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Yunomi Stadler     Spring is one of Yunomi's favorite times of year, those days in the earliest part of the season, about renewal, growth.

    Hope.

    She had tried to keep her entrance into Dun Realti low-key, coming in the morning under cloud cover and dropping into the courtyard, her typical bright reds and blues replaced with dull, muted shades, a blue jacket over a red cloth shirt and brown leggings, with a bit of brass about her gauntlets and gardening gloves.

    After all, someone's got to keep up the greenhouse, even if she's been... distant to Bedivere as of late.

    She set up her tool pouch, clipping it to the side of her belt before the tanuki hops into the air, and flies to the top of the glass to make sure there were no cracks from the winter's snows.
Inga Freyjasdottir Yunomi's entrance may have been low-key, but somehow she has a visitor none the less. Inga's entrance into the greenhouse is likewise unobtrusive. She arrived swathed in a light blue wool cloak, the long white braid of her hair hanging out of the hood and over her shoulder. She's looking upward toward Yunomi, leaning on her staff, a small smile curving her lips as she watches Yunomi inspecting the glass, flying around as if it were not a miracle.

Inga clears her throat then to alert Yunomi to the presence of the Seer. "Good day Yunomi, I thought I would find you here," she greets. Alright, she knew she would find her here but people tend to find saying so outright to be sort of unnerving, and unnerving isn't what she's going for right now.

Inga pulls her hood back from her head, then removes it. It's much warmer in the greenhouse than outdoors after all.
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi glances down from atop the glass, and gives a small smile and a wave to Inga. She draws downwards, and pops open one of the venting glass pannels as she slides inside, dropping down onto one of the steel supports, careful for the trumpet flowers that cling there.

    "Hullo, Inga." the tanuki replies, ears giving a wiggle as she sits admonst the flowers. A few bees, sleepy from hibernation, flit in and out -- they don't seem to bother Yunomi a bit.

    "Well, someone must tend to the structure... and seeing as at least a little of my magic keeps this place going, I figured I should stop by, make sure no one's been carving names into the trees, you know. The usual."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga laughs. "I see. I doubt anyone would do such that lives here. I can hardly see Sir Bedivere carving his name in a tree--though Melin might," Inga answers with a chuckle. She doesn't want to think what Merlin would carve into a tree trunk. A self portrait probably.

"I had been meaning to come by. It is very impressive. Wonderous, really," she says, looking around, admiring the flowers. The bees don't bother her either. Indeed, these bees don't sass her or possess her with their crytpic messages so she'll get on just fine with them. The subtle scent of honey around her may attract them however.

"I was hoping I might be able to harvest a few herbs I'm low on. My own garden will not yield for a while after all," she asks. "Do you have yarrow, feverfew and chammomile?" she asks.
Yunomi Stadler     "Unless they've been stripped bare..." Yunomi begins, and she hops down, landing from three floors u p onto a path, and she begins the hunt, easily weaving in and out along the vegetation. It felt good to be here, in the midst of the plants. It felt more natural, open in spite of the enclosed greenery, kept warm by the generosity of the Earth below. When Yunomi leads, she eventually comes to some low-laying shrubs and woody herbs. As she passes a sickly looking sage, it seems to perk up, invigourated by her presence there, sprouting new life. "Chammomile, chammomile... looks like little daisies..." she mutters, half to herself as she draws closer to the plants.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga follows Yunomi, removing the sickle shaped knife from her belt in order to harvest the plants once they found them. "Mmm, there it is," she says, pointing. Inga might not have the same gift as Yunomi, but she knew her plants. All that had been part of her training as a wisewoman. "And I believe the feverfew is here," she says, leaning her staff somewhere nearby so that she could get down to her knees and start cutting. Her lips move as she whispers quietly to herself as she does so--a prayer, giving thanks it would seem. A strong habit, even in the presence of one she'd have thought of as a spirit before her exposure to the multiverse. She harvests the herb responsibly, leaving enough that the individual plant will recover easily, also likely not an issue with Yunomi present.

Inga smiles as a wilted sage plant perks right up just by Yunomi being near it. Inga laughs softly, shaking her head. "You shall have to visit my little garden, I think. Quite a gift you have Yunomi. My people would worship you," she chuckles.
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi pauses, kneeling down and bringing her fingers to either side of the sage plant. Her head tilts, and she brushes her fingertips along the gray-green leaves of the plant. The sage perks up even more, leaves splaying out, flitting about in a missing breeze before she lifts her hands.

    She gives a slight smile, but when Inga mentions that people would worship her, she glances back down at the plants.

