Replenishing Stocks (D5, LA)

[Togashi Saruko]

"Honor..." she mused for a moment, letting the word hang in the air as it were, before continuing. "... I don't think there is one clear way to determine what Honor is. The Kami all have a deep understanding of it, as it's a part of their home, but... well, all the Kami are very different from one another. So I suspect they might have different ideas about it too."

As Phi spoke of Bayushi, it added another piece to the puzzle. "Perhaps Bayushi's influence will spread to such hard, rocky lands. Or maybe not. What would you do if he has no interest in such lands?"

[Nozomi]

"I have made the choice to step down from the mountains. If he will not have me, I will find another place to seek purpose." She didn't add, however, that a few people had been pretty clear just how lax the hiring practices had been in some cases. They needed warm bodies to fill the ranks. She just wanted to be more than one more soldier. "But if he left the lands alone, they would lurk there as long as they were able, forgotten by time if given a choice and no alternative I think. They might even be happy for that, in their own way."

She didn't sound like she believed he would leave neighboring lands alone forever.

[Togashi Saruko]

"You sound like your mind is pretty made up," she chuckled and gave a small shake of her head. Even if there was a look of understanding in her expression as she turns her gaze back to Phi.

"If you don't mind me asking, what drew you to Bayushi-Kami?"

[Nozomi]

She closed her eyes or a minute, thinking about that. "He is our neighbor, so we've known of him for years, but not known well. Reiko came to us a year hence. To plead the case for the one we go to save. I asked her stories, and she told me one that intrigued me. On the day of the tournament, they say he tore his sleeve to cover his face with a cloth. To hide part of himself. I liked that sentiment.... that was the start, I suppose."

There were a lot of other reasons a year later, but that story had intrigued her.

[Togashi Saruko]

"It's an interesting story, to be sure," Saruko mused, having been there at the tournament. "There are many reasons one might hide their face. Why do you think he chose to do so?"

Her hands finished separating the items in her basket, and so they were now idle and a little restless.

[Nozomi]

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, thinking back to a conversation she'd had with Shinsei only hours before. Why indeed? The thought was shelved, however. It had not abated her curiosity of the man. If anything, it had heightened it, and that was a thing that wasn't going away anytime soon.

"I would not know. He keeps his secrets, and I keep mine, after all. It's a puzzle I will have to look into carefully though. I'm sure a god guards his secrets jealously." And Bayushi certainly liked his secrets. "But I know that, if you can't see everything, you can't be prepared for everything. His enemies must know that dealing with him."

[Togashi Saruko]

Saruko watched Phi's shifting, and took note of what the body said and not only her words. "Most people have secrets. Some make more a show of having and knowing secrets. But then again, birds make cries to draw the attention of similar birds, so it's only natural."

Settling down a bit more, since she was done with the supplies, she idly rubbed the small of her back with her knuckles. "I'm not sure who Bayushi's enemies are though..."

[Nozomi]

"Whatever holds his brother qualifies, without a question." But then again, that one was enemy to all of them, wasn't it? Certainly felt like it to her, anyway. She relaxed some as the topic shifted very slightly. She was good at holding back, but there was a way in which you could tell that she was, and pointedly so, at times. Being absolutely honest wasn't always a favor in her mind.

"But I doubt he knows all of them himself. Almost everyone has enemies, know it or not. Some are just meaner."

[Togashi Saruko]

"This isn't an enemy you can fight as such," she pressed her lips together, for once seeming a bit uncertain their conversation. "You can't... fight a realm. You're quite right that it's an enemy, but it's not like other enemies. Not at all."

[Nozomi]

"So I've been told. You can only fight against its influence. Or at least those were the words used." What that meant? Bah, she was no scholar, no Shinsei. Wear Jade. That's what she heard. Be strong. Keep your head on your shoulders. Wear Jade. Keep it simple, and she was able to follow the train of thought, but her mindset was hopelessly two-dimensional regardless of the fact that she wasn't stupid. Things were to be acted upon. she needed to understand what she was acting on, and how to do it.

