In a way, it's silly. They're sharing a room at the Bed & Breakfast--given how far the Cerulean Cape was from Goldenrod, going out there for their date was definitely an overnight trip--and traveling Victory Road together had left little room for modesty. Akane hadn't needed to go into their room's bathroom to change for their auction date together.
Except in a way she did. Because this was important.
So after checking herself in the bathroom mirror one last time, Akane opens the door--and then she just goes soft.
"Oh Scorpia," she murmurs. "You look..." She trails off, because there's not really a good word for how good Scorpia looks in that dress.
Akane's in a white sundress herself, with a wide-brimmed hat that reminded her so much of the one she'd worn that time in the park back home... which had ended with everyone showing up and getting in the way, but that's how it always did back home.
Another good thing about this world. Nobody getting in the way of going on a picnic with the person she liked.
"I hope you don't mind that I didn't make the food in the basket," she says nervously, glancing at the wicker hamper resting on the chair by the door. "Rigfried and Soy insisted on providing it. Um, but I did find a good spot by a pond, up on the cliffs..."
Scorpia just stares for a moment, blushing bright red. "Oh wow! You're so pretty! I love your hat! And your dress is just perfect and you're beautiful and wow!"
The reason Scorpia stops babbling is mostly because she runs out of air to talk with. "And it's great! I mean, making food is fun! But the best part of spending time with you is you! I mean. Did that come out right? I hope that came out right. Oh gosh I'm so nervous what if I say something wrong and--"
Another breath. "Um! Yes! Sounds good! Great. Um!"
Scorpia gasps and then ever so gently reaches out to hold Akane's hand in hers. Her blush manages to deepen even more. "Oh wow. This is, um. This might be the best part of hands. My pincers don't really feel, but I can feel yours in mine! Warm and soft and a little sweaty--wait, that might be mine. Anyway! Let's go."
A date! A date with Akane. Scorpia really hopes nothing goes wrong. Or she doesn't screw it up. This is probably the most excited and the most nervous she's ever been!
assuming that they ran into each other during fourth wall at some point
"I'm glad you've got hands too," Akane admits. "You look cool in your normal body, but." And then she gives Scorpia's hand a little squeeze and tugs her towards the door to their room. "Do you, um, want to carry the basket? Or should I?"
Akane opens her mouth and closes it. Considers this. Honestly, she's been carried before and she's not entirely sure she'd describe it as fun? Mostly it's a bit annoying, because half the time she was pretty sure that she could walk and the other half of the time she was being kidnapped or something.
But it sounds like Scorpia really wants to, doesn't it?
"Um. Sure?"
Maybe it's different being carried when the person carrying you isn't running away from anything.
Scorpia beams and kneels down, holding out her hands laced together. "Here, step up! And then you can sit on my shoulder like a chair, and I can carry you like the princess you are!"
She pauses. "I mean, there's a lot of other things about being a princess, but I'm sure being carried is part of it! Swift Wind carries Adora around when she's She-Ra and when she's Adora!"
Okay, that's definitely not how Akane is used to being carried. Usually she's used to be princess carried or occasionally slung over a shoulder. This, this is different.
So she takes the basket from the chair and she lets Scorpia help her up onto her shoulders.
"I'm not really the princess," she points out. "You are."
Scorpia has to think about that for a minute. "Well, I guess Princesses might not be in other worlds, but you've got the heart and might of a Princess! So you are one to me."
i had to quick wiki the japanese imperial family for this.
"I mean, there's princesses in my world," Akane says. "Princess Michiko, who's married to Prince Akihito, the Emperor's son. And their daughter, Princess Sadako. And all kinds of other people in the imperial family. And Princess Di, of course."
Scorpia feels a little silly, even if she's certain that Akane is Princess material. "Some Princesses don't know they are for a while. Like Adora! ... Or maybe Princesses work differently in your world. You'd definitely be one in mine! No one as beautiful and smart, and strong and brave and kind could be anything but!"
