D7 LE Seeking Ripples on Unseen Ponds

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko sits before the shrine of Emma-O, stone coins laid out on a silk cloth before her, feeling her way along familiar paths to his court. But the information she seeks is more to be seen in the path than the destination...or so she theorizes.

Alas, no signs reveal themselves, and she remains in the incense-laden air, quietly reviewing the pieces of puzzles that are felt but not known.


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D7 LE: Divining/Mediuming Void TN 30 gamble | 5k4 ⇒ 19 (TN: 30) nope

[Fukurokujin]

The smoke rising from the incense suddenly turns, as if blown by a breeze, but there is no breeze to stir even a hair on Hoshiko's head.

The sound of laughter, bubbling and malevolent, reaches her ears.

"That empty suit of armor won't help you tonight, little Crane" says a voice that drips with condescending hatred. "Nothing will."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"The Lord of Death has never helped me. I am the smallest aide to the clerks in his service and barely within his overworked notice. But who are you to comment on it?"

Hoshiko's eyes go wide as she looks around for a physical source for the voice before calling to the guards, fingers swiping at the latch of her scroll satchel to deal with the possibly not-physical.

[Fukurokujin]

Nothing presents itself to her eyes. Nor truly to her ears. But to the part of her that hears and understands comes "I'm the only one whose comments matter" in something very much a snarl.

"However many gather here, now, it doesn't matter. It never has. You never have. You never will."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She draws the scroll, but holds it a moment. "Hard for your comments to matter with no name to be remembered. Noone to recognize them." Her voice remains firm, secure after her time in Meido, that everyone matters to at least their tiny sphere of influence. "pebbles turn rivers, breath becomes wind."

The scroll is unrolled, breath beginning the call to spirits that have always been friendly to her.

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getting the roll in before I go make dinner. But feel free to play with the timing, postwise.

D7 LE Casting Freedom of the Air, VP raise for 1 round instead of 2 to cast | 7k4 ⇒ 33 (TN: 20) attempting to clear away the malign spirit (which...may be a bit too powerful for this spell, but she wouldn't know that.)

[Fukurokujin]

The kami begin to answer, but they stop, stymied.

"You can't banish someone who has a right to be here, little Crane. Don't you know that?

"Of course not; you're too stupid to know it.

"You all are.

"But I'll teach you soon enough."

And then it's gone, and the smoke rises from the incense as if nothing had ever changed.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko simply holds the scroll before her, utterly nonplussed. The kami have answered her in some form or another since she was just barely old enough for words, and it's hard to respond to the emptiness there when she reaches.

And then..everything is as normal as it gets in the wake of an Empress's passing. Hoshiko fumbles through her satchel for paper and charcoal to quickly scribble as much as she remembers of the words. She'll fix them in ink later.

(and if folks were thinking this closed, I think that opens it).

[Daidoji Ryu]

It was then that the front door to Crane House slid open, and Ryu stepped inside.

Ryu had passed by his fellow Crane often enough in the comings and goings of Crane House. He was always very polite, but not especially voluble. For a few moments, it seemed as though this might be another one of those times. "Asahina-san." He said, bowing with crisp precision, just as he'd done every other time.

This time, though, he frowned as he straightened, his grey eyes narrowing at Hoshiko. There was a brief pause as he took in all the details, briefly flickering over to the shrine.

"Is everything alright?" Ryu asked. His voice was soft and low, both his natural inclination, and a desire to avoid disturbing any Crane who might be early to bed.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

Hoshiko looks up at his first words, charcoal paused mid-character above the sheet of paper spread on the floor, dark eyes still a bit wide. "Not...everything, no." Her own voice is considering, but matter of fact. A priestess used to keeping the appearance of calm regardless of internal circumstance. "I'm ok, but something spiritually is very wrong here."

There is a belated realization, and she gathers herself for a proper seated bow to Ryu. The charcoal wrapped in her smaller hand, a shift to face him and dip properly. "Thank you for checking on me despite the hour growing late, Miyahar-san." Quite proper, quite Crane. When she rises from the bow her lips are pressed together on troubled thoughts.

