The Day of Thunder

[Nozomi]

She snickered. "And that? Is why I don't come up with the pithy little sayings. You're right, of course." About the lions anyway. She should have said something about tigers and stripes, but ah well. "Oh well. That's not my strong point, and we know it." She rumbled and reached up to scratch her chin for a moment.

"Have you seen any trouble lately? Other than the stuff we all see around, the insanity that seems to be getting to everyone. It was pretty quiet as we came this way." She wanted to say 'too quiet,' but it felt unecessary.

[Ukyou]

"It's one of your charm points," he replied with a grin.

At the question of trouble, he cocks his head, bird-like. "This place is a little mysterious in general. Really low incidence of what's been plaguing the rest of the Empire. It's rare for it to reach a point past a temporary event. They say the festival coming up is part of the reason for that. Apparently, it's a big purification ritual to prepare for the coming year."

[Nozomi]

The cogs were starting to turn in her head. Purification rituals and the fact that this was all very small-scale compared to the rest of the empire. There was something about this that Shinsei was wanting to duplicate, or to tap into. Perhaps there was something about this place that held power or a tie to Tengoku? She considered for a long moment before sighing.

"I'm not going to inquire into why. Too many eyes that have seen means that the shadows are watching along with you," she murmured. "If this place is like that? Then there's a reason, and we're probably going to see the reason first hand. Ugh, you know... a bunch of the people who show up are going to be curious as house cats."

[Ukyou]

"You better believe that, consider the guest list on this party," he replied, flopping down onto one of the benches with a jingle of rings. "Curiosity is going to kill every damn animal in the zodiac at this rate."

[Nozomi]

"And chief among those will probably be a certain bodyguard turned librarian. I'm going to have to watch that old man to make sure he's still around to annoy his grandchildren afterwards." She wasn't actually saying it, but she didn't know that Sora needed to be charging into the mouth of hell a second time in his life. That felt like tempting fate. "But I can only watch so many of them at a time."

[Ukyou]

"True. That's the nature of things. There's only so much we can do," he said with a sigh. "And people are gonna make their own choices in the end, regardless of us. They have to."

[Nozomi]

She grunted. "Yeah, they're going to walk their own path. I know better than to force that." It never ended well, and she'd had enough experience to know that there was no point in trying to do that. It could definitely have really bad endings. She just wasn't naturally a trusting sort, even with their friends and allies. She had a bad habit of being nosey and pushing herself into others' business in her youth that had just become more 'motherly' the older she'd gotten. It took lots of reminding.

"Heh... you know, he's worse than I am about that sometimes."

[Ukyou]

"He is," he said with a fond smile. "Never could quite leave well enough alone. It was always a challenge to merely observe if he felt he could do something. I can't say I was too surprised you got along. My adopted son the troublemaker hangs out with another troublemaker."

[Nozomi]

She smirked a little. "He actually made me behave a bit more in the end. One of us had to." The truth of that statement was perhaps the most terrifying part of things, given that she'd been basically an assassin in the old days. Still, she played nice these days, right up until she had to pull the tonfa out. In that moment, she was still able to wade into the trouble easily enough. "But he does need to remember that I don't have a magical steed to ride in to rescue him this time around."

Her lips thinned a little and she sighed. "Of course, that's not going to stop him."

[Ukyou]

Her lips thinned a little and she sighed. "Of course, that's not going to stop him."

"Does anything? Starvation, potential murder, nightmare creatures, literally," he said, waving a hand. "Nothing stops that kid when he gets an idea in his head."

He got up and stretched. "By the way... That kid probably already told you where she's going. Once we're out of here, I'll be off to look after her."

[Nozomi]

"Does anything? Starvation, potential murder, nightmare creatures, literally," he said, waving a hand. "Nothing stops that kid when he gets an idea in his head."

He got up and stretched. "By the way... That kid probably already told you where she's going. Once we're out of here, I'll be off to look after her."

There was a momentary pause. Her face went like flint, and then there was sadness there. A hand fidgeted and she was very obviously discomforted. Nozomi looked ready to say something, to ask something. Emotions were warring in her features and she closed her eyes to still them. It was an act of meditation, and a very apparent one. When she spoke, her tone was initially a little more forced.

"Her last words to me were that she was holding me back. So, no I actually don't know where my pupil is right now, and I think that's for the best." What did that say about where she was right then? Well, the fact that she was carefully referring to her as her pupil probably said a lot about the fact that she was forcing emotional distance between her and her daughter. "That one needs to walk her own path, though it's good to know someone I trust will take up the next leg in her training."

[Ukyou]

"Holding you back." He shook his head and sighed. "I swear. My whole life is gonna be an endless litany of pain in the ass kids."

"She's very capable, but another half an eye on her won't hurt her."

He looked to the path. "I've gotta go. A few more things to do before we kick off this shindig."

[Nozomi]

She nodded. "No rest for the wicked," she muttered, not adding anything about Mayumi. It was a sore spot, even if she refused to admit it. But, knowing that Crow would be with helped. "It was good chatting and catching up. You know how to find me." Giving him a nod, she lifted up from the tree and made her way onto the path again. At least he was here right now and she wasn't. The thought of her being here, vulnerable? That was jarring.

/scene I believe!

[Canary]

/scene