Phi had been teaching her about this, so it only seemed right to attend her event and practice with everyone else. Besides... it was fun doing things with other people sometimes. The trick was keeping in touch with the Void and letting that connection to everything drown out the other thing-that-was...

Shosuro... presumably the young woman in front of him was Shosuro... opened the door to him. She was... hard to describe. Everything about her was so standard and expected that he wasn't sure he would remember exactly what she looked like if he turned around. Her kimono was... probably some kind of ...

"Thank you for coming, " she replied, her voice a soft soprano. "Please, sit. Would you like tea?" It was more of a show of hospitality than was typical for her, but the subject they would inevitably get to was heavy. Sometimes the little rituals of life helped.

The young woman slid open the door. He could sense her presence on the other side before she did, and see her more clearly than usual. Her kimono was a rich red, with patterns of a court procession and long ribbons, with black accents along the bottom of the sleeves and hem, rather than his eyes pas...

"Thank you."

"Those are good potential openings, Bayushi Sasori-san, I agree. Feel free to do so."

"You, as well."

/exit

"Hai... I would like to learn," she said, settling into a meditative position.

/fade to training

She nodded quietly. "I should go see about my duties. Please be careful, Kakita-san." It was only when she moved her hand away that it was obvious it had simply stayed rested on his arm the whole time.

"There could be a wedding ceremony some time after that, too, though," she noted. "So if you think about it, there's even more than after a wedding ceremony."

"Thank you for being willing to try," she replied with a small smile. "It's nice to have some hope."

She can't help but giggle a little. "You remind me of a bride who hasn't considered what life would be like after her wedding. I suppose we're both kind of like that right now."

"What will you do, once you cut out that illness?"

"A name that's just... name feels like a blank slate," she replied. "Perhaps it's a call to action, though. Once I find myself, I can put a name on it."

"... It was the name my parents game me. I never changed it," she replied simply. "... Though it's an odd name."

"I see..." Shosuro responded with a small nod. "... If you were to ever find yourself on your own once more, you would be welcome with the Shosuro."

"How do you know who your true self is?"

"Duty is duty, and I was eager to see what I could do," she said. "Now..." She shrugged. "Duty is still duty, but I'll see what destiny has in store, too."

"I tend to slip from people's minds. They look over me, sometimes, unless they know I'm here or I put myself right in their way," she explained. "Like when I came in." "My parents decided it would be best to use things like that to their full advantage. I thought it was something... special, so I di...

"Mm... Children of two worlds, one of which we will never see," she mused. "Certainly unusual, if nothing else. Hard to predict those effects."

"No... the people I was thinking of weren't gods, either. One served my father, and I learned from. The other a member of my family in the broader sense - a Shosuro," she explained. "It seemed... the natural path, with my abilities, to be honest. It seemed the best way to serve my father and help ot...