[Day 2 - Mid Afternoon, Tian] Cool Nebula Wave

[Matsu Eriko]

The custom of tea time was still present in the modern-day Rokugan (or rather the extended Emerald Empire), although its interpretation might have taken a different route by others. After a morning at the embassy, Eriko took a moment to step away to find herself another sort of tea. She strolled into Tian Bubble Tea with her purple membership card proudly in hand like it was a badge.

"The usual, you know...cool nebula wave with sago, hold half the sugar. I got a slight tea emergent here!" She smirked at the cashier taking orders.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Coming up just behind her was a woman, currently seemingly a little oblivious to the world as she involved herself with her communicator. Eyes glued to the little screen she flipped through contacts. Finding Hato on the list and keying in the simple phrase, as she had thousands of times prior with others in Hato's very position, if a little altered. Location, time. With that message keyed off, and her business proceeding accordingly for the day would she turn her eyes up back to the world.

That headache still working at her, despite the hot bath. Tea might help, or so she hoped. Her eyes were causing her grief now too with having to deal with it as long as she had been. Just a little more self-care and it'd be over, she hoped and would pray if it wasn't something she expected would be answered. Maybe one of the fortunes would come down with thunderous applause, crack open the ceiling of TBT, and gracefully hold out there hand to simply say 'just don't drink then.'

Koyuki sighed, as her imagination carried itself away.

[Matsu Eriko]

After Eriko made her order, she made her way over to the side where the padded hip rest was found to wait for her order. She crossed her ankles and looked around her surroundings to perhaps see the Kuni standing in her thoughts amount the crowds. With so many Scorpions in the city, it was hard to know if she was a Kuni or just a Scorpion who wore fanciful facepaint as a mask.

Nevertheless, she gave her a wave to get her attention with a smirk. "Heya there, I think you're kinda holding traffic there, pal."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki's gaze shifted to the movement, her eyes narrowing upon completion of the rotation, brow furrowing in turn. Far more likely to connect dots, as she was, she'd given Eriko a good read for that passing moment and then raised one hand. Indicating for Eriko to wait there for 'one second' as it were with the gesture of her hand, and then turned to the counter. Rattling off some order there she didn't spend much time. Clearly and concisely given the person receiving orders might have even had a little pep from the joy of getting to receive an order that was so given.

Turning off the side, she approached Eriko with some intent. "Thank you, samurai-sama. For your attention when mine lacked." Offering not even a look, she takes up a space beside Eriko and crosses her arms over her midsection. "Do you want to be the first to ask, or shall I?"

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko raised a brow with an amused look on her face when Koyuki moved to join her at the leaning space. Her gaze was momentarily looked to her facepaint, which was admittedly distinct enough to have some ancestral markings than to be a Scorpion's creative interpretation of a mask. She might have run into her sensei or her sensei's other student before. However, she couldn't help but look up at her hair, especially the admirable braiding. She tapped her foot on the ground a few times as she put her hands in her pockets.

"Nah, you go right ahead, shoot." She offered her the first go.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"You're a Kuni- or I am fairly sure you were," she waves her hand at the side of her waist, barely noticeable where it was in a side to side motion. "Which, I could be wrong, and you could not be at all. However, I am a real fan of seeing connections where there may or may not be, it keeps me alive more often than not. Which means that if I don't already know you in some small way, having been here a few weeks, you're at least not carrying the name anymore," she betrays herself slightly with a smirk that only rises in the expression of her eyes.

"Which is where it gets interesting. You married into the Matsu, to a Matsu Hide," she says, with full confidence. Despite the internal monologue continuing where none could judge it, or I've just made this the most awkward order of tea in the entirety of my year.

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko adopted a serious scrutinizing look at Koyuki for a moment as if looking like the was somewhat offended to cast some doubt on Koyuki's rather bold guess. There were a lot of Lion in the city and it was a rather large city at that. Even if Koyuki was pretty sure, there was a non-zero possibility of error.

