(D4, MM) Words of Love

[Asahina Bo]

As he passes Narumi on the way in he gives her a big, comforting smile, "I'm sure you did great! Wish me luck... I'm gonna need it!" One hand absently plays with the pendant, and its prayers, around his neck.

Ignoring the knot ever tightening in his stomach Bo steels his resolve, his brow furrowing, as he prepares to present his poem.

Whether it was the Fortunes honoring his Compassion with the luck he needed, or just pure dumb chance, it seems that Bo's random choice of a poem was one beloved by Pei Pei and, while he is no poet or performer, he manages it adequately enough not to offend the benefit of the doubt that selection had extended to him. It seemed that the fates were on the big lug's side once again.

His hands slightly shaking with the nervous pressure of it all he manages to time his huge sigh of relief for when Pei Pei, and anyone else, is occupied elsewhere.

(Bo chooses approach B

Earth/Composition TN2 (Accidentally entered in roller as TN3):
D4, MM, Words of Love B: Earth/Composition Unskilled | TN: 3 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


Spending a Void Point to activate Benten's Boon Omamori to add the kept Opportunity die, Opportunity spent to reduce Narumi's Strife by 2

Bo gains an additional 3 Strife, and a Void point, due to Anxiety

Water/Composition TN2:
D4, MM, Words of Love B: Water/Composition Unskilled | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


Earth/Composition TN2:
D4, MM, Words of Love B: Earth/Composition Unskilled (Recite) | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 3


3 rolls passed.
3 opportunities used to show off.
2 opportunities used to show off on a single roll.
7 total successes.
35 Status.
39 Glory.
66 Honor.

New Strife total: 10)

[Matsu Ishioka]

Ishioka had known at some point there would be a poetry challenge. Thank the Kami he didn't have to create his own. The classics are classic for a reason, he thought with the tiniest hint of a smirk crossing his face. Let's see, which one...

When it comes his turn to present, the Lion's deep voice rolls out slowly, soothing some of the passions of the room.

Patience and kindness
Steady as the mountainside
A home safe within

It's not a very "Lion" poem, but Ishioka stands just a little taller knowing a simple soldier delivered a decent poem recitation.

---------------
D4 event, remember a classic: Comp/Earth@2. Earth 3, 0 skill | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 3


D4 event, get the voice right. Water/Comp@2. Water 3, 0 skill | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2

Water opp to clear 2 strife

D4 event, recite poem. Composition/Earth@2. 0 skill, 3 earth | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


Succeed all 3 rolls
0 opportunities showing off
Total 8 successes

[Kasuga Yoshi]

Yoshi considered himself a master artisan of words, (however delusional the idea was in reality), and a raconteur in claiming the hearts of ladies. So, of course he had brushed up on some poetry before coming to the miai. Of course, between all that...well, it didn't quite stick all that well. After all, what is remembered is because it stands out, not because it is of artistic merit. All he can remember is a dumb joke.

But it would not be the first time that Yoshi had been trained to deliver less than stellar results in a favorable light and he musters the charm that he can.

Grace personified

Yoshi begins, voice low and mysterious before it rises into a swell

I leap up to the window

He waits. A beat. Longer. Too long, and then

I meant to do that.

The joke becomes meta, tying the format of the poem into the punchline. It's not perfect, but there are a few titters from the audience.
______
Day 4 Event-Words of Love-Approach B-Generations of Poetry to Choose From -Earth/Composition-VP spent | TN: 2 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 3 / Strife: 0
Failure, 3 opportunity passed

ay 4 Event-Words of Love-Approach B-It's all about the tone -Water/Composition | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 3


Day 4 Event-Words of Love-Air For Humorous Piece -Air/Composition | TN: 2 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 5
Pass, 1 Opportunity

Rolls Passed: 2
Opportunity: 4
Opportunity on a Single Roll: 3

[Kitsuki Kiyonobu]

Presented with this challenge, Kitsuki Kiyonobu looked thoughtful before putting pen to paper. Drawing inspiration from the earlier events of the miai, he was soon scribbling away industriously, occasionally crossing out a character or rearranging their order, before copying the final result to a fresh sheet.

