Anarion

Return to Thellamie

A few days after the capture by Purnima, while preparing for the ball
>[.snowkitten]
>@familychat, sorry I disappeared again, kidnapped by Purnima Karn-Pana. It's okay, she's taking me to the ball, so I'll be there. Kind of turned into a thing anyway, I'm trying to redeem her I guess? Anyway, no need to try and rescue me, we're both fine and I can use my tablet.
>[.realsuloarju]
>...wat
>[.snowkitten]
>It's fine, I promise, it will be fine. Anyway, I'm trying to come up with my ball gown. Purnima has asked me to theme it around silver.
>[.realsuloarju]
>She asked you to THEME it?!
>[.snowkitten]
>yeah, she's doing gold, we're going to be color matching.
>[.realsuloarju]
>She asked you to...COLOR MATCH?!?!?
>[.rockamt]
>Silver armor. Chainmail. Sparring gloves, go all out Kel knight, get a cool new pair of starglasses!
>[.praxispacksis]
>No, you gotta go with something loose and free. Nice gloves, very fitting. Purple is super in, Yuki, so you need silver with a purple highlight, maybe a flower in your hair. Here, like this. Photo:SilverAndPurple, Photo:Orchid, Photo:HotFox, Photo:HotterFox, Photo:HotterFox2, Photo:GlovesAndTailFloof, Photo:LivinItUpOnBottomAestival
>[.realsuloarju]
>No. No. Here. Photo:HouseArjuPattern. Photo:CrevasiStyle. You're going to wear this. You can modify for the ears and tail, but you need to keep the tassels and the pattern to show that you're loyal to my house. You cannot, CANNOT show up with Purnima dressed any other way while...color matching. Do you understand, Yuki?
>[.snowkitten]
>I'll take a look at all of these. I get you though, Suli, this is like a house thing, right? I don't want to accidentally give Purnima some kind of political favor.
>[.realsuloarju]
>...yes

At the ball

Purnima Karn-Pana is arrayed entirely in gold. Except for the purple orchid that Yuki (courtesy of Juniper) bestowed on her as a favor. Purnima was going to refuse it, but Yuki pouted for an entire hour, and so ultimately Purnima gave in and pinned the flower just above her left breast. A single splash of the season's color amidst all that gold. It actually makes Purnima pop much more than if she were purely gleaming bright. Oh and Yuki might have leaned a bunch on her in the palanquin while fixing her hair and gotten a bunch of silver glitter onto some parts of the gold, especially around the tail and the waist. Just to spice it up a bit...by accident of course.

Yuki herself is mostly wearing the dress that Suli requested, with a handful of accents and modifications around the periphery. The main dress is a tight-fitting silver shoulderless dress made with tassels running in five layers top to bottom that flutters and sparkles when she walks. It's full of silver glitter that mostly makes the dress shimmer when the tassels shake, but does lose just a little bit with each flutter, leaving a small glittering trail to mark Yuki's passage. The center of the dress around the belly has the symbol of house Arju in a small space free of the tassels, and there's a belt around the waist keeping the dress tight with small pouch with little accessories also showing the symbol of house Arju. Purnima was not pleased, but what she found in this instance she had no ability to make Yuki undress at the eleventh hour.

Yuki wears an amethyst necklace around her neck, a nod to the purple highlights of the season, and over her shoulders is a narrow fur shawl in white that makes the silver of the dress and the purple amethyst stand out against it. The rest of her upper body is bare, and she wears no hat, instead wearing her smooth black hair up in a braided bun at the top of her head (which Purnima helped her do).

The fur shawl is the only thing covering the various marks on her neck from her tussles with Purnima, and not particularly well at that, but she holds herself up straight with a smile as she enters first, guiding her lady inside from the palanquin as any knight would.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki doesn't cough right off the bat, but she also doesn't pace herself, and so after a few sips there's too much spiciness in her mouth and she has to stop and cough. They're cute little coughs, and she smiles in chagrin and to let Purnima know that she's enjoying it even though it's making her cough.

Once she collects herself (following a very hoarse "I'm fine...no really") she slows her pace to drink the coffee, she gives Purnima a thoughtful look. "See, I'd kind of like that because you'd be the one building a statue of me. And even if it's a little statue, it's pretty special to think that you'd want to build a statue of me because of tonight, y'know?"