Eventually, she did break out in a smile and chuckled at Koyuki. "Oh wow, that's pretty good, Kuni-san. I would have liked to think that my swagger would have set me apart from someone who was born a Lion but I'm guessing you've read a bunch of things before that. Pretty keen of you. And obviously, you've met my wife too! At least, I hope so..."

She said before giving a momentary glance around her, it's not like she didn't have a shortage of 'fans' either. "But yes, it is me, Matsu Eriko, former Kuni." And with that, she gave a casual bow.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Slowly the warmth of embarrassment lift up across the back of her neck while she looked to Eriko, and Eriko looked to her. A maintained face, however, kept long enough for her to break into that smile. An intentional and well placed smile helped conceal her releasing the breath that was held for a hot half a second. Luckily, the woman introduced herself, and this gave Koyuki excuse enough to fidget. Offering a bow in turn before resuming her previous stance.

"Kuni Koyuki, I'm attached to the embassy here. Meishozo, actually, if you're curious enough to wonder. I met your wife last night at one of the clubs around here, I forget the name, but-" she looks to Eriko, measuring the woman for a moment as if she didn't have her answer already. "I admit your swagger," the word sounded incredibly foreign coming off Koyuki's tongue, "didn't just set you apart from other Lion but, also set you closer to your wife. You are both a pair," she says with the utmost confidence of someone who has, in fact, gotten a fairly good measure of them both in about half a minutes time. Which was hardly a difficult thing with a pair like Hide and Eriko, they both just radiated that certain kind of energy.

[Matsu Eriko]

"Ahh, the embassy? What a coinkidink, the Lion have me over their embassy too." She paused for a moment to clear her throat. "Well, tactically attached as they would probably say. It's a bit of a surprise we haven't run into each other yet. I'm going to chalk it to we probably have different lunches or something. A Meishozo, eh? I've actually done some cross-training with the Meishozo myself. Wait, hold on a sec, I think they got my emergency covered..."

With that, she pushed off the rest and made her way to the counter to pick up her Cool Nebula Wave, which was a bubble tea drink made up of several shades to make it look like vaguely a nebula. She stabbed her straw into the cup and strolled back over to where Koyuki was waiting.

"Oh, so that's where she was last night? Not that I mind, it's most definitely her scene. My experiences with clubs have...let's been filled with adventures." She chuckled nervously on that note and smiled faintly. If she was blushing the facepaint did a good job of covering it. "I think some people might have pointed that out. I'd admit, it seems like we're very much meant to be together."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I've only been here a few weeks, we simply likely haven't had the occassion to run into one another. Most of my works is bustling around the city on errands, as they can ask my advice with the tap of a few buttons anytime," she adds first. Taking a gander at the drink that Eriko had returned with, admiring it for a moment. She couldn't claim for herself that it made her want to drink something like it any more or less, but it sure was pretty.

"Did you two meet at a club by chance?" she asks, an eyebrow raising. Which with great effect of timing was exactly when Koyuki's order came in as well. Not far behind, simple as it was. Giving Eriko time to settle in with that question while Koyuki went to retrieve her drink. Upon return, it was notably a simple cream colored drink that for anyone with a good eye for bubble tea would possible recognize as a Red Jade Black Milk. Before she could care to explain her previous query, she glanced over to some of the nearby seats, "Do you have a minute to sit and talk?" she asks before assuming.

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko played with her straw a bit before taking a few sips from her drink, nomming on some sago bits that she managed to take with the sip. "Meet at the club? Oh, no. We had kind of a date...a meet at a club, but we first met on a shuttle, actually! She caught me about to box a bot for being uncooperative! And absolutely! Well, plus side of the Lion thinking that I'm goofing off sometimes is that I can actually goof off sometimes and not feel entirely bad about it. Besides, if it's with a former cousin, I can definitely spare the time. Now, what don't we?"

