lovethesescars | Oseibo gifts

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Oseibo gifts

It's near the end of the year, so Mio has selected some presents for people to convey her gratitude to various people who have done her favors over the past year. (Also, because it's the socially polite thing to do in Japan this time of year.)

Each gift has been professionally wrapped in the proper Japanese fashion, and for those who can't read kanji, the Nexus Translation field will helpfully translate the noshi (the white paper thing) to read: Year-end gift - Hongo.

For Ran: a gift set of gourmet British teas.

For Nagi: a cake.

For Daimon: a selection of authentic Kyoto sweets.

For Schuldig: a box of Godiva chocolates.

Each gift is hand-delivered to the recipient.

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::Schu can read kanji on his own, having worked in Japan for many years. And he loves chocolate!::

Mio bows to Schuldig. "This is only a small token of my appreciation."

Thanks! This is great. I feel appreciated.

"You're welcome."

"Wow. That's an awesome cake."

Mio bows to Nagi. "This is a just a small gift to express my appreciation for all you've done for me this year."

((Small gift, my ass. That cake probably cost $50.))

"Oh. Okay." Nagi sort of has his doubts about how helpful he's been, but whatever. He has tasty cake now!

...and Mio probably knows by now that Nagi never says thank you for anything.

Nagi should realize that what Mio said was just empty formalities. The true meaning behind the gift is "I would appreciate it if you continued to pay my paychecks in the coming year as well." ...Not that Mio would ever say something so horribly impolite to Nagi's face.

Scrabblescrabble. "Daaaad! I can't get the door!" Apparently Junior's trying to answer it.

"Hang on, I'll be right there." Footsteps approach the door, and it unlocks and creaks open. Junior tumbles out, falling into a pile at Mio's feet.

"Oh hi pretty lady!" He blinks up at her and then squints happily before even trying to untangle himself.

Daimon's semi-dressed up today, in silk-weave slacks and a black banded-collar shirt. "Miss Hongo! What a nice surprise." Maybe today's a good time to make that proposition that Ezra suggested. "Please, come in."

"Good afternoon." Mio steps inside. "This is just a small token of my gratitude..." Mio bows and offers the package to Daimon.

Daimon accepts the gift with his own bow, a bit startled but only because he's still in a bit of a post-move haze about holidays and such. "Ah, an oseibo gift! That's a nice surprise too." He brings it over to a table and sets it down. "Let me go get your Yule gift in a moment.

"How have you been doing?"

"I've been doing well. I'm on holiday from school now, but I'm managing to keep myself quite busy with work."

"That is good to hear. Now. I do have a little something for you. To be specific, your counter-gift is in the envelope, and your Yule gift..." he turns and pads over to one of the cabinets set into the walls, pulling it open. "Here we go."

He brings over a small wooden chest set with brass fittings, its flat top covered with Turkish filligree-work. A small packet is tied to it with blue, gold and red silk cords. The wrapping is...well, it's not clumsy, but it's relatively easy to imagine his big hands struggling with the cloth.

Mio was aware this was coming, but she hadn't expected this much. "You shouldn't have, Mr. Winter. Thank you very much." Mio bows deeply.

Mio pauses, unsure if she is supposed to unwrap the package now.

Daimon's return bow shows he's been practicing again at least. "I wanted to," he replied simply. "I hope that you will find them useful."

When she does open them, his counter-gift is a bottle of choji oil and and applicator for her ikebana shears. The tea-making set is a simple brass-and-glass affair, and includes a note with online sources of supplies.

"Oh. Um, there is no specific etiquette for Americans or British with Yule or Christmas gifts between teacher and student, nor with my race. We can open it now if you'd like."

Mio carefully unwraps her gifts, then carefully rewraps them when she has examined them.

Mio bows again. "I must thank you again. It is a wonderful gift."

"You're welcome. Miss Hongo...do you have a few minutes?"

Mio does a quick mental review of her schedule for then next few hours. Nothing time-sensitive. "Certainly."

He leads her over to one of the clusters of chairs and sits down, that little frown he gets when he's very thoughtful curving his lips. "Now that you have had a few months to work on your ikebana and on clearing and focusing your mind, it's time to move to a more active phase of your training and instruction. I had a talk with my own teacher, and Ezra had some suggestions that I would like to share with you.

"The thing is, they are somewhat unorthodox, and I fear they may shock you a little."

Mio nods.

