After the sweat and exertion of the biathlon that morning Koseki took a bit of time to clean himself up and get presentable. Usagi Jin had mentioned that the Governor's daughter might be a good match, and ghost dad had been getting on at him to buck up and act like it was a miai. So he had placed a call and been pleasantly surprised when she agreed to meet him.

Wearing his best outfit Koseki waited patiently for his guest to arrive. He tried to recall whether any of these flowers were poisonous. Not going to the ikebana had probably been a wise choice...

While her guest was well dressed, Asako Chiruha was a very practical person and didn't exactly go out of her way to look fancy. It was just another day in the colony, she strolled in wearing cargo pants and an orange long sleeve top with a vest full of pockets, her satchel of things slung on her shoulder. Her shade sat above her forehead.

"Good afternoon, Hotaru-san," she greeted him with a small bow. "Very delightful place you've picked for a meeting! I hope you've found your stay pleasant so far?"

Koseki bowed politely in return when she arrived. "I am glad that you approve Asako-sama! I am enjoying my stay very much thank you." He looked around at all of the curious flowers and fungi.

"Asakaze is only the second planet I have set foot on, and both were in the last three months. It is quite different to deep space, but I am enjoying the sense of adventure." He smiled pleasantly. "And you, are you enjoying the miai so far?"

"Only the second?" she asked with a bit of curiosity and then recalling his Clan. However, even then, she didn't want to make assumptions. "It sounds like you're expanding your wings in a short among of time. I haven't left the planet until a few years ago myself. While I did some travelling, I think my first real stay in deep space was on the Castle of Golden Fire. But when it comes to planets, I feel Asakaze is very beautiful and vibrant...admittedly, not in the traditional way that is found in all media but I think that makes the world even more unique. Some even consider walking through the wilderness like travelling through a surreal dream."

Chiruhu smiled broadly. "I've been busy but I am very much enjoying my time here, meeting samurai from all over and picking their thoughts on Asakaze, just like I hope to do the same with you. Shall we walk, Hotaru-san?" she said with a gesture forward.

Her surprise mixed with enthusiasm provoked a grin from Koseki. "Indeed! We only recently became tied to any world Asako-sama. I was born in deep space, and since my gempukku I have been with our Explorer Corps."

He walked at her side and looked up into the sky before returning his gaze to the garden. "There is so much to explore out there. But here too of course, especially for one with so little experience of nature. I have started taking lots of detailed notes on the organisms I encounter. Vibrant is a good description, yes, and just being here gives me a good point of comparison with Amanoseki."

With a wry smile he added: "I'm quite pleased to be the first Firefly to ever ride an Otori."

She raised her brows and turned to look at Koseki as she walked. "The Explorer Corps? I would be surprised that you haven't been to more worlds already. Hm, you probably might see a lot of worlds but not quite land on them? They aren't all hospitable, especially there's a fair share of crafting and modelling that needs to be done before the first colonists stepped foot here. Funny enough, I'm trying to design something around the Explorer Corp, so it would be good to pick your mind."

"Taking notes around here?" She mused with a growing smile. "Had I known that you were taking notes of things around here, I would have recruited you to tag along for one of my survey runs...which I would be doing if the miai wasn't in session. I've been already out for a few days leading to the miai that I've found a stack of work waiting for me back at home and for good reason!"

"And, how have you found your otori?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

He nodded as worked her way through the thoughts about his experiences. "Yes, that's right Asako-sama. We Firefly are usually more interested in what is orbiting a star or planet than the planets themselves. So I have seen many systems from space and only two planets from the surface. Lots of asteroids. A few moons. A couple of comets." Some pirate bases before they went boom. "I would be very happy to help you with your project if I can."

His eyes had lit up at the suggestion, and widened a bit at the suggestion of field surveys. "Oh, that sounds fascinating. I'd love to hear more, and, well... I sometimes get a bit carried away with my notes, but Blinky, my otori, he's such an interesting subject!"

Koseki was enjoying this very much. "I didn't think I'd be riding a bird, well, ever. I'm usually flying shuttles or mining craft, but not worrying about gravity. Or beaks. Or talons." He smiled ashe recalled the race with his minor Clan friends. "I find it is quite exhilarating to be honest."

"I suppose maybe you could speak more about the process when it comes to travelling, surveying certain areas and what comes after when you discovered those planets." She smiled apologetically at first. "I suppose as an Asako, I do have a fondness for some of the administrative stuff. In a way, I could only imagine that finding and discovering those planets are like finding a new lifeform or species. There's just so much to unpack but a lot of things that proceed even categorizing new fauna."

