just prior to the upcoming jaunt mingle...

[bypartisan]

Ahem. It's been, oh, about a week or so since the start of the Jaunt and we haven't really had a large-scale conversation since my ignomious death, so I figure this is likely as good as any time to pool information on the goings-on and update one another to our activities, so that hopefully we won't be too very much blindsided in the future.

I'll start: Wash and I made it out of Nakamiyo in one piece, despite my spending a large portion of our little trip as an overly large mustelid--thank you ever so much Tiresias Syndrome--and an unfortunate cabbage incident. I left the man in Suzuki, where hopefully he will be able to reunite with Zoe, and I'm now heading toward the Sun Guard monastery, traveling under the name of my cousin Dono. I'm also attempting to replicate the rather dashing beard the Betans gave him on the event of his sex-change and while it's only a few days along I think it's coming in nicely. And I haven't been stabbed again.

... I really do hope that can be said of the rest of you as well.

Comments

[capital_asset]

I've been speaking with Claudia - or rather, Chiyo - at the Sun Temple. She's interested in seeing the different factions unified, but she doesn't believe the current leadership is adequate to that particular task, and she can't leave here to search for someone suitable herself. She's... asked me to keep an eye out for a suitable candidate, for some reason.

[He still can't believe she's trusting a total stranger with this.]

For what it's worth, my Questing Sense homed in on her when I happened to use it during our initial conversation. Whether that was because she's vital to this Jaunt or because she has information that is, I can't say.

[bypartisan]

You're that sort of fellow, I suppose. The kind that's always being asked to help out of the goodness of your heart.

Well. Bai only knew the people in Mibu Village and some of the surrounding hamlets very well, but of the people he did know... his sister Setsuko--Sabetha--was well able to ride herd on the rest of her siblings, which says something to her organizational capabilities. And his second youngest brother Raito--Right--is very charismatic in his way and might make a decent figurehead.

... if it weren't for his sister, Gyakusatsu Ren--Jaeger--might also have been a perfectly adequate figurehead.

[capital_asset]

Possibly.

[Raidou has his doubts.]

I don't think I've met Jaeger. His sister is...?

[And then it clicks.]

...Ah. Right.

[bypartisan]

... sadly, Ren might still be our best bet, despite the sister. He has a well-earned reputation as a man of honor, he's skilled, and... I hate to admit it, but he's charismatic.

[leftbehindagain]

[After a moment of puzzlement, Naoki decides it's probably better not to ask about the whole sex change thing.]

Well, I've yet to be stabbed once, but that's about all I can say for myself. I've been finding it slow going up here, so I might try to get to another province and see what's what there over the next couple weeks.

Kanji, Souji-san, we... might be all right to call Personas, if you guys stick to the humanoid ones. This whole spirit-summoning thing sounds close enough that we won't raise too many eyebrows if they're necessary.

[truerevelation]

Huh.

Well... I probably ain't gonna be summonin' crap anyway from down here. But thanks for the idea.

[leftbehindagain]

Well, if you need to, the option's there. Clearly you learned it from some far-fling monastery.

[Private]

We should probably talk face-to-face. [Which isn't just because he wants to give Kanji a hard time about joining with the military group, but that's certainly part of it.] Would it be easier for me to head that way, or do you think you could get up here for a while?

[truerevelation]

Yeah, no-one here gives a shit where ya came from. So it'll probably work. But I'm savin' it in case.

[Private:] [ He knows he probably deserves it for not saying something earlier. But ... someone had to do it. And he's not seen any sign that the captain is secretly planning to take over the continent or is the master of all five elements or anything similar... still, there's an awkward edge to his mental tone. ]

An'... we should. I probably don't wanna start travellin' too far, but.. y'know, I've got a coupla things I wanna check.

[fridgeninja]

It seems I lucked out. 8/12.

[leftbehindagain]

Considering how the thing here tends to work, I'm starting to be glad the second one I picked up has a little family resemblance.

[bypartisan]

It does seem that Koroshima is where a lot of the interesting things are happening right now. You might try your luck there.

[leftbehindagain]

I might, at that. Kanji's going to try something, so I'm staying here until he's done with whatever experiment he has in mind, but after that I might head for somewhere else.

[wholeheaded]

I... after Jules' warning I tracked down Matthew for a conversation to see if I could learn anything more from him.

[ yes, after the warning. ]

He didn't summon anything at me and he didn't really tell me anything either, but I could tell he was possessed by something. One thing made of several somethings made of lightning, like an even scarier turducken. He's powerful and definitely bears watching, so I'm gonna see about getting in with the Sun Guard and doing that from a safe distance.


ooc: going on hiatus, replies won't come until April 2

[leftbehindagain]

[Today in Not Comforting News:]

...Well, I mean, he's usually possessed, or something along those lines. That probably just got infiltrated along with him. I don't know all the details, but I'm pretty sure that's what happened with the outrider last jaunt.

I'm not saying it doesn't sound like his scary game's really been upped this time, but I don't think that part's out of the ordinary.

[bypartisan]

... usually possessed?

[Why. Why this.]

[failgoyle]

He's WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!?!?!

[truerevelation]

Yo.

Well, you already kinda know the biggest thing that happened down here better than I do. So I dunno if I can really add anything there.

But I figure I oughta let you guys know... I joined up with the Mibugumi. Been training with 'em. This is probably a dumb idea, I know, but ... I'd rather get into trouble with my eyes open for once, and I think I can stick this one out as long as I've gotta.

[bypartisan]

One of us ought to. Thank you, Tatsumi. If you need to go AWOL, let us know and we'll arrange something.

[truerevelation]

Go a-what? You kinda lost me there. But ... thanks. I'll try to keep lettin' everyone know what's going on.

[rustyhonesty]

I managed to sneak in to the summit with the help of Alcuin, here in Koroshima.

[Boy it was nerve wrecking and he doesn't want to do that again unless he has a good reason to do it.]

What I learned was that there will most likely be a war against the Empire. Apparently, if that's the case, there won't be enough food for all of the forces in the peninsula, so they were trying to find a solution for that. They were arguing about who'd be the most useful in war and ... it was actually pretty childish.

[bypartisan]

The Empire itself? Not just the 'foreign barbarians?'

[Byerly is just a bit startled by that one.]

Somehow I'm not surprised it was childish. Do you know the main players?

[rustyhonesty]

That's the feeling I got anyway. It was a decision made by the Shogun that they gathered to talk about.

There were representatives from the Akuryu family, the Suzuki rifles and Nakamiyo, at least, though in total there were five who were talking the most. I recognized one of the talkers as a traveler; Beatrice. She was strongly on the side of Koroshima being the best asset to the war.

Then there was also Maria. Once there was talk about settling matters with a duel she started looking... interested.

[solvethepuzzle]

Congratulations on surviving. [Kind of impossible to tell whether he's deliberately being a shit or not. Either way is equally possible.]

Not stabbed, but followed.

[bypartisan]

... should I ask what you did to merit being followed?

[solvethepuzzle]

Apparently, I attracted negative attention from the leader of the Akuryu, but not badly enough for him to have me killed. [Also known as: he looked at Hajime funny and was kind of annoying.]