(D10, ME) Smoke and Heat

[Yasuki Taraka]

The evening was not letting up with the setting of the sun. So what was the best way to beat the heat? Drinking! The smell of smoke clung to the bar, as Taraka sauntered up to the bar and ordered a cold drink.

[Miya Kisha]

She'll find Miya Kisha already there, nursing a citrus-garnished cocktail and a cigarette.

"Yasuki-san!" she'll say when she sees Taraka. "Good to see you! What're you having?"

She hops down from her stool to find a seat closer to the Crab woman.

[Yasuki Taraka]

She'll find Miya Kisha already there, nursing a citrus-garnished cocktail and a cigarette.

"Yasuki-san!" she'll say when she sees Taraka. "Good to see you! What're you having?"

She hops down from her stool to find a seat closer to the Crab woman.

The drink arrived, a mirror for the Miya's own.

Taraka grinned.

"Like minds, eh, Miya-san? In this kind of weather you want something light and citriusy." she said.

She glanced at the cigarette in the Miya's hand.

"Should I ask what brand that is?" she teased. The cigarette commercials had been prolific lately.

[Miya Kisha]

The drink arrived, a mirror for the Miya's own.

Taraka grinned.

"Like minds, eh, Miya-san? In this kind of weather you want something light and citriusy." she said.

She glanced at the cigarette in the Miya's hand.

"Should I ask what brand that is?" she teased. The cigarette commercials had been prolific lately.

"Oh, Jigoku, I don't know," Kisha says. "I couldn't read the label on the vending machine!"

The shisha laughs and pulls the rest of the pack out of her purse. There are a few missing as she deftly flicks her wrist and one stands out from it.

"Care for one? No worries if not."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka shook her head.

"Thanks, but no, Miya-san. My father has that habit. Mother used to get on him about that, but with her departure he's fallen back hard on it." she admitted.

She looked back over the bar.

"So, only a couple days left of the governor's event. Do you have big plans to wrap up your series on Nakahama?"

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha puts the pack of smokes away, though she does not stub out the one she's working on.

"The Comments are going to talk about the Bon Festival," she says, "and I imagine there will be a lot to say about it, too! Which reminds me, did you get the message from the governor's office? I thought I'd sent it over, anyway. They approved the idea!"

She takes a pull from her drink, then another drag from her cigarette.

"I really only do this in places like this," she says. "It helps to fit in, sometimes."

~~~~~
Sorry about the delayed reply; I forgot to subscribe to the thread!

[Yasuki Taraka]

Kisha puts the pack of smokes away, though she does not stub out the one she's working on.

"The Comments are going to talk about the Bon Festival," she says, "and I imagine there will be a lot to say about it, too! Which reminds me, did you get the message from the governor's office? I thought I'd sent it over, anyway. They approved the idea!"

She takes a pull from her drink, then another drag from her cigarette.

"I really only do this in places like this," she says. "It helps to fit in, sometimes."

~~~~~
Sorry about the delayed reply; I forgot to subscribe to the thread!

Taraka raised an eyebrow at that.

"Ah is that so? I blocked out time for the meeting yesterday, but I didn't get a notification of the meeting time." she said.

She shook her head.

"So annoying when the network flakes out like that." blaming the technology.

"But good job on getting things approved. Good to have a friend who is used to working with bureaucracy." she offered sincerely.

She sipped her drink and checked her watch.

"Are your programmers going to have enough time to get things ready? I can let the shop know to have the units ready for pickup tonight, but that's still not a lot of time." she asked.

[Miya Kisha]

gentle and entirely appropriate rebuke, in response to which profuse apologies are tendered

"I think it should be okay," Kisha says. "From what I understand, the patterns will generally be simple to do. Most of it will be monitoring, honestly, and making small parameters adjustments. And then, of course, all of it will be scrubbed before you get the drones back."

She drags at her smoke again, directs her exhalation away from Taraka. "I really appreciate you being game for all of this, you know. I know it's a risk."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka shrugged.

"Not really, Miya-san. I mean, you did get them to wave liability for the event right? Not really a lot of risk for me in that case. I mean, I guess if your programmers make a hash of it there might be some public backlash, but I wouldn't think so. It's kind of like when a car crashes, blame tends to fall on the driver, not the manufacturer, unless it's a serious design flaw." she waves off the suggestion.

[Miya Kisha]

"Still," Kisha says, "I'm grateful to you for kicking in on it. Even if it's not a risk, it's an imposition, and I don't want to presume too much on my friendships."

She sips at her drink.

"I've seen how that can go badly, and quickly. I don't want that for myself, and I don't want to do that to people who've treated me well. It's a bad way to repay kindness."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Miya! Miya-Miya!

Taraka gave the Miya a sidelong glance. Influencers sure did have it rough.

"I suppose, Miya-san. My mother taught me that friendship is like a savings account. You put value into the account, and the account grows in value over time. You withdraw from the account what value you need, and it still grows, albeit less quickly. You can even overdraw the account for a time if you really need to, you've got some level of overdraft protection. As long as you pay things back as soon as you can, all is still well. It's only when you only take from the account and never put anything back that eventually the account gets closed." she mused.

She sipped her drink.

