Ten Thousand Years, Ten Thousand Stars (Maintenance)

[Roania]

It was one thing to attend the carnival as a kid. Chaokun had done that. The bright lights, the dancing, the food, the cheering as staid Imperial City let down its (tightly bunned/braided) hair and enjoyed the good weather, the long day, and the near certainty of the sea breeze... she remembered being carried by her brothers, trying to grab balloons in her... (uh, his, though she didn't mind the present bleeding backwards too much) hand as they flew by.

It was another thing to attend the carnival as a boy, singly or with other male friends. To stare at the girls of the various Triad house as they competed in beauty, to dare each other to go into the dancing chamber and meet a girl (Chao never had had the nerve), to gaze enviously at the bolder boys and the pretty girls on their arms...oh, they would meet someone eventually, but they hadn't yet, and they would do anything...

Well, Chaokun had done anything, and now... well, now she was one of those pretty girls, and she definitely intended to hang onto his arm...

"Where are we going, Huani?" ((OOC:Blossoming Lion)) She leaned against him, a finger brushing through his silk robe. She'd gotten him a new shirt, something bright and colorful and floral; she loved how it looked on him, marked with her flowers, and how much he hated it, and how much they were both looking forward to her claws tearing it to shreds again. Just a matter of time... her cheeks colored, and she distracted herself by looking out the window; they had flown over her district, but were heading south along the river, not northwest to the main city.

The gravcar was a miracle. She could feel, even in her newborn femininity, the crystal engine that powered its miraculous flight. It was another way her life had changed, and for the better. She had never thought of becoming a soldier, back when she was a boy. But now, the thought of joining the crystal maidens... oh, she'd never be a seer, she knew. If she made it that far with her virginity intact, it wouldn't be for want of both of them trying to change that... but an awakener...

His arms went around her, and she felt his lips gently press on her neck. Oh, he was leaving a mark... branding her as his for all the world to see. Well, she'd left a scratch, so fair was fair... "That's not an answer..." she moaned softly, pulling his head from her.

"We're meeting some friends of mine." He turned her from the window, and his arms went around her, bringing her in for a thorough kiss that left her both weak at the knees and breathless. "They wanted to meet you, and I..." There was another kiss, and she relished the feeling of his hands sliding under her blouse and stroking her back... "I want you to be part of my life. Of every part of my life." A third kiss, and had he not been holding her she would have slumped to the ground. "Because...because." There was more than that, and she could have gotten it from him, had she wanted, but her head was spinning, and his love for her was all-consuming, and all she could do was hold on, while his hands... oh, he never touched anything he 'shouldn't', but he played her body like an erhu, and with every note... "So... don't panic, okay?"

"Why would I panic?" She asked, when breath and words returned, and her body had cooled.

"Because while we were fooling around," he whispered, and his arms held her tight to his chest, one hand even holding her head still, "we landed in the palace courtyard."

[Roania]

It was not, Rilis thought as they walked down the street in their civilian clothing, as though they had a strictly friendly relationship.Whoever else she may have been, her mind and memories had been so scrambled that she may as well always have been this girl. And the girl she was liked Jun-Fan. He made her smile, and treated her with respect. And they were good together. They hadn't been working for a week before they fell into the rhythm that all good watch partners did.

He was also, she thought as she caught a glimpse of him out her left eye, hot. Like, 'praise the ancestors, this man will provide our house with sons' hot. His muscles were toned and lean, and she knew that he could punch his way through any door and most walls. That had been a fun training exercise, apart from the opening moments where she'd really thought she was being kidnapped. It had been incredible, watching this powerful man tear his way through their fellow watchmen, and the paid actors, and that one ogre who hadn't even meant to be there, with as much ease as she opened a bottle of Happy Cola, just to get her back. And, she had to admit to herself (though never to him) arousing. Light, she was sure some of the men had heard her whisper his name that night... or they would have, had she been doing anything, which she hadn't, thank you, procurator.

Of course, she'd never had the opportunity to show whatever skills she'd have had rescuing him, after that. There was no real way to justify him needing rescue.

