diatu | On Wednesdays we wear pink

On Wednesdays we wear pink

Who: Yotsuyu and Kuja
Where: The city.
When: October 16th
What: Kuja and Yotsuyu are having a "girls' night out." Potential significant others need not apply!
Warnings: Probably none, save for those that come naturally with this catty pair...

Patience was a virtue that Yotsuyu had a tumultuous relationship with--as if most of her relationships with anything and anyone weren't particularly tumultuous. But she'd done what she did best, and plot to get a certain someone out of his afternoon classes.

"Come with me, Kuja, darling. I owe you a thank you anyway, and a late lunch awaits at the Potbellied Emperor." Yotsuyu chuckled at that, unable to not look somewhat smug.

"And as the weather's changing, I thought perhaps we could at least window shop in town. I imagine my kimono won't be holding up to the chill much longer." And that goes without saying with his outfits--though if nothing else, he might just need a grand robe to snuggle up in...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Missing out on classes for the first time since his arrival didn't quite appeal to him, but he didn't take long to accept her offer with a smile befitting his charm and a nod. As the seasons changed, his attire would shift with it, and this would be no different. Already the cooler air had changed his mind about his wardrobe; Yotsuyu had come at just the right time.

"A thank you? I'll gladly accept the offer, but to what do I owe the honor?"

By his side, Califleur peered up at him, purring softly in her contentment, awaiting Kuja's direction. Not long in coming, he glanced down at her. "Califleur, go tend to Noctis, won't you? He'll be missing me in class today."

The familiar turned and nudged her head up under Kuja's hand; his fingers moved in an absent, obligatory smoothing motion over her ears. Such was what their farewells had become when one had to leave the other, something hard won from the Oh leopard's persistence over the months she had been with her new master. She then nudged his hand once more before strolling off and leaving the pair to their evening.

Yotsuyu did not miss the faint air of uncertainty before Kuja accepted her offer. She arched a brow. "If you are concerned about your classes, you have been freed...and if you find the notes for your classes are not sufficient, we can always make a side trip to one of the libraries to make them so."

She laughed then, airily, when Kuja expressed confusion about her thank you. "Have you forgotten the matter of my former brute?" Surely they'd shoved what was left of him through a screen and made an end of the fiasco, but it was something Yotsuyu could not have done by herself!

She turned a curious look on the man as he mentioned Noctis and sent Califleur off, but Yotsuyu declined to make a comment at the moment--it was better sense to do so over lunch, where she could ask her questions in relative privacy. She'd just have to send something nice for the Oh leopard back with her master. And perhaps even Noctis, as it seemed Kuja might be meeting up with the king later, and she was fond of the man.

"Shall we, then?" Yotsuyu gestured before her, in the vague direction of the Noan restaurant.

It wasn't lost on him that she was a mentor herself here and with some manner of standing over his head with the teaching staff, and so of course, she had the ability to call him out of his classes at any time that she needed, within some reason. Once Califleur trotted off, whatever concerns he had had about playing hooky with her vanished as he stepped closer, intent on following her lead.

"Oh, how could I forget him? I haven't seen that much excitement on this campus since they threatened to release the demon from the fountain." In that, he gave a careless shrug, dismissing the event as if it had been nothing. "Between the three of us, he was hardly a fight at all. It's a shame he had his attention on you the whole time, but I can see why he couldn't be bothered to look away."

He knew a thing or two about flattery, but wouldn't push his luck with it and play the suck up game. That, never. What he did was to lift his arm in offer, as any gentleman should, to escort her along the way, though she was the one who knew the way. "We shall."

Not that Yotsuyu was making any attempt to lord her position, such as it was, over Kuja. She was simply explaining the why of it. He wasn't in any trouble at all, as far as she was concerned. She only did not want him to be, either. And besides, he deserved a little fun as well. She could use an escort, as well. She accepted Kuja's arm gratefully.

But at his words, she laughed. "Oh, more likely he couldn't get me out of his mind--I was the one who'd ordered him turned into that monstrosity, after all." Not that she was particularly proud of that, but it was the truth, nonetheless.

