Nakahama

It's been a long, warm, and somewhat sticky day, one also strangely full of hyperactive people. A cold beer and some bar food seems like just the thing to wind down.

In spite of coming from a long lineage of smoke-shrouded, fire-loving Agasha shugenja, Sorato is not himself a tabako devotee, so after placing an order inside, he gravitates toward one of the outside tables with his glass of local Kinsenka Nama lager. The outside of the glass quickly grows slippery with condensation from the humidity, but it's still cold, and out here he can watch the street scene with the city lights sparkling off the water beyond it.

There's one more thing he has to take care of before he can call it a day. He pulls a small ovoid plastic thing, brightly colored in shades of blue, white, and silver, out of his bag with a sigh. "Sorry about yesterday." Between travel lag and getting ready for the Governor's party, he'd completely forgotten his Kami-Pet(TM). Now he'll have to start all over... again.

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D2 ME--Kami-Pet growth, Animal Handling/Awa TN10 | 3k3 ⇒ 22 (TN: 10)

Trying to find a place to eat at this late hour the tiny Ikoma found this quaint place. She found herself a bit lost in the smoke. The young lady coughed and took a seat near Phoenix. She ordered a drink to start and some food. The Ikoma took out her computer while she waited for the food.

Sorato looks up from his tinnily beeping kami-pet and gives the Lion a polite nod and a slightly sheepish smile. As the drift of tabako smoke from the neighboring table wafts over them, he clears his throat too.

At least at this outside table, the smoke has somewhere to go between puffs instead of constantly lingering around everyone.

"Huh... this one is a interesting one..." The Ikoma giggled. She had started moved her hands swiftly on the touch pad as if creating a piece of art. She had taken some pictures of Friendship Street in the rain and the blurry ambiance the rain made was one to be an interesting take.

While taking a sip of his beer, Sorato turns his head to catch a glimpse of whatever is on Nonoko's screen that has provoked this vocal reaction. Setting his glass down with care (it's slippery!), he clears his throat.

"Are you a photographer?"

"Not really... I am a game designer but I take pictures to get inspired." The woman nodded. "Would you join me?" She was already set up

"Why not?" Sorato returns his kami-pet to his pocket, then transfers his beer glass and his just-arrived plate of skewered yakimono to the adjoining table where Nonoko is sitting. "I'm Agasha Sorato. Well met."

"It is an honor... I am Ikoma Nonoko." She gave a seated bow. "Do you enjoy games Agasha san?"

“Hm. Electronic games, you mean?” He has to think about it for a moment as he settles onto his new stool. “Sometimes? Well, you saw the kami-pet.” He looks the slightest bit sheepish about that. “Mujina-Craft on my densai is a pleasant way to relax some evenings.” He names a beginner- friendly game in which the player controls a cute animated mujina who runs around a simulated environment mining for materials and building a home.

“The more advanced graphical systems tend to draw heavily on the elemental kami of Air, so, er, they can be a little unpredictable around me sometimes.”

"Mujina craft us very wholesome, I have played it. I have made this giant structure that looks like a densai... It is fun, collecting the different materials and crafting little things..." The girl really got involved in the game as she giggled about the things she made in game. "Oh... sorry I kind of... rambled out... you gave me an idea though. A densai game that isn't that heavy on the graphics. I could work that."

"Your usual work is higher-end?" he asks, picking up a skewer and preparing to munch on it. "I suppose I thought someone who works on those wouldn't have the time of day for an easy game like Mujina-Craft, building treehouses instead of fiendishly hard battles." What was it his cousin used to say? Unclean casuals, something like that.

"Hard battles and movements... but in the en of the day we just want people to be entertained, engaged and even moved by the games. We put our heart and soul even if it something that people will think is a crappy little game." The Ikoma nodded. "As developers we also need our rest and research so games that are trending is part of research. " She smiled with a light giggle.

Sorato nods, finishing off a grilled skewer as he listens to Nonoko's explanation. "Do you intend to open a studio in Tango Province, then? If you win the governor's bid?"

He doesn't think of games as something that must be produced in certain spots with certain resources, like mulberry silk or rare metals, but he supposes there probably are place-based advantages to the business even if he doesn't know what those are exactly/

"That is part of the idea. A studio where people could come and get inspired to bring new games to life." She knows that it would be impossible to get it being a bit odd. "I hope I can get enough good reputation to move things along with the Crab and try to make bridges." Nonoko drank her fizzy drink.

"I see. Well, good luck to both of us." Sorato raises his beer glass to Nonoko before drinking. "Neither of our clans is the most favored by the Crab. The Scorpion seem to have sent an army, too," he adds, shaking his head slightly. "But we can still enjoy the visit."

"I feel like I am an army of 1." The woman giggled. "Best of luck to all of us." She tooknher glass up for a toast. "For bridges to be made, Kampai."

"Kampai." Sorato clinks his glass against Nonoko's with a warm smile and drinks some of his lager. "'An army of one' is a proper Lion attitude, right? That's what I have always been given to understand, anyway."

"If I was a berserker yes but I am a lowly Bard that just want her dream to be fulfilled." She looked at her glass and sighed. "I want my game to be in the top but there is so much competition. I have doubts."

"What's it mean to be the top game?" Sorato asks, picking up another one of his grilled skewers--vegetables this time. "How is that measured? Seems difficult to quantify."

"It isn't that difficult... it takes account sales in a certain amount of time, how many people are playing and how long people play it... takes also into account the replayabilty and the acceptance of the players... now that I think about it... it is a bit complex. " She chuckled. "What about you?