"What's worse is not knowing where I am or much of the world around me." I answer, "I would like to be taught any skills I need, skills I may have forgotten, so that no matter how long it takes to find out who I am I cab get by." I start to eat, the food tastes pretty good. Then I have a taste of my beer. "This beer, it's a lager, yes? It's quite smooth. And the food is fantastic. Thank you."
"You know much about food. Perhaps your family were cooks, who were teaching you.
"It is much you remember, that you can identify a lager. I don't think," she adds conspiritorially, "that my husband can do as much. But he prefers sake, so perhaps it is unfair to expect him to know his beers.
"It is a shame you do not remember more about your family, but perhaps we can find them anyway."
--M. J. Young
"That would explain the cookbooks." I mention "You know, I don't even remember how old I am." I eat some more of the food, and drink some more of the beer.
Your hostess laughs. "I should be so lucky. You are, I would think, the right age to marry--not so young that it is too soon, and not so old that it is too late. But it will help if we can learn who you really are before we seek a husband for you. Who knows? Maybe there is one already chosen, who has not given up hope that you might be found alive."
As a footnote, eventually I'm going to have to roll for the results of their search efforts. It is possible that someone will "recognize" you as their long lost daughter, or more likely niece or cousin, which triggers an entirely different story from one in which no family is ever found. In order to make that roll, since it is based on your hopes and fears, I need to know what you/your character would hope and fear in this situation.
But take your time thinking about it, and don't be afraid to revise whatever you post as things develop--I can see that you might prefer to be accepted by a family, but not if it means they have already planned your wedding.
--M. J. Young
(I guess my greatest concern is that they would think I'm a ninja or something. My greatest hope is that they find someone who claims I'm their niece or something and who will take me in. Which dice should I use?)
"Why does everyone talk about finding a husband?"
The dice would be a general effects roll. It's protocol on the forum that the referee gets to roll the dice, although it's protocol at live games that the player gets to do so unless there's a reason the player should not know the dice were rolled.
"Well, of course you want a husband. Who will care for you otherwise? Even geisha eventually find a nice noble and marry, usually then retiring from their profession. Silly girl--what else do you think you would do?"
--M. J. Young
"I don't know, if I am to be a chef, couldn't I live a comfortable life working like that? Why could I not support myself?"
"Working as a chef? Of course, not, silly girl. You could work with your husband who is a chef, or you could be a peasant serving in the kitchens, but there are no women chefs. Besides, if you are nobility, why should you lower yourself to labor? The peasants do the labor. We rightly live by their service."
--M. J. Young
"What if the wife of a farmer wishes to be a seamstress? Is that not acceptable?"
"Well, of course the peasant wife of a farmer would make clothes for herself and her family, just as I make most of the clothes for our family, although I do sometimes trade with some other women who make excellent clothing. An unmarried peasant might find a position as a household servant somewhere, where she could be fed and clothed and housed while she is useful, but then when she is old she would have to find someone in her family willing to receive her in her old age when she would have nothing of her own."
--M. J. Young
"I don't know if I understand why you should place so much value on getting married." I say, continuing to eat
She smiles, perhaps a bit patronizingly.
"I'm sure you will. Perhaps you are not old enough yet."
--M. J. Young
"Maybe." I say, drinking my beer.
"Well, you should get some sleep. Do you wish to be called at any particular time tomorrow, or will you just find the servants when you awaken?
"I'm sure you can find your way to your room; or sit in the tea garden out back for a while if you wish. I am hoping to catch a new play featuring a young kabuki actor I've been eyeing lately."
--M. J. Young
"Oh, thank you. You've been so hospitable. Where is the tea garden?"
Your hostess directs one of the maids to escort you to the tea garden. The girl, about your age, asks if you will need anything else.
The garden is much as you might expect, open to the sky but with a high blind fence around it to block prying eyes, not much larger than a bedroom, cultivated flowers lining the walls, a stone garden (stones decoratively placed on sand with tracings to suggest ripples) in the center, a bench and two chairs, padded and covered with a brightly-colored waterproof material which might be vinyl. A small roof is suspended over the stone garden, probably to reduce damage from rain. There is no exit from the garden to the world beyond, only the connecting door to the house and a bay window from a sitting room. The lawns between the stone garden and the flowers are well-maintained, level and trimmed. Of the adjacent houses you can see nothing, as the walls are high enough to block any view out from, and presumably into, the garden area.
--M. J. Young
"Why is the garden so blocked off? I mean, the walls I understand, but why is there a roof?" I ask, walking in.
Miscommunication? The roof is over the sand and rock arrangement in the middle; the garden between it and the walls is open to the sky, which is starting toward dusk at this point.
--M. J. Young