"I have felt better knowing we have so many able warriors, like yourself, among the delegation." She wouldn't need to reference the attack of the previous week for it to be in the air. "But now I am unsure we have nearly the same level of skill to protect ourselves from a spiritual menace."

[Daidoji Ryu]

snip

Ryu blinked. "I see." He said. Brows down in mild concern, he knelt down; not completely, but enough so that it was more like talking to face than him looming over her.

He inclined his head in response to her bow. "Of course." He said, as polite as ever. But by the narrowing of his grey eyes as he continued to study her, it was clear that his thoughts were just as active as hers, although probably in different directions.

There was more than one warrior among the Crane, even before considering the champion. There was but one shugenja... Ryu's expression seemed to soften just a little. "Are you not confident in your capabilities?" His question was even more gentle than his greeting had been.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

The question was a bit like the slap that brings someone overwrought with emotion back to their senses. Not that the calm and prope Crane appeared overwrought, but the question brought her spine straight, "Of course I'm confident in..." she stops, one eyebrow lifting slightly. She offers Ryu a nod and takes a deep breath.

"It's a bit like facing a tsunami with a sword. The kami responded to my call and then just...stopped. One mode of handling the threat is not an option."

Her thoughts continue to run. More productively as the danger seems not to be immediate. "But you remind me that there are others. I will not try to commune here and now with that spirit possibly still near. But later I can see what their perceptions can offer that my human ones cannot. And there will need to be a report to Doji-sama and the Kitsu."

She reaches to the bit of paper, swiping the last few characters then pushes it toward Ryu. "I was...trying to assess the effects of the Empress's passing on the other realm I am most connected to, when something decided to interfere."

[Daidoji Ryu]

That was roughly the effect he'd wanted. Ryu returned Hoshiko's nod, the barest hint of a smile touching his lips. "Good." He murmured, scarcely more than a whisper. If she trusted herself, he would trust her, too.

He drew a breath as she went on, his thoughtful frown returning. "That is concerning. Yes, a report should be made." He spoke mildly, but his lips pressed together in continued concern.

A glance at the paper, then back to Hoshiko, and finally to the paper again. Ryu was silent as he read. "I see. Something from that realm?" He slid the papers back. "I gather that's not usual. Is there anything else you can say about it?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

"I'm not sure. It says it belongs here, which would normally mean some spirit of Ningen-do." She picks up the paper, as if new insight will jump out of the words. "And if it were some trickster trying to throw a scare into me, that wouldn't explain the air kami just freezing."

With a long sigh, she tucks the charcoal into it's little bamboo box. "For all it's threats and disdain, it did no damage. Just...flashed its power and...hate? It sounded like it hated us, like we were so beneath it, but not far enough to just not care."

Her hands remain still, eyes down, fixed on the small box. "How did you sleep after the attack? Knowing another could come and all you can do is react...if you wake in time?" she asks in a small, steady voice.

[Daidoji Ryu]

snip

Ryu's lips pressed together, and his jaw tightened a little. "I'm not fond of a foe I cannot see or hear." His tone was dispassionate, as opposed to the little signs of emotion on his face.

But he took a breath as Hoshiko went about putting her things away. "Hmmm. How interesting." His grey eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I do not know spirits. But I begin to wonder, based on what you say, if there might be some reason it didn't do more. Perhaps it can't."

The question made Ryu smile, just a little. "Not very well." He admitted. "I gave up on it pretty quickly. Every sound made me jump. Not that I could hear many over the thudding of my heart." He chuckled softly at that.

Then Ryu tilted his head, regarding Hoshiko gently. "But then I got up. I... took a few precautions. And fear eventually gives way to reason. It was extremely unlikely they would come again, I knew. They knew we were too vigilant, and they too... powerless." He paused a moment, his grey eyes still watching. "Does that help?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She listens carefully, with the quiet depth of long practice. There is a flicker of doubt in blue-grey eyes at the though that perhaps the spirit *can't* do more, but beyond that, she just listens.

