[D7, ME] Scorpion hang out

[Agasha Yuna]

She played conservatively, keeping an eye on her liberty points. She was pretty good at reading ahead - visualizing multiple possible ways it could play through. In the end, she captured more of his stones, but it was close enough to be thoroughly enjoyable.


https://sakkaku.org/r/16216 Go/int 18

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji bowed as the battlefield was hers.

"Well played, Agasha-san. I feel like I assessed our relative strengths at the board appropriately. I don't think much more of a handicap that me playing black would be appripriate." he offered honestly.

[Agasha Yuna]

She nodded.

"I think you are very good at reading people, Soshi-san."

"Do you want to try again?"

[Soshi Eiji]

She nodded.

"I think you are very good at reading people, Soshi-san."

"Do you want to try again?"

Eiji grinned.

"Well it was a swift defeat, and it does give me an excuse to spend more time with your lovely self, Agasha-san, so yes, I think I would like another match." he says good-naturedly.

Rallying his troops for a second assault on the Dragon Moutains, Eiji was reminded of the truism that no Akodo general knew defeat on the field. It wasn't that they were never defeated...they just made sure to study such defeats so they were not repeated. He had learned from his previous mistakes, and put on a much better showing. There was definitely a break in the game where, had he been more skilled, he could have really made progress, but perhaps it was enough?

Int/Games: Go 20

[Agasha Yuna]

And now the game was on!

Every strategem she tried, he seemed to have an answer. She started having to think further ahead. She remained cautious. But he could see her rising excitement. Her thrill.

In the end, they each added the number of encircled areas, the number of stones caught, and, for white, the 6.5 points since black starts first. And it was vanishingly close. As near to a tie as possible in Go.

"That was a great game!" she said, studying the board, memorizing it. "Extremely well played."

"You bring out the best in my play." They'd both played better. Learning.

https://sakkaku.org/r/16225

[Soshi Eiji]

And now the game was on!

Every strategem she tried, he seemed to have an answer. She started having to think further ahead. She remained cautious. But he could see her rising excitement. Her thrill.

In the end, they each added the number of encircled areas, the number of stones caught, and, for white, the 6.5 points since black starts first. And it was vanishingly close. As near to a tie as possible in Go.

"That was a great game!" she said, studying the board, memorizing it. "Extremely well played."

"You bring out the best in my play." They'd both played better. Learning.

https://sakkaku.org/r/16225

"And clearly you bring out the best in my play, Agasha-san." he returned, pleased with the end board state. "I feel like there was somewehre in that game I nearly had you but you had the answer."

He smiled.

"Good snacks, good game and a great host, what more can one ask for?" he said.

[Agasha Yuna]

She grinned.

"There is only one answer to that question, Soshi-san. A story!" She loved his storytelling.

[Soshi Eiji]

She grinned.

"There is only one answer to that question, Soshi-san. A story!" She loved his storytelling.

Eiji grinned. How could he refuse that?

"As it so happens, Agasha-san, there was a story I thought you might enjoy in particular (with eternal thanks to the original author, Mikal the Ram):

THERE WAS A MAN in the lands of the Hirasawa who had little luck in farming, and less luck in cutting wood. He had outright failed in making sake, and washed out of the horse-trading at the market. In fact, there were many who would say if he had not been lucky enough to marry, he would have had no luck at all. (There were a few who might point out his wife and say such luck is no man's joy.) But to get to the heart of the tale, he was without any redeeming qualities whatsoever.

There were but two things he did well; fight and brag. This is not to say he was shunned by his neighbors. Just the opposite was true. Since fighting and bragging constitute the two chiefest entertainments in that land, he was quite popular. It was just that he had no money, nor had he a method of making any.

One year the local festival boasted a huge hulk of a man thought to be the champion of the Hirasawa at the fighting bare handed. So sure were they that a purse of koku was offered to any who could beat him. The luckless man thought to himself, "What harm could there be in me trying him? I've so little luck that I would be injured far worse in trying to make that much money any other way." So he climbed into the circle and quick as a wink he had put the big man down for the counting. Here he was no longer luckless, for now he was the jiujutsu champion of the Hirasawa house. He took home the koku and his wife was so happy that she told the whole city that her man was the jiujutsu champion of the Hirasawa.

Now there were those who thought themselves better men than he, and they began to offer him purses to fight them as well. Before too long he was the champion of two houses, then four, then seven, then eleven. By the end of two years he had fought every jiujutsu champion in the lands of the Lion and was considered himself to be The Jijutsu Champion of the Lion clan itself!

He was so proud that he had his wife sew in large kanji on his coat "The Jiujutsu Champion of the Lion." And all the men in all the sake bars knew his name. He had so much money, he no longer fought for purses, but offered them himself if he thought enough of the man.

