The Day of Thunder

The mysterious fox woman (and potentially her mysterious Scorpion companion) arose early the next morning. Han-Hei had to admit that sleeping indoors did beat what they had experienced on the road the last several weeks… She just didn’t have to say that out loud.

The conversation the previous day with their hosts piqued her interest regarding the village headwoman. She hoped to catch her before the festivities later in the day would undoubtedly draw her away.

So she approached the house and waited in front for a moment before calling out, “Gomen kudasai! (Pardon me)”

She hears a young woman call, "Hai! Be right there!"

A few more minutes, and a pretty young woman with dark eyes and brown hair appears at the door. "Ah, some of our visitors." She bows. "I'm Chouri, the village headwoman. Won't you come in?"

She stepped aside.

Han-Hei bowed in gratitude. “You are most kind.”

She then followed the woman inside the house.

The Scorpion bowed and entered after his companion, keeping an eye out for anything he could recognize as trouble. Unfortunately, he was kind of an idiot, but he was a trained idiot.

After entering, he introduced himself. "Pleasure to meet you, Chouri-san, I'm Bayushi Norikage, this is my traveling companion, Han-Hei."


(apologies for editing this in, technically it happens before my next post. Investigation: 27

She bowed deeply to them both. "I'm honored by your visit to our village."

She enters the house, leading them into the hearth room, where a red panda is lounging near the fire. She crouches down and scritches it gently. "I just can't get over how cute you are."

Standing, she takes the kettle from over the hearth with a hook and starts pouring hot water into a pot. "Would you like some herbal tea? I'm afraid we don't have much in the way of actual tea leaves here."

“I’ll take anything if it is warm.” She said with a smile. She’d have to trust her constitution if it was… not safe.

“We’ve been treated wonderfully by a couple here in the village. Yoshie-san and Daisuke-san let us stay with them last night. They said that you had helped create this community. For that we’re most grateful.”

Norikage found a place a sit near the hearth fire and gave the red panda a once over.

Shit, it is kinda cute. Don't let your guard down.

"The old man must have been a woodcutter", he muttered. The snoring had been epic.

Chouri smiled warmly. "I'm so glad. They are such sweethearts, really."

She pours herself and Han-Hei a cup, taking a sip herself. "Well... I think it's more accurate to say that the community sort of... formed on its own here. I just help organize, and lead the festival. Everyone here does so much that I would like to think it's a community effort more than anything."

"Oh!" She set out what looked like... fried white rectangles on a plate. "Wu-sama was kind enough to make breakfast this morning. Would you like some?"

"I wouldn't refuse the hospitality", Norikage said and took one, he teased the little animal a bit, scratching behind it's ears. Really, he was looking around more for anything he thought strange.

"I've been curious, what is this festival called? What are you honoring when you celebrate?"

"The new year about to start," she said with a smile. The room behind her was, over all, relatively normal, though there's a box with a wooden lock on it visible just past some shoji doors, next to a glimpse of what might be a low desk. "Sort of a purification and celebration to prepare for the coming year and celebrate this year's bounty."

So the most profound philosopher in all the damn land calls all these idiots here for a...new year's festival? There is no karmic fucking way.

"Anything else about it?" he cocked his head slightly. "You said sort of, so I assume there's more to it."

If one guessed there was an implication Norikage was making between the festival and this village, one would have working ears, eyes and instincts.

As the guests spoke with the headwoman, the keen of ear could pick-up was the sound of a sliding doors not too far. It was soon followed by a splash and the working of a well.

Someone was doing chores.

Bayushi Norikage wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:05 pm

So the most profound philosopher in all the damn land calls all these idiots here for a...new year's festival? There is no karmic fucking way.

"Anything else about it?" he cocked his head slightly. "You said sort of, so I assume there's more to it."

If one guessed there was an implication Norikage was making between the festival and this village, one would have working ears, eyes and instincts.

"Well, yes, in the sense that it isn't just a festival. The purification rituals have real effects," she replied with a tilt of her head. She took a deep breath before saying, "It's helped with people's nightmares."

“That’s what Yoshie-san said.” She replied with a nod.

“What’s the story behind the rituals? Something from where you’re from?”

There we go.

Norikage took off his mask to sip herbal tea and smiled pleasantly at the heimin to see what she would say.

"Something from the previous tribe that used to live here. People were drawn here, and we uncovered it while we were cleaning up the area so people could build places to live," she explained. "I ran across one or two rumors saying that people used to live up here who had visions. I was trying to find a way to help with... well, everything going on."

She frowned and made a vague gesture suggesting the world at large.

“What happened to the previous tribe? Were they wiped out?” She asked.

"I don't think so... It looks like they left, and not suddenly that I can tell," she shook her head.

"And that didn't worry you, then." The absence of a question mark was not a mistake.

"I would worry if they left suddenly, or I found a bunch of mostly decayed corpses," she said with a slightly raised eyebrow. "A regular abandoned village? No, not really. The Empire is covered with them, the ones that didn't become villages and towns under the Kami."