[D8LA] Honestea

[Usagi Rei]

Rei grinned. "I've always managed to avoid scandal, if only just. Admittedly, the older Hotaru from the embassy has made some jokes at my expense. Still, I've done a good job of keeping the identities secret, at least." He gave her a knowing look. "Although I suppose it's still scandalous behavior even if no one's talking about it, eh?"

The question made him pause. Frown. Consider. "I don't know. For a while I wanted to find her..." His pale eyes briefly flickered away, then back. "Now, I don't think I do. My life is at least somewhat on hold until my marriage is dissolved, but it is still an ending..."

He did his best to cover his confusion with a sip of tea.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo watched him with some concern, mostly because he seemed confused about his own way forward in life at this point.

"Are you worried she's going to suddenly come back, right before this marriage is annulled?"

[Usagi Rei]

Rei chuckled softly. "No, no. Nothing like that. She's been gone for almost two years. I'm pretty sure she isn't planning to suddenly show up just as the clock's running out." Rei was not aware of just how much he was tempting fate by saying that.

He shrugged. "It's just strange to think of how things will be different. Right now, I'm a bit constrained." He shot Yakumo a quick smile. "Yes, all the flirting you've seen is me restrained." His expression turned more serious. "But really, I mean, in a few months, I'll be more free than I have been in a while. It opens up certain possibilities." Rei chewed his lip a moment, his gaze distant. "It's something I've had on my mind more lately."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"I see," she nodded, understanding some of what he was feeling. "What sort of possibilities have you had in mind then? Because I'm all ears for listening, you know. That's what friends do."

And she was terribly curious actually too.

[Usagi Rei]

Rei shot her a quick smile, then his expression turned serious again. "Well, actually, I've been seeing someone. It hasn't been for so long that I can say it's serious... but I rather think that I'd like it to be serious."

His smile turned wry. "I suspect you guessed that it was a woman I was speaking about at the beach. The one who played the trick on me. She has something of a dramatic flair."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Ooooh?" Yakumo was quite intrigued for the details, even leaning in closer with an intrigued smile. "Who is she then, hmm? Come on, share some details."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei gave her a smirk. "Why Yakumo-san, you know that I'm discreet. After all, you haven't heard any rumors about a very good time shared between a certain Spider diva and her handsome Hare yojimbo, have you?" He teased, eyes playful.

He waved a hand. "It's not a trust thing. Or, not between me and you, because I do trust you." He smiled gently. "But between me and her. I feel like by sharing her identity, I'd be breaking her trust."

He tilted his head considering. "I can tell you she's a Scorpion. She's gorgeous. She..." Rei considered what else he could say without giving it away. "She's a bit famous."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"I believe the correct term is Yohimbo, no?" she corrected him with a small but very amused laughter. Of all the gossip she had started on accident, that might've been the best she could lay claim to.

Yakumo felt a touch grateful to hear the confirmation that Rei trusted her as well, and she dipped her head slightly, smiling warmly.

But when he said it was a famous Scorpion, her hand came up to her mouth as she gasped. "Is... is it Hashinako-san? Is that why I haven't seen here in over a week?!"

[Usagi Rei]

Rei flashed a grin at her. "A title I wear as a badge of honor." He said

Pausing a moment for a sip of tea, Rei shook his head. "No. Although I suspect that she would be my type. But while I've heard that she is on the planet, I have not had the honor of meeting her."

He smiled at Yakumo. "But I'll take that over a week comment as a compliment."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Ah, shame. She hadn't guessed correctly. "Mm, what a pity. She is a very wonderful woman. I hope I get to talk with her again before I leave World of Dreams when the season is over."

Yakumo sighed, drawing a blank on who it could be Rei had become entangled with. "So you have a lucky lady you've become close to... does she feel the same way, and is considering something serious in the future with you?" Her eyes looked at him over the rim of her cup as she brought it up for another short sip. "And are you ready to jump into marriage again?"

[Usagi Rei]

"Well..." Rei brushed a hand back through his hair. "We haven't actually talked about it yet. It's a new thing..." He chewed his lip a moment. "But I'm pretty sure she feels the same way. She went through an awful lot of trouble to spend time with me the other night." Rei smiled at that.

The question made him look a little daunted. "Right. Well. I should be thinking about the future. But that's still a few months off, at least. Hare do like to jump right in, but there are limits..." Rei smiled wryly. "That's definitely a question for future Rei. Present Rei is gonna have some nice relaxing tea, thank you." He did so, taking a sip.

[Susumu Yakumo]

"There is no time like the present," Yakumo said, agreeing with the general consensus that he should focus on the now, and not worry too much about the future.

"But I'm happy for you, Rei. You're a good man, and deserve happiness in your life after all you've been through. That you have such high spirits still, it's a testament to your character." While it was only tea, she still held up her cup as if in a toast to him.