    "I'm not anything that special." Yunomi insists, "Certainly not worthy of any attention like that."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga watches, an amused smile on her face. "It does not seem so to you, but you are from a different world. For all I know it is common place there--though I do doubt it," she says. "To have power over the things that grow? We sacrifice to the gods to assure such things. We spent more than one bad winter wondering if our food would last, praying hunters would catch something to help our stores stretch. It is no simple thing," she explains.

Inga follows, finding the chammomile, bending to snip off some of that as well. Getting up from a kneeling position isn't easy for her, but she does it, leaning on her staff for support. "Was magic very common in your world?" she asks.
Yunomi Stadler     "It was." Yunomi replies quietly, and she stays kneeling. "MAgic was once the plaything of kami and yokai -- gods and spirits, sort of. Some humans were capable of it -- there were wizards who could summon kami to fight for them, who could bind spirits. Priestesses who communed with the sun."

    Yunomi stands, and she wraps her arms around herself. "Some humans were jealous. So... they began to try and take power for themselves. They began to eat yokai, like me. Otters, otters used to be able to shapeshift. Foxes, tanuki, badgers, some cats. We were the easiest to get a hold of."

    Yunomi's gaze gets far off. "There was a first war. A second war. Yokai fell against humans who could absorb our powers and feed off us... Namamura was a safe haven, but only because they were saving it for last."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga listens, frowning gently as Yunomi tells of what must have been a truly terrifying experience. At least no one had ever tried to /eat/ Inga. Not yet, anyway. "I see. That is terrible. My people, most of them anyway, would not have done such a thing. But...one never knows how anyone will react to great power. Have things improved?" she asks hopefully, still carefully harvesting the herbs she needs, placing them into the pouch at her waist that most certainly holds more than it looks like it could.
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi doesn't answer. Her hands grip at her sides, and she glances up at Inga, tears threatening in her eyes. In that moment, she's not a powerful mage, she's not a terrible calamity awaiting the opportunity to visit her revenge on others... in that moment, Yunomi recalls the fear seizing her heart. The smell of fire, of burning hair.

    The screaming.

    She swallows, and the moment passes as she turns to the chammomile, and focuses her energy there. It grows, flowers and buds bursting outwards, new leaves and fronds replacing that was cut.

    "Sure." she replies, trying to sound chipper. "Things are great."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga watches Yunomi, her dark hazel eyes going black as her pupils rapidly expand. Powerful emotions tend to pull the strand of fate forward, making it very difficult to ignore. This one just about reaches out and smacks her accross the face.

Inga's body trembles as the vision plays out. It isn't just like watching a play or a movie. She doesn't quite experience it first person--but almost. The emotions flood her. All she can do at this point is ride the wave, wait for it to bring her back to shore.

Shuddering, Inga looks away, her eyes returning to normal as the here and now reaserts itself. "A terrible thing. So many horrible visions of pain..." she says quietly. "I am sorry that it happened to you," she adds.

Shaking hands grip the sickle knife as she slices through another plant. Apparently, she need not worry about harvesting too much. "It is good we have a relatively safe place to use our gifts. My world--as it is today, is a mess as well," she sighs. "Perhaps that's just how it is everywhere."
Yunomi Stadler     The vision is an open memory, a festering, bleeding wound on Yunomi's mind.

    The sun had just set, the watchfhul eye of Namamura's Guardian, O-Asahi had closed for the night. There was no light of the moon, but horses could see better in the gloom of late twilight than their human riders. Torches had sparked up, armored men wearing masks depicting terrifying animals, mouths open in hissing roars and helmets baring horns had arrived and set the grounds of a shrine ablaze.
    A lantern, torn from years of hanging in the wind had opened an eye, and croaked out a warning before being knocked from its perch by a polearm -- and crushed, stabbed, ripped to shreds. It didn't take long for the men to cross heavy timbers over the entrence, soaking them in pitch to make the fire burn quicker.

    And in the midst of it, a tanuki cub, hissing with its tail turned in an upside-down U as men try to grasp it. She bites, sharp teeth sliding against metal until it reaches leather, and peirces through. She's thrown, but lands, tumbling on the ground and sprints as fast as her four legs would carry her -- until she heard the screams.

    "... /Oya/." she whispers, and she takes off back for the shrine itself, leaping and peircing through the burning mulberry bark. The smoke was overwhelming -- she couldn't shapeshift here, they would know. They would sense her, and the cub stayed low to the ground, her nose twitching, eyes watering.

    "Oya!!" she cried out, and heard the coughing of the elderly, blind priestess, and made her way to the sound. She balked a moment as the roof fell in -- there were cheers of the men from outside. More fell, cinders catching against her fur, She backed up, breathing deeply, and called out again, barking and coughing as she dashed around the fallen beems. Flames licked at her tail, enticing her, whispering to her -- but she found the priestess.

    They had pierced through the walls for their weapons, giving the fire more room to breathe. It laughed, cackled and crackled as it consumed the shrine.

