.Great pageantry generally starts right down in the dirt. This novel idea might have seemed like a fairly stupid and frivolous concept to focus on, but it genuinely helps as a kind of mantra when you have to haul a boat weighing hundreds of pounds on a shoddily constructed wagon. The whole scene, in fact, could have been a metaphor for greed instead though, as Tetsu now found himself as rickshaw driver to his own cumbersome wealth, in the form of a container to carry even greater wealth, as his sweat formed a crystalline trail in the frozen dirt below him. Nevermind what he would do if he actually had to drag back the enormous husk of flesh he was after, that was a bridge he'd have to burn when he got there. In all honesty, it wasn't really like he could imagine himself bringing back his giant trophy; in some ways, he suspected this whole outing might have been, at least in part, an attempt to conquer his fear of the water. It was possible that that fear may someday lead to a paralyzing defeat in battle, but more than that, he hated the feeling of the control that it seemed to be vaguely overshadowing his life with. He also wanted money though, that was certainly a factor.
Why, you might ask, was Tetsu carrying this boat alone? Well, as a poor homeless man, you learn pretty quickly to prioritize the favours you might ask of the people around you. Right now, well, it wasn't exactly that the boy would all too soon find himself in a position where most people would feel a pressure to apologize for lying, but he needed to pour his energy into getting the other boy he was lying to out on the water. If you don't even get the chance to push someone to the point where you need to apologize, then what was the point of even lying in the first place? "We're almost there." Tetsu said simply to his compadre as he saw the rising maw of Dragon Tooth Pass on the horizon. He hoped that that "homemade" moonshine he brought to some wayward members of the gate sentry would offer some slight benefit to him here. I mean, they should have had a passport between them, but the boy's inherent distrust of the Anbu corps always left him feeling a little bit wary in their presence.
Finally, the two of them would find themselves within shouting distance of the gates, "Hey hoes, somebody let us out of this dirthole!"
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[Mishiku should be posting in here too, soon enough.]