Pre-Summit Vignettes

Miscellaneous

After the eventful match between Maxim and Momo, yet before Mōri Motonari's Yashiki Summit, a small sliver of time was almost lost to the ages. Yet events did transpire during that sliver, and they are no less worthy of our attention. Let us consider them now...

First there is the matter of Matsumoto Ooawagaeri; or, in this case, Susuki. Having shed his usual disguise of "Fubuki," the silver-haired swordsmith sped away from the ruins of Sumiyoshi-taisha atop a frightfully fast fox. Accompanying him were a dejected Phenex and a creature like the Western Mermaid, tail slung heavily over the mount's side.   Susuki found his thoughts drifting back to what he'd found at that ravaged shrine; the thunderous tree stretching into the sky and piercing it in a way that even Jigenmaru could not thwart. There too was the kind, suave angel who had only given his name as "Em." Unlike the Elohim descended upon the arena, this angel urged only for kindness, especially to this poor Miko who had seen her shrine destroyed by the cataclysmic tree.   So, Susuki had taken her with him. The Wani, for that category surely extended to one such as her, was understandably still shaken. Phenex, too, was sickened by the fact that she had been unable to return to heaven even after the very sky had opened before her. These two, who were in no condition to talk now, could be comforted after the coming meeting. For now, Susuki reached out with his mind to an entirely different point of contact with a question.   Tsukijō Hanahane's answer was immediate and verbose, as was his wont. "Oh? Oh? Do go on then, dearest Su-chan. I had just thought to steal out onto my patio and enjoy one of those frightfully sticky fruit drinks whilst I while away the morning. It does so get dull around here, even when one has as many friends as I do. But of course I do count you, pink and scrubbed as you always are, among that number. So, I would be delighted, delighted, to offer you any answers which I might tenderly tender upon you. Do go on and ask. I'll just be here sipping away and watching the lovely sky until you feel comfortable to proceed."   It was not a conversation in the truest sense, but Susuki heard the other's soliloquy in his mind as surely as if Hanahane had been seated right next to him.   "The young girl I introduced you to the other night; I was wondering if would be possible to bring her here now that she has a soul of her own." Susuki thought back. The girl in question was, of course, Alice of Diamonds, whose recent acquisition of a soul placed her above the vast majority of Figments in the Dreamlands.   "What a dear she was!" Hanahane exclaimed at their shared memory. "And just your type, if I might say so. But enough of my prattle. I do tend to prattle on sometimes, don't I? Prattle, prattle, prattle. Ah! There I go again. Well, Su-chan, of course you can bring anyone over from that side to this one. It's mightily uncomfortable for most of them, though. I've heard many Baharnans say that they feel less...real. Like they're wasting away right before your eyes. Now, that such a full-figured folk as them should say such a thing is unthinkable, but it's still something to keep in mind. Soul or no, I wouldn't force anyone from the Dreamlands to come here unless they were well aware of what awaited them."   That was indeed troubling. Perhaps all Baharnans who were whisked away by the Black Galleon Slavers to this side of the Wall of Sleep suffered the same slow-burning fate.   "I see," Susuki answered."It wouldn't do to force such a thing upon anyone without good reason. I'll keep that in mind." A pause, then, "On an unrelated note, I believe the casino should be ready to open, though events have kept me from announcing a date for the event."   Somewhere across the country, in his manor on the coast, Hanahane could not believe his figurative ears. "Goodness me! You do work fast, Su-chan. The grand opening, is it? What kind of event will you host? What is the dress code? Oh dear, I shall have to start preparing my outfit immediately. Have you already drafted an invitation list? I would like a chance to vet it first, if you would not terribly mind, to avoid any messy dramas that might unforld if too many of Japan's most fabulous are on the ship together."   To many of these questions, Susuki had no answer. So, he did not bother to voice one. Instead, there was one last thing to prepare before their meeting; a potential shelter into which they could escape should the worst occur. Fortunately, Nekoi Nekoi had already foreseen this course of events and evacuated the Mirror Imperial Palace beforehand. It was a simple matter for his crew to have the magical door, behind which the mirror land awaited, prepared and delivered to Yakisoba Yashiki in preparation for the summit.   --   At the same time, any plans which Maxim might have had following his victory were interdicted by Haures. No sooner had he retired from the field than the small lioness approached him aggressively. The descendant "Elohim" seemed to have unsettled her, and, following a terse congratulations, Haures was burning with a need to discuss things with her ward.   "Right. Friends of yours?" Maxim asked. It was unclear whether he was truly so ignorant or simply being belligerent. Graciously, Haures did not snap back at him.   "Friends? No, only the most deluded of Pride can still think of those monsters as our friends."   The towering knight merely shrugged. This was something for the leaders of Japan to figure out, he opined, and not anything they needed to concern themselves with. Showing saintlike patience, Haures attempted to explain.   "The return of the Elohim signals the End of Days. We should return to Gehenna and muster our legions."   This brought Maxim's feet and thoughts up short. "Sorry, the End of Days?" The capital letters came easily to that ominous phrase.   The final war between Angels and Demons. Earth to be its battleground, as had been foretold for millennia. These Japanese people were another matter, but Maxim was from Albion, where Christianity had already begun to take root. It was hard for Haures to believe that he had never heard of the End Days.   "I can forsee no other conclusion to the events which went into motion today," she finished.   Infuriatingly, Maxim still seemed to think such rash action would be an overstep. "Even if that were going to happen," he lazed, "I'll stay here. Someone needs to protect the citizens."   Haures sighed. This was precisely what she had feared. Perhaps the Haures of the past would have gnashed her teeth, flown into a rage, argued with Maxim, or dragged him down to the depths below herself. Instead, she tied herself to his fate without hesitation. "What shall we do, then? Quietly await the judgment of the Divine Council?"   If Maxim noticed this subtle change in her character, he made no comment on it. "Have we ever just sat quietly when a powerful foe appears? If this End Days does happen and they dare attack Shima, I'll take as many of those Angels as I can with me in death."   "So be it. We'll resist to the last." Haures had almost built up a modicum of respect for Maxim's stubborn resilience, even in the face of the angelic power he'd witnessed today. Then the oaf had to go and ruin it.   "Given everything going on," the knight rambled, "I'll be having Hakuhen act as your bodyguard, just in case."   Haures couldn't help but bare her teeth. "I'll be forced to spend time with that oaf?!" What manner of punishment was this?   Worse, Maxim ignored her completely logical complaints to double down. "It'll be happening either way, so you might as well get used to it."   With that, the storied Commander of the Wolfpack departed for his meeting, leaving Haures fuming in the arena. She could see a wealth of great, golden stupidity looming in her future. How much should a Duchess of Hell be expected to endure?   --   Elsewhere, Katsusada Shishauezaemon pushed the door open to his laboratory. Or was it truly his now? The mechanics of avatars, split beings, and the pseudo-gestalt in which they now existed left many questions unanswered. For now, he would consider it his own.   Regardless, it was quiet and tidy following the completion of the Mugen Gauntlet. A temporary confinement area, like a makeshift occult prison, took up a significant share of the chamber's southwestern corner. Within, Kashin Koji glared ruefully at the newcomer with a strip of sealing cloth still bandaged about her mouth. Next to her, a Putrid Jikininki slumped in the corner, heaving with ragged breaths but otherwise entirely passive. Both of these, however, were mere side pieces to the great work of art which had at some point made its way into the laboratory.   "Now when did this get here?"   A hideously smooth creature, adorned with a cornucopia of twisting tendrils, hung suspended in a block of unmelting ice among the chamber's many tables. It stared back at Shishauezaemon from within its prison; no mean feat, considering the creature had no eyes above its wide, predatory mouth.   "We can never be too careful with powerful creatures such as this," the erstwhile adviser muttered as he rapidly wove and cast a magical net over the ice. Should the creature inside be still alive or undead in its nature, the net would "catch" and inform Shishauezaemon of what it had found. Yet it simply passed over and through the being with no change at all. Was it truly dead? Or perhaps it had resisted the spell, which was powerful enough that even a minor god should have been caught in its mesh. The latter was not pleasant to consider.   "Oh if only I had learned more complex spells or attended my mathematics lectures," Shishauezaemon whinged dramaticaly. "I suppose we have to study this specimen with more traditional methods."   He retrieved a scalpel from a nearby table and held it ready, but an obvious problem presented itself to him. The solid ice surrounding the creature would not allow him an incision; not even a small, indulgent one from one of the tendrils. How, then, to approach this "autopsy"...?   --   Many things had happened during the tournament today; things which Aotsuki Tsukamoto had not even conceived of when he chose to attend in the morning. He therefore did what he always did when he was adrift and reached out to those he could rely on. In this case, that was Abe no Seimei. The young Daimyō's first concern was not for the splitting of the heavens, however, but for the young man they'd rescued, or perhaps consensually kidnapped, from Utsunomiya the previous night.   "He is doing well, my lord, but I fear I have no further good news to offer you. I have consulted many writings and they all point to the same conclusion: the transformation into a Dodomeki is irreversible. We could furnish him with a new body but this malady is of his soul."   That confirmed Aotsuki's darkest theories. They could not house such a dangerous entity forever, but returning him to his village could also cause the situation to quickly break down. Could there be a third option? Following his adviser's suggestion, he put the Spring of Wisdom to the task. Did that mean, then, that they had completed their previous mission?   "Not directly, but they have a promising lead in a "tomb" for Yamato no Orochi at the head of the Hi River in Izumo Province." That was northwest of where Aotsuki stood even now in Shimonoseki. "Kanbei believes the Serpent's remains may be interred there."   An interesting lead indeed, but Aotsuki was hesitant to delve into such a mystery in the short time before Motonari's meeting commenced. There had, after all, been developments. He conveyed these events to Seimei now.   The "angels" who had descended upon Shimonoseki had, until now, been things of mere Western folklore to Seimei. "Are you certain they were not some other manner of creature mimicking Christian legend? Or perhaps an illusion? I have been concerned at the apparent lack of Her influence in this time..."   "Her?" Aotsuki could hear the gravity which Seimei placed on that word. And, from what she said, it was someone the ancient onmyōji had expected still be at large even after her centuries-long internment in Kuzunoha's temple.   Seimei waved it away as a mere passing, thought, however. After all, Tamamo-no-Mae had already been dealt with by Kuroda Kanbei and a lowly soldier. It was probably nothing to concern themselves with, then.   Once they were both up to speed, Seimei offered her own presence at the meeting, which Aotsuki was only too glad to accept. As they prepared to depart for the Yashiki, she gave him one last word of advice:   "It seems that the Shogunate has aligned itself to at least some degree with the Demonic powers now present in Japan. From what little I know of these "Angels," this position will place the two groups in direct opposition. Use this to your advantage during the meeting."   --   Finally, there was the matter of Ryūzaki Sanosuke. After his inflamed encounter with Honda Tadakatsu, the Silver General had returned to the arena proper. There, he caught sight of Sasaki Kojirō in the stands and watched as the newly-reforged kensei took off as though in search of someone herself.   "Musashi-dono," he called out mentally, "If you haven't left the arena yet, Kojirō-san may be looking for you."   Terse and succinct as always, Miyamoto Musashi simply informed Sanosuke to tell her "rival" that she could not be coaxed into another duel. Sanosuke, of course, had already lost sight of Kojirō, so he couldn't guarantee Musashi's safety from duel-based-harrassment. Unless, of course, she opted to make herself scarce and join them to the Mōri meeting at Yakisoba Yashiki. The Silver General waved away her protests that she hadn't been invited. Musashi could attend as his plus one, and her expertise in the art of war could very well be valuable. Thus, she was convinced.   There was little time left before the meeting, but Sanosuke would not be himself if not for the many plots he left spinning in the background. He took the time to check on these now, and to gather some information which might bear on the developing situation...