03: In Like A Lion

[theriflespiral]

01: Pancake Week (Elysium)
Much as she despises the Orthodox Church, there was one tradition, Natalia thinks, with which she can truck, and that is the week before Lent being Pancake Week.

She has a small Ether stove and a little chalk sign: IT'S PANCAKE WEEK! Deliver a pancake! Ask me how!, with a small list of fillings, and a drawing of a penguin carrying a pancake wrapped around little herrings and a pleased expression.

Although, the ability to deliver a pancake, still warm, without breaking it, is a hell of a statement for a shipping company to make...


02: To Dance As The Queen Does
Once more, Natalia listens to distantly piped jazz and taps the rhythm carefully, gathering Ether, ice swirling in her hands as she moves to the beat.

And, once again, as her mind fills with other things, the spell breaks, sending little bits of powder snow all across the improvised dance floor, to evaporate.

She hums in annoyance. Of course, by now, surely someone would hear soft or hard jazz and come to investigate.


03: Unfurling Inner Lotus
While much of her time is given to maintaining her front or honing her marksmanship and spellcraft, time must be given to conditioning her body.

This is risky, because unlike the other forms of training, to do it she must engage her energies at their fullest. This is less a risk of her being hurt-- no more than usual-- but rather a risk of discovery; for no one notices a girl with black hair and black eyes, but a girl with blue stars shining in her eyes? Now that has been seen once or twice, to say nothing about how it might touch on the senses of those sensitive to Ether.

But it's the only way to make sure she's training to her utmost, and so utmost she must go-- keeping up with others, never mind the Empire, demands it.

Thus it is that someone as apparently light as Natalia Koutolika is now lifting sacks of shot that are obviously as heavy as she is, and tossing them some distance, besides.


04: Special Deliveries

This was the spot. Natalia stood on the deck of the Humboldt in the little shelter the rocks of the island made, and waited to make contact.

As much as she wanted to recover and utilize larger ships, even ships that might be better suited to the line (intentionally), ships like the little sea sloop were too useful for Penguin Logistics' other purpose: smuggling packages, people, and information.

Was her chronometer wrong? She kept a weather eye out. Who is meeting her? And for what?

Comments

[testygirl]

Whoa! There's a pleasant, tingling twirl in Aira's stomach as she floats, and that it lasts for all of a second adds to the dreamlike quality. Magical is probably the best word for it, separate from the actual magic at play. Aira also feels the bite of cold—or more like a nibble—and the tingling runs to her fingertips and toes.

There's no point where it feels like Nat is going to mess up and drop her. That's intriguing on its own; Aira isn't that trusting of a person, but she's also fought in life-or-death struggles, so the risk is comparatively small. Though its more that Natalia has managed to earn some trust just from the low key time they've spent together. Even though she's often inscrutable, there's still the sense of a deep, earnest strength and competency.

"Whoo..."

Back on her feet, Aira's breath hitches, and it takes an off step or two to regain her form.

"Damn. You really do have some moves, huh? That was slick as heck."

[theriflespiral]

She nods dumbly and, for her, anyway, she's having trouble keeping the song's rhythm and starts experiencing her own, the ringing of cracking and shifting ice, the touch of a solid anchor, the way everything-- everything-- is expressing its own Ether and energies... And the pulse, undeniably the beat to the ice's off-beat--

of determination

and anger

beneath so much beautiful nacre.

This ends up expressing itself in a sudden change in her dance, sharper footsteps, quicker turns, the air pressure lowering, and a distant expression, like she can't quite see Aira-- not in the way she's used to.

Natalia will be sorry later, but she is having a somewhat intense experience right now.

[testygirl]

Aira is committed to matching Natalia's movement, even as it grows more chaotic and surreal. The intensity prompts a shift, and Aira taps into her yokai power—the 'secret weapon' she mentioned earlier. It alters her appearance and gives her a vital boost of agility and endurance.

That pulse. Either Aira can feel it too, or she's able to so closely follow Nat's tempo with some uncanny force of her own.

It feels as if she's reduced purely to the motion, to the swing of limbs, to the press and strain of her toes. When she turns, it's like a pirouette of sleet in the wind. Their dance has become a storm.

[theriflespiral]

That storm is more than just metaphor, as hail and, not long after, icicles the size of one's hand, from fingertip to the heel of a palm, begin to crash around them.

One such does in the record player entirely, but if they were still listening to it, why? The ice gathers around them, and Natalia, in her uniform, resembles nothing so much as an icy night sky, whose aurora begins to be covered by a blizzard.

She claps, as if it's the most natural thing to do, and the gathered ice and ambient Ether burst outwards.

She winces as she hears the storm tear through some perfectly good crates, and only now realizes that the record player and the record she'd been playing have gotten a few of those icicles through them. "That..."

She looks around. "... I think it is a good thing I didn't try this with someone other than you or Kaitlyn."

Who knows what damage she might have done to lesser partners.

