Scratching the Surface

[Malkavia]

Still didn't want to get into it, hm? Shimmerlace sensed that if she'd wanted to, she could have transitioned easily enough into discussing the match, what had been said, and what came next. But she also felt that Yuki, too, had a kind of magician's shell. Instead of glamor and grins and tall tales, Yuki had—good manners. If she dug into it now, Yuki would listen. Respond. Maybe even give her something she wanted (if she could put her finger on what that way), but it would be the shell giving. Well, sometimes you had to take from a shell.

Still, Shimmerlace didn't miss the way Yuki looked over her shoulder at the merry go round, nor the way she fell behind to look up at the rides. The Feychild turned on her heel to look with her, which meant walking backwards along the sidewalk. "Indeedly doodly. Our Moonlit Perch is just a hop an' a skip away. Pretty, though, isn't it?" She gestured at the lights receding behind them. The Ferris Wheel was the skyline centerpiece for LAW's Blissville Entertainment Complex, the kind of thing you could see from miles away with the proper vantage. At night, the spokes of the wheel were illuminated, casting a rainbow medley of colors. Sometimes they spun in a spiral pattern, while at others waves of blue and red and gold emanated from the center spoke. At still others, the dense pattern of light along the Ferris wheel acted as a digital screen, and patterns like stars, comets, or even company logos blazed along its 60-meter height.

"Always makes me a bit sad if I'm honest. Especially the wee carousel there." By now they had walked far enough away, maybe a city block, that the blur in Shimmer's vision obscured most of the detail in the merry-go-round's details. They'd come to a figurative fork in the road. They'd need to turn left, which would put the ride out of sight. Then, it would be a perhaps two-block trot, and their destination would be on the left. Shimmerlace paused and gave herself a few more moments to appreciate the view. "Hard to say why exactly. Not the kinda feeling that comes easily into words."

Shimmerlace glanced at Yuki. In the ring, she had become accustomed to seeing her as the Skybeast, and it wasn't as though that faded out here. This was still the woman who had crushed her, in more ways than one, and that wasn't about to lose its edge when she looked at her. Hide it as she might. Still, there was something else there. A little girl peering out, falling behind. Maybe she'd be receptive to more.

"I guess if I had to give it a go anyway—Mmm. It took my breath away first time I saw it, yeah? A real bit of magic. Something that smacks you 'round, makes you breathe in deep and say—Gor. That's something."

Shimmerlace leaned her back against a street lamp, arms crossed as she continued to shift her view between Yuki and the glowing skyline—as much to show she had no plans of moving on just yet, as anything else. "Then. The clock ticks as it’s wont to tick, and the lights becomes something I'm familiar with. Not that it kills the magic, no—it just becomes familiar magic. Like a friend I get to greet every time I go exploring the wilds out here. And as I get familiar, I start imagining all the like...people what had a hand in crafting this spell. The artist wh designs the horse and dragon seats, who chooses the bright colors, paints them up and envisions what it'll all look like on a Tokyo street at night. The engineers and technicians who make sure the foundations and plans are sound. Hell, even the lowly construction grunts who pour concrete and lay' steel have a claim, I think." Once again, as when she had been describing the development of the owl cafe, Shimmer's face lit up. The grin she wore as she stared down the street at the carousel was one she was barely conscious of wearing — not a big stage grin, but one that crept up on her when she was barely paying attention. "So many little glowing people with little glowing stories, for which they get no thanks, mind. No remembrance. Not that they care, I imagine. They put light on the street."

She hadn’t yet explained what about light and color struck her as sad. After a pause, she touched on the topic, but did not elaborate very deeply: "And it's not permanent either. That's the bit that gets me. That and the politics." The Feychild's jaw tightened. She blinked, remembered to whom she was speaking, and her lips squeezed thin.

"...Would it offend if I said what you do in the ring makes me feel similar?" It was a sudden shift, and after a great deal of rambling Shimmer knew. It was the kind of move that might spook Yuki. She had been glancing back and forth between the carousel and Yuki, but now she watched her companion carefully. "I know it's different of course, but. The kinda...spark you bring. Not the whole match, but at some of the...the big moments. The leap in the sky. The whirligig flip into the thunderin' suplex. It has a kinda...Ferris Wheel glow to it, for want of a better phrase. I'unno. You get what I'm saying at all?"

