Roppongi Station wasn't a paradise but for the odd traveler, it was an alternative to the busy life of New Tokyo just below. With a business deck and areas for well, things for the sinner in lower levels, it made for a good stopping point.
"May I get you anything else, Miss Sato?" asked a waiter in traditional Kusari.
She exhaled a billowing cloud of smoke courteously away from him, "Just a bottle of Gallic wine, please."
"Hei," nodded the waiter as he left to get the bottle. Once gone, she place the tip of her kiseru at her lips and began to draw in deeply. After a few seconds, she held the smoke before exhaling it, leaving yet another cloud of smoke. About this time, the waiter returned with the bottle and a glass.
"Only one glass?" she inquired with a smirk.
"Why I......" He was interrupted, "I thought you could join me, handsome."
"No, no, I can't, Miss Sato. I am on duty." He answered with an embarrassing smile.
"Later then, Handsome," she answered, drawing her tongue over her lips.
He just nodded, smiled and ducked away while she again inhaled.
Some time on Honshu with her grandmother was a common thing for her. She was often reminded that she was a carbon copy of her late mother.....and she was. She was also very confused as the young girl of 20 was now trying to find her way through life on her own. She could have been a nurse like her mother or maybe even a doctor like her father but it wasn't her way. Her trips to Honshu often involved a trip into Sigma 13 to Newport Station. It was here that her evil side came out. A mission or two for whoever was paying and then giving herself up for extra credits at night. Some wealthy passerby folks paid her well. Of course, being a well proportioned Kusari female with large dragon tattoos running up either side of her made her hard to resist.
For now though, she was tired, a little sore and she was equally attractive in any Kimono. She watched people walking by, pulling the sticks out of her hair and letting it fall, re-filling her kiseru and taking a sip of her wine. Once packed, she sat back a little. Would she get another client tonight? Her sore body said "no thanks" but her want of some credits said "Please."
Lighting the bowl, she began making quick work of it with another deep inhale. Filling the air with smoke, she tucked the tobacco pouch into her bag. For now, she smoked and monitored her surroundings.
A group of three Kusari women walked through the long corridor of Roppongi's lower deck. A group of traders, presumed from Liberty, were in lively conversation with eachother as the three women passed them.
The front of the three had a facial mask that covered the lower part of her face up to her eyes. The mask was made of silver, but had an elaborate gold floral pathern. Her sleek darkbrown hair hung loose over her shoulders. She wore a modified military grade flight suit.
The two women who followed behind her had no masks and wore flight suits of simpler design. Only the most trained eye could detect the concealed weapons that they carried.
One of the women trailing behind the masked lady began to whisper to the one next to her.
"I do not trust that new contact. How do we know if he is not a puppet of the Corporations?"
"Trust or not, I feel like he should have been killed for the way he looked at me." she replied.
"Be quiet, you two. Rin, Ofcourse he is a puppet. They all are. And Misaki, to you the honor to kill him later if you so please. For now be quiet. Else you will attract even more attention. Save it untill we are back to the ships."
"Yes, General."
They came to the end of the hallway and walked to the bar that was on the other side of the room.
"Two sake" The masked lady raised 2 fingers at the bartender. Then she turned around to observe the room. Most of them were employees of various corporations, a bunch of traders, there was a table where someone was passed out drunk and his friend aparantly thought it was funny to put of plate of food upside down on his head. The only thing of interesting was a Kusari woman sitting all alone in a cloud of smoke.
She looked at Rin and nudged towards the woman at the table. Rin said nothing and simply walked towards her.
"Hey you. You look lonely. Mind if I take a seat?"
She paused briefly looking at the woman. Momentarily, she held in her smoke before releasing a plume of it into some nearby flowers. She then motioned to the chair across the table. Not expecting company, she had only the one.
She looked at the mask and cocked her head. "You must be very important or have something to hide," she stated. "I personally have no shame or nothing to hide from."
She then snapped her fingers for the waiter who basically ran to the table side. "Three more glasses, Please."
He quickly returned with three, stumbling a bit after he bowed and left. Emiko snickered.
"He is so cute," she said chuckling, "I am trying to get him into my quarters tonight."
She then poured the glasses with the wine after two more chairs arrived. She lit her kiseru and took a deep drag on it and offered it to the masked woman.
"So tell me, what is it that you hide from?"
Rin, who was walking towards the woman at the table, looked over her shoulder to the masked woman and shrugged.
"It seems like she prefers talking to you."
Don't they all?" The masked woman walked past Rin and turned to the lady at the table.
