The Day of Thunder

[Haka Tae-soo]

The water burbling downstream, the leaves rustling, the scent of the soil. The elements were all there as Tae-soo had walked around looking for a good place to set the tent for the night this afternoon.

... or... they were similar enough, at least. The few locals they had met earlier as they came into the village's surroundings - following the course of the river, naturally - urged them again and again to never drink from it. The sounds were different as well, if you listened closely. Tae-soo imagined so would the fish be. But different sounds, different fish, different people - that should be expected, really. He'd hardly ever been out of the Baekma riverside lands before the last New Year... but he'd had a sample of how diverse things could be since then.

But not drinking from the river... that just didn't feel right. That kept nagging on his mind as he looked around the fire and swept off pebbles and pulled off some tougher weeds that had remained in front of the tent.

Probably a taboo thing... people had their traditions, right?

Although the village had seemed.. different? Somehow more like the larger towns they'd visited, those more influenced by the Cheon'in. Chon-shin?... Kami. That's the word the Clan used. But... that. Well, maybe that was common now. Even at smaller places, and outside clan lands? Maybe. But there was something. He was used to fog, but...

"Oi, Ha-yeong-sshi, whatcha up to?", he called, not seeing the young one around . "Ya remember we shouldn't drink from the brook, ne?"

The youngster's head shows up from behind a tree, still close enough to be visible with the light from the fire. "Uun... I know, seonbae", they answer somewhat annoyed. "Just makes no sense."

Tae-soo just nods. Maybe acknowledging both things. Maybe he should ask later... He looked at the river, then back at the fire.

He could ask. Would that also be taboo? But water had always been kin...

[Kaiu Tai]

Another head pops up a bit farther away, this one a good deal older, with no gleam of white to the eyes. "Hmm? Why shouldn't we drink there?" Tai straightens to her full, not terribly impressive height, lifting some sort of plant, roots and all. "And what about eatin' the roots by it?" There's something subliminally unsettling about the lack of any of the usual flashes of pale teeth as she speaks. "Is it this fog messin' with it all?"

[Haka Tae-soo]

The oldest one quickly shifts his eyes to find the head that popped up, some tension noticeable in his arms if someone's paying attention to that. Some seconds, maybe half a minute go by, his eyes scanning the woman's face, expression and hands, before the muscles seem to relax a bit and he speaks.

"Annyeo... uh, good evening, good lady", he greets, maybe a bit awkwardly, his voice soft but flat. "It... it's odd, isn't it?", he adds tentatively as he looks at the weeds and the grass around. "They... didn't mention anything about the plants... maybe it's fine if it doesn't come straight from the river? Maybe they're just showing respect for the river..."

Fog wasn't so uncommon in the riverside, after all. Although this was particularly dense...

"Ajumeoni also sent here to the village, then?", he asks after a while, voice maybe still a bit wary.

With clan or family names maybe not so visible in the camp light with the fog, the word must have referred to her, but it would be a strange one to anyone not used to the Baekma along parts of what were now Scorpion floodplains.

[Kaiu Tai]

Honestly, that sounded like the name of some tribal deity or local spirit. "Nah, heard a rumor from someone whose cousin got a letter. Though..." she pauses, brushing soil from the roots of the plant in hand. "guess that letter might've been from some Ajumeoni." The word sounds rather different in her mouth, dialects being what they were.

She taps her chest with dusty fingers. "Tai...ehh, Kaiu Tai now that we're borrowing names from people instead of lands and tribes. You sound like a traveler too, not from the mountains." Truth be told, Tai didn't entirely sound like she was from these mountains either, though 20 years meant the Seidou accent had begun to merge with those found in the North. "Who's 'they? The they as warns against the river water?"

[Haka Tae-soo]

Snip

The young man curled the corner of his lips a bit. She might have 'got the letter' from an ajumeoni? Huh. Maybe her people didn't like being called things referencing their age. Or maybe the letter came from someone much older than her? Hard to tell!

"I'm Tae-soo", he said, a tentative smile forming, still behind some hesitation. "And that's Ha-yeong", he said, pointing to the younger one squatting and apparently picking up some plants, who awkwardly raised their hand to wave a bit. "Uh... Haka. Haka Tae-soo." They seemed just as used to the name as Tai to hers.

"They the locals. Never said a word about the plants, not that I heard. So I'm guessing it's their way of respecting the river and its spirits" He looks at the stream again, seems as if he's trying to hear it properly. "... or maybe something happened in the past and the river wants to forget?"

He looked at his hand, then at a small canteen nearby, shook his head slightly.

"Huh. I guess the message spread far, ne? Kaiu Tai-nim also looking for answers on..." he stops mid-sentence, closes his eyes, swallows. "It's been happening in many places, I hear?"

[Kaiu Tai]

"Haka..." Tai pauses a moment, thinking. "Followed the Emperor's twin, neh? Fair met in the dark, then, Tae-soo," She turns a bit to look at the younger with that dark grin. "And Ha-yeong." There's a pause trying to decide if it was just an odd but of noise, that 'nim'. Worth asking later.

