Drystan Windgrace made his way up the cobbled streets of the more crowded and bustling area of the Japanese district, hands shoved in his pockets, the collar on his jacket popped, and his strides long and purposeful. He was in no real hurry but he didn't stop at any of the vendors or stop to chit chat to anyone. Unlike his brother who had dipped himself in the local scene and got to know some people, Drystan didn't have any real connections here, save for the one place he was approaching; Kyuu's shop. He seemed to glide through the crowds of people in front of stalls and shops, head usually far above those that surrounded him. Any looks he was given were quick to have the eyes slide off him and back to their original target, as he kept a bubble of feeling and psychic energy around him that made people lose interest in him pretty quickly. He didn't want to be remembered for everywhere he went. It was his way of keeping some anonymous stature that he enjoyed. Finally just before the shop's entrance came into view, he paused, and looked around. Finally he looked upwards to the blooming trees above him and simply reached up and peeled a small branch of delicate flowers from the bunch and peeled at the tiny branch till the blossoms were in a picturesque state, then made his way to the threshold of the store,
It has been a while since the fox had been seen around town. She had been such a presence in the district that when she no longer walked the streets, rumors had been passed about that she had suffered a fate similar to her uncle, the tailor who had opened the shop before her. There was a stir when she was seen again though the very perceptive claimed that there was something distinctly different about her. And they are right.
That edge the fox carried with her, the tantalizing sensation that something dangerous was nearby? That no longer lingers in the spaces she occupies. For those who can truly see such things, the flame of her power has all but gone out, the aether that flowed through her very veins all but gone. She is a candle now to the sun she once was – it’s a jarring difference. A concerning one. This creature is not even a fraction of what she once was.
She is still the best tailor this town will ever see. The skill remains. It's just the power that has gone.
The fox is in her shop sorting through paperwork and frowning over the depletion of her stock. The closure of the ports has created a loss in product that she needs to correct. Now that they are open again, she will need to place orders and get them delivered as quickly as possible. This? Is a stress that bothers her far more than it should have. She can be found standing before the miniature garden within the shop, one hand lifting to the back of her neck as she frowns at the paperwork in her hands. The shop keeper she has hired calls out a soft greeting to Drystan when his frame fills the opening and the fox’s gaze lifts. Eyes that no longer roil with molten heat peer toward the man and a smile tugs at the fox’s mouth as she takes him in.
Drystan Windgrace looks around the shop and cracks a smile at the hired help that greets him and urges him inside. He steps in and eyes, both seen and unseen, take in the shop. There is a lot to see, but he settles his eyes on Kyuu's frame, then tilts his head in contemplation. She is different somehow, smaller? No. She looks the same physically from first glance, but there was a hollow where it had been filled to the brim before. "Hello there, I hope I'm not interrupting work?" He gave a little bow to the woman that was assisting, but then turned and took a pace or two to shuffle closer to where Kyuu was situated. "It's good to see you up and about..." His voice lowered some to make clear his conversation with her was to be private, and he planted the seed of thought in the assistant's mind that she should really go take that meal break she'd been so looking forward to. Hunger started to burn in her belly, feeding that feeling, that at least in her mind, proved she could go down the road and eat 5 meals if they'd let her.
She excused herself very pleasantly and grabbed a small paper umbrella and her coin purse and ducked out the door before her stomach actually started to rumble with the sensations she believed to be true. Facts where, she'd been snacking on almonds all morning that had come in off one of the ships, it was just a notion of a thought passed from Drystan's mind into hers that drove her to make choices now that juuuust so happened to serve his purpose. Once she was through the doorway, he came to stand much closer to Kyuu, and extended his hand with the blossoms he'd picked. "It's been some time since last I saw of you, creeping about the pools.." He smiled more broadly with enough laughter in the corners of his eyes that she would feel the warmth of humor.
It is not lost on Kyuu that her hireling has an immediate need to take her break, just as she has received a visitor. The fox does not mind, however, as she is rather fond of this one. He is a dancer with the dark, a creature of the arcane and mystery much as she is. Or was. She is a nearly empty vessel now, so her self-definitions have become a little unclear. It is no matter – she is just experiencing a season in her existence. The fox waits for Drystan to approach, papers forgotten. They settle down upon a nearby table with an absent flick of her wrist and she leans in toward the man as he offers forth the sprig of flowers. Her delicate hand lifts to accept and she dips her head to take in the scent before glancing up through lowered lashes. There is a moment of contemplation before she offers him a truth, a reason for her absence. “I was closeted away. Giving birth to my next incarnation.” The flowers are lowered and she offers up that smile again, returning the warmth he offers in his gaze with her own. “I did not know that I would be missed.” She pauses a beat then asks, “How are you? And your family?”
