Wedding at Fire Shrimp Village an L5R PbP

After the reunion at the inn, Asahina-san remembered something he head, quite muffled, of a sailor who had found a figurine like Gusari's. For this... Konohamaru should fare better with Kio, as the child admired him. But someone had to gather the other figurine, and he volunteered himself on his own mind. As formality requires, he wrote a letter to the captain of the Sea Fox requesting a personal meeting — some things like explaining an unnatural curse couldn't be well summarized on any other means than the one of dialogue.

The Captain was a busy man lately, but that didn't mean he couldn't make time for one of his allies. When the Asahina arrived at the ship he was shown to the Captain's cabin where the young man sat at a table with a cup of sake in hand.

"Come in, Asahina-san." He called when the man arrived. "Make yourself comfortable."

Wow, the Captain sure seemed young for one with their own ship. But Masao seemed young too for someone who might inherit a city.

He bowed deeply and took himself a sit. "Captain, I come merely to make a request. I'm partaking in an investigation, and one of your crew might have an item I will need."

"That seems a bit odd don't you think, Asahina-san?" Shouji replied looking over the Crane for a moment. "Being as you aren't a crab of a magistrate from what I recall."

"Which are the normal sort of people who investigate things." He took a sip from his cup, placing it on the table before filling a cup for the crane and passing it across the table. "So maybe you should tell me a bit more about what you're doing and what you're after?"

"Kakita-bugyo is on the case, Tsuruchi-ue. But a man does not do everything alone, and neither he brought his yoriki. Toritaka-san is on the matter as well, and only because the two of them my attention was brought to it."

He looks at the cup. Refusing would be impolite, so he gets a sip from it before putting it down again.

"We are seeking ways to dispell a ghost. Those are tied to Ningen-Do by either brilliant conviction or an item of personal significance, or both."

"Apologies if I don't know who this Kakita is." The Captain replied with a slight smile. "But I suppose that is some sort of explanation." Even if it felt like something of an insult to not be addressed by the man himself.

"You're here to dispell a ghost then, just one of them?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "It was by understanding there were three here. But from your words I assume you think one of the items that tie them to this world is in the hands of my crew?"

"Tell me what it is, and I can ask."

"In the end, the three of them will go together — mother, father and daughter. But our only real concern is the daughter. Although the mother and father ghosts are seemingly harmless, the daughter is now an evil aberration of malignancy who causes people suffering and torment."

He handles the Captain the two pictures he copied of Bujeihime and Gusari's portraits — one the face of a Crane noblewoman, other a mighty warrior in iron-clad armor.

"Those are the parents. I want to use things of meaning to them to attract them, and try to talk them to reunite with their daughter in Meido. If they don't colaborate, we can destroy their object of significance to force them to go there, the convince the daughter to follow."

He nods.

"But those pieces of paper are not the objects, just a copy of portraits I did as a reference. The objects, I believe, are little statues on their image. Each one always carried together the statuette of the other, so they should carry immense emotional weight."

"Hida Gusari and Doji Bujeihime, I presume." The young Captain said as he glanced towards the portraits. "The daughter being Hida Hitomi?" That was the three of them it seemed.

Taking one last sip of his sake he placed the cup on the table and rose to his feet to move to the door. A few moments later he called to a sailor and instructed the man to look for the object in question or any who might have it.

"That may take a bit, but if it's here well. You'll have it in a short while."

He nods. "Thank you, Captain. In fact, the telling between the two was the most complicated. Kio seemed to have the girl as an imaginary friend and called a doll with her name Doji Hitomi. It's the most auspicious tale, isn't it? Classic pillow book thing, a dramatic impossible romance with a child that should not exist." He replies.

"I don't know, I've always thought most pillow book tales happen far more often then one might think." He eyed the Crane for a moment. "Most marriages in our culture happen for political reason. I imagine this creates far more accidents then one might think."

"Of course the two becoming enemies and their daughter becoming involved is a bit more dramatic. The love affair though? Not so much."

He smiles slightly. "Oh, if they don't do. It's part of why Winter Courts are so endearing. I'm not sure about the Mantis, but in the Crane, people engage in honorable... side-relationships for enjoyment rather than love. There is an entire art of gift-giving, reading unsigned poems aloud and glory on becoming the gossip everyone wants to talk about. Many pillow books actually tell the truth, Tsuruchi-ue."

That brought a soft sigh to the Captain's lips, but he managed to stifle it. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a difficult man to like Asahina-san?" He did ask anyways.

