(D9, LE) Hair of the Lion

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

Fortunately, despite the hijinx of the day before, there was at least one bar in Nikesake that Aya hadn't been banned from yet: The Peach Pit. It was a rather low-class bar, and a bit rundown, but at least it wasn't crowded.

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

It was an unusual spot to be invited to, but Tani was not going to complain. Not now. Dressed in a simple black Kimono, Tani searched til she found Yogo Aya.and then approached and bowed, still too proper and formal for a place like this. Yogo-San. I hope the days have found you well?" Tani truly, clearly, did not belong in a place like this.

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

Matsu Tani wrote:

It was an unusual spot to be invited to, but Tani was not going to complain. Not now. Dressed in a simple black Kimono, Tani searched til she found Yogo Aya.and then approached and bowed, still too proper and formal for a place like this. Yogo-San. I hope the days have found you well?" Tani truly, clearly, did not belong in a place like this.

Overly formal Lion in this setting with that question was absurd, but wasn't even in the top five for the past few days.

She returned the bow.

"Nearly died, succeeded at a mission for the Shosuro daimyo, evacuated again, nearly died again, failed a mission, got a demand, got a promotion to yoriki, got drunk, got laid , and spent the morning being pestered by a Lion non-ancestor. If there's a word to summarize what I'm feeling, it's not well, but I'm not sure what it is." she said to what was meant as a social nicety.

She poured a cup for Tani.

"Well, enough about me, how about yourself, Tani-san?"

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

Tani blinked a bit. That was... a lot. "You have been through a lot, that is for sure." She seated herself, taking a breath. "Well. I am alive. Which is better than where I thought I would be at this point. So. Well is a good term, I suppose."

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

Aya nodded.

"I take it you mean you've been doing more with your time than arguing with an ancestor this morning?" she probed.

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

She nodded. "A team of us went to Kyuden Asako yesterday, and were able to close the portal to Toshigoku that stood there. I was planning for it to be a one way trip." She shrugged. "And now I am here, and have to make important decisions, such as which blends of sake I will drink tonight." As if to punctuate the point, she downed her cup in one go.

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

She refilled the cup.

"Ah, I see. You went where I did, but where I failed, you succeeded. Unsurprising, I suppose. We wouldn't have gone if your success hadn't been forseen." she offers.

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

She tilted her head. "You went to attempt to close the portal?" She held the cup for now.

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

She shook here head.

"No, we went to try and go through the portal, retrieve something and come back before the Lion closed it and the salvation of the Empire was lost forever."

She shrugged a bit.

"But last minute suicide missions aren't generally well staffed, and two magistrates, an honorable man, and a pair of monster hunters are a poor poor team to send. Magistrates apparently need to learn to ride horses better." she said.

She tilts her head a bit.

"Did you come back alone as well, or is that just my ill fate?"

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

She blinked. She didn't know about the Scrolls, clearly. "That... does sound like a nonideal squadron for the task..." not dwelling on that, she continued. "Three of us made it back. Bayushi Setsuna-san and I made sure that Izumi-sama came back as well. One sacrificed herself to buy us time. The other two were pulled into Toshigoku."

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

Aya whistles at that.

"Sucked into Toshigoku huh? That may, in fact, be a fate worse that Norikami's being sliced up and eaten like sashimi. You'd assume they'd die fairly fast in that type of environment, but what would become of their souls is really only something disccussed by Phoenix scholars on particularly long winter courts." she comments.

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

"We all knew the risks," she sighed. "Still. Homura-san was a friend. It will be odd to not have her around to sigh when I ultimate fail to notice she is flirting with me." She let out a small chuckle, taking a more responsible sip.

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

Aya frowned at that a bit.

"Hmmm, that sounds tough, but I'm not sure I believe it. Every samurai is supposed to be willing to lay down their life for their duty, but being sucked into another realm? If you were Crab waking up 50 li from literally jigoku, that'd be one thing, but....."

She sipped her cup.

