[b]Handmaidens![/b]

Oh, Rurik. Dear, sweet Rurik. I am truly in awe of your memorizational abilities. But, perhaps, not in your sense of when and what to share. Some of the coded information in those genealogies — the choice of organization, the nicknames, the substitutions — would be dangerous if it got into the hands of someone like Walking Elm.

For that is the way of Aestival, yah? Nothing as it seems, especially the ridiculousness. The jokes are more than just part of the patter. Hidden in the names of those genealogies are keys to all [i]sorts[/i] of wonderful goodies in the Stacks.

Which makes it all the more galling for me that Seli interrupts. Without even properly writing it down, even! Girl, do you know how desperately the High Council of Garnet desires the secrets hidden in “DRAGON PRINCESS, DRAGON PRINCESS II, DRAGON PRINCES”? Evidently not. This is quite lowering your score.

“Golden Years,” she says, placing her hands on his shoulders with uncharacteristic seriousness. “When I said I needed Heron—“

“We really [i]do[/i] need her,” Keli continues. The brief swish of tail on tail would likely put the shiver up the spine of a younger man. “I promise, it’s impressive!”
“But we have to save a damsel in distress before the stroke of midnight—“
“If not before.”
“[i]She’s[/i] impatient, yah?”
“Thank starlight Olly convinced her—“
“Not to have our heads—“
“As trophies, iyaah!”
“Which is why—“
“We [i]must[/i] have Heron!”

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

Naturally, coming through the front entrance to the sauna is too perilous. That’s guarded, after all. And this is clearly not a time for delays or distractions.

Fortunately, there is an unobtrusive skylight. The sauna in question is a single-room cabin, the height of confidentiality, with Crevasi stained glass allowing light through but maintaining a veil of privacy. It is through this window that you make your entrance.

And through the haze of the Goodnight Special comes Timtam, on you before you’re even able to hit the ground. A flick of the hand and she has her fan, and all the passion of her heart is bound wickedly within it. 

“Good evening, darling,” she purrs, hemming you in, not going for a decisive kill but also not yet turning to deal with the Heroine of Crevas, who is wiping at the floor in a simple shift. “Whatever could the Mystery Builder be doing, sneaking in here without an invitation? To finish the [i]job,[/i] perhaps?”

And then she giggles, and it’s [i]cute.[/i] It’s, dare I say, brat. Maybe it’s yet another of her wicked tools to knock you off balance (remember the firecrackers, don’t let those leave your memory), but… it sounds like she’s having [i]fun.[/i]

[hr]
[b]Yuki Edogawa![/b]

Fighting is often [i]very[/i] untidy. Except, you know, when it’s a hot bit of foreplay, or when it’s being done with acceptable precision. Your friend Eclair Espoir was very good at knowing the difference.

Just reminding you of her. You know. For no particular reason.

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

I regret to inform you that Sulochana can hardly help herself. You feel yourself being pushed off that precipice, being pushed [i]down,[/i] to where following Sulochana’s orders will be effortless and delightful. Because you want that, don’t you? You do want to [i]obey.[/i]

What a good boy she’s got in her coils.

But before she can shove you into the Silly Zone, there is a polite little cough at her elbow, and a handsome boy happens to be standing there. “Ma’am,” Alcideo says with a smile and a half-bow, “here with a reminder that the ball is for [i]dancing.[/i] I know he’s cute, but it would be a waste to leave this ballroom unused, wouldn’t it?”

The coils loosen. You have to find your own feet (don’t worry, Alcideo is there with a hand to cling to). She’s [i]mortified,[/i] aware once again that everyone’s watching, and that her reputation is likely in [i]tatters.[/i] But she gamely takes your hands and says:

“…would you. Would you like me to show you how we dance in Crevas? You’ll need to be able to keep up…”

Your feet are floating. She means to lead you through a shimmying Crevasi dance, all tummy sways and tail thumps (you can replicate them with a stomp of your hoof, if you like). If you don’t like it, she will be defeated here, and it will be a defeat that it is difficult to recover from.

[i]Do[/i] you like it? Will you let her pick you up into the air over her head for the last pose?