Drystan Windgrace crinkles his brow at her reply and his eyes narrow just a touch as he searches her, and at the revelation that she had given birth... well. His hands both went out to touch her shoulders and turn her a bit more towards him and he could feel her being with his own touch. "My Gods, Kyuu...I had no idea you were befallen with ...child. I just knew you were seeking refuge to heal, I am so sorry I wish I had known more. We...the family..." He sighed and shook his head letting his grasp on her loosen though it wasn't tight to begin with. His clawed fingers now just embraced her shoulders at near arm's length as he looked openly at her. "They are as they are...Dinah is recuperating from the ritual led to lift the mist from the island, Dorian has been escaping into riding every morning and his routine to make friends and acquaintances in this district never ceases. Myself...I've just been working. Trying to get everything everyone on this island might need from offshore, to try and anticipate what holes are left in our supply chains, opening new waterways for our boats...repairing the business..." He rambled a bit and paused. "But none of that would make me care less of your absence or what you clearly have been through." He was still confused on how she had given birth to ..herself? themselves? But those details he knew were shrouded in history and magics of some sort. He accepted that she was a creature of her own creation.
Kyuu had been ravished by a god, or near god, with the sole intent of capturing her essence and making it a part of his own heritage. There was magic in that act – and there still is. “It is not the first that I have born, in my many lives, Drystan. It is the first actual Kit, however.” She pauses, thinking on that before offering a shake of her head, “I will forever remember the kindness your family showed me. I had been hunted relentlessly and when caught, paid dearly.” Her tone is earnest and a bit removed. She does not like to reflect on those memories and so has compartmentalized it and the emotions related to that experience in a place in her mind that she does not have to look at. It is a wince, within her. A moment of defeat and the fear that followed, that she would pass from the results of that attack? That has faded now for here she stands. She assures Drystan with, “But I am well now. As well as I can be.” The flowered branch is touched to her chest, dragged lightly across her collarbone. Her free hand lifts to lightly touch his chest, just over his heart. “I have faced far worse fates in past lives.” Her expression brightens when he speaks of tending to the needs of the people and she wonders, “Might I add some of my own needs to your long list? It would be a profitable venture, at least, and not a charitable act.”
Drystan Windgrace softened at her touch and the smile spread more easily across the rest of his face. "I trust your assessment...though I will say if I ever lay hands on what hunted you, it should be quite afraid." The smile never left him, but that was an honest truth. He did not take kindly to those he chose to get close to being hurt or trifled with, and after dealing with one of his own Pantheon of Gods, and having his own sister be a vessel for them, he had no fears of anyone, or anything that came his way, at least for now. As soon as he'd made that thought clear he moved on and nodded, "Of course, whatever you need...if its an immediate need i can ... acquire something for you in immediacy if i see a sample.. but our boats are fast, anything above and beyond that I will deliver in short order." He squeezed her shoulders and rubbed them before letting them slide down to her elbows and one hand waved at her supplies, though his questioning went back to her words. "Your...kit? Is it alright? Does it have everything it needs?" The patronal side of him slipped through, though it wasn't hard for that to happen, he had been the head of himself and his siblings since he was young. He had taken on the role of caretaker to their personal needs and feelings and now here later in their many years, benefactor and leader as eldest in whatever capacity that involved.
Kyuu does not mind being within the grasp of Drystan’s near embrace. He is comforting and this is not something she receives often. The fox is not known for allowing people close to her. She is a guarded creature with many secrets. But here, now? She is content in his presence. “I would rather you not ever have to face him.” She states, quietly. “Though I do appreciate that you feel this way. Much as you would protect me? I will also protect you. He and I bargained. I am no longer hunted..” She trails off then and tilts her head, brow furrowing. “My kit.. Will be under his care and protection for a while. I can see her at any time – but I have to enter his realm and follow his rules.” There is an implication that other things will likely happen in this scenario that she is not going to mention. “She is safe enough.” A glance is offered up, expression hollow. She wets her lip before continuing, “But it will not always be so. She will join me here, eventually.” A smile is offered, hopefully to quell any upset on her part. Then she distracts, “I need to replenish my warehouse. I have run low on cloth – I need several different types and they must be derived from specific manufacturers across the world. Some of these bolts are worth thousands of dollars – but I will not accept an inferior quality, or work with someone who might try to pass off a fabric as what I need. I have walked this world for over a thousand years, Drystan. I am fully aware of what I am looking for.” And people have attempted to deceive her in the past, clearly.
