SC.2023.33. Kannatsu
Before
"I can do this!" Mako psyched herself in the morning, today was going to be a big, important day! Then she walked to her neighbour's appartment.
Bimbo Princess
"Hey Piersa, how're things?"
"I shouldn't tell your ignorant Tsou Princess bimbo self, but I am going to be around a lot, I asked for some leave, and it's been granted." The insults had taken a friendly quality lately, although doll and bimbo both seemed to need to be returned.
"Oh, well I don't mind the current company, even if she is a Kagomine Doll."
"But you prefer my husband's, let's not add pretense to this ok?"
Mako gulped audibly. Her shimmering pink, white, gold and orange Wunglil, tailored to perfection to augment her features, even her rather modest breasts, were not just for Dentrag to notice and appreciate, but maybe Piersa couldn't know that. No, wait, that was a Tsou tradition, a code, so she surely didn't know. Perhaps explanations were in order, but... Well, she'd have to wait, Mako wasn't going to risk having to explain this twice... "Let's just say there's no pretense, but perhaps some of the message is getting lost in translation?"
"What do you mean?"
"Could I just explain when Dentrag gets here? It is not a fun explanation sometimes, so I'd rather not risking making it twice."
"Sure, but now you're scaring me. You've got goosebumps just from telling me this much, and that's not a good sign."
"Pray, do not worry, it is a kind of Tsou tradition, but the worse it's ever hurt was pride, my pride, in this case."
"I thought a Tsou princess was only second to a Moniqan one in terms of pride?"
"No, not the Tsou, perhaps the Goghur, although, we aren't as far behind as some of my people would like to think."
"So, spill, what's this tradition?"
"No, no, you have to wait... What about you, why'd you get leave?" At that moment, Dentrag arrived, his tall, spare frame, loping into the appartment, falling upon a couch after kissing his lapsed herevallin, and waving at Mako, apparently too tired to do more.
Neigbour
"Hey, handsome!"
"Hey, neighbour!"
"You two still want to hit the spots tonight? I'm too bushed to do the full fancy thing, but we could catch a movie and maybe a bite to eat..."
"Nuh, huh, you promised?"
"What did I promise?"
"To show me the Magnificent Emerald."
"Just as long as you two ladies realize I'm too tired to do much dancing, so you may have to dance with each other, which lately, you've been having a lot of tension with each other..."
Mako told herself she better explain before this got anywhere... But Piersa beat her to asking for an explanation...
"Mako here was being all mysterious, at first I thought the Wungli was to hit the spots, but she wouldn't explain until you got there..."
Gulp. "Err. That is..."
"Take it easy, we don't bite, without an invitation, I promise." Dentrag's big goofy smile reminded her of a human-sized great dane for no particular reason, but that gave her the impetus to go on...
"Have you two ever heard of the Tsou tradition of Kannatsu?"
"No, I can't say that I have, what about you Piersa?"
"You're asking me? You're the one that gets Tsou businesspeople every other week."
"And I know you've been hitting the books for that cultural exam as part of your next promotion board... You gotta know the only nation we have an unterminated war with, I imagine?"
"Not that well, apparently, can't say I remember anything that ended with Tsu, 'dawn' in old Tsou, now that I know what to look for, I'd definitely have noticed."
"Well, you've been paying attention when I explained, for sure. Kannatsu, raiment of dawn, in old tsou, is a tradition when one wants to catch the attention of one or more people, you wear a wungli, in the colours of the dawn. You include some of each colour to your preference: Gold if they are married or engaged, pink if they are a man, orange if they are a woman, yellow if it's not meant to go anywhere, white if you'd rather they stuck around."
"Well, you trying to catch Dentrag's attention is hardly news, you've been trying to do that since you got here..."
Heart pounding...
"Err." Mako filled a silence, but said nothing. Long enough for Dentrag to put two braincells together.
"Honour me sideways and call me honourable! Listen to what she's saying... Not, one person, one or more..."
"That's just the wording of the tradition..."
"No, no it's not." That was Mako, whose blush was brighter pink than her wungli, and was probably as dark as the orange therein..
"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?" That was Piersa, whose strawberry blonde hair was less red than her face right now.
