Phoe

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Something the movies always get wrong is how ugly and stupid looking people get when they start crying, even when it's not one of those deep sorrowful sort of "nothing will ever be good again" kind of cries. Errant takes a napkin, but her mascara's already running and this thing is much too cheap and awful to be of any help. She knows before she even starts wiping, because she's bought this same kind before when she thought she was going to be throwing a party. She sniffles and manages to be neither graceful or cute in the act. How the hell does Sara do it?

She shakes her head. Laugh it off, ok Errant? No, not that laugh! The cool one! The... ugh, you know what nevermind. Another head shake. Keep the conversation moving. First thing that comes to mind, go!

"Yeah, Adila's a real tear factory when she wants to be. But the part that really surprised me about her is how big she actually is. Like, on the show she's a dragon, but perspective is so weird you can never tell if she's horse sized or what. But actually there's plenty of room on her back to have a fist fight without ever needing to step onto her wings or tail. Very strong physique. Really... uh..."

Errant cuts herself short all at once. Her face is suddenly strained with the extra burden of needing not to admit to making illegal extradimensional trips for missions that were deemed classified by a body she doesn't actually know if it still has the power to compel her silence on the matter. It's so much worse because the look on Cinders' face is so very 'oh come on...' that it stings. Behind her, her hair goes tumbling down off of her shoulder and sways back and forth by her arm with what feels like a hundred too many frames of animation. Was it ever going to go back to normal?!

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't believe there's a legit Hyperborea dimension after all that @SARAHPHIM double nonsense! Phimmy alone should be worth an extra fifty credibility points on this! Especially because it was her stupid version of Satan I had to chase all the way over there! And then, get this, that asshole raised Devilhome out of the ground like twenty minutes after I showed up on scene and was still getting my bearings and had the nerve to call me a cartoon character! So I do this once-in-a-lifetime mission and I blow the whole stupid thing chasing a jerk around Devilhome which is basically just here but weirder and I'm still so mad about it! What a waste of a perfectly good emergency..."

She folds her arms across her chest, too deep into pouting to care about what this looks like anymore. Call her out on it, Cinders, she dares you.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

The noises that escape from Alina will follow the guards and cooks and cleaning staff all the way into their dreams tonight. Rhyza must be no less than the greatest interrogator Shazari has ever used to be able to draw these kinds of useless, messy moans out of a princess like this. They drift through the hall like birdsong. And just like birdsong they fill up the hearts of everyone listening until they have to wonder how much longer they can stand it.

Toes scuff on the hallways as feet twist awkwardly back and forth. Thighs rub together while fingers tug on collars and adjust veils, suddenly afraid that they might have come loose. Hands, like thoughts, wander where they might. Is that breathless squeal and sigh coming from her, or from them? D-did you hear that? Oh, er, um... ahem. Ca... carry on.

Alina is blushing brighter than the sun right now. Her tongue is trying to loll its way out of her mouth and her brain is trying its best to stay out of the way. Her eyes are locked on the priceless treasures hidden underneath that happily fluttering tunic. When she slips forward and starts to shove her face in there, is it because the chains have started to come loose and she got taken by surprise? Or is the Princess of Illumina as naughty as her special queen is telling her she is right now? Is she a good actor, or a good girl?

Her voice is dripping with desperation. The helpless lilt of the broken spirit that's no longer sure if it's begging for things to stop or for them to keep going. Lower, faster, more, no, please, yes yes! Stop! Give... let me... let! Yes! Yes! No, yes yes!! Please!

The coin-kissers will make a small fortune tonight. Nobody could listen to this and not think... things. Tonight is for kissing. Tonight is for being held. Tonight is for cool winds drifting over thin sheets, fingers entwining over fingers, for mouths to taste every forbidden flavor until they need to be wiped clean and covered up again with the peeking of the curious sun through the windows. Tonight is for singing and for sighing, for laughing and for teasing, for gentle pats on stomachs and nibbling on ear lobes when they lean in to whisper nonsense. Tonight is for these things. Alina made it so.

But now, unseen by a dozen different fantasies or patrols, she's blushing and breathless and trying as hard as she's ever tried before to both look Rhyza in the eye and avoid doing exactly that. She rubs her wrists, and smiles coyly.

