[D3 EM] Drunken Dragon Fist

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Inform....inform....tell Togashi-ue that I think the ground is moving, and that we need to talk. Before you do that, find me a priest. I need an exorcism." Jinkan spoke to a servant in the quarters with a slight slur.

"Tell them, I need Jurojin-no-kami. They will know what I mean. Tell them. Go." He waved at the blurry figure and then slumped against a screen wall, decorated with ink and script.

[Mirumoto Kichinitonda]

"Gaah! That's not dry yet!"

Perhaps more animatedly than has yet been seen from him, Kichinitonda fairly boils over.

"What are you--are, are you drunk, Ito, Ito-san?"

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Ito-san is my father." Jinkan said automatically with a hint of heat though he could not get up and laid still against the very cool and comforting screen wall.

"Ozawa-sama, I think the earth is unhappy with me." The Mirumoto turned his head to hurl but nothing came out.

"I am absolutely smashed." He finally managed to get out after a few seconds.

[Mirumoto Kichinitonda]

"Hold, hold still, then," Kichinitonda says, "before you, you mess up any of the other, other work."

He rummages around for a scroll in the satchel at his hip.

"Right, that, that one," he says, and unfurls it.

Reading, Kichinitonda stutters once or twice. It seems he cannot but do so. The kami seem to understand him well enough, however, and Jinkan will feel a sense of peace flow up through him from the earth. In its wake, the effects of the night with Izumi are removed from his body--but probably not his heart.

