Rising Phoenix Gaming

Rin traveling up the mountain as a child following her father Training Montage Song Theme Song Rin's Combat Theme Big Battle Song facing the witches! Love Theme

well done bravo

Kakita Zoyu - Duelist and Student of the Sword #1 - When duty, honour clashes against love and passion, or when those Zoyu cares about are turned against her through duplicity or malfeasance, her sword gently weeps. #2 - The joy and serenity Zoyu feels while dancing or painting. #3 - The tenseness while hunting hiding Maho-Tsukai and damned Moon Cultists #4 - Duel music, the battle fought in the mind's eye before the first strike. #5 - Zoyu might not fight wars, but she does fight battles and this is a good general fight theme #6 - Zoyu's passion and belief in her own awesomeness

No stranger to the intrigues of court, Zoyu also raised her teacup and savoured the brew, though she obscured her lips more by positioning and an artfully loose lock of hair than with the delicate porcelain. She sighed through her nose, steam from her tea swirling before her. "Aimless, if this one is being truthful," Zoyu admitted with wry ruefulness. "Once, the path of destiny seemed so clear to me. Now, it has grown crooked, choked with brambles and hidden warrens to break ankles. With the injustice done our comrade - for something she did on my behalf - my honour prevailed upon me to give up my commission with the Emerald Magistrates. I sought to prove Rin's innocence - or at least evidence of mitigating circumstances - on my own..." The striking Crane smiled a frown at her failure. "Not so easy as the cut of a blade. I traveled far. Into the Spine of the World and beyond. You remember the battle at Ryoko Owari? Our black-feathered ally?" Kamiko gave a minute nod of understanding and Zoyu acknowledged with a faint tilt of her head. "I spent some time with him, learning more of the sword." Some time... When she had come back, she had been gone for a year. But it had felt much longer among the Tengu. Perhaps, it had been. Zoyu was not ready to speak of that time with others, as yet, not with someone who had not experienced what she had. "When I returned, I continued my quest, but my last trail ended when Doji Retsu... perished." Zoyu arched the elegant brow over her topaz blue eye at the Scorpion. "And not so long after, you arrived, with revealing threats dire towards myself and Rin. What have you seen all these seasons since last we saw each other?"

Kaneteru bowed to the man, and smiled, "My associate had other matters to take care of in regards to this attack. They were more interested in finding more of this scum's known associates to make sure we were both safe. Perhaps this was a wise move as well, since you seem to be most wary of possible retaliation. I find it most intriguing that this matter has seemingly brought Interest from others, and not just the locals. Perhaps there is more in action than it seems."

"Wait!" The voice came from the deck of the barge, Kaneteru looked up as the guard turned and bowed deeply. Kaneteru saw a man, broad shouldered and narrow hipped, His Kimono was plain but of very fine manufacture, his topknot was an unusual reddish color and he had a narrow beard that ran along his jawline and his chin. "You said the thugs attacked you and your associate. You are alone, was your associate killed?" The man who spoke was not looking at Kaneteru but was rather scanning the docks and the nearby roof tops.

Alright, this is kind of all over the board, but there were a LOT of possible choices here, hehe. First song I feel like is almost a 'theme song,' lol. Bearing in mind all I know is the title, and the song itself has a very stylish, very sly sort of feel to it to me. I can totally see an instrumental version of it playing in the background while Kamiko is doing her thing, or during a montage of her being full of intrigue. Then we have a song that really makes me feel this sense of drive Kamiko has, for vengeance against the Maho...a pounding beat like a heart; a song that's simultaneously discordant but beautiful... A bit of a shift then; this next one I almost see as being a song being sung TO Kamiko by her mother. Perhaps before her death, or even after as a spirit. It has a certain combination of melancholy with a powerful feeling of hopes for the future. And then, because it's a game, BATTLE THEME!! I can hear this whenever I think of Kamiko just beating some heads in, lol... And then a more contemplative song that captures Kamiko's feelings of independence and ambition. And then a nice instrumental theme that I associate with Kamiko calling on the spirits; working her magic. Perhaps some big spell with her surrounded by strange forms and unearthly manifestations of the elements... So...yeah.

