[D7, LA - Expecting] Mark It, This Is A Crime Scene

[Daidoji Sae]

Sae had decided to clothe two birds with one store. At least, that was the goal.

She and Hoshiko would spend some time at the markets (one could not neglect their cousin, after all), and hopefully find some goods to purchase. Then, that would make for excellent cover for investigating that fire.

It fit together so well the Daidoji was actively looking around for something to go wrong as she waited by the Kyuden gate.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Hoshiko's changed from the gaudy costumes of the play to a something suitable for the market and the temperature. She waves as she spots Sae in the crowd. "You're always faster than me. Must be the longer legs, Miyahara-sama!"

When they're moving she continues, "I was glad to see everyone back safe from the Empress's assignment, even if too late for her to see its success. I'm sure you've been asked a dozen times already, but what is this ronin heir like?"

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

Sae had bowed very politely, her mouth hovering open for a half second to reply.
"Uh, yes I suppose they are a tad longer than most. Quite useful for shelves too."

And was now matching Hoshiko's pace as the two headed in amongst the bustling crowds of the market, although as samurai most of those passing by weren't going to shove.

"Tatsuya-san? In truth I had little opportunity to interrogate him. He is wary, as one would expect from a waveman. And he has a son who is warier still."
Thoughtfully
"He did not seem a bad man at least. Which I suppose is something?"
Arching an eyebrow as they turn a corner, her expression very slightly amused.
"Is Yamada-san considering favouring the new Wind? Or is this merely out of professional curiosity?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"The Empress's last public command was to fetch him...that seems significant. At the same time..." she frowns a bit, looking at the crowd to avoid obvious eavesdroppers. "The day before she died, there was a great, shrieking spiritual wind. It touched nothing physical, but those who perceived it felt it to their soul. It was...calmed. But I don't know that the source of that disturbance is actually settled."

"After it passed, I threw the coins, thinking to see what omens it might offer. One spun, offering a symbol I have not seen before. There's something wrong. Something here and now or coming up that should not rightly exist...like that symbol." Her glance is caught by a bookseller's stall to revisit in a bit. "The Empress's death should be momentous, but...natural. The Hantei line has been mortal since the kami fell from heaven. I've been thinking about it. If the omens pointed toward that, it would mean something unnatural maybe? It's not enough to go on, and with the earth kami so angry the day before, it might be something else entirely."

"It might also be him. As something new introduced to the board." She shakes her head. "But he sounds normal enough."

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

Sae, who had been looking at two hats and trying to deduce which one was more boring looks back with a trace of alarm.
"Shrieking spiritual winds? Ill omens again?" Then back to the somewhat confused vendor. "Can I try...this one on I think?"

And then back to Hoshiko.
"That sounds exceptionally serious. I have heard similar reports from others, but not from those I trust as much as yourself. Would that I had the expertise to understand but-"
She turns around, large kasa firmly planted on head.
"-I feel that I can only support more learned others. Although if someone could talk to the spirits and receive some kind of answer...hmmm. Anyway, how does this look, boring?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"Pretty basic. Good for travel, or maybe regular business? Don't think you need to be fancy arresting someone." She plucks a stately but simple black eboshi. "Bit fancier if you're trying to look more official."

"It's reassuring to hear that he seems fairly normal. Hopefully it's not about him." She plucks a somewhat more feminine court hat from the pile. "Your cousin did a good job presenting the trade you worked on to the court, as did Doji-san. And I know I say cousin, as you're of the same house, but are you actually related?"

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"Basic is good yes, this one please."
Sae hands the hat back to the shopkeeper while admiring Hoshiko's superior (but more distinctive hat).

"I pray he is not the cause of those ill omens." The barest hint of frustration in her voice. "But something must be, I only wish it was as simple as finding out what."

Still, news of the deals proceeding smoothly gives Sae an opportunity to recenter and nod, clearly pleased.
"Oh good, they were the product of much negotiation, enough I find facing down ronin in Ryoko Owari a charming diversion by comparison."
Using the excuse of handing over her payment to hide a smile from Hoshiko: "Yes, there are cousins and there are cousins. Ryu-san is related to me through blood, he is my aunt's child. He's had rather an excellent court so far I should think. I will be meeting with him later."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"He has, so far as I can tell. Though that's indeed a bit hard to tell. Is he always so...quiet? He has a knack for fading from notice until Tani-san needs someone taller to reach for things."