"Huh. That, um, felt, felt funny."

~~~~~
Casting roll passed at 18, https://sakkaku.org/r/15917
Jinkan receives the benefit of the spell Jurojin's Balm (Core, pg 174). Of most pertinent note, the following: "An interesting side-effect of this spell is that it also cures drunkenness and other such effects, and it is impossible for the target to become intoxicated during the spell's duration." In this case, said duration is one hour.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

Jinkan would do as he asked and not move. Even when the effects of the alcohol passed through him like silt in a river, the Mirumoto remained still watching the vibrating of the nearest table with wider and wider eyes.

"Mirumoto-sama...was the shaking...real?"

[Mirumoto Kichinitonda]

"But, but the prayer was--"

Then the actual tremor hits.

The Dragon House rattles as the earth moves beneath it, a rumbling rippling through the ground below and receding into the distance.

"That, that would be why it, um, felt funny."

Kichinitonda looks at his Family-mate.

"I don't, er, know about before," he says, "but that one was, was real."

His eyes widen.

"My ink!"

He rushes back to his chamber.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

Lord Togashi emerges, slowly and calmly, from his chamber. He carefully scans the room, nods to Jinkan, and begins to amble toward the wall, which he opens slowly to look out into the courtyard.

"Someone's unhappy," he says quietly.

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Togashi-ue, forgive me for being on the floor." Jinkan rose and sketched a deep bow as proper for the Clan Champion. He brushed his robes into a less wrinkled version of them, adjusted his kimono to show the layers properly.

"Kyufoki-kami seems to be involved." The Mirumoto said uselessly. His Champion knew the fortune of earthquakes, even the smallest child of the mountains knew them.

"Do you have any immediate orders, my lord? I asked to speak with you but in light of this..." he trailed off with a hand toward the outside.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

"It would be appropriate if someone were to extend a hand to Kyufoki to mollify his rage." He turned to look down at Jinkan. "But there is time enough for that and for you to tell me what you meant to. He will not be in a state to hear for some time, anyway."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"I think there are more than four winds, Togashi-ue. I had a dream last night, a great jewel rising off the throne and splitting into six parts. Four good and normal pieces, one slightly damaged one, and one completely rotted, fucked up one." Jinkan counted off with his fingers, his thumb being damaged and his other thumb being rotted.

"At first I thought, six pieces of the throne? Six clans, but there aren't six Great Clans, there are seven. While the Ki-rin might be missing, I would have considered them the rotted part, fallen apart long ago in the wilderness. That means we miss one if we assume it is the clans. Plus, what are the chances I have a dream about the Ki-rin over a dream about the current and rather messed up situation we find ourselves in." The Mirumoto rambled on for a bit before realizing he was speaking to his Clan Champion.

Courtesy. Uh...how to...

"Uh...I will shut up and let you get a word in edgewise, Togashi-ue. My apologies." He bowed deeply.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

Mizohachi's eyelids lowered and raised in a slow blink. "I think your initial instincts might be correct, but it is hard to know for certain. We do not know the identities of a fifth or sixth wind. We have not even heard rumors of such things. And your vision gives us other things to consider. One might well believe that the fifth and sixth winds match your rotted and your damaged shards, but there is no certainty that that is the case. We may well have a tarnished or a rotten shard with us right now, or more than one. The winds we have yet to uncover may be healthy."

He frowned deeply. "As ever with visions, we are left with more questions than we had before. But the burning away of illusions--the end of suffering--often begins with questions, so I must thank you."

He folded his hands. "And I must ask you: what is the next step?"

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Now we grab the initiative. Do you think we might use what little knowledge we have as leverage to gain some more? I can think of two people who would be interested in this sort of thing...Ikoma-ue for one. And of course, Bayushi-ue. But now that I think about it...would Ikoma-ue allow one to say they know about an heir they didn't identify in their works? And talking to spymasters, sorry I mean...very knowledgeable people, is a recipe for disaster if they decide the secrets you know are supposed to be theirs alone." The Mirumoto began pacing the floor with his hands going this way and that.

"Oh, and according to the Kasuga representative the Mantis are attempting to skirt the Imperial directive on control of gaijin goods. I suspect she is right. But does that gain us anymore insight into this issue? Probably not. Also, I suspect we are about to have another disaster. This unrest and upheaval did not turn the world upside down yet, which means there is something else coming. Probably more somethings. I need to run a divination, and our winds need to be investigated for...problems." Jinkan made a gesture for 'sky addled', the disease that struck those who climbed summits and found the air had turned against them.

"No, I am thinking too narrowly. Immediately, what needs to be done is try to save some lives. Then less immediately is to shake the trees. Shake them until something jumps out and tries to take your face off. I will need a long pole."

[Togashi Mizohachi]

Mizohachi nodded. "A very long one." He hesitated. "Lady Bayushi is not the only spymaster in town. We have options, there, if that is the road you believe that you must walk first. But the one who needs to know most is the Empress herself. She has been very reserved, lately, but perhaps she would take a meeting. Would you like to pursue that option?"

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Meet the Empress? Togashi-ue, I have never imagined getting close enough to speak to her. I am not the type of person who one would imagine gets audiences with her." Jinkan ran a finger of his scars in contemplation.

"I wonder what her bones look like up close. Wait, she isn't fond of executing people for saying...my normal things, is she?" The Mirumoto paused looking horrified before shaking his head.

"Yes, it must be done. If I die, then I die. Speaking to the Empress...how should I begin, Togashi-ue?" He visibly straightened his spine while asking.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

"First you should be patient. She may refuse us. But we will need to meet with an Imperial Officer beforehand to secure access. The cleverest of them is Hajime, but that means that he is probably a bad choice for this. Rumiko would need to check with Lady Shiba. Hachi is probably our best bet. I will write you a letter of introduction to see him. You present our case and ask for a meeting with the Empress for us. I will join you for that."

He smiled. "And in the meantime, if you should run into a spymaster who does not have the power to declare war, you may wish to ask around about why the Tortoise want us to dislike the Mantis."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"It is the way of man to want someone else's things. Though I don't know what Kasuga Izumi-sama is thinking asking me...I find I don't really care." Jinkan admitted to his Clan Champion with a straight face. He bowed as he said this last part.

"If I may, my lord. I would try to divine your future."

[Togashi Mizohachi]

Togashi Mizohachi raised an eyebrow. "My future? And why is that, Mirumoto Jinkan? It does not take a great seer to see how few days remain for Togashi Mizohachi."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Respectfully, Togashi-ue, when I was born I saw the empire in a room. When I was five I saw the empire in a castle. When I was ten I saw the empire in a mountain range. And now I am 27, and I see the empire in a hundred ri in either direction. What one thinks one sees, and the entirety of what is are not the same." Jinkan bowed once again, hoping he wasn't being too disrespectful by continuing his request.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

Mizohachi was silent for a long time.

"Well, bless me, I am intrigued. Do it."

[Mirumoto Jinkan]

"Pleass touch this for a moment." Jinkan carefully presented his kawaru bag for the Togashi to touch before reverently placing the stones and sticks in the correct order on the table. He prayed once, and then threw them, looking over the pieces as they lay.

[D3 EM] Drunken Dragon Fist, Divination/Intelligence, Void for 1k1, TN20, 5k4 | 5k4 ⇒ 30 (TN: 20)