Sapphire Ambassadors

Three games in, with endless thought bubbles in italics littering the countryside, not sure if there's really anything left to ask about Choudai, but go ahead and give it a whirl if you like.

Admittedly, the player's mindset might be a bit more mysterious, so yeah, those questions are a go too.

I see this as most emphatically the last game where I'll actually use him as a PC, so consider the curtain more or less fully open to any reveals.

Was there anything about Choudai's character that never got explored in the games? Any mysterious secrets to his backstory?

Do you have a favorite scene with him?

What's in store for him in the future?

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:59 am

Was there anything about Choudai's character that never got explored in the games? Any mysterious secrets to his backstory?

He's an incredibly un-mysterious Scorpion.

The biggest thing is that despite having four siblings, he notably never really talks about his parents- and his siblings are a very distant presence in his life.

His mother is semi-estranged from him- he was the unlucky third child, and she was also on terrible terms with Oba, who was the mother-in-law from HELL. So Choudai being Granny's favorite further strained his relationship with his mother.

His father screwed up (not really his fault, but he had an incredibly difficult courtly job and he botched it royally) and went into forced retirement when Choudai was about four years old. Part of why he typically seems so much more at ease around women is because most of his formative role models were women- his Uncle Koga was so much older than he was that he was more like a grandfather than a surrogate father, and his brother Ogoe was always kind of the painfully serious one (Ogoe sort of became the man of the household at age eight, which left its own mark).

A lot of his pre-war quirks- and back then, that's all they were- are down to his family background. The stress of his spy gig during the war (and a few other things) basically just turned up the dials on his eccentricity to the point of near-madness.

Do you have a favorite scene with him?

In this game?

It's a toss-up.

I love Deprived, because all of the little things- the casual touches, the honest affection- seem so intimate. It's really a window on two people who are, lest we forget, barely over twenty and already locked into a rigid life getting a moment's freedom in one another's company.

The second? The Forlorn Hope, because it marked a point where he turned away from the outright villainy he had definitely been sliding into. He was going to have Mikan murdered essentially for being a distraught romantic who lashed out.and it didn't bother him. What bothered him was that it didn't bother him, and after all of his conversations with Inori, and thinking about Zoido? He'll still do any awful thing he's ordered to, but he went looking for a reason not to have the poor woman killed, and he got it.

What's in store for him in the future?

Misery, heartache, and woe!

Well, jokes aside... his marriage to Mikan is looking surpisingly promising, Hatsuki has their children on the way, and he actually went out and (despite some incredible acts of self-sabotage) got himself named a Sapphire Ambassador purely through cooking.

He's still going to be a bit of a weirdo, and it's likely that any Scorpion missions requiring a deft touch will be given to someone else, but he's finally got a success under his belt to compare to his four siblings, so he's going to enjoy a bit of a bump in prestige.

In the immediate future, his life is looking up- he's got a wife who doesn't expect much, a lover who's also prospering, a cushy new gig, and a bunch of new pen-pals.

He's still an insanely bad bushi, though

Is he going to be less cranky with strangers from here on out? XP

Outside of Hatsuki and their shared scenes:
Who were his favorite PCs?
What was your favorite scene?
What was his favorite presentation? What was yours?

For Hatsuki:
What was his favorite presentation of hers?
What's going to happen with him after her epilogue? :(

Doji Nadeshiko wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:40 am

Is he going to be less cranky with strangers from here on out? XP

He's actually quite friendly most of the time And he's actually a bit too nice to the heimin he meets and respects.

But monks piss him off, he still thinks the Fortunes are capricious pricks, and after the Crane barged into his room two days after his offense, and shut down two kitchens that had NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, he was pretty well done with Utemaro and everyone associated with him

(He also genuinely feels bad for offending Sriyani, but also he thinks she's seriously overreacting and were she not as close with Nadeshiko, he might have tried to sabotage some of her displays the way her complaints tried to sabotage his- he's not a villain, but he's also no hero. At all.)