Drystan Windgrace 's mind whirled as she spoke of who hunted her. As she did, tiny alarm bells began to ring in the back of his head. His deal with the Fae Queen, that the kittens she bore, or whatever they might be, would be cared for in her realm but he could visit the offspring anytime but have to enter the fae realm to do so. He had an open invitation and a way to get there and back thanks to her, but he had yet to hear from her on this agreement, and it had been stuffed in the back of his mind as far more pressing issues had taken up his time. But dots were being slowly connected and woven for him and through this process went on silently, he pushed it back when she changed subjects. "Of course of course..." His words were soft and reassuring. His bar for quality was set quite high himself, he could relate quite well to this notion. "I personally assure you that I will source anything you may need to be the exact thing you desire." He took a step away from her to the table where a swatch of cloth lay with some papers, touching it gently with his fingertips. "What cloth do you need most urgently?" He turned his head and spied her, reaching up to scratch idly at his beard. "Start a list...put down every desired item specifically. sources...if you have them already, will be harvested. We will make ports wherever needed, and have ports on every continent. Even a few in the Failed States."
Stepping after him to the desk, her fingers settle on the papers that she had earlier discarded here. “Kimono silk is in high demand. I have been asked if I will take on the commission for some festival clothing, and a couple wedding garb. There is joy and hope since the fog lifted and the people of the island are celebrating.” She curves a soft smile at this thought. “But I do not serve this district alone. There is a Chiffon that I need, from France. And Italy? Lace. I need linen from Egypt. I have an extensive list and my stock has been badly depleted. I need thread, needles – you would be amazed how many needles I go through. Pins, accouterments: Buttons both wooden and metal. Gold threaded fabrics. Denim! Cotton! There is so much.” A hand lifts to rub at her forehead, gently massaging an ache there. “And I have commissions that need to be delivered. I am known worldwide. While much of what is made in the shop is overseen by me? I do have a queen and other members of royal families who have commissioned various pieces that I have not been able to ship out.” She looks up to him, the weight of this bearing down on her. It is a mortal concern, one that never really bothered her before. But now the thought of disappointing her clientele is nerve wracking.
Drystan Windgrace listened and frowned slightly. "You need...a bit of everything then." He was making a mental check of those places she listed and which ships went where and when. It was a jumbled mess to some but somehow he was able to keep most of the charts and logs straight in his headspace. "We can make deliveries, And where it is far more inland i can secure travel for parcels. I ship my artwork out as well you know. No one has gotten anything from me in months. Even if they don't realize I am the artist, and its sold under pseudonym." He was not world famous. He was a mover behind the scenes with small renown, though the family name was far more easily recognized. Living a long life meant that most things only had initials for first names, which helped when everyone's names started with the same letters.
“I do.” Kyuu agrees, sighing softly. “Not to make light of the situation, or place myself above it, but the mists have impacted my business negatively. If I could get my hands on whomever was responsible? I’d fucking eat them.” she pauses, purses her lips a moment then sighs. Maybe she wouldn’t eat them now, as she is. But old habits die hard. Maybe she would. The fox shakes her head slightly then turns to face Drystan more fully, gaze lifting to rest upon his face, “I sell everything under Kyuu. Or the number 9, in some areas. I have always restarted, in every life, after I have remembered myself.” She pauses then shakes her head, “But I know who I will be this time. I want to build this up.” She gestures toward the small shop, “So that I can ensure my next incarnation has time to grow into me without worry or hardship. She will not have an easy time with it. I never do. Memories do not come all at once and for a while, I will not remember anything about who or what I am. And she is starting life as a fox. I have only once done that before – when I was first born.”