She takes another very small sip, thinking about how to say this. "Back on Earth, Yukisworld, there are lots of people who build...statues of themselves. Or stuff like statues. Sometimes they make stuff, like clothes with their names on it. And...so I guess I understand why you'd want to do that. But, well, my friends and I all make fun of those people on Earth. Like, it's actually kinda lame to want a statue of yourself. Kind of...uh...well...it makes people think you're insecure. It's like, if you get a statue, it should be cuz somebody else thinks you're worth a statue. And if you're so rich that you can build statues of yourself, you should use your riches to do cool stuff for the people that really need help instead. So then they'll think you're cool enough to build a statue of."

Return to Thellamie

Poor Sulochana. It's not...it's not that Yuki isn't thinking about her. She knows that Purnima is Suli's rival and obviously it's a bad look to roll up to a friend's house and be like "hey, I'm dating your arch-nemesis." But also, that happens sometimes and while Yuki might expect it to be one of those everybody awkward at the dinner table moments, it really doesn't feel to her like a betrayal. And when that comes up in conversation, everybody is going to get hurt. Because Suli is going to learn that Yuki never thought they were girlfriends, just good friends. And that Yuki is a lot older and isn't prepared for someone to put hard limits on who she can see and experiment with as a condition of keeping a friendship. It's definitely gonna suck.

But that's a problem for the future. The question now is how far they go. Which is really a question about newness. The thing about newness is that it's fundamentally hot in and of itself. It's the unknown and so all your senses get attuned, your awareness is heightened, you're thinking about everything, you're deeply in the moment. And a lot is still new for Yuki, she's just starting college! She didn't even really know she was gay the first time she arrived in Thellamie, though she was pretty sure by the time she left. But it's not like...well she's had like, three girlfriends since then. Two and a half really? Depends how you count, senior prom had been after a breakup and that date was really kind of a mutual bounceback thing and it didn't take them long to figure out it wasn't healthy even if it was one really good night, and like...that's not what you want running through your head at this point anyway.

But here's the thing, Yuki's self discovery this time around isn't really about the sex, or even about the sensualness. It's about who she wants to be. She came to Thellamie and decided she was going to be a knight. She hasn't figured out what that means when she gets home yet. Maybe an environmental justice job? Whatever, point being, in Thellamie knight is a job all to itself, and she picked it because that meant something to her. She wanted to just be with all her friends, but she didn't know how to do that. She still doesn't. But she's learning something about the people she meets, about how she wants to meet their needs, about how she likes learning their needs and trying to balance them. But also how she likes directing things to meet those needs. She likes being an active force, she likes the way that her hands and her tail can do things for Purnima. And sure, that means she's getting bitten and pressed too and learning about where that feels good, but that's secondary because her focus is on what moves Purnima, and that's as far as they're going to get before everyone is tired and needs some water.

Remember, she got into this because she felt there was something worthwhile in Purnima Karn-Pana, even if it's deeply buried in there. And so Yuki's not just flattering the worst parts of the snakegirl, she's looking for what actually makes Purnima relax and let down her guard, even a little.

By the end, Yuki won't need to be restrained, she's not going anywhere while they lounge. And Purnima might not have the energy left to restrain anyone anyway, with how languid those coils feel.

But...as far as that is, it's not nearly far enough for Purnima to learn anything deeper about Yuki than which spots are the right ones to press on. And at the end of the day, that's not nearly as much as you'd think.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki breathes in as Purnima's teeth press into her neck. A shudder passes through her, and her legs press against against the strength of those coils hard enough for Purnima to feel it and strain in turn. The flush spreads through Yuki's whole body and she makes no effort to hide it when Purnima finally lets go.

Oh yes, that was good. Will Yuki wear a turtleneck, or is she going to show up at the ball in a shoulderless gown? You'll just have to wait and find out later. In the meantime, she offers a smile that there's no need to fake and runs her hand along Purnima's scales gently, back and forth.

