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Qiu Qiu is not especially worried about Jiao learning curses - they've lived on the road for several years and had all kinds of brief traveling companions. She probably knows a lot of them. Qiu certainly does. He just doesn't use them. Besides, the nezumi has been entertaining her. When Inuniku scampers off, Qiu looks up from his watching of the game. He's been trying to read the mood and see if he needs to be worried. "Remember to thank the nezumi for his story later, Jiao." Investigation to read the bandit mood: [18:38] <+Morphball> MorsRattus: 36 = 5k3(5,[10,10,6],5,1,1)
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Aug 29, 2013 23:38
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 17:34 |
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The mood between the two groups of Red Fists is tense, and the group playing Fortunes and Winds seems angry at the group playing Chou-Han. "Starting to smell as bad down here as it does at camp," one of the Fortunes and Winds players comments idly. The Chou-Han players place their bets, ignoring him. The caller reveals the dice--a 4 and a 2. "Chou!" The Red Fist at the Fortunes and Winds table who spoke earlier, a man with a shaven head and a dragon tattoo curling around his pate, sneers. "Yeah, definitely starting to smell bad. Starting to smell like peasants." His friends laugh. So far nobody is going to start anything that's more vicious than verbal. The chou-han players are rough, and kind of jerks, but they seem to be accepting of the new players joining them. the Fortunes and Winds table, however, seem like they're looking for an excuse to escalate.
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Sep 3, 2013 14:12
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Inuniku Staring angrily at the table in front of him, the ratling's ears folded back as the Red Fists insulted his hosts. He took a breath and closed his eyes, doing his best to avoid making a scene. The last time he'd lost his temper and started mouthing off to pink-skins, he'd paid for it dearly. Besides, he refused to start a fight in Tei-Tei's inn. Bald-Head-Fists-Of-Fire had always advised meditation when his emotions were up. It had always looked like simply taking a nap to Inuniku, but he could try. [09:45] <Morphball> Shardix: 7 = 2d10(4,3) After a minute he was already bored, and still angry.
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Sep 3, 2013 15:50
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Marumaru Marumaru collects her winnings and bets about half of it for the next throw. "Chou." She pauses, and sniffs the air, and herself, then shrugs. "I don't smell anything. It must be something over there."
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Sep 4, 2013 00:00
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Shingen Shingen grunts at his small losses, but still keeps a bit more for playing. Still, he can't help but notice that a rift might be opening between the red fists... "Han again, drat it."
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Sep 4, 2013 00:34
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Tomoe Tomoe giggles girlishly as she eats. "It sounds as if some fools could use a song to calm them, friend nezumi. Give me a moment to think of one."
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Sep 4, 2013 12:04
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Yasuhira Yasuhira looks over his shoulder at the Fortunes and Winds table. "Pipe down, dammit. Listening to you complain about your boss is downright embarrassing. At least she has the sense not to come off as a two-zeni thug." With that, he turns back to the dealer and pushes all of his winnings forward. "Chou."
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Sep 5, 2013 01:24
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The thug comment does it. The dragon-baldy stands up, angry. "Thug? I'm a samurai, drat it! You're the ones training these peasants to be thugs! How dare you come here, where we had a good thing, and throw everything out of the natural order? Peasants exist to feed us and do our bidding! Shiiiiiiit!" He falls back to a seated position, caught by his friends, who are nodding their agreement. He is definitely drunk. After a moment, the caller reveals the dice. 1 and 3. "Chou," he says, quietly, but in the silence his voice is like thunder.
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Sep 5, 2013 02:45
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Marumaru "I like this game." Marumaru starts to pick up her winnings, then notices the sudden change in atmosphere. She looks around, half-way to getting up as she was reaching for her coins.
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Sep 5, 2013 04:25
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Shingen Ah, so it starts. "The Peasants are here to serve the Empire, not a bunch of lawless children like you." Shingen grunts as he stares at the tattooed man. His hands reach for the hilt of his sheated Katana, but he's not yet touching it, but as soon as he returns to his table, the old man relaxes for a bit.
