He held up a finger to ask for a moment as he chewed. "That's quite good honestly. I think i might get it if I come by here again."

He picked up his own sandwich, a half smile on his lips. "Your turn now?" Hayato asked a bit of laughter dancing behind his grey eyes.

"Makes you wonder if it's real otori though, no?" It was probably chicken, but who knew what otori tasted like...

"Ok." Putting down her own sandwich, she leaned over the table to take a bite of the offered meal.

"Right, I really have no idea." Following her example, he leaned forward extending the sandwich towards the Utaku so she could take a bite.

"Aahhh?" He offered questioningly, curious if she would utter the somewhat embarrassing sound.

Many other girls and woman might've blushed or giggled over doing that. Hyeon-ju on the other hand delivered the most deadpan "Aahhh" that most had ever seen as she took a bite of the sandwich.

She chewed her food with a critical look on her face, before giving a nod. And then swallowing. "Very nice. I thought the mushrooms might've been weird, but it's good."

Some men might be disappointed by that, though apparently the Tsuruchi wasn't one of them if his smile was any indication. After all the Utaku was rather cute when she was embarrassed.

"Yeah, they certainly cooked them right for the dish." He agreed as he pulled the sandwich away. "There is almost a meatiness to them?" He ventured before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Hmmm... yes. That seems an accurate description," she nodded, still thinking of the flavor. "I've had vegetarian food prepared in ways that almost makes me think it's meat, but this one was very nice."

Hyeon-ju picked up her iced coffee for some much needed caffeine.

"So is it like they say that Mantis cuisine is mostly just seafood?"

"When it can be, it's why most of our cities are on or around the coast." Some of then were even underwater. "Gives us access to an abundance of seafood, and well the seas themselves."

"A lot of our popular pastimes involve the beach or the water. Why i was a bit disappointed that there is no proper beach here." He offered Hyeon-ju a playful smile. "Can't ask a lady to a date on the beach with monsters about, and going go the pool... Seems kinda childish?"

"Does it? It's not like all planets have beaches, you know, but many have pools..." she mused. "But yes, you're right that a pool is just not the same as a beach. Can't play oshidama* at the pool as effectively as at the beach. Do you play, by the way?"

She took another bite of her food, falling silent as she chewed.

------

*= volleyball

"I suppose that's doubly true when you live on a space station." He mused, recalling their talk from the previous. "But oshidama? I do."

"Seems like a pretty popular sport among your squad." The Shinjo had mentioned it when they chatting the previous day after all.

"It's a popular game among our pilots, yes. It's played in teams so it's good for coordination practice, and requires reflexes, agility, and stamina - all good traits to practice for us."

She put the sandwich down to pick up her drink again. "Any particular games that are popular among your Rangers?"

"Sounds like it." He offered with an amused smile. "Though I would of figurd at least half of it was because it's fun." He was probably teasign her a little as he picked up his sandwich and took a bite.

"Rangers though, I guess you can say we aren't too picky. There isn't all that much you can take with you for fun out into the field, but there is usually a ball or two floating about or a game of chance being played." Placing his sandwich down, he reached for hsi coffee. "Sometime's you just kind make rules up like with batterball for example."

"Well, it is fun too. It goes without saying." Duh.

Games of chance being popular with Mantis... that didn't seem like too much of a surprise. "Batterball? Is that like baseball? Or something completely different?"

He laughed at the first comment,. "I suppose you're right there. It's too bad there isn't a place we can really get a match together here."

"Batterball, is vaguely related to baseball? In the third cousin on your crane mother's side sort of way. It has a bat of some sort and bases, and it can be played with a baseball."

"Hmm, so it is like a... baseball-based type of game, with a bat and ball, but a little looser in the rules, I'm guessing?" It sounded like some games she had seen kids play planet-side.

Hyeon-ju thoughtfully sipped her iced coffee, and stirred the ice cubes around a bit to distribute the temperature better.

"I think I have seen children play something like that before..."

"Yeah, kinda. Though you don't have a pitcher and you get someone out by pegging them with the ball. Bases are things you can dive behind or hide behind. Oh, and you can fake people out by kicking the ball instead of hitting it."

He paused for a moment taking a thoughtful sip of his coffee. "Now that you mention it though, it does seem like something kids might play."

"Ahh... so not quite the same as I've seen children play, but with some similarities." She nodded, feeling like she was understanding it better. "But it makes sense that games change from clan to clan... even planet to planet. With such great distances between us all, I am sometimes amazed we don't have more extreme dialects or languages."

Probably thanks to Imperial propaganda that things stayed more the same that way.

"Sounds like it could be fun to try though, and it would require a whole lot to play." Now who would join up for a game of Batterball, she wondered as she bit into her food again.

"Yeah, you can play it with a single squad, but its better with two. Though things can get a bit rough between squads sometimes."

"You're right though it is a bit odd." He agreed with a thoughtful expression. "I suppose things like this help though, wouldn't want your Clan's Samurai to be sent off to a miai and not be able to communicate."

"Probably one of the reasons why we have things like this anymore."

Chewing her food, she waited a bit before responding again.

"True, true... though, this is just fine for us. The Unicorn, I mean. Many of us prefer to find matches outside of the clan, to easier adhere to Shinjo's Law that forbids us from marrying those too closely related. A miai makes that easier for us."

There was a brief smirk. "Still, it doesn't make the choosing any easier. Balancing politics, duty, and personal preferences. As we talked about before, not everyone can find that balance."

He moved to take another bite of sandwich as she talked smirking as the conversation turned back to what they spoke of the previous night.

"True, I went to the Club again the night after we danced and that Crab and Spider were at it again. Dancing like they were ready to go somewhere after, if you know what i mean."

His lips curled into an amused smile. "Not that i am having the easiest time finding that balance either. So I probably shouldn't say anything about it."

"Wow... I really would not have expected that from a Crab and Spider. I guess tensions are higher between those clans than I thought," she was frankly perplexed. Was this some master-plan of... seducing the Spider to marry them? That seemed like a terrible plan. Or maybe the term hate-fucking has never been more accurate.

Hyeon-ju cleared her throat. "I can't say I am handling it expertly either. It is much harder than it seems, to navigate all this. There are... many good choices. Many interesting choices." Well, it didn't hurt to be a little bit direct. "I have enjoyed our meetings very much, Tsuruchi-san. Which is also strange for me, as your clan is currently allied to others who have made things... difficult for my clan."

Maybe she could hope that he hated the Spider-Mantis-Crane alliance and looked for a way out.