"Come with me," she whispers, "You're worth a dozen of these jewels. Come with me. Escape with me. At least as far as dinner tonight. Let me... r-reward you. My hero~"

And then she has to hide her face in her hands, because it's too much to look right into the fire of those eyes and ask their owner if she likes the sound of sharing her night with two princesses at once.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Mmmffrrble, mrrmMMmmfhthrrrph mmmrrrgh!"

It's useless for Alina to try right now. The knot gag shoved between her dainty lips has her tongue trapped underneath a lump of perfumed silk that doesn't let her mouth even close, let alone form the kind of complex shapes that would let her make words. Her speech is so garbled that even she doesn't know what it was she'd been trying to say. All she can do is make her silly noises and hope they sound more worthy of rescue than more teasooooohhhhhhhh, that's a finger on her neck. Good finger, good finger, mmmmmm, there you go, slide lower, slide lower, slide-- eep!

Oh no, how long has she been drooling?!

Alina's eyes are begging eyes, deep green pools covered over with a glossy haze that seems to want so many different things of her savior just now. Eyes that sparkle and cry, 'yes yes, I am deep in the middle of a plan and I need my Queen to allow me to slip further into Shazari's clutches! Let me see what she wants done with me, let me swim in this moment and lock it in my dreams forever!' Eyes that glisten and beg, 'no no, you idiot, get me out of here! I have an important job to do, and an important kitten to get back to, just set me free and I'll pay you any price you can name!' Eyes that flutter shut and only know the word, 'please, please, please, please, oh!!'

She's straining at her chains, now. She's leaning forward as hard as she can and not caring how much she's drooling on her chest or what her voice sounds like, because she has no words and has to beg. And maybe it's Euphie's fault, or maybe there's always been a little more Mittens in this princess than she'd really prefer to admit, but today begging means lunging forward to press her weight against Rhyza as she buries her silly veil-covered face into that serpentine neck and rubs her cheek against it as she hopes against hope that her message gets across.

But, honestly? She knows she doesn't need it to. Rhyza won't betray her. She might smile like a desert fox and start talking about 'ransoming off a pair of princesses tonight' or whatever flirting strikes her fancy, but she'll never put Alina in a situation that would cause her any harm. This is more... hello. I'm so glad to see you. I'm so glad you're safe. I'm so glad we still get to be friends.

...Ok fine, this might also be begging. Are you happy yet, Rhyza? Please, help her out here? P-p... please? Y-you're not g-gona leave her like this... are you?

Oh, rivers.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Say something, Errant. Do something. Eat the sushi. Smile. Eat sushi while smiling. Breathe. Help her with the god damn chopsticks. Do something, Errant. Say something.

This is the moment for a moving speech. Sara would toss out some clever, marketable quip here. Nobunaga would say something impenetrably profound. This is the moment to do these things. Or something like them. This is the moment to make that sisterly connection, reach out with one hand and risk the death squeeze again because simulated sensory feedback is better than nothing but broken chopsticks. For the love of god, take her by the arm and get the chopsticks to the sushi and the sushi to her mouth before she starts a fight.

Give her tips. Tell her she learned an important lesson. Say something amazing about what those videos are for and how gratifying it is to get to meet someone they actually helped. Be vulnerable, mention the general lack of feedback or positive public response, the way that Production has always been kind of lukewarm about the series for a lot of the same reasons Cinders used to scoff at it. Tell her how she justifies all that work just by sitting here today.

Promise to make her a hero. Promise right here and now, to do whatever it takes, pay whatever it takes to make sure she succeeds. Ask if she's got family. Find a place for her. Be her family. Open that useless fucking mouth, Errant, and say SOMETHING. It can be a line from a movie, what the fuck ever, just do it. Do it before the moment is gone. Do it before...

Errant is sitting there, mutely. Her food's as untouched as Cinders' is. There's something wrong with her heart right now. There's something wrong with the world. All of her feelings are falling away. All of the useless scenery is falling away. All of the sights, all of the sounds, all of the smells are falling away. She is muscle and alloy and nerve and skillwire, set to statue. She's watching a girl reach for a new pair of chopsticks, so carefully.

