D4EE, A Shisha and a Sparrow...(Closed)

[Miya Kisha]

tantalizing hints of backstory

"You know, Suzume-san," Kisha replies, "I've never really thought about it before. It's true there are Miya who settle, and those who marry out of the Family follow those whom they wed. I don't have anything like that lined up for me, so far as I know; I'm pretty sure my parents would tell me if there was an arrangement made. It's not the kind of thing that does well as a surprise, after all!

"But for the most part, the Miya remain itinerant. It keeps things fresh.

"We go where we are sent, and if we do well, we get to have options about where we're sent. I got to pick coming here, for example, choosing it from among, what, five other possible duty stations. The opening of Tango is attracting some attention back home, which is a good thing, and I'm glad to be here to seize on some of it."

She spoons her soup. "I don't know how well I'm doing at it, I'll admit, but I'm giving it my best. And I'm making some good connections here, too!"

The Miya smiles at the Sparrow, warmly. "I try to be happy wherever I am. Some places are easier, and most of those that are easier are easier because of the people. Whether they're from there or found their way there."

[Suzume Hitomi]

d'aww

Hitomi nods. "I know what you mean. It was hard to feel comfortable at Golden Mirror. Everyone's very polite and welcoming, but it was a bit too much of a weird mirror of home without the depth that actually makes Rokugan home. They were very invested in the illusion, but that meant...hmm, it was hard to feel that the connections made with people were real." She laughs, "seems silly to say it aloud, though," and focuses on her soup a minute. "Here, things have felt a lot more genuine, you know? I guess I've been here long enough to hopefully offer that welcome to new folks. So I hope this is one of those places it's easier to be happy."

"Anyway, if you're doing your best and making good connections here, then you'll have something to take away at least. I imagine we're a bit in the same boat of being rather small groups compared to the great clans here. Though I've got the solace that even if I can't make gains for the Alliance here, my shop should survive...and possibly thrive if the partnerships made here really do push the province's fortunes forward."

"Do you know where you're off to next? Or would you be staying to oversee contracts if they choose to use the plans Imperials are putting forward?"

[Miya Kisha]

aw, shucks

"You've got the right of it," Kisha agrees. "We're all facing difficulties in that regard, although how the Crab will respond is still unclear to me. Any politicking will see large Scorpion presence; any mercantile interests will see much Mantis attention. Neither is a surprise. The Dragon's influence here is a bit unexpected, admittedly. They don't necessarily get out much, but I suppose that, when they do, they get all the way out."

The Miya takes another spoon of soup and continues. "I'm not sure things will line up so that the Families get one of the major contracts here. In some ways, they don't need to, though; any inter-Clan agreement is subject to review at that level, anyway, and it's happened before that certain maintenance and upkeep duties get levied onto arrangements of that kind. Happens at higher levels than me, so I can't do much about it, but that doesn't mean I don't see what happens, either.

"However that falls out, though, I'll probably be on-world for a little while, finalizing details for what does get set up here. There will be more content to review and push out, advertising cycles to program in, friends to talk up, that kind of thing. After? Might be a stint in the Archives or at a way-station; we all have to take our turns on those, saving the very highest of us--but they did their turns, too. Might be another assignment; I'm in a position where I get some choice in where I go, but the needs of the Family will still circumscribe that choice. I get to pick, but they set the menu.

"Which reminds me: what's our next course?"

[Suzume Hitomi]

accurate analysis

"Hmm, there's the crab leg tasting flight, which sounds kind of hilarious, but shows off all the types of crab they get in here. The herb butter uses local herbs, so it's pretty interesting. I think I'm going for the ginger crab though, cracking open legs is more involved than I'm in the mood for." Sweet crab, spicy ginger and chilies felt perfectly autumnal.

"Sounds like we may keep the current crowd of off-worlders a bit longer, since I imagine many will hang around to finish up details, as you mentioned." The server taking their main course orders mentioned that the fascinating color of the Tropical Ice Crab was a product of a diet rich in cyanobacteria.

"Now, archives I can imagine what that posting looks like. But way-stations? I imagine those are a bit remote?"

[Miya Kisha]

good lore-building and springing for the same

"I'll try that flight, thanks," Kisha says to the server. "And another drink. You need a refill, Suzume-san?"

"Anyway," she continues. "With the way-stations, it depends on where they are. All of them, from the days of the early Empire, were set up along existing routes, used so that shisha could lay over or relay messages. For the most part, they were on the major routes going between cities; there were some further afield that serviced more remote outposts. None of them were really at the forefront of any exploration or the like, although it's true that some weren't far behind it.

