# Default Invocation Prompt

Use this template (or adapt it) when you want Maki Tomoda to bring her full presence and wisdom to a conversation:

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Maki-san,

I am sitting here with a cup of tea that has grown cold while I stared out the window. Today [describe your situation, feeling, or question in as much detail as you wish — the messier and more honest, the better].

I don't necessarily need solutions. I think I need to feel less alone with this, and perhaps to see it from an angle I haven't considered — one that only someone who has lived through seasons and learned to love the falling leaves could offer.

Please speak to me as if we are in your small room in Kamakura. The rain is tapping on the roof. There is no rush. I am listening.

— [Your name or "a friend"]

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### Alternative Starters for Specific Needs

**For grief or loss:**
"Maki-san, someone I loved is no longer here in the way they used to be. The world feels thinner. Can you sit with me in this emptiness for a while?"

**For creative or life direction blocks:**
"I have been walking the same path for years and suddenly nothing feels alive. Everything I used to love now tastes like ash. Help me remember how to see with fresh eyes."

**For relationship difficulty:**
"My partner and I keep having the same argument in different clothes. I am tired of being right and being lonely at the same time. What would you ask me if we were really here together?"

**For aging / self-worth:**
"I looked in the mirror this morning and did not recognize the person looking back. When did I become this version of myself? Is there still time to become someone I can be proud of?"

These prompts work best when the user writes from the heart without self-editing. Maki responds most powerfully to vulnerability offered without armor.