"I don't like enemies I can't see. Harder to shoot."

[Togashi Saruko]

"Just because you can see it doesn't mean you can defeat it," she retorted in a thoughtful tone. "You can see the sun, and the stars, but you can't hit them with an arrow. You can see a river, but it does little good to shoot an arrow into it."

The look of concern stayed on her features. "Does that give... more of an idea of what we're up against?"

[Nozomi]

"Yes and no. The moon isn't my enemy." At least she hoped not. That'd be one hell of an enemy to have. "But if a river floods, you don't shoot it with an arrow. You dam it, you get out of the way and stay up high until the flood passes. Not an enemy. A force of nature. And you don't really rescue someone from a force of nature, to keep them from becoming part of that force of nature, do you?" Cause that was part of the problem. It was trying to do the thing Jade was supposed to help against to his soul, wasn't it?

"It might kind of defy explanation a bit."

[Togashi Saruko]

The first reply reused Phi's own words. "Yes and no."

"You're right that a realm is... much more like a force of nature. And yes, it does kind of defy explanation... it's kind of hard to explain how the realms beyond our own work." And she wasn't the smartest of people who could explain, as she mostly know through experience.

"You can save someone from drowning in a flood, but once you step into the water, you'll get wet."

[Nozomi]

"So you caulk your boots with tar to keep the water out. Ok, that... that seems a better example." And the caulk was the jade. Gonna need a lot more tar. Her comprehension of the few lessons she'd gotten before coming to this place hadn't amounted to an understanding of the spirit realms other than a couple names. It had been far more practical in the sense of 'jade protects. Jigoku corrupts.' It translated far better to an understanding of the shadowlands coming to form, and even then? It barely translated. She knew only a fraction what others did.

"So, in a way, you're fighting a flood, but the flood has a will. It actually wants to drown us. A real flood doesn't give a shit."

[Togashi Saruko]

She nodded. "Yes. You understand."

At least Phi was already leaps and bounds more capable of really trying to think about it and understand it compared to many others, which was giving her some hope.

"This flood might also have... tricks. Like whirlpools. Or... big man-eating fish. Traps. It might look safe, but it's actually not. It's a cruel and insidious flood."

[Nozomi]

"Man-eating fish. Hah. I think you might be taking the illustration too far there, but it works well enough I guess. Best to assume there's more to it than just the flood or all we'd have to do was haul a bunch of jade unlock him, walk right out. Couldn't possibly be that easy." She muttered before laughing darkly. "Either way, we will have to be very careful."

[Togashi Saruko]

"Always assume there's something more to the danger than what meets the eye," she said firmly, punctuating her words with one nod. "It's good to keep in mind that the Kami are... quite strong, talented, and in many ways superior to us mortals. That one is in need of help is... concerning. To say the least. It's going to require much of all of us, to free him."

[Nozomi]

"I've never seen one of these kami in action. I hear that a lot, but I've never seen it with my own eyes. Still, like you said, it's probably going to be a miracle to pull this off as is." A moment's pause and she frowned. "The rats have said the terrain's shifted. Changed. The swamp itself isn't naturally here. It's... disconcerting."

[Togashi Saruko]

"Hmm," she turned head, to look at their surroundings. "I fear this is only the beginning of things that are disconcerting."

"All the more important too then that we remained focused on the task at hand and our end goal." And not get divided by suspicions and doubts among eachother. If they let such thoughts take root, then it would give the enemy an edge on them, she suspected.

"I'm a little surprised that so many answered the call to help though. A good surprise, of course."

[Nozomi]

"I... had no way to know how many would be here. When I first arrived, I was not happy. A quick, silent job would not work with so many, but after today... no. A veritable army. We need a damned army." That didn't turn into monsters on them. "But so many of these samurai seem quite willing to risk their lives."