Togashi Kaneteru: Dragon Monk/Kitsuki tracker. #1: His philosophy about attachments, aside from family. #2 Meditation: The harmonies and the bassline #3 Training(Specifically doing Katas) #4 Parkour/movement training. 5: Trrcking his betrayer down and finding him(Montage of travel) #6 Dragon Clan emerges for War! 7. Kaneteru on the Togashi Order. Sorry, not sorry. :P:D

Welcome back to my special projects. For our first AiR project, Blame dozer. Create a playlist of a minimum of six songs that embodies your character. asically songs that you would play for them during a specific type of scene. give me the song and what type of scene it would play in post your playlist in this thread either with the song embedded or linked. once posted i will award your character a bonus. If your songs are Japanese (or asian) i will give you an additional bonus.

Kaneteru looked over at the proprietor of the Inn, and sighed. He stood up, bowed to Rin and walked towards the old man. "I will make sure he sees justice at the docks, and I look forward to meeting you after. You must have some delightful stories to tell." He looked at the old man again, this time with the full weight of his dark gaze. "Do not do anything stupid or more dishonorable than you have shown to be capable of already," his voice taking on a slightly deeper register. The old man led Kaneteru to a small storage room, filled with food staples such as rice, dried fish, dried seaweed, and other long term ingredients. He pointed unsteadily to a barrel underneath a box of what looked like salt-encrusted river trout. The dragon monk sighed, and poked the innkeeper with a fingernail in the back, "You get it. I trust you as far as I can throw the Imperial Palace." The old man nodded, sweat streaming from his forehead, which he wiped with a small handkerchief. He then proceeded to lift and move the salted fish, and opened the barrel of what looked and smelled like brine for pickling. The old man reached in to the brine, and after a few seconds the side of the barrel opened and inside were bags of precious stones, money, and gold coins. Kaneteru nodded, and the old man gathered up the filled bags with a strength that belied his advanced years. Once all the money, gold and jewels were extracted, Kaneteru motioned to leave the room to the innkeeper. Outside, seeing that Rin had left, he kept the proprietor going, out of the inn and towards the river. The old man started breathing heavy when the were finally approaching the river and the Prince's Barge. The monk reached over and took what looked to be the heaviest bag from the old man, and kept him going forward. Approaching the barge and the guards, Kaneteru stopped the old man and stopped walking himself about thirty feet from the first guard. "Good evening, Guard-Sama. May we approach. I have a criminal to place into your custody, if you would be so inclined as to offer him the inside of your most uncomfortable cell. I am Togashi Kaneteru of the Dragon Clan. " Upon being called forward, Kaneteru continued, "This man is the ringleader of a protection racket. An associate of mine found the gang, as it were. We managed to isolate the fact that this thug is the ringleader. Upon being confronted, the lapdogs of this scum rushed and attacked me and my associate. That was unacceptable, as you can understand. We dealt with them in a manner befitting their status." The monk then handed over the large bag of gold he was carrying and indicated to the old man to do so as well. He also pushed the scum forward and one of the guards reached out and grabbed the innkeeper by his arm. "I am sure this "gentleman" would be more than willing to give you a full detailing of his crimes. I will however require a good inn to be recommended to me, as the last in was his," Kaneteru said as he pointed to the old man. He bowed and stepped back as one of the guards took the criminal below, and to an awaiting cell. The other guard remained on the land near the gangplank, and turned to Kaneteru, "Thank you, Brother Togashi. I hope that is wasn't too much of a hassle in dealing with this filth. Now, if you are true need of someplace to stay, I recommend the Owl and Doe. Whichever you decide on, let us know, just in case we need to verify any information." He bowed slightly, indicating the converstation was over, and resumed his watch over the area. Once dismissed, Togashi Kaneteru smiled to himself, and started making his way off the dock and towards dry land.

The gangsters wreathed in dragon flame writhed and convulsed, each wailing at the pain from burns that were not of the physical world. The gangster who had made a dash for the swords stumble clutching his throat trying to dislodge the silver needle and then he fell to the ground dead. The other two who had been struck by slivers also fell dead. Rin had sat motionless as the monk had upset the cart of criminal intentions. then in one fluid motion rose and smoothly drew her tanto and finished off the convulsing bandits. When she was done she wiped the blade on the tunic of the last one and looked at the old grandfather who was standing immobile shaking, a pool of piss gathered at his feet from where it had run down his leg. "Nicely done brother dragon, This one," Rin pointed at the old man with the tanto then put it away," is the master-mind of the operation I think he will show you where the money he gathered from the thugs is. I think you should have the Honor of taking him and his ill gotten gains to the authorities at he Prince's barge at the docks. After all it would not be seemly for a ronin to approach such august personages." Rin stepped to the table picked up her short sword and placed it in her obi, then she finished up her soup in two large gulps. "If an give you trouble give the Princes guard my name. I will meet you after."

