[PRP] True and false nobility (Utena and Akio)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

((This is a private self-RP between Akio Ohtori and Utena Tenjou.... because it's about time I got to them!))



The day was brisk and cold. The sun had only just risen and Utena was walking. Her journey so far had taken her from the world beyond into the Kawani lands. It wasn't so different from anywhere else, she'd decided. It had birds singing in the trees, flowers blooming in the spring. She liked it here. She felt that it would be a nice place to stay for a while, meeting the local inhabitants. She also felt connection.

It was hard to even describe to herself what that connection was. It was as subtle as the scent of a single rose hanging in the hazy summer air. Her prince was somewhere in these lands. She knew it.

Her prince was the one that Utena emulated and sought. He had saved her once when she was a foal. She would have drowned if he hadn't pulled her from the water. She remembered his kind smile and a few of the things he had said but little more. It was strange... sometimes she couldn't even remember if he was human or soquili. She knew she couldn't have understood his whispered words if he had been human, and yet she remembered how he dressed like a human all in white. Her brow furrowed as she walked. Why couldn't she remember what he looked like?  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akio was also out and walking on the chilly autumn morning. His mind was on several things and yet nothing in particular. He was thinking of a lovely mare. When he had seen her, the wind and the rain was whipping her mane and sticking long strands of it to her long and wet neck. Seeing her standing there shivering like that, in obvious discomfort and yet bracing herself against the storm... it had been breathtaking.

His ears pricked to the sound of approaching hoof beats. He glanced toward the sound and caught a glimpse of pink mane. It was either a mare, or a very effeminate male. Both would be pleasing to run into. The suave smile came easily to Akio's face and he turned to meet this new stranger.
 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Utena wasn't surprised to see another soquili on the path ahead of her. Sometimes it seemed like she could hardly go ten paces without running into another friendly but unfamiliar face. That was one good thing about this area. It had plenty of soquili willing to be friendly to a traveler like herself. She had always tried to help them in return, and so far it had gone well.

"Hello, there," she said in a friendly tone as she walked forward. She caught sight of dark fur and... clothes. Human-styled clothes like herself. The way he stood there, resplendent and dressed in white, he almost liked like...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

This was no ordinary mare. Akio knew that instantly. She dressed like him... almost eerily so. He couldn't remember ever seeing another soquili dressed so similarly. He saw hesitation in the mare as well. Was she experiencing the same moment of deja vu? He was more adept at covering up such things and he barely missed a beat with his charming smile.

"Hello there indeed, young lady. What are you doing out and away from your herd?" He spoke in a deep and effortless thrum. There was no art of charm and seduction that he had not mastered. He didn't have the intention of following through on seducing every mare or stallion he met... but that was no reason to act in any other way.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

The way he talked to her, like he was talking to an errant filly instead of a full-grown mare, snapped Utena out of her reverie. She had never been exactly fond of being treated like "just a girl." She straightened up and met the stallion's green eyes with her own bright blue ones. "I don't have a herd." She never had. Once her parents had died she had grown up alone with her aunt. It had been a nice life and she hadn't ever wished for anything different... besides her parents being alive again, of course.

"I've been out on my own for a while now and I'm doing fine." She smiled a little teasingly at the older stallion. "And what are you doing away from your herd?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Akio gave a throaty little chuckle. This mare was an interesting one, certainly. His eyes lingered over her uniform once more. It really did seem terribly familiar.

What seemed even more familiar were those two piercing blue eyes, the ones watching him so intently at that very moment.

A strange feeling swept over him. It wasn't just deja vu. He had met this mare before. He could hear the gears of fate turning almost as if it were the sudden ticking of some device that had long since fallen silent. He remembered her. His old self remembered her.

"My herd can manage," he said in a deliberately calm voice. "And what did you say your name was, princess?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Princess? Utena scoffed inwardly at the gallivanting male ego. She was no one's princess. The only thing she would ever be was a prince. She quirked a smile at the handsome stranger and her voice was dry and dubious as she introduced herself. "My name is Utena Tenjou. I'm not exactly a princess, I think you can see... but it's nice to meet you anyway."

There. She hoped that would set the tone a little better. She wasn't quite certain how to react to him. That itself was a strange thought, given that she usually had an easy time dealing with males.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"And I am Akio Ohtori. It is a pleasure." Akio inclined his head toward the mare in a slight bow. He could tell that the mare was resisting his chivalry, but he had often found that only to be a front. All mares wanted to be princesses, even if they didn't want to admit it. Akio knew. He had seen so many come to him....

"You can just call me Akio, though." He smiled at her as if this was a special allowance for her alone. "What brings you to this part of the kawani lands?" he asked. He had to keep the conversation going, after all. He wanted to learn more about this lovely young unicorn. "I do hope you're here for an extended stay.
 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

There was still something about him. It made Utena feel a little... a little what? Embarrassed? Awkward? Flustered? She stopped herself with those thoughts. She had never been the type to swoon at the sight of a pretty stallion. She was the exact opposite. She liked to pal around with the young stallions, participating in their fights for dominance and winning more often than not. If she could butt heads with them she wasn't about to get silly about one.