Akane can feel her face turn red. She's still not used to people she wants to compliment her giving her compliments--even with dating Connie for three or four months in there.
"Why didn't Adora know she was a princess?" Akane asks, trying to distract them both from all those unexpected compliments.
"Because she was raised by the Horde like me, only she was found alone as a baby. So nobody knew until she found the sword and became She-Ra the first time. The Horde knew I was a Princess 'cause they came when my granddad was still alive. So the Fright Zone should have been my kingdom because granddad and my moms died when I was really little. I don't actually remember any of them, not really. But I've got a picture! ...I really wish I had it here to look at in the mornings. Um! Anyway, Hordak was in charge of things ever since, so I was just a soldier, you know? Princess only by technicality."
Scorpia slows down while she's talking, going a little sad in the middle. "But I re-established my family's and my connection with the Black Garnet, and now that the Horde doesn't really exist anymore, the Fright Zone will be my kingdom, like, really mine to rule and take care of."
She whispers very quietly after that. "And that's scarier than anything I ever faced in the Horde."
"Oh Scorpia," Akane says softly--and this, all of it, surprises her. She'd known Scorpia had been part of the Horde of course and that she was also, somehow, a princess... but everything else is new.
"I think you'd be good at it," she volunteers after thinking about it. "I mean, you're good at taking care of your pokemon. So I bet you'd take good care of your people." She frowns a little, biting her lower lip. "I don't suppose they'd let you abdicate if you really didn't think you could do it."
"Uh, I don't know how that would work, really? Like, being connected to one of the runestones is pretty much a family thing. Except maybe for She-Ra's sword. I guess if I had a daughter, once she was old enough, I could retire, but, like, I think the first part is a long time from now."
Scorpia thinks she'd like to be a mom someday, with a woman she loves, but yeah... she's got so much to learn before she'll be ready. She turns to smile up at Akane though.
"Thanks. Knowing you think I can do it helps a lot."
Akane frowns. "But don't you need a husband for that?" she asks. "I mean, I don't know. Maybe it could be a boy who's really a girl, but doesn't have magic to give her the right body. I still don't completely understand how that stuff works, but. I guess that's something that happens? It's part of the whole thing about being perverse in ways that don't hurt people, so it's okay, I think?
"Carly had to explain about that to me. That a lot of the stuff I grew up thinking was bad isn't, it just gets put in the same broad category as things that really are awful and you kind of have to look at what stuff is actually hurting people and what stuff isn't."
"Oh there's magic for that on Etheria! My moms used magic to have me, and my friend Bow has two dads who used magic to have him! And his twelve older siblings! There's magic for people who are born in bodies that don't match too. I mean, sometimes it takes a while, because magic was, like, really hard to find in the Fright Zone and some other places for a long time, but when we won, we brought all the magic back so magic is everywhere now!"
Scorpia frowns and reaches up to awkwardly give Akane a one-armed hug. "I'm so sorry people are so confused in your world. They're wrong to think that love, or being yourself is bad. It's not; it's really good. It's really brave for you to be yourself, knowing that they're so confused and don't understand in your home."
Akane looks away from Scorpia. "That's the thing," she says, in a guilty voice. "I was one of those people. And I was awful to Ranma because I didn't get things. I mean, Ranma was pretty rude back and it didn't help that our parents had arranged everything, but."
She sighs. "And I almost lost Connie's friendship because I didn't get things. That's why Carly had to explain everything to me."
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Re: The Date
Except in a way she did. Because this was important.
So after checking herself in the bathroom mirror one last time, Akane opens the door--and then she just goes soft.
"Oh Scorpia," she murmurs. "You look..." She trails off, because there's not really a good word for how good Scorpia looks in that dress.
Akane's in a white sundress herself, with a wide-brimmed hat that reminded her so much of the one she'd worn that time in the park back home... which had ended with everyone showing up and getting in the way, but that's how it always did back home.
