柿 Tales - prologue (part one)

(immediately follows 'Utakata')

These are to be released quietly in Japan, to be discovered at the appropriate time to lead into Kashikoi (six half hour episodes, in twelve parts).

_____________________________________________________________

~ Into the magistrate's simple palace ~


柿 (kaki)

Or Persimmon.

The Powhatan name for the fruit

which for some reason grows abundantly in both places.

The magistrate sits on his throne reading the book, symbols on pages lighting the room as it empties into the night.  Day and night, he continues reading, the guards ageing, the village becoming overgrown and flowered. 

As the eras fade, the village fades within a growing city, gone.

He sits reading, engrossed, ageless.  The room covered in dust and web, himself lost beneath where he does not move, until a shadow crosses the page, which for the first time darks the symbols.

He looks up and sees her.

He smiles with soft love in his eyes, closes the book and bows.

She - "I've traveled a very long way.  I hope not to trouble your great house for accommodations, the night.  To depart the morn."

Magistrate - He examines her, "I know you."

She - "You know me."

Magistrate - Staring, then a smile, "Please.  My home, be humbled and aged, is yours as far beyond the morn as you would wish it."

She - Glancing to the book, then back, "A reader ?"

Magistrate - Almost nervously, shy, "Indeed at times, I am."

She - Pausing to stare, a smile, "Will you read to me tonight ?"

Magistrate - A long held bow, "You are my queen."
________

She lies in bed, stretched perhaps conspicuously as he sits in a chair bedside, Akari and Mariko standing on either side of him.

Akari - Whispering in his ear. looking at Mariko, "Tell her a love story ..."  They turn and fade away with Mariko's giggle, taking hands.

Magistrate - Listening, then watching his guest a moment.  "If one would not mind a more modern tale."

She - Smiles, "One would not."

Magistrate - With excitement, "Excellent."  He opens the book, reads and smiles a moment, then at her, "It is a tale of two daughters.  One in Heaven, and one in Hell, yet bound together always by their love."

('Ituri' by Pain Teens)

 

 

As he reads through the night, the pages turn over writhing sheets, in the last she is joined.

________

She awakes to the sounds of strings plucked.

Through the window a mist passes gently, the market filled with life in it's gusts, then emptied again to age.  He looks to her then to the rough breakfast and tea and the bedside table. 

Wrapped, she sits up and drinks as he continues to play.

Through the castle, mists and shadows pass with echoing tones.  Mariko and Akari hold hands running and laughing out the front door to the mist.

Their echoing stops and laughter fills with the music.  The guest smiles, the host continues as she snacks the greens on her plate.
____

Akari points into the air with shooting fingers shooting while Mariko rolls her eyes and sits watching, listening to the tale.  Akari points at the sun with her finger and shoots to the sound of a true shot

They browse the wares in the market, sampling occasionally too much.  A swirling black form passes, leaving the empty village in its wake before life returns cold from the mist, all looking after.

From within the swirling, a deep rumble as a kiln burning, the sound of debris churning within, absorbed and ground by dervish, feeding a flame in it's chest along with all the color around it.

Akari takes Mariko's hand and they watch it approach the palace, drawing its color into age, gliding in steady path furiously paced until standing before the great door, aging it.

The nearby trees shake toward, losing leaves, ground into it's fury.

It raises it's arm to pound, leaning in and striking the door three times, with deep echo, each sending a crack further up the greying surface.

The magistrate opens the cracked door to greet, the book open in one arm.  The churning thing stares with a grinding growl, almost metallic.

Magistrate - "You must be thirsty."

Within the dervish a face begins to form, the chaos settling into rough black clothing, never quite formed, as his face.  He nods.

Magistrate - As they enter, he pages through the book. "Do you ... care for tales of the blade ?" 

A deep rumble from the guest, his head turned toward angrily.

Magistrate - "Indeed who does not ?  This !"

He whips his finger down the page drawing fire into the shape of a sword, blade upright, the pommel atop his finger tip, blade upright and turning slowly.

Magistrate - "Is the blade of Miyamoto Musashi."

He looks to the guest staring back into his eyes, emotionless beyond a sense of rage.

Magistrate - "In it's archetypal form of course but you see it isn't just who he was ..."  He drops the blade into his fingers, twirling the handle between dramatically but non threateningly in his motionless arm as he examines the guest.

Magistrate - "... nor was it his tale of fingers."  The blade returns to fingertip, his gaze returning to the blade.

A deep rumble from the guest as form fades and returns, anger in the eyes.  Tea is prepared as they sit, spirits prepare and pour, spinning between task, the sword still on the his finger tip.

Magistrate - "It's how he forged his blade.  And what ..."  His eyes return to guest, "... he forged it from.  Metallurgy."

The dervish stares angrily at the magistrates eyes until all is settled and the attendants spin away to dust.  Akari and Mariko stand behind him now, each with a hand on his chair.

The magistrate turns the bladed finger over hand, twisting wrist sharply the whipping arm over, slamming the blade into the floor, hilt upright at his side.  He draws the finger back over to turn back a page, looking to the guest,

Magistrate - "And there inspires our tale."

~ an asteroid burns across the sky ~ 

Miyamoto Musashi drinks his drink on his porch in the late dusk.  He spots an asteroid flying across and into the distant land with a quiet sound.

Musashi - Staring at it's distant landing place while Mariko and Akari walk from the wall behind.  "There are two thousand eyes which have seen this.  And not one a sleeping guard ..."

~ A gate guard at distant Edo falls off the end of his pike spar, jolting back awake while the asteroid flies over unnoticed.  He returns to slump ...

Akari flies her hands over the distant path of the asteroid, exploding with her arms apart.

Musashi - "And now they wonder what to do ..."

~ A woman runs through the deep wood pursued, coming out to see the war at sea.  The sound behind, she runs desperately for the docks.

Musashi - Standing and walking to the cupboard, "Yet how many will go ?"  He pulls a dirty robe of hard cloth.  "How many will wonder what if ?"

~ Another woman is dragged to a village center, stones gathered.

Musashi - "Who will be met and how ?"  He removes a dark wide belt.

~ Western pirate ships round the horn, approaching a convoy from India.

He stares at a mount of two blades, one broken, one not.  The tipped half of the broken bound at the base as a knife with trailing red fabric.  The other half is tipped as a cracked gouge across the blade, sharp at the break. 

Musashi - "How much skill will be seen for this ..."

~ The palace samurai notice the flight, and seem to know what to do.  They prepare full blade and armors before departure on horse.

He takes the unbroken blade, holds it high with a bow, then taking the broken blade pieces and tucking them into either side of his robe, a bit of the fabric bind hanging over the belt.

Musashi - "And always still the question which hangs ..."  He looks over the travel hats, choosing the broad woven cone.

