[LM 11] - Getting Mind off of Things for a Minute (Open)

[Shinjo Koyama]

Xun play indicated a Hikaru approaching.

[Nozomi]

"So no one... can take it..." the girl replied, her sobs slowly beginning to slow and soften to just tears. Her lips tightened. "They'll die if they try to take my name!" She declared, clutching onto Phi again.

Yamadono wasn't without emotion himself. A raging storm of pride, sadness, concern, even a hint of fear. He worried what would happen if Phi did not return. How could he help Matsu not fall into the melancholy that had plagued him for so long...

"Wherever we reside, you are always welcome."

"I believe that they will," she said, grinning through a few fought back tears down at Matsu. Yes, this was exactly the kind of stubborn resolve she wanted to see in the girl every day. She chuckled some, though deep down she knew that she had to be careful. The source of that saying, she suspected, was something much darker. Matsu never needed to know those things. Knowledge could be power, but it could be dangerous as well. But, hopefully her name would never be a thing at risk.

She nodded up to Yamadono. "I will remember that there is always a place for me to come home t..." mmmm?

Xun play indicated a Hikaru approaching.

The slow, almost mournful sounds of the flute approaching made her smile soften a little. "Heh... that would be old Koyama. I don't think Sora ever learned the flute properly," she said affectionately to the two of them. She swallowed a little hard, knowing that today she was taking his wife into danger, however powerful she was. "I believe... that I would be a very bad friend if I did not tell him as well, wouldn't I Matsu? He should know his wife is going to run off with me to find the little fool. And... perhaps we can both play for you."

When she caught sight of Koyama, she waved him over.

[Shinjo Koyama]

No sooner had Koyama stopped playing then when he walked into the gathering, having no initial purpose to do so. But once he took in who was present, he nodded, acknowledging the fact of them being there on whatever pathway he had been pursuing. He would smile to Phi, she had come along nicely from being the sullen brat he had remembered, and capably at that, but he was a married man, lovingly and loyally so, and hence some random stray thoughts were foreclosed from having bearing on his conduct.

Yamadono and his daughter he recalled vaguely.

"Hullo." The steady gait was brought to an end.

[Nozomi]

She smiled over at him with the fondness of an old friend, her voice taking on the gravelly rasp of her usual demeanor as best she was able, her veil still down from earlier in helping Matsu. One arm hovered protectively over the girl, partially to make sure that she understood that she wasn't leaving yet. Oh, those stray thoughts... had been there once, when she was very young. He wasn't that much older than her, and of course she'd thought those things when he'd been roving the woods long ago. Of course, she'd had to get over them real fast when he'd come back one day with a goddess as a spouse and taken most of the Hikaru away. She might have been a little bitter about that for the first year. But, she'd gotten over it and both of them had perhaps gone ... their own ways. She might even have had a bit of a candle for the big guy hovering over her now. If he ever married again, someone was going to be a very lucky woman. Of course, her mind was decidedly elsewhere right now... on someone else.

She probably would have thought it odd he thought he attractive, though. She still had trouble believing others thought that. But now wasn't quite the time for those thoughts. She cleared her throat. "Has your wife spoken to you yet, Koyama?" If she had, she didn't need to explain, but she wanted to make sure if she'd had the chance.

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Aboot whit?" He wasn't good at reading little signs in human behaviour, even if whatever train of thought his appearance had triggered actually surfaced.

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

Matsu remained at Phi's side, as the large man nodded to Koyama. His arms folded across his chest. He had caught the glance from Phi as the former Hikaru approached, and remained silent, though there was a warmth emanating from him.

"Hello there." He added in greeting.

[Nozomi]

"Aboot whit?" He wasn't good at reading little signs in human behaviour, even if whatever train of thought his appearance had triggered actually surfaced.

Did she not tell him? Why didn't she tell him? He's her... oh. Crap. If I tell him, he's going to... I can't keep them all back, and she won't want ... I am such a hypocrite. "I'm petty sure that there's some sort of meeting that a bunch of the big wigs are going to be getting together at, in the camp." Not exactly her best lie that she'd ever told, but she was kind of feeling the pressure right about now and still struggling with Matsu who clung to her.

She quietly gave Yamadono a look similar to the one she'd given him over Matsu's forehead earlier. She didn't like lying to Koyama or leaving things out, but ... this was important.

