"Shouldn't she bathe first in the sacred waters before dressing. After stripping, of course," Miyuki comments as she bows deeply to her elder brother. "She should be free of the clingings of her world if she is to stay here and embrace true reality." Noboru gives Miyuki a bit of an odd look, then shrugs. "As you wish," he says, then points at Niamh, repeating, "Strip!" Miyuki meanwhile slips away into the temple behind her.
"Sacred waters?" Niamh asks she unbuttons her clothing. "What sort of sacred waters?"
"You'll find out," Noboru says. "You ask too many questions."
"What do you mean?" Niamh asks as she gets her trousers off. "What is the correct number of questions then?"
"Ah, now that is one of the mysteries of the universe," Nobodu says as he spreads his hands and tails. "And I must say, for a human, you do lack modesty."
"What do you mean by that?" Niamh asks, hands on bare hips now. "Why am I suddenly human and not a Yosei?"
Miyuki returns, dragging a washbin and a large pitcher that sloshes with water. She uses her tail to push the washbin out a bit from her and says as she bows low, "Please, step into the container of sorrow, initiate."
"You were raised as human, though. Poorly, apparently," Noboru points out.
"You told me to strip, so I stripped," Niamh points out. "Are you going to criticize everything I do as a matter of course, Lord Noboru?"
"Of course I am," Noboru says and flicks a tail a bit dismissively. "Now, please step into the tub."
Niamh shoots Noboru a look but does step into the tub. She doesn't sit down in it though. "Sorrow? This.. isn't anything I need to drink is it?"
"No, just stand there and close your eyes," Miyuki says as she approaches with the pitcher in hand.
Niamh takes a deep breath. It isn't as if she hasn't been through strange initiation rituals before, so she closes her eyes - even if she does half-suspect the foxes of just trying to make her uncomfortable for their own amusement.
Niamh can hear the pitcher lift as the water sloshes. The nest thing she notices is ice cold water suddenly pouring over her body! Far more than ought to be possible to have in that pitcher, too. It's a chill she can feel to her bones.
She goes up on her toes, her fingers splay out before clenching and her mouth opens wide to let out a squeak. Cold Cold Cold Cold. She can't really think of anything else at the moment. But at least is isn't an actual waterfall.. it has to run out eventually!
That's the theory, but two minutes pass and it is still going. Things are starting to go numb ... but she does notice the pan below her doesn't seem to be filling up completely, which is really strange.
Once Niamh can actually force herself to think.. she realizes this is all probably another illusion! It's not freezing cold water at all - where would Miyuki get any? It's a trick. So she grits her teeth and tries to convince herself that she's not being frozen. Since that worked so well when the Koma-inu were freezing her.
The water continues on, and on, but it does start getting a bit less cold. Or maybe she's just loosing all feeling ... but either way it's starting to get at least more bearable.
"Calm.. calm.. think like tree," Niamh mutters to herself, and tries a breathing exercise to keep her teeth from chattering. If she focuses on that, managing a single part of it, she'll be fine!
It occurs to her that thinking like a tree means leaves falling out in winter. Of course after thinking that, it starts feeling like her hair is falling out. Good lord, cold water on a baring head is even WORSE.
Spring! Niamh tries to remember that it's Spring. Blooming, growing, sap flowing! Sucking warmth up from the earth, and the sun and the air. Dryads with Spring Green hair. Dancing! Fertility rites!
Well, at least the cold means she won't feel horny! Fertility rites, indeed. But, at least she doesn't feel bald anymore. The flow of water tapers off, then stops. "Hmmm, interesting," Noboru is heard to say. The cold is also gone, but the memory of it remains and triggers the occasional involuntary shiver.
"Can I open my eyes now?" Niamh asks, with a very slight quaver.
"Yes," Miyki says behind her.
So Niamh opens her eyes and reaches up to feel if she needs to wring out her hair.
