Eventually the congregation would reach a small clearing, many of the devout nodding to Moriko as they walked alongside her, welcoming her to their group with smile on their lips. Everyone was quiet though as if the occasion was somehow sacred for mere words. She could see small groups clinging together, small figures - presumably children - clinging to their parents robes. Two elderly members of the sect followed the group, carrying long rods with them, large globular lanterns dangling from the six foot poles. The fungal forest was dark around them and the night was alive with sounds, chittering and buzzing insects, cries of large lizards. Rustling of the stalks as the winds rustled their gills.

With everyone gathered, Saneyuki the two older men following Saneyuki would usher him on a large moss covered stone, the young priest reaching for an old tattered scroll. At first, the young man stumbled, one of his 'assistants' prodding him with a stick as his voice cracked. Focusing again, Saneyuki managed to recite the prayer, bathing himself in soft yellow light as the kami of fire rushed envelop his body. From the young priest, the yellow lights flowed into the two elderly priests, shrouding them in a mantle of magical light. With the ritual completed, the elderly Phoenix priest carrying the incense began to recite something, the esoteric and gibberish words filling the small clearing. Soon Saneyuki and the other senior sect members joined the chat.

It did not take long before unnatural coldness swept over the congregation, a 20 foot tall portal darker than midnight appearing behind Saneyuki, the shimmering darkness surrounded by impossibly bright halo. "Kneel!" Saneyuki commanded, his voice echoing with barely contained power. "He comes!" The portal rippled and something or someone stepped through, eyeing the gathered samurai and monks with a primordial hunger gleaming in its eyes.



_______

Devour Essence: Characters present must roll contested Willpower against Contested Willpower: 4d10o10 25 or lose all of their Void points they might have at the moment and cannot recover them the next time they sleep as they are enthralled by vivid, pleasant dreams. In addition, they become amnesiac, not quite remembering what they have witnessed, spending the rest of the day in a pleasant, fugue like state.

"...

How exactly did you manage to say I saved the life of my beautiful friendly roommate who is also a talented pilot like me in such an unromantic way?

Did she make it clear she was already spoken for or something?"

"This miai... This miai is a battlefield! Spider and their allies, everywhere! So I've taken upon myself to do a bit of scouting. Here are all the data I've been able to gather in these three days."

Akemi turned her densai around to show the assistance her processed results:



"Only people I've been able to find enough relevant information about are listed. Personal importance is an estimation through rank and reputation, with an added bonus if they deal with military-related activities. Didn't have time to update it with the things I learned of only today. Crab and Spider are mostly listed as reference points.

From this data, it's clear that Emerald Magistrate in the making Bayushi Tenma would make an excellent spouse.

However I would like to draw your attention to the upper middle of the diagram, which is what I call the danger zone. Important people who could be swiped left more or less easily through Spider shenanigans.

We must prevent that at all cost! Don't forget: This is a war on two fronts at once. Not only do we need to reinforce our ranks, but we also need to prevent the enemy from bolstering theirs. For that purpose, I recommend targeted strikes to sabotage Spider chances with these people, and even snatching them for ourselves if better than the alternative.

Hida Akemi's report, over!"

After passing along a sizable stack of tickets to his fellow clansman, Yasuki Nakaba strolls up to the shop to inspect the rewards for his successful conquest across the digital world. Well dressed in his pristine business vest, his glow-silk black tie glimmers with blue light matching the neon bright lights of the many flashing machines. A sweet sigh caught his attention beside him at the shop. Eyes widen at the sight of the most dangerous foe to a young crab in the galaxy. A dangerously attractive spider in distress.

His eyes dart back and forth towards the object of her desire. A cute fluffy plush. "No Nakaba don't do this you got in trouble last time. Remember your cousin shouting traitor?! Don't dooo eetttt." The thought rings within his mind but suddenly his arm carrying the stack of tickets begins to rise against his own will. "No don't DON'T Nakaba be strong your better than this!" he fights it back with all his will but ultimately fails.

With a sigh of his own, he offers his tickets to the spider to purchase the plushie. "Come on go ahead and take what you need. No strings attached." He says with a faint smile.

"Really? The Kachiko player I had on my team never used it... a pity." It had been a poor matchup, it seemed. Did he say Doji Hoturi? She seemed to recall it had been Doji Hotaru... hmmm... maybe it was dialect-thing?

"Well, I would be happy to play it again with you, Daigotsu-san. Shall we line up for it? You can tell me about what your day has been like."

Hide was a good friend. And good friends don’t let friends wear whatever Jin thinks looks good to a date. So, she put herself into wingwoman mode. Which meant her brain went into heist movie script mode.

The Date Job

The mark: Ujina Jin
The planned outcome: making him look good for his date.

“Oh, Ujina-sama. Have I kept you waiting too long?” Hide asked as she noticed that Jin was already waiting for her arrival.

Ishiyo took it with her eyes blazing with fiery passion....directed at the origin of the song sadly. "We must! WAN! WAN!"

And with that she was off! Leveraging every trained reflex, every bit of her pilot agility, and every shred of Crane grace. That Kakita trained focus was turned to mimicking a children's song. And by the end she was exhausted by the end of it...exhausted but apparently successful...

