"Mmmm." He pondered hiw to answer that for a few moments swirling the liquid in his glass thoughtfully. "It's an idea I've been trying to wrap my head around on the way here."

"It's something I'm willing to do of course, but its really strange thing to wrap your mind around. So I suppose I could say it makes me feel a bit anxious? Part of me just wants to know if it will happen so I can go ahead and commit to it?"

"It will be a big change of course, but I think it will be easiest to just jump right in."

"It's not who shot first, no. I'm saying no one in my clan is forgetting facts, no Crab should shy away from having defeated an enemy as strong as the Champion of the Spider", he said in all seriousness.

But then he cracked a smile. "Susumu-san is... an interesting case. I think she would be a good wife if she had a mind for it, maybe she needs it more than she knows. Me though... I'm agreeable, sure. Until I'm not."

"Hey. That goes without saying. We're samurai. We live to serve and to kill, carrying a least one blade on us at all time to remind people of that. Being nice is a downtime luxury.

But as you said previously, this is indeed a special occasion. For a few days maybe we can indulge in a bit of niceness. Maybe."

"Maybe something to look into after a few days, gives us times to get to know the others here, and figure out what kinda stakes to play for." He offfered with a thoughtful nod, taking a sip of his drink before gesturing towards her empty glass. "Ccould I get you another?"

"But seems, like you have an advantage over me in that regard, there wasn't much in the way of riding animals where I'm from. Never had the chance to ride anything before, well other then a few types of vechicles. But I figure that's not the same."

"Maybe indeed...and since I don't recall hearing an answer to me previous question, I'll continue on as I have", he said and stood up to his full height, which only made him laugh because despite Shokomaru's best effort he still appeared to be shorter than her. "Are you wearing heeled shoes?" he suddenly asked, but didn't let her answer. "better question, why aren't we dancing yet?"

And he put his drink down, aiming to do the same for hers if she let him (and if she didn't, honestly he'd just shrug and let her dance with two drinks in her hands if that's what she really wanted to do). And with a slight bow and extending his arm to her, he would usher her to the dance floor.

Hida smash puny man rawr!
>.>

"You... You weren't lying when you said you were not used to this."

Akemi was a mediocre dancer herself at best... But she had at least some idea of what she was doing.

"Now who is teasing who?" he asked and spun her around a little awkwardly, but without hitting anyone else. "Care to show me how it's done, then?"

As she rolled her eyes again, Akemi thought she would either be blind or have developed superior ocular muscles by tomorrow.

He just wasn't going to avoid bumping into her entirely.

"You told me about your village earlier. You didn't have balls there? This really feels like I'm the first girl you've ever invited for a dance."

He kept his look focused and tried not to sweat so much as they moved on the dance floor.

"You're a weird guy you know. I mean even ignoring the whole Spider issue. You must be what, 20 like me? But you sometimes sound like a much older man. Is it all the smoking? Or something else?"

His mouth quirked, almost a smile but he seemed a bit at a loss. Then his eyes rolled and he laughed a little.

"I suppose it's that I always have to act like I'm in charge, or know what I'm doing", he told her. "It's not easy, a bit stressful." he chanced a move, putting his foot between hers and leaning her back a little. "You take a step, not knowing if it'll be the right one." He tried holding her there, letting some tension build unless she fought him.

"But you take it anyway, because you have to."

"I'm sure you will have other advantages over me." Goodness knows what sort of competition the Phoenix were interested in. Maybe she'd actually have to take a look at the itinieary and plan.

"Actually, I was wondering if you were feeling courageous yet to dance?"