More urgent though..."Yeah, it's been all through the mountains. Ran into a nasty bit of work on the way here too. I'm tired of wrappin' up the mad so they can't harm their families...or findin' them too late...or not findin' them at all save for the mess they've left. The world's askew and sounds like this place at least thinks they have answers." She frowns. "And then there's the ones as are just gone. Wouldn't blame them, skippin' off to the north and away. Maybe things haven't spread there."

She walks closer, stepping carefully through the early spring sprouts and damp earth. "Somethin' it wants to forget sounds like half the people in all these lands right now, don't it?" The stocky woman sighs. "Well the spirits I've had the time to ask've been sluggish. Earth's slow, but this seems like more...maybe sleepy? But slow to answer, slow to move." She lifts the plant. "roots that've grown here for a bit more depth to the askin' tomorrow. But the leaves on this one are tasty if you want a split of them?"

[Haka Tae-soo]

Snip

The young man actually takes a while to do the mental calculations, but finally nods in agreement. "Ne... our village was ascribed to one of the followers of Bayushi." A bow - that at least seemed to be as expected. "Happy to meet you too, Kaiu Tai-nim".

He listens silently, concern growing alongside wrinkles on his face as the incidents are mentioned. Some recognition seems evident on his eyes. The younger boy also comes closer as she speaks. None of them speak before she finishes, though.

When she does, Tae-soo looks at the plant. "Oh. This one is similar to one we'd have back home, I think?" He looks at it more closely, thoughtful. "... not quite the same, though.." He looks at the river again. "We... were thinking of waiting to have a proper meal tomorrow. Maybe find somewhere else to fish... or find out if the fish are also taboo, at that. That would make things hard for them, though, wouldn't it?"

He shrugs, the offers another tentative smile. "But since Kaiu Tai-nim is offering..." He turns to Ha-yeong, now closer. "Dongsaeng-sshi, would'ya fetch some of the bukkumi for us?" Then, turning back to the older woman. "To the north..." But they were in the north, weren't they? Oh... right. "... Kaiu Tai-nim is... one of the northern guardians?" It didn't seem like the history or geography of the Kami followers were particularly well-known to him. "People have been going further north, then?" He seemed thoughtful and somewhat downcast as he swept some more pebbles to clean off place for them to sit by the fire. "I... suppose it makes sense. Some left the village too as the stories came closer. But that seemed to mean leaving our history behind. Ourselves, even."

He certainly didn't seem to know much about some parts of the Empire's history.

[Kaiu Tai]

"Just Tai is fine. Hard enough to remember I've got a family name to announce here, where I don't know everyone. Definitely never got the hang of adding bits to the ends of all the names." She tilts her head, "but if you've one you like, I'm polite enough to use it, neh?"

She laughs, tramping closer to squat down. "Wouldn't call this bit of green a proper meal. Roots are for medicine or ritual, but the leaf is tender. More like somethin' to share while talking. Like the courts are gettin' with tea." Glancing toward the water, she nods. "Already has to be hard leavin' such an easy source of water be. Maybe it rains a lot...would explain the fog a bit." Drawing the little stone knife, she takes a moment to sever leaf from root, hands moving with the sureness of long practice.

"And aye, we guard the north. Got towers up there along the mountains for it." There's a deep breath drawn and released with a sigh before she wipes the blade and tucks it away. "And yep, that's what it's like...pickin' up and leaving stones you know, and that know you, for ones you don't." The roots are brushed off a bit better and vanish into a pouch. "Don't get me wrong, it's been interestin' to learn the tales of new mountains, but dangerous too. And sometimes I miss even the flippin' wind soundin' in those trees instead of the ones we've got now. And now all this," she gestures vaguely around. "Not havin' that groundin' makes it worse, I think."

"But...even the stones know life is change. Pick a thing or the other, but none of the choices are to stay exactly the same as things were." The little clump of leaves are spread out and held for the pair to take some if they like. "And yeah, some have come up and passed on further north for sure. That's different from those as go missin'. But it's easy enough to think some of those just up and left too, yeah? Things get bad, some folks have always tried to ride it out where they were, others try to go find a place where it's not so bad. Risks to both." She stares off at the quiet sound of the river. "Guess we're in another category. Ain't left entirely, but not sitting at home either. Chasing stories and maybe hope that things can be better here?"

[Haka Tae-soo]

Snip

The young man nods at the Crab's offer for familiarity, but soon shakes his head. "Oh, no, Tai-sshi. No need for such formality - you can call us Tae-soo and Ha-yeong, then!"

That he still seems to be attaching something to her name doesn't even seem to register.

As she continues her story and prepares the leaves for them, Ha-yeong comes from inside the tent with a small package wrapped in cloth, bows to the woman, then kneels down and opens the wrapping, revealing four bukkumi with a nod and pushing them a bit towards Tai, with no actual words spoken.

Tae-soo nods at the younger one with a small smile, then at the woman, as if offering the dumplings. "They're not too sweet, hopefully good with the greens", he says simply, then keeps his attention on Tai as she continues the story.

