(D4, EM) Seeking the Unbound (Open)

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi stood facing the painting, her mind riffling through the roller deck of information she had contained over the years trying to think. She stole a glance the guards who was watching them, and shook her head. "It's complicated and I don't want to say till I've gained a bit more knowledge, should I say and the information is wrong I would perhaps suffer consequences that I don't rightly wish to have."

She looked at the Otter dead in the eye, and with a flicker of her fan mouthed a word the indicated why she wanted to be careful. Imperial

Koi took a deep breath, and whispered. "Now, I need just a moment please stay where you are Susaki-san ..."

Koi raised her hand, holding bottle of sake as she began to pray quickly and quietly to herself using the bulk of the Otter to hide her small slight build.

By the power of the circle, I draw you in flow and swift pull the water to me,
Weaver of tales with sight to perceive the truth in ways we never will know,
Properties and stories lurk in tales untold and unknown but with your will they are revealed.
Power of circle, round and round and round I seek your guidance to reveal your knowledge...

D4 EM: Casting Reflections of Pan Ku on the Painting with the missing woman. Water/Theology. School ability. Proper Offerings. | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0

[Kuni Yasu]

Yasu, offers acknowledging nods to the Unicorn as they draw near. But knowing full well the concentration that communing with the spirits requires, keeps her attention on the flat surfaces around the painting and Koi, her right hand never drawing a particular scroll into her hand. The bamboo dowel it's rolled onto notched in a pattern her fingers recognize without looking.

[Kaikoga Fujiko]

Fujiko was hurrying to the gallery, a sheet of paper firmly held in her hands. She'd been woken by a nightmare and had no real recollection of actually painting what was on the crumpled image she held in a tight grip. Her eyes passed from painting to painting as she walked through the hallways.

Not that one, not this one...

Eventually, she reached a group that was standing in front of a particular, empty picture. She glanced down at her fingers, the tips of which were coloured by ink that hadn't had the time to dry and that had seeped from what she'd painted in her hurry to reach that place.

Yes, it was the same as what she'd seen. All those samurai standing in front of a void. But her painting didn't show all that her nightmare had shown; no, she knew. She knew what was waiting in the unpainted margins, what was waiting outside of the shots. She just didn't have enough red paint to show it all, or the heart to bring it into the world.

"Koi-nee-sama, you've seen it as well, haven't you?" she asked as soon as she saw her cousin was done with her ritual, knowing better than to disturb someone who was entreating with the kami.

[Kaikoga Koi]

Fujiko was hurrying to the gallery, a sheet of paper firmly held in her hands. She'd been woken by a nightmare and had no real recollection of actually painting what was on the crumpled image she held in a tight grip. Her eyes passed from painting to painting as she walked through the hallways.

Not that one, not this one...

Eventually, she reached a group that was standing in front of a particular, empty picture. She glanced down at her fingers, the tips of which were coloured by ink that hadn't had the time to dry and that had seeped from what she'd painted in her hurry to reach that place.

Yes, it was the same as what she'd seen. All those samurai standing in front of a void. But her painting didn't show all that her nightmare had shown; no, she knew. She knew what was waiting in the unpainted margins, what was waiting outside of the shots. She just didn't have enough red paint to show it all, or the heart to bring it into the world.

"Koi-nee-sama, you've seen it as well, haven't you?" she asked as soon as she saw her cousin was done with her ritual, knowing better than to disturb someone who was entreating with the kami.

Koi tilted her head as the sake bottle vanished from her hand, and shook her head.

"It's certainly not magical now." She murmured to herself. "It's name is concerning "Portrait of Crushed Carnation" it was made by Shika Muneyaki everything else about it is mundane." Koi seemed frustrated, and stepped away from the painting trying to wreck her brain hard.

She remember the dreams, about the nights before.

Koi stopped as she suddenly noticed her cousin appearing next to her. "What did you see? What did you paint?" She asked, her tone serious, and filled with the authority of an older relative - you were facing a Koi that could be if she had perhaps been raised better.

[Kaikoga Fujiko]

Fujiko showed her painting to Koi. If you ignored the few stains caused by her holding it before it had finished drying, it was a piece that could have been beautiful if it hadn't been done so quickly. An evocative, semi abstract painting that showed several samurai - the very people present at the moment - standing around a void that represented the painting. Yet, despite Fujiko's fears, and the red web that surrounded them from within and without the empty square, it didn't evoke any malice. No, it was full of melancholy and fear, of a chance of losing someone you held dear.

