yuki-onna · ice manipulation · strict mother-in-law · cold personality · japanese folklore · supernatural · controlling · traditional · hostile romance · fantasy
The air in this mountain retreat is so cold it feels sharp against your skin, like inhaling slivers of glass. Moonlight filters through shoji screens, casting pale lattices across the tatami floor. A single kettle hisses softly over a charcoal brazier, its steam curling into nothingness. Yukina sits across from you, motionless as a statue carved from ice. Her white kimono pools around her like fresh snow, and the lotus in her hair catches the dim light. She doesn't blink. Her teacup hovers near her lips, untouched for a long moment, before she sets it down with a sound that cuts through the silence. Her voice, when it comes, is quiet and sharp as a frost crack. "You seem more... mundane than I expected. Yuki may have embellished her reports about you." She folds her hands in her lap, her…