[D1EE] Searching for the place where the earth meets the sky (Open)

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Sure. Do we wish to ride with me or would you rather walk swiftly? Avel is easily strong enough to carry the both of us for some time, though he will require a few apples as payment back in the city."

The horse looked at the Sparrow right into the eyes like he had perfectly understood the whole conversation and dared the man to cheat him of his reward.

"I promise he will be a good boy and won't try to throw you down. You'll still have to sit directly on the numnah though."

[Suzume Senseki]

"Sure. Do we wish to ride with me or would you rather walk swiftly? Avel is easily strong enough to carry the both of us for some time, though he will require a few apples as payment back in the city."

The horse looked at the Sparrow right into the eyes like he had perfectly understood the whole conversation and dared the man to cheat him of his reward.

"I promise he will be a good boy and won't try to throw you down. You'll still have to sit directly on the numnah though."

"Oh!", the sparrow exclaims, excitement in his eyes even as he waves his hand in dismissal. "I wouldn't want to impose, Moto-sama! And I'm used to walking, as you probably imagine. But if Moto-sama and aueru-san are willing... I'll be glad to see that an apple reaches your noble friend!", he says, a smile not quite hidden on his lips.

"Seems like there's much I'll learn today!", he then says, somewhat excitedly. "Maybe I can share a story my parents told me while we go? About how the more we think we learn, the more we find we don't know..."

[Moto Mitsuki]

Mitsuki had her mount move forward one stride and a half to close the little distance that was separating her from Senseki and offered him a hand to help climb up the horse.

"Why not? Let's see if you're one of these storytellers of legend that manage to time their stories so well they start exactly at the beginning of the ride and end exactly when the destination comes into sight."

[Utaku Kheree]

.

.

"Oh , be greeted fellow Samurai." she says and offers a half bow that can easily be done on horse
" Utaku хэрээ hailing from Hyōzenshō , where the plans meet the mountains of the dragons. I had decided to take some fresh air and nature before I am to sit in court. And I am willing to offer my aid as while I am not a priest , I at least know some things about asking for aid.
And Sparrow.san think about it like a shrine to a kami, not a shrineto the . One made by nature and the presence of one if you allow me to explain it in this manner in more familiar terms Moto-san, and we three shall help you there, even if someone has been a bit grumpy this morning "she says while her raven caws loudly, and one might say mockingly for a moment , before it glides over to take a look at them.
" One always wonders why the stories are never thrown of by the speed of the steed, but then all short mane ponies tend to be slow, and if you have time to look at those two , my dear friend, you also got time to fly up and aid us in a search."

ooc: slight ribbing there because mongolian and so unicorn horses tend to have longer manes, and that feels apropriate as a diss of traditional ponies.
Also хэрээ is a variant of the word for raven.

[Suzume Senseki]

The Suzume bowed respectfully to the other woman, a kind, unassuming smile on his lips again. "Pleased to meet you, Utaku-sama. From your descriptions, I trust I'll enjoy this sort of nature-temple. Makes me wonder why it's not something more common, even - the spirits of the earth and nature are as important as Inari no kami in keeping us up and fed, after all, ne?"

Accepting Mitsuki's help to mount after greeting the horse with a gentle nod, he thanks her, then after some silence he nods at them both. "Well.. my people may not be known for the exact timing of our stories, but we have many a story to tell, and I like to think there's a lesson to be learned from each one, ne?"

And then he starts the story...

a young boy was convinced he knew everything he'd ever need to know at the tender age of 13. He kept like that, certain and proud, until he was challenged to a contest of riddles by a rock as he walked through a field. The boy asked the rock a silly riddle he'd heard from his sensei, which the rock readily answered, and then it was the rock's turn.

'Why am I what I am, and not what I am not?', the rock asked, and the boy seemed lost. When he looked again, the rock was gone and he heard a distant laughter... and when he tried to walk, he stumbled on what seemed like a pile of rocks placed atop his feet. What was that rock?, the boy thought, and he noticed he didn't know everything.

After that, the boy became much less entitled... but he also lost much of his confidence. His teachers noticed he was much more careful and much wiser, but they wondered if he'd lost his sense of purpose, or his sense of wonder. I'll never know everything I need to!, the boy now thought to himself, but he refrained from saying that to anyone else.

Years later, shortly before his gempukku, his sister saw him sitting in the garden, downcast, looking at a rock. She came towards him, smiled, touched his shoulder lightly and asked why he'd become so cast down over the last few years. 'Onee-san... does it not trouble you? We'll never even know how much we don't know', he answered, raising his eyes slightly to her.

When he got to this point, they could already see a raised area with a clearing ahead. As he said, the Sparrow's stories were not well known for their timing... but they could hopefully have something of interest, regardless. "Ah, so I wasn't mistaken after all!", he said. Then, as the horses trotted the remaining distance, he excused himself and asked if he could take some more minutes to finish the story. "So..."

The sister went around him, sat down on the ground and smiled. 'But isn't it a wonder that there's always so much to discover?', she said, then pointed to a tree far from home. 'If you always knew what you'd find, would you ever want to look?', she said. He kept looking at the tree for some time, then shook his head. When he looked back to meet her eyes, his lips about to smile, he found nothing in front of him, and heard an eerie laughter.

'Why am I what I'm not, and not what I am?', his sister's voice asked... and the boy laughed as well. 'You are what you are... hard as you may be', he said, smiling, and he remembered to carefully remove the pile of rocks that covered his feet before getting up to go inside and heat some tea for his sister and his parents.

