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@st4ysoft | that's amore, babe.

"Don't you look handsome?"

A soft laugh acts as a first response from V - she's heard it a few times, now and again - but to hear it come from Yui, who, in this moment all cleaned up and dressed up for a night out, looks so good, it almost makes her blush.

"You're one to talk," V quips with a widening smile. She's donned a sport jacket and slacks, boots for that little bit of height, and her sides have been cleaned up just the day before, smooth along the scalp. It's technically a date, planned and everything for dinner and dancing, and maybe a ride out to the Badlands under the stars if they don't get too distracted.

Still, she can't help but to get into Yui's space, taking that adoring gaze as an invitation to do so, drawing up just a few inches taller than the other woman, adorned in her usual bright colours, but this time in a bit of a dressier fashion. She also catches a hint of a perfume, or shampoo - whatever it is, V can't tell but it's her scent that drives her just the right kind of crazy - keeping her right where she is.

"You look good, cariño..." Cybernetic eyes fall to the light gloss upon Yui's lips, and while they haven't even left the shop yet, temptation comes and takes hold, and she looks from Yui's eyes to her mouth and back again, as if asking silent permission - and when granted, she tilts her head just right to kiss her ever so gently at first, but the fingers gliding along her shaved sides encourages her to deepen it, humming against her until finally, parting to take a breath. Tongue comes to wet her lips, and tastes cherry... or strawberry?

V's smile widens then, brightening her expression.

She saw something different amongst the crows.

Though perhaps Maxima simply had not been truly looking. For all the interest in their politics and how they were depicted in many a romance books in Orlais, Maxima had found them - for the most part - mundane. Not too unlike Tevinter except that they still presented themselves as a single united front, a lot of talk of family, of unity, of loyalty to Antiva. And yet Maxima knew enough of how thick blood truly was.

It was a joke. A veneer that was painted or covered above them but as thin as a veil. Somehow it made people feel safe, covered, even if they were completely nude underneath. Maxima weaves the thin pearls into a single string. Hearing the soft, dull thud of the two pearls touching it other, Maxima hums. Putting down the string and pearl, Maxima pushes away the loose hair from her shoulder, allowing it to fall as it saw fit over her shoulder, down her arm.

In the end, the thickness of blood meant nothing. Not when your own brother would prefer to have your blood on his hands over having you be the face of one's house. Not when the patriarch was a monster that destroyed not only their own blood but the lives of those that served him. Not when the mother wished to twist her children to fit exactly the mold or rather have them disposed of, hidden behind large tower walls. Blood meant to the crows, their ties were built on name rather than blood.

And names? Names were even more flimsy than blood. They ripped easily, lost their shape quickly, their meaning grew dull on tongues unless given inventive. They flew in the wind with barely an invite.

  "A city burning." she finally says, her green eyes focusing on the other. The side of her fingers push aside the darker strings of hair that frame her face; she carefully pushes behind behind Natalin's ear "An Empire falling." Maxima whispers with her smile, punctuating every word with a pause. Her smile grows as sharp as a dagger.

Leaning forward, Maxima's face does not touch the other's, but she can feel her breath brush against the side of her own tilted face. Green eyes hooded in a smile "And a pearl diver playing the lyre, watching it all go. "

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