Little Shrine On the Prairie [D4 LA]

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Hm." She casts her eyes down and brushes a strand of beads back over her shoulder, considering how to answer this question. Or how it was meant to be answered, maybe?--but she's never been especially good at casually guessing and fulfilling such social expectations.

"Into and out of some dark places, like all of us," she settles on at last. "But there are things which are very wonderful in dark places, also. Not the darkness, but the people all strong together in spite of it. When the night is very black except for the watch-fires, to walk in dreams in a quiet place and see the sleeping spirits of my people all safe, for now, and dreaming together of home... these things I have seen alone, although my family were all nearby."

She smiles, a little more hesitantly than before. "I am one who does not need to make long journeys to see different things from what others see."

(Some people might call that a gift; others might call it a flashing red warning sign.)

[Soshi Yuuru]

Yuuru nodded and looked intrigued, "And what is it you see? Their dreams you say?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha wobbles her hand in front of her, a maybe-maybe not sort of gesture. "Something like this. At times my self can leave my body, and I can walk in other realms of the spirit. In the place of dreams... I can't see people's dreaming very clearly, without forcing myself on them, which I would not like to try. But if they are people close to me, ones I know, I might see a little. Or see if danger stalks them in that place, and come back to try to wake them."

[Soshi Yuuru]

Yuuru nodded, "It sounds as if you have a special gift... perhaps from Yume-do itself... I'm sure my mother would love to meet with you. She's a priestess that works with different spirit realms and the threats contained therein."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"Your mother sounds very interesting," Saksaha says, thinking at the same time that this mother also sounds, somehow, not much the sort of person she'd otherwise expect to have a son like the physically adventurous Yuuru. "Some other Iuchi understand this somewhat, but I do not know any others who do it. It is... not only a gift," she admits. "Especially when I was little, I could not always choose when to go. And often it is easier to go than to come back. Something like wandering into your deep forests, maybe," she adds with a small smile.

[Soshi Yuuru]

He chuckled, "I see some commonality there, yes. But I'm guessing as with all things, the more you do it the more accustomed you become to it. While it may have seemed like a burden as a child, you've now reached a point where it is indeed a true gift."

He nodded warmly, "Quite intriguing indeed. I'll have to watch what I dream about if you're near, never know when you might be watching."

He winked playfully.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

The corners of her mouth curl up at this. "I do not know you well enough for that, Soshi-san. Probably."

[Soshi Yuuru]

"You only need to ask and you can learn whatever you wish to know." He said with a smile.

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Saksaha casts her eyes across the dueling fields and drifts a few steps further downhill from the torii arch, feeling obscurely that this lighter talk is better at a polite distance from Kakita-shiryo's sacred site. "It takes more than asking and answering to know a person so well. This comes with time," she says, still smiling slightly. "With time you know better what questions to ask. Or do not need to ask them at all."

[Soshi Yuuru]

He smiled, "Well then I hope you will allow me to spend as much time as possible with you in the near future. What is it you like to do when you are not attending to your duties?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

She thinks this over. "I like to ride, of course, or walk in the open places. I like to hear music. We had few books on the journey, but I like to study those, also." She glances at Yuuru in an And you? sort of way.

[Soshi Yuuru]

He smiled, "We'll have to go for a walk sometime. I too enjoy walking, running, exploring new places... pretty much anything active. I've also picked up playing the flute. Mostly I play the shakuhachi, perhaps we could play something together?"

[Iuchi Saksaha]

"I can't really play," she confesses. "Only the shaman-drum, for rituals. But I would listen to yours."

[Soshi Yuuru]

He smiled and rubbed the back of his head bashfully, "I'm not all that good yet. But I'll give it my best."

[Iuchi Saksaha]

Modesty, suddenly! Saksaha finds this a little surprising and a little amusing, though not in a bad way. "That is good enough for me."

She glances at the sky and frowns slightly. "I think it may rain soon... maybe we should not stay out in the open too long." A small hill in an open field would not be a great place to hang out in a summer lightning storm, after all.