A modestly popular spot for Arashi residents and tourists alike to pop in an relax for a few minutes out of their busy day, the Hinageshi Teahouse is known for its delicate mix of a lively atmosphere that keeps everyone comfortable and a peaceful ambience that relaxes tired souls. Furnished in the traditional style with lots of red decor and a particular prevalence of red paper lanterns and poppy flowers, the Hinageshi Teahouse caters to all sorts of customers with its wide variety of teas and alcoholic beverages.
Its ground floor and outside tables are open for the walk-in public and it will frequently host performances on the stage on the ground floor. Second floor has tables and some small private rooms towards the back that can be reserved. The third floor is reserved for reservations by important clientile and consists of two private rooms, each separated from each other by an expanse of space, with the only way to access either being from the second floor.
Kagerou, the proprietor, occasionally visits the teahouse and will sometimes even serve tea within it.
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 3:42 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
Before tea with the empress at 2PM, there first needed to be lunch with the empress's secretary at 12PM
To have tea with the empress, it was only proper that one must first meet with her secretary, the assistant who manages her schedule. With some difficulty, she had finally managed to arrange an appointment with the empress's shadow, a light lunch at the Hinageshi Teahouse. In casual but neat attire, attractive without being too formal, Kagerou waited in a private room, sipping on a cup of black tea. Her gold earrings, the sole piece of jewelry she had on, and the bells hanging upon her wrist glinted in the late morning sun that streamed in through the glass of the closed window.
A small plate of assorted rice cakes lay in the middle of the small table, and a peacefully smiling woman patiently waited for her appointment. On the third story and enclosed by thick walls, the hustle and bustle of the ground floor and the streets outside could not be heard. Just the gentle ringing of the bells upon Kagerou. A more soothing scene would be hard to find.
Momi wears her hair short and feathered in the back above her neck. Her hair is ivory white and her hooded, narrow eyes are green like pine needles. Today, Momi is wearing a knee length dress with a flowing, pleated skirt. The top and skirt match featuring narrow, black and white vertical stripe print pattern. The top is a sleeveless vest with a stark, thin black lining defining the divide between dress and top. Momi also wears a long sleeved, collared white shirt under her top. She wears very few in terms of accessories. She keeps an ink pen handy above her left ear and a pin below her left shoulder, on her vest, is visible. The pin is a small, ornate white opal disc with a hole through the center. Pins like this are worn exclusively by people specially close to the Empress or members of the Amano family employed directly by the empire. The only difference between Momi's pin and those of the Amano household is that hers lacks a cloud-like wreath.
{It is absolutely worth noting that the voice in my head of Momi sounds a little like Peridot from Steven Universe....}
Momi is late. Words which tie blatant tardiness together with the subject in question, the manager of the Empress's affairs, is probably one of the worst topics imaginable for the woman who seemingly lives and breathes proper execution of finely tuned organization practices. This woman's dedication for being prepared and punctual makes the changing of the seasons has become careless and inefficient: What is set to happen will happen on time, what doesn't happen on time is a mistake that must be corrected; Corrections must be done so gracefully and as if all apart of one's organized plan, that is, as reads Momi's personal code. Employment under the Empress thought to be the scaling peak of Momi's secretarial career. It's Momi who keeps the affairs of the Empire in motion, right?
Presently, yes, Momi is late. The little silver watch on Momi's wrist ticks away to 12:04 as her heart is pounds with each little flick of time's littlest hand. The address was correct. Directions could have gotten wonky along the way or she just took a wrong turn. Up the street from the Red Poppy the woman in stripes was running, heaving exaggerated puffs of air admits panic. "Hueh! Hueh!" She may have been a smaller, thin woman but she wasn't althetic in the slightest. Her employers were probably in better shape. "Huuah! Ouh!" Her run really produced quite the pant out. "Oh man," her speed lags to a slow, canter until she stopped. "I should have... asked for the palanquin." Momi sighs between catching her breath. Her neck taking a lazy tip to the left. "Not like THEY USE IT!"
