"Had you ever heard any kind of spirits before that?" Hoshiko is asking her far more graceful companion as they approach the Lion's home within the courtyard.

When they arrive, she asks the guards if Kitsu Shintaro-sama is in.

"I... don't think so?" Shinnosuke shakes his head uncertainly. "We say the shite in Noh speaks with the spirit of the character in the play, but it's, er, not that direct."

Haku is trotting at Shin's heels, which is not ideal, but Toichi isn't back from his morning errands yet and the little dog needed to go out. Perhaps the Lion won't mind if Shin leaves Haku at the steps of their building for a little while? If only Matsu Masumi were around to fulfill her offer of dog-sitting, that would be so convenient...

"Hai, a moment..." and they are shown into the main receiving room. Shintaro emerges from his private chamber a moment later, his hair slightly disheveled and his eyes a little wild.

"Oh! Oh! Asahina-san! I have very interesting news!!"

He rushes forward. "Hantei Ningi is trying to communicate with us!! I confirmed it last night!!! There were witnesses!!!!!!"

Kitsu Shintaro wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 20, 2025 10:17 pm

snip

Hoshiko blinks, bows correctly, but rather quickly. "Hantei...Ningi?" she says slowly, trying to remember which one he was. "Witnesses?" Had there been anything in the breakfast rumors...something about a gathering of champions and mention that was obviously her and...

"I had some variety of odd...visitation? Last night as well. Though this one seemed dark and malign, certainly not like an emperor," she says, getting as much information in quickly as she could between the frenzied Daimyo's words.

"Oh, and," She belatedly gestures to Shinnosuke, "I've brought Doji-ke no kashin Tanaka Shinnosuke. There was a strange incident the night before the Empress...may her memory live forever...passed from this realm."

"Oh, yes, like a great whoosh! I think the Heavens are very displeased with the current situation. Most unfortunate." He shook his head sadly, but just a little too quickly. His eyes darted to Shinnosuke. "Um...hello! Are you also able to speak with spirits? I am trying to determine why you are here, but I do not have the data."

"No, I'm--my apologies, Kitsu-sama, regrettably I am not a priest." Shinnosuke had been a bit distracted because he'd left Haku tied by his leash outside, and he can just hear the little creature whimpering about the betrayal like the skillful manipulator of human hearts he is. Also, he hadn't expected the Kitsu daimyo to see them so immediately! Hoshiko has more pull than he'd quite realized. Off-his-game, Shinnosuke still has decent manners, but not up to his own exacting standards; he yanks himself mentally back on track and bows properly.

"That is just the thing, though. Asahina-san was telling me about her visitation this morning, and it transpired that the two of us both experienced very similar strange cold wind... things, and voices, and visions, on the day before the court announced the Former Empress's passing. Which is very odd because I'm not a priest. I'm really quite ordinary."

Shintaro nodded absently. "Ordinary." He looked to Hoshiko. "Is that so? Why not run a test, hm?" He looked at Shinnosuke intently. "Hold...still....Wait! I forgot to ask for consent! Would you, Doji Shinnosuke of the House of Tanaka, like to have the depths of your spirit plumbed by an expert practitioner in the name of science? I mean, in the name of figuring out this specific thing that you are interested in?"

"Ahhh?" Shinnosuke blinks, a bit baffled. "Well... er... does it hurt?"

That might be okay in any case, Kitsu-dono is kind of cute...

"No! Well, I don't suppose so. People usually complain, but not of physical pain. More like the trauma of having one's illusions stripped away. Some people do not have positive reactions to that. Unfortunate, I always prefer clean data, when I can get it."

"Oh! Well, illusions are my stock in trade, but for other people." Shinnosuke flashes a rakish smile. "I should hope I have the courage to know myself. I'm much less scary than a lot of people. Um... plumb away, then, Kitsu-sama."

Hoshiko watches the exchange with some amusement, as well as curiosity. It's unlikely to be as dramatic as that letter, but it's still something new to her.

"Alright, then....hold still!" And then his eyes glowed a strange blue as he stared into Shinnosuke's eyes.

