"Anyhow, let's drink for the meeting maybe? Whoever's gonna be late, their loss." Ruhe tried to lighten the atmosphere.

"Oh, yes, I remember seeing you there," Nozomi replied to Ruhe. She looked around the room again and then smiled warmly. "Good to see so many familiar faces then!"

But she did look to her one fellow Lion. "Yes, it is odd, I admit."

Hyeon-ju at least kept the first drink order simple, having ordered beer for them all to start with. And water too, because as Stick-In-The-Mud Wasp would say; it was important to watch your water intake when drinking alcohol.

"I am certain that their reasons must be good." The Akodo gunso didn't strike her as the type of man to not show without a good reason.

"But this is a very informal meeting, meant for us to get to know eachother a bit better without the pressure of being alone with people we don't very well yet." She just hoped the Lion wouldn't think that the Unicorn might feel insulted because only two had showed up, or that the Lion would feel outnumbered!

"Drinks seem like a good way to get to know each other." Yul grabbed a pair off of the tray his wingmate held.

Turning, he held them out, one to Hide, one to Nozomi. "What do you say? You two in? Hide-san, I can count on you, right?" Yul grinned. Lion were formal... but Hide a bit less so, he felt.

Hide definitely was much less formal than her peers. She didn’t even mind Yul just going straight to personal names! She shot him a grin as she accepted the drink, and treated him like an old friend in return. “Why, thank you for offering. I would love to have a drink.”

Jock solidarity in here.

Yul grinned. "Yeah, alright!" He grabbed one for himself too, even as he kept offering the one to Nozomi.

He looked around the room. "Hide-san and I were talking about getting a Oshidama game in sometime in the next few days. Who else is in?"

"Oshidama-game, huh?" Hyeon-ju passed a beer to Ruhe, and then to Ganbold.

"I'm in. Especially if it's teams."

Yul looked at Hide. "You and me, team captains?" He asked.

He looked over. "Moto-sans, you in?"

"Eh? Oh, no, I don't drink alcohol," Nozomi stammered. She looked down meekly. "I do not mean any offense. I just don't partake."

“Yeah! Team captains!” Hide really liked the idea of being in charge of something for once. She looked over towards the Moto duo expectantly.

Perhaps too late for it to be fashionable, and certainly later than he was comfortable with, Akihiko had slipped into the mixer. He tried to look like he'd comfortably been in attendance the whole time, but the group isn't large enough for that to be plausible. His fatigue uniform doesn't provide much camouflage in this environment.

Seeing the Kitsu demurring on a beer, Akihiko steps up. "I'm always happy to partake, Unicorn-sama." The Lion pilot holds out his hand expectantly, smiling like he'd just scored a solo kill.

----
OOC: Sorry everybody, I forgot I never posted in this thread!

"Why not!" Ruhe replied. Oshidama wasn't something he had much experience with but he was a natural improviser. "You've got here just for the first toast, so I won't call it late, Akodo-sama!" He glanced at Nozomi. "It's all good, Kitsu-san, we should get you some juice or something fizzy to raise, how about that?"

"It's no trouble at all, Kitsu-san," Hyeon-ju assured the priestess, understanding that some people might not enjoy the buzz of alcohol. Or just didn't want to get drunk and do something stupid in front of others. "Yes, as Ruhe-san says, there are other alternatives."

And then the Gunso arrived. "So good that you could join us, Akodo-sama," she gave a deeper bow, a touch more formal. Even if she was the fanciest dressed at the party, she seemed oddly at ease with this state of affairs.

"We were just talking about arranging a game of Oshidama in one of the coming days. Do you play? It's very popular among the Unicorn pilots."


----


Oshidama = basically volleyball

Akihiko winces at his lateness beefing called out, but Ruhe's friendly reaction is hard to dislike. The Lion remembers the powerful musical accompaniment to their shuttle ride together.

"Pleased to see you again, Utaku Hyeon-ju-san," he says with an appropriate bow, keeping up his end of the formality. Then he chuckles a bit at the mention of oshidama. "Ah, it seems a popular enough game with Lion pilots as well. Something about sharpening ones reflexes is universal perhaps?" He smiles, so comfortable in this setting he might be confused for a Crane. "I'm not a player myself but I've seen and cheered on my squadron mates often."

"Well, the more the merrier." Yul said, cheerful as always.

He bowed to the newcomer, somewhat more formally than he'd greeted all the folks he already knew. "Shinjo Yul. It's a pleasure to meet you, Akodo-sama. And we'd be happy to have you join us for a game; you're welcome to play or watch."

The more formal greeting hopefully wasn't spoiled by the fist pump he direct towards Ruhe and Hide, but he at least kept it small.

Hyeon-ju was coming to the slow realisation that Yul wasn't a singularity of recklessness it seemed... there were two now.

Oh no.

"... Are there any beaches here to play oshidama on?"

Hide most assuredly accepted that fist bump as it was offered.

But the Utaku had brought up an excellent question, so Hide slid closer to her. “Well, the only beach I know about might be a bit dangerous. So bring a sidearm just in case. Danger oshidama is best oshidama.”

Was that a wink?

Yul pursed his lips. "Trunks and gunbelt, huh? Well, I guess it's a look, anyway."

He flashed Hyeon-ju a quick smirk. Now there's two of us, Wasp. "Sounds good to me. No need to be reckless, but a little bit of risk adds some excitement."

"Wait... what do you mean a bit dangerous?" she asked, a serious frown forming on her face.

“There’s a slight chance we could run into local wildlife.” Hide shrugged, maybe a bit too casually. “Nothing we can’t handle, but it’s always good to be prepared.”