Queen of the Forsaken (slavetotorment) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-10-21 15:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, setsuna meioh (sailor pluto), sylvanas windrunner |
Maybe we could have a trade.
Who: Sylvanas and Setsuna
What: Making friends and alliances
When: A few days ago
Where: near a pawn shop
Status: complete
Rating: Pg-13
In simplest terms, Sylvanas had been running away. From her previous life, from her family, from expectations and from the morals that had been instilled in her. She’d spent a lot of time alone, trying to survive on her own, and so she didn’t let herself trust easily. Even a part-time job dancing at Yuriko Oyama’s club was only to give her enough money to have a roof over her head. And get her a more decent wardrobe. She seemed to be sliding back into a more goth phase, ever since those dreams…
She could still feel her soul aching, still hear Arthas taunting her, mocking her.
She was wearing black boots, black jeans, a psuedo-corset under a leather jacket. She had on purple lipstick, and black eyeliner. It contrasted sharply with skin that was paler than it had been a week ago. Her hand was around the hilt of a longsword in a pawnshop. She envisioned sinking it into the man’s chest, and it made her feel better. But it was well beyond her funds, so she put it back, and headed out the door.
Setsuna moved lightly through the city. She hadn’t had time to really explore yet, but she was now. And she almost got walked into by a woman leaving a pawnshop. She sidestepped with light grace, head tilting at the woman. Curious almost. People here seemed to be less aware of their surroundings. Perhaps it would be a boon for her. Perhaps not. She wasn’t sure just yet.
The woman had only arrived in the last week or so - and her injuries still plagued her - but she was feeling much better. More alive than she had been and there was very little worry of retaliation here. That she knew of anyways. Perhaps there would be but for now, she was content to feel safe. She opened her mouth to speak, then had to readjust and switch into English, it had been a long time since she’d used it, but her accent was light and her words clear. “Apologies for finding my way across your path.” she said.
Sylvanas glared at her, though the expression softened after a moment. "I was preoccupied." It was as close to admitting guilt as she would ever do.
The blonde had a rough way of speaking, like she just wanted to cut through the bullshit and get to the meat of it all. Despite that, she stood with her arms folded, as though guarding herself from something.
Setsuna was intuitive. That was kind of part of her career. She knew who was feeling what kind of mood. And she instantly picked up on that defensive air, and that something under it all was bothering the girl. “It happens to the best of us.” she said with that same quiet voice. Then tilted her head at her.
“I am Setsuna.” respecting the girl’s get to the point nature she smiled slightly. “Something important on your mind? I know a place that serves some of the best tea around, if you need something to get your mind back on track?”
“Sylvanas,” she said, automatically. It was considered polite to introduce yourself when asked. She never understood the purpose, but at one point she’d been a happier person. She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. That might help.”
“A pleasure to meet you, Sylvanas.” she said honestly before nodding. “Alright. I found tea always helps. I’ll show you the place, and if you decide you don’t want company, do let me know.” she was careful in her manner of speaking, kind but not overly so. Honest. Setsuna was a tall woman, nearly six foot in fact, with long dark hair, and bright eyes that were hardened by her life. She walked with a vague limp and generally held her side if she walked too fast.
Sylvanas wasn't short by any means either, and was even with Setsuna, if not a little taller. She lifted a hand to brush hair behind her ear, and was momentarily startled to note they weren't knife shaped and long.
She saw a hardness in Setsuna that intrigued her, though, and decided she'd accept that company. "I wouldn't mind it. I've been told I need to socialize more."
It was nice to see eye to eye with another woman. It was rare she met someone her height unless they were models and even then she was taller than many of them.
"Socialization truly is am important part of life. even if it is short lived. " of course being social was part of her very life. "But never force it. " She added a moment later. Setsuna was not in her kimono so she felt a little strange. She led Sylvanas about two blocks from the pawn shop to a tiny tea house tucked between more modern places. She'd only been here a short time but had begun networking. The owner of the tea shop opened the door for them.
“It might be overrated. Most of the time.” Sylvanas walked with Setsuna, hands in her pockets and back straight. “Or get me into trouble.”
She looked at the tea house, her expression a little disdainful. Right, she was trying to be social. “The tea is good?”
“I’m afraid I’ll respectfully disagree, however it’s part of my chosen job to be social, so if I could not handle it I would not do as well as I have.” she said with a smile. “Although I do understand completely. There are days I wish to be less than social.”
