Cold and Clean and White, Shining Diamond Bright

[shutter_hime]

⌛ Who: Kokoro and Everyone That Loves Not Dying from Heat
⌛ What: An unseasonably snowy day
⌛ When: July 3rd
⌛ Where: A Park in Tokyo
⌛ Warnings: N/A until they are



[The whole business with people (like her) being kidnapped and forced into bondage against their will sucked. Anyway, Kokoro wanted to forget all that, even if the tattoo around her arm wouldn't come off. (She'd tried to freeze it off, but nothing worked when you were immune to the cold.) Anyway, the summer in Tokyo was oppressively humid and hot, enough to make the yuki-onna want to cry and figure out a way to run to Hokkaido.

So the next best thing would have to be implemented. The extra energy she'd received through kizuna was more than enough for her to do this and also not need emergency kisses. A cloud appeared over the park she'd chosen, as she transformed into her full yuki-onna form, blue fingertips and lips and all floating white hair. Snow began to fall from the clouds as the temperature in the park dropped from oppressively hot to chilly, to nice and cold, just like she needed it.

With the extra kizuna, she could freeze more than 100 yards of the small park, further than she'd ever been able to before. That finished, Kokoro sat down on a blanket and picked out her favorite onigiri from a basket she'd brought along with her. Now all that was left was to let everyone know:]

As promised, I've got a lovely snow day for all of us who are melting from the heat. Please come to the park I've indicated on the map I've made! Let's have a nice day!

Comments

[dreamvour]

Ah, thank you. [she takes one of the offered onigiri, but doesn't eat it yet]

I don't think anyone handles this sort of heat well, at least, that's my impression walking around. [at least she's lost her uniform jacket to better blend in] But I'm not freaked out because I know what you are. Or at least, what you seem to be. It's rude to assume.

[shutter_hime]

[Kokoro nibbles on her onigiri until it's gone, looking thoughtfully at the other girl.]

Oh? You know what I am?

[She brightens up,] Ooh! Tell me your guess!

[dreamvour]

[she shifts to sit properly on the ground, fixing her skirt so she can sit cross-legged. She takes a bite of the onigiri, thoughtfully humming]

A yuki-onna. Or related to one? [she tilts her head] The ones I know live in the mountains.

[shutter_hime]

Wow! You got it right. Did the whole... cold aesthetic give it away? I'm new, though. My powers woke up a couple of years ago, in my second year of high school.

[Kokoro wrinkled her nose.]

But how did you meet other yuki-onna? It's not like there's a lot where I'm from.

[Just one, actually, in her family, aside from herself.]

[dreamvour]

[ah, one's that still living. That's the new part to her, since it's been a long, long time since any yuki-onna had children with men on mountains in her world. She can't help but grin a tiny bit]

It was the cold aesthetic.

[this part, hmm. It's still weird being open at all, but] There aren't that many, but I've met them because of my job. And because I'm a spirit, too. [a pause] Or a yokai, either works, really.

[shutter_hime]

[Kokoro giggled,] Yeah, it usually is. I'm not a spirit, if you're worried. I mean, I'm alive and I read in legends that we're supposed to be feetless, you know?

[dreamvour]

Mm, feetless and sometimes they'd appear with a child. [she grins a little wider] There used to be yuki-onna who would have children with human men, but that hasn't happened in a few hundred years. But I wouldn't be worried even if you were a spirit.

[shutter_hime]

We sort of come into it. My... well, I'm not sure how many greats, grandma looks like she's in her twenties, and she was born in like 1536 or something.

[Kokoro reached for another onigiri, thought better of it for the moment and reached for her hot, barley tea and the spare cups she brought with her, pouring Baku some.]

My name is Amamiya Kokoro, by the way. It's very nice to meet you.

[dreamvour]

Huh. [she finishes off the onigiri with another thoughtful noise] That's a while ago. I don't think I was working yet. Is it something that's passed down, then?

[Baku shifts so she can bow politely]

I'm Baku. It's very nice to meet you too.

[shutter_hime]

[Kokoro bowed back, offering her the cup.]

Is that your last name?

[dreamvour]

Ah, thank you. [she takes the cup, then shrugs]

Technically it's my name and what I am. [but right, manners] If that's too familiar, my human name this time around is Yoshinaga Chiyoko.

[shutter_hime]

Then it's OK if I call you Yoshinaga-san? I don't want to be too familiar too quickly. My mom isn't here, but I feel like she'd feel the disturbance across the universe if I did that.

[Kokoro giggled.]

But I thought that baku looked... well, kind of like anteaters?

[dreamvour]

Mm, I don't mind. [honestly, she looks a little amused] My cousin is like that - he yells at me when I forget.

[she nods] Like a tapir? [she gestures to herself] This is just a form I can take. I look more . . . [a hum, tapping her chin] . . . traditional? Closer to the statues of me at temples.

[shutter_hime]

Ooh, sort of how this is just a transformation, and I look way more... alive regularly.

[Kokoro nodded.]

Baku eat dreams, right? Have you ever eaten something you didn't like?

[dreamvour]

Kind of, yeah. I can change how I look, but it isn't something I was born with - it was a power gifted to me.

[ah . . . this question again]

Mm, I eat bad dreams. But I've accidentally eaten someone's ambitions, once or twice. Not in a long time, though.

[shutter_hime]

Huh.

[Kokoro looked thoughtful, considering the hot tea in her cup.]

You'd think bad dreams would taste funny. Like... black licorice or something.

[dreamvour]

Mm, you'd think that. [she takes a long sip of the tea in her own hands]

But they are the most delicious. The worst the dream, the better it tastes.

[shutter_hime]

Huh. Well, I guess that's way better than kissing someone to drain their life energy. But that's a renewable resource, too. Just... awkward.

[She laughed nervously. Maybe it was because Baku was presenting as a girl, but it was easier to say it with her than it was, say, a guy.]

And sometimes people taste bad.

[dreamvour]

Ah . . . yeah, that's awkward. Renewable or not. [she shifts, turning to face Kokoro better] Do you have to do that here?

[it could also be because Baku is just as awkward about it]

That's a shame . . . I've eaten good dreams and they don't taste great. Just the complete opposite of what you'd expect.

[shutter_hime]

Yeah, once I got so low I had to ask for 10 volunteers. The last month's been kind of wild, though which is why I have so much extra energy, now.

[Not that it's been good for anyone, but still.]

So, would it taste like... eating a whole mouthful of wasabi?

[dreamvour]

Heeh . . . [she draws out the sound, it getting muffled as she takes another sip] If you ever need help, you can ask me. I have life energy to spare.

[she's not doing anything with it]

Yeah, like that. I can't describe the taste that specifically, but - it's that gross.

[shutter_hime]

Aw, thanks! I'm glad you don't mind that I'm a girl.

[There were some yuki-otoko that she'd heard of, but they seemed to live shorter lives.

Kokoro could only chalk it up to the idea that they thought they were invincible.]

[dreamvour]

[a slow headtilt, cup held up to her mouth as she pauses]

Am I supposed to mind?

[shutter_hime]

[Kokoro shrugged.]

Sometimes people do; they either don't realize or don't care that it's always coming off them.

[dreamvour]

Huh.

[another pause, her head tilting the other way]

Technically speaking, I don't have a gender. I just chose this form because I like cute clothes.

[it might sound like she's joking but no, it's true. At least part of it]