"The latter is really what I'm looking for." The Mantis offered in return. "I don't believe I am young enough to fall completely for someone I just met." His lips curled into a smirk. "Or maybe I've just seen battle one to many times, and I've just become a tad jaded."

He shifted slightly, pulling his arm from behind his head and stretching for a moment, likely in a effort to prevent it from falling asleep. Most at the miai didn't agree with her assessment but he wasn't going to push the point. Instead his tone turned a bit teasing. "Are you sure you're a pony? You come of as something a bit more adorable. Like maybe puppy?"

"Wan. Wan." Ishiyo responded dryly, "Though I am not sure which is better in that regard." She sighed, "Adorable instead of dignified"

Her smile did return, "I am pleased to heah you agree that love is something that takes work. I think in the end it is worth the effort...oh at least hope it is, but I do worry sometime." Another sigh, "My duties take me away from any such family, I grew up with largely absent parents...I am not sure I wish to do such to any children I have."

"Mmm.... I suppose its preference really, though from what I understand horses tend to have rather large noses." He reached up a hand to touch his own nose before giving out a experimental. "Neigh."

"So what are your hopes in that regard then?" He asked after a moment. "To find a spouse that will stay at home and run the household? Or maybe marry someone that has you retire from flying instead?" He was fairly certain it was the first, but one could never tell.

"Clipping my wings would be the worst outcome." She slipped the coat up over her mouth and glared at him from the little hide. Then a sigh and she pushed it back down, "But...I would hope my spouse had theih own wants beyond just fulfilling mine."

Ishiyo pushes her lips into a thin line, "This whole thing is a lot hardeh then just flying a fighteh."

She pulls his jack back up to her neck, "What about you? What do you want out of a spouse?"

It has hard not to smile at that, but he managed. Dignified Ishiyo might be, but she was also terribly cute, probably without even think of it. "I have heard as much, that the worst thing one could do to a pilot is take their wings."

"It really is." He confirmed his own lips curled in a wry smile.

"As for me though? I don't know, my sisters seem to be thinking I should pursue a Love match." He lifted his hands and formed the shape of a heart with them. "But as you know I am more looking for a relationship that can grow."

"Would i mind leaving my position in the army and running a household? It's hard to say. I'm not afraid of fighting, and I enjoy serving my clan to the best of my abilities. Occasionally though I feel like I've killed enough for one lifetime though." His smile turned warm and he chuckled softly. "I suppose i should say that I wouldn't want my own children to be raised by absent parents either. I spent too much time away from mine when young as well."

Ishiyo blushed at that, "Well...I hope you-eh sistehs get theih wish. Even if we both know it will be something of a question of time." She pulls the jacket tighter, "This is actually a very comfortable jacket...I might have to pick one up some time."

She looks back to him, "Oh? I guess it is different on the ground. I know I am killing someone but...it is some what detached when all you see is a machine falling or blowing apart." The Crane imagines the Mantis in an apron trying to control a litter of rowdy children and starts laughing. The jacket comes back up over her mouth to hide devilish grin.

The Cranes words afforded her a warm smile, but he didn't comment further on love matches "You can keep it if you like." Hayato offered casually. "You're not likely to find one quite like it unless there is a reason for you to travel to Mantis lands."

Her words get a moment of silence nefore he offers. "And I get to view my work through some of the most powerful optics in the empire " He looked up at the sky for a moment but his introspection was interrupted by a giggle fit. Raising up to sitting Hayato shifted to look down on the Crane woman.

"I seem to have missed the joke." He said a touch of amusement in his tone.

Ishiyo lowered the jacket, looking like a puppy who was about to be scolded, "Well...I thought of you in a domestic setting. Apron and children running around. I thought it was funny." She blushed at that, "Err...also I could not just take you-eh coat. Beyond depriving you of it...I can only imagine the rumohs that would cause, trouble foh the both of us. Courtly types love to have something to gossip oveh."

It was Hayato's turn to laugh, his grey eyes dancing with mirth. "I'd have you know I look quite dashing in a apron." He replied sticking his tongue out at the Crane playfully.

"You likely make a good point Daidoji-sama, it would give a certain impression to others about where we stand." His lips curled into a wry smile. "Though i suppose my only real concern is if you'd like to have. I'm not going to play gift giving games in an attempt to test that." His smile turned warm. "Do keep it for the evening though, i rather like the way you look in it."

Ishiyo pulls it back over her cheeks, "Very well...foh now." She smiled under that cloth. Eventually the blush would fade and she would pull it down again. "So then may I ask of you-eh home among the stahs? My own experience with otheh worlds was just my family holdings...and the inside of a carrieh."

Hayato let his eyes drift to Nyan-kun for a moment. the oragami cat wasn't very talkative but he was quite serious about his job, and he firmly told the mantis some things were out of the question on first dates. "There have been a few of them, I was born on Zuiryu after all, but did most of my schooling on Blue pearl. I suppose the current one is the most relevant though."

