Yamatai
Kyoto
YE 37
The day had finally come. They told her that she was too serious. That the changing of the guard was nothing more than a tourist attraction these days. Not something to brutalize overeager gawkers over for breaching security. They weren't hiding weapons on their body after all, they told her. Things had eventually come to this though; they were sending her away as a Ronin. She was to roam the lands, learn of Yamatai and its territories first hand, and when she returned, return as someone far more worthy of her mantle.
For Rei, the day had finally come.
Garbed in her traditional short white yukata and red hakama, the Nekovalkyrja sat kneeling on the wooden floors. Giving one last, final prayer to Chiharu, she made sure her katana was secured to her side and began her journey. It wasn't something with ceremony or even grand gates opening to usher her into a bright new world, however. No, not at all. Rather, she simply stepped out one of the side doors and walked right on out of the palace grounds through one of the smaller maintenance entryways. They did look nice and decorative of course, but, didn't have the same gravity as one of the larger entrances. It didn't matter. Now that she stepped out into the world beyond?
Rei could see the base of the many skyscrapers that stood nearby the mushroom shaped Imperial Palace. But perhaps more importantly? The brightly lit streets and dauntingly tall skyscrapers felt more oppressive than ever before without the protective walls of the compound. Traffic hurried by, horns occasionally honked, and people were eagerly walking along, passing her by. The Nekovalkyrja wasn't ignored however. Like before, during the changing of the guard, people stared. Some took photos.
But unlike before, this was no changing of the guard. No. She was just traveling now.
"Nee-san, nee-san!" a little girl with brown pigtails ran up to her. "Can I take a picture with you?" she asked, beaming her brightest smile at Rei. Notably, one of her front teeth was missing as well, but sure to grow back in of course. Her parents, perhaps a little wiser, kept their distance, whispering to eachother while half-smiling with eagerness, and a little apprehension.
"Ano..." Rei said as her back straightened at the request. There should have been nothing stopping her from submitting to it, but her immediate reaction was otherwise. She pushed down the words, "Ie, ie," for quite the opposite ones, saying as she bent down to get to her level, "Hai, yes!"
The pigtailed girl's mother brought the camera up to look through the viewfinder and snapped the picture of Rei bending down with the young girl, and Rei looked at her, for a moment wondering what kind of life she led and what kind she would lead, then thought to ask her a simple question.
"What do you want to be when you're older?" she practically lit up like a firework.
"I wanna be a Mindy, and splat Mishhu, and go on all sorts of adventures, just like Sami in Kamen Sentai Nekoranger!" the little girl happily told Rei. Her parents smiled, but it was obvious they didn't really agree.
"She's just a little girl, don't mind her," the mother spoke first. "Come on dear, let's not bother the Samurai...I'm sure she has lots of Mishhu to 'splat', don't you?" she then asked Rei. Normally, a person knew what the answer was supposed to be, but did this Samurai in question know that herself?
Rei nodded curtly to the couple as they told her about their daughter, then when questioned, she wondered what it was that would make them think such a thing. Whether it was frivolous and pandering or an outright question of what it was she did, she didn't know and instead of reply, she looked away from the adults and down to the child, smiling vaguely before putting a hand on her katana, Korosu, and stepped out of their way, closer to the shrubbery next to the sidewalk before offering a short, polite bow.
Much in the same way someone would just smile and laugh when uncertain what was just said in a conversation, hoping the lapse would go unnoticed.
"Bye Miss Samurai!~" the little girl waved, looking back as she left with her parents. With that out of the way, where was Rei to go next? This was only the beginning of her journey, yet she was perhaps already lost. Each step in one direction or another would lead her to something, somewhere new, yet, was it also what she was looking for? Just what was it she was looking for anyways?
Rei watched as she left and then began, again, thinking this time to herself about where it is she wanted to go, not worrying on how she got there but worrying on the way she would feel after having found what she was looking for. She knew she needed to learn about the worlds, about what was important to Yamataians, but more than that, she knew what she wanted to learn. What she wanted to do was to search out and understand styles and forms new to her and precious to Yamatai. She wanted to study. She didn't want to learn why the changing of guard was important for tourists, she wanted to learn how to best defend the palace when she was on guard, instead. She didn't know where she would learn those things, but she had enough faith in herself to know that she would find them in due time.
Walking away from the Imperial Palace and towards the outer edges of the city, stopping only briefly in a ramen house to buy a to-go item, she was in search of somewhere secluded. Hoping to eat her duck shoyu in private, she found a thriving yet quiet park and tucked herself onto a bench, thinking she was to be left alone there. No, not at all. A young man, perhaps in his late teens began passing by, merely glancing at her. However, he stopped cold in his tracks and did a double take at her.
"Hey, are you a Samurai? What are you doing out here?" he asked. The young man was honestly nothing special looking, with dark hair and brown eyes. Of course, that meant he looked quite handsome, but when everyone on Yamatai was pleasing to the eye? Nobody really was. He was just another face in the crowd.
"Are?" Rei questioned while briskly hiding her food and making it look like she hadn't been eating. "I am a samurai, hai. I am, ano..." She hadn't quite figured out the term for what she was doing, besides the title of Ronin, which seemed more fittning than 'on leave' or the like, and continued, "A Ronin. I am away from the palace, for a time." He couldn't help but blush a little, the way that Rei replied to him, so uncertain at first.
"R-really?" the young man tried to stay composed. "What are you after, or trying to do anyways? You're wearing the white and red, so you're probably Ketsurui?" he half asked, half stated. "Aren't you usually in the palace or in the field?"
"I am in search of different styles of fighting," she replied quickly. Then, realizing that was only a half-truth, said, "As well as to learn about the nuances of Yamataian tradition." After a pause, said, "Anata mo? What are you doing?"
"Wow. You're really out on a quest and all that, like, oldschool Ronin style." He was honestly surprised. "Just wow." That initial amazement aside, the young man paused for a moment, unsure how to reply to her. "Well, I was playing an augmented reality game where I had to be in certain locations to access certain things in the game and such," the Yamataian began to explain.
"Are?" Rei questioned, "What?" Though technology wasn't something unheard of for her, the idea of an augmented reality game was outside her scope of influence. "Forgive me, but what 'things' were you able to access by being here? What is it that you gain from playing this game?"
"Oh! I'm playing a Mishhu-Zombie survival game right now, and in order for my character to move from area to area or find the best items, I gotta be there too!" he excitedly began. "This game is just so much fun, and it's so surreal and scary when you're in the same place as your character is, and the places look so different from each other when they're the same!" Sitting down next to her, an image appeared from his wristwatch showing his character fending off a Mishhu-Infested corpse right in front of their very bench. "It's just a ton of fun!"
"I see," Rei said as she moved a little further from the boy. "When you play that game, does it bring you," she searched for the right word, then thought she found it as she said, "joy? Or happiness? Is it a traditional game here to be played?"
"Well, yeah. It's cool, running around killing zombies, unraveling why the outbreak started, and then finding the cure to save the Empire," the young man answered her, a little surprised. "It's etto, not traditional though. I mean, it's definitely not like I'm doing kendo practice or something. It's digital. The traditional stuff isn't as fun, and it's really hard too, so, I don't like it all that much," he admitted, looking away as he blushed a little. Despite his youth, he had enough in him to at least admit that, which was impressive in and of itself.
"Hey, you wanna...maybe go on a walk together or something?" he shyly asked, taking the plunge. "You look like you have a lot of questions."
"That would be acceptable to me," Rei answered. She left her food secreted away behind the bench and got up with him to walk along the path of the park. They walked underneath the maple trees, which swayed in the calm breeze and cast their shadows on both of them, letting enough light through for each of them to see one another. Rei cast glances at him before asking, "What is your name? What is it that makes you think the things that are hard to do aren't worth doing?"
He was rather taken aback by what she said.
"Uh, geeze, please don't say it like that," the young man replied to the short bombardment, looking away from her in embarassment. "You're making it sound like I'm really lazy or something," he pointed out. "I mean, It's not like I can actually fight off the Infested, or fight off the Mishhu in a power armor or actually take a Nodachi through a dogfight. Or even get good enough to." He fidgeted for a moment. "Shou, by the way. My name is Shou," the young man added, his cheeks blushing just a bit.
It was his first, given name after all, and not his family one.
"Shou," she turned the name over in her mouth, ruminating on what he had said. She thought it odd that he lived vicariously through his games but didn't see them as something akin to a training method or a way to boost even his confidence in himself. She could see the benefit in them, but also understood the rigorous practice needed to do the activities he had mentioned. Wanting to brighten his mood, she told him,
"I think you would be capable of doing such things, with dedication and practice on your part! Hai, I think you could. It sounds like you have dedication, that is the first step. Practicing is the next. Would you go after one of those goals you think you cannot do, or do you have others worth noting?" Her enthusiasm and optimism was like a bright, dazzling light burning away the darkness; that is, it burned him, and was hard to look at.
"Well. Even though I'll probably come back since we have STs, I don't think I'd mentally survive all the wrong people in the Star Army see," he skittishly replied, hiding something. "Besides. I'm an only son. If I go, nobody is going to take over the family business." He meekly gestured to the digital connection they shared,the window that peered into the game he was playing. "So. I play this."
His character had finally found safety and huddled by a fire in the park.
"That is one way to live," Rei commented and noticed the detail on the character, the way they rubbed their hands together and faced the palms towards the digital flame. She then asked, "What is this family business?"
"It's a few super markets. Lots of busy work, even though a lot of it is automated these days," Shou explained to her. Even with his family business, it seemed he really was one to simply fade into the background. "Maybe I would try something like you said, but I think you of all people would understand the most; I don't want to dishonor my family by failing whatever it is I want to do, and on top of not taking the family business." He laughed a little, the sound slightly uneasy. "Insult to injury, right? Anyways. I gotta go. It was nice talking to you.Rei bowed to him after he had said his farewell, and when she had lifted her torso back up, gave him a quick goodbye in return by saying,
"Sayōnara!" She saw that there was a role the young Yamtaian played and he knew that all too well. He was bound by a sense of duty to his parents and family to forego reaching for his own goals and settling for the ones placed in front of him. While thinking on Shou and the relationship to onor that they both shared, Rei found herself walking back the way she had come, picking up her stashed ramen in the process and eventually began to wonder where she would find lodging for the night.
Rei soon realized she had myriad of options to choose from, but that only complicated matters. Kyoto was full of hotels, motels, hostels and the like for people to stay at, but with so many choices, it made simply picking one so much harder. After all, why this place over that place? Why here instead of there? Her decision was perhaps made for her as someone exclaimed in surprise.
"Holy cow. A samurai? And one looking pretty lost too," she heard a warm sounding voice. The person it came from though, was perhaps as out of place looking as she was. Here in Yamatai, everyone was flawless. They had flawless skin, a flawless figure, and were at a flawless age. They were often slim but strong, perhaps even effeminate. Everyone was drop-dead gorgeous, but as a result of this? Nobody was. To her, they were all just a mass, a crowd. But this man stood out. He was tough. Rugged. With stubble that had to be shaved every single day. With muscles that she could just make out under his clothing. He was taller than most.
He was also crass. He was a Nepleslian.
"Eto..." Rei murmured at hearing the announcement. Questioning his motives first and foremost, she surveyed the man and found him, in her eyes, to be little more than the cliche she had come to understand of Nepleslians from her observations of them at the Palace and from the stories she had heard. She nodded to him and said in an unwavering voice, "I am, indeed, looking for lodging. Would you be so kind as to assist me?"
"Well, it depends on the type of lodging you're looking for," the man explained. "Are you looking for a hotel, a motel, or something that's very cheap but charges by the hour?" he asked. Despite the friendly tone of voice, the question was loaded. Perhaps far more loaded than Rei realized. This man was obviously a Nepleslian, but perhaps even more obviously? He was a tourist by the looks of it. Ignoring the business casual that the man wore, the bags of goods and trinkets he held said that much.
"I am looking for nightly lodging," she said, though she didn't want to give too much information to the Nepleslian man, instead preferring to keep her business to herself. She asked no questions of him, as she had asked the young Yamataian as she wanted to keep her conversation brief and to the point. "I will settle for hourly, if the prices are cheaper that way and if I may stay overnight there."
"Sure, I am too. I've only been here for a short while today and need somewhere to rest my feet," the Nepleslian smiled in agreement with her. His attitude was definitly nice enough, and he was friendly too, but, to someone like Rei? It seemed that there was a lot of thinking going on behind the scenes. But just what? That was something that needed answering. "If you'd like, we could split the cost and share a rooom too," the man casually suggested.
To a Nekovalkyrja, there was nothing wrong with this he felt. Their sense of personal space was simply different after all.
"Two beds," Rei said to the man, holding up her index and middle finger. "Not one in the room, but two." She was being cautious, as his general inclination to room with her alerted her that something may just be amiss. It didn't seem quite right, even though most Nekovalkyrja would accept and simply not mind. She couldn't place a finger on it. That aside, Rei, like most samurai, also had a predisposition to want personal space to remain just that and hindering her privacy was one thing she did not want this Nepleslian to do. She had tradition to uphold after all.
"Ah, so you're not a cosplayer after all!" the Nepleslian suddenly exclaimed. He had been testing her. "Or, maybe you are, and just like to play the role that well?" the man asked. She could literally feel the genuine curiosity wafting off of him. Already, this Nepleslian did not seem like what she had expected of them. Or, just what did she expect of the Nepleslians? Rei always had a mental image of them in her mind, but had never quite bothered to put it into words.
It simply was.
She thought him a trcikster for toying with her and was relieved she didn't truly have to find a way of getting out of sharing a room with someone else, especially a Nepleslian tourist. Doing so with one of her sisters may have been less of a problem, but in this instance it was not an undertaking she wanted to go through.
He was a burly man and if not up-front, he was jovial enough for Rei to want to get to know more about him. After all, her journey had been initiated by her lack of understanding surrounding tourists and their antics and desires. The only reason she would avoid them, now, would be selfish reasons. To do so would be against the direction her clan had set for her.
"I am no cosplayer, but believe what you will. What sights have you seen in Kyoto so far?" Rei answered him, asking a question of her own. His eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise as she asked him that, and through his eyes, Rei could tell he was already thinking away.
"Hm. Straight and to the point huh?" the Nepleslian questioned her. "Let me guess. They showed you the door and asked you to do a few things outside the Palace, didn't they? Learn a few things maybe?" He didn't even bother to answer her, but it was clear this man was no slouch at all. Holding his hands up, he framed her in them much like a man with a camera would. "That pretty face of yours...let's see..." One moment, he looked at her with utter seriousness as he tried to peel her guard away and see her for what she was. And the next? He burst out laughing.
"Oh geeze! You're the one that's been making a fuss every time the guard changed?!" She could hear the honest joy as he laughed at her, and in the way he wiped his eyes of the tears that formed. "Well, that explains it!" Catching his breath as quickly as he could, the man explained himself. "I just searched you up on an image finder - I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. You're going viral over the net right now with that last stunt you did," he pointed out. "I mean, a little after the changing of the guard started, and that one guy did his thing, and wham! Lockdown!"
Already, the crowd of tourists and local Yamataians alike started to pay them attention rather than just flowing on by like a river of people.
"Eto..." Rei said to him again, this time while glancing back and forth between the lingering eyes from the traffic of people. When she had regained her composure, she said to him in an emphatic, unhindered voice, "I am that samurai, hai! More importantly, I am a wandering Ronin, taking time away from the Imperial Palace in search of the answers I have yet to find, but seek."
"Alright, alright. I get what you're saying." It made sense. Yamatai was a strange place, and this was perhaps one reason why it was so...'quaint' the Nepleslian recalled someone calling it. Picking up his bags again, he made to leave and looked back at her. "If you're interested, you can have the bed at the hotel I'm at - I'll hop on the couch instead," he offered. Unlike before, that gut sensation Rei felt was no longer there. He was being quite honest this time around.
"Arigato," Rei said with a slight bow, then added, "but I think I will find my own hotel for the night." He was quick to reply, looking back at her over his shoulder with a faint, wry smile.
"You mean your own room, or do you really mean a whole hotel all for yourself?" the Nepleslian asked her.
"Hehehee," Rei laughed and brought a hand up to her mouth to cover it politely after he had spoken. "I think my own hotel would be better than I could hope for. Would you be able to make that happen, eto... What was your name?"
"Johnathan. Johnathan Izgimmer," he put down a bag and offered a hand to shake. It was a very un-Yamataian thing to do, but, was to be expected of a Nepleslian. "And consider it already done - I just booked an entire hotel for you if you'd like," he offered, going along with her joke. "It was not easy, but I'm actually pretty curious to be honest," the crowd around the two growing a bit. Some were already starting to take pictures of the now viral 'War Maiden Samurai' - people just couldn't get enough of what she did.
"You also asked what I'd seen in Kyoto so far right? Let's get you to your own room first, then I'll answer all your questions," Johnathan offered, the crowd now starting to grow to rather uncomfortable levels.
The samurai nodded after having shaken his hand with an odd, almost questioning glance at their coalesced fingers and then back at him. The crowd displeased her and she wished to keep herself secreted away from their prying eyes and her eyes lighted up at the prospect of getting off the street and into She had nodded and did so again as he offered to show her along to a hotel and she brought her hand back to her side and let him lead the way.
It was clear he wasn't lodging at any normal hotel though. This hotel? It was perhaps one of the tallest buildings here in Kyoto, and when they entered, they two were greeted as though Johnathan was a regular. Ascending was no different; they just kept on going up and up and up. The view of the city from this glass elevator was gorgeous however, and was perhaps something Rei would remember fondly. When they arrived at her room however, it was as the rest of the hotel. Furnished well, it was luxuriously comfy, the beds extra fluffy as though they were prepared just how Nekovalkyrja typically liked them.
"Well, here you are. Hope you don't mind by the way," Johnathan spoke up, taking a seat. "You said you had a bunch of questions and stuff?" he offered.
"That is true," Rei said. "What brings you to Yamatai? And what exactly is it that you do? Today I meant a young man that is working on becoming the manager of the grocery stores his family owns, though he aspires to become more than that. Are you the same way in that there is something more you would like to be doing that you do not see yourself doing now, or are you content?"
"Wow," the man flatly replied, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. It was quite a mouthfull, and to Johnathan, it was almost like watching a bunch of spaghetti being spilled. Spilled with precision and intent, of all things. "Well, to start, I'm a senator, and I'm often sent here as part of our embassy team over at Reikan Park," he offered. "We just work out minor border disputes, see how the other is doing, try and make sure Yui isn't getting too paranoid. You know. Speak to her in a nice, soothing voice, make sure she's comfy and not going to genocide the Freespacers again. Stuff like that." Though his tone of voice was casual and friendly, the topic was anything but.
It was one of several black marks on Yamatai that many felt so humiliated over that they literally tried to seceed, or to perhaps even more disgrace, deny. Others still, felt nothing but shame for this and tried to make things right, even if they never would be again.
Rei's back straightened and her long line of questioning had come to a halt. She wondered to herself what type of person, Nepleslian or not, would treat Yui with such ill-regard. She was unable to fathom the inabilities that pertained to his senses if that is what he thought of her. The head of Rei's clan was nobody to be spoken down to about, especially to one of her own. And now, Rei was faced with the many decisions before her and the new line of questioning she should open up to him.
Her white eyes studied Johnathan and she pressed her lips together before speaking briskly, "Is it really so hard?"
"Uhhhhh, yah?" For a Senator of a Nepleslian world, he came off as far too crass. Too casual. Yet, if Rei ever checked, he was the genuine article. The real deal. "You're a smart young woman," he began, knowing that it'd stroke her ego like a cat being pet at just the right spot. "Imagine you have a person who's in command of the greatest military force ever, and this person is willing to try and snuff out an entire race of anarchic, electro-peacenicks on the mere hunch that they might be collaborating with the Mishhuvurhtyar." He let that hang in the air for just a moment before adding to the already crushingly oppressive and dark scenerio. "The same person who micromanages to the point she tries to berate someone at the International Relations Conference...while in the middle of a fleet action. A fleet action that killed her mid-beratement of said person, along with all hands on deck."
Yeah. He had a simple job, and it was part time even.
"I do admit she's as pretty as she is paranoid - I'd tap that in a heartbeat," the scoundrel of a Nepleslian Senator shamelessly, heretically told Rei with a reminicing nod. "Still bummed out I didn't hit on her even more," he grumbled.
"Do you want to know what I think?" Rei asked. She answered before he could, "I think she's the most powerful Neko you're ever going to meet and you're lucky to have been in the presence of Yui-sama!" Her little stature was forfeited when she began floating up to his eye level and her hands had found themselves in fists as she went on to say, "I think that your disrespect for her speaks volumes and your inability to see the strife she has omitted from her own peoples' lives says more about you than it does about anything else! She is a Neko to be respected far more than the likes of a senator!"
"Oh yeah, she's definitely the most powerful Neko I've ever met," he relaxed in his comfy chair. Reaching over to the mini-fridge, Johnathan casually removed a particularly nice beer made in Sapporo. Whether not she ever noticed the air quotes around the word 'Neko' however, remained to be seen. "Though, I bet a ton of other people could have done just as good a job at keeping Yamatai safe - I mean, if it all hinges on her, that's a pretty bad sign," he pointed out without a care in the world.
It was almost like he was oblivious to the fact she was a Samurai, a devastating war machine in the clothes of a beautiful young woman.
Nothing went unnoticed to Rei and she didn't take a relaxed position or mirror his carefree, lacksadaisical attitude but instead kept herself raised and fists balled. "She is more capable than any Nepleslian I can think of."
"Well, I got no clue if that's true or not, and I'm sure no expert, but it's also not what I'm talking about either," he pointed out to her. Popping the lid off of his, he offered it to her. "Want one? There's also some sake here. I think you'll need it once we're done red-pilling you tonight," Johnathan explained. As far as he was concerend, they had a long ways to go if she was fresh out of the Palace.
Rei didn't know what it meant to be red-pilled, but for her entire life she had preferred to be blue-pilled. Tonight was the first night that she had no obligations, no duties to attend to besides her honor, and no reason not to imbibe. She thought of telling him that if he valued using his tongue, he would hold it unless using it for words of praise, but chose to hold her words back in case he continued his tirade after she tried to enlighten him. He, after all, hadn't had the education she had.
She reached forward and took the bottle with a nod,
"Arigato, again. But I have to ask," she said, taking a long gulp from the bottle before posing her question, "where does this distrust stem from? You don't know the Freespacer genocide is anything but a myth. Calling it a genocide is a large exaggeration. Pirates were given a warning to leave Yamataian territory and when they did not, they were taken care of. They just happened to be Freespacers. Is there any other reason to find problem with her or is it just that?"
The look Johnathan gave Rei told her that he thought she had lived under a rock.
"Well, I don't know if its enough to be called a 'Genocide' by your standards," Johnathan replied. His voice professional, but with words that implied otherwise; the topic was, by nature, unforgivingly harsh and scathing. "I do know however, that Yui's orders resulted in a large portion of the Freespacer populace being systematically hunted down and eliminated. That is, their nomadic fleets being chased and then destroyed with all hands - AI's, men, women and children," he pointed out. "There's also the apology and reparations the Yamataian government made recently too. If that's not enough to convince you, I can always forward you this."
Perhaps to Rei's shock and surprise, she received something from him over the very same channels Nekovalkyrja always chattered to eachother over. They were several links leading to numerous video streaming sites. Sites that, besides hosting the latest memes, trends, music and pop-culture, also hosted some of the most horrific war footage she had ever seen. All with Yamatai, and against an 'enemy' that was as helpless as an infant.
"Besides what Yui did to the Freespacer's, there's also the fact that we were under Yamatai's thumb for a long time." He leaned over and whispered, a though telling her a secret, "We really didn't like that."
She replied in kind, "Then what do you think Yamatai after they have lifted the thumb and you do anything but stay in your place?" He mockingly put a hand up to his ear as though he were trying to hear what she was saying.
"You dropped a word or two there - getting flustered? Don't, since I'm just stating facts here," he warmly replied to her. "Besides. You asked why Nepleslians like me don't like Yamatai, right? Well, don't be angry when I tell you." The way the man teased her, it was like he had no regard of any possible retribution or punishment. Completely and utterly frank, crass and rude. Yet, in a way, simply being able to was how it should be. After all, this was nothing more than speech, and if he was right - which he was - it wasn't even slander.
In the end though, he didn't even bother answering her question. After all, he knew just what she was doing, even if she didn't - changing the topic. That was the kind of man Johnathan Izgimmer was.
