(D3, MA) Hot sake in a storm

[Kuni Yasu]

"Oh...Kaiu! So he explains the stone part of the Stone Matsu? hmm?"

"Smart kind of runs in that lot. Most of them I've met do *not* suffer fools lightly either. I've a younger sister studying with them." She grins. "You were along when I found those really nice little notebooks for her. Still have them tucked away to gift at her gempukku."

The onigiri is tested, then picked up for a bite, apparently deemed cool enough for consumption. Then she sighs. "On that note...Ready to talk about what the heck happened? And is...all that...why your family's shipped you off from a solid posting to get married right now?"

[Matsu Ishioka]

Ishioka smiles again, thinking of his grandfather. "Yes, a big part of the 'stone,'" he admits. And he nods about Yasu's sister -- gifts were very important in his mind.

When she brings the focus to the main topic, he turns stony again and glares at the onigiri, not wanting to engage. But with a heavy sigh, he finally starts talking in a low voice.

"I don't know if I ever mentioned my little sister, my parents' pride and joy, Hachiko. Great athlete, great warrior, great student of all things Matsu," he says, his tone a mixture of fondness and bitterness. "My parents knew she was going to do it. The family goal: join the Lion's Pride. A prodigy like her should have. Probably should have been sent to the Topaz Championship, really, but we don't have the bloodline for that. But she was a shining star for the family. And..." He stops, only now showing some strain at telling the story.

"She, um. She came to visit me. All the way to Kyuden Hida. So I was..." He stops again, longer this time, and clearly skips past part of the story. "I, um, I got there just as it was ending. Hachiko had won, the Dragon was on one knee, bleeding, and Hachiko stepped back, lowered her sword..." The Lion's eyes look haunted, like he's seeing it happen again right now, in his mind's eye. "Um..."

Ishioka looks down at the table, and is quiet again for a time. "So, uh, we lost the great hope of the family," he says, voice sad but still matter of fact. "Now I'm the last hope."

[Kuni Yasu]

"You'd mentioned her," Yasu murmurs. They'd definitely both talked about their families over the summer, occasionally over a bottle of something rather like this. She takes a long sip of hers while wanting to yell about the powers in charge there allowing it to happen. Who was responsible? The embassy leadership? The castle's magistrates? But...that wasn't the point. Those were questions for his family to demand answers to. She could offer support where asked.

The part that dug at her friend just now was not the legal and political mess. She sets her cup down, pouring again, raising a hand to the server for another.

"That was dishonorable, and I hope he pays for it, even it it can't bring her back. But, Matsu-san...Ishioka, what is it that they're hoping for?"

[Matsu Ishioka]

Voice slightly tired, slightly incredulous, but still quiet - perhaps weighed down by impossible expectations, Ishioka speaks very candidly.

"Oh, I'm to do my best to live Hachiko's life. I can't be the Lions Pride member that makes our family credible, but I can marry status, or a woman with good blood for strong grandchildren, especially if girls run in their family - that'll give my parents great comfort." He shakes his head a little, chasing some of the emotion away. "My sisters are already married, and they have few children - mostly boys. The parents who barely paid attention to me for most of my life are now desperate for my success." Ishioka still looks largely stoic amid a swirl of heavy emotions, but it's clear the huge change in his relationship with his parents conflicts and confuses him.

[Kuni Yasu]

"I guess that sounds like a posting to Kyuden Hida's no longer g...ah...prestigious enough for them?" Yasu tries not to sound *too* judgmental about that. Then sighs. She can't mediate between himself and his parents, but... "Is success daughters or position or snagging an Imperial spouse? I know the ones I've spotted are both guys, but a mirror match lets you look around for a suitable consort. Do the astrology and divination for one that's likely to throw daughters then."

"I mean...the Deer probably won't set that up anyway if you hate them."

[Matsu Ishioka]

Ishioka takes a deep breath and relief creeps across his face as Yasu focuses on the practical side of things.

"I don't think my parents would appreciate a mirror match and additional time needed to find an appropriate consort," he says, sounding like he's considered it. "Then again, for any match at this point they will have to find a way to be happy. The alternative is losing hope or grasping at straws. I'm sure my sisters would prefer they find optimism for whatever match I find," he says matter-of-factly. He looks down at his hands and quietly says, "Their sudden interest in my life doesn't... um... entirely address past indifference."

[Kuni Yasu]

There's a faint smile at rejection of the mirror match. "Well, I assume whoever got you sent here wants a solid match for you. Your parents'll have to live with whatever that might be." Might well have been someone higher up that set this assignment, after all. "Or are they planning to reject any they don't like? That'd be pretty scandalous." She grimaces. "And yeah, that seems like attention you could do without."

[Matsu Ishioka]

Ishioka makes a face like he took a bite of slightly sour fruit. "I think... When I was home with them, after Hachiko died," he says slowly, carefully, like he's picking his way through an internal maze for the words that have become safe to use. "It seemed like they... Like they had decided that even though everything had changed, they were going to act like everything was just as it should be." He pauses, knowing that doesn't make sense. "They were going to say, 'Oh, Ishioka, named for his glorious great-grandfather, he will come home with a distinguished match, rounding out all the good accomplishments of our children.' As though..." The Lion looks around, a little exasperated even recalling it. "As though they couldn't talk at all about Hachiko, they... They had to act like all the hopes they'd pinned on her had never even happened, because they couldn't talk about having lost all of that."

He shakes his head, clearly unable to really explain. "I think they need to believe that the Deer matchmakers are the best, that I will have the best match, and that they will tell everyone it is the best match. The actual details may not matter that much," he says, considering again just how much his parents need to believe things are ok.

[Kuni Yasu]

"Ahh." That brought things clearer. "Grief takes it's own path and time and it's still really soon." A slow sip of her sake leaves space for thought. "Worried that...maybe they won't really heal if you pick up the 'wrong' match?"

[Matsu Ishioka]

The Lion, usually so imposing and unflappable, looks small for a brief time, as he brings his hands together and lets his shoulders hunch slightly.

"I worry about a lot of things, Kuni-san," he says, sad and tired. "I worry about how much I worry. But I can't..." He stops, biting his lip for the briefest moment before restoring some Stone Matsu dignity to his face at least.

"If I am wrong and they..." He stops, another thought he doesn't have the will to complete right now. "Kuni Yasu-san, if they are adrift in a sea of grief, how can I know what they will see as right or wrong? Don't I have to believe that the Deer nakodo will do right by us and I really will have my best match? Take that confidence to my parents and pray that our ancestors will help them see it? Because otherwise, I... What am I supposed to do?"