Mei trooped into the astrology room, prepared for a struggle. If Momonaga-sama's class was difficult for her to sit through, Someisa-sama's class was almost a punishment. The topic made little sense, and what could you even do with it? Mei knew that trying to learn about the future or the past from the skies was a little bit foolish. Certainly one could, but why one would when they could read a history or talk to a person made little sense.

Still, there were at least many nice drawings. And the scrolls were interesting, each with their scribe and the names of all the scribes they'd copied from making their own little family trees. She did sometimes like to look at scrolls of the same patch of sky and look for differences. But it was rare they had that much free time.

Mei took her seat on the other side of Shino. Also not her favorite choice of class partner. But she tried to keep it from showing as she took her seat.

Seeing his friendly smile slightly, Sanjiro quickly took his seat next to the Crab as he replied softly, a wry grin flitting about the edge of his face.  "Reading the stars is tricky business my friend.  So is destiny for that matter.  One moment you are self-assured, confident in your path, your prediction, and with its next breath, the universe upends all of that.  And besides, only the face of all that is and is not can reveal the truth."

Akiro entered the room breathing a hard but with a broad smile on his face. His dreads were a mess and he moved quickly to brush them away from his face. He had entered a few wrong rooms not having waited long enough in his excitement to properly record the room he needed to get to. His father was still talking with the master of the school he assumed. People loved to talk slow and pretend to be thoughtful here. It all appeared so fake, as if they were acting out some play.

"Hello," he said, a little loud in his enthusiasm. "Oooooh, woooow, that's looks amazing," his eyes widening in excitement about the image on the ceiling, and forgetting his manners. "I'm Akiro," he slowly said both catching his breath and still lost looking at the details of the ceiling. His hand reached out with a paper, a note from the master of the school, but he made no effort to walk any closer with his attention drawn still drawn to the ceiling.

It would take a few seconds before he caught his manners, and returned his attention to the old sensei. "Oh," he quickly corrected himself, and took a few fast steps towards her with the paper still out in hand. "I'm Battua Akiro," he reintroduced himself, while he struggled to fix his kimono with the other hand, though it was clear he wasn't entirely sure how to go about it.

Catching some dirt on his kimono from the corner of his eye, he slipped his thumb into his mouth, and tried to clean it as discreetly as he could in this awkward situation. The big smile and his bright eyes never left his face, his enthusiasm beaming.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:26, Wed 14 Apr 2021.

A jaw dropped, shock and horror painted on a face.  If human eyes could mimic those of a owl, Ichiko's wide eyes almost did in that moment.  'What was he doing,' her thoughts screamed.  She almost could not watch, wanting to bury her face, feeling shame for the boy.  Had this boy not carried the name of a Unicorn family she would have considered him a mantis peasant in stolen cloths.  From his hair, to his manners, nothing said samurai.  She watched in horror to see what the sensei would do to correct the child.  Even old, quiet, sensei Someisa Yui, must have a limit. She'd never seen it, but she suspected it had to have been reached.

Akiro saw the girl sitting in the front with her mouth open and couldn't resist mimicking her for a second before returning to his happy smile.  It was clearly not malicious and simply a way to get her and maybe others to laugh.  Only he couldn't keep his attention on her, not yet anyways, as he turned to the old lady in charge of the class before he got in trouble. He mustered a feigned sheepish expression hoping his entrance hadn't brought too much disruption to the class and that he meant no harm by his actions.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Thu 15 Apr 2021.

Sanjiro's response to their new classmate couldn't have been more different than that of Ichiko.  Where she recoiled in shock and horror, Sanjiro's eye lit up with delight.  A new classmate, and one who likely knew foreign lands, with their different cultures, and new stories was something to be celebrated.  Hopefully they'd get the chance to talk once class was over, as Sanjiro was just brimming with questions.

And so, catching the Unicorn's gaze, he smiled and gestured towards the empty spot next to where he and Kano were seated.

Blood rushed to the skin, to the point it turned pink, and then near red, heat emanating from it.  Anger, embarrassment, and a mix of emotions crossed the nine year old's face at the sight of the reflection of her face in the near savage's features.  'How did he have no shame?,' the frustrating thought crossed her mind, as her mouth closed, and stern face returned.  Her narrowed eyes showed the seriousness she was trying to project, which on the young girl, that was small for her age, looked more cute than frightening, as if she was playing out a character.

