Post by Kasuga Naosuko on May 13, 2018 1:55:01 GMT 10
I don't have much to put here, except a story from an alternative perspective and a few other short items.
I was contacted to get some character connections going, even though I didn't end up with this group. I like alternative takes on stories from a different perspective, it gives that scene a little more detail that one perspective won't show.
When I was putting together her background, being a merchant seemed to be the best way to be everywhere with a different purpose. It isn't really a new idea, but being a crockery merchant isn't glamorous but will still give the ability to speak to a lot of different people. It is sorta stereotypical for a Tortoise to be a merchant, but in my experience I haven't met too many actual Tortoise merchants when playing L5R RPG.
With the advent of more modern tech, I felt like I needed some way to pass information back to my clan in a manner that reflects the outside view of the Tortoise. Lazy, greedy merchants who do their job sometimes.. but mostly take naps and make money. Kami Krush, a game we can relate to in our current world, felt like the way to do it. Hiding the messages among many other similar types of gameplay videos also helps a bit. She does write actual reports, but they're lazy half baked reports that only give enough information to reveal that Naosuko doesn't seem to be good at her job.
Just something short. She had three outfits as part of her starting kit, this was just a way to reflect what she used all three for.
I was contacted to get some character connections going, even though I didn't end up with this group. I like alternative takes on stories from a different perspective, it gives that scene a little more detail that one perspective won't show.
"Look, for your money, you want Rokugani-madetm crockery for your establishment." Naosuko said, indicating one of the small cups that she had laid out on the table. The four glasses were placed in a square formation, one of them filled with the poor quality sake of the bar, the other three newer and empty.
She eyed the room once, then turned back to the heimen. "The quality is unmatched, and I can get you a discount if-" she stopped, and eyed the room again. "Something isn't right, Kizaru." she said in a low voice.
Perfect timing, just damn perfect. She pointed to the cup with the old sake in it and spoke again in a normal voice. "These cups are liable to break, and are unreliable at the best of times. That can cause injury to your workers and you if you're not careful" She indicated the table across the room with the smugglers at it with a jerk of her head, then pointed to the exit. "Why, I would say that if you checked your workers hands right now you'd see injuries from this poor quality craftsmanship."
"Go. Now. They're going to fight." She added in another low voice. She turned to watch the brawl begin as the overseer made his quick exit. Her hand slid to the release for small kinetic pistol strapped to her arm just as the smuggler drew his weapon.
The violence was as sudden and intense, quickly becoming deadly. Killing these smugglers would disrupt criminal operations on the station temporarily, but if...
Naosuko spotted a few abandoned Datapads on the table where the smugglers had been sitting. That could help out immensely, but how to get there. She downed the cup of liquid courage, blech that was terrible stuff.
Wait, that was it. Avoiding collisions with the combatants, Kasuga Naosuko ambled her way across the room, sipping cups of shochu and sake on the way to the smugglers table. As she arrived, she pulled out her datapad which greeted her with the sunny faces of Doji-Hime and Hantei-Man.
A few taps matching colors and symbols pulled up a completely different screen that simply read, *Ready* in big green characters. Only taking a few moments, she tapped the data transfer ports together, and the software went to work grabbing everything it could from the smugglers datapads. No time to really sort through it here, but it should prove useful going forward.
Now that she had this, she couldn't remain here in the middle of the room. The small woman began making her way towards a corner, easier to defend there.
*BOOM* Too much gun for too small a room. The ronin goes down, not a terrible wound but enough to cause significant injury.
Naosuko's hand wanders to the release for her gun again, just in case but her concern is allayed with another ally joins the fray. Huh, no need to get involved then. Pulling up her tablet again, she goes to the usual news-site and reads through a few news stories. Finding one that is of note, she scans through it and eventually comments at the bottom as the fight winds down.
*Tamiyo? I wonder if there is a fanclub near me? The old one that was here seems to have closed down recently.* she writes, closing the article and finding that she is alone in the bar.
“Interesting,” she said to the dead bodies that were all that remained of her company. She poured herself one last drink before heading out herself. Not even she wanted to entangle herself with the Hida on Benjiro’s End. At least, not yet.
She eyed the room once, then turned back to the heimen. "The quality is unmatched, and I can get you a discount if-" she stopped, and eyed the room again. "Something isn't right, Kizaru." she said in a low voice.
