[Day 5, Early Evening] Why's It Called the Chuck Wagon? (Open)

[Jiyo Sora]

"Well, there you have it. If they can put up with my badgering, they'll certainly be glad to meet you."

[Taochusu]

"Maybe. Or maybe I'll just be beneath their notice. They have more important things to worry about after all. One of their siblings in danger and clans of their own to take care of and all that. Some unknown guy that hasn't done anything important for anyone is probably not too much of a concern to them. But I'll see when I try to talk to them."

[Jiyo Sora]

"I was just some unknown guy insulting them in succession when I met them. You'll be fine."

[Taochusu]

"Well, if they had a problem with simple folks, they wouldn't be forming clans with them as the manpower I guess," he said with a chuckle. "They're trying to teach us stuff from what I've gathered so far. Could be nice to have real teachers to learn stuff from. Trying stuff til you find what works is a long, hard way to learn."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Oh, they all have things to teach. Even the ones I wouldn't follow if the only other option was jumping off the highest peak in the Spine of the World."

[Taochusu]

"Are some of them that bad?"

[Jiyo Sora]

Sora sighed, and looked up.

"All of them have followers- armies of them- so when I say 'yes,' you need to understand that I speak... subjectively. Some of them see humanity as... sheep to be herded. Creatures utterly beneath them, lost without their strong, paternalistic guidance. Some think that just because they fell from Tengoku, that their ways will work, unaltered, in Ningen-Do. Others..."

He touched the Imperial mon he wore.

"... other know that they have much to learn as well as teach- that their mere decade in our world means there are things we know that they do not- that some of our ways, which strike others as barbaric or primitive, exist for a reason, and that before an effort is made to change them, they must be understood."

He sighed.

"Change is inevitable. Every sense we have is an instrument for reacting to it. But that goes for them as much as it does for us."

[Taochusu]

"I mean, when you been sent away by tribe after tribe like I have, you feel like a beast rather than a person after a while. Far as I see it, I'm the wolf and tribal leaders were shepherds protecting their flock from me. The gods aren't too much different from the folks running tribes from my level if that's the case. Even when my tribe was around, the headman told us what we were doing. Though I imagine that the size of the clans and the size of my tribe is way different. I at least wasn't just a nameless face in a crowd to him. Every group has someone in charge and they're as different from each other as any people can be."

He looks at his feet as he thinks.

"I guess I just gotta be on the lookout for the ones that are closer to bandit group leaders and avoid them. Violence may be part of my way of life, but I never enjoyed it. Just had to do it to survive. Maybe that's why I like what I heard about the Dragon and Bat clans. Sounds like folks get a bit more freedom to be who they want to be with those two."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Oh, none of them- not even Hida, whose main calling card is being strong- are really much like bandit leaders. All of them care deeply for their followers. It's how they treat those who are not their followers that concerns me. Under Shiba's leadership, allegiance is not compelled, and if you would join a Clan- or the Imperial families, for that matter- I would suggest you talk to as many of the Kami- or their close followers- as you can, to get a feel for what they offer."

[Taochusu]

"I've talked with a bunch of their followers so far, but yeah. Still a lot more to know about them," he says with a nod.

[Jiyo Sora]

"You said you liked what you heard about the Bat and the Dragon. Are there any you would like more input on?"

[Taochusu]

"I mean there's a lot I don't know about. I know nothing about the god in charge of Makime folks. You can kinda spot the difference between clan and tribes pretty easily and she seemed like a clan type. We didn't talk much though since we were hunting for supplies. And people have mention that Hida is strong but that's about it for that one. We're going to save the god of the Spider folks so maybe I'll get a chance to meet him for the first time like most people here. I'm not even sure if there are any I haven't even heard about. Didn't hear a whole lot about the one in charge of everything either."

[Jiyo Sora]

"Hida is the leader of the Crab, Akodo the leader of the Lion which the Makime family are part of. Doji leads the Crane, the Bat honor lost Ryoshun, Bayushi leads the Scorpion, Togashi leads the Dragon, Fu Leng who we're on our way to try and rescue is the patron of the Spider, Hantei leads the Stag, Shinjo leads the Ki-Rin, and Shiba is Emperor. I... think my views on many of them would be... prejudicial to one without much background, so I won't get into a long speech on the subject, but Shiba? I can tell you about Shiba, if you like."

[Taochusu]

"Sure. I guess even if I end up following one of the others, he's the god at the very top right? Wouldn't hurt to know about him no matter what I learn about the others," he says with a nod.

[Jiyo Sora]

"The thing you need to understand about Shiba, is that when I met him- well, not counting the time they were all in one place and my eye caused me to nearly collapse- but when I actually spoke to him, I was a fur-clad illiterate who had not had a nice thing to say to any of his siblings I'd met up to that point. I could barely even string my thoughts together in a coherent order. But my eye had shown me... things I do not speak of, because expectation of a future that might not happen is an unfair burden to place on anyone. But it also showed me me that in more than one future, he willingly died to save mortals. That... made an impression, coupled with the thing I do not speak of. I expressed my conccerns abotu the coming of the Kami and what it would mean for humanity, and he listened. I asked if I could travel with him, after the tournament- not join him as such, you understand, just share a path for a while. He said yes."

He took a deep breath.

"So, after Shiba won the tournament, and it became clear he would be Emperor, I went to him and made a confession. A total confession- everything that should have made him banish me from his sight, if not outright kill me. Any human chieftain would have done as much. I felt he had earned that, the knowledge of who he had allowed close to him. He thanked me."

Sora shook his head.

"He thanked me, and welcomed me into his service. A year later, when his first child was born, he asked if I would serve as the child's companion and protector. Knowing who I had been, who I still was, he trusted me with the care of each of his children in turn."

He fixed Taochusu with his oracular, discolored eye.

"And that is why I would die a thousand deaths for Emperor Shiba."

[Taochusu]

"Well, it sounds like he's not the kind of person that would want you to do that. But it's good to know that the people have someone like that looking over us. Sounds like a good guy."

[Jiyo Sora]

"He is constantly thinking of others. Sometimes his husband, Yuzuru, has to practically browbeat him into relaxing for a bit."

[Taochusu]

"Husband?" he asks, curious. "Never heard of two guys getting married. So did he take in orphans or does he also got a wife or a few as well?"

[Jiyo Sora]

"The customs around the Imperial household are such that while Yzuru, his husband, is the Imperial consort, Jiyo, the leader of my Family, bears the children without being called his wife."

Sora shrugged.

"Not how the Hikaru would have done it, but the Hikaru also regarded bronze as an exotic rarity at the time I met Shiba, so... having seen how happy the family is firsthand, it's clearly a good arrangement for them."

[Taochusu]

"Whatever works." Taochusu nods at that. "Our tribes headman had three wives, but they always argued with each other. Never understood why they did that if they were unhappy with each other. Seems like a bit much to me, having to deal with so many people in a little hut."