Cosmos Quest (Naruto/Lupin III)

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Yeah, I mean, it's not like he lived at court for five years.

Click to shrink...

Forgot about that. Whelp, I'm convinced Asuma is on the list of people to ask. Later. He's certainly much more likely to have useful, reliable information than whatever Tsuru has heard which may or may not be very accurate, and if likely information passed along multiple times before it reached him.

Asuma, if he tells us anything, is likely to tell us something rock solid. If he's unsure or details are sketchy, he'll be upfront, and if he knows any facts we could take them to the bank insofar as classified information is not involved.

 

[FurikoMaru]

[X] Just tell us about the damned Takazono already! You've drawn it out long enough.

"I'll be sure to tell her she's so well-remembered," you say, choosing your words carefully.

A snort comes from behind you. "Any man in the capital over the age of thirty who doesn't remember Takazono Takae has most likely suffered a blow to the head."

"That's so, isn't it?" Tsuru says, looking back at Katsuhiro in surprise. "You were present at her final concert, weren't you, oji-san?"

"Yes."

... you don't think you've ever heard a single word sound so heavy.

His chakra... I mean... wow... there's not being over a chick, and then there's whatever the hell this is. Tsuru, please, for the love of god, kill the mood, I do not need to hear a sixty-year-old samurai pining after the phantom of my Mom.

"Does she still keep a medicinal garden?" the younger man asks, almost on cue. "Forgive me for being so forward, but the one she designed for the Rouga clan is in use to this day; her remedy for pneumonia saved my life as a child."

You think of Mom's private greenhouse in the back yard, and the fact that you have never once seen Mom enter it without wearing a breathing apparatus, goggles, long sleeves, and heavy gloves.

"As a matter of fact, she's well known for her expertise in Konoha," you reply. "She told me the Takazono are only a merchant family, though; I wouldn't think they'd be able to gain entry to court."

"Oh, of course they can!" All of Tsuru's previous stiff nervousness evaporates, and he looks like a normal, happy teenage boy for once. "They've produced some of the most respected experts in art and music in the country - court wouldn't be the same without them. I believe Kakesu-sama may attend once a month purely for form's sake - he doesn't seem to have much taste for politics - but Asagao-san and her friends make an outing at least once a week.

"They aren't permitted the highest honours, of course," he adds, "but the truth is, neither are we. In fact," his voice drops to a whisper, "I rather prefer it that way; the mid-ranked halls are much closer to the best libraries, and aside from Their August Majesties and His Royal Highness Prince Edakaku, most learned scholars don't tend to surpass the fourth or fifth rank."

Considering what little you hear of the daimyo, you'd be inclined to write this off as simple flattery.

Then you remember who he's married to and shift him back into the 'withholding-judgement' pile.

All right, so where are you going with this?

[X] So Mom's 'onii-sama' is probably this Kakesu character. Ask Tsuru what your dear uncle is like; try to get a better handle on the dick who gave your Mom the boot.

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

[X] Some other strategy?

 

[Redon]

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

I choose the subtle approach, wonder how long that'll last...

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Court knowledge? That's what the kid has? A young, fresh retainer's piecemeal outlook on court matters and an anecdote from the old guy?

Yeah, Asuma would blow these two out of the water of the info front. The only perspective that might be lesser to Asuma's is the old guy for having been around the court (however far removed) longer, and even then Asuma probably blows him out of the water on most fronts.

I'll pass on a choice here, we're probably going to end up talking to Asuma about this later anyways.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Yeah, Asuma would blow these two out of the water of the info front.

Click to shrink...

"Oh, believe me, kid, Asuma wishes that were true. That would mean that he didn't spend half a decade patiently fielding questions from 'strategists' of the first and second ranks in between saving the daimyo's pudgy ass from assassins and babysitting Edakaku for 'Kashima-sempai'."

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

"Oh, believe me, kid, Asuma wishes that were true. That would mean that he didn't spend half a decade patiently fielding questions from 'strategists' of the first and second ranks in between saving the daimyo's pudgy ass from assassins and babysitting Edakaku for 'Kashima-sempai'."

Click to shrink...

....He does all of that and even with day to day activities he didn't hear loads?

I mean come on. Sounds to me like what these guys know isn't all that scarce. They do not strike me as setting the bar very high on intel to be gained.

 

[FurikoMaru]

The Takazono just aren't that important to the realm, to be honest; they're well-liked, but they're one family in dozens. Most of their contributions are cultural, and they're so lowly-ranked that Asuma's probably only met the clan head, if that. Tsuru at least is a peer or near-peer.

Asuma knows stuff, but it's not really the stuff you guys want to ask about. At the moment, anyway. I mean, I could be reading the room wrong.

