Shen and Yoshi (and co) - Jasmine Tea and Spirits

[20:14] <Shen> Shen finally awoke from his slumber, he hadn't slept much longer than the others until a gentle spray swept over his face. His eyes opened slowly as the light from the sky poured into his vision. He remained there for a few moments as his mind reoriented itself into reality.
[20:14] <Shen> The rocking of the boat no longer bothered him, but the the lack of Earth beneath him left his soul uneasy. "Mornin'." he grunted to the others on deck.
[20:17] <Earthflame> Jian raises a hand, but his attention seems elsewhere, staring alternately into the distance and at the river ahead as he guides the boat.
[20:17] <Zero_Atma> Yoshihiro waves to hew awakened companion from his spot on one side of the boat, fishing pole in hand, turning his gaze away from the river below to look toward Shen. "HEy there, sleep alright?"
[20:25] <Shen> "Some sleep is better than none, I suppose." he replied dozily as he sat up and scratched the back of his head, removing the stopper to take a sip of tea, but finding it empty. "How about you?"
[20:27] <Zero_Atma> "Trying to catch something." Yoshi replies, looking over the side of the boat into the river, then shakes his head. "Not even a nibble so far..."
[20:32] <Shen> Shen warily gets to his feet and stretches, his back making a dull crack as he looks out over the water around them. "They probably know what's best for them." he chuckled as he walked over to Yoshi and sat near him.
[20:35] <Zero_Atma> "I wish they'd at least take a chance..." Yoshi mutters. "I want to save as much of our provisions as we have, we're starting to run low." he frowns after pulling in another empty line, grumbling at yet another failed attempt to catch a fish, casting it out once more. "I'd have better luck jumping in there and catching them by hand."
[20:37] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi leans over the side of the boat, shaking his fist at the water below. "Ya hear that?! better start biting or I'm comin' in after you!"
[20:40] <Shen> Shen laughs at the verbal fishing. "They're probably scared off by the waves we're making. None of us on this boat are exactly clear of mind and they probably feel that." Shen shrugs as he tries to rationalise the situation. "Could always ask Princess Midget for some tips."
[20:43] <Zero_Atma> "I don't need any help." Yoshi insisted stubbornly. "I can cook them so I've gotta be able to catch them, at least one..." the drunkard grins as an idea suddenly comes to mind, leaning over to nudge Shen in a playful manner. "Can't you just dip your hand in there and give them a little zap?"
[20:56] <Shen_> "I'd be the one on the plate for dinner if I tried that." he said awkwardly as he looked over the edge of the boat. "I can't control my Chi as well as my kin, and with the amount of water surrounding us it would easily overpower me." he says that with a sigh.
[21:01] <Zero_Atma> "Well, so much for that idea, guess I'll just have to keep at it then." Yoshihiro concludes. "There's bound to be one dumb fish in the bunch, right?"
[21:08] <Shen_> "For our sakes I hope so, but it shouldn't be too long before we make land again." he rolled the empty tea jug around in his hands before his mind seemed to click and he turned his head back to Yoshi. "That reminds me, I needed to ask a favour of you."
[21:27] <Zero_Atma> "Sure thing, what did you need?" Yoshi asks, glancing between the pole in his hand and Shen who sat beside him.
[21:35] <Shen_> "Before we left the mountain, Ziulong brewed me tea regularly. It's chi-infused to help calm my condition." he said as he pointed at the jug in his hands. "He told me to ingest it cold, but there's only so much I can carry at a time. He suggested I ask if you could help brew it for me on our journey."
[21:41] <Zero_Atma> "I could give it a shot, can I see that gourd for a minute?" Yoshi asks, holding out his hand for it. Once in his hand he pops the top open and takes a quick sniff, using a single digit to collect what little of the tea residue was left around the rim before tasting it for himself, lips smacking a bit as he tries to place the flavor and overall substance of the tea. "Hmmm..."
