The Day of Thunder

[Kaijarisuigyo]

Kai's sleep had been long. Not as long as Tiger's naps used to be, but damn long for a human. Enough to refresh her body while her mind felt like it had done battle all night long.

And a battle there had been as she was sleeping. But in the physical world. Something about a Great Horse defeating Nightmare Wolves? She had to go see with her own eyes the last remnants of that one dream before they fully disappeared to the light of a new day.

But first, breakfast.

[Hiruma Naraku]

Kai can probably feel a sweet smell seems coming from one of the tents.

Inside the tent Naraku had decided to have his hand at perhaps preparing something sweet for Yukara. He did not have much experience cooking, at least anything that was edible, so this was uncharted territory for him. His conversation and reminiscence with Ai yesterday had remind him just how much his twin enjoying sweets, so he thought perhaps Yukara would enjoy the same sticky rice sweet dumplings that Kanna enjoyed?

Surprisingly once he had finished preparing the food the outcome was surprisingly edible. At points he was scared that he'd overshot the measures but it seems that his aptitude for crafting poisons had given him at least some knowledge on how to properly measure portions as well as the importance of not letting mixtures splitting or overcooking dough. The result was good and he stored a few in a box to gift the Ryoshun later, leaving a few for breakfast.

Of course, his time in the kitchen had not only been spent in preparing sweet rice. As the time for his reconnaissance mission drew closer he had crafted another batch of Amaterasu's Censure, even if that meant that his jade supplies were dangerously low.

---
D3 EM | Cooking/Int | No skill | Trying to craft something nice and sweet | 4k4 ⇒ 32

D3 EM | Poison/Int | Crafting Amaterasu's Censure | TN 25 | 9k4 ⇒ 32 (TN: 25)

[Kaijarisuigyo]

Someone entered the kitchen sniffing, then sniffing cautiously as who had made the meal became apparent:

"Not poison?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

(OOC: Forgot tally the wounds on previous post. 1 wound taken total 11 wounds - Healthy)

Naraku is startled by the familiar voice and turns to greet Kai with a warm smile. He picks the vial he had crafted previously and shows it to Kai "Not only poison"

He turns to see the remaining dumplings, a sense of pride in his eyes. "But yes, I also tried my hand at cooking something other than poison. I believe they might be tasty and not at all deadly," he rubs his chin "Hopefully"

[Kaijarisuigyo]

Kai took a bite of one dumpling without asking:

"Not fast acting poison at least," as she munched. "You killed wolves-that-were-not-wolves yesterday I heard?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

If Naraku cared that Kai ate one without asking, he did not display it.

"I did," he turned to her, expecting her to comment on the taste of his creation. "Although the great wolf was felled by Yukara, a member of the Bat clan. I merely made sure my poison wasted and killed the members of its pack."

"And what about you Kai? Where have you been?"

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"The one with the blade on a stick and cat eyes? I've met her. Strong girl. Having a hard time with that doubt fear, but seems like it's a disease everyone is suffering from there. Should fix that if we are to defeat the nightmare."

Kai's opinion on the food was to eat another dumpling.

"Catching on sleep mostly. Tigers can sleep 16 hours a day when need be.

The wolves, were they wolves that had been changed or just things that had taken the shape of wolves?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

"It will be fixed," he smiled and gently nudged the remaining dumplings towards Kai. "Though from my part I think I should also thank you. Your words and tales were part on why I started to change. Less doubt, less mistrust. And yes, the cat eyed Bat. Great warrior too, she managed to fell a giant wolf by her lonesome."

"Did you manage to sleep this night? I've seen more gloom faces than the day before, seems like the assault on our sleep continues unimpeded."

He scratches his chin at her question. "I think one of them, the leader, was a person too whose form changed to fit that new form. Regarding the others, while they were certainly altered, they seemed to have been wolves before the influence of Yume-Jigoku changed them."

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"I slept yes. The darkness couldn't help but taunt me, which is way better than if it just closes the realm to me. Give me something to fight, I'll fight fangs and claws. Put me versus nothingness and it's more complicated. On my way here, I was actually kinda hoping Shinsei knew of a reliable way to access the realm of dreams, even at the cost of a harsh fight.

Do you know who used to be the human? In particular, were they a local or did they come from beyond the mist?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

Snip

He nodded understandingly at Kai, remembering a similar conversation he had with Shang yesterday. "That is the greatest challenge we face, isn't it?" he picked one of the dumplings and nibbled it. "To face a monster is easy. We know what to expect. But against ones greatest fears? Against our own mind? How do we protect ourselves against that?"

