[D5EN, The mountains] A report (Closed)

[The sweeping monk]

A strange bird flies atop the mountains. A bird made of paper, artfully folded, covered from beak to wings with a delicate calligraphy.

A Yogo shikigami, a spirit bound to a physical matter so it can help out the Scorpion in many ways. Today, their role is that of a messenger.

---

Reserved for Soshi Naoko.

[Soshi Naoko]

She'd somewhat expected such a thing, having sent reports via similar means by now. The delicate creatures enclosed in a packet of orders and travel papers had been a delightful surprise. How she'd missed seeing others use them over the years, she couldn't guess. But their use was still new enough to entertain her.

As she expected, the monks were not sorry to see anyone leaving before the morning, not that she expected to travel all that much tonight. Just far enough to run on four legs over the snow for a while, racing Hanakuso under the moon, and eventually up a tree to rest a bit before morning.

She'd expected something like this, but not so soon, honestly. She sat on her branch, holding out a human hand once she'd spotted the frail-looking thing fluttering beneath the clouds.

[The sweeping monk]

The bird lands on the offered hand, and fully unfolds one of its wings. Among the many spirals of interlocked spells is revealed a perfect square of blank paper, the size of a palm, crowned with a single, uncoded, character:

"Write"

[Soshi Naoko]

She shakes her head with a small smile. A cold branch wasn't the best place to mix ink and write, but it wasn't the worst either, so she settles and digs her tools from her satchel. Composing in her head as she grinds the ink.

Reporting on the aspiring students, the accepted ones, conditions here, that was easy. The rumors? Well, she left out the several that seemed inclined toward an abundance of fox spirits in the area. But what about Tokiko? Had she been Scorpion and fled her role? Or had she retired out of it? Would they come looking for her? Would the mountain protect her and her monks from that?

After a moment, dithering between holding the secret and setting it down, she writes all of that. It seems likely they'd already know, and might consider that a test for her. Or they don't and she'll probably be entertained watching them try to set spies among the monks.

And Wu? She still wasn't entirely sure when so many stories swirled around him, which was possibly the point. She makes as much sense of as much of it as fits on the page. She blows on her hands to warm them, watching the words sink into the 'paper'.

[The sweeping monk]

The bird folds its wing again, and opens his mouth. A small piece of paper drops from its beak. On it, a name, a place, a time.

Work is never done.

---

As the person who acquired the most Tidbits, Soshi Naoko earns the Spy title and an Air shūji (appropriate for her rank and school) of her choice.

[Soshi Naoko]

Naoko nods once, knowing she'll need to ask some friends to figure out how to get there. She was pretty sure it wasn't back in the direction of Naoko's home, or family, but she'd probably need to figure out what to do when they met by next winter. By that time, she'd have a plan. Or maybe another job with another identity that couldn't be broken for mundane things like parents who missed you.

She tucked the paper away before curling up to sleep, donning fur against the night's chill and tucking her tail over her nose.

[The sweeping monk]

Without further ado, the spirit takes off, in perfect silence and without even flapping its paper wings once.

It has soon fully disappeared from sight in the darkness of the night sky.

---

/scene?

[Soshi Naoko]

/scene. Thank you. That was a perfect way to pass orders/news.