"Well, you won." Yul murmured, smiling. He tilted his head into her caress, murmuring softly, his lips brushing her wrist. "And yeah, honestly, the whole miai thing seemed pretty weird. But... not anymore." He looked at her, his dark eyes open, honest, full.

His eyes widened a little as Mumei suddenly hopped off the bird, but Yul's reflexes were good, and with the hand already on her waist, it was easy. His other came up, finding her waist on the other side. An easy spin, and she was safely on the ground.

"That's how you lead, huh?" Yul murmured, smirking. His hands slid a little further around her, drawing her closer. "So what's your next move?" He tilted his face downwards, towards hers...

The dancer grins, hands moving to his shoulders as she holds herself upright in that spin. Feet on the ground, she takes a step closer, interlacing her fingers behind his neck. "Hmm, yep! Sometimes leading is trusting that your partner _can_ follow, sometimes it's challenging them to keep up."

Another step closer. "Sometimes, it's just making the next move so obvious, and the balance point such that there's really only one way to go," she murmurs. Rising on her toes, her hands offer insistent incentive for him to meet her halfway. She commits entirely to the kiss, leaning into him and trusting that he knows this move more than well enough.

"You know," Yul breathed, his gaze going to Mumei's lips, "-I think I get it." There definitely was only one thing to do. They met, Yul's lips parting against hers, warm and soft, and just the slightest bit spicy. His hands moved over her back, fingers digging in gently, until one slid up to tangle gently in her hair. One kiss turned into a second, and then a third...

Yul pulled back, taking a deep breath. "Hey, so..." He murmured, his gaze meeting hers. "You wanna set up here? Lay out the blanket? Maybe watch the stars for a bit?" His playful smile was back, as was the intensity in his eyes.

Indeed, it did seem like a pleasant place. It was quiet, the trees providing some shelter, the scent of blossom and citrus in the air. The two otori stood close together, necks touching... even as Maverick bent down. He gave a pleased burble as he gobbled a yuzu fruit, tilting his head back to swallow it.

Mumei's entire body presses against him, up on her toes, all the balancing passed to him. It's a different sort of lift. She'd fall if he backed away, every touch makes it clearer that he won't. There's incense and dark tea, the faint funk of her new thrift store top that hasn't seen enough washing yet to lose it, and that delicate hint of ripe and overripe yuzu from the orchard. Her own fingers slip into his hair, pulled tight by the ponytail, as she uses some small pressure there to say 'no, another,' as each kiss finds its time to end.

But all things must end, or at least pause. She drops back on her heels as they do, eyes shining with utterly unsated desire for more. "mmm, this seems as good a spot as any to see what stars we recognize."

But then she follows his gaze, over her shoulder to the Otori, and her eyes widened. Spinning around surprisingly quickly, she dashes for the bird. "Drop it!" she shouts, hoping to startle the bird. "I don't know if they can eat this old-Rokugani food. I haven't read that manual yet!"

Yul's hands, which had been holding Mumei tight against the solidness of his form, released her as soon as she turned. "Huh? Oh." Yul winced. "I didn't think about that."

Maverick turned as Mumei suddenly rushed towards him, the yuzu dropping from his beak. Yul came up behind her, his hand briefly touching her shoulder. "We should probably tie them. Make sure they don't wander, or eat any more. Here..." With his foot, Yul cleared away a solitary fallen yuzu or two, leaving a solid looking tree clear of any more potentially dangerous fruit. "You get them secured, I'll get us set up?"

He moved to put actions to words, pulling a blanket from the bag, and laying it down in one smooth motion

"Sure, sure, take the easy job," she says with a smile. She needs to apologize for yelling at Maverick anyway, clucking softly at the startled bird as she gathers up reins. It takes a minute, but eventually he lets her scritch the itchy spots, eliciting a soft squawk. She actually loops the reins over a branch before walking along the orchard's edge, looking for, and finding a decently large rock moved from the fields.

With that, she unclips one side of each set of reins to lengthen them into leads, pinning them under the rock. If panicked, they can pull free. But she thinks it'll hold if they're merely distressed, giving them both warning that something's nearby and a chance to catch the birds and flee if necessary. This world has taught her all kinds of caution.