"We need to shield our mind. Hone it as we would hone our weapons. This... is easier said than done," he frowned. At least the dumplings were tasty.

"Hisomu Reo has an idea... a special tea the town healer provided, " he said in a cautious tone. "Apparently this tea will let us venture into Yume-Do and walk around lucidly. It might allow us to find something to push back..." he trailed off implying what could happen if it went wrong.

"I do not know. It could have been a villager or it could have been from beyond... once they reach that level of corruption it becomes much harder to understand who was the person behind the monster."

"Another thing Kai. Have you ever seen a Nezumi?"

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"Shamans have been using herbs to travel the realms since always. Sometimes not even on purpose. Humans will really try to make anything into something that can be eaten, or drunk, or smoked.

It can work. It can poison you. It can do both. Likely both. The poison person getting poisoned is classic story.

As for Rat, they were a good companion of mine. I would not eat them, and they would sometimes help me when I was in a pinch. A solid relationship.

On the other hand, never met any of the big rats with thumbs? Why the question?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

"A rat with two thumbs came recently. She had visited me in my dreams and pledged to help us," he commented, though her description of the classic tale made him snicker. "Mind you, I do not intend on being poisoned. I think."

"Reo seemed very giddy about this prospect and he is a good man," he nodded. "I wonder what will be the outcome of such trip."

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"There are many stories of people looking for an answer that was within them all along. If that's the pattern there, what you will find is something you had already guessed, yet dismissed because it was too terrifying. Regardless, the trip will be required for you to come to accept it.

More allies is good. The thumb rats have been fighting the darkness for even longer than humans, haven't they?"

[Hiruma Naraku]

"And how many of those stories had tales of a Tiger that taught a human about the benefits of introspection and self assessment?" he teased Kai

"They are also beings of Ningen Do. The stakes are as dire for them as for us. Hell, their capital had a literal portal to Jigoku," he comments. "The one that visited me even confirmed that the touch of the enemy does not affect them. Couple that with the fact they seem to be able to explore dreams and we'd have important allies in them."

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"Indeed, usually it's more birds who are providing ambiguous advice that turn out to be very relevant later. Did you try asking Shinsei's crow if they had an additional tip or two? They might.

Or maybe you could find this many tail fox I'm pretty sure is hiding somewhere? I lost trail of their scent, but they couldn't have gone far."

The number of dumplings not eaten had severely diminished.

"Why weren't you allied already then? Let me guess: Politics?

Though, I do have a few tales where Tiger is being a prick, refusing to help the smaller animals because they don't feel concerned by what's happening to them, until they are eventually tricked by Spider into helping anyway. So I do understand that sometimes people don't do the nice thing or even the logical thing for wrong reasons."

[Hiruma Naraku]

"The crow?" he rubbed his chin, he had heard about Shinsei's crow but hadn't seen it around the monk. "I guess he is no longer next to him. But I'll remember to ask his crow if I see him."

"I actually like crows, you know? I remember when I was little there was a murder of them near our house. I remember I would give leave them seeds and water and soon they would be depositing shiny trinkets and baubles for me," he smiles fondly reminiscing the memory from his youth. "Lately I've been remembering more and more things of my youth."

"Maybe it's related to what the Nezumi told me," he looks at Kai. "She said my name was weird and complex. As if two names had been made one."

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"A murder? You call a pack of crows a murder?

And people say I speak weird.

I guess you also say a murder for a pack of vultures then? It's a scavenger thing?

Words hard. Names hard. They can mean many things."

[Hiruma Naraku]

"No, a group of vultures would be a wake of vultures," he snickered, thinking how the word was also pretty fitting. "But I understand what do you mean."

"I guess a name means whatever a group of people decide that it means. No wonder the Nezumi use the power of names for their spells. They use that intangible root as the catalyst for change."

"You've been speaking much better Kai. Are you becoming more human than tiger?" he teased her

[Kaijarisuigyo]

"I am definitely becoming more at ease with being a balance of both. Kai needs clear words as much as she needs dexterous hands. Roaring and walking on all four would be of no good as things are now. At the same time, Tiger's strength, will, and dutifulness are more needed than ever.

It's not about being three quarters human and one quarter tiger, or some number silliness like that. It's about being fully both at once. In harmony."

[Hiruma Naraku]

"Perhaps you too have a complex name like mine Kai," he smiled at her. "I believe you are right in your assessment. Did the Tiger not get defeated by the enemy before? Perhaps the Tiger got defeated because we fought alone but now he is no longer just the Tiger, but rather the Kai-Tiger."

He looks at her and drums a finger on his chin. "Kaitora. I like that name."