[Day 3 MM] One Eye on the past, one on the future. (Expecting)

[Yūrei]

(( https://sakkaku.org/d10-rolls/3520 ))

Yūrei cranes her head to read the text across the entrance. 'Heroes Never Die'


'Hmmph, I hope so."

Dressed in her formal best, she enters the gigantic temple proper, making a show of visiting each of the altars before retiring to a small alcove where she lights incense and appears to settle into prayer beneath a statue of Bayushi.

That it offers her an excellent view of the guard patrols in the area is a pleasant coincidence

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

All things considered, court season was a good time to come make an offering to great, great grandfather, Shosuro-shiryo. Just because he became a Firefly upon marriage didn't mean that his ancestors would forget him entirely, right? She's in the loose slacks and long vest that's become a bit of a uniform. Silk fabrics elevate the casual cuts to something a bit more refined.

The clack-thump-clack of her cane pauses as she catches a familiar ronin face out of the corner of her eye and looks into the alcove curiously, before turning a bit away...it's not polite to stare, particularly at folks praying.

[Yūrei]

All things considered, court season was a good time to come make an offering to great, great grandfather, Shosuro-shiryo. Just because he became a Firefly upon marriage didn't mean that his ancestors would forget him entirely, right? She's in the loose slacks and long vest that's become a bit of a uniform. Silk fabrics elevate the casual cuts to something a bit more refined.

The clack-thump-clack of her cane pauses as she catches a familiar ronin face out of the corner of her eye and looks into the alcove curiously, before turning a bit away...it's not polite to stare, particularly at folks praying.

Yūrei's eyes widen a little and she nods her head a fraction at the cushion next to her, scooting over to give the Firefly room but otherwise appearing to be just another supplicant.

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

Well, nothing wrong with pausing before the Kami who started folks on the path that led to this world and all. Tsuyo clomps over and levers herself down, using one hand behind her prosthetic knee to guide it into kneeling on the cushion. With a proper bow to the masked statue, she offers one of her sticks of incense before settling back.

"Doesn't hurt to offer to the Kami watching over the whole place. Hope you've been well since the festival, Yurei-san."

[Yūrei]

Snip

Yūrei nearly stands to help the Firefly before her self-control reasserts herself and she nods politely, her voice low.
"A little prayer can go a long way Hotaru-sama, but I'm very well. Busy, but well."

Her eyes flicker slightly, tracking a guard as they cross the room.

"I caught up with Sakura-c, I mean. Hotaru Sakura-chan yesterday, she mentioned you two were rooming together?"

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

There's a bit of a smile. "Yeah, she came on pretty much as Dechen left, so we got paired up. Decent roommate. Good catch by Hotaru-sama, seems like."

She's less watchful of the folks wandering the temple as she offers what she can't help thinking of more as a bribe to the Scorpion ancestors to push their descendants' attention toward folks more interesting than the Firefly.

"Didn't know you two knew one another. Big city and all."

[Yūrei]

Snip

A little distracted by her surveillance
"Oh, we slept together for a couple years."

A slight frown, wait, what had her mouth said while her eyes were busy?
"Uh, I meant we shared a room, we slept together, separately, in there." Clearing her throat "She's one of my best friends. We caught up and she mentioned you. I'm glad she's found a new family."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

Her dark eyes widen--more at saying something like that in a place like this, than out of any shock that they were lovers...

and then crinkle in amusement. "Ahh, I see, then I'm talkin' to her ex. ... roommate that is. Guess I know who ta come talk to if she starts up with any odd habits like sleepwalkin' then."

"Sounds like she's got plenty of ties here yet. The embassy can use a steady crew of folks who aren't pining ta get back up into the void, so that's no bad thing." She pauses a moment on the edge of the 'don't ask ronin about the past' pool, and then steps on in. "You two grow up together? Or just pick up as roommies a little more recently?"

