Some small delays (D0 EA Open)

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko had landed on the planet later into the morning. However there seemed to be issues. Not with the paperwork, Sumiko had everything correctly done and it was all handed over with no issue. No issues with answering any questions as to why she was here, she remained polite and professional. But there was something. It wasn't made clear to her, and at some point Sumi was sure she overheard something about potentially being rejected, but after more than an hour she was let through security.

The tiny Spider had a suspicion of the issue but said nothing. Just a smile a bow and she made it into the chaotic station with her baggage. She got knocked around due to her small size making her hard to see, and she had to ignore the drones and lights which were messing with her senses. It was difficult, but she finally found the platforms which were quiet and less painful.

Waiting for the next transport down to the main island, she stood to the side. Keeping her hood up and just checking on her drake kami-pet, smiling to herself as she played some games with it. The baby drakes were so cute.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Another young woman made her way through security. She was wearing a very old-fashioned kimono in a pale blue. Her long white hair was held back by soft braids at her temples, but mostly flowing free. She was flanked by three hovering metallic birds, meticulous renderings of unique songbirds.

Purpose? "My visit was arranged by my patron, Yasuki Reina-sama. I am here on an artisan commission. I have a letter?" She said that a bit tentatively while lifting a densai - a holoslate. An electronic letter. It felt strange to her after her time on Golden Mirror.

There was some thorough scanning of the avi-drones, and then she was waved through without delay.

She noticed the young woman playing with the adorable kami-pet.

"Oh! How cute! Samurai-san, may I take a closer look? Does your pet have a name?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

Hearing a voice and expecting yet more questions on her being here Sumiko looks up and see someone very much not a Crab. In fact if it wasn't for the drones the little Spider might think someone took a chapter from one of the books she wrote and stepped through from a different time. There was a pause, before she smiled and bowed.

"You can have a closer look, unfortunately this little guy is unnamed right now after his mom decided to continue travelling through the stars instead of come visit a new planet with me" Sumiko chuckled, turning the kami-pet more for the other woman to see. On the screen was a very young drake that seemed to be multicoloured "I was thinking Yuuki, it matches when she came into being. Do your birds have names" she looked to the metal birds then back to the woman.

[Kakita Haruhi]

"Oh, did she belong to your sister? Someone else close to you? Yuuki is a good name. Brave and hopeful. Like we should aspire to be here." She leaned in to study the drake closer. Genuinely curious and admiring.

"I'm Kakita Haruhi," she added, after a long study of the drake. Realizing maybe she should have started there.

She glanced at her hovering metallic avi-drones. "These three are collectively the Sanmeichō. The warbler is Uguisu-kun. Ho-hoke-kyo, it sings. The harbinger of spring. The flycatcher is Ōruri-kun. The uplifting notes of summer. The robin is Komadori-kun. The soprano of spring!"

[Bayushi Kazushi]

Not far away, there's some commotion as the crowd parts before a trio of important-looking new arrivals. The way is led by a stern-looking woman who's hand doesn't stray from her side, where a sidearm (which must be part of her checked baggage) would normally be found. Her eyes scan the area, looking for anything that might be a threat, before, she turns and allows the other two through.

The center of attention is a man of average height and build, but those are the only average things about him. Everything about him has been meticulously styled and designed to fit the latest, cutting edge fashions. His clothing, the latest designs from the Yuga-sa line, mimic those of court nobles from ages past...



...save that it is absolutely black, as dark as the void outside the station, with the only color coming from the crimson cords that fasten the haori, which also bears two insignias - the mon of the Bayushi family, and the logo of the Orchid Department. Following this man is another young woman, who looks very much like the one who led the party, although styled and attired in a more business-like fashion rather than the first woman's efficiently utilitarian appearance.

