[Month of Harvest, Haschou Village, Village Apothecary]
"Lady Moria... that's...."
"I have to make sure everyone's safe. All of you. We can always get a new servant, but we could never replace you. I can't just leave that to chance."
Gyoku exhaled in a resigned fashion. Kiri was generally apathetic about the various goings on of the village normally. But, because of that little slip up - that her mother was involved, Kiri now had this urge to get involved. Regardless, the muscled woman spoke up.
@RedArmyShogun
"Apothecary, I may have a few things to ask of you, patch up the Tsubaki, then gather whatever towns people are willing, what I'm trying to say is, gather who is brave enough or who the guards might think twice on shooting, as long as they don't try and go towards the keep they should be able to gather the birds..the Dragon might be a bit difficult but we got a few hours.. I'm not saying to do this for our feast, but as frankly I'm not sure when matters may allow us to deal with those wolves and your food rations are terrible enough as is, set about preserving and stockpiling them...as to the rice, if you have plenty of water I might be able to work out a halfway miracle, stretch that one bowl out into four or five with rice porridge... Speaking of water there might be something else we can do to help with your food situation from within the village,.
"If you are asking me to willingly petition the people of this town to become living shields then my answer is No.The people responsible for facing arrows are the town guard, woman! Tending to your friend, THAT I can do."
The doctor outright refused. There was even a distinct inflection of disgust. Rumiko's suggestion was outright reckless towards the lives of people who were not involved.
"I refuse to put the laypeople at risk if I can help it. As for the rice and water, a more reasonable suggestion. As I said, feel free to that rice bowl, as for the water I believe your companion there has come well prepared."
The doctor motioned to Noriko and his canteens.
Rumiko then turned to Gyoku.
"Sorry, no can do, Gyoku was it? We have to go do this as well, otherwise I think things will get much worse, plus with no clear authority we can't do those jobs purely out of kindness.. I also want to see inside of that keep, get my hands on that Assassin for a bit of a..prayer talk. Though I'm not sure we all should go..but that's a talk for another time, besides I don't think you can take it alone and I don't want to wait and see if Cirika tries charging it when she wakes up or kills herself over it."
We.
Somehow, it seemed like these complete strangers had some sort of stock in these upcoming events? As far as Gyoku knew they had only went up to fight the dragon at Lady Cirika's behest. On accout that the contract that lead to the Dragon being exactly what it was: a contract with pay promised. Despite the woman saying they had no intention of doing any jobs out of kindness, they were paradoxically offering their help.
What was the reason behind it? Did they just really want their pay for the dragon that badly? Granted, after defeating a lesser dragon handling a mere
coup seemed like a downgrade in difficulty.
"If our esteemed dragon slayers wish to offer their assistance once more then meet me at the east gates of the Maplegrounds as soon as you can. We'll be attempting to take back the castle before daybreak."
Stepping away form Kiri, Gyoku continued to gather up supplies.
@Accelerator
"Tsubaha...-san?"
The lone request from Noriko went unnoticed to the person he was hailing. To Gyoku, already scurrying to pack as many bandages into a single cloth blanket the name of the person he was calling for was meaningless.
Gyoku felt like the biggest problem right now was how to take back the Keep and how to prevent Lady Kiri from getting into harms way. Maybe she could just lead her astray? No that wouldn't work. Maybe lock her into the mansion? Did she even have time to go all the way back there? There was just so much uncertainty. Why did this have to happen now?
"Sure you want to go in there Little Princess? You might not like what you find..
She just had to hurry. Get going. Ditching Kiri before the assault begins would be easy, and-
"Of course I don't want to, but I hav-- OWW!"
"Don't lie!"
Hearing Kiri's cry of pain and the sound of a slap Gyoku snapped into action. In a single move, the threw aside what she was doing, and at the same time reached into her Obi-
"Gyoku! Wait-!"
"How dare you insult my Lady!"
The tense atmosphere was completely shattered into one of complete belligerency.
"She's just as replaceable as the rest of your servants, isn't she? They're all just replaceable. When this coup is done it doesn't matter if they're dead or imprisoned, because you'll just get some other desperate fool to clean your clothing."
There was so many people in this little house Gyoku still had to turn to see who was suddenly spouting such disrespectful language. However, when Gyoku saw the person who was actually speaking... she froze.
"Gyoku. Don't lie to her about what you think. Because they're not going to be fine. You wanna know how you mother is doing. Kiri? She's dead. Gyoku there won't tell you this because she doesn't want to see you cry. But you're soft. They've babied you and you are acting like you're some kind of hero when you're just a scared noble kid who everyone treats with kid gloves! You're the... the-"
"You're supposed to be the daughter of the Spymaster, so toughen up or stay behind."
"I tried so hard... I tried so hard to get to know you. I was hoping you might appreciate that, but... I guess not."
"You should meet father sometime you both have very similar ideas on how nobility should work."
As her lady and the boy with the cyan hair began to bicker, the doctor wordlessly and fruitlessly tried to deescalate their confrontation. Gyoku, beings Kiri's guardian, was supposed have had a few throwing knives lodged into that boy's body by now. But as she was now, she was paralyzed.
As the two continued to trade discontented sentiments, the servant's mind was sucked off into memory. Whatever Lady Kiri had said had triggered this young man. In Gyoku's case, seeing this young man's face and his words triggered something in her own self as well. Things that were supposed have been buried well enough to not matter anymore were brought to the forfront.
Most present were locked on the Kiri and Kei. The magnitude at which Gyoku was struck just now in her heart was easily missed.
.....
