The New Winds

This event is for Crane Players Only

Kotomi was disturbed late in the night by something odd. The academy had plenty of Crane people around practicing tea ceremonies, but this late in the night was extreme! Wrapping her night kimono tight, she moved to check on what was happening.

Kenji woke up by the light but decided to turn around. He almost slipped back into the world of dreams as he sat up to see who was doing the theater at this time of night. He loosely put on a kimono hanging half over his shoulder and trotted to the source of the light.

Unsurprisingly, Kazuko awakens, slightly groggy. Anyone would if a brightly lit lantern was interrupting their sleep. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she decides to go investigate further, more out of annoyance than anything else. She briefly wonders if sabotage by sleep deprivation is a thing but pushes the thought to the back of her mind just as fast. Wait a second, that's not a lantern... What is that?

"...Wait... what the heck?"

The light flashed through his room, and Hiroyuki woke with an unseemly scream. Gasping with the sudden shock, he hacked out a cough over the side of his bed, doing his best to muffle the loud, retching noise; he had no idea how thin the walls of the Laughing Carp were. Scanning his room for danger, he saw nothing save for the murky outline of furniture, obscured in the dark, staring back. He frowned. He was up now, without much of a chance of getting to sleep.

Already adorned in loose-fitting night robes, he stepped out of his bed, beginning to search for the source of the light.

As the four Crane investigate, they all find themselves inside of a private room, and suddenly are sitting on cusions. In front of them, the tea set is placed and read for a ceremony and a man they all recognize sits, though him being there is impossible.

Doji Satsume glances to each of them, his expression neutral.

"Which one of you will serve the tea?"

Kotomi looked wary, moving ahead of the others.

"Forgive me, Doji-sama, but what is happening here?"

Kotomi would question Doji-sama, wouldn't she. Well, the spirit (?) of Doji-sama? He looks relatively normal, but maybe that's just spirit powers at work. If spirit magic can teleport them then surely it can make Doji-sama appear healthy as well. Don't quote her on that though, she wasn't really paying attention during lessons on the spirit realm.

Seeing as how no one else is volunteering, Kazuko takes the opportunity to serve the tea, confident that she's the most skilled one here. Better to remain graceful and deferential and hope that there'll be time for questions later. The spirit of Doji Satsume wouldn't just decide to visit them for no reason.

"I will serve the tea, Doji-sama."

D1 LN Tea Ceremony/Void: 7d10o10k5 54 (2 explosions, woo!)

Kenji was between unbelievable and cautious too much distracted to react to the spirit of Doji-sama. His paralysis was broken by Kazuko's actions. Impressed, Kenji watched her pouring the tea, indeed, Kenji could perform a tea ceremony too, but not with such skill that Kazuko just showed.

Patiently, he waited for the tea to be served to him.

This is different from Chikushudo, he thought.

Kazuko gets a nod of approval from Satsume, and he looks to Katomi.

“I wished to have tea with the best students of the Academy, is there a problem?”

When the tea is ready he once again gives a look of approval to Kazuko for her expert conduct. He grasps the cup with both hands and savors the warmth and smell of the brew.

“Nothing quite beats the House of the Red Lotus’ special blend. Would you all agree?”

"Kind of. It's a little impossible for you to be here, as a great an honour as it is" Kotomi frowned as Kazuko as usual just did something without thinking "I think it's fair to be a little wary."

"Is this a Dream?" Kenji asked?

"It is, what it is, Kenji-san."

Satsume looks to all of them.

"There is a Mantis here named Hitoshi. It is imperative that he succeed here and be granted his gempuku through the Topaz Championship. Many things will look to prevent this. I look to you all, being star students as you are, to ensure he still succeeds despite others best efforts."

Hitoshi... The name sparks a memory somewhere... Oh, right! The salty boy from the inn earlier today! ...But isn't he from the Mantis clan? He was kind of rude too...

"Please forgive me for asking, but why him and who would want to stop him?"

Despite her questioning, if Doji-sama is going to go through the trouble to appear in spirit and request them to help him, then she will do her utmost best. The likelyhood of this being a very elaborate trick is next to none. Probably.

Kenji looked a little surprised why, for everyone's sake, the former Emerald Champion would want them to bring a Mantis through the Gempukku. Especially what kind of freeloading suggestion was that? Wasn't the Gempukku meant to test whether someone could make it to samurai without outside help?

Kazuko's question was good too, but Kenji asked himself another question.

He bowed deeply before the Doji. "Dojo-donno, with all due respect, is the Gempukku not there to test whether a child is worthy of being called a samurai? Why do you want us, if we support him, to risk even our own gempukku?"

---
D1 LN Courtier/Awareness +VP: 7d10o10k5 25

"Kenji-san has the right of it" Kotomi nodded "this is the most prestigious tournament for any samurai going for their gempukku. Anyone being sent here shouldn't need assistance, or they're not good enough. From my earlier meeting of him, he's extremely fortunate to have the honour of competing, even beyond being a minor clan samurai. A samurai should be able to stand on their own two feet and compete without assistance."

The Emerald Champion frowns.

"I am disappointed in you. To argue and defy one so much higher in station than you is arrogant and fool hearty. There is a reason I request what I request, and you do not need to know more than that."

"Forgive me, but well...you're kind of not alive now, so it's a little confusing why you would come back all of a sudden to promote some Mantis" Kotomi frowned "I'm not a spiritual person or anything, but it seems odd."

Kenji bowed deeply once more, "Forgive me Doji-donno, it is, as Kotomi-san said, just a very strange request. If you wish it so much I will help this young man as much as I can."

It didn't seem to make sense to keep digging.

Vutall wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:48 am

The Emerald Champion frowns.

"I am disappointed in you. To argue and defy one so much higher in station than you is arrogant and fool hearty. There is a reason I request what I request, and you do not need to know more than that."

Wow... Kotomi manages to surprise her with her poor decision making skills every. single. time. The tournament hasn't even started yet and she's already nearly started a fight and managed to insult the spirit of the Emerald Champion. Yet it's always someone else who cleans up the mess for her. If this wasn't such an important, once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, she wouldn't even bother trying to bail her out. Alas, she cannot enjoy that luxury.

"Please let me apologize for my... friend... She doesn't mean to insult you, Doji-sama. She's just tired and has always been too busy training alone to understand the importance of courtesy or proper phrasing of words. She simply wants to know your reasoning so we may better assist him in the days to come."