#lore&facts

She's odd, but any clothes that are draping or seem like they could be more fabric than actual clothing are some of her favorites. She likes things that leave her legs free, and appreciates cutouts that give her more of the feeling of air on her skin. She likes this one because she can pull the collar up to hide her mouth if she feels disapproving!

Kotone absolutely doesn't understand romance, especially not commercialized romance like what happens around Valentione's, but this isn't because she isn't romantic by nature... it's simply because the Shimayasu are a very private sort of people who have a very, very long period of dating/courting.

Every Shimayasu is absolutely crazy about their partner, and why wouldn't they be? They have spent decades effectively blending two souls into one! By the time Shimayasu bond, they breathe with one breath, think with one mind, love with one heart. They are incredibly romantic - in private.

Kotone struggles with romance primarily because she is one of the few who left the island, and so she was introduced to various different meanings and examples of romance - many of which she cannot fathom. For her, the quick-paced dating, marriage and even speed with which children are gotten is overwhelming and feels wrong to her.

She does, however, find little things to be charming. The shy first kiss, the awkward first date when a potential couple are on their own, the secret glances between a pair that long for one another but have not said the words they need to. These things are things she is familiar with, things that she would likely do as well.

In sharp contrast, those of Peshtu Island are very loud about their attractions. They are openly in love, and the community embraces this love in various ways of acknowledgement. There is little that is outrightly hidden unless it is explicitly personal, but gifts are given in abundance, songs are written (and performed), and raunchy jokes between friends regarding the couple are common.

Unfortunately, neither Kotone nor Enele have any romantic feelings toward one another. They have only been bonded for two months or so, but Kotone is very aware that she was not so much a choice for Enele as she was a requirement. There is no outward romance, and even sex is uncomfortably unpleasant, mechanical and devoid of anything that makes it fun.

With that in mind, there have been small gestures on Enele's part - not so much romance, but care. One of which is his removal of the gilded ornamentation on Kotone's horns during the night. While it is absolutely unheard of amongst his people that bonded remove their ornamentation, Enele has noted that even his adapted gift weighs heavy on Kotone and is painful. So, after they have fulfilled their marital duties, he will remove the ornaments for her so that she may sleep without pain and find some comfort in their awkward new life.

Not particularly. Kotone has spent a long time with her focus on only men of her race, as that was the expectation for her - eventually, she'd bond with a male Raen and life would go on. There are a few who she has entertained the briefest flutterings of affection for, but she would likely have never acted on it.

So, this comes with the extensive caveat that I am breaking my own dang rule here and I know I am, but this involves a canon character and I suppose that we will call this a hilarious crackship but I cannot get it out of my head and I'm gonna run with it.

Quick recap: Nutone (this incarnation) is effectively a vessel crafted from some poor woman that Naunet (Kotone's god) plucked off the beach during a walk and drowned, then offered a new life - and when that was accepted, everything that Naunet knew of Kotone was slammed into the head of the poor woman while rebuilding her body.

Naunet was so disgusted with herself that she has retreated - leaving Nutone without a paddle, because the woman that she was still exists and all her memories are at war with Kotone's. Not only is this having some interesting impact on her aether, but it regularly sets her up for confusion as memories from both filter in and out. /end recap

I haven't spoken very much about her, but I'm going to start doing so - let's talk about Sameera's greatest regret.

Sameera was a refugee that ended up on her own in Radz-at-Han, and during one particularly entertaining night as a teenager, she ran into a young man who showed her a little spot of kindness. They became very fast friends - her the devil on his shoulder, and he the gentle hand trying to guide her to do better in the world. He taught her how to handle a sword, she taught him how to read people better. He taught her to dance, she taught him how to tell a better story.

In time, Sameera grew to love him - and she had no doubt he loved her. They both led impossibly different lives, and after a few unfortunate altercations, Sameera and he were barred from seeing one another. It did not stop either, and they snuck out as often as they could to steal moments on the rooftops just to watch the stars.

During one such night before a very important day for both of them, a question was asked that would have changed both of their lives. It was a question with great weight behind it, especially for Sameera - and she feared the change that would come, and did not think herself worth it. She declined, and for a time the hurt was so deep that the two did not speak.

It was some years before the two crossed paths again, as he encountered her in the markets. Life had not changed them too much - though she jested his scales were whiter than she remembered, and he teased that she claimed she'd never wear her hair long. They fell easily back into friendship and affection, and again came love - though that had never really died. Not for either of them.

He asked her to meet him one night on the beach when the stars were at their brightest, and she arrived before him - and that is the night that Naunet stole her from the shores. It was not just fear that forced Sameera to accept the offer of the goddess - but an intense desire to return to that beach and give the answer she should have given years ago. The answer they both deserved.

... Kotone has no memory of this, but nor has she heard the news. I wonder, so very much, how Sameera's grief will manifest when her vivid dreams of Radz-at-Han and starlit rooftops are mere memories tainted by Ahewann's death.