"Poor thing" she says, watching Gemes march out with a long-suffering look. "I hope getting us coffee won't be too hard on him, the city's mostly deserted, so there aren't many places to go for it." She's not judging this time, just observing, and her hand doesn't stop gently massaging those scales while she does it.

Yuki grins at Purnima's question. "Oh, he'll look at whatever you make the flashiest, then blush and look at quite literally anything else. The clouds maybe? You'll need to take his chin and point him at where you want to look. Which I think is up here," she says as Purnima bends closer. Yuki runs her hand up from the coils and along Purnima's side up the chest and all the way to the cheek, where she rests it for a breath to show what she means and then slides gently back down.

"I think the bigger problem is how skittish he is, especially with so many girls vying for him. You'll want to get rid of the mirrors, I've told him the stories of my first visit to Thellamie a lot and I think they'll make him nervous. Mm, and we should really try to figure out what the rot star and its minions are up to, huh? Out of everybody that's supposed to go to this ball, I think they're the mostly likely to cheat, like how they tried to drug Hazel at the cafe."

She gives Purnima a serious look when she says that because she's still not feeling good about what she saw happen to Hazel. And after all, it served everyone's interests if Purnima's household staff helped gather intelligence on Aria Thendragon and Walking Elm, right? Yuki still thought of them as the problem. For everyone else, well, she trusted that anyone close to her friends winning wouldn't be the end of the world, at the least.

So she goes back to massaging Purnima's scales and lets the smile come back to her face.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki is taken into the DEN OF EVIL (did she get the lilt right, she doesn't think she got the lilt right). Gold was pretty, and so were tapestries. It wasn't even that Purnima had a bad eye for beauty, she was just very very self-centered. Yuki clicks her tongue once, sighs softly at herself, frowns because she signed, and finally offers Purnima a large bow with the upper half of her body nearly sinking into the coils around her. "My apologies, I fear I have already offended your hospitality" she says formally.

She lets herself remain down because it's easier. Head resting on one soft arm resting on strong but pleasantly springy coils all around her. Purnima indulges in her size in a way that Sulochana doesn't. That's good, Suli's self-conscious because she worries about how she impacts others. But Purnima is proud of herself and Yuki can quite literally feel that strength pressing into her. And while Purnima may have taken that pride to an extreme, that core wasn't a bad thing. No, there was a lot to think about. And she did have the mirrors covered at least. There was that.

"mmm" she says as Purnima runs through the options. "Mmm, neither. Everybody keeps asking me like I know the answer to this question. But you're framing it wrong for Hazel. Maybe this is why the giant weird crow picked him? Like, he's just really not someone who can be bought or...uh...seduced that way." She does not say it out loud, but neither can she entirely keep out the raised eyebrows that say and even if he could, you wouldn't be up to the job. Not just because that would be rude to her captor, but Yuki's legit mad at herself for jumping to that conclusion. But jump she did, for better or worse.

"Like, look, you...the perfume you're wearing is the best thing I've ever seen you do for Hazel. It's not perfect. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are good, he likes pumpkin spice, but I'd suggest you add a little scent of vanilla and maybe tone down the nutmeg a little. I think Hazel is...well I don't know if he's ever told me his favorite coffee, but if I had to guess it wouldn't be pumpkin spice, it would be a small latte with oat milk and vanilla. Small because he wouldn't want too much caffeine. Oat milk to go easy on his digestion and because it's a little sweeter and mellower to balance out the acidity, which I think is a bit much for him. And then vanilla because it's simple and sweet and just a little elegant."

Yuki flicks her ears, twists herself a bit to pick herself back up without the help of her lower body. "If you have no idea how much I just helped you, I'm sorry, but I think that's actually more insight to tame your faun than anything I gave Suli or the Serigalamu if you understand it."

"Hazel's not like me. I'm a lot easier to tame than he is actually. He likes pumpkin spice more than me, but he likes simple sweet flavors even more. Me, I like pumpkin spice just fine, but I like a little more on top, maybe a little chili with my pumpkin spice. Do you follow me?"

Yuki looks right at Purnima. Right at that face, right into those Nagi eyes and dares Purnima to take her up on her offer for something spicy. [Entice: 2+6+2=10. One string and one option please.]

