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#okitan
arthrpendragn · 2 years
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Virgin Merlin: doesn’t cast spells cause he bites his own tongue
Chad Okita(alter): forgets her own NP line and does it anyway calling it super awesome beam
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wabooe · 2 years
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on another note, i finally completed my fgo shrine!!
-izo and salieri shrine!!
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-okitan and "other fgo characters who i dont have enough merch of to make a shrine" shrine!!
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there was no more space for my douman merch so he's here on another shelf
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whalehouse1 · 2 months
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Okita Alter isn’t a strong servant and is niche in the best case.
Me: Welp, when you get NP3 trying for Mori and then get spooked by her on GSSR, you make do with “alright”.
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kiwikipedia · 1 year
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I thoroughly appreciate the darker vibe and more intense feel to Fate/Type Redline. Fate/Koha Ace was a very goofy and more or less parody of the usual Fate Series with its unusual art style and goofy moments, but Redline takes that very real danger to the Fate Series and highlights it.
In every other Fate incarnation we know that yes, the Grail war is to the death, and yes its dangerous, but the way that Redline is illustrated is made to be intense. There is no uwu-ification nor shying away from the fact that this is an extension of the World Wars in this world, there’s no shying from the fact that Oda Nobunaga, Okita Souji, or any of the other servants— but those two especially— were killers. 
Because of how Fate presents the Servants, it is very easy to forget that Nobu and Okita were both very ruthless killers. Nobu’s title of Demon King of the Sixth Heaven was a very real title and very on point. Okita, like every other member of the Shinsengumi, was a killer, a man-slayer.
Redline does not uwu-ify these two and I appreciate that.
Grand Order’s Guda Guda events are the balance between Redline and Koha Ace, but ultimately, Redline is the closest that we have gotten to how intense and terrifying that particular Grail War must have been, how ruthless and bloody every Servant of that fight was and had to be in order to come out on top.
I’m very interested to see how the entire series plays out and if it follows the original KA plot of Everyone Teams Up Against The Final Bad Guy like Guda Guda did in Grand Order, or if there will be a different twist. I think no matter what, I’ll be pretty content if the portrayal and intensity remains the same.
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vixensreiha · 2 years
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Mito Tsukino|Happy Birthday! by Okitanation
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👁👄👁
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undyinglantern · 6 months
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Hold on are majin and Van Gogh sharing a rate up
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voidfragments · 7 months
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i almost won summer-in-september but where is charlotte
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nobuverse · 7 months
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"Cu Chuliann. Stop. You're making them upset."
Rengokuken was her bestest friend, after all - she wasn't going to let her sword be insulted like that.
"I don't want the next light beam to be aimed in your direction."
A pause.
"That's not a threat. Sorry if t sounded like one."
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☛​̳𝘾​̳𝙖​̳𝙩​̳𝙘​̳𝙝​̳𝙥​̳𝙝​̳𝙧​̳𝙖​̳𝙨​̳𝙚​̳𝙨​̳ ​̳𝙞​̳𝙣​̳ ​̳𝙉​̳𝙖​̳𝙧​̳𝙪​̳𝙩​̳𝙤 ̳☚
1. だってばよ Datte-ba yo
Dattebayo often translates as 'believe it' or 'you know' in English. But it means more like 'I told you already'. 「てば」 (te-ba) - means ( I told you) already; come on. Te-ba is commonly used by everyone in real life. Te-ba comes from 「と言えば」 to-ieba (ieba - conditional form) - means 'speaking of'. 「言う」 (iu) means to say and adding 「と」 (to) particle adds to quote something.
[ I think maybe datte-ba yo means: I told you already, you know! so, believe it! And 'tte' uses to quoting what you're saying.]
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'Da' only uses in front of 'Noun' or 'na-adjective'. "Noun datte-ba yo!" Or "na-adjective datte-ba yo!" yo (よ) is a sentence-ending particle that adds emphasis.
N: 「だから何が 起きたん だってばよ!?」 dakara nani ga okitan datte-ba yo!? So, what happened!?
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"tte-ba yo" uses in front of 'verbs' or 'i-adjectives'. "Verb tte-ba yo!" Or "i-adhective tte-ba yo!"
N: 「行くってばよォ!」 Iku-tte-ba yoo!! We're going!!
-> だってばね Datte-ba ne!
