Wedding at Fire Shrimp Village an L5R PbP

Wondering if he would get more information from the Toritaka, or someone else tonight, the young Otomo takes a stroll around the street of Fire Shrimp Village with a lantern in hand.

He would note the Toritaka but not actually patrolling the streets. She was far too distracted to note the man. How to destroy a token and not begin another feud.

"Ah! Toritaka-san. Good evening. Do you remind of our conversation yesterday?"

She nodded. "I even brought you something to help you out." Hanatsuko smiled taking something out of her sleeve. "I asked Kuni sama for a remedy for your allergies and she gave me this." She showed him a small box of tea.

"Is that so?" He narrows his eyes a bit, looking at the box, and his nose begins to tickle a bit. "I could not a..."

The Otomo's nostrils begin to move, "...acc-aaaaaa..." He inhales deeply, trying to say, "...aacceptchooooooooo!"

The Toritaka shook her head. "It is medicine... not a gift Otomo sama please no need for refusal. " She chuckled. "Unless you want to refuse the treatment to be near this one without suffering." She gave a side nod. "I should warn you... it tastes very... um... distinct. I wouldn't want to be remembered for that flavor."

"Atchooooooooooo!" He sneezes again, explaining, "How can I not consider it a gift?"

The Otomo shakes his head, "This is an ailment I've had my entire life and it hindered me from being better several times. Perhaps it is the intention of the Fortunes that I suffer like this. I could not accept such a blessing and turn the gaze of fate against Toritaka-san."

He is a paragon, after all.

"Then I let me aid Jurojin and grant you good health." She sighed once again.

Saisei bows to her, deeper this time, and accepts the remedy with both hands. He says, "Toritaka-san humbles me. I am deeply honored for her care and thoughts."

"I am glad to help you Otomo sama." She bowed "Did you go to the Mantis party?"

"Athcooooooo!" He sneezes. Potentially for the last time. "The first one. Hai. Not sure if I said yesterday would be correct."

Looking at the medicine, the Otomo inquires, "So. I just drink this up and that's it?"

"I guess you have to brew it first." She chuckled. "Unless you like the taste of dry leaves."

He nods, making a mental note to get to the inn after this to brew it with the proper equipment. "Not really a fan of grass. Which reminded me, has Toritaka-san proved the noodles at the docks?"

"No, Otomo sama." She accepted that she hasn't gone to the docks in a long while. "I haven't gone to the docks in a while. I have been somewhat busy with the spirits running around."

"I reccomend." He says and rubs his nose, inquiring, "Any new information about the..." He takes a moment to inhale.

"...the..." He inhales again. ".... the spirtchooooooos!"

"I am looking for a pair of trinkets, two toy soldiers of old. One Crab and one Crane." She stated. "The spirit may be attached to them."

"Toy soldiers." He narrows his eyes a bit in thought and rubs his chin, reminding him that Yuskosho is not a solider. "I haven't seen those. Yet, I did see images of a Crane and a Crab bushi... together."

He felt it, actually.

"Where did you see this?" She wondered. "Have you heard the story?"

"I... well... felt it." He says. "A bug came out of Daidoji-sama's ear earlier today. I stung me and I fainted. Meanwhile, I became rather small. I was inside a ship. A big hulking figure came into the cabin. He spoke with a woman, my mother. They shared sympathies and then argued. As he tried to rescue me from arrows, I fell into the water and drowned."

He says, taking some air, "After coming back to senses, I went to the pool that I mentioned to Toritaka-san yesterday. Which is today. I went underwater and, somehow, went somewhere else. I was someone else again. In front of me, a beautiful maiden. We were in a pool. We talked about our soldiers, and then we... well... she called me mighty Hida Gusari."

"I see..." She wondered. "Fortunes..." She shook her head. "One of the stories about Bugeihime and Gusari san is that they maybe lovers... Your testimony seems to point that way." The Toritaka grumbled "This maybe an ill fated wedding."

"What? Why you say so?" He cocks his head back again, "This wedding is going to work. I am giving my best to make Hida-san and Daidoji-sama to come into terms. If not this ongoing repetition that may erase my actions."

He takes a deep breath, "They were lovers, indeed. I... felt it. As well as the love both shared towards their child. Even if Hida Gusari-shiryo only saw her for a single moment."

"Because... sometimes... Do you know the story of the Tanabata festival?" It is one of the examples that came to mind about ominous love.

He shakes his head negatively, not really too keen with the idea of things going sour. "I do not."

Hanatsuko cleared her throat. "Orihime was daughter of Tentei. She wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa. Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone." She stopped for dramatic effect. "Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa."

Another pause. "When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime would no longer weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet." Hanatsuko sighed

"Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter's tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge." Dramatic pause. "Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come because of the rise of the river and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet."

"It is a nice and sad story indeed." He says, thinking over it, "So Toritaka-san thinks the Fortunes themselves want for this curse to linger. I certainly cannot agree. There are those in the very Heavens that would say this curse has to be ended."