LE 2 - Appeasing Hotei (Semi-Open/Expecting)

[Nozomi]

"No," she looked around for a moment and then her eyes hardened. Mayumi was just out of earshot and she managed to keep her voice low, letting their mutual companion watch after her daughter. Kami, but she was grateful for that pesky little malcontent of a bird at times. It didn't play around when there was actual trouble. "No, I wish it was, but there is more than the snow that bothers me. You know I dislike being here too long. It seems something is going on."

She looked back at the shrine of Bishamon. "She apologized to me. For our first meeting. It... was not unpleasant, as talks go. But, just as we last spoke, so to this day? I do not know. I simply do not know if it is a good thing, or not." Her lips thinned. "She wants to meet again, to talk more privately. I may agree, but I'm not sure what we should talk about. What she knows... what I should know."

A sigh and she shook her head, eyes definitely hard. "Sora has had another vision. And, as per usual, it isn't good news. Something is going on here."

[Shinsei]

Shinsei puffed out a breath and shook his head slowly. "Always with the bad visions, that one. I'm sure it wasn't at all nice to hear about. Do tell me what he saw."

He scratched at his cheek as he considered the issue of Shosuro, not quite sure where to place the girl. Shinsei had never met the woman himself, and didn't have any frame of reference for her actions beyond what Nozomi had to say about her, leaving his opinion heavily skewed in one direction. "At least she apologized, but that begs the deeper question of how she got to your dreams in the first place. Oh, why can things never be simple?"

[Nozomi]

"It was relayed to me by Isawa Kyosei. So you would need to get the specifics from him. But there was a corruption within the snow, trapped here that would spread outwards from this place. A need for purity," and she held up her old jade bracelet when she said the latter part. "Kyosei is attempting to find any sources of jade he can get his hands on and hoping to make sure there are others with sources. I do not know what it means, but I'm afraid it means there is some sort of threat going on. The coincidence is ..."

"There are no coincidences." She frowned. "As for her... she claimed that it was a mistake. She had reached out to a familiar feeling, and we had ended up in each other's space. Her mother and her father helped teach her how not to do that. But... she kept flitting. Every once in a while when we talked, she was just not there. And my memory of her fades even as she speaks." She looked at him carefully as she added to that. "Shinsei, my awareness is active. I know where my daughter is right now, around the corner. I feel the heartbeat of your companion. I can feel the leaf falling from the tree just outside the door. And she faded occasionally, as if she were not there."

A shake of her head. "She seemed not to wish harm, and I felt no eyes upon me, but I am not sure how I should feel. It reminds me. You and I, we know so little of this... thing that touches Bayushi's life."

[Shinsei]

"Corruption trapped by the snow? That almost sounds like one of the guests is the source of this corruption, as we're the only ones trapped here." Shinsei smiled softly. "If one can consider this place a trap. I'm sure you have some insight to provide to that end, I know how you detest being stuck in one place."

Shinsei considered Nozomi's words carefully, pursing his lips as he nodded carefully. "Perhaps she isn't a threat just yet, but she is trapped here like the rest of us. I would advise caution in dealing with her until we can form a more informed opinion of her intents. Your friend Sora hasn't been incorrect with these visions of his that I'm aware of, and unintentionally spreading corruption is still spreading it."

[Nozomi]

"I wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't this place." She made a hand motion, sighing as she did. There was a definite growl to it, but it was an old grumble. "Shiba, Yuzuru, Doji and Hantei have their says in how the court and laws work. It's all too stuffy, too formal, too confined for my tastes. It's a world I never was part of, and well... I might be willing to talk to Shosuro, but you know how I've tried to avoid Bayushi's lands." Maybe she was being paranoid. Maybe. She wasn't sure. "But that would make sense. There might be an evil lurking among us."

"I... don't think this is the corruption he's thinking of. He'd been clear that Jade was the purity. The little I know? Jade was no protection from this." Her eyes narrowed. "I think as you said. She is as trapped as we are, and she is something else entirely. We have to be cautious. We can't know until we know, and I don't like being in that spot."

[Shinsei]

"Ah, true, and it's crowded here as well. You've never been fond of being around so many people at once, and it's not like you can just tent up at the edge of the city here." Shinsei clucked his tongue. "Perhaps talking to Shosuro will shed some light on what's going on in his lands without ever having to visit."

At the mention of jade, Shinsei pulled out his own worn piece of the stone. "I'll not be caught without adequate protection from this corruption, as I'm certain you won't either. So it's good that at least some of us will be prepared."