Whatever she was or wasn't expecting as far as Zoyu's arrival, Kamiko was ready. She was at a table with a bowl of rice in front of her, sipping at a cup of tea. Her mask was one of her more ceremonial, ornately painted and engraved in crimson and gold, covering only her eyes and nose; extending a little out in emulation of a bird's beak. Her kimono too was red with gold trim; she'd worn one like it to diplomatic functions. The garb of someone meeting a courtier. As Zoyu took a seat with her, the Scorpion inclined her head to greet her. "You have my gratitude for attending my little show," she said, smiling beneath her mask. She took another sip of tea, holding her cup, Zoyu realized, in a position where it would hide her lips from anyone observing from nearby tables. "Such artifices will soon be mercifully behind us. For now we will be two friends, and perhaps rivals, having a civil meeting after too long a time apart." Kamiko set her cup down, and with a slightly impish upturn of her lips produced a fan, which she brought up into a position to similarly obscure her mouth from the room as she fluttered a cooling breeze at herself. "And, all else aside, I am curious about how this time has passed for you. Lets catch up, since we have a moment where it's expected. How have you been?"

"Hai," Zoyu said with a gracious nod, an eagerness entering her practiced reserve. "This one need not make excuses and will not take over long to prepare." She summoned the servant to see her guest out and to have her horse prepared for travel. Zoyu wrote a non-specific missive for her parents, simply stating she was traveling to find the path of her life - they could not reveal her location if they did not know - then took a bath to wash away the exertions of her practice, less languorously than her want. The Kenku could be unpredictable in their mentorship, and the Crane had learned not to dally when the need arose, if she wished not to be left behind or punished. True to her word, Kamiko found out that she didn't have to wait for Zoyu nearly as long as she was prepared for at the White Blossoms Inn. Walking her horse, Zoyu still wore a kimono patterned in white, blue, and black cut to flatter her curvaceous figure and fluid movements, but of more spartan design and durable fabric, suitable for travel. Her freshly washed hair was plaited in a thick braid, ivory and ebony colour interwoven fetchingly. The striking Crane swordswoman was unmistakable. Zoyu's Daisho rode her hips as ever, a small pack on her back. A bow was strapped to her horse, a more substantial - though less so than what Kamiko recalled - pair of saddlebags over the rump. With a deceptive lack of concern, Zoyu approached the inn, curious as to what guise Kamiko had taken for her stay, but sure the Scorpion had noticed her arrival.

Kamiko nodded. There was the steel she needed. The steel all of them would need. "The whereabouts of a masterless samurai are notoriously hard to predict," she said lightly, and let her words dwindle for a moment before adding, "...but there have been whispers. Make yourself ready for travel, make what excuses you must to leave, and meet me in the city at the White Blossoms Inn." She stepped back then, and bowed; ever the courteous guest. Then with a murmured invocation to the spirits, her guise melted like wax, and was revised into that of the peasant girl who'd first come in.

Zoyu arched a brow as Kamiko revealed herself and magic swirled around them. She had no skill with communing with the Kami, but she had witnessed many strange things during her time with the Kenku. But when Kamiko mentioned danger aimed towards a mutual friend, Zoyu couldn't restrain a soft gasp. "Rin." It didn't need to be said, but the taller woman gave the striking, exotic Crane a nod of acknowledgment. Reserved and elegant, the Scorpion sorceress still noted the subtle shift in the other woman. A straightening of sleek shoulders, a firmness to an elevated jaw, a hardness to her mismatched eyes. Another source to lend credence to her suspicions. "No forgiveness is necessary," Zoyu said with a dismissive wave. "This one has grown wary of the dangers hiding in black waters and it is gratifying to know another can confirm these dangers do exist." A frown cross her lips. "Alas, the path of my destiny has taken many twists and turns. I have been... away for the last turning of the seasons. I know not where Rin-san wanders. Has that who has availed you of the danger to I and she also give some hint as to where we may find her, Kamiko-san?"

