The meeting that morning had been half disgraceful and half loathing.

Tatsuji recalled, looking up at the oni who screamed in an unpleasant manner some sort of war cry, how he was here today. 

[i]Behind the screen, his face obscured as shadow shined prominently onto the thin paper before him which hid all but his dark silhouette from the messenger. Beside him, his accursed mask. The fire of his hair brilliantly lid up the room, and made the shadow on the screen so dark it was as though they spoke much closer than they truly were.

"Is this what the clan heads request of me?" His voice, deep and layered around a constant rumbling deep within his throat, though partially absorbed by the tatami room of his home, still was as ominous as storm in the distance.

"Yes sir." The messenger talked in a hushed tone, hiding his discomfort at the looming presence of the man before him. Tatsuji's shadow show no hair--as fire hardly casts a shadow--and every slight wrinkle of his casual kimono, worn open as most made wouldn't fit him quite right anymore. "They believe there could be benefit to your personal sake."

The room grew quiet as Tatsuji contemplated this.

"You would be paid handsomely, sir." The Messenger finished, his voice trailing off.[/i]

Still, he watched the oni screaming on through the narrow, obscuring eyeholes of the golden mask which had become his identity. Standing at 7'6, Gaignun towered over him impressively and made even Tatsuji unsettled. Upon coming here, he had gained a nod, nothing more from the leaders. Then they were off without any sort of introduction. It was as he mounted his clydesdale (the only horse accommodating to his scale and weight these days) and headed along with the others that he realized he still wasn't sure what he was doing here. Regardless, he kept his head forward in the middle of the pack, allowing his clydesdale to follow the others. He trusted this horse well enough; recalling how he had gotten her from a pair of brothers from [Europe.] She had been expensive, which is why he stole her. For all the respect and honor Tatsuji holds as his personal code, he certainly didn't feel the same honor towards foreigners. At times it paid to be a muscular fire demon.

His long ears twitched as he listened to the discussion between Raiden and the elf calling herself Pale Spider. As their discussion ended, a hearty chuckle came with a hollow echo beneath his mask. He gingerly pulled the reigns to get his mare to slow up, his arms refolding themselves as she did, trusting her to follow the group regardless of his control. He was a little ahead of Hisaya still, but close enough to have a conversation without the need to raise either of their voices. His armor, which is too small for him as an oni, left some of his body open including his hard abdomen, his arms having to have their armor straps lengthened still didn't cover a very proportionate amount of his body. Shoes couldn't even truly considered anymore. So it made for an interesting sight to see such a carefully covered face turn the Pale Spider's way, his blazen hair seeming undisturbed by the wind which blew against his thick, dark skin. 

"Our party is more oni than human, Pale Spider. I am surprised you expected more than a meeting outside of a pig pen." He turned his head forward, his jaw visibly moving beneath the mask. "Perhaps it is what they believe we deserve. Still... she has a point."