Setsuna grinned at the look. “Looks can be deceiving, this place has some of the best tea I’ve had since arriving here.” She opened the door for her
“What is it you do, if you don’t mind my asking?” She stepped inside. The door being opened for her didn’t seem to bother her. She felt like she almost expected those kinds of things, which was a new feeling to her.
"I am a Geisha" she said with a smile as she found them a table and sat down. She ran her fingers through her hair. She ordered them two teas.
“A...a what? Like that movie?” Sylvanas blinked her eyes, trying to imagine Setsuna in that kind of get up. It actually made her blush. Which was preposterous, she didn’t blush. She didn’t even let herself have friends.
A smirk curled her lips, delicate and light. “Sort of, I suppose. Although it’s much more intricate a career than that.” Setsuna loved her kimonos, and had brought all of them and her other tools with her to the OC.
Sylvanas’ eyes followed the curve of Setsuna’s lips, then shot back up to her face. “What makes it so intricate? What do you love about it?” Keep the conversation on the Japanese woman and she wouldn’t have to talk about herself.
“The movie glossed over how long it actually takes to master social graces, music, dance, tea ceremonies and more - there are many many details to learn and master before you can truly entertain your clients.” she said with a gentle shrug. “One of the things I love most about it is that I meet so many interesting people I may not meet elsewhere.”
“What do you do?” she asked, carefully, allowing for room to evade the question should Sylvanas wish to do so.
Sylvanas pursed her lips, and tried to explain how to best describe what she did. She wasn’t ashamed. "For money, I work a couple of part time jobs. One is dancing, at this club. It's based on hostess clubs in Japan, so it's not really so much stripping as putting on a show. I'm not too good with people so I don't actually..." She waved a hand. "Do the hostess part. If you mean not for money, I would like to do outdoors type things for a living."
“Well that’s interesting. I have never seen any of the Hostess clubs but I do know them. A show is always important, though, no matter your dance profession.” she nodded sagely. In truth she knew exactly what a hostess was, but she’d never admit it. They were generally beneath them. “I can help show you some people skills that could help earn you a bit more in the club if you want?” she asked. “Outdoors things are nice, like what?”
“My parents taught us hunting and tracking, and things like that. I’m pretty good with some animals.” Sylvanas looked at Setsuna with raised eyebrows. “You’d help me, just like that?”
She smiled softly. “Oh? Those are fantastic skills to have.” she smiled a bit and smiled at the server as she brought them their tea. “It’s what I do. I like helping.”
“They’re less useful here, and not as good as you’d think.” She rubbed a hand up her arm, thinking over the past year and what had happened back East. Sylvanas hated being indecisive. “I think my problem is I come across as intimidating and direct. Men don’t like that.”
She tilted her head a bit. “Not many do, no. Although I have heard here, anyways, many men find that attractive. Perhaps you are entertaining the wrong kind of people.” she said, observing the girl with patient eyes.
“I don’t think I want to entertain the kind of men who’d enjoy that kind of thing.” Sylvanas smirked a little. “Men don’t like being thought of as cowardly.”
She laughed softly. “Not all of them are like that, dear. Although it is certainly easy to fall prey to such ones if you are not careful.” she shrugged “then be assertive without crushing their egos. There is always a balance to be found”
Sylvanas would prefer to crush their egos, especially after what had happened with her and her sisters. She shook her head. “I’m working on it. I have trust issues.”
Setsuna nodded. “Then that is all that matters. Trust is a hard thing to have broken. I am sorry you have had issues with trust in the past.” She appeared genuinely sorry then gestured to the tea.
“You’re far too nice to a stranger,” she noted, lifting her tea to take a sip. It was pretty good, especially as she wasn’t that much of a tea person. “Aren’t you afraid of being hurt?”
She didn’t entirely mean physically.
“My entire job revolves around being nice to strangers, if anything it has bled over into my private life and I rather enjoy it. Strangers are often the most interesting people.” she sipped her tea carefully, and smiled. “No. Each person is a new experience. You merely take lessons from those who hurt you.” she meant emotionally. Physically she had no qualms with fighting back. She’d offered to kill for less.
“I see.” She set her tea down, and then rested her hands on the table, leaning forward and regarding Setsuna with serious eyes. “Well you enjoy what you do, but that’s more than most people can say. I’m still looking.”