Shino giggled. Now this was an excellent start to an Astrology class. The traditional mannerisms, the politeness, respect for station and duty, they were excellent constructs in Court, but they were only constructs. Most people refused to drop them, which in the eyes of a Scorpion made them bigger liars than themselves. Well, it made their jobs harder at least. The honest (and dumb) types that didn't know the difference between the two, now that was an easy mark, almost refreshing in a way. Shino smiled. They were an endangered species and needed protection.

"Hi Battue Akiro!" Shino responded sing-songy, waving at the new Unicorn boy. She giggled again and looked to Someisa-sensei.

Someisa Yui spoke in a soft, patient voice, "Children, children-- please do take your seats."

Taking the note from Battue Akiro, she looked it over, squinting as if straining to make it out, before peering over the note to the boy. Her expression was difficult to read, but she acknowledged simply, "A new student. Battue-san, have you studied Astronomy before?"

It was not unreasonable to ask such a thing. After all, holding it in such high regard sprung primarily from the Seppun family. It spread out beyond the Owl clan a fair bit, but it was considered a fairly fringe study in the lands of most other clans.

"Yes," Akiro said sure of himself with that large smile, eager to answer. "We lay in the grass of the great plains, the great steps, and burning sands, with the fire out on clear skies and watched the stars on many nights studying astronomy. There are seas of grass and great tracks of sand like the great sea of water you have here," he pointed in the direction of where the port would be with a good sense of where it was.

"In parts of it there is no way of knowing which way is which, but up and down, unless you fall off your horse of course, then you won't know even that. Thought I saw a speckled trout flying in the sky once when my horse decided to stop rather than jump over a wide stream," he said with a laugh turning to the other children to see if they found the joke as funny as he did. "Um, so," he tried to quickly correct himself, returning to the question and the sensei. "We look to the great goddess Amaterasu and the stars to guide us."

"We don't have theaters and all the amazing things you have here in the Forest of Dreamers, but we do have stars brighter and fuller out there and we tell their stories many nights. My favorite is the Hunter in the Dark. It is said that good fortune comes to the hunter if you see his arrow fly on a hunt. My parents even say an arrow flew on the night I was born."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Thu 15 Apr 2021.

A head fiercely turned to the sweet giggle ringing in the air. Facing her cousin, Shino, Ichiko mouthed the words, don't encourage the fool, before turning back to the sensei and the fool she was alluding to. She didn't recognize the family name Battue one bit, and wondered if it was a forgotten minor clan.

"Sensei, who are the Battue?," she asked, knowing it was not the class, but in her spite taking the opportunity to put the proud boy in his place.

The question seemed to excite Akiro, it's subtle intent lost on him, or not affecting him. With eyes on the little girl and off of him, he took the opportunity subtly wave a quick hello and raise his eyebrows in eagerness at the pretty girl that had greeted him and the boy that was welcoming him to sit next to him. He then turned to the sensei, seeing if she would allow him to answer the question. There was a certain pride in the telling of the tale for the young Unicorn.

Anger rose, mixing in with the shame of a previous class, and called out for release.  She words were meant to cut and wound not only him, but his whole family.  His ignorance of their intent and his foolish mannerisms infuriated her very being.  Where was his honour?  Where was his duty?  Someone needed to put this gaijin in a kimono in his place!

"It's not a good thing no one knows your family," she blurted out loud.  "And classes aren't done on a field of grass looking at stars.  And furthermore," she pushed out the word to seem more official in her anger, as her mask fell away. "A shooting star at night doesn't mean you'll have good fortune in a hunt.  That's just silly.  Astronomy is important.  It is not a joke!"

"You are dishonouring your family with your behaviour and your hair," the vitriol laced words lashed out at him.  Somewhere deep inside she'd made the connection of the great plains, the steppes, and the burning sands to the Unicorn, and it pained her to see that this boy could be what her mother was/is like.  She wrestled with the horror of it, her dreams and wishful thinking fighting the very notion.  She was hoping he would not say he was of the Unicorn clan.

OoC:

Can I lose a point of Stife by losing my face Amaterasu?

Shino saw Ichiko's face and made a cheeky apology face back at her. She giggled again at Akiro's wave back and looked coyishly away. She had to give her cousin some face.

