WISTERIA PAVILION

sorry i haven't been around for a bit! there was some family emergencies i had to take care of and also sickness cause i have no immune system XD . i'm back though and will be working on stuff!!

coquelic listens, not necessarily out of reverence or respect, but out of calculation. an arm crosses below her chest, propping up the other as she idly appraises her nails. she lets yingying speak without interruption, but that isn't to say that her own opinions aren't forming.

what a contrived, ugly power, she thinks — to take a lived event and trap it in amber, not an act of mere preservation, but of embellishment; dressing it up in something pretty like a kind of parasitic nostalgia. the abilities granted by mania always say something about their wielder, and coquelic is quite certain that a sinner that possesses a power such as that must be deeply, and fundamentally, twisted.

far be it for her to condemn anyone's villainy, but some things, she thinks, are simply tacky.

❝ this 'yugu' sounds like a piece of work. ❞ she remarks dryly, her tone landing with an edge that suggests she wouldn't mind meeting this author in a dark alley. ❝ 'better end', you say. so the reality of this fete of yours ... ❞

she leaves the sentence to trail off, but the implication looms like incense in the air: smoky and sour. then coquelic waves it off with a lazy wave of her hand, but whether it's dismissal or mercy is hard to say.

❝ well ~ i'm sure you did your best, or whatever. there's something to be said about trying to rebel against these sorts of things. ❞

     ❛     that is one way to explain her.  she really is the type to do whatever she wants, without a care in the world.     ❜

which, honestly, could be used to explain a lot of people, herself included.  yingying really was the kind of person who wanted freedom to do whatever she pleased but even she understood limits, understood the saying  "  time  ﹠.  place  ".  though, without the storyteller's meddling, this fairy wouldn't have met her sweetheart  ⋯  what a strange mix of emotions she was feeling towards yugu.

when reminded of the ending of her fete,  ﹠.  how coquelic had trailed off, yingying gave a wry smile  ﹠.  shrug.  while it still hurt, thinking about the people who met their end  (  like her mama's  )  ,  she knew very well they wouldn't had wanted her to remain stuck in the past, unable  ﹠.  unwilling to move forward.  it just took her many, many years before arriving at that truth.

     ❛     no matter what i tried, i couldn't seem to change the outcome of the third day.  well, at least everyone had their fun in the fete, that's still something to be happy about.     ❜

❁ | ❝ AHA, YOU REALLY ARE CUTE.  ❞ it's like speaking to a kitten poking its nose into corners of a new world. coquelic's earlier flicker of irritation has already dissipated, carried off more by yingying's very nature of existence than her guileless manners. coquelic has never been one to be taken in by the mystique of this sort of otherwordly innocence, but she's been known to take a shine to all things botany — wisteria included.

❝ 'the fete', huh ? ❞ it sounds like something out of some old world, so coquelic savors the word on her tongue like it were a foreign sweet. she'd like to assert that public revelry isn't her thing, but she is a bona fide hedonist — hardly immune to the promise of a good time, let alone one among flowers. if nothing else, it's enough to interest her.

❝ right, i heard on the grapevine you were trapped in some other sinner's story. i'm guessing that was a tale about this fete, then. ❞ she lets the idea drift between them for a moment, though not necessarily waiting for an answer. ❝ humor my curiosity, miss. fairy. how does something like that happen, exactly ? ❞

oh.ᐟ.ᐟ  a compliment.ᐟ.ᐟ  yingying supposed she could live off of that for now.  any previous miscommunications  (  on her part, she must admit  )  has been forgiven.ᐟ.ᐟ  in fact, look at her preening at being called cute.  life has been brought back to the wisteria fairy.ᐟ.ᐟ  while she would have liked something more, like perhaps a touch, words were enough.  for now.

ah yes.  her  "  dearest storyteller  ".  because, yes, yingying had to admit, yugu was just as much as  "  hers  "  as the wisteria fairy's story belonged to that woman.  not that she would ever say that aloud; only her sweetheart was allowed to receive her love  ﹠.  affection.  besides, yingying had a feeling that if she were to word her thoughts, yugu would only tease her  ﹠.  that wouldn't do.ᐟ.ᐟ  she was the one who teased, not the other way around.ᐟ.ᐟ

     ❛     ⋯   "  trapped  "   is  not  the  word  this  one  would  use.   i  had  asked  yugu  to  do  this  for  me,  to   ⋯   make  a  better  ending  to  the  fete  then  the  one  i  tried  to  make.   unfortunately,  that  woman  wanted  something  else   ﹠.   gave  my  problems  to  people  who  didn't  need  it.     ❜

all the fairy wanted, for the fete to reach  ﹠.  ending where everyone found their peace.  she would have been happy with that, to fall into an eternal sleep knowing that they were happy.  unfortunately, the world was not that kind.  yingying would need to have words with yugu when she got the chance.

going to work on the carrd but starter.ᐣ.ᐣ

❝ personal space, miss fairy. ❞ she scolds her with an airy lilt, ❝ even the cutest blossoms don't get to just touch me like that. but considering that you have an eye for beauty, i'll let it slide this time ♥ ❞

cheeks puffed out ever so slightly when her hand was ushered away, fairy visibly drooping like the saddened flower that she was.  but yingying would not find fault in the pretty gem, there weren't many who lived their life adorned by physical affection like she had  (  after all, she was raised in what was a glorified brothel, not that any of her mama's would ever actually say that to her  )  .  resting back against the tree she had originally found herself resting against, yingying would lace her fingers together against her stomach, a show that she would not touch the other again.