She lifts her arm to check her watch, topples against the exterior wall of the tea house, and screeches a cry of defeat. "Aawwh! Five minutes over!" But she was here! Momi snaps her form upright and fixes her collar, hair, and triple checks that her clipboard is in order. "I should have asked for the mail DOG to drag me here! I bet that would have saved me TEN MINUTES!" The secretary grumbles quietly and takes one great breath to gather her composure. "Note to self, acquire a pair of roller skates and file a formal request for the services of Touka the dog in preparation for further non-palanquin transports on travel requests. Arrange dog transport as back-up approach."
The secretary, although fashionably five minutes late, enters the tea shop. Momi courtly introduced herself to an awaiting hostess who promptly led her up to the third floor. In time, the striped woman was reintroduced to Kagerou and she took a a pause before taking her seat.
"Please pardon the tardiness. Morimastu Momi, at your service." Momi announces herself with a bow. The look on her face was apologetic but her poise was dignified and in accordance with the weight of her pressing title. "I'm afraid I can't reason a logical excuse significant enough other than that I'm not familiar with this... village.. yet. I hope I didn't cause you to wait long. Now then, " Momi at last was able to approach the table with the clearest of conscious and set her clipboard on beside her chair. She took her seat. "I also apologize for any hoops you may have had to jump through to have your message, and by extent your request, reach me. It's obvious that the requests received were processed and you received our notice. Otherwise ehm," Momi shortly found herself eyeing the arrangement of colorful rice cakes in the center of the table. The little treats looked delectable and she wanted to try one. Not yet. The woman couldn't resist the nervous act of trying to delicately smooth out the rough edges of her hair. "Otherwise we wouldn't be here. That's the obvious."
She set her clipboard on the table before opting to continue. “What is not obvious is the nature of your request. You were specific to request an audience and since the Empress had an opportunity- I took the liberty to look into it. She has is aware of your request to speak with her at... eh... two in the afternoon. Might be winded from the journey from the Capital and scoring access to this...” Momi then began to look around the room, specifically the ceiling in a moments pause. Her sights combing the walls, windows, and ceilings for any open nooks. The Emperor's X-ray vision skills would be prized in Momi's hands. “This village. But don’t worry this visit isn’t wasted on a single endeavor.”
Momi’s introduction was doing more than suggesting that Empire’s presence in the Hidden Storm was flipping between “being” and “not being” since the blurred specifics of an incident on a neutral island. Some specifics of what the Empire’s position was in occupying its ally was in the balance, as of late. For the time, Unki and her entourage were expressing caution to avoid acting out of the Emperor’s interests and have turned the secondary palace into something a little like a vacation home.
“However, we at the Capital might be all stuffy and straight to business but I would be to avoid placing a polite inquiry on your own well being. So.” Momi spares a second to clear her throat and her bland business-y tone for one more spirited and colorful like the candies which taunted her so, “ HOW ARE YOU, MISS KAGEROU? " She almost bounced in her seat. "Ahem. I mean. How are you? A-and do you have any connection to the Empress prior to this meeting?” She reinforced her grip on the clipboard with a sense of embarrassment stepping into play with her previously, robust introduction. See see? We’re not all stuffy and unperson-able! Momi even dove into the forwardness of using first names!
HeadlessKoko
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2019 2:40 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
Scarlet eyes glimmered over the steaming tea cup Kagerou had just taken a sip from when Momi entered. The other hand was deftly rolling up several scrolls she had been handling while awaiting her guest. Momi, perchance, might see that words were being jotted down on one by some sort of invisible hand even as it was rolled up. Promptly, Kagerou stood up and returned her guest's bow with an equal one of her own. "Not at all," she fibbed, but no one would be able to tell past her charming smile, "I didn't even notice the time pass by." Her eyes were gentle, and yet, they naturally searched through Momi's appearance, softly taking in every detail, from the tidiness of her clothing despite the rush she had come to the office in, apparent from the dust that had settled on her stockings. This type of observation, though it might make the other party uncomfortable, Kagerou did not try to hide. After all, aside from some universal pleasantries, such as the fib earlier, she desired to be honest in her endeavors here.
