[D2ME] Milk moon

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Void magic is for me a mystery wrapped in an enigma. I've never seen an Ishiken in action myself, but the stories about them... They're just so weirdly unique.

You see, there a are a lot of similarities between cultures all over the known world, including on the subject of magic. I've seen Rokugan shugenja, Ujik shamans and Qamarist sahirs reshape the elements in similar fashion even if their words and gestures were different. And the concept behind all these miracles also seemed to be consistent, always about asking with a lot of deference the innate forces of nature for their help.

However, nowhere in all my travels have I ever witnessed anything even resembling the reported powers of the Ishiken. Not to say I didn't hear tales about really strange magics that don't follow the usual rules. However, none of these stories matched with the depictions of the void priests' feats."

She displayed an exaggerated pout:

"Don't tell the Isawa I've said that though, they don't really need more fuel to the fire of their pride.

As for why they are none there... Maybe they don't think highly of Deer miais? I think I've seen only a single Phoenix in the whole city, it was a Shiba, and there were hints he had been sent there mainly because his tongue was too sharp for his lord's ears."

---

Going for an agenda roll instead of running after the passion in the end, since I had a passion triggered in a previous thread in the end.

D2ME | Agenda targetting Seppun Unsei | Theology/Fire | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 2

[Seppun Unsei]

"It is definitely weird, but part of me really wishes I could experience it. To commune with the nothingness that's all around." They sighed almost a bit wistfully, but then shook their head. "I should be content though since I already am able to hear the voices of the kami, something which not too many people can do in the first place."

Then they chuckled. "And no, I rarely talk to Phoenix shugenja. They're a bit too... well, as an airhead, they're even more so. Like, I thought I was bad, but then I had a course taught briefly by an Isawa and his ego put me to shame. Though, I dunno, I'd say the Shiba here is nice. I've talked to him a few times and he's not bad. A little rough, but so is everybody else."

They shrugged some and tried to stretch a bit. "I think the Deer miai was the last thing many here had expected to attend. Now, I knew it because.. stars and all... but I still would've rather been matched by an Otomo. They didn't want to deal with me though. Said my birth chart lined up with nothing and I was cursed. But! What can you do, you know."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"If the stars know of your curse, maybe they also know of a way of dispelling it? Not all fates are unavoidable.

Though none are Isawa, I think they are several other people also well-versed in the divinatory arts in town. The Kaito shrine maiden – who's also a Phoenix actually – and the Moth priest at least come to mind, but there might be others. Maybe if you worked together you could unearth a solution?"

With a gesture of the hand Mitsuki encompassed the clearing, the dice bone, the milk bowl.

"Not me though. My little tricks can predict the weather for tomorrow, but unless you somehow have Moto ancestors, the mysteries of your soul are closed down to me."

[Seppun Unsei]

"Hey, don't knock figuring out tomorrow's weather. It's always a lot more useful than people realize. After all, you don't want to plan any big event or some sort of battle when it's a thunderstorm. Stars bless you if you try and plan any festival out in a thunderstorm, aside from those set for Osano-wo-no-kami of course." They chirped happily before finally giving up and just sitting down.

"I keep forgetting that the Kaito exist, if I'm to be honest. Not that they aren't important, but they're like Soshi! People rarely remember the Soshi as part of the Scorpion." They completely ignored the moth mention. "I'm sure there are others, too. We might should plan some big meeting between all of us, but the best part? ... Don't tell any of us. Plan it, yet let us divine it as an event in our future. That would be so cool!"

It was then that they paused. "Oh, no, I have no Moto ancestry. I'm an Imperial going back... ten generations give or take. We had a Dragon marry in at that time for some reason, but after that, it's just Imperial. I think I might end up being the first one in my family to marry a non-imperial, actually."

The possibility of them marrying out of the Imperials was impossible in their mind.

[Moto Mitsuki]

"The idea is intriguing. Hiding that the meeting exists altogether might make it a bit too difficult to find for lesser seers – finding something one isn't looking for is not an easy task – but announcing that it will take place while keeping the date and the location as a mystery one has to solve to be there seems interesting. If this was a Dragon miai, I could very much imagine this as an official event sponsored by the Togashi.