He fell silent, then, and kept silent until the time came for them to dismount. When he did, he finally nodded at both of them. "I remember I liked this one. It made me thought at times... and laugh at others. I hope it hasn't bored you!"

OOC:
Earth/ Performance vs TN 2 - Parents' story about how there's always something new to learn. Sparrow PR! | TN: 2 | Success: 0 / Opportunity: 3 / Strife: 0
- 3 opportunity, no successes... :p

I'd say use 1 opportunity to allow one of the others in the scene to remove 2 strife (Earth, pg 328), and 2 opportunity to " Suddenly recall an important piece of information not directly related to the task"? Does that work?

[Saibankan]

I'd say use 1 opportunity to allow one of the others in the scene to remove 2 strife (Earth, pg 328), and 2 opportunity to " Suddenly recall an important piece of information not directly related to the task"? Does that work?

Yup!

[Utaku Kheree]

[Suvival+water to make my raven guide us towards a appropriate rock formation ]
[Fire and Courtesy to make a good impression for the agenda ]
Steed of the Kami (School Ability): When you make a check to handle, calm, or instruct an animal or beast, you may negate a number of [Strife] results equal to your school rank.
d1 EE Poking my bird into finding rocks | TN: 2 | Success: 5 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 4



Fire+courtesy Agenda roll D1 EE | TN: 2 | Success: 3 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2

[Moto Mitsuki]

[...]

Mitsuki jumped off her horse and helped the Sparrow dismount in turn.

"That was a nice story Suzume-san even if I must admit it let me a bit confused about who was who and who was what.

It reminds me a bit of the legend of Tara the Green, she who banishes both misplaced pride and crippling doubt, an especially revered Lord of Death."

She stopped for a second, pondering.

"Lady of Death might be more appropriate maybe? The old Ujik weren't very good at gender neutral terms, but there's no reason to repeat their mistakes.

Regardless, the Sovereigns of Death are the ancestors of the current Moto people whose lives were so exceptional they ascended to divinity after their death. Exactly like the Fortunes. Except different. They're closer to the honored ancestors as the Lion conceive them. Except different."

Mitsuki's explanation lingered in pure confusion for a few more instants before she finally decided to cut it short, aware it was going in circles.

"In any case, the place indeed seems proper for what I have to do." she added while retrieving a flask of sake from her saddlebag. "High up, low on vegetation and animal, and, the most important, never touched by any human tool."

---

D1EM | Agenda roll targetting Suzume Senseki (Theology/Fire) | TN: 2 | Success: 1 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1


Agenda failure. Using the Opportunity to cancel out the Strife.

Mitsuki has no strife yet so I'll happily let Utaku Kheree take the story bonus effect.

[Suzume Senseki]

Mitsuki jumped off her horse and helped the Sparrow dismount in turn.

"That was a nice story Suzume-san even if I must admit it let me a bit confused about who was who and who was what.

It reminds me a bit of the legend of Tara the Green, she who banishes both misplaced pride and crippling doubt, an especially revered Lord of Death."

She stopped for a second, pondering.

"Lady of Death might be more appropriate maybe? The old Ujik weren't very good at gender neutral terms, but there's no reason to repeat their mistakes.

Regardless, the Sovereigns of Death are the ancestors of the current Moto people whose lives were so exceptional they ascended to divinity after their death. Exactly like the Fortunes. Except different. They're closer to the honored ancestors as the Lion conceive them. Except different."

Mitsuki's explanation lingered in pure confusion for a few more instants before she finally decided to cut it short, aware it was going in circles.

"In any case, the place indeed seems proper for what I have to do." she added while retrieving a flask of sake from her saddlebag. "High up, low on vegetation and animal, and, the most important, never touched by any human tool."

Senseki gives Mitsuki a bit of an apologetical look as she mentions the confusion, and the Moto seems to have his full attention as she tries to explain who these Lords (or Ladies) of Death are. He seems to try and commit the names and the comparisons to mind... even if at some point his eyes look a bit lost.

"I think I understand... some of it, Moto-sama. The concept of a naturally occurring shrine to the Fortunes, or to the Ancestors, or to these... Fortune-Ancestors, though, it's a very interesting one!" He looks at the area they're in, trying to take in the positions of the stones, the view of the landscape, the sounds and smells. "But then... do you... do something for it to be one of these shrines?", he asks, looking at Kheree and Mitsuki in turn. "I... suppose not, since not being touched by human tools is important? But then... it is already a shrine, just undiscovered? Or... does the discovery make it a shrine?"

[Moto Mitsuki]

"The practice comes from the Ujik, that are nomadic people and thus cannot perform their religious duty in the same temple every week. So the idea is not so much to find a perfect place, but a good enough place not too far from your camp. Hence the shrines that nature has gifted us.

The custom requests to leave an extra stone at the center of the place you use as a thanks to the spirits."

Mitsuki grabbed a medium-sized rock outside the clearing proper as she talked, and indeed only moved it by a few steps, dropping it soon after at the rough middle of the clearing.

"This gesture also serves another purpose. In the most popular places, the stones eventually pile up to form a majestic mound, and when the mound has become big enough, you know the place is truly special and not just a trick of fate.

That's how you build an odo. With a bit of chance and a lot of patience."

She uncorked the sake bottle and dropped a good deal of it on the ground.

"Another Ujik custom is that after a long trip, you should thank your ancestors for having kept you safe by offering them a drink."