Sakura waited for the Kuni with the make up to approve. The female one.....that came in with Rei. There, with al the right descriptions, Sakura waited for her guest to arrive.

In the meanwhile, she eyed the sample...how much would this baby fetch on the black market, perhaps?

OOC:
D8 EA: Commerce/Int, figuring out value of Blacksilk Spider ample | 5k4 ⇒ 33 (TN: ?)

Arriving with another tray of coffee, this time four cups for two people. Koyuki strolls in with.. an air about her? Somehow she just seemed a little more at ease which was wild as a concept. Yet here she was strolling in with practically a tune being whistled. There wasn't a tune, of course. Koyuki wasn't about to let anyone possibly catch her in public doing something like that.

Setting up near Sakura while she focuses on the current task and work already in front of her Koyuki makes themselves some space. Setting up a placement for the coffee's and books assorted about the table. Taking a somewhat anal approach to the whole ordeal to make sure that everything had a place and everything was in said place. Nothing like having to rummage around for that one book you found holding part of your answer and having to dig around so much you lose the thread before you find the book only forcing you to start over.

Sakura smiled widely and bowed, putting the sample away. "Kuni-sama, always a delight you are." She eyed the coffee, reaching out for one cup. "You always know what I need."

She took a sip, and put it away. "Okay, I promise, no typoes today." She said, while the thread title was in full irony. "Just give me a minute..."

She stared at the screen, where no known records of Bayushi Noriko were displayed.

"Fuck me."

OOC:
D8 EA Use Computers/Int, looking for info on Bayushi Moriko, tn 25 | 6k4 ⇒ 24 (TN: 25)

"Could just be that she doesn't have a system presence Hotaru-san," she says with defeat lingering in her tone but an outward accepting demeanor. Having claimed a cup for herself she was leaning against a nearby waist height countertop to watch Sakura work. Sighing with some put on finality to it, it just wasn't meant to be that's all that meant. Why did it strangely feel a little like relief?

"Thank you, really." She says, still not quite recovering her usual tone. Softer than usual, her voice still held the grit and harshness but it was diluted with that resignation. "You also asked me here to help you with something? I can start just tell me what I'm beginning with," she says, and glances out over the assorted books.

"I-Ie Kuni-sama." She sighed. "This is my mistake." She tried searching again, but managed to lock herself out. Great.

She looked up sheepishly. "Kuni-sama is an experienced shugenja, correct?"

Words were expensive, a nod would do. In response, that was all she gave.

Sakura smiled awkwardly. "I acquired a sample of some stuff that's...cursed. I have some knowledge necessary of the biological component, but I would need a powerful and talented priestess to help unravel the curse around it. Would Kuni-sama be willing to help?"

"I gave you my word I would return a favor, Hotaru-san. I would not break that bond. If there is anything I can do to help, I will do all that I can. Point me to where we start," she says, and approaches the table proper among the books. Sitting down there she starts looking already for the various tomes and digital archives that might be best suited for what they need. All the while, like a seasoned pro, she is also drinking heavily from her own coffee cup resting in her other hand.

Sakura brought out the sample which has obviously seen better days. Still, it wsa technically in one piece. "This would be the baby, neh?" Whatever it was, it was very dark.

OOC:

Removing the curse and studying other Cursed samples needs beating a Cumulative TN 50 with Lore:Biology or Lore: Theology rolls. At least one roll of each type must be made, and at least one of them must be done by a shugenja. These rolls may be attempted by two people in a single Time Slot. If a participant rolls below 15, they become exhausted (-5 to all rolls) from the attempt until they rest for 1 Time Slot.

Dark indeed, a curse was evident. Perhaps it was best then that it was brought before no other than Koyuki herself, a woman of the Kuni. Such dark things were very brand of corruption that the Kuni have fought for millenia if not the brand of it in particular. Sifting through books and making notations on devices set aside for her Koyuki gets to work. As a stark turn around of the previous day Koyuki's eyes were glued to page or screen as she puts together as much of a solution as possible based on her theological understandings of the makeup of curses. Delivering a rather meaty piece of writing that was crafted well enough almost anyone could follow the manual and add it's findings to their own.