"Err, well, you've lapsed last week, if I thought I could split you two up, it'd have been then..."
"So?"
"Hmm, I admit I've had more men in my life lately... But I've had my share of relationships with women..."
"But a triangrelation?"
"I won't act scandalized if you don't... He's that cute." She hooded her eyes to Dentrag.
"That is just not fair, you two making this kind of play when I can barely raise my body and look either of you in the eye..."
"Well, I couldn't know that, when I put on this wungli, and sorry, but she asked... I just... I wasn't going to put it on just for her either, it's the both of you or neither, since I can't have just Denny."
"Denny?" Piersa sounded betrayed.
"Come on, you call me that too... And I can't police what everyone calls me, although I do prefer Sun'ga and 'neighbour' from her, so far. So let me get this straight, with me and her on a lapsed Herevallin, you show up to come dancing with us with... the colours of a potential long term threesome?"
"Hmm, yes?" Mako withered inside, what if they said no? But that's where you are, another side of herself argued, you've been beating this bush up ever since you met 'neighbour'.
"So what happens if she decides I'm worth herevallin again?"
"Hmm, you two take me with you? I'm good on trips." She grinned, relieved, at the lack of obvious rejection, at least.
"Where would we go?"
"I got ins on old Tsou City, my aunt has a villa we can borrow, and ahem, Dawn Prince Donovan Tsu'reik keeps trying to get me to come back, maybe I can actually placate him by being too busy to see him, while being in town."
Eligible Bachelor
"Let me get this straight, Donovan Tsu'reik, the crown prince of Tsou, the most eligible bachelor in Tsou, has been making eyes at you, and you prefer Dentrag here?"
"He's a childhood friend, and his father and uncle killed my parents, he's not my favourite person, although he did gain points by arguing I shouldn't be executed as an example to others..."
Piersa tried to speak, but couldn't manage, and just crashed on the same couch Dentrag was occupying.
"What's holding up our marriage, anyways, Piersa?"
"If you have to ask that, we're not ready to get married again, Denny." She lobbed back, some hurt in her eyes, but, as she examined her motives, some of it was her fault, she'd not told him anything about her doubts... And this situation didn't help!
"Come on, I know I'm dumb as a bunch of rocks, can't you go easy on me?"
"No, you're not." Mako dared to sit on his other side.
"Well, you two ladies just keep finding ways to surprise me."
"'A wife to keep you on your toes is a blessing, two is too much to hope for.' Is a common proverb in tsou. Count your blessings, Denny, they may add up to more than you think..."
"You two are serious?" Dentrag had been thinking this was some joke, and if he participated, he'd be in the doghouse for the next six or seven years...
"Like I said, I've lived with women twice before, two arnds, the first time, and three the other. I lost both of them to cute Tsou guys..."
"So this is better?"
"I wouldn't have minded sharing them with the guys! I minded being kept out of the loop! You two... Well, I'd like to think it's my idea, so I'm in the loop, at least?"
"Hmm, can we think about it, and get back to you? I'm... thinking this is not something I want Denny all drained and too tired to think for?"
"Hmm, well that would mean that you are thinking about it..."
"Hmm, I am."
"Piersa, you didn't give me any impression you were into women?"
"I had the educational experience in the academy... Just bland, I almost never speak about it, it was.. meh? But, I wouldn't tar everyone with the same brush either? I'm willing to try this, if you promise me you're not trying to fool me into a relationship with her, while pretending into a relationship with me..."
"Just which of you two did I ask to marry me again?"
"Hmm, me?"
"And which of you am I getting into a less permanent relationship than marriage with, at least at first?"
"Hmm her?"
"Hmm, so what, am I the Tsou Doll now?"
The next day
"How do you prevent this code from causing... misunderstandings?"
"We lucked out, it should have caused misunderstandings, at least with other Asiranians who had wunglis. But you Kagomine love black and green, and those colours are used to refuse participation in the code. Makes everything simpler."
"I guess you did. Did you enjoy last night?"
The other didn't answer, but her luminescent blush was something to see.
Writing System
A wungli's sleeves, shoulder pads, button chamfer, button stride,
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