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Sep 5, 2013 04:38
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Inuniku Inuniku's tail lashed angrily. "Tomoe-san, Inuniku is going to go outside. He will be sad to miss you song, but he also not know how much longer he can stand this talk." Hopping to his feet, he hefted his sack over his shoulder and padded back to Qiu and Jiao. "Wise-Beard-Hundred-Wrinkles, Inuniku think-think it getting late. Maybe it good idea for Jiao-Jiao-chan to go to bed?" His eyes flicked toward the Red Fists, clearly concerned for the girl's safety. He hesitated, then padded towards the door, collecting his blades from the entryway. Stepping out into the cold night air, he secured his weapons and crossed his arms. As the snow gently drifted down, he quietly fumed. If only he had a proper Name, he would have the strength to do something about the Red Fists. Inuniku was a fine name, but it wasn't his.
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Sep 6, 2013 03:43
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The noisy angry Red Fists make some irritated noises, pack up their stuff, and stumble off into the night, two of them supporting the drunken baldy--it's clear they don't have the wherewithal for the moment to start a fight. Baldy aims a kick at Pochi on the way out, but misses. (Pochi, for his part, seems to have given up on Inuniku's demise, in favor of staying out of the snow. That, or the animal is devising some cunning plan.) The game of chou-han resumes, and continues for a while, before the remaining Red Fists one by one withdraw and curl up, drunk and in several cases broke, to fall asleep on the floor. Have 10 XP. The Next Day The day begins normally enough. The fresh-fallen snow glistens like crystals in the cool morning sun, and the Red Fists who spent the night in the teahouse wake up, complaining (quietly) about hangovers and stiff backs, ordering tea to warm them for their trip back to camp...which they continue to put off "just a bit longer", apparently hoping it will warm up a bit when the sun is higher. From the south, an unusual sight--an Imperial Herald and a Unicorn bodyguard, come riding into town. The Miya is young, and bundled up against the cold; her yojimbo seems indifferent to the weather, a stoic and severe woman. After a quick exchange with a townsman hurrying by, they make for the teahouse. Pochi emerges briefly, snuffling at the pair, barking just once before quickly retreating to his warm home beneath the building.
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Sep 13, 2013 01:46
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Inuniku After a quick breakfast with Ox, Inuniku bundled up and headed back to the village center. He bid a pleasant good morning to the villagers as he went, until his nose caught a scent. Horse-scent. Ducking behind a house, he peered out as two figures rode in. One of them in purple. That-that not good. He had heard the stories of the horse masters from the north, and how much they hated Nezumi. Even if the rider didn't care, her steed would crush his skull as easily as a quail egg. Pulling a quick about face, Inuniku ran off as fast as his feet would carry him. He had never known what it meant to be afraid, but he still had a healthy desire to keep on living. It was like a sword. You had to respect it, even if you did not fear it. Maybe this was a good time to see just what the Red Fist were doing? Yes, that was an excellent idea. Circling around the village, Inuniku set off, occasionally stopping to leave a scent marker on a tree so he could find his way back if the weather got ugly. It was a quiet enough trip, and pleasant. The new-fallen snow had given the landscape an austere beauty. Taken as he was by the snow covered trees above him, he didn't notice the bodies until he had tripped over one. Pushing himself up, he glanced around. Red Fists by the look of it, and very very dead. He froze, straining his ears for any unnatural sounds. Once he was sure there was no danger, he began investigating the body he had tripped over, looking for a sign of what killed him. Also treasures. No sense letting their things go to waste, right? Edit: Investigating the bodies: [13:59] <Morphball> Shardix: 15 = 5k3e(5,5,5,4,4) Spending 20 XP to increase Agility to 5, and 4 XP to increase Stealth to 4. This will leave me with 4 XP left over. Shardix fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Sep 16, 2013 |
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Sep 13, 2013 03:15
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Marumaru Marumaru is out in the snow, practicing as usual. Her sensei had always made her practice, no matter the weather. Of course, Marumaru happens to like the snow, and with her winnings last night she is in good spirits. She stops as the two newcomers approach, and makes a brief bow in greeting. "Welcome to Mitsuishi Mura. What brings you here on such a fine day?" Had 2xp banked, so 12xp to raise Str to 3.
