[Day 7 EA] Can't See The Forest For The Trees (Expecting/Closed)

[Yūrei]

Yūrei shivers despite the heat of the day. The gnarled and twisted trees of the grove cast harsh angry shadows as she makes her way between the lines of trees. Her foot catches on a root that almost looks like a hand before she rights herself to avoid a fall. It's hardly been an exertion getting here but she's already starting to sweat.


14...15...16....17

She stops before a newer tree, its branches warped and angry, almost thorny. There's no wind but it creaks slightly, painfully, as though it were dying. For a few long minutes Yūrei stands motionless looking up at the it before taking a slow step forward, and then another, until she's standing in the dessicated dirt surrounding its trunk. The wood creaks again, louder this time.

Her whole body trembles as she stretches out a hand, gently resting it against the harsh bark. The grove is silent now, so quiet it seems her whisper carries for miles.

"Mom?"

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

Tsuyo's not far away, but not particularly visible, crouched off to the side of the path sketching the tormented trees. She pauses often, frowning a bit at the way the shadows don't line up as they ought to, and the difficulty of depicting that with pencil and paper. The sound of someone else in the Grove doesn't give her pause, it's not entirely uncommon for people to pass through. But the familiar voice catches her attention.

Hoisting herself back up with her cane, she keeps pencil and sketchpad in the other hand as she steps quietly back to the path to see the familiar young ronin. There's an instinctive step to offer comfort, but... this seems very private. Indecision scuffs the cane along the path a few inches and catches it in a twisted bit of root with a light *ping*.

[Yūrei]

Snip

Yūrei spins around, a thorn tears at her palm, the small wound already welling with blood. Her eyes are puffy and bloodshot and it takes a few moments for them to focus on Tsuyo.

"Hotaru-sama? What are you-"
She hurriedly rubs her face, the little cut smearing watery crimson over her cheek.

"I'm just...It's-"
She pauses, trembling, trying to get herself under control.

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

Carefully twistingthe can free, Tsuyo offers an apologetic smile, adding softly, "Sorry to interrupt, Yurei-san." She starts a bit as she see the blood smear. "An' now you're bleedin'. Here..." She hobbles forward, awkwardly stuffing her sketchpad into the satchel and rummaging for a small cloth to hold out.

Unvoiced, she doesn't think these trees need to taste more blood.

[Yūrei]

Snip

She mutely takes the cloth, twisting it tightly around her hand. Behind her the blood on the tree seems to have finished entirely...

"I didn't mean to interrupt you, I think I'm just." She exhaled loudly, rubs her eyes again. "Having a bit of a moment. Got some bad news, that sort of thing."
A sob tries to force its way out and she stifles out with a pained expression.
"You're very kind."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

"Nah, I expect I'm the one interruptin' Yurei-san." Aboard ship, it's easy enough to put a steadying hand on the shoulder of someone who's almost certainly kin. Here? She half lifts a hand before realizing she'd need to gimp over a few steps first and...

Instead adds, "I'm sorry you got bad news." After a glance around at the creepy trees, she adds, "Scorpion tradition to come cry it out here where it's just the ghosts to watch?"

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Uhh, I guess it's a new tradition I'm making, hoping it doesn't have to be daily."
She flaps a hand back at the tree.

"It's my." She doesn't seem able to say it, but mumbles a noise approximating 'mum'

"And dad's in here too. So it's sort of a family reunion I guess. All these years looking for them and they were right here. Just...here."
She shudders again and takes a deep breath, a half-sob and then another deep breath, getting herself under control

"I'm sorry, this...must be a strange conversation."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

Dark eyes go wide. "Oh! I mean, strange is fine, don't worry about it when..." she waves a bit toward the same tree. "That's a lot to learn in a day...or a week...or anytime, really."

"I'm really sorry." The sympathy in her face is genuine as she makes that extra step forward to rest a hand on Yurei's shoulder. "Did you learn how or...why, I guess?" The Grove's purpose wasn't particularly secret, so those answers seemed likely to be at least as disturbing as finally learning what had happened to them.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Some project they were in, or the magistrates thought they were in. Whatever it was it must have been bad for..for this."
Bitterly
"They weren't sure if I knew anything about it so they ruined my life just to be sure."
She looks down at the supportive hand and sniffles, thankful for the gesture.

"Hotaru-sama you're wise and your head's screwed on straight." She looks up to meet Tsuyo's gaze "And I could use a second opinion from someone outside of...everything. I have a name, someone responsible for this. And part of me wants to-" Yūrei's hands ball into fists so hard her palm cut starts bleeding through the cloth "-do to them what they do to my family. I can't make them suffer a single iota of what my parents will experience, but I could try."
She angrily wipes her face again
"Is that wrong? To want that?"

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

She blinks a few times, processing, and feeling not very wise. But considering parents and daughters, and what she'd want someone to tell her someday daughter if she were ever in such a place, Tsuyo's heart hurts, the ache sharp below the sternum and now the blinking is holding back tears instead.

"Not wrong. Even if they were as wicked as the...I guess records, might say. It's not wrong to want someone to pay for what they took and the grief they gave." She looks at the twisted trees with a frown.

"But...I think...I know, that in their place, the only hope in torment would be knowin' my daughter could grow up and thrive." The blinking stops as she holds Yurei's gaze, all sincerity in her own. "Don't throw yourself away on vengeance. But if that...name...were goin' to, say, step out into traffic, it's fine to watch and burn it on your memory for a balm."

