< Presents From The Tree | Logs | What Is Yu Shan >
Cassandra One glimmering red nail is still dug into the flesh of Smiling Autumn's back.
Cassandra Cassandra fixes him with one lazy eye (the other hidden by a carelessly flopping lock of hair) and murmurs sleepily, "So, what was that about Every Fifth Dove?"
Autumn "Hmmm..." He shivers with the feel of the pain, tracing his fingers down her body, the feeling of serenity passing through it, electric. "I am him... you knew, didn't you...?"
Cassandra "Of course I knew, silly."
Cassandra "I didn't think YOU knew."
Den Bao is still mucking around with one last chair. If only the damn thing weren't shaped the way it was, he'd have things perfect!
Autumn "Secrets, secrets, secrets. Always with the veils, but I got to learn a bit about them. I stole some for myself, Cassie Cassie. Such beautiful veils. You looked good when I painted you."
Cassandra 's eye glints a bit. "Yes. I did. But that was a long time ago. We're both different people."
Cassandra "Or at least. You are."
Autumn "Am I? I don't remember enough to know... tell me about myself."
Cassandra "I don't think that's a good idea, Autumn."
Autumn places a finger upon her lips, holding the thought until he could kiss her... and then ask "Why not?"
Cassandra "Because you didn't think it was a good idea. That's why you told me not to." Cassandra's smile is dazzling.
Cassandra "Now, listen." Cassandra squeezes Autumn tighter, breathing deeply in distraction for a moment before focusing. "I want you to go back to your friends and tell them I didn't know anything. Tell them I just modelled for you once upon a time, and we were never friends or lovers."
Cassandra "And come back to me in a week and tell me how things are going."
Autumn just smiles, closing his eyes to soak on her words... lead by them like a fish by the river. "Of course, Mistress. You can count on me."
Autumn "Hmmm... we forgot my friend..."
Cassandra "Oh, I didn't forget him. He's probably still out there in the sitting room."
Cassandra "I miss you, Autumn. Do you remember the old days? How much fun we used to have?"
Autumn "Thought you should be nicer to fellow Oracles, Mistress?"
Cassandra "Oh, that's right. You don't." And she smiles again.
Cassandra "Oh, I like him okay. But this...this is just for us."
Autumn lips quiver... he hated her. Oh, he hated her. But he... loved her for it?
Autumn "How can you be such a magnificent bitch, mistress?"
Cassandra gets up and shrugs, slipping on a dressing gown. "It's just play. None of this is real, after all. You showed me that."
Autumn takes longer to get up, only slipping in his pants.... well, almost. He walked to her window, plucking a few flowers. Bright-Violet and Red-Gold, flowers of betrayal. He plucked so many of them and placed them about him, on his hair... and all over his jacket, which he turned inside-out, having designs of the usurpation. "Oh, did I?" He asked her, finally walking out...
Cassandra "Listen, honey. Here's something you can take back to your friends."
Cassandra "What is Yu-Shan?"
Autumn "The Home of Gods? The Heart of Creation?"
Cassandra "Yes, but what IS it? It's not part of Creation. It's not part of the Underworld. Where does it come from? Why does it exist?"
Autumn "It is... a sanctum. The Primordials made it, right?"
Cassandra seems about to answer, then smiles and shakes her head. 'That's enough presents for one day, Autumn. If I keep giving you things, people will start thinking I'm in love with you!" She smiles and leans langorously against the door as it swings open.
Autumn begins to walk out with a smile, "You will be, someday." He walks out... and greets Den Bao with a smile. "Sorry to keep you waiting, hopeful veil! Unfortunately, there are indeed no hopes, for Cassie is just..." He stops, and looks at his palm. Then, it curls into a fist, striking his face, shattering his nose-and-eyes mask, making him fall!
Den Bao was in the middle of chair-adjusting for the fifty-seventh time... but Autumn's suddenly actions makes him completely miss the perfect positioning he'd found. "... damn it all, Joy, what now?"
Autumn falls to the ground, knocking over a sofa Den Bao had carefully arranged! "GREEN VEIL NOW."
Cassandra rolls her eyes (or at least one eye, the other being covered by a carelessly flopping lock of hair). "Really, Autumn, you're so HEADSTRONG."
Den Bao "... teh." He nonetheless sighs, and quickly makes the Lesser Sign, tendrils of green leaking from his body as he walks over to the chair knocked down. "This, of course, brings up the question of what is so troublesome that you felt the need to do something requiring this, Cassandra."
Autumn "Cassie, Cassie, Cassie..." He speaks, droplets of blood from the mask-splinters imbedded in his skin falling over his eyes... "I forget! I forget my life! I forget things, and forgot how much fun we used to have... but I remember how fun it was to be trained by you! To know how to betray and control and control the controls of controlling! Aren't you proud?"
Cassandra "Proud?"
Den Bao A careful repositioning of said chair, and the tap of an end table with his outstretched foot, and the Essence is redirected. The aura of shattered calm becomes anxiousness, and that is when Den stands up. "Now. I have a question to ask. What is it that has troubled you so that you must go this far in maintaining silence, hm? Surely there's nothing that has you worried about suffering the fate of certain others, yes?"
Cassandra "No, I'm not proud, Autumn. I'm not proud of doing the same thing to you that you did to me. Just a little sad."
