D9 ME - A Crossroads (Sango Station)

[Utaku Itsuka]

The hustle and bustle at Shiawase Island's Central Station would be just starting to calm down a bit after the rush hour of workers and other busy passers-by returning home, heimin and samurai alike.

This was a place many in the island went through day after day - a familiar sight, a home before the home even.

Not so much for Itsuka. She did know the public transport system by heart, granted - tourists always want to know how to reach places, and it wouldn't do to not offer that information. But she was much more used to seeing the island from above, move on her own.

For some reason, though, this felt like the right place for what she was doing. The crowd moving around, even a bit more thinned out as it was now, felt like a comfort blanket. 'A defence of sorts', she thought, all the while imagining the voice she missed so much laughing at her - 'defence from what, ya silly dork? 'S not an assault or an asteroid field. Ya're a tough nut, act like it!.

Still, the row of information booths looked menacing. More than an asteroid field, if anything. She'd know a bit about how to manoeuvre around those. Would she know what to do, depending on what she found?

She looked to one side, then another, wandered around a bit, aimlessly, moved closer to the row of informators, then back, almost as a horse sniffing obstacles before a race course.

At least some ten minutes went by before she mustered courage and actually touched the screen.

Information

• General - daily news
• Transport - getting around Shiawase Island
• Weather
• Locations around Shiawase
• ...

'More information', read a small line in smaller print at the bottom of the page.
She clicked on it.
Insert your credentials

... she wasn't sure what to do. She had learned a bit about such things lately... but apparently not enough.

She clicked on 'General' instead, then. News? From way back? Would there be something for her there?...
....

D9 ME - Looking for any info on Kirara. Computers/Int TN 25; VP | 6k5 ⇒ 19 (TN: 25)

[Suzume Hitomi]

Hitomi comes through the station after dropping an order of traditionally made offerings for a client and picking up a sack of 10 zeni coins. She'll catch a bus back to Golden Shotengai with minimal rain exposure this way.

Spotting Itsuka, she pauses a bit into the Unicorn's peripheral vision and offers a half bow of 'hello, but don't let me interrupt,' before adding, "It's good to see you, Utaku-sama. I was just thinking that these coins are fantastic, but the sacks are really meant for sharing."

[Boogiepop]

It was strange, in this modern era of samurai where everyone could contact each other on a moment's notice with communicators, watch the most recent shows or news on the informator, and even get quick transportation service from one side of the city to the fishing town of Tenjin Town...Yet, everything felt even more isolated with borders no longer being walkable but instead divided by the vast expanse of void. Everything became more accessible, but even more things were further apart from each other.

Itsuka likely had the information at her fingertips at any time, but if she truly wanted to, she could have lived out the remainder of her life on the Green Carp without ever hearing about her wife ever again. Each solar system, each world, was almost a timeline in itself.

However, Itsuka would find some semblance of news, only written as a small and insignificant article, despite the weak search...

Wreckage of the Luminous Found

By Hiruma Eiko on 24th of Ox, 3124

Missing for almost two years, the mystery over the Firefly Clan's transport freighter, the Luminous, has finally come to an end. The wreckage has been discovered by Commander Nakauchi Joto of the Skipper III during what was supposed to be a flyby trip on the edge of Spider Clan space. An unexpected engine issue on the Skipper III allowed the Osprey ship to have a chance encounter with the wreckage of the Luminous, which was previously reported missing over two years ago.

With the shocking discovery, the crew immediately boarded the ship to search for survivors and claim salvage. After to a thorough search, it seems that no survivors were found. The cause of the disaster seems to be an eruption of the airlock, potentially from an outside source. "We were really lucky to find this ship," said Commander Nakauchi Joto, "It's really tragic what happened to everyone on board."

...

And the article would go on...but unfortunately, there was no light at the end of this tunnel.

[Utaku Itsuka]

.. that illusion, that twisted shadow of hope of uncertainty, offered by arcane interclan communication systems and the vast expanses between Clan Worlds, that's what she'd held to for the last 3 years. It was a strange, vain, even sad kind of hope. But she still felt it as hope, still felt it helped her get up each day and go on as if things hadn't changed so much - this was just an unusually long absence.

An excruciatingly painfully long absence.

She'd heard the stories, watched it on dramas on Silver Fin Channel, read it in novels in her later dojo days. Words cut deeper than steel. She could never fathom that.

She felt it now.

...unexpected engine issue
...no survivors...
... an eruption of the airlock...
....potentially from an outside source.

Each sentence hurt more than the last. She read it once, twice, four, seven times, as if hoping the pain would eventually start to dull.

All the while, her face seemed blank, impassive... other than for a steady stream tracing its way from her eyes to the collar of her blood red tank top.

Missing for almost two years... would there be any chance for them, for her to be there after that long? Certainly not, but...

She shook her head for a moment. That kind of hope would be even sadder than the mist she'd let cover the last years.

But...

....potentially from an outside source.

She read that sentence, again and again.

Kiki wouldn't make a mistake with an airlock. Ever.

So... someone? Something?

....potentially from an outside source.

They were probably blown out the moment it happened, but... but what if...

... an outside source.

Could it... could she...