"Master Moryia. My Name is Gyoku Hagakure. Your personal shadow."
"Me personal shadow's name is Gyoku huh? Well, aren't we pretty cute?"
"As you are my master, I am yours. Do with me as you wish, My Lord."
"Everything was fine until you showed up. Now Mother, Gyoku, Cirika... so many others are all in danger, and it's like you don't even care! Maybe we're all just already dead to you future people!?"
"Right then, first things first. First order: cut the master crap. I have a name, and it's..."
"Gyoku. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable..."
Hearing her name in Kiri's voice, Gyoku slowly came back to reality.
"....Lady Moriya. No that isn't the case. In truth..." She attempted to answer...
Kiri closed the door behind her.
"...."
Gyoku looked at Kei with a somber expression. Though, she gathered herself up.
She made her expression more harsh as she dug a kunai into the wall next to Kei as she stood practically face to face with him.
Kei felt a couple of cut strands of hair fall onto his shoulder. This woman didn't injure him.The knife did not draw any blood. But it didn't fail to draw blood due to an unsteady hand. She had simply chosen not to kill him.
That strike was accurate. He could even now feel the coolness of the blade radiating towards the tip of his right ear.
"Hiro.... that name. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Gyoku! Oh dear heavens I thought you actually stabbed him." The doctor began.
"But, You can't be saying that he's... wait. Now that you mention it. That's-!" The doctor rubbed his eyes. "
-Impossible. What sort of coincidence!"
The name Hiro was just as meaningless to Kei as excited as Gyoku and the Doctor seemed to be getting over it. It Kei, it was as meaningless to him as the name Tsubaha was meaningless to Gyoku. The moment of silence between the two only confirmed this.
Gyoku pulled her knife out of the wall and stepped away from Kei.
"If this was another time, I'd have killed you right there for speaking so coarsely and angering Lady Moriya like that. But you've made it clear that you have intentions to help stop this coup. Because we need all the help we can get: I'll forget the inflammatory things you said to my lady. To that end: if you wish for anything more, then I'll see you at the gates of the Maplegrounds on the eastern side."
She gathered up the bandages she'd dropped. As she passed, the Doctor weakly replied. Again repeating his solidarity.
"...Gyoku. You can count on me. I'll lend whatever support I can."
Nodding to the Doctor, she went out the door of the Apothecary after Kiri.
An awkward silence filled the room. The doctor after a fidget, impulsively reached out to the bowl of rice he'd offered to his guests.
He apologized as he took a pinch of rice out of it to eat.
"Getting a little unnecessarily stressful for me to handle. Sorry."
"Anyway, Rumiko it was? I've looked over your companions and have treated them as much as I could. Though, while I agree that Lady Kiri mustn't put herself into danger like this... I cannot agree with the way that's been gone about it in these past couple of minutes."
He looked to Kei. Pausing to form his words for a moment.
"Young man. While It is most deplorable that you spent years in jail because of your nobility, that is no excuse to respond so harshly towards Lady Kiri, who had nothing to do with it. Naive as she may be, Kiri hasn't done anything to anyone to be grinded down in such a fashion. I see that in a way, you are trying to help. But you also do not understand that, well either way... none of your jaded views of the world will be of any use to Lady Kiri; in the long run...."
The long run.... wait a second.
What was that doctor saying? It felt like there was something more behind what he was saying.
@Karyra
@RedArmyShogun
@_Everyone
[Month of Harvest, Haschou Village, Outside the Village Apothecary]
"Lady Kiri."
"....Lady Kiri. I know what I';m about to say is not what you wish to hear, so please forgive me."
"As uncouth as it was for that young man to say those things to you. He might've had a point."
The guards at the door, whom had heard everything that happened previously shuffled uncomfortably. Trying to pretend they weren't in the conversation at all.
"Those new friends you've made. The Doctor, Me, and everyone else in the village too. They're worried about you and don't want to see you get injured in this terrible occasion. It is is for that percise reason that such bravado such as 'wanting to see things through' or 'ensuring everyone is safe' is nothing but folly. To that end, I must now say this: As your shadow and as your guardian, I forbid you to go near the Maplegrounds until this is over."
Invoking the rule of being a guardian. And ordering her not to do something.
That was the sort of thing used for young nobles who couldn't stop running away from home to play with the kids like Cirika.
It was invoked for little kids, primarily. Little as Kiri was, she most definitely wasn't a kid.
"Lady Kiri.... just this once, please listen to what I say. If there was just one time where you could do that for me., please let it be this time."
So, in the end, even Gyoku was treating her like she was.... a nuisance. Just helpless. This was like, one of the first time she'd invoked that rule since she was young. But even then, Gyoku pretty much let her do her own thing for the most part. That was part of the reason why she gained her known habit of sleeping anywhere. Gyoku did not give it the time of day to rouse her awake to go to a proper futon.
In a way, reminding Kiri that she was doing this as her guardian was just a thinly veiled way of saying she thought of her as a child.Was Gyoko really going to focus on that rather than how rude Kei had been to her? Caring more about her being
irresponsible rather than trying to save mother's and everyone else's lives in the castle?
How about that rule...
There was an unsaid rule about guardians in Haschou. It was said, that if you defeated yours in battle, you'd be grown up and not have to listen to them anymore since you'd be an adult. This unsaid rule generally applied to young boys, who were expected to become great warriors serving the daimyou once they got older. So from the traditional paradigm, it meant that the guardian trained you until you were good enough to best them in practice.
"You're wearing such a defiant expression, Lady Kiri...."
Gyoku said, with a hint of grimness in her tone.
@Luma
@_Anyone...maybe?
