New fiction - The Last Leaf Falls
...of all the times to be on hiatus from social media. That story is. ****.
This is Kakita Yoshi’s greatest moment yet. He’s the only Imperial official untainted by scandal.
Edited by Doji HyōkinNow starts the Crane Clan Coup. Yoshi finally does something competent.
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We have a Black Dragon AND a Black Lion! Do they encounter Daisetsu & Shahai? Or do they find Sotorii? Maybe Toturi suggests they visit his ol’ pal Hotaru in Toshi Ranbo?
So many ways to discover how terribly wrong they are, and how, in covering for Bayushi Kachiko’s own cover-up, Bayushi Shoju is a conspirator and thus guilty of the crimes they accuse him of.
But of course, had Shoju revealed the truth to the Imperial Court after Kachiko’s confession, that revelation could have sundered the Empire. And of course, Imperial tradition is ‘when in doubt, lie to protect the Hantei name’.
It is a Scorpion Clan Coup, just not Shoju’s. Somehow, the Master of Whispers is the one left holding the bag.
Well I'm not sure what either one of them will be doing, it definitely sounds like Sumiko is leaving for monastic life...perhaps she'll have a run in with Daisetsu and Shahai when Mitsu leads their little group to take refuge for the night with some monks he knows? Meanwhile, I don't know that Toturi intends to become a monk, perhaps he'll do some wandering, recruit ronin, etc. like old times...maybe he'll run into a certain group of ronin who happen to have taken custody of Sotorii?
The truly burning questions in my mind are, if Toturi has chosen to renounce his titles and name to become ronin, does Kaede become ronin automatically due to their marriage, or is she handled separately? Does it affect the status of their marriage if he becomes ronin and she doesn't? If she doesn't automatically become ronin and for some reason doesn't choose to become ronin alongside him, does she remain an Akodo or does she revert to being an Isawa?
DO WE FINALLY GET KAEDE AS OUR ELEMENTAL MASTER OF VOID?? 🤯
Edited by Kaito Kikaze44 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:The truly burning questions in my mind are, if Toturi has chosen to renounce his titles and name to become ronin, does Kaede become ronin automatically due to their marriage, or is she handled separately? Does it affect the status of their marriage if he becomes ronin and she doesn't? If she doesn't automatically become ronin and for some reason doesn't choose to become ronin alongside him, does she remain an Akodo or does she revert to being an Isawa?
DO WE FINALLY GET KAEDE AS OUR ELEMENTAL MASTER OF VOID?? 🤯
Him going Ronin should be enough reason for the Phoenix to be able to petition for a divorce. Doesn't mean she needs to agree but they can at least push for it.
The central question around Kaede going ronin is, did she fail in her duty? She’s spiritual advisor to the court, and has not yet questioned the legitimacy of the Regent so I’d say no. She’ll likely be called upon to denounce Toturi though. Or maybe she’s all in & walks with Toturi. Instead of becoming Elemental Master of Void, I would be so stoked to see a ronin Naka Kaede.
I don't know about Naka Kaede, I suppose it could happen. If she does choose to join her husband as a ronin, part of me hopes they end up connecting with Rujo the Ronin, former Master of Earth...then they just need strong water, air, and fire shugenja and Toturi can have his own elemental council! 😁
The council is probably going to make me ronin for this suggestion... 😬
3 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:I don't know about Naka Kaede, I suppose it could happen. If she does choose to join her husband as a ronin, part of me hopes they end up connecting with Rujo the Ronin, former Master of Earth...then they just need strong water, air, and fire shugenja and Toturi can have his own elemental council! 😁
The council is probably going to make me ronin for this suggestion... 😬
It's not going to happen, but there is fun in figuring out who they would be.
Shoan for water? She's a ronin, but through no fault of her own and a powerful shugenja. Asahina Maeko for air? She's the only notable air shugenja outside the Phoenix that I can think of. Fire is really hard because the only other family of fire shugenja has been so poorly represented that their iconic character is the Ruby Champion and a bushi. Maybe Tsuke's apprentice who took the fall for the disaster at Ujimitsu's funeral? We never heard his name (I personally thought it would be amusing if he was Isawa Dairya).
