She whispered into her ear:

"When this dance will end... Where does that leave us"?

Shokomaru responded to her grabbing well, there was touching but not lewd, a hand on a hip, on the waist, holding her hand...they were dancing. She was actually pretty amazing, getting sweaty and just rocking out. He couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. Then she slowed down, his arms wrapped around her waist naturally and she whispered to him.

He smirked big and leaned into her ear to whisper back.

"Getting the hell out of here."

"Let's not exaggerate. My old man would have called me names for wasting the heritage by not having my own band by now. Slacker would be the lightest." He glanced at all the ladies dancing with other guys. "I haven't got all his talents." Still, he downed another drink. "I mean, you're not wrong. Those birds are hard to get across with. I played 'Mighty Moto Horde' to mine half the afternoon and the results were middling. Still, it doesn't run away any more, that's an improvement."

Alcohol was getting across, however. "I now imagined a race on those in an meteor shower."

With her unclaimed hand, Mumei offers Jin an enthusiastic thumbs up, eyes momentarily tracking the Fox who's taken interpretive dancing in the interesting direction of simulated pinball.

"New things are the best...except occasionally when they are the worst. But dancing is that first one." Mumei opines with a grin and eyes that flash dark or green depending on which lights are falling across her at the moment. Her head tilts to the side slightly as she reads the young woman and sticks to the one-handed hold. "Definitely here for the miai, most lately shipped on the trader Far Winds out of Unicorn space"

That single connection allows her to keep Ishiyo as the center of the figures she weaves. The music is slower and more intimate now, as the Spider had noted, but that just allows more time for an inexperienced follow to react as Mumei swings away and then closer with sinuous grace or spins one or the other of them under that shared hold. "Hopefully the company's been enjoyable. The drinks are interesting, but a little sweet. What've you tried?"

That brought a light laugh from Hayato's lips. "I can understand that, Bayushi-sama." He let his eyes drift away from the Scorpion towards the dance floor. That Crab and Spider seemed to be at it again.

Looking back towards the Scorpion he smirked. "I guess the question now is if we go now or let some of the chaos on the floor pass?" There did seem to be some sort of pinballing blue haired fox on the gloor after all.

Ishiyo's movements at first just mirror Mumei's, her confidence simply wasn't there yet. But as the dance continues she grows more bold, trying to move in a manner that compliments her dance partner instead of just copying her.

Despite herself, Ishiyo begins to find the dance enjoyable and her bland Crane smile turns into a more genuine expression of enjoyment. "I am a fighteh pilot myself, not too long past a touh of duty."

Her blue eyes flick to the Daigotsu and Hida, "The company was fine, but I begin to wonder if I was not some bait in an elaborate trap." Despite her words she was still smiling, and perhaps even a little laugh escaped her lips. "So fah? Just the Matcha Made'n'Heaven and Yoake Sunrise." There was probably a little alcohol on the Crane's breath but she had only had about three drinks.

"Well, I'm almost positive, I was. But I honestly would have thought you were the fish, not Spider-sama there." She chuckles, picking up the pace a bit as the Crane catches on. "Crab and Spider, seems...volatile." Her free hand illustrates with a closed fist exploding outward in a firework-like motion.

And then the improvised Moto metal cuts into the existing music. Mumei considers the clashing rhythms for a long moment, hand tightening for a bit more control in case others find themselves fumble-footed with the change, as she pulled her partner closer for the same purpose. "Buuut, I think this might be more of a mosh pit than a dance floor in a second. Would you like to join some friends and I at a table with another drink? I wanted to try that matcha one. Headbanging's fun, but really hard to talk through."

It was a good thing that Hide brought up her glass to her mouth, because it certainly helped mask her mouth being agape as she had glanced over to Mumei and Akemi dancing. And then Akemi dancing with the Spider gentleman. The glass did nothing to mask the heat that rose to Hide’s face at the former, however. That Nakauchi was full of... Surprises.

She had to take a drink after witnessing that. Her gaze turned back towards the Kuni and, well, was going to stay there. “Well, other than setting up a karaoke room at some point, I’ll likely keep an eye on the events the hosts put on. Oh, and keeping up the morning gym routine. I took a break today to hit the shooting range with someone, though. Which might be fine having an off day after having a wrestling match with Hida-san.”