~ At a distant dock a woman stops to watch it fly over.  She takes a drink and flips a coin to the slumped guard before entering Edo's gate.

Musashi - Putting on the hat hung well over his face, seeing through the broken weaves, "... will I at last meet my Buddha in the road ?"

He departs, followed by the spirits into the dark night.

柿 Tales - prologue (part two)

~ Edo ~

Kan'ei 9.  24th day of the first month.

~ March 14, 1632 ~

With the fading out of a man's laughter, the woman yells drunk in the street at night, heard through the window ...

"! Hidetada !"

The sound of vomit.

"! Hidetada !"

The retired shogun goes to the window in his night robes.

Tokugawa Hidetada - "Woman !  What are you !?  In the street falling over as a fool calling out my name !  The guards are here soon I think."

Shumi - "Hi !"  Dressed in rags with a sack of wine bottles, she holds up the shriveled skin from a head by the hair.  "This guy."

He winces away at the sound of vomit.

Shumi - "He was a guard.  He lost his his skull when I killed that other guard with it.  There were a lot guards !  But one good hit ... skull flies right out.  It ... "  She holds up her hand sick, but composes, "It's really disgusting.  Do you know Hidetada ?"

Hidetada - "I am ... Tokugawa Hidetada."

Hit in the face with a head skin.

Shumi - "Was there going to be another one ?"

She winces from the sound of vomit.

He turns from the window to the wall of weapons, takes the well favored sword from the front, inhaling it's ever burning incense surrounding.  Drying his face of blood he turns to the bedroom door, three women surround his bed watching.

He slides the door to the broad stair opening.

Shumi - Waiting there, "Hi !"

She watches giddily as the blade slides through his chest from behind, she looks up to his eyes with an excited grin.  She drinks with a giggle while two more, one a long blade, one short, scissor the throat a foot in front of her. 

He falls over after his head.

Gara (center) - While other two turn to gear from his wall, "You're late."
____

She tickles his feet in bed while he laughs loudly out of control, the other two playing musical instruments, all three look annoyed.
____

Shumi - "Do you know how many guards this place has ?"

They all look at each other.

Shumi - "Yah !  I don't either !  Let's go !"

From outside the window ...

Guard - "! Tokugawa !"

A guard stands with a troop.  A banging sound, then a flying skull hits him in the head, knocked out.  The skin hits the second.  He slumps over to vomit ~

 

~ ! 柿 Tales ! ~

(Give We the Pride by PE and Mavis Staples)

 

 

~ a man raises his hand to strike, his surprised eyes as the unseen woman cuts him though.

The three leap from the window over the guards.

~ the other woman kicks a stone thrown.

The two of three work in unison, dancing their way through the crowd while the third makes final kills, directing the mass, Shumi watches drinking from the window.

~ highwaymen enter the geisha temple.

The three run through the streets Edo, guards filling the intersection ahead, the fourth stumbling behind with the quarry's weapon's and loot.

~ the wife empties his pockets, takes his weapons.

The three fight in their way until Shumi arrives staggering, drinking with oversized pack, trying to light a torch ...

~ the woman stoned begins a slowed view spin between stones.

The three part in her path, left and right cartwheeling, the third back flipping over Shumi as she spits a mouthful through the flame, igniting the front while she lights a rag hanging from the next bottle.

~ The temple burns ...

Burning guards fleeing as the three clear the streets while Shumi stumbles ... cocktails fly, the city gate slams shut, archers line the walls.

~ The village burns ...

The wall detonates, explosions lining across.

~ The wife looks at the bottle on the stand, Shumi's face seen.

The geisha are geared behind the fallen wall.

Shumi - Drinking from the bottle, looking at the geisha crew, "Hi !"
________________

In a drinking house ~

Tokugawa Ieyasu - The son of the dead man dirty robed and heavy hatted, nearly obvious guards dotting the house, "I assumed it would be quiet."

Shumi - "Why the hell would you assume that ?  Do you have any idea how many guards we had to kill ?"  She drinks.  "I sure as hell don't."

Ieyasu - "Well you were dressed all in black ..."

Shumi - Slamming the table, nearly obvious guards becoming more so, "Look !  Just because I spill my wine sometimes does not mean I should have to wear all black all the time !"
____

The entire crew - Rushing into her cabin while she drinks muttering to herself, "! Intervention !"  They knock over the lantern in the attack, the sounds of extreme beatings in the dark ...
____

Ieyasu - "But ... you were wearing black.  And you had a mask ..."

Shumi - "So ?"

Ieyasu - "So ... I assumed it would be more quiet."

Shumi - "So I spill my wine sometimes.  Whatever.  So you have a very interesting name for the son of a traditionalist.  Phonetic Latin, right ?" 

She drinks staring, analyzing ...

Shumi - "So one may wonder about that."  She drinks again, lost in an eye.  "Given your dead father's policies.  So !  Is it my patricidal payday yet ?"
________________

Walking out to the ship, It's hull lifted with the screw scrubbing.  The 'scissor twins' meet her, the third on deck watching them, coiling rope.

Hidarite - "Payment ?"

Shumi - "A map."

Migite - "A map to ?"

Shumi - Tossing the bottle to the sea, drink splashing out wasted, "Another place entirely." 

They walk the dock ...
_______________

The grinding thing stares listening in it's furnace rage at the Magistrate, who looks back down with a smile to turn a page.

... fade to credit roll ...

 ('Give it Up' (live) by Public Enemy)

 

柿 Tales - chapter one (part one)

('No' by Public Enemy)

 

 

Musashi walks the road with Akari and Mariko, running around and playing behind, diving into bushes and jumping out at each other and fighting with sticks, then tumbling back into the bush.

He maintains his stoic 'hero walk', hand rested casually on belt to the fabric of the broken blade as they roll around playing behind on their way.

They freeze and look then jump back to the bushes.  His hand flies, unraveling the blade to the view.
____

A wave splashes against the bow of the departing ship, dipping the aft.  At it's lowest point, Musashi's blade strikes the aft hull, then pulled taut in it's lowest dip.

Slacked with the counter splash rise, the woman set to be stoned in the village sails over from the snap-pull of the ribbon, landing behind the crow's nest, a small circular enclosure set on a slightly larger square platform.

She climbs behind and curls the blade's fabric around her arm, then laying down to sleep.
____

The village burns as she walks away into the wood.

Days pass as she wanders, sun raging across the sky while she walks the path, off the path, to the hunt, the feast, and to the path, the sun chases the moon.

She settles into the cave to sleep ...
________________

The scene pulls angrily back to the Magistrate and the dervish rumbling.

The magistrate leans back and rests his hand on the blade's hilt to his right, looking at his guest, then up to the woman walking down the stairs behind the dervish.

Magistrate - A smile, returned as she walks to the kitchen.  Then after she's gone he leans in, "I will marry her one day you know."

