Work Text:
After a day as relaxing as it could possibly be before the post-war cooldown, the sun had fallen and it was time for dinner. Seating was a free for all, with the only dedicated groups being those who were training or otherwise spending time together beforehand. Soleil was one of those who had entered alone, but decided quickly where she was going to sit.
“Like what you see?” She set her tray of stew and bread down across from Caeldori, who had been eyeing her over the book she was holding.
“It’s nothing like that,” she said hurriedly, putting the book down and picking up a bowl of rice like she had been intending to do so this whole time.
“Then what were with those stares, huh?” Soleil smiled and leaned in. “You weren’t staring at your food nearly as hungrily.”
“I was only thinking, is all,” Caeldori said, sliding the now-closed book over to her. “You walked in and I realized you remind me of the romantic interest in this book.”
“Public Affairs of the Heart, huh?” Soleil took the offered book and skimmed the back. “So he’s a womanizing adventurer?”
“Yes, it’s about a woman who wants his sole attention, and what she does to secure it.” She was leaned forward a little as she spoke quickly to explain it. “In the end he realizes small gestures from many women can’t give him the joy that she can.”
“Nice thought,” she said, thumbing through the pages to find the beginning. “How’s he figure out which girl’s the one though, if he’s chasing a bunch?”
“It’s through her persistence that he realizes she’s the constant, rather than someone who will leave him after the night is over.” She looked Soleil up and down once more, while she was engrossed in skimming the first chapter. “I’ve already finished it, you can borrow it if you’d like.”
“Really?” Her tail thumped against the back of the chair as it wagged in the confined space. “You’re the best, I’ll get it back to you as soon as I’m done.” She put it down to dig into her stew without the risk of spilling on a page.
“Hey, Caeldori!” She jumped at the sound of her name in the middle of the night, and shot her gaze to the source, which was Soleil leaving the baths in nothing but a towel. “Hey, come with me to my tent, I need you.”
“Wh-” Her face reddened at the request, and she struggled to ask her question. “Whatever for?”
“I finished that book and need to return it.” Water still dripping from her hair and the fluff around her ears, she marched by like nothing was out of place, ducking into her shared tent with Velouria, who was absent.
“It could have waited until you were….” Caeldori looked away as Soleil turned her back to open her towel and put a shirt on. “Um, after this, perhaps.”
“I said I’d return it asap though, and I ran into you just now.” Now in her pajamas, it was at least easier for Caeldori to look at her. “Here.”
She took it and flipped the pages quickly, giving it a very brief look over for damage. “What did you think?”
“That Ryouta guy is great, but I have a better idea. What if he was a girl too?” She grinned, proud of her idea.
“And she made her way through men? Most books like that are a little more risqué….” She trailed off as she thought it over.
“No, hear me out. He’s a girl. And all the other girls are still girls.”
Caeldori paused again as she processed the new, even wilder concept. “Can you even do that?”
“No rules if it’s a book!” Soleil stretched upwards, shaking her whole body out afterwards. Caeldori pulled the book closer to her chest to protect it from the drops of water flung from her hair and ears.
“Amazing….” Her mind whirred at the possibilities, and she looked down at the book in her hands.
“Want me to show you how it works while you’re here?” Soleil flopped to sit on her bedroll and winked, patting the spot next to her. “Velouria should be out for a while longer.”
“Th- that’s not necessary.” Caeldori hugged the book closer for support at the blatant offer.
“You already experienced then?” Her eyebrow rose, smirk widening.
“That’s just not the type of topic I write about.” Not that she hadn’t read books of the sort, but never had she created it herself.
“Standing offer, then.” Soleil winked, but stretched again and threw herself backwards to lay flat.
Caeldori turned before Soleil could see her flushed cheeks. “I’ll leave you for now then.”
“Alright, sweet dreams, Caeldori.”
“Soleil, come look!” It was Caeldori’s turn to surprise Soleil with a shout as she put a training sword back on its rack. “Ah, sorry.” She apologized for making her jump, especially in the armory, but she returned it with a smile.
“That eager to see me?” she asked smoothly.
“I am, look!” She held forward some pages bound by a leather tie, ignoring the obvious flirt. “You inspired me to write something like what you suggested.”
“That was fast,” was all she could say, taking the packet and flipping through the first pages as she walked out to the common area.
“It’s from the womanizer’s point of view this time,” Caeldori explained, “as she learns if she spreads her bait too thin, she won’t have enough to keep the girl that matters around.”
“That’s quite the comparison,” Soleil said, not looking up. “Can I read this right now?”
“That was my intention in giving it to you!” she said, swelling with pride that Soleil asked to not just hold onto it later, but to read it in its entirety before she even offered. “I’d explain more, but I think it’s better if you read it at your own pace. It’s not very long, but….” She noticed Soleil had stopped listening some time ago.
