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foxinthestarsToday was not such a good day. The trip to church kind of wore me out, and I think I'm also coming up to some scenes I feel intimidated by, which is slowing me down, and with one thing and another I barely made over a thousand words today. I had built up enough slack that I'm still ahead of schedule, though, and I just need to knuckle down in the next two days...
“Then I need to get some rest, but I’ll take it next if you’ll wake me no da. Good night no da!” she said, with a chipperness that belied the stated need for sleep, and she hurried off and rolled herself into one of the beds.
Nuriko was left alone in the dim, quiet room with her thoughts, and she sighed slowly enough to make no sound. Despite her fatigue, she was sure it would be at least an hour before she got to sleep.
Yui and the Sei of Suzaku are rapidly leaving Genbu’s land behind, but a fierce battle lies before them on the road toward Byakko’s country. Hidden powers will soon be revealed as the heavens show their face to some, but for others are overtaken by shadow.
Having claimed Genbu’s Shinzahou, Yui and her Seishi race toward the western desert of Sairou where Byakko’s Shinzahou awaits. However, they are all too aware of the danger in their path and the peril of hurtling blindly into Seiryuu’s ambush. Throughout both worlds, those involved in the quest search blindly for a sign from the heavens.
“I need to ride with someone today no da,” Chichiri announced. They were just setting out on the third day of their journey, and were already far enough south that the northern snow had given way to scrubby dark green grasses.
“You’re not going to go on ahead again?” Tamahome questioned.
“I know we’ll lose time, but I just have to try something no da.”
Hotohori accepted it. “Tamahome, take Chiriko,” he said, mounted his own steed and offered her a hand up. Tasuki had enough trouble handling just himself on a horse by himself, and Nuriko was already spoken for, since Yui couldn’t allow herself to ride with Hotohori or Tamahome.
“Should we get you your own?” Nuriko asked.
Chichiri shook her head decidedly. She reached into her cloak and pulled out a length of black cloth as they walked the horses out of the yard. “I realized why I couldn’t use Hikitsu-chan’s power --- Genbu wouldn’t just take away one of his Seishi’s eyes for no good reason no da. I kept trying yesterday, but I think I need something more than just closing my eyes no da.” She wound the cloth around her eyes in a thick blindfold, threading it under her hanging fringe, and tied it securely behind her head. “There, I’m ready no da!”
Hotohori twisted around to glance at her. Yui couldn’t help a small swelling of jealousy as Chichiri wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her face against his shoulders, but she pushed it down as they set off.
*******
Miaka stepped into the cold babbling water of the mountain stream, beside where Amiboshi and Suboshi were already soaking their tired feet. She flopped down on the bank with a loud “Ahhh!” and kicked up splashes. “That feels so nice...!”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Amiboshi said.
Suboshi couldn’t help remembering that, unlike he and his brother, Miaka hadn’t actually walked most of the way up the mountain pass; Ashitare had been carrying her, but if she had warmed to Ashitare enough to let him do so, that at least was something.
Nakago held himself aloof from them as usual, moreso than ever since Miboshi had forced this change in course. Now he was pressing forward with a portion of his attention and effort always devoted to walling his mind off from Miboshi’s telepathic prying, and Amiboshi and Ashitare, he knew, were keenly aware of the resulting dark, taciturn mood, but they still behaved according to plan, so it didn’t matter.
When the black cloaks had reported that the Sei of Suzaku were en route toward this pass --- the easiest place to cross over into Sairou, other than the river --- Nakago had abandoned the carriages at the foot of the mountain and embedded the party in the pass itself. If he could keep Miboshi from reading his private thoughts, he could argue that it would make their ambush more difficult to circumvent. The truth was that he also held some hope of the Suzaku party changing direction, and had intentionally robbed his own party of the maneuverability to correct for such a development. Privately, he was disgusted at himself to have been reduced to such a pitiful ploy, a grasping at unlikely straws, really, but nothing better had presented itself.
If it did happen that way, if they were able to avoid the confrontation, would Miboshi catch him at it? If so, would he let him get away with it? Perhaps he wouldn’t be so quick to kill Soi and thus destroy his own lever of control. Either way she was surely lost to him; he was certain she would never forgive him for allowing Miboshi to use her in such a way, even leaving aside his demands themselves, and so despite disgust at his own selfishness, he could even tell himself that it didn’t matter what he did. Still, the possibility limited Nakago’s options in ways that he knew to be illogical even as he failed to resist them. If the choice of Soi’s life or death were placed directly in his path, he would be incapable of the latter choice, but if he could skirt around a direct confrontation of the options, it would be possible for him to let her die. The truth --- he realized it even now --- was that he had fallen to such feeble gambits because what he really wanted was to have the decisions taken out of his hands.
He felt Miboshi again prodding the perimeter of his mind at a barely-safe remove. You’re still giving me the cold shoulder, I see.
Nakago wished his mental wall was stronger. The weariness of maintaining it far longer than anyone should have to do had left him with, as he felt it, a weathered, tumbledown barrier, like the walls of an abandoned ruin of a castle, but he held to it and projected his mental voice out beyond it. What do you want?
