|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 3:33 pm
Apparently having determined that a weeder is not, in fact, an adequate substitute for a spear, Setsushi stands this afternoon in the middle of the yard, swinging and striking at the air with an extremely long pole. An experienced martial artist would know from scrutinizing his movements that he is quite rusty and is still only very slowly practicing basic moves, reminding his muscles of the motions they learned many years ago.
Yet even though this training is quite light, the sunny and unusually warm weather is already beginning to bother him; his cheeks are slightly flushed, his forehead shines with sticky sweat, and his hair, which had been elaborately and firmly pinned up at the beginning of this session, is beginning to sag a little.
He rises from a striking position slowly, sighs, and wipes his face on a sleeve. Perhaps he shouldn't have gotten himself into this arrangement...
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:09 pm
Lucretia heads towards Setsushi's udonya alone, without her little "Sorcerer" with her today. Perhaps not quite so strange, since she had been here once before on her own to see the tall Porcelain warrior. She is glad to find him similarly alone, though had not quite been expecting to see him outside apparently practicing some sort of martial arts with a pole.
Slowing down, the girl watches him and just sort of drifts slowly closer, not yet announcing herself. The Ice Rose Raevan brushes her fingers against the frozen flowers, faintly pink on her pale blue hair, and placed so that the feathers that grew from her forehead would not hide them. She is still not yet sure if the anonymous gift had been his doing, but she is also has no better ideas as to who else could have done it. And, well, Lucretia cannot be sure until she asks.
Finally, the girl waves to the Porcelain and calls out, "Hello there!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 7:38 pm
Setsushi, staring at the ground and brooding on something, does not notice the Raevan until she calls out to him. He jumps, looking up, and stares at her a moment -- focusing not her face nor her new hairpin, but something else -- before turning even redder and looking away. ... Down at his sweaty sleeve, which embarrasses him even more, and so he finally fixes his eyes on the bottom of Lucretia's ribbon.
"Madame Lucretia," he says, bowing slightly. "It has been some time -- are you well?" He laughs, a bit nervously; "I hope this weather does not disagree with you too much?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 9:50 pm
Lucretia shrugs her bare shoulders slightly and glances upwards, squinting her black eyes at the glare of the sun. "It doesn't feel as good as it did when it was cold out, but I think I like the stronger sun better." Her tone was pleasant enough, but her face was blank when she looked back at the warrior. "How about you? How are you liking spring in Gaia?"
She clasped her hands together lightly behind her back (where they could still be seen on the other side of her rune, resting against one curl of ribbon) and drifted a bit closer, still peering at Setsushi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:04 pm
Setsushi, still not looking at Lucretia directly, repeats his anxious smile. "Ah... it is quite lovely, though today is perhaps a little warm for my tastes." He's positive he must be raining sweat -- what an awful sight it must be to Lucretia. gonk "But it is good to see green return to the trees and color to the flowers.
"Would Madame like some ice, perhaps?" he asks. He backs towards the door -- it is unclear whether he does so in anticipation of her agreeing or in order to step back from her approach.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:32 pm
Spreading her short glowing wings a little, the Raevan sways from side to side. "I like seeing the flowers, too," she says. "This is my first spring, and so I am actually getting to see them bloom for the first time now."
Lucretia finally perks up when Setsushi offers her ice, a faintly devious smile appearing on her blue lips. "I would love some ice. And you know, you can just call me Lucretia if you like." She follows him towards the doorway, but keeps the distance between them to what she, at least, deems a comfortable one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:46 pm
Ah, that's right. Setsushi can't get used to how young Lucretia is. Especially looking... nevermind. "Perhaps 'Miss Lucretia'?" he suggests.
Setsushi leans the pole against the side of the house, then steps inside and scuttles to the freezer. He opens the door -- ahh, and enjoys the cold air rolling out for a moment -- and inspects it contents.
"Unfortunately, I do not have any cubes..." However, he does have some irregularly-shaped chunks...? Or he could attempt to make some cubes for her, but...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:51 pm
"That's fine, too," she supposes, with regards to how the Knight addresses her. "As for ice...." Lucretia follows him in all the way to the freezer, and peers inside past him as she reaches out with one hand, aiming to touch his shoulder. "Would you please make me some?"