「ね」 (ne) is a word that women often add at the end of their lines, and it has a soft and lovely sound. Just adding "ne" will make it much more feminine.
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'Datte-ba ne!' uses in front of 'Noun' or 'na-adjective'. "Noun datte-ba ne!" Or "na-adjective datte-ba ne!"
K: こういう場合は 動揺って言うんだって ばね! kōiu bāi wa dōyō tte iu n datte-ba ne ! In this case, it's more like a shaken up!
When Naruto asked her how they fell in love, she replied by adding 'tte-ba ne' to her sentence. 「なんか...恥ずかしいってばね...!」 nanka ... hazukashī tte-ba ne....! It's kinda of.... Embarrassing...! 'Datte-ba ne' or 'tte-ba ne' comes out when she is excited, shaken, upset or agitated.
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"tte-ba ne" uses in front of 'verbs' or 'i-adjectives'. "Verb tte-ba ne!" Or "i-adhective tte-ba ne!"
K: 違 うってばね!! chigau-tte-ba ne!! No! (You got it wrong)
In general, the expression ``~datteba, ~tteba" is often used by children as an "excuse", "sulky assertion", or a slight ``rebuttal or rebellion". It's hard to get people around you to acknowledge you. Anticipating the other's "not-so- favorable reaction," "I'm still going to make my point and want to make it." Naruto & Kushina's 'datte-ba yo!' & 'datte-ba ne!' maybe was originate out of their loneliness and not being accepted by those around them. And also because of the awareness that he was not good at talking. Adding "datte-ba yo," his feelings will somehow be conveyed to the other person.
For example:
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He expresses his feelings honestly. When he adds "Datte-ba yo" to these words, it enters their hearts.
2. コレ Kore
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Konohamaru often ends his sentences with "kore" (コレ). "kore" at the end of a sentence can be translated as "hey" or "right", or when you are very angry it can mean "damn it" depending on the context. In literal meaning kore means "this".
3. ウスラトンカチ Usuratonkachi
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[ already talked about it in here] Everyone comes up with their own catchphrase... but Sasuke's catchphrase isn't his own lol... It's Naruto's
4. めんどくせー Mendokuse
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面倒 (めんどう) 臭 (くさ)い -> MendoKusai is used when you don't want to do something. It can be used for any situation that is complicated, a pain in the neck, annoying, bothersome, troublesome or you are busy or can't do something right now for any reason, or when feeling lazy, or don't want to deal with it, or don't want to think about whatever it is.
5. しゃーんなろー Shannaro
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Maybe it was coined from the word 「よっしゃー!」(yossha!) it means Alright! Yess! Oh yeah! I did it! Ok! etc... 「よっしゃー!」 is used when cheering you up to motivate youself Or uses when your luck has come. She uses this word when she's happy and when she's angry or frustrated.
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cananmelia-blog · 2 years
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If Hijikata, Okitan, and Hajime-chan can show their boba I’m sure Sannan-san will join them soon lmao
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kayoshibe · 7 months
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aaaaaaaa... no okitan, gotta hold back for kama, but I managed to get spooked by Mordred and Tamamo in 5 tickets, so we'll call it even. 🙏
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ciitrinitas · 7 months
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i don't know why i had two luvias thrown at me on this banner, but uhhhhhhh...at least i did eventually get summer okitan and np1+ charlotte.
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I got her in one last multi !!!
Honestly I should be saving again for NP3 or hopefully NP5 Okita or Summer Okitan but I love Aesc all the same.
The E luck to A++ that I got almost all the LB 6 crew except for Percy and Mel (may I get her in december) that I'm like, "alright, what's the catch?"
Though is Nero Fest gonna be at the end of July or start of August? Gonna need everyone to ascend before the 7th Anniversary.
Damn shield and pages, and the perpetually out of stock bones.
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the12thnightproject · 10 months
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Tempest in Time Prologue Part 2 - Becoming Katsu
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In which Katsu trains as a courier, and encounters Kyubei, Yoshimoto, and Ieyasu. Part one HERE.
Maid… I mentally grumbled to myself, several weeks later as I scrubbed the floor of the training building, while his student/ apprentices – three young men about my age – drilled with each other and Aki in hand to hand combat.
I wasn’t sure what was the worst thing about being a housemaid – the work itself, which was an unending cycle of scrubbing floors, dusting, cleaning, cooking, and then floors again – or the utter tedium of it all.
