Scot
Inactive Member
ON: Yamatai - Outskirts of Kyoto
The trip from the Tengoku resort was a bit on the long side and the driver decided to try and slow down a bit at their request to see the shopping district to take in the locations of the shops and what they were offering. Masako would sit back and smile as they neared her home, soon leaving the city proper heading toward the outskirts of it, passing by some middle-class housing. "Sorry it's so far out, my parents enjoy their privacy and need the space for their own hobbies." She said and looked out the window. "We're almost here now though." She said.
"Oh? What kind of hobbies do your parents pursue, if you don't mind me asking that is." Kuriko replied as she looked out at the housing that they were passing. What would it be like to not be in the Star Army? Kuriko wondered as she pictured herself living in one of those houses. Oh well, life is what it is after all.
Masako laughed softly at Kuriko's questioning, knowing she'd find out soon enough. "Well my dad's a mechanic, he has this freakish obsession with machines and tinkering with them." She said. "My mother's into more traditional things but she teaches old-fashioned archery to Yamataian and Nepleslian children that wish to learn. It may not have a big impact physically nowadays but it helps sharpen aim and still the mind." Masako said as they began to pull up on it, a large samurai compound coming up as they rode up a bit of a hill. "My dad built the place with his hands... and a few friends, all for my mom." she smiled.
Hiroko leaned over, thinking... "Very... warm. Caring, I guess." The comment seemed awkward, she didn't even really know what to say, so it came out as a bit awkward.
Sakaki was silently impressed, as one would be impressed by the skills one possess to do the things they love to do.
Kuriko nodded as she looked at the house. The appearance of the house seemed to further the effect of the vacation that they were on, it's appearance built upon the theme that had been set by the Tengoku. Kuriko could only sit in stunned silence as she lost herself in it's beauty and architecture.
When they pulled up the driveway into a roundabout to allow the cars to turn about to leave, Masako would shift and got out first, holding the door for her companions. The front door was large and heavy looking with a pair of statues on either side of a dragon each rearing up and snaking over it to form an arch elegantly. The sounds of machinery going in the distance could be heard in the form of a low frequency hum, it wasn't loud but it could be felt more than heard. "And here we go." She said to them and once everyone was out of the vehicle, she'd send it away back to the hotel saying they'll get transport back on their own and went up and hauled on the heavy sliding door to open it revealing a traditional wooden floor like at Tengoku. "Come in, come in." She said and gestured to them.
The smells of a home would waft out like fresh bread baking with a spice of cinnamon on it, the warmth of a hearth fire that was lit somewhere to heat the interior and various other things.
As Hiroko entered the room, she... she somewhat gaped. This was... Entirely different, Nothing like the small flat her family lived in...
"Excuse my intrusion," Sakaki stated as she removed her footwear in a bit of nostalgia. The estate was much grander than she expected, and from the sounds of it the family lived on the expertise of a life of an engineer. She continued inward wondering slightly how Masako had developed her fighting skills, in a family steeped in engineering culture.
Kuriko entered the room after Hiroko and Sakaki. By this point she had managed to get a better handle on herself, though random thoughts still seeped through her brain. It must cost so much to live here. It has so much space, it's amazing. Of course what really caught Kuriko though was how Masako had handled this. She didn't brag about any of it, rather she just seemed to treat it as if it were what anyone else would have.
Masako smiled at their reactions and stripped off her boots and stepped up upon the wooden floor with a hollow thunk and looked around at them. "It's no intrusion." She smiled to Sakaki. "You guys look like you're wondering how we can afford to have a place like this. I think that my old man can better explain it than I can." She said and lead them into the house after closing the main door and showed them the sitting room, a tea-room next to it with a traditional fire pit in the center of the room with an iron pot suspended above it, an empty room across that and then into a kitchen. This was where the bread smell was coming from and inside was a woman as tall as Masako but she had scarlet red hair that was put up into a bun with chopsticks.
Masako smiled a bit and looked over and gave a "shhh" gesture to the others and snuck up on the woman and grabbed her around the waist and hugged her. "Nee-chan!" she said, startling the young woman that turned to her. "Dont' do that!" she said and blinked then grinned a bit. "Oh so now the wayward twin finally returns, you still a whore for the ground forces?" Lucy sneered and shoved Masako away, the two had the exact same face and mannerisms. Masako drew back and almost instantly looked a bit sad. "Lucy why do you have to say such things, even in front of guests?" she asked and stepped off to the side and nodded. "This is my twin sister Lucy." she introduced them. The woman yelped and hurriedly did a curtsy to them which looked awkward in the plain skirt Yukata with spats under it. "Pardon my language." she said.
