Hayato glanced down at his communicator and the final playful message from his little sister before closing the device and stepping into the club. She really hadn't needed to tell him that, he was never early to anything if he could avoid it after all. Still it meant he might just miss tyhe early risers by arriving now, and encounter more people of his type. Night owls or late risers, whatever you preferred to call them.

Making his way to the bar he paused to take a look at the menu, before ordering a drink. Sweet lies? Weird name, and weird ingredient. hopefully it wasn't horrible.

Like most pilots, Hyeon-ju knew when it was time to enjoy being planet side. And since the day had been mostly relaxing, she had lots of energy left to not want to sleep just yet.

So after the sophisticated affair of the meet-and-greet, she decided to hit one of the clubs in the city after a wardrobe change. The hair was let down and loose, and the very prim and proper outfit had been exchanged for something much more young and hip; a heavily decorated top, a light brocade-patterned jacket, and high-waisted black harem-pants. Clubs weren't a place to display clan belonging; it was a place to see and be seen, to have fun, and let loose.

She gave a nod to the Tsuruchi as she stood beside him at the bar, wondering what drink to choose.

"Evening." Hayato greeted the attractive woman politely as she made her way beside him to presumably order a drink.

His own glass seemed about half empty at this point and he was eying it suspiciously. "You might be a bit careful if you order any of these specialty drinks.." Hayato said after a moment. "Seems they're mixed for just one to give a person enough liquid courage to hit the dance floor."

"Good evening," she looked him over, trying to determine clan or family at a glance.

"Is that so? Which one are you having then... samurai-sama?" Maybe she'd ask for a round of the same for herself.

"The sweet lies, waz an interesting enough name to get me to try it." He offered raising his cup.

"But my manners. I'm Tsuruchi Hayato." He introduced himself with a polite dip of his head, in place of a bow in the tight quarters of the club.

She made a gesture to get the bartender's attention, and ordered a Sweet Lies for herself. It was an interesting enough name, she had to agree.

"Utaku Hyeon-ju..." it seemed she was going to continue with a longer introduction, but even Hyeon-ju thought now 'fuck it'. She'd been repeating the shpiel so many times she'd lost count by now, and damnit she was here to relax and unwind.

"... You often come to clubs like these? Or just looking for a good place to drink and unwind?"

That brought a smirk to his lips, and a shake of his head. "Getting a bit tired of introductions too?"

"But sometimes? Depends upon my mood? After the early morning I had it just seemed a good idea to unwind some place with music." He took a long sip of his drink. "I might even get a little drunk and dance badly as well while I'm at it."

"You?"

"It's been close to a full rotation-cycle with nothing but introductions. If not to other guests, then to officials and security personell." She sighed, and cracked a small smile. "Only natural, of course, but maybe next time they'll hand out name-signs to spare us the trouble. Make it more efficient."

With her drink placed before her, Hyeon-ju pushed the money over without much fuss and picked up her glass.

"Me? I like good music. Like getting a chance to relax a bit when the opportunity is there. After today, it's probably going to be more hectic, so... yeah, I guess get a bit buzzed and maybe dance, before heading back to the inn."

"I'm not quite sure you're supposed to attend more then one Miai." He offered with a smirk. "Though i get what you mean. It would of been nice to not repeat myself over and over today. Though at the same time I suppose having to make introductions has to get us talking."

"Just imagine how awkward that would of been if they just sent forty something profiles to our densais, and people spent half the evening looking through then before finding someone they find cute."

Shaking his head he raised his glass in Hyeon-ju's direction. "But anyways, its nice to have stumbled upon someone here for similar reasons."

"It would be more efficient, and some could be more easily eliminated." It went without saying for her that some clans were just close to being eliminated simply for who they were. "Though I suppose it does take some of the purpose of this festival in the first place if that would be all."

A pity that this one was a Mantis, but maybe he was one of those displeased with the current alliances of his clan with the Spider. She was willing to give him a chance, so she raised the glass in return.

"Pleasure to come together for similar reasons... that isn't this miai." Having given a toast, she took a sip of the drink. Goodness, this was made for those looking to get some bang for their buck when it came to booze. "... So where in the galaxy you from, Tsuruchi-san?"

"I suppose that's true, but then I really hadn't figured on eliminating anyone until I at least had a chance to chat with them." He took a sip of his drink after the toast, signaling the bartender to bring him another since his first was almost done.