[CaptainL]

"Yeah...sure is." Yuki's gaze lingered a little longer on the scene before her, and there was a dreamy lilt of melancholy that hung on her voice as her eyes followed the path the ferris wheel cars took around its edge; a tell that she wasn't quite there. She was listening to what Shimmerlace had to say, yes, but she'd let her mind be led astray - pixie-led, one might say - by the lights and colors that cut through the sky. Yet it wasn't the spectacle itself that held Yuki's attention. It was pretty, yes, but what transfixed her even more wasn't the sight, but what it meant. The reminder of this big, bright, colorful fun-filled world, just outside her window - in the same places she'd congregated around time and time again - and yet, it all seemed so distant and so foreign. Should it, she asked herself? Was it supposed to? Was this a reminder that she was leaving the world behind more than she should?

Perhaps her attention was only half here, and half lost in her own thoughts, but nevertheless Yuki heard enough to follow where Shimmerlace was going. And though she slowed her step, she stayed close behind the pink-haired girl nonetheless. Actually, she might've slowed her step because she was paying such close attention to what Shimmer had to say - she hung off every word, every anecdote she shared about that sense of loss, of sadness, that the carousel meant for her. Yuki couldn't quite place it herself, but she knew those same feelings Shimmerlace was talking about. And she had to nod her head to them.

"Sad..?" A part of her wanted to ask what she meant by all that. But she stopped herself. She didn't need to - she already knew, after all; she'd already felt so much of those same feelings herself. As Shimmerlace began to explain everything from the top, she came to a full stop now, listening to each word as she watched those colors and lights go around and around. Her hands sank into her pockets, and she stopped to ponder it all.

It was then she realized that, for as much as she and Shimmerlace might have been alike in what they thought, they differed in why they thought it. For Yuki, the spectacle and the thrills of the park, and the vibrancy of it all, and the way it had sprung up so quickly right under her nose, was a reminder that the world was still there; that it was still turning around her, and that there were so many things she let fall to the background when her whole life had seemed to be driven by one feud after another, and her single-minded desire to prove she was still relevant. It was sad because it told her how much she was letting herself miss out on. To Shimmerlace, on the other hand, the park was so sad because it was supposed to be a place away from the real world and all its concerns - a place to forget about them, and a place to let yourself be amazed again - but reality inevitably came creeping in. For Yuki, that park was reality, and it was slipping all too quickly through her fingers. For Shimmerlace, the park was so sad because it couldn't be reality.

It was a lot to think about. So much so that Yuki was silent through it all, contemplating everything as she watched the lights and the colors and the motion. She had let herself get so lost in everything around her that the common ground they both stood on - the fact that they were both wrestlers - seemed to have drifted away. That was, until Shimmerlace brought it back to the forefront, so suddenly and abruptly that it made Yuki stand a little straighter and look back at her - and it was only then that it hit her how the thought of wrestling seemed so distant she could've forgotten how it had led them here. But it was always here. Right under their noses.

"It does..? Oh, that means a lot...thank you..!" When Yuki heard Shimmer compare her high-flying exploits in the ring to the fleeting thrill of the fairground, it was enough to make a smile break across her face, and a faint blush came to her cheeks. An awkward smile, a smile she wasn't prepared to show, but a smile nonetheless. If she had really caught her eye so much, and if she had really spurred on such a reaction in someone who so valued the artistry of spectacle...well, Yuki had to be doing something right. It was another brush with how great her image had grown that she wasn't quite used to, and a reminder that the boots she had to fill were so much bigger than she liked to think. But that brought with it the reminder that, like the ferris wheel, Yuki was trying to be something she was smaller than. She didn't know whether to be flattered or offended by the comparison. If Shimmerlace thought Yuki inspired the same feelings as the rides did...did that meant that she, too, was doomed to fall short of living up to them? That she couldn't be the picture of perfection she wanted to be? And if she really couldn't, it brought Yuki's greatest, deepest fear to the forefront - the one thing she dreaded most of all. She'd put all her stock in this idea of herself; this aspiration. If she couldn't be that...what else did she have?

Yuki bit at her lip and looked away. She needed something just to convince herself that what she feared wasn't true - that she wasn't really doomed to disappointment. She wanted to tell herself that wasn't what Shimmer meant. "...I mean...in the sense that I'm so...exciting, right? I don't try to impress people, I just try to do my best...but if you like it, I guess I can't complain-!"