What was she thinking about? Oh, yes. Their relationship was not strictly friendly, much less professional. He looked at her, and she knew it. And she looked at him, and he knew it. But it hadn't progressed.

Oh, she had no doubt it was going to. Unless they both actively sought romantic partners, it would probably happen before the end of the year. One day, she would wind up in his arms, and in his bed. Her decision to stay in the barracks was a futile attempt at delaying what they both knew was inevitable. A lot of people at the station probably thought they'd already fucked, though for most of them that was just because they couldn't imagine a relationship between men and women that wasn't at its core sexual...

She shivered a moment, glad he was chatting with a vendor. Fuck. The word had a solid sound to it, in a way it never had before. She saw it, felt it, heard it, as something that someone would do to her. Ideally, with not just her encouragement, but her active participation.

Oh, they'd told him, in the few scraps of that time she remembered. That the girl he was becoming would want a man, and want him soon. As though that was a punishment. Which, she supposed, it had been. But, well, she did want a man. This man. The one she was standing with. It felt natural to want him, and despite their threats, it felt natural to wait, as good as it felt to imagine not waiting.

But to talk about it, to put himself in that place of being her lover, of being 'the gentle bee' to her 'white lotus'... that had been too far, yes. It was happening. She was definitely, in the words of the song, preparing her nectar for the coming spring, when she would open... light, she hoped she was right, she didn't want to sing that song in front of everyone, how was it on top of the charts? Why did it have to come on the radio while they were driving to the site? Why was it playing across her mind?! Ahem. But not yet. They weren't there.

They were friends. "These are good." He offered her a stick of meat, dusted with some sort of nut sauce. "It's going to be a little crowded when we get to the actual festival." He said, as she took her meat and in between bites of his own. "So eat up, squirrel, and remember to stick close. I don't need you running off because you want someone's nuts."

"Hey!" But she took the stick and ate her way through it. That done, she threw the wood behind her into the bin. "Well, then I guess I'll try to remember that your nuts are the only ones I'm allowed to eat." She let the innuendo dance between them for a moment, curling her large bushy tail around herself in what she knew was a provocative fashion. Oh, she had none of the flexibility of a cat, but its bulk gave her the advantage in coyness. "That's what you want me to remember, right?"

"I...uhhh..." His face blanked.

She took a step forward now. "And how close do you want me to stick? I can be really close, if you like." Oh, they were dancing on the edge now, but the festival's mood, the couples around them, some of them very absorbed in themselves... it was having an impact on her. "This close?" Her sensitive nose twitched, those whiskers and the others folding against her cheeks. She could smell the pheromones floating through the air, the scent of sexual desire promised, deferred, being acted upon clandestinely ... women and men belong to the summer. Well, she was a woman, in full glory, and he was very definitely a man grown... "This close?" She was now an inch or two from the closest they had ever been to each other. One more step, and she'd be on him. Or perhaps he'd be on her. "You don't want me going for anyone else's nuts but yours, right, Lee Jun-fan?" Her voice had developed a huskiness she did not know she was capable of.

"Qian Rilis..." He lifted a hand, stopped when he realized that doing so would probably have put his hand where he really wanted it, but also did not.

Then she leaned forward and grabbed his purse from his belt. "So, let's go buy me some from that stand over there, since you're offering." She pointed at someone selling baked nuts, the smell of which she had, in fact, been trying to suppress. "Or I may, in fact, need to find someone else to fulfill my needs. For nuts." She stuck her tongue out. "And then we'll swing by the Imperial Tent to check up on Inugog. He must be hating this."

What? It was fun teasing him, and herself, but she had some self-control.

[Roania]

It was hot. Well, no, it wasn't, really. This was a relatively mild midsummer. It had been hotter last week. But for Inugog, it may as well have been the surface of the sun. Even a relatively plum position at the Imperial Tent (called such because no Emperor had ever gone even remotely near it; they spent their midsummers at their summer chalets with their wives) wasn't helping. Lieutenant Inugog of the Watch came from a people and a species who had evolved for more boreal climes than Imperial City, and who usually handled heavy temperatures by going into the water or stripping to their loincloths. But this Ozlukar was a watchman. And watchmen wore the watch uniform. And despite his best efforts, and his increasing seniority, a 'Summer Loincloth' would not be going on the approved list.

