In opulence she waited. Around her, the polite chatter of guests mixed with the inviting tune of performance in song. Koyuki sat on a bed of cushions, a seating arrangement meant for four servicing one, and watched from afar. Out in the main room guests and staff moved around with a profound belief in their superiority here. They were the best, after all, best act like it. At least, so any would wish to claim about their establishment. Koyuki was no judge.

Laying in her lap sat her communicator, resting and waiting for use. Casual glances were spared to the surrounding room to gauge who was present, who was working, and who looked like they were most eager for customers and who customers were most eager for. It was the purpose for her visit, in the end. Getting a sense of this place and what it might afford her in the future. Yet, such watching and relaxing drew the mind away from the current moment with a sort of viciousness. Index tapping away on her communicator she thought about someone else entirely.

[Scene Vibes]

Curiosity. That was what drove Taiguno's visit. He couldn't really afford the services of this place, but that didn't stop his curiosity from driving him to check out a place where people attempted to be Perfect hosts. He was visible and noticable in the main guest room, as he stood out in his simple robes. His features suggested he might be cut out to be a servant here in a different life, but in this life he simply explored. Some of the servants looked like they might be torn at asking a religious man to leave the establishment, recognizing that he didn't belong but unwilling to tell him that at the moment.

While some of the other patrons might have averted their gaze, either from disinterest or propriety, Koyuki stared rather directly at the pious man walking the establishment. It was perhaps a bit more subtle, but she was sure he would notice the presence of eyes lingering upon him eventually. While she waited among the cushions of her public seating she gently sipped at the drink in her hand.

Taiguno did take notice and did not shy from the look. In a place like this, a gaze is almost an invitation. At the very least it was a means of getting someone's attention. And so the Crab had it. He made his way to her seating area and offered a respectful bow. "Kuni-sama, it is a pleasure to meet you. This one is Taiguno, devotee of Uzuki the Immaculate. How is your evening going?"

When he raises his head, his eyes look to hers with warmth and friendliness, his smile betraying a generally upbeat attitude.

"Poor," she said, a scowl rising for having to admit that. However, as she did she was sure to glance away from the monk before it rose to her expression, lest he get the wrong idea. Returning she dipped her head again, "A pleasure. Kuni Koyuki, an attaché connected to the embassy here. Take a seat and join me for a while? Patrons, and staff, will get antsy if you just meander around too long."

"The invitation is appreciated Kuni-sama," he replies with a bow before moving to sit. "And we're going to have to see if we can find a way to take your evening from poor to perfect. Is there anything weighing on you that another might help lighten? Or perhaps the oirans might be able to help with?" His smile doesn't waver, even when she scowls.

Narrowing eyes focus on him a moment, a sip of her drink taken. Setting the glass down at her side she regards the monk in full again. Looking him over as if simply by looking she might discover something she'd missed prior, she hadn't. Sitting herself a little more upright, a little more forward, she posited, "Do you think it's possible, to take any situation from poor to perfect?"

"I would say that it is possible, extremely unlikely, and definitely worth trying," he says with a smirk. He shifts in his seating getting a bit more comfortable. "But then, relative perfection is really up to the individual. You have to want it, chase it, and grasp it. What is it that we would need to do to make the evening perfect for you?"

"Can you change fate, Taiguno-san?" she asks raising her brow, after another brief pause. Grasping her glass again she sits with it, sips at it, "Can you turn back the hands of time, and change someone's fate. Tell them something they had no capacity to know before, and allow them to learn from that which they could not have known. Or perhaps they could have, if only they had paid more attention."

"No, but the fortunes can and sometimes have. Though convincing them to do so is a nearly impossible task. But, just because something is near impossible does not mean it is not worth trying," Taiguno replies. "Such things as you are alluding to often put weight on our shoulders. And sometimes that weight can be shared with those willing to help carry it."

Glowering, she hides it by the sip of a drink. "You are a kind man, Taiguno-san. A good monk," she shakes her head. Leaving a silence to fill the space for a moment, one that would assumptively be allowed as Koyuki deserved it greatly. Sitting with her drink she stirred the thing by giving it a slight swishing motion with her hand.