[Malkavia]

Well, blow me down. Had Shimmer seen our Skybeast smile a single time in this whole skip bang and skedoodle? No. Absolutely not. If she had, she would remember it. Homegirl looked tickled. Embarrassed, sure, the kind of smile that comes out unbidden with a blush, but, still—it was a different look for Yuki. Then it gave way to a medley of other feelings. In the sense that I'm so exciting...right? If Shimmerlace squinted, she almost heard a request for validation in that right. The idea of insecurity lurking somewhere down in Yuki's gut boggled the mind. And made Shimmer feel a pang of depression. No matter how high up the card you go, it seemed, niggling questions remain.

Still. Your stage performer was careful to keep her face flat and smiling. It wouldn't do to show surprise or curiosity about the blips she was getting from Yuki. She had a feeling as soon as Kazikura-sama realized she was showing — God forbid — emotion, she'd go right back to her little shell of good manners and few words. Best to pretend nothing was different.

"No, not really exciting. I mean, a solid suplex is plenty exciting. But that's not what I meant." Shimmerlace ran the tip of her tongue along the roof of her mouth and squinted at the uppermost point of the far-off Ferris Wheel. How to express it? She was tempted to just drop it there and let Yuki puzzle over it. There was fun in being enigmatic. But... "Excitement doesn't really ache, does it? But that over there—it's so pretty it hurts. The sweet kinda hurt. I think 'cause you can almost see it burning out, the way a comet glows by burning, thunders by crashing." That this comparison might be upsetting never even occurred to Shimmerlace—a blindspot. She was so used to measuring herself by her own end...how bright can I get before it's over...that she didn't consider others were less at home with the idea of an end.

And anyway, she was distracted. a funny thought had struck Shimmerlace—a thought so funny she chuckled. The last time she'd shared this particular sentiment with someone, she'd been on stage, facing Angelina Tarrant across a magic show, about three minutes from a rabbit-napping.

She shrugged and motioned for them to keep moving, leaving the floating world of color behind. As she did, in part from a real pang of curiosity, and partly to distract from her unspoken thought, Shimmerlace tossed a question back to Yuki. "You ever feel anything like that?"

[CaptainL]

Yuki might have shown Shimmerlace a smile for those few fleeting moments, but it wasn't long before that look dropped from her face. It wasn't, as Shimmerlace might have guessed, from the reminder of how opposed it was to her normally demure attitude. In this case, it was because the Feychild had gone on and brought up other things. And the other things she brought up, to Yuki, were things that hit even harder and dug even deeper than what she'd said a moment before. The fact that Shimmer had brought up just how fleeting - how, perhaps, unsustainable - the career that she and Yuki shared had dug a knife into the dark-haired girl in and of itself; it reminded her of all the questions she asked herself and the doubts she had of her future, and if she was even capable of keeping this momentum going, or if her glory days were already behind her. But what might have rattled Yuki even more than the thought of whether or not she was doomed to fail was the thought of the toll her actions took on her own body. And - whether Shimmerlace had intended it or not - that was what shot through Yuki's mind now.

At once, her eyes went wide, and the color drained away from her cheeks. She glanced left, then right, out of a nervous impulse; less a conscious decision to check her surroundings as much as it was an instinctive response at the thought of danger. When her gaze finally settled on something, it stared out at the top of the ferris wheel again. But while her gaze might have settled there, Yuki's thoughts weren't on the ride itself. They were some place further out - some place more distant, and yet at the same time, to Yuki, too close for comfort.

Shimmerlace was right about something. There was an inherent danger to wrestling; a strain it placed on the bodies of the wrestlers themselves in every move just as much as it did to their opponents. Every time a wrestler stepped into the ring, they were gambling with their future. Just as the comet glowed by burning, Yuki herself, in all of her hardest-hitting moves and in all of her most spectacular moments, was burning herself up, just a little bit. Her high-flying style might have been spectacular; a natural crowd-pleaser, yet it also meant that one wrong move, one missed fall, could well paralyze her - or worse. She had only used those moves when she knew it was best to (at least, she tried as much); she wanted to save them for when she needed them, but there was no question that Yuki put a little bit of herself into every move, and if she wasn't careful, that could run out. And that wasn't even getting into the other half of the equation - the risk Yuki was at from her opponents.