Yul glanced at his communicator. He frowned. Then looked around.

"I should go." He said, to no one in particular. A few moments passed.

Rising to his feet, Yul slipped out of the stadium...

/exit

Shoan squares her shoulder and follows the directions fingers wrapping and unwrapping around the controls.
“Ready”
She gingerly judges the stick forward.

Izumi listened to the task briefing and then set to work. Research was needed! Time for a RESEARCH MONTAGE!!!!

Foxeh booting up comp and setting a cup of tea next to him.
Foxeh staring at screen and making notes on his densai.
Foxeh with hands on head, shouting at blue-screened comp.
Foxeh plugging cables back into comp and restarting it.
Foxeh back at the hard study.
Foxeh making more tea while studying densai.
Foxeh returning to comp and almost spilling tea in excitement.
Foxeh having Eureka moment as he figured it out.

/screen fades back to normal

Now to argue it out! Unfortunately . . . a Fox at Vulpine Excitement Level Four is possibly not the best negotiator. Or that good at explaining things.

"RightwhatweneedistheLocusttoswitchthisplanettoagriculturalonly . . . andthentheTigerpullbacktheirpatrolstohere . . . andbothneedtoupmedicalsupplymanufacturerates . . . andthenapplythesalvedirectlytothewound . wait!wherewasI? Ohyeah, that'stotallyrightTigershipssuckatlowaltitudeand . . . and . . . ahit'sinmynotessomewhere . . . "

A flurry of dataslates is sorted through.

"Hereitis, StepFiveLocustwins . . . . "

He stared up at the Phoenix Mediator who did not look impressed at all and was already writing a fat zero on Izumi's assessment sheet.

"Crapcakes."

Ishiyo took to the woods with vigor, she had a secret weapon. Upon entering the woods she donned: THE HAT.



Through the powers of proper dress, our young Crane Huntress easily picked up the trail of the creature. Following it's trail like a pro, or at least a competent hunter.

Arriving at the creature's location, Ishiyo put some foliage on the hat. The plan was perfect. As was her camouflage.



Carefully she set her rifle, lining up the sights on the gun as she had learned in training. The metal post right on it's center mass. Slowly she squeezed, ever so slowly. Time slowed and then she felt the rifle press against her shoulder. A screech followed and it was dead.

Ishiyo stood up and laughed, eager to show her first successful kill to Ryuu.

"You are not wrong Nakauchi-san."
Shoan avoids other dancers a little differently, first a death stare and then if they insist, a rising aura of danger that tends to ensure the two some small space on the dance floor

Simple action: slam the doors and lock them
Free action: hyperventilate
ATN: 17 plus a tin can
Stance: Defense

The wrestling event drew relatively a good number of locals to the show, glad to see some live entertainment in Shiro Yaoke. There were many cheers as they saw both known and new wrestlers competing against each other. Despite not being household names, the new wrestlers manage to draw some reaction from the crowds. There were cheers given to Knockout as she made her decisive win against her opponent and some groans of sympathy when the Marquise of Herons took her terrible bump, medics quickly rushing her out in short order.

However, it was the Silent Lady that drew the ire from the crowds. The underhanded tactic she used to win her match didn't make her popular but instead drew intense heat!



Kaiu Keiichi got into the ring and addressed the crowds. "Thank you for having us and being part of the show, everyone! Shiro Yaoke has been wonderful for the Rumble Slam Arena and we hope to be back! Now the moment you've waited for...We've had a lot of great matches tonight but there can only be ONE Asakaze Champion! Put your hands together for...the SIIIIIIIILENT LADY and YOUR Asakaze Champion!"

The crowd did not clap but they were incensed! Boos filled the space when Utaku Hyeon-ju was presented her championship belt.



"Hey! Silent Lady!" The Menace called out to her as her gigantic image showed up on the Wrestletron. "Real nice work getting that belt...but don't think that makes you safe. If anything, now you have a big nice target on your back! You'd better sleep with ONE eye open..." she said while pointing at her red eye.

The Menace cackled and then the Wrestletron went black.

Glory Gains
Susumu Geppu: +0.1
Utaku Hyeon: +0.6 and Asakaze Champion!
Daidoji Ishiyo: +0.3
Kitsu Nozomi: +0.2 and 1xp worth of Jujitsu skill!

"I think that was a while back...but yes, I dod know Sora-san. We first meet in Winter Court and he was pleasant enough that we shared tea and lunch a few times. When you're in the same delegation, it's pretty unavoidable. With the senior courtiers all occupied with their closed meetings, I suppose we just happen to run into each other a lot," she nodded.

She nodded excitedly, "there might be gaming but Fan-Con isn't necessarily focused on gaming, typically at least. It came to with an amalgamation of different clubs put together, admittedly I did push for gaming and I'll debuting my boardgame there. I haven't had time to test it yet. Oh! And my miniatures aren't even painted yet. I guess I could just manufacture them but that might not look original enough. I also have to make sure that we have enough volunteers. I think I've accounted enough for the people here locally but the crowd will be bigger with the miai so we might have to take our volunteers from visitors too."