My headcanon has been that Isawa Maezawa was Tsuke's apprentice who took the fall, and that's why A) his card was so disappointing on release, and B) why we've never seen Maezawa in any fiction so far.
The only thing that bothers me is Shoju's inability to foresee all this the moment he found out Sotorii was the one that murdered the Emperor and Kachiko kept it hidden.
He could have forged documents, saying, for instance, that Sotorii wasn't the Emperor's legitimate son, and that's why the Emperor had decided to remove him from the line of inheritance and when Sotorii found out, he killed the Emperor. The line of the Hantei would be kept blameless and anyone that lived in Otosan Uchi would nod their heads in agreement that it totally made sense that Sotorii wasn't actually the Emperor's son.
He later could quietly get rid of Aramoro and Kachiko even inviting Toturi to show Aramoro's execution (who apparently finally learned some lessons about how the world really works).
Of course, in this way, we do have more drama. But it still bothers me that with all the information gathering network that the Scorpion supposedly have in the capital, Toturi was able to be kept hidden for as long as he did (half a summer and almost the entirety of autumn?)
At least, this way, the human element is really what keeps driving the plot and I hope that if a Second Day of Thunder is to come, that it arrives by 2025? I'm okay in dragging the Clan Wars for five years.
10 minutes ago, Diogo Salazar said:Of course, in this way, we do have more drama. But it still bothers me that with all the information gathering network that the Scorpion supposedly have in the capital, Toturi was able to be kept hidden for as long as he did (half a summer and almost the entirety of autumn?)
At least, this way, the human element is really what keeps driving the plot and I hope that if a Second Day of Thunder is to come, that it arrives by 2025? I'm okay in dragging the Clan Wars for five years.
Its not like Toturi was working alone. He had the resources of the Dragon (through Kitsuki Kagi) and the Seppun to help him out. Plus if we can believe that the information broker that he was introduced to by Ishikawa is actually a Kolat that may have brought them into play to "help" him out as well.
True, if Onion was indeed Kolat, all the more interest for them to keep the Throne Empty.
To be fair, the edict was written at the end of summer, so it's really only been through the fall that Toturi has been hidden. Also aside from a certain venture into the city (under the watchful eyes of the hidden guard to keep other prying eyes away), it sounds like he's largely made his meetings outside of the city to avoid the Scorpion spies.
18 hours ago, Kaito Kikaze said:Well I'm not sure what either one of them will be doing, it definitely sounds like Sumiko is leaving for monastic life...perhaps she'll have a run in with Daisetsu and Shahai when Mitsu leads their little group to take refuge for the night with some monks he knows?
"Sumiko-san, what did you mean by 'Bayushi Shoju murdered the Emperor'?"
"Exactly that. Bayushi Shoju had the Emperor murdered as part of a Scorpion Clan Cou-"
"My brother Sotorii murdered my father! He openly admitted as much in front of myself and Shahai! That's why we ran away from the Forbidden City!"
"... oh no."
So I think we can assume Toturi and Sumiko are now on their way to forming the foundation of what will become the Toturi's army using Hitomi and the Army of the Rising Wave as the core plus however many of the imperial Legion may end up following Toturi in to ronin hood. The real question will be where do they go from here.
Since that they are in opposition to Shoju as Regent for Daisetsu the question will be do they just go full the edict is wrong and Sotorii is the true Emperor so got to go find him and put him on his throne, or do they respect the intent of the Emperor's last edict (Sotorii is not fit to be the Emperor) so Daisetsu should be on the throne and we just need to speed up his gempukku or find a new Regent.
Sumiko seems pretty intent on joining a monastery, so we'll see if she's involved in any ronin uprisings by Toturi. I'm also not really convinced the Army of the Rising Wave is going to form the core of that, although they may prove to be allies against the Scorpion Clan Coup. I do agree that part of the Legion may choose to follow Toturi, it's hard to say how much though given he seems pretty unpopular among the Lion, Ujiaki also didn't seem too happy with him stepping down. Interestingly enough, he does seem to have at least some backing from Ishikawa and the Seppun guard (which is understandable given the circumstances), so the question is would the Legions follow suit and not need to defect if they're anti-Shoju anyways? Or will they be the ones to status quo and support the regency regardless?