Return to Thellamie

Before the heartblade can strike: "Indeed, I surrender!" Yuki shouts. Stopping partway through the elbow strike that would have resulted in the guard holding Yuki doubling over just in time for the incoming heartblade to hit his head instead of Yuki's breast.

The action freezes, the guards uncertain. Yuki relaxes in the grip of her new captor. "I surrender to you, Purnima Karn-Pasha." She says the name with emphasis. "I am the prisoner of Purnima Karn-Pasha" again, she emphasizes the name. Purnima, not anyone else. Only Purnima. "Through willing surrender in a duel of heartblades. I will provide my service as the prisoner of Purnima Karn-Pasha as agreed upon in battles of heartblades, until I complete the service demanded, until I am rescued by my allies, or until sufficient time has passed that I may fairly escape. This I swear to Purnima Karn-Pasha"

A knight's oath, and a maiden's, and oh Yuki is staring at Purnima and the guards, and she is this close to kicking that piece of shiny armor under the table if need be. But she will not need to because they will, of course, accept her terms.

Return to Thellamie

"Are you kidding me?!" Yuki ducks the butt of the blade, noticing that the two guards are not actually stopping their assault while she dances around. "Why would you...a-any of this?"

She kicks one of the guards in the face, though she still hasn't drawn her heart axe. This isn't the right kind of threat and she doesn't want to hurt these people in the way it hurts to get really hit with a heartblade. She could probably just run, should just run, really. There's just something...she feels like Purnima actually needs help. A knight doesn't abandon someone in need that way.

"No they do, those decorative necklaces" she shoulder slams the second guard while the first is recovering and flicks out her food knife, quick cut to pull off the gorget and hold it up, then tossing it to the floor below Purnima's decadent table setup, shadowed from the evening sun. "Too polished, too dangerous. Whatever I did, you can't kill a star. Do you understand? Same deal with whatever's powering up Hazel, or the Rot Star that attacked here. Can't kill a star."

Yuki's looking at Purnima for a moment, while the two guards collect themselves from her acrobatics. She's looking at the smug smile, the face, a glance at whether her face moves or twitches. Does she get it? Is there any flicker of doubt at all?

Yuki's price is both very low and very high, you see. There's no bribe that Purnima could offer that would get Yuki to give herself up. No magic sword or pile of gold. But can Purnima Karn-Pana actually be persuaded? Is she open to the kind of advice that isn't just telling her the best way to get what she wants? That's it, that's all Yuki wants to know. Show her even a sliver of real doubt crossing Purnima's face. If maybe Purnima will really think about what Yuki has to say, then she'll come along now believing she's fulfilling her knight's duty. But if Purnima is so petty and self-centered that she can't let anyone in...then, then she's an enemy to be fought, and Yuki will not give up.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki feels lighter than she did before. A good cry can be like that, and a hug with Aadya is something special. She'd offered to stay with her friend while she went chasing leads, keep in touch with Suli later, but Aadya had shaken her head no. After a meal like that, they each needed time to think and besides Yuki had said she was committed to Sulochana's cause, so she needed to go check in with her.

So she's stepping lightly and taking in the world. The high towers of Vespergift, the way the sky weaves in and out of the stone, the silly gargoyles and the interesting murals, and the hints of trees and leaves that the city could never quite escape even before it had been blown wide open by a plant zombie dragon girl invasion.

When the first trident thrust comes at her, she's still light on her feet and she twists backwards, her mouth forming a "hey whu-?" that gets cut off when she nearly throws herself into the second one. It's lucky for Yuki that they both were using long-range weapons. If the second snakegirl had been using daggers, Yuki would have thrown herself onto them. But instead, she ends up flinging herself with a twist into the arms of the second snakegirl, right past the halberd. And before that heartblade can come back in, Yuki's leaping into the air with all the surprise and startle that a cat can muster. Get up, get high, long tail out for balance, parkour off the stone and then twist back in. Yes in, it's not safe to try and back off from two polearms, so she has to use the snakegirls, dive back into the personal space of forked spear so that halberd can't get a clean swipe off, push around her, and then when she tries to clear herself, dive into the chest of halberd in turn and spin around her.

