strong opinions! Folklore focuses on tricky kitsune and tanuki and the like because they're the ones interacting with humans the most, I think."

"I imagine experience with other realms is less...hmm, desired(?) to the south, considering that it's likely to be darker realms making that connection?" She asks a bit apologetically.

Shiori did a small rub of her hands together as they continued to walk. Admitted, she might have missed the details of the shops around them. Her budget was a bit conservative and she had already set herself to make do for the rest of the season. That said, she did keep an eye out for any sort of perfume shop. She suspected that the cold and the shuttered doors weren't going to make themselves obvious to her nose.

"I see..." She said as she did a bit of internal notetaking. "I would imagine their opinions are strong but less so than the elemental kami, perhaps? Unlike the latter, animals are given form and are much like us, albeit not where closer to the level of divinity and social obligations of mortals on the celestial order."

"Traditionally, yes," she said with a deep nod before gingerly talking about the matter. "But my House and some Kuni find an exception to certain realms. Intruders come in all shapes and sizes, and in all realms. To only consider one realm in our defence of the Empire would leave a blind spot to the others. Whether we like it or not, we're going to have interactions with each other but we very much perfer it be on our terms."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Her hand lifts and tilts too and fro. "They are, in many cases, souls that were or will be human at some point in the long cycles that soul traverses. I suspect we both know plenty of those with opinions stronger than the average air kami...and plenty less opinionated too. That cycle of the soul through human incarnations makes them...arguably as divine, or potentially divine? I suspect you could tie a room of monks up debating that for weeks."

Come to think of it, she should really hunt up a bookseller and see if they had any interesting theological texts.

"Hmm, makes sense. The tricksters of Sakkaku are often malicious enough, and the creatures of Sakkaku self-interested enough to be trouble if you're in the way of what they want. So your studies no doubt cover a broader range of the topic than mine. I've only the barest academic knowledge of the more corrupted realms."

[Kuni Shiori]

Her hand lifts and tilts too and fro. "They are, in many cases, souls that were or will be human at some point in the long cycles that soul traverses. I suspect we both know plenty of those with opinions stronger than the average air kami...and plenty less opinionated too. That cycle of the soul through human incarnations makes them...arguably as divine, or potentially divine? I suspect you could tie a room of monks up debating that for weeks."

Come to think of it, she should really hunt up a bookseller and see if they had any interesting theological texts.

"Hmm, makes sense. The tricksters of Sakkaku are often malicious enough, and the creatures of Sakkaku self-interested enough to be trouble if you're in the way of what they want. So your studies no doubt cover a broader range of the topic than mine. I've only the barest academic knowledge of the more corrupted realms."

She would nod quietly regarding the matter of the tricksters of Sakkaku. It was good that Hoshiko saw it that way, although Shiori didn't want to risk potentially turning into the avenue to debate the ethics of using such creatures to work the mines.

Shiori showed a bit of pensive concern with a lift of her brows on the matter, perhaps not to ready to let the matter lay so easily. "That is one theory on the matter, Asahina-san. There is the possibility of souls passing between realms and their path might not exactly be on the same climb of the Celestial Order. However, I'm not so convinced that they might retain memories or habits of their past life more readily than other souls or beings. I suppose accumulated karma could be up for debate but I'm a bit curious as to what parts of those lessons and habits are retained from life to life. You would assume that there would be some reset here and there, especially when it comes to becoming something else entirely other than human."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Warming to the topic, Hoshiko shakes her head. "No, no...they definitely don't retain any past life memories any better than humans do. Or not that I've been able to catch. And in all the fables of people remembering bits of previous lives in Ningen-do, somehow nobody remembers an incarnation as a worm or even something as intelligent and noble as a horse, do they?" She certainly hasn't read every single tale out there. "They all seem to be things like hunting for some great spiritual leader and finding a baby that reaches for his favorite mirror, or someone bothered by a spirit that had been attached to them in a previous life. Perhaps the memories of any time we spent dragged lower by our karma is just too strange to be seen as a memory, even when we do get glimpses."

"hmm...perhaps some of the stranger elements of dreams come from such a source?" Now that would make a strange and interesting book.

[Kuni Shiori]

Warming to the topic, Hoshiko shakes her head. "No, no...they definitely don't retain any past life memories any better than humans do. Or not that I've been able to catch. And in all the fables of people remembering bits of previous lives in Ningen-do, somehow nobody remembers an incarnation as a worm or even something as intelligent and noble as a horse, do they?" She certainly hasn't read every single tale out there. "They all seem to be things like hunting for some great spiritual leader and finding a baby that reaches for his favorite mirror, or someone bothered by a spirit that had been attached to them in a previous life. Perhaps the memories of any time we spent dragged lower by our karma is just too strange to be seen as a memory, even when we do get glimpses."

"hmm...perhaps some of the stranger elements of dreams come from such a source?" Now that would make a strange and interesting book.

"There is a certain lack of romanticism when comes to memories of animals, I don't know if the audience wants to read very much into habits that they are less familiar with," she said as she knit her brows and scrutinized that idea. How someone could even make that relatable, much less appealing? "It could be but I think we still dream in some element where we have some source of reference, memory, or concern. Well, I can't speak for every individual dream, let alone mine. I know there are times they can seem jumbled into a set for elements and transitions that seem almost seamless to another without making sense. Maybe falling from one scene to another is something relating to birds but that might be a stretch of a thought. Still, that's an interesting thought you bring up that might be worth studying, however rare the opportunity might present itself."

She smirked with a shrug of her shoulders. "And here, I already had my hands full by concerning myself with the study of people this winter court season."