Seeing the Forest for the Trees [D11 LM, Open]

[Miyako]

Miyako thought that she might find herself in her home element in this forest, but it only took a few steps into the thickness of it all for her to realize just how different and far away she was from the Chinsei Mori. The oaks that she was used to seeing were all gone, replaced with southland trees growing so closely together that the canopy above weaved itself together like a basket, hiding from the ground below much of Lady Sun's light. The number of plants both flowering and not had severely dwindled, all sorts of things growing around this area yet at first glance she could make little sense as to what most of these plants were and, more importantly, what might be edible and what might be poison or have some other use.

This was a forest, sure, but so far from any forest she had ever laid eyes upon. There was much to think about as she set about taking a closer look at some of these plants and figuring out what she might bring back, plant or game or otherwise, to keep the supplies fresh while such things could still be found. She started at the edge of the forest, taking a close look at some very strange yet colorful blooms...

Hunting/Foraging: 45

[Jiyo Ayumu]

At one point in her trip, Miyako might find Ayumu attentively examining some plants, taking notes regularly on thin wooden tablets but not actively harvesting anything.

[Miyako]

As nice as the colorful flower she looked at would have looked adorning her hair above the ear, Miyako thought better of picking the bloom without knowing more about it, her medicine-woman aunt having warned on numerous occasions that sometimes the vibrant colors and pretty patterns of Nature were an obvious warning or served to attract for a deadly purpose. She walked about whatever clear ground she could find in the thickness of the forest, not trending too deep on her own.

She smiled when she saw and came across a familiar face in her light walking, and after looking for a clear path to get to him she circled around approached with a wave of the hand. "Hello, Ayumu, good to see you again. Come to explore this forest too? It's... quite dark in the interior, I should warn, and even different from the jungle we just left a couple days ago."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

Ayumu raised his head at the newcomer, a bit surprised:

"Oh, hello Miyako.

Indeed this forest is quite inhospitable. But after that incident with the swamp a few days ago, I'm left wondering how much of this is natural and how much is Jigoku playing with us. I thought that maybe, by examining the plants there, I would be able to determine if that forest was genuine or yet another creation of the pit. My knowledge of the wild is quite theoretical but I am a diligent student."

[Miyako]

"Ah, I see," she said as her gaze shifted to the plant that was in front of him. "We were warned that the closer we got, the more strange things we would see. Well, not quite strange, as these southland jungles are different from my own forests and I did see some new and strange plants a couple days ago, but... 'not-right' might be a better way of putting it. I haven't seen any not-right sort of things quite yet around here, but even just a few steps in and... I don't know, compared to the jungle from a couple days ago, it feels off. Too thick of a forest, maybe." She looked back to him.

"Would you like some help? Or mind if I tagged along for a bit? I wouldn't call myself an expert like those that write the books, but I've seen enough to know enough about what probably seems like normal growth and what may look weird but is merely Nature's trick up the sleeve. And I guess from there, what would be... unnatural, I guess. I'll offer to take some notes too - get my writing practice in for the day," she offered with a grin.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

Ayumu handed her a tablet and a stylus:

"Your help would be a blessing. I feel like if I continue this alone, I'm just going to convince myself of the most fearsome hypotheses out of thinking too hard.

Speaking of writing, you told me you might intend to write a book one day last time, right? You wouldn't happen to have drafted a few tales on paper? I'm specifically seeking children-oriented fairy tales, with simple words and repetitions. It's for someone who is learning to read."

[Miyako]

Miyako took the tablet and stylus in hand. "Think nothing of it! I am sure at least some of these plants are indeed just plants, just ones that may only be this far south and which none of us have seen before, and it would be good to document and share that! But some may not be what they are supposed to be at first glance, and for that, we should be careful." She nodded her head and started writing on the table a couple words about the plant next to Ayumu as she listened to his question, stopping to ponder it for a moment.

"I have not started, no. But I do think I know of a couple poems and really short stories that would fit with what you are looking for! Some that my villagers used to teach us when we were little how to speak and sound out words, little rhymes and things of that sort that I think would transfer well written down. I don't have any paper, but if you'll take it on parchment and give me an evening to think about it and write it down then I think I can put a few together for you. Reading has been a wonderful gift that I have learned and it would make me happy to know my village rhymes might help another gain the same."

