The Pastel Castell

Construction beginning/end

While most of his allies did whatever they were off doing in the Dreamlands, Aotsuki Tsukamoto had important matters of his own to attend to. His adviser, Abe no Seimei, was able to direct him to the plans "Master" had laid out for a castle on the northern border of Mino Province. From there, he was only a short call to Shigeaki Fujino away from the proposed location.

It was not until arriving at his destination that Aotsuki realized his mistake. This could very well be the northern border of Mino. Or...it could be just about anywhere else. The terrain looked right, but not a single landmark caught his eye. Nary a town, temple, nor castle broke the hilly horizon no matter which way he looked.   Fujino had hardly steered him wrong in the past, but this fortress was going to be quite the permanent structure. Aotsuki wanted to be sure. He first called upon Imamura Naiku, priestess of Amaterasu at Enryaku-ji. She'd shown her skills before in magic to locate certain objects or people. As Naiku patiently explained, however, it did not work the other way. Her magic couldn't find something as conceptual as the proposed spot for a castle. She could, however, help her lord by looking over some maps with him.   A bit of cartography later and Aotsuki was ready. This spot was just about between Echizen Province to the northwest and Hida Province to the northeast. It would serve well against either the Ikkō Ikki or the Ashikaga Shogunate, should either of them become a strategic problem. He handed the blueprints for the castle off to Alice of Hearts and asked that she use her trademark Dreamer ability to conjure it into existence. Of course, first, Aotsuki made sure to mention Saitō Dōsan's particular request. The big man wanted a temple large enough to accommodate his frame.   Although hesitant, Alice of Hearts did not shy from the task. She put all of her energy, all of her imagination into crafting a magical castle. The ground subtly shook as the thing took form. It was truly grand. Except...as he looked upon the fortress' walls, Aotsuki could immediately tell that something wasn't quite right. It looked defensible enough, and the quarters within were small but serviceable, and he could even see a towering temple spire somewhere near the rear courtyard. The pastel pink color across the entirety of its walls, though, was a bit...   Without wasting any time, Aotsuki mentally hailed Saitō Dōsan. To his relief, the giant was quite good-natured about the whole thing. A castle's color didn't matter much if it did its job of strategically securing the region around it. Even when Aotsuki described the stuffed animals he could spot within windows and manning the walls, Dōsan didn't complain. So there it was. Perhaps the fortress' color would serve as a warning; or sow confusion amongst the enemy troops at the very least.   It seemed that relying on Dreamers for such construction was not without its complications. Still, his goal had been accomplished and "Master's" blueprints put to good use. Now there was only the matter of the name.