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Sep 13, 2013 03:37
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Shingen Shingen is a bit annoyed with the fact that what he got back on the latter half of the games was just enough to compensate for his previous losses, but at least he doesn't got too much of a catastrophic hangover and he didn't had to pawn (and later take back) one of his swords like other gambling nights. And then an Imperial Envoy comes. What the heck is going on Mitsuishi Mura to have so many higher-ups coming? It can't be a coincidence after those two Scorpions from before... Increasing my Hunting to 2, Craft and Artisan to 4
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Sep 13, 2013 04:01
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Tomoe An empty snow field. Tomoe strikes the air swiftly. A noise in silence. "poo poo!" It's still not good enough. She can tell. She whirls suddenly, sheathing her blade- no point in giving away any advantage. Then any trace of happiness leaves her face. She would know the sound of those hooves anywhere. "What could... why here? Why now?" She positively sprints for the teahouse. "Why a Unicorn?!" Spending with my 7 banked xp to raise Agi to 4
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Sep 20, 2013 01:11
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The Miya girl glances to her yojimbo, who shrugs almost imperceptably. "I am Miya Shouko, an Imperial Historian," the girl says. The authority of the title is belied by the slight hesitation in her voice--she is very young, not long past her gempukku. "We are traveling from the lands of the Crab, and as I am writing a history of the Empire, I wanted to visit as much of the Empire as possible. Too many Historians forget that the peasants are a part of the Empire too, and focus only on the Great Clans..." Shouko's voice trails off. "But, you must be cold--I am cold--and we simply wish to get into the teahouse and warm up..." she says more plaintively. In the hills, Inuniku tramps back and forth around the dead Red Fists. He can tell that they are dead, for sure--nothing could live with their throats sliced out like that--and that it happened sometime in the night. All of them have been dispatched with precision blows to the neck with a bladed weapon. Belatedly, Inuniku realizes he's managed to tramp down quite a large area of the snow as he scurries from body to body, and it's pretty unlikely that anyone looking for signs of who did this will fail to notice the nezumi tracks. If there are other tracks around, the ratling can't detect them, given the large amount of snow that fell last night...
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Sep 21, 2013 15:48
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Inuniku Inuniku considered the situation. It had to have been a pink-skin that did this. The death blows were too precise for goblins, and Nezumi preferred spears (and wouldn't have left anything useful behind besides). He didn't think it was one of his friends. Sure, any one of them except maybe Wise-Beard-Hundred-Wrinkles could have done this, but none of them had struck him as being in a killing mood last night. The horse-samurai, then. If she and her companion had camped here last night, it stood to reason that the Red Fists might have accosted them and been dealt with. In the end, who killed them was irrelevant. They were dead and their things were his now. Hopping over to the nearest body, Inuniku began rifling through the man's obi, then hesitated. He glanced around him, realizing he'd left footprints all over the place. He could obliterate them but anyone with eyeballs could follow his back trail easily enough. And if the Red Fists were so incompetent they couldn't do that, their friends being robbed would immediately suggest Nezumi, and he wasn't the only one of those around here. K'srii-chii and her tribe had enough problems without the Red Fists looking for vengeance. Reluctantly, he stepped away from the body. It seemed there was only one thing to do to avoid causing trouble. He would have to leave the treasures behind, and go tell Big-Chief-Yaiba what happened. It was shaping up to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
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Sep 22, 2013 02:09
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Marumaru "I suppose it is a bit chilly out. Here, I'll show you the way to the teahouse. Don't mind Pochi." Marumaru waves for them to follow, then trudges off through the snow towards the teahouse. She turns to call back over her shoulder. "I am called Marumaru. The tea here is quite good! Though I have I don't have too much experience with different teas."
