"Fatheh owns Peregrine." Ishiyo takes a sip then realizes they may not be familiar with the company, "It is a luxury vehicle company. Makes yachts, expensive cars, and racing pinnaces. Lots of fancy interiohs but also high performance engines and craft. He took me to one of the research and testing facilities while they were trying out a new engine when I was 5. They fired the tests up and well I was enthralled, which shocked the engineehs who expected a terrified little girl. The noise, the exhaust it just stirred something in me. Begged fatheh foh everything related to going fast. As I got oldeh it just got worse. Fatheh was pretty happy at first, figured I would join the sponsored racing team and he could make me a spokesman oh the like."

Another sip, "But...well I ultimately fell in love with fighteh craft. Eventually I convinced him to let me join the Crane Navy...so by 13 I was inducted into flight school and I have not looked back since."

"It's pretty nice getting to do what makes your heart sing for a living, isn't it?" Mumei's smile speaks of a solid understanding. "Someday, I'll find the world whose heart will communicate in all the same ways as mine, and I'll stay. But getting to dance between them and speak to endless ships and drones and everyone in the meantime? Hard to ask for more." She sips the Matcha drink, one eye squinching at the bitter edge.

"hoo. Coulda warned me. It's good. but that's a surprising amount of matcha." She takes another long drink to be sure she likes it, setting it down with a hand remaining on the stem. Yep.

Leaning forward, gleaming hazel eyes on the Daidoji's blues, she says, "I'm guessing you need a match her that's not takin you away from those fighters then, neh? Marryin' in or willing to let someone not born to their clan take control of that kind of firepower?" She honestly wasn't sure how common the latter was. It was seldom a concern for her little minor clan.

A girl that didn't mind getting a little dirty. That wasn't bad at all really? Hayato pondered giving a brief glance to the young scorpions wardrobe as she moved to stand.

"So I've been told." He replied with a a eays smile as he started makign his way towards the dance floor. "Of course I've also been told a lot of exercise is good for you to. But, that idea is a bit harder to swallow."

She smiled, the kind of warm smile with a hint of sadness from someone bouncing between crushing despair and dreamlike hope:

"I'm worried about your negotiation skills Shokomaru-chuui. Not even going to push your advantage to have me call you Shoko-chan?"

The sudden ensemble powered up Ruhe, especially Koseki taking over drumming with due ferocity, into the veritable challenge to whatever the DJ had foreseen for the dance floor. Appreciation seemed mixed though, some were too engrossed in their respective conversations and dance floor romances or simply took it as a nuisance. Ruhe was used to that, metal was not for everyone. It made the shout-out from the Kuni all the more appreciated, and he bowed in her direction after the final hair-whirl head-bang. Just before she left. Oh well. Guess there won't be a mosh pit out of it.

He turned toward Koseki, laughing at the shattered chopsticks. "That was a fuckin' great contribution, man!"

"Why stay bound to a single planet?" Ishiyo takes another sip of very peachy drink, "When you can ride the stahs. A fighteh is like being suspended in the middle of the stahs, the cockpit is full of screens to give as good a view your surroundings as possible. It is just a chair in space oh feels like it." A small sigh escapes, "But I guess someday one has to give it up and return to just viewing the galaxy from beneath an atmosphere."

The pale blue eyes matched the hazel, then she nods, "Well...yes whoever I marry must accept that I am not going to stop flying. That much of theih time will be alone." Her finger brushes her glass, "Actually it is something that I have thought more of lately. Did not really care but after meeting some of the otheh guests, potential spouses, it seems a bit cruel of me."

"Sho-kun if you're feeling frisky", he said with a smirk and her for a ride again, dancing through the crowd. "But I'll warn you I'll take that as your tell you're ready for action."

This was the party he'd been looking for, and it showed. Finishing his next drink he gestured for two more and offered Ruhe a fist for the traditional Death Metal Fist Bump (TM).

"Miners and drums go together like swords and saya my friend. You're a sensation though." On later reflection he was glad he didn't have his rock hammer with him. Well, that is true lad. That is true.

Mumei and Ishiyo received a cheerful wave in return for their recognition. The metal had ended their dancing, but some others had stepped up so it was all good

"Let's... Let's stay at Shokomaru-chuui level for now and I'll grant you the right to call me by my first name too."

"Hai, hai, Akemi...", he looked sideways, still grinning.