Returning to where Yul has laid the blanket, she pauses fora moment. Watching him fuss with the blanket in the moonlight. She bounces for a moment heart bursting with barely repressed amazement at this...all of this...even under the looming shadow of whatever danger the cult, and Koseki's mushroom zombies represent. She bounds over, thudding lightly into his back and wrapping her arms tight around him, head resting between his shoulder blades. "This is just...wildly, ridiculously in love. Thank you."

For a while, Yul had been watching Mumei as she worked, a smile on his face. To many Unicorn, Compassion was the most important tenet of Bushido, and care for animals was important. Taking a deep breath, he worked on straightening the blanket, smoothing it, making sure no rocks or twigs would bother them.

"Oof!" Yul laughed as Mumei collided with him from behind. One hand came up to squeeze one of hers. Mumei would be able to hear his heart, clear and steady, beat a little faster at her words.

"Mumei..." Yul said, his voice rough. "Yeah. You're right. What else could this be" Laughing, Yul turned in her grasp, his face flushed. Even in the moonlight, his eyes almost seemed bright as they met hers, his hand coming up to cup her cheek. "I love you, Mumei."

Her own hand comes up to cup his cheek as well, her thumb running along his lips with soft smile. "I know everything started off really intense, but...I can imagine sharing the years with you, even if I don't know where that'll be. It's like dancing to only the rhythm in your own heart and then having someone turn on the music and it happens to already match your dance." She turns her head into his caress, kissing his palm gently. "How could you not love that music and want to keep it in your ears forever?"

Yul laughed again, a purely happy sound. "I love the way you put things. Like, I feel something, and then you say it, and I'm like 'yeah, that's exactly right'." He shivered gently as Mumei kissed his palm, his lips beginning to trail up her wrist in response, desire rising to match his emotion.

He took a deep breath. "I don't know what that future looks like either. I just know that whatever I'm doing, wherever I am, I want you to be a part of it." His hand stroked through her hair, down her back.

Her breath quickens as his lips meet her pulse, and she bites gently at the heel of his hand...it's just... right there and she needs some kind of action to spend these feelings on. "hmmm, hold up, who's leading here?" she murmurs, taking hold of his hand and tugging him toward the blanket before kneeling in the middle of it. She hasn't let go of his hand, and pulls gently to urge him to join her there, cool fingers squeezing tightly.

"I want to show you something. But...straight up. It's easier laying down." She offers a sly smile, having a very good guess at what curiosity might have him thinking now.

A gentle tug was more than enough; being with Mumei, Yul was learning both to lead and be lead. He knelt beside her, then inched closer on his knees, bringing their bodies together, his arm sliding easily around her waist once more. The squeeze on his hand made Yul, his warm hand squeezing hers back.

Hearing that, Yul took a deep breath. Indeed, his eyes, already bright, seemed almost to dance as he imagined the possibilities; admittedly, there was a certain theme to them. "You've got me curious." Yul said, the corners of his lips curling up. "I've really gotta see what you have in mind." Shifting, he leaned back, brushing his fingers playfully over the curve of her hip as it retreated. He eased himself back, propping himself on his elbows. His gaze was still on her, eyes intense.

For a long moment she Just looks at him, then places a palm against his chest to brush down and over toward his hip as she leans in. "Hmm, maybe it'll wait just a second." Balanced there between kneeling and sprawling across him, creates a natural tension as her lips find his again. The kiss is leisurely, exploring as that tension resolves downward until she relaxes across his chest and shifts to rest her head on his shoulder, breath warm against his ear. "Can you see the stars here?"

Yul's desire was almost a tangible thing, his chest rising and falling under the touch of Mumei's hand, his breath hot as their lips met. But it was far from uncontrollable, and his gaze went skyward at her words.

The lights of the city were definitely still visible, coloring the sky. But as Yul's gaze went farther out, the light faded, turning instead into an infinity of stars, and the light of the nearly full moon. "Yeah. You can." Yul whispered, one arm coming up, settling around her shoulders as she sprawled pleasantly against him. He smiled gently. "It's amazing."