"The connection from World of Dreams was delayed by customs - I thought you said that wasn't going to be a problem," says Bayushi Kazushi, talking not to either of the women, but rather into the small microphone attached to his earpiece communicator. "Make a note to get me out earlier next time if this is going to continue to be an issue. I'm only just here and already half the day is gone. Wasted. That's not acceptable."

The second young woman - Katsumi - approaches her employer with her communicator in hand. "Video message from your wife, sir, with young master Kijuro."

Kazushi stops to watch the video, and a touch of a smile crosses his face. "Adorable."

"Anyway," he says, returning his attention to his own communicator, "I'll spend what's left of the day assessing the situation planetside, and I'll get a report out tonight. Ja ne."

As he clicks a button on his earpiece, committing the message he'd recorded to the Imperial communications network, he notices the two young women in front of him and bows slightly. "Is this the departure gate for the shuttle down?" he asks.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi turned at the commotion. The arrival of the clearly important man. Now that was how a man should dress!

From his words she could not help but overhear, he was married which meant she could be slightly less twitterpated. Focus. Breathe.

She gave a deep and precisely formal traditional bow. The three hovering songbird avi-drones dipped their heads in unison with her gesture.

"Yes, Bayushi-sama. We await the next shuttle. I am Kakita Haruhi. Is this your first visit to Nakahama? It is my first visit."

[Bayushi Kazushi]

"To be honest, it's my first extended trip away from Rokugan," Kazushi replies. "I spend most of my time at the main office. I'm Bayushi Kazushi, marketing executive at the Orchid Department."

[Susumu Sumiko]

"Oh, did she belong to your sister? Someone else close to you? Yuuki is a good name. Brave and hopeful. Like we should aspire to be here." She leaned in to study the drake closer. Genuinely curious and admiring.

"I'm Kakita Haruhi," she added, after a long study of the drake. Realizing maybe she should have started there.

She glanced at her hovering metallic avi-drones. "These three are collectively the Sanmeichō. The warbler is Uguisu-kun. Ho-hoke-kyo, it sings. The harbinger of spring. The flycatcher is Ōruri-kun. The uplifting notes of summer. The robin is Komadori-kun. The soprano of spring!"

"No she was mine, she just decided to go somewhere else I guess. Or I wasn't a good owner, I'm still getting used to these Kami-pets" Sumiko laughed "I'm Susumu Sumiko, it's lovely to meet you Kakita-sama."

She was about to comment on the metal birds when suddenly there was commotion and it got the tiny Spiders attention as well. Thankfully no more stress for her, instead it was someone who needed a different kind of security note. Another one wearing styles based on the past which made Sumiko hopeful that she might get to wear her own favoured kimonos again. That he also got held up amused Sumiko, but she bowed deeply before a smile snuck up on her and she tucked her Kami-pet away into her pocket.

"Hai Bayushi-sama. The last shuffle left around 10 minutes ago" Sumiko offered helpfully, before adding "I'm Susumu Sumiko."

[Bayushi Kazushi]

"Another delay," Kazushi says with a slightly exaggerated sigh. "Can't be helped, I guess. In any case, it's a pleasure to meet you both. You're here for the governor's little gathering, I suppose?"

[Kakita Haruhi]

Bayushi Kazushi. Bayushi Kazushi. Oh! Oh! Bless her sister for her fashion-obsessed letters.

"A pleasure to meet you. "Elegance is in the mind of the wearer.", she quoted, with an admiring smile.

It wasn't just in the mind, she decided, even as she said it. It was in the clothes. The clothes he was wearing right now. Don't stare. Don't stare. But probably he did have an elegant mind too.

"My sister told me about Orchid Department. Her style is ... a lot!" Elegant was not the word. Frilly? Childish? Joyful? Unhinged? "But it's caused quite the buzz. It works on her."

Her own blue kimono was straight from Golden Mirror. Old fashioned and likely made by hand. A re-creation of a holy home-world that *was*, rather than the Rokugan that *is*.