She said before taking the initiative to meander over one of the spots they had at Tian. It wasn't a fancy place but it did provide ample enough space if people wanted a casual conversation, hang out, or do their proverbial homework. She found a corner where they had some cushy chairs with a coffee table in the middle. There were a few magazines that were littered on the surface, mostly fashion and lifestyle ones from a few months ago. "A good enough spot for you? I admit it's not Kuni shed or anything but I'm sure we've evolved past meeting at ominous spots to trade secrets."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I had the misfortune of sitting in the most pastel nightmare of my life two days prior, I will survive this," she adds, with the touch of humor only evident subtly in her tone. Taking a seat opposite Eriko she glanced around the space. Eyes drifted over both the types of magazines as if they weren't there and spent a considerably lot more time on the way the furniture were arranged. It wasn't a lot to look at, and was punctuated with a return to her drink and the inevitable stabbing of the straw therein.

"I ask, because when Matsu Hide noticed me, after having bumped into a hare-" Why would you admit that? she chided herself. "And perhaps she does this with every Kuni she meets, but I thought that perhaps you had met first at a similar location. Though, if it was your first date I suppose that makes equal sense. After all, nearly the first thing she asked me about was you," she says, eyes coming up as if expectantly waiting to see some kind of physical reaction, "she worries that you aren't comfortably settled in with the Lion, and hopes to help ease you in more if possible. I suggested she ask you, so if she hasn't- do act surprised," she said, but it didn't quite sound like a serious request.

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko took a few slurps of her drink and crossed her legs. "I don't think she just bumps into just any Kuni," she said as she cast a curious sidelong look at both sides of the room, wondering what Koyuki was implying with her question. "Let me tell you that it takes a lot to get me into a club and even more to start hitting the dance floor at all. Only on special occasions and if there are a lot of drinks involved, I tell you!"

"Huh..." she murmured in thought as she considered the topic of settling in the Lion. "And here I thought I was being real subtle about it. Or is that generally a concern with all spouses when they have a partner marry in? I mean, I'm not like a cat trying to claw or run away to the closest exit or anything but...it sure seems very different in the Lion. I've taken mandatory military service before but never thought I'd be wearing that hat anytime soon. Not that I'm in military service in the Lion but it does have that attitude about it. And let me tell you, the Matsu are no slouch about it either."

[Kuni Koyuki]

At such an impassioned declaration Koyuki couldn't help but smile, although her mouth didn't move even a little, it was expressed entirely in her eyes. It was starting to prove impossible to not like these two, to some degree. They were somehow just different than most she expected to know. Almost reminded her of Toma in a couple ways, which felt like a rare gift that such a thing could happen twice so soon.

"From my understanding, I think your wife would have worried about it had you been perfectly happy and content. She is enamored quite dearly. It is a bit adorable," another word that sounds foreign on her tongue. "Even before meeting you I am not surprised for hearing of the difficulty. I could never envy your shoes settling into another clan, away from the Crab or Kuni, but I suppose love can make it feel worth it. Love can make a lot of things feel worth it," her tone drifted, only slightly. Reined in quickly.

[Matsu Eriko]

"Love is the spice or secret sauce to a lot of things." She chuckled before taking a sip from her drink and stirring it a bit as she looked at her clear-up that was a mix of colours that were slowly blending together as time went on. "Again, I don't know if I would be so quick to call it difficulty, not like I'm hating myself for being married into the Lion, far from it. It shouldn't be that difficult, considering my time in the Crab mostly had me being an oddball in a Family of oddballs. No offense, of course, now that I'm not in the Family. But! You must know where I'm getting this from! Now I'm a bigger oddball in a Family with no oddballs. Everyone is so glorious and prestigious."

She rattled her drink to hear the ice slosh around in her cup. "Sure would help if I knew more married folks. This is probably all normal any way, except for Cranes, who apparently fold easily like origami in just about any marriage, or so they say!"

