A woman let out a sigh as she finished a long, last sip of her wheat ale while sitting at the bar. 'Ghost Moth'. A wan smile formed in her lips as she kept fidgetting with the bottle, her fingers tracing the outline of the moth even though her eyes seemed to focus elsewhere.

The bartender who had served her, a black-haired woman in her late twenties with short, spiky black hair and multiple piercings on her right ear, gave her a sympathetic look. "Another one, miss?"

It took her a while to pop out from wherever her head was. "Ah. Thanks, Rie-san. But just one more." She looked at the bottle again. "It's an odd name, isn't it? Ghost Moth?"

Rie shrugged as she opened another bottle and served it. "Never really thought about it! I mean, could be ominous. But it's been around since before the..." she trailed off. "I mean, not everything is about the accident, you know?" An encouraging smile at the woman. "I know it's hard, but..."

"Oh, I know. Still...", she said, then fell silent for a while as she poured her glass. "Thanks, Rie-san", she said with a nod and a slightly more cheerful smile before turning her head around to see who else was around.

Ever the studious one, Sumiko had taken time to read up on everywhere that was considered a place of significance within the city. A lot of this city seemed to be around its night life, and so that meant Sumiko would have to step outside her element. Something she thankfully was quite good at doing, even if it meant changing her usual attire to suit. She'd invested in a few new outfits for just this reason after all!

Deciding to start somewhere easier rather than throw herself entirely into the scene, she had sought out an outfit that would be both acceptable and simple. She didn't have the beauty of Yakumo, not the body or funds to go extravagant. However, she was happy with her outfit, even if wasn't quite as smart as it could have been.



After entering and looking for somewhere to sit, she found herself amused to think her usual attire might have been more appropriate. Still, too late now, and she found herself a couch to the side that had yet to be claimed and looked over the menu with curiosity.

A newly served glass of beer in hands, the woman with the wistful look glances at the much younger girl, wondering who she would be. Not someone she's seen here before, she's almost sure. Seems to be a constant influx of new faces in the area - not that it's surprising for a Winter Court. For now, though, she keeps sitting at the bar, her eyes now lost shifting from the counter to her glass - or just lost somewhere else - after a quick scan of the house.

Sumiko, after a short while studying the options, closed the menu and made her way up to the bar. Sitting down next to Kioku and looking to where the bartender had gone. The mons of the Spider were very pale on her top under the jacket, but may not be immediately obvious at first glance.

"What's the difference in taste between a wheel ale and a pale ale?" She asked, peering at the woman sat next to her while waiting for the bartender.

The woman is a bit surprised by the girl sitting next to her, but only for a moment. She turns her head slightly to the side. "Oh? They're... very different, in fact. Wheat ales tend to be sweeter. Pale ales are very bitter."

Another wan smile. "I find it funny that so many like pale ales so much. Life's bitter enough, isn't it?"

She takes a longer look at the girl, her eyes trying to make out the pale drawings on her top, and her smile widens just a bit. "Suppose you're not a beer person?"

"Bitter? Hm.."

Sumiko looked thoughtful.

"I read a theory once that was looking to prove that our tastes are actually not fixed. More that they are based on how we are feeling which warps the mind to believe that you are more attuned to that taste. Perhaps if life is bitter, that means you are more attuned to a bitter taste?"

She smiled at the woman.

"Whereas a more sweet experience would make Wheat ale the flavour of choice?"

She shrugged.

"I don't know if it was actually proven though so perhaps I'm just rambling because I'm indecisive" she laughed "you would be correct, I've not tasted a beer for around eight years and I don't really remember that taste either so I'm not a beer person. I'm Susumu Sumiko" she bowed to the woman "forgive me if I interrupted you also."

The woman seems thoughtful for a while. "That... might make sense for some people, I guess. For me... I don't know."

The wistful grin suggests 'sweet' is not really the best word to describe her past. But she says simply: "I guess I just like the Wheat ale's fruity taste better."

"Soshi Kioku", she says with a polite nod. "Here for the winter, I suppose?" Then, looking at the drinks cabinet. "Eight years ago?" A slight chuckle. "Don't suppose you liked it at the time, eh?" She seems to scan the cabinet. "So... sweet or bitter more your type, Susumu-san?"