47255 ★ 50000 (94.51%)
“Then I need to get some rest, but I’ll take it next if you’ll wake me no da. Good night no da!” she said, with a chipperness that belied the stated need for sleep, and she hurried off and rolled herself into one of the beds.
Nuriko was left alone in the dim, quiet room with her thoughts, and she sighed slowly enough to make no sound. Despite her fatigue, she was sure it would be at least an hour before she got to sleep.
Yui and the Sei of Suzaku are rapidly leaving Genbu’s land behind, but a fierce battle lies before them on the road toward Byakko’s country. Hidden powers will soon be revealed as the heavens show their face to some, but for others are overtaken by shadow.
Having claimed Genbu’s Shinzahou, Yui and her Seishi race toward the western desert of Sairou where Byakko’s Shinzahou awaits. However, they are all too aware of the danger in their path and the peril of hurtling blindly into Seiryuu’s ambush. Throughout both worlds, those involved in the quest search blindly for a sign from the heavens.
“I need to ride with someone today no da,” Chichiri announced. They were just setting out on the third day of their journey, and were already far enough south that the northern snow had given way to scrubby dark green grasses.
“You’re not going to go on ahead again?” Tamahome questioned.
“I know we’ll lose time, but I just have to try something no da.”
Hotohori accepted it. “Tamahome, take Chiriko,” he said, mounted his own steed and offered her a hand up. Tasuki had enough trouble handling just himself on a horse by himself, and Nuriko was already spoken for, since Yui couldn’t allow herself to ride with Hotohori or Tamahome.
“Should we get you your own?” Nuriko asked.
Chichiri shook her head decidedly. She reached into her cloak and pulled out a length of black cloth as they walked the horses out of the yard. “I realized why I couldn’t use Hikitsu-chan’s power --- Genbu wouldn’t just take away one of his Seishi’s eyes for no good reason no da. I kept trying yesterday, but I think I need something more than just closing my eyes no da.” She wound the cloth around her eyes in a thick blindfold, threading it under her hanging fringe, and tied it securely behind her head. “There, I’m ready no da!”
Hotohori twisted around to glance at her. Yui couldn’t help a small swelling of jealousy as Chichiri wrapped her arms around his chest and rested her face against his shoulders, but she pushed it down as they set off.
*******
Miaka stepped into the cold babbling water of the mountain stream, beside where Amiboshi and Suboshi were already soaking their tired feet. She flopped down on the bank with a loud “Ahhh!” and kicked up splashes. “That feels so nice...!”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Amiboshi said.
Suboshi couldn’t help remembering that, unlike he and his brother, Miaka hadn’t actually walked most of the way up the mountain pass; Ashitare had been carrying her, but if she had warmed to Ashitare enough to let him do so, that at least was something.
Nakago held himself aloof from them as usual, moreso than ever since Miboshi had forced this change in course. Now he was pressing forward with a portion of his attention and effort always devoted to walling his mind off from Miboshi’s telepathic prying, and Amiboshi and Ashitare, he knew, were keenly aware of the resulting dark, taciturn mood, but they still behaved according to plan, so it didn’t matter.
When the black cloaks had reported that the Sei of Suzaku were en route toward this pass --- the easiest place to cross over into Sairou, other than the river --- Nakago had abandoned the carriages at the foot of the mountain and embedded the party in the pass itself. If he could keep Miboshi from reading his private thoughts, he could argue that it would make their ambush more difficult to circumvent. The truth was that he also held some hope of the Suzaku party changing direction, and had intentionally robbed his own party of the maneuverability to correct for such a development. Privately, he was disgusted at himself to have been reduced to such a pitiful ploy, a grasping at unlikely straws, really, but nothing better had presented itself.
If it did happen that way, if they were able to avoid the confrontation, would Miboshi catch him at it? If so, would he let him get away with it? Perhaps he wouldn’t be so quick to kill Soi and thus destroy his own lever of control. Either way she was surely lost to him; he was certain she would never forgive him for allowing Miboshi to use her in such a way, even leaving aside his demands themselves, and so despite disgust at his own selfishness, he could even tell himself that it didn’t matter what he did. Still, the possibility limited Nakago’s options in ways that he knew to be illogical even as he failed to resist them. If the choice of Soi’s life or death were placed directly in his path, he would be incapable of the latter choice, but if he could skirt around a direct confrontation of the options, it would be possible for him to let her die. The truth --- he realized it even now --- was that he had fallen to such feeble gambits because what he really wanted was to have the decisions taken out of his hands.
He felt Miboshi again prodding the perimeter of his mind at a barely-safe remove. You’re still giving me the cold shoulder, I see.
Nakago wished his mental wall was stronger. The weariness of maintaining it far longer than anyone should have to do had left him with, as he felt it, a weathered, tumbledown barrier, like the walls of an abandoned ruin of a castle, but he held to it and projected his mental voice out beyond it. What do you want?