Another good thing about this world. Nobody getting in the way of going on a picnic with the person she liked.
"I hope you don't mind that I didn't make the food in the basket," she says nervously, glancing at the wicker hamper resting on the chair by the door. "Rigfried and Soy insisted on providing it. Um, but I did find a good spot by a pond, up on the cliffs..."
no subject
The reason Scorpia stops babbling is mostly because she runs out of air to talk with. "And it's great! I mean, making food is fun! But the best part of spending time with you is you! I mean. Did that come out right? I hope that came out right. Oh gosh I'm so nervous what if I say something wrong and--"
Another breath. "Um! Yes! Sounds good! Great. Um!"
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And the only time it hadn't ever ended in disaster was with Connie.
After a moment, she holds out her hand, so that Scorpia can take it.
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A date! A date with Akane. Scorpia really hopes nothing goes wrong. Or she doesn't screw it up. This is probably the most excited and the most nervous she's ever been!
assuming that they ran into each other during fourth wall at some point
oh yeah, definitely
Re: oh yeah, definitely
But it sounds like Scorpia really wants to, doesn't it?
"Um. Sure?"
Maybe it's different being carried when the person carrying you isn't running away from anything.
no subject
She pauses. "I mean, there's a lot of other things about being a princess, but I'm sure being carried is part of it! Swift Wind carries Adora around when she's She-Ra and when she's Adora!"
no subject
So she takes the basket from the chair and she lets Scorpia help her up onto her shoulders.
"I'm not really the princess," she points out. "You are."
no subject
i had to quick wiki the japanese imperial family for this.
no subject
Scorpia feels a little silly, even if she's certain that Akane is Princess material. "Some Princesses don't know they are for a while. Like Adora! ... Or maybe Princesses work differently in your world. You'd definitely be one in mine! No one as beautiful and smart, and strong and brave and kind could be anything but!"
no subject
"Why didn't Adora know she was a princess?" Akane asks, trying to distract them both from all those unexpected compliments.
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Scorpia slows down while she's talking, going a little sad in the middle. "But I re-established my family's and my connection with the Black Garnet, and now that the Horde doesn't really exist anymore, the Fright Zone will be my kingdom, like, really mine to rule and take care of."
She whispers very quietly after that. "And that's scarier than anything I ever faced in the Horde."
no subject
"I think you'd be good at it," she volunteers after thinking about it. "I mean, you're good at taking care of your pokemon. So I bet you'd take good care of your people." She frowns a little, biting her lower lip. "I don't suppose they'd let you abdicate if you really didn't think you could do it."
no subject
Scorpia thinks she'd like to be a mom someday, with a woman she loves, but yeah... she's got so much to learn before she'll be ready. She turns to smile up at Akane though.
"Thanks. Knowing you think I can do it helps a lot."
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Akane frowns. "But don't you need a husband for that?" she asks. "I mean, I don't know. Maybe it could be a boy who's really a girl, but doesn't have magic to give her the right body. I still don't completely understand how that stuff works, but. I guess that's something that happens? It's part of the whole thing about being perverse in ways that don't hurt people, so it's okay, I think?
"Carly had to explain about that to me. That a lot of the stuff I grew up thinking was bad isn't, it just gets put in the same broad category as things that really are awful and you kind of have to look at what stuff is actually hurting people and what stuff isn't."
no subject
Scorpia frowns and reaches up to awkwardly give Akane a one-armed hug. "I'm so sorry people are so confused in your world. They're wrong to think that love, or being yourself is bad. It's not; it's really good. It's really brave for you to be yourself, knowing that they're so confused and don't understand in your home."
no subject
Akane looks away from Scorpia. "That's the thing," she says, in a guilty voice. "I was one of those people. And I was awful to Ranma because I didn't get things. I mean, Ranma was pretty rude back and it didn't help that our parents had arranged everything, but."
She sighs. "And I almost lost Connie's friendship because I didn't get things. That's why Carly had to explain everything to me."