[21:47] <Shen_> Shen fishes around in his satchel, after a few moments he produces a small package wrapped in a brown parchment. "The jug is fused with some of Ziulongs chi, it apparently finalises the brewing process, but the leaves themselves require careful brewing." he says as he hands Yoshi the parcel. "I collected the White Jasmine from the mountain before we left."
[21:50] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi's eyes go wide for a moment, nearly dropping the gourd as Shen mentions that very particular plant, the drunkard looking a bit hesitant to accept the parcel. "Dod you say White Jasmine?"
[21:52] <Shen_> Shen fumbles slightly at Yoshi's surprise, in case the jug fell. "What of it?" he says as he looks at Yoshi with a confused expression.
[21:57] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi glances toward the back of the boat where Jian is manning the rudder, then back to Shen, emitting a heavy sigh. "There's something I should tell you, and this is going to sound hard to believe but..." he then proceeds to retell Shen the entire story: his dream, Mizuki, and everything his childhood friend had told him while he slept, most notably about the White Jasmine. "She specifically warned me about that."
[22:02] <Shen_> Shen listened intently to Yoshi, the expression on his face remaining somewhat confused, but mixed with sympathy. "I don't understand. White Jasmine is a fairly common shrub on the mountain. Its properties are fairly innocuous alone, but infused with chi it's said to provide healing qualities." he recited back to him as he thought of his short and rather boring lectures from Ziulong.
[22:06] <Zero_Atma> "I just thought you should know what I told Jian already." Yoshi explains. "I don't really know to make of it myself, it's just what I heard." he then gains a thoughtful expression as he looks to the parcel once more. "...how much do you have?"
[22:10] <Shen_> He nods slowly. "Then it's something we need to keep in mind, I trust in your feelings." Shen unpacked the parcel slightly to review the contents of it. "A single brew doesn't require much, there is enough here for a few months depending on how much I drink."
[22:13] <Zero_Atma> Yoshihiro looks a bit relieved when he hears this. "That's good to hear, although, we should avoid it like the plague when we get to Yumu I think, and make sure you don't lose this supply."
[22:21] <Shen_> Shen chuckled. "I have an eye on my pack at all times, so that shouldn't be a problem." he says as he wraps the package back up again. "It is kind of worrying to hear that though..." he mentions, referring to what Yoshi has told him. "It seems quite common for factions to associate themselves with plants. Maybe the reference to the White Jasmine is a faction similar to the Black Lotus or Shiina's lot."
[22:25] <Zero_Atma> "Could be, the message wasn't entirely clear, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be careful. Especially considering her last warning, poison, it's the same way that merchant died. That doesn't bode well for us when we're searching for the same thing they supposedly found."
[22:29] <Shen_> "We'll need to be careful." Shen agrees as he thinks back to the information that Shiina had given them. "Knowing our luck if we find what we're looking for, we'll likely find the real source of that poison too."
[22:30] <Zero_Atma> "Hopefully not first-hand." Yoshi adds. "Last thing we need is to come so close to finding what we're looking for only to drop dead the next day."
[22:33] <Shen_> "If we were that easy to get rid of we wouldn't of gotten this far." Shen counters with a slight grin. "There's far too much unfinished business for any of us to accept death just yet."
[22:34] <Zero_Atma> "Got that right!" Yoshi agrees with a grin of his own. "As for the tea, yes, I can probably make it without much difficulty."
[22:40] <Shen_> "I really owe you one." he says thankfully, subtly nodding his head in appreciation. "And I'm sorry to hear about your dream. I'm not particularly skilled in spiritiual... things, but I know it must be troubling."
[22:44] <Zero_Atma> "Neither am I." Yoshi admits. "Thanks to Jian the messages should come in much more clearly now." he lets out a long sigh. "I just hope we find what we're looking for in Yumu."
[22:52] <Shen_> Shen leans back as he places his hands inside his tunic to warm them a bit. "Well, its only a trace of a lead. If we find nothing then all we can do is head back to Jinlong and start over. Even without any information for our main goal, there is still plenty of good we can do elsewhere."