"It was explained to me this way once:

The Lion say, 'My life, but never my honor for the Lion.'
The Scorpion say, 'My life and my honor, but never my soul for the Scorpion.
The Phoenix say, 'My life, my honor, my soul for the Phoenix."

She shakes her head.

"This is not to say that the Lion sacrificing only their life lessens them. They would argue that if you surrender your honor, what is the point of life? But this may well go more into Phoenix territory than Lion, and I would not think less of you for wondering about it."

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

"We were informed of the risks," Tani shrugged. "We did not go in expecting anything less. I was prepared to damn my Soul to Toshigoku forever to see that error undone."

She sipped her sake again. Half gone. "But that is in the past. As I told a Seppun yesterday before I left, dwelling or ruminating on it is a path to regret. And I see no path forward but to live in the moments I have been gifted." She held up the cup, considering it a long moment. "Which right at this moment, means Sake with a friend. And a friend who, it seems, might need condolences more than I right now."

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

Aya tilted her head at that a bit.

"Then you're an even more formidable woman than I thought, Tani-san. Which is saying alot given my initial estimate of just how formidable you are." she muses.

She chuckles a bit.

"Condolences are weird, ne? 'Don't live in the past' while people remind you of the past. For some people it's Courtesy, an empty gesture to show what a good samurai you are.
For some it's Sincerity, where you actually do give a damn about what another person has been through. Probably Sincerity from you. But while I am perhaps a bit unsettled at how turbulent my life has become lately, the worst of it is over. The wounds were deep, but they're starting to scab over. Eventually they'll just be one more set of scars unseen on the skin."

She shakes her head.

"Though speaking of the past....this morning was weird, ne?"

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

She shrugged just a bit. "I don't know if formidable is the correct word for it. I strive to live by Bushido, and part of Courage is having the Courage to let go." Leaving aside issues regarding her father.

"If you wish not to speak of it further, of course, I will not pry into that business any more than I already have. Perhaps it might be better then to celebrate that we are alive, than commiserate over the dead?"

And then she mentioned the incident from this morning. "Unusual, yes. I would not have thought that I had an ancestor who might support the brutal actions of the Steel Chrysanthemum, but I suppose there is always room for surprise."

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

Aya shrugged a bit.

"You are not alone in that regard, Tani-san. And it's not just ancestors either, there are Lions in this world who support him. I was expecting the other clans to fall over each other arguing over whom to support, but I thought the Lion would be united behind an Empress who came from their ranks." she offered.

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

"When doubts are presented, people tend to fall upon tradition, as it is familiar. I find that tradition is secondary to good sense, personally, but I will never be able to persuade everyone of that." She laughed a bit, lifting her cup and downing the rest of the contents. "And now Seppun Kato is bidding for the throne, and calling the Lion dishonorable and power hungry while he does." She didn't comment on an opinion of that fact. But the roll of her eyes was very telling.

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

Aya snorted at that.

"Really, the whole thing is ridiculous. When you boil it down, it's basically a legal dispute, like a matter of inheritance, right? it would make sense for the Emerald Champion, Kakita Seiko to simply rule on the matter."

She took a sip of her sake.

"Or if people thought that was too much like putting the Emerald Champion above the Emperor, the clan Champions, as the Emperor's direct vassals should assemble and figure it out. But instead we've got every courtier in the land explaining their intricate theory as to who the proper Emerpror should be. It's like listening to a bunch of chickens in a coop argue over who their farmer should be!"

Matsu Tani · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:49 pm **Posts:** 493

"It's not my place to consider it beyond how I have already said my piece," she shrugged. "The only thing I am certain of is that the Steel Chrysanthemum should not take the throne. Anything after that can be decided by the Courtiers. I will say that I find it annoying that Seppun Kato-sama would do this in the middle of a conflict that already hangs on a razor's edge."

Tani poured for herself, making sure Aya had enough as well before she continued. "Anyway. What is a more pleasant thing we can talk about?"

(D9, LE) Hair of the Lion

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