Kyuden Shika

Murato walked in, looking for his drinking partner for the evening. He imagined she'd be here already.

She was here and with a change in mask. The lower half of her face was revealed while the upper half was hidden behind a mildly ornate wooden mask in the visage of a snarling tiger. It was her drinking mask.

When she noticed Murato she beckoned him over. There were already several bottles of sake ordered.

Moving to sit beside her, he greets her with a nod. "Bayushi-san. Like most nights, it's a good one for a drink."

"Never met a night that wasn't good for a drink." She nodded in return. "Hows the day found you?"

"Frustrating enough for a fair amount of sake," he replied, filling a cup and having a drink.

"But not bad."

"Eh? Take it that the event didn't go well? Or has the Fortune's favor turned fickle on you?" She pushed one of the bottles towards him before taking a drink from her own bottle.

"More, dealing with political crap, drama, and pissing off an Imperial cousin with a stick up his ass," he said with a shrug. "I didn't mind failing at cutting flowers at all."

He drinks.

"Ahh. The little shit isn't he? Lemon or whatever? I've met him once and heard about the duel he got put on. Rather stereotypical and pompous. No doubt believes himself to be above all." She snorted. "He apparently sections off an entire tub for himself in the bathhouse. Tried to fight me one day when I tried to get in. Couldn't take him seriously when his dick was swinging around like a branch about to fall off a sapling."

"He's my literal cousin," Murato replied. "Family dinners at the governors mansion will be awkward. Hopefully there isn't too much family resemblance."

Luixian couldn't help but snort. "The other Imperial running around here, Unsei-san, is my literal cousin. Seems I got the better one if only barely."