With the stress of his marriage negotiations concluded, with Hatsuki having their kids on the way, he's going to be as happy as he gets for a little bit here.

Outside of Hatsuki and their shared scenes:
Who were his favorite PCs?

In no particular order...

He really liked Matsu Inori. She reminded him of his little sister despite being almost nothing like her She also somewhat indirectly helped form a counter-pull to his slide into depravity, just by being a young samurai with no real sins behind her.

He thought Nadeshiko was awesome, both because her poetry was really good, and because she and Hatsuki were cool. Which meant he was going to move heaven and earth to be cool with her too. He was a bit horrified at the possibility that he'd screwed things up for her when she at the ox-kabob, but had to play it cool to keep from freaking her out.

He liked Yoshino a lot, and if Hatsuki hadn't been in his life, he might well have tried to at least canoodle with her a bit, because he admired her "fuck it, I'll do it myself" situation in regards to the Doji. He also pretended to be a Yasuki for a bit, so he understands her school and the mindset it engenders. And if he had gone ahead with the plan to kill Mikan, he might well have mentioned Yoshino as a possible "I'll marry THAT one the Crane want to be rid of" candidate.

His interactions with Bayushi Ameiko before the player dropped were fun for him, but he also worried for her, because sooner or later she was going to have to face a loss and he wasn't sure she could handle it.

He and Yoshiaki had a kind of low-key "we cool" thing that I, his player, liked a hell of a lot.

Had he and Moshi Ferengi had more than one conversation, I think they would have hit it off- as it was, they each saw a kindred spirit in the other, albeit possible competition.

What was your favorite scene?

Hrm hrm hrm, well, putting aside the aforementioned "Deprived" and "The Forlorn Hope"? (Both of which involve Hatsuki, at least tangentially), probably The Spear, Not the Brush, because it really hammers out some fo the dynamics between him and Inori.

What was his favorite presentation? What was yours?

Choudai liked his Honesty presentation, because without his Granny's cookware, and with a heart full of malice and venom (his entire speech in that one is a... I can't even call it barely-veiled, it's pretty open castigation of Utemaro's handling of the whole "red meat" incident), he not only delivered, he also won a best in show.

For Hatsuki:
What was his favorite presentation of hers?
What's going to happen with him after her epilogue?

He loved everything she did (duh!), although the failed roll with Ameiko as the subject wasn't great- but jamming her knife into her makeup box? He loved that. One last little fuck you to the competition- her edge is part of what drew him to her, so that one really spoke to him.

After her epilogue? He's going to have his brother Ogoe do what's needed to let him adopt the "orphaned" twins and raise them. And when they come of age, he's going to tell them everything. They'll stand to inherit his wealth as well as their mother's, so once they're adults, they won't need for much- but he'll live as long as he can to care for them in any way possible. That said, when death finds him, so long as the children have come of age and know the truth, he'll be ready to welcome it, so he can try to find Hatsuki in their next incarnation.

Thanks for the scenes. I have been wondering... why cooking? IC and OOC. I want to hear all about it

Doji Yoshino wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:34 pm

Thanks for the scenes. I have been wondering... why cooking? IC and OOC. I want to hear all about it

Choudai began as a joke.

No, really.

I was debating who to bring to Painted City, and I think it was Saibankan on FB messenger said, something about " A Scorpion Chef," and I loved it.

The idea was that he wouldn't be a junshin, but that his food was always perfectly safe, and very good. His first mask was a chubby baby mask, because I liked the idea of this earnest, friendly guy with a creepy uncanny valley mask offering to cook for people who would be quite put off by it.

The thing is, his goofy little hobby made a PERFECT hook when he met Hatsuki, and he went from "goofy concept meant to be a one-off side character" to "Pillow Book Protagonist In a Doomed Romance"

IN-character?

His grandmother got very good at cooking early in life due to paranoia about being poisoned- she could always trust her own food. And she honed a kind of expansive approach to cuisine during the Clan's exile in the Burning Sands (when Choudai told Sriyani he'd used a Unicorn recipe his grandmother had brought back from the Sands, he was being totally honest- she can rant about goat all she likes, lore mentions beef more than once ).