Drystan Windgrace lifted his brows at her and turned to face her again. "Well, ....the individual responsible...he no longer exists, nor do his cohorts. I assure you I exacted personal revenge. This whole thing...the mist.." He stopped in his tracks, he was about to say words he'd only mumbled in front of his siblings and Hunter. "..it came about because of an action I took, and was, .." He sighed deeply. " ..a misconstrued vision of someone beyond madness. I felt ...feel...like I am responsible. Not for the sorrows and hurt and death it brought, but for being the trigger. I take my job here very seriously, and the people of this island ...are somehow under our umbrella of care. Back in England, we were very cordial with our town and neighbors, Cheriton is still a shining beacon even if it's only haunted by our ghosts and our Mother." He closed his eyes tight momentarily and shook his head lightly causing the hair to fall into his eyes. "Your business....will rise alongside our own here. there is only forward momentum from here forward - and as far as your Kit goes..." He placed a hand back along to her arm near her shoulder. "We will be here. There is connective tissue here that can be shared and given, ...she..you...will not be so lost as you may think."
Kyuu is pleased to learn that the individual responsible for her business hardships is no more, but there is a vindictive part of her that would have gloried in gutting him herself. She watches as Drystan struggles through telling her that he is to blame for triggering the culprit. Her hand lifts again and finds that spot just over his heart on the curve of his shoulder. “I take actions every day that likely create enemies. Countless enemies – if they knew it was I behind the deaths..” she pauses and reflects on her lack of discomfort with sharing that with him. “I am not human, Drystan. Neither are you. Even if we pretend to be, or started that way? We will never be again. There are many ways that a person can react to what is done to them, or those they love. It is their choice to act that way. It is not your fault that they chose the path they did.” She smiles wryly and gently taps her finger tips against his shoulder, “But I understand if you feel this way. It is the compassion in you. The humility. And the need to care for others that makes it so hard to release yourself from the blame.” She leans in, to make her point, “But it really is not your fault.”
Drystan Windgrace looks down at the hand on his chest and back up to her face as she speaks. He knows she is correct. Every word of it. He swallowed, his Adam's apple bouncing in his throat, "Thank you. You ..are right. It has never bothered me that we aren't human, at least, not anymore. the culprit, he was tortured, Dinah and I made sure of that.” He changed, became less than human, tried to take on power he could not contain. He tried to commune with our Gods and it backfired. they are not a tool to be used. I understand that. He, clearly, did not." He tucked his chin down and looked away at the compliment giving, and shrugged a little bit.
Nodding with Drystan as he agrees, as he admits that she is right, Kyuu gives him a small smile of encouragement. When she learns more of the man behind the mists she takes a breath and releases a sigh. “I am tired of people who grasp for power that is not theirs. Who steal what is not theirs to take.” There is a soft growl in her tine here. Her hand lightly slips from his shoulder to rest directly over his heart. “Gods can be fickle creatures. Some not so much. Personally, I have to work for every morsel of power I am given and most of my followers? do not know that they are even worshiping me.” She laughs lightly at this thought, features lighting up. Her hand spreads across his chest then pushes off, to settle above her own heart. “We take more than we give and not a single one of us are tools. Even when we are a shard of ourselves, a vessel for our power. People who seek to use a god deserve what they get.” Her head then tilts, ”You will be here? If your family that long lived, Drystan?”
Drystan Windgrace smirked a bit at her reply, licking his lips, "Oh is that so? Am I too a follower unaware of your hold?" His mouth spread to a more toothsome smile that flashed brilliantly for a moment. They did share a great deal of the same opinion and judgment of others. "I like to think my will is not bents so easily by outside influence, but only you would know if I offer all I have to your disposal due to blind faith or friendship." He took a big breath and shifted, considering. "Callisto is our new home base. This place is in our blood almost literally now. The aether here is so strong, ...we will be here for much longer than anyone may know. I am responsible for that long life to be kept, so long as I draw breath, have control of my body? My mind? We will be here, through thick and thin." This is a bit of a revelation as well, that he somehow controlled the longevity of the Windgrace Family in his hands. He however would never claim to be sole bearer of this responsibility. Without Dinah, without Dorian, the magic used would be near impossible to do on his own, even if he knew and had promised Dinah that now that his sight had evolved, he could take over the ritual, should she fall to the powers of the Gods. It was not something that would even be considered. He would keep Dorian and himself alive long enough to find a way to bring Dinah back, should that ever be the case. "I cannot reach that far into the future, and anything I do grasp at, ...what my mind will allow me to glimpse, is all just a ripe opportunity, never a promise of what is to come. But everything inside me says that we have lots of work to do, big moves to make and Callisto is at the center of it."