Then one day a merchant came to town, and when he was introduced to the Jiujutsu Champion he exclaimed; "Now I have seen a great wonder! Two jiujtsu champions of two separate clans in one month! Not twenty days ago I saw the man who was Jiujutsu champion of the Dragon!"

The comment began to gnaw at the champion. There was a Jiujutsu Champion of the Dragon. If he could but go there and win against this man, he could be champion of both Lion and Dragon. What a grand thing to be! Perhaps then he could see if
there was a jiujutsu champion of the Crab as well...

His wife agreed, it might be grand to be the jiujutsu champion of two clans. So she packed him food and clothing and a small hoard of coin and kissed him as he left. He set forth for the lands of the Dragon that night.

When he reached the border, he began to search for the jiujutsu Champion. Everyone he asked pointed him north, into the mountains. The roads got narrower and narrower, and steeper and steeper, until at last it turned into a squirrel's trail and went up the side of a tree. But it was well packed every inch of the way! Beside that tree was a tiny, ramshackle house, and on it's porch was a tiny dried up woman who could scarcely weigh as much as a fat hen. When he asked her where the jiujutsu champion of the Dragon was, she pointed him to the rear of the house. "He's plowing the field," she said.

There behind the shack was a field almost straight up and down, a half day's climb in length. Going up this sheer cliff was a giant of a man, seven foot tall and three foot wide at the shoulder! He was driving a plow, that was pulled by two wild bulls that he kept in line with cursing and kicks and blows. Over his shoulder was a mattress tic, filled with thirty bushels of seed that he scattered
with his other hand. When he reached the far end of the field, he reached out and knocked out both bulls with one punch, lifted the plow and bulls together,turned them all around, and then slapped the bulls awake and started back.

The jiujutsu champion of the Lion watched him come closer, and set his jaw. He drew himself up and shouted; "You, man! I've come seeking the Jiujutsu Champion of the Dragon! Are you he?"

"Aye," the big man growled. "I am he. What is your business?"

The man from the lands of the Lion said, "I've just come to tell you you're the Jiujutsu Champion of the Lion, too!""

[Agasha Yuna]

She listened to the story, learning forward, attention fixed on him, trying to guess where it was going, and then laughing at the end.

"That giant man must have eaten deeply of our mountain tuna to be so strong." She giggled. "That and all that sheer cliff farming and bull and plow carrying. Very blessed by Bishamon, at any rate."

"Ah, I do not have your gift of storytelling. But my father did like stories about mountains. He'd love that one." And she could remember the ones he'd told her!

"Here's one he told us, growing up."

She tells it without flourish. A woman with her eyes rolled upward trying to search her memory, and then reciting the words without inflection. No hint of her father's tone of voice. Just his words.

"There was a poor miner, digging away in a mine. He ran across a mischievous air kami who liked to play tricks. (Like the air kami do.) So the air kami told him he could have anything he wanted. As many wishes as he wanted. (Now a shugenja would already be suspicious as kami do not generally have such power, but this man was only a miner, and did not know that, and did not become suspicious of illusion as an Ageki would.) So, the miner wished first to be rich. And he saw before himself a rich gold vein he hadn't noticed before, ripe for the picking. And then he wished to be the man that owned the mine and mountain. And he suddenly believed that of himself, so he was in no hurry to do the work of that very vein he had seen, and instead decided to walk all around the mountain so he could enjoy the feeling of owning it. And off he went actually walking and believing and the air kami just followed along giggling. Now a miner is accustomed to hard work deep underground where it is cold and dark, but on this particular day the sun beat down fiercely, and he got hotter and hotter and more and more tired. (He might now have wished for an umbrella or one tree's shade, and enjoyed even the illusion of relief, but as the Little Teacher says "The higher you stand above modesty, the easier it becomes to lose your footing.") So he wished to be the sun without a scrap of shame at the wrongness of such a wish. And so the air kami happily made him believe he was the sun itself. And he imagined it and became infuriated that clouds kept tickling his nose and blocking his view. So he wished he was a cloud. (Now the air kami thought that was very flattering and might have left him alone after that, but no, he could not be satisfied.) He looked down, thinking himself a cloud, and realized the mountain was impervious to the cloud, steady and unmoving, undaunted by anything a fluff of mere air could do, even its rain. (Now no air kami likes being told - even mid prank - that even a very great fool can see earth stands steadfast against air's puffery.) So, the kami said fine, have it your way, and he made the man imagine he was the mountain itself. But took particular care to make sure he felt every scratch of every miner like claws in his guts. Scratch scratch scratch. And the man could not bear the pain of it. So he cried out I wish I was a miner again. Scratcher, not scratched. And the bored air kami floated away. And he was, in fact, a miner again. Head clear, and glad to get back to work."

[Soshi Eiji]

She listened to the story, learning forward, attention fixed on him, trying to guess where it was going, and then laughing at the end.

