Year 913 - Turn 1.6 - Hatsuyuki
- Location
- Connecticut
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Hatsuyuki.
You've met all of Boss Koibu's former advisors before, and Auntie Hatsuyuki is no exception. She has been present at the various yearly celebrations and holidays, helped teach you and some of the other samurai-ko under the Boss about your monthly flows, introduced you to the butterfly boy that took your virginity... yet for all that, it is difficult to say that you truly know her. You had a special relationship with the Boss, he was like the father that you never had, and Jiro was like the older brother you never wanted, but the rest of the Boss's advisors have mostly been respected figures who you bowed to and spoke with infrequently at best. Today, you're meeting Auntie Hatsuyuki as her superior, and it's just a little bit odd.
As you approach the doorway of the Silken Smile, you notice just how cleanly painted and attractive it is, even in daylight. Many okiya in the 'flower town' have a pretty facade in front of fairly ordinary housing, or cover up the damage and dents in their doorways with liberal amounts of red paint. The Smile looks more like one of the high-class manses in the noble district, with clean lines and white walls. Only a few bits of red trim on the windows of the Smile give a hint to the building's true nature, like red lipstick on a white face.
Some of your samurai stand guard at the front gates, as is the case for most of the okiya in the district, but the post is reserved for only the most trusted among your number. The bushi let you pass through without any hesitation, though Taigen does wink as you pass by. The path into the house proper leads around one corner, then another, effectively sealing you away from the street and the outside world before it opens up into a lush inner garden. The gentle tones of a shamisen reach your awareness on almost the edge of your hearing, and it makes you wonder just how long they have been playing, waiting for you.
A pair of maiko, the geisha-in-training, bow low to you as you approach the inner doors, revealing the red collars on the backs of their kimono as they sweep the doors open in front of you. You are greeted inside by one of Auntie's butterfly boys, the careful lines of his kabuki makeup accentuating his sharp cheekbones and pointed chin. He gives you a slow smile. "Welcome, Namazu-dono." His voice is rich like heated silk, and you can almost feel that heat collect and pool deep inside of you. "Can I take your coat? Offer you any refreshments? Auntie told me to let you know that there is a cask of sake in from the Village of Cherry Blossom Snow..." he trails off suggestively.
You smile helplessly. "Ah, um... sure?" You allow the wakashu to remove your haori, and he begins to effortlessly usher you deeper into the Silken Smile.
"The Cherry Blossom, an excellent choice, Namazu-dono, though may I say that I have always been fond of Camellias myself." The wakashu gives you an outrageous wink at the pun on your name, and you can feel a blush rising in your cheeks. Almost before you know it, you are seated in what you know from prior visits must be the grand hall, but paper screens have been pulled across the room to partition it into an intimate area more comfortable for a small gathering. The music of the shamisen has followed you into the house, if it had not originated there already, and the tones of it soothe you as you sip at the sake and wait for Auntie to arrive.
"So, Tsubaki-chan. Impressed yet?" you hear from your right elbow. You start, realizing all of a sudden that Auntie managed to sit next to you while you were sitting and listening to the music, and you didn't even notice. As usual, she is made up heavily; not so much as the geisha that are still actively working as such, but still powdering her face and coloring her eyes in a way that hides most of the wrinkles of age in her face, giving her an almost timeless beauty. A few streaks of grey run through her hair, but the elaborate headdress that she wears sets off those stray grey hairs as though they were a deliberate artifice.
"I - well, yes," you say, doing your best to collect yourself. "Is this how you greeted the Boss every time?"
Auntie shakes her head. "This is me proving a point, darling. If I can put you in such a relaxed, comfortable state - you, who grew up in the flower district and has been around it all her life - imagine what I can do to your negotiating partners."
You frown. It's true that the ambiance here is lovely, but... "is such a thing really so desireable?"
She smiles in a kindly, gentle fashion that somehow nevertheless manages to remind you of a shark. "If I'd wanted you drunk and pliable, I could have had Sho refill that cup of yours a few more times, and you never would have protested. Usually if I do that, I also insist on giving my guests a show before we discuss any sort of business. We have lovely dancers, wonderful musicians... all of which make for lovely distractions from a samurai's cares, worries, and their intentions to negotiate aggressively."