She cringed at the thought of it, but Yuki knew all too well the toll that wrestling had taken on her body. The lacerations of barbed wire from Amano Jaku; the concussions and broken limbs from Skylar Jones. They'd landed her in the hospital more than once at this point, and thinking back on them now, she cringed, reliving the pain in her legs and the throbbing in her skull. But as much as those injuries might have hurt in the moment, it was what they meant that hurt Yuki even more. The reminder that she couldn't keep this up forever. The fear that one day, all these injuries would catch up to her - and that when her body was broken and useless, she wouldn't be able to carry on, and to do the only job she had come to see herself in. What future would she have then, she asked? It was a question that seemed too horrible to even contemplate, and yet, times like this reminded Yuki that she might well need to contemplate it, befre it was too late. And in both of those instances, she thought, she had been driven by her need to push the envelope further; to go above and beyond what she'd accomplished before, and to prove she had it in her to shine even brighter. But by burning that candle even brighter, was she just wearing it down to nothing? In her search for validation, was she writing away her chance for just that?

Yuki bit at her lip, shuddering; she hugged her arm closer to her side as though she was trying to shrink back inside herself. It consumed her thoughts; it paralyzed her in the gaze of something bigger and more ferocious than she was. So much so, in fact, that she didn't even notice that Shimmerlace had turned and walked away - until the Young Lioness left the ball in Yuki's court. That brought her down to reality. And it reminded her that, sooner or later...she'd need to answer.

She drew in a gulp. She didn't know what to say. Should she betray her fears like this - or would doing so only confirm the power they had over her; would they just make her look weak if she was so unsure of herself? Either way, she couldn't leave Shimmerlace waiting. Finally, after clearing her throat, she spoke, in a voice that was soft and half-muffled. "...yeah. I have, actually. I don't...I don't like to talk about it."

But it wouldn't matter either way. Shimmer had already begun to walk off. When Yuki looked back and realized it - the shape of her companion receding into the distance, out of earshot and away from her confession - she blushed harder at how ridiculous she must've looked, getting this worried over nothing. But either way, she cleared her throat, hurrying after Shimmerlace to follow. "Hey, wait up..!"

[Malkavia]

An odd feeling took Shimmer's gut when she remembered her last talk of comets. The boat, the magic duel, the rabbit, the gibbet. The old ache had become numb from reliving and rethinking and turning over the memory. But there was something else unsettlingly sweet. Nostalgia perhaps?

Arresting though they were, the memories didn't distract her long. The Feychild had a constant (nervous, heart-in-throat) feeler for Yuki, so when Yuki dropped behind, it was only a hop and a skip before Shimerlace noticed.

If before Shimmerlace had caught the shiver of some insecurity under the surface, what she saw now in Yuki was—well. It was hard to place. A long stare into nothing. The look of a young bird who's flown deep into the dark cave of her own mind. Was this over the stuff Shimmerlace had said...? She had been awful personal. Boundaries had never quite been the Seelie thing.

Yuki seemed to snap out of it. She muttered something the Feychild couldn't catch, though without seeming to expect a response when she jogged up.

They continued walking. Shimmerlace bit her tongue as she stared ahead. She ought to say something, yeah? Nah—don't poke at the weird if you don't want her to blow you off. Yeah, but ain't it weird to just ignore the bug-eyed elephant under the rug? Finally, to break the layer of ice that started forming, she nodded and pointed ahead. "...Sure nuff! It'll be just 'round the corner."

She kept a smile painted after that. Inwardly, though, she turned the moment over in her head. How much did she care about the private contents of this girl's mind, anywho? It's not like it had much bearing on the Feychild's concerns.

...Mayhaps not. But what Yuki was, was light and sky and thunder, and there was always interest in the fundaments of such things. They would just have to see, Shimmerlace decided, what opportunities came.

—

The Moonlit Perch occupied a few rooms on the second floor of an indoor complex at the far end of the entertainment district with LAW at its center. A white curtain blocked the outside view through the glass front exterior. Shimmerlace rocked from her heels to the balls of her feet as she summarized warnings Yuki could also read, in Japanese, on the business' front door. "So. Owl's are mighty skittish! We don't wanna stress the poor beasties, and eh. They don't got those talons for nothin'!" To emphasize this point, the threw up her own fingers. Slice slice went the fairy claws. "We'll wanna keep our voice loooow. Movements sloooow. Sweet..and chill as a mountain stream. Yeah?"

