This continues Eli's story from Eli and Michael Gathering.
You are awakening. You have a headache, but it is subsiding rapidly; there is a cool smooth object pressed against your hands, and you are lying on your back. The air is cool and the place relatively dark; you hear nature sounds around you, and smell grass and leaf mulch and possibly cherry blossoms.
You have a feeling that you left something somewhere, in "that" direction.
--M. J. Young
uggg... what happened?...huh? cherry blossoms? Time to get up.
I follow the standard verser routine. I get up, look around and gather my things.
OOC: This sounds like it is going to be fun! If I'm in medieval Japan, I wouldn't mind if you throw in a language barrier.
You open your eyes to a night sky; you're lying on grass near the edge of a wood of some sort, and the air is comfortably cool. You have in your hands the psionic computer; it is not glowing.
That feeling that you left something is pulling you into the wood. As you go that way, you notice an elderly man watching you. His clothes suggest feudal Japan, but there is nothing racially Japanese about him.
--M. J. Young
When I notice the elderly man, I do a small bow out of respect and wait to see what he does.
OOC: If you don't want to implement a language barrier, you don't need to.
It was just a suggestion.
He respectfully returns the bow, and continues watching you in what is perhaps a curious but non-threatening way.
--M. J. Young
I look in the woods for my bag.
It's probably about a hundred yards or so from where you arrived. The ground slopes up slightly in that distance, and when you get to the spot you sense, you see the bag you never unpacked half-buried in the forest soil. It is relatively easy to pull it free.
--M. J. Young
I put the psionic computer in the bag and I return to the elderly man.
"Hello sir, how are you today?"
He looks at you with a puzzled expression, and then speaks unintelligible gibberish.
I do not see any language skills listed on your sheet; 2@ English is the default as your native tongue, but if you speak any other languages or have training in linguistics, I should probably be told now.
--M. J. Young
Did it sound like Japanese?
OOC:
I don't speak another language but I've studied linguistics by myself.
I studied the structure of German, Latin, and Japanese before.
My knowledge of linguistics is derived from comparing and contrasting the structures of those languages.
I would rate myself as average amateur or low average amateur in linguistics
I had two semesters of German in high school but I've forgotten most if it. But, it would be the foreign language that I know the most of.
My knowledge of Japanese consists of about 20 Kanji, an idea on how hiragana and katakana are constructed from the moras of the language, a few phrases and a idea of the structure of the sentence.
My knowledge of Latin consists of how sentences are constructed and a few words. Unfortunately I've forgotten the declensions.
It is Japanese.
--M. J. Young
Ok, that was Japanese.I knew I should have learned more. Now, how did those phrases go?
"Gomenasai. Nihongo ga wakarimasen."
Sorry(polite). I don't understand Japanese.
Given that you know a few phrases and some of the syntax and structure of Japanese, we will have to give you a 1@1 skill ability level in the language. This is the more important, as I do not know whether you actually did just say "Sorry, I don't understand Japanese" or "Please, take me to the police." And actually, you might not know, either.
He stares at you blinking for a moment, and then smiles and starts to chuckle.
He says something else, slowly, which you make out to be "Come, I am not soldier." He also beckons as he turns toward a small hut a few hundred yards away overlooking what appear to be rice paddies. He glances back to see if you are following him.
--M. J. Young
I follow him to his hut.
OOC: Should I drop the Japanese sentence and just go with the translation?
If I know I wouldn't understand something, should I react as if I didn't understand?
Even if there was a successful roll?
...
I'm starting to think this was a stupid idea on my part.
I'm not worried about whether you type the Japanese as long as you give me the English and I know it's supposed to be in Japanese. There will be some words--titles, in the main, although possibly also weapon names--that will be given in Japanese at all times despite the fact that I have English approximations.
If the roll is successful, you understood, even if some of the words were unfamiliar. Consider, if you like, the Lewis Carroll poem Jabberwocky, in which a substantial portion of the text is constructed of meaningless nonces, yet the listener follows the jist of the story nonetheless.
This will also cover the inherent problem that being immersed in a culture that speaks only this foreign language of which you understand only scraps, your character will undoubtedly learn much of the language considerably faster than you could, and thus his ability will improve gradually while yours will not, and we will have to rely on the rolls to tell us when you do and do not know what is being said or how to express yourself.