“Hozan-san,” The ronin called out to the leader of the smugglers, who was laughing over his sake with his companions. “A moment of your time.”
Perfect timing, just damn perfect. She pointed to the cup with the old sake in it and spoke again in a normal voice. "These cups are liable to break, and are unreliable at the best of times. That can cause injury to your workers and you if you're not careful" She indicated the table across the room with the smugglers at it with a jerk of her head, then pointed to the exit. "Why, I would say that if you checked your workers hands right now you'd see injuries from this poor quality craftsmanship."
"Go. Now. They're going to fight." She added in another low voice. She turned to watch the brawl begin as the overseer made his quick exit. Her hand slid to the release for small kinetic pistol strapped to her arm just as the smuggler drew his weapon.
The violence was as sudden and intense, quickly becoming deadly. Killing these smugglers would disrupt criminal operations on the station temporarily, but if...
Naosuko spotted a few abandoned Datapads on the table where the smugglers had been sitting. That could help out immensely, but how to get there. She downed the cup of liquid courage, blech that was terrible stuff.
Wait, that was it. Avoiding collisions with the combatants, Kasuga Naosuko ambled her way across the room, sipping cups of shochu and sake on the way to the smugglers table. As she arrived, she pulled out her datapad which greeted her with the sunny faces of Doji-Hime and Hantei-Man.
A few taps matching colors and symbols pulled up a completely different screen that simply read, *Ready* in big green characters. Only taking a few moments, she tapped the data transfer ports together, and the software went to work grabbing everything it could from the smugglers datapads. No time to really sort through it here, but it should prove useful going forward.
Now that she had this, she couldn't remain here in the middle of the room. The small woman began making her way towards a corner, easier to defend there.
*BOOM* Too much gun for too small a room. The ronin goes down, not a terrible wound but enough to cause significant injury.
Naosuko's hand wanders to the release for her gun again, just in case but her concern is allayed with another ally joins the fray. Huh, no need to get involved then. Pulling up her tablet again, she goes to the usual news-site and reads through a few news stories. Finding one that is of note, she scans through it and eventually comments at the bottom as the fight winds down.
*Tamiyo? I wonder if there is a fanclub near me? The old one that was here seems to have closed down recently.* she writes, closing the article and finding that she is alone in the bar.
“Interesting,” she said to the dead bodies that were all that remained of her company. She poured herself one last drink before heading out herself. Not even she wanted to entangle herself with the Hida on Benjiro’s End. At least, not yet.
The marketplace of this port was busy. The merchants plied their varied wares in small boxes, the bright colors and strange smells almost overpowering in their intensity. On a side street sat a boring little stall with boring little wares. Plates, cups, pots and pans in generic styles lined the edges of that stall, and the woman sitting inside seemed to doze a little in the shade as she waited for customers.
A member of one of the lower castes approached, appraising the wares carefully. Waking from her stupor, the woman greeted the customer. "Good Morning," she yawned, though the sun was quite high in the sky. "All Rokugani-made, good quality and durable. I have a money back guarantee, if anything breaks just bring it back here and I'll replace it."
"Are these really from Rokugan?" inquired the customer. "That is such a long way, and these designs are quite odd."
"Rokugani-made, yep." The merchant said, producing a cardboard box. From the box she produced a slip of paper and showed it to the customer to examine. "Says right here, Rokugani-Made, Month of the Dog 3125 and the maker's mark."
The customer eyed the piece if paper carefully. He couldn't read everything on the page, but knew enough to suss out the meaning. "Hrm, well my mate has been looking to get some new plates. What styles do you have?"
Returning the piece of paper to its box, the woman stood to show off three styles of plates. One was a generic brown, one a burnt umber orange, and the third a square white porcelain color. "These are my most popular styles," She begins, "Easy to keep clean, stain resistant and durable."
The plates were nice, but the customer seemed to wave them all off. "Those are nice, but I need something more special. Something with a design that will stand out when we have company from out of town."
Catching his meaning, the merchant nods. "Hrm.. well I do have some commemorative founding plates." Going back into her boxes, she produces a plate that shows the citie's skyline in tasteful colors. "See here," she points to the picture, "How better to remember their visit to your fine city than when eating from such a nice plate."
