Settling In (D11, LE, Open)

[Jin]

Having properly cleansed himself Jin was sitting outside his tent, preparing to retire for the night, while bandaging the wound on his right arm. Growing frustrated at the awkward angle of trying to wind a bandage around his own arm one handed, he was much more used to healing others, he eventually just sighs in defeat and slices crosswise across the existing cut - watching them both seal up into a small, cross shaped scar lost among many others.

(1 wound taken to heal 14 - fully healed)

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Hoo's it gaun, Jin?" Koyama approached with his usual unstoppable gait.

[Jin]

Jin sighs and gives a tired grin, "Little girls turning into immense spiders with little spider spawn... you know, the usual." He shakes his head, "I shouldn't jest - we were lucky to slay them quickly. The only damage to the expedition was self-inflicted by our sorcerers."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"It doesnae sound tae gloomy tae me. Monstrosities dispatched, casualties none, whit else tae wish for?" He smirked, but there was tension beneath it. "Hae ye seen mah wife?"

[Jin]

"Fewer hell beasties would be nice but if we must face them then, yes, that was the best outcome we could hope for." His brow furrows at the question and he scratches his chin in thought, "Not since that meeting this afternoon. Might be she's off soothing hurt feeling among people. There was plenty of that to go around."

[Shinjo Koyama]

""Wha's git th' maist pain up thair are, and hoo?" Koyama frowned at the news that meetings started going sour. Maybe he'd need to start attending to bang some heads into abandoning unnecessary disputes.

[Jin]

Jin's eyebrow raises above his patch, "I'll give you three guesses as to who and I doubt you'll need two of them. As for what - the nezumi have presented a plan for sealing up the accursed tear in our realm. A ritual using their Name magic... Name being more than what you're called but all of who you are and what you interact with past, present, and future... apparently if they change Fu Leng's Name properly the pit will close... or maybe will never have existed? The metaphysical parts are still a bit beyond me."

[Shinjo Koyama]

Maybe Jin was giving too much credit to Koyama's intellectual prowess. He thought a bit. "Wha was in th' meeting?"

[Jin]

"Your wife, of course, Sora, Ch’chit T’kkiri of the nezumi, Reiko, Nanzi, Wu, Xia, and Satone of the Seidou were the ones I knew well. It was called by the Spider with a mask... Ninube, originally about security concerns, and there was the Bayushi and the Ryoshun as well."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Ah ken Reiko insae pragmatic aboot Fu Leng's fate. 'n' Nanzi is stuck up aboot daein' everything his guidwife's wey, sae ah ken rat ideas dinnae sit weel wi' him." He scratched his head. "Ah bet Xia and Satone cuid stir som' shite just howfur thay're stubborn lik' me. Th' rest ah dinnae."

[Jin]

Jin nods, "Nanzi was who I was alluding to. Reiko was upset, understandably so, but he was the one who drove off Ch’chit T’kkiri before he could even properly explain what he meant."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Ah think ah spoke wi' that rat. Cannae see 'twas easy fur him tae git his point across." Koyama was still in the mindset that Nanzi was one of those guys he could agree to disagree with but share a drink anyway, and Doji's wife was at least the devil (he thought) he knew. "Ye said it yersel' that th' plan is fuzzy in aw the wee bits. We cannae be sure th' rats ur nae willing tae dae something wi' oor hauns that wull be guid fur thaim, bit less sae fur us. Whit wis mah guidwife's tak' oan that?"

[Jin]

"She seemed to think what the Nezumi meant was stripping Fu Leng's connection to Tengoku. She might be right, from what I grasped of Name magic, a mortal man who fell would hardly tear a hole between realms. While this still rankled others she pointed out that pulling him out of the pit into this realm will do that eventually anyway. Mortality touches them once they are here even if they will never be mere mortals. Better to lose it bloodying the nose of the realm that tortures him and loosening its hold on this world at the same time. As for the nezumi... I do not think they care what happens to us but they do care what happens to this realm. I think they believe their plan will work and Sora seemed to have faith in the outcome. If his eye's not showing him a mass of horrors on that path I reckon I'll stand with him and Shinjo in support."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Then this is whaur ah wull staun as weel, obviously. Wi' mah guidwife, mah tribe 'n' mah fellows." He mused with a nod. "Also, getting gods mortal micht be a useful think tae learn. Blasting some ither Shinjo's siblings wi' it micht fix thair perspective."

[Jin]

Jin chuckles, "It would indeed though from the way he described it it is no simple or easy task. The magic would be worked not by their shamans, at least not just their shamans of now. If I understood the description correctly if a shaman learns enough about Names it transcends life and death. They dwell in the realm of dreams and guide the mortal nezumi. So closer to gods than spirits but they were once mortal."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Sae thay say tis a rat thing ur folk cannae dae?" Koyama crossed his arms. "Perhaps it's sae, or mibbie thay juist dinnae want us tae be able tae dae it."

[Jin]

"Oh I didn't say I wasn't going to pay as much attention as I could when it happens."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"This is obviously yer department, magic 'n' all." Koyama had a thought. ""Ah dinnae think ye'v given me a primer oan th' magicks o' whaur we ur. Ah cannae say ah ken whit's gaun oan aroond here."

[Jin]

"Mostly still learning that myself. What we surmise is that the realm of evil, from the pit, has been able to reach out and twist the land and creatures around it. The closer we get the greater that control and influence is... hence spider girls and skin stealers and swamps out of nowhere. The nezumi say it has corrupted the minds of ogres and goblins as well turning them feral and violent. They suspect it can do the same to men but jade prevents that... though they say jade breaks down as it draws nearer to the tear in our realm. We have even more time limits than we once thought."

[Shinjo Koyama]

It was worrying overall, but the last part in particular, of personal reasons. His hand reached toward the jade ki-rin pendant on his neck, the very one he had received from his wife as a token of their bond. The thought it was about to erode filled him with foreboding about what was about to happen with her... and their relationship.

Maybe it was his paranoia, but her drive to save Fu Leng always seemed too... driven. They went way back, and certainly had a lot more in common than her and Koyama. Regardless of the facts and reasons, he couldn't fully defeat the feeling that he had been... being left behind the closer they were getting to the end of their journey into the dark.

And so he couldn't respond with his usual dismissive optimism. He remained silent, troubled, gripping the already flaking figurine.