"Good day, lieutenant!" Rilis liked Inugog. He was refreshingly blunt and decidedly safe. He never treated her like meat... well, except the kind of meat he'd like to *literally* eat, and she was pretty sure he was joking about that. The Ozlukar was an outsider's outsider, but he was a good cop, and people respected that. Well, Watchpeople respected that, and who else mattered? Once you were in the uniform, civilians assumed you belonged in the uniform. You were just another cop.

There was a giant barrel of ice water by him. It was the seventh he'd gone through that hour. A few squaddies were already on their way back with the next one. Rank hath its privileges, and being able to boss squadmen around was one of them. "Oh, it's yer two. Off duty, eh?" A bleary eye blinked, refocussed, and pinned the two off-duty officers down. "Come ta gloat, 'av yer? Cuz I'll 'av ya know that ah've already put in ta be on shift assignment for da rest uv da year."The giant ozlukar spat on the ground, much to the (muted) disapproval of those nearby. "Soz. Anyway, watch it."

"We wouldn't do that, Lieutenant. We wanted to check on you." Lee Jun-Fan held up his hand. "You know it's just how duty rotas worked out. We were on duty this morning, checking on that Tai-pan-Jai case. We missed the fireworks."

"Naw, really?" Inugog processed this for a few moments. "Ya were work'n dis mornin? I was sure yer'd be busy. Ya know, workin on each otha. Dat's wot all da otha pointiez are do'n. Speak'n of, oi! Yer lot! Clear off wit' dat." The lieutenant stomped his feet down and made it look like he was about to get up. The impromptu strip-contest closed up quickly, the teenager hurrying to get away from the large growling face of authority. "When I moved 'ere, yer know, I thought yer lot were borin'. Yer'll just wait'n fer yer chance to be crazy. Yer two espec'lly. One day we'll com 'n an find y scream'n his name while bent ova the cap'n's desk."

"We're not together like that, Lieutenant." Rilis replied, her cheeks catching fire. "We're just partners."

"Right, right, 'an I'm the Queen 'f Jeok. 'Scuse me." In one immense hand, he suddenly lifted up the barrel and sank it back, then roared ."Where's ma next barrel, ya runts?"

"Coming, Lieutenant!" Came a desperate cry from down the hill towards the river.

"Yeah, ya bettah be." Inugog muttered, which meant only the people within the surrounding five feet heard him. Rilis covered her lips to hide her smile. Inugog caught that movement, though, and pointed a finger at her. "Oi, bushy-tail. If ya 'ave time ta laff, ya 'ave time ta be useful. Go get me someth'n ta eat. I've got lootenant business wit yer 'just' partna, since 'e's 'ere an all."

"With me, Lieutenant?" Jun-Fan said, frowning at the massive ozlukar as though that would somehow inspire him to make more sense. His hand almost took hers in a protective gesture she would have welcomed at the moment, but then thought better of it. "I'd prefer not to discuss anything without my partner."

"'Yeah, well, too bad. I'm 'ungry now. Ye can fill 'er in later if ya need, boyo." The ozlukar stood up. And up. And up. Neither of them had ever seen an ogre up close, but Inugog would have dwarfed those feared creatures in bulk, if not in height. "Oi, Corporal Fuzz'nton. Ye're runn'n this station til I or Detective Qian gets back, yer 'ear dat? As fer ya, Offica, dinnit I tell ya ta move?"

Off-duty she may have been, but Qian Rilis was police enough to know that when a superior officer told her to move, she moved.