The customer wobbles his head, "I do like the detail." He takes the plate and looks at it carefully, "It is very accurate, see here how it catches this window just right?" He points to one of the buildings on the plate before handing it back. "How much?"
"4 Blughlmarks," replies the merchant, "I'll even deliver them if you give me a time."
The two of them haggle a bit over the place, but eventually arrive on a price and a time that they will be delivered. The customer departs, leaving Kasuga Naosuko by herself again.
Plates, information regarding rokugani food import/export. Fourth Option, specific place. The Adjunct Administrative Building downtown. The Delivery time, tomorrow morning. What the Mantis were up to, Naosuko didn't know. But on this alien world, the more she knew the better it would be for the Empire.
A member of one of the lower castes approached, appraising the wares carefully. Waking from her stupor, the woman greeted the customer. "Good Morning," she yawned, though the sun was quite high in the sky. "All Rokugani-made, good quality and durable. I have a money back guarantee, if anything breaks just bring it back here and I'll replace it."
"Are these really from Rokugan?" inquired the customer. "That is such a long way, and these designs are quite odd."
"Rokugani-made, yep." The merchant said, producing a cardboard box. From the box she produced a slip of paper and showed it to the customer to examine. "Says right here, Rokugani-Made, Month of the Dog 3125 and the maker's mark."
The customer eyed the piece if paper carefully. He couldn't read everything on the page, but knew enough to suss out the meaning. "Hrm, well my mate has been looking to get some new plates. What styles do you have?"
Returning the piece of paper to its box, the woman stood to show off three styles of plates. One was a generic brown, one a burnt umber orange, and the third a square white porcelain color. "These are my most popular styles," She begins, "Easy to keep clean, stain resistant and durable."
The plates were nice, but the customer seemed to wave them all off. "Those are nice, but I need something more special. Something with a design that will stand out when we have company from out of town."
Catching his meaning, the merchant nods. "Hrm.. well I do have some commemorative founding plates." Going back into her boxes, she produces a plate that shows the citie's skyline in tasteful colors. "See here," she points to the picture, "How better to remember their visit to your fine city than when eating from such a nice plate."
The customer wobbles his head, "I do like the detail." He takes the plate and looks at it carefully, "It is very accurate, see here how it catches this window just right?" He points to one of the buildings on the plate before handing it back. "How much?"
"4 Blughlmarks," replies the merchant, "I'll even deliver them if you give me a time."
The two of them haggle a bit over the place, but eventually arrive on a price and a time that they will be delivered. The customer departs, leaving Kasuga Naosuko by herself again.
Plates, information regarding rokugani food import/export. Fourth Option, specific place. The Adjunct Administrative Building downtown. The Delivery time, tomorrow morning. What the Mantis were up to, Naosuko didn't know. But on this alien world, the more she knew the better it would be for the Empire.
*Great!*
*Wow!*
*Great!Wow!Combo!Combo!*
The battered datapad chorused with encouragement as small lines of colored mons matched and disappeared in flashes of candy colored light. Kasuga Naosuko sat in her small stall, enthralled by the small screen. The day had gone smoothly, with the meeting at the Adjunct Administrative Building bearing important fruit.
Now all that was required was for the information to be encoded and transmitted to her superiors. That important duty seemed to have fallen to the wayside as she reclined in the stall, the lines and patterns taking her full concentration.
At least, that's the front that she gave to anyone that was watching. 3118's release of Kami Krush had been an abject failure at the start, as the program was prone to crashing and creating random puzzles with no actual solution. After a few patches, it had turned into yet another one of the simple color matching games that had been the craze at the time, soon lost in the crowded intersteller markets.
The abject failure of the initial release was on purpose though. No one wanted to play a game with no real solution. Its true purpose was known to only a few in the Tortoise. As the lines and patterns appeared and disappeared on her screen, Kasuga Naosuko was encoding a message to her superiors hidden in the responses given by the 'game.'
Anyone searching her device would find Kami Krush '18, A bootleg program to watch replays of Kami Krush games, the standard encoded messaging service included on all Datapads, some music and short videos, and if hacked correctly, a stash of encoded documents with balance sheets, orders and gaijin information.
The encoded documents were all fake of course, fools gold for those looking for useful information. Just something to make them stop looking at the device and focus on the red herrings.