[Yūrei]

Snip

For a while it seems like Tsuyo's words aren't heard. Yūrei's anger growing and growing, visible in a bulging vein at her temple but then in an instant she relaxes and in its place the fatigue and grief comes flowing back and she staggers slightly.

"Maybe, if what I do can be calling thriving."
She finds her eyes drifting back to the twisted tree and tears her gaze away, first to Tsuyo and then off into the distance, anywhere but back at the grove
"Suppose I should wait until I have all the answers anyway. Perhaps they deserved it..."
Although what you'd have to do to deserve 'that'

A corner of her mouth twists up
"They were actually my heroes, when I was little. I mean, they'd go out on missions they couldn't tell me about, fighting enemies of the clan in the shadows. What's better than that? What could be more honourable? And I was going to be just like them. I worked so hard to go to the same academy, take the same classes. One day it would be me going out into the dark."
She can avoid looking back at the tree no longer, is it her imagination or has it moved closer? Are its branches a little more gnarled, a little more pained?
"It's funny, I guess you're already doing a better job at being a parent than they ever did."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

"I..." The Firefly squeezes a bit harder, strong sculptor's hand feeling the too-thin boniness of the ronin's shoulder. "I'm flattered, but...only here a few moments, relatively speakin', but they did get some part of the way here. Hard to know how much've what they did was for you, or maybe they told themselves it was." There's a certainty to her tone when she says, "you're alive, and still...still keepin' some of that kid who wants to do right and good goin'. There's time yet to find a settled spot; you're not that old and all."

There's a shiver transmitted through her touch as she looks to the trees. "Is there a way ta reverse it?"

[Yūrei]

Snip

She reaches a hand up to rest on Tsuyo's, taking another deep breath. The firefly artisan was just so...decent.

"Thank you." Okay, deep breaths, keep your mind moving along "I guess I don't know that, either. Might not have known them at all."
Turning at the question.
"I don't think so, but it's not like the Clan is ever gonna say if there is. Destroying the tree might let their spirits out but...you were just pretty firm about me not immediately going and throwing my life away."
She smiles weakly at Tsuyo.
"So I'll hold off on that one."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

"I'm not sure any of us *really* know our parents," she says slowly. It's not a new thought, but it has new meaning thinking about the pieces that her children might not connect to or see, and a completely different flavor when talking about Scorpion parents. "They're always a bit of a false image. So remember them as suits you, I think."

"But yeah, better to live." Her voice is low, a disapproving frown shadowing her eyes as she glances through the trees. "I know other clans have their own traditions, but...it seems blasphemous to lock a soul from the judgement of Emma-O. Just...takin' that role into human hands seems wrong. Even oni have had chances for redemption."

"I'll ask Dechen, when I see her next, if she knows of anythin' that'd make a difference."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"I can-I will try. There were good times, or normal times I guess."
Shivering slightly at the soul talk, why was it so cold even in the sun?

"We were always taught the grove was necessary. That you need something final, something from there was no possibility of return or redemption. You never think about how the other clans don't need them. Even the Lion don't do...this to traitors."
She lets herself follow Tsuyo's glance back one last time. The grove seems a little smaller now, the shadows not quite as dim, as if discussing the thing had diminished it.

"Could...could I offer to escort you out, Hotaru-sama? I would appreciate the company, I don't really want to be alone here right now."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

Snip

"Maybe they didn't trust that a clan sworn to be necessary villains would...well, restrict their villainy to honorable ends without *extra* incentive? Don't think I agree, but it's also not likely to change after 3000 years of tradition." Were there trees back on the Empire's homeworld that held spirits trapped that long? The thought shadowed her gaze for a bit.

The artist nods at the offer to head out. "Be glad of the company. Gotten enough sketches in for the day. You should come in and have some of the candy I picked up at the Expo. before it's gone..."

[Yūrei]

Snip

A little stubbornly "It shouldn't have to be this way, we're meant to be the bad guys, not bad guys."
Fortunately, Tsuyo's instincts are correct as Yūrei immediately perks up at the mention of candy, her nose twitching slightly

"Only if you've had your fill, I...have difficulty leaving enough sweets to share...or noodles, cakes, biscuits, meats...anything really."
She turns and begins the slow walk out, making a point of not rushing the other samurai.

"It's funny, all of this right after what Sakura-chan said this morning when she came by with that private picture of me."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

snip

Tsuyo laughs a bit, lightening things a bit more on their little bit of the path. "I bought 'em for visitors anyway, no harm if there's a tad less sugar at the next trade meetin."

At mention of the picture, she grins. "That the one she had commissioned at the Expo? Huh...I'd have thought she'd get one done of her, that's more traditional for courtin'. Or it was...I guess maybe the younger folks are changing the traditions though."

[Yūrei]

Snip

Yūrei inhales quickly
"Courting? How did- she only told me this morning. Did she ask you for advice beforehand?"

Looking befuddled, the grove forgotten for a few moments.
"I had no idea all this time...I mean, there wasn't even any hints, she was so careful. She's my best friend and now, she wants to be something more? I don't even- It's complicated. I told her I needed some time."

[Hotaru Tsuyo]

"Oh? I was kinda teasin'" She says with laughter behind the words. "I'm surprised she was that direct. I would've bet a bu that she still hadn't figured her own feelin's out. Pretty oblivious despite the obvious chemistry you two've got."

Tsuyo shrugs, a lopsided thing as she leans to her cane. "Thinkin' about it's fine though. Not like that somethin' more has to be super serious. Nobody's setting up marriage contracts just yet."