(expecting)

The Snow-Moon-Flower was a lovely place. The decor was exquisite. The staff were solicitous. The food was practically a work of art. From the second Yul and Mumei arrived, presenting their ticket, they were treated as honored guests, shown to their private room, their needs very properly seen to. It was all very nice.

But it just wasn't them.

And so, rather quickly, they gave their apologies, assuring the staff that nothing was wrong, even as they loaded the exquisite dishes into to-go boxes. And then, the couple made their escape...

...

"Here it is." Yul whispered, grinning back over his shoulder. Shifting, he moved his bag from one arm to the other, then pushed open the door marked Roof Access. "After you." He whispered, still, grinning. His dark eyes were as alight as they ever got, glinting at his future wife.

This seemed a lot more like them.

The door opened up onto a plain flight of stairs. It led up to another door, even more plain than this one, metal instead of fake wood.

Still in that one formal gown, with the cute, but not very practical, wooden sandals, Mumei slips past into the stairwell to clatter up the stairs to the old, metal door. "Hmm, and I don't even need a lift this time," she calls over her shoulder, eyes alight with the minor adventure and the company. Definitely the company.

The door wasn't even in particularly good repair and Mumei ended up taking a half step back and putting a shoulder into it before it reluctantly scraped open, to reveal their alternative romantic dinner venue.

The rooftop was dark, someone's drying laundry strung from the antenna to the small shelter that enclosed the landing they were exiting. Barely visible in the waning moonlight, the coils of barbed wire around the edges spoke of some minor security concern or a paranoid inn owner.

The lights of the city spread all around, with only the brightest stars above visible. The stink of the city was so commonplace, she found that she barely noticed it. She starts unrolling the thin blanket from her room, wishing she'd brought a broom to brush away the pebbles and dust a bit.

But first, she turns to face Yul, hands full of the bundle of blanket held between them as she lifts onto the balls of her feet to kiss him. She meant it to be quick, just a moment for something they've wanted all day before dealing with the practicalities of setting up space to eat.

But quick wasn't possible. Her hands twist in the blanket as she holds her balance there, as she finds herself hungrier for this touch than any meal, lips finding his again, and again with a quiet sound of relief deep in her throat.

It was fortunate that the bag of restaurant food had a long string on it. As their second kiss lengthened, deepened, the bag slipped from Yul's fingers, thudding softly to the ground. Yul didn't notice.

With a throaty growl, Yul kissed her back, lips pressing, parting, a shiver going through his lean form, visible even with the flowing golden robes he wore again, the same as when they'd danced. Another kiss, and his hands slid around her waist, up her back. The passion he'd been controlling all day threatened to come out all at once, threatened to overwhelm him. He parted for a moment, drawing a deep breath, taking in the scent of her, even as the cool air settled him... somewhat.

Turning, Yul eased her gently against the now shut door, kissing her again, teeth teasing her lip. "Mumei..." He murmured, his breath hot against her cheek. "The food's probably getting cold..." He grinned. "But I don't think I could have waited another second for that, either."

"If this were less...visible..." from any of a number of taller buildings, for example. Her lips find his again, blanket dropping between them as her arms wrap around him, "we'd be eating that food entirely cold." Her hands pull him close, small fingers kneading into his back, his shoulder.

Her knee lifts gently along the outside of his thigh as she leans against the door, head pressed against the rusted metal, warm eyes finding his. She's flushed, even in the sickly light from the old bulb on the nearcast antenna. "mmm, tell me you aren't going to meet me with the whole family next to you in six months. Not unless they want to see this."

Another soft growl, Yul's desire almost a tangible thing, as he felt her fingers on her back, her knee brushing his thigh. Another kiss, too, lips moving against hers. His hands were warm as he traced over her form, one sliding down to rub over her thigh, squeezing gently, supporting it against him.

Still, the reminder that they weren't in perfect privacy slowed Yul somewhat. He drew back, taking a more steadying breath than the last one, slowly letting go of her leg. "Mmm, don't worry. I've got that all planned out." His voice was still rough, face noticeably flushed. "I'll pick you up from the shuttleport. We'll have a room all booked. And I'll tell my family that I'm picking you up..." his lips curled up, "-the day after. So we get a day to ourselves."

