[D11LA] An auspicious encounter (Open)

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki was starting to lose her patience.

She had taken her horse Avel for a ride, as she often did. And then, at a turn of a road, in a place where the woods were too thick on both sides to leave it and cut directly through the wild, a snake had suddenly decided to cross the path. Or, more exactly, to slowly crawl to the middle of it and to just stop there, head high up, now looking at her with an air of defiance.

Meeting a snake that wasn't aggressive toward you was a good omen. Several Fortunes and Sovereigns of Death used snakes as their messengers, and the message was often simply we're watching you. The watching, that snake was definitely doing a lot of it.

So. Mitsuki couldn't force her way through. Not a good idea to shove a divine presage. She couldn't get around it. Was she supposed to wait? To turn back? The signs were unclear.

So, for now, Mitsuki was starring at the snake, awaiting for a clearer answer.

As for it, the snake appeared to be enjoying the light rain.

---

Passion: Fortune-Telling (-3 strife)

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

Similarly, Moshumaru was finding his own patience waning.

Seriously, he loved her duly, but was she cursed by Benten or her own machinations? It had finally come back to bite her and, were he not there to find her, who knows what could have happened? The way she just immediately jumped back into yet another scheme was just...

Huh. Hooftracks. Wonder where these go.

With no other plan at the moment, Moshumaru followed the tracks as best he could in this weather, eventually finding a... Unicorn woman, Moto... no, not Bayarama, Mitsuki, if the rumours were true? Standing with her horse facing a snake.

Moving to a around the same distance from the snake as her (so as not to disturb...whatever she was doing), the Kitsu offered a bow - strangely, he was armoured and armed.

"Good afternoon...Moto-san, is it? I hope this afternoon finds you well."

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki broke out of her ophidian contemplation, turned and did a half bow without dismounting.

"Good afternoon Kitsu-sama."

She raised an eyebrow at his martial attire.

"Is there a problem in the vicinity?"

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

The Kitsu shakes his head.

"There was a suspected one, but it has been resolved - I just wanted to take some time to wander before I returned back."

He looked to the snake.

"May I ask why you are standing before this snake?"

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Oh. I was hoping it would simply leave if I waited for a few instants."

Mitsuki fondled the ear of her horse. Avel stroke the ground with his hoof, the vibrations of the impact visible as ripples in the numerous rain puddles nearby. The snake barely two steps away didn't flinch.

"But as you can see, this is quite the phlegmatic serpent.

At this point, I'm wondering if this is just an unlucky coincidence, or if Benten is warning me not to go any further today."

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

The Kitsu squatted, not moving forward but eyeing the snake with some curiosity.

"I admit I am unversed in divination, so if you say it's an omen I'm inclined to believe it. I wonder, however - perhaps the snake wants something?"

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Snakes are associated to a lot of divine beings: Benten, sometimes other Fortunes as well, and of course the Celestial Dragons. But they also have their own will so... It's always complicated with snakes. And foxes. And crows. And, in these woods, deer. All the sacred animals really. But as a Kitsu I guess you're at the very least as well-versed in the subject than me, and I'm just playing lady obvious here.

Assuming a mundane explanation, I think we can rule out that it's thirsty under such weather.

If it's hungry, I don't exactly have a dead mice in my saddle for it. Though I guess I could dismount and shoot down a rabbit for it if it really comes to that."

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

The Kitsu nods, not challenging the Moto's words.

"Hmm - I might have some dango on me. I know it is not usual Snake food, but perhaps as an offering?"

[Moto Mitsuki]

"If you're ready to sacrifice them, worth a try I would say. Are you used to deal with such issues yourself?"

[Kitsu Moshumaru]

"Not exactly - instead, my work is more with the recently deceased. I write obituaries on behalf of the Ikoma libraries."

Extracting some dango and a sheet of seaweed to keep it dry, he floats the treat along a small puddle towards the snake.