I stared idly at the young men – Iekane, Takauji, and Okitane – while their training switched from hand to hand, to swordsmanship. Iekane looked in our direction and winked.
My fellow maid, Niwa, sighed. “They’re so handsome.”
“Eh, I suppose.” Iekane, with his floppy dark hair and easy smile was pretty hot, and the other two were definitely built (except poor Takauji’s ears stuck out, and he was often the subject of teasing from the other two). Due to my ill-fitting maid’s clothing and hacked up hair (Fume, the chatelaine, had ruthlessly chopped the “devil’s” turquoise streaks out of it) I couldn’t imagine that any of them would be interested in me. Anyway, I was more envious of their freedom to fight and run, while Niwa and I were stuck –
“Aren’t you girls finished yet?” Stop flirting with the boys and come help in the kitchen!” Fume came out to chide us both.
Ok. Fume was the worst thing about being a housemaid. Not only did she chop off my hair, but she refused to use my name, telling me that “Katsuko” sounded odd, it was too grand a name for a maid. To Fume, I was “Kaya,” if she wanted my attention, or “that devil girl” if she was talking about me behind my back. She never abused me, but I was constantly aware of her disapproval.
She was glaring at me, unfairly, because I hadn’t been the one flirting.
Niwa giggled some more, but I felt myself flush with resentment. I didn’t want to flirt with “the boys,” but I did want to play alongside them - especially when they got to work out on an apparatus that trained them to climb walls, swing on beams across the ceiling, and flip down again.
I can do that better, I thought to myself when Takauji stumbled and fell on his climb down.
“Girls.” Fume’s warning was punctuated with the shaking of her knife. And while she had never stabbed anyone with it (yet), she could, if she was really in a #mood, slap us with the flat sideo the blade.
With one last look at the apparatus, I picked up my rags, and retreated to the main house, where I spent the rest of the afternoon stripping willow bark to replenish Fume’s supplies for medicinal tea.
It wasn’t merely the tedium. I also chafed at my inability to find out what happened to Toshiie. I knew enough to understand that I would never survive outside Aki’s manor if I took off to look for him myself. Aki might have the resources to help, but every time I sought him out to ask, he was already busy with his students or entertaining a wide variety of messengers and visitors. Or… not around at all.
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A clatter awoke me from my sleep. As usual, there was that moment of limbo when I managed to forget that I’d been hurtled into another era. Then my fingers smoothed the rough fibers of my blanket, and I remembered.
But… it wasn’t morning. I looked over at Niwa’s half of the room, and saw her guiltily fumbling with the lantern. She put her fingers to her lips.
“Where are you going?” I kept my voice to a low whisper. Fume’s room was next to ours.
She jerked her head toward the doorway, where Okitane was standing. It looked like all of his things were stuffed in a large leather pack. “We’re leaving. Together. Okitane has a cousin who has an Inn in Himeji, and we’re going there to help run it.”
“Please don’t tell anyone.” Okitane glanced nervously over at the wall that Niwa and my room shared with Fume’s room.
I didn’t care whether or not they ran away… although, ugh, that would mean double work for me. I doubted anyone else would care either, but if they wanted to play out their Romeo and Juliet fantasies, who was I to stop them?
Then, I had a thought. “I won’t tell… but can we make a trade?” I took off my earrings – I had no need for them here- and addressed Okitane. “I want some of your clothes.”
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The next morning, instead of putting on my maid clothes, I got dressed in Okitane’s clothing and presented myself along with Iekane and Takauji.
Aki acted as if he’d been expecting this development. “Is this what you wish?”
I nodded. What his apprentices got to do was more interesting than scrubbing floors.
Takauji bowed to me and introduced himself. “Are you newly arrived?”
Iekane elbowed him. “Idiot. Kaya’s one of Fume’s maids. She’s been here all winter.”
Aki simply nodded at him. “Katsuko will be taking Okitane’s place. When she is training with you, I expect you to treat her as if she were a man. Katsuhira.”
“Katsuhira?” Iekane stated the name like it tasted like ash in his mouth.
Ok, that was kind of a mouthful. “I’m fine if you just call me Katsu.” It was a step up from being called Kaya by Fume anyway. Might was well simplify things.
Aki turned back to me. “Fume will expect that you continue to perform some of your maid’s duties.”
Of course she would.
