Why can't we be friends? (D13 EM, Open)

[Suzume Senseki]

The duelling test from the day before, and some of its results, frustration and outbursts had definitely kept the Sparrow thinking for the whole of the day - and it hadn't left his head when he woke up.

The thinly veiled violence and aggressiveness it showed in a number of cases not only was at odds with his experience and lessons with Yoshie-sensei... it also made his mind go back to some of the conversations he had in the last days. The apparent disputes over one - or some - of the participants, and how there was also some sort of violence hidden behind a thin façade there. And then... the threat of a war.

It wasn't a war that should affect him... Hopefully, at least. And if he were to stay with the Sparrow. Which was of course something that stressed him a fair bit.

But the thought of there being apparently no way to avoid that sort of fraternal violence, as his conversations with Mitsuki suggested... it hurt him. It hurt him badly.

It didn't even have anything directly to do with him, and he felt... weak for that. But it still hurt... especially now as he thought of the actual faces of the Lion and Unicorn he had met at the Miai.

To think they might be facing one another in a battlefield soon... to think of their blood covering the fields...

... it hurt. He kept trying to remember any story that might make him feel better about that... but it only hurt.

OOC:
3 Strife taken, 1 VP gained!

[Kitsu Murato]

One Lion face he had seen a few times appeared at the temple. Murato went through some lengthy prayers to Musubi, Benten and Kisshoten. Eventually he would finish, rise and look around a bit. Noticing the Sparrow he approached and nodded.

"Suzume-san, a pleasure to see you this morning," he says with a nod.

[Suzume Senseki]

One Lion face he had seen a few times appeared at the temple. Murato went through some lengthy prayers to Musubi, Benten and Kisshoten. Eventually he would finish, rise and look around a bit. Noticing the Sparrow he approached and nodded.

"Suzume-san, a pleasure to see you this morning," he says with a nod.

The Suzume bows low to Murato when he sees him. "Likewise, Kitsu-sama. I hope Inari-no-kami has been kind to you?" He then falls silent for a while, but then speaks again.

"I believe our time here must be almost at an end, from what some comments say..."

[Kitsu Murato]

"The schedule of events suggests that as well," he replied with a chuckle. "Holding a festival within a festival would suggest some sort of finale to me."

[Suzume Senseki]

"The schedule of events suggests that as well," he replied with a chuckle. "Holding a festival within a festival would suggest some sort of finale to me."

Another nod. "Un... you're right there."

He then looks at the Dragon again, and gestures to the ground besides him, as if asking if he could take a place besides him.

"Would you say you've... found what you were looking for here, Kitsu-sama?", he asks, still standing. "Or... found a direction for the future?"

[Kitsu Murato]

"I've found much here. My heart is settled where it was not previously. But I don't know if I was looking for that as much as moving towards it unknowingly," he says with a shrug as he sits beside the Sparrow.

"What about yourself?"

[Suzume Senseki]

"I've found much here. My heart is settled where it was not previously. But I don't know if I was looking for that as much as moving towards it unknowingly," he says with a shrug as he sits beside the Sparrow.

"What about yourself?"

The Sparrow nods at the Kitsu, thoughtfully. "I suppose you could say something similar. In fact... I also came to notice I hope to return home. I did not really consider the prospect of a life outside Sparrow lands seriously before coming here... and while here, I noticed it would take some effort. A new master, a new land, a new set of customs. But then..."

He looks up, and he seems somewhat dreamy-eyed. "I think I also came to terms with the fact that depending on how it happens... it might be a good future, too."