"I'd be a poorer bushi if I wasn't. When something needs to be done it's best done well and fast. I think I would make for a poor research though."

Shoan starts munching her way through the mushrooms...hmmm, not bad!

"I think all flora should be ranked according to taste Kitsu-san. What do you make of it?"

"Oh? There's wisdom in patience too, d..." she cut herself off. Nozomi picked up some of the food and spoke again before eating. "We could have much to learn from each other."

The priestess then chomped down on it. She again smiled and pointed at it happily. "Yes, yes, this is much more what I'm used to. But on the matter of taste, no, I disagree entirely! Otherwise medicine would be quite useless, wouldn't it?"

An amused snort
"Well, medicine has to taste bad to work. Even I know that."

She lets a few minutes of pleasant silence pass so the two can focus on their meals before adding.
"I will need to get to know all your favourites."

"Apparently. Maybe it's the ingredients in it." Nozomi smirked. "Best to leave that to the professionals rather than consuming at random though."

She tilted her head. "I usually prefer tofu dishes... and shrimp chips. Guess that includes some meat."

"Oh I don't know, a random mushroom from the side of the road can add a little spice to any meal."
Shoan nods at Nozomi's preferred foods, already putting together a mental list. Tofu...tofu was easy to work with, everyone did tofu.

The servers come in and again swiftly clear the table before setting a simple vase of flowers between the two while servings plates of what look like cooked Otori that has been cubed and dusted with spices.

Shoan just raises her eyebrows but...it does smell good, Otori always smells good.

"It can," Nozomi conceded, shaking her head with a small laugh. She looked over to the new piece of food and then gave it a good sniff. "What exactly is this?"

"It has to be Otori. Although I can't say what they've done with it....I suppose a nice restaurant like this would not allow themselves to serve any fried food."
She sniffs it quietly too
"You should take the first bite."

"Otori? Right, right," she said, furrowing her brow in thought. She then shrugged and plopped it into her mouth.

"Oh that is weird," she continued after wiping her mouth. "Certainly a 'delicacy' type of food."

Shoan takes a big bite herself and is temporarily thrust into otori heaven
"Mmmmhm....mmmhmmmmhm. Oh this."
She pauses and swallows

"Oh this I could get use to...although it is uh, definitely weird."

"Seems like you're already used to it," Nozomi said with a small smile. She pushed her portion over and grinned wider. "Take it. It's not like I haven't had enough to eat already!"

Shoan looks down, looks back up, looks down and then absolutely vanishes the portion into her mouth in a matter of seconds, looking very content.

"Your generosity is only matched by your wisdom Kitsu-san, the otori was gratefully accepted."

The servers are a very seconds later, obviously not expecting the food to go quite that fast, but then they hurriedly enter, clean the table and then lay out a selection of tasteful ice-cream balls as the dimming over the exterior windows is removed.

"Oh, it looks like the fireworks are happening soon."

"Oh my," Nozomi murmured as she watched Shoan make short work of the otori. She made some obvious mental calculations and then nodded to herself.

"Oh, the fireworks," she said, glancing outside. "Is it weird that I find them both exciting and yet not at the same time?"

"Not at all, that's just how fireworks are. Sometimes exciting, but usually they just mark other more exciting locations. Like eating mochi in a nice restaurant with a view of the city."

"Hm." Nozomi went over to the mochi, picked out the mango flavored one, and started to go to town on it as she watched outside. "I guess I don't get to see much of them at home."

Shoan took quite satisfaction in knowing at least one other lion samurai appreciated good food. Rest in peace mango mocho. The murame quietly selects a pair flavoured piece and tucks in with equal gusto.

"We can rectify that, find somewhere near a sports field and get you fireworks every week."

"Eh? Every week and then they'll really lose their novelty," Nozomi protested. "I think we should make an effort to just do it once in awhile." She glanced back and then shrugged. "Like an anniversary thing?"

"Fireworks on our anniversary?"
Shoan watches as the first rocket soars skywayer, a tiny flicker of red in the sky that seems to burn away to nothing before suddenly exploding into a glowing star
"I think that would be nice, it should bring back positive memories."

"Assuming there is an anniversary," Nozomi reminded herself, frowning as she set down her mango dish. She looked back outside with a blank expression. "But maybe it'll come to pass."

Shoan looks over at Nozomi, back outside and then back to the Kitsu-san again before shaking her face, eyes twinkling

"You're allowed to enjoy the fireworks either way."

"We're allowed to enjoy all of tonight," Nozomi said, looking back to Shoan with a smile. A loud bang and her eyes went back to watch. "Okay, that one was actually pretty cool."