Facing East

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie looked a tad flustered, having perhaps preferred to address this issue after settling down. He stammered and got in a few Japanese words of polite apology and humble query; which gave Aspasia cover enough to swipe a pair of chopsticks. Katsumoto supplied Archie's efforts with bits of Nihongo that didn't date back to the early Meiji Era, the blacksmith eventually breaking into a small flurry of bows, rapid-firing his gratitude at the prospect of being allowed to study and improve upon a Western Machine-Man.

Crystal and Archie would soon find themselves touring the man's shop, Archie being forced to supply a simultaneous translation that left little time for sheer bewilderment to leave his features.

"Er - Mister Inoue says he would be glad to provide us with something as simple as new belt buckles, darling," he told Crystal. "His cousin works leather one village over, so he would be enthused at the prospect of supplying the, er, companion of the Great Ghost Spider with gun holsters the likes of which will last longer than your bond with your wolf spirit..."

In so saying, Archie briefly looked away, a look of excruciating embarrassment birthing on his features.

In the meantime, Eiji shadowed Aspasia, leaving her a few seconds to use in order to keep pretending to browse.

"You know," he then said, his voice low, "You're short six koban for these... Of course, I've lived long enough to spot the difference between a mere pickpocket and someone who steals with a purpose. Keep browsing, and follow me. Stay within earshot of the befuddled mechanized fool, and keep looking at the street, outside. We'll have more leeway once we reach the back of the store. Look interested."

Eiji then led Aspasia along from the opposite end of the store, chattering in Japanese the whole way through, discussing of the happenings in the village she would've missed and generally doing his best to come across as harmless, perhaps slightly senile, and possessed of a smidgen of the lecherousness expected of the elderly and lonely.

"...So Mariko, the poor blind girl, slips into the hot springs and sits on what she thinks is a rock. All the while Toshiro, one of the local kappa, just sits there, hands behind his head, managing the best plank he can, doing his best to avoid spooking her while she's sitting on the chest plates for his shell, humming all to herself like she's all alone in the world..."

[TennyoCeres84]

Crystal scoffed at the automaton's embarrassment. "And after I'm long gone, they can be passed on to Andrea or any children she might have one day,"she responded.

The Transgenic was momentarily startled by his acknowledgment of the theft, but her surprise didn't last long. While they talked, she continued looking around at the contents of the shop and also kept her gaze on the street outside. She followed along after him and chuckled at his words, appearing interested to anybody who happened to look at them. "I imagine that was quite awkward for poor Toshiro...What happened, then?" she continued the conversation in fluent Japanese.

[IamLEAM1983]

"She stopped singing," replied Eiji, "and Toshiro said 'Fair lady, please don't stop on my account!' As you can imagine, Mariko shrieked, lost her balance, drenched her painstakingly combed hair, and called Toshiro a pervert when she'd been the one to unknowingly sit on a kappa's chest."

Katsumoto's features grew more focused, his eyes set in the brightness of the road outside. While he looked focused, he kept the same jolly tone. "A year later, they married. They've had four children across the nineties. Their eldest daughter wants to be the first modern Ninja Turtle, no pun intended. Kirie might be in her late twenties, she's heard about your skill with the bow."

His slightly bulbous eyes narrowed and he returned to English, keeping his voice low. "That fellow with the blue hakama and the top knot... He bumped into you earlier. He's walked in front of the store four times since we walked in. We saw other blue folks along the rooftops and the hills around the back of the village; all of them armed. Daisuke's done what he could to avoid spooking the populace or setting any potentials off."

He sighed. "I doubt they'll attack now. Your arrival is too fresh, you would've been alert even without me. They need you complacent, distracted or asleep. Mark my words, you won't sleep tonight. No-one who leaves the West's mattresses for our cots ever does on their first night."

[TennyoCeres84]

Aspasia sighed lightly. "Welcome to Eien-no-Yuki," she murmured, then scoffing. "Feels like old times." Whether she was speaking of any specific time, it was difficult to say. "One way or another, we'll be ready for them."

[IamLEAM1983]

Archie had spent a few minutes arguing that they hadn't come here to grease palms with the locals or play tourist, but it was hard for him to defend his point with any real conviction when Andrea had been brought up. Feeling caught between the werewolf at his side and the overeager salesman in front of him, Archie sighed and parted with a few words of acceptance, sealing the deal with a deep bow.

