[D2LE] Out the Window

[Usagi Rei]

Well. Here he was. Again.

He was still wearing the same clothes from earlier, but had taken the time to freshen up. Had a cup of tea. Washed his face. Generally, gone through the process of sobering up, until he looked like his usual handsome self.

This time, instead of going right to his usual table, he waited right by the entrance, a server waiting to escort him and a ronin of all things to the chosen spot.

[Yūrei]

Well. Here he was. Again.

He was still wearing the same clothes from earlier, but had taken the time to freshen up. Had a cup of tea. Washed his face. Generally, gone through the process of sobering up, until he looked like his usual handsome self.

This time, instead of going right to his usual table, he waited right by the entrance, a server waiting to escort him and a ronin of all things to the chosen spot.

A ronin of all things walked in through the door.

"Usagi-sama."
Here is slightly flushed, probably due to the sake from before. But Yūrei's bow is steady.
"Fancy meeting you here, and there I was hoping to surprise you at the table, maybe next time?"
She flashes him a smile.

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[Usagi Rei]

Smirking, Rei looked at her, eyes flicking up and down quickly. His smile grew, just a little bit, and then a little more as he spotted that flush. She was rather pretty, actually.

"Ah, Yūrei-san." He flashed her a grin. "Remember what I said when we first met? Hare are known for their speed."

There was a brief pause as the server lead them to the table, silent, perhaps a touch judging. Rei ignored it. "Barley shochu. Ice, two cubes." He looked at Yurei, eyebrows up expectantly.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"I'll have to work on my stamina then, find a way to match you."

Holding up two fingers to the waiter
"Make it two of those."
The only judgement Yurei truly objected to was in a courtoom. So she gives the server her biggest smile with only the barest hint of something else lurking behind it before turning to meet Rei's gaze.

"That's a powerful drink, I can't wait to try it. Why two cubes though?"

[Usagi Rei]

"Interesting." Rei said, eyebrows going up. "Looking to match me in more ways than one, hmmm?" He smiled a moment, then his brows drew suddenly down. "Oh, that reminds me. When we're not somewhere formal, please, just call me Rei."

The server bowed and vanished. "Shochu is best served chilled." He said, smiling as always, speaking in his modulated tone. "And the barley shochu can have a stronger taste. Two cubes keep it at the proper temperature, and if you enjoy it at the right pace, adds the proper balance to the barley flavors."

He inclined his head slowly. "I think you'll enjoy it. It's worth savoring."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Where would the fun be in staring out the window with someone who can't match you...Rei-sama. You can keep addressing me by my name, it's the only one I have, at the moment."
Yūrei turns and dramatically looks out the window the picture of angst contemplation before turning back to him.

"So the secret is to drink when you do to enjoy the proper flavours? I shall do my best, although it has been quite a busy day. No rest for the wicked."
Pushing away any tiredness.
"Have you always drunk barley shochu? Or only since you became a senior attaché?"

[Usagi Rei]

"Oh?" Rei's eyes narrowed, just the tiniest bit, even if his smile stayed steady. "Anything you want to tell me about? I'll understand if not, of course." Whether that was because it was too mundane, unpleasant, or illicit, well, there could be a number of reasons.

The server reappeared, set down their drinks, and vanished again. Rei lifted his, but didn't drink, not yet. "There's many reasons to drink." He said, smirking. "But whatever the reason, one might as well enjoy it."

He still held the glass, his fingertips growing ever so slightly more pale with the chill. "Since I was stationed here." He said. "Just a regular attaché then." He raised the glass a little higher, smiling. "To dreams?"

[Yūrei]

Snip

She laughs merrily, one had covering her mouth.
"Oh it's not so mysterious. I used to have another name, now I'm just Yūrei. You know how it happens with ronin. Although now I suspect you're now imagining specifics. Did I do something to deserve it? She's a ronin, of course she deserved it. So what did she do? Something bad, presumably. Or maybe, just maybe it was something good? It is a Scorpion world after all."

Tracing the rim of her glass
"Or maybe it was nothing at all? Who can say?"

Raising her glass to Rei's and tapping it with a quiet 'tink'
"To dreams, while we sleep and while we wake."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei's lips quirked at that, lifting the glass to his lips. He drank slowly, his pale eyes watching her as he did so. Judging what, it was hard to say.

He lowered the glass. "I see. That actually answers a question, and not how I expected it." World of Dreams had a lot of Ronin, accumulating them like so many other things. But only some of them were former Clan samurai. Probably Scorpion.

Frowning, he swirled his drink in his glass. "The past has a way of coming back, sometimes." He frowned a moment longer. "... everything okay? Not too much trouble?" He asked.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"The past is never dead, it's not even past."
She takes a sip from her own glass and nods at the taste, potent but chilled and with the slightest dilution from the ice it was quite palatable

"It's sweet of you to ask but I'm in no more trouble than most. Nobody has tried to kill me in...a couple months I think? For the slums that's about as good as it gets. I pay my dues, keep my head down and do enough to get by. Sometimes mysterious men go drinking with me, but that's the fun part."

Leaning back in her chair
"Hope you're not in too much trouble yourself, I'm not taking you away from a high-stakes game of espionage, am I?"