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"You're perfectly right. I guess the general sour mood was affecting me more than I thought. We shouldn't waste this opportunity to document the marvels we discover in a land no human of the north has ever visited before. It's not all gloom and doom."

Refreshed by that revelation, Ayumu stood and stretched, as if waking up again.

"Parchment is good for me. We're used to juggling with different writing supports in imperial lands. For example, Yuzuru, the imperial consort, is blind, so we engrave a lot of texts on wood blocks, for him to read it with his fingers.

I can gift you some paper if you prefer though."

[Miyako]

She shook her head. "That won't be needed - I wouldn't want you using your good paper on my chicken-scratch handwriting," Miyako said with a chuckle. "But maybe after I do the parchment version if you want me to clean it up later I will take some and really find a time to sit down and carefully write it out... but parchment and charcoal for a quick-and-dirty version should do me just fine." She looked down on her tablet to continue scribbling for a few seconds before looking back up.

"Wait... finger-reading? On blocks? What is that? How does that work? Is that like... the signing we just learned in some way? Only for books?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Such a system would be great indeed, and might see the light of day eventually. The story of how Miuna and her family invented a whole language to overcome their own difficulties has been very enlightening in that regard.

As of now however, we simply engrave the usual characters, and people without sight follow the strokes with their fingers to recompose the character in their head. It's not always working well, but it's better than nothing."

[Miyako]

"Ahh, I think I get it now: because the carving is indented into the wood, over time and with enough practice one's fingers can trace out the words," she said aloud in trying to understand it for herself. "But a lot of blocks... that must be really bulky and hard to store and carry around, at least if one's book-block collection got large enough."

Having finished documenting the plant near Ayumu, Miyako set the tablet aside for a moment so that she could pick up her spear and lightly poke at a nearby bush with an overly large purplish bloom; finding no strange reaction from what she considered to be an otherwise normal bush-type plant with strange bloom, she picked up the tablet again to start writing about it.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Indeed, it's definitely not practical, and calls for improvements. Maybe if we were to get insights on that matter from more visually impaired persons, to better understand the tricks they use to compensate for missing one sense, we could devise a lighter yet more efficient solution. I'm not sure us good-eyed can really get what they live simply by closing our eyes.

Speaking of good eyes, did you find something interesting there?"

[Miyako]

"Understanding only goes so far when one can open their closed eyes and return to sight at any time," she said with a nod before pointing towards the bush with her stylus hand.

"Interesting, strange... I don't quite know what to call it, but at least it didn't do anything to my spear. See the purple flower that sprouts at the top of the bush, though? The sheer size of it? It is almost like the top of the bush isn't even there, this one bloom spreading its petals out over almost the entire top of it. I do not know the plants of the jungle well, but most flowering bushes I have ever seen have many smaller flowers all around, and this one does not... and it almost looks like it's too large for the bush itself even." Her hand moves slightly downward toward the ground in front of the plant.

"Look, the flower is so heavy that it can't even stay upright to catch whatever light can make it through the treetops above. It's dragging the entire bush down to the ground on its weight, or at least soon will be if it gets any heavier than that. I... do not think that is quite right, but I cannot say it feels 'wrong' either," she added with a slight frown.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Indeed, that's fascinating. Part of me wants to cut off one of its petals and bring it back with us in the north as proof of its existence. Part of me feels like all hell could break loose from that minor act of violence. Not necessarily because of Jigoku mind you: The plan could simply be naturally poisonous.

As a third option, you wouldn't happen to be good at drawing things atop of everything else, would you?"

[Miyako]

She scribbled something on the tablet before looking up at him. "I'm no painter, if that's what you mean, and my drawing is... probably passable. It would slow down my writing a little bit, but I can do some quick sketches next to these words about the particular plant if you want. Even if it doesn't capture it perfectly, maybe something is better than nothing." The tribeswoman looked over the giant flower again with a closer eye.