Choudai, as the unlucky third child, was his grandmother's favorite, and he spent a lot of time in her kitchen, and came to regard cooking as the art he would pursue.

(He has SO MANY XP spent on flavorful but essentially useless things like Inari's Blessing )

I've enjoyed watching him lurch about, but I am beyond ready for him to ride off into the sunset

Doji Nadeshiko wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:40 am

What was his favorite presentation? What was yours?

Spaced that part!
So, Choudai liked Honesty, right?

I HATED it Just didactic finger-wagging on the nose bullshit, so far as I was concerned.

I honestly think my first piece, on Compassion, was much, much stronger than just about all of the others- better-written, better-conceived, better match with the theme, more elegant, and more "artful."

Okay, now I'm curious which piece of art on someone else's was your OOC favorite?

Nadeshiko's Duty poem enjoyed some SERIOUSLY unfair advantages on that front, so it's a toss up between that one and Asano's failpost for Yu- that friggin fraggin frog with the supporting writing tickled my fancy.

Likewise holding off on more questions for after the Day 10 Thread.

One I have already:

What made you pick Sunset Leaves/Akijin in the tea wars?

Matsu Inori wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 1:56 am

What made you pick Sunset Leaves/Akijin in the tea wars?

Honestly?

I toyed with Choudai trying to make the food at another establishment more competitive, to take away the Sunset Leaves' primary edge, but... that's not how his mind works. He prefers to reinforce success.

Plus, the culinary emphasis made it plain to him that the mindset was more akin to his own.

Bayushi Choudai wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 12:44 am

Doji Nadeshiko wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:40 am

What was his favorite presentation? What was yours?

Spaced that part!
So, Choudai liked Honesty, right?

I HATED it Just didactic finger-wagging on the nose bullshot, so far as I was concerned.

I honestly think my first piece, on Compassion, was much, much stronger than just about all of tbe others- better-written, better-conceived, better match with the theme, more elegant, and more "artful."

I'm just going to pop in to agree on that. There were several other pieces that were stronger...but possibly not stronger to the judges than everything around his on those days? The joy of a subjective contest.

Not terribly sorry to have her complaint actually spark anything (that was not originally expected), since it was mostly rp background vs. actual effects. XD

Glad to round out his story? Or would you like to drag him into more adventures if this setting were continuing on?

If you'd brought another reprising character, what art would they have done?

Horiuchi Sriyani wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:19 am

I'm just going to pop in to agree on that. There were several other pieces that were stronger...but possibly not stronger to the judges than everything around his on those days? The joy of a subjective contest.

I would also say that despite it seeming kind of silly, Honor was also WAY stronger than Honesty, and not just because of the Zoido shout-out I got to do...

Not terribly sorry to have her complaint actually spark anything (that was not originally expected), since it was mostly rp background vs. actual effects. XD

Hey now, it cost me 1k1 on a cooking roll! Which he nuked anyway...

Glad to round out his story? Or would you like to drag him into more adventures if this setting were continuing on?

Oh, CHRIST, I am DONE with Choudai This was always going to be his last meaningful hurrah.

In the original Naishou plotline, he was actually something akin to the Keeper of Air, a development I wasn't at all happy with, and which you'll note was basically totally absent from his appearance here. Choudai is a very human, very flawed guy, and his main plot, once he survived the second game he was in and Birb and I decided that Hatsuki was pregnant, was always going to be bolted to hers. With the epilogue out there, with Hatsuki dead and gone, and him raising their kids, my interest in actually PLAYING him again is pretty much zero. He's done his thing.

Naishou was already headed for a timeskip, and given his loaded role in the lore as part of the enlightenment subplot, he would have been best off as an NPC or background figure anyway. He had the most loose ends of my Naishou characters (except Ryusei, the gempukku kid) at the start of this game, but they're largely resolved now- he's been recognized for his cooking as art, his tragic love story is resolved, he's married off, and I SERIOUSLY doubt the Scorpion are going to send him anywhere serious going forward.

