[D1, EM] Breakfast at Tiffany's

[Viveki Doshi]

Viveki nods in understanding. "You are welcome to call me Viveki. I've grown accustomed to using it over my family name, after failing to properly explain the concept of family names to my Nezumi trading partners."

She takes a few more bites of rice, then returns to the conversation. "You touched upon the Kami being divine beings, yes? I hope it is not rude to ask, but to what extent do they have divine powers? Our gods have... we call them Avatars, which are... hmm, it is difficult in your language. It would be like..."

She pauses to collect her thoughts.

"To use an example, Vishnu the Preserver is everywhere." Using her hand, she gestures all around her. "Like the wind, or the scent of smoke, or the sounds you hear. But on occasion, he wills himself into mortal form and becomes an Avatar, as real as you or me, so that he can restore the balance of the world. Some of these Avatars are male, some are female, depending upon what Vishnu wills at the time. Vishnu is still everywhere, but he is also his Avatar. And when the Avatar is finished with its work, it dies as a mortal, but this does not take away from Vishnu."

Viveki looks at Kinsen, as if make sure the other woman is following her. "My question, then, is if your Kami, like your husband, are Avatars like this, part of a larger unseen whole, or are they entirely physical?"

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Abataa..." Kinsen tries to repeat after the long explanation, and takes another sip to answer.

"I've touched upon the Kami, yes. As well as their divine form and power which I am unsure of the extent."

She smiles, trying to find common ground, "Seems like your Vishnu-kami is an amalgama of our own several spiritual kami. Not the Children of Heavens, or the Fortunes I mentioned, but the elements and things themselves. These do assume male, female or unknown forms. Our shugenja priests can talk with them, and ask them to materialize as real as you or me, and they disappear after their work is done, too."

[Viveki Doshi]

"That sounds similar," she agrees. "Do your gods - your Children of the Heavens and your Fortunes and your spiritual kami - do they have different aspects, or are they, ah... whole and undivided? That is to say, would one pray to a benevolent Hantei for protection, and a wrathful Hantei to smite one's enemies, or would they merely say their prayers to Hantei?"

[Hantei Kinsen]

She raises her eyebrows at the thought. "As for dear husband. People respect and trust him. He's wise, strong and understands what it takes to lead people to greatness. He also makes sure people get safe, healthy and fed. I might imagine some do pray with him in mind due gratitude. Prayers to his holy mother, Lady Sun, as do I."

Then, Kinsen shrugs, "I am unsure why someone would pray for the wrath of such a powerful being. The Fortunes themselves do bless and curse people. Yet, if one is dishonorable enough to ask a Fortune to curse someone else, I would imagine the good Fortune would reverse that curse, instead."

Fishing her tea, the Stag clacks her red fingernails around the cup to point out, "Bishamon-kami has given me his blessings long ago. My family never asked for him to lay waste upon our enemies, but, instead, to give us courage and strength so we would be brave and fierce to do that what we had to."

[Viveki Doshi]

"I do not intend to imply that your husband is not trusted or honorable," Viveki clarifies. "Our gods each have multiple aspects - benevolent and wrathful - and each receive prayers by people in need of their gifts. This is not always a good thing - as an example, one of our goddesses, Shiva, is a goddess of destruction of rebirth. It is she who destroys each world so that the next might be reborn, stronger and better than the one which came before it. However, there are those who only pray to her destructive aspect. They are murderers, madmen, anarchists... they wish only to tear down the world around them, without cause for what will come after."

She takes a long, slow sip of her tea. "I was curious as to whether or not your gods have similar aspects, but it seems as if that is not the case. I do not question what you have told me, but as a merchant, I find it surprising that your own merchants do not ask your commerce gods to favor them over their rivals. With enough wealth, one can change the world, and that sort of power is rarely accepted at face value without regard to one's rivals."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen closes her eyes, trying to imagine the destructive side of Hantei, and she shivers, when she suddenly reminds herself of a certain nightmare she have been enduring since they went to the gates of Jigoku. Shaking her head out of that unpleasantness, Kinsen smiles again, to say, "I understand. A shame that your people, too, carry this malady of the madmen. I hope your kin find solace in the light of Lady Sun, in the fashion the Kami provide to us."

Taking the bowl back in her hand, Kinsen moves her hashi over the place to find a slice of fried fish to place on top, and foes remain silent while looking at it for a moment. She takes a bite, then two, and after savoring, says, "I imagine asking for a god to favor someone... perhaps more than the other... would be acceptable. Asking for them to curse another: that would be unfitting."

The blond woman takes a better look at Viveki, specially at her accessories, and says, "Viveki-san mentioned merchants and commerce plenty. Is that the way of the Doshi, or the entirety of your people?"

[Viveki Doshi]

"My family are all merchants," she explains, pausing to sip at her tea again. "As with your people, the Ivindi are separated into different, ah... levels of people. There are warriors, priests, merchants, and servants. Also, there are undesirables."

She sets down her tea so that she can more easily gesture with her hands. "In that order of importance. Those born to one level must stay within that level for their life. If they do well, in their next life, they will be better and move up to a different level. If they do poorly, they will move down, perhaps even being reborn as something worse, like a cricket."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"That is also how we are set up. We call it the Celestial Order, in which every soul has their place as dictated by the Heavens. One may advance through honorable deeds within the Kharmic wheel." She says, "It is what I have been told by Doji-kami-sama."

