The Day of Thunder

[Otomo Akutou]

The child digs through the midden outside the town, well away from the wharves but not the shrieks of gulls or the smells of aging fish and salt winds.

Less-rotted vegetable parts are there to be found, as is a clay jug that's only partly chipped. It should still be able to hold water long enough.

Maybe.

[Chuchu]

A soft sigh follows a fresh breeze, and suddenly the boy is not alone. Upwind of the midden a tiny ratling sits, crouched, her face (and in particular her nose) scrunched up as she squints at the dreamer. The colors and patterns of her fur -- all but her face, black and static -- twist and morph slowly, psychedelic as a vision or a bad dream.

"This place is too stinky," She pouts.

[Otomo Akutou]

"It do smell bad," the boy agrees, nodding. "But it's also got food. You want any?"

Small as the Nezumi may be, the boy looks up at her.

"I tried t' get some better food, but Ol' Lady Jinna hi' me wit' 'er broom an' yelled an' all, so I had t' run."

[Chuchu]

Her face scrunches further at his offer; this one is picky in the way only a child who's never gone hungry can be. "I can show you better food!" She chirps. "Fruits and nuts and roots!"

[Otomo Akutou]

"Y' don't mean on th' farms, d' you?" the boy asks. "Last time I tried that, Farmer Jo broke his hoe on me. Didn't walk right f'r a week."

But he rises and makes ready to follow.

Why wouldn't he? It's not like he's got better prospects at the moment, as his tattering clothes and filthy skin suggest.

[Chuchu]

"Nope!" She chirps confidently before scampering towards the shoreline. There the ratling awaits him, in the liminal space between land and sea.

[Otomo Akutou]

The boy draws up short.

Quite short.

And he begins to shake, skin blanching beneath the dirt crusted on it.

"No, no, no, no no no no no!"

[Chuchu]

She freezes at the unexpected response. For a good, long moment, the nezumi stares up at him, so still she might not even be breathing.

"I'm sorry," She offers even as she's still stuck in place. "Does the water ... hurt you?"

[Otomo Akutou]

"It wants t' eat me!"

The boy shrieks and starts to sob.

"I can't let it eat me! Don't let it eat me!"

[Chuchu]

At his crying the wind picks up, something rumbling off in the distance. The shock of the sound propels Chuchu forward. Her body hits his with a thud as arms and tail wrap around the boy. "I won't let it eat you! I won't! Promise! Promisepromisepromise! This will be a nice dream," She reassures -- though which of them she's reassuring, she doesn't know.

[Otomo Akutou]

"This's a dream?"

The boy looks up at the Nezumi.

"Who're you?"

[Chuchu]

"This's a dream?"

"Mmhmm! This is your dream. So you can do anything, so long as it's not mean." She nods as if that's the most important rule. The little nezumi then lets go of him, and, straightening, introduces herself:

"I'm Great Number," which whistles on the wind as Chuchu, "A Nameseeker of the Great People, and I won't let the sea eat you. Watch!" Slowly, so as to make sure she has his attention, the ratling again approaches the water.

The first miracle is that, even though the seafoam licks her heels, she does not sink. Chuchu looks over her shoulder at the dreamer as she walks across the water, stopping about five yards in. "What's your Name?" She asks as she raises her hands to the horizon, eyes closing, heart calling. A different kind of rumble echoes as the nezumi begins to mime pulling something forward. The ocean stirs but for the space around her.

[Otomo Akutou]

"I know 'bout th' Nezumi," the boy says. "The Stag and th' Nezumi's friends 'cause o' a present the Nezumi's boss got f'm th' Guide inta Hell."

The boy nods decisively.

"But if'n this's a dream, then I ain't gonna keep it here," he says, and in a blink, the pair are amid wooded, rugged hills. And he is a boy no longer, but a rangy man with shifty eyes and a wide-brimmed hat.

"Th' O-Iemoto gave White Moonrise a nemuranai, work of 'is own hands, along th' way to rescue th' Lord Hantei's brother," he says. "An' I'm known as Otomo Akutou," is added, the brim of the hat touched.