He grinned, putting his arm back around her. "How does that sound?"

He eyes shine. "Oh..." she breathes. "Amazing. Absolutely amazing." She curls into him as his arm goes around her, feet back on the ground. "An entire day! Luxury." Pressed against his chest, listening to his heart. "Thank you for planning that. It's...thoughtful." She slows her breathing, relaxing against him as her stomach growls. She doesn't step back just yet, laughing against him.

"I mean, it's probably equally amazing cold, but I guess...we should eat the food before that?"

"Right?" Yul murmured, his lips brushing Mumei's ear. "There's a thought to make time apart go faster." He swallowed, his throat tightening just a little at that reminder of their time apart.

He pushed it aside. For now, they had a night ahead of them. "Yeah." He grinned, stepping back, giving her space. "And you know? I'm pretty hungry." He took one more deep breath, letting the night air cool him.

Slightly less flushed now, Yul reached down. Gripping the edge of the blanket, he laid it out with a flourish, a little ways away from the door. Carefully, he brushed it off as best he could with his hands; as reckless as Yul sometimes seemed to be, he was fairly meticulous with gear.

The dancer was good at settling in to live in the moment, letting her hands ease as Yul stepped back, drinking in the sight of him under moon and artificial light, letting her own desire simmer down. This was so much more than she'd expected when she stepped off that shuttle. For a few minutes, she just watches him fuss with the blanket with a fond smile, the way the goldenrod cloth draped from his shoulders, the sure movements of his hands.

Bringing the bag over, she kneels gracefully at a corner of the blanket, bringing the tied up sack to the middle and undoing the ties. It had been obvious that, while the staff were a bit scandalized at the sudden request, they definitely had practice in packing meals up. No doubt they had to wrap things up as a high powered guest got an emergency call, or even just sending a meal out to a regular who requested it. Everything was packed meticulously. The presentation was not the same as it would have been on a plate, but still beautiful. She uncapped the soup, laced through with thick strands of egg yolk half-cooked by the soup's heat, and a beautiful selection of pickled vegetables and fungal fods, some of them almost jewel-like in the dim light.

Her own hands are deft as they set out the little boxes and cups, finally handing Yul the set of chopsticks that seemed way too nice to be disposable. She'd probably keep them for a while. "Ok, yeah, this all looks absolutely amazing." She pours clear sake from the bottle tucked carefully into a padded holder into tiny cups. "I could get used to this...I won't, but I could"

"Wow." Yul murmured as he knelt down, accepting the chopsticks with a smile. Under the stars, on the blanket, felt significantly more intimate than the private cabinet had, somehow. "This really does look amazing. Mmm, the egg in that soup looks delicious. Lizard, I'm sure." He flashed a grin at her.

He tilted his head regarding Mumei. "Yeah... I guess you and I will be back to our vat food before too long. I'm glad you're already familiar with the Unicorn flavor packets, anyway." A flash of a grin, then his expression softened once more. "When we're on Shinjo's Grace, I'll show you all the best local dishes. Like those cakes I was talking about yesterday. Things that aren't too beef heavy."

Carefully, Yul picked up one of the sake cups. "I feel like we should make a toast." His lips curled up. "The thing is, there's so many things I want to toast right now. Us. The future. Our new life. Maybe even Maverick and Hiroki. Help me pick one?"

She lifts the tiny cup, "I want to toast all the friends who helped us and wished us well, and hope that we can live up to what they saw in us." That seemed appropriate for sake from a dinner gifted by one of those well wishers.

With a "Kampei!" pitched to the intention of not waking the neighborhood at this hour, she downs the tiny cup, before scooting to sit close beside Yul, legs curled to the side. "mmm, next toast is yours...after I have something solid." She leans in to kiss his cheek, smelling of the sharply alcoholic toast, her usual incense, and the soft florals of something used in the shower before dressing for fancy dinner.

She passes him one cup of the soup, taking the other for herself. "mmm...lizard eggs. One less drifter to terrorize the rivers and lakes." It's a bit of a toast, only with soup, before she begins to sip it from the fancy takeout cup. "hmm, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your home. And..send some of those spice packets if you get any letters out? The academy's food is still mostly vat stuff and a bare step above."

