Relationships of the Platonic Vareity

With her brother off taking care of his girlfriend, Maya had often woken up to an empty apartment. She had mostly gotten used to the fact that they weren't in their world anymore. As much as she says she didn't miss the place, she really did, but going back there most certainly meant death. Iaemor and her left for a reason instead of fighting the embodiment of rage. They were two halves, yet even if both of them worked together to take back their thrones, they wouldn't be as strong as a single entity, let alone an army under the command of the king of Wrath. She didn't even know how to fight properly. By nature she was a seducer, not a fighter. She didn't have the strength her brother did.

She walked to the window to see that the sun was barely rising in the sky. There wouldn't be too many people about. Dressing herself in proper winter clothing, Maya headed out for a peaceful walk. She had found a coffee place at the edge of the Strip which stayed open for 24 hours a day, and that was where she would usually turn back and head home after she ordered her usual coffee.

It was her new routine: wake up early, go for a walk, wave to the elderly man who always sat in front of his house, order coffee, walk home with the coffee, finish it by the time she got to the old man's house and rest in her bed before seeking out treats. Half-way through that routine however, as she was heading home with a fresh cup of hot coffee, she heard the unmistakable sound of someone running at her. Her instinct was to turn and see who it was, but before she could get a profile, she was tackled to the ground. She was in the middle of taking a sip, so when the impact occurred, her knuckle was jerked up to her eye and the coffee washed over her face.

As the tumble ended and the person who crashed into her let go, Maya got to a hunched kneeling position, one hand over her face and the other keeping her stable. The stench of iron and coffee filled her nose, but luckily the blood on her hands was just from the cut eyebrow resulting from her punching herself. It was an easy fix for someone who could freely shape-shift, but she still had to wipe the blood off from her hands on the snow.

"I'll be fine... give me a moment..." she responded to the woman. Once her head stopped spinning, Maya stood up to take a look at the person who crashed into her. While there was some smeared blood mixed in with coffee stains on her face, she looked completely unharmed, not even a single bruise where she punched herself. In moments like this, she would usually carry on acting hurt to earn sympathy, but it was too early to act like that. Instead she smiled at the woman. "There has to be easier ways to knock a girl off her feet, you know." It was early morning. She didn't want to give anyone a rough start on the day.

A grin appeared on Maya's face as the woman rolled with her attempts at humor. "A morning run? That felt like a centaur charging into battle." She had to give her credit though, throughout her thousands of years in existence, she had many crashes with runners, but she never got knocked down that badly, at least not by someone with only two legs.

The other woman pulled out a handkerchief from a tiny portal and offered to help clean her off. Maya waved her hand then held it out to take the handkerchief herself. "Thanks for the offer, though I can clean myself if that's all right with you. I'll gladly take up your kindness with the coffee."

If the woman gave the handkerchief to her, Maya would wipe herself off and return it to her. If not, then she would simply stand still and allow the woman to do it for her.

Maya took the handkerchief and proceeded to wipe herself dry, although the stains on her jacket would need to be washed off. It was no big deal, and she had another one she could use in her wardrobe while this one was drying off. Once she was done, Maya folded up the handkerchief, now stained with blood and coffee, before giving it back to the woman who introduced herself as Kaya Foxuma.

"Kaya?" she chuckled. "What a coincidence. My name is Maya. No surname however." She offered a handshake, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you." She started walking back from where she came from and gestured for Kaya to follow.

"The coffee shop is this way. So... tell me a little about your tailoring business. It has an interesting name."

"No, it's quite alright," she reassured the seamstress. "I rarely meet new people this way, so it's rather pleasant." Most of the time, she was called out to come over, or pulled aside. It made her job easier, sure, but without little accidents like these, life would have gotten boring quite quickly.

Kaya told her about her store, how it considered a women's clothing store and how it got its name. But what intrigued her most was the fact that Kaya's clothes just changed right in front of her. Semi-jokingly, Maya said, "You should teach me how to do that. It makes changing outfits much less of a hassle."

Maya entered the coffee shop and greeted the barista behind the counter. She expressed concern when she saw the stains of the coffee she served a little while ago, but Maya simply told her everything was fine and ordered her usual. She waved Kaya over to an empty table for two while they waited.

"Would you mind if I visited your shop sometime? I'd like to see your selection."

Living shadows? Now that peaked her interest. Being a demon herself, Maya wondered if she had the ability to control such things. She had never thought about doing anything like it before. That was only a slight lie. She had created 'clothes' with the use of her ability to shape-shift, in fact if she were to decide to do so, she could have walked around with a suit made of her own flesh, stylized to look like clothing, but it wasn't very effective in keeping the cold out compared to real clothing.

The succubus queen watched in wonder as Kaya showed her a sample of the thread she used. So... those were demonic energies? Listening to Kaya fascinated her even more. The line of clothing she made were making the wearers comfortable but leaches off of their essence in return. It sounded like a fair, symbiotic relationship but Maya was already thinking how she would use that kind of fabric to benefit herself if she was capable. "I could still try. Who knows, I might still have some untapped potential left in me."

Settled into her seat, Maya blew onto her coffee to cool it down a little before taking her first few sips. It was a good feeling, the warmth of the coffee traveling down to her stomach. Kaya asked what she did for a living after apologizing for going on with her job. Maya didn't it at all. She liked hearing what other people do.

"Well, I suppose I'm just living off of my brother and his lackeys now. Other than that, I could say I was a prostitute, but the money is just optional." She laughed a little, lacking any concern for her own situation.