Gerald
*The steps of City Hall were always alive with antlike movement. Paper-pushers and runners, courtiers and sycophants, anyone who wanted anything from the provisional government which now held sway over the city scurried desperately to gain their approval. Such was the way when the Imperial Family chose to settle their banners somewhere.

In the midst of it all, an elderly, small, scrawny man with what seemed to be a badly healed broken arm shakily made his way out into the streets. He was dressed finely enough for a page or other servant sent by a wealthy lord, but not nearly as fine as the person waiting outside whom he rendezvoused with.

A long, elegant, and flowing kimono in black, decorated with swirling patterns of white flower petals caught in a spring breeze. A hauntingly beautiful face and long brown hair tied back. No daisho on their hip, but the person carried themselves with an air of someone who commanded authority in whatever room they entered. Though perhaps, given the way they were enraptured in conversation with the servant before them, a certain pleasant, near playful air about them.*
Eldon
*There were always important reasons to be present at the centre of government in any place. Access to power, acquisition or promising of favors, feeling out the presence of information. All very fine things, to be sure.

None of these seemed to interest the dandy young man with the pink parasol today. Daisho at his hip, clad in deep plum and black garments marked with the symbols of the Yogo and Scorpion, and wearing a lovely white, red, and black half face mask in the image of a Hare kami, he seemed to be pursuing a more aesthetic interest.

Okita was actively people-watching, admiring the various cuts of fashion worn by those around him. One moment he was appreciating a particularly well-executed cut of kimono, the next he would be watching the swish of a garment along someone's legs as they walked. He was humming some nonsense tune as he simply ambled and observed, occasionally twirling his parasol in careless fingers. 

With such aesthetic concerns clearly on his mind, it was probably not all that surprising he would find his attention drawn to the elegant woman with no daisho. There was an aesthetic of authority, and she seemed to radiate it as naturally as breathing. This could be an interesting subject for a painting, perhaps...*

||
James
*Agasha Kokuto wandered about with wide eyes, wondering quietly to herself how she'd found herself in this position once more.* "Again? Oh, Togashi-o-kami-sama, why do you do this to me?" *She practically moaned in despair. Much like at that moment, she was getting strange looks because not all of that wondering was internalized.* "This is the why of big cities deserving hate," *She muttered at some of the looks.

The shorter woman had at least learned from her arrival to the city and was dressed in clothes more appropriate for her station. Sadly, they still left much to be desired from any fashionista and clashed glaringly with the finery of the green haori with the gray Dragon on the back just as much as the wakizashi in matching shades at her right hip.

She noticed two figures in dark frippery but it was the poorly set broken arm that really caught her eye.* He must be in pain, *She thought. A half step in the direction she was going when,* "Damn and blast it all." *She turned with a nimble twist and started towards the poor man. The determined set to her jaw did not bode well for refusal or reluctance.*
Belinda
Miu had been sent here to push some papers. Her? Paperwork. For the kami's sake. She knew nothing. Luckily it was simply delivering a few papers for Himiko, but Miu clearly felt like a strange goose in a field of swans, or ducks? Whatever. The grand lion managed to drop off the papers. Her red hairs danced all around and she was afraid of hitting somebody with them. Too many people. She stepped outside. Only to vision somebody just as eye catching had been the person with the beautiful kimono. Miu admired it. Then the face. A smile grew upon Miu's. 

It was not her place to spy or even stare. But something mesmerizing about this human being caught her by the sudden. Not that her staring wouldn't be obvious, she was bright, towering over everyone and everything about her screamed lion. Screamed. 

She snapped out of it. She wanted to hide and duck down. No option. She remained a bystander. One close enough to listen. One far enough to vanish within moments. 

||
Denise
The Crane stepped out of city hall wondering once again what the point of this exercise had been. An attractive young woman of pale porcelain complexion accentuated with a distinctive beauty mark to the right of her chin, she held a rolled-up scroll in her right hand. Kakita Kiyoko had already arrived in the City of Lies some time ago, and with the official duty papers appropriate for the Crane embassy—and yet these Imperial bureaucrats still insisted that she present 'traveling papers' to them. The duelist ran a hand through the chin-length layered bob of platinum-white hair she sported in frustration. She then straightened out her haori, a light blue jacket emblazoned both on the left shoulder and the back with the emblem of a crane cradling a katana in its wing: the Kakita family mon. Daisho at her hip and attired in a black-and-red furisode kimono under the haori, she made her way down the steps into the street.