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“What is it that you actually do?” Aki had suddenly joined me one afternoon while I was practicing archery, and while it was an idle making small talk question, it was something that I had been wondering about for a while. When he wasn’t at ‘the Mountain’ (which is what everyone called his house) training us, sending, and answering letters, he could, and did often disappear for days – weeks even, then return looking like the weight of the world was on his back.
“What is it you think I do?” Typical Aki. Answers a question with another question.
It had been about two years since he had taken me in. That particular day, I had the grounds to myself, as Iekane was delivering messages and Takauji was recovering from a fractured arm sustained when the rope he was climbing broke and sent him hurtling to the ground. Up until this point, I had been learning martial arts, swordsmanship and archery. Not to brag, but I was the best of three of us, in the latter. Though if I were being honest, I was the worst at swordsmanship, so it all balanced out.
“I figured you were some kind of military training for boys that don’t have a clan connection that allows them to apprentice to a cousin or Uncle.” From talking to the others, I knew that Takauji was the son of a merchant who had lost his money after a shipwreck, and Iekane was illegitimate.
“Not a bad guess. However, incorrect.” He waited until I sent my next arrow zipping toward the target. “Don’t forget to account for the wind.”
“I did account for the wind.” I knew enough to do that. “Then it changed.”
“Then you should have accounted for that too.” He handed me another arrow.
How could I account for something that hadn’t happened? Before I could ask him, he simply put his fingers to his lips.
As instructed, I held myself still, waiting a long moment, listening for the rustling of the wind in the long grass, and realized that I could hear it change before I felt it. I let the arrow fly, smiling when it hit the target square in the center.
Aki merely grunted at my success. “Better. And you haven’t hit the stable once today.”
“If you don’t want arrows in the side of the stable, don’t set up the target so close to it.” The punishment for hitting the stable involved fixing the holes that I had put in it, so I worked hard to avoid that fate.
“Let’s see if you can still hit the target if you can’t see it at all.” He took a strip of fabric and used it to blindfold me.
Really? If this was a prelude to telling me I should use the force, I’d… ok, well actually, that would be pretty cool. Rey from The Force Awakens was one of my spirit guides. Rey, and Black Widow.
“Any time now, Katsu.”
Oh, Right.
Whiz. THONK.
And that was the sound of me spending tomorrow afternoon fixing another hole in the stable wall.
“We’ll have to work on that one.” Aki sounded like he was holding back a laugh.
I pulled off the blindfold, and circled back to the previous topic. “What is it that you do?”
“I’m an information broker.” He moved the target about a meter further back.
“A spy.” That made sense of the vast amount of correspondence and the sheer number of messengers who came in and out of the manor. Although it didn’t explain why he hadn’t managed yet to find my brother. You’d think a spy would be better at finding lost people.
“Spies collect information. I know what to do with it. Then, I fix things.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that. It brought to mind the idea of mafia and assassins. “What do you mean?”
He picked up two stones from the ground and handed one to me. “You see that pear hanging off the tree? Try to knock it down.”
I flung the stone with all my strength to the pear – but it looked like I was a little off course.
CLINK!
Aki had thrown the other stone right after, hit mine, and diverted it back to the pear. The pear shuddered, and fell to the ground. Ok, that took mad skills, and I definitely wanted to learn how to do that.
“Impressive!” I retrieved the pear and offered it to him. He gestured for me to keep it. “I don’t understand though.” I took a bite of the pear, then wiped my chin on my sleeve when the juice attacked me.
“The rock you threw was on the wrong path. I fixed it,” Aki said. “In the same way, sometimes things need a little nudge to get on the correct path.”
“How do you know what is the right path?” And what is the right path? Right for whom?
He patted my shoulder. “That’s where the information comes in, plus research in tactics, strategy, history, and of course shogi.”
Huh. If Aki has an addiction, it’s to the game of shogi. Visitors were always cajoled into a game, and he also has an extra game board set up where he was playing a long slow game by message with one of his frequent correspondents. “What if you’re wrong?”
“I’m never wrong.” He picked up an extra bow and arrow, and shot three arrows into the target, one after another. They all hit the center. “In any case, with Takauji still injured, I’m going to have you start delivering messages and doing some scouting.” He rubbed his chin. “And instruction in tactics… history… shogi… and manners.” He gave a pointed look at where I was again wiping my chin on my sleeve. “You’re becoming rather feral.”