(  but later, yingying would have to find her sweetheart to get some much needed affection.ᐟ.ᐟ  really, she didn't like not getting her way.ᐟ.ᐟ  )

     ❛     this  one  apologizes  but  i  couldn't  help  it.ᐟ.ᐟ   such  face  decorations  were  not  common  in  my  time.  why,  if  you  were  there  at  the  fete,  i'm  sure  you  would  have  been  the  star  of  the  festival.ᐟ.ᐟ     ❜

second to her, of course.ᐟ.ᐟ

First Meetings Sentences, Vol. 3

(Sentences for muses meeting for the first time. Adjust phrasing where needed)

"I'm beginning to find you quite interesting."

"I'm not going to have this conversation, least of all with someone I don't even know."

"How do you know where I live?"

"Who are you and why are you being so aggressive with me?"

"Do you always make this good of a first impression?"

"You don't say much, do you?"

"Oh good, I'm not the only one who's late!"

"I don't trust you. I can't trust you. I don't know who you are or where you come from."

"You have an interesting accent. Where are you from exactly?"

"Perhaps you'd like to know my name?"

"I got here by accident. How did you get here?"

"You're pretty cute, you know that?"

"Is small talk a way you deal with your anxiety?"

"It occurs to me that I don't know the first thing about you."

"I've been warned to watch out for women like you."

"Seeing as you let yourself in, forgive me if it's forwards to ask, but who the hell are you?"

"Who are you to tell me what to do?"

"You don't know me. You only know of me."

"How do you know that name? I haven't used that name in years!"

"Oh, hello! I know you, don't I?"

"You know, it is a little bit strange that we hardly know each other, right?"

"Hey, I immediately don't like you."

"I don't think we've ever been alone in a room together, have we?"

"Odd as it may seem, I don't feel you to be a stranger."

"I think your name is beautiful."

"You know that feeling you have that we've met before? It's the same with me."

"I was hoping we could talk a little business. Would you like some tea?"

"I'm not sure we've ever properly met."

"I didn't want us to meet like this."

"I hear you've been looking for me. I'm flattered."

"Hello! I love your work!"

"I have the strangest sense we've met before. Do you think that's possible? In another lifetime?"

"What are you doing sitting here all by yourself?"

"I've heard so much about you that I feel I almost know you."

       ❝ AH, YOU REALLY ARE HERE. ❞   wuhuanzi is nothing if not soft-spoken, and thus a neutral statement and her surprise sound identical to the ear. it's the slight widening of her eyes that give away a hint of curiosity.

the 'incident' at the fete had been a venture, to put it mildly. something that oscillated between reality and lucid dreaming, and at some point it'd become hard to tell where the line between the two had blurred. it's her understanding that the wisteria fairy had been the true owner of the fete, but wuhuanzi blames that storyteller for what had transpired there. yingying, she thinks, is another victim. and truth be told, she's been curious to see her again.

wuhuanzi was worried about her.ᐣ.ᐣ  adorable, truly adorable.  what a reliable little healer yingying had.ᐟ.ᐟ  she had to wonder, however, if the reason why her fellow eastian was visiting was due to her sweetheart's worry.  while they had understood that it would take time before she was completely ready to walk outside with others, that she would still be bedridden  (  or in her case, branch  —  ridden  )  for an unknown period of time, the fairy could sense their nervousness whenever they came to visit.  could even taste it in their qi  (  which, by the way, did not make for a tasty treat  ).

wisteria fairy would give a soft huff, pink hues fluttering closed as she nuzzled her chin into the other's neck. the height difference made this motion a little awkward but yingying was willing to allow her back to suffer for this.

     ❛     did  our  dearest  chief  ask  you  to  do  this.ᐣ.ᐣ   or  was  this  of  your  own  accord.ᐣ.ᐣ   in  anycase,  this  one  is  doing  just  fine.   there's  no  need  to  worry  your  little  head  about  this,  i  promise.     ❜

it was the truth, there was nothing wuhuanzi could really do for her.  after all, most of yingying's problems stemmed from something that couldn't be fixed through medicine. but perhaps  ⋯

     ❛     however, keeping me company would be wonderful~     ❜

(  she  ⋯  was feeling a little lonely  )