Mal-Chin stayed behind after the robotics rally in order to help clean up.

And make a report. He had his portable computer with him, and was trying to figure out how to make sure the holorecorder stayed on the drone. It'd be really useful!

Having gotten his message, Mumei stayed behind as well. And as long as there was cleaning to do, she'd help out. With explosions, tea spraying, fires...there was a lot of cleaning up to do.

She greets Mai-chin while carrying a pile of soiled clothes off to the laundry pile someone had pointed out. "Nice job with the little bot there, Asako-sama."

A look up, "Oh! Thanks! I mostly figured out some coding. I tried to make it good at hunting, but somehow it turned that into piloting instead." He bows a bit. "But it didn't scald anyone pouring tea! Thankfully!"

As a senior member of the Robotics Club, Chiruha stayed behind to clean up and direct the efforts of the Club. Despite the great spectacle fo the rally, they were only given a short amount of time to clean up before they the classes at the dojo could resume on schedule. There was indeed much to clean up, including the mishaps caused by the drones and the obstacle course itself. It wasn't the club's first rally and they have developed a system to tidy up so long as everyone rolled their sleeves and put in some effort.

There were much data gathered from the rally, especially in the upgrades that were selected. The team had worked hard on the efficiency module and it, unfortunately, wasn't efficient enough. It was likely back to the drawing board with that one. Chiruha could be found at the parts and upgrades table for the module, putting all the respective pieces back in their container.

"That's definitely more than can be said for some of them. I almost felt that healers needed to be standing by! The programming is a lot harder than it looks though." She nods. And lets the actual Phoenix do the introductions whenever Chiruha's free.

"I had a lot more difficulty with the engineering myself. Just not good at welding."

Mal-Chin waits until Chiruha has a moment of less distraction, then nods in her direction to Mumei, before moving over and bowing. His drone rolling along behind him.

"Oh! Asako Chiruha-sama. Have you met Nakauchi Mumei-san?"

Chiruha closed the tub once it reached its capacity and looked up at Mal-Chin when he approached with his friend. She smiled softly and bowed politely in greeting. "Good afternoon, pleased to see both of you participating in the rally today! And no, we haven't met yet. Pleased to meet you, Nakauchi-san. I hope things are going well for both of you?"

She looked to them curiously, wondering if this was going to be a follow up to the message she had received or ultimately a false alarm.

"I still haven't quite figured out the harder engineering, but thankfully that sturdy engine upgrade endured everything the course had to dish out." He says to share the pleasant experience.

"But if you've the time, I think we should share our news. You may know better how we should proceed."

Mumei bows deeply, as appropriate, steeling herself for the interview of sorts. "Honored to meet you Asako-sama." She glances at Mai-chin. "I agree. Though I understand if you don't want it talked about so publicly here." she gestures vaguely at the crowd of people cleaning up.

Chiruha nodded twice and took a glance around to see where they could go for some private conversation in a pinch. It seemed like half the club had gone out into the wilderness to look for some drones that might have shut down before completing the course and the work shed looked free for now. She gave them a gesture to follow them to the shed and closed the door behind them after.

The shed itself hosted several workbenches with a lot of the hand-me-down tools given by the dojo itself. There were also a few terminals on one side that were used for programming. A few stacks of renga littered the floor as well. "I hope this is fine? What's the situation?"

Mal-Chin looks to Mumei. "It is more her report than mine, so I will save my comments for after."

Mumei nods once and follows along. "Well, you've seen what Asako-sama recorded, yes?" She nods to Mai-chin so there's no confusion about which Asako she's referencing.

"There's not a lot to add, except that there are others who know a fair bit more about portals and other realms than I do, and one of them was equally concerned. We're pretty sure this 'king' is some kind of spirit from one of the realms most closely tied to the planet. We're pretty sure they're gathering energy by tapping onto the connection their worshippers have with the Void to do some sort of large opening into that realm...at least if I understood him right."

Frowning, she adds. "What to do about it is...not something I know yet. Simply stopping things if they are this close? They've already gathered a lot of power that might be equally dangerous to just unleash even if it's not able to finish the job. I haven't gotten very far with my research so far either."

"Actually...I haven't seen the recording myself, admittedly. He mentioned that there was something strange going on with the shrine in the forests and that potentially one of the otori handlers might be part of it. They've always been a bit peculiar but we have left them to their devices for a while. Since the founding of Shiro Yaoke, even, from what I'm been told," she said carefully.

She narrowed her eyes and raised her hands to stop the Osprey. "Sorry, you might have to start from the very beginning regarding this. This is suddenly...a lot. A king? Using worshipers? A portal?"

"Oh. Yes...that would be a lot if it's pretty much the first thing..." Mumei takes a minute to compose memory and try to get as much of what she'd told Mai-chin the other day into a...relatively short form."