"Ah. Tai-sshi also went further north, then?", he asks a while after she finishes, apparently still not quite making sense of all details. "And then... came here hoping to change things?"

"I suppose we'll have to learn many tales of new waters too", he said, between uncertainty and what might be regret. "Tai-sshi is right, of course", he adds, his voices maybe forcefully attempting to raise his own spirits. "The river is not the same today as it was yesterday or will be tomorrow... I remember Halmeoni's words. 'We should never forget the flow'. And yet somehow it is the same river, everywhere and everywhen."

A moment in silence, the gurgle of the water taking over again. Then some words come out, maybe as much directed to Tae-soo himself as to Tai. "Think we can bring change?"

He suddenly notices his eyes boring a hole on the ground and raises them again. "Many just up and left, ne?" A tentative smile. "Many Tai-sshi hoping to come back or find again?"

The word 'too' isn't spoken out loud, but the tone makes it almost as clear as it had been.

[Kaiu Tai]

Tai nods, not bothering to correct the odd-to-her form of address and accepts the little bukkumi with a smile. "Ah, that's far more'n a fair trade. We'll see what I can bring you later on, neh? Make em yourself?" She busies herself wrapping a few greens around it to make a packet to bite through as she listens.

Her expression darkens and she nods at the assessment. "Hai, folks gone and I don't know if I hope they just scampered off north, or if maybe they heard rumors like this and might come back." Looking toward the supposedly dangerous stream, she frowns. "Or followed rumors and can't come back."

She's silent a long moment, chewing a bite of the shared treat, and offering a nod and smile while lifting the piece still in her hand to indicate that it was good and appreciated. Finally she swallows and nods once. "Now I don't know as much about water as maybe I ought. A little too changeable to get a good feel for. But yes. We can change things. Might not like the change in the end, but it can certainly happen."

[Haka Tae-soo]

Tai nods, not bothering to correct the odd-to-her form of address and accepts the little bukkumi with a smile. "Ah, that's far more'n a fair trade. We'll see what I can bring you later on, neh? Make em yourself?" She busies herself wrapping a few greens around it to make a packet to bite through as she listens.

Her expression darkens and she nods at the assessment. "Hai, folks gone and I don't know if I hope they just scampered off north, or if maybe they heard rumors like this and might come back." Looking toward the supposedly dangerous stream, she frowns. "Or followed rumors and can't come back."

She's silent a long moment, chewing a bite of the shared treat, and offering a nod and smile while lifting the piece still in her hand to indicate that it was good and appreciated. Finally she swallows and nods once. "Now I don't know as much about water as maybe I ought. A little too changeable to get a good feel for. But yes. We can change things. Might not like the change in the end, but it can certainly happen."

"We're glad you like it, Tai-sshi. Aren't we, Ha-yeong-sshi?", he says as if nudging the young one, to which they answer with a shy confirming "uun."

"I... tried. Eomeonim always tried to teach us back home... I never quite got the hang of it. Or gave it much heed, I guess... now I wish I had. But Ha-yeong is really good at it - and I've been trying."

"I... hope the folks you hope to see again can come back, Tai-sshi. You're kind" - for a moment, there, he sounds just like a child, but the voice soon straightens itself again. Maybe even modulates to a somewhat deeper tone?

"Change is hard... but if something changes for the worse, only more water under the bridge may make things better again, ne?" He looks at the river again. "And... it's not just change for the sake of change. We... we may be able to see through this. Find a way around. Or... so I hope."

OOC: Sorry for the long delay! Maybe we could wrap this up and get ready for the shugenja get-together D2?

[Kaiu Tai]

"We're glad you like it, Tai-sshi. Aren't we, Ha-yeong-sshi?", he says as if nudging the young one, to which they answer with a shy confirming "uun."

"I... tried. Eomeonim always tried to teach us back home... I never quite got the hang of it. Or gave it much heed, I guess... now I wish I had. But Ha-yeong is really good at it - and I've been trying."

"I... hope the folks you hope to see again can come back, Tai-sshi. You're kind" - for a moment, there, he sounds just like a child, but the voice soon straightens itself again. Maybe even modulates to a somewhat deeper tone?

"Change is hard... but if something changes for the worse, only more water under the bridge may make things better again, ne?" He looks at the river again. "And... it's not just change for the sake of change. We... we may be able to see through this. Find a way around. Or... so I hope."

OOC: Sorry for the long delay! Maybe we could wrap this up and get ready for the shugenja get-together D2?

Tai offers a smile to the youngling. Perhaps a bit of a sinister one with those blackened teeth bared. "Aye, I hope so too. And mayhap you'd teach me a bit of the makin' of these...if it's not a secret your..hmm eo-meo-nim?.. that they're keepin' held close to you all."

She has another bite of the morsel, thinking on what the taste says of ingredients that might be from rather far away.

/fade to evening chatter, recipes, and language notes?

**************
OOC. yep. Putting D0 to bed seems sensible.