Once inside, dim and quiet were the evenings theme. Yellow lights wrapped in cylindrical paper shades cast the room in a twilight orange. Thick cotton curtains the color of eggshell lined the walls and absorbed sound, except for low jazz mood music. Another curtain separated the entryway and a kiosk from what must have been the main attraction behind. As Shimmerlace had explained on the walk here, the business sold itself as healing entertainment. It was a place for exhausted professionals to experience something novel while putting their feet up and forgetting the outside world and its breakneck pace.

"Ah, Blossom-san!" As soon as they were through the door, the woman at the kiosk greeted the pair of them. She was a young Japanese woman in her early twenties dressed impeccably. She wore a white blazer over a white waistcoat with a crimson tie, formal but still slightly offbeat: a white silk bowler hat, crisp as a winter Monday at a bank 1870s England, topped the costume. Her voice was a high and light, just over a whisper, and she spoke with a slight accent on the L of blossom. Burossom.

Shimmerlace threw out her hands and managed, somehow, to be loud while she whispered. "Eyyyyyy—if it isn't Kimiko herself! Still rockin' the bowler I see." Your Feychild cracked a grin pure and wide as the moon, twice as wide but just as warm as the demure smile Kimiko threw back as she posed both hands over the hat. "And how's our lil' man Kaito?"

Kimiko's eyes brightened at the mention of her son, though they dimmed a bit when they settled on the butterfly tape across Shimmer's brow. The wound itched, and Shimmerlace wondered just how badly she'd been leaking. "Kaito-kun is very well thank you. He recently finished a major piece as part of his school application, a very...very large water color landscape. It's currently filling up most of my living room, but it's very pretty. I'll show you a picture later if you like. And you are...OK, I hope?"

Her tone was polite, but the genuine concern was thick enough to be a sliver of ice in Shimmer's chest. The Feychild's smile thinned. "Nothin' I can't stomach, thanks," she said before turning to Yuki. In a quick move, Shimmerlace put one hand to Yuki's back and the other on her shoulder. "Ma'am." The grin on her face lifted as her eyes sparkled. Mischievous. "Tonight I brought ya a new customer. This...is Yuki Kazikura. One of the great stars in my line of work, as you may as like know."

Kimiko's eyes turned to Yuki. Her head cocked slightly to one side as she appraised the prodigy. Finally, she nodded, impressed. Where one might have expected her to bow, she instead tipped her bowler. "Welcome, Kazikura-san. We will endeavor to give you a pleasant and memorable experience."

[CaptainL]

As she followed after Shimmerlace, Yuki let out a huff, and she buried her hands firmly in her pockets. Even after she'd blown off the question, she still couldn't help but feel awkward about it - the hairs had risen on the back of her neck with worry that she might've said the wrong thing, or made a faux-pas. She wasn't used to interacting with people this much when her career took up most of her opportunity to have an actual social life, and now she was all the more aware how much that fact showed through. The silence that passed between her and the Feychild was a palpable one, and at every step she took, Yuki couldn't help but ponder what might be going through Shimmer's mind. What she thought of her. What she expected her to say. Whether or not she was judging. She'd had countless eyes on her before, watching her at every moment she was pushing herself further and further to try and live up to their expectations. Now, she felt Shimmerlace's eyes on her, too, watching her just as closely and just as carefully. And when Shimmer was just a few steps in front of her, that gaze seemed closer and more oppressive than ever before.

Even when they'd arrived at the Moonlit Perch, Yuki couldn't help but feel those intrusive thoughts bubble up at the back of her mind. [clor=orange]"...Talons...yeah."[/color] Her eyelid twitched just a moment as she thought back on the match - on how Angelina's claws had cut a bloody swathe through Shimmerlace's forehead. Did the Young Lioness even realize the parallels she'd drawn? But a moment later, she cleared her throat, shaking that thought out of her head. Now wasn't the time. She was supposed to be here to relax; to get away from it all, to leave all that in the past and to have a moment she could breathe. Yet already she was dragging the baggage of her work life into it. She really wasn't good at this. But she couldn't let that get in the way.

"...Well," Yuki continued as she held her back straighter and folded her arms in front of herself, "that seems easy enough. I don't make that much noise anyway," she added with an awkward giggle. Her gaze lingered on Shimmerlace a little - she didn't want to say that she wasn't sure how well her companion could stay quiet and keep her energy low, but then again, if she'd been here before, and knew the rules well, she thought she could trust her. And when she followed her inside, she let her gaze wander all around the room as she let a long, deep breath out of her lungs, trying to let the atmosphere settle into her bones. Healing entertainment, she reminded herself. That's why she came here. She needed more of that in her life.