"Kiritani Kagerou," Kagerou introduced herself as she motioned to a seat and Momi approached the table, "I am honored that you've chosen to entertain my request." Only after Momi sat down, did Kagerou take a seat. Once more, her eyes glimmered, this time in reaction to the hungry look Momi cast upon the sweets on the table.
Kagerou gave Momi some peace and quiet to finish her analysis of the room, likely a security check, and then let her finish her conversation, all the way up to that entertaining end. She couldn't figure out the cause for such a bizarre conclusion, but she giggled anyways. It was, if anything, pleasantly amusing.
"I am fine, Miss Momi," Kagerou replied. Then, without a further word, she stood up from her seat and arranged Momi a plate of the rice cake delicacies that she had been eyeing earlier, moving them from the center plate to a smaller personal plate. "The bitter green tea goes particularly well with the slightly sweet rice cakes. The oak leaf mochi and warabi mochi are fitting for this season, but I think you might also enjoy the crunch of the ganjeong or the unique flavor of the injeolmi," Kagerou suggested as she walked around the table and set the plate down in front of the secretary.
Momi had asked about the request, but before that, Kagerou wished to answer her unspoken question. As she straightened up and walked back to her seat, she gestured to the walls and ceilings, the bells upon her wrist ringing, "As you can see, the only ways in and out of this room are the door you just entered from, the window to the side, and that small ventilation shaft up near the ceiling," a shaft too small for even a child to fit through, "The walls are soundproof. Ah, unless you were curious about the decorations. In which case... I will have to recommend you to the general manager of this establishment. He will have all the details."
Kagerou took a seat and folded her hands in her lap. Maintaining proper decorum and a smile, she moved to the last question of Momi's, "My only connection to the empress is through, perhaps, a brief meeting during the aftermath of the war when she came in to boost morale among the wounded, and my acquaintance with the Lord Arashikage, who I have heard has some connection to her. As for what I hope to achieve with this visit, I would like to talk to the empress on a personal matter of hers."
Kagerou's description of the sweet delicacies between them washed Momi over in the sweetest wave of relief. Deep down Momi knew what they were but some fraction of her being dared her to think it was a plate of bubblegum. Why would anyone serve bubblegum with tea? That's just ridiculous, right? Momi was feeling ridiculous herself with the former wonder plaguing her thoughts. Bubblegum, of course not. The faint, breathy trail ends of a laugh she started off her in head came out. "Of course. Rice cake. " Her hand brushed back a stray choppy lock of her short, white hair to fall behind her ear. She selects a pinkish colored cake and slides a small, empty saucer toward her. The little pink treat was placed on the saucer where it would wait under her nervous candy jitters have passed. The accompanying green tea was still steaming hot.
Security check. Right. Totally wasn't just scrutinizing the outside world beyond the wall, oh no. But Momi was sure to show some content with Kagerou's assurance that the building, the room namely, was secure. She nodded and allowed her shoulders to relax. Momi took one last glance to the window before she invested her full attention back to the young woman across the table. "Noted. There isn't such thing as knowing too many interior designers to call upon." Momi replied firmly. She brought her hands hold the warm clay cup.
"The Arashikage is a mutua- er- nevermind. You didn't say he was a friend. I was jumping to a conclusion. I was hoping to land someone with a little history with her. Hard to dig into those secret wounds of the hidden ninja world, I suppose. Not important!" Her hands came off the cup and swished her hands upward into the air. Dissmissing the topic. Rather than returning to the cup Momi put both hands to work. One hand landing for the clipboard as the other plucks an ink pen from under the fold of her black necktie. "Back to business," She clicks the pen. "Ah, uhm. First, I mean, I hope that you being fine means your in good health and," Momi froze up with her thougths jumping back and forth. The rice candies were still on the her mind but being polite and un-stuffy was totally a whole other thing to keep in check! Her interest in said treats wasn't going to be turned down either. She stared at the one on her plate before she quickly traded the pen out to plop the whole candy in her mouth. Popping the whole candy in her mouth might have not been polite but it wasn't stuffy, uptight behavior.
