NotACrane @ angelsGuignol

Moon hides behind cloud The hearth-fire crackles Autumn grows deeper.

O Scorpion, where is thy mask?

winter threatens; arrives not / some masks are not to be seen.

Seasons turn the wheel

The river in springtime

Carries winter’s snow

heaven’s wheel falls and shatters

what use is there then for law?

Winds blow, lightning strikes

The stricken branch does not fall

Without Heaven’s will

then, to arms against Heaven

to stand, refreshed, in spring’s rains!

Steel rusts under rains

Edge dulled, it returns to earth

What, then, endures?

rust, and memory of rust,

singing to us, from spilled blood.

The spilt crimson fades Names blacken tongues, breath departs War silences songs.

(This blasted thing is the bane of poets. Read it correctly yourself, I’m not fixing it.)

a song-full noble soul

departs the field, unsilenced

…who are you? Where did you learn the traditional forms? Yes, yes, I lost the game, I don’t care–I must know. Don’t tell me you were once a Matsu…

i didnt win yet babe we just put the game on pause, dont get your knickers in a twist

not a matsu, no, but i’ll take that as the highest possible praise. your traditional forms echo across worlds without number and i’ve never not found them beautiful. people found a way to make poetry into a kind of duel. how could i ever resist?

Ha! Would that the last Matsu I corresponded with had felt the same.

I must admit, your style is not what I expected. You turn my blade so fittingly I struggle to even summon another swing. The theme completed, resolved, but never in the way that I had predicted. I will freely expose my shame–I underestimated you. How delightful! I had not thought that was possible in this realm.

Alas, I am no Matsu–I take no joy in combat for its own sake–

Wait. You know of the Matsu? Of Rokugan?

only dimly aware of its contours i’m afraid, although enough to take that as a compliment. i suspect… in the past i’d have been far too impatient to thrive there, if i ever had been to visit, i think. and now… hmm.

anyways, if they didn’t rise to the challenge, it was their loss. you’re a very good poet.

apparently wolf is having some kind of dramatic ‘romantic fated-lovers sort of thing’ with someone on mu??? and this was enough to, previously, make him stare directly into the angry sun in the library??? how many lucre to get you to spill the tea on this one this sounds Amazing

(dont worry, i wont say a word about it to anyone)

Good heavens. Spill tea? I would rather cut off my own foot. …I jest, I jest.

Now, if you wish to share information…while I’m afraid that I cannot, in any form, be persuaded to break my companion’s confidence about his, ah, emotional entanglements…well. I’m sure you would find my world’s careful dance around this sort of thing tedious, so let’s rip the poultice off, shall we?

What’s it worth to you? =3

now if theres one thing i know from the queenstown bazaar its that i couldnt begin to answer that question until i know what you value and you know what i value

so we should get to know each other better so we can trade fairly =3

i carved my fuckin name into the surface of a moon with a magic laser once

whats the dumbest thing YOUVE done to prove a point?

Ahh, a question game! One did always love these.

One cannot hold a candle to your example, but one might call risking one’s life in a duel that had a very real chance of being fatal in order to–I think you might say ‘stick it to’–a contingent of idiotic Unicorn, as well as my own clan, might be mine. In my defense, the Unicorn had…annoyed me.

What world are you from, originally?

while im never one to reject victory in any circumstance in which i can claim it, i was curious more than trying to start a pissing contest! that sounds like a wild story though. sometimes you gotta put it all on the line, sometimes thats the only message someone will fucken listen to.

obnoxiously difficult question to answer, tbh, but ill do my best. ive worn a LOT of faces. and there are… stories echoing around in my head that. im not sure if they’re mine or not, or if i just… see echoes of myself in them. but that’s probably just the way it is for weird creatures like us, isn’t it? maybe that’s how it is for everybody

as best as i can remember, though, it was called Fa’Diel. i’m not even sure if that was its name, or if that was the name of a world that was, itself, an echo of that world’s history. i’m not sure if it actually matters, or not, honestly?

i wanted power, though, and i got it, at a terrible cost.

that’s really how things went for me a lot of the time, for a while.

Ah, well–it was not my intent to start a contest, per se…though one admits that the idea is not un-appealing. I suspect it would be much more entertaining with you than trying to boast against Akodo back on the plains.

And…I see. I fear I have terribly mis-judged your strength, then–for had I little but fragments to draw upon, I am not sure I would have remained sane. It is hard enough betimes, to think that I shall never see Lion lands again, nor Toshi Tenjikobutan, nor those I met there. Winter is an unkind season.

