After last night's flurry of activity on the communicators Koseki had woken up feeling a bit blurry. He usually slept like a rock, but the sense of unease had been palpable. So he did what any good Firefly would do. He got up early and worked on some engineering problems.

It was almost a week since he had last taken over a spot at the Temple of Fukurokujin but he managed to get the same one again. He set out his notebook, densai, tools, and the drifter tooth Daigotsu Ryuu had given him. The scribbling began.

For his latest Safety Manual the subject was drifters. The avoidance thereof was preferable but having experienced them close up he found himself overusing the term "Overwhelming Firepower". The little stick samurai were in various states of action. Some had lost their stick limbs in various encounters.

He picked up the tooth and hefted it a few times before starting to make careful measurements. There was a fair bit of calculation to be done before he was ready to start running some models.

"Whatcha doin'?" Ichika asked, appeared over to his side having approached from behind and circled around so that she didn't surprise him too much. Hands on her thighs to give her some support she leaned in. Reaching the spot she wanted a few errant strands of hair fell loose and she absently brought a few fingers up over her ear to brush them back.

A soft laugh, waving the hand, "Sorry, I don't mean to int-" she shook her head, "well, I guess I do, but I don't mean to be rude at least, yea? Just looks.. well, different?" she chuckled a little.

Meanwhile away from E for Engineering, and F for Flirting, Tsugiharu was back researching again, this time in S for Spirits. Of course, these designations were wholly fictional. He'd seen workout books next to romance novels next to chicken farming guides. It might make for a wild night, but it had by and large mainly frustrated his efforts. Time was running out, but apparently the early morning was when he did his best work down here, mind clear after a good night's sleep.

Research with 2 CR, 30 vs. 30 Passes.

"Hmm?" The look of intense concentration slipped away as he discovered a cute Crane metaphorically looking over his shoulder. "Oh! Good morning Crane-san."

The large tooth was carefully placed on the table and he offered a seated bow. "I'm working on a little project. You probably heard about the drifter attacks? I figured I'd write up a safety guide." He smiled and leaned back to reveal drawings, text, equations, and calculations. Many stick samurai were engaged in combat with stick drifters, all labeled with various outcomes. The words "Overwhelming firepower" were circled.

"I'm Hotaru Koseki, it's nice to meet you." At a nearby table his ghostly father rolled his eyes, although he waited before passing judgement.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too!" she said, rising first with a smile she returned the bow. "I'm Doji Ichika, kinda a courtier, kinda a poet," she said, with an amused ring to the tone.

"I have.." she glanced down, in thought. "A lot.. a friend of mine, and a new friend of mine.." she shook her head. "One of them was a friend of mine before it, and the other is a friend of mine after it?" she shook her head again. "Doesn't matter, anyway, Shinjo Yul-san was caught in one as I remember with Nakauchi Mumei-san. Both good people, yea? Then there's of-" she paused, glanced away and then sighed a little.

Pepping up her shoulders again, "Anyway, that seems like a really good idea," she said with a smile. Though looking down that smile grew a bit as she restrained the laugh. "I like the illustrations," she said, the chuckle barely maintained below the surface as it threatened to bubble up"

"Hah!" He smirked at the pretty Crane. "I'll have you know these right here are top quality artistic endeavors, for an engineer. Well, they serve their purpose anyway, and what can I say, I like doodles. So you're friends with Naukachi Mumei-san too?" His fingers tapped at the densai and he called up his previous masterpiece.

"If you're interested I wrote this about a week ago." The screen switched to:

The Otori Safety Manual
By Hotaru Koseki
Your guide to the riding birds of Asakaze
Version 1.0

There were little stick figures of otori and their samurai riders running around the cover page.

"I ah...got it published already. Anyway, I was inspired by Yul-san's antics to keep going and this," he gestured to the table of notes, "is the one for Drifters."

Leaning in a little more to get a better look she held some of her hair up. Focusing on the words, the content, until she got to the illustrations again and smiled. With a little nod, "It's good!" she laughed. "But yea, I-" she shook her head. "Well, I guess I never really asked Nakauchi-san if we're friends but she seems very friendly.. and.. I think we're friends? Maybe?" she shrugged. "Shinjo-san definitely is a friend though, been there for me a few times," she said with a little smile but glanced away.

Finding herself a seat she brought it over closer to where Koseki was working. "Mind if I join you a little while?"

"Please, I'd be honoured." He gestured for the Doji to pull up her chair and started cleaning some space at the table.

"So, have you been enjoying the miai so far? I've met lots of great people. All the nature here still blows my mind though."

"I have!" she said, smiling as she slipped down into the seat now beside him. "There's so many beautiful things here, and some of these people.." she glanced away, a small smile that dissipated a little. Shaking her head a bit it returned.

"Well, I'll remember then forever, yea?" she said, looking back with another little smile.