Still, Ichiko's outburst made her put her hands over her mouth. She could only look groan to herself. Ichiko was so so smart and talented and cute, yet she just didn't know how to use her words. She was as subtle as a sledgehammer yet the arguments fell down like raindrops, dramatically impotent due to her emotions and her timing.

Suddenly, Shino was glad this was Astrology class. Someisa-sensei was at the very least the best at seeing through issues and arguments and perhaps would have some way of defusing the situation without wounding Ichiko's pride too much.

"Sensei, where is he from?" she added pointedly. She tried to support her cousin more smoothly, but it was all she could do to relieve the tension.

His smile softened and there was a sense of feeling sorry for Ichiko in that moment. If he could have a minute to speak with her privately, he knew they would get along. He reasoned something else must have been troubling her and he wanted to help her, make her laugh. He wondered if a silly face would make her laugh like it did his younger siblings and then thought against it.

When the pretty girl asked her question, his smile grew a tad. "If I can sensei," he began.

"Our classes happen in may places among the Unicorn Clan," he said softly speaking as he answered Ichiko. "Under night sky, on horse back, in dark and dangerous woods, within ancient temples and buried in piles of books in dusty libraries."

"My favorite is when they happen around fires on clear night skies, and you can see the spirits carrying the embers high into the sky, where they dance and form blazing images of the stories of old being told," he eyes light up at the memory of those nights. In truth it was his second favorite place, but his first he could not speak off.

"We hold guard around the Forest of the Dreamers, that sits in the shadow of Shiro Iuchi," he answered the pretty girl, but his features darkened as he delved in the more dangerous duties of his family. "It's a dark and dangerous place, and sometimes they escape. It is our duty to hunt them, as it is to hunt others like them. We are not a large family, no great cites, or fertile lands. These things don't serve the duty tasked of my family nor does being known." He ended his point more somberly than he had begun, and a shrug to explain why the lack of knowledge of his family had not concerned him.

"So you don't like my hair?," he noted, remembering Ichiko's last words, while putting a hand through the dreads at the back of his head and returning to his playful nature, with a flick of his brows, and grin.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:28, Fri 16 Apr 2021.

The orderly procession of the Classes had been disrupted, and Hiruto seemed reserved, or perhaps uncertain as the students reacted and tried to absorb the addition of the newcomer.

It took him a long moment, but around the same time that Ichiko spoke out, it occurred to him.

He is my opposite He realized, as his head cocked just a little more.

Where Hiruto was broad statured and heavy, Akiro was skinny and wiry.

Where Hiruto's hair had been shaved to the scalp, in the fashion of some Jiu-Jitsu enthusiasts, Akiro wore his long and in strange little ropes. How did he clean it? Hiruto wondered.

Where Hiruto was naturally very fair, the lands of his Patron clan often laying under a stormy or overcast sky, Akiro had been kissed by the sun from head to foot.

The questions were flying, how? why? where?

And Kano Hiruto saw no reason to add to the chaos, he nodded to his friend Sanjiro and in a fashion to Akiro to show his support, but did not speak.

The teacher reached out her hand slowly, but confidently, gently placing it atop Ichiko's hand and squeezing it lightly. "Otomo-san," she spoke in a voice that was barely above a whisper, "Someone not having the same knowledge as us is simply an opportunity for us to share it, and through sharing it review it ourselves."

Placing the note to the side she motioned Akiro towards the table. "Please sit with your fellow students, Battue-san. It appears you have a loose understanding of the basics. Looking for falling stars is a start, with time you will be surprised just how refined we can make our observations."

Addressing the class more generally now, as more than one had raised the same question, "As Battue-san has expressed, his family is from the Unicorn, specifically they reside within a forest known as the Forest of Dreamers. They are most famous for producing witch hunters, often using methods gathered from lands beyond the empire. I believe a few of you have relatives who carry out a similar duty."

She spoke as though quite knowledgeable about the subject, but the keener minds might pick up how she carefully highlighted both the very exotic and familiar aspects.

Akiro seemed enthusiastic to learn, picked up his school supplies that he had left by the door and made his way to the boys, passing the pretty girl and giving her a smile. He set himself up to learn, pulling out his writing stick and ink stone, then followed it by pulling out his parchment.

He looked to the boys and gave them nod.

A head fell in shame. The moment of anger, a brief release to the tensions the morning had wind up in her.  With it set free Ichiko could think freely once more.  His stories seemed a dream, as if some fantasy.  He seemed free, and how she longed to be free.  She wondered what duties lay in witch hunting and what dangers lay there as well.