Yotsuyu just tugged Kuja gently along in the direction of the Potbellied Emperor--the restaurant was not terribly obvious when it came into view. The name was displayed, but the statue of its namesake? That resided inside.

"So, Kuja...what of Noctis, then?" Not that the question would be lost in the bustle of the city around them, but it was likely that no one would pay attention to it.

Now that earned a look of rare amusement from him, of a practiced sort, but there no less. Had he been anyone else or of any other mentality, he might have found that somewhat horrifying, but he didn't. Instead, he curled his arm around hers, a gentle security for her when she took his hold, and let her guide him along.

"You've quite a talent in your world, I see. I might wonder what it could become, were you able to give an encore here, but we can leave that for another day if you so wish." After all, the man hadn't seemed too enthusiastic about logic or concern outside of chasing Yotsuyu down and seeing to her end. It hadn't been a pleasant encounter, but there were too many factors about this creation of hers that went unknown to him. What had the man originally been like? Had he liked Yotsuyu? Had he disliked her? What was the nature of the change on him enacted? How had that affected him? Too many questions.

And then the conversation shifted. Kuja peered at his companion, genuinely uncertain.

"Hm? What of him?" The question had been so innocent at first, he hadn't quite understood. Did she wish to know how he was faring in his classes, in his studies, something else?

Yotsuyu couldn't help but snort at that. "I had little to do with his actual creation. I left that to the scientists. I have no talent in creating such a being." Ordering it, however? She had been Acting Viceroy of Doma at the time! Nor had she been shy about claiming that title--that or the Witch of Doma title she'd been granted. There were still a few things she could tell Kuja about Grynewaht, though, if Kuja asked.

She arched ebony brows at the man as he asked about Noctis, now, and gestured after where Califleur had departed. "I do not recall you liking her to leave your side. So should I cast my speculation where they may, Noctis must mean something to you." Though what, Yotsuyu would allow him to supply, should he so choose.

So she hadn't been too pleased with whatever that creation of hers had become. He gave only a soft hum, neither understanding nor committing. For once, he could sympathize with a lack of fondness for something that he had had a hand in turning against him, and the experience had been among those he would prefer to lock in a room in his mind and leave there to rot. A poor topic for conversation, he realized, and allowed her to divert him back to Noctis to please her.

"Ah, that." He shook his head, holding a hand out in dismissive gesture. "I left the group dormitories where the school originally placed me to live with him. It was easier to live with one person who would respect my space and habits as opposed to three others who did not agree with me, nor I with them." A soft sigh, no real irritation in it. "He tends to worry after me if I do something unexpected like this. I've asked him not to, but..." Another sigh, tossing his free hand in the air. "What to do? He only brings it upon himself. I need no one to look out for me."

More precise to say that Yotsuyu had had time to learn to regret her actions; she would readily admit to, should Kuja ever ask such a thing. However, her ghosts also readily came back to haunt her, whether she wanted them to or not.

She did allow the topic to be turned as well--Yotsuyu was much more interested in the connection between Kuja and Noctis--and, perhaps, not above a bit of meddling, either, should it come to such. But delicately, if it even called for it. Such a flower was better left to bloom, than for her to meddle too much and crush it before it managed.

"Oh, aye, as much as I need someone to look out for me." Yotsuyu could not help but chuckle a bit, there--not to ruffle Kuja's feathers, so to speak, but simply because she understood his sentiments. "However, 'tis also true I have, ah...individuals who look out for me, simply because I wish to. Whether I desire it, or not. They call themselves my friends, you see--not that I'd quite know what that sort of thing is, myself. Perhaps this is how Noctis sees you?"

But in regards to her friends, well, despite the way she put it so airily, she certainly was learning what such a thing was.

"Friends." The word rolled off the tongue about as easily as cold molasses. After so long among the upper society of Gaia and then with warriors of Chaos and then of Spiritus, he knew well enough what the term meant and named no one as his own past an acquaintance. It was simply easier that way, and his pride wouldn't have it any other way.

No offense was taken to her humor, but... since they were on the subject, and they both seemed more or less of like mind on the matter.