Hide? My mask is just as real as the smiles of the people around you. Except, when I leave this place, my mask comes of. Theirs are burned into their faces. Also it is futile to order a drink for me or offer me a smoke. she taps the silver mask with her finger. This thing will not be removed in public
She now looked at the waiter "He is not bad looking. The question is if those looks are complimented by good character. Which is a rare trait amongst men. What are you doing here anyway, besides... him?"
"Apologies," replied Emiko to the other two women. She then gave a respectful bow of her head, "I intended no disrespect."
She then had the waiter bring enough chairs and glasses for all. She motioned to the chairs, "Please, sit." She then took another puff.
"This Gallic tobacco," she commented as the smoke left her mouth, "So good....so rich." She then put down her kiseru.
She then began explaining her presence. "I spend a lot of time on Honshu with my grandmother. Since my mother died and shortly thereafter, my grandfather, I have spent much time with her. I pick up goods at Newport Station and well...." She smirked, "If the trader is cute and wealthy, well....."She then took another puff, the smoke exhaling as she spoke. "I'm headed to Planet Erie from here but fatigue overtook me and well, New Tokyo is too crowded for my liking."
She didn't mention why she was going to Erie. It was, after all, her father's secret retreat where she took care of the horses.
She sat back, relaxing with the kiseru in her fingers. "So um, what brings you ladies here?"
"Not smart to mention where you are heading to complete strangers."
The masked lady sat down infront of her with Rin and Misaki at either side of her. She picked up her glass and placed it infront of Rin, who refilled her own glass with the new one.
"We went here for business..." The masked woman started.
"And that idiot kept looking at my chest!" Misaki interrupted. "I swear that when I meet him again, his eyes are the first things to go!"
"As I began..." The masked lady waited if Misaki was about to begin another outburst, while shooting her an angry look. "...We went here for business. However, it is now concluded and we will be departing shortly. But before we leave. What is your opinion about the current state of Kusari? Its goverment and policies. About its stifling traditions?"
She observed the woman attentively.
She looked at the woman in the mask for a moment. "You will find this strange but I am indifferent about it. I only visit here and my Grandmother only speaks of the old times. Both of us have our dislike of Bretonia."
She took another puff and continued to answer through the smokey exhale. "I only read an occasional news report and I don't find the media very reliable. I do find myself coming more however, after the Bretonians pushed us off of Gran Canaria, the planet of my birth. My father is a Zoner."
"Bretonia... They do not concern us much. What is interesting though, that they have invaded your homeworld. What is their reason for doing so? Greed? Envy? Did some little man need to show off his fleet again to obtain some self worth?"
Rin interrupted:"Men and their warships... They only use them to invade places where they are is little resistence... too cowardly to take on a real battle."
"I would have no trouble taking out most of those lazy infantry goons." said Misaki, while being focussed on her glass They mostly just sit on their asses, talking about how good they all are anyway."
"Look here." Misaki pulled back the sleeve of her suit, revealing a scar on her lower arm. "Got this fighting three Corporation thugs on Honshu. Be sure that I did alot more damage to them than this little cut they gave me.
"Actually, it was a woman who led the charge on Gran Canaria," she replied, "A Dagon Kaze." She snickered, "Since Bretonia can't win a war and are losing badly in this one, they decided to take a peaceful planet to evacuate to but yes, men do like showing off their fleets so it seems."
"I would have no trouble taking out most of those lazy infantry goons."
She bobbed her head with a smile, "My father would agree with you but he would be the first one to admit that he is weak in the cockpit but is he ever quick with a sidearm."
She then looked the scar and then looked at her face and listened to the story. "I see. Another thing that you and my father would agree with, dislike of corporations. I'm no fan of them either. Father taught me well and we share many of the same principles but, enough about him."
She removed the tobacco pouch from her bag and began filling her kiseru. "You have my attention. Please, tell me more."
Rin spoke. "A Kaze, as in wind? Cute name actually. Must have been alot of hot air coming to Canaria. Never encountered that persona yet, but then again, my destinations rarely include Bretonia."
Misaki had pulled her sleeve down again and ordered a glass of sake and a glass of wine for the Kusarian woman. Rin glarred at her.
"What are you looking at, Rin. You just had the boss'." Misaki remarked.
"Man are not, it is still the act of a coward." the masked woman continued. "Death over slavery. Live in freedom or die with honor. This is one of our tenets. Those who refuse to face their enemies to the end, deserve their defeat."
She pulls back her hair and reveals a beautiful tattoo of a golden Chysanthemum on the left side of her neck. It covers a small circular scar.
"I am the Matriarch of the Golden Chrysanthemums and general of the Gen'an forces. It is my responsibility to realise the ideal that Matsuda envisioned."