Anarion

Return to Thellamie

Trust, dear fox who is bouncing so enticingly to perform her job as a distraction? No, you’ve got it a little wrong. Asking Yuki to trust your little daughters implies she has time to make a plan, time to hesitate. That’s not what’s happening here. The word you’re looking for is hope. The jingle and clap is the sound of hope for a girl who had no plan but dove straight into that room and whose heart was already flaring brightly as she cut at the shadows.

Does the Khatun feel this? Sure, it’s not her literal heart or her special weak point or anything. But does she feel it, like a little mosquito bite as a girl slams her heart against the reflection of the Khatun’s true self? Even more importantly, can Yuki tell she feels it? Can Yuki get the satisfaction of knowing that somewhere out there, the woman who cast these shadows can feel the curses being leveled at her and the fury behind them? Because she’d like that a lot.

There is no question of Yuki’s heart cutting through these shadows. Of her unlocking the chains and hefting Juniper’s limp form over her shoulders. The only question is where, exactly, Yuki’s mad heroics need a little fox magic to buoy them.

Return to Thellamie

Yuki's heartaxe falls and dissipates into nothing as she grabs the tea tray out of the air and spins with it into a carried flat position. She skips forward daintily, her tail flipping up, as she slips a foot in the way of the third guard dueling Keli. This sends the poor guard sprawling into the arms of her nearby compatriot, while Keli capitalizes on the suddenly unsupported third one and Seli finishes tying up her set into a lovely tapestry depicting the many methods for taming and herding sheep.

As for the big guard, Yuki tiptoes up and gently offers her up her tea tray with one hand and a curtsy. "Excuse me, I think you dropped this, and you wouldn't want it to get dented, I'm sure." She does her best to give her voice the sort of lilt Eclair would in this situation. Not that she's doing exactly as Eclair would here (she imagines that if she were Eclair, she'd have already struck down all seven guards in a blinding flash, actually).

She's not quite at that leve, but her heart axe materializes in her other hand as she releases the curtsy. Despite its heft, she has no trouble holding it out steadily with one hand so that it just ever so very gently caresses the surprised big guard in the chest. "Now, I think you'd like to tell us which cell my friend is in and then hand over your keys, right? And, free bonus, you get to decide if you want to help us out while conscious or unconscious. Stand still for conscious, or twitch aggressively for unconscious, okay?"

[Yuki chooses to entice the guard: 5+4+2=11. She will spend her string immediately to get the guard to help them, though our plucky narrator gets to decide whether that help is willing or takes the form of a useful map on the unconscious person]

Breathless Dead

In the Sky Castle, Princess Chen was taking a shower. It had been a long workout and she'd been dunked in a lake at least once, so she deserved a shower and a change of clothes. Not to mention the Sky Castle had amazing showers, full of steam and lavender soap, so she could let herself luxuriate. It was a joy to let the warm water wash over her tail, her ears, and all her hair thoroughly before gently easing herself back into the warm fluffiness of her thick clothes for the flight back.

When the announcement came, she let her rinse finish and gently but quickly toweled herself off before getting dressed. She was not about to assault a major fortress and she knew enough to understand that the people she'd just met were the ones equipped to deal with this problem. But she did have more than enough speed on a sword to make sure that they had a manageable number of problems interfering with their air space. And besides, it would be fun to put on a sky show with the other Princesses.

Return to Thellamie

It was tempting, just so incredibly tempting, to make the entire plan about sending each foxgirl in the party to get captured by a wolfgirl in a giant conga line of distractions. Inara was off on the chase, Hazel was about to get captured by a hot girl wearing an outfit that screamed "I'm more than an extra in a stageplay" and really all Yuki had to do was drop Seli on the tower guards and then Keli on the room guard and she'd have a clear walk to Juniper.