She giggled. "Since this is a restaurant, right?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Apr 17, 2009 11:04 pm
"If Miss insists--- !!!"
Even before her hand reaches him, the icy ambiance around it is quite a shock to the sweaty Knight, who attempts to dodge her touch. Backing away, he looks at her, flustered and mute for a moment before asking, "Ah, ah, did you need something from the freezer-box...?"
... And now finally looking her in the face, he notices the flowers stuck to her hair and stares at them with a look of blank confusion, as if she were wearing a squirrel brooch or toilet paper turban. Gradually, though, he develops a little smile and comments, projectionally: Interesting ornament...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:37 am
When Setsushi moves away from her, Lucretia laughs a little, but makes no moves to pursue him with her cold grasp. She even backs off slightly once she sees just how much she ruffled him. "No, I don't really need anything."
She smiles again when he notices her ice flower hairpin, and fixes him with an intent stare. "I'm glad you like it," she says cheerfully. "Someone sent me the little flowers in the mail, but they had melted a little bit by the time I got them. So I figured if I wore them like this, I could keep them frozen all the time, so that they would never melt. They're pretty, aren't they?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:43 am
"'Someone'... hmm." Setsushi ponders a moment, then moves around Lucretia, stepping into the bathroom -- leaving the door wide open -- and rolling up his sleeves to scrub his whole forearms bruised-clean.
"Perhaps this person, knowing your diet, intended them as a pastry and not as jewelry?" This is, of course, purely speculative on Setsushi's part, he projects falsely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:57 am
The Raevan drifts slowly after him, and waits in the doorway, raising one arm to lean on it against the frame. She had considered eating the ice when she had first opened the package, but had been uncertain about doing so, too, since the water had been colored in places before being frozen. Though, while the little gifts had not exactly screamed EAT ME to the Ice Rose, the thought of eating them did not turn her stomach.
"Very pretty pastries, though, no? It looks like so much work and love went into them. And if I ate them, they would be gone. So I thought I could try keeping them forever." Lucretia pulls them carefully from her hair, holding the piece of ice with the two flowers in her hands as she studies the little blossoms. "Although... I've never eaten anything... pink before."
Well, now that she is thinking about it, she realizes she is more hungry than she thought....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:08 am
"Many pastries are made beautiful and elaborate," Setsushi replies. "In parts of Rinkoku and northern Toukoku, they make red bean pastries for Cherry Fall -- lovely little cherry blossom-shaped things, like those. They take a great deal of effort and care to make, it is true, and then they are instantly destroyed. But perhaps it's like the beauty of the falling blossoms, even more precious because they exist only for a brief time each year."
He frowns a little. "... That's a little morbid, though, so maybe it's better to think of them as... having taken a great deal of effort to make, yes, but then that effort is transmitted to the one who eats the pastry and receives the nurture of the maker. That seems like a nicer way of thinking of it -- it's how my mother explained it to me."
... Pardon him for rambling. Setsushi looks down at his arms, now thoroughly clean, even smarting -- he can make the cubes for her now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:18 am
Rinkoku, Toukoku, Cherry Fall... mean nothing in particular to Lucretia, but she listens anyway and nods. Apparently a tradition in Porcelainland. It sounds like a very interesting one, though.
The girl shrugs a little, raising her hands cradling the piece of ice to her lips as she moves out of the doorway to let Setsushi out. "Should I eat these first, then, or save them for desert, after the other ice cubes?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 1:26 am
Ummm... Setsushi isn't sure. "The juice is too dilute to have any taste to a Porcelain tongue, but it is possible it might disagree with Miss" -- making it an unpleasant mouthful to end a meal. "You might always taste a bit of one at first, and if it is appetizing, have the second and third afterwards?"
... ... Ah, wait, there are only two. Nevermind.
Starting to turn a little red again, Setsushi heads back to the kitchen to make the ice cubes... or... he tries to get around Lucretia somehow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