Setsuna watched her with equally serious eyes. Her lips pursed ever so faintly as she set her tea aside to give the woman her attention. “There is something for everyone in this world, I am sure your career that you will enjoy, will find it’s way to you. “ she spoke from experience. She’d loved being a Geisha, of course, but working for her father and brothers? It had fallen in her lap and she’d fallen in love with it. Bad girl. Bad.
“You love it? What you do?” Sylvanas’ eyes seemed to shine like sapphires in the depth of her eyes.
“I do very much love it.” she wasn’t talking about being a Geisha, which she did love, but she couldn’t tell anyone that part. “I sing. I dance, I meet people. I wear beautiful kimonos. I make tea and entertain people who often need a little something else in their life. I create art, both calligraphy and painting. It is a rich life. rewarding.” she spoke softly, but there was a gleam to her eye that said she was hiding something still
“Is that all?” Sylvanas had a dangerous air to her, like she had some kind of feral side to her that was hiding somewhere beneath her skin. Yet she didn’t want to alienate a potential friend. She had zero of those so far in the OC. Probably because she could be too blunt sometimes.
The woman merely smiled. “It is all that I love about being a Geisha.” she answered cryptically.
“A Geisha, and a woman, and what else are you?” Sylvanas picked up her tea again. Her eyes gleamed for a moment, as though the sapphire had been tinged the color of blood. “But we all have secrets. The challenge is in uncovering them.”
“A daughter. A sister. A cousin. Family.” she answered easily, dark eyes gleaming. Her lips curled into a slightly devious smile. She sipped her tea once more and the mask of serenity was back in place, the only hit of more was the spark in her eyes. “Secrets are a potent currency.”
“Maybe we could have a trade.” Sylvanas sipped again, knowing she was playing some kind of dangerous game without knowing the rules, but for the first time in months she really felt alive. Maybe it was the conversation, the person, the dreams (even if the latter is an irony)… but she felt alive.
“A truth for a truth.” she said simply, the game was dangerous. The stakes could be very high or very little. it was designed to tell those who could be trustworthy and those who did not deserve her trust. And Setsuna always played the game. It was part of who she was. Even if she started with the most inane subjects. If the girl couldn’t get past the simple basics, she wasn’t good enough for the harder truths. “I was born in Kobe, Japan to a man with too many responsibilities and a woman too meek to stand up to him.” simple truths.
“I have two sisters,” Sylvanas replied easily. thinking of them was a pain she almost couldn’t stand to bear. “We were close, the three of us. Thick as thieves.” Sometimes the simple truths could be the most painful.
Setsuna watched her carefully and picked out the signs of pain. Subtle but there. Stored away for future reference. “I have two brothers, both older. Both trouble makers. Both protective of me.” she stated after a moment. “They are the reason I stand here today.” two truths for the price of one.
“That was my job. The eldest, the protector.” Sylvanas said. She didn’t look away from Setsuna’s gaze. She’d been given two truths, so two she would give back. “I failed.”
“Failure is not absolute.” she said simply before continuing with the game, and this time she let a big one pass through her lips, although it wasn’t entirely in order. But that was half the fun. “They almost failed, the reason I am here instead of in Kobe still.” she said evenly, eyes giving away nothing as she held the woman’s gaze.
“But they didn’t fail, and you’re here now and not dead.” Sylvanas wanted to keep the game going. That was a big one, and she searched for a big one to return, that wasn’t too revealing. “No, failure isn’t absolute. My sisters are still alive, but I still failed them.”
“I am.” then came a truth she hated admitting. One that showed weakness, but wasn’t entirely huge. “I am still recovering from my injuries. I nearly died.” she said simply. Although she was dying to know what happened.
“He did,” Sylvanas replied, just as simply. “I didn’t let him recover.” Seven words that contained a lot of meaning. She and her sisters had been hurt. The ‘he’ was no longer alive.
Setsuna nodded once. “My brothers did not let the one who tried to kill me get away with it, either.” she gave the woman a look that had compassion in it, empathy. Seven words held a lot lf meaning to someone like Setsuna who read people for a living. She didn’t need to know the details. Those words had been enough.
“That’s what elder siblings do. But sometimes they do that and they know…” She shook her head. She didn’t want to tell this woman that her sisters probably thought she was a monster. The argument, the yelling the blaming. The price for vengeance.
“I could never be mad at them for it. They saved my life. In fact, I firmly believe had I had the strength left, I would have done the same thing.” she left off the fact she had killed others before. She was never fond of judging people monsters. Perhaps it was because she had such a tie to the Yakuza, that that would be hypocritical.
