at work: randomness;
I bought ciabatta bread yesterday. Sandwiches, as some might have noticed, have been my latest craving.
That and hardboiled eggs smushed in mayo.
I can almost hear Kam slplkngdreamer shudder. She hates mayo, did you know?
**
[Edited: 12:48pm]
"Firelight."
for bes', because i promised her i'd write her fic.
notes: written to Aeka's Theme.
There was no moon shining in the sky on the eve of the Bon Festival. The sky was dark, devoid of light at the onset of the new moon, wherein not even the slightest sliver of that silver sickle peered down upon the whole of Rokugan. As a result, the streets of the Phoenix capital were bathed further in the orange glow of firelight emanating from the multitude of lanterns both hung by themselves or strewn across the archways of the streets. To one standing far, far away, it might have seemed a city of fireflies, wherein the lights danced and flickered.
Still, one man's thoughts were unconcerned with the comings and goings of those who took part in the festivities, lifting prayers to welcome back the spirits of the dead or those telling stories in groups of three or more. There was something else occupying his mind -- and his eyes, as well, as he stood in the shadowed window of his room.
Shiba Aikune gazed down into his family's garden where the lanterns cast a multitude of shadows across the darkened grass. With every flicker of the flames hidden behind the rice-paper, these same shadows danced, as if participating in the ritual being performed below.
He did not understand what it was exactly that Camille was doing, but he knew from her earlier explanation that it was her own way to pay tribute to the last day of autumn and to a festival of the ancient world of the place she hailed from.
Samhain, she had told him, is similar to the Bon Festival. It is when the harvest ends and the Old God is slain so that he may return to the earth to lie and wait until Spring comes.
She had looked over his shoulder then, past the walls and to where the winds blew towards Otosan Uchi. Ina and I would celebrate this together, year after year. She will be opening up her own sacred circle regardless of whether I am around or not. I will do the same, because I can meet her there, in my mind and my heart, where the physical world is rendered obsolete.
So he let her be, keeping some distance as he watched her putter about in the kitchen, pouring herself some of the best sake (with his permission, of course) in a small bottle, and where she gathered one of the sweet rice cakes that had been prepared earlier that evening. And later still, watching as she moved within the circle in a graceful half-dance, eyes shut and face turned to the moonless sky. In her hand she lifted the gift Ina-chan had brought back from her journey to the Mantis lands -- a small dagger whose hilt was wrought from a silver-black stone which they had called hematite.
When later, she finished her tribute to this Feast of Samhain, Aikune stepped away from the window, catching one last glimpse of her as she gathered her things -- the pillar candles and the small stones she referred to as runes, the rice cakes and wine, still untouched.
In the hours before dawn she comes to him, eyes alight with some strange, foreign magic that does not give him cause to be wary. She has come for you, Aikune-nii, he hears the childlike voice of Isawa's Last Wish whisper from the back of his mind, it's presence retreating to leave him simply, a man in the presence of his beloved.
That and hardboiled eggs smushed in mayo.
I can almost hear Kam slplkngdreamer shudder. She hates mayo, did you know?
**
[Edited: 12:48pm]
"Firelight."
for bes', because i promised her i'd write her fic.
notes: written to Aeka's Theme.
There was no moon shining in the sky on the eve of the Bon Festival. The sky was dark, devoid of light at the onset of the new moon, wherein not even the slightest sliver of that silver sickle peered down upon the whole of Rokugan. As a result, the streets of the Phoenix capital were bathed further in the orange glow of firelight emanating from the multitude of lanterns both hung by themselves or strewn across the archways of the streets. To one standing far, far away, it might have seemed a city of fireflies, wherein the lights danced and flickered.
Still, one man's thoughts were unconcerned with the comings and goings of those who took part in the festivities, lifting prayers to welcome back the spirits of the dead or those telling stories in groups of three or more. There was something else occupying his mind -- and his eyes, as well, as he stood in the shadowed window of his room.
Shiba Aikune gazed down into his family's garden where the lanterns cast a multitude of shadows across the darkened grass. With every flicker of the flames hidden behind the rice-paper, these same shadows danced, as if participating in the ritual being performed below.
He did not understand what it was exactly that Camille was doing, but he knew from her earlier explanation that it was her own way to pay tribute to the last day of autumn and to a festival of the ancient world of the place she hailed from.
Samhain, she had told him, is similar to the Bon Festival. It is when the harvest ends and the Old God is slain so that he may return to the earth to lie and wait until Spring comes.
She had looked over his shoulder then, past the walls and to where the winds blew towards Otosan Uchi. Ina and I would celebrate this together, year after year. She will be opening up her own sacred circle regardless of whether I am around or not. I will do the same, because I can meet her there, in my mind and my heart, where the physical world is rendered obsolete.
So he let her be, keeping some distance as he watched her putter about in the kitchen, pouring herself some of the best sake (with his permission, of course) in a small bottle, and where she gathered one of the sweet rice cakes that had been prepared earlier that evening. And later still, watching as she moved within the circle in a graceful half-dance, eyes shut and face turned to the moonless sky. In her hand she lifted the gift Ina-chan had brought back from her journey to the Mantis lands -- a small dagger whose hilt was wrought from a silver-black stone which they had called hematite.
When later, she finished her tribute to this Feast of Samhain, Aikune stepped away from the window, catching one last glimpse of her as she gathered her things -- the pillar candles and the small stones she referred to as runes, the rice cakes and wine, still untouched.
In the hours before dawn she comes to him, eyes alight with some strange, foreign magic that does not give him cause to be wary. She has come for you, Aikune-nii, he hears the childlike voice of Isawa's Last Wish whisper from the back of his mind, it's presence retreating to leave him simply, a man in the presence of his beloved.