Paradise Interrupted [Day 11, EE]

[Kuni Koyuki]

Resting on a blanket with a grotesquely large sunhat Koyuki lazes about on the beach in the swimsuit she'd worn some days prior at the Mantsi Oshidama Victory Party. Now she was out in the sun again trying to just enjoy a spot of relaxation in the middle of the travesty that was her last couple of days. Every day had struggles both emotional and physical, and if she was honest with herself for even a second she'd realize she was at her limit. However, she wasn't the type of woman who was honest with herself when the going got rough and that was the source of so many of her problems in life.

Right now though? Right now she was enjoying a bananas flavored cup of ice shavings and honestly that was pretty good on its own.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Hey Kuni-sama!"
A small figure approaches Koyuki and lays out a towel feature a surfing ronin and the words "I'm a Wave Samurai" next to the Crab. Yūrei wears a simple black two piece and seems to be enjoying the sun. A small cooler she carriers is probably also helping.

"Mind if I set up here?"
She looks over with an easy smile.
"You got a shaved ice cup? Excellent choice!"

[Kuni Koyuki]

Looking over to Yurei as she arrives, Koyuki can hardly make heads or tails of the woman. Which was probably just how she liked it after all she's come to know about her. Honestly, the most surprising thing should probably be the fact she had a towel that seemed to be marketed specifically to ronin. Unless it was custom? That seemed even less likely. Little spoon turned upside down against her tongue with a scoop of the shavings she knits her brow looking at her. Not answering right away.

"I welcome it. Having a-" she twists her lip. "Prosperous week, Yurei-san?"

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Very much so."
With a little wiggle she settles herself just so on the towel and lies back contently, her whole body seeming to relaxy.
"It's not all about the money Kuni-sama, what I have gained in friends and romance and the good I have done is equally important."
Sighing happily
"But the money definitely helps."
She settles, and for a few moments it almost looks like she's fallen asleep then and there before she cracks open and eye and glances over at Koyuki

"And how has the week treated you? I...know there have been challenges."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"That is a difficult question to answer, Yurei-san," she says, and takes another scoop of her wonderful frozen treat. Didn't want that melting too much on her, after all. Not before she had a chance to savor it. Popping the spoon back out of her mouth she adds, "Especially while I am trying to relax on this beach for the little time I have to enjoy it."

Glancing over to her, she puts on a fake smile for a moment, "None of those things will bring you to a fancy beach where they sell you fancy treats other than money. Good-" she says, an affected tone that catches herself off-guard a little, earnest joy for Yurei perhaps? Wasn't foreign of a concept but it coming through in her tone certainly was. Swallowing, "It's good that you have those, Yurei-san. You deserve them."

[Yūrei]

Snip

A raised eyebrow joins the open eye but she nods

"That is very kind of you, truly. Although I owe some of them to your kindness to a simple samurai when she needed it, so it is only right you share in a little of my happiness."
Without looking she pops the top on her cooler and selects a chilled beer which is opened with a quiet hiss
"When you're done with that I have some more treats in here, if you'd like?"
She takes a deep drink, clearly content with the world.

"You deserve happiness too. So if food, drink and company in the sun counts, it's my duty to assist."
Upbeat
"And you look great by the way, wish I could get rid of my noodle arms...but they are really good with noodles."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Had I not known better I would have expected you were about to ask me for another favor. Though I doubt it." Giving Yurei a little read, she glances off toward the water. There was something unique about that experience, looking out over the water that you knew wasn't quite as large as it felt. Certainly not as natural. She'd seen real oceans before in the flesh and it didn't feel like it could quite compare. It was still nice, though. Nice enough to try and distract her from the whispers in the back of her mind, her voice or someone else's she didn't focus on it enough to tell.

After all, she didn't need to hear what they were saying to understand. Did she really deserve it? Surely it should be easier to come by if she did. Life never seemed to hand it out, not in any way that mattered in the end. At least she could be here, and do this. Give everything she has.

"Are you trying to work up to asking me a favor?" she asks, with the barest hint of a smirk on those red painted lips.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Oh no, no nothing like that. You gotta be careful with favours or you'll end up fighting a bunch of pirates in the Desolation. I'm just trying to be cheerful."
She grins too reinforce the statement.
"I mean, I am putting together a little something. But you don't want to talk business on the beach eating shaved ice. You want to have fun."
The grin fades as she frowns slightly
"I'm not sure how to do that, I feel you might give me a kicking if I went for a hug, rightly so. And I don't have many good one-liners prepped for beach scenarios. So food and drink might have to do? Or I can provide a distraction of some kind?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

For no more than ten seconds Koyuki regards Yurei with an appreciation for the woman she was, and the way she carried her presence. All that was going on behind those eyes which brought her to this need to give Koyuki something. It was sweet. Ultimately, she wouldn't know how to accept any of it right now. Not while the world was so muddied with gray chaos of the inevitability of her fate and what was to come.