I hadn't really thought of Toturi rejecting the edict outright, given he'd written it, but since his new take is that Shoju manipulated the emperor into it, he very well could decide to support Sotorii, despite their poor relationship...Sotorii believes Toturi was conspiring with Daisetsu against him, after all. Which puts Sotorii in an awkward spot if now he's being told it was the Scorpion who were "helping" him from the start that were supposedly conspiring against him, yet he also knows that Shoju being responsible for the Emperor's murder is false, so does he just go with it since he can't deny it without implicating himself? But if it does work out that Sotorii goes along with it and ends up getting Toturi's support (among others), then that does set up Daisetsu to be the "opposition" and somehow maybe even in league with Shoju, willing or no, since they at least know the truth about the Emperor's murder and edict.
To say things just got even more complicated is an understatement. Kudos to the story team and @DGLaderoute in particular with this masterful twist.
3 hours ago, Diogo Salazar said:The only thing that bothers me is Shoju's inability to foresee all this the moment he found out Sotorii was the one that murdered the Emperor and Kachiko kept it hidden.
He could have forged documents, saying, for instance, that Sotorii wasn't the Emperor's legitimate son, and that's why the Emperor had decided to remove him from the line of inheritance and when Sotorii found out, he killed the Emperor. The line of the Hantei would be kept blameless and anyone that lived in Otosan Uchi would nod their heads in agreement that it totally made sense that Sotorii wasn't actually the Emperor's son.
He later could quietly get rid of Aramoro and Kachiko even inviting Toturi to show Aramoro's execution (who apparently finally learned some lessons about how the world really works).
Of course, in this way, we do have more drama. But it still bothers me that with all the information gathering network that the Scorpion supposedly have in the capital, Toturi was able to be kept hidden for as long as he did (half a summer and almost the entirety of autumn?)
At least, this way, the human element is really what keeps driving the plot and I hope that if a Second Day of Thunder is to come, that it arrives by 2025? I'm okay in dragging the Clan Wars for five years.
But that’s the kicker. Kachiko confesses to Shoju about covering up Sotorii’s murder with Miya Satoshi , but not about the attempt on Toturi by Aramoro. Shoju has to maintain the ‘natural causes’ lie at that point, which means he unwittingly covers for Aramoro.
If he’d denounced or punished Kachiko upon becoming Regent, the Court would ask why and the patricide would out. If he knew that Aramoro had tried to kill Toturi, he could’ve quietly dealt with that, but she managed to keep that hidden from him before her exile.
Edited by Doji Hyōkin19 minutes ago, Doji Hyōkin said:But that’s the kicker. Kachiko confesses to Shoju about covering up Sotorii’s murder with Miya Satoshi , but not about the attempt on Toturi by Aramoro. Shoju has to maintain the ‘natural causes’ lie at that point, which means he unwittingly covers for Aramoro.
If he’d denounced or punished Kachiko upon becoming Regent, the Court would ask why and the patricide would out. If he knew that Aramoro had tried to kill Toturi, he could’ve quietly dealt with that, but she managed to keep that hidden from him before her exile.
Oh, you are correct. Thanks to pointing that out. She admitted to hiding the crime, not ordering Toturi's murder. Which, I guess it is a fair point but on the other hand, Shoju is a smart person and he should be asking himself who would try to murder Toturi anyway. I mean, finding his private chambers ransacked and blood spilled is "natural" in so far everything in nature is natural 😄 .
Regarding Toturi, we still need to ask ourselves if he is not somehow compromised and that the man is really himself after the resurrection performed by Kaede (which was something that I didn't like because it kind bring the whole death and resurrection of humanity's savior found in christianity).