Also, mechanically? He needs so much XP to just not be hot garbage at anything more "traditional" that he'd be kind of.... lame in, say, a more combat-intensive or serious political game. Never mind his tendency to self-sabotage, he never keeps more than three dice on ANYTHING without spending void at IR 3, meaning more adventures would probably be frustrating and likely get him killed

If you'd brought another reprising character, what art would they have done?

Usagi Ginhiko would have been a TERRIBLE fit for this game, and would probably have led to my first-ever drop from a PbP because holy CRAP she would have gone completely batshit insane. Gun to my head, she would have been singing. And otherwise been the opposite of Choudai- an excellently tricked-out bushi without much to contribute here.

Hiruma (nee Isawa) Mei would have played her biwa. She was actually a strong contender to reprise, but between Birb bringing Hatsuki, and Mei having essentially achieved a happy ending (married for love, set up to become an Imperial Cartographer, happy and valued among the Crab), I didn't see much point in using her. She earned a happy ending after one outing, and good for her. That said, having her and Hatsuki both competing while pregnant had some amusement potential- had Hatsuki been at the Winter Court game, I would have seriously wanted to use Mei. Or if Zoido had been here, having the happily married Crab couple being all cheerful and playing music and just taking whatever came their way could have been fun.

Shiba Jiro/Ryusei would have brought weapons and armor he made, but it was always more of a hobby than a focus for him- he's more into Go and Shogi and studying tactics. Besides, I kind of wanted him to have more time after his gempukku to develop what he learned. I considered him VERY briefly, but he'll most likely turn up in another continuity as an adult.

Bayushi Choudai wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:49 am

he's been recognized for his cooking as art, his tragic love story is resolved, he's married off, and I SERIOUSLY doubt the Scorpion are going to send him anywhere serious going forward.

I dunno, he got that promotion...

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:58 am

Bayushi Choudai wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:49 am

he's been recognized for his cooking as art, his tragic love story is resolved, he's married off, and I SERIOUSLY doubt the Scorpion are going to send him anywhere serious going forward.

I dunno, he got that promotion...

That un-detailed promotion

1. Did you have fun?
2. What thing from this game would you like to see in future games?
3. What thing from this game would you like to not see in future games?

Saibankan wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 8:23 pm

1. Did you have fun?

Hellz to the Yeah

2. What thing from this game would you like to see in future games?

I enjoyed the hell out of the side games- both the Amigos and the Tea wars, because they gave people something to shoot for even if it rapidly became apparent that they weren't gonna make, say, Sapphire Champion...

3. What thing from this game would you like to not see in future games?

Hrm hrm hrm... it's kind of a nitty gritty point, but you guys had so much going on that you got spread thin a time or two. A lot of work went into things that ultimately might have been better Cliff Noted and left ready to improvise if someone did take an interest (I'm mostly thinking about the heimin NPCs with hooks- I don't know that anyone but Choudai ever even SPOKE to Heriberi, for example)

Bayushi Choudai wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 05, 2022 3:49 am

Hey now, it cost me 1k1 on a cooking roll! Which he nuked anyway...

Had not even caught that. XD I think I'd have preferred that not be in there, simply because having folks figure out ways to sabotage one another adds a more PVP vibe than I'd like for what felt like it was meant to be a fairly laid-back game

Horiuchi Sriyani wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 06, 2022 4:14 am

Had not even caught that. XD I think I'd have preferred that not be in there, simply because having folks figure out ways to sabotage one another adds a more PVP vibe than I'd like for what felt like it was meant to be a fairly laid-back game

Yeah, his Inheritance cookware was being "purified" the same day the kitchens were shut down.

So I threw a 7k4 instead of an 8k5

He would have tried to dick Sriyani over in some comparable fashion if he wasn't so fond of Nadeshiko