Yul smiled. "I really like that. We've both made a lot of friends here. And even if maybe we can't see them again, well, that means something." He shrugged. "And who knows? Maybe we will. Fate..." He took a sip on that note; it seemed a good one.

Yul's eyes went half-lidded as Mumei kissed his cheek, breathing in the scent of her, more intoxicating than the sake. For his part, the pleasant earthiness he always had was overlaid by a hint of something citrusy, the clean masculine scent of him underneath both. "Mumei..." He sighed pleasantly, shifting to let his shoulder rest against hers while they ate.

Snorting, he picked up his own soup. "Sure. You got a favorite, or you want the sample pack?" He bumped her playfully with his elbow. "But hey, when you send letters back, send pictures, okay? Show me everything. What your room's like, your classrooms, your training..." Yul glanced at her, even as he fished out a piece of egg from the soup with his chopsticks. "I'd really like that."

They wouldn't have been able to sprawl companionably close in the elegant little cabinet. It was beautiful. But she really didn't need tasteful wall decor and beautifully embroidered tableclothes for their last night here. Just him, and the stars they were headed to. She shifts a bit as she fishes bits of egg and something vegetal from the soup, keeping their connection while freeing her shoulder enough to eat comfortably. "Anything with cinnamon has my vote, but I'm not picky."

"Everything?" Her tone is mischievous, with a low purr to it. "I'm not sure I trust a memory piece not to be searched and read/watched if I'm sending it interclan." She pauses, a bit more serious. "I might only get to send one or two, it's expensive. But I'll record stuff every day to send in those batches. Maybe dance. Maybe just tell you how..how the day was." She sips her soup quietly, banishing the ache that separation would be. It wasn't right to pine over that temporary thing when she knew full well there were people leaving here who might never see the person they loved again.

Yul grinned. "Well, maybe not everything, then. I think those do get searched, and we probably shouldn't scandalize whoever has to scan those." He leaned closer, his eyes lighting up. "I guess that just means there's a few pictures we should take before we leave." He purred.

He sat back, opening another container. Inside were some sort of light, crispy pastries, visibly stuffed with mushrooms and a brown sauce. He slid it closer to Mumei. "But yeah, I'd really like that. To hear how all of your days were, even if it's your days for the last three months."

The little pastries fit easily into his mouth; Yul popped one in, his eyebrows going up in pleased surprise. "And dance..." He looked at her thoughtfully. "Someday, I'd really like to see you dance when you're..." He made a vague gesture, uncertain, "-doing what you do as an Osprey. It sounds incredible, to see, or to experience." Yul stirred his soup with his chopsticks. "How different is it from how we danced, the other night?"

Mumei grins, leaning her head back on his shoulder to look back at him. "mmm...We're getting no sleep at all tonight, are we?"

Looking down as he slides the little pastries toward her, she runs the edge of her hand along his thigh as she reaches for one of them. "Well, one way it's different is not ending in desperately wanting to kiss someone...and then desperately trying to not die. Ok that is two ways." She smile as him before popping the small bite into her mouth, eyes widening.

After a moment, when she can speak politely again, she raves..."oh...wow..what did they put in this? It's like...there's salt and almost seaweed but nicer than seaweed and something...peppery? And yeah, these would be just as good totally cold."

She nabs another one, but continues answering the previous question before eating it. "So there's different kinds of dance for worship. Solidly ritual things, freeform meditation, that kind of communion where I try to listen to the rhythm of the world and move with it. They all focus inward a lot though, not as much left to share with a partner."

Yul tilted his head a little closer. "Not a bit, Mumei." He whispered, grinning back at her.

A soft growl as her hand brushed his thigh; Yul let his left hand dance playfully down her back in reciprocity. "Those seem like pretty big differences." He said, chuckling softly as he opened the final dish: lizard meat on a bed of rice, exquisitely tender, and decorated with scallions. He dished some out for each of them. "So... does focused inward mean that it's just performed alone, or that I'd get bored watching?" The rhythm of the world... he'd almost felt that, once, dancing with her.

