D2EE, Do We Call This a Date? (Expecting, but Open)

[Miya Kisha]

At the hour appointed, Miya Kisha turns up at the Tama Izakaya and finds a seat in the smoky room, smelling wine and cheap perfume. Things seem to go on and on and on and on as she waits...

[Yasuki Kaito]

As Kisha was waiting, it seemed that Kaito was already here. The place was busy enough that it might not be easy to spot someone among the many people who had gathered here, some even sharing tables with acquaintances and strangers. Kaito made his way downstairs, maybe to use one of the cigarette vending machines, when he spotted Kisha.

"Heeeey, Miya-san!" He called from the stairs, competing with the surrounding noise, giving a momentary nod. Hopefully, the Imperial wasn't going to be a stickler on manners at an izakaya. "Good evening! Glad you could make it! I got us a table upstairs! This way!"

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha's not going to be a stickler for manners at an izakaya, no. She's not a stuffy Otomo or a stern Seppun, but a friendly Miya.

So she smiles, raises a hand in greeting, and follows along.

When she catches up to Kaito, somehow having a thought of a shrine maiden in her head, she asks "How has the day treated you so far? I had the most delightful experience in the market earlier; I hope things have been good for you, too!"

[Yasuki Kaito]

Kaito made quick use of the cigarette machine before leading the way up the stairs to where their table was waiting. The area upstairs was even more congested when it came to air, without the abundance of windows and open entrance to help with circulation. It also didn't help that there were a lot of people with their own grilling and boiling equipment on low tables.

He had such a table already with a grill plate and an assortment of meat laid out with some izakaya nibble food. The Yasuki plopped himself on a seat in a casual position with a leg up on the cushion. He unwrapped the cigarette pack, offering one to the Miya before taking one himself.

He smiled broadly at the question. "I'm good, I'm good. It's been a pretty quiet day for so I've been looking forward to this. Oh, Umiko-chan managed to wrangle you over to the children's fair? That's nice of you to do some charity work. Ahhhha, I can't say that's my thing. You know, kids being such a handful...You had a good time?"

[Miya Kisha]

"Well, you know what they say: 'When in Zakyo Toshi' and all that," Kisha replies, accepting the smoke and, surprisingly, lighting it from the grill. It's clear she's been a few places, but then, a Miya'd be expected to travel.

She takes a drag from the cigarette, holding the smoke in for just a moment before exhaling it. "But as far as charity work...the young man will remember who helped him at his First Market, you know, and I won't always be so young and charming as this."

Kisha smiles, and there is a faint hint of an edge to it. It's genuine, certainly, but that doesn't mean it's blithe.

"It was a good time, though, and it did help me to understand things better. It'll also make for some good content."

Another drag on the cigarette. "I'm guessing your First Market was...an experience?"

[Yasuki Kaito]

Kaito pulled out his lighter and was about to offer a light when he saw Kisha do that. He widened his eyes for a moment in shock before easing into a very clearly impressed expression. It wasn't something he could quite do himself and he lit his own cigarette in the traditional fashion.

"Aahhh, what are you?" He waved off a hand in dismissal. "I must be a grandfather compared to you! You know, when I was your age and running about the Empire for scoops, I never took a moment to think about age, or even status, for that matter. When you have something to share, people will listen. Anyone."

He took a drag from his cigarette before shaking his head. "Well, I'm not so young anymore. Kind of locked up at the office nowadays," he said wistfully. As wistful as a 27-year-old man who made it seem like he was at the twilight of his career.

"Yeah, it was a bit. Kind of expected to do it on Gakko Island but my parents thought it was a good idea to drag me across the ocean to Shiawase Island. Thought it would be great for me if I was in the same market as my twin cousins. Make sense now, for exposure and family-ness, but imagine dragging a wise and grouchy 10-year-old first thing in the morning just so I could sell things with a bunch of baby 8-year-olds. It kind of really soured the whole thing for me! Tch! My perspective from my ignorant youth, obviously. It was fun, still, all said and done. I just can't imagine putting up with a 10-year-old me now."

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha chuckles at the comments.

"I don't know many who'd look back at their childish selves and want to go back," she says, "especially not from a position of grandfatherly wisdom!"

Another drag on the cigarette, if a shorter one.

"But for what I am? Just a little Miya, trying to make friends in a big Empire. And I hope you'll be one of them, you know."

She winks.

"You're not wrong about people listening, though. And what they want to hear about is other people. Helps them feel like they're not alone, like they belong and like they could be. I try to help them with it, in my own small way. Sometimes," and here, Kisha winks again, "it even works."

She takes one of the nibbles and, well, nibbles at it. "Not bad."

[Yasuki Kaito]

Kaito snickered at Kisha as he tapped the ashes off on the glass tray sitting on the table.

