Brood War [D10, LA, Expecting]

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

Degarashi shrugged one shoulder passively. "I'll never understand the logic behind it. I'm used to such things happening to me, so it hurt, but I endured it. It's another matter entirely to see it happen to one of my betters."

The Scorpion inhaled deeply, sitting up a little more and squaring his shoulders.

"I didn't have anyone to talk to about it when it happened to me. You may not be so unlucky as that, if you choose to speak."

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

Oh boy.

A nerve was struck. The face behind the cat mempo shows some teeth, as she nearly snarls at the man.

One push, she thinks, and he would be off: swimming down with the fish.

"Perhaps that's a Scorpion Clan trait: Meddle with things just to get some advantage, forgetting how cruel they can be."

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

"Not untrue of the clan as a whole. We also make good villains towards which one may direct their anger."

Degarashi didn't seem upset about Horonigai's fury, in fact he seemed to welcome it. His posture was relaxed and open, not even defensive in nature, as if he'd simply allow himself to be pushed off the bridge if that were the course the princess chose to take.

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

Horonigai crosses her arms over her chest and looks away. Her hair waves back, nearly whipping the Scorpion in the face, and followed by her well sounded, "Hmpf."

Mendokusai, she tells herself, not willing to dig deeper.

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

Degarashi carefully pushed the remaining mochi into his mouth with a finger and chewed it slowly. Talking to the teenaged miharu was turning out like herding a cat. Her responses were difficult to predict or control, but at least this was unlikely to degrade into areas he wasn't used to managing.

"The Scorpion rarely ever act from a position of weakness, so yes, we do tend to move only when we find it advantageous to do so, but I fail to see how that makes us particularly different from anyone else."

He dropped down from his perch, brushing himself off with his hands. "You feel used and manipulated, and see attempts to manipulate you more keenly now than before, is that about right?"

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

Kill it with kindness, she thinks, deeply, followed with a struggling self command in the lines of, Horo, don't reply. It's a trap!

"Barely."

Baka, you replied! She frowns to herself with narrowed eyebrows.

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

"Barely implies that there is some accuracy." He nodded to himself, though she likely didn't see it. "Does this animosity have anything to do with our Champion's sister?"

Her internal struggle was evident in the tension of her posture. Degarashi was likely walking on gaijin pepper eggshells right now, but so long as Horonigai kept replying, he had to assume she still wanted to talk.

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

How in Ningen-do would this twat of a Bayushi connect this –– have the scorpion spread rumors about me already?

Her mind races on the many possibilities, but that would simply be impossible. The announcement was made yesterday.

Unless, they had this planned all along. Horonigai starts to get a bit paranoid, and shakes her head. It took a while for her to reply.

"Why would it?" She asks, not showing other signs, if not great attention to the battle in the horizon.

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

"I've no idea, otherwise I'd not feel inclined to ask at all." Degarashi stepped forward, until he was beside Horonigai, sharing her view of the battlefield.

"I've some animosity about it. He's put my clan in a difficult spot, and every reason I can find for why he might have done such a thing is worse than the last."

And there was a hint of animosity in his voice. Cold, controlled, and dangerously groomed, the tone of his voice sharpening against his thoughts as if his they were a whetstone.

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

"I would slap my mouth before I would speak ill of my Champion. if I were a Scorpion, ne!" She says with an annoying passive-agressive tone of voice.

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

"I wasn't referring to the actions of my Champion, in any direct sense. I know not if this betrothal was tendered with knowledge about the claims now being made regarding the Heir, but the combination of the two stands to do a great deal of harm to the Scorpion. Would my Champion knowingly do such a thing?" The question was rhetorical, as Degarashi could consider many reasons to do exactly that, but the imperial wasn't currently within his circle of trust.

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

"How would the Champion's sister get engaged without the Champion's direct approval?"

She turns her head to face him. "Looks like you're questioning his decision and loyalty to the good of your Clan. Ne, Bauyshi-san?"

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

"I'm questioning things, yes. It's my role in my clan to do so. Question, know, enact. Intelligence is my strength, and it sometimes sounds to the outsider as heresy or indecision, but I cannot serve my lords if I cannot understand the information before me."

He turned, slightly, returning Horonigai's glance. "If you would but humor me a moment, hime. The engagement is announced in the same breath as the claims about the Heir. The Scorpion are allied with the Lion, yet the Champion's sister is now betrothed to the man who most strongly challenges their claim to the throne. We are called to stand with our Champion, naturally, but consider for a moment the ramifications of that action, given just that knowledge alone."

Maybe it was lofty to drop such thoughts on the Seppun, and perhaps risky as well, but the knowledge was, as it stood, entirely public. Degarashi had made no direct statement of opposition or support, merely inquired about a hypothetical resolution given literal fact.

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

"It is the word of the Miya that spoke. The voice of the Emperor." She tells him stoically, with the uttermost confidence one could muster. "Are you saying you don't believe them?"

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

"Not at all, Seppun-hime. In fact I believe them completely, and it chills me. The Scorpion are at a place of division, between those serving our original purpose and those who wish to emulate the Lion. Such division matters little while the alliance stands."

Now he turned fully towards the miharu, eyes calculating. "Think bigger. Just the other day you witnessed death on an untold scale for a slight of the courts, an insult offered by the Crane to the Lion. If the Scorpion are called to stand against the Lion and decry the Empress and the Heir,how might the Lion react to that?"

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

She scoffs. "I can't attest for certain. But I would prepare for violence, as it is customary."

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

"Indeed so, a logical conclusion. It could become quite dangerous very soon to be a Scorpion in Lion territory. Every one of our number could come under some manner of attack for a perceived offence we've scarcely taken action to create. Bayushi, Shosuro, Soshi..."

There was a pronounced moment of silence. "And Yogo..."

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

"That is why one cannot support the Lion's choking grip anymore. Samurai loyal to the Scorpion should actively promote for balance to return." She says right after he gives a pause.

Bayushi Degarashi wrote:

There was a pronounced moment of silence. "And Yogo..."

Horonigai keeps the silence for longer, as her eyes pierce through his. "Ja, ne, they wouldn't dare to be so foolish."

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

"The Lion." A pause. "Who struck down the Crane ambassador." Another pause. "For leaving her embassy dressed as a Crane? When detention would have been much easier? Yes, they've been paragons of intellect lately..."

Degarashi shook his head. "We've spirits of slaughter at our gates. I'll consider nothing outside possibility."

Seppun Horonigai · **Joined:** Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:03 pm **Posts:** 1054

"So, what you intend to do to make them realize their mistakes and protect your clanmates: support the Matsu?" She asks sarcastically while quirking an eyebrow behind the mask.

Brood War [D10, LA, Expecting]

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