Rei had come to the conclusion that there were simply people out there that despised what she loved, and she needed to show them better through her own actions. She took another two swigs of the beer and smiled amicably. Rei said in a very couth way,
"There really is no need to dislike Yamatai, but even if you do, it makes me happy to know that you can still like me, despite that."
"Of course I'd still like to be friends. Risking male-pattern baldness because of Yamatai has nothing to do with that," he joked, taking another good swig of his beer. Leaning forward however, he added, much more seriously. "You did go take a look, right? The evidence?"
Rei nodded with displeasure as she thought back on the highly concerning, albeit plausibly justified, atrocities of war.
"I did."
"Alright. Just think about it from time to time, that's all." Surprisingly, he didn't press the issue further. "Anyways, you said something about becoming a ronin to wander the land, find a band of six other ronin and go on some sort of quest or something?" the Nepleslian poked a litlte bit of fun at her. "Why is that by the way? I'm curious," Johnathan asked her.
"Not everything in life can be learned in one place," she said to him. "I am on a search to discover things that otherwise I would not have the opportunity to learn."
"Yeah, I get that, I really do, but what made you suddly realize this and decide to leave? Or maybe someone got you to?" Though she did answer his question, the Senator wasn't satisfied. It wasn't quite the type of answer he was looking for, after all.
"I left after delving into the problem of tourism and the fanfare that you know all too much about. I saw it as a problem wheras the clan saw it as quite the opposite. They and I saw the difference of opinion as an opportunity for me to seek out the answers to my questions," Rei told him without hesitation.
"You mean they got rid of the person who took things too seriously," he stated with a wry smile. It wasn't even a question. "It's always pretty neat to meet people like you in days like this by the way - I mean, you might be a bit old fashioned, but it's better than just running around doing whatever you want." He downed the last contents of his beer; he admitted that there were many things wrong with Yamatai, but their beer wasn't one of them. "Anyways, there anything you want to ask me next? Maybe start a party, pass a dare hat around?"
"Huhuhuhu," Rei laughed before finishing hers and feeling the euphoric effects start to settle in. "Not quite that. Though more questions would be nice to ask of you. Do you have a family to speak of?"
"Ketsurui Rei, asking the hard questions everyone else is too afraid to ask," he jokingly teased her. Johnathan sighed. "Well, both my parents were killed when the colony was invaded. Wasn't even the Mishhu themselves though - a crowd crush for my mom, and some stray fire for my dad. Better than most people I say." He looked at the mini-fridge longingly. "Not sure if I should get another - not much point to though," the man offhandedly remarked. It was a small clue telling about him, but just that. A single small clue. "What about you?"
Rei wondered to herself why he had said that, then pushed him to get another, wondering even further if he would, by saying, "If you have one, I'll have one." He laughed.
"Cat got your tongue?" Johnathan replied, poking fun at her. "That's fine. Not everyone wants to talk about it."
"Well, I thought it was common knowledge that a Neko is born into her family of sister Neko, in my case the Ketsurui clan. I have many some such sisters in my clan that I look up to and revere." The Nepleslian only scratched his chin in thought when she said this. It wasn't that there was anything wrong of course. It was more like what she was implying.
"Really?" he asked her, the tone of voice more implying than curious. "When I was with Yui, she was showing off how many Neko her facilities could make," Johnathan explained. "The staging area was really huge - enough to hold a million of them she claimed." He grinned. "I've never seen so many pretty faces gathered up in one spot. Though, after that, she also showed me where they were coming from. Straight out of the vats, and they were being issued their undies." the Nepleslian began to fondly recall. "In fact, I actually waved at them, and one waved back." The Senator shrugged. "I just wish I flirted more with Yui though - she's real cute when she's flustered."
He was a scoundrel, no question about it. Rei was having trouble deciding if his antics were purposeful or commonplace for him and addressed the issue rather mildly for how she was feeling.
"I can understand what you're saying, though I disagree with where it is coming from. Perhaps you should tell me about your rise to such great heights in that you get to meet one of the, if not the, most powerful Neko there is. What spurred you to become a Senator?"
"Well, I guess the bait's too obvious at this point," the rugged man smiled at her. "Well, for me? My parents settled on a then-new colony world, and when Nepleslia finally broke off, Pops made it as Mayor. I decided to run too, though, that's not how I made it to being a Senator." There was a hard glint in his eye as he sat up a little more seriously in his chair. Leaning forward a little, he asked her in no uncertain words, "Do I look like your regular Nepleslian to you?"
"You all," Rei said, "look the same."
"Well, I could say the same for Neko - impossibly pretty - but that's besides the point," Johnathan happily took it in stride. It showed how much she knew after all. Pointing a thumb to himself with a cocky confidence, he explained, "I'm a full prosthetic cyborg - more machine than man now. Though, don't think I'm a slouch. The exact opposite infact." For a moment, the arrogant, self assured look almost had a predatory glow to it, but that subsided just as quickly as it had come. "Anyways, my term as Mayor was coming to a close, but by this time, the Second Mishhuvurthyar War was in full swing, and they were't skipping my city."
Turning his gaze, the man wistfully looked out upon the city as the sun began to set, bathing it in rich orange and purple hues.
"I didn't quite make it off in one piece, since I kept on shoving people into the transport until the door closed, with me outside of it." He shrugged. "The Mishhu got most of me that day, but it also let me skip running for governor and got me enough popularity to go straight for Senator." He nearly muttered under his breath, "Shotguns are junk against adult Mishhu by the way. Bony plates are too thick."
"That is lucky," Rei said, churning over the story he had unveiled to her and mulling over the benefits of fighting against such odds when inhibited by your own body, something she would never know. "That you escaped with your life and a career that was propelled by you being against daunting odds, it is lucky. I have to ask, what would you have done differently on that day?"
He laughed. Honestly laughed.
"Absolutely nothing. But from now on? I'd grab a rifle, or maybe one of your fancy blasters," Johnathan wryly smiled at her. His expression suddenly changed as a thought hit him however. "Oh wait! No, toss that out - I can totally tote a belt fed machine gun like it was an SMG now! Yeah, I'm totally gonna get a belt fed. In fact, I'm going to go buy one as soon as I get back home!" Johnathan declared, rising to his feet with patriotic pride.
Rei thought about her own weapons and lack of need for firearms, using only her service pistol when necessary, and thought on how little need there was when she had all the powers of an Eihei at her fingertips. She thought on his own lack of abilities for a moment longer before offering up a response.
"Buying things, do you do it often? What kind of things do you surround yourself with? I have little on me and will not have possessions besides the ones I carry for some time and would like to hear about what I am missing out on." He raised an eyebrow at that question.
"Uh, you wondering what sorta practical things you're going to need? Or are you just wondering what sorta stuff I got for fun and in general?" Johnathan asked, settling back into his seat.
"The latter," Rei said softly. He thought on that, for just a moment.
"Let's see. I got a whole bunch of guns, mostly rifles and pistols. Not that I really need them though. Then there's some body armor, a powered armor for fun, a hover tank, a personal ship, a hover bike." At this point, he just decided to stop listing them off on his fingers. "Oh! There's also this fellow too," he added, rapping his knuckles on his own head. "Advanced light weight, ultra strong hyperalloy. Military grade, just in case. Don't want to be caught with my pants down again," Johnathan finished replying. "That help scratch that itch of yours?"
He teasingly smiled at her, ever so slightly. It wasn't an unpleasant one, but it still did tease her nonetheless.
"That does, that does," she replied, having had her metaphoric itch scratched away by Johnathan. "I want to know, when do you see yourself making good with the promises you've made yourself? To undermine Yui's ruling and overcome the problems you see with Neko?" She asked it quite plainly, but her mind was moving fast and she was highly anticipating the response she would get, wondering how she would react to the wide array of replies at his disposal.
Again, he laughed, chuckling heartily at her question.
"Ketsurui Rei, asking the hard questions nobody else will!" he nibbled on her, just a bit. "Come on Rei. You're a smart young woman. Yui's a person who's got needs, and so long as she's alive, I and many others will be seeing to those." Though it sounded innocent enough, Johnathan wondered if she'd pick up on the innuendo, and if this young Samurai, this Ronin, would react like she did before. "Really, as long as she's happy as a cat that just had a big meal and gets nap under the sun, we're good. That way, she won't bother anyone." Despite his little games with her, he was still telling her the truth.
Yui could be an utter monster at times. One that was as utterly heinous as she was unpunished. Emphasis on 'Could' of course. The Senator was telling her that it was his job, as well as many others, to make sure that it never came to that. But, did she understand this? Or did the Star Army's propaganda, or her programming, plug her ears? Johnathan really wondered that. She was, after all, a war machine. If she wasn't capable of independent thinking, she was not much more useful than fodder on the front lines.
Yet, if she did think and feel on her own terms...well, he wasn't IPG, but he knew how that worked out. She'd understand. And that would, by nature, put her at risk. He wondered about her. Rei.
Rei wondered if he knew that Nekos didn't actually need to sleep very often and she could just as easily go wander the streets for another two days before needing to actually get some shut eye. Rei wondered if she needed to continue to stay in this hotel room, really, or if she could forfeit the favor and call it a night with him. Rei also wondered if it would be so easy with Johnathan.
"She won't bother anyone as long as they're not bothersome," she told him.
"You say that now, but, I want you to think a bit on it. I mean, there were waves of public outcry over what Yui and her favorite cat, Hanako, did. So bad, that several planets outright seceded from Yamatai." He shook his head. "If it weren't for the Mishhu though, they'd still be here," Johnathan explained to her. All Nekovalkyrja were intelligent, their minds capable of all sorts of things, but most he met were dull, never having put it to use. Never having pushed themselves to their potential. Just. A gear fitting into its place in the machine. He hoped that wasn't going to be Rei - her insistence, as naive as it was, well, it was cute.
Though, that wasn't touching on what he thought about the Second Mishhuvurthyar War though. It reeked of conspiracy, and he simply wasn't the type for it. What that said, wasn't pretty.
"I think you have a great deal of prejudice against my kind and it's revolting," she told him with a deadpan expression and arms crossed over her chest. “Do you have such little respect for Neko because you understand your inferiority to them or is it because you truly do not understand the intricacies of them as a species? We’re not all war machines that spit out what we’re told and we’re not only pretty faces but people beneath them. Do you think your biased opinion against them is really going to sway me? I have trained [/i]for[/i] Yui and for my Neko people. I haven’t trained and lived and learned in order to be convinced by one Nepleslian man with ill will for my clan leader that talks like you about people much more powerful than you'll ever be. You should remember that you're telling a samurai, the protector of Neko like Yui, that you would let misfortune strike her. This is not information I take lightly and would like you to understand the implications this carries with it."
She clasped her sword, the one named after the word "kill", 'Korosu', to make her decision clear and final. She moved to the door and clasped the handle, then, without looking back, was suddenly stopped as a strong, rugged arm wrapped in front of her, almost like an embrace, yet not quite. It stopped her in her tracks.
"Just think about it, yeah?" Rei grabbed her service pistol from where it was next to her katana and wakizashi and brought the blunt end up to Johnathan’s nose, the impact solid and jarring to him. It likely split the metal with the force of the blow.
"Treat Yui better, next time," Rei floated up to his height to tell him. Johnathan however, simply turned back to look at her, his nose crushed, but not bleeding.
"Isn't that what I've been trying to do?," the 'man' smiled at her with all the innuendo he could muster. From behind his eyes, a dull red glow could be seen as his face literally started to reform, the flesh moving like a living putty which sought out its proper place. But just like that, he quietly, gently closed the door behind himself, leaving Rei in her room, still floating mid-air.
Rei's face was humorless as she stared at the door that had just been shut. Manipulating gravity to float back toward the window, she looked out at the lights of the city as they turned on and brightened below her. Unenthused by the use of violence on him and even moreso by his posturing and problematic rhetoric.
She knew the incident would likely leave no trauma on him, though she willed it to and wanted for him to have understood the absence of his own intelligent thoughts on the matter. In her mind, though, she knew that this likely was not the case. Taking the slights against her own kind, Yui, Hanako, and even on her own person was no easy thing to have done for so long and she peacefully commended herself for taking it upon herself to end his tirade before it began again. She thought on his words, to think about it and scoffed, looking away from the window and down, trying to concentrate on obliterating his presence from her mind, fully.
Leaving the room in order to alleviate the dread that Johnathan Izgimmer would show up again, she went down the glass elevator and out the lavishly adorned hotel. The Nekovalkyrja Ronin looked for something to give her some piece of mind, something to calm her nerves, and before she knew it, Rei found herself retracing her steps. Though the city had taken on an entirely new life as the skies darkened and the lights came on. Awash with neon lights and the debauchery of youth, it was all too noisy given what she had just went through with that Nepleslian man. The park in front of her however? It seemed to be exactly what she needed. Only, it seemed to have changed too.
Somehow feeling more isolated from the city, perhaps even divided by some invisible barrier, it was like gazing into a moonlit landscape of trees and flowers. Her elvishly long ears perked up just a bit however; did they deceive her? It was the clamor of blades, far off in the heart of the park.
Rei affixed her eyes to the area the sound was coming from, fists raised slowly as she took a step back, in a ready stance. Ready to use her enhanced eyesight, her infrared vision was in position to be able to get visual of what was barely beyond its reach. She was preparing for whatever may come phsyically and mentally, as well. She had shed all concerns, save for the one at hand. However, despite all this preparation, nothing ever came to her. No. She could hear it now. Two blades, each opposing the other. Through the thickest trees and the beckoning dark, the musical sword notes played to a most deadly dance.
A duel.
Keeping her attention focused on the instruments of death, she listened attentively. Rei let her fists drop, though, and one lingered on the tsuba of Korosu and walked dubiously towards the distraction from her unadultered evening. She made it all the way to a clearing without being heard, until her presence was anything but unknown to the duelists. Two tall, daunting figures stood amongst a moonlit field of flowers, their swords being sheathed as the wind gently blew. As the buds and blossoms swayed, so did they; the scene was breathtaking. It was also over. Rei had taken too long, and already, one of the two figures was departing while the other turned to look upon the Ronin.
"Onegaishimasu!" Rei said with a deep bow to the now-lone duelist. The scene she had taken in was not immensely demonstrative of the prowess she would encounter, but she was aware enough of the context she found herself in to know to formally address the situation and the figure which stood before her.
"Most eager I see," an older woman's voice greeted the Ronin's ears. It sounded off. It wasn't just the accent of course. It was wrong somehow. The figure was dressed in a black, flowing overcoat, its front undone; she caught glimpses of matching slacks and a deep crimson vest underneath, but that wasn't what was alarming at all. The legs were bent all wrong. There was a green feathered tail which coiled around its legs, while the hands were clawed, another pair of opposable thumbs where the pinky fingers should be, closing inwards towards the palm. "Is it true? That you must draw blood before your blade is sheathed - an enemy's or your own?" it asked her.
Upon its elongated head, face hidden by a black veil, was a crimson crest of feathers that moved ever so slightly. This was not human, and most certainly not something common.
Rei pulled her hand away from the undrawn blade of hers languidly. She studied the creature, not anything she had seen before, before speaking again.
"Where are you from, what is your species, and what is your name? I am Rei of the Ketsurui clan and I am a wandering Ronin, out to seek answers to questions posed of me by my clan members." Its veiled head simply cocked to the side for the briefest of moments.
"And inquisitive, I see," the alien commented on her, the voice somehow seeming more volumous than it should have. Almost as though it were being spoken to her out from the depths of a box or even a room. It, or 'she', answered, "You may address me as Friede." Notably, it didn't answer any of Rei's other questions. Not at all. Despite this however, it kept its clawed, scaly hands in the open where she could see them, either by incidence, or as a gesture of good intent. "You came here because you were curious, didn't you?" it asked her, the voice it used curious itself.
Rei could watch the feathers on its veiled head twitch ever so slightly as it spoke, and also see how the rest of it stood inhumanly still, like a lizard. Only the breeze moved its clothing and feathers, the flowers swaying along with it in this moonlit scene. Without hesitation, Rei nodded to the question,
"Hai, Friede. Yes, I am curious. Curious to know why you're sparring in the middle of the night." It was silent for a moment, but only a moment before she heard a laugh from the being in front of her. A woman's laugh, short, but hearty.
"And why would you seek to spar in this wondrous night? Are the reasons so different for you and I?" it questioned her in kind. Despite its answer - or lack of one - it was, in a sense, true if Rei took to answering her own question. However, it never did answer Rei in its own words. Not at all. "You're eagerness is overflowing though. You've yet to answer. When drawn, will you only sheathe that sword by drawing blood? I am curious myself after all." Through all this, it didn't move at all. Its chest barely rose and fell, and its jaw didn't even budge as it spoke.
"I will only draw my sword," Rei answered, " - if my intent is to draw blood. You are correct in knowing that I will only sheathe it if blood has indeed been spilled. Why," Rei further questioned, "do you ask?" Friede's head moved back in mimicry of human shock, but it only looked vulture-like the way it did so. When it spoke again however, it sounded a little...peeved.
"How else could we spar? You yourself had just asked a moment ago, did you not?" the older Lady pointed out, its veiled head angling downwards ever so slightly.
"Are?" Rei said to herself, more than to the veiled creature with the accent of a . "Onegaishimasu means I accept this honor, or thank you for what you're about to teach me, not just that I want to spar. Though, I would be humbled by your request to do so." The alien, Friede, was almost statueque, but Rei could see a slight quiver run through its red crest. For some reason, it felt like it was annoyed. Annoyed at the little extra nuances of that word.
"On my person is a tool attached to the base of blades to enable safe sparring. However, with your...quaint custom of blood letting, I would not be surprised if you refuse to use your own sword, correct?" It shook its head left and right in disapproval. "Someone must have been taking the piss to come up with that idea, I swear," the alien complained. "Bother, bother, bother." Rei took the phrase to mean something was deeply afoul with her planet's sewer systems in this alien's mind, but chose to disregard the questionable quip. Instead, finding an alternative to the predicament at hand, she spoke.
"If you have a spare training sword for the occassion, that would greatly unhinder things."
With what Rei said, Friede's head tilted a little, and at that moment, she could feel prying eyes going over every inch of her body. Disrobing her. Stripping her of everything in the way. Examining her the same way a doctor or scientist would dispassionately analyze a subject. The creature was sizing her up, figuring out what she could do, and most importantly, was looking at her hands. Standing at seven and a half feet tall, the alien simply towered over Rei's diminuative five feet. However, when the Nekovalkyrja Ronin felt its unseen gaze break away from her, it reached into its great coat.
In its hand, silver flowed into the shape and form of a katana.
"Try this." Closing the distance to Rei with just a few smooth, long steps to hand her the weapon. She would find the grip a little too big and straight rather than subtly curved. However, seeing the small knobs and dim lights protruding from the liquid metal weapon, it was clear that this was simply the limits of its casing. Otherwise, it was an excellent fascimilie of her own blade, minus a sharp edge and piercing tip. "The field will prevent anything untoward," it explained.
Rei moved her grip on the handle of the blade and found the spot where her palm and fingers closed against it without preventing the strength of movement. She took a few steps back and bowed to her new opponent. Knowing now that the alien had at least some comprehension of Yamataigo, she asked if Fiede was ready.
"Junbi ga dekite iru?" Rei said. The alien first replied by pulling forth its own weapon, a handle much like Rei's but both simple yet elegant in its design, and activating it, let her watch as liquid silver flowed out and formed into a straight bladed long sword. However, its guard was something she did not expect; above the crossguard was an almost floral arrangement, the very ends of which ended in studs meant to help not only protect, but catch blades. Relaxed, the very tip was pointed towards the grassy blossoms.
"Of course," Friede replied politely.
"Hajime!" Rei said aloud as she whipped the foreign blade behind her into a ready position. She then sprung into the air, hanging there a moment with her knees bent and feet close her upper thighs and then pushed forward, legs unsnapping from their bent positions as she lunged. She was going after the veiled creature's shoulder, blade pushing through the air as she aimed at their right upper arm.
Wordlessly, the creature leaped back, bringing its sword upwards in a countering parry. The Samurai's assault immediately pushed it back, but in this moonlit field, it was not a problem. With room to maneuver, the alien's slashes was purely defensive and intended to give it more space. Its sword, being longer, helped give it the room it looked for, but with each move Rei closed the gap again. Through all this, she realized something as well; Friede's veiled head was turned sideways.
Its eyes were on the side of its head, and it was looking at where it was going while fending her off!
Realizing her opponent could see both in front of and behind itself, Rei tried for a different tactic and quickly moved to the side of her opponent they were not turned towards, their left side, and thrusted towards the creature's thigh, out of its line of sight. Silver glinted as the alien blade sliced low across the ground, flower heads sent spinning off into the air as Friede kept track of the crafty Samurai's move. But with her new angle of attack, she let go of the frontal pressure keeping it backpedaling, Their blades coming together, the alien did something uncommon in Kenjutsu; pressing the bind. With alien katana striking its long sword, the alien fencer pressed in frighteningly close, her blade caught between its edge and the floral cross guard.
It literally made to shove her back and away.
When she felt the pressure of the sword and her opponent's strength behind it, Rei knew to move with the action, rather than against it. She plunged her gravity manipulation away from Friede, only after grabbing on to the arm of the veiled creature and pulled them back with her. She flipped so that the creature would be nowhere if not on the ground by the time she let go, which she did as she was just above the creature's own body.
"No you don't!" Though the grab and pull jerked the alien about, the moment Rei tried flipping over it, the alien's free hand reached out and grabbed at her sword hand. Latching on by the wrist, the hand closed shut around her, refusing to let her complete her flip - the alien itself was like a brick and refused to budge again, its feet literally digging into the ground like a pair of hands. Left in this awkward position, their blades locked, and Rei floating upside down above it, the two were left with nowhere to go. "Oh dear," Friede lamented, its face still inscruitable from behind the veil it wore. "What now?" it asked Rei.
"We could have you let go," Rei suggested. "Another option is that we could stay like this for an indeterminate amount of time. It truly is up to you," Rei said, knowing there were several ways in which she could get the grip on her wrist to lessen, but wanting to be polite and let the alien think it to be a stalemate. Of course, it was only natural that Friede thougtht the same as well. However, that never came to fruition.
"I could. But that wouldn't serve my interests in the slightest - do you feel better now?" the alien asked her, refusing to let go. "You smelled angry."
Choosing to be open and forthcoming, Rei said, "I was in fact something akin to angry. Not quite there, I would say, but something close to. What we have done alleviated my mood, yes." She liked the sparring match and would like even more to continue it, feeling the surge of properly-placed adrenaline was better suited than that which she excreted while speaking with the senator. She wanted to understand this creature more and unravel its mysteries, as it had dawned on her early on in her meeting with it that it was no creature known to Yamatai.
"You could use some more. I say; how about ice cream?" Friede suggested, releasing its grip on Rei. For all of its claws however, the Nekovalkyrja Ronin was unscathed. Reaching a hand out, the alien beckoned for the return of its blade. "I know of a most peculiar source of that delight. Iromakuanhe in specific," it offered. Though Friede's body language was alien at least and non-existant at worse, the tone of the human voice it used to speak with Rei was at least nicer this time around. And perhaps most noticably, it wasn't speaking down to her.
Well, not as much.
"Eeto..." she replied, wondering what it is this creature could want to do with ice cream. Ice cream was another tourist attraction to her, something seemingly unfulfilling and a way to detract from more pressing matters. She resignedly nodded and returned the creature's blades to them.
She nodded curtly and said, "Hai! I will go with you for ice cream, though I have never had it and don't know why one would want it." The alien continued to stare at Rei from behind the veil, its elongated head still pointed at her. Watching it, the only clue she had of its mood was in its crest of feathers, which fanned out and drooped ever so slightly. Despite her not knowing what it all meant, Friede was at least trying to 'keep a straight face' it seemed.
"A tasty treat and guilty pleasure for those who are physically unfit," it curtly explained to her. Turning to take the lead, its own weapons melted away, retracting into their hilts before simply vanishing in the folds of its great coat. Seeing it walk off, the end of an exotically green and red feathery tail just visible from a slit in its coat, it was clear that Friede had a specific place in mind. "Is this a foreign idea to you? Eating to indulge?" it asked her, departing the moonlit flowers and entering the dark trees.
Rei began to explain, "I don't eat to indulge. I don't even eat in front of others, you should know." She wondered where the creature's path would lead and why it believed it was the best one. Not one she would take, truly, but one this creature thought was best. She also wondered if she would continue to follow in the creature's footsteps. Just a few steps more, and they found a path, and though there were lamp posts, they weren't lit; after all, why would they? This night was a plesant, scenic night, the moon itself lighting each step of the way.