The dervish stares in rage, his furnace chest burning and grinding, breathing hard through gritted teeth.

The Magistrate smiles leaning back to read, Mariko and Akari watch the guest with curiosity, occasionally whispering to each other.
________________

A man's arm is raised before a beggar.  Musashi cracks his neck, grabbing his two blades, long and short as he falls.

Musashi - To the beggar, "That's not as easy as it looks."

Samurai behind - "! You !"

Musashi - Glancing behind then back to the the beggar, then a drink, "Would you like their coins ?"  He smiles and turns twirling with blades spinning ...

('Take Me to the River' by Annie Lennox)

 

 

Gara, the priestess of the temple watches the bandit choke on his wine.  His two swords drawn by Hidarite and Migite, used then on the two bandits behind them as the temple turns to action.

____

The stranger catches a stone thrown at her in the village.
____

Musashi lets loose his ribbon blade ~
____

Time slows to near stop as the stranger leans back, un-ravelling the ribbon blade with a spiral behind her.  Stones nearly hover as she kicks one back to the thrower, turning over as the blade enters an attacker.

She pulls hard as the kicked stone strikes the other, pulling the man down as the blade flies to the next target.
____

Temple tools then stolen blades are used to quell the drunken attackers, led by Hidarite and Migite while the Gara watches lighting her pipe.  She observes their method with approval as would a teacher.

She exhales smoke with a laugh at the crashing sound.
____

Musashi strangles one over his shoulder while shoving the jagged blade beneath and armor plate on another.  He tosses one coin bag into the pile before the beggar then kicks the other over as it falls.

The beggar laughs clapping ...
____

In slow time the blade spins through the crowd cutting, a swirling of cloud over head.  Tears fly from her eyes as she spins, it rains.  A lightning and thunder brooding above.

In the spinning views Mariko and Akari dance through the crowd as it looks up.
____

Musashi sits with the beggar sharing his wine and telling a tale, gesturing to the sky.  Akari and Mariko laugh with them.
____

Lightning strikes the village structures igniting them in a swirling view of the stranger's dance with the clouds above, Akari and Mariko spinning between.
____

Akari and Mariko watch the temple burn with the priestesses, turning then to walk away whispering.
____

Mariko and Akari follow Musashi down the path, playing as he resumes his 'hero walk', carrying the hunted rabbit, while they play and pretend the above scenes.
____

The stranger sleeps in her cave ...
____

The priestess lights smokes her pipe, looking over the fallen as they're looted.

Gara - "Time for a change."

柿 Tales - chapter one (part two)

Shumi - "! Hey !"

The woman wakes with a pistol to her head from over the edge of the crow's nest, Shumi yelling from beneath.  She sits up stretching, then casually sweeps the pistol across with her hand from under the grip pulling to, flipping it to the sea.  She settles back in to sleep.

Karasu - Looking down to Shumi while the guest lies back down to sleep, "Did you see that !?  Like Whoosh ... I didn't even see that !"

Shumi - Drinks angrily from the bottle.  "You're not supposed to be happy about that."

Karasu - "Well I am.  Whooooosh ..."

Shumi - "Well kill her or kick her or something !  What the hell kind of watch are you ?!"

Karasu - "Oh look Shumi, there's a woman sleeping there.  Wonder how she got on board ?  And she didn't kill me so why the hell should I kill her !?"

The bottle smashes against side of the the nest, the woman sits up abruptly.

Karasu and Guest - "! Hey !"

The fabric blade strikes the ground at Shumi's feet, the sky darkens with moving storm and distant thunder.  A flash of lighting across the clouds and the guest is crouched in front of her.

Shumi - Looks around, counting ... "one ... two ... three ..." 

The sound of thunder as the guest rises, staring ready.

Shumi - "Hi !  That was three miles away."  She takes a drink raising her brow to the stranger.  "So whatever the fuck you are you've got at least a three mile range.  That's useful.  Do you eat food ?"

Stomach sounds ...

Stranger - Looking a moment, "I do eat food ..."

Shumi - "I eat food too."  She takes her hand and pulls, "Let's go eat food."
____

Musashi eats a rabbit at the fire ...

Akari and Mariko stares in horror while he truly seems to enjoy the meal.
____

On a plate before the magistrate's guest dervish, a tart goes grey with age.  His churning grind sounds almost appreciative as he stares in his rage, the attendants spinning away to dust.  His face takes a slight more form. 

Eyes focusing to the sound of heavy page turning.

The sound of sea splash and a deck alarm bell clangs ...
____________

They watch the armada line against their departure.

Shumi - Standing alone next to the stranger, deck quiet behind, "So ... did you know that I find super powered females to be sexy as hell ?"

Stranger - Smiling, watching the enemy make a slow formation, a bit of confusion between the placement of two ships, "I did know that."

Shumi - Looks sideways, drinking, "... stalker ..."

Stranger - "It's true what he said.  You're very noisy."

Shumi - "Crowded bar, yah ?"

Stranger - "After you left ... less so."
____

The bar burns ...
____

Shumi - "You talk so dirty to me ... but it was so loud because all the ninjas were in the water."  She hands her the scope, "Ever seen one of these ... ?

Stranger - Takes it, extending, then looking annoyed at Shumi before using it to scan the boats, "Plenty."

Ninjas crawl up the enemy gunwales on every boat, men fall across one deck, darts are loaded and shot to the next, they climb back down while others enter cabins ...

Stranger - "How many are there ... ?"

Shumi - Annoyed, "They don't let me count them."  Drinks.
____

Hundreds of ninjas cartwheel and flip among each other giggling in a large cargo bay while Shumi storms away with her bottle.
____

Shumi - Throwing down the bottle to smash, "Shall we dance ?"

('The Undertaker' by Prince)

 

 

(five minute cut, ending intact)

As the ships begin to burn and alarms sound in the distance, they dance ...

Deck after deck silently cleared as each soldier looks for what he can't find before falling, the cleared ships lit afire behind, powder igniting, they dance.

Rear guard ships work their way forward, a cloud of smoke crosses their path breathed by a turtle ship.

(These are Korean warships, usually paddled, with an enclosed top deck, armored and spiked (like a turtle ... with spikes) and a dragon's head at the bow which breathes smoke. One of history's most awesome things (of war).

The ship deploys quiet rockets rockets across the sails, catching them afire. The ships before them soldiers fall one after the next silently.

Their dance and spin with fire lit smoke ...

Stranger - An explosion in the distance, "I admit I believed you're so calm because you just assumed I'd kill them all for you."

Shumi - "I put the ninjas in the water so we could dance instead."

Stranger - Leaning in to kiss, "I would have ..."

