Least Likely Duo [Day 2, EN]

[Kuni Koyuki]

Thought distracted with the touch on her jawline. Koyuki wasn't a woman who accepted anothers direction too easily, but that gentle touch of encouragement had a sort of power to it. As if it would have been wrong to ignore it. Eyes obediently coming up she rested to meeting Yakumo's own. Hand coming up halfway toward where Yakumo's had been, was, but settling down before daring any further. Held breath as she thought of what to say. Frozen for just a second with the warmth hidden behind the white of her face-paint.

Nothing came. No striking wit. No new direction offered. No intelligent remark. Koyuki's breath exhaled slowly, comfortably, as she just met those eyes of amethyst.

[Susumu Yakumo]

She held her gaze as long as Koyuki let her, violet against icy blue. Again, it reminded her of the beauty of the Crane - not only the famous blue Crane eyes, but the pristine and pure beauty of their worlds. The most beautiful in the galaxy.

The fingers drifted away from her face, curling gently against the palm of her hand as Yakumo brought it against her own chest. Almost as if she was holding onto the moment, the memory of it.

"I can't help but to wonder how different you would look without this mask of yours," Yakumo murmured as her sight wandered over Koyuki's features, "but then again, I like you like this. Almost as if it is your real face, in a strange way. But that does sound a bit silly, I suppose."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki held her gaze right up until Yakumo broke it to let her eyes wander. Taking her own opportunity, she followed the nose down but crossed over the cheeks. Remembering the flush to them from before. Glancing down briefly to see the hand, wherever it had gone. Going no further than her chest, and if it had not yet remained she gave up the search then and there. Looking back up, crossing briefly over Yakumo's lips and slowing pace, but finally settling upon her eyes once more. As if to return herself to that stoic image she had created which initially inspired Yakumo's gaze to wander.

"It is not that silly," she says, her voice almost struggling to fall into the softer tone. Yet, it does touch into it. Like slowly easing into a pool of water. "I take pride in it. I am glad.. glad you find it to be identifying. The face beneath, it is just a face. Flesh and bones, nothing more."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Yet flesh and bones are what we all are, once we strip away the colors we wear and the masks we put on to the world, no?" she asked softly as she resisted the urge to brush her hand against Koyuki's hair.

The Akatsubaki was absolutely a scene that set the mood, but it was still somewhat a public scene. And they could not know who were watching or listening in.

"I would like..." Yakumo let the words remain suspended there in their conversation, as she searched for the right words to continue, "... I would like to talk more with you. Get to know you more. Somewhere not here."

[Kuni Koyuki]

Din of similarly hushed conversations filtered through the space. The occasional giggle, a laugh. Singing from one corner Koyuki herself didn't care to focus hard enough to place from exactly where, it was soft but it was present. All of that filtering into the moment and then falling completely into silence progressively as each syllable hit, 'I would like...' and then the background couldn't have possibly existed for those few seconds. Unconsciously watching Yakumo's lips as she spoke.

"Tomorrow," she said, breaking the silence in her mind as it all filtered back in. "There is the Festival of Fire. I was asked not to work on it anyway," not that being asked something like that had ever really stopped her. However, with a good enough excuse? "I can take off from my busy life a little earlier. Just.." she glanced away, briefly, with knitted brow. Settling t decision, she returned to Yakumo, "call me, and tell me where to be."

[Susumu Yakumo]

"Tomorrow." Yakumo echoed the word. Almost musically so. "I'll make sure you can find me. Somehow."

Was this a promise of some sort? Perhaps. Stranger liaisons had happened in the course of history, and while this one was strange, it was probably not the strangest.

Silently, she drained her cup, and with some effort rose to her feet. The alcohol was hitting her harder than expected, probably from all the free drinks earlier, so for a moment she was a bit unsteady on her feet, but she recovered soon enough.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Koyuki's eyes traveled with her, almost forgetting herself as that almost musical echoing of the word played in her ear. Watching the effort in qhich it took Yakumo to stand. Koyuki was hardly sober herself, and yet she rose after her without the same difficulty. Maybe still, that was why she ventured to suggest such a thing.

"Let me see you home," she said, as if not even a thought. "Please. This way I will know where to find you, if I need?" she adds, as if to save the face. A request was never made so earnestly. Which was a lie, but by some miracle her own mind spared herself the beratement.

[Susumu Yakumo]

Violet eyes studied her with curiosity at such a... request? Offer?

"Of course. Thank you. I was going to call a cab, but no doubt if you are stay at your clan's embassy, my stop should not be too far from yours?" she asked to confirm, as well as to be more certain of where she might find Koyuki.

[Kuni Koyuki]

"Not.. too far," she said, glancing away with the slight lie that it was. Of all the embassies, the Crabs was certainly the furthest of the lot. Stepping closer to Yakumo, from what the seating once allowed, she prepared to flank her side. A stupidly chivalric gesture from a society long dead, in a time long past, and of a custom long forgotten.

"Shall we? Yakumo-sama?"

[Susumu Yakumo]

Koyuki could feel Yakumo's weight against her form for a brief moment. Perhaps she needed something to just lean on, or she lost her footing for a second... or maybe she simply wanted to be close to the Kuni. Whatever the reason, the moment did not last long and she was soon on her own feet.

"Yes, Koyuki-san. Lead the way." She smiled warmly, letting the other woman take the lead.

[Kuni Koyuki]

Catching her, more with the full of her arm than by any other means. She almost asked, almost went full dumb and asked. Are you okay? That would have made her sound like an idiot. But, well, she managed to stammer over her tongue long enough to read the room. That smile, the way she spoke casually after. Not that Yakumo seemed the type to readily apologize and yet- she knew, she wasn't born yesterday.

A brief smile, a rare smile, Koyuki nods.

/scene