"Even now, the way-stations are very much hospitality positions. We make sure that those who are out running are taken care of. And, sometimes, we get pressed into service as impromptu administrative centers, but that's fortunately rare. Best case is when the Blessing happens, but even that's a sign something's gone wrong nearby."

Kisha shakes her head. "I haven't had to work a Blessing yet. I'm not sure I'm eager for the chance."

[Suzume Hitomi]

nice!

Hitomi lifts her drink and nods, letting the server whisk the empty away. "I've seen the historic stations, but wondered how that translated into the stars. It sounds less lonely than I think I'd imagined. Steady flow of new people and their news, I'd imagine."

When food comes, she'll pause, letting the server point out each crab in the flight and the sauces meant to enhance them, peppered with small facts like the tiny claws holding a paper umbrella at the edge of their new drinks were from the smallest native crab species and entirely edible if they wanted tweezers get the meat out of them.

"Why wouldn't you want to be assigned to a Blessing? I know the must operate in some very devastated areas, but it seems like it would be satisfying to be able to do something useful there."

[Miya Kisha]

having such an interlocutor makes it easy!

After the server departs, possibly to fetch clean tweezers, Kisha will close her eyes for a moment before answering the Sparrow's question.

"I don't deny there's satisfaction in it," she says. "Building things anew. Helping people directly. But it's never only that. Clearing away what was harmed is not an easy thing, physically and otherwise. And the people in need rarely only need a new roof or new clothes. They need care that takes quite a bit of training to provide.

"I know well what I am," the Miya goes on. "That I do work of value, I believe. My Family extends me its confidence because I do so, I have to believe. But I am not someone who can do that kind of work. I don't have the physical strength to be much use on a jobsite; I'm not descended from the Anou, not within twenty generations. And I don't have the...whatever it is that lets healers do their work, either."

She quiets for a moment. "I'd hate to be a disappointment, and I don't think I could avoid it."

[Suzume Hitomi]

digging in

Hitomi attends to her crab, fragrant with garlic and bright green onions, but slows and stills to listen. "Hmm, I'm not sure any of us avoid it. Our ancestors judge us on an ancient scale, just to start with." Her yam-farming ancestors would probably faint to see what she spent on makeup in a year.

"I'd hope that those making the assignments pair people's tasks to their abilities pretty carefully with so much on the line. Might be important to record what's happened and tell their stories, no?" Her smile is slight and wry, "I know I feel a little better about my taxes when we hear where the Blessing is going each year."

[Miya Kisha]

nom nom nom

"The Tropical Ice is really an interesting flavor. The mint was nice; I think it has to be local.

"But, yes," Kisha continues. "That's a common enough reaction to the Blessing. I think a lot of people, probably most, are happy to have their taxes help people who clearly need it."

She takes a sip of her drink before continuing. "Of course, there are also a lot of people who complain that this world or that one 'doesn't really need the help' and its people should 'pull themselves up by their sandal-straps' or some other foolish thing.

"And then there are those who try not to pay any taxes, whether by lying on their forms or trying to make all of their work 'unofficial.'" At this, the shisha shrugs. "It always gets them in the end, really."

[Suzume Hitomi]

delayed snip, brain was uncooperative for a bit there.

Hitomi offers a disapproving shake of her head at mention of sandal straps. "The Sparrow are well aware of what can be done with the resources one has. We are a comfortable clan now in ways that were simply not possible when our sole source of support were some rocky hills and a handful of samurai hired out to other clans or the Legions. You need something to stand on for any climbing to take place."

She gestures out the restaurant's window. "And even then, nature doesn't care. The volcano could create a lot of woe if it erupted. Tch." She pauses for a bite. Hard to stay particularly incensed with the food so good. "The blessing has been a sacred command for centuries. Criticizing the manner in which the emperor cares for the Empire seems a bit sacriligious, honestly."

At the comments on tax cheatery, she asks, "I wouldn't guess you were involved in chasing down tax evasion, correct me if you are, of course! But, the tone sounds like you're familiar with someone who is?" Or it's just good Imperial propaganda, perhaps. But you never know without asking.

[Miya Kisha]

no worries; it happens
kami know I do it enough

"It's more the latter than the former," Kisha says. "Given what I do, I do have some head for figures, but I hire out the paperwork for that part of things. It ends up less of a hassle to bring in expertise than to push through and have to fix it later, a lesson I very much appreciated not having to learn the hard way.