Shumi - "... stalker ..."  The kiss, smoke lit explosions as the turtle ship meets with a large cargo ship, finishing the last to screams and heavy cannon.
________________

Musashi kicks over the fire with dirt, the sound of bushes rustling.
____

The dervish grins as the plate cracks beneath the black tart, teeth beginning to form in a rumbling exhale.
____

As the burning ships fade ~

Shumi - Kiss breaking, "You kiss like a goddess ..."

Stranger - "You kiss like a pirate."

! The End !

 

 

柿 Tales - chapter two (part one)

('Short Change Hero' by The Heavy)

 

 

In the storm a Xinhua woman (Qiu) works the decks alone of a temple warship.  Stumbling over the dead, she works the rigging from the broken wheel.

In tears she begins dragging the bodies to clear her path, lightning flashes sight of a dark spirit clinging to the underside of an overhang, whispering names in the wind.

Qiu turns to the decks below.  Oarsmen are slung dead over oars, lightning flashes the spirit smiling and licking her lips, whispering names.

She drags the bodies and dumps them over in the storm, one by one, all too heavy.  The spirit crawls rarely seen along the ceilings watching.

She drags heavy wooden crates from around the ship to the oars, attaching the tied upright in a row across both sides of the oar's deck then to the newly rigged wheel.

She pulls it and brings it down, fixes the rigging to the below deck, then opens the forward invasion gate to the storm.

...

With a deep breath she lifts the broad pole and pushes against the last of the row with a roar, knocking the oars one by one, the ship moves.

She lines them up again, lifting and dipping the oars,

She lifts the pole and pushes hard with a roar, the goes behind to the wheel pulling hard. The ship knocks through half sunken wreckage.

The spirit sits at the bow whispering names as Qiu dumps the last of the bodies. She returns below.

The ship edges out from storm and the last of the wreckage.
________________

The stranger and Shumi lie in bed ~

Shumi - "Are you gonna tell me your name ?"

The stranger smiles and kisses her nose.

Shumi - Giggles, "I'm just saying I have no idea what to scream when you do that thing."

The stranger - Giggles then a breath, she looks at her, "They never gave me one."

Shumi - Stroking her hair then smiling, "Me neither."

('Power to the People' by The Chi-Lites)

 

 

Out to a sailing scene, decks and crews shown, post battle repairs, a display of the various ships and their workings through the song.

A calm wind, beautiful sail ~
________________

Samurai in the street - "! Miyamoto Musashi ! You ..."

Musashi - A distance away for showdown, "Oh shut up !" He drinks from his bottle, "Sullen cow."

Samurai - "You ..."

Musashi - "It's always the same you know. You've got your ..."  He gestures around, "archers on the rooftops ..."  He waves around, "Hello ... hello ..."

Rooftop motion crouches low.

Musashi - "You have your warrior best !  At your side.  You'll send them after the archers are dead of course.   Coward."

The samurai draw back in shock and hubris, the sound of stretched bows across the wind.

Musashi - "The same every time.  And now you will talk of your own elevation in my death.   Knowing it would be so, yet knowing it would not be your victory.   A random arrow, you believe, to kneel me before you.  Anonymous.  Excrement."

The lead samurai growls to speak ...

Musashi - "So I was thinking along the path, how to approach this differently. Indeed every time they just send another like the dead before and then dead again.  The same the same ..."

Samurai - Grip tightening, "You will ..."

Musashi - "This once I say this.  One good man step forth.  Any man.  Step forth and fight at my side.  I care not for skill, we together will kill all opposition to the one good man who would swear to me to rule in peace and feed his people.  All.  This moment."

A murmur around, then silence.

Musashi - "Hm.  So be it."  He reaches into his robe.

Farmer - "Wait !" He walks up to stand next to Musashi. "I do not know about rule.  Only food.  I grow food.  These dogs eat it.  The people starve."

Musashi pulls off his broad hat and stares into the man's eyes, deeply analyzing ... he grabs the back of the farmer's head and puts hard their foreheads together.

Musashi - Whispering, energy crackling between them, "Do you swear it to me, Miyamoto Musashi, upon your sworn life that when I return, your people are fed, this land in peace, with guard ready to defend it ? Prepared as the seed in your fields ? Baked like your bread ? Will you do that which is required ?"

Farmer - "I will do this."

Musashi - With a roar, "! Swear it !  Swear it to Musashi."

Farmer - "I swear it upon your most jagged blade, let it touch my heart if I fail."

Musashi - Whispering, "Good.  Then let us kill these men and be done with it."

He throws the man into the crowd and flings the ribbon blade through a rooftop archer's eye.  The others turn to see as he's pulled violently from the roof, all losing temporary sight line on Musashi as he spring forth replacing his hat, charging the street samurai.

The farmer disappears into the watching crowd as field tools are passed around between, disappearing behind the nearby buildings.

The samurai roar to charge.

柿 Tales - chapter two (part two)

In the map room cabin, Shumi unravels the new map on the table, main deck hands placing the random objects at corners. The Korean captain Mishil, looks over with her, joined by her first.

The stranger lurks in the back, bored and casually spinning here and there, then suddenly looks up.

In a moment the bow of the ship dips suddenly.

Shumi - "Fuck !"

With a wind the lanterns extinguish, giggles in the total darkness.

Unseen voice - "It is time for payment."

Shumi - "Beautiful new ribbon friend, please don't do what your thinking."

An impatient sigh in the dark.

Shumi - The sound of a sloshing drink and a spill. "And Chiyome. There was a plan.  You will be paid !"

The ship creaks and shakes with the sound of laughter from the decks.

Chiyome - "Payment."
____

Hundreds jump on the fore deck, others grabbing the rails and shifting weight while the ship bobs, the entire deck crew tied to mast and various works.  They looked mostly just annoyed.

Karasu - Shouting from the crow's nest, "Please stop doing that !  I really do hate it !"

The nest swings and bobs in dramatic circles atop the mast.

Karasu - "You have no idea what that's like up here !"

A ninja pops up behind her - "Yes we do !"  Karasu turns with a scare as the ninja back flips with a flinging toss from the swinging mast.
____

Chiyome - "Ice cream."

A slow chanting in the darkness - "... ice cream ... ice cream ..."

Shumi - "It's in France ! It's on our way !"

...

Chiyome - "Good.  And then we will make mochi.

A gust of wind, the lanterns lit.

The ship sails quietly approaching the temple ship.
________________

"Hey !"

Qiu's eyes open.

Shumi - Heard yelling from outside her ship, "! Hey !"
____

The stranger whispers in her ear, while on the Xinhua ship Akari and Mariko stare at her, pointing to the hissing spirit.

Shumi - Looks at the stranger like it's a crazy thought and takes a drink, "Whatever."

Qiu walks out to her deck's edge.

Shumi - "Hi !  So ... is this your boat ?"

