[Day 3 - LA] We could be Heroes... [Unicorn Preferred]

[Ide Amaya]

Despite the heat of the day, Amaya trembles to hear the words of the Scorpion. It feels as though every drop of sweat of her body has suddenly turned to ice, and her stomach is a stone inside her belly. She tried to process all she'd heard, but it was like a picture-puzzle with no picture. And most of the pieces were missing. And she was wearing a blindfold.

She experienced a flash of envy for the battle maidens. Hardened and well trained. It suddenly seemed to her that it must make some things distinctly easier when cutting them down was an option. No wonder the maiden's had so much courage.

She struggles to find her voice, to make it loud enough to be heard. "Amiss? You anticipate an attack?"

[Shinjo Monkhbaatar]

"A signal is a good idea in case things go poorly. I unfortunately don't have any humming bulbs," he replies. "I do not trust and have no intention of working side by side with this Onyx champion... but if there is potential to learn of a different threat it shouldn't be taken lightly. In addition, I won't let Khulun go in alone."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira glanced at the Ide who had spoken, offering a nod of confirmation.

"I anticipate it planning something wicked. Only it knows what."

[Ide Amaya]

She shuddered once more. What Monkhbaatar was saying was true, but when she tried to imagine standing beside her cousins - Moto with Shinjo to the left and Iuchi to the right - but she couldn't make the picture fit.

[Moto Khulun]

Khulun is about to respond when Taira gives his words. She urges her mount forward and paces more back and forth in front of the Unicorn before she says, “The Unicorn hear the Scorpion. You speak as if the Unicorn have lain under date trees for the last few centuries getting fat on hummus and lamb! We are UNICORN!”

“Did we look to the sky for signals on the Dark Ride, cousins! Did we wait for the Empire to rescue us from the horrors that haunt the Shadow? Where was the Scorpion when Sayyed Akil was so horribly wounded in service to our clan?”

“How many of you have lost kin to the horrors we have faced? There are none among the Unicorn that are free from pain and suffering!”

She spits on the ground, “I welcome your concern, Scorpion-friend, but do not forget you stand among Shinjo’s children!”

Khulun holds up the relic, “Great Dong-Ha has seen the truth of this and found no corruption or magic. This is a symbol of the Unicorn held by Shinjo, given to her by Doji! She would never part with it, not willingly, if this Onyx Champion knows the truth we must seek it out.”

“Shinjo has answered the call, what say you children of Ide and Iuchi?” she asks.

[Ide Amaya]

"Be at peace, sister," Amaya offers, her pretty voice soothing.

She turns to the unfamiliar Scorpion, "Soshi-Sama, you have given your advice, and we thank you. Please, leave us now, that we might discuss what we must do."

[Soshi Taira]

Taira considered that, and then said, simply, "I would hate to have to bandage you again, but if I must, I must."

Turning, he added, "The empire is not strong because of clans alone, but as a whole. I hope you will not forget that we are once again allies under the same throne. Fortune's favor you, children of Shinjo. I am ever at your service."

Then as bidden, he departed, thoughts clouded.

/exit.

[Otaku Chi-Pu]

Chi-Pu looks longingly at Khulun but remains silent. Her face is pained and she clenches her hands into tight fists at her side.

"Shinjo-Kami..." she whispers and looks to the sky, searching the clouds for answers.

[Ide Amaya]

She sighs, annoyed at herself for giving offence to the Scorpion by sending him away, but she hadn't had time to couch words with him. Timidly, but growing stronger as she continues, "we are strong, sister, but not alone. You say that this 'champion' asks audience with just four, but will the Champion bring only four? Why only one of each family? What words could this Champion say to only one of us that could not be said to all of us?"

She paused. "I would hear what this Champion claims to have to say, but are we prepared for treachery?"

[Moto Khulun]

She sighs, annoyed at herself for giving offence to the Scorpion by sending him away, but she hadn't had time to couch words with him. Timidly, but growing stronger as she continues, "we are strong, sister, but not alone. You say that this 'champion' asks audience with just four, but will the Champion bring only four? Why only one of each family? What words could this Champion say to only one of us that could not be said to all of us?"

She paused. "I would hear what this Champion claims to have to say, but are we prepared for treachery?"

“We must be brave now, but not foolish. I bring this to the Clan so that they shall know if such treachery befalls us to avenge us and crush this two mouthed Onyx Champion. I will not go in unprepared, I will seek defenses we can use such as jade!” she counters.

She nods to the Ide and draws Massacre and levels it at her timid cousin, “This is Massacre, it can wound and kill the minions of the Dark Brother, and it has tasted the blood of the enemy and hungers for more. I swear to you, this blade will defend the Unicorn.”

“Strength alone will not save us, we must have the wisdom of the Iuchi to aid this effort. I cannot guarantee that it will not end in darkness, but we are Unicorn. We live each day as if it could be our last, yet we prepare to live to see a hundred summers!”

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Put up your sword, please, Cousin," Saksaha says, her lightly husky voice weaving dryly into the pause after Khulun's declaration. "We are samurai, and should not brandish weapons needlessly at our own kin."

"If this is a thing Lady Shinjo would not part with willingly," she goes on, "it fills me with even more suspicion than the dark magics that brought it to you. The lost brother tried to harm our Kami once; how are we to know he has not done so again? What common enemy could we possibly have with such a one? What could he offer us that does not end in our damnation?"

[Ide Amaya]

Timid she may be, but she stood unflinching and locked her gaze with Khulun. "Invite not the scorpion into your bed, for his sting is poison."

[Otaku Chi-Pu]

Chi-Pu looks back to the gathered host and directly at the Iuchi.

"The Shadow"

She says in a very distraught voice.

"We lost Shinjo-Kami to the Shadow. It is known that she tried to speak with the Dark Brother yet he fought her. We watched many during the Dark Ride who we tried to reason with have to be fought..."

She looks around to everyone and then raises her voice.

"The Shadow! That is the common enemy!"

[Moto Khulun]

“If he has then why would we not do all we can to save our Mother!” she sheathes her blade as she speaks.

“Do we sit idle and do nothing then?” she asks.

“I will act, if my life can be given to save the Mother of Unicorns, then so be it.” Khulun smiles and nods to Otaku-nikutai, “The Shadow! It must be true! Our mutual foe! Otaku-nikutai speaks true!”

Timid she may be, but she stood unflinching and locked her gaze with Khulun. "Invite not the scorpion into your bed, for his sting is poison."

"Of course dear sister, but the poison of the Scorpion is nothing to the rage and anger of the children of Ide," she says with a nod of respect.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha shakes her head doubtfully. "If this business truly touches Lady Shinjo, we must learn everything we can. But I cannot trust this talk of 'mutual enemies' from our most ancient enemy in all the world. Shadow and Hell have more in common than they have differences." She uncrosses her arms long enough to make an old warding gesture, and spits in the grass for good measure. "And any man fool enough to treat with the tiger to ally against the direwolf is most likely to end as a meal for one or the other, if not both. Such an ending will bring our Lady no credit or help."