"One would expect the best to be at least treated as such," the same womanly voice replied. Each and every time Friede spoke was a little jarring; what Rei saw, and what she heard simply did not match, and the faint oddness of the voice didn't help either. "Or, perhaps that is some rule you must adhere to? How droll," the alien assumed. With each step of the way, their path became clearer and clearer. The very center of the park became further and further, and Kyoto became nearer and nearer. Only, it wasn't the same side that Rei had entered it on.
And, though many of the shop signs were Yamataian, a few also included foreign words.
"It's a way to hold my honor as high as it needs to be held," Rei explained as she thought about the apparent oddness of her new companion in comparison to what she had typically understood as alien. This creature was much different than she could have expected, but wasn't close-minded and believed that the creature was just as important as she herself was.
She wished to know more and added, "I wouldn't want to dishonor myself, you, or my clan by giving up the standards I hold myself to. I want to know, what brought you to this planet? How did you get in with the other I saw in the meadow?"
"Is it?" Friede wondered. The way it spoke, the alien sounded like any other person who was thinking about something. Its pronounciation, the expression and subtle inflections of mood were all perfect.
"I would say it is, but you are entitled to your opinion, as long as yours doesn't try to affect my actions."
"Forgive my pondering dear." As they walked through the peaceful park, what the alien was seeking became all the more apparent. Up ahead was a shopping mall and its open food court; all sorts of foods and delicacies were on display, even at this hour. Kyoto was simply a city that never sleeped, and the amount of people coming in and out made this all too clear. "To answer your queries however, I must say that my business is my own," Friede replied, the words surprisingly gentle despite its alien demeanor. "What you stumbled across was a personal affair, and given Yamataian peculiarities with certain...things, I am hesitant to say." It paused. "What else was it you inquired?" she asked.
The samurai was lead by a tall brute of an alien in a black great coat, and as expected, the crowd parted for them despite the happy din continuing. The long line that Rei and Friede found themselves waiting in however, did not.
There were questions she wanted answered, not just for her, but for the Empire that she represented. They were questions that needed answering and questions that would not be answered by the creature if not pressed. She kept her voice low as they approached the line and entered it, speaking to the creature about her reason to be in Yamatai, again.
"I would need to let my clan and the Empress know of any unknown affairs happening on Yamataian ground. Without letting them know, there may be holes in the performance in the Empire that could be places for domestic threats to enter. Would you care to elaborate, lest I let them know?" A hot, heavy huff of air made the edge of Friede's veil rise, but in the end, the alien answered.
"In short, I came here because I was curious when others began mentioning a most quaint nation in these parts," the alien replied. "As for my business in the park, I hesitate to say, as I may risk offending your most Yamataian sensibilities." Friede then moved so that Rei stood in front of it. "You first dear - you haven't had this before after all." It was a good point regarding the ice cream. Seeing the people stream by with brightly colored cones of frozen goodness, it quickly became clear that they were very happy with what they were eating.
But not why. Not yet.
Rei didn't know what exactly their view of 'Yamataian sensibilities' were and how they could be offended, but whether or not she wanted them to be offended, she could not decide. She deeply wanted to know, but needed even more than to know what it was the creature was doing in the meadow, needed to know how to get it out of her.
Rei eyed the veiled creature before her attention shifted to the menu and to the Iromakuanhe, fit with blue lines of exoskeletal plates that Rei didn't quite understand, great spiring horns, and darker skin tone than a typical Yamataian, and a height that made Rei look like a child's toy in comparison.
Rei put up a finger up and said, "Konichiwa! One of these... gelato. Red kwirin one, perhaps?" With a nod and a smile, the young man grabbed his long metal paddle-stick and opening one of the metal containers, immediately stuck it in, working the concotion within around before procuring what they sought. Ice cream. As it sat there on the end of his paddle, the Iromakuanhe placed a cone onto it, and extended it out to Rei to grab.
Yoink.
Rei was left with only the cone in hand, and with a laugh, sent the little bit of ice cream back into the vat, only to draw it up again, larger than before. Setting it on top of her lonely cone, the young man then reached back into the vat for more, and firmly placing a third scoop on top of her cone, spirited it all out of her hand. For the briefest of moments, Rei stood there with just the cone again, the ice cream having stuck so firmly together that he could simply pluck it from her grasp. All smiles, he handed it back to her, and this time? Reaching into the vat, he showed her his secret.
The entire vat full of ice cream, larger than her head, was stuck onto the end of his long paddle-stick. Stretchy like taffy, he made to place it on top of her cone, only to stop at the last moment and squirrel away the sweet delight; a few more scoops went onto the now wary Rei's cone as she held it more firmly. She ended up holding just the cone's paper cup in the briefest moment of confusion before finally being granted the deliciousness with a smile and bow.
Friede however, simply said something in his foreign tongue, and with a smile, was given chocolate, minus the fanfare. Samurai or not, Rei still looked cute, but her companion? Not so much.
Rei had questioned during his act if she should engage her energy manipulation or near-FTL speed reflexes, but had decided to let the young Iromakuanhe man continue with his phenomenal act. She graciously took the gelato in exchange for one KD once he had commenced his schtick, finally and completely. She smiled delightedly at the experience, then, coming to grips with her emotions, took up a more serious expression.
"Why is it you know the Iromakuanhe language?" Rei asked, confused as the only real experience most races had with the Iroma were a few diplomatic missions and the BEST KEBABS stands and Treasure Trove Frozen Treats, like the one they had just gone to. Holding its own cone of deliciousness, the towering alien simply cocked its head ever so slightly.
"Why not?" Friede asked. "They are friendly, have good food, and are generally interesting," it pointed out. "Go on. Give it a go now," it urged her to eat. It was clear that the alien expected Rei to try her treat, to comment on how it tasted, and perhaps already 'forgot' what the Samurai had said before. She didn't want to be seen as she ate, and thus far, simply hadn't had any delicacies and treats due to their warrior austerity.
Rei didn't know what Friede expected out of her, as the both of them knew she wouldn't be able to enjoy the delight, but continued her line of questioning again.
"What is it you two were doing in the meadow, then, since I still need to know?" Rei asked as they both walked away from Treasure Trove and to a bench, passing through the parting of crowds as they noticed the pair and let them pass. Friede however, began to take the lead; the bench wasn't to its taste. The alien didn't answer Rei right away either, nor did it eat its own ice cream; perhaps the most important thing though, was how quiet it was getting. The moment they went to one of the balconies in the mall, in a more quiet, secluded corner that overlooked the city outside, it spoke.
"We were curious about one another, he and I." That alone perhaps gave more questions than answers, but perhaps implied far more than Rei would realize. She was, after all, Samurai. Changing the topic though, it asked, "If I lift my veil and eat, will you eat too?"
Interested in the relationship these aliens had towards one another and their presence on Yamatai, even further, now, she developed the understanding that they must have been an inherently curious species, full of unanswered questions, much like herself. She wanted to know even more than Friede would be willing to admit, but held back and, instead, answered Friede's own question after commenting on the alien's answer.
"Curious? Are? Curiosity makes you fight one another?" Rei asked, uncertain. The Samurai shook her head. "Īe," she then said gravely. "I would not, but I would be more than willing to let you eat beside me." The alien shook its elongated head as well. Taking a few steps, the two were then standing back to back, with the Nekovalkyrja facing the window and the scenic view, while Friede's size shielded her from any passerby.
"Now?" it asked her again.
"Īe," Rei said, shaking her head, again. "It is not about skirting the rules, or adhering to them, but living with respect and dignity for them. Again, I will be fine with you eating and enjoying yourself next to me, and would enjoy this even more later, when I'm alone. I'll hold onto it."
"What are the rules, may I ask? I've seen Samurai eat with less reservation than this," the alien pointed out, its crest of feathers rattling together like rustling leaves. Rei didn't need to understand all the bits and details of its body language to know that Friede was now annoyed.
"I've explained how I live by them and now you want to know them? Why? Do you want to become a Samurai?" Rei asked, sensing she was perturbing her company and not knowing what to do about it besides try to make the conversation more light-hearted by asking the simple, rhetorical question. It gave a huff in reply, the sound deep and billowing in its snout.
"Rules serve a purpose, and if that purpose is not being met, then the rule may be bent or even broken if the circumstances warrant," it pointed out to her. "If this rule was to preserve dignity, I would say it would be met so long as I do not see you eat. But. One thing I am learning of Samurai however, is inflexibility." Friede shook its head, the veil swaying as it did so. "Not even our Knights are so foolhardly...but, if you insist, it cannot be helped."
"Try to put this aside and think about those things we have in common, instead of those things we have to stifle our relationship," Rei said, trying to remind her that there was more to gain by being open to Rei's inflexibility and understanding it as something that could help them better understand one another and not something to tear them apart. She then heard it; the unmistakable sound of a sigh.
"If you shall not, then I shall not," the woman's voice behind Rei replied with certainty. "Dondurma stays frozen far longer than normal ice cream, but it is not impervious to heat; I suggest we both discard our treats before we make a mess." Already, Friede began striding towards the nearest trash bin.
While Friede had her attention fully off of Rei and in no way could see her, Rei used her skin vision to see around her and knew nobody was around, save for the creature. She took a quick lick of the red kwirin flavored gelato, savoring it for less than a millisecond before turning back around to see the alien's back still turned. She trotted towards her and threw the cone into the trash.
"So," Rei asked after they had both thrown away their delights."What else is it that you're curious about on Yamatai?" Turning its head back to look at Rei over its shoulder, Friede replied,
"Everything dear. There's a lot to take in. I could easily spend many years simply sampling the food alone. Not to mention the traditional arts and literature." Lifting an arm, it pointed a clawed finger over to one of the stores. "Take that one for instance, the 'dōjinshi' that are on display. 'Boy's Love', is it? This place is quaint. Very quaint indeed." The way it stated that however, made it very clear that it believed that was normal. Turning its head to look back upon Rei however, it paused for a moment before finally speaking again. "You wouldn't like those, would you?"
"Īe," Rei said. "I would not, no. Perhaps you would, though?" Rei wondered if the other alien Friede had been fighting had a sexuality and, then, wondered what Friede's was as well. Despite wanting to know, she added no more questions.
"No," it replied with a level voice. "Your people's preferences are simply not of my concern. However, what has my curiosity would be your previous anger." It was there when they had first met in that field of flowers, and to the alien, all the more apparent as Rei stood there, lit by the gentle moonlight. "Whatever excitement or eagerness you seem to have felt when you saw us sheathe our blades was simply overshadowed by this looming emotion." Walking over to a small garden within the mall, it added, "I pondered what would trouble a warrior so."
"Are?" Rei asked, then continued. "Nothing at all." She was stone-faced and unperturbable, now knowing the alien could sense such things in some kind of way and ready to make it all the more difficult to detect.
"Too stiff dear," Friede replied. "Are you certain this is not something you wish to speak of?" it asked her. Unlike a human, the alien simply had no face the Nekovalkyrja could possibly read. The veil made sure of that. However, nobody could say that the voice which came out from this thing did not sound conerned and caring. The womanly voice that touched Rei's ears was almost motherly with worry, something that was very odd at least and unsettling at most considering the contrast of looks and sound.
"Eeto..." Rei said, worried that if she gave away what made her passionate, she would lose a part of herself. She didn't understand how the creature knew, but hoped it would relinquish its hold on her inner thoughts. Finally, she decided on what to do. She would tell the veiled creature, Freide, some of the truth, seeing how she reacted to bits and pieces of information. "I was with a diplomat," Rei explained. "This diplomat had unfair assumptions of Nekovalkyrja and that upset me. Your assumptions were correct. But can I ask you, what assumptions do you have about Nekovalkyrja?" For once, she got the slightest flicker of something recognizable, something almost human. Surprise. The way its head moved back was quick and sharp, yet also subtle. Watching the alien carefully, Rei caught it, just in time.
"Ah. There is no joy in hearing unplesantries, yes," it agreed, nodding its elongated head. Stopping, as though to think for a moment, the alien replied, "Assumptions. We avoid using assumptions, as they are simply insubstantial next to the power of truth. Nothing has an edge so finely sharp." Reaching into the black folds of its great coat, Friede procured a long, slender rod; a cigarette holder. Idly holding it in between its fingers, it added, "Though, I suppose that was not what you actually wanted of me?" Somehow, with the way its head tilted, chin in the air ever so slightly, she could almost feel it smiling at her, bemused. Rei did, after all, ask for what its assumption was.
Not its opinion.
"I answered a question you wanted to ask and with an answer I did not want to tell. Now, will you answer me this, though you may not want to; will you unveil yourself for me?" Rei spoke in a calculating manner, hoping to take a glimpse of this creature mere words could not show her.
"Perhaps I shall," it replied with a nonchalant air, casually placing a hand at its hip, cigarette holder in hand. " - but whether or not I do unveil myself depends on something important. Your people value appearances to the point that each and every single member of society is considered plainly flawless at the least." The towering alien bent at the waist, leaning in so that they were eye level with one another behind its veil. "This is fact. But is this vanity something that will have one such as I draw ire?" Friede asked as it straightened out, a clawed hand delicately placed upon its powerful chest for emphasis.
"I wear my hair plainly, wrapped together at the nape of my neck and wear not ornate clothing, but what is traditional for my clan sisters. I do not go to great lengths to look a certain way and do not expect the same of you. You are predispositioned to look a certain way that I am unaccustomed to, as I presume you are genetically different than myself. I am fine with all of that and would rather you talk to me unconcealed than behind a veil, for me to better understand you," Rei said.
"So says the Ronin," the alien offhandedly remarked. It implied many things, but did Rei understand? Did Friede care that the Neko understood? Perhaps that didn't mattter, as it made up its mind. Leaning in close so that they were at eye level, the alien lifted its veil, revealing the bright feathers of a tropical bird, and the countenance of a predator. Its elongated head wasn't like a cartoonish, friendly human face with a snout clumsily slapped onto it either. No, it was truly reptilian in nature, with an enlongated head that was sleek and pointed, and the mouth, slightly open, showed rows of razor sharp teeth. But what stood out the most, was its eye. It wasn't even a slit, but a sharp pointed cross pressed thin.
It was a look that humanity instinctively feared.
Rei, however, remain unperturbed and let the creature show her its full self, recognizing that it had a look unlike anything she had seen before and probably nothing she would see again. She savored looking at it and understanding it. There was nothing to do but let the creature speak again.
"To answer your question however, the one you meant to ask and not the one you did ask," the creature began, its jaws simply still as its womanly voice poured forth, "I see a people who were made to be nothing more than toys and slaves become rulers of the very same nation that wished to use them. I see potential tapped, potential unrealized, and danger. Quite frankly, I am both dissapointed and impressed." Brushing its veil to the side, the alien stood tall again, the cigarette holder vanishing under its coat once more as it stared at her with unblinking eyes. "I still do wonder just what that 'diplomat' said to upset you so however."
"Something similar to what you have just vociferated," Rei said tersely. She remained where she was and questioned what the alien's plan was once she made leave of Rei. Where would she go and what would she do there, Rei wondered. She wanted to know but had no way of knowing besides asking.
"What are you planning on doing on Yamatai?"
"Why, I'm a tourist," Friede's voice exclaimed with surprise, its alien expression still adamantly enigmatic. "I'm going to read your literature, enjoy your artwork, and indulge myself on your food to name a few things. I'm going to eat some Wagyu in particular; I want some Mishima, Matsusaka, and certainly some Kobe as well. Then there's tonkatsu, and torikatsu, and maybe some blue fin sashimi - " The alien simply prattled on a little bit more, its eyes seemingly flashing as the black cross rapidly grew and shrank in excitement. Friede then suddenly froze like a statue like no human could, and with a practiced movement, turned its head and opened its mouth just a little bit more, emulating a cough. "Sorry dear. You do still seem upset though," it admitted, its crest of feathers falling. "Just what did that awful man say to you?"
"Eeto..." Rei said, having given all of the information she was going to give. "What is the food like where you come from, since you like it so much? Is there a good variety or is it all the same kind of things? Do you normally have to cook it? Freeze it? Do you prepare it often or is it usually made for you? And is it mainly meat, vegetables, or anything in between? Tell me about it."
She was obviously trying to derail the coversation away from the past hurt of meeting Johnathan and onto something more light-hearted, not understanding that the creature could possibly help her understand the situation more clearly and only thinking that talking about it more would confuse the problem in her head to an exasperating level.
"A litte too heavy in the stomach and a little too bland to the tongue," it replied, one eye looking up to the heavens as the other fixated on her. Its gaze soon turned back to Rei however, and seemingly taking her in, sighed, the slumping of its broad shoulders surprisingly human despite its inhuman frame. "We have plenty of basic ingredients but few spices or herbs worth of note dear," Friede replied. Reaching up with a hand, the reptilian scratched a few of its feathers and rubbed what the Ronin could only assume was its temple. "Just what sort of words could wound a Ronin so?" it pondered aloud, closing its eyes as it did so.
Rei said, "They were quite inexplicable words, to be frank, Friede." The moment she said this, a clear, translucent membrane flicked across the alien's eyes once, then twice like a person blinking. Friede's great maw opening just a crack again, the young Ronin head delicate, polite laughter pour out from the alien, if only for just a moment.
"I am quite the well traveled Lady, and one thing I have learned is that if I can not unravel something, someone else is likely able," it explained to Rei. Again, she saw the faintest flickering flash of its pupils growing and shrinking as it spoke, but now, made to sit on a bench in the small garden. "Why not give it to me, and see what I can do with this puzzle? With hands like these, I'm certain I will find out how to unravel it," Friede offered, a clawed hand upturned.
With its gesture, Rei could clearly see the odd, fuzzy pattern which lined the inner surface of its hand. It was much like what was on a gecko's pads, the thing that let them stick to walls and things. But here, she could see its fingers far better, and the way that both thumbs on either side of its hand could bend inwards towards the palm. But what stood out the most, was the claws. They bent, moved even, following the fingers themselves. This hand was a hand like hers, meant to grasp and manipulate the world around it, but it was different. Just as its eyes and ears and mouth and so much more of it was.
Deciding that there was indeed a difference between the two of them, between their perceptions as well as their bodies, Rei relinquished her words about the matter of the Nepleslian Senator.
"I came into contact with a deceptive and utterly offensive man. As you would assume, I chose to have nothing to do with him after a period of time had passed in which my courtesies quickly faded. I am disturbed that such a man exists and even moreso that he is allowed in Yamataian space. I ask you, what would you have done in such a situation and what should I do, now, to rid myself of the anxieties the encounter has procured for me?"
"Well, I honestly have no idea. After all, I don't know what he has even done," Friede answered bluntly, a claw idly scratching at her bench. Without details, there was nothing for it to work on, to go off of, and in truth, it wondered if Rei simply wanted a shoulder to cry on, or if she wished to decipher something so painfully baffling. Turning its unblinking gaze back onto Rei, it suggested, "Let that weight off your chest dear. It is heavy and unpleasant - why hang onto it? Besides. I can't work with it unless you hand it to me."
"Kamaimasen. Nandemo nai, nevermind," Rei said. "He was a bad man with bad intentions. He did so much with his words that unnerved me. I couldn't bear to be around him and can't bear the thought of my sisters dealing with his presence, either. I wouldn't wish him on you, for instance, either, as I do quite enjoy you, Friede, and wouldn't want you to have to go through something as terrible as bad company," Rei said. "There are quite a few things worse than bad company, but I still wouldn't wish him on any creature." Friede took this all in with watchful eyes and nodded once, its crest of feathers standing tall, but silent and still.
"Hush dear," it began, reaching out to gently rub the young Ronin on the back, to provide some measure of comfort to her. "I am a well traveled Lady. If even Mishhuvurhtyar are hesitant to displease me, I am certain I can bear a few pokes and jabs from a little man," it pointed out to her, its crest of feathers fanning out ever so slightly. "Please. What did he say exactly?"
"The specifics are too bold for my lips." Rei stayed standing as her weapons did not allow her to sit and she went on, "Imagine my clan leader's image being torn apart and imagine, also, to my shock and horror, this man exemplifying what he would do to her if given opportunity that she would surely not be willing to give. Now, if you will, try to understand why I do not, in any great measure, want to delve into the matter beyond cryptic claims."
The alien could only say one thing.
"Fascinating." Rubbing its chin in thought, the gesture seemed almost humanizing in a way. "A man, and since you say a Diplomat, and one with an edge to grind with Yamatai. Very daring. I can only assume that he was a Nepleslian, even though I would prefer not to," Friede observed. It looked right at Rei again. "As reprehensible as this may seem to you, that was very daring, wasn't it? To stand up to a Samurai, blade by her side, and say all those things? Why would he do that, I wonder?"
It was a good question.
"He could have been staying true to his own moral code, forgetting mine, or he could have been testing mine, fully aware of it. I couldn't say one way or the other, all I know are his morals are too much different from my own for me to find his distasteful words excusable," Rei said calmly. Reaching into its great coat again, Friede procured its cigarette holder. Gently caressing it in its hands, it was clear that the alien was in thought, but ultimately, put the instrument away.
"Yes. He could have his own little agenda, but I suppose guessing about it is moot, considering you do not wish to share his words," the alien observed, pretending to ash a non-existant cigarette before putting its shining black holder away once more. For a moment more, the alien looked away as though something was on its mind, off somewhere far away. Somehow, Rei recognized this, yet at the same time, couldn't help but shake the feeling that it wasn't quite right. On Friede, that distant gaze was equally analytical and predatory as it was contemplative and wistful.
"There is something, eeto... bothering you, is there not?" Rei asked, both happy that the alien did not want to further press the issue and happy that they also found her answer satisfactory enough not to. She wanted to understand this strange creature, while at the same time, wanted to understand herself because of it. Rei asked of Friede, "What is the matter?" Turning its elongated head ever so sligtly, the tall alien brought a single eye to rest upon the Nekovalkyrja. The expression, like so many times before, was utterly enigmatic. Still, there was no rustling of feathers, no pinning or flashing of the pupils or even a budge of its crest.
"Do you remember what I was doing when you came?" it cryptically asked Rei in return, looking down upon the much shorter Nekovalkyrja. With her own head at elbow height, she almost felt like a child being told something important by an adult. Something. Something that she could not quite put her finger on. "It seems that he is willing to have witness to our bout after all," Friede conceded. Having gotten less answers and more questions, Rei was still left eager to learn more. Rei felt like there was little she could do to know more about the creature than ask questions, but even that required taking steps back in order to take only one forward. Still, she prevailed.
Rei asked diminutively, "I was witness to only the end, but what started it, besides curiosity?" Starting to walk out of the mall, Friede looked back as though to see if the Neko Ronin would follow, its mouth slightly open but motionless as it spoke,
"Yes. Curiosity. What curiosity would a man have for a woman, and a woman for a man?" it rhetorically asked her. With that, all the pieces started falling into place as the alien eyed her, watching to see Rei's reaction. "Your kind are very peculiar when it comes to such things, so of course I wished to keep it hushed," it added, the two passing several popular and busy dōjin stores. As though to emphasize its point, the topics were varied. Very varied. It was perhaps only natural that an outsider would be concerned how they themselves were viewed.
Somehow, it now felt like Rei had interrupted something important. Something private.
Rei mulled this over for quite the while, eyeing the dōjin store and for some reason, fixating on a nakadashi one for some strange reason. Not quite knowing what it was, she was thinking she would find out by watching the cover of it as she passed by. She wondered what it was that brought the need for copulation in such a public light and understood why the two creatures would succumb to something so intimate hidden by all but the moonlight in the park. Had they been fornicating, though, that would be a different word of wonders for Rei to muse on, indeed, but being that the two were merely caught in the altruistic act of a fight, one could ony assume that was either a precursor or subsequent event to the act she was so vividly imagining.
Further questions arose in her mind, such as how the two of them were capable, when the adjacency of two Nekovalkyrja bodies seemed wholly perfect and the joining of two of Friede's type of bodies seemed wholly peculiar to Rei.
She thought to ask, "Have you, eeto..." she trailed off. Then, putting a finger to her mouth, Rei tapped her lips before asking, "Have you ever been pregnant, before?" The question lingered for a moment more as the two passed the crowds. They parted, but not like before. Where they once showed curiosity, they now had something else in their eyes, and not towards Rei. No, not at all. In fact, she seemed to be an after thought. The Nekovalkyrja was well traiend, and knew to search for this look in particular when sighting her foes. Fear. It was fear. Apprehension as they neared, and relief as they passed. Almost as though given a cue, the black veil slid over its face and head once more, hiding the predatory alien's features from view.
