Alma mater (D8, LM, Open)

[Kitsu Kanna]

"We have our own legends about Matsu giving birth on the battlefield and returning to the fight just after the cutting of the umbilical cord. In my case, it's more of a classic case of unfortunate timing on all sides though.

I would have liked, and so would have Akio, to spend more time with our daughter before departing again. That destiny was thwarted and I had to drop her in the care of my parents for the time being.

They reacted exactly as you can imagine: With a mix of grumpiness and happiness. I feel they really missed having a kid in their lives. As Kitsu priests, they have to deal with a lot of death-related tasks – burials, vigils, mourning – and a furious ball of life at home is a strong remedy against gloom."

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko looked sympathetically at Kanna. "Oh, boy...I could only imagine how that must feel. Back to the grind after having your daughter so recently. Yikes on that. It's good that your parents took to the sudden assignment pretty well. But still, I hope you return home soon enough to your baby girl. You made it sound so normal before I asked more but I'm sure you're eager."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Not really a point crying over forces I have no control over, is there?

With the war raging on, I'm happy simply knowing that my daughter is in a safe place, even if it's far away from her parents."

[Matsu Eriko]

"You might be able to change an orbit of a planet or shape it far sooner than you can stop a war happening in the galaxy, I do get you on that." She gave a few nods at that before giving another glance out to see if she could catch the sight of any spine dragons out in the sanctuary. Is this more an interpretative exhibit? Where the spine dragon was found in us this entire time?

She looked back to Kanna and asked the next thing on her mind. "How's your biographical work going? Portraits, you call them?"

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Poorly I must confess. While the Court did call on planet a lot of samurai of interest, few made the cut. I don't know if it's the planet itself bringing out the worst in people, or the other clans deciding to send only the most... let's say open to compromises of their owns because they thought only them could achieve anything on this planet, but paragons are bushido are one of the many things this planet does not have to offer.

Guess switching to reports about cute animals is indeed the way to go."

[Matsu Eriko]

"Not going great, huh?" She asked as she raised her brows at that. "Here I thought you'd have a full schedule with all sorts of personalities to tell their tales. I guess I haven't thought about the whole debauchery thing in the background, not that puts a blip in the greater picture in history. I get that it might be too much to ignore when it's right in front of you and in the present."

Eriko slowly smiled more. "Believe it or not, my wife and I made a small mention of you in our conversation some days ago. I just happen to know one of the best candidates for your portrait work. She's pretty tough, strong, and courageous. Albeit, a little humble and might need some wrangling. I'm sure your readers would eat that stuff up. Of course, I'm talking about my wife."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Anyone can be given the guise of a hero if you only light up their good sides. That doesn't make heroes out of them. Honor is in the soul, not in the eye of the beholder.

Also, even if trueness of honor is my primary concern here, there's the pragmatic reason it might not be a good idea to glorify someone the Scorpion – and who knows who else? – can bury in dirt at any moment. That's basically asking for trouble in the midterm."

Kanna smiled:

"Matsu Hide is definitely on the list on people I must interview. She has eluded me so far by apparently living only by night. But I'll eventually manage to catch her and have her reveal her exploits."

[Matsu Eriko]

"That's a good point, Kitsu-san. I could see how it might ruin even the best-written article further down the line. However, I get the impression that anyone could be buried if enough work is put into it. I think they'll manage to find something to spin out of proportion if they really put their minds to it. Hopefully, nobody out there is looking to make examples of your interviewees just to spike you?"

"Hm, I would have thought she would have hoped on the first chance to talk about what happened. She's the better storyteller and has the better perspective. It's definitely on her mind. If you would like to, I could schedule something with her?" She offered.

[Kitsu Kanna]

"I mean, there are limits, and being in bed with the Spider and the Mantis – figuratively, the literary is of little concern here – does tear them apart. When you bend your honor over pragmatism, realism, whatever you like to call it, to make a deal with these antitheses of bushido, you're sending the exact opposite message that the one I'm... we're trying to emphasize. You're telling the world there are things above honor, that honor is effectively exchangeable for material benefits.

Without honor, there is no victory. That something the Crane should have remembered when they're offered theirs for Mantis ships. That something I won't forget when making my own participation to the war effort with my writings."