 

[hunter09]

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

 

[Tetsurō]

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

 

[Malcolmo]

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] Are you a Yamanaka or not? Let's play this cool; ask questions a normal (if ninja-y) girl would - what does he know about your second-cousin who taught Mom the tessen? Do you have any cousins? Was Mom well-liked at court back in the day? You can segue into the darker stuff from there.

 

[Guile]

I have no idea how to manage 'ask if the Takazono do the genjutsu' on the sly. But that's what I want. Is genjutsu standard for capital entertainment? To illustrate stories and more music sound sweeter and stuff?

 

[FurikoMaru]

[X] Rumour Has It

You had wondered before why, even if he is her childhood punching bag friend, Tsuru was sent off with Nabiki. Katsuhiro makes sense, at least, because even if it turns out he isn't trained in that freaky power-up style Nabiki was using, he's obviously served the family a long time and, as an old fella, he makes a respectable chaperon. But Tsuru? From the look of things, he's still the shy tagalong he was at seven.

As it turns out, what you thought was shyness is actually politeness. Once you get him going, you quickly realize that

a) this guy loves to talk, and
b) this guy loves to listen.

Seriously, it's almost frightening how many anecdotes and family trees and lists of likes and dislikes he can keep straight in his head. Not to mention all the polite questions he asks you, making notes with his eyes the moment you answer.

All in all, you can think of worse wedding gifts. Congratulations, sweetheart, we wish you the very best, but just in case, have a PR manager.

Within twenty minutes you've learned that 'Kakesu-sama' is indeed your uncle, that you have six cousins of varying proximities (including your mother's cousins Oshibe and Himawari), that all the Takazono are named after either birds or plants, and that the whole damn family is one murder away from being the cast of a detective novel. Seems like Mom comes by her closed-mouthèdness honestly; every Takazono is hiding something, from the sounds of things.

Tsuru is not so tactless as to comment on most of the grey areas in the record directly, of course, and in fact does a pretty decent job of covering for his friends.

For a civilian.

Great, now you're starting to sound like a Lollypop. -_- But the point still stands! It isn't that hard to play spot-the-secret with someone whose only tactic is disinformation, and the gaps in Tsuruhiko's account tell you loads.

Kingyosou, the heir, has more of a taste for power games than his father does, but seems to stick to the shallow end of the pool. He hosts all the best parties, charms women of every age and rank, and generally seems to be having a thoroughly pleasant time being a wealthy young man.

His younger brother Ho'ojiro, despite/thanks to being equally-popular with the ladies, shuns these events; he has close friends only among his fellow scholars. Of all the Takazono children, Tsuru seems to know him the best, thanks to their shared interest in philosophy and calligraphy.

If he weren't so chummy with him, he likely wouldn't be able to clue you in to the fact that at least two of Ho'ojiro's friends have gone missing in the past year. You'd think he wouldn't bother to mention them in the first place, but no; they both appear as major players in a story Tsuru tells about 'Ho'ojiro-kun's' thirteenth birthday party, and yet they're absent from his list of the boy's best friends not two minutes later.

The really weird part is that when you ask about what happened to them, he needs a moment or two to work out who you're talking about. When he does, he neither knows where they went nor seems particularly concerned that he doesn't know. Katsuhiro doesn't even seem to be listening.

If the pair of them aren't under some kind of long-term genjutsu related to those two boys, you will eat your fan.

(And somehow it's contagious, because you've completely forgotten what their names are. >_<)

When it comes to Kingyosou, though, your travelling companion is obviously flat-out covering for a friend's embarrassing brother. If the Takazono heir isn't running a bordello on the side, he's at least facilitating the making of a lot of bad decisions. Through the bowdlerising haze of Tsuruhiko's obvious desire to 'shield your innocence', there's no way to tell for sure if Kingyosou's a manipulative dick or just someone who thinks everyone should find true lust and damn the consequences. Shame. Might be nice to find a kindred spirit among your cousins.

After phantom childhood friends and bedroom bingo, Himawari and her son Aoi seem almost pedestrian. Himawari is the tessen-duelling cousin your Mom calls onee-sama, and Aoi is a noted poet and painter. The only mystery there is who Aoi's father is, because Himawari clearly isn't telling. If it were public knowledge, Tsuru would have included it in the painfully-detailed lecture on your genealogy he launched into once it became clear you didn't know the first thing about your glorious antecedents. Since he didn't, and made no later mention of Himawari being married, divorced or widowed, you're left with no conclusion other than that the kid is an acknowledged bastard. It certainly explains why the lady and her son no longer live on the family estates.

Asagao sounds like the kind of girl Hinata would tell to loosen up. You get the impression Tsuruhiko only said 'Asagao-san and her friends' earlier instead of 'Reika-san and her friends' out of politeness; it's pretty clear who calls the shots in that clique. And when you hear that Asagao's mother is Oshibe, the woman your mom and Ami met that night at the theatre, the secret there becomes obvious: Oshibe's a player in the Tanzaku Gai underworld and the family doesn't want anyone to know this. If you were Asagao you'd lay low too.