She gave Kagerou a thumbs up. Candy was good for buying silence. Momi took a sip of her tea before picking up her pen again. "-and not dining on sweets. All the time. SociAL visit!" Good save, she thought. The jitters weren't going to make her look like a mindless bafoon! Not today! "Special social visit" Momi added aloud as she amended the careful scrawl beside the note reading 'personal matter' and underlined. Personal matter: Special social visit
With her throat and conscious relatively clear of her spoken blunders Momi was instead feeling herself slip into an awkward position with the words she wrote down making clear someone was about to pry into someone else's business. Kagerou into Unki's personal affairs? Momi into Kagerou's personal affairs? Maybe this whole meeting was about, well, anything under the sun. She tapped her pen to the top of her clipboard as a thought hatched. "Miss Kagerou. What do you do for a living? There's a method to my Momi-madness. " Momi furrowed her brow but smoothed her expression out when she realized there was room to relay the method of this part of the job.
"You see, i'm sure you'll understand, but it's my job to," the woman began to swirl the pen around in the air. What were the correct words? "It's my job to make sure Unki isn't wasting her time and comes into her meetings with the appropriate notes and that the right information has been in review so that she is able to succeed. Are you familiar with preparations for writing a speech? Information about one's audience, topic, and research are necessary in forming an effective speech. " The woman shrugged her left shoulder as she flipped her clipboard around briefly for Kagerou's sights to see. "I essentially do all that!" The top page was just brimming with empty line after line, save for the few words scrawled near the top of the page. Kagerou's name, today's date, the current time and the annotation describing the nature of the pending meeting ahead. Momi flipped the clipboard back around to balance on the edge of the table.
"I generally grab the key points! The main points of a topic or conversation that she and her whoever I'm lining her up to discuss with so they can stay on topic. It's impossible to promise her a clear-cut way to know all that'll be discussed because that's simply just the nature of a conversation." A nervous chuckle escapes through a strained smile curling on Momi's face for the one simple reason being: "you see, i usually don't get personal inquiry requests." Momi goes quiet with her worries for the worst being worded into a pained question. " Oh no. This isn't for a magazine, is it? Please tell me now if someone is asking you to get dirt for a magazine!" She asked with the clicking of her pen to her chin. Grimacing. Bracing for the worst.
HeadlessKoko
Posted: Fri Dec 13, 2019 4:23 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
Kagerou laughed, politely but also genuinely at Momi's rather adorable antics. Needless to say, she didn't expect Momi to be this sort of character. Also needless to say, she wouldn't simply believe that Momi was this sort of character. She enjoyed the conversation, but she would not let her guard or her manners down. She would definitely keep her hands to herself, on the other side of the table, clasped neatly together on her lap.
Speaking honestly, Kagerou gave the information Momi requested, "I understand your position as Lady Unki's assistant, secretary, and confidante. To answer your questions, I work as the surgeon general of Arashigakure's principal hospital. I wish to speak to Lady Unki on what is... most likely a private matter..." Her lilting voice floated and softly filled the room. She lingered on that last word, giving a pregnant pause. Her smile remained, but in the way she lowered her eyes, one could presume she was hesitating or considering.
"Well, more than likely, anything I know you already know, Miss Momi," Kagerou finally spoke again. She was giving a reason, but also watching carefully for any reactions from Momi now that she had indirectly declared that she did not believe what Momi had said earlier about wanting to dig into Unki's secret wounds. Rather, that she didn't believe Momi was as clueless as she presented herself to be.
All Kagerou would give would be the market lady's gossip. Perhaps Momi wasn't familiar with it already, but it wouldn't have been difficult for her to hear about with a little bit of diligence. Related what she had heard, Kagerou explained, "I've been hearing that, as of late, the Lady Unki has been obsessing over her bread. One of my patients, who I will not name, brought it up in one of our sessions. I'm curious, both for my patient's sake and mine. I assure you, this is in no way related to any magazine, gossip or otherwise."
tab The worst didn't come. The pen clicking stopped too. (Good thing too, Momi loathed the noise of excessive pen clicking and prayed to the gods that Kagerou wasn't armed with a passive aggressive tactic to take her pen away.) Momi was following Kagerou's words closely. The Empress's confidante was waiting for her soft spoken hostess to verbally trip over her silence and into an elaborate assesment of something beyond Momi's head but the topic was supposedly something already fresh to Momi's knowledge.