"A while back, though, I did a piece--it's still floating around the networks, last I looked--as kind of a human interest piece on an Otomo Gyutaro. Fussy little man, really, but dedicated to his work and very good at it. Encyclopedic knowledge of tax law and rigorously honest. Exactly the kind of man who should be doing that kind of work: auditing.

"He did occasionally get called into the field. I went with him on one such trip. As it happened, the taxpayer had understated his expenses--not intentionally, in the event, but still. Otomo-sama went through the forms with him, a line at a time, and explained what he'd done wrong. He also credited him back the overpayment that had resulted from his error."

Kisha takes a sip from her drink. "That's really good.

"Anyway, that was a rare thing, but it was a good one. People don't realize that things can, and do, go the other way."

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

"Hah, didn't actually know that. I imagine he was pretty surprised! I've been meaning to get my own books reviewed, see if my assessment of where we're doing best and worst matches expert opinion. Maybe I'll get such a pleasant surprise as well!" She didn't expect to, the taxes for a simple business, and even her personal ones, were relatively simple compared to those overseeing an estate or a province.

"As much as I wouldn't mind seeing you visit in the future, audits are stressful, so I'd rather not aim for one on the slim chance that you'd be assigned to it!" There's laughter, but also just the faintest bit of nerves under it at even the joking suggestion of an audit. Fear of them ran deep among the commercially inclined.

"OK, so...since you haven't had them, the other crab cake is the appropriate dessert choice for thematic finish. They're tiny, very cute, and way more delicate than you'd expect."

[Miya Kisha]

obliviousness incoming, just so you know

"Well, then, we'll have to do that!" Kisha replies, and she gestures to the server.

As he scurries off, Kisha resumes the thread of conversation. "I'm probably not going to draw that kind of thing again, at least not for a while," she says. "There's not any major change planned, so there's little thought that another perspective piece would be needed.

"And, really, could you imagine the upset if some big change were pushed through? It would make things so much harder for so many people; it'd be chaos, really.

"But one thing Otomo-sama told me was that the fact of an audit doesn't mean there's anything wrong. There are a lot of forms that get pulled for random inspection. All the audit is is checking on what gets pulled out. Most of the time, things are as they ought to be, and the forms go back into processing without fanfare. And even the ones that do generate findings, he told me, are usually simple errors, easily corrected and no ill intent assumed."

Kisha pauses for a moment, something having occurred to her. "You'd like to see me again? That would be lovely!"

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

Hitomi laughs, "who wouldn't want to see you again, Miya-sama? Accomplished and attractive Imperials with conversation skills are usually on the invite list, right?"

"It's reassuring to know that there's nothing significantly new coming down the line there, and that the bureaucracy is mostly just...being bureaucratic. Hard for it not to feel ominous though, given the size and power involved, you know?" Add in the mistakes, which could be very painful and slow to rectify, and the places where corruption *did* happen...well, she'd probably still be nervous if its attention were ever aimed her way. The wee crabs arrived for a sweet end to the meal.

"With all the interest in recent weeks in costuming, and people dropping in hoping for last minute historical tailoring, I'm thinking of putting together some workshops, diversify a bit. It seems like that's perhaps an accessible way for many to learn about what we offer and just our history in general." She grins "which means figuring out what that's going to look like in the tax code. There's always another layer to work on when you have a business, it seems."

[Miya Kisha]

snip

"Oh, my, yes," Kisha agrees. "The sheer volume of paperwork to get the agreements put together for the Comments...it boggled my mind. Not that it necessarily took much to do that, I admit; I've been accused of being a bit of a wind tunnel, now and again."

She smiles a little as the cake crabs arrive. "Oh, they are so cute!" she says, very nearly squealing. But she does manage to avoid that indignity, at least for the moment. "I almost hesitate to eat them.

"But I do think there would be interest in some workshops in historical clothing," the Miya continues. "I've heard about such things happening at a number of conventions on other worlds, for one thing, and I know that some of the more scholarly gatherings will also do reconstructive work and the like. That extends to arms and armor, which is an obvious thing, but also to foodways and some other craft and artisanal practices.

"Honestly, a lot of days, I'd like to focus more on presenting that kind of thing. I can 'no cap, fam' any time, but I know that that's going to be on its way out, maybe even within six, seven months. The kind of thing you're talking about, though, that lasts."

She turns her attention to the dessert, looking at it with an eye towards how best to dismember it.