"I know his type, and I believe he does think me a friend." He shook his head, long hair shifting with the movement in the cool breeze, tilting his head to catch her gaze, almost pouting. "He is not the first to attempt to reach out to me as such and I suppose he will not be the last, but I never will understand it. They waste valuable time for themselves, that or they have too much of it. Then again, this place lends to us free time and I haven't been overly fond of that either. What do you think of them, these... would be friends of ours?"

"As do I. And I do believe it too. He is so...good," Yotsuyu said. Once, it might have been derisive, but now? Now, not so much. Never would she have named any in her past a friend, save one--and the samurai only after she had left him, and 'Tsuyu', behind--and shaken the dust from her sandals! Noctis was another irrepressibly light soul--and she did wonder why the man had made something of an attempt to befriend her, as well.

"I think you have little to fear from Noctis, to tell you true. He means no ill--he is like a puppy, attempting to be stoic and adult, and yet beneath, all grins and friendliness." It was a real enough smile that crossed Yotsuyu's lips, then.

"As for mine?" She gave a light snort at that. "Hendrik--the knight would be more than a friend, if I dared. I am not certain I can...still--that tale is long and sordid and I do not wish to go into it here." A delicate sniff accompanied that statement. "Jecht? He means well, I believe that--and yet sometimes I think he's little better than the brute you met, though I've no plans to turn him into a monstrosity."

Yotsuyu shook her head, then. "The children have little guile within their hearts, not like their elders. I am fair certain that Webby, Eleven...even Lena, and others like them? If they are offering friendship, it is genuine. What are your thoughts, then?"

"Of course not." He nodded his agreement. Noctis wasn't a threat to him, though few people in this world were. What more could they do other than harass him on the walkways and try to best his own grades in class? There were few areas in which Kuja slacked.

But even now, his past continued to haunt him. Who he was, what he had once been, what he could never escape. There would be a day in the future when he would have to face it all, but today wasn't that day. Not in full, at least - he felt strangely in a giving mood, and she had been kind enough to let him out of his class for the day to accompany her to dinner.

"They might have hated me, if they knew what I have done, and what I could still do if this place hadn't taken my powers from me. I try to warn them away, but it isn't in their nature to listen to that, so they'll try anyway. Moths drawn to flame is what how I see it." He tilted his head upward, voice quieting. "And yet..."

Really, it was a stupid thought, a whim of fancy. "I tolerate him. He puts up with me quite well."

"I imagine there are a number of us whom he puts up with, well enough." Noctis certainly hadn't given her offense in the time she'd known him.

She glanced at Kuja briefly, lips thinning. A humorless chuckle escaped her. "Oh, if they knew of my past, I am certain I would be hated. Eleven did not, but..."

He'd pitied her. Yotsuyu had thought that such a thing would enrage her, but coming from such a gentle heart as the boy's? She had taken no offense there, either. There was no malice in it--her story had pained him. Though why he felt she'd deserved better...she still wondered, truly.

"Moths to a flame. Yes. And yet. I wonder why they bother? Are they truly so in love with danger? Though by all means, you are likely more dangerous than I." She'd learned a great deal here, but Yotsuyu had not had the talent to manipulate aether back on Hydaelyn. It meant she'd missed a great deal of study and practice, if nothing else, that Kuja had accumulated on his own and by his own merits.

He considered this, though the thought needed not much consideration at all. Noctis was one of Them, wisely chosen by Materia to fight in her little army. He had no scorn for them, not all of them, but they were of a certain nature. They accepted more, fought with different ideals and, damnably, always seemed to emerge victorious.

Somehow, though he had been beginning to understand before the academy took him away. Not that he would admit to it.

"Strange, don't you think, that some of them know of our pasts, and yet they are willing to accept anyway, when we ought to be hated and met with sword wherever we go until the end of our days?" He met her chuckle with a wondering smile. "Perhaps it is the thrill. I never bothered to ask why they do it. Lack of time and odd circumstance always seemed to brush the opportunities aside like so much refuse. Maybe we should ask. One of life's great mysteries, as they say."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

On Wednesdays we wear pink

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject