"I... thank you, Kitsu-san. It is an honor to hear that - I take great pride in representing my Clan and Family with honor." Looking out at the crowd as well, Hyeon-ju frowned and closed her eyes. She did wish Chiyoko had been here to enjoy it too. "I think too many get caught up in the whirlwind of the miai, and what it brings - and too easily forget that first and foremost they are samurai that have a duty to their lords."

She gave a shake of her head and looked to Nozomi. "Any clans in particular that have earned your ire, Kitsu-san?"

"Oh yeah? What's it like?" Yul asked.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Actually, I spent a fair amount of time in the SMC section, myself. You ever watch it? It's actually pretty good. Got hooked on my last tour."

"Oh it's really fun, it's called Explorer Fleet. Pretty detailed, lots of ways to win. I liked it a lot." He had been quite enthusiastic about Asako Chiruha until he realised marrying her would probably mean staying on mushroom zombie world.

"I used to watch lots of SMC back when I was a kid. Our vid feeds had a bunch of the old series, the ones we could afford as a minor clan, so I knew a bunch of the old lore. Plus who doesn't love all that kenjutsu action? Haven't seen any of the seasons that came out over the last 8 or 9 years though. You're probably right up to date huh?"

"Oh? I would say that the Lion and Unicorn have done well to do their duty as a whole," Nozomi said, coughing into her hand afterwards. She pushed her glasses up. "In comparison surely."

She smiled faintly. "Oh but I think it'd be a little rude to badmouth anyone, right? I think the rumors going around have done enough damage without me having to repeat them."

Laughing, she does an arms overhead bendy kind of twirl, feeling the flimsy costume fabric stretch but not tear. She's picked out a Shinjo Mai from the Chikushudo alternate universe spin off, complete with rainbow hued tail that is almost certainly not real fur and a sparkly headband sporting a wee gold horn and soft plush ears. The tail was far longer than the deep purple skirt.

"Yep, moves well, and if they're playing some greatest hits from the shows, there's a bit of good formal stuff and some modern to work with, depending on what you want to learn." There's not even music yet, but Mumei does not manage to simply walk over to the about to be musical corner of the con, enthralled with testing the swirl of skirt and tail with experimental spins and shimmies. "Thanks for the idea to dress up, this is fun! And you didn't say, are you dancing at the club again, or is this for some occasion?"

Yul chuckled, shaking his head. "Nope, I'm about the same place as you. My little city on Shinjo's Grace only ever got the older stuff. I caught it a few times then, but didn't get into it until it was the only thing to watch on patrol."

They, uh, drifted into the plushie section. Yul made a face at the White Death plushies, and then glanced at Koseki. "So... which Miko is best Miko?" He asked, smirking.

"Hiruma Kaoru! Always getting into or out of trouble when you least expect it, wields a nemurani, has the best one liners..." He laughed. "Although Togashi Hoshi was cool and Daigotsu Ayame was, well, hot."

Koseki picked up a drifter plushie and growled at Yul while miming a very gentle attack. As he squeezed it the toy made a cute roaring noise. "Yul-san you totally have to buy one of these."

"Yeah?" Yul laughed softly. "I always thought Shana was the hot one." Yul smirked. "But hey, I gotta rep my clan. Mai all the way." Yul nodded. "I also liked Hoshi though, yeah."

He laughed again. "Wow. Yeah. Okay. I gotta get at least one of those." He reached out, taking the plushie. "At least this one doesn't bite like the other one." He tucked it under his arm. "Any of the others look good to you? I don't want to give any of my nieces or nephews nightmares, though."

Koseki waved back, drifter in hand. He hoped his fellow MCA friend was enjoying herself. Looking back at Yul he grabbed an otori plushie. "Well these are freaking adorable. Hard to be scared of this little guy."

He grabbed a drifter plushie for himself too. "Oh Shana was pretty hot, but it was like that was her job. And Mai was fun, I mean they all had good hooks."

"Oh", she turns to the Kuchiki and bowing with a kind of blank look herself. "Pleased to meet you, Kuchiki-san!", she says, smiling slightly. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I... had planned some things to go differently. But I hope the folk element got through fine at least. So... enjoyed the Con?"

"Yes! I mean both."