She placed her glass down on the bar, if only to readjust her sleeves back to a comfortable position. “Other than that I’m pretty free with my schedule. What about you, Kuni-san?”

"That's... More or less what I had envisioned." she whispered in return.

She forced a dance move to separate them again as much as she could without actually letting him go, then closed the gap into intimacy again:

"And we both know this is a terrible idea."

A spin, a new separation, a new closeness, as the dance within the dance continued:

"So, for now, just please, please..."

The voice of the Hida was loaded with something only very few people had heard coming out of her mouth. The sound of distress.

"For now, please, let's just just keep on dancing. Even if our feet bleed, even if our muscles scream, even if our breath turn short..."

She gripped at him even harder, having trouble leading the dance due to exhaustion:

"Let's keep dancing."

"My own died when I was eight." Ruhe slammed the cup to slam the door in his mind on recalling anything about it at that moment. "Then let's make one! Bartender, bring some acoustic shit here. I left my instruments in the room." Soon, bottles, glasses and the counter would serve fingers and chopsticks as an improvised percussion. Words had already formed in Ruhe's mind, and got their thrash-like machine gun pace. It seemed the metalhead's mind was fertile on alcohol. He set the basic rhythm on counter, then introduced fast diversification along the way.

[Insert greatest song in the world]

“But I said my schedule was pretty free—“ Hide felt herself get pushed towards the dance floor. She turned her head back towards Eriko, a brow rose. “Well, if you change your mind about bringing stuff up, you have my comm info. I can make time for whatever.”

Hide downed the rest of her glass, placing it back on the tray before heading out to the dance floor. “Have a wonderful rest of the night, Kuni-san!”

And she hit the dance floor, not with the expert grace of the Hida or Nakauchi, but she at least was able to move without looking too ridiculous!

"It is the realm of storybooks...Benten condemning two enemies to want of each otheh." Ishiyo responded, "Hah...I am rarely the real catch, just the means to a greateh ends. Usually its just people wanting access to Pa-Pa."

With the tightening grip on her hand and the sudden closeness, the Crane blushed again. "A mosh pit? Headbanging?" Her eyes flicked to the Moto then back to Mumei, "I think I would like that yes." The Crane smiled gently and she nodded.

Passing some of her companions heading to the dance floor as she headed off, Mumei gestures in their direction laughing. "Well, I was going to introduce you all over the drinks, but... the blue-hair's Kitsune Izumi, fastest talker in the entire Empire after these drinks I'll bet, and Matsu Hide, our social coordinator for the evening." She shrugs as they pause by the bar to grab more drinks, nodding along with the pounding 'drums' and flashing a thumbs up at the pair, though she only recognized the Firefly.

"Now I don't know your papa, probably. Haven't shipped on any Crane transports, and sounds like you're military folks, not traders. And, I'll be straight, cause that's fair, I'm not all that interested in a Crane bride. But you dance cute and a Crane drinking partner is a whole other thing." Her grin is a bit manic thanks to the Energizer and her pupils vibrate, but her tone is as sincere as it can be, shouting over Moto death metal on top of the club beat.

She pauses at the bar to grab drinks, "What're you having this go around, Daidoji-sama?"

Ishiyo actually smiled and gives a wave to the Firefly, he was after all her room mate and she still owed him some tales of her service after all. And a smiling nod was given to the Matsu, another she had been familiar with...

"Your guess on my family is actually wrong. Fah more tradehs, industrialists, and courtiehs in my line, we go back to the old Yasuki split." She shrugs, "I mean usually you would have been correct the Daidoji are fah more known for ouh Iron Warriohs then ouh tradehs. But foh my own, well I am the only one to join the Crane fleet. Fatheh runs a company, motheh serves in the courts, and my eldeh siblings split between fatheh and motheh's worlds."

A quick glance at the list and Ishiyo adds, "Pretty Pink."

[
Paying no mind to the Moto singing in the background, Tenma smiled, "It... does seem quite chaotic, hm? I find that kind of endearing though. Even if a bit noisy."

The Scorpion finished her drink, setting it down and fanning herself with a hand, "I just wish it was a bit cooler in here; You'd think it would start getting cooler now that it's so late."