"That giant man must have eaten deeply of our mountain tuna to be so strong." She giggled. "That and all that sheer cliff farming and bull and plow carrying. Very blessed by Bishamon, at any rate."

"Ah, I do not have your gift of storytelling. But my father did like stories about mountains. He'd love that one." And she could remember the ones he'd told her!

"Here's one he told us, growing up."

She tells it without flourish. A woman with her eyes rolled upward trying to search her memory, and then reciting the words without inflection. No hint of her father's tone of voice. Just his words.

"There was a poor miner, digging away in a mine. He ran across a mischievous air kami who liked to play tricks. (Like the air kami do.) So the air kami told him he could have anything he wanted. As many wishes as he wanted. (Now a shugenja would already be suspicious as kami do not generally have such power, but this man was only a miner, and did not know that, and did not become suspicious of illusion as an Ageki would.) So, the miner wished first to be rich. And he saw before himself a rich gold vein he hadn't noticed before, ripe for the picking. And then he wished to be the man that owned the mine and mountain. And he suddenly believed that of himself, so he was in no hurry to do the work of that very vein he had seen, and instead decided to walk all around the mountain so he could enjoy the feeling of owning it. And off he went actually walking and believing and the air kami just followed along giggling. Now a miner is accustomed to hard work deep underground where it is cold and dark, but on this particular day the sun beat down fiercely, and he got hotter and hotter and more and more tired. (He might now have wished for an umbrella or one tree's shade, and enjoyed even the illusion of relief, but as the Little Teacher says "The higher you stand above modesty, the easier it becomes to lose your footing.") So he wished to be the sun without a scrap of shame at the wrongness of such a wish. And so the air kami happily made him believe he was the sun itself. And he imagined it and became infuriated that clouds kept tickling his nose and blocking his view. So he wished he was a cloud. (Now the air kami thought that was very flattering and might have left him alone after that, but no, he could not be satisfied.) He looked down, thinking himself a cloud, and realized the mountain was impervious to the cloud, steady and unmoving, undaunted by anything a fluff of mere air could do, even its rain. (Now no air kami likes being told - even mid prank - that even a very great fool can see earth stands steadfast against air's puffery.) So, the kami said fine, have it your way, and he made the man imagine he was the mountain itself. But took particular care to make sure he felt every scratch of every miner like claws in his guts. Scratch scratch scratch. And the man could not bear the pain of it. So he cried out I wish I was a miner again. Scratcher, not scratched. And the bored air kami floated away. And he was, in fact, a miner again. Head clear, and glad to get back to work."

Eiji listened intently to the tale. True, the Agasha was no storyteller (she didn't even grab at herelf as the miner felt the sting of the picks), but her memory was excellent. Eiji was pretty sure he'd heard a version of this story long ago, but it had been quite a while since he'd heard it performed.

"A very good tale indeed, Agasha-san. It serves at least a double purpose. It is a good lesson in humility, reminding one to be satisfied with their position in life. It's also a good warning about the proper respect of the spirits. I know the air kami was only playing a prank as is their nature...but they're also known for being well....flighty. Imagine how horrible it would have been for the miner had the air kami gotten bored and left at any point before removing the illusion. Imagining oneself the mountain and feeling the pain of the pick is of course the worst of the fates, but the other ones would have left the man to slowly starve to death, as neither clouds nor Lady Sun need to eat. Even the first two would be very rough. Imagining yourself the owner of the mine will not feed your family, nor will bringing back rocks that you think are gold, but are clearly just rocks."

There is a brief chuckle however.

"You know, Agasha-san, the Crab often use that imagery of 'Being the Mountain'. Their warriors are known for their resiliancy. But I don't think they envision feeling the pain of the pick. One can see that as a very sly dig at them. Wishing that they 'Be as the mountain'. They'd think you were wishing them strength, while you are envisioning the picks." he suggested, slipping in a pun for good measure.

[Agasha Yuna]

She smiled. Glad he had liked it.

"It was definitely important to Papa to teach" - and here she held up fingers, one by one, probably something he had done - "One: Knowledge of the kami. Two: Respect for the kami. Three: Empathy for the kami. And those were all things I could have. You don't have to be a shugenja for those things. They just can do each at a whole deeper depth than I can."

"Their vow, their great work - it isn't solely like a monastic vow... Renunciation for the sake of renunciation. It's focus, yes. Like the Little Teacher says: “When you are doing one thing, be concerned with that one thing and nothing else. Distraction breeds disaster.” But, even more than that, it's like a marriage vow. Forsaking all others simply to make the recipient feel the most loved, the most valued, the most appreciated, from empathy and love. Earth needs that. Everyone does. But the steady and patient don't always ask. They quietly yearn."

"Solving a problem like the earthquake. It's about finding the pain of the scratches. What hurts. What hurts and was not asked first, offered first, taken in acknowledgment that it will hurt and soothed after."