When she first saw it, Fujiko had panicked and thought of a curse, or grudge, that would strike the people assembled here - or rather, that would lead to her losing her dearly beloved cousin - but now in her calming presence, she had to rethink it. The red web likely didn't signify a trap or a predator like she had thought, but was formed of the red thread of fate that the Fortunes used to link two lovers, and in her painting, those threads were separated. And so, the samurai present could mean that they had a chance to bring them together again, or to stop separating them.

Still, Fujiko was not serene. Yes, it was a fear of losing a long lasting love, and the chance to avert that... but if she looked at the composition of the image, wouldn't that mean the samurai would have to disappear for that to happen?

"I... I think it represents an old relationship that is fraying, or that is in danger, and perhaps an opportunity to avert it?" Fujiko said her interpretation. "But I fear there will be a cost, there always is one, and... well, if that painting represents the past, we might represent the present or the future. And in that case, it is quite clear what needs to be sacrificed to reattach those threads..."


The mysterious case of the murderpainting (void 1, aesthetics 3, void point) | TN: 1 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 1

[Kaikoga Koi]

Koi looked at the painting with tight eyes, like her concern was growing but the painting itself seemed oddly unconnected to the situation. Disjointed. Each dream she had was connected to the same element. Imperial. Scorpion. Bad luck.

Koi glanced at her cousin with a look of kindness before turned back to the painting. "Its quite possible that you dream mean that. Where did you dream that, Fujiko-chan? In the Inn?"

She bent down, and picked up the flowers from the painting delicately with her fan. Desperately not touching the petals and seemed to inspect them.

"Look at the petals that actually come from the portrait." Koi said to the gathering bushi before she stops as the Unicorn arrives.

D4 EM. What these flower mean? Earth/ Aesthetics. Void. | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2
- 1 Void Point.

"Yasu-san you are more attuned to the earth kami, could you see what they say about these plants? Are they just situational or magical in some element?" She asked before she froze on the spot. "These arent the same in that painting, similar but a more local variety like the kind found outside. Too far to blow in here though, gotta be placed. They all have two flowers in the painting - one she is holding and the crushed one except the last one only the crushed one remains."

The Moth seemed to be transfixed by lantern, the lantern in turn seemed to be the Unicorn that joined the room and Koi felt her heart begin to hammer. Fuck, its her. She's fucking real?

Koi looked up Yasu and Fujiko a look that said. Back me up please. Koi rose. "Good morning, Unicorn-sama."

[Utaku Kheree]

Koi looked at the painting with tight eyes, like her concern was growing but the painting itself seemed oddly unconnected to the situation. Disjointed. Each dream she had was connected to the same element. Imperial. Scorpion. Bad luck.

Koi glanced at her cousin with a look of kindness before turned back to the painting. "Its quite possible that you dream mean that. Where did you dream that, Fujiko-chan? In the Inn?"

She bent down, and picked up the flowers from the painting delicately with her fan. Desperately not touching the petals and seemed to inspect them.

"Look at the petals that actually come from the portrait." Koi said to the gathering bushi before she stops as the Unicorn arrives.

D4 EM. What these flower mean? Earth/ Aesthetics. Void. | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2
- 1 Void Point.

"Yasu-san you are more attuned to the earth kami, could you see what they say about these plants? Are they just situational or magical in some element?" She asked before she froze on the spot. "These arent the same in that painting, similar but a more local variety like the kind found outside. Too far to blow in here though, gotta be placed. They all have two flowers in the painting - one she is holding and the crushed one except the last one only the crushed one remains."

The Moth seemed to be transfixed by lantern, the lantern in turn seemed to be the Unicorn that joined the room and Koi felt her heart begin to hammer. Fuck, its her. She's fucking real?

Koi looked up Yasu and Fujiko a look that said. Back me up please. Koi rose. "Good morning, Unicorn-sama."

She looked a bit sleep, even if some concern seemed to start to appear. " good morning Moth-sama, I would ask if this morning finds you well, but by the gathering and movement, it appears that something has agitated all of you?"