"Hey, I know I would be more than happy to be your friend, Miya-san. Especially from one former aspiring media personality to one who is fully established, such as yourself. Perhaps I'm trying to be a helpful local and make you feel at home as much as possible, while providing some leads to some interesting content. Or maybe I'm just trying to live vicariously through you," he offered her a coy wink at that. "Really like the stream by the way, really makes people feel like they're with you. That and young, or really old, heh."

"They're good, but we can do better." He looked at what she was nibbling and figured it was probably also a cue to get some real food on the table. Taking a moment to restart the grill plate, he laid some fatty pieces of pork on the surface with the utensils, as well as some chicken thighs.

After laying down the food for cooking, he looked to her. "So, the point, have you run into anything curious around here? Are you curious about anything?"

[Miya Kisha]

"Honestly?" Kisha asks after another drag on her cigarette and a dainty tapping-off of the ashes. "I'm wondering why this place wasn't already a thing. I mean, it's got great views, established culture, a decided identity; it's exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to have attracted a lot of attention and outside investment previously. I'm not as up on the local history as I could be, so maybe there's some reason for all of that, but what that reason is isn't clear."

She looks at the grilling in progress, then back to Kaito.

"But you keep talking about being old, Yasuki-san. I've seen old folks and old folks. You're not one of them, and you don't have to be."

[Yasuki Kaito]

"Okay, okay," he said while holding up his free hand to say 'you got me'. The other hand was on the grilling tongs to put strips of meat and flip them. "I'm not old. To be honest, old people and people who talk about being old are a drag. Here I thought I was being charming, heh. There are enough 40-something representatives here, they have that job."

"As to why?" He said with a shake of his head. "It was really popular, at some point in time. Maybe when my parents were still courting each other. That star kind of tarnished over the years. Some of the population here have gotten a bit older, and the province has been resting on their laurels for a long time now. We've even been outdone in the education business by all of the mainland schools. The other islands and provinces stepped up their game and have better offerings. They say that the Hachikoku Province has the most beautiful people on the Green Carp, for example. Eh, it's mostly a place where people have taken to wear the least as possible."

When some of the meat was cooked appropriately, he tossed some on his plate and offered to do the same for Kisha. "It's also a bit...retro, underneath all of that neon facade on the Harbourfront. When you look closely, you can see it, like a place like this one. The record store on the Harbourfront too. Most of the monitors here weren't even holographic but rather those big boxes, old antennas for air kami transmission."

[Miya Kisha]

"There's an authenticity in that kind of thing that the polish of the new abrades away," Kisha replies. "I mean, I do work with a lot of new, but I know that people long for real connection, and a lot of the newer stuff is...too smooth for it."

She gets some of the meat onto her plate. It's a decent helping, not overly large, but not the kind of dainty serving she's seen too many take who don't want to admit they eat. "You have any idea what the rub on this was?" she asks. "It smells great! Or maybe it's the seasoning on the grill. Makes quite a bit of difference, really, or the Unicorn I've known swear as much."

The Miya sits back and smiles. "A lot of them are quite passionate on that point. It seems to work for them, so I'm not about to argue."

[Yasuki Kaito]

"I'm sure that both my cousins would be happy if you manage to highlight that retro vibe in your next stream. Kind of surprised that Umiko-chan didn't approach you sooner with such an idea. You know she used to work in media? Well, probably not in the same way as you or I, but just as an ex-idol and an informator celebrity. She must really be preoccupied or slow on the draw around here," he snickered at that thought before he realized that his beer was empty and Kisha didn't get a drink of her own yet!

"Eh, yo! Pint of Kinsenka Gold here! And anything else the good Imperial lady wants here!" He would call out to the nearest aproned staff member he saw.

"Some sort of kalbi marinate, I think. We'll put some local farm squid and crystal shrimp on their later on, if you haven't tried some yet. Fish doesn't quite grill as well, in my opinion. Hope it's fine for you. I mean...there's some beef from Tenjin Town we could order, if you're into that," he said, sounding like he wasn't too keen on it. "I'm sure they keep it around for the cultist diets."

[Miya Kisha]

"Something citrus," Kisha says to the staffer.

Then, to Kaito, "I've had some shrimp and liked it. The squid, I've not yet; I'd welcome it."

The cigarette is stubbed out.

"I remember seeing the karo in some of her roles, yeah. But I haven't really had the chance to meet her more personally. I know she's got to be busy, after all, and I don't want to disrupt anything by shoving in.

"Which reminds me, I know you've got a lot going on, too, so I appreciate you taking the time for me."

She bows at the table.

[Yasuki Kaito]

"I guess you might have had a few of those ebiyaki on the Harbourfront too? There used to be more than those coin pastry stands started to take over, a bit touristy to my liking," he said as an aside with a shake of his head as he picked up his cigarette from his ashtray to give it another drag, then put it out likewise.