A foreign witch hunter that hunted foreign witches.
Shino grinned when Akiro smiled at her and studied him from the corner of her eye.
Their outdoor lessons and backwards traditions seemed out of place to the fineries of high society that Shino was used to, but they seemed to hold a strong oral tradition, just like her family. Perhaps in the ancient past (before most of Rokugan got palaces and theatres to do the storytelling in), they would've been quite similar.

Shino wondered what techniques of witch hunting the boy and his family used. They might be unsophisticated, but they could be very effective. As long as it didn't involve actual Astrology. She was really just trying not to think of what would be in today's lesson...

Hiruto nodded in a welcoming sort of way as Akiro sat down. He did not say as much, but it seemed that as new and exotic as his presence was, that the boy was not going to cause any trouble.

He turned with his own materials, ready to attend the lecture.

After Battue was seated, she added onto her explanation. "A city like ours must be a great departure from what Battue-san is used to. I am sure there are many new sights, sounds, smells and tastes for him to experience in our city," she went on seeming to try to encourage everyone to show kindness and patience towards the new boy and his apparent enthusiasm.

Then she leaned her head back a bit to look up at the star chart on the ceiling, "But his home is not called the Forest of Dreamers for no reason. There are things you can find in remote places of Rokugan that those who live in a city like this never experience. Old, lost, forgotten ghosts, baku born of the imaginations of so many generations of people living here and even youkai."

Turning her attention once again to Akiro she then questioned, "Have you had any personal encounters that you wouldn't mind sharing with everyone?" it wasn't clear whether she had interest herself or if she was hoping that her knowledge on esoteric things might illuminate something in a field she so rarely had the opportunity to discuss.

Akiro's face lightened up, then darkened for dramatic effect, but a coy and mischievous look to his tanned features remained. "In tales of old, powerful words were spun in a battle against a great evil, and in its wake a quiet fell upon the forest," he began, placing both hands on his table as if he was some kind of insect with his elbows up and about him, and his face centered between them.

"Since that night, the unwary, and unlearned who venture into the forest, tempted by their curiosity of the strange lights, beings, and sounds within, are lead into eternal slumber within it's emerald beauty." His hazel eyes, tended to change in shades of brown and greens, but in his excitement they tended to the latter and story time always provoke a degree of excitement. "Sensei said it best of the baku, of how they are born of imagination, and woven in the fabric of dreams deep within Yume-do. They are fleeting spirits in parts like these, visitors made form in Ningen-do only in the strongest of dreams. They are seen only when the dreamer first begins to sleep.  But in the Forest of Dreamers the baku find entry into Ningen-do through the countless sleepers resting beneath the roots of ancient trees, or covered in moss.  It has become a crossroad between worlds.  In their endless sleep the baku have woven pockets in the Forest, cloaked in the dreams of the sleepers, though I heard tales of a baku being stripped of that cloak and their true nature made naked," he laughed immaturely at the thought of something naked for a second. He rose to perch on his seat in excitement.

"So Chichiru and I had been out with my older cousins, Aiko and Hiro, at the edges of the dreamers. My older cousins were nearly samurai and I had bugged them enough to join them. Old Yam Yam always said yes to adventures. It had started out boring but it allowed me to practice my tracking and shooting my bow, until we heard the screams of a girls and a silhouette take her on horse back into the forest."

"My cousins cursed their fortunes, as they couldn't leave me alone so close to the Forest of Dreamers and now were burdened by having to take me into it. But I kept up with them as they had told me to and rode with them into the forest. The tracks were still fresh due to the weight and speed of rider and horse and had carved a trail in the forest brush and soft ground that my baby brother could follow. Only the forest is not always a real forest and straight is not always straight so my cousins made sure to leave the signs for our return as we moved deeper and deeper."

"The problem with crossroads is you don't always know when you cross them. Dreams at times may seem real even when they make no sense. That is the danger of Yume-do. But I have my left foot," and threw a balancing act he stuck out his foot while his hands rested on the desk and chair to help balance him in his crouched position. "It gets itchy when things are wrong. And it started to itch." He pulled the foot back.

"I told Chichiru and she perked right up. Oh," he paused for a second realizing that he needed to explain something. "Chichiru is my weasel friend. We've been friends since I took her in as an injured baby and helped her get better."