Also, at present I will allow certain "automatic" successes. I presume that you know how to say "thank you" and a few other "courtesy" words and phrases, and we'll allow them without a roll.
The hut is hand built of bamboo. He gestures for you to enter, saying something to the effect that he would be honored if you would accept the hospitality of food and shelter for the present. There is a woman probably near his age inside, and she looks up and asks perhaps a bit curtly who he has brought home this time. He responds, and you're pretty sure he said something about entertaining a ninja, which seems to satisfy her, or at least she turns and hurries to prepare something.
--M. J. Young
I say "Thank you" to him when he says something about being honored if i accept his hospitality.
I wait to see what happens after that.
I am assuming that you enter the house.
There is a low table, of the sort that suggests you sit on the ground to eat; there is a teapot there already, and the woman is placing a third tea bowl and another pair of chopsticks.
She also pulls a third plate from a shelf and wipes it with a damp cloth; it appears to be wooden and square, but shaved so as to be lower in the center and higher around the edges.
She spoons rice on it, and then ladles over it a sauce with an assortment of vegetables in it, of which scallions are the most recognizable. She places this on the table at the new setting, and continues to put together two more plates; yours has the most ample portions.
--M. J. Young
This is going to be...difficult. I haven't used chopsticks before. And, I've forgotten some aspects of Japanese table manners.
My first problem is, what is the correct way to to sit at the table.
My solution is simple, I let one (or both) sit down first and mimic the way they sit( if the old man sits differently, I mimic him).
After we sit down I say "Ikidekimasu". It means "Let's have a feast". In Japan, they say this before a meal. As the guest, they're probably expecting me to say it first.
As for the chopsticks... the only solution I can think of is to mimic how they use them. the other problem is the lady will have a hard time believing that a ninja(heh) has such a hard time with chopsticks. If I'm really pathetic they'll probably offer me a spoon, which is used by little children before they learn how to use chopsticks.
I eat slowly to devote a lot of attention to not making a fool of myself.
When I'm done, I leave a little bit of food on the plate to show that I'm full and prevent the host from giving me more food.
After I'm done, I mimic the way they lay their chopsticks down and say "Oishii desu ne!" which means, It was really delicious.
The man makes himself comfortable cross-legged; the woman scolds him as she assumes a kneeling position, but he apparently brushes off the scolding as if even with company he's going to be comfortable, not formal.
You attempt to make the first statement, and the old man smiles as if it's funny, and repeats it slightly differently--differently enough that it might be "you were trying to say this".
You manage the chopsticks easily enough, although eating is slow and awkward with them.
During dinner, he is explaining to her how you suddenly appeared near the woods above the rice paddies, as if you had fallen from the sky, wearing this strange disguise, so of course he assumed you were a ninja. He does not wish the bushi to know that they entertained ninja any more than she does, but the bushi will not know even if you stay a few days. There is some concern about the koku collection and whether you might be recognized then, but he thinks that unlikely.
At the end of dinner, you apparently fail to say quite what you mean once again. The woman blushes and the man laughs, and corrects you again. You're not sure quite what it was you said, but it's obvious to them that it's not what you meant, and he finds it very funny.
They bring you a light blanket to cover yourself near the fire, and retire to a small alcove to the back of the hut. The daylight has nearly fled and the fire is the only light here.
--M. J. Young
I'm assuming they're going to sleep. if that is the case, I find a spot that is a comfortable distance from the fire, stretch out to find a position I can sleep in and go to sleep.
Otherwise,I find a comfortable place to sit and listen to them.
You awaken in the dim morning light to the sound of pots being used. The lady of the house is preparing breakfast.
--M. J. Young
I get up, try to ask her where I put the blanket up, store it and wait for breakfast.
She smiles, says she will hang the blanket outside to air in the morning sun and have breakfast ready soon. She reaches to take it from you.
Breakfast is cold rice and hot tea. Conversation is minimal; the man says that he has to make some repairs to the dikes. The woman asks how long you will be staying.
--M. J. Young
In response to what he says about the dikes, I try to say "I would like to help with the dikes today. I would also like to help with the rice and other things while I stay here."
In response to her asking me how long I will be staying here, I try to say "I'll stay however long you want me to stay. I'll leave whenever you want me to leave."
if I fail to communicate, I try to say it again.
Your first attempt to make those statements failed miserably, getting you nothing but confused looks; then you realized your confusion in the verb for "liking" and "wanting" and managed to explain yourself.