The subtle mannerisms Kagerou carefully displayed were familiar, frankly. One was lingering over a thought and such thought had Momi holding her breath. The anticipation to hear Kagerou was about like waiting to turn the page of a thrilling book. A book that didn't need distracting ink marks on its page and the writing pen between Momi's fingers was such distraction. It would be rude to immediately start writing something! In the pause between them, Momi delicately placed the pen on the table in a manner to detract from the noise of plastic tapping wood.
When Kagerou spoke, Momi's quiet exhale relaxed her shoulders. She blinked and her browed some but only for a moment of thought. Momi too found herself delaying a reply. "Bread?" she returned aloud. There had to be more to this. But Momi couldn't bring about any further words right off the bat. Neither could she allow her tone to sour. Kagerou was the messenger, supposedly, and uncouth demands to find how or who came to this concern wasn't entirely necessary. Momi could only return the star word of Kagerou's inquiry: " bread." It wasn't easy to find where it was to begin trying to voice this wonder weighing on her. Why not start from the top?
"I know she's into baking. Cooking in general. I would suppose cooking is like a little escape for her, something to distract her, which makes sense to me if one wants a recipe to work out all right. People'll say that baking is the more difficult side of cooking. But bread," Her left hand came off the clipboard, propped against the table in her lap, and touched her mouth. She blinked and blinked again with the attempt to connect what little dots of detail she could from her recent memory. She moved her hand from mouth to the top of her little black tie where she began to fiddle with such and the collar of her dress. The look on her face was full of concern. "S-she's not bad at it. Not bad at baking. Bread making. Ehm. And 'practice makes perfect'."
From her collar, Momi now had a fidgety finger on and tapping her chin before finally fiddling with the side of her tea cup. What was the missing piece of his puzzle she was missing that a mysterious somebody thought to make a fuss over. "Hum. I guess I'm starting to look like I'm trying to defend her," Momi said with a smile starting to unhinge. With steady turn of her head the smile fell into an agitated look of 'WHAT AM I MISSING?' with her thigtly lips pressed together. A couple chipper notes of a strange, bouncy song were then hummed as she picked up her tea cup. Her flustered frown mellowed out as she took a sip.
Then her eyes opened wide. Wide! Momi slipped one hand off the cup and slapped her mouth shut with a chance cough turned choke! Her other hand gripped tight around the tea cup which she managed to set down. The woman bowed her head quickly as warm tea sputtered between her fingers and down her chin, eyes turning red, and frantically began to try to bury her chin into her tiny collar.
The hand which once held the cup was being waved her hand with very obvious gestures toward Kagerou as if saying: I'm okay! I'm fine! I'm fine! Momi wheezed herself out of the awful spasm known plainly as "choking on tea" and managed another sip. "I-i'm so sorry. Sorry." The woman, catching her breath, set the cup down quickly and tried to wipe the table dry with her sleeve. Before she could look even feel more like an animal the napkin her tea cup was presented on was snatched up and used to dab away the mess on the edge of the table and then sheepishly at her chin. More sheepish dabs on her collar, sleeve, and wiping her hands dry with a crumpled up napkin was a horrible way to buy herself another moment of thought.
"I hummed and the little trail ends of made my throat tickle and-" Momi story plainly declined into a sigh, "I didn't get the candies? No? Good. They're safe. Ah-hem! The obsession over bread was beginning to make sense, sadly and the worst part was realizing it caused a choking fit. "There's a little song she sings," Momi sniffled and she cleared her throat. "I just don't really remember the words and I feel like I should. It's probably what made your other patient worry." The look on the woman's face was wavering to a frown. So much concern. Not enough words.
