[Day 8 - EA] IFHY (Governor's Office/Chamber Closed)

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

The Asako was in a mood after the violence of the morning and his encounter with Ikoma Hiroya he was livid at the hospitality shown the Crane. He would have words, hopefully he could steel his anger and be civilized but it seemed the whole world was going upside down.

For now he waited the audience of the Governor.

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

Torii invites Kashiwagi in.

"Asako-san. I believe I already know the topic of this discussion, and I doubt it'll be the dead Hantei."

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"It isn’t the topic I wanted to speak of,” he said grimly. “But the events of the morning... they weigh heavily on me.”

“I hope you have had your rice this day, I cannot say I that I have had the stomach for it since it all happened.” It was obvious that he was perturbed by what he had seen and heard.

OOC: Etiquette: 6d10o10k3 15

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"They weigh heavily on everyone. There is not a single person in this city that wanted this outcome. The only one who would have has an army headed to take over the Empire."

She slams a fist on her desk. "This is not the stuff that songs are written of." She looks at Kashiwagi. "At least not ones in the tone I'd have hoped for, but here we stand."

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"Agreed none asked for this, Ikoma-sama, but they were adamant that they were your orders, your command, what could the Crane have done to warrant such retaliation. I cannot know, the jug is broken and we cannot mend it, your wisdom and patience will be tested but you have yet time to find a solution that could mend some of the wounds, if only enough to keep the people safe,” he said solemnly.

“As a wise monk told me once, a courageous samurai need not resort to cruelty. This is a time for bravery, a time for heroism.”

OOC: Etiquette - I am sorry but I know we can find a solution: 6d10o10k3 25

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"Yes, I gave the orders, and I will stand by them when the wheel spins for me. As you say, I cannot change the past."

She thinks for a moment. "I will speak to you as I won't speak to many, as you have experienced more than most, Asako-san, so perhaps you can understand me better. And, you don't strike me as a man with loose lips."

She quirks an eyebrow to see if he gives sign of disagreeing.

(Assuming he doesn't, she continues)

"I would never have asked the guard to kill an ambassador, but I also didn't think the ambassador would purposefully press the issue when it could have been resolved another way. I started the fire, she added fuel, and the guard stepped in.

"I had hoped to send a message to the Crane about the politics of locking us out when we face such a threat. I did not wish to cut them off, however, so I allowed for an easy and obvious way for them to still be a part of the city and even ask for the restriction to be lifted. A political stunt, nothing more. It has gone out of hand."

It feels like she's emotionally building up as she speaks. Her words coming a little faster and a little less controlled.

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

He nodded and said in a supportive tone, "No plan survives first contact, intact, with reality."

He waited to see if she would continue.

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"There is no point for them to stand down now! The guards will stand through the night and see this thing through, and tomorrow this city will stand against all threats, be they internal or not.

"There are only two paths remaining for me: dead and a failure or alive in front of the broken armies of the Hantei."

She looks at Kashiwagi again and her eyes are smoldering with fiery determination.

"Is there something I can do for you, Asako-san?"

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"The safety of the city and your people is first and foremost, you are committed to the path you are on and so are the Crane. The Crane were offered a solution it was not palatable to their Honor, and you have acted as Honor dictates, a conflict perhaps was inevitable when the pieces were such aligned,” he replied trying to remain calm having taken her measure and seeing she is just as conflicted.

“You are as Akodo-no-kami when he faced Hantei-no-kami, committed to the path of victory to success and yet when he saw the light he saw another path at the last possible moment and found a way forward that brought unity.”

“Or the...” he launched into a short tale of a Lion hero whose situation seems to mirror this one and found a path forward that was able to bring an amicable solution for both sides and preserved the Honor of the Lion, as most poignant stories it ended with death but hey, samurai drama.

Once finished he said calmly, “I was told there would be stories, but I understand if that is not on the table. I did bring sake.”

OOC: Just fluff for a Lion story pertinent to the situation.