Here, I guess we'll have to organize it ourselves if you're serious about this."

The talk about only marrying within the family made Mitsuki wondered a bit about the degree of inbreeding of the Seppun, but that was not certainly a thought she would vocalize. Instead, she moved to a hopefully less explosive subject:

"So... Are you planning to marry a Crane maybe? They're as close as Imperial as one can be without being an actual Imperial. Though I'm not sure we have a Doji among the candidates either..."

[Seppun Unsei]

Not so much just the Seppun family, but Imperials as a whole. There still probably was some questionable marriages, but regardless, Unsei didn't think very much on it.

"Hmm... sure. I'm serious about this. I think it could be something rather fun to do and it would be a way to test the skills of others and to test our skills as well, it would probably be good to have one of us pick the date and another pick the location, if you want to help with this, if not, then I will definitely set it up by myself because it seems a lot of people here do some type of divination and I'm sure getting together to talk about it could be tons of fun! I'll also bring some snacks, but others can bring snacks, too." They said with a wide smile before looking up to the stars and staring at them for a moment. Then they looked back to the Moto.

"For as much as I talk, I don't really care who I marry or what clan they're from. I just care if I'm marrying out. Because I'm not. They can marry into the Imperials and I'm fine with that, but I am not marrying out of my family. That's my one singular need during all of this and it should be an easy enough one to fill."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Unless there's secretly a daimyo's child among us, is there really any risk? As an imperial, you should be of higher status than anyone not wearing the chrysanthemum here, so logically they should take your name no? Am I missing some shenanigans here?"

Mitsuki only had a vague idea of how marriage negotiations worked really.

"I can try to find a good location. Even if it's less fun, probably should restrict myself to a covered place within the city walls. Not sure anyone has brought in clothes suited for the forest, and we don't an unlucky timed downpour to ruin everything.

That would still leave a lot of hiding places."

[Seppun Unsei]

"Well, I would hope there isn't some diamyo's kid here secretly. Would be weird. And yes, the natural order would be to have them marry up, but there are a few that like to defy the nature order of things." They nodded like it was the actual way of the world and oddities didn't happen often.

"But! That would make it more fun! Let them figure out what the weather would be like and make them dress for the occasion. But... I guess if you want to be nice and not have our divination tools potentially rained on, it would be nice to have some sort of shelter." They chuckled slightly, though obviously rather eager for this idea to happen.

"I'm super excited, though, actually, if it's two people making this event, would our guests still be able to figure out the details? Well, I guess since it's... " They furrowed their brows. "Oh well! It'll be fine!."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Though it would be fun for even us to only know one half of the location and the time, from a practical point of view, I'm not going to book a place for all week long. So I fear at least one of us two will have to know the full solution in advance.

And cautiousness would be on the side of the two of us knowing in full honestly. Would be weird not coming to our own event because on that day the trickster spirits of Sakkaku have decided to have their fun with us.

Since we're talking about practical details, how are we going to announce it? I didn't see a big billboard where we could simply pin a proclamation about it. Maybe we have to ask a Deer official for that?"

A funny story crawled its way back from the high depths of her memory:

"I've once heard tales of a powerful Asahina shugenja who made a thousand bird origami out of fliers for their party, then used their power to have wind spread their paper cranes through the whole city. Not sure if the Deer would appreciate that but would certainly be memorable.

I guess there's always the rumor mill otherwise. But I have no idea how to trigger it on purpose."

[Seppun Unsei]

"It would be weird not showing up to our own party, but it would be funny... in a twisted sense of the word at least. Not great, but funny." They shrugged. "However, I am always okay with being lazy and knowing all the details myself so I can look like I actually did work. I'm thinking maybe... in two or three days? Enough to get the word out and for people to scry the more important details. Time... I guess around the afternoon? THere's nothing going on then, right? The plays are all later and the events are all in the middle of the morning."

They rubbed the shin, not sure how to announce it. "The paper cranes does seem like it would be really cute, but that's a lot of paper and a lot of work. Maybe planning it with the Deer or using the rumor mill to get it out for us? Only thing is that aside from being good hosts, the Deer wouldn't get much out of this so that sort of nixes that in the bud right there."