[testygirl]

It's good that she transformed. Instinctively, Aira extends her hair to ward off any icicles that fall too close for comfort. Then, once everything has settled, the hair recedes and she shifts back to normal. She looks vaguely stunned in the aftermath, but then she cracks a hyped grin that Natalia ought to be familiar with by now.

"Yowza! That was nuts." She looks over her shoulder at the impaled record player and whistles. "But, yeesh. Hope that wasn't too expensive. I know that some antiques can be spendy."

Clearing her throat. "Pretty sure I've met Kaitlyn! She can use ice magic too, right?" Aira frowns a little. "I asked her if she could use her powers to make snow cones, it was this whole thing."

Insert joke about her priorities, yadda yadda.

[theriflespiral]

She nods. "We're working together, here, on Penguin. I'm surprised she went along with it."

She looks over the various markings for the boxes, and is also inspecting the damage. At least they're decent quality wood.

... okay quality wood.

... they're wood, at any rate.

She hopes.

[testygirl]

"You shouldn't be! God."

Aira sounds huffy for the first time. Following Nat's lead, she crouches to inspect some of the other damaged crates. What kind of supplies are in these, anyway? Hopefully nothing too important.

"I've agreed to work with you, and I happen to be very picky. Oh, and I'm pretty sure we've talked about how it isn't cute for you to be all self-deprecating."

[theriflespiral]

She clicks her tongue as she starts looking through. "Might not after this. Several of these manifests are damaged, I'll need to reconstruct them. And none of this stuff is going anywhere until the boxes are replaced."

There's really no sugar-coating it this time. This was absolutely a miscalculation on her part. "... but before it was so small... How...?"

[testygirl]

"It'll be fine! I'll help. I can probably sweet-talk some randos into helping, too."

Though she is going to wait for some instruction from Nat before she touches anything.

"But I do feel kind of bad for you? I got used to controlling my powers really fast, and this all seems like a ton of work. I mean, how's that fair? Obviously I'm a natural, and it's a whole different type of magic or whatever, but still!"

[theriflespiral]

"Mm. The first thing is to get replacement boxes and wood shavings. We have a small supply over there; they'll be the crates full of smaller crates." Natalia starts piecing together the various papers. "I'm going to look through the files and make sure of the manifests. And no random passers-by until we've inspected and made sure there's no obvious contraband."

[testygirl]

This would typically be the part where Aira whines about not being made for manual labor, or something. But she doesn't want to let Natalia down! Even if it feels like her eyes might start to glaze over at any second.

"Okay, crates in crates..."

At least she has Acro Silky's power. Aira transforms again as she heads over, and her hair grows out into strong, thick locks. She uses them to grab up a few of the boxes and tote them over.

[theriflespiral]

She rushes back to the office, and starts rifling through, re-writing a form, and filing the cargoes away as Aira brings the boxes.

After the first load, when she's looking over the manifests, she finally says, with a note of despair, "-- Okay. Now we can hire randos."

These had all been legit. She'd nearly ruined a barely boasted reputation, and risked irreparable damage to the entire operation, and for what? Barely any more insight than before.

She taps in the cheap finishing nails, quickly, one strike of the hammer covering one nail, precisely calculated, each one; more like a living nailgun than a breathing carpenter.

[testygirl]

In the meantime, Aira is also able to locate the bags of wood shavings, and she sets them near the boxes. Then a frown.

"Yeah, hold that thought."

That despairing tone catches her off guard—though should it? She's probably not taking this mishap seriously enough; the distribution of supplies can definitely be a big deal.

"Are you okay? I don't wanna, like, distract you or slow you down. But if you're upset, it doesn't hurt to vent? I mean, I do it all the time."

She lets out a subdued chuckle. Quite a rare moment for Aira to make a joke at her own expense, honestly.

[theriflespiral]

"Trust is extremely important when you offer a service, yes? I risked that trust carelessly." Tap. Tap. Tap. Each nail lands perfectly flush with the crate, each time she brings the hammer down, no expression on her face. "This was... entirely my own miscalculation."

She is protected from joy, but also from sorrow. "I am beginning to think this entire idea is a dead end."

[testygirl]

"What the hell?"

Oh, now she's the one who's upset. Damn, whoops. Aira folds her arms and gives Nat a bit of a glare. The tap, tap, tap is even starting to sound annoying, which is a sure sign that she's right on the cusp of really losing her temper.

"You mean your work, or the magic? Look, everybody screws up! I'm going to be really, really pissed if you just decide to give up. Oh, and it literally takes two to tango, by the way. I was pushing you to go hard when we were dancing, so it's partially my fault, too!"

[theriflespiral]

Well. The hammering has stopped, at least. There's a slight squeaking sound under Natalia's boots. "I learned a long time ago that I must be extremely careful and considered with my actions. The burden of blood can lie in something so careless as a word. I..."

The memory comes up, and speaks for her, voice cloaked in ice once more. "I cannot make myself unreliable. Unreliable tools are to be discarded and forgotten."