He laid back down, his eyes moving to the stars in an effort to find it. "It's a planet called The Lode, in Osano-wo's Reach, and as you can likely tell from it's slightly silly name it's rather mineral rich. “ There was a short pause, as he tried to arrange his thoughts.

“It's kinda rural all things considers, mostly dotted with farming and mining colonies. The only real cities as I'd call them are at the poles, and they're as much fortifications as anything. It’s not a bad place though. When you get out away from the cities and colonies, the stars are simply beautiful. Added to that the people are friendly.“ Well as long as you were an ally. “A lot of military personal as you can imagine, the third Yoritomo legion that’s stationed there is mostly made up of locals. They take a lot of pride in defending their planet.”

“It sees a lot of fighting though, and the land carries the scars of it. So I wouldn't quite say living there is for everyone."

"Miyabi is my home world." Ishiyo replied after the Tsuruchi had finished, "Beautiful well planned cities, deliberately idyllic rural villages meant to look good in paintings, and very carefully maintained 'natural' beauty. It is perhaps the most beautiful planet in the Empire, outside of the Son of Heaven's own holdings of course."

"Most of worlds have been untouched by wah. The Daidoji holdings on Harusame being the largest exception."

"Do you like it there? Enough to raise you-eh family if that is how the miai shakes out?"

It sounded so terribly artifical, but that was probably the wat of things in Crane lands. "I think I could, if that's what it came to. There are enough defenses in place that I wouldn't worry about the safety of my children, and I'd get to be close to them."

A wry smile made it's way onto his lips. "I think I'd like it best though if I brought my family back to Zuriyu though. The floating cities there are something of a wonder to me, and I have always had a fondness for beaches, artifical or otherwise. It's a bit out of the way of course, but that just means it's kind of peaceful."

"But what of you? Would Miyabi be the home you would choose for your family?"

"Well...it is a place of beauty and safe." Ishiyo shrugged under the coat, "I...do not know to be honest, my own life has just been Miyabi and spacecraft. I suppose if I remain a Crane there is no betteh a place. It is a populah gift for friends of the Crane to be stationed on the planet."

"Maybe I should spend some time afteh my next touh visiting otheh worlds. If...that would even be possible." She frowns as the possibilities of war drift through her mind. It soon passes, "Zuriyu sounds nice...though I suppose I would have to get propeh beach attire if I visit. What I have now is purely for athletics."

"It's nice to know we both place the safety of our children as a high priority." Hayato replied with a thoughtful expression. Miyagi sounded a bit boring to him, though that was truly not a bad thing.

"You should, if you can. Seeing new worlds is something I think we all should do if given the chance." He missed her frown, as is own eyes were on the sky. "Proper beach attire will be a must on a visit to most Mantis worlds though."

"Athletic swimwear though? I take it you enjoy swimming if you went so far as to bring something like that with you."

"This morning, and every other morning." Ishiyo nods, "I have been trying to alternate time in the dojo and time swimming, but so far my dojo time keeps being interrupted. Tomorrow I should be able to make it back for some practice. Maybe I should improve my shooting."

She stretches on the ground, "Just because it's a miai does not mean I should not keep up my exercises. I have to keep my self in proper physical shape."

"I may be tempted to join you one morning, I haven't been spending much time at the pool, and I should remedy that." At her comment he couldn't help but smirk.

"You're right about that, and I've tried to spend a good amount of time in practice myself. Though I admit my timing is a bit more erratic. I don't think I've quite adjusted to the days on this planet."

Ishiyo pulled the jacket back up over her cheeks. Her memories of the being joined in the pool being crashed into by a Scorpion maiden, being partly nakodo'd by her clan mate, and... "I put in a pretty exhaustive work out Tsuruchi-sama."

She waited a moment before lowering the jacket, "Practice any other combat arts besides shooting? I have been trying to go oveh the basics of iaijutsu, my school was branched from the Kakita's ancient art and they taught us the methods before flight school."

"That just sounds like a challenge Daidoji-sama." Hayato replied a note of teasing in his voice. "But if you're worried about me gawking at you in your swimwear, you shouldn't. It won't be the first time I've seen a woman dressed that way after all."

"A bit of jujitsu is all I usually practice, though i pick up the use of most weapons pretty easily. Not that i really use it, as I've been trained to use my sidearm with close quarters." At the mention of iaijutsu he smiled. "I'm not surprised, its not a skill common among the Tsuruchi, but it's interesting. I'd say I'd help you practice it, but I don't think I'd be much help."

Ishiyo smiled, "Oh...right I had forgotten you Mantis do R&R in you-eh swimsuits." She smirked, "And maybe I am...how well do you swim?"

"Jijutsu? I should probably pick that up...given someday I could be overtaken by madness and the Marquise of Herons would arise again." She yawns, "And yes I know...a Crane warrioh who practices iaijutsu, something you neveh expected. I had a few people who wanted to practice with me, but it seems want neveh materialized into action."