"I told my cousins that we were probably at a crossroads but neither listened. But they listened to my council on the tracks since they were now having a hard time following them and I was a good and lucky tracker blessed by the arrow of the Hunter in the Dark. As we came to a small brook we heard the weeping of the girl and my cousins instructed me to stay behind, dismounted, and fanned out. I however only waited just long enough for them to lose sight of me and then followed," he stuck out his tongue and jokingly bit it at his disobedience. "That is when I saw it."

"My cousins were fighting their own minds they would later tell me. Horrors they had imagined. I think Chichiru saw a sugar cane because she held my face with both her tiny paws and began to lick my face. She probably was hungry so that couldn't have helped. Me, I think I saw it as it really was. It was old but it was beautiful. Feathered green, it had hoofed legs like that of a horse. It had the head of an eagle, the tail of a peacock, and the stripes of a tiger, dark green on green. A thin white beard fell from the base of its beak, and it had almost a mane of feathers around its neck. It looked sad to me. It hadn't hurt the girl more than a few light scratches from its beak. I called out to it, asking it to let the girl go, asking it why it was doing what it was doing. It told me only that it was the emerald feathered dream. Several times. I didn't understand it at first but as I looked around I saw its form was in tatters. It wasn't as beautiful as I thought it was at first. Its dream was falling, old and in ruin. I think its tale was slowly being forgotten, its once great dream becoming a memory. So I made a bargain with it that I would find its dream and tell it."

"My cousins and I left that night with the girl. She had come from a far off place and they were tasked to take her there. Since then I've been going to libraries trying to find this emerald feather dream. I think it may be in this city. I have a good feeling about it. I'm a lucky hunter after all," he looked at Ichiko with a happy smile, hoping that she would return it. "And I figured a smart owl, or phoenix could help."

Akiro liked to tell so many stories it was often hard for him to know which were real and which were not. This one was particularly hard. He didn't know if he had dreamed it one night from stories told to him by the fire light or from a story he had picked up in those old libraries his family kept. "Is it bad if I don't know if it was real or not sensei?," he concludes by returning to a proper seated position as he places the most innocent of faces he can muster.

OOC My earth is only 2, so I think I can only take 2 dice.  I take the 6, that explodes to a 2. I take the 12 that explodes to an 11 that explodes to a 3.

3 Successes, 2 Oppertunigty, 3 Strife to tell this tale of Yume-do.
2: Recall information that might be useful later in the scene.
19:34, Today: Battue Akiro rolled 13,34 using 2d6,3d12, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 5,(6+2)8,10,(12+11)23,1.  Earth + Theology.
20:06, Today: Battue Akiro rolled 3 using 1d12, rerolling max, unique dice with rolls of 3.  Explosive Success.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:22, Wed 28 Apr 2021.

A giggle sprang up, obscured and muffled though it was by a delicate hand over a mouth.  The mirth sang in her eyes however, at the absurdity of a raised foot, a dirty sole, and the claim that an itch forecast trouble.  The story had spun her from horror and mystery, to comedy and stupidity, and back and forth.

Her head feel upon her desk, and she wrapped it with her arms on either side, resting forehead to forearm.  Her long hair, in no attempt to control its scattering, obscured her visage even more.  She desperately sought a footing to regain her order and for a time thought she had as the story progressed in the world of the dreaming, but the shaking, and muffled laughter returned with the mention of a weasel licking the Unicorn boy's face in hopes of fulfilling its desire for sugar.

She was still nine, though she would not admit it, and she hated the boy for having break her mask on two occasions now.  No she didn't, but she desperately tried.  As the story came to her conclusion, and her mention in obscure terms rose from the boys lip she turned her head.  The veil of hair obscured her features, though through the strands she edged out a view and caught glimpses of that smile directed at her.  She smiled back, though she prayed he had not witnessed it, and pulled it back as quick as it had stretched.

Wiping tears of laughter, and pulling back hair to fashion it once more up, she felt small, looking to see if others had laughed, hoping her immaturity had not been the cause.

"You don't know it's real, but you look for it anyways?," the composed words came out, the cold logic setting in as she began her cross examination.

"Hai," he said sure of himself. "You often don't know if something you hunt exists. You can see its trail but you don't know if another predator or hunter has already found it."

"Yam Yam says it's true. I never got a chance to ask my cousins recently because they went to take the girl home and it was very far away."