[Nozomi]

"Not like I didn't think about doing that, but Mayumi would have never let me hear the end of it. Matsu is here. She wants to see her hero." She snorted and chuckled some, feeling her daughter with her awareness again and then focusing back on him as they chatted. The tools of enlightenment, used as an overprotective mother only could. She tapped her lips and closed her eyes, unsure. "Yes. It might tell us at least something of what is happening in his own household. He is ... aware we saw each other in the dream. She told him and he helped her. It might be good to talk. If it is safe for now, we can speak. I won't like it, but it may help us both and..."

A pause.

"If she is still safe, perhaps she does not need to be an enemy. I don't hate her. I'm just... afraid of what she might be." But the mention of jade got a worried look. This time, she visibly glanced back. "I have mine, but we haven't been near the old Seido lands in years. She doesn't. I will be looking into addressing it, keeping her back, just in case." Her eyes turned back to him and she tried to make the smile not be forced. "You know one day, our bracelets will wear away. I will think of that as a good day. It will mean you kept your promise to me, especially if you put another one on."

[Shinsei]

"Then perhaps conversing with her again will reveal more of her true nature. One often can't progress in life without taking risks, and this seems like one worth taking, for now at least."

Shinsei smiled. "I'm a man of many things, but broken promises is not one of them. Besides, I have more than just myself to think about now. I can't afford to be foolish with my life like I once was."

[Nozomi]

Dangerous words. But, at the same time she wasn't inclined to disagree. Her life was never without a certain danger, after all. But she would be leaving Mayumi in someone's care during that conversation. "If it did, it might help me understand what we are dealing with, and if we should understand more or not." for now, she agreed it was a thing to do, even if she really didn't like it.

A low chuckle and she sighed. "You do have a whole empire resting on your shoulders at times," she quipped, stepping in and smiling at him a little. "But these broad shoulders can handle an empire, so long as someone remembers not to try and do it alone. But... tell me. I didn't ask before, Shinsei, but why are you here? It is not as if you and the couple are close, though I know there are expectations. I almost gave this ceremony a pass myself. It wouldn't have been hard."

[Shinsei]

"Just be forever mindful of what's at stake and you should be capable of discerning what to know and what to not know. I trust your judgment in that regard."

At the question, Shinsei merely shrugged. "I came here for my own reasons, mainly to speak with emperor Shiba, but got snowed in with everyone else. I didn't even know of the wedding that was occurring here, so I didn't attend the reception. I'm here largely by happenstance."

[Nozomi]

"If anything, I have survived as long as I have by treating this subject with more caution than it may deserve," she admitted. "I intend to continue doing so. It is one of those moments where prepared is better than unprepared. Though if I ever do find a defense... I will tell you." She had not yet learned of Crystal's properties, but if she ever did...

She chuckled dryly. "there is never truly happenstance where you are involved, and yet there is always happenstance. I'll admit that I think I finally caved in because I knew Sora would be here, and ... she hasn't seen him in years." For all that the vision had been painful, she was grateful for it, for the protection it had given them. "There are some old faces in the crowds I might never see again and I'm more sentimental than the other monks are still."

[Shinsei]

"And if I find one I shall be sure to tell you as well. I'm certain that there is one to be found, all things have a balance to them, just as jade counters one impurity, so must something else counter the other."

"Ah yes, no coincidences." Shinsei chuckled lightly. "One might assume that both of us bring trapped at the same time is no coincidence either. But who listens to rumors anyway, hm?" His eyes shined with mischief.

[Nozomi]

"If we learn of one, I'll spread the word quietly in the Order. They don't need to know the reason why, only that it is an aid to purity. Some things we perform, we do not know why we do them, only that they work. This... I think both you and I know... this is something like that. The less the majority knows, the better." She didn't like these kinds of secrets, but they had their moments.

That comment got a raised eyebrow and a little smirk of her own. "These walls are paper thin, you. Perhaps it is no coincidence, but I'm sure that these brash young bags of hormones are going to cause plenty of rumors as is, trapped for the week or two in snow." A pause. "On the road out, however, there are no paper walls. Only their creators the trees, and they don't care."

[Shinsei]

"An unfortunate necessity, but a necessity nonetheless. We may not like keeping secrets, but they do have their places and times. I only hope we can discover the proper defense before we find ourselves needing it drastically."

Shinsei laughed, a loud and mirthful tone. "Ah, yes, pent up frustrations and hormones are likely to get out of hand in this situation. To the undisciplined, it would be pure torture to wait until they can leave this place to indulge themselves. I'll look for something to plug my ears."