[Usagi Rei]

"Well... I'm alright anyway, I guess." Rei said, shaking his head with a smile. "But thank you. Happiness... it's a funny thing to think about." He raised his teacup with her.

Taking a slow sip of his tea, Rei studied Yakumo through narrowed eyes. "So..." he said, finally lowering his cup, "-what sort of happiness are you looking for, Yakumo-san?"

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Me?" she pointed vaguely to herself at that question. It did seem to be something that caught her off-guard, as if she didn't really think about it.

"Hmmm..." Yakumo sipped her tea, buying herself some time to mull it over. "I suppose you don't mean like the happiness I seek in the present and immediate future, like with you, or Koyuki-san, yes?" It didn't seem like that type of question, considering they had just been talking of Rei's future.

"I... hm, it's embarrassing to say, but it's a question that stumps me. For me, my greatest happiness is to perform, and that probably sounds like a cop-out answer, but it's true. I love to sing, to perform, to be on stage. It's hard work, but... it leaves me with a good feeling, in some way." As she spoke, she placed down her teacup. Her hands began to fidget a little, which she stopped by reaching for one of the sweets, using one of the small wooden skewers to pick out one of the flower-shaped ones for herself. "At some point, my lords will probably want me to marry, probably to someone important to take advantage of my fame and prestige. Again, I'm sounding probably really lame, but I'm not opposed to doing my duty for my clan... though I hope it is with someone I can like and find some happiness with."

[Usagi Rei]

Gently, Rei shook his head. "Nope. I mean it the same way as when we were talking about me." He gave her . "Although I'm glad we were able to find a bit of happiness, you and me." Hmmm, they could try to find it one more time... well, no, he really wanted to give monogamy another try.

"That makes sense." Rei said frowning. "On both counts." He smiled at her. "I think even extraordinary people can have the same dreams the rest of us have." He waved his teacup about. "You can try to find someone who you both can find happiness with, and who provides an advantage to your clan. That's what I tried with my marriage." He smiled wryly. "With mixed results."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Mm... yeah," she grimaced a little bit before smoothing it into a smile. A bit of a stiff smile, but a smile still. Poor Rei hadn't deserved what happened. Few deserved that kind of treachery from someone they trusted so dearly.

Maybe it was best sometimes to not let people in that close to you.

"... If you could go back in time, and had the choice not to go into that marriage, would you have done it differently?"

[Usagi Rei]

Rei took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "That's a question. Someone else... oh, Ide-san asked me about that recently. I didn't really have a good answer then, either."

He set his teacup down with a sigh. "I have fond memories... but I don't know if any of them are real. If any of it was real. Maybe every smile, every kiss, every whisper was part of a con. I don't know." If everything was real, how could she have left? "Looking at it solely that way, I'd probably rather it never happened."

Shifting, Rei gave the slightest of shrugs. "But who knows how my life would be different if it hadn't been for that? It's shaped so much these last few years... perhaps it's for the best that we don't get a chance to change the past. A wave of the hand, and our world is too different to recognize."

[Susumu Yakumo]

Yakumo listened, and nodded gently, a fond smile forming on her features as she looked down at her teacup. "Then it doesn't sound like you have any regrets, which is good."

Feeling it suited the moment, Yakumo slipped off her gloves, revealing the miscolored fingers. Laying the gloves, and then her hands in her lap, she looked at Rei. "I'm not someone who will grow old and wither away. But perhaps one of the most impactful lessons the Crane taught me was the lesson of the cherry blossom; life is fleeting. I've come to accept impermanence."

"It sounds like you've found it too. You can look back at what you had, and remember it for what it was, hold it in your heart, but you can also let go of it," her voice remained soft as she looked at Rei. "It's a difficult lesson to learn, but... it helps us avoid the sins of Regret. Embrace the moments while they last, love and cherish them, and then let go when it has passed."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei's eyes went down to her hands, then back up to Yakumo's face, meeting her gaze, watching as she spoke. His expression was strange, thoughtful. Unchanging. For a moment, it looked as though he might say something, but then he stopped.

"I hope it's permitted to look back with fondness on certain memories." Rei smiled at her. "For instance, the two of us. There's a lot that I fondly remember there."

Then he chuckled. "Well, that's one sin. I always had more trouble with the other two, anyway."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Oh absolutely!" she assured him with great enthusiasm. "It is how I live my life. We go our separate ways as our paths diverge, Rei, but that doesn't mean it wasn't meaningful when it happened, or that I'm not remembering it fondly like a treasured memory afterwards."

Yakumo's smile was warm and sincere, opening up this private part of herself to let him better understand her. "It's not regret to look back at what has been - only if you start down that rabbit-hole of I should've done this differently or I wish I could go back and change this."