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Sep 22, 2013 07:32
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Qiu Banking my XP for now until I decide what I want. "It is an honor, Miya-san." Qiu smiles brightly. "Jiao! Come, sit with us." It will be good for her to meet someone of...not entirely dissimilar age, and yet of massive difference in status. Understanding such things is important. "I am Qiu, of the Brotherhood of Shinsei. This is my daughter, Jiao." The old man smiles briefly. "It is good to hear of a historian who wishes new perspectives."
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Sep 25, 2013 23:17
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Inuniku finds a tense situation in the Red Fists encampment. The camp seems to be on edge, and it is obvious even to an outsider that there is a schism growing among members of the otokodate. For the moment, at least, Yaiba seems to remain in charge, as it is she who is summoned when Inuniku walks up to the camp openly. (He does walk up to the camp openly, right?) ~ Inside the teahouse, Miya Shouko settles in for tea, looking extremely relieved to be in out of the cold. "In truth, I was traveling this way as much to avoid the company of those returning from the Wall as to search out new perspectives. The conversation would likely have turned to how things are in the capital, and..." She trails off, staring into the cup of hot tea she is holding in both hands.
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Sep 26, 2013 18:01
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Shingen "Historian, huh? Well, I guess I have a few stories that you could write down, Shouko-san." Shingen says while stroking his beard, smiling while trying to remember a good one. "How about the one where I fought Hida Akihara, the Half-Oni? He was called that way because the son of a bitch was ugly and big like one. Now you see, Akihara challenged me after his favorite Geisha changed her preference to me. They called her Butterfly because of the butterfly tattoo she had on her..." He suddenly stops, noticing that the conversation was starting to tread on lewd territory. "Ahem. Well, so that was fifteen years ago. I was a bit quicker but not as strong, and the Half-Oni carried this Tetsubo that was as big as a boar. When we met in front of the place to the fight, he lifted that drat thing and was ready to drop it on my head, but before he could strike, I slashed 'im right on his armpits. Akihara dropped the Tetsubo in his head and fell down instantly, his own skull broken in half." Shingen pauses for a bit, suddenly remembering something. "Hah, speaking of broken skulls, there was this fight against Nine-Fingers Yukimasa..." Well that will take a while.
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Sep 27, 2013 01:14
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Inuniku It took an act of will to walk up in plain sight. It was his nature to skulk around everywhere, and it felt wrong to stay out in the open like this. Still, he hadn't done anything wrong so it should be fine. After a few moments and some skeptical looks from the Red Fists, Yaiba arrived. "Hello-hello." As usual, he completely forgot the concept of bowing. "Inuniku wishes to say a thing to you. He has found something that you may be interested in, if Yaiba-san does not already know about it." He flicked his gaze around carefully, wondering just what those dead people might mean to her. Was it her doing? One of her subordinates? It suddenly occurred to him that he may have walked into a very dangerous situation. "Um. Is it just Inuniku, or does it seem like you-you camp is less crowded than before?" He looked the woman right in the eyes as he said this, willing her to catch his meaning.
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Sep 27, 2013 01:52
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Marumaru Marumaru counts on her fingers to try and keep track of the all the characters Shingen's tangled with, but quickly gives up. She leans over and says quietly to the historian, "Don't worry, he'll repeat them all again eventually." "I've never been to the capital myself." She pauses. "Never been many places. Just... here, really."