[23:01] <Zero_Atma> "It's the best lead we have." Yoshi concludes, slamming a closed fist into an open palm. "I guess if we come up with nothing we can just go back to causing trouble for the Black Lotus."
[23:03] <Shen_> Shen gives off a deep warbling pulse of radiation, which flows around his body bright as a sun as if he were a being made of pure energy. Lashing licks of electrical surges radiate a dizzying hot prickling feeling as if the air is thick with charged particles waiting to explode in miniature supernovas of lightning energy.
[23:03] <Shen_> The feeling is so very close to tangible, like the particles are desperately eager to escape the body and pass into the water surrounding them.
[23:07] <Zero_Atma> Yoshihiro blinks, rubbing his eyes seemingly out of nowhere to be certain he wasn't imagining things, this must have been what Jian was talking about.
[23:11] <Shen_> "It's better than hanging around doing nothing, that's for sure." he nodded. "You alright?"
[23:14] <Zero_Atma> "Yeah, I'll be fine...." Yoshi replies, pulling up his own gourd to take a deep drink from it. 'All better now.'
[23:19] <Shen_> Shen watches Yoshi, concerned. "If you say so." he concedes after a few moments then carries on. "Besides, I'm a little concerned with how things are going for Shiina and her group back at the capital. The guy in the black armour we ran into must of gotten information about us somehow, I just hope it wasn't through them in some manner."
[23:24] <Zero_Atma> "I'm not entirely sure about that..." Yoshi admits. "He did kinda say that he wasn't with those Dancing Sword jerks, though I suppose it doesn't rule out the Black Lotus entirely..." the idea was still troubling either way. "The worst part is that we haven't seen the last of him."
[23:28] <Shen_> Shen nods silently and grimly. "We'll need to be stronger for that encounter." he says, though it moreso to himself than anything. "He was strong, but he outclassed us in combat experience... in killing."
[23:32] <Zero_Atma> "We're better than that." Yoshi insisted. "Killing doesn't make you strong..." he dwells on that thought a moment before shaking his head. "Besides, we could have beat him if he hadn't run off like a coward."
[23:44] <Shen_> "Being strong and being able to take a life are on different scales. It is one of the core philosophies I was taught as a Storm Dragon." he looked at the deck beneath him thoughtfully. "Why we fight heavily affects our resolve in combat, but for someone like him, he doesn't seem to have that layer of thought, of hesitation.
[23:44] <Shen_> It felt as if he was toying with us." He sighed as he went back to the battle in his mind. "We may or may not have been able to kill him that day, what's done is done. The next time we meet though, he will be stronger and prepared for our ability."
[23:47] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi takes all of this in, remaining silent while Shen speak, nodding his head every now and then. When his companion was finished he lifts his goard to his lips for a quick swig. "Well then, we'll just have to surprise him with something new. He might be stronger the next time around, but so will we."
[23:48] <~Deedles> Right about them Shen felt the wooden planks beneath him move slightly, followed by Rei's voice calling from below "Can you move your fat ass, please?"
[23:52] <Shen_> Shen looks at Yoshi with that spark of energy in his eyes at the mans words, but quickly changes expression after he feels the slight bit of movement beneath him. "Did you hear something?" he asks Yoshi. "It was like the voice of a very small, and slightly annoying person."
[23:55] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi snickers, deciding to play along, somewhat. "Must be the boat talking!" he insisted, patting the side that he was leaning against. "I am sorry for sitting on you, boat."
[23:56] <~Deedles> Shen feels himself slowly being lifted as Rei pushed harder against the hatch "Small to you, fatty!" she retorts with a groan and grunt of strain.
[23:59] <Shen_> Shen slides off of the hatch with a chuckle. "Good morning to you too."
[00:00] <~Deedles> Reisuki pops up onto the deck, still looking a bit tired and with slightly ruffled hair. "I hate mornings..." she grumbles as she closes the hatch before laying down on her front across the deck.
[00:01] <Earthflame> Jian calls... With a hint of yawn. "Good morning, Rei."
[00:01] <Zero_Atma> Yoshihiro offers her the gourd in his hand. "This should perk you up a bit!"
