No planet the Empire had conquered through the galaxy was fully natural. They all had to be adapted to the peculiar of the human needs, biological and societal, in some capacity.

But it was rare for a world to have been so thoroughly altered you had to go to the zoo to get of a glimpse of its original nature. And yet here she was.

Kanna had hoped observing living beings that weren't wearing five layers of masks and trickery, to go back to a certain source of purity, would her help find back her focus.

Instead, she couldn't help but feel like she was in yet another theme park, with all the focus put on the cute, marketable wild species. Was there a single place on this wretched planet that was genuine?

---

D8LM | Meditating to recover Void
Meditation/Void, TN20 | 4k3 ⇒ 17 (TN: 20)

Fail.

As Kanna was trying to find focus and her inner centre, there would be another set of footsteps casually walking the pathway of the park. It would be hard to mistake this fellow Lion for another around the city, especially with the stories she might have heard about her during the meeting. She considered feigning notice at first, considering the other Lion might be intent on finding her focus, but ultimately choose to approach her.

"Heya! Good morning, Kitsu-san!" She would approach her with a wave.

"Matsu-san! How does the day find you? And how is your stay on the World of Dreams going? I know you've been here longer than most of us, but to be finally reunited with your wife must have brought quite a lot of pleasant changes to your daily life."

Eriko blinked at the return enthusiasm and she gave a look around the place as a response. A part of her wondered if she just walked into an interview without knowing it. She would give her a quick bow to buffer her response on the matter. "I'm doing pretty swell, could be better but I think all things considered, I'm in good spirits. Obviously, it's good being back with my wife. No more climbing up the walls looking for something to occupy me or using the garden viewers to see if I could look up at the stars to find my wife's ship."

She chuckled at her own response and looked to Kanna. "How about you, Kitsu-san? I'm guessing you and everyone else must be doing some hard lifting for court."

"Work is definitely getting done, day after day. Hard to see the full picture from where we stand, but I guess it must be piling up in satisfactory amounts since the higher-ups haven't given us a lecture yet.

I could personally do without covering that many parties full of drunk small names big ego Scorpion. But duty is duty."

"I knew there was a very good reason why I was ducking out of those big shindigs during Winter Court. I think it was a bit because of my survival instincts kicking in and my foresight that I would likely say something in one of them that would land me a whole lot of trouble. The thing about Scorpions is that they don't exactly do well at debating. I mean, they'll probably smile and nod while you end up in a whole boat of trouble without knowing it." She laughed at herself on that note. "So really, that's what has been happening in Winter Court? I hope Hide-san has been doing well in all of that, at least?"

"At the Imperial Winter Court itself? No idea. Way above my pay grade. You'll have to ask the Lion samurai we can only speak to from a few steps away while looking at the ground for that.

At my level, it's just a long dance of horny people with money looking for either a bed companion for the night, a way to make even more money the next day, or both. Hide their mons and belts and you wouldn't be able to differentiate them from any rich heimin merchant, especially so after the third glass.

I guess it was to be expected on a hedonistic and mercantile world. When the planet's slogan is that you can buy any pleasure with money here, things on planet tend to be about pleasure or money.

About Matsu Hide-san, I haven't seen her for about a week and I have zero idea about what she is doing. I would have thought she was with you in some capacity?"

"Wow," Eriko said with a blink on that topic. "That sounds pretty depressing, Kitsu-san. I mean, I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be like that but certainly a way of saying it. You'd think this was at least toward a greater good than just intimate conquest. It makes it seem like everyone is all fun and barely any work."

"Huh." She tilted her head. "I would think she would be doing a load of socializing with all of the events that they were running. That said, she has been around me more often than not. After what you've mentioned, seems like for the best. Although obviously, Hide-san would be able to handle herself either way. I'm not exactly the sort of spouse that demands her partner to give her an account of everything they did throughout the day."

"I suppose that's how networking works here. You don't forge ties with your fellows by standing together on the battlefield but by laying together in an orgy. There's a hand-to-hand element to both I guess.

Also, from my understanding, the Scorpion makes a fortune from the drugs one needs to quickly put themselves into shape for their work on the next day. So, rather than all pleasure no work, it's more pleasure and work and a hella lot of substances, both recreational and stimulating.

Yeah, the locals don't appear to be fond of Akodo's teachings. Neither the going to bed early one nor the keeping one's body clean one."