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I enjoyed being a courier. It allowed me to get out the manor and run free from place to place. Aki gifted me with a horse upon my “promotion,” lovely charcoal colored mare with a white crescent on her nose that I named Moonlight. Well, she was a little temperamental, especially in wet weather, but usually we understood each other.
As a messenger, I was fast and I was reliable. Moreover, I learned that not only was I supposed to deliver messages efficiently, but that my job also entailed observing what was going on around me – from the people in the villages to the residents of castles.
Aki always expected a long report of everything I observed, and after a few months, he also began to ask for my interpretation of what I reported. Of course, he was quick to point out when I came to the wrong conclusion.
“No, I doubt Oda’s primary motivation is conquest.” He gestured to a map of disputed territory that had been part of the courier packet. “The words he uses is ‘unite’ the country not ‘subjugate’ it.”
“Mm.” That wasn’t going to happen – well, Nobunaga wouldn’t be the one to accomplish that.  I knew, because he was going to be assassinated in about four years. But to mention that would either get me accused of witchcraft – or plotting the assassination myself.
I had decided not to ever share my origins with anyone here. I was afraid of completely screwing up the timeline – what if I prevented my own birth? Or worse, set the world on a course for a third World War? Honestly, though, after being trapped in this era for so long, my other life was seeming more and more like a dream. What if I had already changed things somehow, and the dreamlike quality of my past (the future) was the result of that?
Realizing that Aki was still waiting for my response, I finally said, “The opinion of the people I’ve talked to in the village is that he’s a ruthless killer.”
“He is ruthless, but fair.” Aki walked over to the table that contained two shogi boards. On one, he was teaching me to play the game – so far I hadn’t managed to defeat him. In my defense, the rules weren’t the same as they were in the future, and I kept getting them mixed up.
On the other board was the on-going game he had been playing with his penpal. Given the speed of the mail (a.k.a me), it was likely going to be another year before they finished, because as far as I could tell, he and his correspondent were evenly matched. Aki studied the board for a long moment, then laughed before making a move, slapping down a tile with unnecessary force. He then wrote down the move in a post-script to the missive he’d already written, and handed it to me.
“I’m beginning to think that the most important parts of these messages are the game moves,” I joked.
“Don’t you read them?” Aki asked, looking surprised.
Dude! “Of course not!” I glared at him, feeling insulted. “I would never read someone else’s mail.”
“I expect you to read them.”  I must have looked shocked at that, because he laughed as he handed me the hood I used to hide my hair when I went out as Katsuhira. “The most important currency in the world is information. Bank some for yourself.”
Ok then.
I started to open the message.
Aki held up his hand in protest. “Not now! I expect you to read it, but to pretend you didn’t.”
Way too complicated, but this was Aki’s dance that I was trying to learn the steps to. “Alright.” I stuffed the message in my pack. “See you next week.” It generally took me just over ten days to make the round trip of my courier run, but the seven-day workweek didn’t exist in this time. Neither did weekends. Instead, weeks were ten days long, and the tenth day was generally considered a rest day – if there wasn’t too much work to be done.
There were few, if any, rest days on The Mountain.
In the stables, I saddled Moonlight, passing Iekane who was returning from a journey up North. He winked and greeted me with a flirtatious smile. I ducked my head to hide my blush. “Kaya. Off on another shogi mission?”
“Yep. Can’t let the game go on without an answer. Any interesting news from Ezo?” He followed me as I led Moonlight out into the yard. She looked ready to get off to a good gallop. So was I.
Iekane escorted me toward the main gates. “Nothing of note.” He glanced around the yard, then pressed a quick kiss on my lips. When I first arrived at Aki’s, Iekane had been engaged to a merchant’s daughter, but that relationship had ended suddenly, and without any explanation on his part. However, Iekane seemed unbothered by it, and had recovered quickly enough to up his flirting game with me.
I wasn’t unaffected by his smiles and winks. So far, we’d only exchanged a few kisses, but we’d also had a few longish conversations, and discussed our families. Both of us were illegitimate – something that we could bond over, although I gathered Iekane at least knew his father’s identity. I’d even told him about my mother (the story heavily edited to remove references to the whole traveled through time thing). Maybe when I got back from Azuchi, we’d take things further.
