"Of course it's tasteful, I've never even been to the bath with you", he shrugged. "You could have a scar, or maybe a badass full chest tat of Daidoji Uji, I wouldn't really know." He teased.

Then he drank deep, looking from his glass then up to her eyes. "I'm glad you like it."

Ishiyo chuckled, "If I did, Daidoji Uji would be upset I did not fully own the forest or got into any fights with the Lion foh that matteh." She held up her bare wrist, "But as you can see I do not even had the tattoos that he was famous foh."

"What inspired you to make it?"

He leaned on the bar then with a satisfied smile.

"Who knows? I can't think of why a guy would capture the vision of a sleeping girl. Complete mystery."

He drank.

Ishiyo rolled her eyes, then smirked, "I would say it is missing the bruise but then again it would be covered." She sat her communicator back down, "Might I ask what started you drawing? I am clearly not the first you have done."

"I picked it up on garrison duty, first deployment", he answered. "I'd said on our picnic with the others that I was planning a renga project, remember? It's basically about all the inglorious, everyday things that go into being a soldier."

He faced away, toward the bar and finished his second drink. "Being on watch for hours alone in the dark, scrounging bottlecaps for a go board you cut into the dirt with your knife, the snooze fest of STRATCOM, learning that power point is the greatest weapon of the modern soldier. Shit like that."

"I see you always take you-eh duties seriously," Ishiyo teases and takes another sip, "Claim you were sketching landscapes for you-eh briefings while practicing?"

"Of course even being a fighteh pilot has its boring moments, simulators especially. Nothing compares to the real thing afteh you have been flying."

"Ain't that the truth, flying is really something", he waved to the bartender again. "Being a fighter pilot is it's own thing, I really have no idea, but what i can yell you is the boys of the 405 cart my whole company around the sky from orbit and on world. They have 228 lives in their hands every time they sortie, then themselves and their crews. Fighter squadrons only escort, at best, during entry from orbit, planetside it's SA-60 gunships. They're fine if someone on the ground gets the itch, but a lot of good they do if one of you glory boys has a sudden hard on for easy targets."

He popped his fingers open and made an explosion sound, then snorted like he'd been told a bad joke.

"Not like it matters, we're there to kill the enemy anyway."

"I have not had to do any ground attack," Ishiyo said, "Too busy flying around in space." She grins at that, "But I know you do not want to spend all night talking about ouh duties."

"Any other drawings you have made while here?" She feels compelled to add, "That you do not mind speaking about."

He took out his comm again while he waited for the drink pour and flipped through it a bit. He scowled some, until he smirked and turned it around so she could see.

"How about that?" he asked. "Was working on that the other day, thinking about an old story someone told me about the Clan War."

Ishiyo shivered a little at that pic, "It's good but...chilling. Who are the subjects of the drawing? The Clan Wah? That was when the Hantei line was replaced by the Toturi, I do not remember much beyond it was a very bloody time foh the Empire."

"One of my gunso has a novel about that time, it's...uh... actually contraband, i guess, but it's not really dangerous literature, just written by a Yasuki based off old journals discovered in an old tomb found a on the homeworld a few hundred years ago." He chuckled that the Scorpion still have secrets on their home planet from ancient times.

"Anyway, they're Bayushi, Shiken and Tomoe, formerly Otomo. The story is he spared her during the coup and she hid as a servant. When Toturi retook the castle, she still didn't come out of the shadows, letting the new daimyo think she was dead. Shiken had escaped with some others, and snuck into the city to find her later, but she couldn't leave with him. Though she said she would wait for him in the palace garden, if he even came back, he could find her there." He puffed smoke. "As you can guess, it happened on the second day of thunder, and after Fu Leng was defeated they ran away together. The novel is mostly about what happens after that. Shiken hunted bounties to support the family they built together, and while on the road one day as he headed home he came across Tomoe at an in. She said darling, I've been murdered. It's about Shiken eventually rejoining the Scorpion to find her killer and give her rest while she haunts him."

He chuckled. "My gunso is a sucker for tragic romance novels."

"I see, I see." Ishiyo smiled, "The picture makes more sense then. I had expected something more...sinisteh." Her smile turned into more of a smirk, "I assume this not the same gunso you have to constantly watch less he stick a knife in you-eh back? Or does the brute have a soft side?"

"The other one", he said. "Not exactly all that much more forgiving, but I suppose they're a bit of a sap when it comes to this. Don't you have that type in your squadron?" he gave her a look. "Samurai are people too, even if a lot of them try not to be."

"The truth? I was not popular in the squadron," Ishiyo took a sip, "At least not initially. The squadron was specifically made up of veteran pilots...I was likely sent to it because of fatheh's intervention and they knew it."

She shrugs, "By the time I impressed them it was the end of ouh touh."

He shrugged. "Seems familiar to me, I only made one friend really on garrison duty, everyone else just accepts that I'm in charge because that's how it's always been with my family and the 5th company."

Leaning on the bar he gave her a sympathetic look. "I know how that goes, at least we eventually saw some action and I was able to do more than fill out paper work and discipline people who have nothing but time on their hands."

"Some times respect has to be earned." Ishiyo added with a slight smile, "But it is what it is on that front."

"What are the rest of you-eh company like?"

"Bunch of fuck stick chuckleheads, really", he said flatly. "Though they're always eager to fight, and combat brought us all together a bit. We had a little party after...well, after", he said, not really able to talk about details. "I got some props from a few of my nikutai, we had a nasty run up a hill into fire but we managed thanks to arranging some support." He took his drink and sipped. "When I go back the honeymoon will be over though", he chuckled. "Literally and figuratively, and it'll be back to business of dealing with bullshit until we're shipped somewhere else."

"Only with a new spouse to help watch you-eh little band of troublemakehs?" Ishiyo smirked, "Someone to look forward to as you charge up the hill mayhaps?"

He shook his head. "My choices are management or a donation to the space corps." a shrug and he sipped again. "What about you, looking for a wingman or someone who will sit at home and pray for your safety?" he winked.

Ishiyo blinked, "Not another foot soldieh?" She took a sip, "I suspect I know who the donation is."

"I...well I want my spouse to have something they can do while I am away. As foh a fellow pilot? I honestly have not thought of anyone in that way. And I think the feeling is mutual, professionals joined in a shared duty."