Her eyes return to scanning the market. "Now, what else does a well-dressed magistrate need? One who's stuck negotiating marriages and rice for steel deals instead of chasing folks down in arguably the most dangerous city in the Empire this week."

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"Sometimes you flush out your prey by making noises and stirring the brush, sometimes you sneak up on them. Ryu-san is more of the latter. The shelves never see it coming, I would wage."

Okay, hat done. Now something for her hair which tended to draw more attention outside of Crane lands, ah ha! Shawls, scarfs, headpieces, this might do.

"Ah, well I could use something nice for niceness' sake Asahina-san." Sae still has her eyes on the cloth. "But not too nice, if that makes sense? I'm uhh, also looking for something to hide my hair. I shudder to think I am both of those magistrates simultaneously."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She steps back a bit, looking at Sae's hair, face, coloring. "If you wear it up, the hat will do much of the job for you. Blues...don't shade into purple, gold, greens." She points out thin hemp fabrics with simple geometric designs. "Now if you want something fancy to tie up a queue or add to braids, one of the thinner silks." She may not be an artisan, but she is still a Crane. "Is the hair that much of an issue elsewhere? This is my first time outside of Crane lands, and of course nobody will comment on white hair at this court."

"If I ask the shelves, I'm sure they'll claim to have been quite surprised. I'm guessing you're more of the shake the bushes type?" Hoshiko picks up a large square of hemp fabric, deep indigo with puckered bits of white where the fabric was tied to resist the dye, making white dots in a multitude of spirals, considering it as a decent scarf to tie her hair up for those times back home doing more physical work. "Between the pair of you, Miyahara's doing well at this court."

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"I am proud to wear my hair white, it is no issue. But it can be distinctive, at least until I age into it. I am hoping to only be distinctive when I need to be, or at least, less distinctive."
She turns her attention to the indicated designs and immediately spots one that looks a lot like dogs running across a field. No, resist temptation.

"When you shake a bush you never know what is going to fall out, so I suppose I have spent my time training to cushion an impact. It has its uses, but is not as elegant as some approaches. What about you Yamada-san, when you are on the hunt for something what is your style?"

She allows herself to pick up and look at the running dog pattern (truly, garish...yes, nobody would want this...unless?) waving off the comment about the Miyahara doing well with a self-conscious look.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"The greens on that would work...it's a bit bright, but worn under the hat it would be unremarkable," Hoshiko opines, where 'bright' does some gentle lifting around 'garish'. They wouldn't sell it if it couldn't be used somewhere.

"Sounds a bit like learning some of your cousin's stalking techniques then?" she adds with a small grin. "No criticism, it's good to keep learning."

She strokes the pleasing texture of the spiral on her bit of fabric a moment before setting down coin and tucking it into her obi. "My hunts tend to yield results with research and alignment. I suppose that may be more on the stalking side of things rather than shaking? So far I haven't needed to cushion any impacts...that sounds a bit dangerous."

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"Yes, maybe as a reserve piece, just in case. Maybe when the occasion is right for something so very bright."

She hands the piece back to the owner and counts out a few coins, nodding at Hoshiko's remark.
"I fear it will take more than a hat to achieve his skills, but it certainly is a good learning experience. I note even Ryu-san rarely wears a hat." Maybe he was losing his touch!

"Oh? Nobody has ever landed on you after a particular reading of the future or warning about Emma-O's court? Then again, it would be a rare samurai who would show such disrespect to a priestess."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Hoshiko laughs. "Well...yes, I suppose emotional falls count, even if none have offered violence on account of it. Anger or weeping have both happened."

"Anyway, Ryu keeps his hair dark, so he doesn't have the same issue...not that I think he'd be worse at that fading into the background thing with a hat." She steers toward a seller with gloves on display. It was getting colder soon. "Been meaning to ask, do you dye yours, or it came in white from the start?"

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"I also often get anger and weeping directed at me, but usually for different reasons."
Sae lets herself be steered towards the seller with good humour, her eyes looking for the thinnest gloves on display. The unusually warm winter would have to turn eventually.

"That is a...more personal question. But yes, I dye mine." Clearing her throat "I do not mean it as an affectation, but I suppose it may come across that way." Still, now the door was opened. "And yours?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

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"Affectation or visible homage to your family's founder?" Hoshiko shrugs as she sorts through the gloves. "Nobody looking can tell which it is, neh?"

