Apparently a dark fantasy such as Fatal scripture didn't just appeal to Tsugiharu.

He bowed to Ryuu.

"Indeed, Daigotsu-sama. Feel free to join us. They're just at the first killings." he offered.

"Interesting." He had been contemplating bed early. But a movie night with fellow potentials slunded interesting. And going out again after could still happen.

He offered a polite bow to the others watching.

"Ooh! Oh yeah, there's a movie in the evenings" Nara said with a bigger smile "I hope it's as interesting as yesterdays one, although perhaps less stage hands walking on the set during filming. It seemed quite low budget."

She smiled and bowed at the next Spider arriving.

"I can say what I think of the acting if Kuchiki-sama wants, but actors are always very critical of other actors, so it might not be fair."

"Fair is for the judges of the miai, Susumu-san." he commented. "Now if you can do funny, that would be valuable."

She watches the new character.



Yep, more Spider. There were rumors that some of them were part of hive mind that connected them all. Or maybe that was a different movie she'd seen on the one of the ship movie nights. Just...kind of comes to mind as they keep filtering in though...

"Just don't give away any of the twists, if you know, them and I won't care," she says from her corner of the couch. She scoots tighter into that corner, pulling her knees up to her chest instead of sprawling cross-legged. If Hide needs to scoot down and make more room, it's there.

Hide watched the Kuni on screen and they seemed like a total weirdo. She let out a sigh. At least there was a certain charm to that.



She looked back up at the movie. They sure loved dramatic close ups.

Atsumori wandered into the common room... barefoot, hair damp, his jinbei wrap shirt left untied and hanging open in front. One of those 'eco' water bottles made of spiritually enhanced bamboo material dangled lightly from one hand. "Whoa. Proper crowd in here."

The informator screen drew his attention as he filled his canteen from the kettle, and despite the swarm of Spiders, he drifted closer. "... did that bloke just get bit by a New Kalani sea snake? But he's obviously on land..."

Tsugiharu didn't bother to look up at the voice with the question.

"Yes, he wanted to hide the kill by making it not fit the pattern of deaths. It's an important turning point for the character too. It's the first time he killed someone who was a magistrate, not a criminal. He justifies it by telling himself that the magistrate was getting too close to the truth, and stopping him from killing criminals is the same thing as enabling crime, and so he had to die. Wait till you see the magistrate's wife....." he explains.

Then guiltily glances back at the Osprey.

"Ah, um....who is also in the story."

Mumei starts typing, and then the Shiba walks in. After a moment, she hits <delete> and starts over.



She just catches the Spider's glance. Almost entirely positive that he could not possibly have seen her typing, and yet she still feels a bit flustered by the notice right then. "What?"

Tsugiharu shook his head.

"Just obeying the commandment you laid down, Nakauchi-san. 'Thou shalt not spoil the show we are watching.'" he assured her.

Hide glanced over to the newcomer and then back to Mumei.

Welp. If Mumei was willing to help her, she’ll help back.

She reaaaaly hopes neither of her minor clan buddies are interested in Eriko or this is gonna get tough.



She nods distractedly at Tsugihara. "Oh...thank you."

Hide looked at Mumei with a smirk. Oh she knew exactly what to do and say to help someone else out.



Hide looked over to the Shiba again, a smile on her face. “Oh, you sure know your animals. You here for the miai or to study the local wildlife? Or maybe a little column A and a little column B?”

She definitely watches, with that 'I'm not supposed to stare at the very pretty man there' self-conscious focus on the screen with sidelong glances when she thinks nobody's looking.

Atsumori glanced over at the masked[? is Tsugiharu actually wearing a mask?] Spider. "Isn't that still awfully suspicious? Anyone would wonder how that poor snake got there all the way from New Kalani..." He kept his voice low-ish so as not to drown out the 'all according to my plans!' monologue emanating from the informator,

He was oblivious to Mumei's commentary, obviously, but responded to Hide with a friendly smile, leaning up against the back of the battered couch lightly from behind. "Column A, but B is a pretty amazin' bonus. Asakaze is really something, isn't it?"

“Man! My roommate here,” Hide motioned towards Mumei, shooting her a grin. “Well last night, we were at the club with a few of our other friends, she told us this amazing story about her own experiences out in the wilds here. It seemed pretty wild. It’s certainly a place to be if you like exotic biomes, that’s for sure.”

Wait! What?! Mumei shoots Hide a look that holds a tenth of the things she doesn't have time to type.

"Ahhh. It really was a great trip out to the forest, and we didn't die...so that's better..." She's only wincing inside at how stupid that sounds once it's out of her mouth. "Definitely need to head out there again. Is it true there's giant lizards that eat people?" She can feel her words speeding up. Not to Izumi level, but definitely speeding up there.

"So I hear." Atsumori grinned, enthusiasm unmistakable. "Well, big enough for it, anyway. Even large predators usually don't go after humans specially. They'd probably rather tuck into a nice otori, or somethin' else that doesn't fight back with rifles. I'd love to see one of 'em, though... from a safe enough distance." He shifted to lean his hip more comfortably against the back side of the sturdy old sofa. "Did you see anything special out there, er... roommate-san?" Hide was pretty obviously LION!, but he couldn't place Mumei's likely allegiance by sight.

Mumei blushes in the flickering light of the holovid....or there was just another murder splashing a lot of bloody red light across the darkened room, hard to tell. "Nakauchi-san...um Mumei that is... Nakauchi Mumei."

"There was a giant centimillipede," Her hands sketch out the 3 foot length of the many legged thing with the utterly anachronistic and probably not local name, "and then yellow spores...or pollen? Probably spores. Started falling and were hard to breath. The bug dug deep and we all dived back into the vehicle to watch the storm of it fall." She realizes a few words in that she should keep it down with the movie running and keeps leaning closer, across Hide, as her voice drops to acceptable 'whispering under the movie' levels.

"We're...ah, renting one of the 4-seaters if you want to come out sometime. I...um...we...would all love having a local expert along."

"Ooh, bet that was spores, yeah!" Atsumori followed the cue and lowered his voice as well, leaning in a bit to be heard. "Don't think there are enough native spermatophytes here for pollen. Even the native bugs didn't like it, huh? That's really interestin'." He ran a hand through his damp hair to push back the locks that had fallen across his forehead when he bent closer to Hide and Mume. "Nice to meetcha, Nakauchi-san, Lion-san. I'm Shiba Atsumori. I'm not local, actually, but I've been readin' as much as I can about the wildlife down here..."

He jumped slightly as a flying-vehicle chase on the screen suddenly ended in a screeching, explosive crash. "What a way to go..."