(Expecting)

Yakumo had to follow the directions carefully to find the sanctuary, but she did find it successfully. After she left that silly Mantis party she had changed back into her simple but fashionable attire, figuring it would be just right for this kind of trip.

At the entrance of the reservation, she waited for her "date".

I am just going to sleep in tomorrow. Today has been too long...

Kazumi would not keep her waiting long having come from the same party and only stopping off to change quickly into something more suitable for their venue. The Shoshi arrived in their typical street gear of dark pants and top with black and red jacket over top. Their closet wasn't so deep as Yakumo's after all.

While their mouth was covered Yakumo could see the smile in Kazumi's eyes as they approached. There was perhaps a bit of tiredness in the Scorpion's expression as well.

Another notable addition to Kazumi this evening was a small black dragon perching on their shoulder currently. The miniature beast eyed their surroundings excitedly and the Spider before them with a mixture of wariness and eagerness.

Kazumi bowed as they reached Yakumo "Good evening Susumu-sama, one hell of a night eh?" Kazumi said in a voice that matched the look in their eyes.

A small chirpping squeek sounded from their shoulder and Kazumi chuckled "Oh yes and this is Kurayami my little companion. I hope you don't mind if he joins us, he's a big fan of this place and Im afraid he would be quite cross with me if I came here without him."

"Quite a night indeed, Kazumi-san," she opted to be a bit more familiar, since they had just been on stage together.

That chirping sound though... Yakumo recognised it somewhat, though Airi seemed to hiss more than squeak. "Oh goodness, aren't you adorable little one?" Oh no, more cute animals. My weakness.

"I've never been here before, so I'm glad you suggested it. I suppose this city never truly sleeps, since it's open this late at night. Please, lead the way."

Kurayami clearly understood when they were being praised as the little dragon preened a bit under the songstress' praise before settling back on Kazumi's shoulder "Well he doesn't dislike you which is a good start. Kura-kun can be a bit particular when it comes to people." He scratched the Drake behind his head as they started walking.

"I had wondered if I would get to be the first to show you. It had been a few days since we spoke, glad I can give you a novel experience." Kazumi said with a smile "plus this late not too many people are here so should be a bit more low key which I certainly could use." They said as the path headed toward the biomes currently just in a open field like area with well maintained grass and a few trees.

She chuckled, seeing how the little drake was clearly one with a bit of an ego. And she kind of liked that, seeing how these cute things had different personalities... Airi hadn't seemed that overconfident in her own cuteness.

"I've had the chance to meet one spine drake earlier, so I think I might be getting a hang of these adorable little critters," she admitted, once again following his lead as she had at the shrine. "Yeah, low key does sound nice... honestly I'm usually crashed at this point after a concert, but I didn't want to disappoint you tonight, Kazumi-san, since I did promise to let you show me something interesting. And," Yakumo paused as she took in more of their surroundings, "... totally worth it. Especially when most people aren't here."

Imagine being here when every samurai and their families are hanging out. Nightmare.

Kazumi looked to Yakumo with mild concern in the eyes "Yakumo-sama if you need to rest I completely understand, the concert took a lot out of me and you performed a lot more songs. I wouldn't have been offended if you wanted to wait." they paused for a moment "But I guess if we are here now it'd be a shame to waste the trip." the concern in the eyes melted away to a happy expression.

They continued on for a bit and Kazumi looked to Yakumo and offered her an arm "If I am going to be guiding may as well do it right." they said with good humor. Regardless if Yakumo took his arm or not Kazumi would pose a question to her "Air, Land, or Sea?" they asked.

"I know, but I also wanted to come here tonight," she reassured him. There was always tomorrow for sleep, and today would be the only day with that feel-good rush still from the concert they performed together.

The offering of his arm was a strange one, but Yakumo did not decline as she linked her arm with his, letting the gloved hand rest ontop of his arm. "Hmmm... I am partial to sea. Why do you ask?"

"Well figuring a good place to start." Kazumi explained "the conservation has different areas for different animals, it's honestly still pretty impressive to me even after all this time." They said as a turn was made down a different path.

While they walked Kurayami moved down Kazumi's arm and tentatively sniffed Yamako's gloved hand

"Though the aquarium like enclosures for the sea creatures is interesting at night some are settling down to sleep but there are some darker areas that are beautiful at night." Kazumi continued sparing only one amused glance to the antics of the little dragon.

Yakumo couldn't help but to watch what the little creature was up to.

"I spent some time on the Mantis world of New Kalani, and I did get a special fondness for the sea while I was there. Especially when you could go swimming in the coral reefs." She'd never dare to go outside it. "Do they have sea creatures here that glow in the dark? Biolu... something. The scientific term for glowy."

Seeing Kurayami drift a bit closer she lifted a finger for the drake to entice it closer, as she remembered one spine drake she met did like getting scritches.

Kurayami did indeed scoot a withing striking range if her finger, though a bit warily at first. Ultimately he made a contented face as the scritches were given.

Kazumi chuckled at the display and shook their head a little "New Kalani eh? I don't believe I've heard of it but I'm not overly familiar with Mantis space. What dragged you out there?" Kazumi asked as they neared the structure that contained the sea animals

"And yes they do have a few glowy fish around here." Kazumi confirmed with a good natured chuckle

"Aww who likes pets, huh?" she cooed at the little drake, glad that he seemed to like it as much as Airi did.