"I guess I'll be here for a while. I hadn't really thought about it much until now." And it was true, she hadn't. She had spent so long wandering about that she had never really considered settling down... but wasn't that what she was about to do? She had met a mare, a good friend. This mare had gone through a lot of bad times and Utena didn't feel right about leaving her. If she left, Capriccia would probably just get swept back up into everything again. It pained Utena a little to even consider that. So yes, she would stay.

"There is someone I need to help here," she said in a distant and distracted voice. "I won't leave without her, and I don't think she's ready to leave her family just yet..."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"Well, good then," Akio rumbled. He took in the pink mare once more and again his memory was tickled. It was more than just a passing fancy. He had seen her before. He was sure of it. It probably hadn't been in years... but he had met this mare.

Yes, it had been years ago. Some part of him knew that. He had not met her when he was like this, when he was this soquili named "Akio Ohtori." He had met her before, when he called himself something different. The memory was almost there but when he grasped with his mind it only eluded him further. Who was she?

He would not get an answer to that question in this meeting, but it would not be long until he remembered.

"And you know, that moment there when you talked about that person you need to help... you looked very beautiful." His voice was ever so subtle, ever so delicate with the thrumming intonations. Would she receive them? He thought that she would.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Utena chuckled awkwardly in response to Akio's compliment but the reality was that it had its intended effect. She felt flustered, something unfamiliar to the unicorn mare. Something about this stallion affected her in a way that she couldn't shake off. When had she ever felt that way? Something different was happening here. Though this was only her first time meeting him, there was something the way about the way he dressed... the way he looked at her... the way he talked to her.

It was almost as if she had found her prince.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

~~~~~~~~~~~

Weeks later, they were still in touch. The cold of oncoming winter had intensified and a recent snowfall had blanketed the ground in a soft and powdery whiteness. In that time Akio had remembered. He remembered the time that he had first met the pink unicorn mare, a time that was years before their more recent introduction.

He had saved her. She had been despairing and drowning and he had saved her. Of course... it wasn't really "him" that had saved her then, it was the "him" that he had been before. It was the self he had known before his idealism had died, crushed to death in the moment of the murder of his sister. He remembered Utena now. He remembered the fierce blaze of nobility in her that she swore to never give up. It looked like she had kept that promise and that the blaze of nobility was now far more than that. She had become something very close to the prince that she wanted to be, something close to the prince that he had once been himself. Akio knew that... and he desired her for it.

So he cultivated their friendship and seeded it with something that went beyond mere companionship. Utena would be his princess one day. He would see to it.

Tonight she had come to him for advice on the mare that she was guarding. He stood under the stars with her, the snow on the ground reflecting their bright twinkles. As she talked he listened... and thought of the ways he could make her his.

 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Utena's feelings of uncertainty and confusion had only grown in the weeks since she had met Akio. He had been a good friend and even a mentor to her in the past weeks, but sometimes she caught herself acting like he was something different than that. Sometimes she found herself watching other mares with their stallions by their sides and feeling a sense of kinship. She, like them, had someone to go to. Most of the time she didn't think like that or let herself get distracted by him... but she wasn't perfect.

That night she was bothered by recent experiences with Capriccia. She often talked to Akio when those sorts of problems came up. He had an easy approachability and tended to have good insight and advice. On that starry night she had come to him for that reason.

"It really frustrates me to meet someone who can't help herself," she sighed in the middle of their discussion. "Capriccia is like that. She has such a terrible situation with her family but she just won't get herself out of it. I try to help but... but it's a little hard when she won't help herself, you know?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

"I understand," said Akio. He was talking to Utena but his eyes were on the skies. "That must be very difficult for you. You have a very kind heart to look after your friend like that." He fell silent for a moment and continued to look upward. With the snow on the ground and the sky so clear above, it was truly a beautiful night.

"Friends like you are as rare as rare as a lunar eclipse." The bright spots of starlight reflected in his green eyes as he turned them back to his companion. "Have you ever seen a lunar eclipse, Utena?"  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Utena blinked a little. A lunar eclipse? The sudden subject change wasn't unusual for Akio. He tended to get caught up in thinking about other things, especially when it came to astronomy. "You must really love stars," she chuckled while smiling at him.

Behind her, her leonine tail moved thoughtfully from side to side. Had she ever seen a lunar eclipse? She thought about it and then shook her head. "No, I haven't. I've heard stories about it and it really feels like I should have seen one by now... but I think I'd remember it if I had." She paused and thought back over what he had said. Friends like her were as rare as a lunar eclipse. "You know, you're a pretty good friend too, Akio."