[Day 2 - Late Evening] Story Time II

[Moto Baatar]

"Once upon a time, here was a beautiful lady who arrived at the Emperor's palace. She was Tamamo No Mae, and she was so beautiful, intelligent, and graceful that the Emperor fell in love with her the first time he saw her. ... a cornered and panicking Tamamo No Mae transformed fully into a kyuubi, or a nine-tailed fox!

"What?" the young Moto queried, after hearing Tomoe's story. "How can the Emperor be tricked by a fox? Shouldn't he be too smart for that, since he's a divine being himself?"

[Shinjo Hanashi]

"Sake? Oh know she is much too young to drink" he smiles at Tomoe "dont tell her that her head is already too big" when Kyra looks over he smiles and nods and the cat puts its head into Tomoes offered hand "Otomo sama, while I am no Ikoma I will be glad to offer what insight I can."

"Kumis is more alcoholic then most sake I've heard of, Shimizu-sama. Please don't do that ever again when it is around people. We're all lucky no one lost an arm or worse."

He huffed a bit, and then looked to the Usagi at Baatar's question. A storyteller's job often hinged on the questions that were raised after all.

[Kitsu Takashi]

Takashi restrains himself from drawing charcoal and parchment to make some notes, realizing that the firelight is probably insufficient to that task anyway.

Kyra's leap caused the Kitsu little outward concern. Instead, he focused on the people and how they reacted. I'll save a reproachful glare for Shimizu-san for tomorrow.

[Shimizu Ryori]

He nods to the Shinjo "So I was told last night, only after she was fed her third bowl of it by our Moto hosts, which is why she was kept mostly confined till late this afternoon. She is a little playful now because of that confinement, but I am sure she will watch her manners." the lioness hangs her head at his tone of voice.

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Once upon a time, here was a beautiful lady who arrived at the Emperor's palace. She was Tamamo No Mae, and she was so beautiful, intelligent, and graceful that the Emperor fell in love with her the first time he saw her. ... a cornered and panicking Tamamo No Mae transformed fully into a kyuubi, or a nine-tailed fox!

"What?" the young Moto queried, after hearing Tomoe's story. "How can the Emperor be tricked by a fox? Shouldn't he be too smart for that, since he's a divine being himself?"

"Ah, but maybe he wasn't tricked at all, but being a Paragon of Bushido, he would treat her with kindness and respect, so that maybe she would change her wicked ways. For does not Bushido teach us to treat even our enemies with Courtship?"

[Moto Baatar]

"Ah, but maybe he wasn't tricked at all, but being a Paragon of Bushido, he would treat her with kindness and respect, so that maybe she would change her wicked ways. For does not Bushido teach us to treat even our enemies with Courtship?"

Baatar thought about this a moment, then protested, "But if this is the case, didn't the scholar do the Emperor a disservice by revealing the fox woman's true nature?"

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Did he?" Tomoe asked as she scratched underneath Kyra's chin very carefully.

"The poor scholar served the Emperor... he had to make the difficult choice of watching in silence without overstepping his boundaries, or take the risk of acting with the best intentions to fulfill his Duty and Loyalty. We must sometimes face such difficult choices in our lives. Would you have done the same, or acted differently?"

[Moto Baatar]

"Did he?" Tomoe asked as she scratched underneath Kyra's chin very carefully.

"The poor scholar served the Emperor... he had to make the difficult choice of watching in silence without overstepping his boundaries, or take the risk of acting with the best intentions to fulfill his Duty and Loyalty. We must sometimes face such difficult choices in our lives. Would you have done the same, or acted differently?"

"I... I don't know," Baatar admitted. "If the Emperor's intent was to show kindness to the woman, then the scholar acted against the Emperor's will. But if the scholar didn't know the Emperor's will in this matter...."

The young Unicorn puzzled over this conundrum.

"I think I'd leave the fox woman alone," Baatar decided at last. "Every story I've ever heard where a fox woman's true nature is revealed has ended badly."

"What would you do?" he asked Tomoe.

[Shinjo Hanashi]

"Give me their names. They should know better; that they put the lives of our guests at risk will mean punishment most severe." He growls a bit, surprised that the Moto would do such a thing. The Unicorn knew how to take care of animals. The Moto's war dogs especially.

[Shinjo Kemuri]

Kemuri watched the lion quietly, studying the creature as he slowly presented his palm to her.

[Usagi Tomoe]

"Hmmm... I think I would have tried to persuade her to do the honorable thing; to step forward and be honest about herself and her true intentions." The Hare nodded.

Seeing Kemuri's interest in the cat as well, she moved her hand away so Kyra wouldn't feel like Tomoe might hold her back.

[Shinjo Kemuri]

"Being truthful is important." he nodded, as the lioness judged his intentions.

[Shimizu Ryori]

Kyra leans into Tomoe's hand at the scratches, purring slightly she eyes Kemuri's hand a moment sniffing in its direction.

Ryori shrugs "I should have suspected something by how entertained Khulun-sama was, it was not till later when Chi-pu sama explained the nature of Kumis that I realized the issue. My mother has been known to slip Kyra Shoichu when we visit so I wasn't that concerned, I just kept her sequestered till I was sure it was out of her system. There was no harm in the small prank, everything is well."

[Usagi Tomoe]

She chuckled a little at the biggest cat's purr.

"Unh... there was no harm done. Kyra-san seems well-mannered and wanted to join us." The Hare offered, not wanting to cause anymore fuss since it had seemed like she might had been part of the reason why Kyra did what she did.

[Moto Baatar]

"Maybe Kai-ra wants to hear a story about cats," Baatar suggested.