[Usagi Rei]

Rei's lips tightened, just for a moment. "I suppose so." He said, smiling again.

Chuckling, he raised his glass again before shaking his head. "Oh, I suppose I might be crawling through an alleyway right now, or reading dossiers or something." He gestured around with the hand that held his drink. "But really, places like this is where most of the espionage is done. Clubs. VIP rooms. Bedrooms..."

He turned his smile on her again. "Besides, so much of diplomacy is relationships. And so I get to share a drink with a pretty lady. It's part of why I've stayed on this planet as long as I have."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"You mean to say we could have been meeting in a bedroom? Shame. I suppose the bar here is pretty good though."

A nod
"Relationships are the foundation of diplomacy, or so I'm told. And you know that a World of Dreams 5 is an 8 anywhere else in the Empire, so it's a good planet for pretty ladies. You must be close with a lot of the other diplomats?"

[Usagi Rei]

Rei gave her a gentle smirk. "Well. This is a start, anyway." He murmured softly.

He let that linger a moment as he took a sip of his drink. "It certainly is. And one tries, yes. Most notably the Spider, actually. One of their ranking members and I have a friendship going back since not long after I arrived here." Although depending on how she meant 'close'... "And various Scorpion, of course. And the other MCA members at the embassy."

Rei shrugged, smiling. "But there's close and there's close, of course. You live here. No doubt you know what I mean."

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Keep your friends close and your shinobi closer, as the proverb goes."
Yūrei 's lips had pursed slightly at the mention of the Spider.

"It can be hard being close to people you're not 'close' to. But that's the planet for you. Say what you will about the slums, you can figure out pretty quickly whether someone's on your side or not."
Her lips twitch slightly at a happy memory.
"Guess I ended up close to one or two people after all."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei noted the reaction, but said nothing. "If only it were so easy higher up. But it's not." He gave her a wry smile. "But I suspect I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."

He took a slow sip of his drink. "Who?" He asked gently. It might have been prying, but, well.

[Yūrei]

Snip

"Oh? The people I'm close to?"
Leaning forward off her chair with a slight creak.

"Well, I suppose if I don't tell you the name it's alright. She was like me, a ronin girl. Except a bit younger and she'd had it rougher than I did.I was flat broke and couldn't make rent and she seemed like she wouldn't kill me in my sleep."
A shrug

"Probably not anyway. So I asked her if she wanted to room with me. That apartment is tiny so you can imagine the squish but she said yes and we kinda teamed up for a while. She's smarter than I am, but she'd seen some things, had to do some things."
She sips from her glass without looking at it.

"We ended up pretty close until she made it, got a full clan offer and everything. She's the one who got me the invite to the Sake this evening. Kind of her to be thinking of me after getting a family name."

[Usagi Rei]

Rei listened, his smile more gentle than flirty, his eyes watching her as Yurei spoke. Once or twice, he took a tiny sip of his drink, letting the flavor linger on his tongue. It was only near the end of the tale that there was a slight widening of those eyes.

"You used to room with Hotaru-san? Back when she was just Sakura-san?" Chuckling, Rei shook his head. "Well, that's a surprise. I've worked with her before." Nothing more, perhaps fortunately. "She's very intelligent, and a good person besides."

Smiling, Rei looked at Yurei, eyes narrowed. "You're full of surprises, aren't you? That say that a person can be judged by the quality of the company they keep..." He paused there, lips pursed, until he brought his glass to his mouth.

[Yūrei]

Snip

She chuckles
"It was very close company, she had to step over me to get to the fan. Now she's off, meeting all sorts of the rich and famous. I'm proud of her."
resting her hands on the table.

"It pays to be surprising, but what would people say about me keeping your company then? You seem to know everyone already."

[Usagi Rei]

"Small world. Truly." Rei said, shaking his head with a smile. "Well, perhaps I should ask her for some info on you then, eh?"

Casually, Rei shrugged, his gaze drifting away. "I've been here a while, yeah. Long enough to meet a lot of people. Long enough to know that people will say a lot of things. Sifting truth and rumor is a full time job. You can't believe everything you hear." He gave her a sidelong glance. "Although some things you hear..."

He turned back to face her, smirking lightly. "Besides, we haven't done anything truly scandalous yet."

[Yūrei]

"Small world. Truly." Rei said, shaking his head with a smile. "Well, perhaps I should ask her for some info on you then, eh?"

Casually, Rei shrugged, his gaze drifting away. "I've been here a while, yeah. Long enough to meet a lot of people. Long enough to know that people will say a lot of things. Sifting truth and rumor is a full time job. You can't believe everything you hear." He gave her a sidelong glance. "Although some things you hear..."

He turned back to face her, smirking lightly. "Besides, we haven't done anything truly scandalous yet."

"Unless I can count this. I'm told in some Crane courts you're not even supposed to nod at a ronin if you see them, less you invite a scandal."
A memory triggers and her face brightens slightly.

"Speaking of the things we hear. I'm told you know that Spider Idol, Yakumo-sama I think? How'd that happen?"
winking
"Does she know you don't dance?"