That smile from Drystan earns a sly one from the fox. She lifts a shoulder in a roll and replies, “You pay homage to me every time you put on one of the crisp shirts your sister has so lovingly ordered.” Her hand lifts to tug at his collar, mussing him up a little. “But most people .. most worshippers? they yearn for something I have touched. Something that I have created. If it is just out of reach – but if they can somehow acquire it? then their spirit is lifted. They are fulfilled. That moment of bliss is delicious. This is the worship of a brand. Of a label. But it is also of me, for there is no Kyuu without me.” Her hand lifts so that she can gesture at herself and offer a brief bow, “This is how I gather power. I could do it in other ways. But I rather enjoy fashion.” A shrug here, another smile. “If my kit follows the path of my first life, she will live a hundred years as a fox and then gain a human form. She will be young and old at once, feral, and yet not. And she will need the power that I want to build for her so that she can remember herself. Remember us.” A brow lifts and she questions him, “You would help me create that?”
Drystan Windgrace laughed a low rumble deep in his chest as she mussed at his clothes. He didn't actually realize that his shirts were now mostly ones that had been ordered in the last year or more they had been on the island. But something else played at the back of his mind. "Other ways.." He trailed off and refocused, "A hundred years is a flash of an eye, as you well know. It would be an honor to help create such a thing. It could only mutually be beneficial.'' He pulled open his jacket and shrugged it off, holding it by the inside of the collar and draping it over the back of a nearby chair, and then turned back. "These shirts are exquisite, though I find when i do this..." He lifts his arms above his head, and points at the ceiling above, and the shirt pulls just enough from his waistband and belt to slip out and expose his bare waist and some of his belly. He is long and tall for sure. "I fear my torso might be longer than Dinah let on or happened to recall with accuracy.." he lowered his arms with a smile and tried to flatten out the now wrinkled bottom of the shirt. "Do you think that with the new supplies you could... change them just a bit? I would ...change them on my own, but i don't always find myself reaching for the stars quite that literally while I'm just working in the office."
Kyuu eyes the too short shirt and extends her fingers to tug at the fabric lightly before stepping back with a soft sigh. “This is why I insist on doing my measurements in person.” Her hands flutter at his garments then lift to cover her face briefly, “I should have insisted, like I did with your brother. He is the only one of your family I have been able to directly measure.” A soft tsking sound is given and then she turns so that she can pace around Drystan, eyeing his frame as she goes. “I will give you the option, much as I did your brother. The more you strip down, the better my measurements will be. You do not have to be naked..” she smiles impishly, “Though you will not find me complaining if you are. I require specific parts of your body to be measured so that I can insure that the fit of your clothing provides the best comfort.” She looks back up at him now, a bemused look upon her face, “But I would be delighted to correctly garb you, Drystan. You will not find a better fit when I am done with you.” She smiles then edges closer, “I may not be here that full one hundred years. This vessel will grow old and eventually pass. What is left of me will part to join the rest of my essence. My .. soul? I suppose. Existence is just energy flowing from one place to the next, really.”
Drystan Windgrace pulled his arms to himself as she circled him. He watched playfully, and then started with the top buttons of the shirt, pushing them one by one carefully through the buttonholes before moving to the next. Her impish smile gets one in turn, his mood easily shifted to match her own, the quieted smile and lifted chin didn't diminish the playfulness in his eyes. He wondered only for a moment at what Dorian's fitting might have been like, and a snuff of a laugh escaped his nostrils at the idea of him standing where he was now, stripping down to his naked self to be fitted. He dismissed this entirely and only could envision him beet red in the cheek and standing in his smallpants as Kyuu worked on him. "I have full faith in your abilities Kyuu." His voice purred, her name accentuated by British accent. He pulled the shirt off his bare shoulders and tossed it to the side to land on top of his jacket, then he started to work at his belt, pulling it single handed from its loops in his dark denim. This he folded in half, and held a moment as he nodded at her. "I understand this, the notion at least. The universe has its own language that I can't speak, but I can hear it. I have a notion of what it says... You will remain in her. A fresh look, a new view. I might not ever experience such a transformation...but the idea of it is quite comforting really." He snapped the belt against itself before tossing it too, aside. He took a knee to start on the laces of his boots, tossing his hair from his face with a motion of his head, looking up to her to speak. "I do hope that you will shine through enough, perhaps remember more. I'd hate to lose both a friend and a tailor that would fit me so elegantly as you.
