(D8, LA) Yogo Nogo? Oh no! (Open)

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

After yet another stunning court performance, Aya wandered the streets of Nikesake for awhile aimlessly before finally collapsing at the side of the road.

Right where the rest of the trash belongs

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Not long after, Degarashi came by, closely enough to see the Yogo collapse. He sped up his pace, kneeling beside her in the dirt, scanning for any signs of injury.

"Aya-sama? Aya-sama, what's going on? What's happened?"

He didn't dare mention his brother, or Norikami. The lack of either of them left him fearing the worst already.

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

She didn't appear hurt physically at least....but something has obliterated the snarky funny Yogo he had marched with mentally.

She didn't respond right away, but she finally did, though she didn't even look at Degarshi.

"Deathdeathdeathdeatheatenfailuredoomdemands." she muttered.

A very concise, if unhelpful summary.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Degarashi hadn't seen anything like this before, but many samurai had tales about battle shock. Feeling a growing sense of concern for the Yogo, he sat down in front of her.

"I'll try to parse through that in a moment, but for now just nod or shake your head, okay? Save your breath unless you feel better able to speak."

Degarashi inhaled through his nose, regretting it immediately, then out through his mouth.

"Are you hurt anywhere physically? Do you need medical attention?"

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

There was a slight, sustained shaking of the head.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

"That's something at least. Now..."

Degarashi felt his stomach tighten up as he looked Aya over.

"You were there, going after the scrolls, weren't you?"

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

Bayushi Degarashi wrote:

"That's something at least. Now..."

Degarashi felt his stomach tighten up as he looked Aya over.

"You were there, going after the scrolls, weren't you?"

There was a pause, and then a slow nodding of the head, and a single word.

"Failed."

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

The stabbing pain in Degarashi's gut hit like a hammer, and he doubled over, not bothering to hide his pain where only Aya could see it.

"My brother...gone? Norikami as well?" Degarashi assumed there were others, but those two, who meant the most between himself and Aya, were the only ones that he cared to hear about, even though he knew the answer that would come next.

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

There was a long pause.

"Your brother.....I could've saved him...I couldn't save him. Hurt so bad. So many arrows. Surrounded by enemies. I knew. He knew. Last ride. Could have helped him. Gave him a chance. No wouldn't have mattered. Rode on." she stumbled through.

She stopped for a moment before going into what happened to Norikami.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

"Kuso." Degarashi tried to hold the tears in his eyes back as much as he could. Aya was claiming responsibility for Yukinaga's death, but at the same time she wasn't. "Dead by arrows...how was he even spotted..."

That last part was more musing than question, and he struggled to meet the Yogo's eyes as he asked "Norikami?"

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

"Sliced up like Sashimi and eaten. Eaten. I tried. I tried. He gave me a shot. I just needed to touch it and it would have been over. Just one touch. Failed. Failed."

She shrunk in on herself.

"And then....and then....It howled. In the howl. I heard...I heard...the end. The end of all..."

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Arrows were one thing, but to see someone you'd known for years, who'd challenged and cockily destroyed monsters before, cut down in so violent a fashion, Degarashi couldn't even imagine it. It must have broken something inside her, leaving Aya in the sorry state that lay uncaring among the refuse before him. Degarashi was grieving, but Aya...

The Bayushi shook his head, and wordlessly moved beside the Yogo, slipping beneath her arm. "Can you stand?"

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

Bayushi Degarashi wrote:

Arrows were one thing, but to see someone you'd known for years, who'd challenged and cockily destroyed monsters before, cut down in so violent a fashion, Degarashi couldn't even imagine it. It must have broken something inside her, leaving Aya in the sorry state that lay uncaring among the refuse before him. Degarashi was grieving, but Aya...

The Bayushi shook his head, and wordlessly moved beside the Yogo, slipping beneath her arm. "Can you stand?"

She nodded slightly, and allowed herself to be stood up. It seemed she didn't care if she was lying down or standing up, so just the little bit of pressure from the actor was enough to get her back on her feet.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

"Good. Come along now."

It wasn't strictly necessary to speak instructions, but Degarashi did so, knowing that the body sometimes reacted better to words than gestures.

So he marched the Yogo through the crowded streets, past hysterical peasants and angry samurai, ignorant of all of them, until he found a decent enough inn and stepped inside. In short order Degarashi ordered a room, a warm bath, and several bottles of sake and some food.

Once the bath was ready, he brought Aya to the room where the warm water filled basin resided, stopping outside the door.

