[x] Understanding. You are Hisao, not the Emperor, not the Steel pillar, that's a part of you, but not the only part of you...and that pillar will fall if you don't take care of all of you.
We should arrange some time, I think, to actually talk with our brother at some point.
[X] Understanding. You are Hisao, not the Emperor, not the Steel pillar, that's a part of you, but not the only part of you...and that pillar will fall if you don't take care of all of you.
[X] Peace. It's a slight thing seized in a half drunken haze between two people, but it is real, the pain isn't there for a night, and you treasure it.
He is Hisao, yet also the Emperor. They are intertwined and not separable, at least in the eyes of the people.
Courtiers on average tend to beg off retirement until they feel like they can't do the job anymore, but the vast majority of samurai are bushi, and bushi train hard, so they see a lot of wear and tear on their bodies, thus for them retiring at that age makes a lot of sense.
Adhoc vote count started by gman391 on Apr 20, 2019 at 6:53 PM, finished with 12 posts and 9 votes.
[X] Understanding. You are Hisao, not the Emperor, not the Steel pillar, that's a part of you, but not the only part of you...and that pillar will fall if you don't take care of all of you.
[X] Peace. It's a slight thing seized in a half drunken haze between two people, but it is real, the pain isn't there for a night, and you treasure it.
There are a dozen things you should be doing, great and noble personages you could be wooing or as the need arises dispatching. There are many things that the Emperor should be doing.
But Hisao, Hisao is content to take a rest every seven days. So you walk along the paths of Kyuden Akodo, the steady crunch of your feet on snow as you walk, the cold wind feels not quite refreshing, but not totally unpleasant either. The sort of quiet beauty that was prized so highly by Rokugani, a perfect scene that lasts only a moment.
Behind you several feet is still your Seppun guard along with an honour guard of Akodo, they wanted to keep you safe and you couldn't really blame them for that. Still they were loud, albeit unintentionally, and there is a good point to be made that dragging them through the cold is somewhat cruel.
On the other hand, you wanted to just take time for yourself. While you hadn't returned to Hana's soft lap, you had taken the memory seriously.
'When the work is done, wait, rest and bide'
She had said that to you, and asked what it meant, you had given the answer of preparing for the next challenge, and gently, gently for you could take her head if you truly wished, she had led you to a different meaning.
Hana believed that it meant that there was a time when a person simply needs to stop, to let themselves breathe, not think of the future or the past, only being themselves in the moment.
So you had done that, you had let your self breath and come to a conclusion that you were not just the Emperor, you were also Hisao the man, a man who had done great things, but still a man and----
A snow ball hits your face.
You blink for a moment and bring a hand up to wipe the cold wet fluff off your face. Slowly your gaze turns to see two young children, between the age of Minoru and Yuina, both are face down in the snow kow towing to you. A boy with a ragged head of brown hair, and a girl with longer black hair done up in a bun. They both wear warm but not outstanding clothes in the normal brown of children at play.
"We're really sorry!" they say in unison.
"You should be sorry, assaulting the Emperor is punishable by death." Barks your Seppun guard captain.
Seppun Hikaru, loyal man, wound fairly tightly, you recall.
Hikaru is already advancing on the two youths apparently set on punishing them rather permanently.
"Hold" you call. Hikaru seems to creek to a stop.
"My Emperor they assaulted your august personage!"
"I know Seppun-san, but I'm also fairly sure that when I was a child throwing snowballs, I missed more often than I hit my target." you say easily.
"It was an accident Mikado honest! It was my fault, I was trying to hit---" One boy begins only for the girl to cut in. "No it was my fault!"
You raise a hand.
"What are your names, who are your parents?" you ask.
"My name is Hachi your Imperial Highness, my father is Akodo Shikigaru" the boy answers.
"I'm Kiku, my father is Akodo Toshigaru. We're cousins." the girl answers.
"Alright, Hachi, Kiku, stand up, I'm not mad." you say.
The two tentatively stand up, and Hikaru gives you a look of 'what do I do?'
"Seppun-san, please inform their parents that they need to take proper care to teach their children to aim properly, in the mean time, have the rest of the guard block this area off." You say.
"At once my Emperor, but you do not have to bear the indignity of punishing them yourself my Emperor, any one of us would gladly see to their punishment." Hikaru says.