It's not like there's anyone forcing an answer under the stoney eyes of this depiction of Lord Bayushi--who, despite the very traditional cut of his clothing and mask, has the very distinct look of a Scorpion model from a while back. Look at enough Scorpion sculpture from the era and it became obvious that he sat as the reference model for a lot of Scorpion artists of the day.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Just ex-roomates, really!"
She turns an empthatic gesture with her hands into a clap and a prayer to Bayushi-no-kami, fairly sure he wouldn't mind.
"We're just best friend, it's a really small apartment so, you know."
Shaking her head quickly.
"She doesn't sleepwalk or anything like that, usually she just...curls up tight. Like you'd be a monster not to hug her. I think she had it hard young." pause "Harder than I did. But I didn't know her then, Hotaru-sama. We only met a few years ago when I was flat broke and needed someone to split the rent with. She seemed like she wouldn't kill me in my sleep and, I guess she was right."

Turning a little to look at Tsuyo.
"She'll be a great Firefly, she's smarter than I am, and better with people. And, somehow, also really kind. I honestly don't know how she stayed so decent after growing up in the slums."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

She doesn't laugh. That would be out of place here. Her grin's hidden for a moment as she bows her head to offer a prayer of her own...mostly asking that the Kami's followers don't see her minor clan as anything worth paying too much attention to. Nobody wants to go the way of the Shark.

She murmurs quietly to avoid disturbing the temple's peace. "Definitely sharp. Done wonders with the tangle of Hotaru-sama's library. I haven't seen that many actual books in one place in a very long while. And that was an Imperial's library full of books I don't think they ever opened."

"Can only guess at what growin' up there is like. There's hardships to bein' a minor clan, but not like that." Depictions in media made the clanless life out to be at once horrible, and sometimes oddly noble, but Tsuyo wasn't entirely sure which bits of the art sprung from truths. "Sounds like you both had some luck to wind up together then...not killin' one another in your sleep. ... Is that..common?"

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Well."
Yūrei keeps her head bowed.

"In the slums it's all about relationships. There's no law or family to look after you so you have to feel folks out. That's why I became a Kestrel, so people would think twice before taking a shot at me. Of course, it costs too but you can't put a price on not having to always watch your back."

She presses a hand over her heart for a few moments, a gesture with considerable more earnest feeling than her early devotions.
"I imagine your childhood was a bit different, if I can ask?"

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

"Kestral...and the like...seem like ways to have somethin' like a clan. Folks who look out for you." Just obviously without the Emperor's recognition, or the money, or the ancient feudal contracts and connections... But to Tsuyo, it was confirmation of a general structure that continued to work for people.

Settling back, weight more on her folded metal leg that couldn't really become fatigued, she nods. "Growin' up Firefly's a bit different since you never have a bit of ground to settle on for long. So we grow up runnin' around engine rooms and hydroponic racks instead of grassy fields. You always know the void's just on the other side of the walls. And you get used ta close quarters...but also, weirdly, isolation." Her hands lift as she talks. "See, we've got the big carriers, but those are kind of like a planet for us that we don't see that often. Mostly we're out in these clusters of ships on a contract someplace, so you're out there among extended family...but all scattered across that cluster of ships." Her hands spread out, thick fingers fanned wide. "The supply ships are larger, and kind of common spaces where you'll see one another and hang out a bit. But not every day."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"I would never suggest our association approaches anything like an esteemed clan."
Mouthing 'But yes, exactly'

Following Tsuyo's gestures with interest.
"Like going out into the wilderness as a small group, but coming back to civilization when the job is done. Where wilderness is the void of safe and civilization is a supply ship."
She ponders this for a few moments, reasoning it was a good time and places for pondering.
"Was that your duty before you became a sculptor? Going out on contract?" she has trouble visualising being so far from people. "How do you deal with the...nothingness? It must be so quiet."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

[snip

Tsuyo nods. "Yep, pretty much everyone's involved in that unless you're one of the carrier families staying to maintain those behemoths. You tend to learn a bit of pilotin', ship maintenance, and then all the tasks involved in minin' early on...specialize later. Used ta pluck out bits of waste stone ta carve on." She laughs, "but...it's never quiet. The ships are fulla noise, suits are hissin with your air and clickin' with the servos you're workin'" Her face still in thought, pensive and grave. "Silence would mean all the things keepin' you alive in the void aren't workin' and you're on the way to the same. Would be terrifyin'."

