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

2

[relentless_sentinel]

By now, Nephenee's heard a decent bit of the local music, and one that keeps getting her attention for reasons she can't begin to comprehend is this 'jazz' stuff. Something about it just moves her, and when she catches wind of it this time, she can't help but come investigate. When she turns the corner and pokes her head in, the sight of Natalia makes her smile, though the snow about her gets a quirked eyebrow.

"Hiya, Natalia...uh, how's there snow everywheres?" It's the tail end of March, after all... "Magic?"

Re: 2

[theriflespiral]

"Ah-- Nephenee, was it not?" Natalia starts to crank the flywheel again. "... Yes, I believe it is, of a sort. What sort, now, that is proving difficult to assess. I could go over the story, if you like."

[relentless_sentinel]

The Sentinel nods at mention of her name, and watches quietly as Natalia works and speaks, before stooping down to inspect the fluffy bits already starting to melt. That's snow, alright; it feels wonderfully cool to the touch, even as it almost instantly turns to water in her palm from how warm she runs.

'The story', huh. She's not sure what that means, but after giving the water in her hand a dirty look and sighing slightly, she looks up to Natalia and nods. "Sure, Ah'd like to hear it." Neph isn't quite sure what the woman means by all that, so she's rather curious.

[theriflespiral]

"Well. You remember how bad off I was right after Bluvink?" She pauses. "During the moment I made... several tactical errors, the snow around me responded. ... Saved my life, really. Ever since, I am training to see how it works."

She listens to the governor, and keeps running the crank. "So far, results have been mixed. I either get something like this, or nearly destroy most of my own operation. I've learned some things, but it's... Frustrating."

[relentless_sentinel]

The soldier crosses her arms and tilts her head as she listens. "Yeah, Ah remember that. Ya were pretty roughed up then...thankfully, looks like ya've healed up good."

She looks around the place and at the thing Natalia's working for a moment in thought, beofre looking back to the young lady. "So...what do ya know 'bout it so far, then? Like...how did it respond? How's it wreckin' stuff? All that." She doesn't know much about magic, but...might as well she if she can help.

[theriflespiral]

"So far all I have are... conjectures. But. Here is what i know. One day, my heart froze. For... a while, that was all I knew. It turns out this is axiom. I-- begin to freeze, when i express myself normally." She readies the needle. "My current conjecture is: so long as i express it in ice, my heart remains in some manner, frozen. A hand to grip my chains. But... this doesn't come easy."

She queues up the record at last. "I'm open to suggestions."

[relentless_sentinel]

For a moment, Nephenee just stares at her in abject confusion. Is she not understanding some of the words here in the native language? Did...Natalie just say her heart froze? What does 'axiom' mean? No, what does any of this mean?

After that moment of her brain needing to restart, she shakes her head to clear the fog that feels like it had descended out of nowhere. "Um...sorry, Ah'm...not sure Ah follow. Some of them words Ah don't know, like 'axiom'...but..." And her eyes narrow in concern, her accent growing a bit thicker as she forgets to lessen it, "...What do ya mean, yer heart froze??"

[theriflespiral]

She adjusts the volume down. "-- Come. You have seen my lack of emotion, desire to reach out, and compassion first hand. Do you not say of such a woman, back home, 'her heart is cold'?"

Natalia closes her eyes. "So far, so normal..."

She lets her anger at the situation flare up into a sneer, and she winces, rime beginning to appear at her feet. "S-s-save mine is en-n-nforced."

[relentless_sentinel]

Nephenee taps a slender finger against the vambrace on one arm. Yes, there's a saying like that back home...but any reply she might have had is cut off as the ice starts spreading at Natalia's feet.

Despite the shock she feels at that being quite literal, the soldier hurries to Natalie's side, hand flying to her pack. "Oh, Yune, ya weren't kiddin'!" By the time she's in front of the sniper, there's a light blanket in her hands, and she's trying to wrap Natalia in it. "Ashera..." The whispered oath has an edge to it, only slightly softened by the clear concern there. "D-Does it hurt?? What can Ah do to help??"

[theriflespiral]

She pulls out a small insulated carafe, out of which she pours some tea, which she downs in one pull. The steam wafts from her mouth as the blanket helps warm the rest of her. "A little. Is why I'm trying to find ways around it."

"... Thank you."

[relentless_sentinel]

The scent of tannins hit her nose, and Nephenee unconsciously takes a deep breath - Mmm, black tea. At least Natalia has a warm drink...that'll help negate some of the chill. The fact she's that prepared speaks both well and ill to the Sentinel: well because at least she's prepared for when thing go awry, ill because...well, she has to do such a thing in the first place.

"...You're welcome. Why don't we sit down for a spell? My siblin's all say Ah'm a furnace, so if Ah hold onto ya, you're sure to feel better in no time...if that's alright, o'course."

Now that she's this close, it's incredibly apparent that's not much of an exaggeration; Nephenee does put off a large amount of body heat. It's not so much a blaze as to be uncomfortable, thankfully, but it's certainly noticeable.

[theriflespiral]

"... Very well." When she does, she's sitting with her back to Nephenee, and-- She's right. It is warm.

She is also extremely glad that Nephenee cannot see her face right now. Honestly, having to rely on people this much because she can't control her emotions. It's embarrassing.

This is what she's telling herself, at any rate. "As to why dancing... It's a-- a hobby I picked up once. I had hoped that expressing myself this way would go better, but... So far it's been hard to control."

She only then notices the whiff. "You drink tea as well, then?"

[relentless_sentinel]

Nephenee lets her get settled before gently draping a lithely muscled arm around Natalia's shoulders, careful not to restrict her movement; it’s firm enough to be a hug, yet loose enough for Nat to slip away if she needs to. As a soldier, Nephenee understands how uncomfortable vulnerability or feeling trapped can be — she knows it far too well.

Thankfully for Natalia, she's also completely oblivious to any of the consternation there. "Yep, Ah gotta whole buncha tea back in my cabin, in a cupboard. Ah like makin' blends o'my own, too. Ah should let ya try some, sometime. An' dancin', huh? Been awhile since Ah did that...what sort ya doin'?"

[theriflespiral]

"Feel free to have a cup yourself, then. I make too much of a day for just such an occasion." She holds up the carafe, more to have something to do with her hands, even as she leans her head against Nephenee's arm.

When Nephenee asks back, she hums. "Any forms I can remember. Swing, formal line and menuet, ballet. About the only thing I haven't really tried are the martial-arts related expressions; the lion dance requires two who know the basic choreography, Shaolin meditation is for meditating, and attempting a demonstration choreography..."

She pauses. "Well. Like the lion dance, those require a partner too, albeit in a different way."