Her hair is perfectly dry, and all there. "You are very susceptible to suggestions and influence," Noboru comments off to her left. "An unfortunate consequence of being in denial of your own nature; it means that aspect of yourself can be influenced by those around you you aren't in such denial. This will be harder than I thought."
"I'm not used to having illusions thrown at me," Niamh claims. "Not without special rites involved, like when I thought I was a stag during consecration to Cernunnos."
"You are like a newborn kit, blind and defenseless," Noboru says with a sigh, "I am not quite sure where to start now."
"Where do you normally start?" Niamh asks. "Have you even done this before?"
"Well, I did teach Miyuki how to stalk and eat fresh kill," Noboru notes and gestures to the younger kitsune. "But I can't see you running around on all fours with a bloody rabbit hanging from your jaws. So ... please get dressed in the proper attire and we'll just start with trying to get you in touch with yourself. Spiritually, not in the way you humans do when you think everyone else is asleep."
"What makes you think I haven't run through the woods on all fours?" Niamh counters, and picks up the new garment. The pieces seem straightforward enough, so she starts to dress herself.
"Because humans are incapable of doing it without looking like fools," Noboru comments. "And no frilly underthings under those," Miyuki says, "I do not see why your people insist on layering things over your reproductive parts."
"My underthings aren't frilly," Niamh claims, but puts on only what she was given. "And you only have to deal with estrus, I think. Human women go through something more disgusting every month."
"Well, humans are inferior creatures," Miyuki points out. "That doesn't surprise me."
"Just be glad I have a trick to deal with that issue," Niamh grumbles, get the billow-sleeved shirt on. "Is there anything I have to tie at the back of this?"
"Yes, hold still," Miyuki instructs as she slinks in behind Niamh, then grabs and tugs at various points, then tries that must be some little ties to draw it in snug. Then she drapes her arms around the redhead and hugs her from behind ... and punctuates it with a lick on the back of one of her ears, "Allll miiiine now." Then the kitsune squeaks as apparently Noboru swats Miyuki with one of his tails! "Down, girl," he notes. "She belongs to me."
"I am not a pet or a toy," Niamh claims a bit huffily. "Are either of you going to attempt to teach me anything at least?"
"The pet is complaining again," Miyuki notes as she looks at Noboru. Noboru's left ear twitches. There is probably a little bit of messing around going on. Noboru holds up his hands and says, "Yes, I will. You need to learn to relax; you are too upset over simple details like who currently owns you."
"That is not a little detail," Niamh claims. "It is a joke used specifically to tease me!"
"If you can't take a little teasing from a friend, then how good will you be dealing with someone who is intentionally trying to manipulate you to bad ends?" Noboru points out. "Besides, you should feel honored to belong to a clan of celestial kitsune."
"Well, you haven't done much to make me feel honored," Niamh points out. "And teasing hurts when you're on the opposite end of the world from home where everything seems to be out to get you."
"Neither of us have done anything to get you in a bad way," Noboru points out. "Now, follow me,"" he adds, turns and walks into the temple proper behind him.
Miyuki flashes a small smile, then heads into the temple as well.
Niamh bites her tongue and follows.
The inside is dark, but Niamh can make out the walls are lacquered, probbaly in bright red, and almost glass-smooth. There are a few candles here and there casting light ... and ominous shadows too. "Please, sit here, seizan style," Noboru requests as his four tails all point to a spot in the center of the room. Behind him wisps of smoke rise; probably incense.
While note certain what 'seizan style' is, Niamh just kneels like she's seen Miyuki do when she sits.
"Very good. Now, tell me about what you feel when you are in the dark with only yourself. What thoughts do you have? What do you feel move inside your heart?" Noboru requests. Miyuki kneels down nearby, legs folded beneath herself. As Nimah soon learns, it's not quite comfortable.
"What I feel when I'm alone in the dark.. uh.. that's usually when I sleep," Niamh says. "It's never really dark outside. The closest I've come to being alone in the dark is at the Inn. When I wasn't exhausted I felt.. the Koma-inu scared me. But first they made me uncomfortable, and then.. being scared made me angry."