"Seppun-san, when one is hit by a snow ball, they can either endure it or...." you say bending over picking up snow from the ground and patting it into a ball.
"Reply in kind" you finish and huck the snowball into Hachi.
Kiku just stares at you for a minute.
"I...I..."
In retrospect giving in to your whim to have a snowball fight might have been too much for them.
"Well Kiku-chan, are you going to defend your cousin?" you ask.
That seems to settle her as she bends down and throws a snowball back at you.
And so the game is on.....
------------------------ Evening
You sit in your quarters drinking hot tea, as your brother sits across from you, he had asked for a meeting after this afternoon, and you hadn't seen a reason to deny him.
The tension from that night still lingered somewhat, but while you don't really agree with what he did, you do forgive him, and so you across from him.
Between you two is an ikebana composition made by him, it's not what you discussed, but it's still nice to look at all the same.
"So..." Takeshi says.
"So..." you continue.
"You got into a snowball fight?" Takeshi finally blurts out.
One hand reaches for the tea and takes a sip. Golden Needle was still good, you wish you had it more often but can't have favourites that way.
"I did, it seemed like something fun to do."
Takeshi narrows his eyes.
"What did Hana write to you?" he asks.
"Just a different perspective...my duty as the Emperor is paramount, it's literally why I was born. I will always do my duty first and foremost...but I can't do that if I'm killing my self through over work. I need to relax sometimes, that's what she helped me to work out." You answer.
Takeshi takes a long sip.
"Not sure if I should be jealous or amazed." He says.
"Both?" You ask.
"Both is good...so are you going to do it again?" Takeshi asks.
"The snowball fight? Probably not, I'm allowed some eccentricity but getting known for that would just lead to something either amazing or terrible at the next winter court, wherever I decide to have it." You say.
While the image of a court wide snowball fight amuses you, it's not the right message to send for anything.
"Not going back to Kyuden Gusai?" Takeshi asks.
"No, while Hiroko-san is doing the best she can, the Mantis are for now, still officially out of favour. I'll figure out where I'm going after I return back to Toshi Ranbo." You answer.
"Fair enough" he says taking another sip. "I'm glad you're doing better...Kaname-shiryo was possibly the best woman I knew, she would have wanted you to move on though."
"Possibly?" You ask dryly.
"Walls have ears, and I don't need another fight with the wife." Takeshi says with a shrug.
"Another fight? I know you two were arranged, but is it that bad?" You ask.
"My wife is beautiful, talented, smart, and deadly, but she's also a Matsu's Matsu in a lot of ways. I'm making it work, but it's not easy." He answers.
"Which is why I don't have nephews or nieces yet?" You ask.
"Something like that, don't worry I'm working on it." He says.
"Good, don't want to do what grandfather did and father your first child on a geisha..." you say.
"Hey Uncle Kaneka was pretty good to us" Takeshi says.
"He was, but he was an absolute headache for our father...I understand why, I just don't want it to be a trend in our family." You say.
"Hmm, well I do have a few favourites, I'm not that dumb....speaking of Geisha, Hana, you want her?" Takeshi asks.
"Want her?" you ask in turn.
"The Obaa-san of the house made sure to mention that her contract was available for purchase. Figure I'd pass it along. I don't see you getting married anytime soon, but a female companion of sorts wouldn't be the worst thing." Takeshi answers.
"We...didn't do anything like that" you say.
Takeshi chuckles.
"Of course not, I expected you to talk, and at most hold hands, but even so the fact is, a companion is a good thing for you. You don't want her that's fine, I like her well enough anyways.'
You consider for a moment. On the one hand, concubinage isn't something you ever had any interest in with Kaname alive, but she's gone now...and well you wouldn't be the first Emperor to be taken with a geisha and make her a concubine. It's possibly the best thing for her, and while you had done nothing with Hana, you hadn't been totally oblivious to her soft hands, or hinted figure.
On the other hand, it was a big step, and the expectation from everyone even Hana would be that eventually you were intimate with her, and wasn't that a betrayal of Kaname too? Of the intimacy you had held together for so long? Your heart aches at the thought of doing that to her memory.
You had reasons for both, and ultimately either answer would be selfish, but in the end...