She shook her head again. But it was too late. The flame deep in her eyes were burning brightly. Was this hope? Anger? It was hard to tell. Her face still looked pretty much the same, at any rate.

Someone...

Hitomi comes through the station after dropping an order of traditionally made offerings for a client and picking up a sack of 10 zeni coins. She'll catch a bus back to Golden Shotengai with minimal rain exposure this way.

Spotting Itsuka, she pauses a bit into the Unicorn's peripheral vision and offers a half bow of 'hello, but don't let me interrupt,' before adding, "It's good to see you, Utaku-sama. I was just thinking that these coins are fantastic, but the sacks are really meant for sharing."

It was only then that she noticed Hitomi standing by her side. Mercifully, the long scene and hesitation played out mostly in Itsuka's mind, so the Sparrow probably only stood there for a minute or so before the Unicorn finally turns to her.

"Oh", she says, in a neutral, low tone that sounds not unlike Ojou Anna's, which Hitomi would remember from before. "I..." she stops speaking, nods, a weak, lifeless smile forms on her lips. "Thank you, Suzume-san.", she says with a bow.

"It's odd how far back the news one can find in those are, isn't it?", she adds, pointing to the screen. "And yet how little from other parts of the Empire we see on an everyday basis. Isn't it?"

The flat voice goes even flatter. It's clear this is not someone who's well, it's probably clear she's avoiding a topic. But what else could one do in a situation like this?

------
OOC: Sorry for the long delay! Hoping we can get a little chat going nonetheless

[Suzume Hitomi]

snip

Hitomi looks to the screen, of course. Its tale of tragedy was clear, if a bit old. Add in the skill at reading people that saw her tagged for training with the Doji in the first place and...the Utaku was not ok, in a rather public place.

She didn't know the full details, but this was definitely a tale of loss. So first. "I'm, so sorry, Utaku-sama." It would be blunt to ask the obvious just yet. Even if it felt like a bit of a quiet bubble in the crowd, that was an illusion. So she leaves the question hang in silence for a moment.

Her lips press together in thought, before her head comes up with a bit of determination. "You know, these coins could use something to drink with them, and there's a quiet corner around the side of the tea cart, if you'd like to sit a minute. The rain has enough folks staying home that I expect they'll be glad of the business."

(understandable, between finalizing the race and general life stuff!)

[Utaku Itsuka]

Hitomi looks to the screen, of course. Its tale of tragedy was clear, if a bit old. Add in the skill at reading people that saw her tagged for training with the Doji in the first place and...the Utaku was not ok, in a rather public place.

She didn't know the full details, but this was definitely a tale of loss. So first. "I'm, so sorry, Utaku-sama." It would be blunt to ask the obvious just yet. Even if it felt like a bit of a quiet bubble in the crowd, that was an illusion. So she leaves the question hang in silence for a moment.

Her lips press together in thought, before her head comes up with a bit of determination. "You know, these coins could use something to drink with them, and there's a quiet corner around the side of the tea cart, if you'd like to sit a minute. The rain has enough folks staying home that I expect they'll be glad of the business."

(understandable, between finalizing the race and general life stuff!)

The Utaku looks at Hitomi, then back at the screen. A finger went to the "back" button, as if on instinct, once, twice, then actually changed strategy and pressed "back to home", bringing the screen back to the starting screen.

It didn't feel so much as if she was trying to 'put distance' between her and the news, so much as a sense of duty, as if she had to put things back in order for the next person who might want to use the informator.

That didn't make it any less of an escape from the reality that had just presented itself, of course.

"I... yes... thank you, Suzume-san", she finally says, her eyes shifting from the screen back to the Sparrow. Their hollowness is deeper than ever, as is her voice. She attempts a small smile. It comes out weak, pale, almost sickly. A nod.

"Tea... tea sounds good." She looks at the coin, as if pointing to it with her gaze. "... matcha?", she manages to ask with a second attempt at a smile, which comes out better than the first, but only just. "... which one is your favourite?"

The unmentioned news linger behind each of her words, leaving a deafening silence on their wake.

(OOC: Sorry again about the long delay! And thanks for joining here )

[Suzume Hitomi]

(been having some trouble posting this week, so the speed is honestly appreciated.)

There's no sense of impatience from the Sparrow, at the hesitation to reset the screen. In truth, it lets her eyes scan a bit more detail in the moment.

Hitomi isn't sure if the question is hoping for matcha cream in the coin...or noting that it would go really well with them. She lifts the bag a bit, with a soft, neutral smile. "Mixed fillings, so yes, but we'll have to hunt for them. But a Matcha iri genmaicha would be perfect with all of them." She leans into movement toward the seating area, taking only a step to initiate the shift from one space to another, then waiting for Itsuka before taking another.

"I'm partial to the sakura, but it's persimmon at this time of year." A soothing bit of nothing. When they move, she'll quietly slip out her communicator to punch in the tea order. "Still warm is the best though, particularly in this weather. Do you have a favorite, Utaku-sama?" Two tables and a scattering of seats occupy a space screened by potted plants and the back edge of the cart. A stuttering stream of travelers stop at the cart's front and hurry away with steaming cups.