Well, at least this pointless bit of bureaucracy was over with, she thought. Why was it that she had never had to deal with this sort of thing as a *Shugyosha*, anyway? At least she could return to the embassy now.

Just then, an ethereal presence caught her eye: a figure of haunting beauty, attired in a flowing black kimono and bearing no daisho at the hip. In a way, the figure reminded Kiyoko of an earlier encounter with a woman of the Hare clan. She wasn't expected back at the embassy just yet. Perhaps she would take a closer look. The Kakita duelist altered her course, hoping to get a better view of the figure in passing.

||
Gerald
The stranger caught sight of the approaching Dragon, turning to face her with a polite bow. "Greetings Dragon-sama. Is everything alright? You seem very determined about something or other."

Their voice gave away as much indication as their face or clothing on if they were man or woman. But it had a beguilingly sonorous tone to it which proved as eerily beautiful as the face of the stranger themselves.

||
James
*Kokuto pulled up short, blinking in slight surprise. She had not been paying attention to what the poor man had been doing, only that the arm was poorly taken care of. More than a simple nod but not quite a bow, she bobbed by way of apology.* "That should be better seen to," *She pointed to the arm without mincing words. She looked the stranger over, curious if they were help or hindrance.* ||Observant||

||
Gerald
"Oh, aren't you a kind soul Dragon-sama." They responded. Rolling, friendly laughter cascaded from their lips as they looked toward the servant currently wide-eyed staring at the unusual head attachments of the oncoming visitor. "But, I can assure you that Eiji-san is just fine. What you see is from long ago, isn't that right?"

"Aye, that't'is." Breaking his confused stare, the older man bowed deeply to the samurai. He now kept his eyes respectfully lowered so as not to put himself at the same level of a noble. "Old thing from back'n my youth. Ain't nothin' t'worry y'rself with. Don' even 'urt, really. Like 'tain't even there."

It would be clear to the Dragon that the person in the kimono was in some way connected to the servant, most likely in a position of authority over them. Though it did not seem a hostile or overbearing relationship.

||
Denise
As Kiyoko got closer, she recognized Kokuto. How was the Dragon woman connected to this figure? And... What was that atrocious accent from the old man? He sounded like a *Gaijin*. Curiosity got the better of the Crane and she altered course again to approach the trio directly.

"Hello, Agasha-san. What brings you away from your herbs? Are these two friends of yours?" She said, looking the two strangers over again now that she was closer. Although the Dragon samurai-ko was in less *Worn* Clothing, the style of her wardrobe was still a bit *Off*; in that, she actually seemed to fit in with the other two. But then, the figure and the old man were *Off* In a different way than Agasha Kokuto was, so perhaps she was being too hasty to lump the three together.

||
Eldon
Oh how neat! More people, and they all seemed to know this person with the sense of authority about them. Well, he wasn't one to sit out interesting social engagements. Especially when someone seemed to know people from what looked like a motley of social standings.

The dandy-dressed Scorpion twirled his parasol gently in his fingers and made his way over to the others, giving a bow of his own. "Ah, good morning minna-san, and how are we all today?" 
||
James
"Even properly healed wounds that are that deep will hurt from time to time," Kokuto said softly. Green stained fingers stretched out, palms with brown circle stains in the center hovering in entreaty. "Perhaps something can be done," She said to Eiji. Realizing they may not know, she explained, "I am an apothecary. While not focused on the healing of wounds, one learns when one is the closest thing many will see in their lifetime. And I cannot abide shoddy work."

She turned slightly as her family name was called. Blinking in surprise and mild confusion, it was a moment before she nodded to herself and spoke in response, "Oh, Kakita-san. Hm, friends?" She looked back at the two strangers, placing a finger along her chin in thought, "Perhaps. If one could know that another is a friend before that other becomes a friend, then perhaps these two are friends. Unfortunately, I am not so gifted with foresight." Just as she finished, another appeared. The other dark figure she'd seen. She bobbed a polite bow but did not speak.

||
Belinda
The tall Kitsu now had found her way to the pair. It was strange how different samurai had crowded the two people that were simply minding their own business. It had concerned her. Even samurai could have bad intentions and the beautiful creature and the older man did not seem capable of fending for themselves as of this moment now. So the grand lion figure was approaching before bowing down to both of them, the appropriate depth of the bow matched the status. *"I apologize for my inconvenience but I wish to know if the swarming samurai behind me are bothering you, if so please let me aid you in correcting them to mind their own business."* The friendly Kitsu stated. A polite smile on her face.

