"What a fortunate number!" the Scorpion said, as he stepped into room 7 and dropped his duffel bag on the bottom bunk farthest from the door. "A good omen for sure."

Seeing that he was the first to arrive, Akagi conducted a brief search of the bunk room, looking for surveillance devices or other points of interest. Of course he would not be so discourteous as to remove any such little presents the hosts might have provided, but surely it wouldn't hurt to know where they were.

-
1EM Cursory search of Wisteria Room 7 ... just in case. PER/Investigation, unknown TN: 4d10o10k3 13

Akagi would be able to discover a discarded wrapping of 'Sunburst Bubble-Pop' chewing gum under one of the beds.

The Bayushi spent two minutes attempting to decipher any possible code hidden in the "Bazooka Jiro" comic printed on the back of the gum wrapper, before finally relenting and discarding it in a disposal unit - though, not before taking a microburst holorecording of the wrapper. Just in case.

Due diligence completed, Akagi flopped onto the bunk he had claimed, to rest a bit before the day's activities.

The next to arrive looked like she stepped out from the pages of history. A literal rainbow of colours, even accompanied by a parasol, she put her hands to her eyes and scanned the room in a very exaggerated fashion before stopping on the man in the room, then pointing.

"You!"

She grinned widly, then bowed.

"Hello~ roommate!"

There were no obvious mons on her clothing...

"Me?" the Scorpion said, sitting up and pointing to himself. He seemed somewhat dazzled by the cascade of colors from the new arrival.


Jumping up from his bunk, the Scorpion bowed gallantly. "Welcome, uh, roommate!" he gamely replied, attempting to match the newcomer's manner. "Welcome to our luxury suite. As you can see, we have all the finest accommodations." He made spokesmodelesque gestures at the bathroom unit and the dilapidated kitchen.

"I'm sure we'll be very comfortable here," he finished. "Or, reasonably so, at any rate. I'm Bayushi Akagi." He bowed again.

And then, the beautiful lady popped another head from the tops of hers. It was broad and bearded and grinning, like a smiley line of azuchi paste you'd squeeze on a rice toast before spreading. And yet there was another head right above her arm, of a miniature metal horse glowing neonly! Though on closer inspection, it was just a tall man with such face standing behind her, waiting for when she'd move out of the doorway. And the horsehead was a pommel or something.

"Ohayou, mates." The accent was thick, but the voice deep, melodic with a rasp that reminded of a welcome scratch when something's itching.

"Ah, another Scorpion. Hopeless less rude than the previous" the colourful woman grinned "I am...Susumu Nara!"

She picked up her wooden chest, putting it next to the bed closest to her, before peeking behind her.

"Ooh, hello! So many people"

"Thank you for considering me many people, but I am just one and only Moto Ruhe!" The bulky man laughed when he entered. The horsehead proved to be a part of a large and elegant power fiddle.

Akagi gave Nara another sweeping bow. "Rude? I am never rude," he protested. "That is... unless the situation calls for it."


"Ohayo, Moto-san," the Scorpion replied, bowing again. "I am Bayushi Akagi. It's an honor to meet you. I take it you must be a musician?"

"We'll met. I am, as you'll soon learn with your own senses!"

Ruhe pulled in a suitcase that looked like it contained compacted stage equipment for his instrument.

"Ooooo music! I like music! I'm an actress though" Nara stared at the fiddle "I've never seen anything like that before. Can I play with your fiddle? I'm gentle I promise" she said with total seriousness, and obviously not thinking of any awkward terminology.

"I'm afraid not, at least until we know each other better. It's a very special instrument. I got it from my father." Ruhe seemed not to be teasing her, or he was doing it way too well. "But you can listen to me playing it all you want, and I have one similar instrument in my luggage I can actually lend you to play with."

"Oooh, performance?" Nara moved over to where the man was and sat on the floor, looking up at him expectantly. "One performance please!"

“An ancestral instrument?” Akagi asked, one eyebrow arching. “This we’ve got to hear!” He sat down next to Nara and joined her in looking expectantly at the Moto musician.

"So I have audience! Smoky!" Ruhe flopped on his bed grinning and pulled the suitcase toward him with one hand. From it, he pulled out a large power cell he then plugged to the morin khuur. Then he produced the bow, kissed it, and started playing while adding vocalisation and words - in one of Unicorn dialects.

His performance started on a softer note, but his raspy voice ever balancing on the verge of throaty growl led the audience toward heavier sounds while infectiously enticing them to follow the rhythm and tempo with their feet and thus joining the performance.

[Actual Song!]

While his voice alone kept the mood, it was his instrumental solo that really showed his aptitude.

D7 EM Morin Khuur. Fluff. 2 Raises.: 8d10o10k5 26

Nara was entranced by the performance, rocking slowly from side to side without her head ever moving or her eyes ever leaving Ruhe. It was wonderful to her, and she loved every moment. Even clapping when he finished.

"Play lots. Please! I loved this."

"As we're going to stay here together for a while, it's practically guaranteed. I can't go on for long without playing." Ruhe rolled his shoulders. He knew that he could do better than the piece so early in the morning. He wasn't exactly a lark. "It's grand I get to live with someone who gets my music."

"An impressive performance," Akagi agreed, nodding approval. "I'm...not familiar with this style of music, but I like it. I'm sure this talent will serve you well in the upcoming miai."

"I'm more of an actress than a musician, but my father always said I could pick up any instrument and play it if I wanted to" Nara said with a nod "and I've never seen one like that before, so I want to learn it!"

"What sort of actress are you, Susumu-san, if I may be so bold to ask?" Akagi inquired. "I'm afraid not much Spider holomedia gets through the official censorship in Scorpion space."