Her eyes are wet amber. Her mouth is the tiniest bit agape. Her heart beats the only emotion it can remember right now, that most people would call love. Errant, superhero, Corporate Champion, Agent of AEGIS, Princess of AEGIS... her universe's one and only Euna Kim, stares at a girl attached to her prototype limbs. She watches the fingers squeeze oh-so-carefully. Her eyes blur as they trace down the arm, across the shoulder. Down the body. She notes every inch of Cinders' physique. It fills her. She realizes she's not breathing. She starts again.

She opens her mouth to say something, she's not sure what. Something simple, like 'thank you' or 'I'm glad it helped'. But she doesn't make it that far. A word chokes in her throat, and her lips twist themselves up into the kind of smile that's entirely too soft for the world it's living in. Her tears roll quietly down her cheeks.

This is not a moment for words, after all. She wipes at her eyes with one finger, only for fresh love to trickle down in its place.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Alina squirms. When she does, the chains above her rattle sonorously. Her bikini top shakes and clatters like a too-big traitor, as well. Her hair bounces and tumbles like a purple waterfall over tiny, cream colored rocks with every little shift and wiggle. Those are about the only things moving in the room.

The worst part about this,really, was that the prison bikini was about a half a size too big. And when it comes to metal swimwear it's more important than usual to get a good fit, because it tends to be pretty... inflexible, just like this is. Alina squirms again, even though she really probably shouldn't. She shifts and wiggles, and her bronze top isn't, rrrrrgh, "filled out" enough to keep it still. It shifts against her petite chest, which, eep! Pinches places! Places that ought not be pinched! And worse than that it keeps slipping in ways that threaten to expose far too much Cascade to the room.

And it's not really about the embarrassment of the exposure, really, so much as it's... they don't have this in her size? In her size?? Does Shazari mean to tell her that she's so unprepared for this moment that she doesn't even have a uniform prepared for the one prisoner she's dreamed of having for at least the last six years? What, does she not know Alina's measurements or something? Or is it just that she's -- Eeeeeeeep!!!

Ohhhhhhhhh rivers, that's a big guard. Oh gosh, oh lights, oh... mmmmmff! that is one big, firm, u-um... d-don't get distracted, Alina! Think about escaping! Think about escaping to Rita, not what this living statue is about to do! Alina tries desperately to flatten herself up against the wall, but her chains are too short and all she manages to do is wiggle suggestively. She blushes, squeezes her eyes shut, and shakes her head no no no no, please no, don't come any closer, please...!

"Rrrhhhmmmm?"

Her heart almost leaps out of her chest at the thought. Then the blush starts creeping across every inch of her body, where no veil can hide it. Her toes curl and her legs draw submissively in on themselves as best they're able. She's never tried to look so small and helpless and beneath notice in her entire life! She's never felt so small and helpless in her entire life. It jolts up her spine like lightning mixed with feathers, and fills her brain with images she'll never shake for as long as she lives. For some reason, the number 3 floats across the top of all these fears and fantasies. She shivers. She tries her best not to... oh, who is she kidding? She lets out the kind of moan that would make a web viper blush. And the kind of followup squeak that would make a certain flame haired mercenary practically split her face in half with a smirk.

Rivers. Why couldn't they ever meet when things weren't like this?

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Well this is a... choice."

Unlimited sanction, Errant. Unlimited means unlimited. So this is... fine. Her eyes flicker down for a brief moment while she pulls her bank account information forward on the private data streams in her contacts. She tries very hard not to wince. Unlimited means unlimited, even if it's expensive and delicate food that Cinders would probably destroy more of than actually get to her mouth.

This is what she asked for. So this would be fine. Errant spares another glance at the owner of this place before she smoothly climbs up onto a stool herself. Inside her heart, there beats a wish. And that wish is, simply: please oh please let this place actually be an assassin's den. Granted, that could easily lead to a deadly fight while she's got a kid with her she needs to protect, but if she's learned one thing about criminal front restaurants, it's that they're absurdly cheap relative to quality.

She's halfway to reaching for a menu to thumb through before she stops and simply stares at the broken chopsticks instead. She folds her hands together on the bar top and smiles placidly. It's better if she just... doesn't know.

"Maybe consider ordering takeout," she tries, "Unless you want... well, anyway. As long as we're waiting, are you feeling up to another Q&A session? Because there's something I'm really curious about. When you saw me walk in your room... what made you jump straight to 'I'm gonna be a superhero'? That's not usually an effect I tend to have on people, you know."