"The governor's gathering? Ah, I am here on commission for my new patron, Yasuki Reina. She may rather I be working. But perhaps."

Socializing was part of making fashion. That had to be true. Because she'd studied the idea of it. But maybe her patron would attend and she would sketch and study and design? Who could say? Her patron. That's who would say.

[Bayushi Kazushi]

"'Elegance is...' Oh yes," he says, remembering, "that was one of mine. Part of our homage to traditional fashions that was the foundation of the Yuga-sa line. Too many people try too hard to find elegance in their clothes, when the clothing should instead compliment the elegance in themselves."

He pauses for a moment, though, as if remembering something else.

"Kakita...Haruhi-san? I do believe I know the name. That would make your sister Kakita Ruri, yes? She does have some...interesting ideas of style, doesn't she? I, of course, prefer the perfection of simplicity."

He says this looking over Haruhi's attire, seemingly approving.

[Kakita Haruhi]

She nodded.

They were nieces of Kakita-domo, and her sister was in the KNN (Kakita News Network) quite a bit. She was mentioned far less. But she did have a bit of fame for her avi-drones. And they were right there behind her!

"Kakita Ruri-sama, yes. My older sister. She is brave in ways I can only imagine." She was clearly fond of her.

She blushed at his complimentary assessment of her clothes. The perfection of simplicity!

"My sensei would say the perfection of relentless effort and practice can give the gift of the illusion of simplicity to what is often quite complex. But I find beauty in the genuinely simple and natural. Like the birdsong."

[Bayushi Kazushi]

Kazushi nods.

"Quite right, of course. So-called 'simple' movement requires much practice, but when it comes to the basic senses - sight, sound - the natural is of far greater value. It is beautiful because it is, rather than because someone made it so."

[Susumu Sumiko]

Sumiko had been content to fall into silence while the two played a game of who can compliment better. Both were of some importance it seemed and there was a fashion comparison as well? Maybe there was a push to older styles again? Sumiko could only hope so.

Still, it gave her a chance to have a sip from her bottle of water. Being the tiny forgotten part of a group had its benefits, she wasn't important or famous and these two were putting on an entertaining courtship dance that she was in no rush to interrupt.

[Bayushi Kazushi]

Kazushi hasn't forgotten the tiny Spider.

"You seem to favor the traditional, as well, Susumu-san," he observes. "It's good to know that there's still some appreciation for the classics."

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi smiled at her new spider friend.

It was good to find people whose taste she respected in the adorable and the elegant both.

"Is there any place in the city either of you are most eager to visit first?"

[Susumu Sumiko]

"As a historian and scholar I enjoy the traditional" Sumiko offered with a small nod "even though it isn't well suited to travelling. I try to research the typical climate of the places I need to go to though, and travel between them in some amount of comfort" there was a small tug on her hoodie as a point.

There was a pause before she added "I heard there's a quite well known and difficult to reach wild onsen which is highly recommended for those who are willing to brave the more untamed parts outside the main city. Plus the famous Mount Nakahama. I'm not much of a hiker but the sight is worth seeing."

[Bayushi Kazushi]

Kazushi shudders.

"'The Great Outdoors'. I don't think I packed for that. Katsumi?" he asks, looking back at his secretary.

"I'll see what I can find," she replies.

[Kakita Haruhi]

Haruhi smiled.

"A historian and scholar! How wonderful. Is there a particular topic that you are most interested in studying?"

"A difficult to find onsen and a mountain are probably both places that - to find them - would uncover paths where birds local to this area could be found! That sounds like an excellent expedition."

She glanced at Kazushi, a bit concerned he might find her slightly less elegant for her enthusiasm for hiking, but it was her commission. An artist's work was never done.

[Bayushi Kazushi]

If Kazushi's judging Haruhi, he doesn't show it.

"Hoping to capture the natural beauty, Kakita-san?" he asks, recalling the earlier talk about the simplicity of the natural.