It was too beautiful of a day to spend too much time daydreaming about Iekane, and I had a long ride ahead of me. As soon as we’d made our way past the more steep and treacherous slope of the mountain, I encouraged Moonlight to up the pace, but - “Girl, what is your problem?” She was certainly being more temperamental than usual, dancing, and shying at ghosts. I gripped the reigns tighter. “Come on, sweetness, we don’t have time for-“
She actually was trying to buck me off.
Houston, we have a problem.
I stopped her and climbed off. Immediately she calmed down. “If you’re trying to tell me I’m too heavy, think again. Rude.”
Upon examination, I found that there was a thorn had gotten caught in the saddle. Most likely when I had changed my balance before encouraging her to gallop, it had driven into her back and scratched her up. “I’m sorry. You were trying to tell me the only way you knew how, and I didn’t listen.” I found some salve in my pack, and ran it over the scrapes. I put a cloth between the saddle and her back.
The cuts would probably heal up by tomorrow or the next day, but as for now…
“Looks like we’re walking.” I led Moonlight along the road. Good thing I had extra food in my bags.
Eventually I reached a village and bartered with a rice farmer to let me sleep in one of his outbuildings overnight. I traded some of Aki’s dried pears for this privilege, and that night I joined him and his wife for dinner. Over the meal, we exchanged stories, and I made them laugh when I told them about the Portuguese merchant who had been flummoxed by chopsticks.
“How did you come in contact with a Portuguese merchant?” the farmer asked.
“My lord sent me to Osaka to purchase some Chinese silk.” was my official answer. The longer answer was that since my best guess about what happened to Toshiie involved a Portuguese (I’d learned that “the nanban” were the Portuguese) ship, I’d become highly motivated to learn the language. Aki agreed that Portuguese was a skill he wanted at least one person in his household to have, and he made arrangements with a Portuguese merchant to stay with us for a few weeks. Francisco hoped to be learning Japanese in return, although he so far, hadn’t been picking it up very well. He had however (and inexplicably) developed a fondness for Fume, and made plans to stay with us over the winter.
“You’ve seen a great many wonders,” the farmer said, with a hopeful tone in his voice.
I had, most of which wouldn’t exist for a few centuries. But the farmers here had never been more than a few kilometers from their villages, so I described Kyoto as best as I could.
“Anyway,” I said later as we lingered over tea. “I’m sure that if you thought about it, you would realize that you’ve seen wonders too.” I’d been thinking of the simple wonders of sunrises, and spring, so the farmer’s answer was all the more surprising.
He scratched his head. “Well, I don’t know about that. My neighbor though, he said he saw the ghost of Uesugi Kenshin riding through the woods.”
“How did he know that is who it was?”
“The eyes. The sword.” The farmer finished his tea, and brought out a bottle of sake to share. “So many legends about a man who’s barely been dead a year. Some say they saw him brought back from death on the battlefield by a demon in a white cloak.”
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As it turned out, Moonlight needed a couple of days before her back had healed enough to ride, but as I didn’t want to stress out my farmer friend by taking too much of his scant food stores (though his farm was actually large for the area, the laws of the day required that he give seventy percent of that to the daimyo)., I got back on the road, and walked her for a couple more days. I had been tempted to leave her temporarily with the farmer, and go on foot, but I knew he couldn’t afford to feed her. At least the weather was still nice - slogging through a rain storm would have been a pain.
Some time I was able to make up by traveling a few hours after dark, but I was still three days late to meet my contact when I got to the booksellers in Azuchi that Aki operated as an information hub. The shop was staffed by an ever-changing stream of Aki’s couriers and former apprentices.
“Katsuhira!” My contact Kyubei looked relieved when we finally connected in front of the shop. “I expected you days ago!”
“Were you worried?” Should I feel flattered that he was concerned, or insulted that he thought I wouldn’t be able to handle any problems? Then again, Kyubei had always struck me as one of those people who was altruistically interested in every person he met, so the concern was probably built into his nature. “I had a slight injury to my horse.” I showed him where the thorn had scratched her back. “We walked for a couple days to give it a chance to heal.”
Kyubei frowned over the injury. “How did a thorn get in there? Do you think someone put it there on purpose?”
“What? No! Why would they?” It wasn’t that I was naïve, but what would be the logic in trying to hurt a lowly messenger? While Aki had enemies, he kept a low enough profile that none of them would go to the trouble of inserting themselves into his household – and if they did, there wouldn’t have been much point in going after me, when Aki was right there. Nor did there seem to be any point in harming me in order to steal the messages I carried. They were all written in codes, and any person wanting the messages translated would need to keep me alive. “I was careless and didn’t check her saddle closely enough.”