"I certainly don't feel the same thing every night," she concludes.
"You do not introspect much, do you?" Noboru asks with a sigh. "Do you never wonder about what you feel, or why? Or how to come to better understanding yourself?"
"You asked what I felt when I'm alone in the dark," Niamh says. "I do my introspecting in the daylight, in the forest. Then I feel connected to nature. It's.. not like thinking, it's just feeling.. at peace. At least when the land is at peace."
"You are being deliberately obtuse," Noboru chides, though gently. "Now, you wanted to learn to conceal the fast you reek of being yokai, correct?"
"Reek?" Niamh asks, and sniffs herself. "But yes, if that will keep Yokai from constantly pestering me."
"Well, it will not stop us from pestering our new pet," Noboru notes. "The challenge here is you've been raised as human, which means you think as human. Well, mostly; a very odd human. Or maybe not. Anyway, you do not have a good feel of yourself, which is why you wanter about in life obliviously exposing your nature."
"It wasn't an issue before I came here," Niamh says defensively. "Back home it let me meet friends instead of monsters."
"You poor, sheltered, child. Never having experienced true wilderness," Noboru says rather gently. He steps up behind Nimah, then kneels down and starts rubbing her back. "So, before you can hide your nature, you need to understand and embrace your nature. Close your eyes, breathe, and think inward of yourself. How do you see yourself? What do you see in your thoughts in the stillness?"
After some moments of meditative breathing, Niamh says, "A deer."
"Explain why do you see yourself as that?" Noboru requests.
"When I was little, I found one hiding in the grass," Niamh says. "That's important to the Sidhe.. the first animal you really connect with, I mean. During the rites, I would become one.. not literally, but.. that's what I felt. I'd run through the forest, ahead of the hunters. Herne, the spirit of the forest animals, is sometimes a stag. So it just felt like my connection to the forest was symbolized by the deer."
"It is curious that you are so outspoken, yet you see yourself as prey. That would explain why predators tend to flock to you," Noboru comments as his hands continue to rub, making her back warm. "But I also suppose it does explain your apparent innocence."
"I don't see deer as prey," Niamh says. "They are nearly sacred animals."
"They are tasty," Noboru comments. "But that is unimportant right now. You do have some ability with your youki, so lets explore that a bit."
"My.. you mean my spirit?" Niamh asks.
"If that is what you wish to call it," Noboru says as he pats the top of her head briefly. "You can push it out, but ... can you draw it in?"
"I can use it internally, yes," Niamh says. "But.. I need it throughout my whole body. Do you mean that I leak?"
"In many ways," Noboru comments a bit dryly as he now runs claws along the outside of Niamh's clothing, yet she can feel them tracing on her back. "You need to draw it in as deep as you can, envision it like say, a ball within your heart."
Niamh isn't sure about drawing it into her heart, because that's always pumping. "I've only ever drawn it into my womb before," she explains. "My heart would just spread it back out, wouldn't it?"
"Not if you keep drawing it back in. You need to draw it deep into yourself so that it is not so obvious to yokai around you," Noboru explains as those claws continue to distractingly trace.
Closing her eyes, Niamh furrows her brow. The problem is that she can't really feel with her spirit, only it's effect. So she focuses on her heartbeat, to try and feel the blood pumping first. The current. You don't go against the current. But there's inflow and outflow.. so she tries to think of it like the tide instead. Just faster. She understands tides better than rivers anyway, since they're tied to the sun and moon. She likes cycles. Then she tries to move her spirit to the cycle she imagines.
"Okay, good. You're regulating it a bit more," Noboru says as his claws prick and poke slowly all over her back. "Now, try to sync it with your heart more, so that it becomes indistinguishable to a simple heartbeat. Try to concentrate it within your arteries and veins, hide it amongst your blood."
That's a little more familiar. Niamh has always thought of it as a fluid anyway. It's just not pushing it in a particular direction this time. Just.. letting it flow out and in from her heart. So she focuses on the beat again. Although this time she isn't trying to keep it in her heart.