"Hey! Some squid for grilling too!" He called out to another server before he would take a moment to eat some of the food that was already prepared from the grill.

"Don't get shy or anything. She's out in the open to socialize. You can't be worse than the whole line-up of locals who wanted to get her autograph when she came back to the island. It's simmered down a bit, obviously, with her new career. You can't be worse than some Yasuki businessman who was looking to have her sign a whole crate of his Aoi48 merchandise," he couldn't help but smirk at that little debacle. Thankfully, she had the power of status to turn him away. "She'll probably be out there more than her sister. It almost seems like she could be running the show instead."

"Oh, no, no. Don't you do that," he said as he tried to get Kisha to stop bowing with a wave of his hand. "I wouldn't be here if I were too busy around here. Besides, this was kind of my idea, or at least, it became my idea. Not media personalities in attendance here, at least ones that I can tolerate. Idol sorts aren't worth the trouble. And super famous sorts? Too many strings attached."

[Miya Kisha]

"I'll keep your words about the karo in mind," Kisha says, rising.

Her drink arrives, and she accepts it with a word of thanks before sipping at it and sighing, refreshed.

"And I'm glad to be good company for you," she adds afterwards. "I hope I can be a bit more than a dinner's company, though. Perhaps something a bit more enduring?"

She'll sip at her drink again, awaiting his response as the grill sizzles.

[Yasuki Kaito]

Kaito was more than willing to offer a 'kanpai' with his pint of beer once their drink arrived. He took a few gulps from it and nodded in approval as it served as a good complement to the hot grill food they were having. It would make for a rather lousy izakaya visit if there wasn't any alcohol involved.

"Aha," he raised a brow momentarily and then smirked. "As in you'd like to do something like or more often? Hey, I'm totally game. It would be nice if there was something that wasn't entirely focused on just trying to angle a percentage and appreciated having fun here and there."

Not that people who were participating in the bid weren't having fun, but he just went out there and assumed that they were trapped in boardrooms most of the day.

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha will join the toast, of course, and after another pull from the drink, she will say "It's always good to have friends of all kinds, anywhere you go, both at work and away from it. And for fun...I've been to one of the clubs around here, and I'm going to try out some other things, but what all do you do for fun around here? I'd be curious to hear a localesque perspective."

She nibbles more at the food, takes another sip from the drink.

[Yasuki Kaito]

He enjoyed a mix of sliced pork, beer and some spicy tofu bits to mix up the flavour.

"The Pink Lotus is a fun spot, although terrible for conversation, mostly a place to just vibe and be seen. There's the karaoke spot upstairs, which is a bit more quieter if you haven't checked it out around. The Koku Ferris wheel is so touristy, or wholesome and naive stuff. But otherwise, a stroll of the Harbourfront is typically what I do. It cracks me up a little how much money they dumped into making it look nice, but it does undeniably have the best skyline of all the Tango Province islands, maybe even the other island provinces." He paused a moment to take a few bites.

"If you're not too bothered about appearances, Tenjin Town is a gem for street food. My personal spot is Jinsei Island, it's pretty and peaceful, all without needing to be concerned that you might end up hurt because some lizard decided to have a bad day. Much less volatile, too. Just a major hassle to get up there."

[Miya Kisha]

"Appearances?" Kisha asks. "Oh, my, Yasuki-san, you're not offering to take a girl to someplace scandalous, are you?"

She pantomimes batting her eyebrows, then laughs.

"One of the blessings of being a Miya is that we get to go places. An Otomo or a Seppun showing up usually...stifles things. With the Miya, folks are more open. And that's good for me; it lets me see more than I otherwise might get to see.

"But you mentioned lizards? Are those problematic around here?"

She will eat a bit while he replies.

[Yasuki Kaito]

Kaito gave a tilt of her head and grinned. "Hey, just had to make sure that you're not the type to turn your nose up at the concept of street food and the stench of fish sauce. Then again, I should have known already since you haven't run away screaming from this place. Or maybe it's just my charm keeping you here."

He looked at the table for the next offering they should cook and started to put out some chicken skewers on the table's grill. Oh, right, there were some obligatory vegetable skewers here here too.

He looked to the fire of the grill as he spoke about the volcano lizards. "Not quite. They tend to keep to the mountains and wherever it's hot, further down is more inconvenient for them. They're only a concern because they are the most common apex predator on the island after us. The worst they can do is occasionally roam into an onsen, but that hasn't happened in a while, with a good perimeter maintained around the mountain thanks to patrols. Very fearsome and hard to kill but not bent on taking the island back. Greatsharks are a bigger concern and a plague to the fishing industry. They're the only reason why boat travel here isn't quite as popular."