Evidently, Shimmer was quite well acquainted with the staff here if she could approach the receptionist by name and freely talk about personal anecdotes. Was this the sort of thing Yuki had been missing out on for so long? Those thoughts were still on her mind when Shimmer introduced her - and when she called her a great star, a blush lit up across the dark-haired girl's face. "Oh-!" she chuckled nervously. She still wasn't used to thinking of how much attention she truly had on her...and as soon as she was reminded of her struggles to stay relevant, she bit her tongue; perhaps, for her peace of mind, it was better they stay that way.

Clearing her throat, Yuki turned back to face Kimiko with a bow. "Really, thank you, but...please, I don't want you to treat me like anyone special. Tonight, I just want to be one of your customers, if that's okay. I really need to get away from...from the pressure of being in the public eye, you know, and I really appreciate that you're willing to do this for me. For...us, really. So...what would you recommend?"

[Malkavia]

"Of course, Kazikura-san. Without meaning to boast, I think the philosophy of our owls will suit your needs perfectly. Come."

Kimiko led the two of them past the white curtain into the main dining room. It was a polygonal room with somewhere between fifteen and twenty flat edges. Two of these edges were entryways hung behind curtains, while the rest were a series of tables separated by thin walls. The light burned an even dimmer brown-gold, emanating solely from paper lamps hung over each booth. The roof had a circle cut in its center made of glass, which gave a clear view to the night sky, and while the middle of the room was empty, plants decorated the spaces between the booths—ferns and dwarf citrus trees and ficus plants.

The chairs were white and wooden, while the table itself offered a finely polished blonde-wood surface. The light color palette helped to keep their setting bright despite the low light. When Shimmerlace had first seen this room, the coloration and furnishings reminded her of the way a garden restaurant might be furnished.

As Kimiko led them inside, she explained in a hushed voice that this restaurant specialized in Western style, especially American food. Kimiko herself had studied abroad when she was younger, and she admitted that the offerings were not entirely authentic, she thought — if she might be so bold as to suggest it — that this was not for the worse. Many foreign customers praised the Matsusaka roast beef burger as the finest sandwich they had ever eaten. The brioche bun, caramelized onion, gourmet cheese, and aioli sauce gave it a sweet flavor, while house seasoning gave it a touch of zest that cut through that profile with something unique and rich. "Gotta concur with the lady there, Yuki. There's not a morsel between two slices of bread anywhere in the world that'd hold a candle to the old Matsusaka Special here." Still, Kimiko recommended that Yuki take a moment to look at the menu before deciding. "In the meantime, may I get you something to drink?"

Once they were seated, Shimmerlace ordered one glass of sake. Ichi-gou, if ya please. Yuki would place her order, and Kimiko left with a promise that their orders would be out shortly. Their owl for the evening would be Franklin, and he would join them shortly.

"So—Yuki Kazikura." Shimmerlace shot the girl a grin from across the table. "Wrestling prodigy—except. Ah. Ya wanted to get away from that for a bit, didn't ya? At least if I read what you said to dear Kimi right." The Feychild raised her eyebrows at her partner, inviting her to lean in and take point in their conversation. There was, of course, her own agenda, but her eyes shone with what seemed like genuine curiosity. "Tell me about you then. Yuki the girl on a late spring's night, not a thought of the ring in her head. What does she think about? Any hobbies she gives her mind to, or...?"

[CaptainL]

Thinking of how Kimiko must have recognized her, Yuki couldn't help but blush a little. Even after all this time - even after main eventing cards and taking on champions - she was still used to thinking of herself as an unassuming everyday girl, but every so often she would be confronted with a reminder that, yes, she had gone places and achieved greatness. Yes, she had introduced herself, but she could tell from the look in the girl's eye that she knew just who Yuki really was, and when she stopped to think about it she realized how her name had to be at least passingly familiar to anyone who followed joshi puroresu. Still, she cleared her throat and pushed that thought aside before it could lead her down any other pathways. That didn't matter, now. She was here to get away from the hustle and bustle and bring herself down to earth, even for just a little while. Kimiko might as well have been one of her classmates.