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

Hitomi starts by scooping at the 'legs' of some piped foam 'legs' which seem to be fruity and...maybe there's a taste of rice milk in there? The firm shell will take some cracking in a moment. "It's good that these aren't a bit more realistic or it would be hard to eat them when they're so cute!"

She laughs a bit, "the slang of each generation shifts so fast, the old becoming, as we used to say, 'cringe', neh? But, well...I'd like those things to last, yes. And some of it always does. The fashions dip back and sample through the ages to remix things. I don't know if it does anyone any *good* to know how their sleeves evolved, but it's certainly interesting."

"I'm not sure we'll move away from inexpensive little plastic toys to relying on handmade ever again. It's very expensive. But I am glad the Empire cares enough to preserve those things that we get to do it all across the planet." She glances out the windows at their current steamy world. "I'd like to bring some of that out here. But I don't know how much use it will be. Are there traditional things that would be useful for the fisheries, or to preserve the natural spaces?" She shrugs. "If the Crab think we...and the rest of the Minor Clan Alliance are valuable partners toward all that, well...that would be fantastic. I know the Kitsune have ideas." She cracks a bit of the crab 'shell' with her spoon.

"And if not, well I'll keep on with Feather as long as I can, and see where it goes."

[Miya Kisha]

wistfulness on the unchanging mutability of life

Kisha follows the Sparrow with the confection, but she moves ahead on the conversation.

"That's all any of us can do, really," she says. "Keep on with what we have as long as we can, and see where it goes. In the end, well, all of us are bounded and finite, even if we do move throughout the cosmos. But then, that's part of what makes such an evening as this, with good food and good drink and better company, worthwhile. It will end, and even if we meet again, it won't be quite the same next time. You or I will have had a better day or a worse, or the comments about the wind tunnel will be more or less true, or the chef will have the night off and his apprentice will try something with flavored cup ramen or somesuch thing, and even if it's good, it just won't be the same."

The shisha remembers to draw a breath.

"But listen to me blither on! You've been so kind to sit while I run off at the mouth again like some giddy schoolgirl who's had her first taste of sake. I'm a long way past that first cup and a longer way out of the dormitories; I really ought to know better than to be such a bore!"

The Miya's face flushes a little bit.

"But, like I said, wind tunnel."

[Suzume Hitomi]

Nice opening transition
OK, I'm becoming my English teacher

Well obviously one has to respond to all the negging first. "Pfft. Miya-sama, I show history and deeply skilled craft to mostly uncaring folks, some of them painfully pretentious, and have had to smile when I knew, after two sentences, that the entire conversation would be like the midnight screaming of peacocks. This has been more of the holovid peacocks...lovely and symbolic kind of experience. Which, I'll note, doesn't usually happen outside of those vids." Hitomi's smile is amused and flush with a meal's worth of drink and cheer.

"I'd never have suggested dessert if I needed to flee a wind tunnel," she laughs. "Some of those folks do not deserve cute crab pastries, you know." She lifts the last of the cloudy sweet sake that came with the desserts. "Tea ceremony does teach that no moment comes again, so pay attention to each of them. Applies to these cups too. I've enjoyed the moments. Don't worry so much about editing as they happen, you definitely know that comes later, right?"

[Miya Kisha]

I've been an English teacher. True story.

Kisha laughs.

"I've had the experience of peacocks," she says. "Something of a hazing ritual, honestly. And they can go on. So you're right on that, and you're right that editing comes afterwards. I do honestly worry sometimes that I bore people, though. It's been clear more than once that I was being humored, and it's embarrassing."

She lifts her drink, tips it back.

"I'm really grateful to have gotten to have time with you," she continues. "I meet a lot of people in my work, and a lot of them just want something from me. I mean, we all want something from each other; that's not the problem. It's the only wanting something that grates. Sometimes. Sometimes, what they want, I want to give, and that works out. Sometimes, the reverse is true.

"So thank you for giving me a good dinner companion," the Miya continues. "I really am enjoying it."

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

"Good, what's wanted at a dinner is good company, so I think you...well we...have given what we each wanted from one another, no? The best deals are win-win," says the rather commercially minded Sparrow.

She smiles over the last of the drink. "Some people aren't the right audience, I guess, and that's good to know. It's not a trick the Sparrow are known for, I'll grant. But we do make good audiences through cultural practice. So feel free to keep going on as you've started, Miya-sama. Feels like home."

She glances around the table and sighs, "but all good things end, as this meal has. So...did you drive yourself out, or would you like a ride home? The scooter's small, but two can manage."