Power. Mmm. That I understand. I wonder if I should consider myself fortunate, that Winter came for my world before I was able to do more than set one foot upon that path.

ah but getting people to misjudge your strength is a fun way to win! you get to see the look on their face when they realise just how fucked they are, it’s great

not really my style most of the time though, im a trumpet fanfares and ostentation kinda gal especially lately but its not a bad strategy

more seriously though, i know what you mean. winter’s a bitch. but you remember it and you remember the people who were there and thats gotta count for something in the grand scheme of things, i think.

i also… man do i understand ‘winter came too early’, heh. sorry to hear that happened to you as well. i think these things just happen, sometimes. i guess that’s WHY i think it matters as long as we remember them.

One does love a good underestimation. One is…quite familiar…with that particular pleasure, it is a favorite of mine. There was a particularly un-astute Unicorn…but I digress. At the same time, one admits to having wished for better enemies. An enemy one could…respect, for lack of a better word. One worthy of one’s talents.

That said, I would not wish to misjudge a peer–as I think, perhaps, you are. To misjudge another, to me, is a sign of disrespect: it means you have not bothered to see someone as they really are. Such a misjudging is one of the reasons I quite enjoyed humiliating a certain Unicorn; I would not wish to make such an error in my own turn.

As to winter: aye, indeed. It helps to have this story, here in front of me. Something immediate, to fix my eyes on–else it would be all too easy to dwell on a lost past.

Are you aware that Wolf seems to have created, or discovered, a portion of Library simply for me? It was a lovely gift, but one admits that it is not always a comfortable one. It is, in many ways…too much like home. When I close my eyes, with a cup of tea in my hands, I can almost imagine that I am back in Rokugan…sitting and waiting for Yufei’s next treatise, or that…

Well. As I said, a strangely uncomfortable gift. Yet, I would not give it up, either. The trick, one supposes, is to find a way to bear the ache of memory without dwelling upon it, or being lost within it. It is, admittedly, a trick I am still learning.

But yes. It mattered very much…even if it did not matter to anyone save myself.

so far i’ve only seen salme’s room in the library, and the main room itself. that sounds…. beautiful, though? i can understand that it’s hard. there’s… not a whole lot i miss, like that. sometimes that makes things easier. sometimes it doesn’t. y’know?

if you’d like to talk about the person you miss, i’d like to listen. if it’d be easier not to, and it’s certainly not my business, then… i dunno, tell me something about someone who DIDN’T underestimate you. what was that like? surely there had to have been someone who met you at your level.

My beloved and that person are one and the same. They…were the first to see me. To see something other than a misshapen Lion, a Crane in lion’s skin. When I saw myself reflected through their eyes…it was the first time I had seen myself as a person of strength. Of ability–someone whose differences did not make them broken, but instead gave them power.

I wonder if it was my connection with them which drew me to my companion? They are not alike, in many ways, but in others…the ferocious compassion, the clear sight, the strong association with Fire…

Perhaps, when fate gives us a chance to breathe, we can share a cup of tea in the Garden. I would enjoy that very much. And…thank you, for your kindness, responding to Wolf. I am careful not to invade his privacy, and I hesitate to share some of what I could only know because of my unique perspective, yet…

He is more frightened, I think, than most can tell. His love for his people is a great strength, but it also presses on his shoulders more than many would assume. His courage is tremendous–I am not sure I could do much more than weep, in his shoes. That you met his desperation with gentle hands was a great gift, I think. Thank you. If ever there is aid I can render you, you have only to ask.

i’d love to share tea with you, sometime. if i’m right- i’m loath to put my hopes to text even here. something about seeing the words written down feels wrong to me, and there’s so much i don’t know. but if i’m right, we’ll definitely get the chance, sooner or later. hopefully sooner.

suffice to say i get why he’s afraid more than most people ever could.

One supposes you would. Out of all of us, you’re the only one who’s experienced what’s coming–well, excepting Salme, vicariously, I suppose.

And aye–amongst my people, there’s a superstition: speak too much of your plans, and you simply ensure they’ll all go wrong. Perhaps ‘tis best to simply trust unto the future. Once the dice start falling, things shall go as they will, and one must simply hold tight as best one can.

enough, i think, to say that i think we’ll get our chance to have tea together. i’m looking forward to it.