The Day of Thunder

[Kaiu Tai]

Ranmaru's opinions had been considered laughable, But Naraku's... Tai's dark on dark eyes go wide in surprise before narrowing. There's a distinct chill to her tone. "Country bumpkins... Like those driven mad by these nightmares plaguin' everyone?" She pauses there, the earth's patience willing to wait before continuing under the assumption that was as bad as she thinks it is. Anyway you slice it, it's bad, but there's degrees.

[Hiruma Naraku]

Naraku eyed the witch-like woman, barely containing his mistrust; he had found too many of these wise people in the lands afflicted by the corruption. Yet for all his mistrust, he wasn't about to act rashly. "Do not humanize them," he spoke with a cold tone. "They are no longer human. They are monsters that freely use their profane gifts and revel in the chaos and disharmony provoked by them."

"Like mushrooms in a damp forest they pop up all across the land. Fortunately I find them and deal with them, excising them before they can fester and spread, before they can extend their malevolent tentacles and infect others," he declares. There is certainly morbid glee behind his words at to how he deals with the corrupted.

"And I do not care if they are country bumpkins, slick city folk or eldritch abominations. Once they are corrupted they no longer are human. They are just a cancerous growth meant to be removed with extreme prejudice," he retrieves his pipe and lights it. "My poisons are an art at doing exactly that and you better believe they do not go gently into the night."

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai's lip curls. Was she that certain when she was young? Certainly not about anything so damaging. "Don't humanize them? Those are my neighbors...and their children or parents or cousins. They suffer as we all do through these nightmares of an infected realm. And some snap." The hard part was knowing who would do that. The distrust growing between everyone as self-defense was at least as damaging as the broken sleep.

"I'll grant I've not seen one saved at that point, but it's fuckin' ghoulish to enjoy puttin' em out of their misery." She spits off to the side of the road. "And I'm not sure what Hiruma's thinkin' to put up with it. Though I guess maybe that's why you're not at home."

She stomps ahead, spear used as a walking staff to swing ahead and almost pull her steps faster as she continues muttering."Not sure what infection you think you're stoppin' either when everyone dreams. Feh. Mushrooms. More like stabbin' birds and thinkin' that conquers the air."

[Hiruma Naraku]

Anger flared on Naraku's eyes but it quickly dimmed as he composed himself. "You seem to be the kind of person that would hug a rabid dog because it was once a friendly pet," he replies curtly. "Yes, it is true that everyone sleeps and it is true that there has been a feeling of... mistrust among many but yet, despite that, our land is not engulfed in a never ending nightmare. Those that have turned fully rabid are not drowning us. That means there is more to that, there is something that we must find."

"I do not care what you think of me. Or anyone, for that matter. I am not doing this to receive the praise and love from others," he sentences. "I take glee because I hope the suffering they receive from my concoctions reverberates through their twisted conscience. I take glee because every squirming monster that falls prey to my fluids means I am one step closer to ensuring a definitive solution."

"I love my Clan. I love the people. I love my Empire," his expression darkness. "And just like a father that puts a rabid dog down, I do not expect any reward for doing so."

[Anjing]

Anjing looks between the two with a stony expression.

"No-one's devotion to the Clan is in doubt. At least as long as they do not continue to annoy me. Naraku, I won't speak of what your father might or might not want, although he and I have known eachother for a long time."

She gives him a long look.

"We are strangers in a strange land, our enemies are many, our allies are few. Food is scarce, nights are cold and our place in the world is uncertain. Into that you would add the gleeful killing of those around us? And worse, you would trumpet that joy to all that could hear? What am I to tell the Lords of the Dragon, Bat and Spider if their people go missing? That it was necessary but Naraku enjoyed doing it?"

Anjing shakes her head, feeling very tired.
"Corrupted they may be, infectious they may be. But all of them were once people, they will have families, friends, allies. There is no shame in such fervour for fighting our enemy. But do not turn righteous desire and duty into glee. There is more than one way for a man's heart to become corrupted, and I would regard a twisted monster and a serial killer both in much the same way you and your father regard a rabid dog."

Jabbing a finger at him. "I will not police you here in the village. But I will expect you to act in the best interest of our Clan at all times. If you find corruption, true corruption then we will tackle it as the Crab always have. As a tribe, as a clan and as a family."

[Hiruma Naraku]

Naraku eyes Anjiing with a blank expression. It took all of his mental fortitude to not let his thoughts wash out. "I can not speak about the thoughts of the Lords of the other clans," he finally stated.

"And do not worry Lady Anjiing. Would I fail and my heart would twist and churn due to corruption, I would gleefully swallow all of my concoctions. Let the pain I'd suffer as I depart this world remind me of my failure to keep my promise," he concluded grimly.

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

Ayako looked troubled at Naraku's words.

"Surely not everyone afflicted with this... this sickness... must be put to death," she protested. "For those that are far gone, perhaps death is a mercy. But I have to believe that some of them can be saved."

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai shakes her head. "Too new to be sure. But those I've seen? Well...they're noticed when they do something awful. Lot of 'em don't much want to live then, even if they come out of their madness." She shoots a sour glance toward Naraku. "Which doesn't mean we set them on fire and warm our hands as they burn to death. There's a thousand clean ways to return to the Halls of the Dead."

