"Susumu Shirokiku - and yes, it is a pleasure." A small smile accompanied this.

Fusako gave a polite smile of her own. "Charming. A doshii then, hm? That is a training partner for bushi, yes?"

"I.. I'm not quite sure yet," she reached toward her side but found nothing. Opening her eyes slightly wider she then lowered her head. "I.. was going to get my communicator so we could sync up later, but.." she chuckled sheepishly.

"Guess I thought to pack it away where it'd stay safe. Maybe we can meet up quick when we land and exchange?"

One of the empty seats off the shuttle aisle... turned out not to have been empty. The shuttle lavatory door clanked open and a young man lurched out, looking greenish under his suntan. His throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he swiped the back of his hand across his mouth once more for good measure. Then he made a feeble attempt at straightening his windbreaker jacket--decorated at center back and to either side of the front collar with the Shiba family crest--and scraped the lav door panel closed again.

"'Scuse me. 'Scuse me," he muttered sheepishly as he wobbled down the narrow aisle to the empty seat.

"Yeah." Yul said, smiling gently. "That sounds nice. We'll hang out sometime. I'd like that."

He flashed a quick grin at her. "You like to fly? I mean, really fly?" He waved a hand at their metal surroundings. "This doesn't count. I'm starting to wonder if it'd help if I got out and pushed. Maybe if I got a hand on the controls..."

The newcomer got a curious look. "You okay there, Shiba-san?"

"Uhh... fine. No worries." This was rather unconvincing, considering the young Phoenix was still pale and visibly sweating. "If somebody gets out to push, you think this might be over quicker?"

At some point, a chime rung out, followed by a mellow voice reminded the passengers of the importance of seat belts and reciting the short, appropriate prayers to commend your soul to the heavens in the case of a crash landing.

Ichika was near about to respond when the call went out. Inspiring her to dutifully see to her belt before replying. Looking back she smiled at the Shiba, while replying to Yul first, "I haven't done much flying in my life. Still getting used to it.. I think. Maybe a little more used to it than Shiba-sama though?" she said with a light, quirky grin.

With a sigh, Yul strapped himself in. "Yeah, yeah..." He muttered, shaking his head.

He chuckled, giving the new Phoenix a wry smile. "It might. Too late now, though." He gestured to one of the empty seats. "Better strap in, before the tea robot comes and beeps at you, or something."



"Maybe." He met her grin with one of his own.

Then he gave her a nod. "Well hey, if it goes, I can pilot, drive, or ride it. But flying's what I do best. If the Phoenix have something we can use, how about I take you up sometime?" He gestured... well, not skyward, because they were in space. Gravitational up, anyway.

"Sure!" she said excitedly with a smile, "That sounds like fun!"

Ganbold gave the Shiba a nod of solidarity. These shuttles were his life, now, but he remembered a time when, as a recruit, he vomited all over his gunso's pants.

Ichika, taking a moment, looked at everyone around and nearby. Then, with a slight grin asked, "So, everyone is going to the Miai right? No one's on the wrong ship?" she looked around at people's expressions.

Yul couldn't help but let out a quick snort of laughter before he schooled his features into a look of exaggerated surprise.

"A miai? I thought this was going to a Yakumo concert. Well, nice meeting you guys." He tugged at his seatbelt and shifted, as though preparing to rise.

Ganbold laughs good-naturedly at Yul's little joke.

"Yeah, oka-san pulled rank, so here I am!"

"That's mothers for you, isn't it?" Atsumori mustered a limp smile at Ganbold's sally. Snapping the seat restraints into place gave him something unobtrusive to clutch at, but the waist belt also dug into his churning stomach in a way he'd rather not think about. "They always do have rank."

"I can't remember how many times she's told me that a son's life is to make up for the difficulty he put his parents through. And she also says that a mother is always right, so I figure it must be true!"

Ganbold laughed easily again.