[D0 EA] A Flock of Firebirds

[Shiba Jiro]

Jiro was sitting in the lodging in the common area, offering prayers at the shrine there, while he waited to see others and introduce himself to them. He imagined they all had to come through here eventually.

[Isawa Natsuko]

Indeed, the thumping in the hallway certainly indicates that someone is coming through from the hallway leading outside. The girl who enter in from the hallway wears simple a kimono of orange with bright yellow collar and obi, embroidered flowers scattered along the sleeves. The hem is soaked as is the matching hood, testament to a longish walk in the rather light rain.

She seems to be intending to pass through to the next hallway and their rooms before noticing that the room is not empty. Freezing with one foot still raised, wide, bright eyes blink from beneath the wilted edges of the hood. "oh."

[Shiba Jiro]

Turning from his prayers, is eyes meet the other Phoenix's eyes and he nods with a gentle smile. "Hello. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Shiba Jiro, and I look forward to competing with you Isawa-san." The 'with' seemed to indicate a more 'alongside' meaning rather than an 'against' meaning from the friendly and non-competitive manner he said it.

Is this the one?

[Shiba Kuroneko]

A black cat walks around the shrine looking for the guy that gives him food. He smelled Jiro then the Isawa moving to a rock and sitting down.
A red Sable came looking for the cat and behind the critter the Shiba Kuroneko. It was awkward to see his clanmates. "Anoo..." He said with a bright smile. "Have you seen a black cat around?" He chuckled sheepishly.

[Shiba Jiro]

The curious cat is not touched immediately, letting him sniff and go along his way. Reaching for cats he doesn't know hadn't always worked out for him, so he prefers to let them get used to his presence first.

Jiro nods to Kuroneko a the question and indicates the spot where the black cat came to rest. "Just over there."

[Isawa Kiriko]

A young woman arrived in a layered red, orange, and yellow clothing. The cat seemed to grab her attention before the people, and she crouched down still, holding her hand out for it to sniff before petting it very gently. It was only then that she seemed to notice the others present, rising and bowing to them. "Oh... Good afternoon, everyone."

[Shiba Jiro]

She has an Isawa mon too. Maybe its her? They sent a lot of priests...

Kiriko also received acknowledgement. "They have sent quite a few of us, no?" he asks with a chuckle. "My brother should be by soon as well."

[Isawa Kiriko]

"It seems like it. They sent a cat, too, which is very good," she replied with a nod.

[Shiba Kuroneko]

"Ah, thank you." Kuroneko went to the cat. "There you are Kiba kun..." He offered the cat some fish as well as to the Sable on his shoulder. "Hopefully we shall be fine... with this group."

[Shiba Jiro]

"I suspect it will be a pleasant experience for everyone. If maybe potentially stressful for the competitive aspect," Jiro says, tilting his head. His eyes move between Kiriko and Natsuko.

Which is Natsuko? Is either of them Natsuko? How many did they send?

[Isawa Natsuko]

Slowly she sets her foot to the floor before she bows.

And then the cat catches her attention, a little void upon the mats before more people show up. Eventually she draws back the wet hood to wet the back of her kimono, hair unruly in the humidity. "Kiba?" A short nod. "A good name for a small cat." Her head tilts a bit, "and a small other and a Shiba that probably have names...hello."

Returning to the first greeting, she adds, "Hello. Yes. An honor to meet you, Shiba-san. I am Isawa Natsuko and we will share a name in the coming year, I think. Barring death, delay, or something extraordinarily bad during the competition, at least."

To the other Isawa she offers a careful nod. "And you were Isawa Kiriko, and probably still are since the competing hasn't happened yet, right?"

[Shiba Jiro]

"Ah... yes," he replied, with confirmation of who the first Isawa was, somehow making him feel more sheepish. "I am pleased to meet you. I hope that everyone's trip here was safe and pleasant."