Naosuko began moving the game to a close, making mistakes and locking the board. *Aww, Game Over!* the tablet declared as the screen turned to greyscale and all of the mons fell off. The tortoise frowned at the screen, "Stupid game.."
With a few gestures, she packaged up the replay and posted it to one of the fan-sites for Kami Krush. "So close, just needed a little more time..." she types as a description, adds a few appropriate keywords, then closes out the program and turns her attention back to the street. "Really should write that report, bah I'll do it when I get back to the ship."
*Wow!*
*Great!Wow!Combo!Combo!*
The battered datapad chorused with encouragement as small lines of colored mons matched and disappeared in flashes of candy colored light. Kasuga Naosuko sat in her small stall, enthralled by the small screen. The day had gone smoothly, with the meeting at the Adjunct Administrative Building bearing important fruit.
Now all that was required was for the information to be encoded and transmitted to her superiors. That important duty seemed to have fallen to the wayside as she reclined in the stall, the lines and patterns taking her full concentration.
At least, that's the front that she gave to anyone that was watching. 3118's release of Kami Krush had been an abject failure at the start, as the program was prone to crashing and creating random puzzles with no actual solution. After a few patches, it had turned into yet another one of the simple color matching games that had been the craze at the time, soon lost in the crowded intersteller markets.
The abject failure of the initial release was on purpose though. No one wanted to play a game with no real solution. Its true purpose was known to only a few in the Tortoise. As the lines and patterns appeared and disappeared on her screen, Kasuga Naosuko was encoding a message to her superiors hidden in the responses given by the 'game.'
Anyone searching her device would find Kami Krush '18, A bootleg program to watch replays of Kami Krush games, the standard encoded messaging service included on all Datapads, some music and short videos, and if hacked correctly, a stash of encoded documents with balance sheets, orders and gaijin information.
The encoded documents were all fake of course, fools gold for those looking for useful information. Just something to make them stop looking at the device and focus on the red herrings.
Naosuko began moving the game to a close, making mistakes and locking the board. *Aww, Game Over!* the tablet declared as the screen turned to greyscale and all of the mons fell off. The tortoise frowned at the screen, "Stupid game.."
With a few gestures, she packaged up the replay and posted it to one of the fan-sites for Kami Krush. "So close, just needed a little more time..." she types as a description, adds a few appropriate keywords, then closes out the program and turns her attention back to the street. "Really should write that report, bah I'll do it when I get back to the ship."
Three samurai with one body. Some might hold on to one identity, one unifying code. However, there are three Kasuga Naosukos.
The first is the merchant, the sycophant. The well dressed woman who wears a slight exotic scent, has a mask of makeup and brings lavish gifts. The social butterfly who is outgoing and hints at sights few have seen, but most are curious about. The traveler from afar who leaves a lasting impression on all that she meets.
The second is the street vendor. The modestly dressed tortoise in the marketplace with her loads of crockery. The one whose prices are not always the best, but always seems to have a customer at least browsing. The shuttle pilot with a new flight plan but the same old cargo she had last month.
The third is the servant, the mechanic, the eyes and ears. The poorly dressed individual with the tool belt and the ladder. The dirty individual elbow deep in an old rusty shuttle, replacing some part or another. That.. someone.. who was at the sake house that night. Working class, beneath notice, but listening and watching. Generous enough to have a servant let something slip, but not generous enough to be remembered.
Three samurai, with one body. A woman who will be remembered for doing nothing important, and not remembered when important things got done.
The first is the merchant, the sycophant. The well dressed woman who wears a slight exotic scent, has a mask of makeup and brings lavish gifts. The social butterfly who is outgoing and hints at sights few have seen, but most are curious about. The traveler from afar who leaves a lasting impression on all that she meets.
The second is the street vendor. The modestly dressed tortoise in the marketplace with her loads of crockery. The one whose prices are not always the best, but always seems to have a customer at least browsing. The shuttle pilot with a new flight plan but the same old cargo she had last month.
The third is the servant, the mechanic, the eyes and ears. The poorly dressed individual with the tool belt and the ladder. The dirty individual elbow deep in an old rusty shuttle, replacing some part or another. That.. someone.. who was at the sake house that night. Working class, beneath notice, but listening and watching. Generous enough to have a servant let something slip, but not generous enough to be remembered.
Three samurai, with one body. A woman who will be remembered for doing nothing important, and not remembered when important things got done.