Xiao joins the BC

(12:02:08 AM) Earthflame: Of course, there are always things to do. Minx has been taking her out to this or that Court event and she's starting to gain some reputation and connections of her own, although it's still only dipping a toe into the wider court... And when she's not doing that, working, or enjoying a little me time, the Crimson Feather always has need for more help in their infirmary... And it helps clear
(12:02:08 AM) Earthflame: away the bad memories of adventures without happy endings.
(12:08:41 AM) Xiaozhi: And, of course, there is the odd day where Ma Sin requests her back at the teahouse. Between all three, she barely has any time to pursue the esoteric teachings promised by the school at the heart of the ruined, partially rebuilt city...but she manages. Somehow.
(12:08:41 AM) Xiaozhi: Still, on a day like today, where the weather is decent and the sky actually looks normal, she can't help but be in good spirits...especially walking next to Minx, the blonde holding the leash attached to Xiaozhi's collar while they stroll toward whatever destination Minx has so far refused to inform her about.
(12:10:06 AM) Earthflame: "Looking forward to your surprise?~" Minx grins at her, giving the collar a teasing tug... She really embraced her role today, in thigh high boots, corset and gloves, all in a dark red which flows almost naturally into her tanned skin, contrasted by her shock of blonde hair.
(12:12:07 AM) ***Xiaozhi is in one of her more usual "cutesy" outfits: a belly tee with poofy shoulder-length sleeves and a pair of white short-shorts, with her preferred heeled sandals on...a relatively demure contrast to her dominant girlfriend. She grins, though. "I am, even though I really really want to know what it is~"
(12:12:49 AM) Earthflame: "You will Wait~" Minx grins, giving the collar another tug to pull the girl into a one armed embrace, leaning up to nibble at her ear, whispering softly. "Until I decide otherwise~"
(12:15:51 AM) Xiaozhi: Her cheeks pink, almost the same color as her hair and ear and tail fur, but she nods quietly. "Okay."
(12:17:06 AM) Earthflame: "Good girl~" She leans in, kissing her with deeply red lips that pull back curled into a cheshire smile. "Good kitty~"
(12:19:32 AM) ***Xiaozhi preens under the attention, cuddling up against Minx and rubbing her head against the blonde's cheek.
(12:20:04 AM) Earthflame: She laughs, scritching at the girls hair and ears as they walk. "Mnf... I love you Xiaozhi, but sometimes you are almost Too easy~"
(12:23:05 AM) Xiaozhi: "Only for you~" she promises. "...Well, and maybe Ma Sin, but she doesn't have my leash, now, does she?"
(12:23:51 AM) Earthflame: "She doesn't Need one. One word from her is more effective than this leash will ever be. Well, for now~ She's got a good number of years head start, after all~"
(12:24:06 AM) Earthflame: Minx leads her into the lands of the Beast Court, those same twisted trees and old buildings bound up amongst them...
(12:25:23 AM) ***Xiaozhi looks around as they enter. "It never fails, you know? Every time you take me in here, it's always just so...intense with how primal it is."
(12:27:07 AM) Earthflame: "It's the eternal jungle... That lives inside all of us. That's the real secret of Animal Style Kung-fu, you know... There's animal inside all of us. We act like we're so sophisticated and human, but..." She grins, stroking the tips of her nails down Xiaozhi's cheek, like claws. "We're all wild inside~"
(12:28:40 AM) Xiaozhi: She smiles. "Even me!" Her smile turns into a grin, flashing her teeth up at Minx as she pretends to nip at the side of her neck.
(12:29:44 AM) Earthflame: "Even a little housecat like you has a tigress inside~" Minx giggles as she feels Xiaozhi's lips against her neck. "I've seen you fight like a lion to protect what you care about..."
(12:33:41 AM) Xiaozhi: "Mm." She nods affirmation; her expression turns serious. "It's my...well, I'm not even sure what to call it. Resolution? I guess?" She grabs Minx's free hand in her own, lacing their fingers together. "I lost everything I cared about once...damned well not gonna let it happen again."
(12:34:47 AM) Earthflame: Minx smiles, squeezing it tight. "We learn and we grow... I..." She pauses, blushing a little and leaning in to kiss Xiaozhi again, murmuring. "You helped me remember something I forgot... Something really important."
(12:36:49 AM) Xiaozhi: She blushes again. "Tell me again...please? I do like hearing it~"
(12:38:25 AM) Earthflame: Minx stops, tugging Xiaozhi into the shadow of a tree, wrapping her arms around her and squeezing her tight... Speaking quietly, almost as if she's afraid that someone else might hear it. "...How to really care about someone. How... How to take off the mask and relax and how to... Love..." She pulls back, her face a bundle of nerves all over, such a distance from her usual attitude...
(12:39:59 AM) ***Xiaozhi stands squarely in front of Minx, hiding her mouth from view, and leans up on tiptoe to kiss her soundly when she's done speaking, trying to soothe the worry away. Her tail swishes excitedly, though.