"I would suppose that the kind of relationship you have with others as an influencer is a bit different. Some feel that you owe them just because they've paid attention to you. Others think they owe you more than they actually do. But rest assured, Miya-san, our account is balanced. I don't think your status as an influencer means more to me than your status as a samurai of quality. So, nothing more expected than adherence to bushido. Which...is not always simple either, but easier than influencing?" she questioned.

[Miya Kisha]

very Yasuki wisdom

"Your mother makes an interesting simile," Kisha replies. "I hadn't thought of it like that, but it makes sense now that I do.

"But I wasn't thinking about things in terms of being an influencer," she continues. "You're not wrong, though, that some people want a lot for a little in that work. Mostly, I think, they want to feel good about themselves, and one thing they can use influencers for is to do that. Maybe they make themselves more like the influencer, and it helps them feel like they belong. Maybe they look at the influencer and think 'At least I'm not stupid like that,' and it helps them feel like they're smart or cool or whatever. Maybe they do look just at the advertising, which is honestly probably the cleanest perspective, bushido or no."

Kisha takes another drag. There might be two left on the cigarette; the cherry's getting close to her fingers.

"The real fun is balancing the work with bushido," she adds. "Rei and makoto come easily enough, admittedly, but yu and meiyo get complicated. Chugi, too, especially with competing branding at work. So I don't know that either one is easier than the other, bushido and influencing. Differently challenging, maybe."

She shrugs, and her drink is emptied.

"At least for me. But I'm only a little part of the Empire, after all."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Likewise, Taraka finishes hers.

"Another round, Miya-san?" she suggests. "The night is still young and hot, much like many of those about."

She cast a critical eye at some of the other bar patrons.

"Your results may vary. Terms and exclusions may apply." she joked.

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha nods, finishes her cigarette, and motions to the bartender for another round.

"Yes, put it on my tab," she says to the silent question.

Then she looks around. "Are any of these your type, Yasuki-san?" she asks, lowering her voice and leaning in a little. "I mean, I don't see you with your hammer out or anything."

She smiles, making clear the jest.

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka laughs at that.

"I swear, you are going to get in trouble with the way you use words one of these days, Miya-san." she said, amused.

"There have been a few....items of interest on that particular market if you know what I mean.....none of them about right now though."

She took up her drink.

"What about you, Miya-san? Got any leads on a collaborator to make the next generation of influencers?"" she asked.

[Miya Kisha]

"Sadly, no," Kisha says as she takes her own drink. After a sip at it, she continues.

"I'm what some folks would call 'entirely inexperienced' in that area of life. It's not the thing I'm proudest of, honestly, even if it's something that I was told I should prize highly."

Another sip.

"I know a number of my cohort were more adept in that area. Some of them to their detriment. And then a lot of people won't take much chance with anyone in the Families."

She shrugs.

"I'm missing something, I know. But I don't know what."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka wondered if stronger drinks would help.


"Hmmm, while I'm sure your family will see you safely wed, Miya-san, every girl deserves to have some fun in paradise, ne?" she offered.

She pondered the question over her drink before offering a wicked grin.

"I don't suppose I could interest you a few rounds of....."

She looked around to make sure no-one was in easy earshot.

"....Romance, Nadoko, Kill?" she asked, lowering her voice.

While Sadane might be the traditional wicked game of the courts, the RNKing game was a close second. Three names were given to a person, and they ordered them in who would they like to romance, who would they like the Nadoka to match them with, and who would they kill. Of course, one never spoke the intentions aloud. It wouldn't do to say you wanted to romance your daimyo or kill your lord. They were just putting the names into an order that happen to imply to the ones playing the game. It was, of course, all purely hypothetical, but if you were given no other choice and had to put each of the three people in a category, which would you do?

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha smiles, then holds up a finger in the "one moment" gesture easily recognized. Her entire drink vanishes into her small frame, something that might give even many Hida pause, and she sets her glass down.

"You know what? Sure! Fire away."

She leans in happily. There's something about the sheer silliness of it all...

[Yasuki Taraka]

Kisha smiles, then holds up a finger in the "one moment" gesture easily recognized. Her entire drink vanishes into her small frame, something that might give even many Hida pause, and she sets her glass down.

"You know what? Sure! Fire away."

She leans in happily. There's something about the sheer silliness of it all...

Ah the sins that could be written off with alcohol. Taraka also finished her drink, and ordered another (stronger) round.

"Guess I'll ask first then...." she said. Of course, her order didn't matter, if Kisha wanted Taraka's RNKings of anyone, she'd have to use a turn of asking them back.

"Kitsuki Ichitaiyo, Tamori Kanna, Yoritomo Ochiba." she decided to start three green clad samurai for no particular reason.

[Miya Kisha]

it seems some yuri must be doomed after all

"On my tab," Kisha tells the bartender as he moves to provide the next round.

"Hm" comes in response to Taraka's offerings. "Kanna's the only one I've really met, so I suppose her first. Maybe the Yoritomo next." She leaves the third unspoken, largely because, not having met her at any length, she harbors no ill-will. That, and she is a Miya. "Yeah, that," she nods.

Then she looks at Taraka. "Moto Shiwahime, Bayushi Senshuken, and Kakita Haruhi."

The drinks arrive, and Kisha sips at hers.