2022-07-15: It Could Have Been Fire
- Log: It Could Have Been Fire
- Cast: Lulu, Paine
- Where: Zulan Village
- Date: July 15, 2022
- Summary: Lulu and Paine take a moment away from the shrines and questings after dinner. But is it a date?
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Zulan is a sleepy village at the foot of a great mountain, serving mostly as a base of operations for trappers and hunters and explorers, but there are a number of people who live here year-round. Their comfortable wooden houses are always capped with snow on their tiled roofs, icy planes running through the village. There are enough people here to maintain a few eateries, with mostly hearty stuff to keep one warm in the cold night, but a surprising amount of flavor--the hunters and trappers ensure that there's a good quantity of good meat here, too.
Stepping out of one such eatery ahead of her date, Lulu looks out over the town--well, the village, really--and considers it for a moment as she waits for the other woman to step out with her. It is....
Is it nostalgic? No, not exactly. But it's familiar, though the buildings are not the same style, the manner of dress not the same. This is very different from Spira.
"So far so good," she says however, offering a little feedback on the evening so far.
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine stretches reflexively on her way out, threading her fingers and pushing them out above her head, her arms quivering pleasantly. Spirans are accustomed to open-air interiors, or at least spacious ones, and Zulan's cozy cottages feel a little tight to her. Oddly, she seems to deal with the cold just fine. Perhaps it's to do with her unusually fair skin. She does draw her cloak over to the front of her shoulders, however.
She tosses her red gaze at Lulu with a contained smile for her assessment. "Really? Do I get to take your arm?"
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu is more accustomed to traveling outside of Spira by now, having had a bit longer to get used to it. Even so she's dressed a bit more warmly than her usual, her bodice extant but snug, her sleeves wide, her slippers replaced with sturdy boots under her long belted skirt. (Very belted.)
But Lulu's noticed that Paine has no trouble with the cold.
She looks back at Paine, an amused quirk of her lips providing the first answer. "You do," she says, and it sounds as if she only just decided.
Is that true, though?
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine's reactions are muted by her affect, and yet crystal clear nonetheless. She holds her head higher, her footsteps grow lazier with confidence. When she slides her arm through Lulu's, she does so with an obviously unexaggerated satisfaction. A girl could feel pretty good about herself, with a reaction like that. It feels like no minor favor she has bestowed.
As they walk down the snowy path, Paine looks down the hill to the frozen lake below, where locals are sliding about on ice skates. Snowflakes catch in her hair and occasionally her eyelashes, disappearing easily into a matching white. For Lulu, there will be no such camouflage.
For a couple minutes they are companionably quiet. It is not the well-worn comfort of long familiarity; quite the opposite, this is all very novel to both. But these are two quiet types dating, and Paine enjoys their union of opinion on how much discussion there should be.
"You ever do that?" she asks at last, lifting her chin to indicate the direction of the lake.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
A girl could feel pretty good about herself. A woman like Lulu seems to expect it... but that doesn't make it unwelcome. She doesn't smile, but there's a ghost of something on her face, as if she might at any moment, and perhaps that's just as good. Regardless, they walk down, and Lulu goes at Paine's pace, continuing to keep her arm with Paine's and move down the hill.
Lulu is content in those companionable moments, standing with Paine and watching the locals sliding about. The snow occasionally rests on her hair, collecting there, white against black. This is indeed rather novel... But it is the sort of novel that Lulu would be willing to make more familiar, over time, she thinks.
Not that she says it that way.
"I have," she answers eventually. "When I was younger. After I moved to Besaid, there wasn't any opportunity. ...But I think it's one of those things you don't entirely forget."
"You?"
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine shakes her head. After a moment of consideration, she avoids reciprocating with information about her own childhood, merely answering, "Not me... at least since I was old enough to remember."
She looks over with a faint mischief to her rather proper companion. "Want to?"
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Some might think that Lulu didn't reveal very much information there at all, but for Lulu she's practically chatting about herself compared to someone else. So when Paine answers... Hmmm.
Lulu looks amused at that mischief. "Sure," she says. "...Provided that you join me."
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
"Goes without saying," Paine rejoins. "It can't be that hard. And someone might try to steal you out on the ice, if I don't."
