Two men were looking at the map of Sigma-19.
"We are here", the Bretonian accent pointed at the Luxury Liner Hawaii. He was a man of undistinguished height, somewhat thin and sickly-looking with his pale complexion. One could imagine that he worked as a counter officer in a bank -- and not possibly be more wrong. His brown hair would have probably turned darker if there was more sunlight on Planet Leeds, where he had lived most of his life. The look from his small, green eyes, that were sunk into their sockets like the hidden cameras of spies, and separated by a nose wide enough to make the eyes of women merely slide over his face, but also indicate an enlarged frontal cortex -- appeared to not be directed at the person he conversed with, but through them.
"And your source says that the Hien was lost somewhere in... this nebula?", he pointed at the Donryu Cloud.
"Yeah", the other one, a Libertonian accent from Los Angeles, responded with his wide jaw. He was a relatively tall man, athletically built. His lively, brown eyes danced over almost everything in front of him, with equal excitement. If one guessed that he was an adventurer, that would be correct. There was nothing else about his look, though. Everything that was visible from the surface, was also beneath the surface. He was a man who spoke the same thing he thought.
"That bugger must at least half our radar range. We'll have to find ourselves a better radar."
"Yeah, I'll be on it right now", the Libertonian said and scooted towards the door.
"Where are you going?"
"This place is cramped with rich fools. I'll go find someone with a Jintsuriki or whatever, it's cheaper to divide the loot than git one for ourselves."
"That's fine. Just don't get yourself drunk, we should leave tomorrow. The Hawaii is a ripoff." He made a short pause, as if he was trying to remember what he wanted to say. It often happened to him to skip thoughts while speaking, which made the sentence sound unclear.
"I don't want you looking at the screen with a hangover", he added, but his friend had just left. The door then suddenly opened, but it was only the Libertonian's arm that entered, grabbing the wallet which he had obviously forgot and needed for something. "Git yourself some fun, I'll be long", he said before he left again.

"The right hand of the Kishiro CEO, that young man is his son." The bartender was used to helping people strike deals at this place.
"No, I mean, I need someone more like for actual work. I need someone with a Jintsuriki."
"That one over there", the bartender immediately pointed towards a poker table. A middle aged man, a young man from Kusari and a young woman in a lavish but promiscuous dress were playing at it.
"That chick?", his face kindled up.
"No, the Kusarian besides her. His name is Toshiba. I think he sells jump coordinates. Spends the money on the latest tech... among other things. In fact, he's one of our favourite customers. You should see his ship."
"Thanks, man. Keep the card, I'll take it back when I'm out", he said as he took the ale and turned away. The bartender gladly removed a few more small numbers from the credit card as as tip.

He cleared his throat. "You Toshiba?"
"Yes?", the Kusarian did not seem pleased to be interrupted. The woman's and the middle aged man's eyes turned towards the Libertonian.
"The bartender said you had a Jintsuriki Scanner."
"And who are you?"
"Roy. Roy King. I need some scannin' work done, an' I'm payin'." Toshiba's face became more pleasant.
"Yes, I have a Jintsuriki. But I'm a little busy now, as you can see". He looked at the poker table.
"Mind if I join?", Roy asked everyone. They shook their heads.
"Oh, you're welcome! By the way, this is Écarlate, my wife", Toshiba said as Écarlete and Roy were shaking hands, she being a bit more satisfied touching another man than she should.
"And I am Fuchs", the other man surprised Roy from his flank, with a Rheinlandic accent. "No need to shake hands, zere is all sorts of... illnesses around zese days", he added with more disgust for Roy than whatever may be crawling over his hands.
"Sit, here, freely", Toshiba directed him to the free seat between Fuchs and his wife.

He was a small man, Toshiba, even for a Kusarian. His nose was even smaller proportionally, which was not considered attractive even in Kusari. He was about 30, but his mustache looked like if it had just started growing. His wife kissed him during a few, the few in fact, lucky moments he had during the game. He closed his eyes for every kiss, and that allowed Écarlate to express that she did not really like it, rolling her eyes. Her hand was below the table during the whole game, but the part of Toshiba's trousers it was grabbing was the one containing his wallet. Toshiba was too focused at the game to notice the way she sometimes looked at Fuchs and at Roy. Roy noticed, and he directed her some of his own looks back. Fuchs made no expression and said nothing during the whole game -- until he won.

"Aw, my sweet little cookie!", Écarlete said with too much expression as she hugged Toshiba to comfort him. It was visible that she was taller than him. Toshiba threw his last cards onto the table angrily. He lost, again. "Good luck, guys", he said after he had recollected himself. "Guess I'm not paying for the drinks as I promised..."
Roy and Fuchs continued to play, but Roy's overt emotionality combined with the glass of ale did not help him.
"I want a rematch!", he insisted while Fuchs was, still expressionless, collecting his prize, in front of Écarlete.

And he lost again. Écarlete faked surprise, Toshiba was happy that the significance of his own defeat was diminished. "F***ING F**** F**** ASS MOTHER****ER!", Roy exclaimed and hit the table with a fist, which caught the attention of everyone nearby, for a short moment.
"You played vell, herr King. I am used to vin zis vit ease, zat is vy I come hier. But you zwei good men have given me qvite some trouble." He stretched his hand to Roy, at last. "You know vat? I vill pay for ze drinks. All of zem." Roy still ignored his hand. "Come on herr King, it is only a game! Zis money of yours, consider it shtill yours. Ask vat drinks you vant, and I vill buy zem. For all of us. Deal?" Roy remembered that he did not come to make a scene, and that it was his own luck that he should be angry with, not Fuchs. "Alright, man", he said as he was shaking Fuchs' hand. "You're dayum good at this game... let's not play it again." Fuchs smiled at Roy's humour, but artificially, for the sake of politeness. He got up and called everyone, waving his hand.
"Let's get illegally drunk!"