Qiu - "You shouldn't be here.  It's very bad here.  There is nothing you can do."

Shumi - "Yah my new wife told me all about that (the stranger stares at her), but it's okay !  I don't believe in ghosts and I'm pretty sure she's immune to them so ... we're coming over now."

Akari and Mariko stare at the stranger, she shrugs back while the deck crew nervously extends plank.
____

Shumi and the stranger sit at the table with Qiu, the spirit nearly well wrapped around Shumi's head, sticking a serpent-like tongue in her ear while the others stare in horror, Akari and Mariko pale.

Shumi - Looks at them annoyed, "Oh come on ..."  She drinks.  "Anyway, ya wanna join the fleet ?  Oh !  And also who are you, and my beloved petal wants to know why your boat is Hell."

The stranger stares at Shumi, then the spirit looking back ...

Qiu - Examining her, a raised bow and caution of the grinning spirit, "I ... am Qiu.  I was always a bit like your friend I think ..."  She shies her eyes from the spirit as it curls around Shumi, " ... but different."
____

She runs from pursuing dogs of hunt.

Qiu - Voiced over, "I had to run.  They came for me.  For us."
____

The spirit smiles briefly, as though touched by the acknowledgement.

Qiu - Eyes low, "And so I ran here ... I don't know how I got by them, I just did and then I hid.  It's a warship, I ... just ran ... there was war ..."
____

She crouches in the dark storage.

Qiu - Voiced over, "But the men ... they found me and ..."

The light from the opening door and their shadows.

A sloshing sound and Shumi's voice - "Then what happened ?"
____

The spirit sits piggy back on her shoulders, playing with her hair.

She looks at them, "! What !?"
____

Qiu walks through the bloody oar deck, none on her except her feet.  The spirit sits at the end licking her fingers and whispering their names.
____

She stares at Shumi, then one by one the rest, then back to her.

Qiu - "None may stay here.  I hope you understand this."

Shumi - "That's too bad.  It's a really nice boat."

Qiu - "I ... suppose it is, but you must also know that I ... we are hunted.  Pursued."

The tension breaks with laughter.

Shumi - "Yeah.  You're cool.  Need anything ?"

Qiu - "I need ... pulleys.  A lot of pulleys."

...

Qiu - "Do you have any pulleys ?"
________________

Xinhua priestesses crawl in red across the sinking wreckage let behind, checking wind and wave while a small ship passes through, crewed by the same, robed. 

They dive from the wreckage for the boat as it passes through, knocking aside a corner chipped off from a roof of Qiu's ship, following a trail of bloating oarsmen.
________________

Faces churn from the dervish's shoulders and torso while it breathes hard through it's new teeth.  His chest churns with grinding fire as it smiles slightly, form returning to rough clothing.

Magistrate - Staring a moment at the form, churning chest then up to eyes ..."I wonder how many ..."  He smiles.

The dervish hisses though a grin.

The woman walks back through with her snack, "Will you be long ?"

The magistrates grins into the dervishes eyes, plucks the upright blade to wobble in the floor.  The wobbling blade returns a shaking house, dust falling in a brief quake before he rights it with his finger tip. 

Magistrate - "Not long now."

She smiles before turning up the stairs, he looks up to admire her, finger on the blade, then returns eyes to the enraged dervish.

~ Scene over Musashi gathering blades of the fallen into a nap-sack while the village gathers more, stripping the armor and dragging bodies away.

Magistrate - Voiced over, "Shall we continue ?"

~ ! The End ! ~

柿 Tales - chapter three (part one)

Voiced over by Shumi - "Captains log."

(audible giggle snort and a drink, the bottle set hard down)

"My only one.  I only bother to write this now because it's notable.  I've never even owned a boat before.  We stole it from Ieyasu."

~ Their ships sail, sighting battle ahead attacking a beach, survivors rowing toward them flanking out around unseen.

"They kept on coming.  We stopped asking why.  They were all just right there, right in our path, every turn ... and there were so many."

~ Small pontoon Taiwanese rowboats pull up alongside, calling for aide, with wounded.

"It's all too much for me.  They don't know that but I do."

(a drink, bottle slam)

"It always was since the day I was born and I have no idea how.  And now ... I don't even know what any more.  There's a mist all around, it's never left us."

~ Three small broad sailed and pontoon Philippine ships sail under their gun's cover, sinking pursuing ships.

"There is something happening here and all I wanted to do was run away for good.  To disappear and maybe just to die.  I think it's the only thing this fleet has in common."

~ an oar lined sailing galleon from Indonesia taking fire, Chiyome swarming the attacking decks with her crew.

"We run from something wrong just praying blind for something right.  From the place that calls us monsters to the place which calls us home."

~ A broad Thai boat, as a deep house follows the growing fleet, sight of it called out by Karasu.

"I didn't want this.  This fleet is beautiful.  It's bold.  Decks filled with the finest and most noble warriors I have ever known.  And I have no idea why they follow me.  But they do.  I have a map."

~ A ship from India crosses their path, western pirates in pursuit.

"I assume the journey.  The journey assumes me."

"Shumi."
____

Lightning flashes day to night.

~ Between Two Horns ~

('Revolution' by Public Enemy)

 

 

The work their way into the icy Horn of Africa, tall tall peaks to the north, impassable, shards of beachhead, jagged.  To the south the shelf of ice spewing bergs, Antarctica.

____
____

This is one of naval history's worst routes.  Considered nearly impassable by large vessel by many, and they're doing the more difficult direction in the worst possible season. 

But still more likely than a fleet such as theirs making the highly patrolled route through the Middle Eastern seas.  In fact the devil's horns route was only passed by those with something to hide.
____
____

The decks are iced in the blizzard, the rope slipping.  A ship from the Philippines is crushed against a berg, one from India cut through by jagged rock.

Rescues deploy and pull crew from frigid water ...

The passing knocking sound of the domino weights falling in the Xinhua warship.  The crushing and tremble of the cracking ice shelves.
________________

The churning sound of the dervish.

Magistrate - "Is there somewhere within, anything which was once a sailor ?"

A face forms mildly and briefly off center from the dervishes own.

Magistrate - Smiles, "I wonder if he sailed 'the devil's horns'."

The face crosses the dervishes in fear while the dervish grins, grinding.

Magistrate - "Yes, few survived it.  The first horn, the tip of southern Africa, the second the southern tip of the Americas."

He leans forward with a smile.

Magistrate - "This was a western term from their maps held inverted, these horns held high to them."

He leans back and pauses to examine the dervish.

Magistrate - "Iced and violent waters, funneled and cooled, heated and washed.  None would pass them but to avoid the others who wouldn't."

He stares while faces pass through forms across the dervish.

Magistrate - "Criminals.  Slavers.  Importers of the drugs and weaponry which would tip those vital scales of gaijin history.  With gunpowder."