Back and forth. Back and forth. No time for personal space, though a flush rises up Yuki's cheeks as she dodges past coils and dances along tails before they can grab her. She uses her mail to take glancing blows from the heartblades so that she can keep getting in close. Eventually the tingling at the edges of her forearms will catch up to her, but she's got time, and time will give her a chance to come up with an escape, or at least slow things down.

She doesn't draw her own heartblade though, not yet. Something about this doesn't add up and she doesn't want to knock them out, she wants answers. So she dodges. Dodge, dodge, dodge.

"Hey so..." Yuki starts between flushed breaths. "Uh, who are you, why are you attacking me, and why do you have mirrors?!"

[Figure out a person(s): 5+1+1=7. She's asking the questions she said out loud. And since it's over crossed swords, they should let slip how Yuki can help them with their problems in the course of answering. They get a question back.]

Return to Thellamie

Did you know that over 70% of mining accidents are caused by gayness? Oh mother, I cannot clean out the ventilation system because I am too completely trashed by pining for a hot girl to do any work. Boom, mining accident. This has been a Yukifact.

There are not many other facts going on Yuki's head right at this moment. Warm. Good. Strong. Safe.

Aadya knows how to give an apology, and hugs are meant to be accepted. For many seconds it is wordless, quiet, nothing but the slow up and down of a heaving body and the warmth of tears pressed into a body. The slow hum of breath drawn through wrapped arms and the spreading warmth of that breath pressed against skin. It is an oasis, it is perfection, it is forever, and then it is over because we cannot and should not try to freeze time.

Yuki leans her head up, and her shoulder into the crook of Aady's arm, so that she's looking up at her friend's face. She breathes in, and out. "Thellamie is a good place, Aadi. Full of good people. It...it's not perfect, and we have to fight to make it better. B-but not every problem has to be our problem. Not your problem, not my problem." She breathes again, in and out, taking in the strong scent of her friend, the warmth of her arm.

"We're going to have to roll with what the world gave us. Because Gandalf (he's a wizard) was right, even when it hurts and it's unfair. So...so I'm gonna help you. And Suli, and Juni! U-until this thing sorts itself out. And we'll find your maid and you'll figure that out too."

And she looks up with her eyes still sparkling with tears, but full of hope too. That's what a good hug does for you.

[Aadya gets a string of course]

Return to Thellamie

Yuki's hand trembles. Is it a shiver of fear? Of anger? She puts down her teacup carefully, so carefully, but even so it clatters against the saucer, a ring of little tremors as her hand shakes.

Then she just loses it. "Aadya...what the fuck? How am I supposed to even start on this? What, do you want me to tell you something wise?! I've got the quote, first thing I thought of is Gandalf telling Frodo that we can wish all we want to have had different times but that all we can do is decide how to use the time that's given us."

Yuki balls her fist, slams it on the table. The teacups rattle again. Some people look over and then quickly look away. "I know what I'm supposed to feel, Aadi! So do you! But fuck that. Doesn't make it hurt any less! No, I don't know why it wasn't me, why it can't be me. I guess I'm just not the right person for the job this time. Fate decided that whatever I had when I was twelve, I don't fucking have it now. Or fuck, maybe I do but it's the wrong thing to beat the...I dunno who are we even fighting, the rot star maybe? Whatever, doesn't matter, whatever beat Azaza isn't gonna win here, so it's not me, it's Hazel."

She takes a deep, shuddering breath, holds up a hand to stop Aadya from talking. "I am doing the best I can, the absolute best I can to be happy for him. He deserves to be happy. He deserves this adventure. Who the fuck am I to tell him that I deserve it more than he does, huh? So...so why would you want it to be me then? You want me to try and take it? Join the hunters? I'm not doing that to Suli and Juni! I won't, I refuse!" She pounds the table with both hands palm down.

Then she stares at Aadya. A part of her is aware that Aadya just beat herself up too. That Aadya can't imagine a world where she's not pushing herself to her absolute limit all the time until it breaks her. Yuki should reassure her about that somehow. But, she doesn't have the words. She doesn't have any words left. All she can manage is to slide over next to Aadya, hold onto her arm, and cry as she remembers again what it felt like to be filled with starlight.