The Day of Thunder

[Saru Shang]

Shang had a rather insightful and interesting trip through the surrounding wilderness of the Blue Lotus Village, to say the least. After encountering the undrinkable river and the sinister whispering forest, she realized that was enough exploring for the day and she found comfort back in the village. Still, much of the fog was in great abundance here and she couldn't help but feel an ominous edge. However, the sight of the villages preparing for tonight's festivities gave her something to look forward to at the very least.

[Akodo Kenji]

"Looks like the whole towns looking forward to tonight's festival." Kenji mused outlook, though if the comment was meant for the Dragon it was hard to tell.

This was followed by a somewhat awkward nod of greeting as he added. "Ah, good afternoon Saru-san."

[Saru Shang]

Shang couldn't help but snap her gaze about, looking a bit tense as she looked to see if the voices from the forest had followed her back here. Thankfully, she was in town and among people, so it was more likely that the voices came from someone than not. When she narrowed it down that it came from Kenji, she let out an embarrassed chuckle before recovering from the quick spell of panic she had. "Aha! Good afternoon to you, Akodo-san! I didn't see you there for a moment!"

"This one is Shang of the Saru," she said before giving a quick bow in greeting. "Yes, there are festivities to be had and something I'm thankful for...if there isn't going to be any sun here, the least we can do is make the place brighter with some celebration and cheer!"

She paused and tapped her forehead a few times in thought. "Hm...and what are we celebrating here again?"

[Akodo Kenji]

"You know I have no idea now that you mention it." The lion said a thoughtful expression on his face for a moment. "I don't recall anyone ever mentioning it."

He shook his head for a moment and returned the woman's bow. "But a pleasure to meet you Saru-San. I am Kenji of the Akodo."

[Saru Shang]

Shang let out a small sigh, "I guess that would make the both of us then. I had been so busy yesterday with arriving and putting up a tent to be asking about the villages for details. Here, I thought they would make themselves obvious. Maybe it's already been said, we could always wave over one of the villages to get an answer..."

She looked at a few of them and it seemed like most of them were busy going about their business. "...well, I'm sure it'll make itself obvious. It's not like we need to calibrate ourselves too much as guests when they're doing all of the hard work as our honoured hosts. Still! How does one celebrate in the face of doom? Or greatness, even!"

[Akodo Kenji]

"It does take a certain type of person I'd say." Kenji mused. "But it's not like you prepare for a festival is a day either, it could be it was happening all along, and they just decided not to let doom get in the way of all the fun they are having." Which at least made some sense to him. "That's what I'd do at least, even if it made the festivities more subdued then normal."

His eyes moved towards the villagers for a few moments. "As to the reason, if I had to guess I'd say a harvest festival or something."

[Saru Shang]

"It should have been obvious that it would have been a harvest festival. It would make sense, seeing as they've been able to receive so many unexpected guests on short notice," she nodded soundly at that suggestion.

Shang made a sweeping gesture to the streets before them. "In a way, we should perhaps follow in the example of the townspeople. No doubt if the impending storm with Thunders and lightning will make itself obvious, running towards shelter immediately isn't going to do much when it hasn't even started raining. Optimism is good for the spirit. In fact, that's perhaps something I should be hunting for around here, rather than wandering in the woods!"

[Akodo Kenji]

"Those woods certainly don't seem the type of place to wander around if you wish for a dose of optimism." Kenji agreed with a nod. "Quite the opposite in fact."

"Hopefully you'll be able to find some here." He added gesturing towards the streets full of restaurants and shops. "Honestly I hope to find some myself, as nevermind the woods all this fog is enough to trample one's spirit."

[Saru Shang]

Shang frowned softly and glanced back in the direction of the woods with a sigh. "Unfortunately, I trust that you know what I'm exactly talking about then. Here, I thought I might have ingested something wrong and have been hearing voices. The woods are haunted, I'm afraid. Thankfully, nothing happened to me when I went out there. I couldn't fathom what could have happened if I ventured off there at night."

She smiled thinly. "But anyways, how about we focus on you instead, good Akodo-san. We seem to be both optimism enjoyers, at least. Is there something that you're hoping to see at the festival instead?"

[Akodo Kenji]

"Yeah, and honestly I don't think the gardens here ate much better. Just seems like there is something off about them as well." He said with a shake of his head.

He was all in for changing the conversation though, and hoped onto that topic easily. "Me? I'd like to see some dancing maybe. You know the performance style and not just a bunch of happy villagers." Though it was likely to be the latter.

"Other then that? Maybe a contest of some sort or a village game? Kinda like catching the fox spirit or something?"

"What about you? Anything in particular?"

[Saru Shang]

Shang frowned at the mention of the gardens being less than desirable, especially considering that would be her next alternative to acquainting herself with the local wilderness. The gardens would have given her at least better security. She gave a shake of her head and a wave of her hand. The topic was changed and she wasn't going to dwell on that any longer.

"Dancing? That's something that look forward to. With all of the preparations that we're seeing put into place, I don't think this is going to be the sort of celebration where everyone ends up looking morose. Your definition of dancing might differ, depending on where you're from. I know many tribes have found themselves in disagreement on what is considered a dance, skip, or just a step. Hah!" She chuckled at that. "And has Akodo-san seen a fox spirit before?"

"Me?" She gave a hapless shrug as she turned to look at the streets with an inquisitive expression, perhaps appraising everything around them. "I'm just hoping to see people in good spirits, both the locals and the visitors. Perhaps inspiration will spark and aid me in my own craft. It would be unfortunate if I were to walk away from all of this without anything to show for it. Oh, and drink. I'm still curious as to what they consider a solid drink around here."