[Chuchu]

"Th' O-Iemoto gave White Moonrise a nemuranai, work of 'is own hands, along th' way to rescue th' Lord Hantei's brother," he says. "An' I'm known as Otomo Akutou," is added, the brim of the hat touched.

"Awww!" She throws up her little hands before turning around -- and starting at the sudden change. "You're big! I thought you were little! Oh, well," She sighs. Shrugging off her disappointment, Chuchu runs on all fours to meet Akutou, stopping a few feet away -- she's keeping a healthy distance between them now that he is a strange man instead of a strange child. "Oh! Like the ones who went to the Dreaming by the sea?"

[Otomo Akutou]

"Awww!" She throws up her little hands before turning around -- and starting at the sudden change. "You're big! I thought you were little! Oh, well," She sighs. Shrugging off her disappointment, Chuchu runs on all fours to meet Akutou, stopping a few feet away -- she's keeping a healthy distance between them now that he is a strange man instead of a strange child. "Oh! Like the ones who went to the Dreaming by the sea?"

"Used t' be little," Akutou replies. "Didn't much care f'r it. Glad it ended, an' I wish it'd've done it sooner.

"Know a little 'bout your people's dreamin'," he continues as he takes a knee. "Not 'nough t' know if I c'n answer you 'yes' or 'no,' though, my 'pologies. But I c'n say that a number o' my kin go t' th' sea. I just ain't one o' 'em who c'n do it.

"Makes us not get along s' good."

[Chuchu]

"Makes us not get along s' good."

"Oh," She answers very softly. "That must leave you a little lonely, sometimes..." Chuchu shuffles where she stands, a million billion thoughts racing through her mind, unsure of what to ask, knowing maybe she shouldn't; she's been chastised before for accidentally saying something rude to a human. "Is this where you like better?"

[Otomo Akutou]

"Oh," She answers very softly. "That must leave you a little lonely, sometimes..." Chuchu shuffles where she stands, a million billion thoughts racing through her mind, unsure of what to ask, knowing maybe she shouldn't; she's been chastised before for accidentally saying something rude to a human. "Is this where you like better?"

"It does," Akutou answers simply. "But that's just how it's gotta be, I s'pose. If'n what th' priests say 'bout bein' born again's true, then it's most like the case that 'n earlier me did somethin' as deserves what all I've got now.

"But it ain't s' bad, really. Th' trees're purty, an' I get t' see flowers in th' spring no sailor's ever sighted. Food's better'n aboard ship, too. An' it's damned hard t' drown on dry land."

[Chuchu]

"But it ain't s' bad, really. Th' trees're purty, an' I get t' see flowers in th' spring no sailor's ever sighted. Food's better'n aboard ship, too. An' it's damned hard t' drown on dry land."

One of her ears lowers as she regards that -- human beliefs are strange. Life's not meant to be a punishment. What strange soul would come up with such a story, and why?

But just as quickly as her mind bounces to that thought, it bounds to another. "Oh! I like wildflowers too!" She claps happily. "I've seen lots of ones I never saw before on my way! Is everyone already gathered? Has the storm hit yet?"

[Otomo Akutou]

One of her ears lowers as she regards that -- human beliefs are strange. Life's not meant to be a punishment. What strange soul would come up with such a story, and why?

But just as quickly as her mind bounces to that thought, it bounds to another. "Oh! I like wildflowers too!" She claps happily. "I've seen lots of ones I never saw before on my way! Is everyone already gathered? Has the storm hit yet?"

"Th' storm? What d' you--" Akutou cuts off. That Lion lady'd used th' term "Stormcrow" an awful lot, Akutou thinks, and the scene around them wavers, shifting to the tumult of Shinsei's announcement

Akutou snorts a laugh. "Right. A dream."

He turns to the Nezumi. "I b'lieve them're gathered as're gonna be, ma'--beg pardon, but how ought I t' refer to an' address you?"

[Chuchu]

"I b'lieve them're gathered as're gonna be, ma'--beg pardon, but how ought I t' refer to an' address you?"

"I'm a girl!" She says with arms spread wide as if that's incredibly obvious. But for all her immaturity, she steers herself back to what she really wants to say. "Will you tell them I'm on my way?"