Shouji waved the question away though a moment later as he picked up his sake and took a sip. "What do you think of it, the sake that is." He asked, a rather forced change of topic.

He takes the fan, opening it, his on still firm although he was slightly taken aback. So... direct... of an offense. Were him not an Asahina and depending on the man alike...
Why did he dislike what he said, though? Maybe he didn't like gossip, or was him on a case himself?
"I'm not one who drinks frequently, Tsuruchi-ue."

That was something of a disappointment, the Mantis did not let it show though. He didn't even reach for his own fan merely watching the Crane for a few moments before saying. "I see."

"I was unfortunately not trained as a courtier, Tsuruchi-ue, and my court training is merely so I am able to frequent one. If you could tell me why I am one difficult to like, I would much appreciate."

He looked at the man a moment and took a slow breath letting it out slowly. "Mostly it's your words. How you use them. Take one of the sentences you said before I told you."

"I'm not sure about the Mantis, but in the Crane, people engage in honorable... fucking for enjoyment rather than love." He looked at the man for a moment, perhaps to gauge his reaction. "Leave out the honorable, it implies the Crane do it in that way when others don't. Add if all the bits and pieces about letters and such and you're flaunting that."

"Add into that other little things." He pointed to the nearly untouched cup of sake. "You said you didn't like sake a moment ago. But when you first sat down you had a drink. Just the one no more. If you don't enjoy sake tell me before I pour, or directly after. Having a bit and then no more. Then saying you don't drink sake much when I ask implies I served something bad."

"It's all little things, but you asked for this conversation and im not a man with all the free time in the world. You should be trying to please me. You want something from me after all, explain to me the circumstances before I have to ask."

"As it is It's as if you are offering me repeated small slaps to the face. I am willing to help you, because your goals meet my own. But I thought about refusing you just to be contrary."

This left him slightly confused at first. He knew that he was far from a courtier, but he at least thought himself good on his word choice — although there were some major errors sometimes when he tried to play Courtier. He was not even trying to play Courtier now, what could it be? Maybe it was something on how the Mantis interpreted them?

Oh.

The mention on fucking made him blush, but he waited for the Captain to finish before replying in a coy expression. "Tsuruchi-ue, I was... Not talking about any carnal conjugation. I was talking about the shallow courtly romances that are all about glory. Those rarely develop to touching, much less... Much less that. Please pardon me that I even insinuated such for accident."

He fans himself some to recover. It made no good for an ōn to be red like a shy schoolgirl like this.

"It is impolite to reject something offered to you, but finishing what is served implies that you long for more. On my pattern of etiquette, it is. I'm terribly sorry I didn't seek knowledge on drinking etiquette at the Mantis."

He bows slightly. He looks to the sake cup in doubt, but then takes another sip.

"For your endless patience, I'm in your debt."

He glanced at the table, remember what happened at it the previous evening. The Crane really didn't know much about those courtly romances, or had he always been wrong abotu it? "Don't worry about it, Asahina-san. You don't owe me a thing." The young man replied after a moment.

"So you're going to use these statues to banish these ghosts then?"

"I'm the most grateful for your pardon, Tsuruchi-ue." He bows seatedly.

"I don't know what they will do. I was only sent here to get one and deliver to Kakita-bugyo. My guess is that either they will be broken to liberate the anchor connecting the spirit with the mortal realm, or used to lure them to oneself. Talking the ghost out of haunting is a viable way to dispell them."

"Can't say I know much about that. Though if one of my crew found it and kept it they aren't going to be very happy about partying with it. Especially if it's just going to get broken."

"I suppose there is nothing for it though."

"If it gets broken and it does not solve the problem of the hauntings, Tsuruchi-ue, it will return again whole in the morning. Such is the nature of the curse we are fighting, and few are aware of it."

"More then you think, but you are correct." A knock was heard at the door and Minari appeared with a wooden figure in hand.

"Is this the thing you are looking for Asahina-san?" He asked with a gesture towards the statue.

He looks at the little statue, looking again at the Captain to speak. "I believe it is the image of Hida Gusari-sama, ancestor to Hida Fuboshi-sama. It would be, yes." He replies.

"Well, then we are one step closer to solving this little probably of ours aren't we." Shouji replied, beckoning over the young Moshi to deliver the statue into the hands of the Crane. Or keep a hold of it and offer to go with the Crane. Which was the more likely conclusion.