[Akodo Kenji]

"That's no lie, I've been a few different places around festival time and just about every one of them have different dances they do." Some more stately, others wilder. "I guess I'm kind of interested in what kind of dances they do here? Maybe it will tell me a bit about the villagers?" Or maybe not, he wasn't really an expert on people.

"As for an actual fox spirit? No, but back where I'm from it was a festival game we played. One of the villagers would dress up as a fox spirit and the others would chasing them around the village aiming to trap them in one of the barns. If you were successful in capturing it was supposed to help protect the harvest from rats and mice and the like over the long winter."

"I'm sure you will find what you are after tonight though, you can tell that these people are looking forward to tonight with how spirited they are about preparing. So hopefully you'll land on that inspiration." He smirked and shook his head. "As for drink? I couldn't say, but I imagine the best they have will be out this evening."

[Saru Shang]

"The area does seem a bit removed from most of the Empire that's seeing a lot of changes, supposedly. I'm going to guess that some of the tribal or communal ways still exist around here," she nodded on that note. That said, some of those ways were slowly going away as standardized teaching of the Clans slowly made its way around the Empire but that was a concern for historians rather than the present. "It would be interesting to see their showcase and maybe even learn something!"

"Oh..." She said in realization before letting out a giggle. "That sounds pretty adorable, actually! I don't envy the one who had to take the role of a fox. I could imagine some people taking it too seriously. Sticks and stones probably do little to a fox spirit but for someone dressed as a fox, they're likely going to be in a world of pain in the next morning. I think they have something similar in some villages, mostly where they throw rotten fruits at the bad spirits to chase them away. Someone really drew the short straw to get that role...If they're going to ask for volunteers for that type of thing, you can count me out."

"But anyway, yes, here's hoping for a successful and joyous occasion with plenty of flowing drinks. May these generous town folk be blessed with a wonderous..." She paused for a moment, unsure about her words as they were both guessing here. "Harvest Day!"

[Akodo Kenji]

"I could toast to that." Kenji agreed with a grin, who knows maybe there would be a time to do so as well.

"You're right about the changes though, but I don't really think of this town as too tribal. Gardens and markets and all of that. Almost seems like some place more modern then most of the villages I've been to."

He glanced around. "I was honestly expecting it to be more rustic."

[Saru Shang]

"I'll be sure to owe you a drink and have one in its honour much later when I get a cup in my hand. Or sooner, I'm not picky when I can honour that toast," she chuckled.

Shang looked pensively at her surroundings, her gaze going left and right and then to the paved ground itself. "I suppose it's not exactly long houses and yurts around here, no...but from what I've heard from the chatter I had this morning, this village already had a pre-existing history prior to even this village settlement. Apparently, it was something of an abandoned village that used to belong to the Isawa or a tribe relating to the Phoenix? The villagers we see today came later and took their place, the buildings were already here."

[Akodo Kenji]

He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "I guess that makes some sort of sense, at the very least it explains some of the oddities I noticed." Like the garden for one.

"Does make you wonder why the previous owners abandoned it though." The young Lion smirked and shook his head. "Of course if i was trying to tell a scary story I'd say something like. They never really left. They were taken. Dragged into the forest and slaughtered and it's their voices you hear when passing under the trees."

"That all sounds like a bit much though. So I rather doubt it."

[Saru Shang]

Shang widened her eyes for a moment when Kenji mentioned the forest, nodding slowly as she considered that possibility. After hearing the voices there, this was something that sounded like it was a possibility rather than just a fun muse. "...Aha! How quaint that you would wonder what happened to the previous inhabitants. I had just had a short discussion with other visitors here on the history of the village."

She tapped on her chin a few times. "I don't know if the inhabitants were killed...seeing as some tribes have been almost nomadic until the arrival of the Kami, my theory was that they likely moved when the time came and we intended to come back. However, with civilization building and progress made...they had no reason to wander anymore and never came back when they had a new home. It's not exactly hospitable here but having all of these structures around was likely too much to pass up for the next roaming tribe that found the village."

[Akodo Kenji]

That didn't make a large amount of sense to Kenji, why leave when you had obviously spent years in the building of this place just to wander? Of course, he was no expert on these kinds of things, so he just shrugged instead. "That could be it." He offered after a moment. "It's hard to say any which way for certain. So, I suppose there is no real reason to ponder it."

He at least didn't have the time for that. "You mentioned you were looking for inspiration though? Was it that search that brought you here?"

[Saru Shang]

That didn't make a large amount of sense to Kenji, why leave when you had obviously spent years in the building of this place just to wander? Of course, he was no expert on these kinds of things, so he just shrugged instead. "That could be it." He offered after a moment. "It's hard to say any which way for certain. So, I suppose there is no real reason to ponder it."

He at least didn't have the time for that. "You mentioned you were looking for inspiration though? Was it that search that brought you here?"

"Maybe hard to find out through idle chatter among non-locals. Supposedly, there are some scriptures that have more detail on the town's founding in the heart of the village. I think that might take talking to the village elder if you ever run into her. I would hassle her about it but I don't think I would be able to decipher quite everything about it on my own. It might not even have the writing that I'm educated it," she shrugged haplessly on the matter.

"Yes. actually," she flashed a smile before turning pensive. "Well, not here in particular. But I did travel out of the Dragon lands with the full intention of finding inspiration for my art. That, and connect with the adventuring spirit of my ancestors. "

[Akodo Kenji]

"Do you mind me asking what your art is exactly then?" Maybe painting? From what he knew painters liked to find new subjects and locations to paint, so it made some sense.

"If you don't mind sharing that is."