[00:02] <~Deedles> "Morning, Jian." Reisuki replies before she holds up a hand to gently push Yoshi's gourd back "No thanks. I swore I'd go clean if I ever got away from that prick." she mutters, her face burried in her arms.
[00:03] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi just shrugs. "Suit yourself." he says before taking a drink for himself.
[00:07] <Shen_> Shen once again falls back onto the deck, leaning up against the side of the boat with a bit of a yawn, contagiously caught from Jian. "So whereabouts are we now, he asks the entire boat?"
[00:09] <~Deedles> Reisuki pops her head up to peer at their surroundings "Judging by distance on any map I've seen I'd say that we'll arrive around morning, possibly noon, tomorrow... So about a third on the way or so." she lays her head down to rest against her arms again.
[00:10] <Earthflame> "It all looks much the same..."
[00:19] <~Deedles> "So, what's the plan when we arrive? Other than me going to buy some new clothes so ..." she trails off and blinks before her eyes widen "I just realized... I only know Jian's name."
[00:20] <Shen_> "So no angry looking pirate ships ready to blow us out of the water then? I can live with that." Shen pokes before answering. "Shen. My name is Shen."
[00:20] <Zero_Atma> "I'm Yoshihiro, but you can just call me Yoshi." the drunkard explains with a small grin.
[00:22] <~Deedles> Rei looks between them as they tell her their names, nodding. "Right, Shen, Yoshi. First I should get some new clothes so Shen can get his outfit back... But what after that?" she wonders
[00:27] <Shen_> Shen shrugs. "Who knows? We'll find that out when we get there, I suppose."
[00:28] <Earthflame> "We get a room and get some real rest..." Jian yawns again, grumbling a bit.
[00:30] <Zero_Atma> "Sounds good to me." Yoshi chimes in. "We should start our search when we're well rested."
[00:31] <~Deedles> "Sounds like a good idea." Reisuki says with a thoughtful look.
[00:31] <Earthflame> Jian glances at Rei, thoughtful. "...You might want to get your hair cut, too."
[00:32] <~Deedles> Rei pauses at that, glancing back at her long white hair, almost looking a bit sad before she nods. "That would probably also be a good idea."
[00:33] <Earthflame> "...It is a shame. but it is distinctive."
[00:33] <Shen_> "Here's to hoping we aren't murdered in our sleep by angry pirates." he jests.
[00:34] <~Deedles> "I think we're safe in that regard, Katashi doesn't sneak up on anyone when he's angry." Reisuki replies with a tired look.
[00:38] <Zero_Atma> Well that's a relief." Yoshi mutters, sippingcfrom his gourd once more.
[00:39] <Shen_> "Black Lotus from the north, Pirates from the South, I'm sure we're in for a real treat either way."
[00:40] <Earthflame> "From the west. Jinlong is west of Yumu."
[00:41] <Shen_> "We're not there yet."
[00:42] <~Deedles> Reisuki rolls onto her back, arms folded behind her head. "I sure hope that where ever the Spirits are they'll send us some guidance."
[00:43] <Earthflame> Jian nods, bowing his head in a momentary prayer.
[00:45] <Zero_Atma> "To the spirits..." Yoshi agrees, raising his gourd in a toast.
[00:45] <~Deedles> "Cause from what I hear all you guys had to go on is that the Imperial heir might have the Imperial seal... which I would assume they wouldn't show to just anybody. So we need to gain the trust of a person without us even knowing who they are, and at the same time can't telegraph our reason for being there." Rei stares up at the sky as she speaks.
[00:49] <Shen_> Shen nods silently with the others.
[00:50] <Shen_> "Even if we know little, we still need to try." he chimes in responce.
[00:51] <~Deedles> "Of course, if you never try you'll never succeed." Reisuki answers as she closes her eyes "Just rolling the situation around in my mind..."
[00:53] <Earthflame> Jian chuckles. "I doubt they'll just happen to break into our room again. I've heard lightning never strikes twice... Although, remembering the Earth Temple..." He stops himself suddenly, realising in his slight daze words had run ahead of thoughts.
