(D12, LE) Waiting for Bayushi Godot (Closed)

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji had spent a few hours preparing things for the special guest. Strict instructions had been left with the guards and servants (at least those Eiji was relatively certain were loyal to Kaguya) to guide their guest to this receiving room. Tapestries depicting tranquil scenary had been hung upon the walls. Three very comfortalbe cushions had been placed by a table containing an assortment of salty and sweet snacks. A bottle of the sake most favored by the Scorpion champion was present. No sake cups were obviously present in the room. A light floral incense had been placed in a burner in the room, nothing very heavy or sharp, just simply pleasing.

Now all that remained was to await the arrival of the Dragon.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

A Dragon arrived early with his nicest set of robes. Brown, with gold trim. He had styled his hair out of his face so it was plain to make out the scars.

He had a small box with him that he held close.

[Soshi Eiji]

A Dragon arrived early with his nicest set of robes. Brown, with gold trim. He had styled his hair out of his face so it was plain to make out the scars.

He had a small box with him that he held close.

Eiji bowed at the arrival of the Dragon.

"Good evening, Mirumoto-san. Welcome to our delegation house." he offered pleasantly. "I apologize for our champion not being here to welcome you herself, but as I said this afternoon, she is quite busy with delegation affairs. Hopefully they will not delay her too long."

He gestures towards the cushions.

"She has asked me to see to your entertainment in the meantime. If time is an issue for you, she has authorized me to act as her proxy for the discussion of sensitive information. But please, make yourself comfortable."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Time is not an issue. I waited a week, I can wait some minutes." The Mirumoto said sitting down with a thump on the nearest cushion. The box went with him cradled like it was the last rice cake.

"In the meantime, you can tell me about what Soshi-san does when he is not attending court." Jinkan began rubbing an imaginary beard while looking at the Scorpion curiously.

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji nodded.

"I would be happy to discuss such with you, Mirumoto-san. And please, help yourself to the snacks and the sake. Lady Bayushi would not want to want while you wait." he offered.

"I am relatively new to the mask, my wedding was this year infact, so my duties are still be somewhat sorted out, as it were. I've served as a storyteller to amuse the court, and moving forward, Lady Bayushi views me as a trusted diplomat. Perhaps serving as a liason to my former clan, the Lion, perhaps not."

He looked to the Dragon.

"And yourself, Mirumoto-san? I have a more firm idea of how Agasha Yuna-san serves the Dragon clan, and I already know with charm. But tell me the story of Mirumoto Jinkan."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"I was born and I will not die. I will remain, eternal and unending in every moment before and after." Jinkan replied grabbing a snack and running a finger over its length.

"I serve the Lord Togashi by being annoying and divining the secrets of the future for him, though I am more immediately sworn to the Mirumoto daimyo. Met him a couple of times, not big on jokes." He broke the snack in half and then stacked it on top of itself, peering at the shape it made. Jinkan's words come in an offhand manner and freely, without thought it seemed.

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji nodded.

"Jokes are a dangerous craft at times, especially when told to those have power by those who have not."

He smiled a bit.

"Have you heard, 'How many Togashi monks does it take to change a lantern wick?'" he asked.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"One, but the wick must want to change." Jinkan replied quickly, with a tiny grin at the Soshi.

He put the broken food on the plate in front of him and brushed his hands clean.

"Does Soshi-san know why most ghosts are bad liars?"

[Soshi Eiji]

E#iji shakes his head at the Dragon's answer.

"Ie. A plum tree grows in the courtyard." he responds.

He considered the Dragon's question.

"Because they are denied Meido." he answered.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Because they are easy to see through." The Mirumoto said with a chuckle to himself.

"I am also of the opinion that they deny themselves Meido, being unwilling or unable to figure out how to leave." He paused to figure out how to say the next part.

"Though one wonders what allows souls to move through the realms when bodies find it much harder."

[Soshi Eiji]

The prompted a small shrug from the Scorpion.

"You can fill a bowl with rice and you can fill a bowl with water. But there is a difference when you pour water into a bowl or rice, or pour rice into a bowl of water. It is simply the nature of things." he reasoned.

He took a moment to help himself to one of the sweets.

"Though what I am curious about, Mirumoto-san, is your methodolgy for scrying the future. Do you toss coins, read tea leaves, consult the stars? Where does your future knowledge come from?" he asked.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

Snip

"I read kawaru, or observe the stars. Nothing particularly difficult in it. My sister looks into people's eyes. I have not mastered that trick despite my efforts, though it seems easy enough." The Dragon stared at the Soshi with a piercing gaze to illustrate.