However, as tempting as this plan was, Yuki did not think she had the time or wherewithal to mount four separate rescues and juggle the logistics of getting all of them in and out with the appropriate keys, clothes, and personal effects for Juniper. Also, progressively abandoning each friend she was traveling with to reach an objective was this close to triggering trauma flashbacks for her so that plan was cooked before it ever got going.

So...instead it was actually just infiltrating Crevas all over again, but like, better this time.

She looked at Keli and then she stared at Seli with extended eye contact. "Okay, we're doing the sell me into the fortress plan. But you are leaving the chains unlocked this time. UNLOCKED or no cap I will be so salty when this over. And then we are going to ambush the tower guards the second we're inside, take the keys, release Juniper, and then make our way out. At that point, we will rescue Hazel from being enslaved by the Khanate and then maybe get Inara if she needs getting."

And with that, she let Keli and Seli do their thing as the three of them pushed through a nearly empty camp to the thick, central bone tower that was so old it was bleached nearly white and where Juniper was surely held. Yuki was already counting the breaths to draw her heartaxe and spring the ambush.

Return to Thellamie

Though Yuki cannot speak on Alcideo's behalf, she is confident to a certainty that he nods at the right moment. You can only see a fox sit on someone once before understanding what's expected of you in that moment. And while the passing fancy does strike her that if this were the moment she learned to split her heartblade she could give both of those tails quite the shear right now, she is not especially curious to find out where loose star magic flows in the middle of the outside, and she's not certain she'd survive Hazel's subsequent pout.

So, she mmmphs obligingly as her mouth and nose are pressed into not one but two massive fluffy tails. And she even manages a grin that reaches her eyes in the process. "You look pretty, Hazel" she says when he mouth manages to be in-between floof. "Really pretty. I don't know how I didn't notice it sooner." And she curls her long tail around his legs and helps him settle more comfortably into his new seat. It's fine, he's light and cute and if this is how her friend wants to be, well, it's her fault for being too dense to see the real beauty in this before he had to shove it in her face. The beauty of him caring enough to put on the show in the first place. That's the good shit.

***

The Boar's Ossuary. Despite Yuki's view while serving in her new primary role of "chair" being somewhat obstructed, it's hard to miss the vast, yellow, star-bleached bones of the goblin boars that make the place. One wonders how broadly the term "boar" applies here to the range of goblins whose vast structure forms into cliffs and towers tall enough to gaze over the Outside and see its own nonexistence.

Yuki's never been here, precisely. Her last adventure didn't make it into the Khanate. But She's traversed the outside with starlight, and there's something about the nature of the place that feels familiar. [Been Around 5+5+1. The place reminds Yuki of something familiar.]

Was it like a realm she had passed by in her first adventure maybe? Not the nature of Azaza, but perhaps of Miaou? It felt like maybe she had been here, or something like here when she'd traveled from Kel to Crevas through the outside the first time. It had shrunk from her then, her starlight shining on her brow like a glorious Sunshard from the hit wuxia TV series Princesses of the Sunshards. But it still felt familiar, like she knew the layout of the place, like it had a sense of consistency across time. Like there was a tower that would be the right place to put a foreign princess, in whatever form she might take. [Yuki knows something about the layout enough to know the right place to go to find Juniper. Where is that?]

But first, there's the matter of the guards. Yuki's first thought is violence, of a sort. But that seems terribly risky and even worse, time consuming. But then Seli peaks her head out from the back of the cart and Yuki's ears perk up. "Seli...Hazel. What we really need here is a distraction. Any ideas~?"

Return to Thellamie

Yuki is not especially experienced at traveling the Outside. When she had been the one empowered by starlight, it had been direct and fast. But then, that’s how it works for a kid: you wanna skip ahead, you skip ahead. It’s one of the first things she learned how to do on a TV, and honestly she still doesn’t totally believe her dad that his shows just ran continuously and you missed part of it if you wanted a snack in the middle. Like, what kind of idiot would even design it that way in the first place?!

Anyway, she’s not quite in the driver’s seat this time. And while she might have influenced the route, her guess is that was mostly by influencing Hazel.