As Drystan begins to disrobe, Kyuu circles around him again though this time her intent is to ensure his privacy. Once, a thought alone would have closed the doors to the shop, flipped the sign to closed and allowed no other to enter. Now, she must rely on the wards she had set in place before the birth and the exertions of this mortal body. Her hand slides the screens closed and then she lightly steps toward another table to pull free a measuring tape and a paper with which she could write down her measurements.
“I will remain, in her.” Kyuu agrees. “Just as every vessel I have been before remains here, in me. The essence of who I am will not change though the connection between deity and the flesh I inhabit can take time. Already, she is me. She holds within her every memory I had, until her birth. And when I pass, she will gain the rest of this life’s moments as well.” The fox unravels the tape then casually loops it about her neck, “This was not how I was meant to be. But it is the curse that is my existence. I have walked this path for so long that any other way? Is foreign.” She rocks back on her heels to observe the flesh as it is revealed, and a small furrow touches her brow. “I have never before lost the essence of myself before a death before, however. That is a magic I have never faced before. A different curse.”
Tucking his boots to the side, socks stuffed inside each one, he stood back up to Kyuu shuttering the windows. His eyes slip to the door and the lock clicks softly. A pulse of thought is pushed from him, ancient words rolling off the tongue of his mind’s voice, and in each exhalation the softest of whispers emanate from him in R’Lyehian, “Soth l' mgr'luh geb.” (Nothing to see here.) repeated in a chant.
After a moment he starts to unbutton his pants and nods his head at her explanation. He drew in a deep breath and a look of concern washed over him and ebbed away. “A curse… so many of those about it seems. Curses can be broken, usually. They can become stepping stones for our futures I believe.” He tried to remain positive in the moment, slipping his pants off his narrow hips and dropping them to the floor, the air prickling at his naked body now as he shook them out and piled them atop his other clothes and then came back to standing there for her to measure. He was not put off by the idea of nudity in the least. “I can feel the difference in you, but I also can tell only some things are missing or depleted… Is your essence tied with your.. Should I say otherworldly abilities?” He knew of some, and saw some himself on display first hand, tasted it. But she was not the predator she once was. He wondered at what was escaping her or had already left. His head tilted to the side. “What magic has left you, friend? There could be ways to mimic what has been lost.” His usual first instinct was to solve issues, repair what he could. That much could not be helped but he had wisened some at least in his long years. “I don’t mean to push or pry too deeply. We can speak on other matters, if you wish.”
Watching the last of Drystan’s clothing leave his frame is a treat. Kyuu pauses to appreciate the view, and the lack of self-consciousness in the man’s approach. She allows herself the brief distraction then smiles and steps closer whilst tugging the tape from about her neck. Quietly, with that grace that has never quite left her, she settles down into a kneel on the ground before the man and bows her head toward the tool in her hands. This is gently stretched out between two hands before she glances up along the length of his body and explains quite plainly what she will be doing, “I will start with a measurement of your calves, then thighs, then the length of shin and thigh, then inseam, and hip to foot. I will do one leg and then the other and will need you to take a spread stance so that I can easily reach.” The tailor then smiles, a hint of mischief in her gaze, “I promise not to linger too long.”
Shifting her weight, she then reaches out to guide the placement of his feet with her hands, so that he is standing just as she wants him. There is some contemplation on his questions while she directs him non verbally, but she does eventually speak. “The magic has left me. The aether that lit the blood in my veins, gone.” She tilts her head as the measuring tape is drawn about a calf and then she marks down numbers on a bit of paper. “I cannot heal as I did. The birth.. was hard. It took time to recuperate, when before.. I would have healed in hours. I can no longer lift and move things with a thought – I am much slower.” She glances up toward his face and pushes a strand of hair from her own, “I cannot shift. The fox is lost to me.” She bares her teeth then, exposing her golden fangs briefly, “And yet I am not human. My senses remain – my bones are still heavy – I imagine that they are still gold. Enough of my power remains that I am not quite right. And yet, I am not what I was. I am far easier to kill now.”