"Ok, so, yes...I suppose the folks I talked to have been among the herders. One of them had been to the shrine a few times, and to a ritual that she remembered only vaguely. It all sounded a little strange. People shouldn't be drained and fuzzy around the edges after a ritual if they weren't involved in the invocations." She seems pretty solid on that point.

"And that might not have meant much, but on my first day here, I was communing with the kami, who said that the world would whisper to people in their dreams if they'd listen, but that the man-thing and woman-thing wouldn't listen. And that last bit sounded like a bit of a warning." She frowns a bit, "It can be a bit hard to tell, but it definitely stuck in the back of my mind.

"So, several of us went up to the shrine to commune with the elemental spirits that are quite strong there. They spoke of a yellow king from another realm..." Concentrating, she recites.

Quote:
"The realm of the great-serpents and walking turtles,
the grounds are clouds and the skies are myrtles,
where claws and wings will always clash
orange fiends, they trash and gnash!"


"That's the best translation I have of the spirit speech. It said that 'they' were trying to reach to this king's realm while the air spirits indicated that those in the ritual somehow 'feed' this king with what sounded like their connection to the void" OK...one more important bit "The kami of the earth are stubborn and plainspoken, saying that ''the people of the planet should flee, for while the planet yet slumbers, it will soon awaken.'"

"OK, that's...all so far." She sighs and waits to see if that's...well, kind of overwhelming.

Mal-Chin nods. "Hai, apologies, I wasn't sure how to send the video securely to you."

Chiruha nodded slowly to Nakauchi's words as she tried to digest all of the information that was given to her. "This is a lot...Nakauchi-san. While being a Phoenix, I admit that even my understanding of the kami and the spiritual are perhaps more conceptual than tangible on the matter but I don't doubt they have something valid to say about our surroundings. To say that we should flee from the planet is perhaps...very alarming, even if just words alone. I hope it's just words alone at this point."

She frowned in thought, "But this mention of a ritual that drains people even not involved in the proceedings is very peculiar and even if by itself is a cause of concern, could even be considered a spiritual assault to those who aren't aware. And do you say this is all to some purpose to feed a...king? I know they seem to revere a minor Fortune in the forests but I don't think they've gone so far to mention a king, in my very limited interaction with them."

"Sometimes drones get lost in the direction of the temple and some of us don't better going that far to retrieve them," she said with a shrug.

Mumei nods. "I don't know what they might have going on that would take out drones...but that's useful to know if communing in the area. Their 4 armed spirit out there is...pretty odd. They did say it was a local spirit. From what little I know of the other realms, the ones this world is most closely connected too are not the most malevolent, but their denizens also don't place a terribly high importance on human lives. So their plans are sometimes dangerous."

"The kami of earth just...I'm told they tend to be steady and aren't the spirits I'd have expected to be overly alarmist, that's for flighty air spirits." She sounds quite convinced. But the Phoenix no doubt have a wealth of shugenja to offer such insights.

"I'm really sorry to bring information in sideways like this. It's just...well most places.. who's going to take a minor clan report all that seriously? I appreciated that Asako-sama," again she nods at Mai-chin, "felt he could speak directly to someone with any sort of authority, on my behalf."

"I just could not see that there would be any ulterior motive for you to bring that kind of story to us. There's no real advantage to it, and that gives more reason to listen." He frowns a little. "I've not really interacted with any magistrates here, outside of the occasional court session where I was needed to provide precedence. So it was my hope that you'd know who we should talk to Chiruha-sama."

"Oh, no...sorry, Nakauchi-san. I mean drones would sometimes get lost all over the area, from events such as the Robotics Rally and with regular use. I suppose whenever a drone is lost around their area, we often just elect to leave them be. Interactions with them are awkward, even by rural folk standards. I'm sure by some visitor standards, we would all be considered rural folk," she smirked for only a brief moment.

"I know that spirits and the kami don't exactly take on forms that don't exactly make a whole lot of sense for us. This 4 armed spirit isn't odder than another. But if you say that they are harming people, then that's perhaps enough to get a magistrate to go out to see if they are practicing in good faith. It might be best to gather more opinions of other shugenja on the matter. Mmm...maybe Isawa Sora-san?" she offered, one of the few Phoenix shugenja off the top of her head.

She frowned faintly at Mumei, "Nakauchi-san, you're opinion isn't irrelevant and I know that Mal-Chin wouldn't just conjure something up either. What you are saying is concerning, I can make mention of this to my father or a magistrate if you wish."

Mal-Chin blinked a moment.

"Could we." He looked back to where the robot club was. "Do you think we could try and get the data on just how often and where drones have been lost near there? It might provide a map. And we could use it as justification to go out there as well to continue research, or to look for the destroyed drones, in the interest of removing them? The Robot Club keeps records of drones it loses right? I'm sure drones doing security patrols would have to."

He holds up two fingers, "We also help protect the forest by removing lost drones before they pollute the place, and we can have the opportunity to see what caused the drones to get lost there."