verdant eyes glimmer with the shine of wisdom and playfulness (two qualities that go together, she always agues), before they look up from the chess board before her to take in the tranquil smile on her opponent's face; and she returns a bright smile of her own, small arms crossed over her chest. "i must say, i am pleasantly impressed. you're very good at this game." nahida nods, white and mint locks dangling by the side of her cheek. but -- a pleased lilt to her lips transforms her smile ever so slightly, before she moves another piece on the board. "you're in trouble now. but it's not quite over yet... if you can figure out the right path through that danse forest of uncertainty, that is." (i rewatched jing yuan's trailer and i just had to)
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"Lord Kusalani's praise humbles this adeptus," Jing Yuan's rumbling voice carries with it a fond, teasing trill, but there is something genuine and satisfied by the compliment all the same. "It is not too different from xiangqi, a popular strategy game from the Luofu."
"Mm... quite a predicament you've left me in, indeed." The former commander's tail swishes in thought, tail tip flicking back and forth nearly in time with his gaze as it roams across the board. "Well, then, how about this?"
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Being the princess betrothed to barbarian!Bakugo.
You don't mind so much as you've always known this was to be your destiny, born merely to smooth over tensions between the kingdom and the country.
But your first meeting is hardly from ideal. The man shoves himself into your dressing room in trying to avoid the grooming his own mother is trying to give him, desperate to get away from the egregious, stifling rules the castle enforces regarding presentation, mainly putting on a shirt.
(He was born of his own parent's desire, but volunteered himself to save the country from annihilation via. industrialization, NOT realizing it would involve marriage. He's much less thrilled than anyone.)
And there you are, being (forcibly) sewed up into a corset that you're absolutely spilling over, your face matted from a layer of unnatural-colored powder, your lips stained the color of fruit that doesn't blossom for months as you turn to look at him in surprise (and then fear, and then confusion and question, your maids squealing before running off to get a guard)...
And Bakugo is suddenly made aware of this itching desire to save you, too.
-
(You're standing there, both breathless and bare; him voluntarily, you because of timing. And it's so oddly intimate for separate reasons; Bakugo's never associated nudity with sexuality and you've never been naked in front of a man before.
And despite the betrothal, neither of you know what to say, stuck in the midst of an "is this it?" moment, at least until Bakugo is grabbing your hand to whisk you away and marry you where he was born rather than in between castle walls.)
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