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Sep 27, 2013 02:16
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"Thou art a buffoon!" declares Shouko's yojimbo, interrupting Shingen. "My Lady is an historian, not some fool in a tavern, eager to hear thine tales of self-aggrandizement. Enough of this foolishness!" She's speaking in an older, formal dialect of Rokugani. Shouko doesn't seem to care either way, though she doesn't seem to be paying particularly close attention once it becomes clear that Shingen is interested more in boasting than in historically relevant details. -- Yaiba frowns, then with difficulty, her face scrunching in effort, she says in passable Nezumi, "You mean dead-dead or run-run?" The other samurai nearby don't seem to speak the Ratling language.
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Oct 4, 2013 05:18
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Inuniku Inuniku blinked. First Baba-san, now Yaiba. Switching to Nezumi himself, he answered. "Dead-dead. Quick and clean. If Inuniku had to guess he would say-say katana, and man-height. He knows that his companions from the village did not do it, which leaves you band, and a Purple-Horse-Samurai who arrived this morning. Horse hate-hate Nezumi, so Inuniku did not stay to hear why she come." He pulled at his chin fur and watched Yaiba carefully. He forced himself to maintain a relaxed posture, but he was ready to spring into action if his coming here proved to be a mistake.
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Oct 4, 2013 07:02
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Tomoe Tomoe lurks just outside the teahouse, trying to come to a decision- Does she go in, and hope they don't recognize her, or does she hide out here in the cold for the rest of the day? After a while of (poor) sword practice, she stumbles inside half-frozen, and sits in the farthest corner from the rest, desperately hoping to have some warm tea without being spotted.
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Oct 4, 2013 12:46
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Marumaru "A historian? That's interesting! You must know all sort of amazing stories. My sensei used to tell me stories about long ago, but I don't know how many of them were actually true." Marumaru keeps an eye on the touchy yojimbo, sitting in her usual spot with sword leaned up on her shoulder and sipping a cup of tea.
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Oct 6, 2013 03:41
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Qiu "Do not worry, Marumaru. The Capital is a good place, but so is here. There are many good places, and each person must find their own. The court is not for all people. I could not live in the capital long, myself." The old man watches the yojimbo for several seconds, quietly. Then he turns to Miya Shouko. "Miya-san, what do you believe history is? Is it the story of a nation? The stories of heroes and the clashing of those stories? The stories of all the people wound together? Is it one story or many?"
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Oct 9, 2013 02:25
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Shingen "Oi, oi, oi! What your manners, horned horse!" Shingen says as he grunts at the Unicorn, giving her a stare that could curdle milk. "You want to see how true those tales are? Because I can show ya this!"
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Oct 9, 2013 03:08
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Head cold loving with planned updates.
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Oct 16, 2013 04:46
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Shouko opens her mouth to reply to Marumaru and Qiu, but Shingen's outburst interrupts whatever it was she was going to say. Her yojimbo, eyeing the ronin cooly, turns to the Miya and calmly says, "Milady, I ask your permission to teach this ronin a lesson in manners." "Permission denied," Shouko answers, having gone a bit pale. "Perhaps the ronin did not mean offense by his words." The yojimbo struggles to remain calm, but only for a moment. Then she turns her gaze straight ahead, face blank. ~~ Yaiba frowns. "gently caress," she says. "Better show me."
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Oct 19, 2013 05:20
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Inuniku Resting his stick over his shoulder, Inuniku nodded and turned to lead the way. Retracing his steps, he occasionally cast a glance back to make sure Yaiba was still with him. Despite his short stature many pink-skins found it hard to keep pace with him, even when he wasn't in a hurry. "Inuniku wonders. You say-say you protect villagers, and they feed-feed you in return. That is okay. That how tribe supposed to work. So why does Big-Chief-Yaiba and her mans act so mean to villagers? Inuniku sees those ladies in you camp and they eyes look so sad-sad. He sees villagers and they scared-scared. Why you not live with them, be proper tribe where nobody scared and everyone happy?" He hopped over a rock and held up a paw, scanning the area for activity. Satisfied nothing was out of the ordinary, he continued walking and talking. "Inuniku thinks someone make big mistake before he come here, yes-yes? Village make you leave, or you run-run. Inuniku knows what that is like. He also knows that is bad way to live. Lonely Nezumi is sad-sad. He thinks Red Fists also alone, and maybe that sad-sad too. But Red Fists have way to fix that if they wanted. If thing can not be fixed, then you build-build new thing to replace old thing." "If that you answer," He waved in the direction of the camp they had left "Inuniku say it already broken before first stick laid down." He went silent for a few moments. "Inuniku also supposes he could be sniffing after wrong scent entirely, and you just cruel."
