"...Tianic? Tianic?! Are you serious? Why the hell would Tianic--" Yin cuts herself off to watch her other students, who have correctly concluded from their instructor's posture that the lesson for today is finished. And thank goodness! They're all tired and hungry, and nothing really feels better than the meal you get after a good workout like this. Right? That's right, isn't it? That's so right! They break apart into smaller clusters, gossiping about this and that and really nothing at all as they wander away without a 'thank you' or a bow or any sign of gratitude or acknowledgment at all. The Once Upon a Princess stares darkly at her retreating backs and clears her throat. "Baths." This is not a request. And Yin does not shout. In fact she barely more than whispers the word. And nobody even pauses in their little conversations. It's kind of weird, right? This feeling? Does it surprise you how little they seem to respect you? Does it? Is this finally the moment where you tell me yes? Or do I have to keep repeating myself? The groups cluster together again without coordinating. The paths they tread all converge into a single cluster again, and their steps all lead in a direction they hadn't been traveling before. You know, without asking, that they're on their way to wash off. That meal'll feel better [i]after[/i] a good soak. Y'know? Maybe a teeny nap. Take a good long minute to really feel the fatigue in those muscles before indulging. They disappear over a hill and now it's just the pair of you. Yin turns her back to you. She is beautiful and passionate, and ohhhhhh. Goodness goshies. She is [i]strong.[/i] Her light it radiant and in this exact moment she is denying it to you, pulling you around to seek it out again. But whether you're scared or just turned out, whether your panic compels you to seek reassurance or your self confidence pushes you to slink away or your indignation just kinda makes you want to punch her for being like this, she turns around again all on her own before you can move. She illuminates nothing. She is just a girl after all. And you can tell just from the look in her eyes how much effort it takes to make that be true. Princess Yin, it used to go. Princess Yin. Silent screams above the din. If it was cool to smoke a cigarette, this is the moment she would do it. But Yin doesn't befoul her lips with anything, not even a lollipop. She just sighs, and you have to imagine the smoke for yourself. "I know whose strings you're caught up in, for the record." ***** Yue takes the sword and slings it carelessly across her back. What holds it there is a mystery I leave to you to ponder. She turns away and scrambles over to her bag, which she starts rooting around inside of. "Hey now, these aren't toys. You've gotta be careful with a blade, y'know?" Her smile is warm as she approaches Dany. She unspools a roll of clean linen and dips a mess of herbs into the waters of the shrine. Then she carefully smears the mixture across the cut on that perfect hand and wraps her bandages tight. It's not expert care by any means, it's too tight by half for one, but it's still a little surprising how instantly the whole thing starts to feel better once she's finished. Especially when she takes that hand and lifts it to her lips to kiss the spot where her blade bit in. You've got amazing bodies that can heal from just about anything with nothing but a little sleep and some weird food. This is something different. I'm not so arrogant as to say it's better, but it's warm and soft and tastes nothing like being force fed nanite capsules for your own good. Moreover it's important to Yue even if it's not important to you. She gives Redana one more little squeeze and then pushes herself back up off of her knees to look at Bella, who is staring at the scene dumbfounded. "Sorry for the wait. You ready?" Yue steps back into her circle of weapons and sticks her toes under that heavy iron, studded club. This is called a 'kanebo', by the way. It's a weapon that's really best suited to demons and stuff that reminds you of them. She lifts her knee into the air and her foot kicks it up into the air so that it floats in a lazy arc where Bella can easily catch it. She offers a bow to her opponent once she's properly armed, and tries her best not to spoil the moment by letting the wince show on her face from where she stubbed her toe trying to be cool. Stupid sandals. This is why true adventurers wear boots. There is tension in the air, under the moonlight. Hesitation. Doubt. Bella snarls, and her grip around the heavy club tightens so hard the metal seems to moan. "If you think these little displays are gonna throw me off my game, I'm going to kill you. Don't fuck with me, little girl." "Excuse you?" Yue says through a very obvious wince, "I would never! That's the rudest thing anyone's ever said to me, oh my gosh!" I can't compare her to lightning, or a god, or even to a beautiful ghost who loved the sword. Yue is just Yue. When she comes at Bella, leaping through the air and drawing her sword in a single smooth motion, it is not faster than the eye can follow. It isn't even, now that you look a little closer, all that smooth. Her form is plainly ridiculous. But she's coming from [i]above[/i] Bella and that's not something anyone was expecting, and it's all the catgirl can do to raise her weapon to block in time. You'd expect her to throw Yue off easily. To swing that mighty arm of hers with such force that the gangly awkward girl pressing down on her would sail all the way to the moon. You'd