[00:56] <Shen_> "The honest truth is that 200 years is a long time, and we barely know about the situation to begin with..." he sighs as he thinks back to them originally being called in for the mission. "But peoples true natures tend to rise to the surface after a while."
[00:57] <~Deedles> Rei smiles faintly "Indeed, and I have faith that fate will guide the way."
[00:58] <~Deedles> She glanced towards Jian, originally planning to inquire about this Temple he spoke up, but upon seeing his expression she decides otherwise.
[01:04] <Shen_> Shen looks at Jian then to Rei, but says nothing with a faint smile. "If we don't find the trouble, it'll find us after all."
[01:05] <Earthflame> Jian shakes his head, leaning over the side and releasing the rudder a moment to splash some cold water on his face.
[01:06] <Zero_Atma> "You can say that again." Yoshi pipes up. "And when trouble does find us it seems to be big..."
[01:06] <~Deedles> "Don't worry, I'll protect you." Rei chimes with a playful smile.
[01:08] <Shen_> "I feel safer already."
[01:10] <Earthflame> "How much Kung-fu do you know, Rei? Your Chi is strong, but is that cultivated or natural?"
[01:13] <~Deedles> "Cultivated. As I said, our land was strongly connected to the Spirit of the Sea." Reisuki replies calmly
[01:20] <Zero_Atma> "Have you ever seen one of these spirits?" Yoshi wonders out loud.
[01:22] <~Deedles> "Yes, I saw Mazu, the Serpent of the Sea several times. It wasn't uncommon for her to be among us, but it was a joy everytime." Rei explains with a faint smile.
[01:41] <Earthflame> "You are blessed... Nobody I have ever known has seen a Spirit, before now."
[01:41] <~Deedles> "I find that strange..." Rei admits
[01:44] <Earthflame> "If we ever recover, we may well look back upon the past two centuries as a dark age."
[01:45] <~Deedles> Resuki blinks with a look of realisation "Oh yeah... You mentioned that the corruption is thought to be connected to the fall of the previous Imperial family 200 years ago." she says "Maybe that's why."
[01:48] <Earthflame> "Guesses and theories..." Jian sighs.
[01:50] <Zero_Atma> "All we know is what we've been told, which isn't much..." Yoshi adds.
[01:54] <~Deedles> "But it would make sense. If the Spirits disappeared at the same time as the Imperial family did then that explains why no one has ever seen one. Anyone alive 200 years ago to remember it would be long dead by now." Rei says as she sits up straight.
[01:55] <Earthflame> "There are legends that might Xia can sometimes live that long... But any immortal sages are likely in hiding, or having fled long ago... Or being on the side of the Lotus."
[01:55] <Zero_Atma> "Inless they're immortal....or half-spirit or something." Says the ramblings of a drunken fool.
[01:58] <Earthflame> *mighty
[02:00] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi's eyes shift from side to side. "My uncle told me sories about them when I was younger..." he admits, sipping from his gourd.
[02:01] <Shen_> "Huh? What kind of stories?" Shen perks up after Yoshi says that.
[02:03] <Zero_Atma> "Stories about spirits and people...and spirit-people, you know what I mean?" he looks around to see if anyone understood. "This was after a few bottles of very good wine, mind you."
[02:10] <Shen_> Shen chuckled. "Should I of expected anything less?" he looked up at the sky with a little sigh. "Stories and legends often stem from loose truths. Even if they seem ridiculous at first, there's always a valuable lesson hidden inside. I remember hearing some too, when I was very young."
[02:26] <Zero_Atma> "Oh yeah? what kind of stories?" Yoshi asks with a grin, mimicing the question.
[02:31] <Shen_> "Like the story of the wise-ass drunk." Shen said as he tossed a bit of rope at Yoshi.
[02:33] <Zero_Atma> Yoshi simply tips over on his side with a soft 'thunp' against the deck, the rope flying past him. "You'll have to be more specific, I could tell you at least a dozen myself." he retorts with a grin.