"Then you'll meet her," gasped the peasant. She stayed prostrate though and added, in meek tones, "I am to deliver...one more message in that case, but it is for your ears only." She doesn't look up at the servant who had escorted her in, but he is the only other presence in the room. Zoyu and the servant's eyes met briefly, and she motioned her head just so, angling it towards the door. He looked conflicted for a moment, but only for a moment. Who was he to argue with a lady of this house? With a deep bow, he left the room. The peasant stayed on the floor for a moment, then slowly got to her feet, still bowed, her hands showing. She said, in just a whisper, "I invoke the protections of the third compact of the Legion of Brass. Stand with us, o' blind and mute guardian and let what transpires be known only to those present." Something whirled through the room, like a breeze but less substantial. The walls seemed to almost flex, every so slightly. Then all was quiet and calm. Then she straightened herself...and as she did, shadows and colors streamed off of her, smearing around her as if she were a watercolor painting in the rain. The display drained away, leaving a taller figure in their wake, dressed in a red and gold kimono with an ornate golden mask covering the upper portion of her face. The only truth from the seeming she'd worn was her lack of weaponry...though Zoyu well knew that for a shugenja, that was less of a limit than it might be for others. Kamiko inclined her head, recognizing Zoyu's recognition, and smiled. "I ask your forgiveness for the ruse, though I am gratified you sensed something amiss as well. I did not go to this trouble just to test your household and perceptions though. As it is, it is known that a message was delivered, one known and one unknown, and that we will meet. Our true meeting will be here though, and now. My message took care only to mention the danger to yourself, but what I am far more concerned about is the danger to another. A mutual friend of us both." She shook her head. "We will need her help...and she will most definitely need ours. You have both stumbled into very deep waters, old friend. Both the storms overhead and the currents below conspire against you now."

Tsuma Zoyu had taken a few days to compose a response to the Crane Clan Daimyo. And it had a been a few days later when his reply arrived. Though she had a taken care to make her refusal of his invitation to the Kenshinzen polite, wishing to earn her way into the august organization in the typical fashion rather through the beneficence of a Clan Daimyo, it had been a refusal all the same. Doji Namura's acceptance of her refusal had been curt with edged anger behind the façade of noble disappointment. It was but a day later when another messenger arrived for her. Zoyu hadn't yet determined where to even begin her unauthorized investigation. When the servant found her, the stunning swordswoman was just finishing an evening of swordplay. She had grown used to varying her times of practice, training, and exercise. The Kenku could be... unpredictable. The peasant girl was presented to a striking, uncannily beautiful Crane woman dressed in a thin white kimono patterned with blue cranes and black ravens that flattered her curvaceous form. Fair skin and long, loose hair, half ivory, half ebony, still shone with her exertions. The fine blade rode her hip as though a part of her. Mismatched eyes of jade and topaz eyed the girl coolly as she received the scroll. "Shosuro Kamiko? A name this one has not heard in sometime." Zoyu's voice was low and smooth. It held a faint note of coy danger, an aural bared blade. There was the softest of rustling as she gracefully unfurled the missive. "A reply you will have when the message has been read." Perhaps is was Doji Retsu's perfidy, Doji Namura's possible connection to it and attempting to send her into mortal danger, but Zoyu couldn't help but be suspicious of the unexpected. The peasant girl looked the part of a peasant girl, sounded the part of a peasant girl, acted the part of a peasant girl. But she did not quite move like a peasant girl. Zoyu's eyes flowed over the elegant kanji on the paper. She pursed her full lips. If Shosuro Kamiko trusted this girl, then Zoyu doubted she was indeed a mere peasant girl. It was couched in allusions, but yet another message of danger towards her. Zoyu frowned. Perhaps, even from one she had counted a companion. Which did not mean she would not accept the invitation to a meeting. With no obvious leads to the threats aimed her way, Zoyu was willing to step towards the danger to find some. Zoyu was very good friends - at one time, more than friends - with a very adept Scorpion Actress. This girl, she was playing the part of anxious, almost obsequious, peasant girl tasked with presenting a message to one well above her station, and she was playing it well. Too well. It lacked the small imperfections, personal affectations to truly add the verisimilitude of a real individual. "This one's reply is thus: Kakita Zoyu will treat with Shosuro Kamiko at the House of the Laughing Carp, two days hence, at the hour of the Horse. Will you be accompanying your mistress, 'girl'?" Though Zoyu's tone was pleasant, almost merry, her eyes danced with something almost wild. Her hands were folded demurely in the sleeves of her kimono, but the 'girl' couldn't help but be aware Kakita Zoyu's blade was less than a breath away.