Yamataians were a peculiar lot, and were generally xenophobic unless one was pleasing to the eye. Friede however, was simply not.
"Yes," it finally replied. "I tell you this however, in good faith. I hope you continue to attempt being open minded," 'she' added. Once more, the two found themselves in a much more familiar scene as they departed the mall. Not too far off, in the middle of this bright, neon lit city was a center of serene peace. One that was waiting for them both. However, as always, Rei's new found companion gave her far more questions than answers, and they all buzzed in her mind as seething, bubbling curiosity itched under her skin.
"Hontōni? Really?" Rei asked, incredulous. Turning its head slightly to look upon its companion again, Friede nodded 'her' head once. She had only met a few Neko that had been pregnant before and never met an alien that had had children. It was enough to know that Friede had partaken in mildly adulterous acts, but to know that she had given birth was something that was exhilirating and hard to understand for her. Wanting to know more, she furthered her line of questioning by asking, "Were you made pregnant by that man I saw in the park?"
"No. The father of my previous child was a different Sire altogther," it explained. "Since then though, I have ascended from the stature of Dame to the position of Lady. Of course, as Lady, I must have a Lord." Waiting at the street corner, traffic passed by, even at this hour. Inside the many cars, the two could see the passengers as clearly as though they were sitting still, their eyes far sharper than human. Many were happy, making merry, and as though understanding the mood, Friede's words seemed to tease at Rei, an older woman speaking into a young Nekovalkja's ear as it leaned in. "For what Lady haveth no Lord?"
Caught off guard, Rei did not know how to respond. There was a sort of emphasis Friede put on her words, particularly when she said 'Lord' and 'Lady' and wondered why those words denoted special meaning. She reflected on what made this creature more special than other women of its kind and reasoned it was probably similar to the way she was made more special than those of her kind.
She would live her life as a Lady without a Lord, as she saw it. There was simply no desire nor need for another by her side. She didn't know why this Friede felt an obligation to have one, either. She wanted to know more the more she found out. The more information she ate, the hungrier she got. Soon, she would have to start purging, but before then, she hoped to eat just a bit more knowledge.
"This one you were fighting, was he a potential Lord to you? Will you ever see him again?" Rei asked. "What will you do if you do chance upon one another again? Fight? And why did you want a child?" For now, she was done with her questions and looked to Friede with wide eyes, wondering what answers she would get, or if she would be given questions in return. As the lights changed and the two crossed the street, Rei heard it. Laughter, as clear as day and as delicate and sweet as any treat. It sounded all too human, yet, watching her companion, the Ronin saw her posture hardly change at all. What did this mean?
"Yes, yes. A Lord to me, but only in passing; I care not if we ever meet again in truth." Again, the alien's head turned ever so slightly so that, from behind its veil, a single eye could look upon Rei. "But, if we do? Polite greetings perhaps. I have no attachment to this Lord whatsoever. As for I?" it began, stepping onto the sidewalk first. "Why, I require another Knight of course." The words, despite being rather jovial along with Friede's seemingly good mood, felt far more ominous than anything it had said before.
"You have spoken of your 'Knights' before, Friede. Can you tell me what one of these 'Knights' is to you?" Rei asked inquisitively. The idea that Friede and this Lord would perhaps never meet again and that their sole interaction was presumably a fight intrigued her and yet, made her all the more wary of matters of the heart. Or, in Friede's case, perhaps this was more a matter of the head, Rei wondered.
"It depends," Friede cryptically replied. Once more, the two made their way past the threshold of the park and began their journey to its very center. "A Knight may be Civil or Martial in nature, and as a result, Landed or Unlanded as well. But, deep down, you are inquiring of our Martial Knights, are you not?" 'she' asked. "Of course you are, sweet dear." Going down the paved path, the trees were cast into a sinister darkness by the very lights that lit their way, the shadows jumping, creeping as the lamp posts came on with their approach. "The type of Knight you ask of, I suppose, would be your very peer. That is, assuming they are of a proper, Ordained Order."
It was then that the tall, daunting figure stepped into the darkness and turned expectantly, beckoning.
"But, to me, my Knight was also my child, whom I do miss," Friede continued. "Always so eager to learn. Always asking questions. At least, in private. You remind me of her, you know." From its chest, its throat, the Ronin's ears could hear it. A sigh, deep and felt. "With her death though, I require another Knight, and another Bastard child will do just as well." Looking at Rei, cast in the shadows, it asked, "Are you coming?"
Rei was astounded and would have been incredulous if she had not come to understand a great many things were outside of her sphere of understanding. That realization had come well after leaving the Palace and was a new feeling for her. She wondered a great many things after Friede had told her of her child and their fate. She wanted to know why Friede needed another and why she didn't simply live without, but she knew the answer to that would only spawn more questions for her. She had faltered in her step, slowing behind Friede and when the creature asked if she was coming, she nodded quickly and hastened her pace.
"Hai, yes, yes," Rei said in reply, questioning her own questions as they popped into her head. The two continued on together, the larger alien leading the way for the much smaller Nekovalkyrja. Here, in the dark, things took on a new light as their eyes adjusted. What were once sinister woods were now lush trees adorned in moonlight, the drops of night dew upon their leaves shining like diamonds. The very lights of the city and the paved path they walked on had drowned this out, insulating them from it. Again, glancing back at Rei, it asked,
"Are you alright Rei? Your colour seems a shade lighter." Up ahead, in between the trees, they could see it. Flowers. Flowers upon flowers upon flowers, beautifully lit in silver-blue light and gently swaying in the breeze.
"Eeto..." Rei murmured. She didn't feel like she had turned a lighter shade, but did feel as though she had a lot to take in, still. She didn't know if there was usually this much to learn with aliens, or if it was like her experience with Johnathan: everyone was interesting in their own ways, but all of them were interesting to a large extent.
Rei finally replied, "I am fine. Curiosity seems to have taken a hold on me, just as it takes hold on you. Beautiful night, Friede. Do you have nights like this where you are from?" Behind its veil, the alien opened its mouth again, only to close it for the briefest of moments.
"Yes. Yes we do." The trees seemed to almost make way for them as they approached the edge of the flower garden here in the park. In this day and age, despite its presence, this view that they were treated to was something uncommon. People were simply too busy with their lives to bother with such things, and as a result, the place felt as lonely as it was peaceful and serene. Friede simply stood there, patiently waiting.
"What other glories do you have where you are from?" Rei questioned. "Anything that would interest the likes of me?" A womanly chuckle came from Friede before it answered,
"Almost half the planet is tropical in nature, and the prettier something is, the more it hungers. Most of us have lineages that can be traced back to the Foggy Isles, where it is colder and therefore safer." As thought to emphasize the point, Friede stretched out its arms wide and turned, the movements putting emphasis on its clothing much like a model would her dress. It was very polite and tame in how it moved, yet, it somehow seemed absurd, seeing Friede do this.
"Are you safe?" Rei asked Friede as the creature moved about.
"Safe?" it asked in return, the womanly voice coming from it sounding a little puzzled.
"You come from where it is safer, no? Does that make you safer?" Rei asked.
"Somewhat," it began to explain. "There are still numerous hazards in Albion I say. Packs of animals. The cold weather itself, lower crop yields. Nothing a stiff upper lip and a little ingenuity can't solve though of course. After all, they can't make or use guns," Friede pointed out, a hint of sarcasm with the very last.
"Albion and the Foggy Isles seems like a chilling place, indeed. I would go there just to learn how it is your kind lives, if I weren't set on finding the way it is that Yamataians live," Rei told her newfound companion. "Though I doubt that option is open to me." Finding it funny that Friede had stopped walking abruptly and not started again, Rei asked, "What are we doing in this park again?" Again, it peered at her, its already inscruitable face completley enigmatic behind its veil.
"That, I believe is highly unlikely," Friede simply replied. Taking a few steps forward, the alien paused and looked back at her, if only for a moment. "Don't tell me you've forgotten?" Though she couldn't see it on the creature's face, Rei could hear the wry, teasing smile. Continuing onwards, it stepped into the field of flowers as a lone, solitary black figure amidst white, silver lit blossoms. A moment more, and one became two as the other emerged. Tonight, Rei didn't even need her super-human eyes to see; the moon was out in full force.
When they neared each other, the two never said a word. There was no need.
As their weapons were drawn, quicksilver flowed into blades and blossomed into guards. Like before, Friede's sword was long, straight and sharply pointed while its simple crossguard was bolstered by thick wires artististically drawn into an almost floral design. Her opponent however, drew somthing larger. The crossguard was simple, but larger like the blade itself, and came with a grip that was longer to match. With two hands, they each grasped their swords, but already, it was clear that their styles were to be different from anything that Rei had seen.
The Lord' was the first to move. Blade held high overhead, the alien cleaved downwards as Friede moved. Rei watched as its its blade thrust up, feet moving it quickly to the side to dodge the brunt of the force, but instead of pulling back for another attack, the Neko saw something completely unexpected. A brief bind as blade and crossguard met. Her memory flashed back, her own bout with Friede still fresh in mind. But the alien never stopped moving; 'her' blade, pivoting against its foe's, brought the very tip towards its face in a swift chop.
The sword was the shield, defense an attack.
Moving in fast, Friede pressed the assault, its shorter blade easily pivoting, almost wrapping around 'her' opponent's far larger, more unwieldy sword. All the while, she pressed the close of her sword near the opponent's tip; Rei watched as leverage won out, with Friede easily controlling her foe's far larger blade. But 'her' foe was always frustratingly just out of reach. The two flowed through the flowers like a pair of dark shadows, flickers of silver flashing out at each other as Friede's foe was forced to retreat. But it wasn't over. Far from it. Blades locking again, 'she' tried to wrap around 'her' foe's guard, but this time, it pressed in close and hard.
Shoving Friede as it leaped back, the gap was widened, and it took the offense. The large, outlandish sword moved far faster than expected. Swings, broad and wide, kept the Lady from closing in as petals were literally stripped from their stems. Air rushing, the large sword moved in a fulcrum, its momentum keeping it constantly moving in a flurry of blows keeping Friede off balance.
As the fight went on, Rei was hushedly watching, gaining insight into both the alien and its fighting style as the two jousted. She stood with her hands at her sides and a stiff, reserved back as she looked on at the fight unfolding in front of her. She wanted to know what it felt like to be that creature in the fight, to know the feeling of having her own steel wrapping around that of an opponent's. She wanted to know more about their fighting style and know what it was that made them move with such ease and so effortlessly. Most all, she wanted to keep watching.
As the Inverness coat of Friede's foe billowed, 'her' own stuck close as 'she' backpedaled. Nimbly dodging, parrying her opponent's Claymore, the Lady swiftly chopped down as it fell back, the blow landing square on the back of 'her' foe's retreating swing. Thrown off course, the blade decapitated several flowers and embedded itself in the soil, with Friede plunging in. The clang of metal rang cross the moonlit field as sparks flew; in the Lord's off hand was a simple long, narrow dagger with a wide, sturdy crossguard. A parrying dagger. With the window open, it heaved the greatsword out of the earth and brought the weapon cleaving at Friede.
Bounding back on its reptilian legs, the Lady drew forth the very same hilt that Rei had held only moments before. Mercury flowed yet again, but instead of a sword, the rounded form of a shield came to being. Aggressively swinging it about like a weapon, the Nekovalkyrja Ronin watched as Friede parried her opponent's blows with attacks of her own. The buckler in the Lady's off hand punched out at its foe and slapped aside attacks with ease, always threatening to crush a careless hand or pummel its foe into submission. Their motions only seemed to speed up as they danced through the night flowers, a flurry of blows upon blows, swift and fast blade lock and blade pivots and head hewing cleaves. Rei was starting to understand now.
Friede's sword wasn't just a shield; the shield was also a sword.
Attack and defense flowed seamlessly together, transitioning from one to the next with no clear lines between them. A block became a cut or stab, while an attack could easily become a parry. It was clearer than ever that the two in front of Rei were no amateurs; Friede and its foe were both formidable fencers in their own right. Both so formidable that neither could find an edge over the other. As though the two realized this, the aliens cleared a dozen meters with a single bound, their stances changing.
The Nameless Lord tossed its parrying dagger and caught it again, the weapon flipped as it stood low to the ground like a beast; Friede however, cut at the air, 'her' own weapon taking on more length as the blade grew more slender in turn. As the two slowly closed once more, it was Friede that took the first move. Sword raised high, the Lady swung, the blade suddenly lashing out like a mercury whip. Like a beast, the Lord leaped to the side and charged in, dodging strike after strike until the gap was closed before plunging its dagger deep.
Earth parting way, the short blade stopped the Lord cold in its tracks like a break, and grasping the blade like a pivot, spun, the greatsword came in low with all the speed and momentum of its sprint. Friede narrowly leaped up and away, but the greatsword kept moving. Its owner flipped, kicking off the ground to give chase, bounding over great distances to follow after the Lady before the dagger was planted again, the next blow already coming forth to strike aside Friede's counter. With far too much force to block, the Lady was forced back once more. With the change in tempo, the image of a wolf chasing its prey suddenly came to Rei's mind, the Lord's style like a dance.
But suddenly, Friede's sword slashed forward again, the Lord bringing its own attack higher to counter as the dagger was unplanted in anticipation. 'Her' opponent rising as its greatsword was still being brought around, the Lady rushed forward, and with a crunch, brought the edge of her buckler into the foe's wrist, knocking the dagger aimed at the Lady's gut to the ground.
It 'twas over.
Friede's longsword, quicker and more nimble, made it to the Lord's neck faster than it could bring its own sword fully about onto the Lady's. Parting their deadly embrace, the Lord's booted foot reached out and grasped the fallen weapon and tossed it back up into its wounded hand. Weapons melting away, the two made a deep bow alien to Rei, one arm across the waist, and the other out. And just like that, the two figures standing in the moonlit flowers parted, with Friede making its way back to the Ronin.
Rei had been watching with bated breath as the two moved about in the pale light, bodies alight with the moon's cold embrace as they made their way around the clear, blossom-filled arena. She had all the desire in the world to bow to Friede as well, understanding more about 'her' style of combat and way of life all in the same moment. There was nothing to be misconstrued when watching a battle, unlike how many conversations went. Here, though, Rei was able to grasp fully what it was the two fighters were aiming to do, how they went about doing it, and who was the best out of the two of them at finishing the job at hand.
"Yoku yatta," Rei said simply, then, remembering how the alien sometimes misinterpreted Yamataigo, rephrased. "Well done."
"And I thank thee," the alien replied. Closing the gap to stand by Rei's side again, it towered over her, reminding the two of their differences. "Well. Now that that's over, whatever shall we do now?" it asked her. "The night is still young after all, and I feel like celebrating." Despite the exertion, there was no sign of a heavy breath, heated body or even sweat. In truth, for Friede, this was simply a little bit of play, and nothing more.
"Eeto..." Rei said, thinking of what to do next, then realizing what it is she wanted to do, spoke. "Train? The two of us? Will you show me the techniques you employ? I do not want to fight again, for my own reasons. But training with you would be a good use of the night."
"Oh, you flatter me," it replied, once again taking the first steps into the trees. Unlike before, they were lit solely by the silver moon high above, and not the unfriendly, electric lights which cast hard shadows. The trees, manicured and cared for, almost looked fantastical as they glittered with the night's dew. As though thinking about it for a moment, the alien cocked its head before answering. "Very well. I shall provide a brief overview of the stances, the basic cuts, and then show you the Mastercuts. But first, a celebration." Lifting its veil, Rei could see its eyes twinkle with excitement.
"How about a very nice place to eat? One where you can have your own room? One that caters to Samurai such as yourself on occasion?" it suggested. 'My treat,'' Friede's voice echoed in Rei's mind.
With a start, Rei looked to Friede. Her eyes wide, she sent a message to Friede.
'You can speak to me this way?' Rei said, her own voice now intruding on Friede's mind.
'That was radio dear, not your 'Telepathy'. But I suppose it's close enough for our purposes,' it explained to her. "Though, we should use an encrypted channel, otherwise anyone may listen," Friede pointed out.
Able to encrypt radio messages to designate them to the receiver and the receiver, only, Rei spoke to Friede again, saying, 'I'll happily go to some such place with you.'
"Wonderful."
What Rei found herself in however, was perhaps borderline awkward, but for entirely different reasons than expected. Yes, she had a private dining room to herself, just as she was promised. Yes, she was alone. And yes, the setting was even familiar, being a traditionally Yamataian styled locale. But. It was the food. Looking over the menu alone was perhaps more daunting than she could have ever anticipated; the dishes in question literally appeared before her in all of their ultra-high-definition volumetric glory. The food looked so good, she could almost smell it, taste it already.
Friede's 'haute cuisine' was already turning out to be a luxury beyond anything she had eaten as a Samurai.
'Praytell, what will you be having tonight?'' the alien in question asked her, its presence nowhere to be seen.
Rei had established that she would be alone while eating, though Friede's presence would be with her over radio and, thus, she felt more capable of having a meal than she had when she was being pressured to eat the ice cream which she had only secretly enjoyed having.
'l'll be having the...' Rei's voice trailed off as the menu enticed her and she wanted to eat three full meals in one sitting, though she only listed two meals' worth when she said over radio, '...the ramen, most certainly, with a maki roll and the nigiri special. Hai! That'll do it! And you will be having what, Friede?You enjoy food so much that I cannot wait to hear your answer.'
'Hm. An interesting choice given the restaurant, but understandable considering their wide range of foods,' her alien friend observed. 'I will be having a traditional kaiseki-ryōri, the multicourse meal of Yamatai. Course number two to be precise'. Almost as though on cue, Rei was sent an image of what Friede's meal would inevitably look like once it was all served. It was a collection of five or six or even seven, but fourteen different courses, each looking as beautiful as it looked delicious. 'Like artwork, don't you think? I'm looking forward to it.'
'I can only imagine what it will be like to enjoy that,' Rei said to Friede over their encrypted radio channel. She explained, 'I ordered what I am familiar with. That kind of meal you are having is not something I am particularly familiar with and don't know if I would enjoy it as much as what I am used to.'
'I can only imagine how this will taste as well,' the alien Lady pointed out. 'Though, from what I understand, the traditional kaiseki-ryōri was simply a bowl of miso soup and three other dishes, including rice. Basically, your traditional Yamataian meal,' it observed. 'With time, meals diverged, and this current form came into being as fine dining. It's interesting how things simply change over time, deviating from its origins, isn't it?' The undertone of that last however, was peculiar to say the least, almost as though it were suggesting something. But, the alien simply didn't press the matter any more than that.
Their food arrived.
In front of Rei came a pair of dishes, the first holding her maki rolls, made of rice and seaweed conically rolled around her choice of meat. The fish was fresh, as was expected, but the garnishes in it were particularly crisp and fresh. Meanwhile, the other plate held her nigiri, sevral bits of succulent sushi and rice hand pressed and shaped into perfect form, all waiting for a hungry Neko to devour them. With these served as appetizer, the moment Rei was finished, she'd receive her Ramen, freshly made and immediately served.
'How are you enjoying your meal, Friede?' Rei asked after she had finished her roll and nigiri. She had enjoyed her own meal with exuberance and vigor, savoring the utter freshness of ingredients and savory fish melded with strong, sticky, almost sweet rice. She moved her chopsticks together and apart excitedly as she ate and talked at the same time.
'As for me,' Rei told Friede, 'Oishi! I am enjoying this immensely.'
'How am I enjoying this meal?' Friede echoed back. Sitting in a neighbooring room, the alien eyed the other guest sitting by its side for a moment before replying. 'Wonderfully. The food is subtle, yet distinct and sublime in its complexity and taste.' Prodding its food a little to see it twitch some more, it added, 'Who would have thought that freshly served, live shrimp sushi would be such a pleasure?' At that, Rei received an image of the dish in question, the raw shrimp tails garnished with tobiko while the still moving heads were simply put up as garnish. Only, it was from Friede's own eyes.
The image itself was crisp and clearer than life, yet, the purples seemed purpler and the red seemed redder - then it hit her. Friede was seeing into the ultraviolet and infrared. Rei was taken aback by the presentation that Friede was capable of exuding to her and she was made ever-aware by the alien's very similar set of abilities to hers. She took this information in quietly and let Friede speak again.
'Ah. They just took the heads back - I shall be expecting tempura of them shortly,' Rei's alien companion remarked. As soon as the Ronin finished her sushi, she signaled through the restaurant's system for her ramen, and soon enough, it arrived. Rich and full of flavor, the tonkotsu based broth did not dissapoint while the noodles themselves were made fresh in house. Perfect to the bite, their flavor melded perfectly with the soup while the toppings, items of her own choosing, only served to make the bowl truly hers.
"Majide!" Rei said when she heard about her friend's fanciful food. When she took the first few noodles out of the bowl and into her mouth, she felt the utter releif that having a good bowl of ramen can do to one's self. She wanted to cradle the bowl in her arms and enjoy it for all it was worth, and did so at her leisure, scooping noodles and toppings up into her mouth as slowly as she could, savoring the nuances and peculiarities of this bowl on her tongue.
As the two ate, Friede shared with the Ronin images of just what it was eating. The servings were small, but delicately prepared with care using ingredients of the finest quality. Though Rei's ramen was no different, with the two meals coming from her own culture, the difference between them could not be understated. While one was clearly a formal affair for special occasions or the elite, the other was for the average lay person. Something that was cozy and warm, perhaps best enjoyed on a cold day.
'I hope that was to your liking Rei,' Friede spoke, the alien itself finishing a dessert made of Yamatai's seasonal fruits. Carefully running a cloth along the thin immoble lips of its head, it soon stood and made its way out of the private room and patiently waited for the young Nekovalkyrja outside her own.
"If you are done, then I am done," Rei said casually as she put down her napkin and got up from the table. "Daijoubu," she added. "I couldn't eat any more."
Rei met Friede outside of her private dining room and bowed to greet her. "Thank you for the wonderful meal, and the additional privacy you afforded me. That could not have been nicer of you."
"I'm quite glad to hear that," the alien replied, its face veiled again having finished eating. Behind its form however, Rei's sharp eyes spotted another of its kind emerging from Friede's room. Seeing the clothing, the subtle embroidery of black on black; it was the very same Lord as she had seen before. The one that Friede had dueled. If it saw the Ronin, it showed no sign of this, turning to leave in the opposite direction without a single care. "Now, whatever were we doing next?" Friede jokingly asked. "Whatever it may be, I hope you've not had too many vittles to do it."
Seeing the other creaure made Rei uneasy if only for the instant that it was in sight. She wanted to know more about it and its relationship with Friede, but their dining together answered some of her questions while only opening up even more to go without such answers. She let the subject rest and, instead, Rei thought to respond with an answer, but first had to search the term 'vittle' to know exactly how to reply. Once she had found that it was a term that she had never hear or used before for pieces of food, she again tried to decide what to tell Friede.
"I would like to see less of the city and more of the domestic lands around Yamatai, now, Friede. Would you?" Rei asked, questioning the strange creature in a strange land what it would like to do, stay near the exuberant metropiltan area or settle for one of a quieter distinction. The answer was Friede's to make, but Rei knew where she herself would be headed next.
"Ah, you are truely setting down on the path of the Ronin I see," the alien observed, carefully watching the young woman's own eyes as The Other departed. Whether or not Rei noticed, one thing was certain. It was well aware of the Neko holding her tongue, for whatever reason. "Then I am sorry to say I cannot accompany you. There is much for me to yet see here in this fair city, but do not fret - I am certain I shall join you in time." As though to emphasize this point Rei received perhaps the strangest thing to date.
Friend Request: Friede Belmont
Social media was such a strange thing indeed.
Still speaking without opening her mouth, but instead on the channel they shared, 'Thank you for that Friede. I will certainly be seeing you again. It was more than fun being around you, getting to know your ways of seeing our customs as well as seeing some of your own. I cannot emphasize enough how much I look forward to our next meeting. Arigotou gozaimasu.'
'A pleasure,' it bowed in turn.
Rei bowed again, briefly, then turned to leave the ornate place by which their independent dinners were served. She took up a quick pace as she realized what she wanted to do now was just outside of her grasp.
She wanted, desperately, to leave the bonds of the city and explore what it was out in the outer regions of Yamatai, the ones where aliens could not hide in plain sight and where political Nepleslian men were far and few between. The ones where there were more simple, regular people. She wanted to know what they, in turn, had in store for her and what exactly it was that she was missing by not being a part of their world.
Having never been out this far was exhilirating to her. She walked past the park she had met so many and seen so much in. She walked away from the lighted walkways and promenades, to a point where all she had to follow was the path along the rail lines headed South of Kyoto, away from her old home, the Palace.