Hiroko stepped off to the side, looking at Masako, then at Lucy, then back. She... was she frowning? Yes. Yes she was. The indigo-haired Yamataian crossed her arms, intoning mildly and coldly. "...I see I was brought into the middle of some pointless feud." She... was not pleased with having what looked like the dirty laundry of the family aired in front of her.
Kuriko was shocked at Hiroko's response. The Neko could only look glance at Hiroko before bowing to Lucy. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Kuriko said, as she came up from the bow Kuriko glanced again at Hiroko. "That was uncalled for." Kuriko sent telepathically.
Hiroko turned a glance at Kuriko, replying back "So was her behavior."
"Twin?" asked Sakaki a bit puzzled, as Masako looks a bit different from her twin. I suppose they might not be identical, or she could be Yamatai originally, she thought. Then recovered and bowed, "Ushimo Sakaki," introducing herself to Lucy.
"We're guests in her house. You should be more polite. If you have an issue with this then you should probably bring it up later with Masako separately." Kuriko responded to Hiroko before speaking to Lucy. "Ah, Sumimasen. I almost forgot, I'm Shifuda Kuriko."
Hiroko... grimaced, realizing that her reflexive disdain was a lot ruder than even she imagined. She looked down and... tried not to make eye contact with Lucy.
Lucy nodded to them and turned a blue-eyed gaze upon them all in turn. "Yes, twin." she said haughtily. "We were born..." she started, Masako picking it upon reflex. "...On the same day with minutes of each other." The blond finished and grinned slightly. Lucy sighed some and shook her head to Hiroko. "not necessarily, we've always had a bit of animosity toward each other since school." She said and nodded to Kuriko. "It's nice to meet you Lady Shifuda" She said politely. A buzzer went off behind her which made her perk a brow and looked at it for a moment. "To-san's out back in the shop, he told me to ask you to out to see him when you arrived." She said. "Sorry for offending you miss." she said to Hiroko.
"Well... I suppose you guys get to meet Mr. Eccentric himself." Masako said.
Hiroko shook her head. "I was the one being offensive." Then the eyes went right back to the ground again. This was supposed to be a social call, and all she could think about was attacking someone for bickering?!
She'd just smile at the others and pushed another door open to the back where the metal shop was... as well as a junked Wazu 4 and suddenly a shock wave would hit them conclusively and as a plume of black smoke began to come up through a hole in the roof. "Oh man he's at it again.." Masako said.
Of course, Hiroko's first response was to cover her face - again working on reflex, to block any incoming embers - before she realized it was... just really unsafe engineering. Or what seemed like it. She blinked, looking forward. "...But of course."
Lady? Kuriko wondered as Lucy scampered off. Suddenly there was a shock wave of sound and force. It was nothing to be scared of, but the little push caught Kuriko off guard enough that she instinctively yelped out loud before suddenly covering her mouth with both hands and her cheeks turning a light shade of red. "Sumimasen." Kuriko said as she uncovered her face in an attempt to save face.
Sakaki seemed rather unfazed and even faced the direction of the explosion. Flying in space fighting cat girl pirates was more scary than a rather large sounding explosion in Yamatai, or so she thought anyway. "What was that?" she asked while pointing in the direction of the explosion sound.
Masako laughed and stepped outside onto a porch then down the stairs into an open yard and looked over toward the detached metal building. "That Sakaki, Was my dad doing what he loves." She said. "He likes to mess with machines and sometimes gets so far into what he's doing he forgets other things." Masako said with an embarrassed blush. "He'll be ok, the man's tough as zesusium." the blonde nodded.
In a few moments, a tall, bear-like man with sooty black hair, obviously from the smoke, came out laughing. "GWAHAHAHAHA!" He bellowed out heartily and took a moment to put out a bit of flame in his well-groomed dark brown mustache. He would glance over at the group looking at him and blinked a bit and shook out his hair dislodging the soot to show the brown tones of it.
"Saki come over here and give your dad a hug!" the nearly 7' tall and burly looking man laughed good naturedly. Masako just blushed and nodded to the others before going over and hugging her dad. "Who are these fine young ladies?" he asked, looking at them with bright, playful green-blue eyes.
