Otono-Tachibana Makie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
therewerefifty) wrote2013-06-28 01:11 pm
therewerefifty) wrote2013-06-28 01:11 pm
[Action/Written/Accidental Audio]
[The day she spends like most, in her usual haunts; she works at Seventh Heaven, she trains deep in the forest. She finds time for a cup of tea in there somewhere. Makie keeps wrapped up more than usual; she's felt a little off, lately, so in case of oncoming summer colds she tries to take care of herself.
She looks for a man. (A particular one, hush.) Still can't find him.
She finally gathers her courage and returns to the smithy to see if someone can repair her weapon. Hopefully she'll see that boy again; he already knows. And if not, she'll just weather any awkwardness. Makie's slowly coming to the realisation that here in this village, it doesn't really matter, but old habits die hard.
When she finally returns home in the evening, she makes a cautious post to the network. She doesn't want to leave this any longer.
...does she really just need to write into the book? Well, then.]
[Written]
I'm looking for a gentleman I met during the time that... Twila arrived in Luceti. Sir, I never caught your name, but I would like to talk to you, if I may. I was the woman with the shamisen that [...uh.] spoke to you from the rooftops in the plaza.
[...this is awkward. She stops there.
Whatever responses she might get, Makie fails to close the journal when she's done. Which doesn't altogether mean that much given there's dead silence for some hours afterward, as she just curls up with a book to read. It's punctuated maybe once by a fit of coughing.
It's only when it reaches about 9.30 that evening that a few stray experimental notes of her shamisen can be heard. And then Makie starts playing. Sorry, any early sleepers. At least it's likely she won't be playing for long. >>;; Learning journal etiquette the hard way.]
She looks for a man. (A particular one, hush.) Still can't find him.
She finally gathers her courage and returns to the smithy to see if someone can repair her weapon. Hopefully she'll see that boy again; he already knows. And if not, she'll just weather any awkwardness. Makie's slowly coming to the realisation that here in this village, it doesn't really matter, but old habits die hard.
When she finally returns home in the evening, she makes a cautious post to the network. She doesn't want to leave this any longer.
...does she really just need to write into the book? Well, then.]
[Written]
I'm looking for a gentleman I met during the time that... Twila arrived in Luceti. Sir, I never caught your name, but I would like to talk to you, if I may. I was the woman with the shamisen that [...uh.] spoke to you from the rooftops in the plaza.
[...this is awkward. She stops there.
Whatever responses she might get, Makie fails to close the journal when she's done. Which doesn't altogether mean that much given there's dead silence for some hours afterward, as she just curls up with a book to read. It's punctuated maybe once by a fit of coughing.
It's only when it reaches about 9.30 that evening that a few stray experimental notes of her shamisen can be heard. And then Makie starts playing. Sorry, any early sleepers. At least it's likely she won't be playing for long. >>;; Learning journal etiquette the hard way.]
[Action]
She says that so matter of factly. But this was centuries ago. Perhaps if people live that long, then everything becomes so distant...]
Do you... know who murdered your family?
[Apart from that distant sadness, it makes her think of Rin.]
[Action]
I do. A sorcerer who laid a curse on my family, a plague that took them in winter. [She's relating this as matter of factly as she can but there's a frozen steel to her words. She'd never forget those words, and the ghastly sight of her parents final days. Wasting away, with bodies like skeletons and eyes blind and haunted.]
He wanted me to die alone.
[A somewhat savage light briefly flickers in Saori's eyes, replacing the sadness. Equally as etched into her memory was her first act as a goddess: brutal revenge.]
And he died screaming.
[Action]
For a moment, she feels an echo of satisfaction for her friend.]
Were there repercussions?
[Action]
No. What repercussions could there have been? Mortal law doesn't apply to me, and the laws of my kind permit revenge.
[Saori huffs out a quiet laugh]
We're actually obligated to give others their due. For good or ill. In a sense, it was the proper thing to do.
[Action]
[She takes a sip of her tea. It's better to clarify.]
When...I was brought here. I was on my way home to kill my father.
[Action]
[Nodding sagely, Saori stirs her own drink with a finger while she contemplates what she's been told. Makie's earlier reticence to speak of her father had been apparent. But killing him? Maybe it's rude to pry, but...she had sort of set up the question]
May I ask why?
[She looks at the stones on the board, shaking her head. If Makie didn't wish to share, she'd take no offense. Saori picks up a game piece and makes ready to place it in a position to take some of Makie's through a trick. If the other woman seems to want an out, she'll place that and change the subject back to the game. It's only proper to offer a way out of difficult discussions, after all.]
[Action]
Tachibana is my mother's name. When I was very young, she was the wife of a respected samurai, mother to the heir of a swordschool with famed talent. [A son. This doens't really need pointing out.] But my father cast her out when I was ten years old.
[Action]
Do you know why?
[She has a guess, more than one, but she'd rather ask the obvious.]
[Action]
[It's easier to talk about than it was with Tenten. She's had time to appreciate the vast cultural chaos that is Luceti, and she places anather stone. It's not a very good choice, mind; it bespeaks distraction.]
When I was ten, my elder brother and the heir to the dojo drunkenly challenged me to a duel. I defeated him three times in a row.
He committed seppuku.
[Action]
But then, clearly it had been shaming for the elder brother. And therefore shaming to the father. In her time, Saori muses, that would have earned Makie acclaim. But then, Japan's culture shifted with time...and as strange as it sounds it takes a few silent moments for the connection to click.]
Which...means you're skilled with a blade, but in your time...those traditions are dead. And he felt shame. And your father put you both out because of it.
[She's trying to piece together more than just a story...and her own stone is placed with equal distraction.]
[Action]
Originally, just me. He couldn't bear the shame of the family's skill being passed down to the daughter of the family. But when my mother tried to defend me, he cast her out as well.
[Action]
Pardon me if I seem blunt, but your father is a fool.
[Action]
I can't forgive him for what he did to my mother.
[Action]
Nor should you. Is he a skilled swordsman, too?
[Action]
[Action]
Are you better?
[Action]
[Again. And then she stares at the board, with an amused look.] But not, I fear, at Go.
[Action]
[She's taken a vested interest in watching others, learning and adapting her own techniques by supplementing mortal martial artists own. It's served her well, and the book of fallen foes is filled with many names.]
And as for that...[A rueful smile] You're doing well for your first time. With practice, you could be quite skilled.
[Action]
I have nothing to hide from you. I'm just not used to people requesting such a thing.
[Well, except for one.]
[Action]
[Action]
I can see why such a deception could be necessary.
[Action]