Caeldori occupied herself with a book of her own that she happened to have on her, while Soleil read through what she had written, so quickly she might have been skimming. After Caeldori had finally gotten lost in the book in her own lap, Soleil slammed her hand on the back of Caeldori’s story. “I love it!”
“You do?” She was surprised less that she enjoyed it, and more at how it caused the sudden outburst.
“I’m so happy that Sakura found Genevieve finally! They’re so cute together, and the way she cares about when she gets insecure…ah!” Soleil smiled widely and handed it back. “You should definitely do more things like this.”
Caeldori smiled back. “You’ll have to stick around and inspire me more, then.”
Soleil announced herself at the entrance of Caeldori’s tent with, “Hey I’m coming in!” and did as she said, opening the flap and not waiting for a reply. Caeldori bolted upright from where she was laying down, thankful she was doing nothing more than reading before turning out the light to sleep.
“Soleil, you’re here…awfully late.” She couldn’t imagine what would bring her in at this hour; she never forgot if she had plans, ever.
“I wanted you to read this.” Soleil brandished a sheet of paper covered in both sides with messy writing. “I wrote my own story like yours, consider it your first fanwork.”
“I’m flattered, but this couldn’t wait?” Caeldori took it regardless, and tried to make out her terrible handwriting.
“Absolutely not, you need to read this immediately,” she persisted. “And tell me what you think.”
“Alright, well, from the start, your writing certainly is…” she fumbled to find words polite enough to say.
“Yeah it sucks, but it’s the story that matters, not how I write.” Her tail wagged slowly in anticipated excitement.
“The writing can impact how a story is felt by the reader, so if you’d like I can-” she was going to offer her assistance in conveying better emotion, but something caught her off guard. “Oh, I see you named the lead character after yourself.”
“Yeah, that’s important to the story too.”
“A bold choice.” A bad choice by all rights, but Caeldori didn’t mind reading about Soleil. She read through the hero’s – Soleil’s – encounters with many other women, several of them unnamed, before reaching a very suspicious love interest. “And she’s named…oh, my….”
“Where are you at?” Her tail picked up in pace.
“You put me in here as well?”
“Yep!” She’d dropped the pretense that the characters were simply inspired by them. “What do you think so far?”
“Well, I….” Her eyes flicked lower down the page as she realized this wasn’t just a short story, but a love letter.
“You’re amazing, and I haven’t felt like I do around you with any other girl,” Soleil said, and Caeldori recognized that she was simply reciting the lines she’d written for herself in the story. “I want to feel like this all the time, and I want to try to make you feel this great too, so will you go out with me?”
Taken aback at the sudden confession, Caeldori looked back down to the page in her hand. She was struck with an idea how to return her feelings, and read what Soleil had written for her next. “Oh, Soleil, that’s so wonderfully grand, and I feel that destiny itself wants...” she dropped the theatrical tone she adopted, “Soleil, I don’t think I can read the rest of this.”
“What’s wrong with my writing?” She sounded offended, but she was smiling, and her tail was wagging at a blurred pace.
“This isn’t how I speak,” she said, grinning. “You’ll just have to spend more time with me and learn it better.”
Soleil’s smiled widened to an impossible degree. “We kissed at the end of the story, you know.”
“Then tell me how it goes,” Caeldori said, setting the page aside and leaning towards her. Soleil took that as an invitation to spring forward and kiss her.
When Soleil pulled away after a very short while, she said, “Kinda like that. Any good?”
Caeldori reached up to touch her lips gingerly. “I wouldn’t know, I haven’t had any yet to compare it to. So we’ll have to do it more in the future so that I can be sure.”
The pair were walking down a road in town, looking for a place worthy of only their second date. Soleil pointed to a cheap restaurant a few storefronts away. “What about that place? It’s got great roast boar.”
“We went to a Nohrian smokehouse last time,” Caeldori said, trying to find a compromise. “Are there any Hoshidan places in a big city like this?”
“None that I’ve ever been to,” Soleil shrugged. “It’s so…the opposite of Nohrian food.”
“That is the point, yes,” she replied, smiling and wondering if it was possible to change her mind.
“What about….” Soleil’s eyes wandered between the sides of the street, but settled on a group of girls sitting at a café. Caeldori didn’t notice where her attention had gone until she felt her tail wag against her, and she immediately grabbed her hand and pressed into her side. “Huh? What’s up with you?”
“It’s nothing,” she said, obviously lying about her sudden insecurity.
“Aw come here.” Soleil turned her around to face her so that she could hug her. “Girls will always be cute, but you’ll always be my favorite. I could never stop thinking about you even if I was in a whole room of single girls.”
“I don’t not believe you, in any case,” Caeldori said as she wiggled her arm free from the hug to reach up and rubbed behind one of Soleil’s ears, earning a pleased hum. “But I guess it’s like that book. A little attention from a lot of girls is nothing like being with me, right?”
“Of course,” she purred, reaching for her other hand to hold it. “How about we go find one of those Hoshidan restaurants then, and you tell me just how authentic it is?”