She normally wasn't the samurai hero type but this was a concern to her somehow. Something in her mind had spoken that it was off. Whether that was the many samurai crowding them or the interaction between just the two of them. The golden eyes had stared at all the samurai around them and almost obeyed them to take a step back || Intimidation 4 ||. To remind them of proper etiquette to mind your own business. 

||
Eldon
Okita amiably ignored the reference to "Samurai behind me," Because he had joined the conversation first and was, perforce, *Not* Behind the arriving Kitsu. "Ah, ohayo, samurai-san. Most diligent of you to protect people from the dangers of polite introductions and pleasant conversation." ||Etiquette 4 (Conversation), redirecting the intimidation effort away from himself||

"But alas, I have not yet made that introduction, have I?" He would bow, with impeccable courtesy. "Yogo Okita, a humble artist. I wished to give my regards to all present for their astonishing and remarkable taste in fashions. I am but a country boy at heart, and wished to convey my admiration for such rare taste."

||
Gerald
Eiji jerked back from the approaching hands of the samurai, keeping his head respectfully bowed but ensuring the woman's fingers never touched the arm. "No, no, 'ts all good 'ere thanks. 'Preciate t'offer though."

A toothy grin peeked out, half in apology to his refusal to accept aid. Clutching the arm close with the other hand, he backed away slightly. "'Sides, it helps with gettin' pity outta t'folk I deal with. Makes f'r a sad sight 'n' extra kindness."

As the crowd grew around the elegantly dressed figure the dissonance between its members seemed to amuse them more than anything else. Addressing the group, they simply rolled another friendly cascade of laughter, though this time with more amusement than the last. "My, my I have quite the audience today it seems. Yet it is no bother, Lion-sama. We are all at the mercy of the currents of life. Sometimes it takes us to solitude, other times not. I have concluded my business here, but I do not mind entertaining some curious onlookers.

"You may call me Gin, my fine friends." They bowed elegantly, kimono flowing and fluttering as they did so. After rising they seemed to finally take in the approached group. "And what brings you all fine samurai near this place of political intrigue, I might ask?"

||
Belinda
Scorpion. If he thought he was being clever he forgot he was facing a 6 feet tall battle shugenja that happened to be a lion. The temperament was real. But Scorpion show their true nature too fast. Rude. Inappropriate and shoving her out of her duty. If it wasn't for the people she simply attempted to help dismissing her she'd have a problem with him actually breaking etiquette on how to properly treat a samurai. 

If it wasn't for Miu owing actual constraints it would result in a bash in the head. She was a lion after all. This person was the first one she disliked. The first one in all Rokugan. She'd congratulate him on this. But he was so hungry for attention from the strangers she decided to cool down. 

Bowing down at the stranger called Gin. Bowing down once more. *"As you wish."* Miu did not want to get familiar with this rude man at all. Much like him she wanted a simple conversation, which she was now shoved out of by him. She would step away. Watching it all unfold by a distance. 

||
Denise
The Kakita duelist acknowledged the Scorpion and the Lion with a nod each at their approach. She knew neither of them, though the Lion seemed to think that this unusual duo required her protection from the Crane enough to nearly provoke an iaijutsu duel with her aura of menace. No matter—the Scorpion spoke, and the tension was defused. Untrustworthy though they were, their courtiers were often good at redirecting conversations like that.

This 'Gin' spoke, and Kiyoko simply shook her head. "Bureaucracy, Gin-san," She said. Kiyoko paused a beat, looking Gin and Eiji over again. "And a touch of curiosity."

||
Eldon
If he were aware of having given offense, he betrayed no sign of it. Okita would direct another bow to the Kakita, again scrupulously correct and polite. Then he'd stand, twirling his parasol negligently in his fingers. "Ah, no grand reason. I wished to see what works of art this seat of government might house. The mind is as the body, and requires exercise to better itself." 