Lore Lion 1 CR + Sage: 5d10o10k4-5 20

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

She laughs. "I do appreciate a good story." She lets out a long breath. "Fuck... Ah well. Let's have that drink. Maybe I need to look up some good Crane stories to tell where someone was fabulously fashionable and how that saved the day somehow."

She gives a rueful smile.

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

Assuming cups are brought, he poured for her first and then himself and said, “Ah, you mean like Doji Pradahime? A man so fabulous that his kimono brought an end to a war between a Crane and Crab province? I swear the tale is true, he had been scorned at a party the previous night and when he heard the one who scorned him was in battle the next day he urged his retinue take him to the battlefield.”

“He then took to the field in his finest layers just to dress down this erstwhile paramour, the samurai were stunned both by the audacity and the beauty of the display that they all quit the field. He was unscathed, though I am told there was some mud on the kimono, but it was a battlefield.”

OOC: For more fluff.

Crane Lore + Sage: 5d10o10k4 31

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"Hmm... interesting. It would be a Doji." She rolls her eyes. "I mean, honestly, what Crane hasn't wanted someone to drop dead because of their clothes? They probably just wanted it to be someone else..."

She chuckles a dark chuckle. "It's going to be gallows humor all the way down, Asako-san. That is how I get through the day with my On intact. Gallows humor being closed doors."

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"Well then consider me grave company, gallows humor all the way down," he toasted to the governor.

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

She smirks. "Easy to say when you're a Phoenix. You'll rise from the ashes, and, if the stories are believed... you'll make sure that everyone knows you did."

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"I suppose that is a slight advantage in my favor, Ikoma-sama. Yet if I had to rise without you I would be desolated, you have been good company in the short time we have shared, far better than I expected,” he mused.

“Gallows humor and all. Spend enough time in my presence and maybe some of my Phoenix grace will rub off on you.”

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"Ha! Flattery! Perhaps this is the famed Asako's fancy clothes?" There is no malice in her words.

"For me, certainly, in the tradition of my ancestors, it is my stories. If you asked me to swear off stories for a day, you'd probably have to cut me down, as well!"

She takes a big drink.

"If we all are killed, perhaps we too can arise as spirits to show Hantei the 16th how it feels. That would show him."

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"So what are the tales you have shared of the 16th?" he asked.

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

"Tales of his youth, mostly. He is a striking figure, to be sure. For example..."

OOC: Storytelling

She tells the story of Hantei the XVI rooting out conspiracies in the court before his gempukku, showing how he was easily able to spot the truth.

"...and yet... he is such a tragic figure. Someone so able to see the truth and political plays succumbs to his own paranoia, and now look!"

She shakes her head to clear it. "Honestly, how easily can we fall sway to power? Look at everything that happened today! How many people died because of a small thing? How many of these small things would it take for me to become like the Hantei? How many would it take you?"

She deflates a little. "And how many of our accomplishments would be lost for what transpired after?"

Asako Kashiwagi · **Joined:** Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:56 am **Posts:** 865

"Our worst actions tend to echo much louder than I best and people always want to see their heroes succeed but they ultimately want to see them fail and torn down to their level. Perhaps that is a pessimistic view, yet it seems to prove true,” Kashiwagi replied.

“Do you fear your legacy will be a dark one, Ikoma-sama?” he asked. “A shame for one who has done so much to aid us, for one action to overshadow all the good... a shame.”

Ikoma Torii · **Joined:** Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:33 am **Posts:** 58

She shrugs a bit. "A dark legacy is better than no legacy."

She seems a bit startled at her words.

"But no, Phoenix. I think the the moral arc of the universe is long. I think we all walk that path in our own stories as we attempt to return to our next life better than this. Is my story that of this life? The next? Ha! I cannot know. I am a mere storyteller, and I am looking for the beginning and the end of each story I tell... I have not found one yet!"

She takes another big drink.

"I'm no monk, so I'm going to stop talking like one. If I keep going on like this as a Lion governor, someone is going to confine me to quarters... and we all know how that ends."

[Day 8 - EA] IFHY (Governor's Office/Chamber Closed)

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