Matsu remained at Phi's side, as the large man nodded to Koyama. His arms folded across his chest. He had caught the glance from Phi as the former Hikaru approached, and remained silent, though there was a warmth emanating from him.

"Hello there." He added in greeting.

"You two have met before, right?" she asked, hoping to deflect away from her worries for a minute.

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Ah hae nae bin attending they. Ah ken she's git it." Koyama shrugged, not suspicious enough to even focus on whether he was led on. He looked at Yamadono. "Ah ken ye wur at th' Seppun Hill?"

[Noriaki no Yamadono]

"On the outskirts. With not much notoriety. People still were afraid of one such as I. Even when I wandered with her when she was a little girl." Matsu wiped her face a bit, as the big man mussed her hair. "How things have changed in the years."

[Nozomi]

"I was about her age back when the two of you went, I think. Maybe a few years older. It's why I didn't go." She hadn't felt it her place, not to mention the fact that she really had been rather young at that point, and would have had difficulty just tagging along on Koyama's heels. In the end, she figured it had turned out for the best.

"I'm not much for meetings. Send me where I need to go. I like that much better. Meetings are for leaders, not folks like me."

[Shinjo Koyama]

""Yus, thae five years hae remade th' world as we kent it." Koyama agreed. "But we a' gang on, 'n' catch up wi` again tae speak."

He frowned a bit. "Ah ken a'm a leader o' some soert. Bit yin fur battle mair than blathering. In speaking, mah guidwife carries mair authority anyway." He looked around. ""Hae ye fun anythin' interesting aroond here?"

[Nozomi]

She fidgeted and closed her eyes, her fingers pressing into Matsu's hair as she breathed slowly, trying to meditate the way the little teacher had taught her. It didn't work. Her mind was a roil. It was always a roil. But she tried.

"I... think I've found something. I just have to find it again before I lose it forever is all," she said, laughing at herself, trying not to let her nerves show. She was on edge, and she knew it. "But I think I finally know where I belong, and I'm glad I came down from the mountain. I hope the rest come to their senses before its too late. Bayushi could use them."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"Ye speak in riddles." Koyama remarked, scratching his stubble. ""Sae ye'r aff tae jyne Bayushi efter return?"

[Nozomi]

She blinked. Did he just say she talked in riddles?

Oh gods, am I already starting to sound like him?!?

She had to fight a stress-induced laugh, and it still came out. Finally, she closed her eyes and her hand, which rested on Matsu, tightened. "Not Bayushi. You... are my friends. I have friends, and you are them. I can say this. I... do not think I will go to speak with Bayushi, if I do what I intend. He will have servants, but I have somewhere else to be." She glanced at Yamadono meaningfully. Given what the two of them had heard earlier, it would be obvious in its own way what she meant. "I... I just need to be certain, and I haven't been certain in a long time. But I think I'm becoming certain finally."

[Shinjo Koyama]

The scratch on the stubble intentsified and the tattoos on his face shifted upon furrowing.

"...Ah ken ah kin be glad fur ye then?"

[Nozomi]

The scratch on the stubble intentsified and the tattoos on his face shifted upon furrowing.

"...Ah ken ah kin be glad fur ye then?"

She smiled back at Koyama and nodded. It was a tired, worried smile, but she was still smiling. "Thank you, Koyama. And... I'm glad you and the rest found a place. I hope that the others can one day."

[Shinjo Koyama]

"That's th' idea. Tae hae baith freedom 'n' a steid. Tis hard bit a'm wantin' tae hawp tis maybee aye." He looked up into the skies for some reason.

[Nozomi]

"I don't know that I can help save them, not really. I had thought... but I don't know that the direction my life may take is something they'll follow. If they've sense, they'll look to their neighbors. The Scorpion could probably use them. Maybe even keep them out of too much trouble." Yeah, the very idea of the Scorpion keeping anyone out of trouble.... but hey, purpose did that.

[Shinjo Koyama]

"They're Hikaru, th' greatest thing tae gie thaim insae tae impede thaim in deciding themselves 'n' bear th' ootcomes."

[Nozomi]

"Even if it's a damned fool choice in the end, it's theirs. Still, if they come to their senses, the Spider or Scorpion could use men like them." She snorted. But he was right. They weren't going to save them from themselves. They all had to stand on their own. She'd had to learn that here.