===

"I know that tail..." Rilis said to herself as she walked back from the vendor, carrying a meal so calorie heavy her delicate stomach rankled at the thought of eating it herself. "But from where?" The feline tail, and the rather pert arse it was attached to, had indeed crossed her path in the semi-recent past. Though since in recent days the young woman s paying attention to an entirely different kind of body, by the time she placed it in her damaged memory the girl and her laughing boyfriend had moved past, among a group of young friends. That was the girl who had caught their eye, way back before... well, it probably didn't matter.

Now all Rilis thought about was that her own arse, in addition to belonging to a real woman, not some girl, was emphatically more worth checking out by the men around them, and that her tail was far more deserving than any cat's tail. Insofar as she thought about it at all, which she didn't. Not really. Perfect self-confidence in her beauty was one of the very first feminine traits she remembered developing. In that it had developed before, so to speak, her femininity had. It was so integral to how Rudanese girls and women saw themselves that it had bled into the fabric of their society. Of course men were looking. She was perfect! And they were but men. Etc, etc. It played her to rebuke Lee Jun-Fan for his stares, but yes, she'd have been far more upset had he not been staring. Looking was one thing, touching was another.

What worried her more was what the Lieutenant and Lee Jun-Fan were talking about. She was sure she was on solid ground. She was a good cop. She couldn't be on probation. Had there been a report? Had there been a complaint? Maybe they wanted to talk about her new uniform request...oh, he was heading her way, pushing through the crowd. "Lee Jun-Fan!" She said, surprised, when he reached her and more surprised when he took her by the hands. "What's wrong?" She would have dropped Inugog's lunch, but another officer had been following Lee. The nmmr took her package, bowed, and sped back up to the bellowing Ozlukar.

Not that she noticed, because Lee Jun-Fan immediately slipped his arms up her body to her shoulders and then down her curves. Her breath caught, but so did his eye, and its meaning. As though passion had overpowered her in truth, she moved down into his embrace, letting his arms find her waist and then the holster she wore at her hip, under her dress, while hers did the same for him. "What's going on?" She whispered, her fingers carefully disengaging the safety, while looking for all the world as though she was merely enjoying his embrace. Which she was, but cop first. Woman second.

His hands had done the same. She felt the heat of the coils begin to warm, ready for her to draw and fire. Suddenly, he pulled her to the side, out of the crowd, and against a lamppost. Some of those paying attention laughed and cheered, thinking that the festival had gotten to be too much for them. "Code 77." He whispered into her ear.
"
"What?" She said it loudly, too loudly, and too seriously. "Are you doing, love?" She added, injecting those words with more of the tone their audience expected. Which was harder than it would have been a minute ago. Her building arousal, the simmering heat she had been allowing to grow inside her, vanished. "We need to get back to the car... our gear..." She moved her hands up his body, "You're only wearing your light shield..." She whispered, feeling the thicker fabric between his robes and his underclothes.

"And you're not wearing yours?!" His hands slipped off her lower thigh, but moved to the post. "Spirits and ancestors, why?"

"First, we were off-duty! Are off-duty! And second, you try wearing that thing under a dress. Or why don't you grow a pair of tits and try it then, Jun-Fan!" She hissed, moving in to make it seem as though her lips were brushing his chin. "And mine doesn't fit properly, anyway!"

For the very first time since they had met, Her partner swore at her. Like a sailor. It was all the more frightening because of how close they were, and how serious the situation seemed to be. "Inugog asked us not to get back in gear; he wanted to know we were armed and ready to be plainclothes if needed. Said that together we'd be under good cover. I told him yes."

"Good, because we are!" She answered. Quietly, but fiercely.

"Not without your fucking shield, you stupid woman!" His hand traced back up her body, and to her bare waist, and beyond, to make the point. Too far, because his cheeks suddenly went red.

"...Get your hand off me, Lee Jun-Fan!" She brought her hand around in a vicious slap that sent him reeling, and drew loud laughter from the crowd. "And don't you ever touch me again like that, if that's how you're going to speak to me." She thrust him aside and pushed off, heading back up towards the Imperial Tent. Fuck Jun-Fan. And for the first time, she meant that every way but literally.

Until, a moment later, a loud explosion filled the air, and there was the sound of gunfire...