D4EA, Noodles, Anyone? (Open to Aibou Enthusiasts and Prospects)

[Shiba Aibou]

Aibou smiles.

"We are happy to promulgate the arts," he says.

[Matsu Inori]

"Well, it's not exactly art. Something like it, maybe." Inori smiled.

"I am better at it than I thought possible"

[Shiba Aibou]

"Humility is virtuous," Aibou says, "but you do have an eye for detail, Matsu-san. Truly. And honing that talent would be a worthwhile thing."

[Matsu Inori]

Inori decided not to push further - she had gotten what she sought, confirmation that this was the bid to back if she was to get involved. This Shiba Aibou seemed to have a sensible head on his shoulders and was there for one of the honourable, conservative Clans.

So far so good. She nodded.

"Thank you Shiba-sama" she said, then turned to the Unicorn "Please excuse my rashness, Horiuchi-san, I have not introduced myself properly, even if we have seen each other's work. This one is Matsu Inori"

[Horiuchi Sriyani]

She might have called that rash from a Doji, but it seemed hardly on the scale for a Matsu. But then most Matsu were not artisans. She waves off the apology, "nothing to excuse, between Shiba-sama's introduction," well, half of one, "and the announcements at the presentations, it's easy enough to feel that all the names are known quantities after a few days, neh? Horiuchi Sriyani of Small Creek Village."

"I've enjoyed the tone of your paintings and was curious where you studied. It's been great seeing so many styles here. If nothing else, I imagine we will all come away with all kinds of inspiration to work with."

[Matsu Inori]

Inori blushes a little, then straightens "I'm mostly self-trained" she said.

"It is...something I arrived at late in my training. Originally I was supposed to become a Bushi - but things changed, and I had a need to....express things I saw"

She picked a scroll from her satchel, unrolled it. It showed a pond of some sorts, in the courtyard of a mansion or castle of some sorts, with water plants, stones...and a small, amorphous humanoid figure. Almost like a small blobby man made from semi-translucent blue water.

[Shiba Aibou]

Aibou looks at it.

"Impressionistic," he says. "Water kami friend of yours, Matsu-san?" he asks, following up.

[Matsu Inori]

"This was how I figured out I wasn't imagining things, and that I can...pull some things into being with the help of those spirits I see. I was beginning to despair and question my sanity before I found this. So....I envision things, paint them, and then...ask these spirits to bring them forth"

She blushed.

"It's not really art for art's sake, you see, Shiba-sama"

[Shiba Aibou]

"No art exists for itself, Matsu-san," Aibou replies. "It always has a purpose and a place. The arts of spear and sword serve to protect that which needs protecting; they are not for themselves. And as it is for them, so it is for the other arts, as well, even if the purpose is perhaps less clear."

[Horiuchi Sriyani]

Sriyani raises her hand to display her bracelets dangling with charms, forgetting it was also the hand holding her chopsticks. A small shake jangles them. "I began with the requirements of creating charms the kami would agree to inhabit. There is still an art to it, that led eventually to designs with other purpose. Art comes from many springs, Matsu-san."

"Do you hear their voices, or only see them?" she asks curiously, wondering that such a gift hadn't seen her trained in a school focused on spiritual matters.

[Matsu Inori]

"It started with seeing them, about two years ago. And...it is not really like hearing, I get...impressions. What they want, what they can do. But mostly it's visual. Seeing spirits, being able to envision what they can do. I even felt like I was able to convey requests...but not much ever came of them, or indistinct chaos. Random splashes of water, pots falling over...I did not try that often."

She frowned a bit "Painting helped me to pull it out from myself, give it shape. Made me think I was not crazy, and...it turned out that the paintings help me focus on an idea, to the point where I could control the outcome. At least a little"

"I carry some of those paintings with me, those I mastered" she said "Well that's perhaps a bit too ambitious. The ones I can control. And most of those I painted and re-painted several times as my technique as painter and my vision and understanding improved"

[Horiuchi Sriyani]

There's a blink or three of surprise. "Honestly, that sounds like you ought to request training within a shugenja school before something works not so well. The theological and ritual training alone should give you more understanding of what's underlying it all." She pauses in thought a moment, "or one of the monk orders that focuses on cultivating one's elemental strengths."