He picked up a piece of lizard meat, holding in his chopsticks as he smiled at her. "Although I don't think I'd get bored, actually. For the same reason I'd want a picture of your room, not just, well..." A playful smirk flickered briefly across his handsome features, then back to a gentle smile. "It's just a part of you that I'd really like to see someday, and experience, even if I can only experience it in a limited way." He popped the lizard meat into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

Sipping the last of her soup with a sigh that was as much a response to the feel of his hand at her back as for the delicious broth, Mumei considers how to explain. "It's not about alone. We danced together with an inward focus, for example. A lot of what we did might have been fun to watch, but that wasn't the point, the point was the energy between us."

She picks up the rice and lizard with a nod of thanks. "When you are performing, you find a way to...sort of toss the energy of the movements out where the audience can see it and respond. Creative energy moves mostly between the dancers when they focus in, and between dancers and audience when they focus out. Sorry, that's kind of a long explanation." This dish is savored as much as the previous one. The place definitely deserves its reputation.

Shifting to face him, she nods. "I know what you mean. I want to see your space too, and just...you relaxing or sharing how awful the yeast soup looks." Grinning, she holds up the next bite plucked from her plate, offering it to him. "I assume you'll be back with your...squadron?" She wasn't really clear on the military terms "So it'll be those spaces and that routine, yeah?"

Laughing sofly, Yul deftly plucked the lizard bit from the air with his lips. "I get it though. I could feel that, even if I couldn't totally understand it. Feeling that energy was more than enough, anyway." His left hand found her knee, briefly sliding upward. Even a simple touch like that seemed like it could generate a tangible energy between them.

"Okay, let me try this. It's gonna be a lot harder when we do this with yeast soup." With deft hands, he picked up a piece of lizard, offering it to her just as she'd offered it to him, grinning as he did so. "But yeah, back with my squadron, most likely. I'm not sure what our next orders were going to be. I got sent here, instead." He nudged her knee with his, warm and pleasant.

Yul brushed back strand of hair; worn lose, it fell around his shoulders. "But yeah. Maybe I can put together a little daily routine video for you. Waking up, hitting the shower... maybe just the outside for that." Yul grinned. "Maintenance. A patrol flight. Hanging out in the pilot lounge, such as it is. Maybe a few of my squadronmates." A sudden frown. "I wonder if Hyeon-ju will be going with us."

"Yeast soup is for survival, not sharing," Mumei says dryly, before accepting the far tastier morsel. With a hint of a smile, she catches the chopsticks with her teeth and pulls for just a second, playfully.

"I really look forward to seeing all that. I imagine some stuff is off limits...because it's still military, yeah? I know I can't record things directly around the training I'll be doing, but the grounds there are pretty nice, and the bunks are at least nicer than the inn here." She sets plate and chopsticks down, not quite finished, to pour the sake again, holding the small cup out such that it was almost impossible to take it without touching in passing.

"I'd expect Utaku-sama to return, same as we all are, while final negotiations are arranged. After that?" She picks up her own cup. "Your turn.

Yul made a face as he set down his own plate. "Yeah, I was just thinking about how I'd have to make sure my patrol video didn't show any consoles. I guess it'll pretty much just be a view of stars with a voiceover from me."

Reaching out, he took the offered cup with both hands, more than happy to let his fingers brush warmly against hers. "Alright." He nodded. "I've been thinking about that while we've been talking. And I'm really enjoying right now. But I'm also really looking forward to the future. We're both explorers, and I feel like the future with you is an amazing new frontier."

Smiling, his eyes on hers, he lifted his cup, arm held between them. "So, to the future. And to discovering it together."

"Seeing the stars you see would be...oh, um, you can't show those either, future husband." There's a grin, still enjoying that term of address. "I'm only half trained and could tell a lot about where you were, seeing them."

"hmm, yeah. There are so many things we haven't seen yet. So much I want to be able to share with you." There was a warmth at the thought that had nothing to do with the alcohol. Mumei lifts her cup to match his, looking into his eyes, finding the connection they'd felt since that very first chance encounter. "To our future." With a small raise of the cup, and a much quieter, "kampai!" she takes a long sip.

"And...to our immediate future." she says with a sly smile, leaning closer. "in which I predict circling back to previous discoveries, like how much I love kissing you."