A shrug
“Don’t thank me too much before you try the fish.”
Which certainly was a vibrant.... orange?

The lion takes a deep breath and looks back to Yul. There’s plenty of disappointment there, but it’s the sort of sadness that will dissipate before long, like realising you’ve come second but still.... it was the fastest you’d ever run that race before.

“She’s a dancer in all things. A good pairing for a Unicorn, no? I’ll hold you to advertising my values though.”

Yul poked at the fish. "Well... it's Phoenix colors, I guess." He said.

His lips parted, then closed again, giving himself a quick head shake. Then he smiled. "It's not really hard. Your values advertise themselves." His lips quirked. "Although I feel like some people might not realize you've got a sense of humor. I didn't figure it out right away, even."

Picking up a piece of the fish, Yul popped it into his mouth.

"I remain skeptical that anyone sees the large tattooed lion bushi and thinks 'no sense of humour'."
deadpan "We are all hilarious."

She follows suit and picks up a piece of fish chewing on it for a few moments
"....Why does this taste so good while having the texture of a bulb?" Maybe some questions were not meant to be answered.

Yul chuckled. "No doubt." He shrugged. "Well... appearances can be deceptive, right? I feel like that might sorta apply here."

Yul seemed to be having a bit of trouble chewing his piece, but he finally managed to swallow it. "I don't know." Yul's lips quirked. "In my case, maybe revenge." He picked up another piece, chomping it fiercely. "See how you like it." He managed to say around the morsel.

Shoan quickly cover her mouth at that she snorts and then coughs around her fish piece
"Mmmhm yes, now the tables have clearly turned. To think, had you been born a fisherman you would fear nothing in the water."

Pause

"...Perhaps next time you and Nakauchi-san venture out, take some kind of high calibre weapon? It's only practical."

Yul closed his eyes a moment. "I brought my rifle, actually. I left it in the copter."

He picked up another piece of the fish, then set it down with a grimace. "I'm not really proud of myself for what happened there. And not just because I nearly got bitten in half." He shook his head. "I don't know. It's hard to explain, bad judgement in the heat of it..." He pressed his lips together. "Sorry. I probably shouldn't be talking like that."

“You left your rifle.... in the chopper.”
Shoan gives Yul a dangerously neutral look

“Well, I am sure Nakauchi-san is smart enough for both of you. And please do not apologise Yul-san, one should always be honest...even regarding nearly being eaten.”

Yul chuckled. "Especially about being nearly eaten."

He picked up his chopsticks again. "I hope she will be. But... that doesn't mean I can't work on myself as well." He frowned thoughtfully. "It's said that in battle you find out who you really are. I don't know that I really believe that, but it did tell me something about myself, anyway." He looked at Shoan, eyebrows going up. "What do you think?"

Calmly “Oh....that certainly is what gets said.”
The lion frowns down at her plates the sushi is very intimidated.

“There’s some truth there, when you have to make decisions purely on instinct. Pull the trigger, don’t pull the trigger. Dive for cover or dive in front of your commander. But I think it’s usually the moments after battle that you discover the most. Are you horrified of what you did? Proud l? Do you see it again when you close your eyes?”

She takes another piece and gives it a good chew
“That sort of thing.”

Yul had just popped another piece of sushi in his mouth. He chewed it slowly, using his time to study Shoan. "Yeah. I suppose so." He said, after finally swallowing. "At the time, I made a snap decision, but even then I felt so..." His lips pressed together, and he shook his head. "But afterwards... well, that was something else."

He took a casual sip of his iced tea. "Seems like you've had the opportunity to think about this kind of thing before, huh?"

“Not much to do after a patrol other than sit around thinking about the last one, or the next one..... we could have used more hobbies.”
Maybe they should have played more RPGs?

“Lots of opportunities to think on what happened. I’m proud of some things I did, not so much others.”
Shoan cocks her head at the Unicorn

“We all thought it must be nicer being a flyboy. Less tough questions, more excitement. Up there someone boasting up 5 kills is a hero, an ace. Down in the infantry... someone boasting about all the people they’ve killed is someone you want to stay away from.”

"Huh." Yul said, nodding slowly. "I guess maybe that's why the marines... I mean, us pilots are always talking about flying. Itching for another go out there. Didn't matter whether it was into a firefight, or another patrol." Yul snorted. "Although we'd complain about those, too."

"The marines..." Yul shrugged. "Well, they usually didn't talk about it much. Some of them were eager to prove themselves, but that wasn't quite the same. The ones that were really into it... yeah. I know what you mean."

His lips quirked. "And I won't pretend that a lot of pilots don't think they're better. I don't know. I think cockiness helps in a fighter. I just learned what it does on the ground."

“Well, it seems to have the same success with women.....”
The lion seems to find that amusing

“And it’s not as though pilots aren’t more valuable. But part of that deal means the groundpounders get to complain about it... and win all the fights in the mess.”

Yul laughed, only a little awkwardly, brushing a hand back through his hair. "Well... maybe..." He had been doing pretty well, he supposed...

He grinned. "Complain if you want. But I'll take you on anyway, Shoan-san." His lips quirked. "I mean, I'd rather not. I've seen your core muscles."

“You have stamina but I have my big grunt arms from carrying things. Truly, it would be a match for the ages.”
Shoan was pretty sure she’d win.

“Sadly I think all the events where those might prove useful are behind me. I shall just have to trust it was enough. Who would have thought one could not simply bench press their way out of every problem? I shall have to inform Matsu-san.”

Yul chuckled. "Matsu-san has a big heart to go with her muscles. She's alright."

He poked idly at his fish, frowning. "I hope she comes out of all this happy. I'm worried that a lot of people won't be." He spread his hands, still holding chopsticks. "I suppose duty is not always pleasant."

“I think some disappointment is inevitable. But everyone will be married come the end, one way or the other. My list is... rather empty at the moment, but there will be other samurai. It is as you say, duty.”

"Duty." Yul said, raising his tea, and taking a generous sip of it.

He set it down, sighing gently. "You strike me as someone who has no problem with duty." His lips curled up, just a little. "And hey, maybe I'm an optimist, but I'd bet that you won't be disappointed at the end." Surely there was a good match for this tall, brave, gorgeous Lion out there.

"Even if I am...."
She shrugged her tall, brave, gorgeous shoulders
"I have my position with the Legion, I imagine that will keep me quite busy most of the time."