Without the killer tune Momi spoke the words she could only remember: "My sweet loafy loaf. You're gonna be great for toast. It doesn't sound that bad, at first, but then she starts talk about the bread's mommy. I understand bread doesn't have a mommy and the concept of singing to one's food is probably unbecoming of a woman of her title. I hope your patient doesn't think she's fallen off her rocker or something." She looked down at the blank clipboard before looking back up to Kagerou, wondering if this was going to be all one big special analysis on Unki's sanity. At least, honestly, Momi wasn't angry. She was probably too embarrassed over choking on tea to be angry. That, or the delightful little sweets were just too fabulous to storm out of on. "We all have our images about how people should be, see, I thought she was a prim and proper young lady when I met her. She essentially had my job, at the time. Very all about making sure Lord Shiro's affairs where in order. I didn't expect her to have a couple oddities that came out so freely." She pressed her hand to her mouth looking incredibly worried, "Ooh. Now I gotta' wonder about who she sang that song to."
HeadlessKoko
Posted: Sun Apr 12, 2020 6:50 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
Helpfully, Kagerou answered Momi's question, "That would be to nearly most everyone on the kitchen staff at the Ika Shokuji, as well as the occasional shinobi part-timer who would come by to learn cooking skills." She was there, almost as soon as Momi started coughing, leaning over the table and extending a paper napkin for the coughing secretary to take and make herself look presentable again once she had the chance.
The sudden coughing fit had surprised the medic, and she had initially wanted to jump forwards and make sure everything was alright. However, just as quickly, she recognized that the woman would be fine. Holding her composure, Kagerou limited her urge to help to just this one act of kindness.
"My patient did mention that the Lady Unki could be the surprisingly eccentric sort," Kagerou sat back in her chair and tried to elaborate on why she felt this meeting with Unki was better to have than have not, "Though, as I do not know her well, I do not know to what extent this particularly character trait of her's extends. Nonetheless, even knowing the Empress's personal and private side, my patient still expressed concern. They had their own speculations on the matter, but I will withhold those until I have had a chance to see the lady with my own two eyes to avoid creating any preconceived biases." Personally, she had no investment in this matter other than her bleeding heart, a desire to help her friend, and Unki being an individual of high standing.
Calmly, the kunoichi took a sip of her tea, a natural punctuation and a breather to give Momi time to take in everything she had said. Then, she handed the baton of conversation to Momi by adding, "One of the people I talked to says that the empress will sometimes dress her loaves in diapers."
Momi buried her face in her hands. Bowing her head lower and lower with each word from Kagerou. "Cloth napkins and safety pins." She said, sobbing into her open palms. Cloth napkins and safety pins could deceptively look like essential baby goods and having two and two together plagued Momi with embarrassment for a fault that wasn't even her own. A sickening feeling was burrowing itself from her chest to her stomach. "Unki has so many safety pins. She has a cousin who makes clothing. That’s-” she moans. A muffled, irked moan. “He must be giving her supplies. I can only pray he’s too absorbed in himself to see what’s going on." Then all the gripping stopped.
“It was cute the first time.” She lifts her head. In her sights, Kagerou was still very much across the table, surely waiting kindly for more information to spill. Momi still held her palms up to her face and spoke through the little space between her palms. The woman's stale and spent green eyes, looking back at Kagerou, were looking haunted by the past catching up with her and her employer. “It was a joke," she defeatedly moaned and sighed. The woman returned her hands to the warm tea cup where she stared longingly at the rim. Longing that reality was a little brighter like the sweet candies on the plate. “Nobody encouraged it beyond a giggle at the sight of a warm bread loaf getting wrapped up after coming out of the oven. But, I guess it’s not just a joke anymore. Maybe. Sometimes.” Momi could just frown. She knew her appearances as a stern, orderly clerk at the arm of the Empress was spoiling, if not already, entirely into looking like an emotional wreck. This meeting at the tea house wasn’t even an intervention for some Momi-related problem. "Unki hasn't been what I expected out of a person in place of authority despite the fact that she's capable and can generally do her job well. I've worked for bankers who I took more seriously on the get go. But I have faith in her thinking soundly under other circumstances.” Thinking soundly, Momi strayed to wonder if she could say the ability was still sound for herself. tab
“I really wish she hadn't stepped foot into Ika Shokuji. They don't know her. They don't know what all she has and gone through.” An impression defeat wehling up couldn’t be passed up. For a time, Momi dips her head forward over the lone sentence scrawled in her hand on the clipboard. Trying to shield her own concern, fervor, and her employer’s history was arguably pointless at this rate. Aside from feeling like a nitwit, Momi worries if she set up the scene for her host to linger on the verge of wondering if there was a scandalous story to hide. “It doesn't matter who she sang that little song around anymore. She might have well performed for the whole kitchen." She admits and raises her head into the present sense of calm, almost, unlike her behavior post choking fit. "I must apologize. I was wound up earlier."A glance from her cup to Kagerou came with her apology. Why defend the little quirks in Unki's character? The assistant should have been speaking well of the little eccentrics of the Empress from the start. Momi confirms through a straining smile and a shrug of her shoulder, "she really does like bread." She plucks a little candy from the plate and tried to be dainty and courteous with her bite. Chewing the sweet was biding her time until she could finally, safely swallow.