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Wait. Wait wait wait hey stop what are yoooooooOOOOUUUf!"

Ok! First of all! This is! Not a! Kidnapping! Alina is not! Being captured! Right now! Ok? She's just! Eeep! Just! EeeeeeeEEEep!! That doesn't! Eeeep! Go there! Hey stop! Don't tou-huhuhahahahaha!

Alina's squeaks are indignant and shrill. Her flailing is useless, but beautiful. Her shawl is floppy. No wait, it's on the floor. Her hair is bouncier than anything. Her butt is too high in the air, and her wind is not where it needs to be to do crucial tasks like breathing, thinking, or speaking with royal elegance.

"You jerk, I trust-eeep-ed you! We were -oof!- having aaAAaaa moment! I was just about to-- guh! Just abouuooorg! Rivers, why are you so tall! It's not fair! That's illegal! Height crimes! I'm reporting you!"

This is not a kidnapping or an arrest or whatever it is you think this looks like, ok? It's not! This is just a... minor setback! A surprise! No no, wait, go back! It's a... a... uh... a feint! Yeah, that's got it, a ruse! Step one in Alina's brilliant 11 point fool proof escape plan.

She has to... you know, act helpless and captured and squeaky and YEEEEP! Er, flustered, yes, so Shazari will lower her guard! That's why she hasn't used her lights to zip herself to some window or fill Shazari's pants with ferrets or flip her onto her back with dragon strength or, or um...

No no no no, no wait! Go back, go back, go back! This is the real actual truth this time, ok? This is a... a uh... um... a charity case! Yeah! Alina's just feeling sorry for Shazari, so she's letting her have this win, ok? That's something a Cascade would do, right? Intentionally play the final hand as wrongly as possible so her rival can go out feeling like she's on top. As an apology for all the difficulties she's had to endure recently. As a thank you for the Fire-Sharks, even though Shazari had nothing to do with that, just a thank you to, you know, Jedad in general for making Fire-Sharks exist when Illumina needed them the most. So now their crown princess gets a moment of glory and Jedad gets a new story and a song about the wily Princess Alina was finally brought to justice. Let it never be said that anybody steals the crown jewels of Jedad nine times and gets away with it!

...It's definitely, definitely NOT that this has been one of Alina's secret fantasies since she was thirteen and started really noticing how pretty other girls could be. Don't be ridiculous. Just because she's so tall firm and moves like dancing serpents and her hair smells like warm spices doesn't mean anything! It's completely coincidental that she's the one princess in Hyperborea who understands all the complexities of Alina-the-master-thief and takes her seriously enough to try and compete with her in every arena. You're thinking too hard about this. Stop it.

I mean, look. If that were the case, would she really be crying out like a damsel in distress so much? That's what I thought.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

There was a moment in that room where Errant simply smiled through gritted teeth and said "No problem". That was the first moment she'd ever really regretted having real feeling in her hands again. It was an awkward moment that had her questioning how much of her toughness was just the ability to switch pain reception off when it became inconvenient. But that was then.

This is later, in the hospital parking lot. There's still not much in the way of light here: just the neons of the signs blaring above them, the golden lights running through Errant's implants, and the red ones in Cinders'. Errant reaches her arm down, clasps it firmly around Cinders' wrist in a way that prevents her from squeezing back in turn, and pulls her back out of the wheelchair and onto her feet again.

"Sorry about not letting you walk out under your own power," she shrugs, "Hospital protocol. It's nothing you did wrong, they just need it to be my fault if... you know what, that doesn't matter, never mind. Also sorry I don't have a car waiting. You know, I've got licenses to operate fourteen different vehicle types, and I never drive anywhere for myself? Not that I can afford most of the things I'm allowed to-- um, a-anyway."

She turns toward the street. In the same motion, her hands pull out an ash-gray beret and automatically angle it on her head so that her face is blocked from the view of the parking lot cameras. She shrugs again, but stays quiet about it. It's a cute look, if nothing else. She grins, this time without pain.

"All right then Cinders, unlimited sanction: tell me where we're getting food. And then we've got a lot to talk about, I think."

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

She's so startled she forgets to check around her and see if this is an ambush. Alina squeaks, because that's the sound she can make right now. And then she flushes a darling shade of pink, because that's the thing that she can do right now. Her eyes are wide and her face is tense with pure bewilderment and she's looking down at Shazari's head and this has never happened before. She has no language for this. There aren't any cards in her hand for her to play anymore.