Her voice remains level, with some effort, as her hands keep moving. One finds his, and interlaces their fingers into a tight clasp as the other traces delicately along his hair, his shoulder and upper arm before reversing the path and retracing it. "There should be three bright stars in a line, perpendicular to the horizon. If you look right, from the topmost star, with just a shallow upward arc, you'll see a faint one about a thumb's width from a brighter red one."

This close, she barely has to move to press her lips against his ear. "I went and looked it up. That should be where Shinjo's Rest circles. Wanted to look at where I'm...we're going from where we are, you know? Really feel that space."

Looking up into the sky, Yul's eyes narrowed. "I think... I'm not sure... wait, yes. I see them. And there's the red one." Something about the significance of that tugged at his mind, but he couldn't quite make the connection. He shivered gently as her lips touched his ear, his hand stroking down to the small of her back.

Yul gasped. "Really?" He laughed softly. "Wow. I had no idea you could even see it from here. That's amazing. Thank you, Mumei." He said, tilting his head to kiss her cheek. And then her jaw, and then neck, lips trailing along her skin. "Mmm, there's so much I want to do with you there." He grinned, the motion of her lips tangible against her skin. "I mean, first thing, marry you there. But there's a lot after that, too."

Even as he kissed her, his eyes were focused on that distant star.

"Maybe...a bit more of this?" Her own lips find his throat, tasting salt. "On a nicer planet?" She sits up just a bit, hands going to the front collar of his jacket to lift-push the material up and off his shoulders. "I like this plan."

"But," she dips down for a kiss, fingers tight around his shoulders. "I think." and again, "I"m done talking." This time she stays, letting the kiss linger, weight pressing his shoulders against the ground he so sensibly cleared of large sticks and stones, though he can probably feel the small ones now.

A quiet 'kweh' off at the orchard's edge indicates the Otori are content with a bit of social preening time.

"Ooh." Yul tilted his head back, groaning softly as her lips explored his throat. "I was thinking a lot more of this, actually." His jacket fell away, leaving him in plain white tank-top. Her weight was enough to ease him backwards, his bare shoulders coming to rest on his jacket, and the blanket. Gently, he helped to ease Mumei into his lap; she might have had the lead, but that didn't mean he couldn't assist her.

One kiss turned into a second, the heat building, Yul's lips moving against Mumei's with greater passion. His hands began to roam, up and down her back, stroking gently, tracing the lines and curves of her form. And then, as another kiss built, they found the hem of her shirt, gripping, and easing it slowly upwards.

It's only the matter of shifting a knee across and she's comfortably resting her weight across him, sighing into the embrace with a sense of release. There's no resistance, as he tugs at her top, save that between them where fabric drags on fabric trapped between the pair of them. She only briefly stops kissing him, and lifts her arms to assist in the final bit of the process, then returns with renewed ardor.

It's rather delightful to do this without the taste and smell of blood hanging around everything, or the pain of wounds making for really awkward pauses. At the thought she lifts up just a bit and shifts to the side to bite at his neck as her weight shifts to one hip on the ground. "Back's just fine this time," she almost growls, tugging at the thin tank straps in a cue to follow as she rolls, taking only a moment to spot the stars above that she'd been describing.

Attuned to Mumei, Yul rolled easily with her, his lips following hers. In a moment, he was atop her instead, arms braced on either side of her torso. Slowly, his lips tugging gently at hers, he parted, pushing up on his hands.

Gently, Yul smiled down at her. A few hairs had come loose from his ponytail, trailing gracefully down his cheek. Stars lit the sky beyond him, but his eyes seemed brighter. "Mumei..." He murmured, his eyes drinking in her form, then meeting her gaze, one hand brushing across her cheek.

And then with a smooth motion, he pulled his own top up off of his body, tossing it aside. He lowered himself to her once more, arms sliding around her, savoring the feel of skin against skin, hearts beating together. Yul definitely growled as their lips met again, his passion growing wild.

For a glorious moment, she held her breath, as if that would freeze the memory of his eyes against the stars, pale skin in the moon-dappled dark. "Yul..." she breathes, reaching as he returns to her embrace. Every nerve alive to sensation, she abandons herself to the dance of touch and sigh.

/ftb