[D3 EA] After the Earthquake, the Flood

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

Myo-en is muddy, scraped up, soaked through, chilled... and exhilarated. It isn't every day a monk brings down a mountain (well, with the help of a dozen-and-three stoic heimin who are now enjoying well-deserved rest of their own). She strips out of her filthy clothes and scrubs down briskly, her coat of tattoos seeming to shimmer in the sulfurous steam. No hair-washing to delay her these days; a bucket of warm water dumped over her head sluices the last flecks of mud away, and she splashes into the bath with a sigh of pure carnal bliss that probably indicates her detachment from the material world is not quite as complete as she would like.

Gods and Fortunes, but it feels good, though. Compared to the other times she's bathed here throughout the winter, the mineral smell of the water and the warm rocks lining the pool feel more alive somehow, like the Earth is happy to wrap her up in its warmth. Fanciful, no doubt. Still, for a few moments Myo-en is able to forget the impending siege, one happy Dragon.

((open))

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

Had Mai her choice of places to go to relax she would name off many that were far more secluded and far more pleasant than the onsen. However, she had no great waterfalls hidden in the forest, a raw and untamed bit of nature, to sit and relax by at hand and so she settled for the tamed nature of the onsen.

Though, as he said himself, he was only a man Mai could barely keep her thoughts contained as she walked from his place. Only barely maintaining composure as she came here. Asako Kashiwagi was a man that was going to be remembered by history and it was she that was the artisan behind the ink he would wear.

Had she been in private she might have happy squealed.

But she was not in private.

So she didn't.

Isawa Miwako · **Joined:** Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:21 am **Posts:** 590

Miwako was grateful for the dragon's gift. The rain was a cleansing one and the dance of the water kami was vibrant and refreshing. But, she could still feel her loss. The connection was still there and still strong, but it felt distant.

She wanted to feel closer, even momentarily. She wanted to surround herself with water, immerse herself in it. There was only one place for that.

"Good afternoon, mina-sama." she greeted the others as she slipped into the onsen.

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

Myo-en has been soaking in the springwater with her head tipped back so the rain falling through the steam lands on her face and closed eyes. Now she looks up, blinking away the water from her eyelids.

"Hello, Mai-san. Hello, Miwako-san." Both women are familiar(-ish) acquaintances, so Myo-en makes do with a sort of seated bob in greeting, without standing up out of the deliciously warm water. The hands she cups together in front of her for this casual bathhouse bow are a bit scratched up, pink around the nails and knuckles from aggressive scrubbing with a stiff brush, but very clean.

A series of harsh caws slice through the steam, followed a moment later by the sleek black form of a very large crow, which lands near the edge of the onsen pool, hops forward, and dabbles its sharp black beak at the water's edge.

"I don't know if you are welcome in here, friend," Myo-en says offhandedly... apparently to the bird.

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

"Good afternoon, Myo-en-sama," Mai says as she approaches the edge of the bath and stands there for a moment. Taking in the feel of the onsen for a moment before stepping down and into the waters.

"You have been adopted by a most curious little friend, Myo-en-sama?" she asks, a slight curve to her lips that betray the hidden smile.

Isawa Miwako · **Joined:** Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:21 am **Posts:** 590

"I see no reason why your friend could not join us." Miwako smiled. "If that's what the crow wants."

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

"There's your answer." Myo-en chuckles and splashes a bit of water at the crow. It spreads its wings and shakes its head as the water falls onto its feathers, then begins hopping and fluttering along the rim of the pool, rather as if it's looking for the perfect spot.

"Mm. Karasu-san has chosen to follow on my journeys for a few years now," Myo-en answers Mai's implicit question. "Or chosen me to follow hers. I'm not sure which." She stretches her arms overhead and then settles back into the water. "Today is odd. A mountain hike and a hot spring...it would be a holiday, if battle were not coming soon."

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

"Hai, and yet in a way it is already here in the minds of many. Leaving a tension in the air that you might nearly wave at with a hand to touch, but yet we continue on. Each and all, and do what we yet may," she smiles a touch, "it is the most we can do to allow the moment it's joys, neh?"

It was not something that brokered a need for reply, and she demonstrated that even further by continuing to speak, "Your little friend appears a master of this, enjoying himself so. There is a cat around here that has adopted me in much a similar way in my travels, or perhaps it is the other way around. I share my time and what food I have when she comes by, ever a master of her own path."

[D3 EA] After the Earthquake, the Flood

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