Kamiko wrote her missive in an elegant hand, dipping pen to ink and setting it to calligraphy in a courtly style. The language was flowery, its meaning couched behind simple-seeming platitudes. Dearest friend, It has not been so long a time since we saw each other last, But it feels already as though it had been too long. The sun that shone so brightly upon us while together has set, casting long shadows that rise up around you, closing in. With distance comes clarity, the sages write. I see now that our paths have not yet diverged. For the sake of the old times, and the new, let us again come together. The one who's hand bears this message is trusted by me. Tell them a place and time and I will be there. She weighted the edges of the paper so it wouldn't curl, then left it to dry as she gathered a few items she'd be needing. Kamiko had planned this to the day of the delivery. The night sky was dim this night, the moon new and hidden. With pinches of thumb and forefinger, she extinguished each candle flame in her room. "Twelve willow branches stripped of bark," she said, arranging the offering in a brass bowl and setting them alight. The light from the dull fire set shadows leaping crazily around the walls of the room. "in oil rendered from the fat of the fox. Cleverness and guile, mischief and malice, I call you to be in this room with me tonight. The moon's eye is closed, Yokina Uso no Kami. We are safe here in the dark." The flames went out. whaaaaaat do you waaaaant mortal thiiiiiiiiing The voice was sibilant and rasping, heard as much in the skull as with the ears. It set the skin of any natural thing crawling. Kamiko smiled. === It was a peasant girl who came to the door of the Kakita estate that night, bare faced and dressed in humble, drab clothing. She looked down away from even the servant who came to investigate, offering up a scroll with the wax seal of Shosuro on it. Though the servant moved to take the scroll, the messenger fearfully whispered that she was to deliver it herself, and that she dared not cross the lady who set her to it. The messenger was searched of course, for any weapon or instrument of guile, but there was nothing. She was just a girl, no matter who had hired her. Finally she was escorted through the Kakita home, still clutching the scroll as if it was a life preserver...visibly wondering if this terror was worth the money paid for the delivery. Before being brought to Zoyu, the servant announced her. "Kakita-sama, this girl has a message from a..." and here even the doorman's face let slip a pinch of disgust, "...Scorpion. One Shosuro Kamiko." The girl flung herself to her knees and held the scroll up with both hands, shutting her eyes tightly as if expecting the stroke of a sword at any moment. "I beg your pardon great samurai," she gasped. "I was asked to receive your reply to this message! I could not give it away!" For Nina's eyes:

Kaneteru just let out a belly laugh at the thought of these criminals trying to take down an acolyte of Togashi's on his own, let alone one paired with a Dragon samurai. As they approached closer, bunching together to be the first to strike, he took in a deep breath, focused his energy on his chest tattoo and when the breath felt like it was burning his lungs, he let it out. From the monk's mouth a wave of black and purple flame erupted, spreading out to encompass many of the criminals. The breath didn't seem to burn them, or freeze them, but they reacted in pain, nonetheless. His eyes glanced over at the one trying to grab the swords, as he made sure that one was affected. Once his breath was released, with blinding speed, he reached into his sash, drew out 3 fine pointed throwing slivers, and tossed them at the one focused on the blades, the one with the cooking knife and one with the clubs. Once the little slivers hit, they embedded themselves in the flesh of their targets doing much more damage than one would think. The ones just hit with the breath looked ragged, but the ones hit by the needles looked very bad. The monk gazed right at the one going for the swords, "No. Bad gangster. Those aren't yours." Kaneteru was speaking to the gangster as if he was a recalcitrant puppy.

In the City of Lies… The gangster froze, eyes wide staring at the Monk and the Samurai, then his eyes shifted to the other criminals and back to the table. The old man scuttled away. Everyone was still, except Rin, who picked up her bowl of soup with one hand and slurped loudly. The tension crackled like the air after a lightning strike. The Gangster narrowed his eyes, he was offended by the disdain the dirty samurai showed him. Eyes darted around the room from one to another, hands bunched into fists, muscles tensed… The rage and fear took hold of the semi brave gangster they were six, them only two. With a cry he dashed to the swords as his fellow criminals charged the table some drawing small one handed clubs and one a cooking knife… Tsuma Winter 1122-1123 Shosuro Kamiko settled into the quarters set aside for her by her benefactor. The journey by wagon had been quick and pleasant, though still cold, the melting snows had made for a picturesque countryside to travel through, and it was good to be doing something. And the first thing she did was compose a message to her friend…