His foot lifted and was directed with her touch, to the stance she needed him in. He snuffed a laugh at her promise. “I’m not concerned with your loitering Kyuu.” He kept smiling as he watched her and nodded at her details of what she was going to do. “Yes, of course. I have been fitted before, It’s just been a while.” His hand gestured before he folded his fingers together and let his hands come to rest in front of him.
As she spoke on the details of her new status, He did make a disapproving look before it left fleeting. “You still have aether in and about you, but it is diminished. All life holds onto some, even in the furthest reaches of this world, it follows you through time.” He was a bit surprised at the details she gave him, it meant trust to him. Truths were a precious commodity. They held power. He unfolded his hands and took one, the pointer extended as he leaned down a bit to let it and claw set just under her chin and ever so gently lift it. He looked at her deeply, and could see the flames extinguished in her eyes, but there were still, maybe small smoldering embers of what was, maybe just his memory playing tricks on him. He could not rejuvenate her. He could feel the swirl of aether at his disposal as it sparkled and swirled in motes around himself, his third eye made that clear. It fell off his hand and caught her skin, to flitter and dance down her neck and then fall off over her shoulders. The sight pulled at something in him. He wouldn’t know what to do if everything was taken from him. He would not know how to function.
“You might be easier to kill, but there is no illusion that it would still not be easy. The fox might be with the kit now, but its nature is a part of you. Muscle memory, your conscious self, the part of you that resides muted. Hang onto that, as long as you can.”
Kyuu’s head tilts back and her gaze meets his, hands pausing in their movements while she allows her focus to be centered on his gaze and the words he speaks to her. He is met with a smile, a hint of her impish nature shining through. “The loss of the magic is like the loss of a limb. Tragic, yes. But I am alive. That is a far better fate than what I could have faced. I could instead have ended this life and moved on to the next. My vessel rotting in the woods somewhere, my death a murder never solved.” She shakes her head slightly. She is, in fact, choosing to trust him. Perhaps better than pretending to be as powerful as she once was and paying for the lie later. “I want to live, Drystan. I have always wanted to live. Every moment, every second. For all the pleasure, the pain, and the ache of the days. I do not want to fade to oblivion. I do not want my spark to go out. Every moment is worth the next breath, the next sunrise.” Her hands continue their movements, finding his thigh and pinching the tape closed about it. Another number is then written on her scrap of paper.
She understood this drive that kept him and his siblings alive. The yearn to live, to relish it, every ounce of it.He felt that from her very distinctly. He withdrew his finger from her chin, letting the Aether regather itself around him. He blinked all three eyes, and he could see her clearly without the blur of the power swirling about them. “This time around it is different for you, I can only imagine how difficult it is to absorb the enormity of it. I am not envious of that element, not at all. But funny thing innit when each day passes we still are so eager for the next, no matter where time really is taking us…to a shallow grave, a grand funeral. To be remembered or to be forgotten. Still we press on.” He manages a small smile. “I will not soon forget you. The kit will come to her memories, and I can see you again.” The muscle in his thigh twinges at her pinch, but settles quickly afterwards.
“Besides, we still have time. There is still fun and memories to be had and to create, right?” His brows lifted up. “Allow me to ask you, what would aid you in your remaining years, that once was had and now is gone? Of all the magic you could weave…” he twirled his finger at his side. “Not to try and put a pin on the painful parts mind you, but I am curious nonetheless.”
Warm fingers trace down across the twitch of Drystan’s thigh, following the flex of muscle with a ghosting touch. The fox does not quite realize she has done this as she is soon shifting her weight and sidling over so that she can glide the tape around Stan’s other calf. The tape is lightly tightened and her head tilts forward to catch the measurement. Her hair, mostly bound in a braid, brushes against his knee as she recites the numbers to herself and then writes them down on her paper. She glances up though and lifts a hand to press her palm to his leg, just above his knee. “Thank you. I do not want to be forgotten. In fact, I want to make many great memories with my friends before I am fully reborn into this world.” She eases back onto the pads of her feet, thighs spreading for balance and elbows resting on her knees. The fox absently slaps her palm with the measuring tape as she considers the magic that was inherent to her nature. “Aid me? I suppose healing. I will age and be prone to the illnesses that plague mortal kine. Keeping me from succumbing to a cold, or some sickness? Would be most helpful. The rest..? I may miss the telekinesis, or the wards on my home. But they were a bonus. Not something I could live without, I suppose.”
