[D4EE] A long due offering

[Moto Mitsuki]

At the frontier between day and night, they had left the road, and walked and rode int the wild. They climbed through thickets until the vegetation finally recessed to reveal a small clearing that some of them may already know about. One that could hardly be simpler, a rocky ground, barely any plant, an open sky.

The only oddities were a couple of medium stones that had obviously been moved and carried to its center, and fresh imprints on the ground revealing people had sit there for some times in the previous days.

Mitsuki left her horse at the entrance of the clearing, and crossed on foot the last steps separating her from the stones, holding reverently in both hands an unfolded blue scarf, easily longer than she was tall, and knelt before the pile:

"A humble offering to Jamsaran the red warrior, protector of the faithful and ancestor of all Moto, who watched over me during my long trip from the heart of the Burning Sands to the heart of the Aokami forest. May he keep me in his grace, and extend his blessing to all here tonight."

Then she carefully wrapped and tied the scarf around the makeshift column.

Finally she stood, clapped her hands and turned to her audience.

"Here ends the main ceremony. Here start the specifics of each family.

Some people pray silently. Some people burst into a mantra.

Some people add extra offerings, of food, of drinks, of songs, of dances, of stories.

Some even just jump back on their horse and depart, as all has been done and all has been said.

There is no right or wrong way to do it. Each one is allowed to complete the homage in their own way as long as they do it with a pure heart and with respect to the custom of the others."

[Kitsu Murato]

Murato nodded his understanding and smiled widely. "If that's the case," he moved to be able to clearly address the group.

"I offer my thanks to Jamsaran as well, for his protection. I may not have traveled as far to get here but we shared some interesting times on the road together."

He looked to Mitsuki. "Like the evening a whole family of raccoon dogs got into our things looking for food. Moto-san knew what she was doing however, and had already hidden it for the evening. But when they were running around with some of our things, well..."

It was a well told story of some of the hijinks of the evening. And when he finished he offered a bow to the scarf wrapped monument.

----

D4 EE, Performance [Water], Telling a story from Mitsuki and Murato's travel together | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 1 / Strife: 1

Success, 1 negates 1

[Seppun Unsei]

Unsei had previously been traveling around the woods, because that's what any mildly sane Seppun did almost in the middle of the night. Completely. Today, it seemed she was deciding to go around as a woman. Her long hair had been let down and put into a maiden's foxtail, light make-up adorned her face, and there was even a bit of a chest going on down there.

When she stumbled upon the ceremony, she sat far back and watched with no small amount of interest. By no means was she getting involved, but this was a learning experience to see how other cultures did things.

[Suzume Senseki]

Having received Mitsuki's invitation, the Suzume had joined her and the Lion. Greetings done at the start of the journey, for the whole of the way the Sparrow remained - perhaps surprisingly - silent, taking in the sounds of the forest, then the words and gestures of the ceremony, then Murato's story.

As it was done, he stepped forward, took a few grains of rice and wheat from his obi, and spread them over the mostly natural monument.

The words he had to say were silent, for now. To his ancestors, to Inari no kami, for keeping his family fed generation after generation despite hardships; for Jurojin no kami, for bringing his sister back to good health when she suffered.

After a respectful bow to the monument, he bowed to the Moto and the others as well. A particularly respectful bow seeing one of the Imperial mons, he introduced herself to the one he hadn't seen before. "Seppun-sama. My pleasure to meet you. Suzume Senseki", he said, simply, then breathed in and took some more time to feel the area around.

A story was in the making, of course. One a friend of his paternal aunt had told once, about how whenever one learned or saw something new, or met new people, one always learned or saw something else about what one already knew, or met new aspects of those they had already met. Something new in everything known, something known in everything new.

The story was finding its shape on his head for now, though...

... and would be told as soon as everyone finished their dues, so as not to interrupt anyone.

OOC:
D4 EE - Long due offering. Story for Agenda roll! Performance/ Earth. TN 2. | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 2 / Strife: 2
- 2 Successes/ 2 Opportunity/ 2 Strife.
2 Opportunity used to cancel 2 Strife
Success - 1 Agenda point! (Let's say targeting Kitsu Murato this time? I think it counts for only one of the people in the thread?)

[Moto Mitsuki]

"Since we're all telling stories, I guess I should expand a bit on Jamsaran's own.

