Hayato sat at the bar at Kayama, inhalator in his hand and his eyes away from the dance floor. He looked up as the familiar bartender brought him a drin, and noded his thanks. The mantis didn't particularly expect to meet anyone here this evening. The clubs crowd of contestants had withered after the first few weeks.

That didn't particularly bother him though, he'd enjoy himself with company or alone. Taking a quick drag from his cigarette, he let his eyes drift to the ceiling, as he exhaled slowly. Only five more days.

Fusako, on the other hand, was there to dance.

She was usually to bed early, but a dancing mood kept her up. Wearing a dating white dress, she was soon on the dance floor, lost in the rhythm. She hadn't yet noticed the Tsuruchi.

Which was likely not surprising, at least if you asked Hayato. Though if he was being fair, he hadn't immediately noticed the Crane either.

Turning away from the bar, he let his eyes drift across the dance floor, finally landing on the form of the Crane woman he had seen in passing. He didn't immediately approach though, seeming to consider his next move as he brought his glass to his lips for a sip.

Perhaps things would have remained just like that, but in a break in the music, the Crane took the opportunity to make her way over and order a drink, something more fruity. Taking a sip, she smiled over at Hayato. "Tsuruchi-san."

"Asahina-sama." Hayato replied, dipping his head politely in greeting. "I don't think I've seen you here too often." His eyes flicked over her dress, it seemed a bit more daring then the one he had last seen her in.

"It seems you came prepared to dance though."

"I could say the same to you," she said with a slight smirk. "Though, I usually come right when the music starts in the evening, and I'm rarely out at this hour. That could certainly be it, hm?"

"That certainly seems likely, I usually come by at this hour. It's my belief things don't get truly interesting until the sun goes down."

His eyes shifted from the Crane to the dance floor. "I have always thought that most tend to change slightly when night falls."

Mumei pauses at the bar to order something, tapping on her communicator. She wears the same iridescent leotard and ripped blue leggings practice outfit for the dance floor. Minor clans don't have a particularly large budget and all.

Once her drinks are in hand, she heads for one of the tall tables, perching on a stool to wait, bouncing a bit in time to the music as she pokes and swipes at her communicator.

Almost halfway through the Miai, Shion finally finished procuring all necessary documents and making all arrangements necessary to perform at the Kayama.

Now was finally the time for the Sparrow's Tale.

Having left poor Stray back at the Inn again, she came to the Night Club carrying the whole set - guitar, shamisen, computer, hard-drives with recordings, backgrounds, recorded songs, effects, and so on.

She had spent some time integrating some of the sounds she recorded with Mumei some days back and her experiences in the planet so far into a few songs that, she hoped, would represent some of the atmosphere of the planet in music. More specifically, what she tried to represent was an off-worlder's feeling and experience of the planet, and even more specifically she tried to contrast the planet's sounds, voices and stories to the feeling of the Rokugani homeworld. Hopefully, that could convey to Asakaze residents and others who hadn't been in Rokugan some of the feelings of the homeworld, while at the same time contrasting these with feelings the locals would be familiar with - and the visitors could maybe recognise from their last few days in the planet.

The music itself was pretty good, mixing traditional Rokugani elements with rhythms reminiscent of the sounds of the Asakaze rains, the Grave river, and the calls of Otori and other local animals.

The Lyrics were less remarkable than she had expected, but still kinda interesting, bringing together some traditional elements with nods to the local landscape and wildlife,


D7 EN - Fluff: Artisan: Composing/ Awareness earlier in the day for songs including Asakaze elements and water sounds from the planet. 2 Raises Called. 1 VP spent: 6d10o10k4 32 - 22 with 2 Raises

D7 EN - Fluff: Artisan: Poetry/ Awareness earlier in the day for songs including Asakaze elements. 1 Raise Called.: 5d10o10k3 21 - 16 with 1 Raise

In the performance itself, Shion's mastery of the Shamisen shone through, both in mostly instrumental pieces, played over the backgrounds of songs she had recorded previous, or an as accompaniment to her voice. Her singing was not really on par with her playing - she was maybe still uncomfortable or shy at times, and that may have got in the way - but it was good.

She had planned on including some pieces more integrated with experimental electronic beats, giving her performance a more upbeat feel... but something was not quite right with how she tried to pull that off. She combined melancholic melodies and a sad voice with quick, upbeat songs, and the result was.... off. It was quite clearly off - those in the audience probably noticed it, and she noticed it herself after some 2 or 3 songs... so she pulled that back, and sticked to playbacks and pre-recorded songs, falling back on her voice and Shamisen playing to keep the night going.

So as to keep things interesting and change things a bit, she decided to do what... well, what any Sparrow would end up doing. Many of her songs included traditional and folk elements, and folk was mainly about telling stories. So she capitalised on that... and used some Shamisen background in-between songs to lenghten some of the stories the songs told, and to tell additional stories - Stories of life in Rokugan, stories of common people and samurai, of the hardships of farming and feeding peoples and armies...

And also, here and there, stories of how the clans working together in the Homeworld had accomplished more than they ever could while warring among themselves, and how the Empire was greater when the clans, Great and Minor, recognised and focused on their own importance and duties instead of on how much power each of them had.

It worked much better than her attempt at experimental EDM had, and she apparently managed to keep the stories interesting, integrated with some background music, and short enough to not take the focus off the music as the main attraction.