Zoyu and Toshimoko With her poise and pride, Zoyu did not let her shoulders slump, but a frown flitted across her exquisite features as she turned from window. To join the Kenshinzen, one typically had to defeat a member of the Kenshinzen. But of course, a Daimyo of one of the Great Clans can make their own decrees. And if she still had no doubt she would be accounted among their number, Zoyu had to reluctantly agree with her dear sensei's assessment, and perhaps she yet needed a bit of seasoning before she could legitimately be elevated to the rank of Kenshinzen. That she would be sent into the war between the Crane and the Lion had been a concern. Indeed, she was a swordswoman, not a soldier, as Toshimoko had said, but she would have done as commanded by her Daimyo and her Honour, despite her wants. But it had not occurred to her that the leader of her own clan might have a nefarious reason to thrust her into a war. Her own growing greatness would brighten the Crane, not darken them. Zoyu might have dabbled her toes in Court, but she was a blademaster foremost, and not a politician. She stepped towards Toshimoko, a touch closer than propriety would dictate and looked up at him. "Doji Retsu. And now it seems, even Doji Namura-sama himself. Why? What has this one done to turn her Clan against one of its rising stars?" Her full lips firmed into a tight line, mismatched eyes glittered. "Links of investigation may have been severed, but perhaps there links yet to discover to piece together." Her eyelids lowered and a faint, enigmatic curve grow on her lips. "Of another mystery, should you ask, one day, this one will tell you of her year missing from the Empire."

"Perhaps not all is as it appears to be. After all, a recipe can be traded, can it not?" Kaneteru smiled. He took a long slurp of the soup. The monk looked over his shoulder at the inn owner, "The soup is lovely. What kind of soup is this? it is very tasty, but hard for my tongue to identify. Maybe I've spent too much time in the mountains." He said the last very quietly, aimed at Rin. "Maybe the gangsters could help me identify the ingredients. After all they must be well-informed, if they are collecting money from the survivors and other businesses. Should I call them donations or, what they truthfully are, shakedowns?" He carefully stood up, and stretched out his back by leaning back. While leaning back he glanced over at the 6 gangsters and 'grandfather.' "The world has such a wonderful variety of perspectives. I find there are three that matter. " He stood straight up. "The three are: Yours, Mine, and The Truth. In my perspective, forced payments are theft. Thieves should be punished, and cowardly thieves even more so. Would you care to provide another perspective, gangster-san?" He looked right at the one trying to make for the package in the corner.

In the City of Lies Mirumoto Rin burst into laughter, after several deep guffaws she took a deep breath. "I don't know about that Tagashi-san, I am a fairly simple Dragon. I am not here to throw out gangsters, I am here for the soup. Grandfather there is a very good cook. That is why they didn't burn his inn. Where else would they get the soup." Rin picks up her bowl and drains it loudly smacking her lips after. "Very good soup." One of the gangsters had started edging slowly toward the stage and the corner where Rin's swords were. Keneteru could see the Duelists eyes moving to follow him. "But it does raise a question," the gangster stops, "why are their six gangsters in this inn each with their collections, when the only other people here are you, me, and grandfather?"

Kaneteru smiled at the proprietor as he placed the soup bowl in front of him. He then nodded in thanks to the man. "So, Mirumoto-san. What can I help one such as yourself with? I do have some time available, as my next task is late in coming. However, I must say, it is a dangerous game you are playing here. If you wish to run the gangs out of town, wouldn't a magistrate or two and their entourages be more helpful than a simple monk? I can provide names if you are looking for someone to trust. Not that I am afraid, but it's just not practical to keep going to each gang and throwing every member out personally." Kaneteru took a small bite of his rice ball, and a sip of water. "But you are not quite the simple Mirumoto that you portray, are you?" He chuckled and hid his smile behind his hand, "Sorry, but even if I hadn't been trained by the Kitsuki, as a youngster, the tattoos give more away among our kind than you would probably like known in public. Perhaps we should continue this in a place with less ears and eyes."

Zoyu and Toshimoko "Humph." grunted Toshimoko deep in his chest, his features, for a moment grimaced, as if wrestling with an unseen opponent. "What I think, it seems is of little concern to any but you, Zoyu. I was not consulted. Indeed were it not for a little bird whispering in my ear..." He lets the thought trail off and sips the wine. "I have of course followed your career, but then you dropped out of sight for a whole year only to turn up here at winters onset. I will not pry. You have made a name for yourself. But you are young and in my opinion have not yet reached the heights for which that title was intended." He turns to face Zoyu squarely. "I do not think Doji Namura thought of this on his own. Or if he did, his motive is not to honor you but to serve himself. If you accept he will send you to war. You are not a soldier, Zoyu, you are a fighter, fast, skilled, deadly. No, this is politics. Accept this and you will not serve, you will be used."