Finally he stepped forward to declaim his masterpiece (?), adopting a light, airy tone and pantomiming exaggerated movements:

“When spring leaves turn green,
Animals play kemari:
A strange courtship rite!
Rabbit kicks the ball with grace
Tortoise kicks, flips on its back.”

Kiyonobu took a bow after the last word and the last kick, and nervously awaited a response. The Dragon hoped he had guessed right, that the judges might have a sense of humor.

—
4MM Words of Love, write an original poem Fire/Composition TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2


4MM Words of Love, work out the kinks Air/Composition TN2
| TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


4MM Words of Love, recite original poem Air/Composition TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


3 rolls passed
1 opportunity used to show off, 1 opportunity used to reduce strife
1 opportunity on a single roll
no extra successes

[Agasha Inoshishi]

Inoshishi smiled happily. Poems are merely stories told in verse, in kanji clear and precise. While she was wordy, usually, she was sure she could both fire the mood of the audience and tell a story at the same time.

A1: Write an original poem: Fire/Composition at TN 2.
After some time pacing, completing poems and discarding them, she decided on this as her start.

“The hunt begins here
Panting, twisting, sating need.
By day, call it miai”

Original poem! Fire/Comp, Ikoma Bards Support | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


(3 successes!)

A2: Work out the kinks: Air/Composition at TN 2

Hmm, not QUITE right, too many syllables, not quite right.

“The hunt begins here
Panting, twisting, stalking, hard
Victor gains a name”

Polishing! Air/comp+void | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 3


(4 successes and an opportunity!)

Looking around, she judges that she has time to do some hasty look modifications. Keeping her green kimono with gold threading, she trades her belt for a tawny tri-belt, the three ropes echoing the Lion colors. In her hair, she places feathers of a variety of shades, Imperial greens, Shika black and white, some Crab reds, Scorpion reds and others peaking out here and there.

Recite:

As she recites her poem, her arms twine and spin. She leans and sways, telling the story of a hunter intent on his prey when he notices another hunter. They salute and hunt honorably, the victor taking all. Their quarry leads them on, goading and teasing. The poem’s motions end on a cliffhanger, the hunters nearing their quarry.

Recitation, perhaps too hot. Fire/comp, Ikoma bards! | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 2


3 successes, 2 ops!

She blushes furiously, finishing her poems and losing her nerve at the same moment. She scampers off to take a few breaths before plunging into the conversation swirling as different contestants share their poem.

All rolls passed.
3 opportunities used to show off.
2 opportunities used to show off on a single roll.
10 successes.

[Aimi]

Aimi looks positively radiant this morning, and so well appointed that she could almost be mistaken for a lady of the court. She's wearing a beautiful new kimono, one in autumnal hues of brown and orange decorated with copper leaves, and in her hair is a beautiful metal pin that graduates through all the colours of the sunset.

She is also, quite clearly, rather distracted. Her presentation is fine enough, to be sure, her choice of poem a popular if rather introspective piece made famous by a member of the Shiba in Winter Court several years ago, but her smile has little to do with the poetry and those familiar with the work are quite sure she got a couple of the words or their pronunciation not quite right.

D4 MM Generations of Poetry, Composition (Earth) | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


D4 MM Tone of the Speaker | TN: 2 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0


D4 MM Performing the Poem with Void, Composition (Water) | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


Rolls Passed: 1
Opportunity used: 3 (best 1 per roll)
Total Successes: 3

Two strife gained, negated by the earth opportunity from Raizo

[Susaki Tanabe]

Tanabe was no poet so composing an original work was right out, nor was he a scholar so finding a work took a lot of time and more than a little bit of mental strain.