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Oct 19, 2013 11:28
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Marumaru Marumaru frowns at the older ronin. "Shingen-san, you're being impolite. You interrupted Miya-san. You should apologize." She turns back to the Miya. "I'm sorry, you've had a long trip. We should let you have breakfast in peace."
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Oct 19, 2013 12:15
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Shingen Shingen's hand shuffle for a bit, ready to grab his sword, but the sudden defusing of the situation makes him pause on place. Then Marumaru starts to scold him, the nerve on that brat! "Bah. Pardon me for interrupting then, Miya-sama." He says while gritting his teeth.
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Oct 20, 2013 03:33
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"It is fine, Ronin-san. I take no offense. As I was saying, though..." She turns to Qiu. "History is the story of the Empire, honorable monk-san." She smiles. ~~~ "Look," Yaiba tells the nezumi bluntly. "I have a lot of mouths to feed. Those villagers don't mind a group as small as yours, but are they really going to be happy to feed all of us? We're samurai--you nezumi don't know what that means, but it means we don't do farming or manual labor. We have nowhere else to go. The Empire's--why am I explaining to you? The short version is, I know we seem cruel, but the alternative is that those men I lead do what they want--and if you think I'm cruel, you should see them." She kicks one of the corpses. "These ones are some of the worst. I'm going to be facing a mutiny, you know that?"
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Oct 29, 2013 06:27
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Inuniku He knew exactly what she meant by 'We're samurai'. It meant she had no idea what a hard day's work actually was. Not much good to come from pointing that out to her, though. Pink-skins were obstinate, to put it mildly. "Inuniku does not know this word, 'mu-tin-y'. But he does know something else. You ask why you explaining this to Inuniku? It is because you looking for a way out. Otherwise you would have killed Inuniku, used this," He glanced about at the corpses "as excuse to attack village. Is he wrong?" He watched the woman for a moment, arms crossed, a serious look on his whiskered face. "Shin-Shinsei said, you no can walk two paths. Inuniku think you need decide whether you samurai, or bandit."
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Oct 30, 2013 23:12
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Qiu "Yes." Qiu nods. "But this does then ask: what is the empire? Whose story is the empire's story? Is it the emperor and the daimyos and the champions? Is it the warriors who fight on the front lines? Is it the people who grow the food?" He laughs. "You don't have to answer that, of course. For me, the empire's story is a story of heroes. But heroes are found in strange places."
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Nov 6, 2013 19:01
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Marumaru Marumaru brightens and leans in. "Heroes? I'd like to hear some of those stories." She looks as young as she is in that moment.
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Nov 7, 2013 04:33
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| # ? Jun 10, 2024 17:34 |
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Yaiba looks insulted for a moment, before her face softens. "I wanted to stop them from doing this. The only way was to be hard. So I became hard. I don't know how to turn it around now. I'm only telling you this because you're a nezumi and you don't know what honor means, but you do know what it means to have to fight for what you need." Behind Yaiba...there's a smell on the wind, Inuniku. There's someone else here! ~~~ "I'm afraid I don't believe in heroes," Miya Shouko says, with more than a hint of sadness in her voice. "I think that if there were..." She silences herself, staring into her tea intently.
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Nov 8, 2013 05:17
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