Kyoto
YE 37
The day had finally come. They told her that she was too serious. That the changing of the guard was nothing more than a tourist attraction these days. Not something to brutalize overeager gawkers over for breaching security. They weren't hiding weapons on their body after all, they told her. Things had eventually come to this though; they were sending her away as a Ronin. She was to roam the lands, learn of Yamatai and its territories first hand, and when she returned, return as someone far more worthy of her mantle.
For Rei, the day had finally come.
Garbed in her traditional short white yukata and red hakama, the Nekovalkyrja sat kneeling on the wooden floors. Giving one last, final prayer to Chiharu, she made sure her katana was secured to her side and began her journey. It wasn't something with ceremony or even grand gates opening to usher her into a bright new world, however. No, not at all. Rather, she simply stepped out one of the side doors and walked right on out of the palace grounds through one of the smaller maintenance entryways. They did look nice and decorative of course, but, didn't have the same gravity as one of the larger entrances. It didn't matter. Now that she stepped out into the world beyond?
Rei could see the base of the many skyscrapers that stood nearby the mushroom shaped Imperial Palace. But perhaps more importantly? The brightly lit streets and dauntingly tall skyscrapers felt more oppressive than ever before without the protective walls of the compound. Traffic hurried by, horns occasionally honked, and people were eagerly walking along, passing her by. The Nekovalkyrja wasn't ignored however. Like before, during the changing of the guard, people stared. Some took photos.
But unlike before, this was no changing of the guard. No. She was just traveling now.
"Nee-san, nee-san!" a little girl with brown pigtails ran up to her. "Can I take a picture with you?" she asked, beaming her brightest smile at Rei. Notably, one of her front teeth was missing as well, but sure to grow back in of course. Her parents, perhaps a little wiser, kept their distance, whispering to eachother while half-smiling with eagerness, and a little apprehension.
"Ano..." Rei said as her back straightened at the request. There should have been nothing stopping her from submitting to it, but her immediate reaction was otherwise. She pushed down the words, "Ie, ie," for quite the opposite ones, saying as she bent down to get to her level, "Hai, yes!"
The pigtailed girl's mother brought the camera up to look through the viewfinder and snapped the picture of Rei bending down with the young girl, and Rei looked at her, for a moment wondering what kind of life she led and what kind she would lead, then thought to ask her a simple question.
"What do you want to be when you're older?" she practically lit up like a firework.
"I wanna be a Mindy, and splat Mishhu, and go on all sorts of adventures, just like Sami in Kamen Sentai Nekoranger!" the little girl happily told Rei. Her parents smiled, but it was obvious they didn't really agree.
"She's just a little girl, don't mind her," the mother spoke first. "Come on dear, let's not bother the Samurai...I'm sure she has lots of Mishhu to 'splat', don't you?" she then asked Rei. Normally, a person knew what the answer was supposed to be, but did this Samurai in question know that herself?
Rei nodded curtly to the couple as they told her about their daughter, then when questioned, she wondered what it was that would make them think such a thing. Whether it was frivolous and pandering or an outright question of what it was she did, she didn't know and instead of reply, she looked away from the adults and down to the child, smiling vaguely before putting a hand on her katana, Korosu, and stepped out of their way, closer to the shrubbery next to the sidewalk before offering a short, polite bow.
Much in the same way someone would just smile and laugh when uncertain what was just said in a conversation, hoping the lapse would go unnoticed.
"Bye Miss Samurai!~" the little girl waved, looking back as she left with her parents. With that out of the way, where was Rei to go next? This was only the beginning of her journey, yet she was perhaps already lost. Each step in one direction or another would lead her to something, somewhere new, yet, was it also what she was looking for? Just what was it she was looking for anyways?
Rei watched as she left and then began, again, thinking this time to herself about where it is she wanted to go, not worrying on how she got there but worrying on the way she would feel after having found what she was looking for. She knew she needed to learn about the worlds, about what was important to Yamataians, but more than that, she knew what she wanted to learn. What she wanted to do was to search out and understand styles and forms new to her and precious to Yamatai. She wanted to study. She didn't want to learn why the changing of guard was important for tourists, she wanted to learn how to best defend the palace when she was on guard, instead. She didn't know where she would learn those things, but she had enough faith in herself to know that she would find them in due time.
Walking away from the Imperial Palace and towards the outer edges of the city, stopping only briefly in a ramen house to buy a to-go item, she was in search of somewhere secluded. Hoping to eat her duck shoyu in private, she found a thriving yet quiet park and tucked herself onto a bench, thinking she was to be left alone there. No, not at all. A young man, perhaps in his late teens began passing by, merely glancing at her. However, he stopped cold in his tracks and did a double take at her.
"Hey, are you a Samurai? What are you doing out here?" he asked. The young man was honestly nothing special looking, with dark hair and brown eyes. Of course, that meant he looked quite handsome, but when everyone on Yamatai was pleasing to the eye? Nobody really was. He was just another face in the crowd.
"Are?" Rei questioned while briskly hiding her food and making it look like she hadn't been eating. "I am a samurai, hai. I am, ano..." She hadn't quite figured out the term for what she was doing, besides the title of Ronin, which seemed more fittning than 'on leave' or the like, and continued, "A Ronin. I am away from the palace, for a time." He couldn't help but blush a little, the way that Rei replied to him, so uncertain at first.
"R-really?" the young man tried to stay composed. "What are you after, or trying to do anyways? You're wearing the white and red, so you're probably Ketsurui?" he half asked, half stated. "Aren't you usually in the palace or in the field?"
"I am in search of different styles of fighting," she replied quickly. Then, realizing that was only a half-truth, said, "As well as to learn about the nuances of Yamataian tradition." After a pause, said, "Anata mo? What are you doing?"
"Wow. You're really out on a quest and all that, like, oldschool Ronin style." He was honestly surprised. "Just wow." That initial amazement aside, the young man paused for a moment, unsure how to reply to her. "Well, I was playing an augmented reality game where I had to be in certain locations to access certain things in the game and such," the Yamataian began to explain.
"Are?" Rei questioned, "What?" Though technology wasn't something unheard of for her, the idea of an augmented reality game was outside her scope of influence. "Forgive me, but what 'things' were you able to access by being here? What is it that you gain from playing this game?"
"Oh! I'm playing a Mishhu-Zombie survival game right now, and in order for my character to move from area to area or find the best items, I gotta be there too!" he excitedly began. "This game is just so much fun, and it's so surreal and scary when you're in the same place as your character is, and the places look so different from each other when they're the same!" Sitting down next to her, an image appeared from his wristwatch showing his character fending off a Mishhu-Infested corpse right in front of their very bench. "It's just a ton of fun!"
"I see," Rei said as she moved a little further from the boy. "When you play that game, does it bring you," she searched for the right word, then thought she found it as she said, "joy? Or happiness? Is it a traditional game here to be played?"
"Well, yeah. It's cool, running around killing zombies, unraveling why the outbreak started, and then finding the cure to save the Empire," the young man answered her, a little surprised. "It's etto, not traditional though. I mean, it's definitely not like I'm doing kendo practice or something. It's digital. The traditional stuff isn't as fun, and it's really hard too, so, I don't like it all that much," he admitted, looking away as he blushed a little. Despite his youth, he had enough in him to at least admit that, which was impressive in and of itself.
"Hey, you wanna...maybe go on a walk together or something?" he shyly asked, taking the plunge. "You look like you have a lot of questions."
"That would be acceptable to me," Rei answered. She left her food secreted away behind the bench and got up with him to walk along the path of the park. They walked underneath the maple trees, which swayed in the calm breeze and cast their shadows on both of them, letting enough light through for each of them to see one another. Rei cast glances at him before asking, "What is your name? What is it that makes you think the things that are hard to do aren't worth doing?"
He was rather taken aback by what she said.
"Uh, geeze, please don't say it like that," the young man replied to the short bombardment, looking away from her in embarassment. "You're making it sound like I'm really lazy or something," he pointed out. "I mean, It's not like I can actually fight off the Infested, or fight off the Mishhu in a power armor or actually take a Nodachi through a dogfight. Or even get good enough to." He fidgeted for a moment. "Shou, by the way. My name is Shou," the young man added, his cheeks blushing just a bit.
It was his first, given name after all, and not his family one.
"Shou," she turned the name over in her mouth, ruminating on what he had said. She thought it odd that he lived vicariously through his games but didn't see them as something akin to a training method or a way to boost even his confidence in himself. She could see the benefit in them, but also understood the rigorous practice needed to do the activities he had mentioned. Wanting to brighten his mood, she told him,
"I think you would be capable of doing such things, with dedication and practice on your part! Hai, I think you could. It sounds like you have dedication, that is the first step. Practicing is the next. Would you go after one of those goals you think you cannot do, or do you have others worth noting?" Her enthusiasm and optimism was like a bright, dazzling light burning away the darkness; that is, it burned him, and was hard to look at.
"Well. Even though I'll probably come back since we have STs, I don't think I'd mentally survive all the wrong people in the Star Army see," he skittishly replied, hiding something. "Besides. I'm an only son. If I go, nobody is going to take over the family business." He meekly gestured to the digital connection they shared,the window that peered into the game he was playing. "So. I play this."
His character had finally found safety and huddled by a fire in the park.
"That is one way to live," Rei commented and noticed the detail on the character, the way they rubbed their hands together and faced the palms towards the digital flame. She then asked, "What is this family business?"
"It's a few super markets. Lots of busy work, even though a lot of it is automated these days," Shou explained to her. Even with his family business, it seemed he really was one to simply fade into the background. "Maybe I would try something like you said, but I think you of all people would understand the most; I don't want to dishonor my family by failing whatever it is I want to do, and on top of not taking the family business." He laughed a little, the sound slightly uneasy. "Insult to injury, right? Anyways. I gotta go. It was nice talking to you.Rei bowed to him after he had said his farewell, and when she had lifted her torso back up, gave him a quick goodbye in return by saying,
"Sayōnara!" She saw that there was a role the young Yamtaian played and he knew that all too well. He was bound by a sense of duty to his parents and family to forego reaching for his own goals and settling for the ones placed in front of him. While thinking on Shou and the relationship to onor that they both shared, Rei found herself walking back the way she had come, picking up her stashed ramen in the process and eventually began to wonder where she would find lodging for the night.
Rei soon realized she had myriad of options to choose from, but that only complicated matters. Kyoto was full of hotels, motels, hostels and the like for people to stay at, but with so many choices, it made simply picking one so much harder. After all, why this place over that place? Why here instead of there? Her decision was perhaps made for her as someone exclaimed in surprise.
"Holy cow. A samurai? And one looking pretty lost too," she heard a warm sounding voice. The person it came from though, was perhaps as out of place looking as she was. Here in Yamatai, everyone was flawless. They had flawless skin, a flawless figure, and were at a flawless age. They were often slim but strong, perhaps even effeminate. Everyone was drop-dead gorgeous, but as a result of this? Nobody was. To her, they were all just a mass, a crowd. But this man stood out. He was tough. Rugged. With stubble that had to be shaved every single day. With muscles that she could just make out under his clothing. He was taller than most.
He was also crass. He was a Nepleslian.
"Eto..." Rei murmured at hearing the announcement. Questioning his motives first and foremost, she surveyed the man and found him, in her eyes, to be little more than the cliche she had come to understand of Nepleslians from her observations of them at the Palace and from the stories she had heard. She nodded to him and said in an unwavering voice, "I am, indeed, looking for lodging. Would you be so kind as to assist me?"
"Well, it depends on the type of lodging you're looking for," the man explained. "Are you looking for a hotel, a motel, or something that's very cheap but charges by the hour?" he asked. Despite the friendly tone of voice, the question was loaded. Perhaps far more loaded than Rei realized. This man was obviously a Nepleslian, but perhaps even more obviously? He was a tourist by the looks of it. Ignoring the business casual that the man wore, the bags of goods and trinkets he held said that much.
"I am looking for nightly lodging," she said, though she didn't want to give too much information to the Nepleslian man, instead preferring to keep her business to herself. She asked no questions of him, as she had asked the young Yamataian as she wanted to keep her conversation brief and to the point. "I will settle for hourly, if the prices are cheaper that way and if I may stay overnight there."
"Sure, I am too. I've only been here for a short while today and need somewhere to rest my feet," the Nepleslian smiled in agreement with her. His attitude was definitly nice enough, and he was friendly too, but, to someone like Rei? It seemed that there was a lot of thinking going on behind the scenes. But just what? That was something that needed answering. "If you'd like, we could split the cost and share a rooom too," the man casually suggested.
To a Nekovalkyrja, there was nothing wrong with this he felt. Their sense of personal space was simply different after all.
"Two beds," Rei said to the man, holding up her index and middle finger. "Not one in the room, but two." She was being cautious, as his general inclination to room with her alerted her that something may just be amiss. It didn't seem quite right, even though most Nekovalkyrja would accept and simply not mind. She couldn't place a finger on it. That aside, Rei, like most samurai, also had a predisposition to want personal space to remain just that and hindering her privacy was one thing she did not want this Nepleslian to do. She had tradition to uphold after all.
"Ah, so you're not a cosplayer after all!" the Nepleslian suddenly exclaimed. He had been testing her. "Or, maybe you are, and just like to play the role that well?" the man asked. She could literally feel the genuine curiosity wafting off of him. Already, this Nepleslian did not seem like what she had expected of them. Or, just what did she expect of the Nepleslians? Rei always had a mental image of them in her mind, but had never quite bothered to put it into words.
It simply was.
She thought him a trcikster for toying with her and was relieved she didn't truly have to find a way of getting out of sharing a room with someone else, especially a Nepleslian tourist. Doing so with one of her sisters may have been less of a problem, but in this instance it was not an undertaking she wanted to go through.
He was a burly man and if not up-front, he was jovial enough for Rei to want to get to know more about him. After all, her journey had been initiated by her lack of understanding surrounding tourists and their antics and desires. The only reason she would avoid them, now, would be selfish reasons. To do so would be against the direction her clan had set for her.
"I am no cosplayer, but believe what you will. What sights have you seen in Kyoto so far?" Rei answered him, asking a question of her own. His eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise as she asked him that, and through his eyes, Rei could tell he was already thinking away.
"Hm. Straight and to the point huh?" the Nepleslian questioned her. "Let me guess. They showed you the door and asked you to do a few things outside the Palace, didn't they? Learn a few things maybe?" He didn't even bother to answer her, but it was clear this man was no slouch at all. Holding his hands up, he framed her in them much like a man with a camera would. "That pretty face of yours...let's see..." One moment, he looked at her with utter seriousness as he tried to peel her guard away and see her for what she was. And the next? He burst out laughing.
"Oh geeze! You're the one that's been making a fuss every time the guard changed?!" She could hear the honest joy as he laughed at her, and in the way he wiped his eyes of the tears that formed. "Well, that explains it!" Catching his breath as quickly as he could, the man explained himself. "I just searched you up on an image finder - I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. You're going viral over the net right now with that last stunt you did," he pointed out. "I mean, a little after the changing of the guard started, and that one guy did his thing, and wham! Lockdown!"
Already, the crowd of tourists and local Yamataians alike started to pay them attention rather than just flowing on by like a river of people.
"Eto..." Rei said to him again, this time while glancing back and forth between the lingering eyes from the traffic of people. When she had regained her composure, she said to him in an emphatic, unhindered voice, "I am that samurai, hai! More importantly, I am a wandering Ronin, taking time away from the Imperial Palace in search of the answers I have yet to find, but seek."
"Alright, alright. I get what you're saying." It made sense. Yamatai was a strange place, and this was perhaps one reason why it was so...'quaint' the Nepleslian recalled someone calling it. Picking up his bags again, he made to leave and looked back at her. "If you're interested, you can have the bed at the hotel I'm at - I'll hop on the couch instead," he offered. Unlike before, that gut sensation Rei felt was no longer there. He was being quite honest this time around.
"Arigato," Rei said with a slight bow, then added, "but I think I will find my own hotel for the night." He was quick to reply, looking back at her over his shoulder with a faint, wry smile.
"You mean your own room, or do you really mean a whole hotel all for yourself?" the Nepleslian asked her.
"Hehehee," Rei laughed and brought a hand up to her mouth to cover it politely after he had spoken. "I think my own hotel would be better than I could hope for. Would you be able to make that happen, eto... What was your name?"
"Johnathan. Johnathan Izgimmer," he put down a bag and offered a hand to shake. It was a very un-Yamataian thing to do, but, was to be expected of a Nepleslian. "And consider it already done - I just booked an entire hotel for you if you'd like," he offered, going along with her joke. "It was not easy, but I'm actually pretty curious to be honest," the crowd around the two growing a bit. Some were already starting to take pictures of the now viral 'War Maiden Samurai' - people just couldn't get enough of what she did.
"You also asked what I'd seen in Kyoto so far right? Let's get you to your own room first, then I'll answer all your questions," Johnathan offered, the crowd now starting to grow to rather uncomfortable levels.
The samurai nodded after having shaken his hand with an odd, almost questioning glance at their coalesced fingers and then back at him. The crowd displeased her and she wished to keep herself secreted away from their prying eyes and her eyes lighted up at the prospect of getting off the street and into She had nodded and did so again as he offered to show her along to a hotel and she brought her hand back to her side and let him lead the way.
It was clear he wasn't lodging at any normal hotel though. This hotel? It was perhaps one of the tallest buildings here in Kyoto, and when they entered, they two were greeted as though Johnathan was a regular. Ascending was no different; they just kept on going up and up and up. The view of the city from this glass elevator was gorgeous however, and was perhaps something Rei would remember fondly. When they arrived at her room however, it was as the rest of the hotel. Furnished well, it was luxuriously comfy, the beds extra fluffy as though they were prepared just how Nekovalkyrja typically liked them.
"Well, here you are. Hope you don't mind by the way," Johnathan spoke up, taking a seat. "You said you had a bunch of questions and stuff?" he offered.
"That is true," Rei said. "What brings you to Yamatai? And what exactly is it that you do? Today I meant a young man that is working on becoming the manager of the grocery stores his family owns, though he aspires to become more than that. Are you the same way in that there is something more you would like to be doing that you do not see yourself doing now, or are you content?"
"Wow," the man flatly replied, running a hand through his dirty blond hair. It was quite a mouthfull, and to Johnathan, it was almost like watching a bunch of spaghetti being spilled. Spilled with precision and intent, of all things. "Well, to start, I'm a senator, and I'm often sent here as part of our embassy team over at Reikan Park," he offered. "We just work out minor border disputes, see how the other is doing, try and make sure Yui isn't getting too paranoid. You know. Speak to her in a nice, soothing voice, make sure she's comfy and not going to genocide the Freespacers again. Stuff like that." Though his tone of voice was casual and friendly, the topic was anything but.
It was one of several black marks on Yamatai that many felt so humiliated over that they literally tried to seceed, or to perhaps even more disgrace, deny. Others still, felt nothing but shame for this and tried to make things right, even if they never would be again.
Rei's back straightened and her long line of questioning had come to a halt. She wondered to herself what type of person, Nepleslian or not, would treat Yui with such ill-regard. She was unable to fathom the inabilities that pertained to his senses if that is what he thought of her. The head of Rei's clan was nobody to be spoken down to about, especially to one of her own. And now, Rei was faced with the many decisions before her and the new line of questioning she should open up to him.
Her white eyes studied Johnathan and she pressed her lips together before speaking briskly, "Is it really so hard?"
"Uhhhhh, yah?" For a Senator of a Nepleslian world, he came off as far too crass. Too casual. Yet, if Rei ever checked, he was the genuine article. The real deal. "You're a smart young woman," he began, knowing that it'd stroke her ego like a cat being pet at just the right spot. "Imagine you have a person who's in command of the greatest military force ever, and this person is willing to try and snuff out an entire race of anarchic, electro-peacenicks on the mere hunch that they might be collaborating with the Mishhuvurhtyar." He let that hang in the air for just a moment before adding to the already crushingly oppressive and dark scenerio. "The same person who micromanages to the point she tries to berate someone at the International Relations Conference...while in the middle of a fleet action. A fleet action that killed her mid-beratement of said person, along with all hands on deck."
Yeah. He had a simple job, and it was part time even.
"I do admit she's as pretty as she is paranoid - I'd tap that in a heartbeat," the scoundrel of a Nepleslian Senator shamelessly, heretically told Rei with a reminicing nod. "Still bummed out I didn't hit on her even more," he grumbled.
"Do you want to know what I think?" Rei asked. She answered before he could, "I think she's the most powerful Neko you're ever going to meet and you're lucky to have been in the presence of Yui-sama!" Her little stature was forfeited when she began floating up to his eye level and her hands had found themselves in fists as she went on to say, "I think that your disrespect for her speaks volumes and your inability to see the strife she has omitted from her own peoples' lives says more about you than it does about anything else! She is a Neko to be respected far more than the likes of a senator!"
"Oh yeah, she's definitely the most powerful Neko I've ever met," he relaxed in his comfy chair. Reaching over to the mini-fridge, Johnathan casually removed a particularly nice beer made in Sapporo. Whether not she ever noticed the air quotes around the word 'Neko' however, remained to be seen. "Though, I bet a ton of other people could have done just as good a job at keeping Yamatai safe - I mean, if it all hinges on her, that's a pretty bad sign," he pointed out without a care in the world.
It was almost like he was oblivious to the fact she was a Samurai, a devastating war machine in the clothes of a beautiful young woman.
Nothing went unnoticed to Rei and she didn't take a relaxed position or mirror his carefree, lacksadaisical attitude but instead kept herself raised and fists balled. "She is more capable than any Nepleslian I can think of."
"Well, I got no clue if that's true or not, and I'm sure no expert, but it's also not what I'm talking about either," he pointed out to her. Popping the lid off of his, he offered it to her. "Want one? There's also some sake here. I think you'll need it once we're done red-pilling you tonight," Johnathan explained. As far as he was concerend, they had a long ways to go if she was fresh out of the Palace.
Rei didn't know what it meant to be red-pilled, but for her entire life she had preferred to be blue-pilled. Tonight was the first night that she had no obligations, no duties to attend to besides her honor, and no reason not to imbibe. She thought of telling him that if he valued using his tongue, he would hold it unless using it for words of praise, but chose to hold her words back in case he continued his tirade after she tried to enlighten him. He, after all, hadn't had the education she had.
She reached forward and took the bottle with a nod,
"Arigato, again. But I have to ask," she said, taking a long gulp from the bottle before posing her question, "where does this distrust stem from? You don't know the Freespacer genocide is anything but a myth. Calling it a genocide is a large exaggeration. Pirates were given a warning to leave Yamataian territory and when they did not, they were taken care of. They just happened to be Freespacers. Is there any other reason to find problem with her or is it just that?"
The look Johnathan gave Rei told her that he thought she had lived under a rock.
"Well, I don't know if its enough to be called a 'Genocide' by your standards," Johnathan replied. His voice professional, but with words that implied otherwise; the topic was, by nature, unforgivingly harsh and scathing. "I do know however, that Yui's orders resulted in a large portion of the Freespacer populace being systematically hunted down and eliminated. That is, their nomadic fleets being chased and then destroyed with all hands - AI's, men, women and children," he pointed out. "There's also the apology and reparations the Yamataian government made recently too. If that's not enough to convince you, I can always forward you this."
Perhaps to Rei's shock and surprise, she received something from him over the very same channels Nekovalkyrja always chattered to eachother over. They were several links leading to numerous video streaming sites. Sites that, besides hosting the latest memes, trends, music and pop-culture, also hosted some of the most horrific war footage she had ever seen. All with Yamatai, and against an 'enemy' that was as helpless as an infant.
"Besides what Yui did to the Freespacer's, there's also the fact that we were under Yamatai's thumb for a long time." He leaned over and whispered, a though telling her a secret, "We really didn't like that."
She replied in kind, "Then what do you think Yamatai after they have lifted the thumb and you do anything but stay in your place?" He mockingly put a hand up to his ear as though he were trying to hear what she was saying.
"You dropped a word or two there - getting flustered? Don't, since I'm just stating facts here," he warmly replied to her. "Besides. You asked why Nepleslians like me don't like Yamatai, right? Well, don't be angry when I tell you." The way the man teased her, it was like he had no regard of any possible retribution or punishment. Completely and utterly frank, crass and rude. Yet, in a way, simply being able to was how it should be. After all, this was nothing more than speech, and if he was right - which he was - it wasn't even slander.
In the end though, he didn't even bother answering her question. After all, he knew just what she was doing, even if she didn't - changing the topic. That was the kind of man Johnathan Izgimmer was.
