wisdom glass

Usagi wasn't sure what to make of the steppes he'd approached, lean figure of charcoal and scarlet obscured in the harsh shadows cast upon the earth. The flames that were lit in all their glory for the holiday of Samhain were brilliantly bright, almost an envy to the fiery patches adorning his fur. The green flash he'd seen from a small distance away had piqued his interest to some degree, though, and despite all the internal protests and excuses he'd given himself not to approach the mysterious colorful source, he did so anyways. He couldn't find Kunai anywhere - he supposed that during their respective altar offerings they must have taken different routes back towards Tojo-Kai. Though he had traveled quite a ways away from the altar he'd visited.

No matter. Maybe his beloved was at the steppes, waiting for him.

The hohei pressed onward, the warm glow of the flames dancing along his frame as he almost stopped and stared, almost drawn into its grandeur. But he was a realist, fair and simple, and realists didn't really get caught up in such folly like flame-staring. Or divination, as the familiars at one table seemed to speak of. Some of the strange creatures - some resembling those of the altar he visited, some not - encouraged him to approach a long table piled with various strange and seemingly unrelated objects. Perhaps you'd like to try your hand at fortune-telling! Or perhaps you'd like to search for your fate in glass or bones, Some of the small and wiry creatures squeaked and whispered.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes and disregard them, the koi-spotted male realized he didn't have much to do here if Kunai wasn't present, anyways. Against his best judgement, he made the decision to play their game - with a grain of salt, of course. He was a skeptic through and through. Usagi selected a circular glass mirror from the items they had sprawled out, figuring it'd be the easiest to use.

The familiar explained the art of scrying - a form of divination where the purpose was exceedingly simple; just clear your mind and stare into the mirrored surface. At least it didn't require a million steps. Grabbing the mirror, Usagi padded towards a quiet spot beyond the stones, a secluded but relatively well-lit area so he could see his reflection decently. He sat down on slender haunches, mossy eyes narrowing into the mirror's unusually clean and shiny surface. Truthfully he hadn't seen any mirrors in his life - maybe a few at his home in Iga, but he didn't give them much thought.

Thoughts - how strange. He never considered himself an overthinker, never overwhelmed with a cacophony of meaningless words and phrases, never tortured with endless phrases and yelling and screaming - well, maybe that was a bit much, but he just didn't think too deeply about concepts he knew were out of his control. He supposed that made his head clear enough for this scrying ritual. His reflection glanced into the mirror's gleaming surface, and he almost found himself the slightest bit interested in the way he looked. Is that really how he appeared to others? What did he even hope to see in this ritual, much less achieve? He didn't want for much these days, he had a loving partner and a wonderful brother; a questionable relationship with his father but healing nonetheless.

So, what should the mirror tell him what he might already know?

Might as well give it a go, He thought to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. At first, he noticed nothing. The crackling of flames, maybe, or the scattering of little familiars' paws and claws across the grass. The willowy whisps of fog that faintly tickled his spine. But after a little while, keeping his eyes closed, he felt the sounds of everything around him fade, and that was when he gazed into the mirror's depths yet again. Staring. Not thinking, not doing, not caring about anything else but this one moment in time. Looking into it, things seemed to warp ever so slightly - the patterning on the crest of his head seemed to shift and muddle in color and hue, the sharpness of his mossy eyes brightened or darkened in the flashes of ember light.

Scrying didn't have a concrete definition of what he should expect - it seemed everyone had a different response to it. Maybe some hoped to find their true love through the reflection as it warped, or maybe good fortune or luck. But he didn't need all that, did he? The mirror's depths around him took on a weird obsidian and holographic hue, polychromatic swirls filling his vision as he stared, unblinking. Usagi was in a trance, no doubt, and he certainly was beginning to see what lay ahead of him..or maybe behind him?

Who knows?

Speech