Witnesses to change

[Seyfi]

Emperor, is it now?

Seyfi had been persuaded by a neighboring merchant to follow along to the massive congregation that had been gathered for Akiyama's surprising--and yet, not so--announcement. He left long before the speech was over, troubled by what he had heard. No doubt the rest of the details and gossip would reach his ears within days. Oi.

He had witnessed a few unfortunate run-ins with some of Kisho's brutish soldiers throughout the city, and had not developed a favorable opinion of him as a leader. Now that wartime had been officially announced, people had become even more scarce. Naturally it was bothersome; Seyfi had to make a few drastic changes to the wares and prices in his shop, for good or for worse. If things remained as painfully dry as they had been for the past four or five days, he would have no choice but to pack up and move back to the other side of the island. Perhaps even back to India.

"Thank you for your good work," he called to his aide after dismissing him for the day. It was getting harder to find things for him to do, and Seyfi was worried he'd have to send the poor fellow up the high road. He'd already counted up the stock. Twice. And cleaned. Twice. His aide had followed suit. It was a very, very long week.

Stepping outside, he glanced down the near-barren street. Well, barren for a marketplace. There were still plenty of people. They just weren't spending any money; it put all the shopkeepers in a grim mood. Seyfi was not as ill-tempered; he was thankful that there seemed to be no trouble stirring nearby.

Speaking of trouble, he kept in mind to ask around for a follow-up to that little speech that went on earlier in the day.

"Lord in Heaven," he muttered, wiping the dust off his hands with a towel, "I can't seem to go anywhere without running into war."

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

Katsuya trudged down the nigh-empty marketplace street with a long sigh that substituted thousands of curses. For the scene of the crime, all Kyushu had to offer were little archer brats and creepy girly men. Not to mention he couldn't seem to shake the feeling that he was being followed, but that was probably just paranoia on his part. Either way, he came back to Edo reluctantly, and in a very foul mood.

As he looked around, he noticed that the place wasn't nearly busy enough, and the shops themselves were completely untouched by the pedestrians. He sauntered up to the first person he saw, who just happened to be the weirdly-dressed foreigner he'd been staring at intermittently for the past minute.

"Hey, old man, somethin' happen?"

[Seyfi]

"Ah?" Seyfi blinked. O-old man..?

He plastered a smile on his face as he glanced over at the younger--I'm not that old...--fellow.

"Oh, well, if a new emperor is news to you, then, yes, there has been a great many somethings happening here." No doubt the man was from out-of-town; it seemed the only excuse to not have heard every rumor and string of gossip buzzing around.

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Haaaah? New emperor?" Katsuya frowned, his lower lip jutting out as he did so and making him look like a sullen preteen. "Just hold on a minute there, grandpa. That prince has barely been gone fer a week, and we're gettin' a new ruler already? What the hell's up with that?"

[Seyfi]

Seyfi glanced upwards for a moment with a 'Why!?' look--I'm not that old!--before looking back and smiling dryly at his remark. "It is Seyfi," he emphasized the name, "not grandpa."

"And are you truly surprised?" he went on, folding his arms and leaning up against the frame of the doorway, letting his gaze sweep down the road at the scattered people. "It looks to me as if that Akiyama fellow and his brutes were already in charge. I am thinking this was just the grain of rice that tipped the scale."

He shook his head a bit, clicking his tongue. "Either way, things are not going to be so safe and simple for these poor folks."

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Are you kiddin'?" Katsuya exploded, glaring at the foreign man as if he were purposely misleading him. "What about... I dunno, a siege? A search and rescue, even? Am I the only one who actually put some effort into findin' the poor bastard?" Granted, he'd only been looking for a few weeks, but it was the effort that counted, right?

[Seyfi]

Seyfi shook his head again. "Mmm, it has been clear from the beginning that the poor fellow's well-being was never a priority around here, I am afraid. You seem a lot more shocked than most anyone else around."

He tilted his head at the fellow. "Did you know the prince, or?"

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Well, not personally or anythin'... Seyfi-kun, was it?" Katsuya puffed up his chest importantly. "But I'm a loyal citizen of Japan, yeah? I had to do somethin'!" He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at Seyfi. "Seems like you know a lot about this. Lived here long?"

[Seyfi]

Seyfi nodded as the man confirmed his name, glad there was no further reference of age. He was about to ask his name in return, but stayed quiet as the man continued speaking, listening with an attentive expression, smiling a bit at the man's tone as he did so.

"Mm? Oh, yes," he said, blinking and straightening as he was addressed. "Four years here, six in the country. The gossip flies back and forth down this street a lot. Though not as much now. Security reasons, of course..It is a war."

The last bit was said a bit grimly, but his expression stayed receptive and cordial. Conversation kept him from mulling over all the troubles that he had to deal with, anyway.

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Ah, so it really is a war?" Katsuya crossed his arms behind his head with a long sigh. "I know this country could use more excitement, but that kinda sucks. Nothin' really fun about a war, is there?" It sounded offhand, but it was accompanied by a little shudder; though Katsuya was confident, perhaps overconfident, in his combat skills, the thought of a real battle unnerved him.

[Seyfi]

"Excitement? War?" Seyfi gave the stranger an incredulous look for a minute before looking off down the street again. "It may be exciting now, but within a year, the people will be tired of it, and it will begin to show its true nature. I am having the feeling that it won't matter either way, though."

His eyebrows furrowed in thought, keeping his own memories of battle at bay. To help it along, he looked back over at the man and, curiously, "So what is it you do, stranger?"

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Well... you could say I'm a..." Katsuya stopped, sighing. He'd been just about to insert some wild euphemism for his line of work (his particular favorite was "soldier for truth,") but somehow, he was tired of it. "Mercenary," he finished flatly. "I was plannin' to go rescue the prince and retire to Okinawa, but that one sort of fell through, huh?"

[Seyfi]

"Ohh?" Seyfi shrugged his shoulders a bit to get more comfortable against the doorframe. He smiled crookedly. "Well, your line of work might just get a bit more popular, though I think they might try to enlist you for a bit longer than you'd like...Either way, I am thinking there will be plenty that the new emperor will want dead, yes? No doubt you will find something."

[Nakata Yoshiaki]

Yoshiaki stood quietly at a nearby booth, eyes fixed on Katsuya and a strange foreigner he was talking to. He had followed the mercenary there with practically no problems occuring, and was currently blending easily into the background by looking over a variety of trinkets for sale. He was more than excited--this was his first time in the capital--but he kept his focus on the two men and their conversation.

He had tried to cover up his giggles several times, earning kind looks from the shop owners, but he froze when he heard the two talk about the emperor. What was going on?

[Hasegawa Katsuya]

"Pfft, like I'd work under someone like THAT," Katsuya said emphatically, shuddering. "I mean, I'm not on real intimate terms with the guy, but he creeps me out, y'know? From what I've heard, that is..." Though he hadn't met Akiyama at all, he'd heard some pretty vile stuff about the way the guy ran things.