Seika smiled weakly at Yvonne's reply, and nodded. "I suppose you're right... You're so brave, Yvonne. I can't help but admire it." Climbing back up to his feet, he untied the obi at his waist, and let the red haori slide off his shoulders, revealing the black keikogi and hakama underneath. Folding the fabric softly with his thin fingers, he put it down away from the equipment, and stepped near Yvonne, carefully studying her research.<br/><br/>"Yesterday, before I went to sleep, I thought about the shells, you know?" he tilted his head to the side softly. He was rather fond of assisting Yvonne with her research and construction of arcane devices. She was incredibly talented in his eyes...<br/>"The casing seems to be a problem. If you use glass, they shatter, if you use metal, they become too heavy. So I thought... If you used a thin layer of metallic mesh in glass, it could harden them, yet keep them light enough. It wouldn't obscure light in the ones that require it, although it might make the creation a bit harder..." He put his hands onto his sides, and gazing up talked about the results of his thinking.<br/><br/>"Actually," he remembered then, pointing a finger up, "I sketched some of that." With a smile on his lips, he retrieved a few papers from underneath his keikogi, and presented his beautiful sketches, full of softly tilted, clean handwriting and elegant drawings, accompanying the descriptions that pictured the metal mesh and glass casing for shells.<br/><br/>----<br/><br/>"For a promising talent as yourself, my doors are always open, Odette, always open." Haru softly waved to the leaving woman with her hand, adorned by long steel talons. She didn't doubt that Odette would manage to pierce even the security that guards the tall walls of the Adachi manor - that she'd slip past the servants, through the shadows of sakura trees, deep into the heart of the luxurious residence.<br/><br/>Her love, given so scarcely and rarely, was nothing to refuse. And he... He did just that. With his stone-cold face, he cut down the flower that bloomed within her soul, he trampled on it, and then he married that wench! She, Haru Nishiyama, would never forgive him that. To choose a poor girl like that, not even of noble heritage - only a human would be worse than her - over her, a general! She was equal to him, she was right for him! She was the best one he could even hope to find on this whole wide world... She was beautiful, strong, and intelligent... What more did he need?<br/><br/>She'd make him suffer. She'd rip his insides apart and make him cry... She'd make him need her, want her, yearn for her... And then, like a merciful angel, she'd grace him with her skill and beauty and finally break the adamant pride he bore with such honor. He'd be hers, he'd be hers and hers only, even if she had to rip his very beating heart from within the cage of his ribs. It didn't matter what price would have to be paid for her to claim him. General Haru Nishiyama always gets what she wants. The Red Flower is never refused a favor.<br/><br/>----<br/><br/>Misao very nearly lost his crap (again) when the great lion creature appeared, and Rina ran straight towards it to pet it. It looked friendly enough, but could he trust it? Rina was a small child. His hands instinctively sled to his katana's handle, and he shot wary looks at both Lierin and Jonathan - and afterwards at the strange girl that just appeared there, as if out of nowhere, sketching something. Another strange person... Things were almost getting overwhelming for him. Almost. He smiled nervously, for what seemed to be like a hundredth time today, and stepped forwards, somewhat by instinct to protect the aquatic elf and the little girl.<br/><br/>"Excuse me... No way I want to sound rude, but who are you?" he blurted out at the lion creature, giving it a curious look as he cocked his head to the side. "Or rather, what..." He wondered whether there was more of these things in the city. He's not seen any before, but still... Was it not worth asking? He was curious. The Capital was so colorful... Even though the guards were nothing short of assholes.<br/><br/>First day, and so much happened already! He got robbed - sadly - met an aquatic elf, this lion thing, and even saw a General!<br/><br/>----<br/><br/>A cautious eye watched over the Capital's roofs. A cautious eye, gleaming above a wide smirk of a man that had the city in his palm. He was a hawk that saw it all from the heights. But what he saw didn't make him happy... The city was rotten, hiding the stench and dirt underneath a cover of color, masking it with perfume and pretty garments. While the poor were getting poorer, the rich hoarded gold on the piles underneath their thrones. How saddening...<br/><br/>His target was chosen already. A son of a certain noble was staying in an inn... Together with his young wife, it seemed. He's heard about the boy - he was a spoiled brat, and the marriage was arranged, like most of them these days. They had a lot of money, but otherwise, there was nothing. He could feel it. She married him for the money and he married her because she was young and beautiful.<br/><br/>Tsuruki hated that kind of lovers.