Having long since finished her bubble tea, Moriko was getting hungry, so she sent Hoshiko a message, letting her sister know where to find her. There wasn’t much by way of seating around the cart, especially when the rain had driven most of the shoppers inside, but she found a bench and plopped down onto it. Patting the seat next to her, “mind Hoshi-chan’s spot, won’t you?” and Ten jumped up next to the young woman, grinning. “Oh, no, don’t you give me that look. That’s not why I called you up here. No. You know you’re not allowed Takeshi’s sauce. Not for dogs,” she lovingly reprimanded.

An excited Ren appeared, dashing towards the bench, only stopping when Hoshi called for him to. They had been nearby. The elder twin stopped at the cart, placing an order, before joining her sister at the bench.

"Hello, Mori-chan. Hello, Ten-kun."

Pretty pleased after watching her Hare friend get some fancier duds, Mumei continues to browse the mall when a stirring against her ribs makes her freeze, eyes wide, just before passing the skewer cart entirely. She slooowly looks down, before remembering how well-behaved Yube had been during the fashionable shopping excursion.

She open her coat slightly, and sees bedhead monkey looking up out of her pocket. "Well...ok. Guess you're with me."

Opening her communicator, she taps out a quick message to Jin while the tiny monkey climbs to her shoulder.



Glancing up, she spots...two dogs..and two...waaaait a minute. Mumei tilts her head one way, then the other. She was running too low on the vision honey and hadn't even tried the mushrooms yet. She pats a pocket. No...they hadn't been sleep eaten. Maybe just having them around produced contact effects?

She approaches the bench.

"So this is going to sound very odd, minna-sama, assuming you are not all figments of my imagination. But... are there actually two of you and two dogs, or are all these spores starting to mess with my eyes?"

And then she belatedly bows. "Also, good afternoon. Pardon my rudeness, even if you're figments."

Ten had hopped down when he saw Ren, vacating the seat for Hoshiko, “good afternoon, Hoshi-chan.” Moriko already had an order of skewers, smothered in delicious sweet and sour sauce, and she’d just taken a bite when the Osprey approached. There was sauce on her chin as she hurriedly swallowed and bowed to the shugenja, “rest assured there is nothing wrong with your eyes, Nakauchi-san. I am Shiba Moriko, and this is my sister, Hoshiko.”

"And, these two." she pointed to the dogs. "Are Ren and Ten."

"Oh good. I was thinking I may have gotten more spores from something than I guesssed. I prefer to plan when I'm taking those kinds of trips, neh?" She offers a seond, proper...but very long bow. The length allowing time to offer hands for sniffing to the pair of puppers.

"Ren and Ten. Nice short names to keep track of." When she rises, she offers a hand to Yube to climb on. And this is Yube who is actually Ujina Jin's companion...but fell asleep in my pocket."

"I think I saw you at the Otori event, yes?" She didn't exactly remember there being two of them. But with all the birds and people and excitement, that would not have been surprising.

"If who you saw was riding around expertly, that was Moriko." Hoshi explained. "If the rider was thrown off by the otori, it was me."

"That was you then, Shiba-sama." Mumei does not laugh at her misfortune. Not everyone was really set to ride giant birds. And she has a dog instead!

"OK to pet Ren and Ten?"

"Please," Moriko invited the young woman, "they might sulk if you don't." Side by side, there were details that would tell the twins apart: Hoshiko's hair was neat, despite the rain, while Moriko's bun was a mess, with silken strands falling down. There was still sauce on her chin, and her sake had left a condensation ring on her jeans where she'd been resting the drink.

"Would you care to join us? I was just about to tell Hoshi-chan about the Shinri temple."

Mumei crouched down and motorboated between the pair of dogs, one arm around each. Yube was a bit disturbed by proximity to new animals, clinging tight to her hair. "Wouldn't want sulking! Who's a good dog?"

She looks up at the seated humans while scritching the furry friends. "The temple? Was up there the other day. It's an odd place, but interesting. Hoping to go up and commune later, maybe ride Hiroki up there and get her some exercise."

"We were planning to go visit it, as well." Hoshiko said. "My sister has been up there a couple of times, but I haven't."

Moriko seemed encouraged when Mumei mentioned having visited, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. Hoshiko would know there was something a little off about her sister: she seemed drained, like she’d had plenty of sleep, but not enough rest. “There was a ritual there last night, they let me participate.”

“There’s something nice about being up there,” she continued, “it’s like I’ve had a few cups of sake every time I go there, I feel sort of tipsy, and I sleep so well afterwards, too. You know? Like when you’ve had a long, tiring day, and you have a few drinks and get your buzz on, and then you get some well-earned sleep? Like that.” The words had all come out in a stream, and the younger twin paused, her expression clearly adding an unspoken but...

Mumei looks up from her doggy communion, and tilts her head. "We didn't notice any effects, other than the pleasure of enjoying the view. But Kitsune-san and I also didn't spend any time communing with the local spirits, which could alter the senses if they're particularly powerful in the area." Rising, she doesn't bother brushing off the dog hair, or shushing Yube as he chatter-shrieks at the dogs.

"I've tried a lot of methods to alter my perceptions, but that didn't do the trick. Maybe the ritual though?" She frowns a bit, thinking of the greater rituals she knows anything about. "Pardon my asking, but it's not always apparent, are you shugenja?"

Shaking her head, "no, that would be my sister," she indicated to Hoshiko. Moriko hadn't been communing with any kami, but hearing that Mumei and the unnamed others hadn't experienced what she did gave her reason to question her perceptions, gave her reason to ask what had been different the times she had visited.

She offers a nod of respect to Hoshiko. "Have you ever touched the spirits up there and noticed such an effect?"

"Oh, and I should talk to Kitsune-san about it. This seems like the kind of world that might have more ties to Chikushudo than some, you know? And some of those spirits can be ...tricky." She wobbles her hand, prompting Yube to launch from her head to land on her hand. Shaking her head, she absently zooms him around in a mini monkey ride as she continues. "Not necessarily bad, but not always healthy to deal with if you're not aware or trained to it."

"Unfortunately, I've not visited the shrine, yet." Hoshiko sighed. "I do intend to go with Moriko the next time."

"My memory is actually pretty hazy," the usually confident sister seemed uncertain, "but Asako-sama said something that struck me as ...odd." Ten, disappointed by the sudden stop in affection, leaned against Mumei's leg, grinning up at the Osprey. "He said that people were afraid of the sect."

"I may grab Kitsune-san and head up tomorrow, see what the spirits feel like. I spoke to one my first day here that seemed...worried that people were not listening to the whispers of the world as they should." She pats Ren, until Ten gets jealous and then switches.

Moriko glanced at her sister, trying to formulate the question she wanted to ask. "Hoshi-chan, do rituals usually look like bad CGI from old sci-fi movies?"

Mumei blinks at that description.

________
This is just here so I can publicly laugh at that description. I will let Hoshiko answer.