D7 EN - Fluff: Perform: Shamisen/ Agi for Live performances. 2 Raises called, 1 VP spent: 8d10o10k5 50 - 40 with 2 Raises

D7 EN - Fluff: Perform: Sing/ Awa for Live performances. 1 Raise called. Voice.: 5d10o10k4 20 - 15 with 1 Raise

D7 EN - Fluff: Perform: EDM/ Awa for Live performance. 1 Raise called. Sensation: 4d10o10k3 6 - OMFG this was bad

D7 EN - Fluff: Perform: Storytelling for Live Performance. Voice. 2 Raises Called: 7d10o10k4 30 - 20 with 2 Raises

Now to see how many people she would attract, and what their reaction would be...

OOC
Some inspiration for songs in the playlist - More may come later!
Some Shamisen + background beats

Shamisen/Koto + background beats

Sparrow's tears

Sparrow

Merging this here from the other thread because I'm stupid and hadn't noticed there was an Early Night thread up already :p Hope you don't mind me barging in here folks!

The Osprey perks up at her seat, looking to the one-woman stage show going on as the more generic club music shifts. She taps again at the communicator, letting her date(?)--she guesses it counts as one--know who's playing as she offers a wave of support between a couple of the early pieces.

"I'm the sort of woman who likes to make things interesting all day round," Fusako commented. She didn't have much time to really say much more however. Mumei caught her eyes for just a moment, but clearly it was Shion's performance that distracted the room.

It was... well, it was clear the young Sparrow was quite an accomplished shamisen player. She matched some Kakita with her talent. Her singing was passable, though she did better telling stories, which was hardly a surprise for a Sparrow. It wasn't really dance music though, and Shion's attempt was quite thankfully brief. All the same, it was quite clear that the girl had put her heart into the whole ordeal. Fusako smiled and gave some polite applause.

Half of Hayato wished he was naive enough to believe in coincidence. the other half wanted to laugh. Whispers on the streets about the Spider and Crane ignoring the Mantis and the appearence of a Crane women he had yet to speak with staying out late at the one place he could almost always be found at this hour. It could of course be an actual coincidence, but he couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it.

Picking up his glass he brought it to his lips and took a healthy sip, may as well play along. "The sort of woman who likes to make it intresting all day long? When you say it like that it's easy for a man to get intresting impressions, Asashina-sama." He teased, letting the words lie unanswered between them as the music from the sparrow started.

The Mantis delivered polite applause, though he was also somewhat disappointed. It seemed dancing was off the table for this evening. The Sparrow was good though, and he could respect that, even if he rather wished she had stuck to another venue. Not that he was going to tell her that though.

Fusako glanced over to Hayato once again and gave a faint smirk. "Then I am doing my job well. I'm in the business of making people take note after all."

She paused for a sip of her drink, before noting. "You're the first Mantis I've actually met this miai you know. A rare commodity."

"I wouldn't exactly call myself a commodity, Asahina-sama." Hayato replied leaning back in his chair and taking a drag from hus inhalator. "Nothing really valuable about a man that doesn't even have a handful of dates under his belt a week into a miai."

His lips curled into a crooked smile. "I'm more along the lines of what you'd call ignored. Not that such particularly matters much." He finished with a snort.

"You mentioned business though?"

"Your clan is here, or so it seems. You are you Tsuruchi-san... and you've shown well for yourself, regardless of whatever else may or may not have happened." She gave a nod of her head before leaning back, crossing one leg over the other. "As for business... hai, I did mention it. I'm a clothing designer for Isora Fashion, my family business. I suppose you could say lead clothing designer, but my father still does the main line, while I look after newer trends and fashions."

Takinga sip of her drink, she looked thoughtful. "Mmm... considering how you've done, and the nature of your family... a soldier?"

Satoru showed up a little after the music started and found his company for the evening "Nakauchi-san looking as colorful as ever. The music tonight is a bit different than usual." He said with a bow taking a sear near her.

That was a very political way of putting it, though he expected no less from the Crane. Still no reason to poke something that wouldn't give him any satisfaction. So he let it go. "A fashion designer?" His eyes flicked to her dress. "One of your own designs then?"

"But you would be correct." He replied eyes drifting across the room for a moment, taking in the Spider and his date. "I'm a Marksman with the Tsuruchi Rangers." He continued his gaze shifting back to the Crane.

"It is. Suzume-san's got a wealth of historic stuff to work into modern idioms. It's like a scattershot documentary of Rokugani folk traditions." She pushes one of the drinks his way (whatever he might have requested when she messaged him via communicator) while sipping her own orange and sunshine yellow layered Blazing Tail. "So the dancing...a lot of modern stuff won't fit so well, but you might like the precision of some of the older forms. I realize I didn't ask if you'd danced much, actually."

"I hope your day's gone well, so far, Kuchiki-sama."

She nodded to the former comment. "All the dresses I brought are of my own make. I figured it would be free advertising, so to speak. Glad I could call a man's occupation, though I'm surprised that you think of yourself as a poor commodity. No luck so far?"

"Model and designer then?" He raised an eyebrow, it seemed a little bold of a statement to make yourself your own billboard.

"Very little by my counting." Hayato offered a moment later with a wry smile. "I came here looking for a specific sort of match, it just so happens none of those options seem to be looking for me. I'll manage though, one way or another." There was a bit of steel in his eyes as he finished, though it disappeared quickly as he turned towards the Crane and offered a smile.

"I imagine your own luck is much better though."