Despair and Wisdom: Imperial March

The evening was starting to get cold and what better way to fight it by a nice ramen soup. Yoshiko held her bowl with her two hands to keep them warm. The girl took a seat and smelled the savory broth. She blew some of the steam out and dipped her spoon. The happy Hida smiled at the tasty soup.

Adoka had yet to fully wake up. He needed sake for that, plus he was hungry. His eyes landed on his hand and he asked him to move to his shoulder. He didn't bother to hide himself. People were supposed to avoid him. He followed his smell and was rewarded, with what passed for a mess in an Emerald Legions camp.

It amazed him how many people had accepted that becoming food for Oni, was their destiny. Lucky for them, they didn't recognise that this meant that instead of joining their ancestors, they will become the playthings of Oni or worse things.

The Hida present was probably one of the few that would make it back. For less than a second he considered being sociable. Then he decided that this wouldn't happen before he had at least a cup of sake.

He sat on a table and allowed his eyes to jump on the table. He filled his cup and took a sip as he offered prayers to Lord Onnetangu and various lesser known fortunes. His eyes sampled from his sake and that resulted on the raven equivalent of a cough and a spilled sake cup on his kimono.

He smiled beneath his mask as with the one hand he petted the albino raven, while with the other he refilled his cup.

Yoshiko didn't comment on what had happened but she did find curious the bird the Yogo had. It was interesting since the evening before she was taking about befriending a fox and now she sees a man who befriended a white raven. "Anooo... Scorpion sama..." She called a bit shyly. "May I ask a question?... besides the one just asked."

Relieved that he had time to at least empty one cup, he put it back on the table

"Sure, as long as you have brought along your cup, Hida-sama." He responded as he refilled his cup.

The Hida shook her hands. "Oh no... nothing like that. Thank you for the offer though." She pointed at the crow. "Who is your friend there?"

This particular Crab seemed too friendly. Adoka wasn't used to friendly people.

Ask about my skull!
Ofc, grandpa. A random Crab would know where you misplaced it.


"Metsuki-san is more than a mere friend. He is my eyes." He answered without exaggerating (much). "If you wish so, I could introduce you to him. He is far more social than me and he likes the sons and daughters of Hida." He added.

He reach for his pouch and picked a worm.

"In case it doesn't offend you touch a worm, he is very fond of those." He suggested.

She tilted her head to the worm and took it with her chopsticks. "I guess this can work." The Hida offered the worm to the bird. "No worries, I just want to learn and know more about the animals accompanying the Legion."

Metsuki looked at the worm and cocked its head towards Adoka. Some croaks were exchanged between then and the still reserved bird approached the Hida.

"He might accidentally hurt you with his bick. In case that happens try to stay calm. I will patch you up afterwards and my skills are good enough that no scar will be added to your remarkably perfect skin." He supposed he sounded like some control freak, but well he really just wanted to avoid anyone involved getting hurt.

"Also a clarification. Metsuki -san is accompanying me, not the Legion. I doubt that he would approach anyone without me around."

The Hida wiggled the chopsticks around so the bird had a better angle to get the worm. "You are part of the Legion neh? And you told me that Metsuki san was your eyes, neh? So..." She was adding 1 and 1.

"I see." He replied.

"Pragmatic as expected." He added.

Metsuki spend some time studying the chopsticks and then attacked one of them. Once the worm was in the table he grabbed it and jumped on Adoka's shoulder.

The Hida arched a brow. "Logic...but that is not important." She shrugged. "This one is Hida Yoshiko, from the 4th kaisha." Yoshiko gave a seated bow.

Of course she needs the last word...How typical!

"Logic is largely defined by one's experiences and background, as well as some other variants like status, etc." He explained.

"Please ponder on whether you would have presumed to explain how logic works to a Kuni Priest. In any case, I avoid getting into theological issues, when not under the effects, so please let's drop it, until that happens." He suggested.

"This one is Yogo Adoka. 3rd Kaisha. Fresh blood. I can handle myself against things we shouldn't be talking about." He added and fed another worm to Metsuki.

"Do you expect to die in this journey?" She wondered why present oneself as fresh blood.

"Yes." He replied.

"I am not saying that I can't imagine myself surviving it, but way I understand where we are going and given my issues, I feel that a 13% possibility of survival is quite blick." He explained.

"But to be honest a proper death isn't so bad. There are worse fates that I can imagine."

"I prefer to live and serve the empire for a long live. Tell my own stories to those people who would like to know the truth." She slurped her soup.

He pictured that and allowed himself a smile.

"In that case apologies. You found a person that really dislikes the concept of truth. At some point people should accept that truth is subjective." He refilled his cup and took a sip.

"It is subjective and that is why I want to tell my tales. It would be my experience and how I see it not how a someone else does." The woman pondered for a moment sipping on her soup. She looked at the man taking another drink and nodded finding her thought. "If a third would tale your tale the may say you were a drunk... but I can see that you just enjoy a good drink."

He chuckled.

"I am still a drunk. Ultimately nothing really matters as long as one does as expected. Issues start when one develops special needs that most people can't comprehend."

"We are ningen... if we were Kami we wouldn't have any needs." The Hida noted. "What makes us special is the drive and aspiration to serve and and be ofbservice to our clan and our empire... be it being the underhand or being the wall." She slurped her soup.

"Duty." He exclaimed.

"It's funny how our Clans share views on the subject and yet there is so little else we can agree on. Anyways, any idea who is the highest ranking Kuni in the camp?" He inquired.

"I have a feeling that I will need to become his acquaintance soon." He explained without bothering to hide his lack of enthusiasm about it.