Nobody wants a dumb rock from the Highlands.

Lowlanders’ll tell you to sand away the rough edges, paint it in an inoffensive floral pattern, and so long as it makes the right noises [i]maybe[/i] it’ll be worth something. Highlanders’ll tell you there’s more than just dumb rocks up here, and any dumb rocks that happen to be nearby ought to keep their mouths shut if they don’t want to [i]talk about it[/i] later. N’yari are huge jerks who only want to suplex dumb rocks because it makes for a good laugh for a night and then they’re off for whatever catches their eye next.

Dumb rocks don’t get held. Dumb rocks don’t warm up from the rain beneath another, enveloped in them, every twist and pull caught with heavy, cushioning softness. Nobody’s ever looked at a dumb rock like it was the most precious, most valuable thing they’d ever known, like just being near it made them happy like nothing else could. A dumb rock could go its whole life, and never imagine somebody filled with a hunger for you, for your lips, for your stupid, trembling face as they devour you whole and still want more, more, [i]more[/i]

When Machi finally pulls away, when Han finally remembers to breath, and her lungs fill in wild gasps, and her eyes stay fixed on that impish mouth, and her thoughts put themselves in a language she recognizes, they bring to her a terrible realization:

[i]Oh gods above and below Machi was serious. [/i]

The whole time. She. She meant every word. Every flirt and every poem and every moonlight serenade slash wrestling championship was. Was. Oh [i]no.[/i]

She, she couldn’t. This wasn’t. How. This was a fight! They were fighting! And then, they weren’t, and she. She just. Twice. And. Was she going to do it again? (And if not, why did that make her heart sink?) But why. Why?! They were fighting! They’d always been fighting! (Would anyone ever look at her like that again?) Machi was. She’d. A bully! A big, dumb, strong bully who was still so very very close to her face and. And. (What if this is her only chance? What if this never happens again? With anyone?) She. She had to...to...

[i]Share?[/i]

Oh. That’s right.

She...had to stop. This, and Machi. Because the N’yari didn’t actually want a dumb rock from the Highlands, she wanted Han’ya of the Oei. Because every victim she’d carry on her back betrayed a little girl who dreamed of a life free of bullies, and no amount of kisses(?!?!?) could make her forget that. Not even if she just kidnapped everyone who really had it coming. Because, today, a kind-hearted little priestess didn’t deserve to get roped up (literally) in...in her stupid nonsense.

(Because mom would get her rose-candy sticks at New Year’s, no matter what they’d said to each other that day. Because dad still had stories she hadn’t heard, no matter how many of them were going to be too long and too old for her.)

She had to stop.

And she had to stop [i]her.[/i]

[Marking Insecure, Activating [i]Tenacious Purpose[/i]. Goal: Save Lotus and also the rest of the people here from the N’yari. How can she advance her goal in a way that violates civilized norms? 

Oh, and Han is now [i]Smitten[/i] with Machi. The answer to the question “What have you done that you are sure they view as inappropriate?” worked into the post above.]