Well, no, that's a lie.

As you might expect, Tsuruhiko knows a lot less about the adults. He knows that Himawari is a well-respected duellist and that she used to be your mom's best friend, but aside from that, nothing. And Kakesu's only barely beneath Nabiki's rung of the social ladder, so there's no way in hell Tsuru's going to say anything helpful about him. About Oshibe he knows almost nothing at all.

But your mother is another story.

Katsuhiro may have some weird psychosexual fixation on your Mom, but Tsuru's a straight-up fanboy. It's weird, seeing someone who's never even met her gush about her abilities as a musician. You knew from Ami that Mom had put out albums and stuff, but it's one thing to know that intellectually and quite another to realize the lady had a very public life before you were born.

"Y'know," you say, "if you have one of her records with you, I can take it back to Konoha, get it signed, and mail it to you."

"Would you really?" he asks breathlessly. "I mean to say, I wouldn't want to impose..."

"No imposition at all," you say, waving him off. "I'd be surprised if she weren't touched to know she's missed - I know I would be." You lower your voice, baiting the hook. "It's a shame she couldn't have had more time to shine."

Tsuru looks sad. "Such is life, ojou-sama; I can assure you that no one thinks less of her for falling in love."

"No one except Kakesu-san," you say grimly. Internally you fire up your victory dance; romantic shenanigans? Tsuru's on the hook and flopping, time to reel him in and whack 'im with an oar.

"Well," he coughs, "yes, I suppose. But Kakesu-sama doesn't dictate public feeling."

"I just don't get it." You pout in a manner you know to be utterly adorable, having refined it with the aid of a mirror. "If I had a little sister I'd want her to be happy, even if it didn't make me happy too. Why would Kakesu-san banish my mom?"

Tsuru bites his lip. "I cannot claim to be privy to his reasoning, but... a family head does not always do as he wills. He has to consider the wishes of the other clan members, as well as the good of the family as a whole." A thought strikes him. "Perhaps he didn't wish to appear insubordinate. A strong brother is more terrifying than ten threatening words, as the old saying goes."

You quirk an eyebrow sceptically, and throw out a test comment. "Would anyone really think he was getting ideas above himself just because his sister married a ninja?"

"If that ninja were heir to a clan allied with the Akimichi? I admit it is perhaps far-fetched, but nobler minds than mine have believed in conspiracies with less to support them."

Whew. Well, that's a relief. You were almost positive Mom's forbidden romance was with dad, but it's nice to confirm these things.

[X] If you still want to know about Nabiki, you are never getting a better segue than this. Go for it.

[X] See what else Tsuruhiko knows about your mom.



[X] Try to remove the genjutsu.

[X] Don't remove it until you know why it was put on.

-----

Ugh. God this was a fucking slog. Writing exposition makes me wanna punch someone.

 

[Tackyseven]

[X] Try to remove the genjutsu.

hopefully it won't bite us in the ass

 

[Malcolmo]

[X] If you still want to know about Nabiki, you are never getting a better segue than this. Go for it.

[X] Try to remove the genjutsu.

 

[R.A.G.]

[X] If you still want to know about Nabiki, you are never getting a better segue than this. Go for it.

[X] Try to remove the genjutsu.

 

[Guile]

[X] SPEAKING of ninja, Nabiki...

[X] Remove genjutsu. Lupino doesn't care about your so-called 'potentially deadly consequences'

 

[FurikoMaru]

Which do you want to do first?

 

[R.A.G.]

Which do you want to do first?

Click to shrink...

Nabiki, to see if there is mroe of a connection, then genjutsu.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

[X] If you still want to know about Nabiki, you are never getting a better segue than this. Go for it.


[X] Don't remove it until you know why it was put on.



Because I suspect the genjutsu is about Mom being a superb player, or using genjutsu to augment her playing. We know Mom uses genjutsu. IIRC she didn't consider herself especially talented in playing the koto, compared to one of her relatives.

Yes, yes, false modesty. What she is, is pretty good, but nothing compared to a true master. But I don't see 'decently talented' as getting the old samurai this hung up.

I'm also going to assume that Mom is responsible enough that she wouldn't have pulled this trick without a good reason, if she did this, not least because if she tried this on everyone who listened she'd be given the shinobi equivalent of being drawn and quartered eventually. So I'm inclined to let this sleeping dog lie. If nothing else if we noticed it, Asuma probably did too, and if he hasn't seen fit to remove it neither do I.

Hey, if Asuma is supposed to be hyper-competent, then I am damn well gonna defer to his hyper-competence and bank on it. Granted, this isn't explicit here, but still.