Without any further discussion, I passed him Aki’s latest message. Kyubei tucked it away. “Did he tell you to wait for a reply?”
“He didn’t, but since I was already delayed, it would probably be best if I did. He’ll be happy to get the next shogi move, if nothing else.” Anyway, I was hungry, and wouldn’t mind taking the time to get a hot meal in one of the food stalls that lined the market area. I was never invited to follow Kyubei back to his employer – I gathered the man was more secretive than Aki.
“Indeed. My employer as well.” Kyubie smiled. “Good. I’ll return in a couple hours.”
Kyubei headed off, and after I grabbed something to eat, I wandered through Azuchi with a portrait of Toshiie. Azuchi wasn’t close enough to any big ports for this to be any more than shot in the dark, but it did have at least some contact with traders from Hyogo and Osaka. The portrait itself was thanks to the efforts of our Portuguese friend Francisco, who had some drawing skills and with only my verbal description, had managed to produce a fairly accurate rendition of what Toshiie had looked like the last time I had seen him.
I stopped at one stall that looked promising – it had a jumble of goods, some which had clearly been acquired by trade from Europe - and showed the portrait to the merchant. “Pardon me, I’m wondering if you’ve ever seen this man.”
The merchant examined the portrait, and shook his head.
“What is this? Are you peddling art now, Tadayo?” came a voice from behind me. I turned to see an elegant man posing languidly against the wall, as if his own slight weight was too much for him.
“No, I’ve told you, Yoshimoto, there’s no profit in art for me,” replied the merchant.
The man – Yoshimoto – flicked open a fan. “Shame.” He turned his gaze to me. “And you, young sir, are you an artist?”
Ha. I can’t even draw a curve. I passed him the portrait, and explained about my search.
“Hm, clever of you to commission a portrait. Unfortunately, this young man does not look familiar.” Yoshimoto excamined the portrait. “How long have you been looking for him?”
“Three years.” I braced myself for the inevitable - Yep… Yoshimoto and the merchant exchanged looks, which clearly said that after all this time, my search was unlikely to end in success. Annoyed, I added. “I will find him. I have to.”
A flash of what looked like pain and regret crossed Yoshimoto’s face. “I wish you the best of luck in your search then. And if I do encounter your brother, is there a way to get the message to you?” He handed the portrait back.
I carefully rolled it up and placed it in my pack. “I’m not often in Azuchi –“
“Nor am I,” Yoshimoto said. “I shouldn’t even be here now, but am drawn to the shops.”
“In that case,” I pointed out Aki’s book shop, “You may send a message to me – Katsuhira – in that shop. They’ll know how to reach me.”
Yoshimoto bowed and promised to keep a look out. I had no idea how much that promise was worth, or if Yoshimoto had much of a memory for faces, but this was better than no help at all.
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By late afternoon, I reconnected with Kyubei, who had brought along not only a message, but also a person. A really grumpy looking man, at that. “That’s a big message,” I joked to Kyubei, although I hoped that I wasn’t going to have to lead this man’s frowning ass all the way back to Aki’s manor.
The grump looked more annoyed at my words. “I’m here to treat your horse.”
Oh, well, then in that case, if Eeyore was here to help Moonlight, then I could put up with his attitude. “Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for your horse.” Even before Kyubei hastily introduced as him as Tokugawa Ieyasu (Ieyasu – Eeyore. Potato – Potahto) the man was looking at my horse, who sensing an animal lover, batted her eyes at him (I exaggerate… but only by a little).
He schlumped over to Moonlight and examined her back. “I don’t converse with people who mistreat their animals.” He spread some kind of salve over her cuts.
I agreed with the sentiment, but not the accusation. “I don’t mistreat animals. Once I found the thorn, I walked her until it healed enough to ride again.”
Kyubei patted Ieyasu’s arm. “I’m sure he didn’t mean you purposefully hurt her.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth.” Ieyasu handed me the container of salve. “Put this on her in the morning, at night, and after every ride.”
“I will.” No reason to antagonize him. He was trying to help, in his dark cloud of a way.
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emperorbubblegum · 2 years
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Rengoku making Okitan's tits disappear when he possesses her (or whatever's going on there) is golden
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