"...hohei. Do we march until the music is dead and they threaten to call the doshin if we won't leave?"

And he kept in step, not letting go of her hand, but not keeping her crushingly close. He seemed happy.

For a Spider.

The "grades as honorific suffixes" was silly, and came with weird undertones attached to it. But it had the advantage of freeing her from having to think about what suffix she should use at this "step" of this "relationship".

"Usually, it's the commander that decides that isn't it? But if you want some advice from the rank and file..."

She gently pulled his arms toward her, encouraging him to make her spin for once instead of the other way around:

"I would say that's a pretty good plan."

And he did, but only so much, taking both her hands and turning her around, their arms twisting above her until they settled, locked together around her torso with him behind her. He kept them swaying and leaned in to her ear.

"If your feet bleed, I'll carry you to the inn. If you're too tired, I'll make you laugh to cheer you up", he hugged her close, the beat forcing them both to shift and step in time. Then he spun her back around, releasing the hold and lead into some more energetic dancing, bad as he was.

"But before we get out of here, let me get your comms. Be a shame if I could only bother you while we're together."

Death Metal Fist Bump (TM) occurred! Ruhe thought about what Koseki said.

"Say, do you want to do the drumming more often?"

In her hyper-buzzed way, Mumei gives the first question a lot of thought...which only takes about 10 seconds on this many stimulants and the feeling of faux wisdom alcohol supplies. "I guess, because I figured that if I finally, really heard and understood a planet, I'd fall in love with it and never want to part." She frowns down into her glass, seeking answers in the toxic-looking green foam. "I really like meeting new places and ships. Maybe that's better?"

"But why should you give up flying? Sounds like you're probably well set enough to pull someone in under your terms, whether or not either of you are more than proper match to each other. Only cruel if they care enough to want you stuck next to them." She tips back her drink to finish it, sets it down, then reaches to lay a finger on the back of Ishiyo's wrist. "Sorry if I'm buzzed blunt. But you're a good follow on the floor. You adapt. Partners change? Dance with it. One the floor or off? Keep moving."

"You're starting to get greedy. I'll give you that... But only because I fear you would have someone delivers perfumed paper letters to me if I didn't."

She let him impose his tempo for now. He deserved some kind of reward for not having been half the jerk he could have been in such circumstances.

Though one extra witty comment for the road maybe...

"And take care commander. If you keep saying things like that, your soldier might think you've got a heart somewhere under the chitin."

Ishiyo looked down at the finger and blushed a little, covering it with by downing her drink. “Thanks...but I just did what felt natural, it is easy to follow when the otheh partneh is talented.” She was feeling the effects now...and sighed a little while pushing the empty glass with her other hand. “I mean...yeah marry foh purely political ends, not really caring all that much. That was my feeling when I first arrived but...I don’t know I just...well I actually started to worry that maybe I would hurt my spouse and any children.”

She sighs, “I love fatheh and motheh but they were gone so much I was all but raised by nannies and maids. It hurts to have a pile of presents but no one there when you open them.” The Crane goes quiet for a moment.

“Can we go back to dancing? I probably need to slow down on the drinks and I need something to distract me.”

There was a 'dancing' Fox more than happy to welcome Ishiyo and Mumei back to the dancefloor.

Mumei perks up. "Absolutely!" The touch shifts expertly beneath Ishiyo's fingers as she slips from the stool and back toward the dancers. "Trust me!?" she says as she grabs both hands and begins a counterclockwise spin where one partner at a time takes a couple beats as the anchor and pivot, the other leaping (in Mumei's case) or being nearly flung (in Ishiyo's case) halfway around the pivot. It's a whirling bolas of dancers crashing to the dance floor to entangle the Fox in their midst. There's a wild ecstasy to the movement, constrained by the solidity of the pivot with the sense of momentum trying to tear the tiny pair of satellites apart every time.

_____
(round the house and mind the tables now)

"You just noticed I'm greedy?" He asked, amused. "If i wasn't I think our dance partners would be different."

"Oh maybe I've noticed. And maybe I've noticed something else too."

She put a finger on his lips.

"It's that we're both pretty bad at just shutting up and enjoying the moment."

She moved the finger to her own lips and blew it with exaggerated emphasis, as if doing so make-believe childish magic. Then she sealed her lips into a smile and locked her eyes on his.

And winked.