"Blinky? That's a cute name, is there a reason for that name?" she asked curiously. "While having some experience in both fields, I can say that flying through space there seems to be more of science involved. Gravity, trajectory, orbit, thrust...otori are more like knowing it from the heart. There are some general things to expect and what they don't like but in many ways, they are like people, different in the same ways."

"Hmm, the process? Sure. Good question... Well to start with you have the out of system long distance observation, and then the initial survey flights. It's one thing to look at a system from afar. They can be quite different when you actually get there. They have their own personalities in a way." Memories of catastrophic stellar impacts, dead worlds, ring systems, pirate attacks, and oddities he still didn't believe he'd really seen all flashed through his mind. "I've seen...so many things Asako-sama."

The change of topic was welcome. "As for otori? Yes, well you see I knew that Blinky and I were going to be friends when I beat him in a staring contest. He was first to blink so..." A chuckle. "I like your idea though. I'm an engineer, so yeah, the physical science makes more sense to me. Biology is just a bit weird when you spend most of your life out there." He made a sweeping gesture to the sky before returning his gaze to her. "Blinky is definitely a smart one though, and I'm learning a lot about otori, and nature in general, just by being here."

Chiruha paused to give his summary of his duties some thought and likely wasn't thinking the same thing. She gave a few sound nods afterwards, making a few moment notes. "You've given me a few things to consider in my project, Hotaru-san, thank you. A bit last minute when it comes to changes but it might be just what I need."

She couldn't help but give a long blink at the mention of blinking, giggling afterwards. "That's something...I'm sure if he knew he was in a staring contest, to begin with, he might give you a run for his money. I'm both a zoologist and an engineer here, actually. I do my best to balance both at the same time, as hard as it might be. However, I try my best to find the connection with the two...as wholly different and unrelated as they might be at first glance. I'm surprised you would consider biology stranger than what you find in the stars. Are planets living...in a sense? Even the ones devoid of life."

"Well I'd be very happy to share more of my experiences with you Asako-sama. Maybe you could tell me a bit more about your planetary exploration? My people only just got a planet to call our own. At least, we're sharing it with the Imperial families. That's where I was before I came here."

With a nod to the flowers he paused. "Wow. That's a great question. Are planets living? Hmm, the thing about planetary systems is you can usually figure them out with mathematical equations. Yeah, sometimes a stray comet or solar flare kicks up trouble. And I've seen some things out there I can't explain. But living? They change for sure. But they don't try to eat you. Biology just causes a lot of trouble." Laughing he added: "Not necessarily in a bad way, it just gets super unpredictable. I guess I like to know what kind of trouble I'm getting myself into."

"Do you mean planetary explorations in the sense of the surface and not exploring new planets? I would be willing to go into my surveying work if you wish and my focus is on fauna. We do keep a variety of animals at the Shiro, mostly otori. The otori here gives us an idea of their well-being and lifestyle, which I monitor to ensure that they are treated well and remain in good health. It also allows us to find any diseases and health problems they might develop along the way which allows us to manufacture treatment. There's also a bit of breeding work and some nursing when it comes to young who might have developed some health problems."

She smiled a little, "However, I believe the real study of wildlife takes place in...well, the wild! That requires me to leave the Shiro and track down the population of wildlife across the countryside. There's a bit of drone were too when it comes to surveying as it is often difficult to approach close enough to see them. A lot is waiting around...but thankfully track markers and migration history allow us to track certain groups or herds whenever they return to certain feeding or breeding territories."

"Not quite, living," she tried to clarify with a chuckle. "More like reaction and chemical activity that certainly colour a planet with unique characteristics that might make them a unique species...somewhat. A gas giant isn't necessarily the same as another, right? They have a certain combination of gasses that form them, different core make-ups and that's also not going into detail of the surface activity in them...storms and gravity..."

With a smile he nodded at her reply. "Ah yes, exploring the surface. It's all new to me, but like I said, now we have a planet to call home we need bushi who can handle the experience. So any tips are greatly appreciated."

When Chiruha got to the part about tracking wild animals it sounded exciting. "Adventurous! I bet they surprise you from time to time. That's the thing about life forms as far as I can tell. Always doing something unexpected."

He made some encouraging gestures as she expanded on her planet comments. "Oh I see what you're saying. Yeah, they're all different I suppose, but in a totally different way to well, life. I think anyway, I mean, I'm an engineer and that's getting into philosophy. Then again, life changes the make up of a planet. So once you have life, maybe the planet is alive too, in a sense. It changes things for sure. With an asteroid you usually know what you're gonna find, with a little wiggle room for something unexpected, but say 98% sure. Once you've got life going on all sorts of crazy can happen. Plenty to keep you busy Asako-sama!"

(OOC: Do we have any riding animals on Amanoseki?)

