The Day of Thunder

The howl again drew Yukara's gaze with a snap turn, her gaze prying into the fog, searching every indistinct shape.

After a moment, she offered, quietly. "I was not sure if I would find it here, but Rock-sensei said I would find answers here. It seems he was not wrong."

"Oh? Who might that be."

She inquired, splashing idly with her hands, seemingly keeping them busy to burn off nervous energy.

"I am still trying to understand this gathering - it is unlike any I have ever seen before."

"As a monk, I similarly don't claim to know his reason." Yukara shrugged. "Perhaps a penance, a personal challenge. Perhaps he feels it a useful allegory to teach his students. Maybe there is a sentimental attachment?" Flicking her prayer beads between her fingers, she counted internally, wood, wood...

"Perhaps fate. I was there when madness took a village - and I could choose to end it, or to die." Running one hand along the blade of her bisento, absent-mindedly, she continued, "I chose the former. I found two survivors, a day later. I took them to a new home - taught them to meditate. I have the...

Yukara's expression hardened slightly.

"You understand the madness that is spreading in the empire. I attempt to stop it."

A pause.

"If I cannot, I contain it. By whatever means."

Yukara once again gripped her bisento, but remained silent, the noise and chaos setting her on edge. She would defend these sane ones beside her, so long as they remained so, if it was dangerous, if not... she would remain out of the way and avoid spoiling the party. Her instincts were in turmoil no...

Yukara didn't seem offended. "I was not born into the clan. It happened to take control of the land in which I lived. I was already doing my work, and so I was deputized. I am told there are increasingly more of us with the name, even if we are not his children." A pause. "Was I wrong? I am afraid I...

Her cat pupils narrowed as he drew close, though she did not flinch away. "You are a fascinating man, Bayushi Norikage. You have a unique way of looking at the world, one I have not encountered before." With a small shrug, she added, "I am who I am. I do not bother asking fate to make me otherwise. ...

"Oh, I did not think I was." With her tone, she sounded quite resigned to that fact. "I do not entirely know how I should become ready for that which I do not know, but I will attempt whatever general readiness I can." With a wry smile, she added, "That seems the most prudent course, perhaps obvious...

"I do not know him, but he knew... more than a stranger should." With a faint shrug, she added, "Therefore, I assumed him to have wisdom sufficient to lend his words weight - and he advised I come." A dry chuckle slipped her lips, and she continued, "Besides, a man carrying such a rock everywhere he...

"Perhaps that, and perhaps the eyes of a demon." She scowled at the mist. "Hard to comfort the terrified when your eyes remind them of their nightmares. I sometimes wonder if I harm more than I help." Looking back at the mask she chuckled, "I could try the mask, but if I placed it over my eyes, I sh...

Yukara tried to parse all of that. After a long moment, she simply shrugged. "It might. The world does not work according to our rules. This is, no doubt, part of why this madness remains so difficult to understand." With a faint sigh, she continued, "Well Kai, I am Ryoshun Yukara. I likewise have n...

"I do not think acting on your sincere thoughts is stupid... though I am not certain I fully understand. Cute, as in a child?" She pondered, "Or do you mean pretty? I haven't been called such before." With a lingering pause, she added. "Thank you, I think." Looking over him, she added, "I am not sur...

"If you say so."

She didn't sound convinced. "So after riverboats, you came to this mountain village. Are you also here at the bidding of Rock-Sensei?"

"I am not yet certain." Yukara leaned on the Bisento, steadying her breathing. "Perhaps once this festival is done? Perhaps sooner. The beasts have not shown their faces - nor has the answer I seek. I know only that both supposedly reside in this place. For now I am getting a feel for the elements h...

"A riverboat? That sounds dangerous."

She shuddered.

"You must be very daring, Otomo Akutou."

Dice do strange things, it is known.

As the event began to pick up tempo, Yukara was not drawn into the feverish dance.

If anything, she recoiled slightly, the noise and chaos making her ill at ease... and bringing to mind other less pleasant memories.

(pass)

The Yukara judge was not impressed.

https://sakkaku.org/d10-rolls/10925 (pass)

Yukara reacted in a series of steps, as her body began acting and then her senses informed her mind, which in turn restrained the defensive maneuver she had already begun. As the shape first leapt toward her, she had pivoted her stance, drawing the Bisento across her body in a guarding angle, and th...