 

[Torgamous]

That is not the genjustu being discussed here.

If he weren't so chummy with him, he likely wouldn't be able to clue you in to the fact that at least two of Ho'ojiro's friends have gone missing in the past year. You'd think he wouldn't bother to mention them in the first place, but no; they both appear as major players in a story Tsuru tells about 'Ho'ojiro-kun's' thirteenth birthday party, and yet they're absent from his list of the boy's best friends not two minutes later.

The really weird part is that when you ask about what happened to them, he needs a moment or two to work out who you're talking about. When he does, he neither knows where they went nor seems particularly concerned that he doesn't know. Katsuhiro doesn't even seem to be listening.

If the pair of them aren't under some kind of long-term genjutsu related to those two boys, you will eat your fan.

(And somehow it's contagious, because you've completely forgotten what their names are. >_<)

Click to shrink...

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

That is not the genjustu being discussed here.

Click to shrink...

Ah. Whoops. My bad.

....Still pretty worrying. On one hand, we might forget later. On the other hand, this ant hill might be of the fire ant variety and we don't want our foot anywhere close to it. If anyone can put in a long-term genjutsu like this, they're probably possessed of not inconsiderable skill.

 

[iamnuff]

if we don't remove it now, we might never remember it again.


[X] remove it.

 

[FurikoMaru]

[X] "I would have thought it was to avoid a scandal - if Nabiki-chan's anything to go by courtiers aren't the biggest fans of ninja."

"Oh, you mustn't judge by Nabiki-sama alone," Tsuruhiko rushes to assure you. "She has her reasons, of course, and naturally there are those among the nobility of the sword who like to reminisce about the days when samurai were the only warriors accorded status by the realm. But intermarriages between shinobi clans and the lesser nobility are not uncommon - I know the Kuruta clan are particularly proud to share the same bloodline as the Yuuhi."

You frown. "So... is Nabiki-chan just a big traditionalist, then?"

Tsuru hesitates, and he looks to his uncle.

"There's no reason to hide something any kitchen maid in Hikari-kyo could tell her," Katsuhiro says wearily.

Tsuruhiko nods (very reluctantly, it seems to you), and when he turns to face you again his expression is solemn. "Ino-sama," he says, "if I explain, you must promise me that you will not allow Nabiki-sama to see you looking upon her with pity. She is a very strong woman, but to be thought of as a- a victim of her fate, rather than its architect, is something she cannot bear." His eyes are so hard, and fierce, and unsuited to the rest of him that under other circumstances, you might laugh. "Promise me."

"... I promise," you swear, a slight sense of foreboding creeping over you. You were worried it might be something like this. Tsuru's emotional state is already telling you a lot; all you need to hear now are the details.

"Shortly before we met you in Konoha the first time," he says quietly, "Nabiki-sama's younger cousin Umeyo, of whom she was very fond, was killed by a shinobi from Iwa. Nabiki-sama was in the room when it happened."

Every now and then, there are words Lupin and Jigen-san say in your dreams that you know are somehow 'bad'. You're not sure how you know this, since none of them are in Gyogo, but you do know you've never heard them say any of them while you're awake.

They've just now decided to make up for lost time.

You swallow your first response (For fuck's sake, what is wrong with some people?). You're not an Academy student anymore, and not every village is Konoha. Morals are always flexible where ninja are concerned, that's just part of the job (Who the fuck orders a hit like that? What sick fuck accepts a job like that?!).

"Was Umeyo-san the target?" It is, however, acceptable to disapprove most harshly of unprofessional conduct, such as murdering children while on the clock.

"It appears that she was," Tsuru says. "The assassin fled when Nabiki-sama raised the alarm, rather than kill her as well."

You briefly entertain fantasies of learning the Hiraishin and taking a daytrip to Iwagakure.

You sigh.

"Well. I guess I asked."

"I apologize for the indelicacy of the subject matter." He bows as best he can while walking.

"There's nothing to apologize for," you say, shrugging. "You aren't the one who killed a little girl."

[X] Thoughts? Speculation?

and

[X] Ask before trying to remove the genjutsu

[X] Just do it; knowing your luck there'll be a built-in defence mechanic to it if you bring the thing up in conversation

 

[Selias]

[X] Ask before trying to remove the genjutsu

I get the feeling that something bad will happen if we just do it.

 

[Malcolmo]

[X] Just do it; knowing your luck there'll be a built-in defence mechanic to it if you bring the thing up in conversation

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Ask before trying to remove the genjutsu

 

[Guile]

Well, that's how it is. Ninja work isn't all epic battles and Friendship and shit.

(x) Just do it. I see no way this could go wrong.

 

[Hymn of Ragnarok]

Well no wonder Nabiki wasn't too happy with our response to her first time around.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Anyone wanna break the tie?