Eriko gave a few snaps of her fingers. "Is there like a proper term that they use for that, action seminar or team building? Anyway, figured that's how connections are built around here. People don't really want to be talking when they're talking in front of you. It's always been the slight bit of issue when on these Scorpion worlds, Crane too. Of course, I always thought that was only my perspective as a former Crab."

She fought back a yawn at the last comment. "Uh...yeah, kind of like young children who've just let off the leash on their bedtimes."

"To be fair, for a lot of samurai that visit this world for the first time, it's kind of exactly what is happening. First time in their lives far away from the eyes of their peers, sometimes first time without a strict schedule to follow, suddenly left to their own devices, cut from the imperatives of the clan.

And it's honestly mostly fine as long as they don't cross some lines, leave the filth behind as soon as their vacation time is up and return to a clean lifestyle swiftly. It is a samurai's duty to be ready for when their lord needs them, and that does mean proper breaks for the mind and the body.

As for those who have gone too far... I guess the Scorpion has some uses for these wrecks."

Eriko allowed the topic to linger for a few beats before clapping her hands together to segway themselves into another mood entirely. "Uhm! So! The sanctuary and you! Here to scope out some Spine drakes? Considering getting one as a pet? Or working your way to your next article or writing project?"

"The drakes are indeed cute. And thus I would rather leave them live happily in the closest thing they have to their natural environment than taking one back to Kitsu Prime just to see it wither away and die.

A report on the sanctuary might be a good idea actually. Not my specialty, will need to do some research first, but it's a relatively clean endeavor in an otherwise shady world. An article about that should be pleasant for both a Lion audience and a Scorpion audience, and even maybe gain some brownie points with the Unicorn."

"Strangely enough, it almost seems like the city might just be the closest thing they have to their natural environments. Especially, if you look at how the rest of the World of Dreams is made off. There are probably more of them living in people's apartments than there are in the wild right now." She chuckled slightly on that note. "But don't quote me on that! Even this is sort of...fabricated? I guess it's kind of fitting with a Scorpion world and all, I know we already know that part, eh?"

She gave an uncertain bob of her head. "You might underestimate the power of cuddly animals when it comes to the general audience, Kitsu-an. I know that my grandmother supposedly spends her retirement just watching these shows at the monastery and I didn't even think they allowed informators at the monastery, funny that!"

"If your grandmother is anything like you, I'm not surprised she found a way.

Still not interested in taking back the real thing home, but a plushie version for my baby daughter might find its way to my luggage."

"Oh, not encouraging you go out and get one at all, Kitsu-san!" She said as she gave a glance at the surroundings. How come they were never around when she looked for them? There were days when she would look out at the scenery and wonder if there were that many spine drakes in the sanctuary at all or just assume they were there because the informational signs said so. "Just saying that if you were to break them out of the sanctuary, they don't seem they have all that many places to go. Where are you abouts, anyway?"

"I usually work from Kachi, but after this mission I am to take a short break to go back to my native Kitsu Prime. Spend some time with my family, take care of my daughter, help my parents with the temple, the usual.

Pets allowed in the lodgings, not in the sanctuary, though there are always a few crows that seem to find their way into the temple's roof."

She nodded appreciatively at that. "Well, I'm sure that's the sort of pleasant getaway you can look forward to after a stay in the World of Dreams. They say that you can get just about anything around here but I could almost think of a dozen things they don't have around here. Oh, a daughter, then? How old? Sorry, I don't know how much of your married life you've mentioned."

"I should be home before her one-year anniversary if I don't dawdle. Husband is serving in the military, so, with the current situation, the three of us aren't going to get reunited soon.

No baby in the making on your side? Jokes about Matsu mother-in-law asking where her grandchildren are as soon as the engagement is signed are as old as the Empire."

"Barely even one, yet?" She said with a few blinks of surprise. "You know, they say that the Crab often have their babies and immediately take to defending the Wall the next day, or so the tales about the Feudal days go! I kind of thought you would get one year with your child at least but I guess the situation is what it is for being a Lion and at war..."

Eriko chuckled anxiously at the question as she gave a glance around. "Hold on, Kitsu-san. We're newly married but I suppose that's something we're eventually going to consider. We have the silly thought of syncing our lives potentially before we think about that. Well, I'm thinking a bit ahead by myself on that part, for now. I take it that your husband is often away and you're always away...does that leave your girl with your grandparents then?"