A deep churning within the dervish as it focuses form.

Magistrate - "As well our more noble friends, of course.  But theirs was not the common destination.  Theirs to sail north.  Straight between the two horns, and through the devil's brow."  He stares coldly, "Straight down the devil's throat and into its heart."

A sound of cracking wood, like trees breaking outside with the dervish's seething exhale.
________

The flagship strikes ice hard in the storm, undamaged as Shumi call orders, Karasu sailing sight.  Ships behind are roped in tow, each under their own but resisting the other's drift, disappearing into the mist.
____

On the shores of the magistrate's village, the mist drifts in as more like the dervish guest walk from the water, drawing light and color from the ageing shops, the villagers closing with watch.
____

Through the mist the Xinhua priestesses' vessel passes easily through the broad path of broken ice.

柿 Tales - chapter three (part two)

Walking over the hill the distant path of the comet they follow can be seen.  Musashi, still with the knapsack of blades, pauses with Akari and Mariko to see.  He breathes, looks down to the village in the path, listening.

A mild disruption, a dropped pot.

Birds fly.

They descend the hill.
____

The knapsack slams on the counter before the tender.  She looks nervously from him to behind, where the room is filled with a brawl paused, all staring at him.

Musashi - To the tender, "Did you ... have a favored side ?"

~ The bandits look up at her ...

Tender - Shrugs, "Eh ..."

~ The bandits look heartbroken ... "Aww ..."

Musashi - "And do they ... play ... ?"

He looks at the band.

All and the bandits turn to the band.

('Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing' by James Brown)

 

 

They begin to play as Musashi turns and pulls off his hat, bandits turning for the door, a flying sword sticks and jams the latch.  They turn.

Musashi - With the open knapsack filled with swords, looking in ... "Oh !  This one's nice."  Looks up at them, "Legacy."

The tender's face turns to horror watching, a bucket blood splashes across the wall behind her.  The a slight confusion on her face with the cracking sound.
________

The deep shelf cracking sound as the fleet passes beneath.

Inside the Xinhua vessel the dominoes fall in rhythm.  Qiu pulls the pulleys and counter weights to reset from behind the wheel one by one, two by two when she can with struggle against the wheel's counter spin.
____

The sounds of smashing and struggle, pounded meat and steel as the looks flash across the tender's face.  A giggle, confusion, horror, astonishment, revulsion, a full on laugh, etcetera.
____

The oars of the Xinhua pursuers tap off from the cascading bergs with the tips of oars, navigating the light craft through like a millipede, red flags flapping, red cloaks working the decks in storm.
____

The random sacks of bandit gold on the counter next to a well filled sack of blades.  Musashi sets down the bottle. 

Musashi - "May I fill my bottle ?"  He slides over the bandit pile.  "This is for the damages."  He reaches into his pocket for a coin and places it on the counter.  "This is for the wine."

...

Tender - "Are you tired ?"

Musashi - "No ... but I may be bleeding."

A bandage pulls across screen.
________________

The stranger looks through the mist from the aft deck.

Shumi - "Still ?"

Stranger - "Still."
____

The Xinhua captain sits in her chair overlooking the decks.

The attendant priestesses port her tea and prepare spice. 

Attendant - "There are two now."

The captain - Smiles, "Yes.  How many in count have yet to kill ?"

Attendant - Crushing the powder in a mortar, "Only three this turn.  They are ready.  If I may ask of curiosity ?"

Captain - "If the question be wise then so shall be the answer."

Attendant - "Is the island real ?"

Captain - Smiles again as the powder is poured into the drink, stirring.  "Thank you.  The island is real enough here, but it is not there now.  They will find nothing, and we will find them broken and hungry."

Attendant - "We carry on to where it should be ?"

Captain - "We will lose them in these mists, but they have no reason to go anywhere else."
________

Chiyome stares at Shumi as the ninjas chant, "Ice cream ..."

Shumi - "Yes !  France !  I said that !"

Stranger - "What is ice cream ?  It's just ... frozen cream ?"

Ninjas recoil in horror and defense ...

Shumi - "Pretty much ... with stuff in it ... I honestly don't even know.  I just know the make it in France."

Chiyome - "Wait !"

Ninjas hands to hilts with a stare.

Chiyome - She pulls off her mask and looks intently, "It is more than that.  You do not know."
____

Hundreds of ninjas in the sunny field, the camera swirling around as Chiyome holds the ice cream high in her hands, dripping in the sun as they gather round ...
____

Stranger - "Where did you even find that ... ?"
____

A decorous carriage travels the path, well guarded, the driver sits next to shogun.

Driver - "You know what I hate ?"

Shogun - Mildly annoyed and distracted, "What ?"

Driver - "Ninjas."

Black fabric and screams.

They slide the massive ice block from the back, two halves sealed horizontally like a sarcophagus.  They looks at each other ...

Pried open.  One bowl of ice cream.
____

They twirl in the field licking the dripping ice cream from Chyome's arms ...
____

Stranger - "Whoa."

Shumi - "Yeah."

Chiyome - "Mm hm !"  She turns as the ninjas depart with her, looking back suspiciously.
________

The Xinhua captain sips the tea smiling, "We go to wait where they learn what all children one day do.  That there is no Utopia.  After all."

The attendant laughs and carries the orders to deck.
________________

The floor creaks over the magistrates head.  He smiles, then looks to the dervish.

Magistrate - "Do you know love ?"

The dervish stares breathing hard, the rumbling in his chest.

Magistrate - "I'm sure in you somewhere it must be, or is that how they come to you ?  Already broken ?"

He leans forward suddenly, the dervish jolts a bit.

Magistrate - "I must admit I have curiosities."

...

He smiles leaning back.
________________

The tender wakes to an empty bed and a letter beneath the ribbon blade. 

"My name is Miyamoto Musashi.  And you should know that I did not spend this night lightly.  I found my heart in you and it is yours for the taking."

~ Another ship lost to the ice, they struggle to rescue.

"I admit this unexpected.  You are very beautiful, and of course I was interested but then it was what you said about ... candy.  Of all things.  Of the sweetest things I've ever heard, it will be with me forever."

~ The magistrate's guest looks at herself in the mirror, then to her hand.

"Mine is a world of war and death.  If you come for me, that is the life you choose.  I welcome it.  I desire it most dearly and for this very reason, I fear it tremendously."

"I leave you my finest blade, if in stead of my heart."

"Musashi."

A map and directions to his home, the dawn out the window.

Down the path Musashi walks where the burn of the asteroid crosses it.

~ The sound of falling dominoes across Qiu's ship as they exit the horn.