(12:40:41 AM) Earthflame: Minx presses into her, purring softly, body seeming to loosen up as she holds Xiaozhi, kissing her... But pulls back after a few moments. "Mnf... I could stay like that forever, but we're going to be late..."
(12:41:27 AM) Xiaozhi: "Kay," she says simply, just happy to be with her. "Lead on~"
(12:42:40 AM) Earthflame: Minx steals a last kiss before stepping up again, tugging on the leash and stepping back into her sultry sway, expertly picking her way across the broken ground on those killer heels. "Any guesses as to your surprise?~"
(12:44:07 AM) Xiaozhi: "...I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of hoping it's another trip to the Pit." After having been there three times in total, *still* she blushes when talking about it.
(12:44:23 AM) Earthflame: "Ohh, the pit is fun... But this is something more special~"
(12:46:51 AM) Xiaozhi: She chews on her lower lip, trying to keep from jumping around in excitement like a little kid. "Are we going to...actually, I have no idea. Or I have a lot of ideas but they're zooming around too fast to guess!"
(12:48:57 AM) Earthflame: "You'll have a while to think... We're going deep~" Minx grins at her as they go through the woods... Arriving at and following the river for a while. It's a strange contrast, the modern yet battlescarred New Town across the way from the overgrown, almost primeval lands of the Beast Court. "Now, we're going someplace kinda secret... Keep it hush-hush, okay?~"
(12:51:55 AM) Xiaozhi: She nods, eyes wide as she surveys the area. She's only a little nervous; her inherent toughness, coupled with Minx being right there, banishes a lot of what she might have to fear, but it's still superbly unknown, and her excitement just builds.
(12:54:04 AM) Earthflame: The Beast Court lands have an oppressive air to outsiders, although Xiaozhi is rather used to it by now... But here, deeper than she's ever been before, it's even more intense, a watchful presence all around them... She can see the Broken Cliffs further up the river, glimmering in the light of the late afternoon sun, catching from the shattered metal, glass and waterfalls that pour through that
(12:54:04 AM) Earthflame: huge, wrecked structure. Minx smiles. "Every time I see that thing, I wish I'd gotten to watch it fall..."
(12:56:34 AM) Xiaozhi: She nods idly, staring that way for a long moment. "Yeah...it must've been really something. Awesome...in the old sense of the word. Y'know--awe-inspiring."
(12:57:55 AM) Earthflame: "And I could've seen who did it... What kind of power they wielded." She waves a hand over the river, where the twisted metal that remains of the base of the great structure still stands. "I mean... What kind of Kung-fu could Do that? The Queens and Ma Sin and some of the other elder Xia can do amazing things, but... I'm not sure any of them could do That."
(1:00:33 AM) Xiaozhi: "Maybe the ones who run school?" she muses. "Or the living person behind the rumors of that ghost-emperor haunting the graveyard by the school? I don't know...but I think even I'd have a hard time against *that* much power."
(1:01:58 AM) Earthflame: "Anyone would." Minx nods as they move beneath a great cluster of vines... And start to go down and down. "These places were disused, even before the city fell again, last I heart. Remnants of the time before some fool decided to save this place." The vines look old and the brickwork they're bound into is ancient. "Some foreigner, I heard, with big ideas of showing all those old superstitious
(1:01:58 AM) Earthflame: morons what real progress was."
(1:03:38 AM) ***Xiaozhi keeps pace with Minx, absorbed in the story. "And boy, did he...I'm guessing it was a he...get proved wrong."
(1:04:44 AM) Earthflame: "Mhm... But while a lot of this stuff got buried, when the tower fell everything got shaken up, plus the forests way of finding things..." Deeper and darker, through tunnels and the remains of collapsed ancient buildings, seemingly only held together by the plantlife that's everywhere. "Just a little further... I hope you aren't afraid of the dark~"
(1:08:47 AM) Xiaozhi: "Please. I've been to your place how many times?" she teases. "I only ask for light so I don't trip over everything."
(1:09:18 AM) Earthflame: "Be careful this time then~" Minx smiles, kissing Xiaozhi... And slipping a blindfold over her eyes.
(1:11:20 AM) ***Xiaozhi makes a soft noise of curious protest, but doesn't try to move the blindfold. She does grope for one of Minx's hands, though.
(1:12:35 AM) Earthflame: Minx takes it, tail twining with hers as well. "Not far now~" Step by step, she starts to hear noises... The clink of glass and the flow of water, a soft hubbub of voices, the fizzle of old electrical works... And then a hush, as she feels them emerge into a large, open space, Xiaozhi leading her up to what feels like a bannister, putting her hands to it and then letting go, slipping behind
(1:12:35 AM) Earthflame: her to untie the blindfold...
(1:12:43 AM) Earthflame: *Minx leading
(1:15:22 AM) ***Xiaozhi lets her pull it away, blinking away the change in illumination while clutching...only a little tightly to the banister, just to keep her balance.