One hand runs though her short mop of hair. "This was a lot finer when I was born--or so I'm told. But it was always white. Some of us have to guess if we've found our destiny. Mine was marked from the start."

She pulls out deep blue gloves of light silk. They wouldn't be particularly warm, but they'd be something...and court appropriate. "I suppose the fortunes were worried I might be a bit slow on the uptake or something," she says with a straight face and humorous tone. The gloves are examined with a 'hmm'

"I can only imagine some of the scenes your work makes you part of. It's quite a responsibility to shoulder. I hope there's good along with the bad to leaven it."

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"I hope it is more the second than the former. Although you clearly have me beat, being born with it. It must be a strange thing to have your destiny there so early. Mine feels like it is still out there, although maybe not in this gloves stall."

The blue gloves receive an approving look. "Very fine, and hopefully thing enough to allow one to grip a sword? Not that I would want to risk damage on such fine work."
There was a set of gloves with little dogs on them, but those were heroically avoided.

"There can be some unpleasantness as part of my duties. But that can be said of any samurai. Sometimes the responsibility is a burden, sometimes." She gestures to the store. "Light as silk. But sometimes I find myself with the power to provide a little extra honour and goodness, and that is quite satisfying. But I do not yet know whether I have lived up to the standards of this office."

With a short cough she starts looking around the stall again.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Hoshiko's eyebrows rise. "I doubt you'd be invited to court if you were not living up to the office, Miyahara-sama. I've seen and heard nothing to the contrary. Do you need me spreading rumors of your suitability for you to run across?" she asks with a teasing lilt to her voice. "As to destiny. I don't really wish so clear a sign on anyone when it points toward death. I don't regret mine. I believe the signs were intended to warn and strengthen me for what came with it, and...that's not a lesson anyone picks up on as a child."

"I believe it's probably nicer to look back on things and recognize it after the fact when there's no longer any point in worrying about it. But of course, not having that choice, it could just be the rice looking greener in the next valley over, you know?"

She sets the gloves aside in a 'considering' pile. "I won't need to worry about sword-handling with these. At least, we're in a very great deal of trouble if I'm holding a sword for any serious reason. I think they are so fine because they are meant more for court functions. they'd be about right for a moon-viewing party...outdoors, but sheltered, and with some braziers around for a bit of warmth."

Another, lighter grey set, of heavier fabric and with embroidered moths is picked up and actually tried on. The merchant's demeanor perks up at the sure sign of favor.

[Daidoji Sae]

Snip

"Rumours, ah-" Sae looks genuinely mortified for a moment, as if Hoshiko had offered to tuck her in at night with a hot water bottle "-oh no, there is no need for that. I simply seek to prove my ability through deeds, meagre as they are."

She hurriedly turns back to the gloves.
"I suppose we only ever imagine ourselves through the eyes of others, thinking their own valleys are the richer. But yes, sword handling. Obviously there should be no need for Asahina-san to wield a blade, although you may find the exercises a fine way to focus. But I could use a pair of gloves like that myself."

Sae's pick is a slightly more understated grey but with thicker palms, although doubtless their creator did not expect such fine silk to be anywhere near a sword.

"If it is a moon viewing party you want, then the moths would seem an especially fine pick? It is amusing, I usually associate the dark with the deeds that follow it, but Asahina-san is more comfortable under the moon?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

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"Pfft. You deeds include retrieving people for the Empress herself...may her memory live forever. And it may be less visible, but you've been a tireless force behind the clan's successes this winter."

She pauses in examining her own pair as Sea mentions needing some. "Oh? so something fine enough to be formal, but sturdy enough for wielding a blade at need?" Looking at the pair Sae picked she frowns slightly, "sure you want something so understated? With your marks of office and new head coverings, you could go bolder." She reaches for the pair with little dogs..."matches the other theme," and an ivory set with green bamboo embroidered along the cuff to pass over.

"I do think they'll be nice for any evening entertainments," she says holding her hands out to admire the fit and color of the gloves. "For myself, sun or moon are both divine and offered worship, the wind blow night and day and I follow. But I can see your work would provide very different associations. Is it true that criminals grow bolder when the moon is full?"