And sure enough, as soon as Yuki stepped into the next room, the first thing to hit her was the carefully crafted atmosphere surrounding her, turning the entire space into a moonlit fantasia. She let out a deep breath as she proceeded to her table; as she sank into her seat, her shoulders slumped, and she settled lower against the chair. Yes, she thought - maybe she could be at peace, at least for a little while.

It didn't hurt that Shimmer and Kimiko were quick to make a recommendation. Yuki blushed a little at the sort of careful attention she was facing - but she did have to admit, their description sounded good. And considering she was new to this place, she'd take their word for it, bowing her head politely. "In that case, I'll go for it." So far, so good. They were making this easy.

She was less prepared when it came to the offer for a drink - especially when Shimmerlace placed an order for sake. At that, Yuki took a pause. She wasn't much of a drinker. She was just barely old enough for it in the first place, but when her life was as hectic as it was, she didn't have much time for diversions. She had grown used to thinking of them as wasteful and frivolous; things that she was better off not concerning herself with anyway. "Er...water," came her response, but not without her biting a little at her lip. Even after the words had left her mouth, she couldn't help but feel like she might've made a misstep. She was supposed to be out here enjoying herself; letting some of the walls down. Taking a moment to breathe. Should she be doing more? Was she making herself an outsider?

Regardless, she'd already placed the order, and Kimiko was already off. And whatever the case was, what Shimmerlace said next made Yuki stop in her tracks. Slowly she sat up straighter, and her head turned around to follow the pink-haired girl, her eyes going wide. Everything fell silent. Yes, she was right. Tonight, Yuki wanted to be something other than a wrestling prodigy. But when she was faced with that question, of what she liked to do outside the job, in her personal life...she didn't have an answer.

"I, uh..." She stared off into space. For so long, her entire life had been wrestling. Schoolwork, training, and wrestling. She didn't have much in the way of time for anything else, and everything else had fallen into the background. If she didn't have time, she thought, there was no use in worrying about it. But it was questions like this that reminded Yuki how much she questioned if what she was doing was right. If she was doing herself a disservice. If she was wasting her life. If she didn't have any good answers to that question, of what she did outside the ring...if there wasn't really an "outside of the ring" to begin with...could she really say she was living her best life? That she let herself be a complete person? Was this all a sign of how she'd failed to truly live?

At last, clearing her throat, Yuki turned to Shimmerlace to answer her. "I guess...I play video games and watch anime some times." She blushed just saying that, looking away. How trite it was, how much it made her look like a hopeless nerd. "If that's not...too embarrassing. Sometimes I go to the arcade...if I have time..." She sank a little lower in her seat. The more Yuki spoke, she realized, the more she was confronted with just how little she really was living. Despite all her excuses, she was just making it more and more obvious she wasn't used to this - to conducting herself like someone with a life. Was she just proving Shimmerlace's point?

[Malkavia]

Shimmerlace lowered her eyelids. She didn't quite grin, but her dimples winked in that direction, like she was telling a joke. "Aaah, embarrassing is it?" The Feychild leaned back into her chair. Her eyes glittered. "Well, I'd just nudge you to remember to whom you speak. We fair kind of the rosy blush beyond the Hedge aren't much given to embarrassment, nor to its close cousin shame." A part of Shimmerlace sensed a faux pas. You sure you want to be bringing the fey stuff into this? But that got brushed quick and easy. She'd felt tight and anxious and jumpy for far too long already. "Nah. Shame makes a girl dishonest, you know, and much of that makes my kinda flight totally immmmpossible."

She could sense Yuki felt less than comfortable talking about herself—which. Charlotte could relate, surprising though she supposed that might be to Yuki. She tried to keep the conversation moving. "As for games, eh, I'm sorry to say I haven't spent much time afront the screen. Though. In my younger days!" She raised a finger, and her face broke into a real, true grin. "I did used to enjoy tabletop games. Which might not be soooo different. The right kinda of game, I imagine, has much the same features. Strange, fantastic world you can explore. A little avatar that's you but not you. Mayhaps better than you. Stronger, faster, braver, with a penchant for laser eyes or somesuch. And of course—there's got to be a fight."