He said this without a trace of irony, which was quite impressive. He had the dandified air of someone who considered rising before noon to be some manner of horrid sin. 

"Then I saw your exquisite garments," He said to this Gin person. "And I simply had to offer my congratulations. Dare I ask if you still speak with the tailor?" His tone was hopeful, even slightly wistful. Additionally, it had some... Oddness to the pronunciation. The proper, clipped, polite Yogo accent was there of course. But some of his vowels were broader, softer, similar to the accents one might find along the Riverlands near the Shinomen.

||
James
Kokuto gave Eiji a slight nod, the entreating fingers had been in invitation for him to extend rather than demand to be allowed contact. She was not annoyed, though the disappointment that he lied about pain was visible. *Perhaps the lie is to himself, as well.* She spoke with the same singsong patterned tones she always did, a slight smile tugging at her lips at his open admittance, "Should the desire for elimination of pain while keeping the appearance of garnering pity arise, this one shall see you. Call upon the Dragon Embassy for one Agasha Kokuto. If this one is not in attendance, they will be giving the direction for the finding of my self."

New faces with one new name. She had to crane her head back to see them, or stand far away. The dissonance was off-putting. The diminutive woman much preferred the silence of her workroom, where the worst clashes were that of glass and metal. She gave them both a bland look. Kokuto bowed slightly from the waist to Gin and Eiji, giving the explanation "This one is newly arrived and therefore unfamiliar with the city. The returning to finding the way through the buildings and streets I shall be. A good day to you both." She gave another bow with the well wishing and turned, walking in a direction completely unrelated to the one she had come from or had been going before getting distracted.

||
Gerald
Growing ever more amused at the dissonance between the samurai, Gin's smile would only widen further. Whether they were taking pleasure in the discord or simply delighting in the differences of the gathered new acquaintances was less than clear. "Oh come come now Lion-sama, surely you don't want to hide all the way over there by yourself do you? I have been told I can put people ill at ease but surely not so badly you would not indulge me in the respite of conversation.

"Ah, bureaucracy. The same thing which brought me here." The brilliant green eyes gave the Kakita a knowing look. Perhaps they too had recently been stuck in a nightmare of paperwork. "Or at least what I sent Eiji-san to collect for me. Entering City Hall disagrees with my complexion."

Next came the Scorpion's query about the maker of his outfit. Brief sadness filled their eyes before flowing out as smoothly as it entered. "I am afraid not, Yogo-san. He passed away some time ago, you see. I only have a few of his works left, and hold them very dear to me."

At the offer from Kokuto, Gin's interest seemed piqued. Casting a glance at Eiji, down to the arm, then back at the Agasha as she began to make her way off, they would call out. "The Dragon Embassy you say? Last I visited that place was before it was abandoned, and well before you were given it. Perhaps we will visit it, at least to see what improvements have been made to the locale. Though it is in *That* Direction, if you were trying to head there."

Gin pointed in a completely opposite way from where the Agasha was heading.

||
Eldon
"Ah, alas." Okita would let out a wistful sigh, and bow again. "You have my deepest sympathies, for anyone who can see the work he made can tell this is a tremendous loss."

So far as anyone could tell, he was being entirely sincere. There was the genuine regret of the artist at the passing of another, whose skill he could visibly respect. 

On this note he would fall silent for a moment to mull things over, and let others have their say and way in the conversation. 

||
Denise
Kiyoko furrowed her brows at Gin, failing to find the humor in the quip. "I... See." Perhaps Gin wished to avoid someone who worked at city hall? She puzzled over the figure's appearance a few moments more, almost to the point of rudeness, before shaking her head and glancing at the departing Kokuto.

"That must have been quite a while ago, Gin-san," The Crane said, although she truly had no idea how long the Dragon clan had occupied their embassy grounds. She too fell silent. There was something off about the pair, but she just couldn't quite place it. If only she were a shugenja with the ear of a kami or two.

||
James
Kokuto turned back oddly, tilting her head back and to the side to look. She turned in the direction Gin pointed, looked back at them, turned back the way she was headed, and finally looked in a different direction from both. She pointed perpendicular to her route with a wry grin, "Oh, good. I thought it was that way. Many thanks for the correction." With a slight turn, she reoriented herself and started off once more. This time, she headed in the direction she had pointed in for the incorrect direction she had for the Dragon Embassy.

||
Gerald
"I thank you, Yogo-sama. Truly his loss cut deeply." There was a definite fond remembrance of the artist in question. Their eyes cut up and down the Yogo, as if to look at or through him. "A fellow artist, then? Is your canvas also silks or perhaps more traditional?"

