Chen blushes. "Mommy, I, um...thank you" She holds the hug another moment, and then lets them part. There were still a lot of things to be said. She kind of wanted to go talk to other people around the city and understand why they all jumped over themselves to please Ysel. She had her own stories, that feeling of how much it hurt when Ysel disapproved and how hard won her approval was. But was that everybody's experience? Chen had always thought that she was treated uniquely because she was Ysel's and Hestia's heir. The twinshard princess and all that. It had never occurred to her that everyone else might have felt the same way about Ysel, or that Ysel might have felt like the whole world was the same and been hoping and praying that her daughter, at least, would rise above it. They would need to work on that together. Maybe Ysel could take a vacation after this and share some photos of her having fun (assuming her fun did not involve only destroying other people in the locales choice of hot or cold weather sports at least). Well, they'd figure something out after all this. It just felt, well, it felt to Chen like she wanted to be Ysel's daughter for the first time in a really long time and that was really special.

But, now her family was safe and she needed to get back and find Rose and get to Yue. Chen had gone and rushed off and she had thought Rose was right behind her, but she'd landed without her sweet handmaiden so, that was going to be the first order of business. One of the things Chen loved about Rose was how even though she was silly and vulnerable and wanted to taken care of no matter, she had the capacity to be strong and tough, so Chen could rely on her when she needed help. So Chen figured Rose would be fine even if she had been trying to throw herself into trouble to delay for her princess like a sillyhead. 

"Mommy, if you want my, um...tactical advice...tactical's the right word right?...anyway um, go fight off Yin's forces and Qiu's regular army, and avoid the big burrow demons and Qiu herself. I'm gonna find my handmaiden and we're gonna stop Qiu." Then she smiled and flew up to survey the field. 

***

When Chen first looked over the concourse and saw not only the Pyre of Inspiration with all her circus but a new lamia-like beast ringed with thorns and briars, she wasn't sure exactly what to make of it. It was scary, but the one that was definitely her little Rosepetal looked like she was winning! And while Chen couldn't necessarily have told you in advance that Rose was capable of kaiju battle, if you'd asked her, she wouldn't have said that Rose [i]wasn't[/i] capable of it because in addition to being a silly little handmaiden who needed a firm hand to guide her, she was also a powerful giant magic woman and so why not, right? Maybe this was just how powerful old world creatures went at it and her petal would just do that once in a great while and would be mad at Chen for interfering? Maybe she'd even want to play a game of the mouse bringing down the titan if they could find a large and private enough space~

But there was also a myth about this sort of thing in Sourcefall. They used to say that there were spirits of the old world, demonic things of anger and hatred that could take over a person and turn them into an oni, a great ogre driven only by obsession. These were cautionary tales. The old spirits could only take you like that if you became obsessed and forgot how to be a person. They were lessons for children to teach them to become well-rounded adults. If they became too obsessed with fighting, or dancing, or any of their passions, they might forget why they were doing it at all and invite in a dark spirit that would turn them into an oni. Then they would attack the people they once cared about or anyone else who tried to stop them from doing what they were meant to do. 

There was one story that had been made into a stage play that Chen had seen. It was set generations back, too long ago to be remembered properly. A princess had lost someone she loved very much and had found fighting to be the only thing that brought her any comfort. She had trained her own daughter to fight, and had trained her in unusual techniques for facing large monsters, even though such things were quite rare and not typically needed for a princess in training. The old princess, once she had finished the years of her daughter's training, went off to meditate and train alone because she was tired and she wanted nothing more than to dance with her sword. A year later, a great oni had appeared in Sourcefall from the north. A strange beast that stood as tall as a house, with a great blade of ice that could not melt and long frozen hair that ran down its body and wrapped it about like a sash. It had come and begun tearing down the outer villages, running and smashing and shouting wordlessly to be faced. It rejected all but the younger princess, who had been summoned from the castle with her retinue to face the beast. It's said that when she saw it, she began to cry, for she knew it was her mother and that her mother had known this would happen. Then their duel is shown on stage. The oni mother poses for the audience in a stance of power and charges, then the daughter moves, and they dance, a beast and a princess. The audience always loved this part, each choreographer would do their own version of the duel, it was never the same twice. But at the end, the daughter always landed her cut, and as the great oni fell, her mother said "thank you" and smiled. 

Could that story have been based on creatures such as Rose and the Pyre?

So then, Chen first circled the air a bit, trying to understand the nature of what she was looking at and whether she could help or needed to help. Perhaps Rose was fine, perhaps she had lost herself, Chen needed to know. She realized the true nature of the problem when she got around to Rose's face. When she could see the tears. Then her eyes were drawn to the ribbons, hers and Yue's. That was the moment that her heart broke. That she knew how much Rose was hurting, that whatever this was, her sweet Rosepetal didn't want it. Oh Petal. What happened? She had thought you were doing fine! You'd done all that training with Keron, you'd worked together so well in the escape, like dancers who knew every step even as you improvised in real time! How could she have let this happen?! 

At first, Chen wanted to beat herself up. Stupid little girl, Chen! She had taken her Rose for granted, been so concerned for her own worries that she'd rushed off as fast as she could and assumed that Rose wouldn't have any troubles or do anything silly! But Rose needed her! Rose was hurting and her own heart was breaking and that meant Chen didn't have the luxury of time to beat herself up! She had to reach Rose before she lost herself, before the tears stopped. 

If Chen had entered the city as a comet, she is now a bolt of lightning streaking through a clear sky. She flies to Rose, heedless of the thorns that cut her, and latches onto her neck, her own momentum sending her swinging around the much larger lamia like a ring tossed about a pole as she settles into holding as much of her girlfriend as she can get her arounds around. 

"Petal! Rose! My Rose!" she cries, as loud as her voice can shout through her little body! There are tears running down her cheeks and she shudders. "I'm sorry, Rose, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have left you alone! I..." She sobs, and clings to Rose tighter, even though some of the thorns are tearing at her own dress and ripping her sleeves. None of that matters. "Whatever you think you're doing, stop! Stop it! You don't have to do it for me. You don't have to hurt yourself for me, or or or for anyone! You're beautiful, and you're strong and weak and soft and hard all at once, and you're perfect! And, and you need to come back so we can buy you a new dress here in Ys, they have the best dresses, and your cute veil is all torn! And, m-maybe we can get matching outfits together, like Keron did, so we can look like the big and small version of the same theme cuz I think you're really cute and..." Chen is blabbering, like she does, just holding onto her Rose, ignoring the other demons, the circus, whatever Rose might have been doing. She clings as tight as she can, and buries her face in the soft space below Rose's chin. "Rose, I love you and I won't let you lose yourself. I won't! Come back to me! Please!"

[Chen will roll emotional support: 6+2+2=10. Since Chen and Rose are smitten, Rose can pick two options if she opens up.]