"Why have you chosen to devote yourself to Uzuki the Immaculate?" she said, the name foreign on her tongue.

The cat cafe was a good starter, but Baiko felt a need for another kind of companionship now. That kind that no cat, no matter how poofy or charming could give to her.

The Tamori set herself up at a table, lounging about the cushions, cattycorner to the monk and the Crab - funny how fate worked the way it does. She had a favorite here, though on her stipend she could hardly be considered a regular.

"How's your evening been?" Baiko asked the hostess, "Yeah? Business probably will pick up soon for you all, eh? Festival crowd?"

She was no charming conversationalist. Baiko's tone, her lines of questioning, were those uttered by hundreds if not thousands of wage-slave sorts. She was here to have a good time, to indulge in an illusion.

Kuni Koyuki wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 02, 2022 11:15 pm

"Two reasons. The first being that when my mother, who I don't know, gave birth the nearest temple where I could be given over was dedicated to Uzuki. The second being that I love the pursuit of the nigh impossible. It's a path of unending improvement."

The Tamori is noticed, noted and receives a pleasant smile like most people, but this was the Kuni's space to make invitations, not Taiguno's.

As the Tamori entered, Koyuki's eyes would eventually drift over to her. Recognizable as she was, perhaps just by aura alone. Looking at her from over the monks shoulder at one point she smirked, briefly, as her tone shifted toward the conspiratorial, "Perhaps you should try your luck with her, Taiguno-san. See if she will join us, and if you can make her day turn perfect. I would be quite curious to see it," she said, and although the smirk did not reappear it's effect upon her tone was evident.

"I do not believe that perfection is possible, and so the pursuit is lost on me. But, maybe, you can make me a little bit more of a believer if you manage to convince her," she said, stoically voiced.

"But she may already be having a perfect day, and my sermon might ruin it," he replies with a grin. "You would doom her to that?"

Speaking up so the Tamori could hear, "Excuse me, Tamori-sama. Would you care to join us?"

Baiko had been making small talk with the hostess, a smirk on her face as she shared a witticism that she doubtlessly found clever and which, of course, the oiran approved with an earnest tittering of laughter.

Looking up, for she did not know of other Tamori nearby, Baiko excused herself, "Come see me before I leave, I've got that thing for you I told you about."

Crossing to join Koyuki and Taiguno at their table, Baiko's gaze lingered a moment overlong on Koyuki, her brow furrowed a second in confusion. "Why not, eh good Brother...?" She trailed off, awaiting proper introductions to be made.

A hand upon her own chest, "Kuni Koyuki, at your service and currently leisure," extended down and out to reference Taiguno, "Taiguno, devotee of Uzuki the Immaculate and seeker of perfection. Though, be believe it unending I do wonder how something can be unending and yet perfect at the same time," she says, there is no hint of a smirk but it is felt all the same.

"Would you care to join us, we are making something of a setting of lone patrons banding together," she says.

"I'd be happy to accept your invitation." Baiko responded, settling down on cushions so as to be equidistant from her two interlocutors. Her speaking style was even and lucid, with an air of professionalism that hinted of some training - perhaps not in courtly graces, but someone who has definitely had to speak in front of others. "Tamori Baiko, Doctor of Divine Alchemy and currently on field research assignment to this planet. My pleasure to meet you both."

"It is indeed a pleasure Tamori-sama," he says, bowing his head. "Kuni-sama was just questioning my search for perfection, curious as to why I would devote myself to an endless pursuit for something she thinks is impossible. Not an uncommon critique of my path," he says with a chuckle.

"Anything you can share about your research, or is it secret and awaiting completion before revealing the results?"

Taking charge of the table, flagging down one of the members of staff. As the woman approached Koyuki leaned in close while the other two spoke and softly gave them a request. A bit of back and forth was given, a brief smile from the woman, and then she left leaving the group to their devices again. Pleased with herself Koyuki relaxed comfortably as she looks between Baiko and Taiguno.