[] You agree to take Hana's contract and make her a concubine
[] You refuse, while you aren't going to remarry soon, you expect you will and that's a headache you don't want.
AN: Life is life, and delays are delay, hope you enjoy.
Do we *need* to make her a concubine? Quite honestly, someone with whom we could let our On down would be lovely, but I agree that we don't need to make the remarriage more complicated.
Can't we, say, buy her contract and make her a private artisan or something like that?
And even if, could we please ask the poor girl what she thinks about that?
Do we *need* to make her a concubine? Quite honestly, someone with whom we could let our On down would be lovely, but I agree that we don't need to make the remarriage more complicated.
Can't we, say, buy her contract and make her a private artisan or something like that?
And even if, could we please ask the poor girl what she thinks about that?
Technically no. But that's typically what buying a geisha's contract for one person means. Now this isn't totally reflective of the real world geisha culture or anything like that, but it's how it works in Rokugan.
A Geisha is purchased by a the Geisha House Owner/ Manager (Called an Okaa-san or Mother) and considered burakumin. (Ie not a person at all but effectively someone with negative status) then raised up through various ranks (1-3 for beginners, and 1-10 for the masters) and then working for the Okaa-san and through obtaining gifts, or other methods eventually gaining enough coin to purchase her/his contract at which point they either end up becoming Okaa-san's in their own right or retiring. (rarely very rarely they keep working)
However, the contract can with the Okaa-san's consent and the geisha's consent be purchased by another, but the opportunity is only really afforded to nobles of sufficient rank (Hisao being the Emperor naturally gets a free pass on this) However, the contract is only ever purchased to make the geisha into a concubine for the noble. For many geisha this is what they aspire to as being a concubine is if of lesser status than full wives, still much more than they had, and their children are guaranteed a better life than anywhere else.
So legally buying the contract of Hana doesn't obligate her becoming a concubine, but by custom and tradition it's expected that she become one.
(And no Hana and her Okaa-san are not stupid enough to refuse a request by the Emperor's brother. It doesn't even matter if neither Hisao or Takeshi would take offense, the backlash from daring to refuse the Son of Heaven is just too great. It's not terribly fair to Hana, but while Hisao is progressive in a lot of ways, this isn't one of them.)
Thanks for the info, Quest Master. My L5R games were usually less filled with Geisha and more filled with oni. (Somewhere, I made a wrong decision in this.)
[x] You agree to take Hana's contract and make her a concubine
I want to officially put down that I also don't want to make her a concubine. If Write-ins were allowed, I'd snip off the last five words. However, I think this is the best option because Hana is good for us mentally, she likely won't get pumped by Scorpions/Crane for info about us, and this puts us one step farther along the road to getting over Kaname's death, which we sorely need.
EDIT: To be clear, I want to buy out her contract. Whether she becomes a concubine after that I don't give a whit.
[x] You agree to take Hana's contract and make her a concubine
I want to officially put down that I also don't want to make her a concubine. If Write-ins were allowed, I'd snip off the last five words. However, I think this is the best option because Hana is good for us mentally, she likely won't get pumped by Scorpions/Crane for info about us, and this puts us one step farther along the road to getting over Kaname's death, which we sorely need.
EDIT: To be clear, I want to buy out her contract. Whether she becomes a concubine after that I don't give a whit.
Write in's are always allowed unless I say they aren't for a specific vote.
Granted I will veto some write in's on the basis of character or world consistency.
(IE, if you wanted to have Hisao decide that he's going to go see the Jeweled City, that's doable. Having go to the Festering Pit in the Shadowlands would be blocked, things of that nature.)
I would say "buy" but the longer we wouldn't marry the more people would want to assassinate her for grabbing attention that totally should go to their catspaws.
[X] Understanding. You are Hisao, not the Emperor, not the Steel pillar, that's a part of you, but not the only part of you...and that pillar will fall if you don't take care of all of you.
[X] Peace. It's a slight thing seized in a half drunken haze between two people, but it is real, the pain isn't there for a night, and you treasure it.
[X] Understanding. You are Hisao, not the Emperor, not the Steel pillar, that's a part of you, but not the only part of you...and that pillar will fall if you don't take care of all of you.
[X] Peace. It's a slight thing seized in a half drunken haze between two people, but it is real, the pain isn't there for a night, and you treasure it.
