Dark Edge Village

Butaj has heard that there are new shrines, and that he can finally has a place to ask the powerful spiritual beings greater than Butaj to help him a little. Wandering around, looking for a place to pray, he can't help looking across, observing the steppe from the top of the hill.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Hotaru was hanging around

Butaj waves, but then remembers it's better to bow, so he bows.

(OOC: shoot, meant to save that post and not post it. Anyway.)

Hotaru's lit up and she greeted Butaj with a smile and bow. "Goood afternoon, Moto-san! I'm glad to see you around the Shrine! Are you here to pray, donate or perhaps you were hoping to find me? How may I help?"

"Both you and the prayer! Butaj assumes Bayushi Hotaru has erected the small shrines around here, so she knows which is where. Butaj seeks one that favors love, marriage and related matters." He smiles warmly back.

"Oh! Then you've more to the right place in both cases." She giggled on a joyful note and gestures to the multitude of shrines around her now. "I can't take credit for everything. This was merely made possible with help from the governor and those generous enough to volunteer, as well as donate. It is my hope that your Clan will have shrines and temples like this one in your returned home here, except with more housing and a roof over the head of the monks."

She smiled more to match his smile and strolled along as she introduced each Fortune in question. "You'll find that there's a Fortune for all aspects of life. The Fortunes are powerful beings that have domain our everyday life, after all. For long, you only need to seek out Benten-no-Kami, the Fortune of Love. For marriage, that would be the domain of Musubi-no-Kami, who oversees successful marriages and all of their related legal work. I'd suggest Hotei-no-Kami too, while we're talking about Fortunes, the Fortune of Happiness. What's a loving and successful marriage when you can't be happy about life, ne?"

He returns the smile. "Oooh. Good. But... why roofs are so necessary? Doesn't not having a roof above heads make it easier for holy men to see the Heavens?" He then slow-trots by her side, following and listening. "Butaj is happy about life, though a loveless marriage would make him unhappy. While marrying his beloved would make him the happiest man alive. How should he pray then? Is there a sequence, and the right words?"

Hotaru smirked at Butaj's answer. "Hai...but having a roof does ensure that they are better protected from the rain and that they aren't troubled by keeping the shrine dry. At the very least, they do need their own accommodations here, so that they can have someone attend to the Shrine at all times."

Who was your beloved again? I had a hard time keeping track. "That would be most unfortunate and all the better to pray that doesn't happen. A marriage should only complement your life, adding to it than taking away. Here, come with me!"

She gestured over to the small basin of water that was set up for use, crossing through the torii arches when doing so. "First, you must purify your body and mind. You must do so before seeking an audience with a Fortune! Take one of the ladles and fill it with water." In saying so, she took one for herself and handed another one to Butaj. She carefully dipped the ladle into the basin, and took a step backwards. "Then, wash your hands like so...using your right hand to pour into your left hand and your left hand to pour your right hand. Leave some for later!"

Gently, she tipped the water into her left hand and did the same vice versa. "Almost there! Using half of the water you have left, you are to clean your lips." She poured the water into her hands, cupping it into a bowl motion, and dabbing it on her lips.

"Finally, you clean the ladle and replace it, like this!" She slowly tilted it downwards so that its head would be facing the sky and the remaining water ran down the handle and onto the ground. After that, she returned the ladle back on the basin in the exact way she picked it up from.

"...Now, you give it a try!" She smiled encourgingly at Butaj.

Butaj nods and goes about the ladle business. He's an adroit man so juggling the ladle through the sequence and measuring the outpour isn't much of a problem. Only with the lip-washing his nature rears itself and he takes more water onto his palm, not just to wash lips but also to wash his teeth. He take some water into his mouth and gurgles before swallowing. He then empties his ladle and puts it back.

"Butaj thinks that to be pure he would need a proper bath. We haven't had any for more than a week, just those damn buckets. Not that a little horse stink is intolerable among the Unicorn and their friends, but now Butaj wonders if Fortunes may mind." He gives Hotaru a serious expression. "And for someone like you who must be here often, being a cleanly priestess with the lack of a place to bathe must be an ordeal, no?"