Masako would ack at how strong his hug was before being let down. "These are my friends: Shifuda Kuriko... Ishida Hiroko... Ushimo Sakaki and Hoshitomo Rin" she said, indicating each in turn. The big man would walk over and practically tower over them but looked friendly. "It's nice to meet you, my name's Sakiyurai Ares." He said in proper Yamataian fashion.
Hiroko nodded politely when she was addressed, of course... But stayed silent for now.
Sakaki bowed politely to Masako's father, There is almost nothing to compare to, however I do see some of Masako within this man. Then her seasoned mind began to play a combat scenario to weigh in on how to fight such a giant opponent, knowing gentle sword strikes might have little effect.
Kuriko bowed to the taller man, he was slightly intimidating to be so much taller than herself. The differences between Kuriko and Ares almost caused her to miss the fact that his name was in fact not Yamataian. Of course, Kuriko set that aside for the time being, she could ask Masako about it later
Masako would just rub the back of her head as she rejoined them. "Feel free to make yourselves at home here, any friends of our children are friends of ours. But my wife is busy currently..." He said, making Masako blinked. "Is mom ok?"
"Yeah she's with a friend at the moment." he said, evading the question narrowly. "I'd better get cleaned up, lest I start smelling like smoke" he said and headed and inside. Masako turned to them all and just smiled a bit. "They're eccentric but I love my dad and sister to death, you guys look like you have questions. Please feel free to ask" she said while they were still outside in the sunshine.
Kuriko thought about asking about Masako's father but decided that this wasn't the time nor the place to do such. Perhaps later at the Onsen or something. Kuriko thought as she waited to hear what questions others might ask.
Sakaki felt a ping of jealous as she did have a close relationship once, though that was now lost. Sakaki walked up to Masako's right side and laid her left hand on Masako's right shoulder, asking in a low tone near Masako's ear, "Do you have tea? I am thirsty."
Hiroko just... stood there, before softly intoning just one phrase.
"So you build things... must be nice. To be skilled."
"Hmm?" Masako looked at Sakaki then nodded. "Of course, in fact, let's all return inside for tea." she said and looked at Hiroko and smiled softly at her. "Nah i can't build a thing, it's my father there that built all of this." She said. "But we can converse more inside, let's go" she said. Within a short amount of time, the pack of 5 would be properly seated in a quiet, peaceful room where Masako herself would pour proper tea for the others in genuine, clay forged cups.
PAUSE
The trip from the Tengoku resort was a bit on the long side and the driver decided to try and slow down a bit at their request to see the shopping district to take in the locations of the shops and what they were offering. Masako would sit back and smile as they neared her home, soon leaving the city proper heading toward the outskirts of it, passing by some middle-class housing. "Sorry it's so far out, my parents enjoy their privacy and need the space for their own hobbies." She said and looked out the window. "We're almost here now though." She said.
"Oh? What kind of hobbies do your parents pursue, if you don't mind me asking that is." Kuriko replied as she looked out at the housing that they were passing. What would it be like to not be in the Star Army? Kuriko wondered as she pictured herself living in one of those houses. Oh well, life is what it is after all.
Masako laughed softly at Kuriko's questioning, knowing she'd find out soon enough. "Well my dad's a mechanic, he has this freakish obsession with machines and tinkering with them." She said. "My mother's into more traditional things but she teaches old-fashioned archery to Yamataian and Nepleslian children that wish to learn. It may not have a big impact physically nowadays but it helps sharpen aim and still the mind." Masako said as they began to pull up on it, a large samurai compound coming up as they rode up a bit of a hill. "My dad built the place with his hands... and a few friends, all for my mom." she smiled.
Hiroko leaned over, thinking... "Very... warm. Caring, I guess." The comment seemed awkward, she didn't even really know what to say, so it came out as a bit awkward.
Sakaki was silently impressed, as one would be impressed by the skills one possess to do the things they love to do.
Kuriko nodded as she looked at the house. The appearance of the house seemed to further the effect of the vacation that they were on, it's appearance built upon the theme that had been set by the Tengoku. Kuriko could only sit in stunned silence as she lost herself in it's beauty and architecture.
When they pulled up the driveway into a roundabout to allow the cars to turn about to leave, Masako would shift and got out first, holding the door for her companions. The front door was large and heavy looking with a pair of statues on either side of a dragon each rearing up and snaking over it to form an arch elegantly. The sounds of machinery going in the distance could be heard in the form of a low frequency hum, it wasn't loud but it could be felt more than heard. "And here we go." She said to them and once everyone was out of the vehicle, she'd send it away back to the hotel saying they'll get transport back on their own and went up and hauled on the heavy sliding door to open it revealing a traditional wooden floor like at Tengoku. "Come in, come in." She said and gestured to them.