[Viveki Doshi]

Viveki nods. "Yes, it is good that you also understand the nature of the world. Some cultures have... very different interpretations of the world."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"Forgive this one rudeness, but, I do find odd that your people would send an envoy that is not of the higher... level, as Viveki-san mentions. Does this mean that our Empire doesn't deserve their full attention?" Kinsen asks, calmly.

[Viveki Doshi]

Viveki bites her lip before replying. "No, it is more that... in your empire, as much as I understand it, the Imperial family and the other families work closely together. In my home, there is more... social space?... between the various groups."

She motion around them. "This is an important wedding, yes? With many guests? Back home, there would be a hundred times this number in attendance for one half as important. Even then, were it a merchant such as myself being married, all of those guests would be merchants. We do not often associate with members of other groups. I have spoken with priests perhaps... a dozen times on my life? Warriors perhaps twice that, and then only because we supply them with weapons."

She sits back a bit. "To have the Maharaja come to us and say, 'go to this new land as our envoy' would be like... like you telling a cat to kill a specific rat. It is not worth your time, you do not understand or need to understand how the cat does its business, and telling the cat to do so would only distract the cat. So you do not do this, no? Instead, you feed cat, shelter cat, confident that the cat will do what the cat does."

She holds her hands out on front of her, palms upward, and looks at Kinsen. "This makes sense, yes? The Maharaja has hundreds of cats like this. Some are better at catching their rats than others, whether that rat is fighting enemies or speaking to gods or - like my family - bringing in copper for his coffers. Good cats are rewarded for finding fat rats, but the Maharaja does not point them out to the cat."

She exhales, and gives Kinsen a hopeful look. "Does that make sense? It is admittedly an, ah... intricate system, so explaining it to an outsider is something like explaining an elephant to blind men."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"So the Maharaja is your ruler, as the Wise Emperor is ours." Kinsen nods a few fews throughout the Gaijin's explanation.

Then, she confirms, "Our people are indeed similar. The samurai are the warriors: our duty is to protect our Emperor's lands and all his subjects –– we are direct followers of the Great Kami. The clergy are monks and priestly envoys of the Fortunes and many minor kami that help out the populace finding answers to the many questions. The bonge are peasants that provide their humble and honest work of raising crops, taking care of structures and serving the samurai in the best capacity they can, such as... bartering and trade. The hinin are the non-people, much in the same fashion you have in your lands."

She says, further studying the similarity of the bonge with Viveki's merchant class, "I, for one, adore cats. Specially the great ones –– when they follow suit. A wild beast, after all, cannot be trusted. Taming is necessary."

[Viveki Doshi]

"Yes, we have large cats called tigers back home." Her smile falters at the memory. "They are... very dangerous. Many people are killed each year."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen, instead, nearly puts her ears up to hear more. "Taiga you said. How interesting. How big are those?"

[Viveki Doshi]

"The largest are the size of a horse. Most are a little smaller than that." She shivers slightly. "They tend to live in the jungle, but if food is scarce or they encounter hunters in their territory, they will attack people. Even trained warriors have difficulty fighting them, and many times, the tiger attacks from hiding, and their prey does before they know they are in danger."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"I see. Animals often attack from hiding, yet I understand that's never for malice or evil. It is as you said, hunger or defense. Being big as a horse and yet, stealthy, says a lot of how dangerous they are indeed. Too many people invade these creatures homeland?"

Kinsen nods and takes another bite of the food. Not yet satisfied, she serves a bit more into her bowl and says.

[Viveki Doshi]

Viveki waggles her hand. "The cities of the Ivory Kingdoms tend to be more or less in the middle of the jungle. It is less that one of us wanders into the other's territory than that we both live in the same territory. When the Rakshasha ruled over my people, they preferred this, I am told. Afterwards, well... how does one move a city?"

She isnt paying much attention to her food anymore.

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen stops chewing for a moment to imagine how would a city in the middle of a jungle look like, and that brings a smile across her lips. She politely chews the remaining, and satisfied, puts the bowl back down in the tray. Chopsticks showing she's finished with food, for now.

"Your cities must look vivid and lush with many colors." She says, taking her eyes back to Viveki, "Has the Rakushasha people folded into your Maharaja's rule, then –– and accepted the new way?"

[Viveki Doshi]

Viveki's eyes widen in surprise, and she shakes her head. "No. They are... demon tigers. They walk like a man, but change their shape to look like any they choose. They feed on souls, ripping their victims from the great wheel, and are nearly impossible to kill."

She shivers again. "A single Rhakshasa is the doom of a people. There is no peace with them, only death and slavery."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen's throat gets dry in a sudden. She nearly gags, and then reaches out for her tea cup –– empty. A hint of despair dim the light of her eyes, and she takes a breath. The similarities were too close.

She puts the cup back into the tray, politely diverging the attention elsewhere. Once emotions are soothed, she asks –– curiously –– with her eyes still cast down, "That is worrisome. Shapechange and near immortality. How does one know how to identify them...?"

Themselves, in fact, was the question.

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D1, EM Maintaining On: Willpower/Etiquette + Benten: 7d10o10k5 32