"I'm not exactly a bushi myself but if I can take the founding of Asakaze as an example...I would imagine much of the colonizing world would start with a lot of geological survey work, perhaps the same work you would do when it comes to mining. You would want to plan your potential settlements in areas where you have access to valuable resources to sustain life. It would of course help to have resources to build too, as shipping resources in and out can be a pain but settling next to a mining vein isn't as good as settling near a river. Local weather will have to be taken into consideration, if a place is suspectable to drought and storms, it might make it a less appetizing place," she nodded

"After the groundwork is done, you would likely want to colonize a settlement with as many skilled personnel as possible, so that they can be independent. Colonies would never survive a week if they had to wait for someone to be flown in with a particular set of skills. I'd like to think that Asakaze benefitted much for such a base, and it still does, engineering finds itself to be a popular skill around here seeing as we are still a relatively young settlement. I suppose in time, courtliness and artistry might find themselves more important once we've settled."

"I suppose asteroids are the bulk of things that you encounter in your duties. I can see those are being rather predicable...despite having read my share of stories about asteroid carrying a form of life or something fantastic, crashing into dead planets to change them," she gave an amused shrug as she walked on. "Once life is found on a new planet, I imagine that it would be a lifetime's amount of work. If things stayed the same, I imagine I would be busy here for a lifetime, in fact."

(OOC: I would say the colonization process is still early to actually have a reliable number of riding animals there.)

"Ah, well Firefly are really good at being independent and getting by on our skills. We're all training in Engineering to some extent. Of course we're better at living in space than on a planet, so outdoor survival is a bit different to what we're used to." He shrugged. "But we do have Imperial assistance. It's a good time for us really, lots of change but it's progress. "

Her vivid descriptions of weird stuff in space got him thinking. "I mean, I don't think any of that is impossible. I've seen some crazy stuff out there. Though I saw a bunch of dragons playing in a planetary ring once. We never did get the sensor logs back from that trip. Well above my status I suppose."

With a grin he focused on Chiruha again. "So do you see yourself staying here then, on Asakaze? Or would you want to get out and see more planets?"

"Again, it might seem something I've taken for granted on my end but learning about outdoor survival must be quite an opportunity, especially being the first. You're discovering things for the first time without much point of reference of another planet," she said and looked out to the vibrant gardens, taking a glance with her special glasses before taking them off, "but in time, that's outdoor survival might be something commonplace among the Firefly, right?"

She raised her brows about the mention of the dragons but perhaps that something she'll have to look into later on her own.

"I would like to stay here," she admitted with a deep nod, "but I understand that the miai may likely take me elsewhere. I have an attachment here, I admit, especially with the otori and the local wildlife. I'm sure that there will be many who will take my position and excel beyond that. I could always look into expanding my field to other planets and discover them for the first time through my eyes."

"Yes, exactly! It is exciting to be one of the first of my people to explore the surface and learn outdoor survival skills. An honour too." He nodded seriously. "Hopefully I can share what I learn with my Clan because well have to get used to it eventually. Some of us at least."

Noticing the look she gave him his eyes sparkled but he kept quiet. Maybe she would care for his stories another time.

"You could be an interplanetary explorer. Or spend a lifetime here. Both seem like good lives either way. I'll be glad if I can serve my clan through my marriage. I hope I'll still be able to fly though, if I end up marrying out."

"You have a bulk of the hardships but that's probably what's most interesting. I don't think it will be in the slightest but sometimes I do imagine what it would be like to be the first Phoenix colonists who landed here to start something big. In many ways, Shiro Yaoke is still settling in, although admittedly we have comfort and security in place. Still small compared to other worlds," she nodded appreciatively.

"If you find yourself married here, you would get many opportunities to fly," she brought up, "there aren't many reliable roads that would take you to Shiro Shiokaze or across the Great Desert. If anything, travelling by land is extremely dangerous. People and materials are typically ferried by air. There might be still a demand for pilots."

Well, that wouldn't be too terrible. "It definitely feels to me like a lot of places here are best flown over. What with the ravagers and drifters and so on. I mean, I'd like to see them, just from above seems smarter. Still, it's good to know that pilots are needed around here."

He stared upwards and smiled before looking back at her. "Do you know if there has been much exploration of the rest of the system? You never know, might be some asteroids that need a bit of Hotaru ingenuity thrown their way."

She looked pensive for a moment. "I think much of the surrounding area is less known than even the world here. There has been great success in seeing up some holdings on the moon and we do keep some orbital station so that ships can dock without need to descend down to the planet and deliver supplies. We do reside close to an asteroid belt, relatively close, which often sees enough activity that we have several defenses in orbit in case we get an asteroid that might cause more than a nuisance."