And speaking of her hand, she just barely manages to notice that one of hers is sneaking forward on its own to touch Shazari's shoulder. Maybe to pat it? She freezes a mere second before disaster strikes, but now her hand's just sort of awkwardly hovering there, which is at least as bad.

"Please, there's no need for... under your circumstances, I would have thought the same of... you have nothing to..."

Nowhere in Illumina do they teach their princesses to mumble like this. But if they did, no one would be better at it than Alina Cascade is right now. Second after awkward second ticks by and all she's done is make an idiot of herself. But then, as if by magic, she finds her breathing again. And after that, her heart. And then, finally, her words. Her hand drops down that final impossible inch, and she brushes the shoulder of her oldest and fiercest rival.

"For what it's worth, I forgive you. Ninian has tricked a lot of people, and her father even more than her. You were doing your part as the Princess of Jedad, for your land, for your mother, for your people, for your... um, snake, and for your sister. I couldn't ask more from Ourania herself. So just, please, stand up Shazari. This is embarrassing."

There are some who say that Alina's heart grew three sizes that day. All of them live in the Bazaar. That's just the way of things. People talk. Rivalries continue. But for one very tiny moment, perhaps, two princesses understood each other, even though their lives had taught them not to come together like this. Perhaps not to even try. There's a quiet magic in this instant that almost matches the raw power of the Caduceus.

Plus, if she's magnanimous enough for long enough right now, she might be able to skip town again without having to talk about any crown jewels that may or may not be where they're supposed to be right now. One more slip out from this snare, and she's free forever. Or at least until she has to write the letter inviting Shazari to Illumina to discuss reopening trade for the first time in ages. Maybe even... no, she's getting ahead of herself. Free forever. Free forever! She'll be a legend!

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

Did she just? Did she really just? That's not fair! That's cheating! That's... ooooh, darn it. Alina's good and stuck now. If she consents and walks over she's handing Shazari the upper hand for the rest of this little encounter. If she escapes, even if it's the most graceful and memorable escape in their long history together, she'll still be the loser stuck outside the House of Hospitality in her pajamas that she didn't even pick out herself. To say nothing of the... you know, the other problems with that option. Plus, that's playing right into Shazari's impressions of her! She... long term, Alina, long term. Darn it. Darn it! She's so good, that Shazari! When did she get this good?

...Thinking about it, she probably should not have written that letter the last time she was here. That's why this is happening right now, definitely. If she'd simply not written anything and quietly slipped away into the night, everything would be fine right now.

Well, no. The letter needed to be written. The guilt would have eaten her alive if she hadn't. But she shouldn't have given it to Tashanna! Letting anybody see it was the real mistake. If she'd just written it and burned it, everything would be fine right now.

Well, no. Again. She needed to write it and she needed to give it to someone who was definitely going to hand it to Shazari. What would be the point in writing it just for herself? The real problem was the tone she struck. She probably shouldn't have sounded quite so... triumphant. You know, so taunting. If she'd been more polite and conciliatory, explained that this had been for Jessamine's sake and nothing more, maybe Shazari would have understood. She'd be playing less viciously right now, at least. Right?

But, well. It's just... at the time? Alina really thought that when Shazari finally managed to find her way out of that giant snake, she'd appreciate things feeling normal for a few seconds more than any other thing Alina could give her. That's why Tashii got the long letter telling her how brave and beautiful she was and not to give up on herself just because of what happened with Helya, and Shazari got the one that was pretty much just the princessly equivalent of 'Haha, got your jewels, loser! Come get me!'

She's paying for it now, she thinks bitterly. Nuts. Pear on a lemon cake. The only play she's got left is to try being the bigger princess. Metaphorically. Sh-shut up!

Alina swallows and does her best to at least make sure her shawl is on perfectly straight before anything else. When she walks over, it's at least with the kind of easy grace she's so well known for. If she's got to play a losing hand, if nothing else she'll look amazing doing it. A princess must always be beautiful. She smiles.

"Well, if you're sure," she says mildly. She hopes it's mildly, anyway, "But I insist you come by tonight anyway. It's been so long since we've seen each other, it would be a shame to waste this chance on trifles."