"I can’t precisely pinpoint what brought on the bread coddling, really.” Bread coddling/ That sounded weird but Loaf Loving wasn’t any better. “I'd say if I could. This subject hasn't been explored too deeply between Unki and me. Shiro, maybe. But I doubt it.” Momi bitingly remarks with a shrug. A sore look in her eyes trails off into an empty space above her host rather than roll her eyes. “Be that as it may,” she continued. Momi’s attitude changes with a slow blink of her eyes like a reset button was smashed to save the retainer from her own astringent ideas, “the Emperor might be unwilling to discuss the Empress's personal affairs without a lengthy investigation or scrutiny. I won't be the woman to open the topic with him. I will only tell you what I can from my limited perspective." Another sip of her tea was taken as if to wash the thought of the Emperor away. “It’s old news but she miscarried several years ago. Very anticipated. Didn’t end well. Although the conclusion was better than it could have been. ”Momi’s casual relay of detail and tone was the best she could offer to highlight how old this ‘news’ was exactly. She didn’t even nail an exact number of how many years have gone by. Her description was so vague. Honestly, Momi nearly allowed herself to go-on as if Kagerou was one with more than just a single word of insight into the circumstances. Taking a hand from the cup, Momi rushes into waving a dismissive hand gesture to stray from the worst and listing a glimpse into the correct detail: “Physical health wise, I mean. Complications that could affect the mother. High risk conditions that could be life threatening to her, is what I’m trying to describe. My Lady had none of that.”
HeadlessKoko
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2020 11:11 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
She felt bad. Like, genuinely bad, when she saw the traumatized Momi connect the dots and give a tearful confession. That guilt and sympathy, however, Kagerou hid behind another sip of tea as she listened to everything Momi had to say. In due time, Momi recovered herself, but nonetheless, Kagerou could see through the masquerade.
When it came her turn to speak, Kagerou slowly set her tea down. "Thank you, Momi. I'm sure all of that must have been difficult to say," the red eyes smiled gently upon the hard working secretary, "It was hard on you, having to bear this burden by yourself all this time, and I am very sorry for the empress's loss. I... had suspected as much, and I admit, the reason why I desired to meet with the empress was the confirm my suspicions."
Slender fingers slowly intertwined themselves into each other as Kagerou leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She did not look at Momi. She had already seen all she needed to in Momi's short monologue. The rude awakening. The haunted gaze. The stern frown that shook at its foundations. This time, she wanted Momi to have free reign to listen to her without feeling any pressure from her soft yet penetrating gaze. After taking a deep breath, Kagerou continued, "However, my desire to meet with the empress remains. As I've said, I was requested by an acquaintance to assist the empress with her woes. Knowing that the lady's strange behavior could be attributed as a coping mechanism for her abortion achieves only part of my purpose. I believe the honorable secretary when she says that lady unki is both physically and mentally fit to rule. However, knowing my acquaintance, he cares for far more than just his friend's ability to perform her duties. He would also be concerned for their happiness." Kagerou's legs uncrossed and her body leaned forwards now. Arms supporting her weight, she leaned across the table and towards Momi. "I... This is a question I would rather ask the empress directly, but since you have been so sweet in your description of her, I think I can trust you to answer with the best of her intentions at heart. Momi, what do you think? Do you think the lady empress is happy just coddling bread? Or do you think that the bread is simply replacing something that she wants even more?".