The Kakita remained reserved, and so Gin initially responded in kind with a simple nod of their head. However, their insatiable desire for conversation would not let them let matters lie. "How are you finding this city, Kakita-sama? Is it as grand as the pillowbooks make it out to be?"

||
Denise
Kiyoko watched Kokuto depart, dumbfounded at the alchemist's absentmindedness. Quick to recover, she turned her attention back to Gin again. "It lives up to its name, I think. The 'City of Lies'—though I could not tell you whether its merchants deserve their share in the name." The samurai, the political class in the city, on the other hand...

She shrugged. "I do not often read pillowbooks, to know what those say of the place. Is Gin-san more widely-read on the subject? Perhaps you would care to share your own insights."

||
Gerald
"Hmm. Well I have read my share in my time, I admit. They make this place out to be some supernatural whirlpool which sucks in all things good and pure, leaving only the debased." A rolling tide of laughter once more followed, though perhaps a bit drier than before. Gin's brows knitted together in thought. "Not how I would describe the city. To me, this place is a beautiful tapestry woven together from uncounted threads, each important and unique in its own way. True, it may be thinning, fraying in places, but that is when skilled weavers must take it upon themselves to repair."

||
Denise
"Such a task seems more appropriate to a courtier or a bureaucrat," Kiyoko replied. "Or perhaps a shugenja. One more suited to looking at a life and seeing a tangle of threads than one who sees a life as only a single thread to be cut."

The Crane glanced at Eiji, then at Gin. "Is Gin-san one such skilled weaver?"

Kiyoko shook her head. "Regardless, that is an uncommon perspective on the city and its inhabitants. The advantage of accumulated wisdom?" She asked. She had almost said 'old age,' but this Gin did not seem particularly old, and she thought that Eiji did not seem particularly astute himself.

||
Gerald
"From time to time I meddle my hand at repairs, though I cannot say it is often very successful. Now so more than ever." A sadness, similar to when they spoke earlier about the passed artisan, tinged the edge of their voice. For a moment a breeze must have picked up as the flowing robes of Gin slowly fluttered.

"Accumulated wisdom?" They scratched their chin thoughtfully. Eiji, who had moved off and disappeared, now returned with a small dog tied to a lead. "I do not think *Wisdom* Has ever been an attribute ascribed to me. I prefer to live in the moment, you see."

They knelt to scratch the cheek of the dog, the little creature sniffing doubtfully first before leaning into Gin's hand. "Much like little Chou here, looking for the next joy to be found in the now."

||
Denise
The Crane stared at Eiji as he returned with a small dog. She then shifted her gaze back to Gin. "I see."

Curiosity sated now that she could see that Gin was not the Hare samurai-ko she had seen some days past, the Kakita woman was rapidly growing tired of this conversation. She glanced in the direction of the looming Lion woman. The other samurai-ko had fallen silent, but hovered in the background nearby. Apparently, the departure of Gin's other interlocutors had not entirely assuaged her (misplaced) protective instincts.

Kiyoko looked to Gin again. "And what joys does Gin-san find 'in the now'?"

||
Gerald
"Making sure that the people who I come across in my life leave my path with no regrets. After all, what greater joy is there than to see others' joy?" Gin smiled, warm and genuine at the thought. Then he bowed to the Crane. "But, I believe I have held you up for too long already. I have enjoyed our talk together, and perhaps we shall meet again one day. I do so enjoy speaking to fresh faces."

With that, the two plus the canine would be on their way, leaving those they had spoken with to wonder what or who this Gin truly was, or why his activity necessitated access to city hall. The sharpest minds or the most medically inclined may have even wondered: wasn't Eiji's *Other* Arm the one that was broken?

||
Denise
Kiyoko simply nodded. Gin remained an enigma, as did this 'Eiji'. For her own part, the Crane gave the Lion samurai-ko nearby a pointed look and turned the opposite direction from Gin. Her own task dealt with, she started back toward the Crane embassy. As she walked, she wondered: Why did the name 'Eiji' sound familiar?

[End Scene]

||