"I said i don't get to before" he took his drink from the bartender and held it up to her in toast.

"So here's to us, both doing things we don't get to."

"Oh yes. Conversation at the welcoming dinner got a bit confusing honestly, missed a few parts. The Crab/Scorpion/Unicorn alliance was... As grandpa would say May the Kami protect me from my allies; my enemies, I'll manage..

Think I remember now. Said your status kept you away from such things."

"Well if it means anything, you've got my apologies it came to that", he said. "Kampai."

He downed about half the sake.

"And it's fine to be confused. We're on a foreign world, doing new things, meeting new people. Our clans are traditional enemies and I'm not blind to that, but i think a lot of it has stayed that way because we don't understand each other. So I thought we could talk."

He sipped again.

"Plus you were the cutest one there."

"You're not responsible for the clan you were born in or people outside your authority jumping the gun. Though you're responsible for a lot of things. Like teasing me. But I guess like the scorpion in the fable, it's in your nature.

So is that the moment you try to convince me you're actually a nice guy that just needs the right woman to put him back on the right track?"

He turned to face her now and smiled, meeting her eyes.

"Why would I do that? Don't you like being teased? If you think I'm responsible, isn't that something to be happy about?" A shift toward her. "Who says i need to change, are you really saying you don't like it?"

"Dunno. Ceasing your assaults on all life as we know it – and even afterlife as we know it – would be a pretty good change don't you think? Got a Kitsune telling me this very morning their scans show plants don't even exist anymore on your worlds. You're so evil you literally exterminate flowers."

"Hida-san, that was..." he shook his head, the manner of offense he felt was too great all at once to really process.

He finished his drink, wiping his mouth on his sleeve to hide the shark fang grin of madness. Then he said fuck it again.

"I would think a Crab, of all people, would understand the difficult decisions faced by soldiers who have a thankless job with impossible expectations and limited resources."

The Crab and Spider got a polite nod, when Hayato noticed their presence, and he had to fight off a amile when he heard the crab girl ask. 'Do you come to places like this often?' Maybe women were a little alike all over the galaxy.

"That sounds like quite the impressive sight, well not that such things are really easy to see." She likely knew what she meant though. "It might be an interesting place to visit at the very least."

"As for sour cake?" He smirked and shook his head. "I'd likely try it once, but it'd like be the type of oddity that you don't want to encounter twice."

It sounded to her like the Hida was being a wild swinging tetsubo still as she had been on the ship. For someone who had seemed scared of the Spider, the Hida seemed to draw their attention. Or seek them out.

"Hm, I suppose so." She focused her attention on the Tsuruchi for now. "Lots of interesting places in the Empire - including those not yet explored."

Very typical Unicorn to look to the next figurative horizon.

"Probably some cake that is sour. Sour cherries, or... gooseberries are sour too, I think?" Hyeon-ju hadn't had much time to look for sour cakes. Maybe she'd have to do that later at the mall. "What about you? You like sour, or something else?"

"Nope. Not buying the false equivalence here. And if you start dropping names like Kuni Yori, that your propaganda so likes to remind us about, I swear I'll make a Kuni Waste of your face for real."

She sighed.

"Do you really want for this night to end badly? Couldn't you talk, I dunno, about... Not flowers apparently... Kittens maybe? Is there anything cute or beautiful on your worlds actually?"

"I'm a fan of bitter myself, though i don't mind sour or spicy either. Sweet is likely the lowest on my list, but a nice peace of cake isn't bad every now and then."

"As for exploring i think doing a bit would be nice." He offered thoughtfully before taking a sip of his new drink. "Though really my duties don't call for much in that regard." Shooting people and exploring the galaxy were sadly different skill sets.

"Kuni Yori isn't a good example of shit all", Shokomaru shrugged and tapped the bar for another drink. "No one goes to Jigoku for a reward, it's not a retirement home, it's not Yomi: Spider Edition. Give me a fuckin' break", he blew smoke, and the look on his face told her he really though the propaganda was the cruelest joke in history.

"And I'm not asking you to buy into some kind of false equivalency here, I'm explaining that regardless of what you think, or my own wishes, it is what it is, people do what they do, and they live and die by it."