"Can you manage? Things are hectic and I doubt they have the staff to assist you..."

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

She looked at the bath, and considered just drowning herself. But deep down there was a tiny spark still kicking and screaming at her.

"I can manage." she said at last. "Sake definitely though. I want to drink until I can't hear the howl anymore."

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Degarashi wordlessly passed her a bottle and shoo'd her towards the bath. "Go on then. I'll be right here in case you need anything. Sake, food, conversation, but I hear so much as a single glub and to Jigoku with your privacy. I'll do my best impression of Norikun and drag you out of that bath by your hair."

It was the first joke he'd made since seeing Aya again, and perhaps it was too soon to make such a crude statement, but Degarashi had learned the true power of humor in his life. Sometimes a swift kick in the ass did more than all the sweet nothings any Crane ever wrote in a lifetime to stir someone to action.

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

"Norikami would have let me get to at least the third glub." she said quietly. "Your brother though...he was an honorable man. He should not have been there. But he wanted to accomplish something for the salvation of the Empire itself. He knew...he knew once the first patrol caught him...it would be his last ride. He did not beg. He did not cry. He sat as straight as he could despite his wounds, and tried with all his might to complete the ride."

She shook her head.

"Healing...is not something I have ever had skill at. We had to make a decision. I could try to heal him. Perhaps the water kami would listen....perhaps the sickness would take me. But more than life, he wanted us to succeed. To save the Empire. There was still a huge host of enemies to get through. Norikami and I had a shot. The others died instantly. Only Yukinaga was caught between life and death. And still we failed."

"Honor is a fool's game. But his devotion to Duty was second to none. I will remember his name with honor until I too am dead."

And with that out of the way, she made her way into the bath with sake.

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Degarashi listened to Aya's words quietly, face carefully neutral as she spoke about his brother. He laughed, once, when she called honor a fool's game, then popped the lid off his own bottle of sake when she was finished speaking. "I'll drink heavily to that." Which he promptly did.

Letting out a shaky breath, Degarashi slumped forward, leaning partially against a nearby wall and partially on his own knees. "I don't blame you, Aya-san," a sudden change in honorific, "nor would I expect you to risk yourself over the mission you were given. I imagine I know exactly how it went. Yukinaga needed to pass by unnoticed, but failed to maintain the lessons we teach about remaining unseen, and suffered the most damning fate of all for a Scorpion: visibility. That about right?"

Yogo Aya · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 12:42 am **Posts:** 719

Aya sank into the bath, and drank deeply from her own bottle.

"Honestly, Dega-san....I'm not sure if he even tried to hide. There were two paths one could take. One on hard ground with little cover. The other on soft ground with much cover. It was possible to pass unseen on the path with much cover....but if you were spotted, it would be that much harder to escape quickly. I know the first two, the pirahana magistrate and the Lion with the beard tried to outrun the patrols and died."

She took another pull.

"I think your brother, honorable man that he was, may have put more faith in the fleetness of his horse, and his mastery of it, than his own mastery of the art of stealth. Honestly, I was putting my full attention into not being seen myself."

She sighed a bit.

"I don't normally ride. Too many horses are easily spooked by monsters, but by the time we reached the portal, it was just me and Norikami."

Bayushi Degarashi · **Joined:** Fri Apr 03, 2020 7:02 pm **Posts:** 1027

Degarashi choked on a bit of sake at the word piranha. "Iie, iie, Seitouna-sama, I've discovered his fate..."

At the rest he shook his head slowly. The sake was already starting to burn its way through his gut and into his brain, taking the harsher edges off of his grief. "But the fact remains, Aya-san, that he discarded our most powerful and useful tool, and died for it. The exact reasons matter very little."

He growled, hints of anger and resentment tingeing his normally cheery voice. "It's those damned Lions! The ones with more honor than brains that tempt our younger generations with tales of fame and glory, pulling us out of the shadows where we belong!"

Silence reigned briefly, and the cold fury slowly died away. "Gomen, that was my instructor, Mienai-sensei, speaking through me. She held very specific views of a proper Scorpion's place." He huffed. "Do you know what those idiots did today? The Crane held court without them at their embassy yesterday, so today they decreed no Crane would pass the threshold of their embassy bearing the colors of the Crane. Got so fucking high on themselves that they cut down the emissary of the Crane for trying to leave. Just like that," he made a chopping motion with his hand. "Dead. These are our fucking allies?"

(D8, LA) Yogo Nogo? Oh no! (Open)

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