“Nonsense.” He stated after she was done speaking and had gone into a squat. “Wards are .. not difficult to update, and I’m quite good at them.” His brows fell into a little waggle and he smiled at her. “I can’t give you telekinesis, but should you need use of someone that has it, you can always call on me. Big projects sometimes require heavy lifting.” This was a harsh understatement as to what could be done with the power of his mind over the world around him, but he figured she would at least catch that drift. “It’s without question that you can come to Dinah for healing. I will also craft a few things for you..” He lifted one hand to tap a claw on the vial that dangled around his neck. “Something like this, not exact. Imbue magic that can keep you well, a form of insurance perhaps? There are a great many spells and such that can be researched. I’m busy with business, but it will not always be so chaotic as it is these days.” He nodded in affirmation and shook the hair from his own face. “Besides, we've got to pay you in more than just money. We both know how fickle it is, economics.” He rolled his eyes lightly. “There is something more reassuring in a spell I cast on something than a pocket full of silver or gold could ever manage.”
A fleeting expression of surprise crosses the fox’s face at that one word. ‘Nonsense.’ She blinks once then realizes what he is offering her. A flush touches her cheeks. The fox has always been very, incredibly independent. Fiercely so even. The thought of asking for help to do such simple things is a foreign one to her and she is not quite sure how to react to it. The emotional response, even, is one that has not happened often. Her lips part and move briefly, as if reciting what she might say, but true words never form and she drops her gaze from his. Of course, this has her looking at his hip and the way his muscles flex when he shifts his weight. Her furrowed brow is the response to such a sight. But she nods, slowly, and murmurs, “Money isn’t everything. I am not sure how I can help your family beyond my obvious skills.” She lifts the tape, as if to showcase that skill. Her glance then shifts upward toward his face again. “Though my skill does tend to make money.”
“Money is the least of it. There is plenty of it to be had, the business side of things has never looked more promising, and Windgrace Holdings is going to outgrow itself soon enough. We have earnings stashed away in all sorts of forms, all over the place.” He glazed over her apprehension, but he had certainly noticed it. It was hard not to. His empathy felt the pang of it. But he only knew how to keep her at ease conversationally by looking ahead in a positive light. He did shift his weight from one side to the other now and again and he was given to gesticulations when he spoke. But he was still at such ease in front of her.
“As far as how much you can help my family? Your existence is enough. I’m not asking for anything in return, really. The normal exchanges can happen, purchases made, money exchanged, goods transferred etcetera. But beyond that milling of give and take, I do care for your happiness, not just your mortality.” He took a deep breath and held it while he scratched at the back of his neck then came to rub at it before it dropped. He chewed his lip, and appeared to be thinking of something, or making a choice. He opted not to be verbal because the notion of asking felt odd, so he let slip some of his confidence, reached into himself to give warmth and calm, and to lift the mood that hung in the air. He wouldn’t just blast her with feeling happy, there was an art to empathy.
A smile flits across Kyuu’s features. So many people are caught up in the worth of things, and interacting with the fae has taught her to distrust gifts as much as help, or even kind words for they can all have double or even hidden meanings and kind actions are not always so. But Drystan is no fairy and he has not once asked her for more than she might be willing to give him. “You are very kind.” She leans in toward him and presses her fingers to his ankle, the band of the tape trapped beneath it. Pressing two fingers from her other hand against the tape, she slides her other hand up the length of his leg to his thigh in one smooth and practiced motion. She pauses to read the number then switches sides and begins that one long stroke up toward his crotch. She gets personal, though not provocatively so. Just a gentle rearrangement as she continues her rather precise measurements. “Have you ever considered skin tight pants before?” she wonders, distracted by the creative side of her brain. But then, back to the subject at hand. “I aim at being happy. It is my one other goal, aside from preparing for my future me. I will enjoy what I can of this life until I can no longer.” She looks up toward his face again and lifts her hands to his thighs. The bite of her claps presses in ever so lightly as she grips him and uses his stability to rise to her feet.
((TO BE CONTINUED))