"I'd imagine the gift wasn't noticed coming on so late."

[Matsu Inori]

"Well, I was expected to be an officer, eventually. Trained for it, too. I'm a competent Soujutsuka" she said "I train with the spear to this day, I don't think that will stop being a part of me"

Inori considered, drank a sip of tea.

"Few if any Shugenja around. None in my family in several generations"

At least by the official records.... The thought hadn't occured to her right away, but eventually it was one of the few possible explanations that seemed even somewhat credible to her.

"No one was looking for it. No reason to look for it, really. And so I....figured it out. I think. Sometimes I think I have a subtle, guiding hand on my shoulder, maybe a spirit, maybe my honoured ancestors. But yes, after I fully manifested my talents half a year ago they had one of our Shugenja talk to me....I would require complete re-training at this point, and there is no guarantee it would even work."

[Shiba Aibou]

Aibou leans forward, clearly interested.

"I've long known that shugenja often work from scrolls to perform their prayers," he says, "but I've never known of one whose scrolls were image rather than word. There are some...interesting implications for that, I think."

[Matsu Inori]

Inori thought hard for a moment "I mean...in many ways this is very similar, is it not? These paintings are similar to scrolls, and I need to speak and make gestures even if I use those to make the necessary requests to the spirits"

She frowned.

"I do wonder how much use they would be to a trained Shugenja, or whether I could make use of their scrolls...although I cannot imagine how I would do that. I am not a trained Shugenja, after all, and have no idea how they work with the kami"

[Shiba Aibou]

"Most shugenja in my experience also speak aloud and gesticulate as they pray," Aibou says. "Although I do not know if another could make use of your work. Still, it is an interesting thing..."

He lapses into silence, pondering.

[Horiuchi Sriyani]

She nods a small agreement to Aibou's sentiments, then taps at her wrist. "These require ritual to set in place, and almost none to release. They are an older way for us, with limits that scrolls don't have. But the kami are not the same beyond the Empire, so the traditions developed to accomodate." She dips back into her noodles. "Pretty sure you'd still benefit from the theory underneath it all, even if it doesn't offer you a new...hmm...mode of interacting with the spirits. I know an auntie as learned to punch folks with her own earth...if I understand her right...through working with a monk who stayed for a season. There's more than one style of painting, more than one way to experience and direct the elemental spirits."

[Matsu Inori]

Inori nodded.

"I'm beginning to realize that, yes. I am still refining and improving my control. Beginning to figure out certain rules and regularities to all of it. Which is...interesting. But in my case intrinsically linked to my artistic ability - without it I would not be able to put my discoveries or theories into a form I can remember and access later. It's basically.....thinking out loud in colour."

She considered Sriyani's words.

"is the shape or workmanship of these charms, trinkets...I do not know what to call them, pardon me...is it relevant?"

[Shiba Aibou]

Aibou eats a bit more and leans forward to follow the conversation closely, letting the others speak.

[Horiuchi Sriyani]

She nods. "Meishodo charms, or talismans. A form that isn't pleasing to the kami you want to convince to live within it won't work very well. So there's some general principles to learn, but then some trial and error, getting a feel even for, say, elements of their names that indicate ...hmm, personality isn't a word that really works for kami, but it's...sort of that?" Her nose scrunches with the difficulty of putting some things regarding the more alien elements of the spirits into words. She runs a finger along the bead. "I work with earth spirits a lot, so carved stones are often favored. They also seem to have some preferences based on what I am asking of them. False jade is awful to have around mistaken for the true thing, but I'm told it's fantastic for charms to hold invocations against the darker spirits in the world."

"Other elements are more to remind me what I've stored in a given piece."