"Though it is possible it is just an inate gift. I used to draw something, burn the paper, and then put it in her hands. She would tell me what I had drawn. Best I ever managed was searching Yume-do for signs of an avalanche, which I accurately predicted. Oh, and the recent earthquake. Big things shake the dream worlds as much as the physical ones. Small stuff like when and how someone was going to die require kawaru for the less spiritually intune of us, like myself." Jinkan talked for a while, rambling again.

[Soshi Eiji]

And Eiji let the Dragon ramble for as long as he card to, while he listened intently.

"That is fascinating, Mirumoto-san. Did you predict your coming to this Winter court, or do your skills not function in such a capacity?" he asked.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"I did. I had a dream, which I conveyed to Togashi-ue." Jinkan shrugged.

"And Soshi-san got his position here by virtue of his recent marriage into the Scorpion from the Lion?"

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji chuckled.

"Perhaps, Mirumoto-san. Or perhaps I angered someone who thought I would make a fool of myself in the most important court in the land. Or perhaps I am merely meant to serve as a distraction." he said with a faint smirk.

"The Dragon and the Scorpion may get their aura of mystery from very different sources, and yet they both lead to confusion....both towards different ends. Two rivers meeting briefly in the middle before flowing apart again. Somewhat amusing if you think about it." he offered.

Eiji helped himself to one of the snacks on the table. It seemed a waste to provide so much for the Dragon to amuse himself by sculpting with them.

"Perhaps you are more mysterious than me, though, Mirumoto-san. You've got the secret you've kept for a week AND a small box that is clearly of import to you. I've practically an open book in comparison." he decided.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Only on the side that you can see, Soshi-san." The Dragon replied somewhat quietly.

"I am no more mysterious to myself than anyone else is to me. And most of the time I am not trying to obfuscate, so I forgive myself for any confusion I cause." The Mirumoto pushed the snacks into another shape.

"Does Soshi-san find it easy to forgive himself?"

[Soshi Eiji]

"Only on the side that you can see, Soshi-san." The Dragon replied somewhat quietly.

"I am no more mysterious to myself than anyone else is to me. And most of the time I am not trying to obfuscate, so I forgive myself for any confusion I cause." The Mirumoto pushed the snacks into another shape.

"Does Soshi-san find it easy to forgive himself?"

Madman or not, that's a good line. I should use that.

"Quite the interesting question, Mirumoto-san." Eiji allows, considering it. "Forgiveness for oneself, rather than others. It's not a quality easy to measure is it? We can certainly point to the extremes of the scale: being completely unwilling to forgive oneself under any circumstances, and always being willing to forgive oneself. The former collaspsing under the weight of blaming themselves for poor weather, and the latter being entirely without a scrap of honor."

"Hmm, I would probably rate myself on the harder to forgive onself scale. I do recognize that there are circumstances beyond my control and not every problem has a good soution....but I do try to push myself to do better going forward rather than simply accepting my flaws as they are." he decided upon.

He looked towards the Dragon.

"What about your, Mirumoto-san? Do your flaws define you or drive you?" he asked.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

Snip

"I don't feel the need to measure things." Jinkan said grabbing more snacks, cracking them in half and putting them on top of each other.

"I am of the Way, and in the Way. Flaws are illusions in the same way I am an illusion. Driving or defining are just the same word said differently, anyway." He paused to move one of the plates a couple of turns like this was a tea ceremony.

"In all ways but the correct ones, I am me. My actions are my own, and I am responsible for the consequences of my actions. Does Soshi-san agree that he is responsible for his?"

[Soshi Eiji]

Well this was certainly....a memorable evening, though it seemed to be taking a turn from the philosophical to the accusatory.

"I would agree that I am responsible for my actions, Mirumoto-san, just as you are for yours," he said eyeing the Dragon's art project.

"Though I'm not quite sure what you mean about you being you in all ways but the correct ones."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"My selfness is an illusion, so I am myself in false ways." Jinkan replied shrugging a bit.

"The correct way is to abandon the ladder I climbed from childhood. Become beyond the existent, and understand that there is no understanding. Think for a moment about what it means to be responsible, and not exist." He paused.

"Well, one could say the Empress was responsible. In a sense she doesn't exist, but that is not what I am getting at. Do you see what I am getting at?"