Centuries ago, at the beginning of the Ki-Rin exodus, he was one of the main Ujik chieftains. A man of great violence, leading one of the most infamous troops of the Burning Sands, and quite proud of his own dreadful reputation. He had had his armor dyed red, legend as it with the blood of his enemies, and adorned with skulls, and rode the biggest and meanest horse in the land.

He had heard of the Ki-Rin's arrival in the Sands, and came to them with his little army, weapons unsheathed and asking for all their belongings. This was the beginning of time, and the Unicorn to-be was still traveling mostly on foot, so the man and his raiders towered over the newcomers.

Except for one person that was at their eye level, what shouldn't have been possible.

That's how Jamsaran met Shinjo."

Dramatic pause.

"Shinjo, being Shinjo, of course offered to discuss the whole affair peacefully. And Jamsaran's men were listening to her message.

But Jamsaran himself was too proud, and he instead had his terrified mount charge the Kami.

An instant later, Shinjo was petting the muzzle of the poor animal while Jamsaran lied on the ground, his precious armor scattered in a thousand pieces, a burning hoof-shaped mark on his forehead.

Finally realizing the error of his ways, Jamsaran prostrated himself before Shinjo and asked for her forgiveness.

Shinjo answered that she was forgiving him, but that he still needed to earn the pardon of all the others he had wronged.

Jamsaran then swore that for that moment on, he would protect travelers with the same ferocity he had previously used to attack them. And he joined the caravan as one of the first people that would eventually become the Moto.

His mortal life would end a few decades later. His promise did not. And to this day his spirit still watches over the travelers in need."

---

Since everyone's rolling for agenda...

D4EE | Agenda targeting... Suzume Senseki? | Theology (Fire) | TN: 2 | Success: 2 / Opportunity: 0 / Strife: 1

[Kitsu Murato]

Murato listens as the stories are told after his.

"A good lesson Suzume-san. Thank you," he says to the sparrow's story with a nod. "Truly your people know how to spin a tale, and it's appreciated."

After Mitsuki's he nods in appreciation. "It sounds like he was able to become something great thanks to Shinjo. Her Compassion so long ago gave us a spirit that keeps the roads a little safer even today. He is truly devoted to his duty."

[Moto Mitsuki]

"It's not to a Kitsu that I'm going to teach that death does not free you of your duties toward your family, nor of your family's duties toward you, is it? Our honored ancestors are never far away. Some simply take a more hands-on approach to things.

For example, rumor has it that the spirit of Sarangerel, the Rider of the Wind Horse, visited my mother when she was pregnant with me, and that they talked about my future. My mother never denied or confirmed the story.

If I ever get to complete my apprenticeship as a shaman, one of the first things I'll do will be asking my namesake about her version. Though, from the legends surrounding her, I'll bet she would ask me to first defeat her in a wrestling match or something similar before answering anything."

[Kitsu Murato]

He smiles at her. "I understand duty even in death, but not everyone is so capable or devoted to that duty that Emma-O gives them leave to continue performing it even after they've passed on. Most are either reborn or find a place in Yomi. Jamsaran is an exception like those great heroes that were raised as fortunes like Hida Osano-Wo or Saibankan."

He nods at the story of her own birth and potential influence on her destiny.

"Well, if I notice any great heroes riding horses of wind nearby, I will be certain to let you know." He seems legitimately earnest about that statement.

[Moto Mitsuki]

And Mitsuki was equally serious in her answer:

"Thanks. The khiimori is described as a winged horse rather than as a horse made of wind however. The name is more of a shorthand for horse who rides the wind. Haven't had the chance of meeting one myself, so that's as precise of a description as I can give.

Oh, and if great-great-etc. grandmother is indeed riding it... Try to remain out of her way. Regardless of if she passed back the gates of Erlik – Emma-O sorry – thanks to the intercession of superior power or the supplications of mortal priests, she's unlikely to appear to a non-Unicorn for a tea party. She was one of the greatest warriors of her time, and for all her many qualities, compassion was generally a virtue she left to the Shinjo to deal with."

[Kitsu Murato]

He nods at that. Though he knows that he can often see spirits even if they are hiding from the living.

When she cuts herself off from mentioning another spirit, he proffers a question. "Were you about to mention another aspect of Emma-O? Im curious about the differences and overlaps of your people's traditional worship."