Hotaru did her best to keep her smile when Butaj goes about gargling the shrine's water like it was common water meant for the morning wash. She supposed that he managed this far along that perhaps he'll show some promise in the next shrine he'll find himself in. "That's good...very good...thank you, Moto-san. Now, come along, I think you're ready to speak to a Fortune now."

She waved fro him to follow and made her way over to the first shrine mentioned in their talks, the shrine dedicated to the Fortune of Benten. Naturally, such a shrine might have been seen as a popular one here. People often mistake love for marriage and those who know better, still seek to find love in marriage nevertheless.

She gave a few slow nods to his question. "Ah...hai, I had to contend with buckets too. I think the Fortunes will be just fine as long as proper care is taken on their grounds and consideration is shown. In larger shrines, there are baths for such an occasion but I think what you did just not is the respected minimum. It's a bit unfortunate that there are no baths here but it's not like I don't make do with our surroundings. The Shining Retreat isn't admittedly a luxurious temple, either." I do look forward to a bath, however.

He stops when she bids him to stop and contemplates the shrine. "So... how to go about it?"

"Oh..hai!" She giggled as they proceeded with the lesson again. "Praying!"

She gestured to the donation box in front of the shrine of Benten. "It suggested that you submit an offering to the Fortune in question first before praying. The money doesn't do directly to the Fortune itself, of course, but it does go toward the servants of the shrine who maintain the grounds so that the Fortunes can be continued to be appeased. After that, you bow twice, then clap twice. This is to express your request for an audience and your respect to them." With that, she went through the motions before the Fortune.

"Then, keeping your hands together, you pray to the Fortune...Perhaps you can say something along the lines of: 'O-Benten-Kami, I wish to be together with...'. Your request and wishes can be as short or as long as you wish. Once you're done praying, you bow once more and retreat from the shrine, allowing others the same pleasure of speaking to a Fortune!" She chuckled on that final note.

"Now that we're here, I think I'll pray to Benten-no-kami, too!" She nodded enthusiastically and placed her hands together to offer her prayer. Her eyes closed as she seemed to be in deep thought or conversation with the Fortune of Love.

Butaj follows the instructions and donates a gold coin to the box, then he does the clapping and proceeds to the shrine. He kneels as suggested and nods sharply in agreement when Hotaru provides the cue. Puting the Phoenix fan on his knees he... starts praying aloud.

'O-Benten-Kami, Butaj wishes to be together with Asako Yuki. She is the woman Butaj loves and she loves him too. This is such a beautiful love, strong, steadfast, growing every day, that you've given us that Butaj can't imagine life without Yuki. She is the air he breaths and the light he sees. She is the purpose why Butaj does things and the condition for him to do them. Little makes sense for Butaj if she is not with him. And when she is with him, everything that is good and fair becomes possible. O-Benten-Kami, please hear Butaj's prayer and help him. Butaj wouldn't trouble you if it was not so very serious."

The man speaks his heart out, without contrivance or hesitation. Hotaru is a priestess so her presence is actually enabling rather than turning him shy. He assumes her guidance is only helping his plea.

Hotaru might have purposely omitted the part where he was supposed to keep his prayer to himself, too. She wasn't praying so much to Benten than listening to Butaj at what he had to offer to the Fortune of love. There were the early days of the miai when she thought that he and the Tonbo were supposed to be a pair, now that wasn't the case? He was certainly saying much about Asako Yuki, practically as much as the sun and the moon in her opinions.

She feigned her prayer a little longer after Butaj was finished before she opened her eyes and took a step back to face the Moto. "That was...a very heartfelt prayer to Benten-no-kami, Moto-san. If you don't mind me saying so, I don't wish to intrude, it seems that you have much to say about a certain someone." She brought up with a small smile.

As his attention is drawn away from the small altar toward Hotaru by her voice, he nods affirmatively without hesitation. "There is no intrusion. Butaj is not ashamed of his feelings, and can speak about them openly. Besides, Bayushi Hotaru is a wise priestess and certainly knows a lot about such things, what is in the soul of a man who loves like Butaj loves Asako Yuki."