Rei had come to the conclusion that there were simply people out there that despised what she loved, and she needed to show them better through her own actions. She took another two swigs of the beer and smiled amicably. Rei said in a very couth way,
"There really is no need to dislike Yamatai, but even if you do, it makes me happy to know that you can still like me, despite that."
"Of course I'd still like to be friends. Risking male-pattern baldness because of Yamatai has nothing to do with that," he joked, taking another good swig of his beer. Leaning forward however, he added, much more seriously. "You did go take a look, right? The evidence?"
Rei nodded with displeasure as she thought back on the highly concerning, albeit plausibly justified, atrocities of war.
"I did."
"Alright. Just think about it from time to time, that's all." Surprisingly, he didn't press the issue further. "Anyways, you said something about becoming a ronin to wander the land, find a band of six other ronin and go on some sort of quest or something?" the Nepleslian poked a litlte bit of fun at her. "Why is that by the way? I'm curious," Johnathan asked her.
"Not everything in life can be learned in one place," she said to him. "I am on a search to discover things that otherwise I would not have the opportunity to learn."
"Yeah, I get that, I really do, but what made you suddly realize this and decide to leave? Or maybe someone got you to?" Though she did answer his question, the Senator wasn't satisfied. It wasn't quite the type of answer he was looking for, after all.
"I left after delving into the problem of tourism and the fanfare that you know all too much about. I saw it as a problem wheras the clan saw it as quite the opposite. They and I saw the difference of opinion as an opportunity for me to seek out the answers to my questions," Rei told him without hesitation.
"You mean they got rid of the person who took things too seriously," he stated with a wry smile. It wasn't even a question. "It's always pretty neat to meet people like you in days like this by the way - I mean, you might be a bit old fashioned, but it's better than just running around doing whatever you want." He downed the last contents of his beer; he admitted that there were many things wrong with Yamatai, but their beer wasn't one of them. "Anyways, there anything you want to ask me next? Maybe start a party, pass a dare hat around?"
"Huhuhuhu," Rei laughed before finishing hers and feeling the euphoric effects start to settle in. "Not quite that. Though more questions would be nice to ask of you. Do you have a family to speak of?"
"Ketsurui Rei, asking the hard questions everyone else is too afraid to ask," he jokingly teased her. Johnathan sighed. "Well, both my parents were killed when the colony was invaded. Wasn't even the Mishhu themselves though - a crowd crush for my mom, and some stray fire for my dad. Better than most people I say." He looked at the mini-fridge longingly. "Not sure if I should get another - not much point to though," the man offhandedly remarked. It was a small clue telling about him, but just that. A single small clue. "What about you?"
Rei wondered to herself why he had said that, then pushed him to get another, wondering even further if he would, by saying, "If you have one, I'll have one." He laughed.
"Cat got your tongue?" Johnathan replied, poking fun at her. "That's fine. Not everyone wants to talk about it."
"Well, I thought it was common knowledge that a Neko is born into her family of sister Neko, in my case the Ketsurui clan. I have many some such sisters in my clan that I look up to and revere." The Nepleslian only scratched his chin in thought when she said this. It wasn't that there was anything wrong of course. It was more like what she was implying.
"Really?" he asked her, the tone of voice more implying than curious. "When I was with Yui, she was showing off how many Neko her facilities could make," Johnathan explained. "The staging area was really huge - enough to hold a million of them she claimed." He grinned. "I've never seen so many pretty faces gathered up in one spot. Though, after that, she also showed me where they were coming from. Straight out of the vats, and they were being issued their undies." the Nepleslian began to fondly recall. "In fact, I actually waved at them, and one waved back." The Senator shrugged. "I just wish I flirted more with Yui though - she's real cute when she's flustered."
He was a scoundrel, no question about it. Rei was having trouble deciding if his antics were purposeful or commonplace for him and addressed the issue rather mildly for how she was feeling.
"I can understand what you're saying, though I disagree with where it is coming from. Perhaps you should tell me about your rise to such great heights in that you get to meet one of the, if not the, most powerful Neko there is. What spurred you to become a Senator?"
"Well, I guess the bait's too obvious at this point," the rugged man smiled at her. "Well, for me? My parents settled on a then-new colony world, and when Nepleslia finally broke off, Pops made it as Mayor. I decided to run too, though, that's not how I made it to being a Senator." There was a hard glint in his eye as he sat up a little more seriously in his chair. Leaning forward a little, he asked her in no uncertain words, "Do I look like your regular Nepleslian to you?"
"You all," Rei said, "look the same."
"Well, I could say the same for Neko - impossibly pretty - but that's besides the point," Johnathan happily took it in stride. It showed how much she knew after all. Pointing a thumb to himself with a cocky confidence, he explained, "I'm a full prosthetic cyborg - more machine than man now. Though, don't think I'm a slouch. The exact opposite infact." For a moment, the arrogant, self assured look almost had a predatory glow to it, but that subsided just as quickly as it had come. "Anyways, my term as Mayor was coming to a close, but by this time, the Second Mishhuvurthyar War was in full swing, and they were't skipping my city."
Turning his gaze, the man wistfully looked out upon the city as the sun began to set, bathing it in rich orange and purple hues.
"I didn't quite make it off in one piece, since I kept on shoving people into the transport until the door closed, with me outside of it." He shrugged. "The Mishhu got most of me that day, but it also let me skip running for governor and got me enough popularity to go straight for Senator." He nearly muttered under his breath, "Shotguns are junk against adult Mishhu by the way. Bony plates are too thick."
"That is lucky," Rei said, churning over the story he had unveiled to her and mulling over the benefits of fighting against such odds when inhibited by your own body, something she would never know. "That you escaped with your life and a career that was propelled by you being against daunting odds, it is lucky. I have to ask, what would you have done differently on that day?"
He laughed. Honestly laughed.
"Absolutely nothing. But from now on? I'd grab a rifle, or maybe one of your fancy blasters," Johnathan wryly smiled at her. His expression suddenly changed as a thought hit him however. "Oh wait! No, toss that out - I can totally tote a belt fed machine gun like it was an SMG now! Yeah, I'm totally gonna get a belt fed. In fact, I'm going to go buy one as soon as I get back home!" Johnathan declared, rising to his feet with patriotic pride.
Rei thought about her own weapons and lack of need for firearms, using only her service pistol when necessary, and thought on how little need there was when she had all the powers of an Eihei at her fingertips. She thought on his own lack of abilities for a moment longer before offering up a response.
"Buying things, do you do it often? What kind of things do you surround yourself with? I have little on me and will not have possessions besides the ones I carry for some time and would like to hear about what I am missing out on." He raised an eyebrow at that question.
"Uh, you wondering what sorta practical things you're going to need? Or are you just wondering what sorta stuff I got for fun and in general?" Johnathan asked, settling back into his seat.
"The latter," Rei said softly. He thought on that, for just a moment.
"Let's see. I got a whole bunch of guns, mostly rifles and pistols. Not that I really need them though. Then there's some body armor, a powered armor for fun, a hover tank, a personal ship, a hover bike." At this point, he just decided to stop listing them off on his fingers. "Oh! There's also this fellow too," he added, rapping his knuckles on his own head. "Advanced light weight, ultra strong hyperalloy. Military grade, just in case. Don't want to be caught with my pants down again," Johnathan finished replying. "That help scratch that itch of yours?"
He teasingly smiled at her, ever so slightly. It wasn't an unpleasant one, but it still did tease her nonetheless.
"That does, that does," she replied, having had her metaphoric itch scratched away by Johnathan. "I want to know, when do you see yourself making good with the promises you've made yourself? To undermine Yui's ruling and overcome the problems you see with Neko?" She asked it quite plainly, but her mind was moving fast and she was highly anticipating the response she would get, wondering how she would react to the wide array of replies at his disposal.
Again, he laughed, chuckling heartily at her question.
"Ketsurui Rei, asking the hard questions nobody else will!" he nibbled on her, just a bit. "Come on Rei. You're a smart young woman. Yui's a person who's got needs, and so long as she's alive, I and many others will be seeing to those." Though it sounded innocent enough, Johnathan wondered if she'd pick up on the innuendo, and if this young Samurai, this Ronin, would react like she did before. "Really, as long as she's happy as a cat that just had a big meal and gets nap under the sun, we're good. That way, she won't bother anyone." Despite his little games with her, he was still telling her the truth.
Yui could be an utter monster at times. One that was as utterly heinous as she was unpunished. Emphasis on 'Could' of course. The Senator was telling her that it was his job, as well as many others, to make sure that it never came to that. But, did she understand this? Or did the Star Army's propaganda, or her programming, plug her ears? Johnathan really wondered that. She was, after all, a war machine. If she wasn't capable of independent thinking, she was not much more useful than fodder on the front lines.
Yet, if she did think and feel on her own terms...well, he wasn't IPG, but he knew how that worked out. She'd understand. And that would, by nature, put her at risk. He wondered about her. Rei.
Rei wondered if he knew that Nekos didn't actually need to sleep very often and she could just as easily go wander the streets for another two days before needing to actually get some shut eye. Rei wondered if she needed to continue to stay in this hotel room, really, or if she could forfeit the favor and call it a night with him. Rei also wondered if it would be so easy with Johnathan.
"She won't bother anyone as long as they're not bothersome," she told him.
"You say that now, but, I want you to think a bit on it. I mean, there were waves of public outcry over what Yui and her favorite cat, Hanako, did. So bad, that several planets outright seceded from Yamatai." He shook his head. "If it weren't for the Mishhu though, they'd still be here," Johnathan explained to her. All Nekovalkyrja were intelligent, their minds capable of all sorts of things, but most he met were dull, never having put it to use. Never having pushed themselves to their potential. Just. A gear fitting into its place in the machine. He hoped that wasn't going to be Rei - her insistence, as naive as it was, well, it was cute.
Though, that wasn't touching on what he thought about the Second Mishhuvurthyar War though. It reeked of conspiracy, and he simply wasn't the type for it. What that said, wasn't pretty.
"I think you have a great deal of prejudice against my kind and it's revolting," she told him with a deadpan expression and arms crossed over her chest. “Do you have such little respect for Neko because you understand your inferiority to them or is it because you truly do not understand the intricacies of them as a species? We’re not all war machines that spit out what we’re told and we’re not only pretty faces but people beneath them. Do you think your biased opinion against them is really going to sway me? I have trained [/i]for[/i] Yui and for my Neko people. I haven’t trained and lived and learned in order to be convinced by one Nepleslian man with ill will for my clan leader that talks like you about people much more powerful than you'll ever be. You should remember that you're telling a samurai, the protector of Neko like Yui, that you would let misfortune strike her. This is not information I take lightly and would like you to understand the implications this carries with it."
She clasped her sword, the one named after the word "kill", 'Korosu', to make her decision clear and final. She moved to the door and clasped the handle, then, without looking back, was suddenly stopped as a strong, rugged arm wrapped in front of her, almost like an embrace, yet not quite. It stopped her in her tracks.
"Just think about it, yeah?" Rei grabbed her service pistol from where it was next to her katana and wakizashi and brought the blunt end up to Johnathan’s nose, the impact solid and jarring to him. It likely split the metal with the force of the blow.
"Treat Yui better, next time," Rei floated up to his height to tell him. Johnathan however, simply turned back to look at her, his nose crushed, but not bleeding.
"Isn't that what I've been trying to do?," the 'man' smiled at her with all the innuendo he could muster. From behind his eyes, a dull red glow could be seen as his face literally started to reform, the flesh moving like a living putty which sought out its proper place. But just like that, he quietly, gently closed the door behind himself, leaving Rei in her room, still floating mid-air.
Rei's face was humorless as she stared at the door that had just been shut. Manipulating gravity to float back toward the window, she looked out at the lights of the city as they turned on and brightened below her. Unenthused by the use of violence on him and even moreso by his posturing and problematic rhetoric.
She knew the incident would likely leave no trauma on him, though she willed it to and wanted for him to have understood the absence of his own intelligent thoughts on the matter. In her mind, though, she knew that this likely was not the case. Taking the slights against her own kind, Yui, Hanako, and even on her own person was no easy thing to have done for so long and she peacefully commended herself for taking it upon herself to end his tirade before it began again. She thought on his words, to think about it and scoffed, looking away from the window and down, trying to concentrate on obliterating his presence from her mind, fully.
Leaving the room in order to alleviate the dread that Johnathan Izgimmer would show up again, she went down the glass elevator and out the lavishly adorned hotel. The Nekovalkyrja Ronin looked for something to give her some piece of mind, something to calm her nerves, and before she knew it, Rei found herself retracing her steps. Though the city had taken on an entirely new life as the skies darkened and the lights came on. Awash with neon lights and the debauchery of youth, it was all too noisy given what she had just went through with that Nepleslian man. The park in front of her however? It seemed to be exactly what she needed. Only, it seemed to have changed too.
Somehow feeling more isolated from the city, perhaps even divided by some invisible barrier, it was like gazing into a moonlit landscape of trees and flowers. Her elvishly long ears perked up just a bit however; did they deceive her? It was the clamor of blades, far off in the heart of the park.
Rei affixed her eyes to the area the sound was coming from, fists raised slowly as she took a step back, in a ready stance. Ready to use her enhanced eyesight, her infrared vision was in position to be able to get visual of what was barely beyond its reach. She was preparing for whatever may come phsyically and mentally, as well. She had shed all concerns, save for the one at hand. However, despite all this preparation, nothing ever came to her. No. She could hear it now. Two blades, each opposing the other. Through the thickest trees and the beckoning dark, the musical sword notes played to a most deadly dance.
A duel.
Keeping her attention focused on the instruments of death, she listened attentively. Rei let her fists drop, though, and one lingered on the tsuba of Korosu and walked dubiously towards the distraction from her unadultered evening. She made it all the way to a clearing without being heard, until her presence was anything but unknown to the duelists. Two tall, daunting figures stood amongst a moonlit field of flowers, their swords being sheathed as the wind gently blew. As the buds and blossoms swayed, so did they; the scene was breathtaking. It was also over. Rei had taken too long, and already, one of the two figures was departing while the other turned to look upon the Ronin.
"Onegaishimasu!" Rei said with a deep bow to the now-lone duelist. The scene she had taken in was not immensely demonstrative of the prowess she would encounter, but she was aware enough of the context she found herself in to know to formally address the situation and the figure which stood before her.
"Most eager I see," an older woman's voice greeted the Ronin's ears. It sounded off. It wasn't just the accent of course. It was wrong somehow. The figure was dressed in a black, flowing overcoat, its front undone; she caught glimpses of matching slacks and a deep crimson vest underneath, but that wasn't what was alarming at all. The legs were bent all wrong. There was a green feathered tail which coiled around its legs, while the hands were clawed, another pair of opposable thumbs where the pinky fingers should be, closing inwards towards the palm. "Is it true? That you must draw blood before your blade is sheathed - an enemy's or your own?" it asked her.
Upon its elongated head, face hidden by a black veil, was a crimson crest of feathers that moved ever so slightly. This was not human, and most certainly not something common.
Rei pulled her hand away from the undrawn blade of hers languidly. She studied the creature, not anything she had seen before, before speaking again.
"Where are you from, what is your species, and what is your name? I am Rei of the Ketsurui clan and I am a wandering Ronin, out to seek answers to questions posed of me by my clan members." Its veiled head simply cocked to the side for the briefest of moments.
"And inquisitive, I see," the alien commented on her, the voice somehow seeming more volumous than it should have. Almost as though it were being spoken to her out from the depths of a box or even a room. It, or 'she', answered, "You may address me as Friede." Notably, it didn't answer any of Rei's other questions. Not at all. Despite this however, it kept its clawed, scaly hands in the open where she could see them, either by incidence, or as a gesture of good intent. "You came here because you were curious, didn't you?" it asked her, the voice it used curious itself.
Rei could watch the feathers on its veiled head twitch ever so slightly as it spoke, and also see how the rest of it stood inhumanly still, like a lizard. Only the breeze moved its clothing and feathers, the flowers swaying along with it in this moonlit scene. Without hesitation, Rei nodded to the question,
"Hai, Friede. Yes, I am curious. Curious to know why you're sparring in the middle of the night." It was silent for a moment, but only a moment before she heard a laugh from the being in front of her. A woman's laugh, short, but hearty.
"And why would you seek to spar in this wondrous night? Are the reasons so different for you and I?" it questioned her in kind. Despite its answer - or lack of one - it was, in a sense, true if Rei took to answering her own question. However, it never did answer Rei in its own words. Not at all. "You're eagerness is overflowing though. You've yet to answer. When drawn, will you only sheathe that sword by drawing blood? I am curious myself after all." Through all this, it didn't move at all. Its chest barely rose and fell, and its jaw didn't even budge as it spoke.
"I will only draw my sword," Rei answered, " - if my intent is to draw blood. You are correct in knowing that I will only sheathe it if blood has indeed been spilled. Why," Rei further questioned, "do you ask?" Friede's head moved back in mimicry of human shock, but it only looked vulture-like the way it did so. When it spoke again however, it sounded a little...peeved.
"How else could we spar? You yourself had just asked a moment ago, did you not?" the older Lady pointed out, its veiled head angling downwards ever so slightly.
"Are?" Rei said to herself, more than to the veiled creature with the accent of a . "Onegaishimasu means I accept this honor, or thank you for what you're about to teach me, not just that I want to spar. Though, I would be humbled by your request to do so." The alien, Friede, was almost statueque, but Rei could see a slight quiver run through its red crest. For some reason, it felt like it was annoyed. Annoyed at the little extra nuances of that word.
"On my person is a tool attached to the base of blades to enable safe sparring. However, with your...quaint custom of blood letting, I would not be surprised if you refuse to use your own sword, correct?" It shook its head left and right in disapproval. "Someone must have been taking the piss to come up with that idea, I swear," the alien complained. "Bother, bother, bother." Rei took the phrase to mean something was deeply afoul with her planet's sewer systems in this alien's mind, but chose to disregard the questionable quip. Instead, finding an alternative to the predicament at hand, she spoke.
"If you have a spare training sword for the occassion, that would greatly unhinder things."
With what Rei said, Friede's head tilted a little, and at that moment, she could feel prying eyes going over every inch of her body. Disrobing her. Stripping her of everything in the way. Examining her the same way a doctor or scientist would dispassionately analyze a subject. The creature was sizing her up, figuring out what she could do, and most importantly, was looking at her hands. Standing at seven and a half feet tall, the alien simply towered over Rei's diminuative five feet. However, when the Nekovalkyrja Ronin felt its unseen gaze break away from her, it reached into its great coat.
In its hand, silver flowed into the shape and form of a katana.
"Try this." Closing the distance to Rei with just a few smooth, long steps to hand her the weapon. She would find the grip a little too big and straight rather than subtly curved. However, seeing the small knobs and dim lights protruding from the liquid metal weapon, it was clear that this was simply the limits of its casing. Otherwise, it was an excellent fascimilie of her own blade, minus a sharp edge and piercing tip. "The field will prevent anything untoward," it explained.
Rei moved her grip on the handle of the blade and found the spot where her palm and fingers closed against it without preventing the strength of movement. She took a few steps back and bowed to her new opponent. Knowing now that the alien had at least some comprehension of Yamataigo, she asked if Fiede was ready.
"Junbi ga dekite iru?" Rei said. The alien first replied by pulling forth its own weapon, a handle much like Rei's but both simple yet elegant in its design, and activating it, let her watch as liquid silver flowed out and formed into a straight bladed long sword. However, its guard was something she did not expect; above the crossguard was an almost floral arrangement, the very ends of which ended in studs meant to help not only protect, but catch blades. Relaxed, the very tip was pointed towards the grassy blossoms.
"Of course," Friede replied politely.
"Hajime!" Rei said aloud as she whipped the foreign blade behind her into a ready position. She then sprung into the air, hanging there a moment with her knees bent and feet close her upper thighs and then pushed forward, legs unsnapping from their bent positions as she lunged. She was going after the veiled creature's shoulder, blade pushing through the air as she aimed at their right upper arm.
Wordlessly, the creature leaped back, bringing its sword upwards in a countering parry. The Samurai's assault immediately pushed it back, but in this moonlit field, it was not a problem. With room to maneuver, the alien's slashes was purely defensive and intended to give it more space. Its sword, being longer, helped give it the room it looked for, but with each move Rei closed the gap again. Through all this, she realized something as well; Friede's veiled head was turned sideways.
Its eyes were on the side of its head, and it was looking at where it was going while fending her off!
Realizing her opponent could see both in front of and behind itself, Rei tried for a different tactic and quickly moved to the side of her opponent they were not turned towards, their left side, and thrusted towards the creature's thigh, out of its line of sight. Silver glinted as the alien blade sliced low across the ground, flower heads sent spinning off into the air as Friede kept track of the crafty Samurai's move. But with her new angle of attack, she let go of the frontal pressure keeping it backpedaling, Their blades coming together, the alien did something uncommon in Kenjutsu; pressing the bind. With alien katana striking its long sword, the alien fencer pressed in frighteningly close, her blade caught between its edge and the floral cross guard.
It literally made to shove her back and away.
When she felt the pressure of the sword and her opponent's strength behind it, Rei knew to move with the action, rather than against it. She plunged her gravity manipulation away from Friede, only after grabbing on to the arm of the veiled creature and pulled them back with her. She flipped so that the creature would be nowhere if not on the ground by the time she let go, which she did as she was just above the creature's own body.
"No you don't!" Though the grab and pull jerked the alien about, the moment Rei tried flipping over it, the alien's free hand reached out and grabbed at her sword hand. Latching on by the wrist, the hand closed shut around her, refusing to let her complete her flip - the alien itself was like a brick and refused to budge again, its feet literally digging into the ground like a pair of hands. Left in this awkward position, their blades locked, and Rei floating upside down above it, the two were left with nowhere to go. "Oh dear," Friede lamented, its face still inscruitable from behind the veil it wore. "What now?" it asked Rei.
"We could have you let go," Rei suggested. "Another option is that we could stay like this for an indeterminate amount of time. It truly is up to you," Rei said, knowing there were several ways in which she could get the grip on her wrist to lessen, but wanting to be polite and let the alien think it to be a stalemate. Of course, it was only natural that Friede thougtht the same as well. However, that never came to fruition.
"I could. But that wouldn't serve my interests in the slightest - do you feel better now?" the alien asked her, refusing to let go. "You smelled angry."
Choosing to be open and forthcoming, Rei said, "I was in fact something akin to angry. Not quite there, I would say, but something close to. What we have done alleviated my mood, yes." She liked the sparring match and would like even more to continue it, feeling the surge of properly-placed adrenaline was better suited than that which she excreted while speaking with the senator. She wanted to understand this creature more and unravel its mysteries, as it had dawned on her early on in her meeting with it that it was no creature known to Yamatai.
"You could use some more. I say; how about ice cream?" Friede suggested, releasing its grip on Rei. For all of its claws however, the Nekovalkyrja Ronin was unscathed. Reaching a hand out, the alien beckoned for the return of its blade. "I know of a most peculiar source of that delight. Iromakuanhe in specific," it offered. Though Friede's body language was alien at least and non-existant at worse, the tone of the human voice it used to speak with Rei was at least nicer this time around. And perhaps most noticably, it wasn't speaking down to her.
Well, not as much.
"Eeto..." she replied, wondering what it is this creature could want to do with ice cream. Ice cream was another tourist attraction to her, something seemingly unfulfilling and a way to detract from more pressing matters. She resignedly nodded and returned the creature's blades to them.
She nodded curtly and said, "Hai! I will go with you for ice cream, though I have never had it and don't know why one would want it." The alien continued to stare at Rei from behind the veil, its elongated head still pointed at her. Watching it, the only clue she had of its mood was in its crest of feathers, which fanned out and drooped ever so slightly. Despite her not knowing what it all meant, Friede was at least trying to 'keep a straight face' it seemed.
"A tasty treat and guilty pleasure for those who are physically unfit," it curtly explained to her. Turning to take the lead, its own weapons melted away, retracting into their hilts before simply vanishing in the folds of its great coat. Seeing it walk off, the end of an exotically green and red feathery tail just visible from a slit in its coat, it was clear that Friede had a specific place in mind. "Is this a foreign idea to you? Eating to indulge?" it asked her, departing the moonlit flowers and entering the dark trees.
Rei began to explain, "I don't eat to indulge. I don't even eat in front of others, you should know." She wondered where the creature's path would lead and why it believed it was the best one. Not one she would take, truly, but one this creature thought was best. She also wondered if she would continue to follow in the creature's footsteps. Just a few steps more, and they found a path, and though there were lamp posts, they weren't lit; after all, why would they? This night was a plesant, scenic night, the moon itself lighting each step of the way.