46 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:Sumiko seems pretty intent on joining a monastery, so we'll see if she's involved in any ronin uprisings by Toturi. I'm also not really convinced the Army of the Rising Wave is going to form the core of that, although they may prove to be allies against the Scorpion Clan Coup. I do agree that part of the Legion may choose to follow Toturi, it's hard to say how much though given he seems pretty unpopular among the Lion, Ujiaki also didn't seem too happy with him stepping down. Interestingly enough, he does seem to have at least some backing from Ishikawa and the Seppun guard (which is understandable given the circumstances), so the question is would the Legions follow suit and not need to defect if they're anti-Shoju anyways? Or will they be the ones to status quo and support the regency regardless?
She may have been considering it, but that was also before she finalized things with Toturi. And we can't forget the Armies role wasn't to guard the capital under the command of the "usurper" it was to assist the Prince; so if Sotorii is being considered the true heir then their place is no longer at the capital its seeking him out.
It is also a good nod to the original origins of the Toturi's Army as the core of the force that formed the faction was from a Dragon army commanded by Hitomi that recruited Toturi and various ronin to help defend Beiden Pass from the Crab.
I hope we get Shoju's PoV too. If Toturi's capacity for shock is now saturated then Shoju's should be returning to the Nothing now.
Also, I like how this is all Ishikawa's fault yet again.
43 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:To say things just got even more complicated is an understatement. Kudos to the story team and @DGLaderoute in particular with this masterful twist.
Thank you! It's actually quite remarkable how much opinions of this story vary--some people have told me they hate it, calling it the worst fiction so far, while others have said it's the very best and they love it (even the ones who hate it tend to add that it was well-written, which is nice, but they generally don't like the way the characters behaved). All of these things are right, of course, because every story is a collaboration between writer and reader, because every reader brings their own values, thoughts, beliefs, etc. to the party.
For a variety of reasons I won't get into, this story took a long time to write and underwent a fair bit of work in conjunction with Katrina and Tyler. I'm quite happy with the result. I only wish we could have got Shoju's perspective while Sumiko and Toturi were talking, because I did need to put myself in his head--but, word count, the harsh taskmaster of writers, reared its ugly mug (and it's already a long story!)
10 minutes ago, DGLaderoute said:Thank you! It's actually quite remarkable how much opinions of this story vary--some people have told me they hate it, calling it the worst fiction so far, while others have said it's the very best and they love it (even the ones who hate it tend to add that it was well-written, which is nice, but they generally don't like the way the characters behaved). All of these things are right, of course, because every story is a collaboration between writer and reader, because every reader brings their own values, thoughts, beliefs, etc. to the party.
For a variety of reasons I won't get into, this story took a long time to write and underwent a fair bit of work in conjunction with Katrina and Tyler. I'm quite happy with the result. I only wish we could have got Shoju's perspective while Sumiko and Toturi were talking, because I did need to put myself in his head--but, word count, the harsh taskmaster of writers, reared its ugly mug (and it's already a long story!)
As an outside observer looking in and with the information that we have its easy for us to say how could they get it so wrong and jump to the conclusions that lead us here.
But that is the thing we have all the pieces whereas most of the characters in the story are working from a partial set of the clues and are blinded by their own prejudices. The very idea that Sotorii would strike down his own father in the family shrine using the ancestral sword is just so alien a concept for anyone to wrap their head around that they just can't even bring themselves to consider it.
Its far easier to convince yourself that the Scorpion were behind the plot given their nature, and even more so when coupled with the realization that Aramoro was the assassin who attempt to kill Toturi at the same time.
Hopefully we do get a fiction for early in the Temptation cycle that will give us a hint as to Shoju's feelings on the development, although personally I would prefer if be from the view of someone close to Shoju in the Scorpion but not him directly. since I kind of like the idea that now that he's in charge we only get to see how others react to Shoju rather then what's actually going on in his head. Make him our new Enigma present and acting but his true motives remaining unknown.
@Schmoozies I'm looking mainly at this quote from her speech in the court:
Quote“In atonement for my part in your sins, I am no longer Agasha Sumiko, and you have no Ruby Champion. Perhaps, in following Shinsei’s guidance, I will be redeemed in a future life.”
From her wording, it really sounds like she still intends to become a monk (probably Shinseist) to atone for what she perceives are her sins.