[Kuni Koyuki]

"You will always be a Kuni, to some extent. So long as you feel it in your heart," she said, lightly. It was a thought that seemed to sit with her from the moment that Eriko had felt compelled to note that she meant no offense. Evidenced best by Koyuki's own straw coming up and sitting just behind her lip as she slowly sipped at her drank until Eriko had finished. "Your wife seems popular, perhaps she might be able to find some for you both to meet? At least, she seems to have the energy of someone who has lots of friends. She is sweet," she says, hand coming up to stir the drink. Hand touching on the straw she slowly stirred her drink, but unlike Eriko there were slight stabbing motions at the contents of her cup. Not to break them apart, but to jostle them around a bit.

"That feeling of everyone else knowing something you don't, as if there is a trick to be more like them and you just haven't figured it out yet," she remarks, with a little less emotion than before which was quite the feet considering she was usually pretty stoic.

[Matsu Eriko]

"Well, I guess that's pretty much true." She smiled sheepishly and gestured to the facepaint that she was wearing. It was hard to discard the origins of her training even though she was a Lion now.

"She has a way with people, I'll admit that. Sweet? I suppose that could be the word for it. I've always thought of her as charming, and clever too, of course." She chuckled happily. "I usually leave her with the meeting people part. Not that I'm bad at the people thing but it just seems like I end up getting in trouble from time to time. People just seem to think I'm wrong, for whatever reason, you know?"

She tapped her chin pensively. "Apparently, I should be brushing up on Bushido, at the very least. That's a very long read I haven't gotten around to yet. I think cost me a month the first time I did it for fun. This time, it would be doing it as a study, an entirely different situation. I don't think the Lion are hiding anything from me...to be honest, I suppose I really scored the jackpot having a wife like Hide, if anything. The rest of the stuff I'm sweating on is just small potatoes."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"I think the only difference between your appraisal and mine is that you are married and attracted to her, Matsu-sama," she says, chuckling briefly. A chuckle that seemed a little strained as if she wasn't quite sure how to do it. Looking down at her drink she tossed around that thought in her head, how it felt and what it meant. She wasn't sure. Stabbing one of the balls at the bottom of the drink she took a sip, getting one half of the thing up through the straw at a time so that the full thing, still sticking together, almost got stuck halfway.

"Small potatoes.. good problems to have," she said, before toying around with that awkwardly half stabbed ball before properly chewing it. "I don't know, but I will take your word for it. You're both unique," she said, it sounded like a compliment and yet. "Do you think she would ever lie to you?" she asks, eyes meeting as if to punctuate the question. Innocent as can be, as far as Koyuki's expression could ever convey innocence at least. Guiltless?

[Matsu Eriko]

Eriko looked a bit bashful, she might have been blushing behind her facepaint but nobody could ever know for sure. "I'm still amazed that she picked up at the end of the miai, especially after what I made her and all of her friends go through on my behalf. Me getting ejected from the miai because I was causing too much trouble for the Phoenix would have been a fair ending...but for some reason she still choose me. I don't want to say it was a fairy tale or a fable...Anyway, you probably heard it already from my better half, Koyuki-san. And yeah, I'm going to call you that."

Her gaze did look curiously at the Crab, noticing a few pauses and the mood from Koyuki. She took a small sip from her drink as she filed it away, no need for her to get too nosy. Yet, at least.

"Huh, lie? Like, in what way?" She asked pensively. "I don't think she ever would, it's just not in her."

[Kuni Koyuki]

"No, I don't think she would. Doesn't seem like a woman that could manage it," she says, toying with the balls at the bottom of her cup again. Almost forgetting to drink the thing as she played around with it. Looking down at what she was doing she let a brief smile cross, though it seemed like it was lacking something somehow, "Koyuki-san is fine, Eriko-san," and then she pokes at one of the balls. In what way? It was a good question, in what way. Instead shifting away from this practice to simply taking another drink. Chewing on it as she glances up, over Eriko's shoulder. Scanning the room like it might have some kind of answer for her.

"What about you, Eriko-san. Have you ever lied to her? Would you?" she asks, turning her gaze back to her. This time it's less direct, but her eyes narrow slightly. Curious as she was for Eriko's answer.