She wonders what sort of unorthodox he is talking about. Her horizons have been considerably broadened by living in the Nexus for the past half year, but at heart she is still a proper Japanese young lady.

He sigh. "The truth is, Miss Hongo, that as a projective empath, you can only benefit so much from cleaning house psychically and learning focus. In the end, the defense that you have the most talent for is the ability to smack, confuse, knock out or otherwise disable an attacker before he can do anything to you. Your power is active, not passive."

Mio nods again.

"Therefore, it is my duty to give you not only a safe environment to practice in, but also a safe target to practice on. And I only know of one that will fit the bill: myself."

He lets the idea sink in for a few moments.

Oh. Right. There wasn't really any mental equivalent to the punching dummies she and Ran-san sometimes used while doing her martial arts training.

"Yes, I suppose that does make sense." Of course she wouldn't project at full strength during training, that would be unsafe. And she assumes that Daimon would shield himself appropriately as well. It is because of these two assumptions that Mio is not particularly bothered by Daimon's idea.

"The thing is that this will require me at times to ask you to basically get very nasty toward me, without holding back at all, and trust that I am strong enough to take it. Learning self-control is most important when you're dealing with the high extent of your power. Losing control at that point is the most damaging time possible to do so."

Let's not even get into this vague sense I have that you need a chance to fully vent at a safe party.

"Are you comfortable with this idea?"

Mio looks a bit concerned. "As long as you are sure you will be safe." There are plenty of people Mio wouldn't mind to see injured in various ways, but Daimon is not one of them.

"If I weren't stronger and more skilled than you, Miss Hongo, I would not be worthy of being your teacher. I understand that--hopefully anyway--you have no grudge against me, and you may have to tap into your anger at other sources to attack me full-strength, but that's fine. I feel I wouldn't be doing you justice as your teacher unless I gave you this opportunity."

Oops. She hadn't meant to imply that. She still wasn't sure about the safety of attacking full-out, but she supposed she would have to trust Daimon on that point.

Mio bows. "I'm sorry, I did not mean to imply you were inadequate..."

Daimon shakes his head with a patient smile. "Oh, no, no, you didn't. What I am saying is this. You're very strong, and very strong people need the most training. I just want to reassure you that I gave this a lot of thought, and talked it over with my own teacher, before proposing it. I am prepared to take some hits on your behalf, Miss Miho."

Congratulations, Daimon. You've managed to disrupt Mio's worldview that all people (especially men)are only out for their own self interest. Cue embarrassing shield leakage now.

After Mio's managed to repair her shields, she bows. "That's very kind of you, Mr. Winter."

Edited 2008-12-24 20:01 (UTC)

He bows back. "Needs doing, you're my student, and honestly...I have a lot of empathy for people dealing with this sort of thing. Some of my own people have gone through similar. I don't want you to have to for any longer than necessary, to be a little blunt about it."

It takes an iron will, but Mio restrains herself from fidgeting with discomfort. Unfortunately, nothing she can do can stop the blush that's beginning to color the top of her ears. She's so used to being a pawn in her parents' social game that someone showing concern for her as a person is something of an uncomfortable novelty.

"Thank you."

His brows draw together in mild worry as he sees her face, but then he simply offers a gentle smile. "You're quite welcome. Just contact me when you're ready to begin."

"Oooh! Thank you!!"

"It is but a small token of my thanks for your help this year." Mio bows.

"I love it. Um, I have an idea in mind for your Christmas present, if you're interested?"

"Oh? What were you thinking?"

"I'd like to give you some cooking lessons, if you'd like?"

Well, that was a little unexpected. Well, she would be able to save some money by learning how to cook, so it was worth a shot.

"That would be very helpful, thank you." Mio bows to Ran.

"Cool. Do you want to learn more Western style or more Japanese style stuff?"

Hmm, tough decision. She usually ate Japanese-style bentos for lunch and Western-style food for dinner, and she would have more time in the evenings to cook...

"I think I would like to try Western-style cooking first."

"Okay. Most of the techniques are pretty similar, but the ingredients and presentation are different. When would you have time to start?"

"On Friday I get off from work at 3pm. Would that work?" That should give plenty of time to buy ingredients and cook before dinnertime, she hoped.

"That would be lovely! Should I meet you at your house?"

"I think that would be best."

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Oseibo gifts

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(repost for minor edit)

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"I want you to hit me as hard as you can."

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