"You're sweet, Yurei-san," she offers, a glimmer of a brief smile. "I don't have anything I could suggest to you. Can sit and enjoy the beach with me for a while? Tell me about your life, or what excites you. I don't have many words but I don't hate listening," she offers, there's a softness to her tone hidden beneath the edge she casually wears.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"I can do that Kuni-sama, no problem!"
She scoots herself and her towel a little closer.
"Ummm...my life, my life. Something happy about my life...Ah hah!" Looking very pleased. "Did you know a kindly Unicorn took me under her wing? Well, she's quite short so maybe I sort of ducked under her wing. Anyway, unprompted she decided I needed new clothes and shoes and everything if I was going to look the party. And you know, ronin, so I wasn't exactly buying any of the good stuff."

She holds out her hand and starts counting off the items
"I got these new pants which are business casual and they have pockets which is the best. And apparently unicorn have these boots and they're great since I needed the height advantage, I feel so cool whenever I wear them. Then I tried to get a ridiculously large pair of sunglasses but that was vetoed and I ended up with some small tinted ones."

Sipping her beer with her other hand
"It was just the nicest thing, she didn't have to do any of it, but she did anyway. Oh and she bought me food! Should have led with that, that was the most important thing."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki watches her with restrained delight. Delight that hid behind those cold and calculating eyes, the icy prison that she was hidden behind. That wall that faces the outside world to protect herself from everything around. Yet behind it in her tower of ice and glass she watches the ronin talk about this simple encounter like it was the most meaningful thing in the world, and she couldn't help but delight in it.

"Ide Yamako?" she asks, with a near certainty for some reason. Though she was hardly the only Unicorn in the city, she was certainly a woman who seemed would match such a story well.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Yes! Ide-sama. I'm thinking of calling her auntie, but I don't want to rush it, have to stay respectful, right?"
Looking over at Koyuki and gesturing with her can
"Have you met her? Isn't she just the sweetest? Scary too when she wants to be, but that's what makes her being kind all the more impressive. It's not just her default. If you can, you should absolutely ask to go shopping with her."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I spoke with her early on. Just.. just a week ago," she says, half surprised. How such a long time little over a week could feel was truly amazing in one particular sense of that word. Another scoop of her ice shavings Koyuki pauses in contemplation on that, ruminating over the fact of what that meant.

"That woman offered me a moment of peace in a time when I did not think it possible," she says, with a surprising directness on that particular topic. Taking her gaze to look over Yurei, a pretty girl but- "I don't think I will be going shopping with her. Much as I am certain she would make it a good time, it is not my leisure activity of choice," she offers, and takes another spoonful of shavings.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Well that's quite alright, can I let her know you say hi?"
Trying to coax more out of Koyuki

"Can I ask what you do for leisure? I went to the arcade on a date just the other time, it was a lot of fun. Let's see, I'm a big fan of singing, although I'm not good at all. Oh, partying in general is great, but I think maybe not your thing. Do you like travel maybe? Or a good book? I wish I had the time to read more but I'm just so busy."

[Kuni Koyuki]

At the first question, Koyuki merely nods. Simple enough of an answer that didn't need much more than that. Sitting with the question a bit she slowly works at her next scoop of ice shavings nearly finished with her little cup as it was even started to pool at the bottom.

"I travel, I think. I don't know what I like to do for leisure. Been so long that I haven't given the idea of it much thought, I just keep pushing forward," she says, a little distant and revealing a little too much. There's a look in her eyes at the realization of that which flashes and then she rights herself up a bit more. "I enjoy listening to music. Singers, mostly."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Oh me too!"
Dropping her voice conspiratorially
"You know I actually met the Susumu Yakumo-sama a couple days ago? She signed my dress and everything! Oh it was just the coolest thing ever, I'm a huge fan of hers. Who are your favourite artists?"

[Kuni Koyuki]

More distant than tense, but both of those emotions played in her tone. Kuni face paint did a wonderful job of obscuring certain facial micro-expressions.

"I don't follow artists, just listen when I can. Hato-san, the ronin you met the other day. She has a beautiful voice," she offers, and then shakes her head. Staring off to the sand some fifty feet away. "What's it like? Meeting Susumu Yakumo as a huge fan?" she asks, that distance a little more present.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"It's amazing, I mean, she's so much bigger in person! And statuesque! I don't think she likes that term though. She's gracious too, let me carry her bags and bought me some tea. I was so worried she'd be mean, but she was actually very kind to a little ronin like me. Oh, and at the end she tipped me a whole Bu!"
Gushing

"It's great, her music means a lot to me."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Gracious, right. No, not the term she would have used to describe Yakumo. And she was rather fond of her herself, so, that told anyone listening at home exactly what they needed to know.

"What does her music mean to you? Speak to me like someone who has never heard of her before," she offers. Trying to make it seem like she was focusing a bit more on her frozen treat. However, she was rather curious of Yurei's read as it were.

[Yūrei]

Snip

She looks over curiously, but assumes Koyuki must be an idol connoisseur.
"To me a lot of her work was about sadness and then rising beyond that, become a better version of yourself and being able to succeed despite it all. For a ronin that's a pretty powerful message."

She tips back her can and frowns as it's empty. Well, onto the ice-cream now. Yūrei pulls out a little cone and starts crunching through a chocolate shell.