The smells of a home would waft out like fresh bread baking with a spice of cinnamon on it, the warmth of a hearth fire that was lit somewhere to heat the interior and various other things.
As Hiroko entered the room, she... she somewhat gaped. This was... Entirely different, Nothing like the small flat her family lived in...
"Excuse my intrusion," Sakaki stated as she removed her footwear in a bit of nostalgia. The estate was much grander than she expected, and from the sounds of it the family lived on the expertise of a life of an engineer. She continued inward wondering slightly how Masako had developed her fighting skills, in a family steeped in engineering culture.
Kuriko entered the room after Hiroko and Sakaki. By this point she had managed to get a better handle on herself, though random thoughts still seeped through her brain. It must cost so much to live here. It has so much space, it's amazing. Of course what really caught Kuriko though was how Masako had handled this. She didn't brag about any of it, rather she just seemed to treat it as if it were what anyone else would have.
Masako smiled at their reactions and stripped off her boots and stepped up upon the wooden floor with a hollow thunk and looked around at them. "It's no intrusion." She smiled to Sakaki. "You guys look like you're wondering how we can afford to have a place like this. I think that my old man can better explain it than I can." She said and lead them into the house after closing the main door and showed them the sitting room, a tea-room next to it with a traditional fire pit in the center of the room with an iron pot suspended above it, an empty room across that and then into a kitchen. This was where the bread smell was coming from and inside was a woman as tall as Masako but she had scarlet red hair that was put up into a bun with chopsticks.
Masako smiled a bit and looked over and gave a "shhh" gesture to the others and snuck up on the woman and grabbed her around the waist and hugged her. "Nee-chan!" she said, startling the young woman that turned to her. "Dont' do that!" she said and blinked then grinned a bit. "Oh so now the wayward twin finally returns, you still a whore for the ground forces?" Lucy sneered and shoved Masako away, the two had the exact same face and mannerisms. Masako drew back and almost instantly looked a bit sad. "Lucy why do you have to say such things, even in front of guests?" she asked and stepped off to the side and nodded. "This is my twin sister Lucy." she introduced them. The woman yelped and hurriedly did a curtsy to them which looked awkward in the plain skirt Yukata with spats under it. "Pardon my language." she said.
Hiroko stepped off to the side, looking at Masako, then at Lucy, then back. She... was she frowning? Yes. Yes she was. The indigo-haired Yamataian crossed her arms, intoning mildly and coldly. "...I see I was brought into the middle of some pointless feud." She... was not pleased with having what looked like the dirty laundry of the family aired in front of her.
Kuriko was shocked at Hiroko's response. The Neko could only look glance at Hiroko before bowing to Lucy. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Kuriko said, as she came up from the bow Kuriko glanced again at Hiroko. "That was uncalled for." Kuriko sent telepathically.
Hiroko turned a glance at Kuriko, replying back "So was her behavior."
"Twin?" asked Sakaki a bit puzzled, as Masako looks a bit different from her twin. I suppose they might not be identical, or she could be Yamatai originally, she thought. Then recovered and bowed, "Ushimo Sakaki," introducing herself to Lucy.
"We're guests in her house. You should be more polite. If you have an issue with this then you should probably bring it up later with Masako separately." Kuriko responded to Hiroko before speaking to Lucy. "Ah, Sumimasen. I almost forgot, I'm Shifuda Kuriko."
Hiroko... grimaced, realizing that her reflexive disdain was a lot ruder than even she imagined. She looked down and... tried not to make eye contact with Lucy.
Lucy nodded to them and turned a blue-eyed gaze upon them all in turn. "Yes, twin." she said haughtily. "We were born..." she started, Masako picking it upon reflex. "...On the same day with minutes of each other." The blond finished and grinned slightly. Lucy sighed some and shook her head to Hiroko. "not necessarily, we've always had a bit of animosity toward each other since school." She said and nodded to Kuriko. "It's nice to meet you Lady Shifuda" She said politely. A buzzer went off behind her which made her perk a brow and looked at it for a moment. "To-san's out back in the shop, he told me to ask you to out to see him when you arrived." She said. "Sorry for offending you miss." she said to Hiroko.
"Well... I suppose you guys get to meet Mr. Eccentric himself." Masako said.
Hiroko shook her head. "I was the one being offensive." Then the eyes went right back to the ground again. This was supposed to be a social call, and all she could think about was attacking someone for bickering?!