You blink, then smile. "I see. Luckily for me that I came in with no such ambitions."
Auntie Hatsuyuki continues to smile, and refills your sake cup. "You're going to want to hold some meetings here, but only the important ones. If you want to encourage someone to close a deal, taking them to a lesser house when one of their friends or rivals has been here is quite the statement. Exclusivity is the key there. There are also ways to play on a man's emotions - sing him a song of daring battles and great risks taken, and he will leap forwards into an agreement he desires without truly examining what it may cost. Play a tune of tragedy and woe, and he will resist being overly risky in pressing you for additional concessions." The relaxing shamisen continues to play in the background, but as you listen to the tune it almost begins to seem vaguely sinister to you in the sheer potency of its lazy lullaby. "Often men guard their loins so well when they come here, expecting to be manipulated or seduced, that they forget to guard their hearts."
"And but some of them do get seduced," You state with an arch expression. "It seems almost curious to me that you have not yet mentioned such."
She turns her gaze on you and her eyes become almost smoky-lidded. "Of course they do," she purrs in a way that makes you vaguely uncomfortable. Another blink, and she is back to normal as though nothing had ever happened. "That's the easy part. Deciding just how much a man wants you, when the right time is to accept his offer, how to lead him on without making him feel that you make false promises or losing his interest? That's much harder."
As you continue the discussion, you realize more and more that Auntie knows a lot about samurai. Their family mon, the favorite foods of their daimyo, who is angry at who for what and why - all of the things that a geisha must know to avoid putting on a performance that will give offense, or to make sure that their patrons are served to the best of the okiya's abilities. You can only imagine that this knowledge will be quite useful to you in the future.
Auntie Hatsuyuki has joined the ranks of your advisors.
As a long-time member of the Warakkoi-gumi, she adds no new traditions, though she may reinforce some of the older ones.
The last advisor that you induct will be [X] Wakaba.
You've met all of Boss Koibu's former advisors before, and Auntie Hatsuyuki is no exception. She has been present at the various yearly celebrations and holidays, helped teach you and some of the other samurai-ko under the Boss about your monthly flows, introduced you to the butterfly boy that took your virginity... yet for all that, it is difficult to say that you truly know her. You had a special relationship with the Boss, he was like the father that you never had, and Jiro was like the older brother you never wanted, but the rest of the Boss's advisors have mostly been respected figures who you bowed to and spoke with infrequently at best. Today, you're meeting Auntie Hatsuyuki as her superior, and it's just a little bit odd.
As you approach the doorway of the Silken Smile, you notice just how cleanly painted and attractive it is, even in daylight. Many okiya in the 'flower town' have a pretty facade in front of fairly ordinary housing, or cover up the damage and dents in their doorways with liberal amounts of red paint. The Smile looks more like one of the high-class manses in the noble district, with clean lines and white walls. Only a few bits of red trim on the windows of the Smile give a hint to the building's true nature, like red lipstick on a white face.
Some of your samurai stand guard at the front gates, as is the case for most of the okiya in the district, but the post is reserved for only the most trusted among your number. The bushi let you pass through without any hesitation, though Taigen does wink as you pass by. The path into the house proper leads around one corner, then another, effectively sealing you away from the street and the outside world before it opens up into a lush inner garden. The gentle tones of a shamisen reach your awareness on almost the edge of your hearing, and it makes you wonder just how long they have been playing, waiting for you.
A pair of maiko, the geisha-in-training, bow low to you as you approach the inner doors, revealing the red collars on the backs of their kimono as they sweep the doors open in front of you. You are greeted inside by one of Auntie's butterfly boys, the careful lines of his kabuki makeup accentuating his sharp cheekbones and pointed chin. He gives you a slow smile. "Welcome, Namazu-dono." His voice is rich like heated silk, and you can almost feel that heat collect and pool deep inside of you. "Can I take your coat? Offer you any refreshments? Auntie told me to let you know that there is a cask of sake in from the Village of Cherry Blossom Snow..." he trails off suggestively.