"Keeping the petal from wilting and browning will be the only problem you might have; other than that, this plant should be safe to touch. It didn't move when I touched it with the spear, and I don't see any waxy, shimmery, or dew-like shine on the petals or on the bushy part to indicate that it secretes a substance onto or over itself like some poisonous plants I've seen, like this one particular vine that grows in my forest back home," she reasoned as she used the stylus to circle in the air the area in the center of the giant bloom as well as the lower part of the bush.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"Yeah, that may be complicated. I've heard stories of people far far in the north that could dry up a flower so perfectly it would keep all of its natural colors forever... But I guess it's easier to do when you live in an already quite dry desert. Like the exact opposite of here.

A sketch will do for now, thanks. If that expedition goes well, we, or others, more prepared, might come back one day and grab the whole bush, with its earth and roots, for further study.

Speaking of which... Last time, we talk about your long-term projects. But how do you envision yourself on the day we'll be in Dà Shānchéngì and this merry band will disband?"

[Miyako]

"Well... this is one of the few times I have ever truly left the Chinsei Mori, and already in such a short amount of time I have seen just how different other parts of the land really are, how much they have to offer, and all the stories and descriptions I have heard from the others of the tribes and tribe-clans say even more about the parts I have not seen. When we arrive back at the city, I envision myself having learned much, being ready to see the lay of the land with my own eyes, and being much more prepared to make decisions about my own future in it... and do what I can, in some sense, to see if I might help the rest of my Chinsei cousins in doing the same." Miyako turned the tablet around to show him the sketch she had done of the giant bloom: it was a little rough, but it did look like a giant flower bloom.

"I figure when there is more time, one can use the description to clean and clarify the image," she said of her work. "And what about you? Do you have a plan for what happens for you when we return? Or is that something for your tribe-clan to give?"

[Jiyo Ayumu]

"The picture is fine. But you're right I should also continue taking notes and not push all the work unto you."

After writting a few extra lines on his tablet, what's remarkable about the plant, where it was found, in which season, he added:

"In the very short term, I should report to Shiba indeed. Tell him about everything we've learned there."

He stuck his writing apparatus under his shoulders to free his hands, and signed: From the land and from our friends.

"After that, I think I'll lobby for further involvement of the Empire in the south. Normalize relations with the Nezumi, open an official embassy in their city, encourage trade of goods and knowledge, help the furry ones in their fight with Jigoku as they requested, maybe put together more expeditions like this one, with the endgoal of learning more about the region and its secrets. In short, don't lose to time and inaction everything we've accomplished there."

Signs: What did you learn from trip until now?

[Miyako]

"Big-Clan-Tribe-Called-Empire's time in these lands will not come to an end when this expedition does," she nodded in agreement with him. "There is much unknown in these lands to explore, research to be done to see if this threat of evil that permeates these lands might be cleansed, the Nezumi... still much left to know." Miyako leaned over to set the tablet down over her feet so she could free up both her hands.

I learn this. She pointed with on hand at the other three times and then laughed. That joke out of the way, she continued.

Learn much of new places I never see, many of my tribe never see. Big city, other great forest, swamp, jungle. Learn much about other tribe. Learn much much about clan-tribe and Sky Gods. Learn that other people enjoy my story and song - need tell more! Learn just how much there is to learn. Learn that I need... She stopped for a moment, dwelling on something.

I learn I need find place in new land where much is change and people of my forest have so far change not. But they no understand new land like I know new land now. I learn clan-tribe under Big-Clan-Tribe-Empire grow big every season, people of clan-tribe more, people of tribe-tribe less. Need find my way. Need help my tribe-tribe find way too. No left behind in new land.

[Jiyo Ayumu]

Talked with...

He mimicked horns.

Girl. Afraid for her family in new world. Think firebird god won't allow them to travel. I and orange eye guy say no need. That tribe can be part of empire while its heart remains same. Only need change small, exterior things to make work together easier. Like no pass through places where people make food plants now.

If do that, old ways of them good. Good for everyone. Big tribe needs different people good different things. Need people stay but also need people travel.

I don't know about the ways of your tribe. Do you think these ways of yours can be good for big tribe?

He smiled softly:

"My question is hard, maybe loud words will be to ask it and to answer it. I was wondering about what makes the Chinsei tribe what it is, and how you think this can be an asset to everyone in the context of a bigger organization?"