She'd just smile at the others and pushed another door open to the back where the metal shop was... as well as a junked Wazu 4 and suddenly a shock wave would hit them conclusively and as a plume of black smoke began to come up through a hole in the roof. "Oh man he's at it again.." Masako said.
Of course, Hiroko's first response was to cover her face - again working on reflex, to block any incoming embers - before she realized it was... just really unsafe engineering. Or what seemed like it. She blinked, looking forward. "...But of course."
Lady? Kuriko wondered as Lucy scampered off. Suddenly there was a shock wave of sound and force. It was nothing to be scared of, but the little push caught Kuriko off guard enough that she instinctively yelped out loud before suddenly covering her mouth with both hands and her cheeks turning a light shade of red. "Sumimasen." Kuriko said as she uncovered her face in an attempt to save face.
Sakaki seemed rather unfazed and even faced the direction of the explosion. Flying in space fighting cat girl pirates was more scary than a rather large sounding explosion in Yamatai, or so she thought anyway. "What was that?" she asked while pointing in the direction of the explosion sound.
Masako laughed and stepped outside onto a porch then down the stairs into an open yard and looked over toward the detached metal building. "That Sakaki, Was my dad doing what he loves." She said. "He likes to mess with machines and sometimes gets so far into what he's doing he forgets other things." Masako said with an embarrassed blush. "He'll be ok, the man's tough as zesusium." the blonde nodded.
In a few moments, a tall, bear-like man with sooty black hair, obviously from the smoke, came out laughing. "GWAHAHAHAHA!" He bellowed out heartily and took a moment to put out a bit of flame in his well-groomed dark brown mustache. He would glance over at the group looking at him and blinked a bit and shook out his hair dislodging the soot to show the brown tones of it.
"Saki come over here and give your dad a hug!" the nearly 7' tall and burly looking man laughed good naturedly. Masako just blushed and nodded to the others before going over and hugging her dad. "Who are these fine young ladies?" he asked, looking at them with bright, playful green-blue eyes.
Masako would ack at how strong his hug was before being let down. "These are my friends: Shifuda Kuriko... Ishida Hiroko... Ushimo Sakaki and Hoshitomo Rin" she said, indicating each in turn. The big man would walk over and practically tower over them but looked friendly. "It's nice to meet you, my name's Sakiyurai Ares." He said in proper Yamataian fashion.
Hiroko nodded politely when she was addressed, of course... But stayed silent for now.
Sakaki bowed politely to Masako's father, There is almost nothing to compare to, however I do see some of Masako within this man. Then her seasoned mind began to play a combat scenario to weigh in on how to fight such a giant opponent, knowing gentle sword strikes might have little effect.
Kuriko bowed to the taller man, he was slightly intimidating to be so much taller than herself. The differences between Kuriko and Ares almost caused her to miss the fact that his name was in fact not Yamataian. Of course, Kuriko set that aside for the time being, she could ask Masako about it later
Masako would just rub the back of her head as she rejoined them. "Feel free to make yourselves at home here, any friends of our children are friends of ours. But my wife is busy currently..." He said, making Masako blinked. "Is mom ok?"
"Yeah she's with a friend at the moment." he said, evading the question narrowly. "I'd better get cleaned up, lest I start smelling like smoke" he said and headed and inside. Masako turned to them all and just smiled a bit. "They're eccentric but I love my dad and sister to death, you guys look like you have questions. Please feel free to ask" she said while they were still outside in the sunshine.
Kuriko thought about asking about Masako's father but decided that this wasn't the time nor the place to do such. Perhaps later at the Onsen or something. Kuriko thought as she waited to hear what questions others might ask.
Sakaki felt a ping of jealous as she did have a close relationship once, though that was now lost. Sakaki walked up to Masako's right side and laid her left hand on Masako's right shoulder, asking in a low tone near Masako's ear, "Do you have tea? I am thirsty."
Hiroko just... stood there, before softly intoning just one phrase.
"So you build things... must be nice. To be skilled."
"Hmm?" Masako looked at Sakaki then nodded. "Of course, in fact, let's all return inside for tea." she said and looked at Hiroko and smiled softly at her. "Nah i can't build a thing, it's my father there that built all of this." She said. "But we can converse more inside, let's go" she said. Within a short amount of time, the pack of 5 would be properly seated in a quiet, peaceful room where Masako herself would pour proper tea for the others in genuine, clay forged cups.
PAUSE