"Ah, I'm a bit far out honestly. A little place called Zuriyu its a little planet on the fringes." He swirled his glass and looked at its contents before diwning the rest. "My father always liked it, seems to thank its peaceful. Went to school elsewhere though, on the Blue Pearl in Thunders Home "

"You a long way from home too?"

"Distant planets on the fringes can be pretty nice. Lots of unexplored places still and untouched nature." She thought back to visiting Rakuen, which was pristinely preserved to be truly a paradise.

"But yeah, pretty far away from home too. Grew up and trained on Castle of Winds. Which is... well, not a planet. It's part of the Three Castles system that's three orbital castles guarding three worlds. As a military brat, I've spent most of my life on Castle of Winds, but have spent a lot of time planet-side too, on Golden Fields."

The Unicorn had embraced the life of space-travel pretty thoroughly and made their homes among the stars as well as planet-side. "Hey, nice recommendation on this drink. Packs a good punch underneath all the flavor."

"Ah, I've spent a bit of time on stations myself, if they're done right you can hardly tell the difference from planetside. Or maybe you just get used to it?" He added with a shake of his head.

"Thanks." He replied to the complement. "Seemed to be one of the few that wasn't all sugar either, and if your anything like me you don't want anything too sweet for a drink."

Quite the opposite, Shokomaru was drinking what might amount to syrup with a splash of whiskey for flavor.

The Utaku and Tsuruchi weren't actually the only ones in the club, just the only two talking on-screen. So he made a round of the place.

Having gotten used to meaning nothing to others in a short time, he also noticed that nearly ever man in the club stood directly between him any any woman close to them. He thought he was going crazy for a moment, but then made a game of it for a short time, just to be sure.

Walk away, then suddenly come back. Yep. The fun stopped when he came near, the stares at the mon on his tie were apparent. Maybe he'd just go everywhere in his dress uniform and grow a mustache he could twirl?

So eventually he found himself smoking at the bar, not too far from Tsuruchi and Utaku, but under the music there was no way he would be able to overhear them. He just watched the crowd and ignored people who stared at him like he should be leaving.

"I prefer sour over sweet. Though sweet has its place sometimes. I'd be disappointed if a slice of cake was sour," she said, sipping her drink once more as she leaned against the bar to get a look at the other patrons in the place. At least the music wasn't quite so loud at this place, probably so that the bartenders could more easily hear the orders.

"But yeah, you get used to stations. The Three Castles are pretty far beyond normal stations, however... some of them are more like floating metropolises in space."

Seeing a lonely patron at the bar, she gave a nod in his direction. A proper samurai didn't ignore other samurai, after all.

Ah, there. A bit of energetic fun should allow her to unwind before bed. The lights were appropriate, the music was loud, the patrons were...

Damn. Spider boy number 2. Again.

Oh, and tetsubo. She wasn't going to get any problem solved by avoiding them.

She slipped quietly by the other end of bar, ordered an alcoholless cocktail, as she already had too much to drink, and decided to listen to the conversation between the Utaku and him before making any decision.

Shokomaru noted the Utaku's acknowledgement, but as he'd thought before, saw she was talking with someone already. He knew she was simply being polite.

Which was a shame.

She looked incredible and seemed charming in manner to a degree.

He returned the sentiment then turned toward the bartender to look into his next drink when his eyebrow quirked. That was a head of hair he hoped he didn't recognize across the bar, poorly hidden by the bottle shelving.

His head fell into his and and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Perfect, what else could go wrong?

But also, fuck it.

He told the bartender to send the Hida over there another of whatever she was having.

"What do you mean non-alcoholic?" he laughed. "yeah, do it anyway..." he kept chuckling and watched the dwindling dance floor while finishing his smoke.

"What do you mean from the guy with the... Oh. Fine."

She grabbed both two glasses, one full one half-full, and walked over to him.

"Out of curiosity, am I that easy to read and you that determined to tease me, or does the world not turn around me and this is just a coincidence?"

He didn't look at her right away.

"This is where I should say can't it be both, right?"

Then he did look at her, yeah his smile was a bit cheeky. Honestly he couldn't believe the way the fortunes were going about it this time.

The fucking clowns, this was amusing to them he hoped.

She shrugged, then waved her hand around:

"So... Do you come to places like that often?"