Shimmerlace said the word fight the way a cat might say mouse. Stretching it out, savoring the taste. As she did, Kimiko made it out to their table with the water and sake. Though Western in its affect, the restaurant presented sake in a traditional manner—a tall ceramic flask beside two smaller cups. All three were dark blue. Although Yuki had not ordered anything to drink, Kimiko naturally assumed Shimmerlace was ordering for the table. The Feychild, however, did not offer her interlocutor a drink. Such an offer would have been expected, at least perfunctorily—a polite gesture. Whether sliding over this detail came from a good read of Yuki, poor respect for Japanese drinking manners, or something else...who could say?

What she did do, however, was pour herself a full shot. She extended the cup over the table at Yuki, and in a perfect French accent offered a toast: "Santé!" And down the hatch went the fiery, bitter drink—smooth as silk in one gulp. Memories of tonight's pinfall—the two of them, actually—receded further and further down a hole dug in the center of her mind. As all pinfalls, submissions, and even the orgasms always did. Were it not for Yuki in front of her, she might have let the bitter taste go completely.

"I should really give video games specifically another go, though. I've heard they're becoming a real artform." The ochoko cup clinked as she replaced it on the table. "You ever play a game that made ya feel. I dunno. Something. Made you belly laugh, or maybe wink a tear or two. Anything really memorable?"

[CaptainL]

When she put her interests into words, Yuki came to realize how embarrassing they must have sounded to others. And what proved even more embarrassing was that Shimmerlace seemed to pick up on it. Now, she knew Shimmer was on to her. Her blush deepened, and she sank lower in her seat, biting her lip as she averted her gaze from the woman across the table from her. But...Yuki had to acknowledge that Shimmerlace wasn't judging her. And as she explained herself, she realized she had a point, looking back over in her direction. She knew enough from their match that Shimmer was...eccentric, in a way that made Yuki's dalliances look positively quaint by comparison. And from what she'd seen of her here, she wasn't afraid to let that bleed into her personal life. She admitted she was weird...but it didn't bother her. "I guess...you're right..." She pushed herself up a little more to sit straighter in her seat. If anything, Yuki thought to herself, that was enviable. Shimmer didn't care what anyone else thought. She was happy to be herself. Was that what Yuki was forgetting?

Leaning a little closer across the table, the dark-haired girl scooted closer to Shimmer, looking her in the eye now. "Tabletop games, huh? Yeah, that...checks." She bit her lip again after saying that, hoping it wasn't too insensitive. "I mean, it sounds interesting. I've never played any. But I've kinda wondered what it'd be like...not that I really have time, or anything." She sighed, propping her chin up in her hands. There it was again - that confession that she didn't give herself the time to really live.

But it was what Shimmerlace said next that really caught Yuki's attention. The thought of creating someone better than you, and living vicariously through them; escaping from one's own problems through a sort of extension of themselves...it made her go stiff, leaning closer over the table. She could see it in Shimmerlace; how she assumed the persona she did. One that, she was sure, had to be more interesting than whatever the girl beneath the frilly costumes and pink hair could ever be. But Yuki couldn't help but see it in herself, as well - how she had such high hopes for what she could be, and how much she struggled to uphold that image. Were they really all that different? Were they just playing this same game all along?

Once again, Yuki didn't have long to ponder it before Kimiko returned to the table. When the sake was placed at their table, she bowed her head in a short gesture to their server - "Ah-! Thank you," she said. But it wasn't lost on her that there were two cups on the table, and that made her raise an eyebrow. Did Shimmerlace perhaps expect her to drink, anyway? And if that was the case, was she crossing any lines if she refused?

Before she could think much about it, though, Shimmerlace started up the conversation again, bringing the topic back to video games. Thinking about how to answer her question, Yuki let out a short sigh. "Ah, well, let's see...I mean, I played a lot of older RPGs. Sorta like tabletop games, you could say, but on the consoles. I play puzzle games from time to time, but I'm not really good at them. They kinda hurt my head." Looking down at the table, she began to run her fingertips in a circle over its surface, trying to busy herself. "I guess if I think about it...sometimes, playing a game feels like...standing up to a challenge, in a way? Like, you might play through the same part over and over, and it might be hard and you might slip up a lot, but...you always know there's something beyond that, and you keep wanting to go at it. You know there has to be a way to beat it, or it wouldn't be in the game. That gives you...motivation, I guess. To try and do better. To not give up."

She sighed again, looking down. "In a way, it's...comforting, I guess. To have that assurance that you really can do it, and it's possible. It's...easier than real life that way. You don't really have that same certainty here. That assurance that things will end up okay if you keep at it. You get what I mean?"