The rains had left things cooler, and the air clean and uncomplicated. It might warm back up tomorrow, so Mumei enjoyed the walk to the club, and pretty much every other bit out time outdoors this evening. She tapped her communicator on the way, with an invitation for promised drinks.

Once there, she picked up a Sweet Lies to see just how bitter the fungus was and found a tall table that should be visible from the door.

Shoan arrives not long after in the club chic that she'd discussed the previous day with Yul. That is, her sleeves are rolled up and her jacket is only zipped halfway.

There's a half second pause when she enters the club with all the noise and movement seeming to rush out at her. But the Lion simply squares their shoulders and heads in, spotting Mumei from across the room and heading directly there.

"Nakauchi-san." Polite bow "You look well."

Mumei steps slightly away from the table for her own bow, iridescent leotard reflecting the lights' shifting patterns. "I do well with rain. You look pretty good, yourself, hope the past few days have treated you well."

Waving vaguely at the bar, she'll ask, "Want me to grab you something? Everything on the menu is awfully sweet, except this one...and the sweet and bitter kind of fight one another, actually. But I know Jin-san talked them into serving some plain shochu last time, so I imagine they've got more like that if cocktails aren't your thing."

Shoan looks for a few long moments as if all the gears in her head had slightly jammed

Automatically, not really thinking about what she was saying "Hai, that would be very kind of you."

There's a look of slowly dawning horror on the Lion's face as she looks about the club and spots leotard after leotard.....was this fashion now? Why hadn't anyone told her so she could consciously choose not to have worn one?

Mumei gives her somewhat odd look, but decides to take a few minutes to grab drink #2, absently walking on the beat of the current tune with a looseness to her joints that speaks of the way the music settles into them.

Returning, she sets the tall glass down. "Are you ok Murame-sama...or is Ikoma-sama preferable?" The cool drinks sweat condensation puddles on the small tabletop

______________
lol. Figured her practice outfit was the only really club worthy. Only accidentally fashionable then.

"Yes I'm just....a little behind on what samurai are expected to wear these days. I am sure it is practical for dancing?"
Yes, purely practical

She nods her thanks and picks up the glass, sipping slowly. Yup, just as sweet as she remembered

"Whatever you are most comfortable with, one honours my immediate family, one the family we serve, both have value."

"Hmm..Murame-sama then, it seems a bit more you." She looks around at the floor, and laughs. "Oh, wow...there weren't as many folks in these last time. Though theirs are in better shape." She picks at the edge of a laddered set of horizontal tears on her blue leggings. "But yeah, very practical for dancing. These are my practice clothes, actually. Can't afford to risk spilled drinks and tears for my good set, and my usual pants don't offer as much movement."

"But you're fine. That's a pretty standard kind of look from the other participants, you know? Not many came to this miai with a vast wardrobe, I'd think."

Politely
"It is not the quality of a samurai's gear that matters, but how they use them."
Her tone pretty light "You must be really planning to cut loose then?"

Shoan looks like she's hoping nobody realises she's rotating the same few outfits each day.

"Cut loose?" Mumei says after a sip of her drink, a slow smile forming. "I mean...why hold back at anything? Oh! Don't worry, I'm pretty decent at making a partner look good regardless. This isn't zero-R, after all."

"Anyway, most of my usual stuff is hung to dry so I've got something clean and sturdy for exploring some night-blooming...um, sporing? fungi later tonight."

"Oh, don't feel you need me to look good Nakauchi-san, best not to set yourself an impossible task."
Shoan looks vaguely amused as she mechanically sipped her drink again

"Night sporing? I imagine that's quite romantic on Asakaze, I hope you've picked some good samurai to go and...uh, watch the mushrooms with?"

"I hope so? Shiba Atsumari _seems_ really knowledgeable about outdoorsy things and animals for sure. I haven't really quizzed him on fungi. But we won one of those almanacs, so I suppose I could try testing him when I've got that in hand?" She frowns slightly, sipping absently, nose curling at the bitterness. "Would it be weird to send a comm message asking what he knows about the life cycle of red hat mushrooms? I'm pretty sure it's not romantic. I'm not really sure I'd know what to do with romantic."

Glancing at the floor, which is only barely getting going at this hour, then cocking her head and looking Shoan up and down. "Nah, with your build, you might not look like an airy poof of grace or anything, but you'll look _good_."

"Just...quickly search before hand, incase it has romantic implications. Believe me when I say the language of flowers can be...complicated."
Shoan shrugs slightly
"As for romance, you are a friendly outgoing shugenja, just be yourself and act with honour, at that point romance solves itself."

Follwing her look to the dance floor and then herself
"...Look good? I...well, maybe if someone is particularly attracted to sharp elbows whirling around?"

"ooo, right, flower language is a thing. I don't think I've seen reference to mushrooms in them, but if anyplace has developed a language of fungi, it would be here." The drink is nearly gone, but Mumei fishes out an orangish bit of mushroom and nibbles it, face twisting involuntarily from the bitterness. "I guess I think of romance as a fancy thing that you see on holovids, not...whatever it is I've been up to all these years," she chuckles.

Then she stands and kind of jabs her own elbows out. "OK..pointy elbows tells me you do that thing so many bushi do when they're trying out a skill that doesn't seem like fighting, and completely forget that you've got years of training in both controlling your limbs and being really aware of everything in your space."

"Holovids do a poor job of displaying romance, not once has another samurai gone outside my dorm and held up a boombox to apologise to me, nor have they rushed through an airport to say that they love me. Real relationships are more boring, but stronger."

Glancing at her own elbows before nodding slowly at Mumei's point
"You mean with our weapons training?"

She nods "I mean...pilots shoot from ships, so they don't get that as much, maybe? But most of the ones I've danced with do just fine at not running into people once they remember that they have that awareness and...well, stop staring at their feet so hard."

"I actually have had someone stand outside with a radio and several invocations to create a mirrored duplicate of themself for an interpretive dance apology. Wasn't romantic though. He was my study partner for advanced astronavigation and he'd really dropped the ball on our group project." She pauses. "We did manage a really kickass presentation for our zero-R dance final, based on that, so I guess I forgave him."

Shoan looks up from her feet
"Ah, that makes sense. I'm....well, I'm not sure if I'm sorry that it wasn't romantic, but I'm glad your..."
Like she was speaking words in a foreign language
" 'Interpetive dance apology' went well. I can only promise to live up to his skills."

"Shall we see?" She gestures toward the dance floor, and the myriad styles grooving away. The current piece by Ominous Bi has an ethereal melody pasted onto a driving beat that's easy to wrap all kinds of expressiveness around. Her body language remains relaxed, not straining to hit the floor. The music's always there, she can wait until her partner's ready.

The Lion hesitates
"Uh-"
There were so many people out there already, any one of them could take a potentially fatal elbow from the Murame is she were clumsy. Although....maybe Mumei was right, it wasn't that different to using a blade...just far more was at risk.

"Allow me a few moments to ensure I am in the correct mindset"
There are so overly dramatic shoulder rolls and quick breaths.

Mumei leans against the table watching. "May want to see if rolling in time with the music helps you find the mindset," is a gentle suggestion.

Shoan glances over, pauses and then starts rolling her shoulders in time to the music.
"I am just hoping it does not look too ridiculous."