    The priestess lay, face-down her nearly white hair singed. The tanuki came close, hesitantly, and nuzzled against the hand. "Oya. Oya get up! We have to go -- Chiisai and Takai will know how to get out of the valley. We can go!"

    The hand closed, gently around the ears, fondly commiting the feel of soft fur to memory. The tanuki cub rubbed its head against the hand, and Oya scooped up the cub, tucking her into the top of her robe and crawling away from the doors, coughing, sputtering. The smoke was proving to be too much for the old woman's lungs. The effort caused her arms and legs to burn, but the fire hadn't consumed the back yet.

    Oya removed the tanuki cub, and held her briefly against her chest.

    Words were whispered, and the priestess, with thelast of her strength, pulled up a floorboard, and blindly put her foot through to push out the bottom. There was a clatter, something wrapped in cloth fell, and the tanuki cub, a little teacup, looked up. A wave of nausea, of sickness ripped through her, but she took the cloth wrapped item, looked up, and shook her head.

    Not without You.

    ... but the old miko's head slid forward, and her breathing had halted.

    Oya was gone.

    The tanuki was frozen for a moment, until more roof began crashing down around her, and she turned, leaping, crawling beneath the hot, burning wood to an exit. Anywhere. Any hole except the front.

    And she could feel the fire licking at her skin. The fur gone, the place reeking of burning flesh and hair.

    And when she was finally helped, pulled away from the burning, most of the fur was gone on her left side, her skin a mess of burn marks and scorched flesh.
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi seemed unaware that her trauma was shared, not in such a personal way, but she remains looking down to the plants.

    "A lot of good people and yokai were killed. Sometimes defending one another. Sometimes not." she replies quietly, "Most worlds are messes... but... there's good in every bad."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga reaches up to swipe a tear from her cheek. She couldn't help but see it. Couldn't help to feel the trauma. It would fade. It wouldn't remain as strongly in her mind as it was in Yunomi's, who had lived it. But it would always be there. Some echo of that pain. Some memory always remains from the visions she sees. Is it any wonder she lives away from so many people? Any wonder why she knows with complete certainty that someday, she will go mad?

Inga sighs heavily. "Indeed. That is true. I hope there is good still to be found in my world, alien as it has become to me. Maybe there will be a way back to...when I am from. But it doesn't seem so. My path no longer lays there anyway," she comments.

Inga grabs her staff and uses it to pull herself to her feet, reaching out to place a hand on Yunomi's arm. An offer of comfort.
Yunomi Stadler     "There is good in every world. Light in every darkness, hope in every deepest, darkest despair. All the wrong that has been done, that I have witnessed and that I will witness in the future... I have to beleive in it. No one is completely evil..." she states, and she watches as she leans back on her heels, looking up to the roof of the greenhouse, and then over to Inga. "... and no one is completely good, either." Yunomi draws up to a stand, reaching up and keeping her hand on Inga's.

    "Namamura was the last place with such a population of yokai... but now we've been spread to the winds, and live far beyond the reaches of Japan. Some live in Ravnica, some known to the population, some not. Others live elsewhere, eeking their way as they can... but we all feel a certain homesickness, I think."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga nods. "You are wise to realize this, Yunomi. Life is...complicated. Everyone has their motivations. Most who do wrong, think they do it for the right reasons," she agrees. "No, I am sure no one is pure evil. Though some...some come close I think," she sighs. "We all must be responsible for what we do," she adds.

Inga nods. "I am glad that some survive. I hope the places where they live appreciate them. It is always good to be on good terms with the local spirits," she says, smiling. "I will ply you with good drink and food to visit your blessing on my garden," she laughs.
Yunomi Stadler     "No need to ply with drink -- I inherited a pretty high tolerence for any alcohol. Pretty sure I drank Thor under the table once," Yunomi brushes off her jacket, approaching the quip playfully "not like he could remember. Just set up a time and date. We'll make herb tea and sit around talking about our work. It'll be fun. I'll bring bagel.s"
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga gawks, nearly choking. "Thor?! You..." Inga laughs, shaking her head. "The unbelievable things I have heard and experienced. Thor is one of our most powerful and more revered gods. I assume you mean the Thor I have met however," she says.

"Oh, bagel. I do like bagel. Harry and I would be happy to have you over. It is not far from here. A bit of a walk, but if I can handle it I'm certain it won't be a trouble."
Yunomi Stadler     "Thor, of Asgard, God of Thunder, /fantastic/ hair." Yunomi gives a wry grin, trying to lighten the mood as she straitghtens up, and stretches her arms out. "I'm pretty much immune to alcohol; so I can outdrink pretty much anyone."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga grins, blushing slightly. "Yes, he does have fantastic hair," she laughs.

