Antlers and Horns (D5, LE)

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen dresses herself for the occasion as a guest is invited for tea. Some other snacks available from the brewery are still good to eat after a couple of days. So, they are also there for the taking.

She had told Hantei she would invite someone over these days. It would be good for people to know more about him, if he would be available.

Stroking the brazier in the middle of the room, she warms the water on the pot.

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko hadn't really expected an invitation, especially not from an important person.

Still, it meant people knew how talented she was! Or something...

She didn't exactly have 'nice clothes', as everything she wore was similar in cut and style, even if patterns differed, but she had picked up a leather ringlet, with bronze settings holding small jade stones across the back of her left hand. It was decorative, but not bulky enough to intrude when playing her instrument, which she carried with her.

Tago stopped outside, settling down, tucking down his head so the straw hat nearly touched his knees, becoming a cloaked boulder, topped with a straw hat.

Ryoko pawed at the tent flap, not sure the protocal, and then called out, "Miss Hantei? Are you there? It's Ongaku no Ryoko."

[Hantei Kinsen]

“Oh!” Kinsen moves to open the tent and wave for Ryoko to come inside. “Please, come in. I thought you would come alone.” She notices the other form, and looks back to Ryoko.

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"Tago wanted to keep an eye on me... if you like he can sit here - he likes sitting. I honestly don't know how he does it, but he seems to settle right in."

Ryoko babbled, cheerfully.

"I hope it isn't any trouble - I could ask him to go back but I don't one of the nezumi to get him while I'm gone."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen shakes her head. Then, with a nod, she tells the ogreling, “Let’s get Tago-san warm inside, too. There’s plenty of space.”

Walking inside with a smile, Kinsen looks at the water bubbling over the fire and arranges an extra cup. She indicates where Ryoko should sit, nearer, and Tako, a bit farther away. The woman leaves an open spot in case her husband shows up.

She offers some crackers to nibble first, and then pours the tea over, starting the ceremony in silence. Gladly, she remembers every single step Doji taught her to perform the whole ceremony to more than just another person.

—
Tea Ceremony/Void + VP for skill, TN 20: 4d10o10k3 34

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

Ryoko nodded, and whispered to Tago.

The ogre shuffled inside with a friendly grunt, before settling down, becoming another furnishing, albeit a strange one.

Taking the offered seat, she observed quietly, baffled.

When finally offered the beverage, she drank a little, surprised by the taste. It was so much more... vivid, than the leaf tea she normally had.

She hoped that drinking the entire cup wasn't rude - she wasn't entirely sure.

[Hantei Kinsen]

It wasn’t. The slurping at the end is actually appreciated. Kinsen repeats the same process and offers a bowl to Tago, as courtesy and compassion required from her.

After doing so, she mentions the tray with the food, and prepares to continue the ceremony, washing away everything that was used.

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"Thank you... it was very good."

With a soft sigh, she tapped Tago's hat, alerting him to the bowl. Quiet slurping ensued, hidden by the hat.

"Is it a new sort of tea? What sort of tree is it from?"

[Hantei Kinsen]

"This is the tea served by the Seppun family at the Golden Sun Plains. It is the main one I know, very abundant. Green tea, or matcha. These are the leaves os a particular type of tea shrubs that grow there. I imagine these are from a good batch, since Seppun-sama gifted us with such a treat." Kinsen explains the much she knows, and talks about the ceremony itself, "This is how Doji-kami-sama. My sister-in-law, taught us how to serve family and dear guests. I hope it was enough to refresh yourselves."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"I see."

Ryoko nodded and set the cup down.

"It was very tasty, though I didn't understand all the motions. I'm sure there were many reasons for them."

[Hantei Kinsen]

"I confess I am still trying my best to replicate it. I should study more to be able to say what every movement means." She bows to Ryoko, apologetically, "I am sorry, I can't enlighten you with that."

Since all utensils were clean, and they were served, Kinsen slides to face Ryoko with similins eyes, and asks her, "So, how has it been so far. Any interesting things happening around?"

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"It has... been different."

Ryoko looked a little pained, though she smiled. "I found an unusual stone, I suspect many others did as well."