As Ryu finishes, she nods once. "It tells me that, even for foes one can see and hear, the same problem vexes you, and likely our other bushi. I have never had quite this sort of responsibility for the safety of those around me," she admits. There is a thoughtful silence, a thought almost spoken and visibly caught, then..."and that night, I never thought of the fears that you and those guarding us must feel. I need to think what my role should have been. It's a useful lesson."

The conversation does seem to have given her something, even if just time, to come to a better center. Looking around at the corners of the room and then back to Ryu, she asks "what precautions did you take?"

[Daidoji Ryu]

"Yes." Ryu said, the only addition before both of them fell silent. It seemed he was content to wait while she worked through her thoughts, watching her. Was it a companionable silence? Perhaps it was, a bit.

Slowly he nodded. "Even though we are both Crane samurai, our worlds can be very different. Even though they may touch sometimes." A smile touched his lips again. After a few moments, he spoke again. "I shall likewise think of how you might be protecting us from the unknown."

The next question brought a longer silence. Ryu knelt there, his grey eyes slightly narrowed. Then, without changing his expression, he reached into the folds of his kimono, drawing out a few pieces of shaped metal strung together. "It's like a little chime." He said, holding it out to her. "I put it on the doors, and they make a bit more sound when the door is opened. I retrieve them in the morning."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

She takes the metal bits, that she absolutely things of simply as 'chimes' now. In the pause of grasping, but not pulling until Ryu releases them, she notes their slight warmth compared to the cool air. So much of her focus has been toward the fortunes, toward the realm of waiting, toward the goals and duties of House, clan, and Empire. But this human warmth, shared through metal and reassurance, was a reminder of why all of those things mattered. And so that pause was a shade longer than it might have been, as she sat blinking through the momentary realization.

"Would that I had a proper way to set spiritual warnings. Though..." she weighs the little chimes in her hand. "I'm definitely feeling better that you have these. I think I might feel better placing some omomori about though. Maybe they'll offer some warning." Offering the chimes back, she asks. "I've already taken up a bit of your evening, but I'd be thankful if you'd help me put them up."

[Daidoji Ryu]

Ryu watched, his grey eyes as unreadable as ever, as they were briefly linked by a bit of metal and string. When he felt that tug, he let go.

Listening, Ryu's lips quirked in mild sympathy. "Indeed." He said. "I imagine spirits don't need to use doors, either." But his closed expression seemed to open a little as she suggested the omomori.

"Of course." Ryu said, his voice still soft. Reaching out, he took the chimes back. As he did, his fingers actually did briefly brush hers, perhaps less careful than she had been, his touch warm and pleasantly dry. The little chimes jingled as he reclaimed them, smoothly tucking them back into his kimono.

"Perhaps we can help each other?" Ryu suggested. "You can show me where to hang the omomori. And I can show you how to attach these?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

snip

The priestess' head tilts slightly, quizzically at the touch, then smiles at the suggestion. "I gladly concur with that plan, Miyahara-san." One pocket of the satchel contains ritually inscribed charms. Nothing like as powerful as the wards she's known some to make, these are of the sort even monks might create for regular protective use.

"And yes, spirits do not need doors, though certain ones will tend to use them, if available, out of habit if they were once a mortal creature." She continues to speak quietly, so as not to disturb anyone's evening rituals in the paper-walled rooms around them. "So placing them on the exterior walls anywhere will suffice. though I may place one above my door just for comfort."

As they set to the quiet work of feeling more secure in their borrowed home, she asks. "I have a question that will sound rather odd, that occurred to me during the play this afternoon. If it's ok to ask?" She asks as she's hanging a charm, so he needn't worry that he can see her reaction if odd questions are an annoyance.

[Daidoji Ryu]

Ryu smiled back, just a little. "Very good." He said, rising to his feet.

His brows drew down again as she spoke about spirits. "Truth be told, I'm glad you know about these things." He said, still speaking softly, still frowning. "I've studied and practiced to understand war and the courts. Spirits are something else entirely." His frown deepened.

But the simple work made that easier. He accepted a handful of the charms from Hoshiko, and set about placing them as she demonstrated, once more apparently content to share companionable silence.

He paused as he placed one on the front entrance, glancing at her. "Please, go ahead." He said, giving her a slow nod.