D10EM, Command Performance (Closed)

[Fukurokujin]

This one's for Hoshiko and Shinnosuke.
Holding space for now

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"Right? And then the one with breath issues...mind you, I'm not at all sure they actually breathe...almost asked for a burnt poet as offering. Every time, it's a new lesson in how the spirits have a completely different mindset." Hoshiko is continuing to chat with Shinnosuke as they leave the space of the shrines.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"As a member of the species, I'm rather grateful you talked them down from a whole burnt poet," Shinnosuke says gratefully. Haku bumps meaningfully against his ankles now that he's up and moving, staring up at him with round dark eyes. Breakfast time?

[Seppun Sadako]

"As am I, minna-san."

Seppun Sadako is there.

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Shinnosuke's gray-blue eyes widen somewhat, but he bows smoothly. "Good morning, Seppun-sama. An unexpected but welcome visit. What can the Crane do for the Seppun this fine... if, ah, early... morning?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko also pauses and dips into a bow, the next sentence unspoken.

Instead. "Good morning, Seppun-sama. Have you had rice?"

[Seppun Sadako]

"Not yet, and now's not the time," Sadako responds, giving a shallow bow.

"What it is time for is for you to tell me what you've found. Your Champion has made me aware of some ongoing investigations, and I would hear your report, please."

The Lady Seppun is not the tallest of women, nor the most robustly built, but there is an intensity in her stillness that is barely moderated by the politeness at the end.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"Oh! right!" She pulls out the still charcoal scribbled notes, held carefully to avoid smudges. "Of course." She gestures to a low table in the common room. "To spread things out. I'm still puzzling over some of this, but I think Kitsu-sama is right that something unpleasant happened in the course of Emperor Ningi's hmm...afterlife. So the malicious spirit we've had encounters with, that claims his name, could be him." She's already moving to pin the recent night's work down on the table and pull out her other researches. Seeming to entirely forget poor Haku's lack of breakfast.

"There's some strange things here about many names, and none. Given that spirits can lie...well, I don't want to say that the things calling itself Emperor Ningi is definitely that."

[Seppun Sadako]

"As you should not," Sadako says. "Although what sort of thing would be so blasphemous as to assert such without truth..."

She actually shudders.

"I am told a Kuni has been involved in the investigations. Am I told accurately?"

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Catching Hoshiko's gesture, Shinnosuke crosses ahead and pulls three pillows up to the low table, though he'll wait to sit until Sadako is seated first.

"I read some of the court chronicles from the third Emperor's reign in the Ikoma archive." Shinnosuke delicately avoids speaking aloud the name of a possible malevolent spirit hanging around the castle. Especially at this liminal hour when it isn't quite light yet. "It sounded as if he really got the sharp end of it--of being the very first mortal Emperor, I mean. Passed away from a slow wasting disease." He frowns, brows drawing together worriedly. "I'm not a priest, but I did wonder if that... ah, well--it's not always a very easy way to go. If he didn't pass in peace, would that...?" He glances between the two shugenja, hoping they'll figure out what he's groping toward asking.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko nods. "I spoke with her the other night. It sounds like her area of expertise is...not ghosts. But we've still been gathering information."

She taps Shintaro's emotional support ofuda at her obi, "and learning if there are more effective protections that might be employed here with all these delegates gathered."

[Seppun Sadako]

"The Lord Kitsu's work, I take it?" Sadako says, looking closely.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"The Lord Kitsu's work, I take it?" Sadako says, looking closely.

Hoshiko nods. "He also mentioned that Yasurugi's swords may be effective against such a spirit. It may be that other clans have blades of similar age that have some blessing attached to them."

"I read some of the court chronicles from the third Emperor's reign in the Ikoma archive." Shinnosuke delicately avoids speaking aloud the name of a possible malevolent spirit hanging around the castle. Especially at this liminal hour when it isn't quite light yet. "It sounded as if he really got the sharp end of it--of being the very first mortal Emperor, I mean. Passed away from a slow wasting disease." He frowns, brows drawing together worriedly. "I'm not a priest, but I did wonder if that... ah, well--it's not always a very easy way to go. If he didn't pass in peace, would that...?" He glances between the two shugenja, hoping they'll figure out what he's groping toward asking.

Hoshiko's face clouds. "Yeah, that kind of thing can make it hard to find your way. And he was..."she points to the rhyme. Directing the next information at Sadako, "When I asked about the judgement of emperors in Meido, I was told this."