The magistrate's lover grows a vine down her arm into an apple and takes a bite.
____

The dervish attempts to rise, the chair cracking and all greying around him instead.
____

Outside in the village the dervishes form from the mist, the ground cracking away in their wake and falling into the water beneath.
____

Magistrate - "No no ... not yet no."  He smiles and opens the book to the deep cracking sounds.  "You've agreed to a tale."

! The End ! 

柿 Tales - chapter four (part one)

Across the misty in the earliest dawn sea ...

~ France ~ 

 

The dock watch looks up at the harbor light as it extinguishes.  Holding his lantern high to peer through its light into the mist, he hears the creaking wood, a wave splashes.

From the mire the massive cargo ship crashes through the dock works, splintering all in it's path, knocking through and aside the docked.

Fore keel strikes shore, a wave at it's back sending the aft around as the ship splashes sideways over, crushing the last of the dock and beaching the wreck.

Alarm bells clang with the approach of the guards, the watchman approaches the silent deck.  Looking through a crack in the floor, he sees the many eyes staring back.

...

Chiyome - "Is this France ?"

Watchman - Peering to understand and picking out words, "Oui ..."

('200 Balloons' by Prince)

The decks explode as they pour through, second wave leaping over the first to kick the splintering wood, pinning the guards as they sweep over them, leaving them naked. 

A wave of black, the few wearing random guard uniform pieces swarm the city, the streets and over the buildings, leaving the shocked and naked behind, while the black wave turns slowly to color in the rising sun.
________

The Xinhua priestess waits, sea anchored in storm.  Her teas sloshes in a wave.

...

She's annoyed.
____

Shumi and the stranger sit aboard at the table, waiting ... the crew plays at cards and darts ...

Stranger - "How long ?"

Shumi - "They're pretty efficient."  She slides the bottle.
____

The ninjas fill the street outside the delicacy shop, renaissance coats and corsets pulled over their gear and masks.  They stare at the closed door.

Staring.  Waiting.
____

The stranger looks at her and slides the bottle back.
____

The dervishes outside climb the stairs to the door and bang against it loudly, shaking the palace.
____

The magistrate looks at the grinning dervish.

Magistrate - In tone with the banging, "Waiting waiting waiting ..."

The dervish pulls against the chair, cracking it across the wood without break.  The door cracks against the banging as all begin roaring to the sky.

The chair repairs in vine as the woman upstairs walks down.  The walls around grow and spread across with growth in her path and wake.

She smiles back at the magistrate's gaze, walking to the front door.  Exiting, she closes the door to silence.

Magistrate - Still watching her trail as the life continues to bloom, "You see ?"

The dervish watches him open the book again with near curiosity, the color fading from the chair, wood ageing and cracking around.

Magistrate - Staring into the dervish's eyes, vines growing into the woodwork behind, roses bloom.  "Almost home."
____

The Xinhua priestess waits annoyed.  Hit by splash over mid-sip.
____

Shumi and the stranger are bored ...

Shumi - "Wanna fuck ?"

Stranger - Looks up a moment, "Okay."
____

The shop opens before the ninjas' wide eyes with a glow against their faces ...

柿 Tales - chapter four (part two)

Daphne opens the door to the ice cream shop, then looks out across the crowd of ninjas.  She raises a brow and draws back to close the door ...

They each hold up money sacks and handfuls of jewels.

Daphne - "Cassie ..."

She hold out her open palms.  A ninja drops a bag of gold in, she tosses it behind, caught by Cassandra.

Daphne - "Buy out everyone please."

Cassandra rolls her eyes and grumbles off out the back.

Daphne leans in to speak from the step, they all lean in.

Daphne - "I invented this shit.  All these other motherfuckers ?"  She spits.

They spit.

Daphne - "They don't even know a thing."  She leans back and turns smiling, "Right this way."

They file in behind.
________________

Musashi walks, Akari and Mariko crouched in the bushes ahead.  They watch as the Samurai Shogunate clear the path.  Among them workers build a forge, near where can be seen the meteor's impact.

He watches from the distance.  Shrugs.

Two soldiers walk the path where he was.  He watches the workers build from the bushes, nearer, oar being chipped off form the pulled meteorite.

Musashi - To Mariko and Akari as he pulls an apple from his robe, "Would have taken me days to do all that."

They nod smiling and run off to the woods playing.

He takes a bite.
________________

('Daughter of Chaos' by Pain Teens)

The woman walks out into the marketplace, growing over all around as the dervishes swarm in to attack, her skin made grey, then absorbed as she grows over green stretching out.

~ The ninjas walk in file back to the docks solemnly eating their ice cream, their clothing adjusted to the day and place, gear mixed.

The dervishes walk in from the sea roaring, the Earth cracking behind.  The sea's water flows between, roots growing deep within as she spreads out.

~ A dock patrol with three boats await them, they continue.

The fading sea shows a field filled with them, cracking all away in their wake as they make the docks, structures falling.

~ They walk through them, quickly without notice as they eat.  Fast swipes, a star, a dart.  In near prayer with the meal, they march through and overtake three decks.

From within the village, the inhabitants exit their homes as they grow over.  They carry their long weapon bags among other with filled sacks, messengers darting between the buildings in the bush behind.

~ They stare from the decks departing shore, French crew flinging into the air overboard behind.

Chiyome - Smiles, "Goodbye France."  She puts up her mask.

The rest nod and turn to task.
________

Shumi and the stranger stand on the aft deck looking out as the three ships approach, surrounded by their meandering fleet.

Shumi - Nearly annoyed but more bored, "You surprised ?"

Stranger - A sigh.  "Not really, no."
________

A woman at the fore of the Xinhua ship smells the wind, testing it, a gust from south, southwest ... she draws back her head and raises a brow.

Reporting to the priestess' ear, the priestess looks at her.

"Ice cream ?"
________

The magistrate closes the book and leans back.  He places it to the side table with one hand and rests his other on the pommel of the upright blade.

Magistrate - "Are you ready ?"

The dervish roars while in the soldier's camp Musashi strikes steel with a hammer, surrounded by armored bodies slung across their living duties.

A young man falls naked from the dervish's chest to the ground, looking around terrified, breathing hard, dripping with dark ooze.

Magistrate - "Run child."

He looks at him in fear.

Magistrate - Looks back angrily. "Run."

He runs foot wet slapping out the door while another face grows painfully in the dervish's chest.

~ Musashi's hammer strikes steel.

The dervish tears from his chair and they rise to meet, the blade pulled from floor as the rose vines reach after, growing into the handle and hilt for a swing.  The dervish forms a blade extended with his arm as a man's, overtaken by his own form after, blade crackling.

~ Musashi's hammer.

! The End !

after credit ~

A pile of 200 bowls and spoons on the beach.  Destruction all around.

The naked are covered in blankets by the guards, confused with babbling tales.  An investigator picks up a note from the surrounded dish pile.