"Not every theory works, that's why they're theories right?"

Sumiko looked to where Kioku was looking.

"I think I'm feeling more sweet this evening, and please Sumiko is fine. This is hardly a formal setting" she peered at the other woman with a smile "as for liking it at the time, it was one of my fathers drinks. I just remember it being very sharp, and I don't really remember a lot else. I was very young and I didn't exactly have permission at the time, but I was curious and curiosity either leads to great discoveries or bad headaches and in that case it was the latter."

Another chuckle. "A racy child then, eh?" She thinks for a while, looking at the cabinet again. "Your father's as in belonging to him, or was your father in the drinks sector?", she asks somewhat curious.

"Hm. Sweet, eh? I'd suggest a cocktail then."

A half-grin. "For the sweet ones... a frog or a lover, Sumiko-san?"

"Oh he doesn't work in drinks, he was a diplomat and a part time empty bottle collector" Sumiko laughed "well, collecting them after he finished them anyway."

She considered the question given to her.

"Well, I can't swim so the Frog doesn't work" she grinned "so let's go with lover."

The remark on Sumiko's father is met with another quick, silent chuckle. "Well, not finish all of them, apparently"

She called the bartender with a voice of friendly familiarity, suggesting this is not the first or the twentieth time they've seen each other here. "Oi, Rie-san, could you get our young miss here a young lover, please?" The whole thing is said casually - as obvious as the pun might be, there's no hint of it in the older woman's voice.

"Has it been long since you arrived for the winter, Sumiko-san? Any particular plans, or just here to enjoy our... " she gestures vaguely towards the window "well, this all, I guess", she says with another slight chuckle.

"It was only that one I swear, he kept things more tightly locked after that" Sumiko said with a slight chuckle, and she grinned at the request. It was quite an amusing phrase, she idly wondered if that was why the drink was called that.

"I've only been here a few days, and my first day was more spent mapping out the best route around the city then yesterday the festival. It wasn't too difficult to learn thankfully, but I do want to take the chance to study what is in the city. I've heard about the sanctuary for example. I've heard there some interesting sites outside the city but not sure I'm allowed to access them, so perhaps there's a library or two I could visit instead to read up more. My interests are usually more academic than holiday, can't help what I've done for years becoming a habit right? Do you recommend anything?"

After a quick grin in answer to the girl's assurance of her father's careful handling of bottles after that one incident, Kioku nodded between sips as she listened. Before she had the chance to answer, Rie had brought her 'Young Lover'. "I hope you like him", she said with another slight grin.

She then thought for a moment as she took another slow sip.

"Well, I'd always recommend the Islands in the 3rd Mercantile District. That's where the Sanctuary is as well, so there are things for different tastes there. But if you're looking for something more academic than holiday-like..."

Another sip.

"The Temples should have small libraries. And there are some books you could peruse in some of the centres at the Sanctuary. Although maybe not the kind of reading you're looking for? I suppose it depends on the topics you're most interested in."

Sumiko smiled as the woman brought the drink over.

"Thank you, I'm certain he will be wonderful" she offered a bow of thanks before looking to Kioku with a thoughtful expression.

"I often get asked that, what I'm interested in. Truthfully, I never have an answer other than 'everything'" she picked up the drink "I've spent most of my post-gempukku life studying history as well as the future, but never had a chance to truly look at the past. That sounds weird, ne?"

Sipping the drink, she blinked a few times.

"That is a lot of cherry."

"Oh! Too sweet for you, then?" She looks at the drink with a somewhat deadpan face. "I find the soda breaks it a bit, but I guess it depends on your feelings in a specific day? "

Then some time to think on her answer. "Everything, huh? And the future?", she says with a small grin, showing a small amount of surprise. It's amazing the things we do and think while we're young, isn't it? is what crosses her head as she takes another sip. "Well, history is more of a tractable topic. One you might have some luck with at the Temple to the Ancestors." She looks at the drinks cabinet again, her attention apparently somewhere else for a few moments.