(1:16:51 AM) Earthflame: Before her is... Impossible. A grand, ornate ball room, with chandeliers and paintings upon the ceiling, elegant decorative reliefs on all the walls and pillars... And the whole room is split open at one side, missing a whole wall and an entire chunk of the roof. A waterfall flows down to fill the gap, concealing it from view and yet providing a coruscating palette of colours through which to
(1:16:51 AM) Earthflame: see the crowd standing below, on the vast dance floor.
(1:17:32 AM) Earthflame: Both Queens are in attendance, the Queen Below reclining upon a pile of cushions while the Queen Above hangs in a complex network of ropes and nets up near the broken rooftop, and between them throng all the Beast Court, as far as she knows it, dressed in their finest regalia and smiling up... At her.
(1:19:00 AM) Xiaozhi: Her heart catches in her throat and she whips around, staring at Minx, wide-eyed. Her mouth works, as if to make words, but no sounds make it out...except for vague choking noises. Even her ears are flat down, tail relaxed and down in her complete shock.
(1:19:31 AM) Earthflame: And Minx just smiles. "Surprise~ Your welcoming party~"
(1:22:33 AM) Xiaozhi: "I--but--it's not--I'm a--MINX!" She half-pouts, half-whines at the taller girl. "I'm *so* underdressed!"
(1:24:19 AM) Earthflame: "Taken care of~" She grins, as a woman she recognizes advances... A spiderlike woman with a wicked smile and more legs than usual.... And a dress, woven from nearly translucent spidersilk, elegant and sexy and sleek... "Just your size~"
(1:30:43 AM) Xiaozhi: "Oh..." she breathes, staring at it. "...Oh my. It's *beautiful.*" She steps toward the woman, then hesitates, glancing at her leash and Minx, asking permission with her eyes.
(1:31:32 AM) Earthflame: "Go on~ Don't keep everyone waiting~" Minx giggles. The crowd doesn't seem impatient. They smile or talk quietly or drink... Or enjoy the show as she disrobes~
(1:36:29 AM) ***Xiaozhi eagerly pulls her tee and shorts off, even kicking off her sandals; she'd foregone underwear for their little date before knowing that Minx even had a surprise for her, so there are more than a few seconds where she's entirely on display at the top of the staircase there: trim figure, killer legs, broad shoulders, well-muscled but built like a gymnast, with pert and perky breasts tipped by pink nipples.
(1:36:48 AM) Xiaozhi: She reaches for the dress and accepts it gingerly, working carefully to slip herself into it...
(1:37:18 AM) Earthflame: And then the dress goes over it... Concealing nothing but accentuating everything, amazingly smooth on her skin, a perfect fit as Minx takes her hand, smiling. "You look beautiful... Now let's enjoy your party~"
(1:42:29 AM) Xiaozhi: She smiles brilliantly and slips her arm through Minx's, curling up against it like a fairy-tale princess in spite of the dress. It's roughly as covering as her uniform for the teahouse so she feels right at home in its brevity; equally at home in walking tiptoe even without heeled shoes, she daintily walks down the stairs with her lover~
(1:44:53 AM) Earthflame: And then... The party begins~ It's not like previous events, where she might have caught attention as a pretty new face... She is the debutante, and absolutely Everyone wants to make her acquaintaince, most in more ways than one~
(1:48:15 AM) Xiaozhi: She has to turn down most of the propositions, if only because servicing them immediately would delay her from meeting the next in "line"...but there are lots and lots of promises, a good many of them involving either her coming back to the Court soon, or them coming to the teahouse for some...personal service. And the more graphic offers do have her blushing and, eventually, panting; the caress of the spider silk doesn't help anything there.
(1:51:43 AM) Earthflame: Minx smiles, stroking fingers down her back, by her side the whole time... Not putting the collar back on, but keeping it close at hand as a reminder~ During a slight lull she gets them each a flute of champagne, standing and watching the waterfall alongside her. "The court just Loves an excuse to have a party... But we try not to overuse this place. It's too much of a treasure to lose because
(1:51:43 AM) Earthflame: some yahoo decides to mess it up."
(1:53:41 AM) Xiaozhi: She nods, feeling utterly content; her champagne flute is in one hand while the other plays with the bared skin at her neck. It feels weird, not having the collar on. "It's all beautiful," she says. "Even with the waterfall. *Especially* with the waterfall. I'm...I don't even have words, Minx."
(1:54:28 AM) Earthflame: "You don't need them~" She smiles, kissing Xiaozhi again. "Although I'm a little jealous. You might already be more popular around here than I am~"
(1:55:45 AM) Xiaozhi: She giggles quietly after the kiss. "I don't know about that...it's probably just a flash in the pan." She nibbles at her top lip. "...Hey. Remind me to tell you about an idea when we get out of here, okay?"
(1:57:14 AM) Earthflame: "Sure~" She grins, tails twining together again as they watch the sunset through the waterfall. "But you're in for a Long night~"
(1:58:08 AM) Xiaozhi: She grins. "In a lot of ways, I bet. Maybe I ought to just tell you now~"
(1:59:12 AM) Earthflame: "I kept a secret from you... It's only fair you get to keep one in return~"
(2:00:46 AM) Xiaozhi: She smiles. "Alright~"