Eyes of the Ancestors | 10k6 ⇒ 36 (TN: 10)

And he leaned in closer, really looking in there.

"Hmm...yes, there is a mark...aha! It would seem that you have been...favored by...Benten, the Fortune. How nice." His tone revealed a certain disinterest. The blue light faded.

"But a spiritual connection, even that one, is often enough to expose one to great and sudden changes in the spiritual qualities of a place. It is not a surprise to me that you were exposed to the disruption, as Asahina-san and I were."

"Is that what it was? A change in, er, spiritual qualities?" Shinnosuke is somewhat out of his depth, but 'favored by Benten' sounds nice, at least. "It must have been quite serious if even someone like me noticed. Well... I say 'noticed,' but really it was more like being bowled over." He falls quiet, mulling on this and leaving the field to Hoshiko.

The face he had seen... it did remind him somehow of the great statue in Benten Seido, now that he really thinks about it.

"Oh, yes, a disruption of a powerful and mighty nature! Broad and terrible, it caused the kami to scatter, and then delivered a blow to the soul itself!! This is very rare, indeed! And that it should be so widespread in terms of victims. Yes, yes, yes, I think we will find that this was a reaction to a truly momentous event! Perhaps the arrival of Hantei Ningi! Or...maybe something else..., perhaps something related. Hard to determine.. Hmmm...."

"Oh, Benten, that's rather nice. Helpful in this season, and hopeful for whatever match you make, Tanaka-san!" The priestess nodded with approval. "Not so nice that it left you vulnerable to whatever that was the other day."

Hoshiko nods, not tremendously surprised that other connections would open a soul to that upheaval. "So you don't know what caused it yet, Kitsu-sama?" That was concerning. "Did the Hantei arrive that same day then?"

After a pause, she adds, "And there was a much more malevolent spirit speaking to me last night. Shut the air kami just...off, when I tried to shoo it away. I've never known anything to do that before."

"Oh? Hmmm....that may have been Ningi. He was not very civil with the Champions and the Imperial Daimyo when he was speaking through me last night."

"But I am not certain when he arrived. My hypothesis is that he is related to the spiritual disturbance, but it may just as easily have been the death of the Empress. Perhaps all three are related."

Hoshiko frowns. "Perhaps, but would a mortal spirit, even that of an Emperor command the kami so? Not that my power to command them is so great, but living rulers need the Seppun around them at least partly because they can't simply command the kami around them to never entertain a dangerous command."

"Having them all be related would make some sense, but I don't think," she looks very troubled at the thought. "Surely the once Emperor could not have something to do with his descendant's death? Or do their ancestors arrive to lead them on?" Ok, troubled, now curious.

"Not to be sacriligeous, but...would the presence of the emperor's spirit be so vexing to the earth and air spirits here?

"It could be, if he were not a shiryo. Perhaps we must re-evaluate certain assumptions in light of the new data we have about this spirit."

While she has a dozen questions about the afterlife of the Hantei rulers, she does have a report to finish.

"I cannot tell if my encounter was with the Hantei, but I recorded what I could remember of what I heard." She pulls a sheet, with the charcoal notes now nicely inked for greater permanence. Holding it so that both might read it, she continues, "I rather hope this was not Hantei Ningi. I..don't like to think that one of that line would behave so."

The record includes notes indicating Hoshiko's sense of the spirit's anger and malevolence.

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

<In response to a request to identify itself>

"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."

<after attempting to clear the space of malign spirits and finding the kami halted in their response>

"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."

Kitsu Shintaro wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 21, 2025 5:27 am

"It could be, if he were not a shiryo. Perhaps we must re-evaluate certain assumptions in light of the new data we have about this spirit."

“A vengeful spirit? Of an emperor?” Vengeful spirits were a category of beings on which Shin could possibly be said to know at least a little more than an average layperson, by virtue of having researched roles and played them onstage in dramas written with at least some care for accuracy. But that a former emperor could become one… the idea alone seems a bit sacrilegious.

Then, a bit sheepish at having broken in, he falls quiet again and lets expert Hoshiko get on with it.