"It's not weird at all though. I... suppose it isn't easy to look the past straight in the eye. I find it hard, at any rate." A rueful laugh. "I know I find zoology and genetics much easier to handle than the past - or the future""

Another sip, a long one, as she looks at Rie, the drinks cabinet, Sumiko's drink, the floor, then Sumiko. "If I may ask, Sumiko-san... if you were to do it, how'd you do it? Truly look at the past?"

"Not sure if too sweet, just never really had berries in a drink like this" Sumiko looked the drink over with interest "but I'm sticking to it, as I picked it with your help!" She took another sip while considering the questions.

"Mmm...well, as far as I'm aware it's not possible to actually travel into the past unfortunately. So the closest I can imagine is to stand in the...I guess aftermath? Being where it happened, taking in the feeling of the monumental occasion. Studying what remains of it. Even if there's risk to it or dangers, one cannot truly look at history without going to the places where history was made. They say that structures from places with deep history have stories to them that you can feel even without speaking to the kami. Many just feel I'm perhaps not well suited to going to those kinds of places, I am very small and not well trained in combat" she shook her head "but how else does one truly look into the past without standing where it happened and taking it in? If it's recent history there may even be things left to study there which would be exciting."

She looked at Kioku with a chuckle.

"I'm sure I sound very naïve right now right?"

"Oh, aren't you a dear?", she says with a small smile. "You don't have to if you don't like it, though! Sticking with a lover for the wrong reasons never goes too well", she says with a wink.

The thoughtful, wistful expression is soon back though as she listens to Sumiko. Takes another long sip - not much more left in the bottle after that - as she considers her words.

"Standing where it happened, huh?" A pause. " Doesn't sound naïve at all, Sumiko-san." Another pause for pondering, her fingers tracing the Ghost Moth label again. "It's true that these places are not always easy to stand in, though. Or possible, even."

Another pause. It's almost as if she were considering something.

"Is there a piece of history you would like to stand on to study, Sumiko-san? And... do you feel you're not well suited for that?" She takes that last sip and looks at the girl directly for a moment. "I guess... it's what we think that counts most in the end, ne?", she says with another small smile. "Even if it's not always easy to gauge"

Sumiko laughed.

"I don't know, sometimes it can help mend a wounded heart."

She paused though, to consider the question.

"If I could pick anywhere in history to stand, it would be where the first planet was fought over, claimed and brought into the Empire. The monumental occasion where Rokugan branched out into the stars and brought the first of many planets into her."

She turned back to Kioku, a more serious look on her face.

"I'm not a warrior, but I know that even if I'm not suited in size or strength, I'm suited in knowledge, in wisdom. There are many things in this universe that we don't know, or that are turned a blind eye away from because of a lack of understanding. In some ways our world, as forward as we are, is somewhat the same as it was 2,682 years ago when Gaijin were forbidden from entering Rokugan. They still fear the unknown, and rebel against it. I'm not one such being" Sumiko smiled "I'm not afraid of what I don't understand, I'm excited by the opportunity to discover what it is."

"Oh, that must have been a momentous occasion indeed", Kioku says as she thinks on the girl's words. "So... to stand in the aftermath - you should be hoping for a trip to First Landing, then, ne?", she says, thoughtfully.

"I see that racy streak hasn't completely died out, eh, Sumiko-san." She says with a grin. "Although that may be just as well - as many so often say, fear should have no place in a samurai's heart, ne?" Although... First Landing would hardly be seeking the unknown, I guess?"

She runs her hand through her hair, looks at the empty bottle.

"But I'm rambling. Or... well, my mind's wandering, more like."

Another direct look at Sumiko and a small smile..

"If Sumiko-san wouldn't mind yet another question... where would you go to seek the unknown? Far away, near to home? Or... somewhere in the World of Dreams, maybe?"

Sumiko considered the comments and the question as she looked down into the glass of alcohol. Picking it up after a few moments.

"Where would I go to seek the unknown..."

She brought the drink up, and downed the rest of it in one.

"Anywhere, Kioku-sama. Whispers is my home, and I would return there when I'm needed, but to discover the undiscovered I would walk any path, go to any place" she looked away from the glass and back to Kioku.

"If the world of dreams has the unknown, I'd be willing to discover it" she grinned "I'd walk into it and never look back. Never doubt, never question."