"But, there is a lot of void out there. The Navigators cross a lot of it, of course, but then you're prospecting among a field of possible mine locations, and those're pretty spread out. Can take a day to move from one to another, so we'll usually split up a bit to check out half a dozen for one with useful ores to start on. But you're never alone in a ship either. More often you start gettin' sick of being in such close quarters with 'em for weeks on end. You learn to kind of..make your own space for yourself or you go a bit nuts."

[Yūrei]

Snip

Nodding, she could understand that.

"Is it tense? I mean, mining can be dangerous, is everyone worried when they're working? Or- Uh, well I've just realised I don't know much of anything about void mining."
Bowing her head, a little embarrassed.
"Sorry, it's not to say I don't appreciate how important it is, it's just so far away. Do you miss it?"

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

Lifting a hand to wobble in a 'so-so' fashion, Tsuyo answers. "Everyone pays attention, and there's some...not exactly nerves, but anticipation when we open a new one or set off any kind of explosives. We're super careful and all, but that's when accidents happen." She taps her metal leg. "Sometimes we're not quite careful enough."

There's a small shake of her head and a grin. "No worries, I mean, it's kind of important, but there's all kinds of planetside mining too, so it's easy to not think about work that's not goin' on anywhere near you. But no, I don't miss the minin.' I'm still there for some of it, helpin' design charges and looking at the ore samples with Dechen. I use some bits in my work. Help her move the kami that want to see new places. It's all so much more than I could've dreamed of when I was just startin' out."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Right."
The information gathering side of her wants to ask about the leg, but the human side of Yūrei decides that might be for another day.

"I can see how explosives would keep everyone paying attention, you never always know what's gonna happen."
She shifts slightly, one leg cramping a little

"And you're still involved, but with your wife? Uh, I assume you're still involved with your wife, but she and you are involved in the mining still. She is an honoured priestess then?"
Yūrei looks suitably impressed.

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

Tsuyo nods once, smiling with more than a bit of pride. "She is. It's been a great boon to all our work. Mining's dangerous enough without angry spirits...and what we do is really likely to anger them. We've got all the ritual and such to encourage them to a safe shrine built for them, but we don't get many who can actually sense or speak to them to be sure." The smile widens to a grin. "And yeah, still involved...with her, with the work. I'm just away a lot more than I used to be a decade back. Feels like I worked so hard then, but I think I just work...different now, if that makes any sense at all."

She looks up at the statue a moment, wondering if the Kami even felt the passage of time in their Celestial home. "Hope you can see that progression yourself," she pauses before she can add 'kiddo'. Is it impending motherhood that makes the younger samurai here seem so much younger this season?

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Oh, yeah. I'd never considered that most kami might be unhappy if you sort of blew up their home."
Suddenly, mining seems even more dangerous.
"So she sort of, talks to them and explains everything? That must be fascinating."

She listens curious as Tsuyo goes on, flushing a little at hearing how involved the two are.
"I'm sure raising a child will give you both more duties to do together? And a different kind of work. I'm not sure I understand it all, but I hope to see it to. Raising a child seems-"
She lapses into silence
"-Involved?" The way she said it sounded a lot more like 'hard'

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

"Yeah..." Something between bemused grin and worried grimace twists her lips a moment. "I mean, look at how many of us there are, how hard can it be? Right? I know we'll have some help and all but it's a bit daunting." She waves a hand toward the statue. "Ever wonder what the kami thought when their kids showed up? I mean...what kind of experience or example did they have? Their father tried to kill them and blessed Lady Sun...only kept him from it by trickery."