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Togashi Myo-en · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:27 am **Posts:** 418

Myo-en sits cross-legged on the battlement of the city wall, looking out at the muddy fields beyond, where the last disarrayed stragglers of the enemy army are marching out in what looks like no particular order. Is this Toshigoku's influence? Or would any hastily assembled army at the start of a civil war look much the same? Something about the patterns of in the movements below makes her skin rise up in gooseflesh, a little.

She seeks refuge in another set of patterns, ones she has studied for a long time, turning her three old, worn bronze coins between her fingers. She finds is still thinking about her talk with Mei under the mulberry trees; she still believes what she has been telling others all along, that a Toshigokujin ruler for an empire of ningen is inconceivable, and a ningen who doesn't strive and stretch and scratch to attain that position is better than one who does. But she is human, and can't help being curious.

Is the Empress's heir a true Hantei?

Karasu-san watches with interest as Myo-en tosses the coins. They only gleam dully, not as shiny as her favorite toys, but she appreciates them. On the second line casting, before Myo-en can record the result, the crow's glossy black beak stretches out and delicately flips one coin over, changing the nature of the line. Myo-en laughs, shrugs, and records the new answer instead.

D12 LA--Divination, 2 CR for being extra thoughtful. TN 25. VP.: 6d10o10k4 27

Togashi Myo-en · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:27 am **Posts:** 418

Myo-en scratches lines in the dust:

She rocks back a little. "Huh."

"Awk!" Karasu-san registers agreement... or something.

"Well. Maybe you have a point, my friend." It's not entirely clear whether Myo-en is speaking to the crow, or the three bronze coins in her hand, or...? She slips the coins back into her pocket. "This decision is with humankind. And I have made my choice, anyway." Which is never an entirely comfortable feeling, but Myo-en has not often let discomfort dictate her way of doing things, or at least she tries not to do so. She rolls her neck back to gaze up at the clear, chilly spring sky.

--

Mindshred wrote:

Cast Hexagram:

39 - Thirty-Nine
Chien / Obstacle

Ominous roiling in the Crater Lake atop the Volcano:
When meeting an impasse, the Superior Person turns his gaze within, and views the obstacle from a new perspective.

Offer your opponent nothing to resist.
Let a sage guide you in this.
Good fortune lies along this course.

SITUATION ANALYSIS:
The Obstacle lies in obstinance.
An insistence on only one way of proceeding has brought things to an impasse.
You may either continue banging your head with irresistible force against this immovable object, or you might step back and survey this situation from a fresh perspective.
Which is immobile here -- the obstruction or your attitude?

Togashi Tsukimi · **Posted:** Mon May 04, 2020 5:21 am

Even when it was good to rest, Tsukimi felt restless. Out beyond the walls she had lost precious things, of material importance and emotional importance alike. She tried to tell herself to be above such attachments, but it was easier said than done.

"Myo-en-senpai," she remarked, surprised but pleasantly so, when she saw her fellow Dragon. "I'm glad to see you are here still."

Togashi Mai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 4:22 am **Posts:** 417

Mai was on her approach, slowly, with thoughts of Tsukimi perhaps. Given the likelihood of how news would spread among those at the Embassy. Though she yet was unaware of her return and such was the state of her thoughts as she peered out beyond the battlements. Contemplative, in a way, at to how things have come to end in this manner.

The others, of course, would yet have some time to greet one another before Mai would stir from her thoughts some way down the battlement.

Moshi Yuko · **Joined:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 2:38 pm **Posts:** 108

The walls seemed popular, maybe it was the lack of a besieging army? In any case, Yuko pacing along them, thinking of what a strange set of events had transpired over the last few weeks.

The clink of divinatory coins caught her attention and she padded over.

She approached the Dragon and bowed. "I hope they show a positive future, Togashi-sama."

Togashi Myo-en · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:27 am **Posts:** 418

"Tsukimi-san!" Myo-en shoots to her feet, startling the crow into a bout of cranky feather-ruffling. "You live!" She breaks into a grin. Such is her relief that it takes her a few moments to react properly to the other two, "Mai-san... Moshi-san? Good afternoon to you."

She shakes her head a bit sheepishly. "An ambiguous future. One whose meaning is in human hands, I think. But that is not a bad thing."

Moshi Yuko · **Joined:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 2:38 pm **Posts:** 108

Yuko bows. "Well spotted, yes, I am Moshi Yuko of the Centipede."

Togashi Tsukimi · **Posted:** Tue May 05, 2020 2:59 am

Togashi Myo-en wrote:

"Tsukimi-san!" Myo-en shoots to her feet, startling the crow into a bout of cranky feather-ruffling. "You live!" She breaks into a grin. Such is her relief that it takes her a few moments to react properly to the other two, "Mai-san... Moshi-san? Good afternoon to you."

She shakes her head a bit sheepishly. "An ambiguous future. One whose meaning is in human hands, I think. But that is not a bad thing."

"Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," the nun said with some humor, managing a wry smile.

"Mai-san, I'm relieved to see you too. And meet a new face? I'm Togashi Tsukimi of the Ise Zumi Order," she introduced herself to the unknown Moshi.

Myo-en's talk of an ambiguous future made her curious, and she looked to her fellow nun's coins for a glimpse. "What do the coins say?"

Togashi Mai · **Joined:** Sun Apr 05, 2020 4:22 am **Posts:** 417

She'd taken the break, examined the sights, and quickly came over when she noticed Tsukimi. Whom, with Myo-en, managed to notice her before she had even settled her steps. Beaming, positively, when she was addressed by and heard Tsukimi, but with the stranger she tried to calm it down.

"It is a great relief to see you well, Tsukimi-san," she said cheerfully, turning then to the Moshi, "Togashi Mai, artisan of the way of the Tattoo and one of the Ise Zumi just as Tsukimi-san," she said.

Quick glance, "May, such an ambiguous future is indeed surmountable that we have Tsukimi-san with us here yet again."

Moshi Yuko · **Joined:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 2:38 pm **Posts:** 108

Yuko suddenly found herself surrounded by Tosahi, a most unexpected turn of events! She bowed politely to all.

Togashi Myo-en · **Joined:** Mon Apr 06, 2020 4:27 am **Posts:** 418

"Hm. The coins say I should mind my own affairs, I think," Myo-en says, lips quirking wryly. "I cast on the matter of these accusations against the Empress... Empress-Regent, I suppose?" The title is unaccustomed and thus feels a bit odd to say. "But I received Hexagram Thirty-nine, which means 'Obstacle.' A superior person isn't stubborn. She chooses to move through, not force past."

She cups her hands together and makes a casual bow to Yuko. "I am Myo-en, by the way. I'm glad to meet you. I have not spent much time with people from your province, but a friend I lost lately was a great devotee of Lady Sun."

Moshi Yuko · **Joined:** Tue Apr 28, 2020 2:38 pm **Posts:** 108

"An honor, Togashi Myo-en-sama," says Yuko.

She looks curious at the last statement. "May I ask who that was? I have not met many since leaving the Valley."

Togashi Tsukimi · **Posted:** Wed May 06, 2020 6:24 pm

Tsukimi considered Myo-en's divination with a thoughtful expression on her face, as some of her serenity returned to her in the presence of her sisters.

"“It takes a wise man to see an obstacle as it truly is and not as it appears to be”, or so the Tao teaches us. Perhaps the obstacle is not the truth, but the one claiming it is the truth?" While she knew there was only one true truth, a lie could be twisted to become truth by those who were powerful.

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