“Hazel, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re Sakura here. Lowkey everybody wants to dress you up or truss you up. Some both. You’re the destined princess, or prince, whatever. And you’re the inheritor of power who’s being tested for what to do with it. Don’t ask me why, that’s her deal” Yuki gestures to the well-knotted fox in the back of the wagon. “But don’t let the fact that you went full on foxy foxy foxy foxy throw you off that truth. You’re being asked to make choices with the power you got, and they’re just as important even if they’re not about who to stab with it. Probably more important, cuz when it’s about stabbing there aren’t usually a ton of options.”

Breathless Dead

It's been a while since Chen has visited the Sky Castle. She has been back since her first visit, but it's still a trek and not that frequent absent a tournament or special gathering, and Jessic has never done quite this sort of group greeting before, so this one is new for her as well.

As a fellow princess and Sunshard holder though, this is something of a joyous workout for her. She's never matched powers with Jessic after all, and even if she's not trying to steal a sunshard or anything, this is a chance to see how it would all go at at least two levels.

First, there's the workout. Chen flashes back and forth through several sword sets. Moves where she summons the wind with her blade and sends Jessic tumbling out of balance or where the dragon princess correct just in time and rips Chen out of the sky with a coiled tail that squeezes her so tightly that it's only the thickness of her skirts keeping her from popping! Moves where she swirls around and ties Jessic into knots with her speed, or where the dragon catches her at just the right moment and uses her own speed against her with a rebound strike so powerful that she ends up crash landing in a lake in a neighboring domain. In some moves, her flowing outfit blinds the dragon and she delivers a decisive strike that sends her to the ground of the sky castle, while in others Chen's skirts get used against her and she winds up flashing her underwear at the whole sky castle as everything else gets pulled over her head before she lands on the castle green to recompose herself with blushing cheeks.

It is, on the whole entirely enjoyable, both the winning and the losing. There's so much to learn and so many things to feel, and Chen's no foreigner to a few bruises and tired muscles. Done right, they just make the tea and cake taste better later!

But then, there's also the secret sword. Now, it should be said, Chen is outside of her domain and this isn't just her duel, so her particular secret sword won't be at its maximum power here. But even so, as she runs through her sets, her tail rises and the wind blows stronger as the star on her forehead glows. And as her sword crosses over and over with Jessic's scales, lance, and shield, it asks a question of a dragon: What do you want to be?

This is a different question from Jessic's secret sword. She may well dream of being in an eternal duel against an opponent who strives to be the greatest possible version of themselves. But there is still more to it than that. She is a dragon after all, and dragons are greedy. Greedy enough to dream of always being more, to imagine how she could be more beautiful, more elegant, more wealthy, and more charming. To dream of all the different shapes she could have and the hoards she could hoard. Chen's secret sword is very simple. It will just shift Jessic towards the answer to this question, in whatever ways it can. For those who dream in their heart of being snow leopards and are not already, it can be quite a bit more drastic. But even for a dragon, it will show something of her ideals and some of her scenarios will collapse towards repeating those ideals.

That is Chen's secret sword: The Shape of Your Heart.

Return to Thellamie

It's hard to think about endings though, y'know? Like, sure, there are contemplative moments that happen and this is one of them. But you've got the two youths from Earth back together and there's just a lot happening in the background with Keli and Seli teaching their younger sister all sorts of things.

"It reminds me of Card Captor Sakura, you know?" Yuki says to Hazel. "I mean, there was somewhat less squealing, but like, lowkey Inara is just trying really hard to get everybody dressed up the way she wants and I'm kinda into it, y'know? Tomoyo was always the best character, and now Inara has even chibified herself. I guess everyone is trying to capture you, but that's kinda cool I think. Like, it's a lot less work for you, y'know? I mean, not saying it's not a tough choice to decide on contests and stuff, but like, you get to be the sub here and let everyone court you until somebody wins your heart."