"One went to the Heavens, returned to his kin;
One walked through the Gates and was taken right in;
One thought to escape from his burden of sin;
One lasted long, having learned how to swim;
One fought the old fight, won and lost again;
One was held captive; one fought her way free
And fell before those who came over sea;
One has yet to arrive and yet will soon see
What came of the one who was here recently."

"I'll get it written up properly in ink and dropped off with Kitsu-sama for the library, and with you for your records, of course," she hurriedly assures the Imperial. "But those first ones, Hantei went straight home and his son followed. So he," the emperor they were all focused on didn't need to be named again, "was the first who didn't go to Tengoku, needed to find his way. The rites were less developed then, and he passed in that sort of discomfort. Well, whether the spirit we're worried about is truly his of not, it's likely he didn't have an easy time of it."

[Seppun Sadako]

"You will speak of this to noone who is not already read in on this," Sadako says. "Your Champion is aware, as is the Lord Kitsu. I imagine the former will have words to say to you.

"Who else knows of this? I require names, and those whose names you give require me to have them. There will be dangers to them otherwise. There will be dangers even so, but some, at least, I can deflect."

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"You will speak of this to noone who is not already read in on this," Sadako says. "Your Champion is aware, as is the Lord Kitsu. I imagine the former will have words to say to you.

"Who else knows of this? I require names, and those whose names you give require me to have them. There will be dangers to them otherwise. There will be dangers even so, but some, at least, I can deflect."

"More danger for knowing, than not? That's...concerning," she says, smoothing the paper. "Lady Doji may tell you that Daidoji Sae and Doji Hikaru were in the room when I first reported of the troubles to her. Daidoji Ryu came upon me just after the first strange visitation and was appraised." She thinks for a minute. "I do believe that's all. I'd given thought to consulting with the Yogo delegate about the wards their family is known for, but have not reached out yet."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

Shinnosuke looks markedly nervous at the suggestion that there might be extra danger in having more knowledge. "I don't think I've talked of this directly with anyone besides those Yamada-san named, but I wasn't precisely secretive about the books I was reading in the library yesterday," he admits. "Or why I've been carrying around this ofuda from Kitsu-sama. I can't be sure I haven't given at least a hint, here and there around the castle."

[Seppun Sadako]

"No reason why you would be chary about this until now," Sadako says. "But, yes, the Yogo...Kiuchi, wasn't it? Might be worth reading in on this."

The Lady Seppun's brow furrows, and she folds her arms.

"This will take some untangling," she says. "Have your researches uncovered anything else of note? Conversations with others that bear in on this matter?"

[Asahina Hoshiko]

"No reason why you would be chary about this until now," Sadako says. "But, yes, the Yogo...Kiuchi, wasn't it? Might be worth reading in on this."

The Lady Seppun's brow furrows, and she folds her arms.

"This will take some untangling," she says. "Have your researches uncovered anything else of note? Conversations with others that bear in on this matter?"

Hoshiko begins, pauses, takes a small breath, "Quite a bit. And whether we deal with a gaki or some other malign spirit that never found their way, Jade and certain invocations of the kami are effective against them from an immediate protection standpoint. The Kitsu and Kuni are known to have more time-consuming rituals to bind them or return them to their proper place. They might well be of the hungry sort and thus drawn to ...something in particular."

"But that's nothing new to you I'm sure, though it may be for Doji-san." Definitely said for his benefit and not filling the Seppun in on things that are almost certainly covered in her training, right? "More concerning though, if invocations of elemental kami are to be relied upon, is the way that it just blocked the air kami from responding to my call the other night. Now that was a minor sort of request, and perhaps the stronger rituals wouldn't be subject to such a thing."

"I'll write up all I remember from the other day and this," she taps the page, "to send you. The other encounter, and consultation with Kitsu-sama, seemed to all be of the same 'voice' One that claims to belong here and to own everything here."

***************************
That's a bit chaotic, but trying to drop as much as I can remember pre-running-to-work

[Seppun Sadako]

"Which prayer did you attempt against the spirit, Asahina-san?" Sadako asks. "There are a number of common ones that might apply.

"But if there is consistency among the incidents...we can hope a single ritual will work, once guided appropriately."

[Doji Shinnosuke]

"Do you think..." hesitating, Shinnosuke clears his throat before finishing his thought. "Are the Former Empress's heirs at risk? If this is a spirit that believes it has the right to rule, would they be its... his?... rivals?" Hastily he adds, "Of course, Lady Seppun, no one could doubt you already protect them as well as can be. But Doji Noriko-dono and her children are staying here with us, so if there's anything else we ought to do...?"