Dark Edge Village

Moto Baatar paced back and forth in the rain outside Hotaru's tent nervously. Was this really a good idea? But...lots of people were going in and out of tents nearby. It couldn't be that hard! And it was foolish to just stand out here in the rain.

Finally the young Unicorn stopped near the tent opening and, screwing up his courage, called into the yurt. "Hello! Is Bayushi Hotaru at home?"

In the comfort of her yurt, dry and warm, Hotaru heard a voice from outside call out to her. She raised a brow at first, wondering if it was her imagination. They say sometimes you could hear voices call out in the wind, but usually those voices were supposed to be of old ghosts or guilt incarnate. Certainly, none of them were looking for her! She perked up and made her way over to the entrance of her yurt, pulling the flap open to see Baatar in the rain.

"Moto-san!" She exclaimed in shock. "What are you...nevermind. Please come in, quickly!"

She took a step back and gestured the Moto in. Her loaned yurt wasn't any fancier than the other guests, save for most of the furniture moved aside for amble guest space, but it was dry.

"Oh... um.... good evening!" Baatar stepped into the yurt at Hotaru's invitation, but seemed nonplussed at her evident surprise. Water dripped from his damp hair onto his face. "You said I could visit your tent sometime? Is that still all right...?"

Before Bataar could take another step with his drippy hair, Hotaru rummaged through her things and produced a towel so he could dry himself off from the rain.

"That, I did," she tittered anxious. "I just wasn't expecting guests tonight. The weather's pretty terrible. Some forewarning would have been nice, but I luckily have some tea available for such a night! Please have a seat and join me!" She scurried over to the pot of tea in her room and fished around her accomodations for an extra cup.

"Yeah, I, uh, didn't foresee the rain," Baatar admitted. "I guess being a fortune teller, you knew all about it?"

Baatar accepted the towel and scrubbed at his hair and clothes. After some vigorous rubbing, the Unicorn got the worst of the rain out, but it left his hair looking rather untidy. "Tea sounds good," he agreed, taking the proffered seat.

"I knew of it, hai. The signs were there earlier in the day, the rumble in the skies and the gathering of ominous clouds conspiring to ruin our evening." She giggled as she made her way to the centre of the room when she found her cup, kneeling down to a seiza and pouring Baatar a cup of tea. "But that was perhaps more being a shugenja than a 'fortune teller'. You'll be surprised to know that the weather is one of the few things that 'fortune tellers' truly know, as they are the domain of the Heavens, kami and Fortunes. It's far too easily manipulated by the whims of any of the three that it could change almost instantaneous."

"Instead, we work more on finding direction for people, where they are going to be and they ought to be. We, of the Celestial Order, are far less fickle than the weather. We are still swayed by the wants of greater forces around and above us, but if we look closely enough," she smirked coyly, "some could see where they wish to guide us."

"Is that right?" Baatar asked, a little skeptically. "People are more predictable than the weather, truly? Then you must know what is in store for all of us, then?" He accepted the cup of tea, and her coy smile made him unable not to smile back.

She took a sip of her tea and shook her head. "The word for it isn't exactly predictable, per say, but people are more static in comparison and anchored to this plane. Their imprint is far stronger than something like the weather is more fickle and less permanent in comparison. People are more interesting, anyway, especially they have more in store when it comes to their destiny, what great things they might achieve or what tragedies await them. Far better than knowing whether it is going to rain or not."

"I can't say that I know everything," she said with a shrug. "It's impossible for most mortals to truly know everything. I require a little more focus and cooperation from people who allow their futures to be read."

"You seemed surprised that I came tonight, though, neh?" Baatar said, smiling slightly. "So I cannot be so predictable. Though, you did invite me, so surely you must have had some inkling?"

He gulped down some tea with a slurp!

She narrowed her masked eye slightly on the slurp but reapplied her smile soon after. "Some inkling but not the complete picture. I shouldn't be surprised completely, as I said that people are as fickle as the weather, the same goes with braving that weather. I had some idea that you'd come sooner or later. Thank you for making it! It seems only fair that I'd offer my services in return for the trouble you had to endure tonight."

"Your, umm, services... right." Baatar fumbled with his tea cup, narrowly avoiding a spill. "That's really nice of you. I... um. How does it work? Do you want to, uh... do it right here?" He looked around the tent nervously.

Hotaru blinked once, wondering why he seemed nervous, was she scaring him? However, she managed to maintain her smile. "It's really no trouble at all! I'm actually quite happy that you've chosen to consult me, especially when there are apparent others who are willing to do it out there," she chuckled on that note.

"We could do it here or either at your tent. Or the shrine too, if you wish to wait when it gets drier of choice," She smirked she glanced out at the entrance. "Do you have a particular question in mind when it comes to the fate or your own particular destiny?"

Bayushi Hotaru wrote:"We could do it here or either at your tent. Or the shrine too, if you wish to wait when it gets drier of choice,"

"Here is good," Baatar said quickly. "No need to go back out in the rain. It's... cozy here."

Bayushi Hotaru wrote:"Do you have a particular question in mind when it comes to the fate or your own particular destiny?"

"A question...?" Baatar asked, looking at Hotaru uncertainly. Is there a quiz first? he wondered desperately. "Well, um. Should we put out the lamp? Or... what comes next?" He moved to sit a little closer to her, but still seemed nervous.

"We can, if you want...Moto-san." She nodded understandingly, some of her clients prefer to have things darker. It set the mood to be more ominous when it came to her readings.

"Maybe we can just shade the lamp slightly, to dim it, so I could better see things. No sense doing this in the dark completely!" She chuckled as she reached for a tubular container with a lot of things rattling inside. "You hadn't done something like this before? Some of kin spoke of it in passing, with bones, I believe?"

"Of course I've done it before," Baatar protested unconvincingly. "I, uh, just don't know how you do it." He scooted a little closer to her side after she dimmed the lights, although he gave the tubular object in her hands a dubious glance while doing so.

"How do you like to do it?" he asked. With as much confidence as he could muster, he reached an arm out towards her, as if trying to embrace her ....