The Day of Thunder

"Hoto-Hori, it's a rare pleasure. I am Anjing of the Crab, this young man is Kenji. He is an enterprising warrior and cook."

She throws a few more leaves into her pot to make sure there was enough for the newcomer and it was properly strong.

"Is there a portal around here?"
She looks over at Kenji with a 'well, it would complete the cursed village aesthetic' look.

Kenji offered a polite nod towards Hoto-Hori before rising up and beginning to make another batch of porridge. He'd cleared the bowl once already after all, and adding more than what one might need just meant he'd be better prepared for any other arrivals.

He perked up a bit as Anjing mentioned portals, it wouldn't surprise him if there were a half dozen or so around the area. Well, if portals were what he thought they were.

"Not found it yet, but I'll put a week's worth of eggs on there being at least one around here fu . . . . . somewhere."

He seemed to have a sudden thought and grabbed at his sleeves, only to relax when the smoking pipe he expected to be there actually was there.

"Thank you Kenji."

She nods at Hoto-Hori as he does his best to mind his language.

"I see, well that would perhaps explain a little of the strangeness going on around here. We were just comparing notes." She gestures at the Lion. "On the strangeness of the land."

She will thrust a mug of strong tea into the imperial's hands.
"Do you have any insight there?"

The tea was eagerly sampled. He's eyes went a little wide and he shook his head rapidly.

"Wow . . . wide awake now then!"

Suitably energised, and perhaps not quite as irate as earlier, he continued.

"The f . . . . . the donkey being here is more than enough to draw in all kinds of weird. That stuff just follows him around. Then there's the fog . . . which is plain f . . . . plainly not right. Wouldn't be surprised to learn someone has gone f . . . . ugh . . . gone mental overnight."

The not swearing was hard, man . . . so f . . . . . so hard.

"The Donkey?" Kenji asked raising an eyebrow as he continued to stir at the porridge it would still take a bit before it was ready. He had been taking note of the conversation but not really taken part until now.

"And it's going to be trouble if people are going mental overnight." He frowned for a moment. "Should we make some sort of jail or quarantine for them?" Having them wandering about willy nilly seemed like a recipe for trouble. That is if he understood what the man meant by mental.

"Another couple nights without sleep and I might go mental myself." Anjing remarked mildly, powered at this point, solely by tea.

"But I second Kenji's question...there's a magical donkey about? Otaku's horse is not that bad. Or is it someone who just reminds you of a donkey? In which case we might have too many candidates to count.

"Shinsei is the fu . . . he's the Donkey."

He took another big swig of tea.

" . . . Inari's balls that stuff is strong . . . . err . . . Wait! What do you mean without sleep?"

Yuzuru Hoto-Hori wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 28, 2023 11:38 pm

"Shinsei is the fu . . . he's the Donkey."

He took another big swig of tea.

" . . . Inari's balls that stuff is strong . . . . err . . . Wait! What do you mean without sleep?"

"Ha!"
Anjing Slaps Hoto-Hori on the back.
"Yes he is, maybe you're not all bad."

With a chuckle she settles herself back with her tea.
"Didn't sleep a wink last night, hasn't been bad since my kids learnt to sleep right through, and that was a long time ago."

Kenji was probably missing the reasoning behind why Shinsei was a donkey, nevertheless he smiled along with his two elders. If Anjing agreed she likely had good reason for it, at the very least.

"Ah, that's not good, and I must admit I had some trouble getting to sleep myself." His dreams had not been the best either. "Do you think more in the Camp might be affected too?"

Luckily he'd drunk most of the tea already so didn't spill any at the unexpected slap on the back.

"Wait, really? Trouble sleeping . . . ? Hmmmmmmmm . . . "

Anjing gives the Kenji and then the Imperial a look.


"Hmmmm?" An eyebrow arches dangerously.

"Yeah." He admitted as he finished cooking the porridge and started to spoon into a bowl for Hoto-Hori. "Otherwise, I'd have never slept in this late." The young lion frowned. "Wasn't exactly the best sleep I ever had either when i got to it."

The Imperial just about avoided doing the 'grabby hands' for the bowl, but his eyes never left the food.

"Well I had no issues . . . but has anyone else had any sleeping issues that you've heard?"

Anjing reports on the poor sleeps she knows of and passes on Tai's thoughts regarding dark powers and sleepless nights.

"Even those who got to sleep at all seem to have slept poorly indeed."
She watches the Imperial's food consumption with mild interest. An imperial who liked porridge?

"I think if you threw a stick anywhere in this camp you'd hit someone who didn't sleep well."

"Probably just as likely to hit a ghost or evil spirit too the way things are looking." Kenji said with a shake of his head, before offering more porridge to Anjing. "I hope that was just a one-night sort of thing though."

"If it continues I can't imagine things will turn out great."

"Oh Inari's balls . . . I don't want to be in the same province as Sora if he gets all cranky over no sleep."

Any further words were discarded in favour of porridge.

Akodo Kenji wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 29, 2023 9:11 pm

"Probably just as likely to hit a ghost or evil spirit too the way things are looking." Kenji said with a shake of his head, before offering more porridge to Anjing. "I hope that was just a one-night sort of thing though."

"If it continues I can't imagine things will turn out great."

"Thank you dear."
She accepts the porridge with a smile.

"If you know Sora you will know that crankiness is his default. If he wakes up chirpy and happy and doesn't seem to mind anything. That's when something is very wrong.

Although giving Hoto-Hori a look.
"Blasphemy also falls under language, but you were doing very well."

He nodded storing that bit of knowledge away as he refilled the Daimyo's bowl before taking some more for himself.

"Seems like something we'll have to account for in general then. Especially if these dreams last longer then just tonight."

"I'm not sure what several days without sleep would do to someone, but it can't be good."

"It's not good. It's as f . . . . as bad as being drunk or high on dodgy mushrooms."

He paused eating, so they knew it must be important.

"Except you know you're not drunk or high so you think it's normal to do what you're doing."