[Day 1 Early Morning, Touring the gardens] (open)

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi was up bright and early with a goal of finding local birds to study and sketch.

The gardens seemed like a good place to look, and it never hurt to have a view of the area where they would all be presenting later.

The flowers were certainly fascinating - spliced breeds, off-world imports - in an open-air display, somehow evoking symmetry despite an undercurrent of chaos.

She found her way to the koi pond at the middle. These lovely well-fed koi might surely draw the eye of a heron, egret, or kingfisher if there were birds of that type here. But maybe there weren't? Those koi were looking awfully content and secure. Well-fed. Some perhaps a century old?

Maybe birds knew not to try their luck here...

But she could at least practice sketching.

[Yasuki Taraka]

"Storms coming, I can see the clouds...." Taraka sang to herself as she approached the gardens, umbrella in hand. It was always good to at least take a walk in the morning. The gardens were lovely, but often busy, even this early in the morning. But rain tended to chase people inside, and it was incredibly tranquil to watch in the rain. So she walked at a leisurely pace, singing a song that had been living rent-free in her head for the past few weeks.

The Crane in the garden was....unexpected. She'd heard about geese that didn't have the sense to get out of the rain, but Cranes?

"Um, good morning, Kakita-san...." she said as the first raindrops came down on her face.

She opened her umbrella.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi looked up as the woman spoke and the rain drops began.

She quickly stowed her sketch pad and fumbled in her bag for a blue parasol and got it open before too much damage was done to her thick white hair.

"Hello, Yasuki-san. These gardens are beautiful! How are you this morning? Have you had your rice? I am Kakita Haruhi."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka did a careful bow to avoid stepping out of the umbrella's small protective radius.

"I have, thank you for asking Kakita-san. I am Yasuki Taraka." she said as the rain really started to come down.

She watched as the rain rippled across the pond.

"Rain may not be good for fashion or flying, but I do enjoy the sense of tranquility and cleansing that it brings. I trust Kakita-san has also been blessed by Inari in addition to this rainfall?" she asked.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi returned the bow.

"A pleasure to meet you, Yasuki-sama."

She paused, listening to the music of the rain against the parasols and water. Taking the question seriously.

"It has a music. A natural music. I had not considered adding recordings of other natural songs beyond birdsong into my compositions but that is an intriguing thought. The sound of cleansing. The steady calm of it."

"Yes, I supped before leaving the hotel."

"Are you an artisan, like me? A courtier?"

[Yasuki Taraka]

Calling herself an artisan in front of a Kakita would have been like puddle calling itself an ocean.

"Ah, well, I posses a courtier's appreciation of art, Kakita-san, as well as their duties." she admits. "I help manage the family business: Flying Battle Carps. I will admit I'm curious about your portfolio. What are you best known for?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi's eyes widened.

"Flying Battle Carps! Oh that sounds intriguing. Are they kites? Drones?"

"I make avi-drones. Bird shaped drones with recorded birdsong. And then I write songs and dance routines for female vocal and avi-drones. Duets. Trios. I try to program them to reproduce the flight movements. Sometimes the songs involve particular bird pairings to mark a marriage, or a business deal joined between parties represented by the two birds."

"Do they dance? Flying fish drones that dance?"

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka smiled a bit at the Crane's enthusiasm while marveling at her skill.

"Quadcopter drones, though there is inspiration taken from the tradition of combat kites. You attach a banner to the bottom of the drone and then the goal is to sever your opponent's banner while keeping your own." she explained.

She looked up at the cloudy skies.

"We're actually running a leaderboard competition over the next eleven days so enthusiasts can challenge each other to aerial duels inspired by the stories of wandering duelists of old."

She looked back down at the Kakita.

"They're modifiable too, within certain limits. It'd be really interesting to see what a drone artisan like yourself could accomplish with one, Kakita-san. I bet watching you pilot would be like watching someone dance in the sky."

[Kakita Haruhi]

She smiled. "I appreciate the nod to tradition." She really did.

"All my experience is choreography. Dance. Simulation of real fight. But for beauty, not speed."

"I'd surely like to take a look! See how the motion is managed. Is there a shop front to study the drones and give it a try?"

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka nodded.

"Indeed. We're on Golden Shotengai. You shouldn't have trouble finding it, but if you do, I'd be happy to exchange contact information for that or to come down and give you a personal demonstration." she confirmed.

"But since we're here now, might I ask where your inspiration came from to make avi-drones came from? Using them for celebrations sounds like an intriguing notion."

[Kakita Haruhi]

"I should be very honored to have you provide a demonstration!" She gave her the contact information for where she was staying at the hotel. "Just let me know when you have some free time."

"It was a project I began working on in school. I ... I originally had this live songbird. A gift from my father. I wrote a song that interwove my voice with its trills. It was ... I was so proud. But when I tried to perform the composition for my sensei, the little bird would not sing its phrases on cue. I was very embarrassed."

"I loved that little bird. But my sensei expected perfection. Nothing left to chance."