"有り難う"  (thank you)

柿 Tales - chapter five (part one)

In the meteorite's burn across the woods, Musashi, Akari And Mariko.  With two tongs, Musashi stretches and folds the steel, then reaches for the hammer and pounds.
____

The water falls from the magistrate's village ponds as the world crumbles in violent quakes following the dervishes.

The mountains behind shatter and fall.
____

Shumi - Looking directly at the dark spirit crouched over Qiu's bed, "I need you to take care of her.  Okay ?"

The spirit hisses at her smiling, then looks away speaking names.
____

The magistrate's land begins to crack apart as the villagers meet the dervishes in storm.  As pieces spin away, roots grow to catch in trailing paths advantageous to the villagers as they set up fast posts, unheaving their packs.
____

Shumi - To Chiyome on their central ship's deck, filled with her people, "You won't survive this.  You will fall.  Do you understand this ?"

Chiyome - "So we fall.  We are paid."

She stares then turns, followed by their unison nod.
____

The falling pieces are caught spinning around in the roots of the rising tree.
____

Musashi stretches the steel, folds it and pounds.
____

Shumi carries the sleeping stranger across the deck, the stranger curling in to smile.
________

A faded mist passes the Xinhua vessel.  A mild splash brushes the side of the boat, attracting the attention of the priestess.  Within the mist, a shadow passes, nothing seen past.

The deck crew sniffs the air then looks at her, as he watches another shadow pass, slightly in the mist.  Then the knocking sound of Qiu's ship.

Priestess - "No ... No !"  She turns leaping form the deck to a passing shadow, followed by crew.
________________

With grinding blades, the magistrate and dervish, the palace falling to ruin around, structures growing over.  The floors begin cracking as the magistrate thrusts a hand under into the dervish's torso.

Against the push of the blades, he struggles pulling a man out by his throat.  The dervish roars to push off, putting it's hand against the magistrates face with burn.

The man is slowly pulled out, grabbing at his throat and the magistrates hands with wide eyes until they are separated, the magistrate holding the man, then releasing.

The man flops wet to the ground and looks up at the magistrate.

Magistrate - His face half smoking, "Go."

The man shakes on the ground staring.   

Magistrate - "! Go !"

The man stumbles his way for the door as the ground begins to break apart, shattering the last of the structure, magistrate leaping across the breach to strike the defending dervish. 

~ Musashi folds the steel.

Their blades strike again in the spinning destruction outside.  The tree grows in spin, connecting the ground as it cracks apart into small island held in the mist.

With a flash of Musashi striking steel, they spin off in leaps across chasms, drawing back to leap again. 

~ Another hammer strike.
____

The priestess lands on the deck of Qiu's ship, the ninjas turning to attack.  As she hits deck a wave of destruction crumbles its structures in slowed time, echoed sounds, the crew sent flying in the splintering.

She rises in her own real time, walking through the near frozen chaos to below decks.

The ship splinters across the down deck, flat across it's mid-section, sending the ninjas helplessly through to the sea.
____

The stranger lay in a lifeboat filled with cushions and roses, Shumi gently works the cranks to lower it to into the misty water.

柿 Tales - chapter five (part two)

In the central deck of Qiu's ship, the priestess walks through the slow moving crowd of attackers.

She moves one aside casually as parting a curtain as real time returns and the attacker is slammed against the cracking hull.

~ Musashi strikes the steel, showered in sparks.

All slow, Chiyome moves to block the path to the door.

She moves faster than the others, but still half time as the priestess touches her forehead, curling her over backward and sending a vertical wave of destruction through the ship, cracking hull.

~ Musashi hammers.

Walking past Chiyome slow curling over, she moves the others aside in path to the door.
________

Another man falls wet to the cracking floor as the dervish and the magistrate cross.  Another man in a corner huddled, cut off by fissure, another running into growing paths through a crumbling landscape.
________

The door to Qiu's chambers splinters across Shumi on the other side while she reaches out and catches the priestess.  She's slammed hard against a beam with a torch hung over her head.

The priestess struggles against her, held firm.

Shumi - "Hi.  She pours her bottle over them both as she holds tight against the struggle, taking painful punches to the side.
____

Magistrate - Looks to the book with a smile as it grows over protected on the side table, then to the the dervish.  "Did you know what this village produces ?"

~ With blades sparking against one another, Musashi pounds in a flash, sparks showering the dervish as it hisses between teeth.
____

Shumi - "My name is Shumi."
____

Magistrate - "Gunpowder."
____

Shumi - As the priestess winces her eyes at the flowing drink, "Shall we dance ?"

She reaches behind over her head and takes the torch, lighting the fabric of the priestess' drenched robes.

('Come On' by Prince and the NPG)

Shumi leans in to kiss as the priestess starts to scream as it starts.

The priestess pulls away to scream, Shumi pulls closer, holding firm and grabbing the back of the priestess' head.  The priestess grabs the back of Shumi's and closes her eyes as they relax into flames.
____

The other priestesses investigate the empty decks, while beneath the powder kegs ignite.
____

Outside the villagers run the platforms, launching their rockets to dervish hearts, they burst to mist one by one, exploding into sparks and burning scraps. 

The twisting landscape between the islands passing around as it all begins to spin.  Sparks fly from the works as the crumbling structures are grown over, a world created.
____

In the night the rowboats make way through the mist, looking back.  Karasu looks around and starts to call for Shumi.

The stranger sits up in tears staring as the remnants of ships begin exploding in their scuttling wave.  She turns.

The spirit paddles the sleeping Qiu past in her floating bed.
____

Musashi dips the hot blade into the water as the magistrate thrusts it through the burning chest of the dervish, holding the back of it's neck with a hand igniting.
____

A wave across the mist, the first rowboat strikes calm shore, a light behind them.
________

~ They kiss barely visible in the flames before the final explosion.

In a hotel room in a modern city, Nocturne sits up screaming from her bed.  She desperately kicks and pats herself over across her arms as she stumbles and falls of of the bed, sobbing for the patio door.

~ They kiss ...

She crawls shaking in tears into the rain rubbing her arms and falling over in sobs.  She pulls herself up by the rail and leans over the edge and looks down heaving over a busy city night. 

Traffic and noise ...

Continuing to shake she convulses into a scream to the skies.

~ credits ~

('Love Survive' by Scandal)

 

 

The moon and action below rocket across the sky into morning.

Through the credits all the people walk the streets, modern but attired as the west would call 'Manga style', all clearly in the distant future.  The characters all walk through as different people, different lives, children and families.

~ The magistrate shakes the flame from his hand as the lady returns smiling, his hand growing anew.

The people walk to their business.  Children rush for school, a wave of broom-witches flies over toward the great tree, populated with commotion.

The last of the students rush for the classroom door before it slams.

~ Musashi sheathes the blade.

! The End !