[Kuni Yasu]

"Yasu-san you are more attuned to the earth kami, could you see what they say about these plants? Are they just situational or magical in some element?" She asked before she froze on the spot. "These arent the same in that painting, similar but a more local variety like the kind found outside. Too far to blow in here though, gotta be placed. They all have two flowers in the painting - one she is holding and the crushed one except the last one only the crushed one remains."

The Moth seemed to be transfixed by lantern, the lantern in turn seemed to be the Unicorn that joined the room and Koi felt her heart begin to hammer. Fuck, its her. She's fucking real?

Koi looked up Yasu and Fujiko a look that said. Back me up please. Koi rose. "Good morning, Unicorn-sama."

The very local nature of the flowers was actually somewhat reassuring. The thing Yasu had foremost in mind would have emerged with the actual flower in the painting. "Local flowers seem more like something of this world playing tricks. Or at least one of the spirits that tend to operate in a more solid fashion."

So she releases the scroll her fingers had found, finding the other one she wanted by touch, then digging a bit for a small packet marked with blessings. As she unwraps the small packet to scoop out pinches of the salt within, she adds, "please stay alert though, it takes some concentration to call the kami to share what they know. Those things that might actually move from a painting? They can be hard to see as they fade back into other flat surfaces." And there are currently so many targets in the hall.

She looks up from her preparations to Tanabe, expecting the bushi to understand. The Unicorn bushi might too, but certainly didn't have the familiarity for the significant glances technique to be particularly useful.

Scattering the small crystals from the packet across the petals and along the floor, she chants to awaken the slow kami of earth...or more likely the slumbering earth within all the nearby lumber of the hallway. There's a heaviness to the words as the invocation progresses, the priest aligning into her element, feeling the taste of limestone and polished wood on her tongue grow stronger with every word.

_______-
D4 EM, Commune for Spiritual Knowledge. Earth. | TN: 1 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0


Asking the earthy ones how these petals came to be in this hallway, ripped from their flower.

[Saibankan]

"Yasu-san you are more attuned to the earth kami, could you see what they say about these plants? Are they just situational or magical in some element?" She asked before she froze on the spot. "These arent the same in that painting, similar but a more local variety like the kind found outside. Too far to blow in here though, gotta be placed. They all have two flowers in the painting - one she is holding and the crushed one except the last one only the crushed one remains."

The Moth seemed to be transfixed by lantern, the lantern in turn seemed to be the Unicorn that joined the room and Koi felt her heart begin to hammer. Fuck, its her. She's fucking real?

Koi looked up Yasu and Fujiko a look that said. Back me up please. Koi rose. "Good morning, Unicorn-sama."

The very local nature of the flowers was actually somewhat reassuring. The thing Yasu had foremost in mind would have emerged with the actual flower in the painting. "Local flowers seem more like something of this world playing tricks. Or at least one of the spirits that tend to operate in a more solid fashion."

So she releases the scroll her fingers had found, finding the other one she wanted by touch, then digging a bit for a small packet marked with blessings. As she unwraps the small packet to scoop out pinches of the salt within, she adds, "please stay alert though, it takes some concentration to call the kami to share what they know. Those things that might actually move from a painting? They can be hard to see as they fade back into other flat surfaces." And there are currently so many targets in the hall.

"Placed by the one who bore the portrait." comes the voice in Yasu's mind like stone moving over stone.
She looks up from her preparations to Tanabe, expecting the bushi to understand. The Unicorn bushi might too, but certainly didn't have the familiarity for the significant glances technique to be particularly useful.

Scattering the small crystals from the packet across the petals and along the floor, she chants to awaken the slow kami of earth...or more likely the slumbering earth within all the nearby lumber of the hallway. There's a heaviness to the words as the invocation progresses, the priest aligning into her element, feeling the taste of limestone and polished wood on her tongue grow stronger with every word.

_______-
D4 EM, Commune for Spiritual Knowledge. Earth. | TN: 1 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 0


Asking the earthy ones how these petals came to be in this hallway, ripped from their flower.

"Dropped by the one who bore the portrait" comes the reply in Yasu's mind in a gravelly voice.

[Kuni Yasu]

There's some relief in the answer for her at least. Kumori no Oni don't carry their own frames about. She take a breath to clear the gravel from her own throat. "Someone bore both flowers and painting here."

Quietly, she tidies scroll and supplies away.. "I'm not sure how that aligns with dreams and omens though, minna-sama." With so many here that she didn't know, the extra politeness seemed appropriate.