She rubbed absent-mindedly at the base of her horns, as if trying to ease a headache. "I admit I'm not used to this pace on foot, nor this ground. In some ways I miss the hills - I think this new land might be what is giving me these headaches."

[Hantei]

Hantei returned to the tent after handling some business among the camp for a time. He walked to his wife and almost embraced her but saw there was company and simply laid a hand on her shoulder "Good evening my love I see we have a guest."

He bowed shallowly in greeting "This one of Hantei Founder and Champion of the Stag clan."

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen's hands move toward his direction as he nearly comes to hug, but she manages to hold them not to embarrass the their guests with a misplaced display of affection. Instead, she opens a ridiculously wide grin, welcoming him back to what felt like home. "Tadaima, dear husband. I've prepared tea if you would like some."

She looks back to Ryoko. "This is Ryoko-san. She's a very interesting musician from the Ongaku tribe. She told me. I grew specially fond of her charisma and peculiar origins."

Tilting her head a bit to the side, Kinsen asks, "Stones... Headaches –– care to explain a bit more? I am unsure how I could help out."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"I am honored to meet you, Mr. Hantei."

Ryoko said, expression earnest, and studying the man with some curiosity.

So this was a god? He seemed like a person.

"I do not know that there is anything you could do - I don't know what is wrong, only that I have felt like... heat and itching have run through my body... but not like anything I've ever felt before... ever since our previous camp, where the standing stone was left. I was in the clearing, playing one of my peoples' songs, and then it... echoed."

She looked a little bit abashed, as if uncertain, and added, "For a moment I thought I saw an ogre of eld, before the Nezumi overran them, singing back to me. After that... I've felt like this. Hardly slept. I shouldn't bother you with it, I'm sorry." Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, or the discomfort, but she felt ashamed of being so thoughtless as to trouble her host.

[Hantei Kinsen]

Needless to say that Hantei's arrival literally enlightened the tent with his heavenly glow, casting shadows away.

"Oh, it is no bother, Ryoko-san. This travel will definitely test us over our limits. Feel free to tell me what you think could be a problem, and I'll try to help the best way I can." Kinsen frowns a bit, hearing the girl's discomfort.

"Tell me more about the ogres of old. I am not very familiar with them. In fact, I heard they were savages and monsters before. Please, don't take this as an offense. I have been a savage monster before I met dear husband, too."

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"The echo was singing... a song for the warriors going off to battle. Like they knew they were going to lose."

Ryoko furrowed her brow in thought. "In the past the Ogres were proud and strong, before their kingdom fell... after that... they don't like to say. I think they became especially desperate and vicious then. That isn't how they are now though! Not the elders." That last bit was directed at Hantei, wanting the glowing man to think well of her people, not to view them as monsters deserving eradication.

[Hantei Kinsen]

Kinsen looks to Hantei, noticing whatever Ryoko was directing with he words. Kinsen smiles back to Ryoko. "The light of the Kami enlighten even the most brutish of tribes. The Noriaki, a group of vile bandits and warmongers –– in which I was part of –– accepted the way of the Kami, bringing the blessings of Bishamon with them. Many joined Akodo-kami-sama."

The blond woman looks at her nails, and says, "I had to kill their leader so they would accept such. Since that was what they valued the most: strength and courage. I hope other tribes see the path to enlightenment sooner, avoiding unnecessary bloodshed."

[Hantei]

Hantei nodded "All are given the chance to join the empire so long as they follow the laws laid out by the emperor and strive to conduct themselves in a fashion befitting a member of the Empire." Hantei said gently a small smile on his lips "I wish for nothing more than peace and order to reign through out this realm but that is a lofty goal even for me, so I will settle fore bringing peace and order to the Empire." He finished and shared a look between the women. He made no mention of the ogres or her headaches as this seemed to be out of his range of knowledge.

[Ongaku no Ryoko]

"I guess there is no room for people who want to stay how they were, peacefully following their own traditions?"

Ryoko sounded a little forlorn at that.

"I've been told I should talk to the Emperor man, Shiba. I just don't know if he will care to listen to the concerns of a lowly Ongaku from a tribe of nomads in the south... we don't build stone houses or till fields, so I don't know if we would have any place in his empire."