Poem picked out he thought about the best approach to it, something simple and softer would be good but either way the big Otter was certainly outside of his comfort zone and the stress of preparing for his reading was causing a small ache to develop behind his eyes.

Then came time to recite and while he was used to putting on a bit of a show while doing sumai this was a little bit of a different beast those eyes on him he gave a shaky smile to Yasu as he began his reading

There was a thump
The sound of the moment when we fell
The sound that says
we can never go back to
the moment before

His delivery was spot on, despite being wracked by nerves it all fell away as he recited the words and the person who inspired the feeling. his voice rough but pleasant and carrying just the right amount of emotion.
------------------------
D4 Event B1 Earth Composition tn 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 1

D4 event B2 Water composition tn 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 4

D4 event perform! Water composition | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 5

2 rolls passed
5 opps to show off
2 opps on one roll
10 successes total
10 Strife gained

[Kuni Yasu]

Yasu seems rather pleased with today's request, thanking the parents who encouraged her to explore poetry with all its rules and complex wordplay. She smiles slightly as Murato borrows his ancestor's words, thinking that it's almost cheating a bit when you can call up ghosts for the oldest of poems.

Then again, even much less ancient poetry is pretty obscure when most copies are in Kuni libraries. Nobody comes to the Wastes to study poetry. Kuni Taruko's haiku cycle on the boundaries of love and explorations of its power as a force that cannot be controlled by invocation or ritual is something of a classic...among Kuni. Yasu recites only the first haiku and response, letting her own connection to those ancestors guide her as she breathes life into the masterful lines.

__________
D4 Event. Recite. Generations to Choose from: Earth/Composition | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 3 / Strife: 2


Success. 3 to show off. 2/10

D4 Event. Recite. All About the Tone, Water/Composition | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 3


Success and 2 bonus, 5/10

D4 Event. Recite. Recite Void/Composition, Guiding Ancestor | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 0


Success, 1, 5/10

3 rolls passed.
4 opportunities used to show off.
3: Most opportunities used to show off on a single roll.
8 total successes.
30 Status.
43 Glory.
35 Honor.

[Kitsuki Edogawa]

Edogawa wasn't a poet, but he was familiar with a number of popular works. That didn't make reciting the poem any easier.

"Like teeth sharp and white
Surrounded by softest down
They stretch to the stars"

- - -
(D4, MM) Words of Love, B: Let’s go with the classics, B1: Earth/Composition at TN 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1


Words of Love, B: Let’s go with the classics, B2: Water/Composition at TN 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


Words of Love, B: Let’s go with the classics, B3: Water/Composition at TN 2 | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 2


Rolls passed: 2
Opportunities used to show off: 2
Opportunities used to show off on a single roll: 1
Total successes: 5
Highest Status: 30
Highest Glory: 52
Highest Honor: 54

[Moshi Shizuka]

What's a poem but a song without a tune?

Ever confident, Shizuka set herself to the task of laying down some truly sick rhymes-that-didn't-actually-have-to-rhyme.

我死なば
酒屋の瓶の下にいけよ
もしや雫の
もりやせんなん

"It's about a love beyond life itself." Shizuka explains confidently afterwards.

-----

OOC:

Ware shinaba
sakaya no kame no
shita ni ikeyo
moshi ya shizuku no
mori ya sen nan

Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.

-----

D4 Words of Love, Path A, Fire/Comp TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 4


Opportunity used to mitigate Strife. +3 Strife.

D4 Words of Love, Path A, Air/Comp TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 3 / Strife: 2


Opportunities used to mitigate Strife. +0 Strife, +1 Opportunity to Show-Off.

D4 Words of Love, Path A Recite, Fire/Comp TN2 | TN: 2 | Success: 4 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2


+2 Strife.

Event total Strife: +5

Most rolls passed: 2
Most opportunities used to show off: 1
Most opportunities used to show off on a single roll: 1
Most total successes: 4
Highest Status: 30
Highest Glory: 45
Highest Honor: 60