"One would expect the best to be at least treated as such," the same womanly voice replied. Each and every time Friede spoke was a little jarring; what Rei saw, and what she heard simply did not match, and the faint oddness of the voice didn't help either. "Or, perhaps that is some rule you must adhere to? How droll," the alien assumed. With each step of the way, their path became clearer and clearer. The very center of the park became further and further, and Kyoto became nearer and nearer. Only, it wasn't the same side that Rei had entered it on.
And, though many of the shop signs were Yamataian, a few also included foreign words.
"It's a way to hold my honor as high as it needs to be held," Rei explained as she thought about the apparent oddness of her new companion in comparison to what she had typically understood as alien. This creature was much different than she could have expected, but wasn't close-minded and believed that the creature was just as important as she herself was.
She wished to know more and added, "I wouldn't want to dishonor myself, you, or my clan by giving up the standards I hold myself to. I want to know, what brought you to this planet? How did you get in with the other I saw in the meadow?"
"Is it?" Friede wondered. The way it spoke, the alien sounded like any other person who was thinking about something. Its pronounciation, the expression and subtle inflections of mood were all perfect.
"I would say it is, but you are entitled to your opinion, as long as yours doesn't try to affect my actions."
"Forgive my pondering dear." As they walked through the peaceful park, what the alien was seeking became all the more apparent. Up ahead was a shopping mall and its open food court; all sorts of foods and delicacies were on display, even at this hour. Kyoto was simply a city that never sleeped, and the amount of people coming in and out made this all too clear. "To answer your queries however, I must say that my business is my own," Friede replied, the words surprisingly gentle despite its alien demeanor. "What you stumbled across was a personal affair, and given Yamataian peculiarities with certain...things, I am hesitant to say." It paused. "What else was it you inquired?" she asked.
The samurai was lead by a tall brute of an alien in a black great coat, and as expected, the crowd parted for them despite the happy din continuing. The long line that Rei and Friede found themselves waiting in however, did not.
There were questions she wanted answered, not just for her, but for the Empire that she represented. They were questions that needed answering and questions that would not be answered by the creature if not pressed. She kept her voice low as they approached the line and entered it, speaking to the creature about her reason to be in Yamatai, again.
"I would need to let my clan and the Empress know of any unknown affairs happening on Yamataian ground. Without letting them know, there may be holes in the performance in the Empire that could be places for domestic threats to enter. Would you care to elaborate, lest I let them know?" A hot, heavy huff of air made the edge of Friede's veil rise, but in the end, the alien answered.
"In short, I came here because I was curious when others began mentioning a most quaint nation in these parts," the alien replied. "As for my business in the park, I hesitate to say, as I may risk offending your most Yamataian sensibilities." Friede then moved so that Rei stood in front of it. "You first dear - you haven't had this before after all." It was a good point regarding the ice cream. Seeing the people stream by with brightly colored cones of frozen goodness, it quickly became clear that they were very happy with what they were eating.
But not why. Not yet.
Rei didn't know what exactly their view of 'Yamataian sensibilities' were and how they could be offended, but whether or not she wanted them to be offended, she could not decide. She deeply wanted to know, but needed even more than to know what it was the creature was doing in the meadow, needed to know how to get it out of her.
Rei eyed the veiled creature before her attention shifted to the menu and to the Iromakuanhe, fit with blue lines of exoskeletal plates that Rei didn't quite understand, great spiring horns, and darker skin tone than a typical Yamataian, and a height that made Rei look like a child's toy in comparison.
Rei put up a finger up and said, "Konichiwa! One of these... gelato. Red kwirin one, perhaps?" With a nod and a smile, the young man grabbed his long metal paddle-stick and opening one of the metal containers, immediately stuck it in, working the concotion within around before procuring what they sought. Ice cream. As it sat there on the end of his paddle, the Iromakuanhe placed a cone onto it, and extended it out to Rei to grab.
Yoink.
Rei was left with only the cone in hand, and with a laugh, sent the little bit of ice cream back into the vat, only to draw it up again, larger than before. Setting it on top of her lonely cone, the young man then reached back into the vat for more, and firmly placing a third scoop on top of her cone, spirited it all out of her hand. For the briefest of moments, Rei stood there with just the cone again, the ice cream having stuck so firmly together that he could simply pluck it from her grasp. All smiles, he handed it back to her, and this time? Reaching into the vat, he showed her his secret.
The entire vat full of ice cream, larger than her head, was stuck onto the end of his long paddle-stick. Stretchy like taffy, he made to place it on top of her cone, only to stop at the last moment and squirrel away the sweet delight; a few more scoops went onto the now wary Rei's cone as she held it more firmly. She ended up holding just the cone's paper cup in the briefest moment of confusion before finally being granted the deliciousness with a smile and bow.
Friede however, simply said something in his foreign tongue, and with a smile, was given chocolate, minus the fanfare. Samurai or not, Rei still looked cute, but her companion? Not so much.
Rei had questioned during his act if she should engage her energy manipulation or near-FTL speed reflexes, but had decided to let the young Iromakuanhe man continue with his phenomenal act. She graciously took the gelato in exchange for one KD once he had commenced his schtick, finally and completely. She smiled delightedly at the experience, then, coming to grips with her emotions, took up a more serious expression.
"Why is it you know the Iromakuanhe language?" Rei asked, confused as the only real experience most races had with the Iroma were a few diplomatic missions and the BEST KEBABS stands and Treasure Trove Frozen Treats, like the one they had just gone to. Holding its own cone of deliciousness, the towering alien simply cocked its head ever so slightly.
"Why not?" Friede asked. "They are friendly, have good food, and are generally interesting," it pointed out. "Go on. Give it a go now," it urged her to eat. It was clear that the alien expected Rei to try her treat, to comment on how it tasted, and perhaps already 'forgot' what the Samurai had said before. She didn't want to be seen as she ate, and thus far, simply hadn't had any delicacies and treats due to their warrior austerity.
Rei didn't know what Friede expected out of her, as the both of them knew she wouldn't be able to enjoy the delight, but continued her line of questioning again.
"What is it you two were doing in the meadow, then, since I still need to know?" Rei asked as they both walked away from Treasure Trove and to a bench, passing through the parting of crowds as they noticed the pair and let them pass. Friede however, began to take the lead; the bench wasn't to its taste. The alien didn't answer Rei right away either, nor did it eat its own ice cream; perhaps the most important thing though, was how quiet it was getting. The moment they went to one of the balconies in the mall, in a more quiet, secluded corner that overlooked the city outside, it spoke.
"We were curious about one another, he and I." That alone perhaps gave more questions than answers, but perhaps implied far more than Rei would realize. She was, after all, Samurai. Changing the topic though, it asked, "If I lift my veil and eat, will you eat too?"
Interested in the relationship these aliens had towards one another and their presence on Yamatai, even further, now, she developed the understanding that they must have been an inherently curious species, full of unanswered questions, much like herself. She wanted to know even more than Friede would be willing to admit, but held back and, instead, answered Friede's own question after commenting on the alien's answer.
"Curious? Are? Curiosity makes you fight one another?" Rei asked, uncertain. The Samurai shook her head. "Īe," she then said gravely. "I would not, but I would be more than willing to let you eat beside me." The alien shook its elongated head as well. Taking a few steps, the two were then standing back to back, with the Nekovalkyrja facing the window and the scenic view, while Friede's size shielded her from any passerby.
"Now?" it asked her again.
"Īe," Rei said, shaking her head, again. "It is not about skirting the rules, or adhering to them, but living with respect and dignity for them. Again, I will be fine with you eating and enjoying yourself next to me, and would enjoy this even more later, when I'm alone. I'll hold onto it."
"What are the rules, may I ask? I've seen Samurai eat with less reservation than this," the alien pointed out, its crest of feathers rattling together like rustling leaves. Rei didn't need to understand all the bits and details of its body language to know that Friede was now annoyed.
"I've explained how I live by them and now you want to know them? Why? Do you want to become a Samurai?" Rei asked, sensing she was perturbing her company and not knowing what to do about it besides try to make the conversation more light-hearted by asking the simple, rhetorical question. It gave a huff in reply, the sound deep and billowing in its snout.
"Rules serve a purpose, and if that purpose is not being met, then the rule may be bent or even broken if the circumstances warrant," it pointed out to her. "If this rule was to preserve dignity, I would say it would be met so long as I do not see you eat. But. One thing I am learning of Samurai however, is inflexibility." Friede shook its head, the veil swaying as it did so. "Not even our Knights are so foolhardly...but, if you insist, it cannot be helped."
"Try to put this aside and think about those things we have in common, instead of those things we have to stifle our relationship," Rei said, trying to remind her that there was more to gain by being open to Rei's inflexibility and understanding it as something that could help them better understand one another and not something to tear them apart. She then heard it; the unmistakable sound of a sigh.
"If you shall not, then I shall not," the woman's voice behind Rei replied with certainty. "Dondurma stays frozen far longer than normal ice cream, but it is not impervious to heat; I suggest we both discard our treats before we make a mess." Already, Friede began striding towards the nearest trash bin.
While Friede had her attention fully off of Rei and in no way could see her, Rei used her skin vision to see around her and knew nobody was around, save for the creature. She took a quick lick of the red kwirin flavored gelato, savoring it for less than a millisecond before turning back around to see the alien's back still turned. She trotted towards her and threw the cone into the trash.
"So," Rei asked after they had both thrown away their delights."What else is it that you're curious about on Yamatai?" Turning its head back to look at Rei over its shoulder, Friede replied,
"Everything dear. There's a lot to take in. I could easily spend many years simply sampling the food alone. Not to mention the traditional arts and literature." Lifting an arm, it pointed a clawed finger over to one of the stores. "Take that one for instance, the 'dōjinshi' that are on display. 'Boy's Love', is it? This place is quaint. Very quaint indeed." The way it stated that however, made it very clear that it believed that was normal. Turning its head to look back upon Rei however, it paused for a moment before finally speaking again. "You wouldn't like those, would you?"
"Īe," Rei said. "I would not, no. Perhaps you would, though?" Rei wondered if the other alien Friede had been fighting had a sexuality and, then, wondered what Friede's was as well. Despite wanting to know, she added no more questions.
"No," it replied with a level voice. "Your people's preferences are simply not of my concern. However, what has my curiosity would be your previous anger." It was there when they had first met in that field of flowers, and to the alien, all the more apparent as Rei stood there, lit by the gentle moonlight. "Whatever excitement or eagerness you seem to have felt when you saw us sheathe our blades was simply overshadowed by this looming emotion." Walking over to a small garden within the mall, it added, "I pondered what would trouble a warrior so."
"Are?" Rei asked, then continued. "Nothing at all." She was stone-faced and unperturbable, now knowing the alien could sense such things in some kind of way and ready to make it all the more difficult to detect.
"Too stiff dear," Friede replied. "Are you certain this is not something you wish to speak of?" it asked her. Unlike a human, the alien simply had no face the Nekovalkyrja could possibly read. The veil made sure of that. However, nobody could say that the voice which came out from this thing did not sound conerned and caring. The womanly voice that touched Rei's ears was almost motherly with worry, something that was very odd at least and unsettling at most considering the contrast of looks and sound.
"Eeto..." Rei said, worried that if she gave away what made her passionate, she would lose a part of herself. She didn't understand how the creature knew, but hoped it would relinquish its hold on her inner thoughts. Finally, she decided on what to do. She would tell the veiled creature, Freide, some of the truth, seeing how she reacted to bits and pieces of information. "I was with a diplomat," Rei explained. "This diplomat had unfair assumptions of Nekovalkyrja and that upset me. Your assumptions were correct. But can I ask you, what assumptions do you have about Nekovalkyrja?" For once, she got the slightest flicker of something recognizable, something almost human. Surprise. The way its head moved back was quick and sharp, yet also subtle. Watching the alien carefully, Rei caught it, just in time.
"Ah. There is no joy in hearing unplesantries, yes," it agreed, nodding its elongated head. Stopping, as though to think for a moment, the alien replied, "Assumptions. We avoid using assumptions, as they are simply insubstantial next to the power of truth. Nothing has an edge so finely sharp." Reaching into the black folds of its great coat, Friede procured a long, slender rod; a cigarette holder. Idly holding it in between its fingers, it added, "Though, I suppose that was not what you actually wanted of me?" Somehow, with the way its head tilted, chin in the air ever so slightly, she could almost feel it smiling at her, bemused. Rei did, after all, ask for what its assumption was.
Not its opinion.
"I answered a question you wanted to ask and with an answer I did not want to tell. Now, will you answer me this, though you may not want to; will you unveil yourself for me?" Rei spoke in a calculating manner, hoping to take a glimpse of this creature mere words could not show her.
"Perhaps I shall," it replied with a nonchalant air, casually placing a hand at its hip, cigarette holder in hand. " - but whether or not I do unveil myself depends on something important. Your people value appearances to the point that each and every single member of society is considered plainly flawless at the least." The towering alien bent at the waist, leaning in so that they were eye level with one another behind its veil. "This is fact. But is this vanity something that will have one such as I draw ire?" Friede asked as it straightened out, a clawed hand delicately placed upon its powerful chest for emphasis.
"I wear my hair plainly, wrapped together at the nape of my neck and wear not ornate clothing, but what is traditional for my clan sisters. I do not go to great lengths to look a certain way and do not expect the same of you. You are predispositioned to look a certain way that I am unaccustomed to, as I presume you are genetically different than myself. I am fine with all of that and would rather you talk to me unconcealed than behind a veil, for me to better understand you," Rei said.
"So says the Ronin," the alien offhandedly remarked. It implied many things, but did Rei understand? Did Friede care that the Neko understood? Perhaps that didn't mattter, as it made up its mind. Leaning in close so that they were at eye level, the alien lifted its veil, revealing the bright feathers of a tropical bird, and the countenance of a predator. Its elongated head wasn't like a cartoonish, friendly human face with a snout clumsily slapped onto it either. No, it was truly reptilian in nature, with an enlongated head that was sleek and pointed, and the mouth, slightly open, showed rows of razor sharp teeth. But what stood out the most, was its eye. It wasn't even a slit, but a sharp pointed cross pressed thin.
It was a look that humanity instinctively feared.
Rei, however, remain unperturbed and let the creature show her its full self, recognizing that it had a look unlike anything she had seen before and probably nothing she would see again. She savored looking at it and understanding it. There was nothing to do but let the creature speak again.
"To answer your question however, the one you meant to ask and not the one you did ask," the creature began, its jaws simply still as its womanly voice poured forth, "I see a people who were made to be nothing more than toys and slaves become rulers of the very same nation that wished to use them. I see potential tapped, potential unrealized, and danger. Quite frankly, I am both dissapointed and impressed." Brushing its veil to the side, the alien stood tall again, the cigarette holder vanishing under its coat once more as it stared at her with unblinking eyes. "I still do wonder just what that 'diplomat' said to upset you so however."
"Something similar to what you have just vociferated," Rei said tersely. She remained where she was and questioned what the alien's plan was once she made leave of Rei. Where would she go and what would she do there, Rei wondered. She wanted to know but had no way of knowing besides asking.
"What are you planning on doing on Yamatai?"
"Why, I'm a tourist," Friede's voice exclaimed with surprise, its alien expression still adamantly enigmatic. "I'm going to read your literature, enjoy your artwork, and indulge myself on your food to name a few things. I'm going to eat some Wagyu in particular; I want some Mishima, Matsusaka, and certainly some Kobe as well. Then there's tonkatsu, and torikatsu, and maybe some blue fin sashimi - " The alien simply prattled on a little bit more, its eyes seemingly flashing as the black cross rapidly grew and shrank in excitement. Friede then suddenly froze like a statue like no human could, and with a practiced movement, turned its head and opened its mouth just a little bit more, emulating a cough. "Sorry dear. You do still seem upset though," it admitted, its crest of feathers falling. "Just what did that awful man say to you?"
"Eeto..." Rei said, having given all of the information she was going to give. "What is the food like where you come from, since you like it so much? Is there a good variety or is it all the same kind of things? Do you normally have to cook it? Freeze it? Do you prepare it often or is it usually made for you? And is it mainly meat, vegetables, or anything in between? Tell me about it."
She was obviously trying to derail the coversation away from the past hurt of meeting Johnathan and onto something more light-hearted, not understanding that the creature could possibly help her understand the situation more clearly and only thinking that talking about it more would confuse the problem in her head to an exasperating level.
"A litte too heavy in the stomach and a little too bland to the tongue," it replied, one eye looking up to the heavens as the other fixated on her. Its gaze soon turned back to Rei however, and seemingly taking her in, sighed, the slumping of its broad shoulders surprisingly human despite its inhuman frame. "We have plenty of basic ingredients but few spices or herbs worth of note dear," Friede replied. Reaching up with a hand, the reptilian scratched a few of its feathers and rubbed what the Ronin could only assume was its temple. "Just what sort of words could wound a Ronin so?" it pondered aloud, closing its eyes as it did so.
Rei said, "They were quite inexplicable words, to be frank, Friede." The moment she said this, a clear, translucent membrane flicked across the alien's eyes once, then twice like a person blinking. Friede's great maw opening just a crack again, the young Ronin head delicate, polite laughter pour out from the alien, if only for just a moment.
"I am quite the well traveled Lady, and one thing I have learned is that if I can not unravel something, someone else is likely able," it explained to Rei. Again, she saw the faintest flickering flash of its pupils growing and shrinking as it spoke, but now, made to sit on a bench in the small garden. "Why not give it to me, and see what I can do with this puzzle? With hands like these, I'm certain I will find out how to unravel it," Friede offered, a clawed hand upturned.
With its gesture, Rei could clearly see the odd, fuzzy pattern which lined the inner surface of its hand. It was much like what was on a gecko's pads, the thing that let them stick to walls and things. But here, she could see its fingers far better, and the way that both thumbs on either side of its hand could bend inwards towards the palm. But what stood out the most, was the claws. They bent, moved even, following the fingers themselves. This hand was a hand like hers, meant to grasp and manipulate the world around it, but it was different. Just as its eyes and ears and mouth and so much more of it was.
Deciding that there was indeed a difference between the two of them, between their perceptions as well as their bodies, Rei relinquished her words about the matter of the Nepleslian Senator.
"I came into contact with a deceptive and utterly offensive man. As you would assume, I chose to have nothing to do with him after a period of time had passed in which my courtesies quickly faded. I am disturbed that such a man exists and even moreso that he is allowed in Yamataian space. I ask you, what would you have done in such a situation and what should I do, now, to rid myself of the anxieties the encounter has procured for me?"
"Well, I honestly have no idea. After all, I don't know what he has even done," Friede answered bluntly, a claw idly scratching at her bench. Without details, there was nothing for it to work on, to go off of, and in truth, it wondered if Rei simply wanted a shoulder to cry on, or if she wished to decipher something so painfully baffling. Turning its unblinking gaze back onto Rei, it suggested, "Let that weight off your chest dear. It is heavy and unpleasant - why hang onto it? Besides. I can't work with it unless you hand it to me."
"Kamaimasen. Nandemo nai, nevermind," Rei said. "He was a bad man with bad intentions. He did so much with his words that unnerved me. I couldn't bear to be around him and can't bear the thought of my sisters dealing with his presence, either. I wouldn't wish him on you, for instance, either, as I do quite enjoy you, Friede, and wouldn't want you to have to go through something as terrible as bad company," Rei said. "There are quite a few things worse than bad company, but I still wouldn't wish him on any creature." Friede took this all in with watchful eyes and nodded once, its crest of feathers standing tall, but silent and still.
"Hush dear," it began, reaching out to gently rub the young Ronin on the back, to provide some measure of comfort to her. "I am a well traveled Lady. If even Mishhuvurhtyar are hesitant to displease me, I am certain I can bear a few pokes and jabs from a little man," it pointed out to her, its crest of feathers fanning out ever so slightly. "Please. What did he say exactly?"
"The specifics are too bold for my lips." Rei stayed standing as her weapons did not allow her to sit and she went on, "Imagine my clan leader's image being torn apart and imagine, also, to my shock and horror, this man exemplifying what he would do to her if given opportunity that she would surely not be willing to give. Now, if you will, try to understand why I do not, in any great measure, want to delve into the matter beyond cryptic claims."
The alien could only say one thing.
"Fascinating." Rubbing its chin in thought, the gesture seemed almost humanizing in a way. "A man, and since you say a Diplomat, and one with an edge to grind with Yamatai. Very daring. I can only assume that he was a Nepleslian, even though I would prefer not to," Friede observed. It looked right at Rei again. "As reprehensible as this may seem to you, that was very daring, wasn't it? To stand up to a Samurai, blade by her side, and say all those things? Why would he do that, I wonder?"
It was a good question.
"He could have been staying true to his own moral code, forgetting mine, or he could have been testing mine, fully aware of it. I couldn't say one way or the other, all I know are his morals are too much different from my own for me to find his distasteful words excusable," Rei said calmly. Reaching into its great coat again, Friede procured its cigarette holder. Gently caressing it in its hands, it was clear that the alien was in thought, but ultimately, put the instrument away.
"Yes. He could have his own little agenda, but I suppose guessing about it is moot, considering you do not wish to share his words," the alien observed, pretending to ash a non-existant cigarette before putting its shining black holder away once more. For a moment more, the alien looked away as though something was on its mind, off somewhere far away. Somehow, Rei recognized this, yet at the same time, couldn't help but shake the feeling that it wasn't quite right. On Friede, that distant gaze was equally analytical and predatory as it was contemplative and wistful.
"There is something, eeto... bothering you, is there not?" Rei asked, both happy that the alien did not want to further press the issue and happy that they also found her answer satisfactory enough not to. She wanted to understand this strange creature, while at the same time, wanted to understand herself because of it. Rei asked of Friede, "What is the matter?" Turning its elongated head ever so sligtly, the tall alien brought a single eye to rest upon the Nekovalkyrja. The expression, like so many times before, was utterly enigmatic. Still, there was no rustling of feathers, no pinning or flashing of the pupils or even a budge of its crest.
"Do you remember what I was doing when you came?" it cryptically asked Rei in return, looking down upon the much shorter Nekovalkyrja. With her own head at elbow height, she almost felt like a child being told something important by an adult. Something. Something that she could not quite put her finger on. "It seems that he is willing to have witness to our bout after all," Friede conceded. Having gotten less answers and more questions, Rei was still left eager to learn more. Rei felt like there was little she could do to know more about the creature than ask questions, but even that required taking steps back in order to take only one forward. Still, she prevailed.
Rei asked diminutively, "I was witness to only the end, but what started it, besides curiosity?" Starting to walk out of the mall, Friede looked back as though to see if the Neko Ronin would follow, its mouth slightly open but motionless as it spoke,
"Yes. Curiosity. What curiosity would a man have for a woman, and a woman for a man?" it rhetorically asked her. With that, all the pieces started falling into place as the alien eyed her, watching to see Rei's reaction. "Your kind are very peculiar when it comes to such things, so of course I wished to keep it hushed," it added, the two passing several popular and busy dōjin stores. As though to emphasize its point, the topics were varied. Very varied. It was perhaps only natural that an outsider would be concerned how they themselves were viewed.
Somehow, it now felt like Rei had interrupted something important. Something private.
Rei mulled this over for quite the while, eyeing the dōjin store and for some reason, fixating on a nakadashi one for some strange reason. Not quite knowing what it was, she was thinking she would find out by watching the cover of it as she passed by. She wondered what it was that brought the need for copulation in such a public light and understood why the two creatures would succumb to something so intimate hidden by all but the moonlight in the park. Had they been fornicating, though, that would be a different word of wonders for Rei to muse on, indeed, but being that the two were merely caught in the altruistic act of a fight, one could ony assume that was either a precursor or subsequent event to the act she was so vividly imagining.
Further questions arose in her mind, such as how the two of them were capable, when the adjacency of two Nekovalkyrja bodies seemed wholly perfect and the joining of two of Friede's type of bodies seemed wholly peculiar to Rei.
She thought to ask, "Have you, eeto..." she trailed off. Then, putting a finger to her mouth, Rei tapped her lips before asking, "Have you ever been pregnant, before?" The question lingered for a moment more as the two passed the crowds. They parted, but not like before. Where they once showed curiosity, they now had something else in their eyes, and not towards Rei. No, not at all. In fact, she seemed to be an after thought. The Nekovalkyrja was well traiend, and knew to search for this look in particular when sighting her foes. Fear. It was fear. Apprehension as they neared, and relief as they passed. Almost as though given a cue, the black veil slid over its face and head once more, hiding the predatory alien's features from view.