expect her to use her free hand maybe to just punch Yue in the jaw or else ram those wicked claws through her ribs, since her snarling face seems so determined to do real hurt here. But the blow is heavier than she expected. She needs both hands to keep the club steady. Her legs are actually trembling under the pressure of that silly swing, and her foot claws need to dig into the stone, which starts to crack and... "Whoops! Let's not go breaking this place too much, if we can help it." Yue drops back and slides across the stone. She lifts her blade up into a battle stance and has barely set her form before Bella howls and pounces on her. I think even saying 'pounces' doesn't sell it right. It's not like she goes sailing through the air like Yue, right? It's more like, one second she's standing there with her back arched and her head turned toward the moon with a scream on her lips, and in the next she's on top of Yue, bringing that club down on her with the force of a meteor. It doesn't land. There isn't even a struggle for dominance, no crossing blades and determined faces scowling or smirking at each other. Yue simply flicks her wrist and her sword smacks away the kanebo like it was a pool noodle. Do they have pool noodles where y'all're from? I hope so. The alternative is too sad to even contemplate. Bella's eyes turn black they've gone so wide, before melting into golden pools with trembling slivers of a cat's slit inside of them. She tries again. And again. And again. Her strikes get faster and more powerful as she goes, until she's moving quickly enough to land one from the front and the back at basically the same time. Yue's form looks lazy in comparison; all she does is pivot a little bit on her feet so that her sword is facing the kanebo. And every time: thwack, twink, thwud! It should be impossible. It [i]is[/i] impossible. Bella hurls the club and it rips dull whooshes through the air toward Yue's head. She ducks out of the way, just barely, and almost trips on the rapier Redana had rejected earlier. The little sword jumps up after her and knocks the kanebo out of the air before it can impale a tree. Did she... do that on purpose? She didn't, right? She basically fell on her face! That was an accident! A fluke! A total dummy maneuver! Oh, sorry. [i]Manoeuvre[/i]. I forgot where I was for a second. But then she kips back up and she's like flowing water crashing into Bella. Her sword cuts into the invincible armor of XIII like it was a piece of wood. And then Yue is swinging up and around the hilt of her own weapon and her foot connects with the underside of Bella's chin and she goes ***** Woah woah woah, buddy buddy buddy! Let's not strain those poor ropes so much ok? Goshies pal I didn't realize you were under so much stress! It must've been a very hard road to come this way after all. You might be a Clearly Evil Space Sheep but those ropes are Just For Fun and this isn't... Here, look. See? Kat reaches behind your back with just one hand, just two fingers actually, and she pulls on the knot. Because it is a Magic Knot, which is to say a Hyra Knot, which is to say a knot about teasing, tricking, and misdirection it slips loose and the whole shibari look you'd had going on turns into a coil of loose rope around your ankles. If Kat was a little bit better at this a pair of doves would have escaped from the loop carrying a ribbon between them, but unfortunately dear Fluffybiscuits takes after her mom and not her mom's girlfriend. ...Oh jeez. I just had a terrible thought. So far everything's worked out on that front 'cause Hyra and Yue aren't married right. But, but, but what if Yue ever (gasps) [i]wins?[/i] What if she proposes and it's the most romantic thing eeeeeevvveeeeerrrrrrrrrr? Kat's already flusterpated by her relationship with the woman who raised her, can she really survive if she's suddenly got [i]two[/i] mommies? Can a world even be ready for such a huge paradigm shift? Oh, buddy. Dang buddy. Wow. Mister Dolce Sir, is this the kind of stuff [i]you've[/i] got goin' on under the sheepy hood? If it's half this heavy then no wonder you look like you've got a fever right now. Poor guy. "Y'know, I was a bad girl once." Kat's fluffers are at maximum floofle. This is a very dangerous thing for a foxgirl to be saying. [i]Here[/i] of all places on the earth! Especially one whose best and some would say only defense is Good Girl. She blushes and hides between her first two tails while the second to shiver behind her. When she unfurls ahead she has a juice box, which she has already poked a straw inside of. She slurps cool, strawberry goodness with an air of Totally Awesome Badass Fox. If such a thing is possible. Yeah that's right! All the cool girls sip their little juice boxes, look it up! Nerd!! "I didn't get a treat after. Even though I asked for it! Really says a lot about society, doesn't it?" People disobey all the time, Dolce. It tends to sort itself out before long, like with Princesses. I mean not that Princesses sort stuff out but... well I mean kinda sometimes? It's complicated business. I'm afraid if you want an itemized list we're gonna be here all year. You really... don't trust it? Us? Do you? That's. That's really sad. That's close to the saddest thing I've ever seen, and I once saw a kitten not get delimshus leaf. You want a juice? I've got apple! ***** flying ten meters into the air before Yue manages to crest over the top of her arc and slams her in the stomach again with another slash from her blade. Bella tumbles gracelessly through the air and