Yuki sighs, runs a hand through her hair. "I dunno, I've always said it was a lot of fun my first time, but it was also a lot of pressure to be like, the glowing chosen hero. Like, you've felt the star power now and it's lit but it doesn't...like...tell you that everything's gonna be okay. The whole time I was worried I wouldn't actually be able to win when I was there. I had to just take it on faith that everything would work out and Thellamie would help me out. And Eclair did, but I feel like that wasn't a foregone thing, y'know? So...I feel like it's nice for you that everyone's coming to you and doing their best to make you feel cute and loved until something finally clicks. It's nice."

Yuki's ears flick and her tail wags. "Though, now that I think about it, I do have a couple ideas for a really nice navy blue dress for you. With a built in waist for your figure that flares out below the waist, long sleeves so it fills you out a bit more, low neck, and little red hearts all over the fabric. Maybe matching red barrettes for your hair? You'd look good."

Yuki makes the best kitty face, you should know.

Breathless Dead

Chen lets Redana surge forward and make the first move while she inspects her heraldry. A snow leopard in gray emblazoned on a powder blue background with a black maid's outfit styled around it. Though the proportions aren't quite right for a full leopard, too short and tiny limbs. A kitten maid then. She can't help but giggle at the concept. Jessic always was good for the soul, after all!

Her first move when the tail lashes past Redana is to block for Bella, which she does in a rolling motion that sends her flying through the air in a whirl of skirts, floof, and aprons. She course corrects as she flies and retains the momentum in an arc to come skidding back around onto the sky castle.

And here, there really is only one option available to a maid who has been handed a pretty new shield. Chen tucks it under her and raises her knees, floof poof and all as she comes flying back.

She skates along the surface of the sky castle before she kicks herself up onto one of the nearest sandbags and then shield bounces from that to grind upwards onto a copper pipe and then kickflip from there onto a vertical grind straight along Jessic's back to her head, which she promptly kicks down on in greeting and flares her skirts blocking Jessic's vision.

"Hi Jessic, this is super cool!" She says with a huge goofy grin on her face as she goes sailing past the dragon towards a windmill blade.

Return to Thellamie

"Did you just...?" Yuki watches the unfolding of the sky before her like the divine comedy that it absolutely is and she does her utmost to choke back a snort and keep her tail from practically wagging. Well, this was the outside and things were only big or small in relation to their own perception and metaphorical symbolism. Like Gandalf being a simple old man sometimes and having the presence to completely overtake a room of the great and powerful at others. Only more accentuated here where there were no solid stone walls or substantial snakegirls whose whole self-ideation was based on their consistent ability to coil around you. Pity, that one.

"Mmph" says Yuki, surprised by the hug, ears flattening for a moment before she collects herself and returns it while patting Hazel's back. It's a comforting pat, gently passing through the tails to ease the knots in between his shoulders. The sort of gesture one does to reassure a younger brother or perhaps a niece who's been through a lot. Yuki's happy returning the hug, and Hazel suddenly developing fox tails is telling her a very great deal. But he's still...well...a he. And this is a bit more weird than it is hot, so her response here is to give him a space to just be with her.

And to let Keli and Seli have their fun as well. It has been a long time, after all, and they're too busy at the moment to properly appreciate their reunion or step up their meme game. So all she can do is smile in a sort of bemused way and see where Hazel wants to lead them all. For the moment, this whole little group is her latest charge, and she'll follow as she can and then reconnect with her other friends after. Eclair and Aadya most of all, that thread still nags, but until she can stop and sit and find a way to contact them safely, it's well beyond her reach.

And, when she has her turn, she does have some questions for Inara, while she can. In particular, the one at the tip of her tongue is "were you the one who called me last time?" and after that, it's a sneaking suspicion that despite not being the goddess who holds up the land of Thellamie (that's Civelia, supposedly), Inara must really love the world as it is if she's loosing knights on other stars.