“I can’t blame them for it. But it makes me angry. Angry at them, angry at the world.” She balled her right hand into a fist, then pounded it on the table.
"Anger is a right. By why does it make you mad at the world ? Because it allowed awful people into it? " She asked curiously.
“Because it allowed such things to happen, it allowed my sisters to get hurt, it allowed our family to fall apart.” Part of her wanted the world to burn.
“That’s a logical feeling to have. Although to be fair, so many people are unsavory types in this world that it is hard to blame them all. I often wish it was just easy to be rid of them all.” she sympathized. She empathized. She knew.
“If only it were that easy,” Sylvanas said darkly. She wanted those people to suffer. Part of her wanted the world to suffer.
"Never said it was easy. " She enjoyed killing for her family. But she never harbored anger at the world though.
“Have you ever felt like there’s a part of you…” She paused to sip her tea, finding the liquid soothing. “A part of you that is cold, and inhuman. A part of you that you try to avoid unleashing on the world?”
"Yes." No expansion but a mere yes. Simple. Clear cut.
Sylvanas felt a little less alone. She didn’t share her dreams - there was no point, they were just dreams, as disturbingly soul-wrenching as they were. “I see.”
Setsuna drank from her cup, eyes watching Slyvanas over the rim of it. “I’ve done many things that can qualify as cold and inhuman. Part of me wishes to continue. Part of me wishes that that part would go back into hiding. But once unleashed, it cannot be so easily tamed.”
“Which part is stronger, I wonder?” She tilted her head, the air noticeably colder. “The beast, or the human?”
She set the cup down gently and gave the woman her full attention, eyes giving away nothing, lips curled ever so faintly. “It depends on the day, my new found friend. But at the end of the day, what wins is what you decide. You always have a choice.”
What if you didn’t have a choice? Sylvanas clasped her hands on the table, returning Setsuna’s gaze in equal measure. “I’ve never talked about this with anyone before.”
Setsuna smiled. “And you do not have to continue, if you do not wish to.” she said, politely. “Although i am happy to listen if you wish to continue.”
“I feel like my soul has been shredded.” The words startled her.
Setsuna’s head tilted just a touch, the statement startled her but she didn’t let it show. “Explain, if you can, what you mean by that?” she asked gently.
“I don’t think I can without sounding completely insane. But it feels like I’ve been ripped apart and then shoved back into my body.”
She nodded lightly. “No. I understand how you feel. Things have been torn asunder, your life left in shambles and ruins,. your very soul was put through the wringer and shoved back in violently, and the world expects you to be the same person you were before.” she said quietly.
"Yes, that," Sylvanas replied. A lie, one to keep the peace and maintain a mask. But she meant literal. Her literal soul.
Sometime she’d learn the truth and understand it more. But for now it was enough. “An awful thing, dreadful and I am sorry you had to deal with it.” she was honest. She hated people in pain. Unless she was doling out the pain anyways.
There was something about Setsuna that reminded her in some ways of her family. Her little unit had been broken up, and she was very lonely. This was probably a mistake, but she didn’t pull into herself. She didn’t think herself a sucker for a pretty face...
“Thanks.”
Setsuna smiled warmly. Part of her geisha charm. Setsuna knew lonely. She was a world away from her home and the family she's always known. She was feeling lost while hurt and had no one to turn to.
"Of course. But you don't need to thank me. "
“I think that I do. But maybe we can assist each other.” Acknowledgement of weakness.
An acknowledgement she said nothing about. A glint in her eye, the first she'd allowed to be seen. "Mm. I am open to the idea. "
“I think we are both broken, in some ways. You more in need of physical help.” Her more spiritually. Sylvanas tapped her fingers on the table.”...I don’t mean that kind of physically help…”
She laughed softly. “I am actually broken, but I will heal in time. I will be fine. But I am willing to help you as I am able.” she pushed her hand through her hair and smiled at her. “I know we just met, but I think we’ll be good friends”
Sylvanas's stomach fluttered, but she ignored it and nodded her head. "I've not had many of those. I hope I won't be a disappointment."
“I have faith.” she said simply as she finished her tea off, and said something to the server in Japanese, a quiet thankyou and a smile. “I think we’ll be good for each other”
"Then that shall be a truth," Sylvanas replied, lifting her head.