hyralt
Well-Known Member
- RP Date
- YE 44
- RP Location
- Ice Queen Sake Facilities, Ice Queen Mountains
"<Aunty, I just don't think this is a good idea,>" a young man spoke in Yamataigo, his voice crackling and sputtering into the air from an ancient comm device that sat on the floor.
The flickering light of the last dying embers of a once-roaring fire in a pit at the centre of the room illuminated the space around it. A cast iron kettle hung from a hook that descended from the utter darkness above the rafters overhead, steam gently curling and dancing out from its spout. The room was bounded on two sides by paper sliding screens and the back wall was also a series of sliding panels, but these were wooden and coated in black lacquer with a gold leaf inlay depicting a tiger crouching in a bamboo forest.
The flickering light from the dying fire made the bamboo leaves look like they were swaying in a breeze, and the same light made the tiger look like it was breathing, ready and about to pounce. The screens that normally made up the fourth wall had been moved aside to open the room up to the crisp night air. The floor of the room was covered in well-worn tatami mats, on which the comm device sat next to a pillow on which Kinoshita Fusako sat, gazing out at the moonlit forest beyond her sake facilities in the Ice Queen Mountains on Yamatai.
"<What do you even know about politics?>" Fusako's nephew asked. Fusako drew a slow breath before she replied.
"<I know that it's too important to be left to the politicians.>" Just then, a dim red bulb lit up on the side of the comm. "<I will call you back if I feel there is more to discuss. I am getting another call.>"
"<My father, no doubt,>" Takashi stated tensely. "<Well, Aunty. I support you, even if I don't think it's a good idea. Good luck.>"
"<Thank you, little one,>" Fusako said before switching over to the incoming call. "もしもし?"
"<Hello, Fusako. How are you?>" An older man's voice barely faded into life over the static hiss. Indeed, he sounded identical to young Takashi, except older.
"<I am not interested in your pleasantries, Akira,>" Fusako told him softly. In the silence of her pause, she heard the waterwheel that powered her facilities creak gently as it turned slowly, propelled by the quiet trickle of the stream that descended from the mountains behind her. "I know why you're calling."
"<Very well,>" Akira said with a sigh. "<I don't think you should run in this election. It will only make you, and by extension our family, look foolish when you lose.>"
"<Then I don't think we have anything more to discuss,>" Fusako said before shutting off the comm. The device flickered and slowly dimmed, leaving the air silent but for the wind in the trees.
Fusako simply breathed for some time, watching as her breath turned to vapour in the cool air of early autumn. Finally, she turned the comm back on and dialed the only reporter she knew.
"Twelve Gauge here," a man's high-pitched and nasal voice snapped, before his rapid-fire Trade speech was interrupted by a yawn. "Do you have any idea what time it is? I've gotta get my beauty rest, y'see. And what are you even using to call me? There's no video."
"I understand you do your best work without video, Gauge-san," Fusako replied with a smirk, her own Trade had a slight but detectable Yamataigo accent. "You don't know me, but I am Kinoshita Fusako. I make Ice Queen Sake, and I am considering a venture into politics after the recent resignation of the Imperial Premier. Would you be able to publish an article announcing my campaign?"
"Hell no," she could practically hear him spitting. "That's Yam news, ain't got nothing to do with me."
"I will send you a crate of sake," she offered. For a moment, nothing but static came from the comm speaker.
"The answer is still no," he said, softer this time, but no less rapidly. He spoke like a well-maintained fully-automatic rifle. "But for a crate of sake, I'll put you in contact with a buddy of mine our your way. Owes me a favour."
"Thank you Gauge-san," Fusako smiled. "You can expect the crate the day after you introduce me to your contact."
"That fast? You know I'm in Funky City, right?"
"If there's one thing I know, Gauge-san, it's how to move sake. I look forward to hearing from you again."
Once again, Fusako shut off the ancient comm device and it instantly went silent, but its light slowly dimmed over the next minute. Fusako sighed softly, and wondered what the coming months would bring.
The flickering light of the last dying embers of a once-roaring fire in a pit at the centre of the room illuminated the space around it. A cast iron kettle hung from a hook that descended from the utter darkness above the rafters overhead, steam gently curling and dancing out from its spout. The room was bounded on two sides by paper sliding screens and the back wall was also a series of sliding panels, but these were wooden and coated in black lacquer with a gold leaf inlay depicting a tiger crouching in a bamboo forest.
The flickering light from the dying fire made the bamboo leaves look like they were swaying in a breeze, and the same light made the tiger look like it was breathing, ready and about to pounce. The screens that normally made up the fourth wall had been moved aside to open the room up to the crisp night air. The floor of the room was covered in well-worn tatami mats, on which the comm device sat next to a pillow on which Kinoshita Fusako sat, gazing out at the moonlit forest beyond her sake facilities in the Ice Queen Mountains on Yamatai.
"<What do you even know about politics?>" Fusako's nephew asked. Fusako drew a slow breath before she replied.
"<I know that it's too important to be left to the politicians.>" Just then, a dim red bulb lit up on the side of the comm. "<I will call you back if I feel there is more to discuss. I am getting another call.>"
"<My father, no doubt,>" Takashi stated tensely. "<Well, Aunty. I support you, even if I don't think it's a good idea. Good luck.>"
"<Thank you, little one,>" Fusako said before switching over to the incoming call. "もしもし?"
"<Hello, Fusako. How are you?>" An older man's voice barely faded into life over the static hiss. Indeed, he sounded identical to young Takashi, except older.
"<I am not interested in your pleasantries, Akira,>" Fusako told him softly. In the silence of her pause, she heard the waterwheel that powered her facilities creak gently as it turned slowly, propelled by the quiet trickle of the stream that descended from the mountains behind her. "I know why you're calling."
"<Very well,>" Akira said with a sigh. "<I don't think you should run in this election. It will only make you, and by extension our family, look foolish when you lose.>"
"<Then I don't think we have anything more to discuss,>" Fusako said before shutting off the comm. The device flickered and slowly dimmed, leaving the air silent but for the wind in the trees.
Fusako simply breathed for some time, watching as her breath turned to vapour in the cool air of early autumn. Finally, she turned the comm back on and dialed the only reporter she knew.
"Twelve Gauge here," a man's high-pitched and nasal voice snapped, before his rapid-fire Trade speech was interrupted by a yawn. "Do you have any idea what time it is? I've gotta get my beauty rest, y'see. And what are you even using to call me? There's no video."
"I understand you do your best work without video, Gauge-san," Fusako replied with a smirk, her own Trade had a slight but detectable Yamataigo accent. "You don't know me, but I am Kinoshita Fusako. I make Ice Queen Sake, and I am considering a venture into politics after the recent resignation of the Imperial Premier. Would you be able to publish an article announcing my campaign?"
"Hell no," she could practically hear him spitting. "That's Yam news, ain't got nothing to do with me."
"I will send you a crate of sake," she offered. For a moment, nothing but static came from the comm speaker.
"The answer is still no," he said, softer this time, but no less rapidly. He spoke like a well-maintained fully-automatic rifle. "But for a crate of sake, I'll put you in contact with a buddy of mine our your way. Owes me a favour."
"Thank you Gauge-san," Fusako smiled. "You can expect the crate the day after you introduce me to your contact."
"That fast? You know I'm in Funky City, right?"
"If there's one thing I know, Gauge-san, it's how to move sake. I look forward to hearing from you again."
Once again, Fusako shut off the ancient comm device and it instantly went silent, but its light slowly dimmed over the next minute. Fusako sighed softly, and wondered what the coming months would bring.