[testygirl]

That's about the last thing Aira wants to hear. In a fit, she kicks at the box that Nat is working to repair—probably not hard enough to damage it more, but mostly to get it out of the way. (If something does break, she'll make sure to fix it herself. And definitely apologize once she's calmed down, either way.)

Presently, she crouches right in front of Nat and grips her shoulders, looking her hard in the eye.

"You're not a tool. You're a really smart, hard-working girl that messed up one little thing. More importantly, you're my friend, and I don't let my friends call themselves awful things like that. Got it?"

[theriflespiral]

She watches it go, eyes following it, seemingly impassive, and starts to line up the next one. She's used to such fits of temper. She's had so many punishment details and rough-ups back home that something like this is barely a blip on the radar. Aira didn't even damage the crate, it barely merits mentioning.

It's when, instead of something else, Aira stares her in the eyes, and tells her that, she pauses. "... I have told you that when I was ten, I went into a program, after years touring the world, pride of Russia, yes?

"... I wanted to return home, to Zabaykalsky. To stay with my parents. Learn more, for a few years, see what heights I could reach. My parents agreed.

"As a tool, that made us unreliable."

She sets the box, sets a nail, and hammers it in, one swift stroke. A second. "Unreliable tools are discarded and forgotten."

[testygirl]

Aira would shudder at being compared to an abusive teacher or trainer, but damn if it wouldn't make her think twice the next time she's about to lose her head. Still, with the almost uncomfortably placid way Natalia reacts, the shadow of it still claws at her, though unformed and unspoken.

Sullenly, she shifts away to give Natalia some space to work again. Then she takes in a few breaths.

"What happened? Did they punish you and your family?"

She swallows, hesitating. "Did they hurt you?"

[theriflespiral]

"Pain is an old friend. The tool was easy to fix. Remove the reason for to return to Zabaykalsky, she will not return to Zabaykalsky. I'm sure no one knows where all the bodies are buried. Who cares? Just another Uighyur. Just another Tatar." The hammer rings out. "I am more reliable, after that. I go to Kamchatka. I take the blows and the punishments. I can change nothing. But I do not forget. I do not forgive."

"When I arrive here, I see the same empire, different name for the Tsar." The hammer rings out. "We fit right in, Kamchatka Program and I. We understand the rules. But I did not forget. I did not forgive."

"And when a noble decides I am fun game, well..." She shrugs, and lets the hammer fall. "I do not forget." Again, harder. "I do not forgive." One last time, nearly hard enough to break the lid. "And if I must, one at a time, the slow way, while taking their blows and their punishments, I will."

[testygirl]

Aira listens—and doesn't interrupt, even though her heart screams for her to, at least to insist again that Natalia stop using that language to describe herself.

But she does wait, and then all the work things get knocked away again so that she can pull Nat into a clinging hug. It happens so fast that Nat might even be halfway into her next swing, but Aira's vision is blurry with tears, so who knows. They're hot and stinging as she shuts her eyes and squeezes her friend.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

That's all she can get out, at first. Though she isn't sure what else to say, if anything. She's had to cope with loss, and she has friends who have, but that doesn't make it hurt less, and it doesn't make her better equipped to handle this. A truly helpless feeling rises raw in throat, and she sobs, and she squeezes tighter.

1/2

[theriflespiral]

There is a moment, where she sits in shock. The hammer clatters to the floor, the nails firmly in one fist digging into her palm. Even though she's not moving, she feels Aira's distress.

2/2

[theriflespiral]

And she wonders if she managed to scare Aira. ... No, she probably did. Slowly, her arms go around Aira, and Aira can feel the heat of Natalia's tears.

Even as, impassively, she says, "I apologize, I... Did not mean to imply I would not forgive you. You've done. Done nothing so... So terrible..."

Slowly, it's hitting her again. If Aira can feel vibes, she probably has a sensation of a thick ice sheet cracking when Natalia's head sinks into her shoulder.

[testygirl]

Aira has faced more than a few scary things at this point, and she's managed to brave through each of them. This is grief, with some bitter frustration blended in. Things just shouldn't be so unfair: in this world, in hers, and in Natalia's. Why do kids, especially, have to suffer?

"It's not about me. I'm just so... so sorry about your parents, and that you had to go through that."

She sniffs, then tries to regain a bit of composure—which, frankly, is difficult. Because she's thinking of her mom now, and what so few things she can acutely remember about her. She can think of her mom holding her while she cried, though, and how she patted and stroked her hair.

Aira does the same for Natalia, with a soothing and gentle touch, forcing her hand not to tremble too much.

[theriflespiral]

"It is merely my life. Because. It is all I can do." She grips on a little tighter, and-- breathes in, and despite everything, because she can feel the shaking hand, she hums.

The tune is almost certainly off, and anyone who could repeat it would tell you it's a butchery, and her teeth start to chatter almost immediately, but the lilting rhythm and natural key make it unmistakable:

She's trying to hum a lullaby.