[b]Yuki![/b]

The attendant mirrors you, dear. She's hovering above Civelia but not touching her, for all that her fingers tremble. Her attention is split between the both of you: goddess and former heroine.

"Those are good and noble goals," she breathes. Her tail brushes up against yours. She finally finds the volition to brush one thumb against Civelia's cheek. "I applaud them. I emulate them. Go in peace, my dear."

She makes a Civil gesture to steady you, to give you confidence in the true meaning of civilization, and you feel... orderly. Organization-minded, for a moment. Possessed of a desire to make things clean and neat. Everything in its place. And that's almost but not quite the same - but it's not as if you have [i]much[/i] exposure to Civil magic, is it?

She takes a String on you and inadvertently spends it immediately: if you go out and act in a way that is [i]maidish[/i], you may mark XP, and it will feel [i]incredibly[/i] fulfilling. We're talking shivers down your spine and warmth in your heart fulfillment.

[hr]
[b]Eclair Espoir![/b]

What were you thinking?

I mean, not that [i]I[/i] need to know. But I would wager a night's winnings that you're asking yourself that as you maneuver your way through the crowd, which is watching some barbaric Crevas domination ritual play out over that nice young man. Well, you [i]did[/i] warn him, so you can hardly be blamed for focusing on navigating by rote and considering what courage or folly possessed you.

You haven't looked back, have you? Brave heart, you can't look back. You'll run into someone.

But someone else intends to run into you.

The Architect-Knight interposes herself in the path of the Mystery Builder. Two famous in the arts of construction, but one is a beautiful maid in disguise, and the other is a massive, hirsute woman out of time, suspended for centuries in the cells of Heron the Hero. There are ribbons tied in the endless curtains of her hair, and lace gloves have been forced onto her hands.

[i]"Here is heedless / haughty-heaping
Builder bowling / bankers back,
Having hardly / harkened hither
To my trials / taken, tanked."[/i]

Which is so much to say that she's sore that you had the audacity to show her up. You've got to maneuver around her without her succumbing to the temptation to add some new walls to the ballroom.

[hr]
[b]Handmaidens![/b]

"You work with the hero, yah?"

One of you has gotten ambushed by two lovely foxgirls, one on either side. They've had a transformation of their own to equal that of Hazel Valentine Fletcher. Their silks shimmer in multiple colors where the light hits them, their jewelry is studded with the many, [i]many[/i] jewels of their homeland, and they smell of seduction. But their wings are sharp against their lashes and their shadow is bright and ready for war.

"We're going to want her help tonight," Seli says, slipping an arm around the fortunate handmaiden who's been cornered in one of the side passages. "There'll be glory!"
"Heroism!"
"Daring battle!"
"The reunion of lovers!"
"The punishment of lovers!"
"[i]ara ara,[/i] we'll just have to~"
"Yah, we will~"
"But we need-"
"The mighty-"
"[i]Heron![/i]"

Keli swishes a hip into devastating contact. "So do go fetch our cousin, yah?"

[hr]
[b]Purnima Karn-Pana![/b]

In retrospect what really gets you is the need for your victory to be glorious. Only the [i]best[/i] opponent would do, naturally. Someone so talented, so dreadful, so beautiful, that your crushing and absolute victory would be all the grander and more striking. And that's where the knife pries open the heart, and that's where the light comes in.

"Don't think you'll win him just because you're drop-dead gorgeous," you sneer. The crowd laughs at her, devastatingly. "You think you can hold him with these smooth, firm arms?" You toss your hair at the very idea, rubbing your forehead against hers. Everyone's backing you up, even if she's towering. "He's [i]mine[/i], and when you see me with him, you'll be so jealous that you're not here, getting kissed, by me, like--"

In retrospect this is the only thing that could have happened. She is awful and the worst and you have to show him. You [i]have[/i] to show him that you'll kiss him sloppy like this. This is what it looks like to win. The gasps? Your triumph. The snap of tablet shutters? Immortalizing the moment. You hardly even need to grip him as firmly any more. Is she wearing a new perfume? The fiend. How dare she look so incredibly, phenomenally seductive in order to win the heart of this deerboy?

You break away. She's probably twice as breathless as you. Gosh, when did your tail get so silly? "And now," you pant, your lips covered in her perfection, "it's only a matter of time before I [i]win[/i]." You giggle in a very commanding and confident way and then slither into a refreshment table because you can't take your eyes off her.

This is how you win.

He'll be over any moment to congratulate you on how brave and cool and sexy you are, because even if Sulochana is even braver and cooler and sexier, you're still the best. This makes perfect sense.

Maybe you need to kiss her again to show dominance.

[hr]
[b]Hazel![/b]

You're in Sulochana's coils. A bright red, blushing, trying to hide her face Sulochana. A Sulochana squeezing all around you like she would a teddy bear. This would be a perfect time for you to distract yourself from the solid minute of Nagi makeouts that you were right in the middle of, the soft bouncy middle of, by being charming and asking her to dance.

Are [i]you[/i] any more composed than she is, in this moment? When she's won and you are [i]hers[/i], before the sight of all of Vespergift, at least for this long moment where it's just the two of you under the spotlight? (Up on the balcony, an undead warlord seethes over how her moment has been taken by some noodle of a girl.)

also you'd better do it quick before purnima tries for a second round

you know

if you don't want a second round

just saying, darling