"Hmmm... politics. Isn't that always how we end up on other worlds?" Yakumo mused. "Just taking part in the Spider retinue to finish some marriage negotiations, to finalise the alliances. But since the city there was in an underwater dome, we did have the unique opportunity to go swimming in the coral reefs."

"Guess I grew a fondness for it, because there was just something really special about that time spent underwater."

Kazumi nodded "hmm yes I do suppose that makes sense, politics is...touchy business. Not something I really enjoy getting involved with." They said as the two passed into the aquarium which would likely remind her of her time in New Kalani as shortly into the building it was path ways through a Giant aquarium. tubes surrounded on all sides by water.

Kazumi looked around "though a whole city like this? I could certainly see the appeal." The fish weren't terribly active in this part, but a few fish of various size and color could be seen darting from place to place here and there. Many natural and man made rock formations and colorful underwater plants and coral filled the space as well.

"Visiting a true ocean must be amazing pretty much everything on the planet has been crafted by the terraformers. I guess I don't know if it's any different seeing a natural one since this place is all I've ever really known."

Probably much to the spine drake's dismay, Yakumo was distracted by the pretty sight and forgot to continue giving head-scritches.

"Oh... look at those cute little fish," she pointed out some orange and white-striped ones that were flitting about a sea anemone. "... Yeah, New Kalani is just basically an ocean planet. On the surface there's a lot of storms, but underneath where the cities are? It's calm and beautiful."

At least she refrained from tapping on the glass as she admired the colorful schools of fish. "You've never been off-world from World of Dreams? Never seen any other world?"

Kurayami certainly noticed the lack of scritches but they were only indignant for a moment before also being distracted by the undersea transformation.

"Hmm" Kazumi thought "a good analogy for people, sometimes maybe in reverse a stormy surface hiding a beauty or a calm appearance hiding a stormy interior." They shrugged chuckling "or I could be talking out my ass, I think I make a poor Dragon." They said with some amuesment

At her question Kazumi nodded "Nope. World of Dreams is big enough there's plenty to do and I don't make the kind of money to travel off world for vacation. Sometimes trips to other provinces for work or play but everything I know about other worlds is heard from visitors or read about online."

"You and me both. I'm not very good with all the philosophy and stuff... much to the dismay of my uncle who raised me, as he's a shugenja." She was never a good student in that regard. And many others too.

"Huh." Yakumo managed to look away from the colorful displays. "... Do you want to travel off-world, though? See the galaxy?"

Kazumi chuckled a little "I'm sure he'll learn to live with it, considering how amazing you are at other things."

At her question Kazumi shrugged "Maybe, I don't know. There's plenty here to do and see. And no end to interesting people to meet." They looked to Yakumo "but I do worry about missing out, there's so much galaxy out there I know I'll never see everything but I guess it would be nice to experience as much of it as I can."

Kazumi took a deep breath "but such a thing isn't fully in my control, we all have our duty neh?"

Kazumi had clearly never met the likes of Susumu Tetsuo, who was in Yakumo's opinion some of the worst Spider she knew, and fit right in with the disturbing scientist image the Kuchiki so adored to have. He was among the few she knew who ranked higher than Daigotsu Isao on the list of Spider she disliked the most.

Susumu Tetsuo was a despicable person who cared very little for his niece's talents at this point.

She forced a smile to dispel all that from her mind. "Mm, duty must come first in all things," Yakumo agreed, "but I think it's only good for samurai to at least experience other worlds, at least even within their own clan's territories. It's enriching for the mind to see new places, learn new things. Similarly to how we don't keep our pets cooped up in cages, right? It makes them sad and miserable."

The smile turned a bit wry. "Although you're right that World of Dreams seem to have plenty of enrichment to offer."

Kazumi possibly noticed a touch of the forced quality to her smile and how she didn't really respond to the comment. They bit their lips behind the mask hoping they hadn't hadn't said something wrong. Though Yakumo seemed to be continuing on so Kazumi simply rolled with it.

"Well I suppose you could say that but a whole planet is a pretty large cage after all. Like these little guys" they motion to some of the small shapes swimming about "do you think they yearn for the vast waters of New Kalani or are they content with their large cages. Though at the end of the day samurai are not fish, nor pets." Kazumi chuckled

"Regardless, if you'd like to voice a complaint with my superiors on my behalf I won't complain." They joked "I could open for you on your next tour even." Kazumi shook their head a light laugh on their lips.

"Hey, that could happen," she teased, but something in her tone suggested she was also serious. "If that's what you want of course, I do remember how you mentioned you didn't want to lose your creative freedoms in pursuit of fame, hm?"

Yakumo looked at some more of the aquatic creatures, especially when a small colorful octopus moved past them to settle down near a rock... and then copied the rock's appearance the best it could as a clever camouflage. Looking at it, it made sense for the Scorpion to house such a clever predator in their aquarium.

Kazumi chuckled a little as they walked "Indeed I did, though I remember someone telling me that fame didn't necesarrily mean losing freedom neh?"

The lights around them were dimming as they transitioned to another area of the aquarium until they were in relative darkness, nit pitch black but more like the lighting at Benikage where only outlines were really visible.

"Oh this is my favorite part." Kazumi said as lights began springing up around them a long fish with blue lights that pulled along its sides, a jellyfish with nebulous red head and green tendrils streaming behind it, a pair of fish dotted with purple lights swimming above and a veritable menagerie of other lights of all shapes and colors floated and streaked through the darkness. Flashes and pulses briefly lighting the expression of wonder in Kazumi's eyes.