Day 8, EA | Sakura's Curse Project: Lore: Theology (Int) [Cumulative 50] | 4k3 ⇒ 36 (TN: 50)

Meanwhile, Sakura was busy sifting through the archives to have a deeper understnading of the biological components.

"Mhm...brilliant! Yatta! Arigatou Kuni-samaaa!"

The pair managed to unravel the curse, and there stood a full and proper sample!

OOC:
D8 LA Lore: Biology/Int, untrained, unraveling cursed sample, tn 14 | 4k4 ⇒ 17 (TN: 14)

"We got it?" she asks, the surprise on her tone certainly far from sarcastic and quite evident. This was Koyuki after all.

"Yeeeeeessss!" She was practically beaming.

"Arigatou Kuni-samaaaa, your help has been invaluable. Please, can I offer you anything else?" She wanted to hug the scary woman with the pretty make up, but she was a teeeeeny bit scared.

For a brief second it looks like Koyuki might actually smile, her mouth was agape enough that it was certainly possible. Yet it didn't happen, despite the joy yet being present when she said, "I do not thing so Hotaru-san. I cannot think of anything else I need at the moment, you have done far more than this for me already it was truly nothing," she says, the flow to the words encouraged by Sakura's own joy.

Taking a moment to self regulate, Koyuki calms and focuses herself with a searching of her cup and drinking from the first to finish it. Reaching for the second that was still heated enough to not just be 'warm.'

Sakura reaches out to take the second cup, though she was already jittery.

"Mmhmm." She said while sipping. "Can I ask, where does Kuni-sama gets the coffee from? It's great! Might get some for my girlfriend."She did not exactly shout girlfriend, but it wasn't subtle.

"Second one is decaf," she helpfully points out first. Taking that breath again for the finality in the air after the hard hour or so of research and plotting things together. "And I don't know. I hadn't thought to care to focus much on the name, Latte-something. Was just a small hole in the wall kind of place. Pop in on my way over here, and pop out with the drinks," she offers with a shrug, unhelpfully.

Kuni Koyuki wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 24, 2022 10:04 pm

"Second one is decaf," she helpfully points out first. Taking that breath again for the finality in the air after the hard hour or so of research and plotting things together. "And I don't know. I hadn't thought to care to focus much on the name, Latte-something. Was just a small hole in the wall kind of place. Pop in on my way over here, and pop out with the drinks," she offers with a shrug, unhelpfully.

Sakura took it and took a deep sip. "I see. I'll try and find it then, perhaps." She smiled. "Not everyone is a big fan of coffee at the Embassy, so I don't often drink it."

Sitting with it a moment, and though they worked side by side and thus Sakura was privy to much of what Koyuki had been theorizing and putting together. Some thing were best left to reflection, and after some consideration and pondering off into the space in front of herself her brow knits slightly.

"Before, I noted when we were researching that this was not Jigoku influence, Hotaru-san. I.. I do want to stress that this does not mean it is not gravely sinister. This is of course still a corruption of some kind but whatever it is you aim to do with this, it is gravely sinister in nature. Dark emotions plague it, and there is a hunger to it that is unnerving."

Sakura listened intently and nodded alongside what the Kuni was saying. An expert on malevolence was speaking to her.

She wasn't sure to tell Koyuki her intention of making a pretty, pretty dress out of it.

"The place we recovered it from was certainly not benign. The things that haunted it.." she shivered.

Koyuki sets her cup down, and leans in toward Sakura. Expressing with all the gravity she can muster. Which was, thankfully, something that Kuni face-paint also really helped to accentuate, "Be very careful with what you do with it, Hotaru-san. This kind of thing could corrupt you. I do not know for certain enough that it will, but it could. Do not play around with your soul."

She leans back, and lessens the heaviness of her tone. Collecting up her cup she speaks more into the coffee than at her, "It is too precious to gamble with."