After breakfast, the man leads you outside, where he gathers a few gardening tools--shovel, rake, pick, all made of wood. He also has a couple pieces of cut bamboo, still with leaves but perhaps a day old. He hands some to you, and leads the way down to the rice paddies.
Rice grows in something akin to bogs, flooded ground which supports the stalks. The walls between sections have spillways that allow water to flow gently between them, in from a stream coming out of the high ground that is the wood, into what appears to be several acres of wetlands. There are others working on the dikes, but none nearer than a few hundred yards from you.
Walking along the tops of the dikes and stepping over spillways, he comes to a place where a dike is beginning to crumble as the spillway breaks down from the erosion of the water flow. He explains that already the water in the upper paddy is too low, and that the spillway has to be rebuilt. The bamboo will help support the dirt that has to be packed over and around it.
What skills do you have with such tools or practices that might be relevant here?
--M. J. Young
OOC: My current job is a lawn care service. I've use the shovel and rake on the job.
rake: high amateur
shovel: average amateur to high average amateur
Given that you get paid essentially to use those tools, you are legitimately a low-level professional; but I hesitate because it is your "current job", and that might mean that at the time you versed out (which was a few months ago, if memory serves, as it often does not in questions of temporal passage) you might still have been amateur. I am listing you as 1@10 for the moment, but will change it to 2@1 if you had the job when you started play. I'm also combining them as "garden tools", a T3@X skill package. (@X means that it contains skills of various intensities within the level.)
Over the course of an hour you manage together to repair the spillway. He then takes you on a patrol of the dike, pointing out spots that are weakening and attempting to strengthen them, and checking the rice crop as he does.
By midday you are hot and tired; glancing at the son, he indicates that you should return to the house with him.
--M. J. Young
I go with him to his house.
OOC: I've had this job for four or five years.
Lunch is light; rice beer is served (sake, I'm told, is actually beer, not wine, but this is not the good stuff). After lunch he returns to work in the rice paddies.
Some of the others working in the paddies have noticed you, but they have not yet asked any questions.
--M. J. Young
I continue working with the old man.
You continue working with him over the next several days.
After lunch, your host says he must talk with you. You have been a very polite and more than helpful guest, and he wishes you could stay and continue to help with the rice farm; he has gotten more help from you than he paid in food and care. However, the other villagers are concerned that they might be accused of harboring a ninja when the bushi come, and so he regrets that you will have to leave as soon as you can. He will not say when, and his hospitality is not ended; you may stay as long as you must, but it will be better if you leave sooner.
--M. J. Young
"I understand. I will leave tonight.
You have been a most kind host.
...But, I have two additional burdens on your hospitality.
My clothes are too strange to travel in the day or in a town, Do you have a extra set of travel clothes that would fit me? And, do you know the location of a ninja that would take me in?"
Your hosts give you three sets of local clothes, apparently having belonged to their son, who was very close to your size and age when he wore these; you don't understand what they are saying about him, though. Nor are you understanding what they are saying when they seem to be giving you directions, but they point away from the rice paddies up the hill into the woods.
--M. J. Young
"Thank you for your son's clothes...
Sorry I don't understand your directions.
Could you please say them slower and in simpler terms?"
After they explain it again I ask them where I can change into these clothes and change where they tell me to.
I then gather my things and try to follow their directions.
You catch more of it the second time. They are suggesting that you head through the woods up into the mountains about a day's journey following the main trail to the pass, where you will meet an old master. No one knows whether he is a ninja, but he is wise and knowledgeable enough that he should be able to help you find the other ninjas.
--M. J. Young
I thank them for their hospitality, gather my things, and try to follow their directions to the old master.
You enter the woods and find the night is considerably darker under the canopy. Do you plan to travel through the woods in the dark?
--M. J. Young
I have a Maglight flashlight.
If it works I continue into the woods.
If it doesn't work, I find somewhere to sleep.
The light flickers and goes dark; it does not seem to be functioning for you at the moment.
The forest floor is soft generally from the leaf mulch. What particular preparations are you making for a place to sleep?
--M. J. Young
That's odd. I'll have to check the batteries later
I find a comfortable spot and go to sleep.
If I get cold, I use my coat as a blanket.
When I wake up, I try to dust the leaf mulch off myself and my coat. Then i continue towards the old master.