You smile helplessly. "Ah, um... sure?" You allow the wakashu to remove your haori, and he begins to effortlessly usher you deeper into the Silken Smile.
"The Cherry Blossom, an excellent choice, Namazu-dono, though may I say that I have always been fond of Camellias myself." The wakashu gives you an outrageous wink at the pun on your name, and you can feel a blush rising in your cheeks. Almost before you know it, you are seated in what you know from prior visits must be the grand hall, but paper screens have been pulled across the room to partition it into an intimate area more comfortable for a small gathering. The music of the shamisen has followed you into the house, if it had not originated there already, and the tones of it soothe you as you sip at the sake and wait for Auntie to arrive.
"So, Tsubaki-chan. Impressed yet?" you hear from your right elbow. You start, realizing all of a sudden that Auntie managed to sit next to you while you were sitting and listening to the music, and you didn't even notice. As usual, she is made up heavily; not so much as the geisha that are still actively working as such, but still powdering her face and coloring her eyes in a way that hides most of the wrinkles of age in her face, giving her an almost timeless beauty. A few streaks of grey run through her hair, but the elaborate headdress that she wears sets off those stray grey hairs as though they were a deliberate artifice.
"I - well, yes," you say, doing your best to collect yourself. "Is this how you greeted the Boss every time?"
Auntie shakes her head. "This is me proving a point, darling. If I can put you in such a relaxed, comfortable state - you, who grew up in the flower district and has been around it all her life - imagine what I can do to your negotiating partners."
You frown. It's true that the ambiance here is lovely, but... "is such a thing really so desireable?"
She smiles in a kindly, gentle fashion that somehow nevertheless manages to remind you of a shark. "If I'd wanted you drunk and pliable, I could have had Sho refill that cup of yours a few more times, and you never would have protested. Usually if I do that, I also insist on giving my guests a show before we discuss any sort of business. We have lovely dancers, wonderful musicians... all of which make for lovely distractions from a samurai's cares, worries, and their intentions to negotiate aggressively."
You blink, then smile. "I see. Luckily for me that I came in with no such ambitions."
Auntie Hatsuyuki continues to smile, and refills your sake cup. "You're going to want to hold some meetings here, but only the important ones. If you want to encourage someone to close a deal, taking them to a lesser house when one of their friends or rivals has been here is quite the statement. Exclusivity is the key there. There are also ways to play on a man's emotions - sing him a song of daring battles and great risks taken, and he will leap forwards into an agreement he desires without truly examining what it may cost. Play a tune of tragedy and woe, and he will resist being overly risky in pressing you for additional concessions." The relaxing shamisen continues to play in the background, but as you listen to the tune it almost begins to seem vaguely sinister to you in the sheer potency of its lazy lullaby. "Often men guard their loins so well when they come here, expecting to be manipulated or seduced, that they forget to guard their hearts."
"And but some of them do get seduced," You state with an arch expression. "It seems almost curious to me that you have not yet mentioned such."
She turns her gaze on you and her eyes become almost smoky-lidded. "Of course they do," she purrs in a way that makes you vaguely uncomfortable. Another blink, and she is back to normal as though nothing had ever happened. "That's the easy part. Deciding just how much a man wants you, when the right time is to accept his offer, how to lead him on without making him feel that you make false promises or losing his interest? That's much harder."
As you continue the discussion, you realize more and more that Auntie knows a lot about samurai. Their family mon, the favorite foods of their daimyo, who is angry at who for what and why - all of the things that a geisha must know to avoid putting on a performance that will give offense, or to make sure that their patrons are served to the best of the okiya's abilities. You can only imagine that this knowledge will be quite useful to you in the future.
Auntie Hatsuyuki has joined the ranks of your advisors.
As a long-time member of the Warakkoi-gumi, she adds no new traditions, though she may reinforce some of the older ones.
The last advisor that you induct will be [X] Wakaba.
Triple update. HALP HOW DO I STOP WRITING. If you haven't read the story since yesterday, go back a few chapters.
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