Momi felt all the inclination to rush into a reply. But she didn’t. The woman held her breath amid a pause and looked at the ceilings’ reflection in her cup. “She’s either considerably more child-like at heart than I’d like to consider or is feeling anxious. I would like to assume her interests are in something more.” Momi couldn’t help but smile warmly at her slight jest concerning Unki’s amusing eccentricities in her pause but was swept up timely ahead of her more serious remark. “After all, Unki has been married long enough. Well. That’s subjective. Let me rephrase.” She said firmly before she could trail off under a mistake. Correcting herself, Momi shook her head lightly and snapped her fingers. Waggling her finger along in some affirming, stern hand gesture. “I would be confident in saying Unki is feeling overdue to arrive at the next phase of her marriage.” Just how behind-the-times Unki was feeling in reference to other couples was one affair Momi was doubting on occasion. But in light of other topics and obligations revolving around Unki’s world the assistant would look down back into the faint reflections in her tea cup and then again, finally, meeting Kagerou’s gaze as she was leaning over the table.
“ I think,” she collected her pen again and tapped on the board, “that Unki would benefit from a third force. Confiding in myself or her husband is a safe activity that we might not be jarring enough, I mean,” she stopped. The wrong word carelessly escaped her. “Not jarring in the harsh or grating context but, ah, maybe? I mean stirring. Yes. Stirring. The Emperor and I alone may not be arousing enough to make a definite difference, I worry. Ahh...” Her voice trails off into an awkward creak. These didn’t feel like the correct words. “It seems I can’t find the appropriate word. Hmm.” She eyed the teacup again, stiffly, before forcing herself to recover. Her delivery was exceptionally prim and cordial despite her blunders. She waved her hand, clicked her pen, and attentively slipped it behind her vest. “No matter. I think I’ve collected everything I needed to.” Her clipboard was minimal with notes and such sat face-up on her lap. “Is there anything else you would like to know? Or I should know? If not, I wouldn’t want to hold you up on my account.”
HeadlessKoko
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:39 pm
Title: Bonds Information: Call it friendship, call it camaraderie, call it a legal obligation. The nurturing of relationships is one of the most fruitful types of narrative. Helping a friend out in a kitchen, helping keep their business alive, being there for them after a bad break up, building new friendships...building new rivals...building new nemesis's. Confronting those nemesis's and exchanging conflicting beliefs in fierce wholehearted heated debate and getting to know the other through their opposition on a new level. Every post made strengthening an existing relationship with an rpc, rewards Ac equal to one's body rank plus [1], maximum . Those interacted with may also be considered to be running this narrative with you albeit their posts are separate from your own. The narrative is considered completed once the parties part ways for another day.
Taking her time slowly, Kagerou took a full sip of her tea. It would also be the final sip as, when Kagerou leveled the teacup, not a drop of liquid remaiend within. Speaking over the teacup, she answered with what she would like Momi to know, "Simply that you know I agree with your assessment of the empress and am on your side. If there is anything I can do to help the empress with her personal matters, then please do not hesitate to call for me," as she had no further requests to make. Bright red eyes glanced up and across the table at the primly seated Momi. The corners of her smile pulled up even further, crinkling the corners of her eyes slightly in a genuinely heartfelt smile. "I'm glad I came to know you, Momi."
The teacup was lowered and the host was first to stand. The smile reverted to pleasantly polite and what friendliness Kagerou may have left slip was replaced one more with proper distance. "I apologize, I must leave first. I have other business I must attend to," the surgeon general apologized with a small tilt of her head down, "However, please, do not rush your leave on my account. I hope that you will rest here for as long as you need." Her eyes slid subtly for a moment to the still rather full plate of eastern desserts, besides which there was an at least half full teapot. "If you require anything else that this humble teahouse can provide, please, just ask. Consider it as thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit." Then, as promised, the host was the first to leave.