"Well, that is interesting. I have learned I can still get drunk but it tends to pass quickly. No hangovers," she says with a shrug. "There are some benefits to swallowing a...magic...bee...it seems."
Yunomi Stadler     "Hold up --" Yunomi turns, holding a hand up, looking up at Inga curiously. "You swallowed a magic bee? Is that where you get the seer powers from?" she inquires, her eyebros rising up, interested.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga laughs, shaking her head. "No. No, those I had. I had many skills before I was Chosen, but they...changed afterwards. My powers as a Seer have always been strong, but they are even more so. No, the Bees...they have given me other things," she explains. Inga brings the knife she holds over to her arm, slicing a line in her skin. The blood rises, pooling in the air, shimmering with a subtle golden light. "This is new, for instance," she says, then points to the wound. It is already beginning to heal itself.
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi watches with a sense of fascination, her lips pursing a moment as Inga brings the knife to her arm, nad slices through the skin -- that had to sting. Her eyes stay on the blood as it rises, shimmering with gold light -- definately not a proper human quality of blood -- and then the wound is knitting.

    "That." Yunomi states, motioning to the arm, "is a pretty fancy trick."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga shakes her head. "Strange, isn't it? Heh. No fancier than making the plants bloom. I was trained in magic, herb lore, how to use my Sight...perhaps that is why the Buzzing chose me. I do not know. I heal very quickly now. I can still...die. But I...come back. We always come back," she says quietly.

The blood continues to hover until Inga flicks it behind herself. It settles into the soil of a heart's blood plant, appropriately enough.
Yunomi Stadler "It's called 'The Buzzing'?" Yunomi inquires, and she gives a slight smile. "I really shouldn't be laughing. Most of the Union thinks my name is 'teacup.'"
Inga Freyjasdottir "That is what they are called by many. Messangers of the gods. The serve the goddess Gaia--another name for Freya, I think. She is the goddess that claimed me as a child. She is of the tribe of the Vanir, her brother Freyr and her are honored a great deal by my people," she explains. "She's a complicated goddess. A queen of witches. She taught seidr to Odin himself, and to the other aesir. A goddess of battle, she chooses half the battle slain for her hall. And a goddess of love and desire, lauded for her beauty. Complicated. Multifaceted. As people are," she says with a smile, reaching up to touch the hammer pendant at her neck for a moment.

Inga raises a brow. "Teacup?"
Yunomi Stadler     Yunomi listens, taking a seat -- in the middle of the air, comfortably sitting cross-legged as she listens to Inga speak. She knew some of the names, she kn ew not of others, her. "People forget sometimes that the gods, kami, that they're a people too. And like all others, have varying moods and feelings. I've only ever met one higher kami." Yunomi reflects, and then she leans back, her amrs behind her head as she gives a little smile.

    "A yunomi is a small, round cup that you would drink tea or sake out of. Tanuki are well-known for turning into teakettles, so... I got the nickname 'teacup'." Yunomi gives a small smile.
Inga Freyjasdottir "Ah, so that is the word you use for your gods? Kami?" she asked. "A higher Kami is a more powerful god I assume?"

Inga laughs then. "Ah, I see. That is a cute name," she snickers. "Inga means...well. I don't actually quiet know, honestly," she admits. "It's was ah...originally Ingabjorg. I've shortened it. For what I assume you see are obvious reasons," she confesses.
Yunomi Stadler     "Kinda. I mean, there are ancient creator types who produced some and then they produced others... but it gets kinda complicated without a flow chart." Yunomi admits, and she gives a nod. "A higher power would be like... Amaterasu. We also had local kami like Kaeruhime, who was a frog who through great patience and battle prowess was rewarded with being a kami by Amaterasu. At least that's what she said." Yunomi replies, and she gives a little smile. "Yeah, but my real name is something different -- and boring, I'm named after my grandmother."
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga nods her understanding. "The relationship between gods can be very confusing, I understand," she replies.

Inga smiles. "That is good to be names after your anscestor. That is a tradition with my people as well. My name was chosen for me, though. If my parents bothered to call me anything I do not know of it," she shrugs.
Yunomi Stadler     "Could be worse. My uncle was apparently 'Soup-Pot' and my father's name translates to 'drunkard'. Which, given that he's a tanuki is a paticularly apt name." Yunomi replies jovially, and she draws underneath a tree. She gives a soft 'hrrm... and closes her eyes. She exhales, her fingers pressing against the gnarled bark, and the tree bursts into bloom, small bright-pink flowers clinging to it -- an apple tree.
Inga Freyjasdottir Inga laughs brightly. "A soup pot is a useful thing," she quips. "Drunkard...well, not so much," she snickers.

Inga watches as the tree blooms before her eyes, not immunit to the wonder of such a vision. "Beautiful," she says. Its much prettier than throwing blood around.