Sapphire Ambassadors

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:54 pm

Hatsuki sat out on the tea house's covered deck once again, this time the chai blend on hand and a few snacks, now that people were done taking revenge for something that never happened on a poor, innocent teahouse. She liked this teahouse. Bastard, whoever was behind it. She took a bite from one of the snacks slightly aggressively.

Still, she couldn't resist the ambience of the warmly-lit inside with the darkness, interrupted by only a few lanterns outside. It made her want to create.

Then she turned to her current project. It was another plaster mask on the stand like the one earlier today. This one was painted the closest she could get to her skin color with black along the top and sides and a bit of blue cloth behind it for her eyes. Next to her, her kit was out with brushes as she tried different things with it.

Tomorrow had to be exceptional. She'd kept slow and steady until now, but that wasn't going to put her over the edge. Tomorrow was... probably going to be all or nothing, so she had to practice.

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:12 am

Hatsuki looked up. Her tea was suddenly gone, in the hands of a... Phoenix? Yes, a Phoenix.

She just listened with an amused expression, eyebrows rising slowly as he rambled to whoever he was intending to talk to.

She glanced at the mons on his kimono. Isawa.

"'This woman' is Shosuro Hatsuki. Pleased to meet you, Isawa-san." -san? Probably. It was safe unless he was some major person. She poured some more tea for herself and asked for another cup. "Would you like some snacks? They're excellent here."

"Dare I ask what is the 'it' that was so accurate?"

Isawa Kojiro wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:26 am

Kojiro looked up suddenly, as if vaguely surprised that the tea pot had started talking.

"Hm....oh, Hi Shosuro-san. I am Isawa Kojiro of the Fukanou Institute. As to snacks....sure, it'd help chase away the memory of that disagreeable man." he said.

"Ah, of course, Shosuro-san, of course. we were discussing divination. Doji-san asked me if I could tell anything about his new bride, and so I read his tea leaves and told him that she was sleeping with the stableboy, and the two intended to murder him and throw his body into the sea. And does he thank me for warning him about this gruesome fate in the making? No! He just babbled on and on about how I must be wrong, because she truly loved him and blah blah blah. Can you imagine? Me! Isawa Kojiro! Wrong! It's absurd!"

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 12:50 am

She moved the plate of snacks between them and set aside the mask she had been diligently putting makeup on. Chai went into the fresh cup and soon appeared beside him, as well.

"Well, they say love is blind. It's unfortunate that it may get poor Doji-san murdered and thrown into the sea," she mused. "I take it you being wrong is a rare state of affairs? Your divinations tend to come true? I shall have to see about acquiring a proper rival in the next three years."

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:11 am

Though I suppose I technically have a rival...

She shook off the thought as she listened to the definitely-always-right Isawa.

"Ah, Doji Yoshino-san? Whatever did the great spiritual threat turn out to be in the end? A few of the patrons at the inn were woken by the ruckus surrounding all that a few nights ago," she asked. "You know, it's an advantage for her to go up there, in a way, rather than where she expects. I imagine summers farther north with the ocean along one border are quite a bit more moderate than the south."

She'd probably get mad if I started calling her Curse-chan. It would be awfully funny, though.

Isawa Kojiro wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:33 am

Kojiro nodded.

"Ahhh, you have a sharp mind, Shosuro-san, sharp like a spearhead striking at the most important part of the beast of conversation. So, surprising no-one familiar with the matter, it was a gaki. But not just ANY gaki. You see, contrary to common horror stories where gaki are always eaters of flesh and blood, there's gaki that feed on any number of things. Harmless ones feed on things like music or perfume. The dangerously violent ones feed on flesh, blood and bone."

He took a moment to pop another snack.

"T%his one is as rare as it is insidious. It's known as the Thief of Inspiration, for that is what it feeds upon. It visits artistically minded folks and over the course of days drains from them inspiration itself."

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:06 am

She clapped her hands together lightly as if finally putting the pieces together. "I see... Something was drawing it to Cu-" She cleared her throat a moment. "Ah, Doji-san, that is, especially. However, if I were to hazard a guess, I would say that, lacking its favorite treat, as it were, it will be drawn to others it can feed on?"

She leaned back and looked out into the darkness. "Hmm. The more time goes on, the more I feel like I should learn more about spiritual matters."

Isawa Kojiro wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:44 am

The Isawa nodded enthusiastically.

"Exactly right, exactly right, Shosuro-san." he agreed happy to have someone interested in the subject. "But the really diabolic thing about this one is how it gets from gaki-do to here and back. From what I gathered, suspicion fell upon a picture in curse-chan's room early on, but that way of thinking is too limited! Any art can serve as the portal between worlds for it, be it a picture or a book! Though scholars DO dentate the full extent of this ability. It would seem that the portal has to have a physical form, you can't sing the gaki in to existence. But I really do wonder, given the sheer variety of art gathered here what the gaki might be able to travel through were it still unvanquished."

He looked over at the Shosuro's makeup dummy.

"It would be quite a story if it could travel throughy makeup, ne?"

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 8:13 am

She took a sip of tea and a snack for herself as she listened. Fortunately, both were finished once he was, leaving her free to reply.

"Fascinating," she said, genuinely engaged in the topic. "Well, your implication was that the gaki was a rare... subtype, I suppose you'd say, but not necessarily unique. You may get the chance to study the phenomenon in the end if Doji-san tends to draw them as part of whatever curse is affecting her. You vanquished the one here, I gathered."

She glanced to the mask, as well.

"Well, I don't see why it wouldn't. Makeup is, in the end, just a painting on someone's face, functionally no different than a canvas for a being like that."

Isawa Kojiro wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:36 pm

Kojiro washed down the snacks previously popped.

"Oh yes, the day was saved, thanks to me. The artists of the town can sleep easily once more. Not that any praise of such is publicly forthcoming. It's the problem with fighting things people don't want to talk about, you know! Everyone's quick to not talk about them being beaten either! Even curse-chan didn't say thank you!"

He shook his head.

"Though as for witnessing travel through makeup, some topics are just doomed to remain academic. Argued about by scholars on long winter nights, but never actually proven. Shame that. Theories are nice, but proof is far superior."

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 5:15 pm

"Imagine that. Well, allow me to thank you, then, Isawa-san." She turned to face him and bowed in her seat. "For the fact that we are all able to sleep easily from here forward. At least, I hope that gaki was the only major spiritual threat around here. It seems I shall half to look you up if another arises."

She looked amused. "That sounds like something a Kitsuki might say, as applied to the immaterial."

Isawa Kojiro wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 5:37 pm

Kojiro smiled at the Scorpion's words.

"Ah, now that's the kind of gratitude more should strive to emulate, Shosuro-san! You should teach classes on it: How to properly be grateful to others. It'd be a great service to those who perform great services to the Empire!" he exclaimed.

"Oh but yes, I'd be happy to help you with any spiritual concerns you might have. These are troubled times after all, those who can help have to stand up!" he said, rising briefly to put a point on the exclamation before sitting back down for more snacks.

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 6:36 pm

"I can think of some areas where such lessons would be especially useful," she notes, looking highly amused. The look clears, though, and she smiles more clearly. "Oh, I do also appreciate learning about having twins. That will make preparing for them much easier."

"I seem to be around for them. If I encounter something that can be helped, you'll be the first person I call."