"We had the option to take programming instead of courtier courses. I decided to make a songbird that had all the grace and beauty of a real songbird, but that could perform predictably, flawlessly. It was quite a lot to learn, but I made some prototypes and eventually my first three songbirds. The ones I still have."

"The idea to use them - and an original song - as a gift... That was my patron's idea. Kakita Sumire-sama. I made a pair for my cousin's wedding, when Asuko-sama married Kaiu Ryuta-sama. I made a composition harmoniously blending birdsong from a lark from Crane lands and a thrush-like bird native to Kaiu Prime."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Jizo have mercy. That story would only be more Crane if they'd had the songbird commit seppeku. Probably couldn't find a tiny robe in it's size, that or they couldn't get it to write an acceptable death haiku. It did put Taraka in the mind of her history lessons. She'd never really understood what the Crane saw in the Spider, but that devotion to perfection seemed to align quite well now that she thought about it.

"That is quite a touching story, Kakita-san. I assume that unlike real songbirds, it's best not to subject them to inclement weather? If you're going to swing by the shop to see ours, I'd enjoy seeing yours too." she offered.

[Kakita Haruhi]

"The avi-drones can handle rainy weather. They needed to be able to perform at festivals and in open-air theaters."

"But I don't always have them out when I am looking for other birds. Some natural birds avoid unfamiliar flying objects. They might think, for example, that another bird is here to feed on the koi and would fight to defend the space."

"I will definitely bring them to your shop and show you."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka nods.

"That's a very respectful attitude to take, Kakita-san. Not everyone takes such care to respect the nature that we are gifted with. As if life begins and ends at the doors of the Pink Lotus. Then again, some do. There was quite the local outcry when they opened a monorail station within walking distance of the beach at Namigashira Bay." she offers.

[Kakita Haruhi]

"I would be very interested to hear more about local events and ... well, 'factions' is the wrong word, but just ... are there people here already vested in nature, preservation, bird welfare? Those are good people to know."

"My patron Yasuki Reina-sama has the hope to particularly mascot-ize the Jimen Tori, to see its image adopted in local advertising... a symbol of this place. But anything that raises the visibility and charm of a type of bird may help generate interest in preservation."

"That is one of the key values at World of the Golden Mirror. The meticulous re-creation preserves the precise natural habitats of our once home, the holy homeworld. And that creatures a worldwide sanctuary for all the creatures that thrive in that precise habitat. Nothing can be introduced that would create change. It is a window into the past, but also preserves not only birds, but all the animals in the ecosystem, and skills and songs and practices that might otherwise be lost to the passage of time."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Crane chirps

Taraka considered the question carefully.

"Hmmm, I'd like to say I know just the person to introduce you to, Kakita-san....but I don't. There's nothing government sponsored when it comes to conservation, the focus has always been on economic development of the tourist trade. Any interest in species or habitat preservation has always been alot more...spontaneous, 'Oh that bird is cute, let's not hunt them to extinction.'" she explained.

She turned the umbrella around in her hands thinking the matter over.

"But, Golden Mirror isn't exactly a backwater. This might be just the right moment in this world's history to have a really big impact on it's future. If someone who was really passionate about conservation were to say, approach the karo who has a background in entertainment and a need to boost the area with a proposal that helped the world both economically and environmentally, they might find success." she theorized.

[Kakita Haruhi]

someone who was really passionate about conservation were to say, approach the karo who has a background in entertainment and a need to boost the area with a proposal that helped the world both economically and environmentally, they might find success.

Haruhi nodded.

"There is at least one other visitor who values conservation. Susumu Sumiko-san. Perhaps there are others. Maybe the Fortunes have brought together people with the right expertise to put such a proposal together."

"The economic case would be important." And ... intimidating. Who would be brave enough to suggest that there was a commercial endeavor the Yasuki hadn't already considered?

"Your family ... are quite expert in this area! But that is a good reminder that the karo has a background in entertainment primarily. She might listen to another entertainer. If the other part was well prepared. My patron ... perhaps this is a part of her interest. I can ask her."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Taraka nods.

"True, it's always best to win over local support for your cause. Going to another clan's world and making demands on how you think it should be run is unlikely to succeed." she says.

Taraka thought there might be an opportunity here, though she had no direct connection to environmentalism.

"And if there's some support I can offer you in your endeavors, Kakita-san, you need but ask. Drone enthusiasts have to look out for each other, yeah?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi smiled.

"I'll certainly let you know if any sort of ... cohort emerges with interest in driving such a project forward. You are kind to offer your help."

"And I am eager to see your drones and participate in the drone racing. Perhaps we will find opportunities to collaborate in that space as well."

[Yasuki Taraka]

Haruhi smiled.

"I'll certainly let you know if any sort of ... cohort emerges with interest in driving such a project forward. You are kind to offer your help."

"And I am eager to see your drones and participate in the drone racing. Perhaps we will find opportunities to collaborate in that space as well."

Taraka nods.

"If your schedule allows, why not swing by the shop tomorrow? We can admire each others drones. I could even let my father know you're coming and see if he can stop by." she offered.