"Jade helps hold it off in the first place though." They knew that much at least. Jade ornaments adorned cribs where they could be afforded, and Tai thought bitterly about that mine in Seidou lands that the Stag probably benefited from now.

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

"Sure, any of them who have committed crimes should pay the price," Ayako conceded. "But for those who haven't ... many of them are our clan members ... some are our kin. We can't just abandon them to the madness."

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai nods. "Why we're here...well some of us. Can't build a wall against dreams. But we know jade helps...maybe there's other things that hold it off, or push it back. There's rumors that maybe there's somethin' in this place." She looks around at fog, with a frown. "But I grow more worried that it's a lie to trap folks here who might otherwise be doing some good. This fog confounds. I'd have trouble knowin' which way we'd come if there wasn't a road there."

Which..come to think of it, when they returned to the road, were they sure they headed in the right direction? Could have been turned around. But then they'd come out headed back toward home, which was fine. Tai stops the entire train of thought with a small shake of her head. "Let's just say I hope the rumors were true, and we'll have somethin' we can take home and use."

[Anjing]

Tai always saw the way of things.

"If there is a way to heal the sickness then we will find it. If there is not, it is our duty to bring their suffering to an end in a way which honours the people they were before."

Looking sympathetically at Ayako.
"We won't abandon any of our kin. They are our responsibility and with us always. If you can find a way to save them then you must."

Her tone becomes a little more firm. "But, if there is no other way, as hard as it is, and it is hard, you must act. Hesitation will get you killed or worse. Your family has suffered enough already."

Anjing reflects it was not the sort of thing she'd have ever said at Ayako's age, but that was literally a lifetime ago.

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

Ayako nodded. "I understand, Anjing-sama. It may be that there is no other choice."

"If it comes to that, I will do what I must," the younger Crab promised.

[Saru Ranmaru]

During the debate, Ranmaru looked around awkwardly. It really seemed more like a clan matter...

At the end of it, though, he couldn't resist giving his honest thought. "Maybe the cure is about mindset. And if it is, then my path could be the way to strengthen men past it." He shook his fist in the air with an awkward smile then continued down the road.

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

"Maybe the cure is about mindset. And if it is, then my path could be the way to strengthen men past it." He shook his fist in the air with an awkward smile then continued down the road.

"Is that so, Saru-san?" Ayako asked, tilting her head in a strained attempt at courtesy. "What is this path ... what is the Way of the Shirtless Man?"

[Saru Ranmaru]

Ranmaru's eyes lit up. "Seiyūdō* is not so simple as a state of undress. It is a matter of principle for a man to display his strength." To accentuate his point, he bared his chest again for a moment before righting his clothing again.

"But let's not get distracted. A man's purpose in this world is to be a warrior. To rob him of this is to invite doubt into his mind. Moreover, a warrior can only be understood by another warrior. Without this connection, a man is again at risk of succumbing to doubt."

---

*Translator's Note: Keikaku means plan. Wait...

正雄道 is the Kanji for his goofy belief system Seiyūdō. One way I could translate it is the Way of the Uncorrupted Hero. For more unnecessary word play, 正 can also be seen as pure. 雄 has a masculine connotation to it so it could be Pure Male or something of the sort too. Fun fact is that 道 is also seen at the end of Bushidō.

[Hiruma Naraku]

Naraku took a deep puff from his pipe, his expression betraying nothing. "I should go make preparations. I need to know more about this village," he excused himself, before pacing towards the village.

/exit

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

Ranmaru's eyes lit up. "Seiyūdō* is not so simple as a state of undress. It is a matter of principle for a man to display his strength." To accentuate his point, he bared his chest again for a moment before righting his clothing again.

"But let's not get distracted. A man's purpose in this world is to be a warrior. To rob him of this is to invite doubt into his mind. Moreover, a warrior can only be understood by another warrior. Without this connection, a man is again at risk of succumbing to doubt."

"Being a warrior is admirable, certainly," Ayako allowed. "I don't know about displaying my 'strength', as you call it, though." She tapped her heavy breastplate. "My own sensei would not approve of going into battle without armor."

"Are Dragon ways so different? Do you not have armor there?"

[Saru Ranmaru]

"Being a warrior is admirable, certainly," Ayako allowed. "I don't know about displaying my 'strength', as you call it, though." She tapped her heavy breastplate. "My own sensei would not approve of going into battle without armor."

"Are Dragon ways so different? Do you not have armor there?"

"Certainly we have armor. I do in my pack here," Ranmaru said. "As for your sensei, I do not think there are many things we would have agreed on." There were often times when Mirumoto himself though that Ranmaru was a bit... peculiar.

[Yoshitsune Ayako]

"Certainly we have armor. I do in my pack here," Ranmaru said. "As for your sensei, I do not think there are many things we would have agreed on."

"Mmm, I expect you're right," Ayako said with a wry smile. "Well, it looks like we've just about arrived; I think Lady Anjing wants us to camp for the night outside the village proper. Uh, good luck with your Way of Manly Purity thing."