Yamataians were a peculiar lot, and were generally xenophobic unless one was pleasing to the eye. Friede however, was simply not.
"Yes," it finally replied. "I tell you this however, in good faith. I hope you continue to attempt being open minded," 'she' added. Once more, the two found themselves in a much more familiar scene as they departed the mall. Not too far off, in the middle of this bright, neon lit city was a center of serene peace. One that was waiting for them both. However, as always, Rei's new found companion gave her far more questions than answers, and they all buzzed in her mind as seething, bubbling curiosity itched under her skin.
"Hontōni? Really?" Rei asked, incredulous. Turning its head slightly to look upon its companion again, Friede nodded 'her' head once. She had only met a few Neko that had been pregnant before and never met an alien that had had children. It was enough to know that Friede had partaken in mildly adulterous acts, but to know that she had given birth was something that was exhilirating and hard to understand for her. Wanting to know more, she furthered her line of questioning by asking, "Were you made pregnant by that man I saw in the park?"
"No. The father of my previous child was a different Sire altogther," it explained. "Since then though, I have ascended from the stature of Dame to the position of Lady. Of course, as Lady, I must have a Lord." Waiting at the street corner, traffic passed by, even at this hour. Inside the many cars, the two could see the passengers as clearly as though they were sitting still, their eyes far sharper than human. Many were happy, making merry, and as though understanding the mood, Friede's words seemed to tease at Rei, an older woman speaking into a young Nekovalkja's ear as it leaned in. "For what Lady haveth no Lord?"
Caught off guard, Rei did not know how to respond. There was a sort of emphasis Friede put on her words, particularly when she said 'Lord' and 'Lady' and wondered why those words denoted special meaning. She reflected on what made this creature more special than other women of its kind and reasoned it was probably similar to the way she was made more special than those of her kind.
She would live her life as a Lady without a Lord, as she saw it. There was simply no desire nor need for another by her side. She didn't know why this Friede felt an obligation to have one, either. She wanted to know more the more she found out. The more information she ate, the hungrier she got. Soon, she would have to start purging, but before then, she hoped to eat just a bit more knowledge.
"This one you were fighting, was he a potential Lord to you? Will you ever see him again?" Rei asked. "What will you do if you do chance upon one another again? Fight? And why did you want a child?" For now, she was done with her questions and looked to Friede with wide eyes, wondering what answers she would get, or if she would be given questions in return. As the lights changed and the two crossed the street, Rei heard it. Laughter, as clear as day and as delicate and sweet as any treat. It sounded all too human, yet, watching her companion, the Ronin saw her posture hardly change at all. What did this mean?
"Yes, yes. A Lord to me, but only in passing; I care not if we ever meet again in truth." Again, the alien's head turned ever so slightly so that, from behind its veil, a single eye could look upon Rei. "But, if we do? Polite greetings perhaps. I have no attachment to this Lord whatsoever. As for I?" it began, stepping onto the sidewalk first. "Why, I require another Knight of course." The words, despite being rather jovial along with Friede's seemingly good mood, felt far more ominous than anything it had said before.
"You have spoken of your 'Knights' before, Friede. Can you tell me what one of these 'Knights' is to you?" Rei asked inquisitively. The idea that Friede and this Lord would perhaps never meet again and that their sole interaction was presumably a fight intrigued her and yet, made her all the more wary of matters of the heart. Or, in Friede's case, perhaps this was more a matter of the head, Rei wondered.
"It depends," Friede cryptically replied. Once more, the two made their way past the threshold of the park and began their journey to its very center. "A Knight may be Civil or Martial in nature, and as a result, Landed or Unlanded as well. But, deep down, you are inquiring of our Martial Knights, are you not?" 'she' asked. "Of course you are, sweet dear." Going down the paved path, the trees were cast into a sinister darkness by the very lights that lit their way, the shadows jumping, creeping as the lamp posts came on with their approach. "The type of Knight you ask of, I suppose, would be your very peer. That is, assuming they are of a proper, Ordained Order."
It was then that the tall, daunting figure stepped into the darkness and turned expectantly, beckoning.
"But, to me, my Knight was also my child, whom I do miss," Friede continued. "Always so eager to learn. Always asking questions. At least, in private. You remind me of her, you know." From its chest, its throat, the Ronin's ears could hear it. A sigh, deep and felt. "With her death though, I require another Knight, and another Bastard child will do just as well." Looking at Rei, cast in the shadows, it asked, "Are you coming?"
Rei was astounded and would have been incredulous if she had not come to understand a great many things were outside of her sphere of understanding. That realization had come well after leaving the Palace and was a new feeling for her. She wondered a great many things after Friede had told her of her child and their fate. She wanted to know why Friede needed another and why she didn't simply live without, but she knew the answer to that would only spawn more questions for her. She had faltered in her step, slowing behind Friede and when the creature asked if she was coming, she nodded quickly and hastened her pace.
"Hai, yes, yes," Rei said in reply, questioning her own questions as they popped into her head. The two continued on together, the larger alien leading the way for the much smaller Nekovalkyrja. Here, in the dark, things took on a new light as their eyes adjusted. What were once sinister woods were now lush trees adorned in moonlight, the drops of night dew upon their leaves shining like diamonds. The very lights of the city and the paved path they walked on had drowned this out, insulating them from it. Again, glancing back at Rei, it asked,
"Are you alright Rei? Your colour seems a shade lighter." Up ahead, in between the trees, they could see it. Flowers. Flowers upon flowers upon flowers, beautifully lit in silver-blue light and gently swaying in the breeze.
"Eeto..." Rei murmured. She didn't feel like she had turned a lighter shade, but did feel as though she had a lot to take in, still. She didn't know if there was usually this much to learn with aliens, or if it was like her experience with Johnathan: everyone was interesting in their own ways, but all of them were interesting to a large extent.
Rei finally replied, "I am fine. Curiosity seems to have taken a hold on me, just as it takes hold on you. Beautiful night, Friede. Do you have nights like this where you are from?" Behind its veil, the alien opened its mouth again, only to close it for the briefest of moments.
"Yes. Yes we do." The trees seemed to almost make way for them as they approached the edge of the flower garden here in the park. In this day and age, despite its presence, this view that they were treated to was something uncommon. People were simply too busy with their lives to bother with such things, and as a result, the place felt as lonely as it was peaceful and serene. Friede simply stood there, patiently waiting.
"What other glories do you have where you are from?" Rei questioned. "Anything that would interest the likes of me?" A womanly chuckle came from Friede before it answered,
"Almost half the planet is tropical in nature, and the prettier something is, the more it hungers. Most of us have lineages that can be traced back to the Foggy Isles, where it is colder and therefore safer." As thought to emphasize the point, Friede stretched out its arms wide and turned, the movements putting emphasis on its clothing much like a model would her dress. It was very polite and tame in how it moved, yet, it somehow seemed absurd, seeing Friede do this.
"Are you safe?" Rei asked Friede as the creature moved about.
"Safe?" it asked in return, the womanly voice coming from it sounding a little puzzled.
"You come from where it is safer, no? Does that make you safer?" Rei asked.
"Somewhat," it began to explain. "There are still numerous hazards in Albion I say. Packs of animals. The cold weather itself, lower crop yields. Nothing a stiff upper lip and a little ingenuity can't solve though of course. After all, they can't make or use guns," Friede pointed out, a hint of sarcasm with the very last.
"Albion and the Foggy Isles seems like a chilling place, indeed. I would go there just to learn how it is your kind lives, if I weren't set on finding the way it is that Yamataians live," Rei told her newfound companion. "Though I doubt that option is open to me." Finding it funny that Friede had stopped walking abruptly and not started again, Rei asked, "What are we doing in this park again?" Again, it peered at her, its already inscruitable face completley enigmatic behind its veil.
"That, I believe is highly unlikely," Friede simply replied. Taking a few steps forward, the alien paused and looked back at her, if only for a moment. "Don't tell me you've forgotten?" Though she couldn't see it on the creature's face, Rei could hear the wry, teasing smile. Continuing onwards, it stepped into the field of flowers as a lone, solitary black figure amidst white, silver lit blossoms. A moment more, and one became two as the other emerged. Tonight, Rei didn't even need her super-human eyes to see; the moon was out in full force.
When they neared each other, the two never said a word. There was no need.
As their weapons were drawn, quicksilver flowed into blades and blossomed into guards. Like before, Friede's sword was long, straight and sharply pointed while its simple crossguard was bolstered by thick wires artististically drawn into an almost floral design. Her opponent however, drew somthing larger. The crossguard was simple, but larger like the blade itself, and came with a grip that was longer to match. With two hands, they each grasped their swords, but already, it was clear that their styles were to be different from anything that Rei had seen.
The Lord' was the first to move. Blade held high overhead, the alien cleaved downwards as Friede moved. Rei watched as its its blade thrust up, feet moving it quickly to the side to dodge the brunt of the force, but instead of pulling back for another attack, the Neko saw something completely unexpected. A brief bind as blade and crossguard met. Her memory flashed back, her own bout with Friede still fresh in mind. But the alien never stopped moving; 'her' blade, pivoting against its foe's, brought the very tip towards its face in a swift chop.
The sword was the shield, defense an attack.
Moving in fast, Friede pressed the assault, its shorter blade easily pivoting, almost wrapping around 'her' opponent's far larger, more unwieldy sword. All the while, she pressed the close of her sword near the opponent's tip; Rei watched as leverage won out, with Friede easily controlling her foe's far larger blade. But 'her' foe was always frustratingly just out of reach. The two flowed through the flowers like a pair of dark shadows, flickers of silver flashing out at each other as Friede's foe was forced to retreat. But it wasn't over. Far from it. Blades locking again, 'she' tried to wrap around 'her' foe's guard, but this time, it pressed in close and hard.
Shoving Friede as it leaped back, the gap was widened, and it took the offense. The large, outlandish sword moved far faster than expected. Swings, broad and wide, kept the Lady from closing in as petals were literally stripped from their stems. Air rushing, the large sword moved in a fulcrum, its momentum keeping it constantly moving in a flurry of blows keeping Friede off balance.
As the fight went on, Rei was hushedly watching, gaining insight into both the alien and its fighting style as the two jousted. She stood with her hands at her sides and a stiff, reserved back as she looked on at the fight unfolding in front of her. She wanted to know what it felt like to be that creature in the fight, to know the feeling of having her own steel wrapping around that of an opponent's. She wanted to know more about their fighting style and know what it was that made them move with such ease and so effortlessly. Most all, she wanted to keep watching.
As the Inverness coat of Friede's foe billowed, 'her' own stuck close as 'she' backpedaled. Nimbly dodging, parrying her opponent's Claymore, the Lady swiftly chopped down as it fell back, the blow landing square on the back of 'her' foe's retreating swing. Thrown off course, the blade decapitated several flowers and embedded itself in the soil, with Friede plunging in. The clang of metal rang cross the moonlit field as sparks flew; in the Lord's off hand was a simple long, narrow dagger with a wide, sturdy crossguard. A parrying dagger. With the window open, it heaved the greatsword out of the earth and brought the weapon cleaving at Friede.
Bounding back on its reptilian legs, the Lady drew forth the very same hilt that Rei had held only moments before. Mercury flowed yet again, but instead of a sword, the rounded form of a shield came to being. Aggressively swinging it about like a weapon, the Nekovalkyrja Ronin watched as Friede parried her opponent's blows with attacks of her own. The buckler in the Lady's off hand punched out at its foe and slapped aside attacks with ease, always threatening to crush a careless hand or pummel its foe into submission. Their motions only seemed to speed up as they danced through the night flowers, a flurry of blows upon blows, swift and fast blade lock and blade pivots and head hewing cleaves. Rei was starting to understand now.
Friede's sword wasn't just a shield; the shield was also a sword.
Attack and defense flowed seamlessly together, transitioning from one to the next with no clear lines between them. A block became a cut or stab, while an attack could easily become a parry. It was clearer than ever that the two in front of Rei were no amateurs; Friede and its foe were both formidable fencers in their own right. Both so formidable that neither could find an edge over the other. As though the two realized this, the aliens cleared a dozen meters with a single bound, their stances changing.
The Nameless Lord tossed its parrying dagger and caught it again, the weapon flipped as it stood low to the ground like a beast; Friede however, cut at the air, 'her' own weapon taking on more length as the blade grew more slender in turn. As the two slowly closed once more, it was Friede that took the first move. Sword raised high, the Lady swung, the blade suddenly lashing out like a mercury whip. Like a beast, the Lord leaped to the side and charged in, dodging strike after strike until the gap was closed before plunging its dagger deep.
Earth parting way, the short blade stopped the Lord cold in its tracks like a break, and grasping the blade like a pivot, spun, the greatsword came in low with all the speed and momentum of its sprint. Friede narrowly leaped up and away, but the greatsword kept moving. Its owner flipped, kicking off the ground to give chase, bounding over great distances to follow after the Lady before the dagger was planted again, the next blow already coming forth to strike aside Friede's counter. With far too much force to block, the Lady was forced back once more. With the change in tempo, the image of a wolf chasing its prey suddenly came to Rei's mind, the Lord's style like a dance.
But suddenly, Friede's sword slashed forward again, the Lord bringing its own attack higher to counter as the dagger was unplanted in anticipation. 'Her' opponent rising as its greatsword was still being brought around, the Lady rushed forward, and with a crunch, brought the edge of her buckler into the foe's wrist, knocking the dagger aimed at the Lady's gut to the ground.
It 'twas over.
Friede's longsword, quicker and more nimble, made it to the Lord's neck faster than it could bring its own sword fully about onto the Lady's. Parting their deadly embrace, the Lord's booted foot reached out and grasped the fallen weapon and tossed it back up into its wounded hand. Weapons melting away, the two made a deep bow alien to Rei, one arm across the waist, and the other out. And just like that, the two figures standing in the moonlit flowers parted, with Friede making its way back to the Ronin.
Rei had been watching with bated breath as the two moved about in the pale light, bodies alight with the moon's cold embrace as they made their way around the clear, blossom-filled arena. She had all the desire in the world to bow to Friede as well, understanding more about 'her' style of combat and way of life all in the same moment. There was nothing to be misconstrued when watching a battle, unlike how many conversations went. Here, though, Rei was able to grasp fully what it was the two fighters were aiming to do, how they went about doing it, and who was the best out of the two of them at finishing the job at hand.
"Yoku yatta," Rei said simply, then, remembering how the alien sometimes misinterpreted Yamataigo, rephrased. "Well done."
"And I thank thee," the alien replied. Closing the gap to stand by Rei's side again, it towered over her, reminding the two of their differences. "Well. Now that that's over, whatever shall we do now?" it asked her. "The night is still young after all, and I feel like celebrating." Despite the exertion, there was no sign of a heavy breath, heated body or even sweat. In truth, for Friede, this was simply a little bit of play, and nothing more.
"Eeto..." Rei said, thinking of what to do next, then realizing what it is she wanted to do, spoke. "Train? The two of us? Will you show me the techniques you employ? I do not want to fight again, for my own reasons. But training with you would be a good use of the night."
"Oh, you flatter me," it replied, once again taking the first steps into the trees. Unlike before, they were lit solely by the silver moon high above, and not the unfriendly, electric lights which cast hard shadows. The trees, manicured and cared for, almost looked fantastical as they glittered with the night's dew. As though thinking about it for a moment, the alien cocked its head before answering. "Very well. I shall provide a brief overview of the stances, the basic cuts, and then show you the Mastercuts. But first, a celebration." Lifting its veil, Rei could see its eyes twinkle with excitement.
"How about a very nice place to eat? One where you can have your own room? One that caters to Samurai such as yourself on occasion?" it suggested. 'My treat,'' Friede's voice echoed in Rei's mind.
With a start, Rei looked to Friede. Her eyes wide, she sent a message to Friede.
'You can speak to me this way?' Rei said, her own voice now intruding on Friede's mind.
'That was radio dear, not your 'Telepathy'. But I suppose it's close enough for our purposes,' it explained to her. "Though, we should use an encrypted channel, otherwise anyone may listen," Friede pointed out.
Able to encrypt radio messages to designate them to the receiver and the receiver, only, Rei spoke to Friede again, saying, 'I'll happily go to some such place with you.'
"Wonderful."
What Rei found herself in however, was perhaps borderline awkward, but for entirely different reasons than expected. Yes, she had a private dining room to herself, just as she was promised. Yes, she was alone. And yes, the setting was even familiar, being a traditionally Yamataian styled locale. But. It was the food. Looking over the menu alone was perhaps more daunting than she could have ever anticipated; the dishes in question literally appeared before her in all of their ultra-high-definition volumetric glory. The food looked so good, she could almost smell it, taste it already.
Friede's 'haute cuisine' was already turning out to be a luxury beyond anything she had eaten as a Samurai.
'Praytell, what will you be having tonight?'' the alien in question asked her, its presence nowhere to be seen.
Rei had established that she would be alone while eating, though Friede's presence would be with her over radio and, thus, she felt more capable of having a meal than she had when she was being pressured to eat the ice cream which she had only secretly enjoyed having.
'l'll be having the...' Rei's voice trailed off as the menu enticed her and she wanted to eat three full meals in one sitting, though she only listed two meals' worth when she said over radio, '...the ramen, most certainly, with a maki roll and the nigiri special. Hai! That'll do it! And you will be having what, Friede?You enjoy food so much that I cannot wait to hear your answer.'
'Hm. An interesting choice given the restaurant, but understandable considering their wide range of foods,' her alien friend observed. 'I will be having a traditional kaiseki-ryōri, the multicourse meal of Yamatai. Course number two to be precise'. Almost as though on cue, Rei was sent an image of what Friede's meal would inevitably look like once it was all served. It was a collection of five or six or even seven, but fourteen different courses, each looking as beautiful as it looked delicious. 'Like artwork, don't you think? I'm looking forward to it.'
'I can only imagine what it will be like to enjoy that,' Rei said to Friede over their encrypted radio channel. She explained, 'I ordered what I am familiar with. That kind of meal you are having is not something I am particularly familiar with and don't know if I would enjoy it as much as what I am used to.'
'I can only imagine how this will taste as well,' the alien Lady pointed out. 'Though, from what I understand, the traditional kaiseki-ryōri was simply a bowl of miso soup and three other dishes, including rice. Basically, your traditional Yamataian meal,' it observed. 'With time, meals diverged, and this current form came into being as fine dining. It's interesting how things simply change over time, deviating from its origins, isn't it?' The undertone of that last however, was peculiar to say the least, almost as though it were suggesting something. But, the alien simply didn't press the matter any more than that.
Their food arrived.
In front of Rei came a pair of dishes, the first holding her maki rolls, made of rice and seaweed conically rolled around her choice of meat. The fish was fresh, as was expected, but the garnishes in it were particularly crisp and fresh. Meanwhile, the other plate held her nigiri, sevral bits of succulent sushi and rice hand pressed and shaped into perfect form, all waiting for a hungry Neko to devour them. With these served as appetizer, the moment Rei was finished, she'd receive her Ramen, freshly made and immediately served.
'How are you enjoying your meal, Friede?' Rei asked after she had finished her roll and nigiri. She had enjoyed her own meal with exuberance and vigor, savoring the utter freshness of ingredients and savory fish melded with strong, sticky, almost sweet rice. She moved her chopsticks together and apart excitedly as she ate and talked at the same time.
'As for me,' Rei told Friede, 'Oishi! I am enjoying this immensely.'
'How am I enjoying this meal?' Friede echoed back. Sitting in a neighbooring room, the alien eyed the other guest sitting by its side for a moment before replying. 'Wonderfully. The food is subtle, yet distinct and sublime in its complexity and taste.' Prodding its food a little to see it twitch some more, it added, 'Who would have thought that freshly served, live shrimp sushi would be such a pleasure?' At that, Rei received an image of the dish in question, the raw shrimp tails garnished with tobiko while the still moving heads were simply put up as garnish. Only, it was from Friede's own eyes.
The image itself was crisp and clearer than life, yet, the purples seemed purpler and the red seemed redder - then it hit her. Friede was seeing into the ultraviolet and infrared. Rei was taken aback by the presentation that Friede was capable of exuding to her and she was made ever-aware by the alien's very similar set of abilities to hers. She took this information in quietly and let Friede speak again.
'Ah. They just took the heads back - I shall be expecting tempura of them shortly,' Rei's alien companion remarked. As soon as the Ronin finished her sushi, she signaled through the restaurant's system for her ramen, and soon enough, it arrived. Rich and full of flavor, the tonkotsu based broth did not dissapoint while the noodles themselves were made fresh in house. Perfect to the bite, their flavor melded perfectly with the soup while the toppings, items of her own choosing, only served to make the bowl truly hers.
"Majide!" Rei said when she heard about her friend's fanciful food. When she took the first few noodles out of the bowl and into her mouth, she felt the utter releif that having a good bowl of ramen can do to one's self. She wanted to cradle the bowl in her arms and enjoy it for all it was worth, and did so at her leisure, scooping noodles and toppings up into her mouth as slowly as she could, savoring the nuances and peculiarities of this bowl on her tongue.
As the two ate, Friede shared with the Ronin images of just what it was eating. The servings were small, but delicately prepared with care using ingredients of the finest quality. Though Rei's ramen was no different, with the two meals coming from her own culture, the difference between them could not be understated. While one was clearly a formal affair for special occasions or the elite, the other was for the average lay person. Something that was cozy and warm, perhaps best enjoyed on a cold day.
'I hope that was to your liking Rei,' Friede spoke, the alien itself finishing a dessert made of Yamatai's seasonal fruits. Carefully running a cloth along the thin immoble lips of its head, it soon stood and made its way out of the private room and patiently waited for the young Nekovalkyrja outside her own.
"If you are done, then I am done," Rei said casually as she put down her napkin and got up from the table. "Daijoubu," she added. "I couldn't eat any more."
Rei met Friede outside of her private dining room and bowed to greet her. "Thank you for the wonderful meal, and the additional privacy you afforded me. That could not have been nicer of you."
"I'm quite glad to hear that," the alien replied, its face veiled again having finished eating. Behind its form however, Rei's sharp eyes spotted another of its kind emerging from Friede's room. Seeing the clothing, the subtle embroidery of black on black; it was the very same Lord as she had seen before. The one that Friede had dueled. If it saw the Ronin, it showed no sign of this, turning to leave in the opposite direction without a single care. "Now, whatever were we doing next?" Friede jokingly asked. "Whatever it may be, I hope you've not had too many vittles to do it."
Seeing the other creaure made Rei uneasy if only for the instant that it was in sight. She wanted to know more about it and its relationship with Friede, but their dining together answered some of her questions while only opening up even more to go without such answers. She let the subject rest and, instead, Rei thought to respond with an answer, but first had to search the term 'vittle' to know exactly how to reply. Once she had found that it was a term that she had never hear or used before for pieces of food, she again tried to decide what to tell Friede.
"I would like to see less of the city and more of the domestic lands around Yamatai, now, Friede. Would you?" Rei asked, questioning the strange creature in a strange land what it would like to do, stay near the exuberant metropiltan area or settle for one of a quieter distinction. The answer was Friede's to make, but Rei knew where she herself would be headed next.
"Ah, you are truely setting down on the path of the Ronin I see," the alien observed, carefully watching the young woman's own eyes as The Other departed. Whether or not Rei noticed, one thing was certain. It was well aware of the Neko holding her tongue, for whatever reason. "Then I am sorry to say I cannot accompany you. There is much for me to yet see here in this fair city, but do not fret - I am certain I shall join you in time." As though to emphasize this point Rei received perhaps the strangest thing to date.
Friend Request: Friede Belmont
Social media was such a strange thing indeed.
Still speaking without opening her mouth, but instead on the channel they shared, 'Thank you for that Friede. I will certainly be seeing you again. It was more than fun being around you, getting to know your ways of seeing our customs as well as seeing some of your own. I cannot emphasize enough how much I look forward to our next meeting. Arigotou gozaimasu.'
'A pleasure,' it bowed in turn.
Rei bowed again, briefly, then turned to leave the ornate place by which their independent dinners were served. She took up a quick pace as she realized what she wanted to do now was just outside of her grasp.
She wanted, desperately, to leave the bonds of the city and explore what it was out in the outer regions of Yamatai, the ones where aliens could not hide in plain sight and where political Nepleslian men were far and few between. The ones where there were more simple, regular people. She wanted to know what they, in turn, had in store for her and what exactly it was that she was missing by not being a part of their world.
Having never been out this far was exhilirating to her. She walked past the park she had met so many and seen so much in. She walked away from the lighted walkways and promenades, to a point where all she had to follow was the path along the rail lines headed South of Kyoto, away from her old home, the Palace.