"Mmmm, better, but I can still smell you," Noboru says. She can feel his breath hot as it dances over her left ear. "You need to keep it inside, no leaking," he adds, then nibbles on her earlobe.
That nearly breaks her focus. "You're nose is practically against my skin, of course you can smell me," she notes, then wonders where it's leaking out. She isn't sweating or anything. So.. keep it in the blood, but not out to her skin. She can move it to her extremities, so.. she just has to pull it back from them the same way.
Great, now he's sucking on her earlobe, and those claws along her back are getting uncomfortable. She also feels the tickle of fluff as tails encircle her like giant fluffy snakes.
"No worse than fairie tickles," Niamh thinks, as she tries to channel her own spirit into herself.
"Behave, nisan," Miyuki chides a little, "She will need much practice." This makes Noboru huff, and then slowly draw back from the redhead.
"Plus, I doubt she appreciates being marked as owned," Miyuki adds.
Niamh's mouth ticks at learning what Noboru was really doing. "The Akaname wasn't scared off by your scent, Noboru," she notes. "It thought that if I would associate with a kitsune, it had a fair chance at me as well." Pulling her spirit inward should also help keep her from blushing.
"I wasn't scent-marking you," Noboru comments, "A different kind of marking."
"But you were marking me without my permission, weren't you?" Niamh asks.
"I don't need permission," Noboru notes, simply.
This causes Niamh to turn her head. "Excuse me? Do you think you can do whatever you want to a girl then?" she asks calmly.
"No, I think I can do whatever I wish to my student and charge," Noboru replies simply and then taps her on her nose. "You cam to me of your own free will."
"You kissed me, then said I didn't have a choice," Niamh points out. "There are limits to what you can do to me," she insists.
"Not if you're my student. Nothing I have done to you harms you in any way," Noboru comments.
"After all, if yokai leave me alone because you marked me, then how will I know if my training is effective?" Niamh counters.
Miyuki is rubbing her face slowly. "It is really better to just go with it," she mutters.
"Oh, it isn't that kind of mark. This one is only made known if you do fail in guarding yourself and you are hunted down and mauled," Noboru notes.
"Well, why didn't you tell me in the first place then?" Niamh asks. "I swear, you seem to keep thinking that not explaining things to me will make me just accept them."
"Because it allows me to judge your reactions," Noboru explains, "And see where you are most insecure."
"I'm insecure about not being told the reasons for things," Niamh points out. "It makes me defiant, remember?"
"When she comes chasing you with a chair when she sees the mark, you'll know," Miyuki mutters.
"Yes, a habit I am trying to break you of," Noboru says. "I'm five centuries old, I have the right to be mysterious."
"I've known far older beings that didn't feel the need to be mysterious," Niamh says. "I think that speaks of your insecurity."
"Or their lack of skill," Noboru says, smiling all the same. "That is all for today. You can practice that sort of focus and control on your own in your room."
"I still need the charms from Miyuki for the cherry trees," Niamh says.
Standing up, the girl says, "I'll go practice under the shrine tree, if that's alright?"
"I can make those later," Miyuki notes from where she's sitting. She looks even more surreal in here, what with ears, a tail, and even more angular features. Also, cat-eyes. "You are here for a week, correct?"
As her shirt moves, Niamh's back itches a little from where Noboru had been claw-tracing. "Feel free; you can enter much of the temple while you are here. I just ask you do not disturb the heralds without permission," he says.
Niamh shrugs her back.. and asks, "Did you draw something on me with your claws, Noboru?"
Noboru just smiles, and says nothing.
"Of course you did," Niamh says. "I'll be at the tree if you need me.."
"Have fun pretending to be a deer," Noboru says and waves with his tails. Miyuki just facepalms.
"I'll ask the tree to tell me what he wrote on me," Niamh thinks. Trees don't act mysterious after all! She also needs to pick up her things from outside anyway..