---

[there's a Kanna/Hide thread on D9LM already]

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko gave a few blinks at Kanna before nodding soundly at that. "No compromising your grand vision, huh? Now that you've put it absolutely loud and clear at that, I can see why the number of candidates is suddenly kind of slim. Not that I'm going to change your mind on the matter. Hah, I should be the last person to do that. You couldn't change my mind on some things once I made it. I've got say, kind of makes you less of an out of luck reporter and more of a tortured artist looking for the right muse."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"I've said I was a journalist. Never a reporter. A reporter is someone who does investigations, who's here to report something that happened in all its details, small and big, dirty and great.

Journalist covers about everyone who works for the press. And for the most of us, it means a not nearly as glamorous scribe job. We are artists, but of the starving, depressed variety, mass producing mediocre articles about everything and anything, just rehashing the same information in the style that matches best the realpolitik of the moment.

So yes, every bit of trying to do good instead of just maintaining the status quo, I take. The galaxy has billions of people in it. So-so heroes you can find under every rock. The Lion meanwhile is in dire need of true examples of bushido that can lead us through this dark age."

Kanna raised her arms.

"Look at this world. This is a world where everything can be bought and sold. This is a world where your worth is entirely determined by how many koku you have to your name, and how ruthless you're ready to be in order to acquire more. This is a world that decided that humanity was irredeemably corrupted, and could only be governed by greed and pleasure.

This is the future. This is what happens when you abandon your ideal bit after bit on the name of pragmatism.

Tell me, is this truly a world you want to live in? A world that has just given up on becoming any better?

Bushido is an ideal. Perhaps not the most perfect ideal, but an ideal worth fighting for, with virtues that encourage becoming a better person, and leaving a better world for your children.

So yes, I will move heaven and earth for it. Cynicism is an easy immobilism. Idealism opens a path. Maybe a path that cannot be followed as is by most of us, and I include myself in these numbers. But it's nonetheless a path in the right direction, one that reminds us there's good in this dark cold universe, and there are ways we can attain it."

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko found herself looking side to side at Kanna spoke, wondering if she had walked into a Lion sermon by accident. Yikes. Then again, was that so different from what she had to put up with at the wedding with some of Hide's kin? Maybe a little more direct and to the point but the intent might have been the same? Less cynical for sure, however.

"Of course, journalist. Hah, I guess I might be called a detective in my line of work, but not quite the same thing either." She chuckled on an anxious note. "You're probably speaking to the wrong audience about that, Kitsu-san. I wasn't quite raised on the same metric but I am trying to learn for my new Family's sake. Not that I'm condoning rampant wanton indulgence but the extreme dismissal of potential good in low places is probably a bit much from my perspective. Sure, your agenda is your agenda, you shouldn't change that if that's what you want to do. You're just going to live a rather stark life with your current point of view. So it's all or nothing, I take it."

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Honestly? You're likely right. But I can't manage to convince myself anything good will come from adopting a less defensive stance. Dishonorable people have proven again and again that if you hold a hand to them, you lose your whole arm.

Look at what happened to the Crane. They use to be the left hand of the Emperor. Now they're a meme."

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko gave a glance at both of her arms at that statement. "Well, I'd say that's more offered advice from your wisdom than your experience, so to speak. I'm only talking about literally. And don't let the Crane hear you on that, Kitsu-san!"

She out a sigh with a few nods. "Growing up Crab, we've been taught that the Crane typically make some rather peculiar choices and have an even more particular point of view. Although, it's strange considering the Mantis and Spider don't exactly have a diplomatic point of view that would fall in line with their traditional sentiments. I'll just have to assume they threw one all of an art show to get them on their side. Have you seen Susumu Yakumo?"

[Kitsu Kanna]

"Not on scene. Don't doubt she was great. Both Kakita and Susumu never had an issue with artistic competency.

If this is a subtle way to tell me my efforts are meaningless and the guiding lights of tomorrow will be shaped by the CMS alliance?

Because I'm well aware of the saying from before electricity that one Crane play can shape minds for generations more than one hundred Lion tales could ever. Knowing the issue, knowing how to fix it, and having the means of fixing it are some wildly different beasts however."

[Matsu Eriko]

"What?" Eriko said with a blink before looking at Kanna incredulously. "I didn't say your effort was meaningless, Kitsu-san. We're on the same team, you know. I was just saying that it seems the Spider are insidious enough to play some sort of game where everyone from each clan found themselves in the same bed, very strange bedfellows. That said, the Lion would have to play the same game to cater to other Clans. I don't have the answer, believe you me, they wouldn't stick me inside an embassy to chase small leads if they actually did!"