splashes down into a reflecting pool, the ripples distorting the moon in a sort of echoed chuckle. Not a mean spirited one, just a... oh, she's up. Water drips from her hair. It glistens on her skin, lit in the gleam of the true moon. Bella plants her feet and watches Yue's descent. Her nose twitches, following the scents of fruit and spice and a teeny bit of sweat. Her tail flicks in the moment she knows the attack is coming, right when the tension in the air shifts just imperceptibly so. She flashes out of the way and in the same instant rakes her claws through the space where the sword is supposed to be cutting her. And hits only air. "What the--" "You're really fast, y'know that? I didn't know anybody could move like that! You'd be great if you weren't so bad, haha!" Bella grits her teeth in frustration and kicks water in Yue's eyes. It's not very sporting, I know, but she's an assassin at the end of the day and she [i]does[/i] have her pride. Yue lifts her sword to block the water and that's when the next strike comes. Now that it's come to claws, Bella only ever aims at the sword. If she can smash it that's enough to prove her superiority, right? It's different from a hunt, because it's a... She didn't hit anything. Again! Her form was perfect. Her speed was faster than Yue's eyes could possibly follow. But the girl is perched atop her wrist, sword held high behind her with a very practiced, playful posture. "You're also too honest by half. Like, you always look at where you're trying to be, aren't you? You never deviate. Never adjust. You are..." The sword descends. Bella raises an arm to smack it aside but it cuts through her guard like nothing. "Very." Yue's voice has dropped an octave. The flash in her eyes looks almost dangerous. "Easy." Spin around and follow through, this cut catches Bella at the hip. She yowls and stumbles and you, Redana, are rooted to the spot where you stand. No amount of love or determination can move your body. Because that is only fair. Yue has a moon. You are also a moon. And both of you will only watch the duel until it finishes. "To read." An eight party flurry cut follows. Yue slashes through both of Bella's wrists, her knees, up her stomach to her chest where she jabs out both shoulders, and then down again across the eye of Hermes that really should have been able to see this all coming. She whirls around again, heaving water all over and ***** Yin's back is turned to you again, Dyssia. It doesn't feel like it did the first time. There's no magnetism or powerful sense of loss to send you spinning and scrambling to get her to show you her face again. This is simply the posture of somebody who's embarrassed and doesn't know how to show it. "So. She buttered you up with cookies, I'm guessing? That meddling little," you can tell she wants to say 'mouse' here. But she can't. She lost that fight a long time ago, "Yue. The so-called 'most valuable thing in the world.' Wolf-addled loser is more like it. God she makes me so mad." Yin's hair tumbles like a curtain parting before a stage when she turns her head to look at you over her shoulder. She does not smile. The sun chooses this moment to set, and its red light washes over her in a way that seems to transform her into some kind of mythical creature. For a brief moment she is reborn. And then the light hits the shattered remnants of nine other suns and the whole of your world dances under a wild aurora. This is a place where spirits and faeries and demons all clash for the right to be called the most beautiful under the moonlight. The woman watching you could be any of the three of them. She surely intends to win... but she steps back under her tree and steeps herself in shadows, instead. What a complicated woman. "She's worse than stupid, she's incompetent. Even after all that practice she can barely even hold a sword, let alone beat someone with it. Do not even get me started on her dancing. I have never met a woman more resistant to improvement in my entire life. Useless. You know what she is? She's the first crack in the armor. You want to just ignore it, but then..." She sighs. In the cooling air, her breathe escapes her lips in a thin stream of mist. Oh. Oh that's so cool. Pure cinema! "...The beginner's class is on Fridays at midnight. If you're late I'll... just... try not to be late. You only get out what you put in." ***** Bella is on her back. There is a blade pressed not quite against her throat, the flat of it pushing her chin up [i]just so[/i]. Yue flashes a dorky little smile at her. And the world returns to motion. There is no blood. You are certain you saw, smelled, felt, tasted it. Yue sliced Bella with that same palm-ruining blade so many times and with such force that it broke the armor made from her own bones, even though it... didn't? Bella is whole and unharmed, except for the fact that she lost quite badly. Are you wondering why? "Do you understand yet?" "Understand? I... what... what the fuck was that?" Yue giggles, half delighted and half cringe. She pulls her sword away and flips it over her back again. This time, instead of sticking in place by strange magic it just tumbles past her and clatters to the ground. Her laugh turns all the way to cringe, and she coughs so hard she chokes. "That. Ahem. That was the. Er. Y'know. The... my, uh. Secret Sword." Oh nuts to it, I'll just tell you. The Wandering Tales of Yue the Sun Farmer! The Seventh Secret Sword: The Nature of the Duel. And you, Bella and Redana, fell into its trap the instant you set foot into this shrine.