He looked to Natsuko again, but then moved his eyes almost immediately to something on the far wall. How do you look at... I was not prepared for this at all. His expression looked like he was sighing, but no actual sigh came.

[Isawa Kiriko]

"The competitive aspect should be okay. Even if we win or lose here, a place exists where the opposite happened. I wonder if it would really be a competition if all possible outcomes exist simultaneously? Though I suppose they're outside our perception most of the time," she mused, half to herself. "Anyway, I hope you don't find it too stressful."

She straightened and bowed to the others. "Hai, I am. I've seen you at the Sanctuary, but I don't think we've ever talked. Though we might have. Pleased to meet you, in case we haven't. And pleased to meet you all, as well."

[Shiba Kuroneko]

Kuroneko nodded. "Ah well Tori san my companion from Kitsune Mori. and Kiba well he just like to follow me around." He chuckle. " This one is Shiba Kuroneko... It is an honor to meet you." He smiled. "Ah... a Shiba next Year Isawa san... the family will be most honored to have you. Right cousin?"

[Isawa Natsuko]

Natsuko's gaze was nothing if not direct, while somehow still being closed, giving as little away as her word's lack of inflection. "The trip was safe, Shiba-sama, and fascinating. Tree by tree the forests change, the soil shifting loam to clay to loam. Even the birds' voices are different here." She nods to Kuroneko. "Hai. Shiba-to-be and not-Natsuko-to-be. But that's much longer than anyone usually wants to say in address. I have not yet told myself how the names to come suit me, but I do not think they will fit less well than the current one."

Her head tilts slightly at Kiriko's words. "Speculative since those outcomes aren't within the realms anyone has reached, but the competition might shift to who wins in more of them, no? Collapsing the outcomes for a moment. Perhaps we've never reached those realms because this happens constantly, and we walk in the endless collapsed possibilities?" There's almost a sense of actual curiosity to the words, though guarded.

[Shiba Jiro]

Considering it would be him sharing the name with Natsuko, he was compelled to agree. Not that he necessarily felt that being compelled here was bad, but it was definitely a strange feeling.

"Yes. Quite an honor," he replied finally standing and facing the group.

What do I say? I should try to make a positive impression, but shouldn't such a conversation about our situation be more private?

The conversation was getting away from him though.

[Isawa Kiriko]

Her head tilts slightly at Kiriko's words. "Speculative since those outcomes aren't within the realms anyone has reached, but the competition might shift to who wins in more of them, no? Collapsing the outcomes for a moment. Perhaps we've never reached those realms because this happens constantly, and we walk in the endless collapsed possibilities?" There's almost a sense of actual curiosity to the words, though guarded.

"Hmm... Well, it definitely collapses the outcome for the one set of linear causes and effects our senses are normally limited to," she agreed. "That doesn't mean they're beyond reach, though, I don't think."

[Isawa Natsuko]

"I..." there's a pause, her gaze dropping with a slight frown. When the words come, they're a bit rote, expected. "It's an honor to join the Shiba and...I'm told your family has two boy children sent to this tournament, so they must be accomplished." Parts of it were, in fact, directly from the letter that had informed her of the whole thing.

Another pause, this time looking around the room and seeming to really see people instead of through them. "There are...a lot of us. We must be an accomplished clan this year, yes?" Head tilting at Kiriko. "Are there, perhaps, realms where we all stayed home because the Phoenix's outcomes collapsed less favorably?"

[Isawa Kiriko]

"Of course," she replied with a cheerful smile. "Perhaps someone noticed someone else instead of one of us, or we made a key mistake... All of those probably exist as some outcome within the vastness of all things. I think that's probably why divination is so inexact. In the end, you're just trying to figure out the likeliest outcome within the infinite."

[Shiba Jiro]

He nods in confirmation.

But he was lost completely by talk of collapsing Phoenix and outcome realms. He felt like the concepts touched him somehow, but it wasn't something taught in his school.