He leaned on the bar while the drink was made. "But if you want to hear something nice, I can tell you something nice. I'd like to, honestly. I live on a planet the Spider took not too long after the conquest of space began, it's mostly healed after all this time, the ecosystem is all new. There's forests, clean water and soil for crops. That's where Shadowless Village is, on the land my family owns. It's in a wetland that grows a lot of rice, and it isn't so different than what you'd see on the old homeworld except the buildings aren't thatch and planks of wood asking to be burned down by a stray stare from Osano Wo. The village got it's name from how sunlight reflects off the wetlands, it's near blinding so everyone stays inside during the middle of the day. We rest, have meals with families, work on hobbies, play games. It's a few hours of break and it's become something of a cultural idiom to the region. The winter every 5th year is pretty long due to the planet's orbit and the clouds cover up the sunlight, so we play a lot of snow games and there's even ice skating on the paddies."

He held up a hand.

"Which i'm horrible at."

"A shame. Samurai should get a chance to explore once in a while when we have so much available," she sighed, and couldn't help but to overhear some things from the other conversation.

She gave an unamused smirk to her conversational-partner. "I'm not sure if they're going to fight or make out, to be honest."

"Your own lands hey? Weirdly, this is not something I'm used to. We're a business family. We have business accommodations through the galaxy. Places to stay in for a few months, time to arrange things locally, then move to the next and repeat the process. Don't think I've spent enough time in any of those to call it home. Life as a military was actually more stable than that.

Oh, and before you ask, our business is rocks. If you want the glamorous perfume maker, you'll have to seek the small hyperactive Kitsune with even worst taste than me in colored lenses."

She pointed two fingers as her falsely red eyes.

"And never skated myself. I dance however."

"I've seen the hypercolor fox", he said and his new drink slid into his hand. "And rocks are a solid business, it's where every clan's war materiel comes from...aside maybe the Phoenix, maybe they're planning to make mushroom frigates."

Long sip.

"but I'll be straightforward. All those things you hear about the Spider? most of it's true. It's a big clan though, lots of different people and opinions. Though we all owe loyalty to our champion, and their father was killed by a Crab. No one is forgetting that, either. Still, talking with you right now I have to say I'm pleased at the very least."

the truth might make put him in some trouble, but how could he expect to be the kind of man he was showing her if he didn't say it?

He tried to stifle his laugh at that, but an amused snort still made it's way past his lips, it seemed they were of the same mind about that. "I'd wager on making out sometime after they hit the dance floor." He offered quietly in return before turning back towards their more open conversation.

"That would be nice, and I suppose I have gotten a chance to see more of the galaxy then many. So I probably shouldn't even comment, especially if you take into account I may be somewhere else new after my time here."

"Mm... that is a strange thought, is it not? That half of us here for this miai will be leaving our clans and families behind, to travel to completely new worlds to live with a different clan." It was certainly something she thought about a lot, even if she was fully determined to walk that path if it was the best for her clan. "Not one I'm afraid of, but it's still strange to consider."

After giving her half-empty glass a thorough thoughtful look, the remains were downed in one go.

"How do you feel about maybe having to leave your clan?"

"Mmmm." He pondered hiw to answer that for a few moments swirling the liquid in his glass thoughtfully. "It's an idea I've been trying to wrap my head around on the way here."

"It's something I'm willing to do of course, but its really strange thing to wrap your mind around. So I suppose I could say it makes me feel a bit anxious? Part of me just wants to know if it will happen so I can go ahead and commit to it?"

"It will be a big change of course, but I think it will be easiest to just jump right in."

Akemi rolled her eyes at the Spider last statements but didn't walk away:

"Let's not play who shot first between the Crab and the Spider please. I'm not in the mood for going through several millennia of history. Let's wait for the Asako-designed contest of this miai for that.

But hey, indeed, that you're the bad guys doesn't mean you have to be bad guys. I would even hazard the guess your clan must have cherry-picked its more agreeable youth for that event... But then I've met Nara."

"It's not who shot first, no. I'm saying no one in my clan is forgetting facts, no Crab should shy away from having defeated an enemy as strong as the Champion of the Spider", he said in all seriousness.

But then he cracked a smile. "Susumu-san is... an interesting case. I think she would be a good wife if she had a mind for it, maybe she needs it more than she knows. Me though... I'm agreeable, sure. Until I'm not."