Yoko chewed her lip, looking worriedly at her friend as they rode the lift down. Before she could speak, though, the lift came to a stop and opened into the living quarters hallway. "Hey, are you gonna... o- oh. Here we are. Um. Shit. We're on a time crunch, but... if you need anything, let me know, okay? Or if things get to be too much, you can always go back to the ship. I don't want you tormenting yourself if it's hard." She shook her head and hurried down the hall to her own quarters, disappearing into one door while Yuki passed into another.
Dressing for a formal meeting took no short amount of time, and by the time both women were ready and met again by the mooring fixture, they were already barely on time. Yoko was still adjusting the high bun she had managed to wrangle her shoulder-length hair into, tightening it as best she could with the limited available material. Her mo and chrysanthemum-print tarikobi were adjusted to perfection—curiously traditional attire for a woman who was herself once a Sister of Matsuda in all but name. Still, the small white tube slipping out of her collar up to her nose made no secret of her addiction. To her right, Yuki stood a full half-foot taller, dressed in a full Blood Dragon military dress uniform. The black uniform was, however, altered with a number of golden accents, not the least of which was a golden dragon design. It wrapped around her left leg, climbed to her hip, and finally disappeared beneath her near floor-length platinum locks.
With both women fully made up and dressed to the nines, they crossed the narrow bridge into Kyoto. Midway across, the door sealed behind them, and a soft vacuuming sound interrupted the silence. The faint orange haze in the air cleared, and Yukiko was at last free to remove the oxygen mask she was bound to within the cardamine-tainted liner. Yoko paused a moment to watch a Hercules-class Lifter carry her Tanto into the into the legendary base, but her reverie was interrupted by the opening of the door, and they both turned to greet the welcoming party.