Mister Inoue the blacksmith was overjoyed, immediately putting it across that he'd need a solid afternoon with the Clank at a later date. All the better to take the required measurements and observe the nature of the more finicky mechanisms in need of a tune-up, of course. Archie hid his displeasure behind a spastic smile barely visible behind his mustache, but otherwise acted as though letting a stranger poke inside his chest and the cavities inside his forearms were something to be mildly excited about.

He'd have to eventually find a matter of comparison for Crystal to understand. To him, letting someone he didn't know or whose qualifications he had no knowledge of poke at his main spring felt like what he imagined Lowell would if she submitted her lupine self to an unqualified vetenarian.

In the meantime, Eiji briefly fell silent, leaving himself a few seconds to keep an eye out. Once he was satisfied, Aspasia would sense a good deal of tension vacating the old Sidhe.

"Tell you what," he said, "I'll cover for these chopsticks. Inoue figured he might pair artistry with self-defense, seeing as no sane Fae would stick these in their mouth. The Bane might make for a malleable medium, it still is the Bane. Even out here in the East. All the more reason to make them, then, seeing as a good wrist toss turns these into frighteningly effective projectiles."

He scoffed lightly. "I'll just stick to my bloom steel, thank you very much. Tamahagane never killed one of the Fair Ones if it hadn't been shaped into a blade, first."

[TennyoCeres84]

"Thank you, Katsumoto-san," Aspasia replied, then sighing. Still keeping her voice low, she said, "With regard to the tashi, it wasn't just my knack for strategic uses of impromptu weapons that caused me to pick them up. See, prior to our journey, an acquaintance who is a diviner suggested that I take a pair. She didn't say why but that I should."

[IamLEAM1983]

Eiji pulled on the tiny wisp of a goatee that seemed glued to his chin. "I knew that fleece of yours seemed a tad deliberate," he said, nodding. "I imagine you have an eye for pretty things, but with a gashadokuro as a husband, it makes it hard to believe you'd have picked them up just because of Inoue's artistry..."

Katsumoto grunted thoughtfully. "A Diviner from Rhode Island... I'm limited to those contacts my company keeps and I do keep a small office in your Chinatown, but I've never had to visit Hope myself. From what I know, a fairly sizable corps of European boarders and private teachers moved in a few months back; all of them with a humanitarian and educational record as long as my arm."

He furrowed his brow. "Their name starts with an R. It's an old one, occasionally confused for French old money; and their founder is fairly elusive... One of my specialists in Mediterranean antiquities went through a full-bore Ivy League-worthy scholarship with them, all because an aunt of hers has that same name..."

He smirked. "I know you know, girl, but the fun of being a spy is in the guesswork. Not that your contact has anything to fear - if I find out who told you to steal those chopsticks, I'm liable to treat them to a steak dinner. Assuming these tashi are worth a damn, it might give us a chance to make a dent in Mab's local forces, or at least identify a point of ingress."

[TennyoCeres84]

The fauness shrugged lightly. "Her advice consisted of the old Western adage, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." It's cryptic, but quite noteworthy in some fashion. As you know, Hope had its own share of Mab-related problems a few months, what with that popinjay McHae. The diviner's associates transferred to Hope not that long after. Hope is at the epicenter of something that's going to change the world on an unimaginably profound level. That's why we came here; Holden can't just fold because some asswipe of a Pitspawn prods memories of a child in his past. We're all going to have to be flexible enough to combat these forces."

[IamLEAM1983]

Eiji shook his head slightly. "Leave it to the Victorian to misinterpret mushin... The proper warrior and spy acknowledges his emotional and personal attachments, but knows to disregard them in the heat of battle. Whoever put it in his fool head that an operative never feels is an even bigger idiot."

His jaw worked. "I have three generations of grandkids waiting for me in California. I love them all dearly, but I'm not helping them if I let myself get all teary-eyed over Alicia's marriage or young Stuart's skateboarding skills while the enemy is scoping out our defenses."

[TennyoCeres84]

The Chimera nodded. "The Prince likely tried to get under everybody's skin when he pulled that stunt with the possessed vagrant," she explained. "It made me recall up-close suicides I've seen, but I went on autopilot to get through the situation. Coach and I had a mess to get cleaned up and frightened customers to soothe, all before Miranda came home."

Aspasia sighed. "I imagine Holden didn't get much chance to mourn; he likely just stuffed it down to get through it. Even with Wallace at his side, all that stoic upbringing caught up with him after India. Suck it up like a man, and don't process it until it's cruelly poked over a century later. He can't let that sort of thing happen when it comes to someone like Lowell. He recently managed to get past that barrier in his love life."