Kyuden Shika

Yasu nods once, turning slightly to rifle through her satchel for a small tin. The metal is covered all over in heavily patterned washi paper that has a feel of water to it in color and symbol. Opening it, she tips the contents into one large hand. Ishioka can see a bit of several small objects tumbling into her palm.

She closes her fingers around them and reaches across the table. "Take these, and think about what you just asked, then toss them on the table here." Dipping a finger into her sake, she traces a circle of damp on the table, then three symbols inside of it.

There's a calm certainty to her movements. "We as the future and see if you can stop worrying a bit."

Although the Lion doesn't really look like he understands, he doesn't hesitate to follow Yasu's instructions.

Making sure the small objects are secure in his large hands, he shakes them repeatedly but with very controlled movements. Inside the man's head, things are less controlled: the various paths, with likely different chances of parental acceptance, and the various miai participants he'd met and started to associate with those paths - all are swirling, moving in and out of focus. What am I to do?

With a final shake, he drops the objects into Yasu's marked circle. For a moment he looks at the scene himself, but without any comprehension. He quickly looks to Yasu to explain, an unvarnished look of hope on his face that she certainly hasn't seen recently.

Two coins of metal, one of bone, something that looks like an incredibly tiny bird's skull made of a fine black wood, two small seashells, and three small vertebrae tumble to the table. They all have symbols on them--carved in or raised or painted. Yasu examines them closely, reaching to tip the wee bird skull a bit to look at what's painted on the shell beneath it, nodding.

She taps one of the coins. "Shock. Seems about right. Everything will be colored by change as if a storm blows through it all." One large finger strokes the little bird skull. "The guide indicates that one looks to water to navigate the shock. Adapt, flow, perceive. Bend to the storm, ride out the waves."

Stirring the vertebrae a bit she notes, "things shine where you love, but only by taking a breath to regroup. All the sharp edges are sunk down, tilling fertile soil to come. But the result of that has to come in its own season."

Looking up, she pauses to see if anything strikes a nerve. The divination is meant to speak to him, after all, not her.

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Inspiration from my virtual toss of the coins. https://divination.com/iching/lookup/51-2/

Ishioka's eyes go slightly wide, and they flicker back and forth from the objects to Yasu as she interprets. The Lion's brain, unattuned to symbolism and metaphor, starts to churn around specific comments from the Kuni that he can understand.

"Shocking storm, yes," he mutters. "Ride out... ride out the waves..." he says questioningly, uncertain how broadly to apply the advice. "Does that mean at this miai, or this whole time, where the miai is just one part?" He doesn't spend long thinking about that though, as his eyes flick back to the tiny bones.

"Shine where I love? I don't..." He looks frustrated for a moment. "But I have to breathe and regroup..." The man takes a heavy but slightly ragged breath and then exhales, attempting to center himself. "And fertile soil for its own season. Hrgh," he grumbles, not the patient Lion that Yasu knows. "I don't... really think I have time for future seasons," he says passive-aggressively.

He fixes his eyes on Yasu and asks, voice stony, "Is all this just telling me to be patient and roll with the waves?"

One hand lifts, palm down, to wobble back and forth. "A bit." She taps the little skull. "Water's indicated, but hidden. So...it's indicated because of what you don't know. You can't act on the things you don't even know yet. Like...your parents' hearts or how they'll shift."

"Tilling soil speaks to foundations. Pay attention to what's really important to you. You're setting up a lot for the future with a match. I don't need these to tell me that, nor do you, Ishioka-san." She examines the pieces again for a long minute, shaking her head slightly. "I don't see anything other than the overall hexagram of 'shock' that definitely reflects your parents. I think they're part of what you don't know, and have to patiently wait to see."

She pushes his cup toward him. "What *is* important to you? What do you love?"

"I mean, maybe that's not something you want to tell random Kuni in a sake house, but that's where the reading leads."

The Lion listens with rapt attention, and then his eyes widen as he's asked about love. "Uh," is his initial response, and he does look a little relieved as Yasu gives him permission to leave the question alone. But he can't quite do that.

"Yasu-san," he says softly, not used to being informal but following her lead. "You are hardly a 'random' Kuni. You are my friend - surely my best friend here - and your counsel is much appreciated." He looks at her thoughtfully. "Perhaps while I await the hidden water," he gestures toward the objects in the circle, "or any more information at all, there is something I can do to help you?"

She chuckles. "No, I'm not really good at random. And just by being the only person here I knew from before, you're also my closest friend here. Though I like to think we were at least decent ones before too, neh?"

"I wish I had a better idea of how the Deer alchemy works so I could really ask for help being sure of a match." She smiles a bit. "I'm liking the Otter, a lot, but also haven't met a lot of the rest of the crowd. I keep feeling like...it can't be that easy. There's going to be rumors that he's like actually a wanted criminal someplace or already married at the north side of the River of Gold..."

"I guess definitely let me know if you hear that kind of rumor?"

Ishioka nods strongly to affirm they were friends before.

He chuckles, with distinctly more animation than is typical for the Stone Matsu, when she says "it can't be that easy."

"Of course, rumors will be relayed," he agrees. "Er, rumors relating to that specific individual will be relayed, just to you," he clarifies. Then he chuckles again. "This strange place, turning me into a gossip monger..." Ishioka shakes his head.

He looks at Yasu with a small smile. "You've heard about me, how things don't seem very easy right now, but maybe the big scary Kyuden Shika miai isn't actually that hard," he suggests, using a silly voice to describe the miai. "I thought it would be, and it certainly still can be, but... Maybe other things are what's hard."

Yasu absently gathers her divination tools up, smiling over them at the young Lion. "Ah, sorry to drag you into something so tawdry as gossip But I know I don't even have to ask you to find me if there's signs of something here that never should make it this far north or those who willingly embrace corruption for power."

She laughs at his description of the miai. "Tch, never thought it would be scary, just hard. And then...nobody's actually all that put off by the reputation of the Kuni, it seems. At least not here. Perhaps they trust the Deer to screen people. Well...let me know if you run across likely candidates and want some Crab opinions."

Ishioka looks at her, stone-faced but eyes incredulous. "Tawdry as gossip," he mimics as a question. "Who... Kuni-san," he says, voice low but serious, "We shouldn't discount useful information for battle because the scout's clothes aren't clean enough. We shouldn't assume it's correct, but we also shouldn't ignore it, hm?"

"And I'm glad that there's been a warm welcome for you. This is a prestigious event, so great faith in the Deer is likely, but also..." He thinks of the ronin that had been let in, and so many minor clanners. "Well, if everyone is playing nicely I'm glad."

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Can /scene at your pleasure.