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
"Good," Lulu answers. Then she 'hm hms' in that particular way of hers. "Sure," she says, of it can't be that hard, and then says, "Well, I certainly wouldn't appreciate that." A beat, "Let's go then. Don't worry about the skates."
She has a plan.
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine seems pleased that Lulu is not looking to get picked up. Perhaps this one counts as a date? She doesn't ask yet.
"Hn?" she queries laconically, about the skates.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Shortly thereafter, Lulu is out on the ice, gliding away with her wide skirt flowing along with her. She is graceful, agile, and generally doesn't look as if she hasn't done this in a long time. As it turns out...
Rather than try to find skates in their size or have them adjusted to suit, Lulu just adjusted their boots with a bit of Blizzard magic. The blades on her boots are perfect, sharp, and sturdy.
...But how is Paine?
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine has her knees spread widely, her dry-land instincts trying to stabilize her. But here on the ice, especially with slick ice blades instead of metal, spreading her feet means a constant effort of her thigh muscles to keep them from spreading MORE, and so her legs tremble as she coasts slowly, her hands held out widely to the side. She has a serious, stoic expression as she clumsily takes a step, then another, trying to keep up.
"Harder than it looks," she allows.
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu has less trouble, but there is something altogether supernatural about her grace in this situation; she has control over that ice she's conjured. ...Though it could just be that she's that graceful and agile....
It's hard to say. But the mystery of the possibility is enough for the moment.
"It is," Lulu agrees. "But you haven't fallen yet. You're doing better than most."
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Trying to bring her legs together, Paine scrapes the ice as she slides, then slips, one of her legs sliding out quite a distance. To her credit, most skaters would not have had the leg strength or the overall balance to recover from it. On the other hand, just falling over would not have been much less dignified than the scramble she is forced into.
"Haa," she sighs, as she gets her legs back beneath her. She plants a skate in front of her, then pushes with the rear foot repeatedly, as if it the front skate were a child's scooter. By this method she manages to catch up to Lulu, right before a pair of local men arrive to talk to the beautiful stranger skating so gracefully. Whether they are intimidated by Paine, polite enough to stay away from a pair of 'friends,' or simply don't want to be too near the clearly unstable beginner, they coast off in another direction.
"You look good," Paine says, a little breathless. It's not due to Lulu's beauty today. "Skating. In snow."
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu watches Paine almost fall and not. Sure, it's not very dignified. But Lulu enjoys watching a date squirm a litle. As for the two local gentlemen (being Kind) well... Lulu doesn't so much as glance at them; her attention remains on Paine. She is waiting for her to catch up, and indeed, keeps her attention on her, coming to a stop as she waits--and then continuing along, instead.
"I suppose it's my element." That could be a joke; she doesn't laugh at it, though. "It was easiest, for a long while." A beat, and she says, pleasantly, "You're terrible."
"...There's something honest in that. I like it."
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Having succeeded in regaining Lulu's side, Paine watches her coast away again effortlessly. She gets a casual insult for her troubles, and now she has to chase again.
What a woman.
Heart beating a little faster, Paine coasts to a stop for a moment to catch her balance. "I'm surprised it wasn't fire." That could also easily be a joke, but Paine gives no outward tell either. She raises a white eyebrow at Lulu's insult-compliment.
"Honesty seems to be a trait you value," Paine points out drily. Teetering, she takes a few coasting steps, her knees having to work hard. "Does this one count as a date, by the way?"
<Pose Tracker> Lulu has posed.
Lulu turns around to face Paine when Paine comes to a stop, and answrs her. "I'm pretty good with fire, too," she answers, just as straight-faced as before. But rather than continuing to talk about her skills for the moment, she listens to what Paine points out. A few more steps...
"It does," Lulu answers. "I think this counts quite nicely."
Then she extends her hand to Paine, waiting for her to catch up. "...Come along with me."
<Pose Tracker> Paine has posed.
Paine conceals her delight well. Finally!
"Hm." Hands on her knees, Paine regards Lulu coolly. "Don't be a hero," she warns. "If I fall, you need to live on." Carefully using her scooter method, she catches up to Lulu again, and extends her fingerless-gloved hand, shakily.