Cassandra "But after all. It was your idea. That's why you did it to me in the first place."
Autumn "She knows Every Fifth Dove. They were very close. But the official story is that she barely knew him. And him... he told her to hide who he is." He gets up slowly, taking the splinters out of his face... and looking at her with love "And you do it so well. Why wouldn't you be proud?"
Cassandra smiles over at Den Bao. "I'm not troubled, sugar muffin. I
Cassandra I'm just doing my job."
Den Bao "As am I, it seems."
Den Bao mutters something about lube and special paper...
Autumn "As am I. To betray, it seems. To hurt. We always hurt the ones we love, don't we, Cassie?"
Cassandra "We do, Autumn. I don't know about the rest of Creation."
Den Bao "You prune trees to help them grow. You hurt a student to show him the error of his ways. But this does not seem to be either case. I have a feeling you wanted to hide something... heh, that seems to be the theme nowadays. But even you know that secrets exist to be discovered. So... just why were you so inclined to toy with Autumn so? What terrible thing must remain hidden?"
Cassandra shakes her head. "You Secrets. Always so melodramatic. It's not anywhere near as complicated as that."
Den Bao "It's not much of a Secret if it isn't." Den smiles thinly.
Cassandra "Smiling Autumn and I are dear friends that go back a long ways. Sometimes we ask each other to do little favors for one another.
Cassandra "Pick up tickets to a show. Countersign a petition. Track down our next incarnation and indoctrinate him without letting him find out what we were up to way back when."
Cassandra "Little things."
Cassandra "You'd know all about...little things, wouldn't you, honey?"
Den Bao "Mn."
Den Bao doesn't look terribly amused, but he nonetheless doesn't seem like he wants to insert his foot up Cassandra's ass in a non-sexual way.
Autumn "What if I ask you a favor now, my dear... my love... my mistress?" He steps over the couch, which instantly turns due to his weight. "To know at least a little bit?" He plucks the last splinter... "Love hurts us both, but we can soothe it with words..."
Cassandra "But I just did you a favor, Autumn. I think it's your turn to do me one."
Autumn "You did? To fill my mind with sweet nothing's whisper?"
Cassandra shrugs. "It was your idea."
Den Bao "Of course, the man that is now seems to have other things in mind. This is, nonetheless, a matter that lovers should ultimately settle." 'Even if said lovers are absolutely fucking insane,' he idly notes to himself.
Autumn "Tut tut tut. It was the idea of one of my masks. Poor Every Fifth Dove, at least he was not shattered like Inquisitor of Love." He looks at the last splinter of his mask, tossing it away, "But Inquisitor was a rotten betrayer anyway. But let us play this game. A favor done for me, and a favor done for you... why don't you say two already? And when I finish them..."
Autumn walks up to her, holding her waist, pushing her to him. "Then, your lips whisper of many, many Doves"
Cassandra gives him an appraising look with one eye, the other being covered by a carelessly flopping lock of hair. "Okay, Autumn. Two favors. Here's the first one."
Cassandra "Tell me: what is Yu-Shan?"
Autumn "A miserable little pile of Secrets." He nods. "Of infinite joy, the heart of Creation."
Autumn "How is me saying what everyone already knows a favor to you?"
Cassandra "It's not. But I'm not asking for what everybody knows. I'm asking for what nobody knows."
Cassandra "You know." She leans in, her lips brushing Autumn's cheek and ear. "A secret."
Cassandra "Have a nice trip back to the city, boys." She smiles, pulling away, and waves the first two fingers on her left hand in farewell, before disappearing into her bedroom. Her profile is briefly visible as she shrugs off the robe, before the door swings quietly shut.
Den Bao "... you, my friend, are star-crossed, and not in a good way."
Autumn just stands there, watching her leave with lovestruck eyes...
Den Bao nonetheless pauses. "Still, the ass on that woman could launch a thousand ships."
Autumn "You're being modest about it. You really should try to tap it sometimes. So firm, so smooth."
Den Bao "I value my social life too much. In any even, we should be away."
Autumn "Yes, we should." He begins to walk out, blinking out some blood. "Um. And I need some bandages. Mask-splinters hurt. Poor little masks." He pouts. "So... we gotta find out what is Yu-Shan. Also, I was a complete and utter bastard."
Den Bao "And this is different from the usual how? Be a bastard, so long as you're a bastard for a suitably approvable reason." Den reaches over to pick a few splinters out.
Autumn "I suppose. I wonder." He looks over his shoulder. "Beautiful. Magnificent. Bitch."
Autumn "Is that what I'll turn Venus into?"
Den Bao "I imagine she's your clay doll to mold. Just don't work her too hard. Clay can shatter in the kiln when the heat is too much for it."
Autumn "I guess. I am a bastard too. She trained me well." He nods... "Thanks for the save."
Den Bao chuckles softly, calmly readjusting his scarf. "To know the world is to serve it. This applies to allies as well."
Autumn "So... we gotta find out what Yu-Shan is. Who do we ask?"
Den Bao "That's a very good question... and it has a deceptively simple answer."
Den Bao smiles at Autumn, perhaps a bit disturbingly. "We need to speak to... Yu-Shan." He leaves it at that as he keeps walking.
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