She juggled her cardboard mace, ending up having to do a full spin forward to catch it.

"It's both fun as heck... And quite a socially useful skill in the context of a miai. Also an unexpected way to take full advantage of my can move fine wearing anything training."

He nodded "It wasn't a perfect performance but you are no doubt talented." he said with a bluntness any who knew him would be unsurprised to hear "The Con has been a...rather interesting experience. Apparently I know more about it than I thought." he said sporting the special badges for true fans which Satoru had accepted with a bit of confusion.

"You too" Tetsu shuffles off, something on his mind

"Yeah." Yul considered it. "I'll have to think about that one. That'd be a good memory, riding Maverick around." He chuckled, waving the drifter plushie. "I guess this one counts as a good memory too, in a way." With a few minutes of semi-conscious terror mixed in.

He reached out towards one of the White Death plushies, but then stopped, withdrawing his hand. "This is something that lives around here? Maybe I'm lucky I just got bitten by a dinosaur."

Mumei laughs. "That's useful. I...am not sure I'd manage any particular grace in full armor." She pauses, curious. "You aren't planning a dance in full armor here, are you? Because I want tickets if that's a thing."

"OK, so," as the band does their sound checks, "Fundamentals! Find a rhythm in whatever's playing that you both agree on. You can cue it a bit with head bobbing or just general movement. People tend to pick right up on that." She picks out a corner, not too close to the band, and out of most lines of sight of the folks gathering to listen.

"If you lead, don't force things. Sometimes a follow doesn't and you readjust, go with it. Keep your balance. You're also the one with most of the responsibility for not running the pair of you into anyone else. If you follow and can't figure out what the lead is asking, just do your best not to be directly where they plan to be and everything else will sort out." She offers a low bow, and a tail shake, right hand extended in invitation, palm up. The hand remains there as she rises out of the bow.

As Tetsu shuffled off, Ichika glanced around the floor. A neutral expression overtook her, in her little outfit. With a soft sigh she meandered off a bit. Slipping around behind some of the stalls she set up the shirt on a nearby box so that it was clear she was somewhat more allowed to be back there.

Sitting down in this little space in the middle of it all and yet separate she took some time to herself. Making a mental effort to remember this, remember how she was feeling right now and here.

Akemi puffed:

"Not here and now, but now that the idea is on the table, it would be too funny to not do it one day. Our training does involve turning around, bending, jumping and the like, so, on paper, nothing impossible."



Akemi grabbed the hand and timidly initiated the dance. It was one thing to dance with Shoko who she could just rough up a bit and who did not really care about the quality of the dance as much as who he was dancing with. It was another to do things right under the watch of an expert like Mumei. It reminded her how much she was out of her element in situations like this.

Still she went on, slowly at first, then progressively getting in rhythm with the music.

The corner of her lips showed a bit of a grin. Blunt was not bad, really, she thought. Better than not saying what one means.

"Well... always room for improvement. Which's good, would be a pity to do the same thing over and over."

She then looked around for a bit. "Speak of new things, sometimes we find we're better than expected in things, ne?", she says, chuckling silently for a moment. She was obviously no stranger to at least some things in the Con, and she sported a badge of her own, as well as a bag with a book, Otori and Raker plushies and some other things. "Interesting fun, at least? Or interesting... wait why am I good at this I don't even enjoy it like?"

"Do record that, please?"



That first piece builds slowly enough to work into gradually. For now it's simple as she backleads gently. "Relax, Hida-sama, I'm not going to break either of us, and we need to show off these skirts, and you've got all kinds of flexibility to show off, yeah?" Her hips take on a decided sway, definitely accentuated by the fluttery little skirt. "You've got the rhythm. If something's too fast, focus on every other or every third beat and you can make it work. One lesson isn't enough for a lot of flashy footwork, but there's spins that fit with anything," She lifts their joined hands and spins under. "Bit harder to turn you under when you're so much taller unless you want to duck impressively."

"A lot of it is really finding movement that feels good with the music you have to work with. and not actually crashing into your partner...unless you're into that, actually" Mosh pits could be fun, after all.

Hyeon-ju half-smirked. "This is true."

"But surely others have impressed Kitsu-san too? Have you settled upon any decisions yet as we near the end of the miai?"