[D9, MA, Expecting] Just getting warmed up

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

Kitsune Soratoshi and his pristine condition - because he'd only just taken it out of the box this morning - Legends series battle carp were sitting on the sand of the popular beach, engaged in what might best be described as a staredown, although the battle carp's purely-for-looks eyes were very unlikely to blink. The Fox samurai clearly didn't seem to trust his new machine, although on closer inspection his mouth could be seen moving wordlessly while his hands flexed and mimed using the drone's controls.

The seriousness of the bookish-looking man seemed wildly out-of-place among so many relaxed, jovial beach visitors.

[Miya Kisha]

Miya Kisha happens by, her holodrone going and her battle carp in its pack on her back.

Seeing the Foxy man fiddling with his own device, she approaches and gives a short bow.

"Another carp-flyer, I take it?" she says before adding "Miya Kisha" by way of introduction.

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

"Miya... Oh, Miya Kisha-sama!" the Kitsune says, realizing immediately who she is when he looks up. He scrambles to his feet, rapidly changing who's looking down at who. "Miya-sama, this one is Kitsune Soratoshi, honored to be here representing Kitsune Bio-pharmaticals," he says with a well-practiced rhythm. "I am, ah, a fan. Of your Comments, on the informator," he says unconvincingly. There's a beat of silence where he realizes how he sounded and clarifies, "Well, the video-editing, anyway." It's not a great compliment, but at least it's genuine.

[Miya Kisha]

"Oh, I'm not so important as that, Kitsune-san!" Kisha says, waving away some of the torrent of formality. "Right now, I'm just a young woman walking on the beach. But I'm glad you like my editing, at least; some people don't manage to find anything they like in what I do, and I think that's sad.

"Don't you think that's sad, too, Kitsune-san?"

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

Soratoshi blinks a few times as he processes the progression of this conversation.

"I... Well, yes," he says, confused but honest. "There's a great deal of work that goes into your videos, from the raw footage to the editing, without even getting into the timing and everything for the voice work..." He stops before going further into the minutiae. "I, um. I'm an engineer. I appreciate how difficult it is to build things, even the seemingly 'simple' ones," Soratoshi says, his gestured air quotes looking more like his body trying to push away from the concept of something "simple."

[Miya Kisha]

"So, Kitsune-san," Kisha replies, "what all do you engineer?"

She sets her pack down and stands easily to listen to his answer.

"And is it okay if I record you? A lot of what I do runs to human interest pieces, and getting a divergence of perspectives is always a good thing for the work I do."

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

"Well, I..." Soratoshi starts and then pauses to hear the rest of Kisha's question. "It's... You know it's not most people's cup of tea," the Fox says, looking a little uncomfortable. "I mean, you have to really care about the details, about getting each little part correct, otherwise the system that's built of all those parts starts to break down. Most people don't..." The Kitsune shifts a little, looking intensely at the camera drone. "A lot of people choose to prioritize other things," he says in a polite but noticeably unhappy voice.

[Miya Kisha]

"Isn't there an old story about Shinsei and the First Doji that speaks to that?" Kisha asks. But she notices the Fox's discomfort and reaches out to her holodrone. With the flip of a switch, the "recording" light on it darkens, and while the drone remains aloft--at about the level of the crown of Kisha's head, so not that high--it is clear that it is moving entirely on its proximity sensor.

"Is that better, Kitsune-san?" she asks, sincerely.

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

The Kitsune blinks several times again, astonished.

"Well... I mean, that's kind of you," Soratoshi says, his eyes still on the camera drone for a little while. "You know, that's... Not really what I expected of you, that's all." It would take little effort to see the lanky Kitsune, in both posture and voice, like a large Crab warrior, thoroughly befuddled by the kindness of a pleasant, petite courtier.

[Miya Kisha]

"Oh?" Kisha asks. "What did you expect, Kitsune-san? A big, mean Imperial?"

Kisha laughs.

"I'm from the Families, sure, but I don't think I'm mean. And I don't think anybody would ever think I'm big."

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

"Well, I'm not so simple as to think that size determines danger, Miya-san," the man says, rather grudgingly. "And the Miya have a more... affable reputation than some others in the Imperial Families, but I figured with the camera and the... trendy language..." Soratoshi looks at the young woman like he's clearly not crazy for having made a raft of assumptions about her.

[Miya Kisha]

"That there's a wind-tunnel between my ears?" Kisha says.

Then she shrugs.

"It's not a new thing for people to think, Kitsune-san. I'm used to it, really."

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

"Well... Look, you're clearly very smart, and people..." He bows his head a little and looks off to the side. "People shouldn't make stupid assumptions about people," he grumbles. "You're accomplishing more here than I am," he concedes quietly.

[Miya Kisha]

Kisha shrugs.

"I've gotten a few things done," she agrees. "Most of it has been meeting people and making friends."

She pauses and gives a small smile.

"Maybe we can be friends, you and I?"

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

The little smile is infectious, even to a dour-seeming samurai like Soratoshi. The hint of a smile starts to quirk his mouth, and although there's some resistance to it, within a few moments an unmistakable grin has crawled across the Fox's face. Of course, he must shake his head and roll his eyes, as though this isn't really happening or at least it's just some small indulgence, like one would grant a child or a small animal. But after a couple tosses of his dark hair, when Soratoshi's eyes are back on Kisha's, he allows, "Well, yes... we can be friends." He chuckled slightly but grinned at the Imperial, trying to still seem too cool to have friends.

[Miya Kisha]

"Good!" Kisha says, and if she notes the effort to be cool, she doesn't acknowledge it.

What she does do, instead, is unpack the Hope of the People and say to Soratoshi, "So, are you willing to put your carp to it? And what's its name?"

She flips a switch and says "The Hope of the People waits for you!" before sending her drone aloft...

~~~~~
Rolling the five possibly needed against dayflip
First pass 32, https://sakkaku.org/r/21079
Second pass 40, https://sakkaku.org/r/21080
Third pass 29, https://sakkaku.org/r/21081
Fourth pass 27, https://sakkaku.org/r/21082
Fifth pass 32, https://sakkaku.org/r/21083

[Kitsune Soratoshi]

"That's a great name. I, uh... I don't have one..."

The Kitsune readied his drone, his hand resting lovingly on the brand new, Auburn on green Fox Clan banner attached to his combatant.

------
Rolls, jic, because day flip:
First clash: lost.
Second: 36
Third: 29
Fourth: 23
Fifth: 24

[Miya Kisha]

Once again, the Miya's habit of rocketing skywards has the effect of rattling her opponent. The Kitsune seems almost to expect the follow-up drop, but it may be that his newness with the controls makes him just a bit sluggish. His positioning does put him just outside the corkscrew with which the Miya follows up, but a sudden reversal on her part sends the banner from his drone floating to the ground.

Kisha lands her drone and powers it off before turning to bow to Soratoshi.

"Thank you for the match!" she says. "I'll have to work on a different follow-up maneuver.

"But for your drone...how does 'Technical Delight' sound?"

~~~~~
Battle carps go to three victories in contested rolls. Looks like Kisha wins in four. Good match!