#{ ♡ ; thread // historical japan. }

[vere-flores]

When he explains that there was no one else around, Flora's eyes widen as she glances around the area. It was true that the area was vacant but Flora just figured the other person ran off instead of trying to save her - they seemed like they were in a rush. So it was strange to her that he said he hadn't seen anyone else around and the fact he said he'd been watching the fish for a while - she didn't recognize him before she fell in. Looking back up at him, she opens her mouth to speak.

"A-Are you sure no one else was here?" It all had happened so fast before she knew it, but surely she wasn't that disoriented to get the details wrong. But after he mentions where she was staying, she nods her head, "I-I was visiting for a nearby festival and decided to come to the temple. I wanted to see everything this town had to offer..."

Clutching at the jacket with her hand, she carefully pulls herself up with the other on trembling legs. Hopefully, she'd have enough strength to get back. Flashing him a weak smile, she decides to introduce herself, as well.

"T-Thank you for saving me, Mister Yoshitsugu. My name is Flora Alexandria."

daydreamiist​:

Strong arms wrap around her frail body and she is finally pulled out of the water. Her lungs burn as air reaches them again but the persons voice draws her back out of her shocked state. Harsh coughs wreck her whole body as her fists cling to his clothes. Slowly she starts to calm down with the realization that she is okay and the comfort from the person who saved her. Blue orbs crack open as she looks up at him, mouth opening to speak but her voice is rough from having been under the water.

“T-Thank you.. I-I was knocked into the water when someone ran by. I don’t know if they noticed.” Her wet clothes cling to her skin and the air around her sends a shiver down her spine. The water was cool so the air makes her skin feel like pinpricks. Finally her eyes properly adjust as she looks up at his face then she looks down at the uniform he is wearing.

“A-Are you a soldier? I’m so sorry for getting you wet.” She moves a little to try and not get anymore water on him but not enough to knock her over since she is still weak from nearly drowning.

Gently rubbing her back as she finishing spitting out the water in her mouth, he took off his mildly damp military jacket and draped it over her with a faint smile. He had no idea how to reassure her, and her clothes were strange to him. It resembled nothing Otani had ever seen before. 

“No need to apologize, but there is no one else here…” Otani murmured, looking at the empty temple. As far as he could remember, no one ran by the pond. “I’ve been watching the fish for a while now, I would hope I would have noticed.” 

Standing up, he held out his hand to offer her assistance. As confused as he felt, he imagined she likely had it worse. 

“Are you a foreigner, miss? Is there somewhere you’re staying?”

Given her situation, he couldn’t very well leave her on her own. He felt obligated to at least walk her back to her residence or buy her some tea to warm her up. Only then did it dawn on him that he failed to introduce himself. Not wanting to be rude, he decided to give her his name and official confirmation that yes, he was a soldier.

“My name is Otani Yoshitsugu, I am a soldier in the Imperial Army’s 1st Division.”

[kim-jongin-s]

svt fic recs (mostly nc-17; jeongcheol, minwon, seokgyu, wonchan + other)

JEONGCHEOL

"uncomplicated". college!au. oneshot, 3.5k. r.

He doesn't lean into it, to the gravity that pulls himself bodily to Seungcheol. He doesn't have the excuse of alcohol anymore, and he has to go back to how they were before the high of hormones and lust. Jeonghan just keeping an arm's length away. Close enough to reach, but still an infinity away.

"promise of the solstice". royalty!au: knight!sc, prince!jh. oneshot, 43k. pg-13.

New friends, joyous festivities, and blossoming love is the nature of the Winter Solstice. It would be better, Jeonghan thinks, without the attempt on Prince Minghao's life.

"amorem et circenses". historical!au, omegaverse: alpha gladiator!sc, omega prince!jh. 3 chapters, 68k. nc-17. ♡

Jeonghan, heir to the Roman Empire, is conquered too. By a gladiator, Seungcheol, whom he's not supposed to love, for the sake of Rome.

"lean on me". college!au. 8 chapters, 73k. nc-17.

“Choi Seungcheol.” The guy introduces himself, holding his hand out for Jeonghan to take it. It is a friendly and completely non-provoking gesture. Jeonghan doesn’t take it.

“Don’t I also get a name?” Seungcheol asks curiously as Jeonghan reaches for the door handle. Jeonghan pauses, throwing a mischievous grin in Seungcheol’s direction.

“No.”

MINWON

"everybody wants a taste (that's why)". oneshot, 2.5k. nc-17.

Wonwoo gets jealous and Mingyu tries to make it up to him.

"professor jeon and the room of requirement". hogwarts!au. oneshot, 3k. nc-17.

professor jeon and his favorite quidditch star in the room of requirement.

"nevergreen". au. oneshot, 10k. nc-17.

Wonwoo doesn’t expect to run into Kim Mingyu in the buffet line during the dinner break at the Fashion and Luxury Brand Financial Management Conference—but it happens.

"can i get "i told you so" in the chat?". au: streamer!ww, volleyball player!mg. 12 chapters, 98.5k. pg-13. ♡♡

“Repeat that one more time, but slower,” Chan suggests.

“An interview came out with Kim Mingyu, the ace hitter of the Olympic men’s volleyball team,” Seungkwan says slowly. “And he’s a fan of Wonwoo hyung. Like, a huge fan.”

↳ "closer, closer, even closer". au: streamer!ww, volleyball player!mg. oneshot, 6k. nc-17.

When you're dating Kim Mingyu, of all people, it's only natural to yearn for him a little. Especially when he's been in Japan for a week and Wonwoo only gets to see him on TV and there's a big Mingyu-sized hole in the apartment. Right?

So, anyway. Wonwoo yearns.

SEOKGYU

"tell me, we belong together". omegaverse: beta!dk, alpha!mg. oneshot, 11k. nc-17.

Omega and Alpha noses singe with the acrid scent of a possessive, pissed-off Kim Mingyu. In his arms, Seokmin rests, Beta senses none-the-wiser.

"뺏긴 my heart, that boys a killer". oneshot, 16k. pg-13.

Like the jagged edges of a knife. Like the unexpected sharp prick of pain from a small thorn hidden beneath beautiful flower petals. It draws you in, the vibrancy in its colors, the slightly musky scent, swaying freely in the open field. Only hidden beneath can be the sticky sap sticking you together or the thorns pushing you away.

Mingyu’s heart threads itself in thorns.

WONCHAN

"treat me like dinner". au. oneshot, 2k. nc-17.

A dopey satisfied look crosses Wonwoo’s face before sharpening into something more unreadable when his eyes travel down his body. Chan’s breath hitches as the other’s right hand lands on his thigh, his left one squeezing his waist.

“This is new,” Wonwoo hums, twisting the soft fabric of Chan’s circle skirt between his fingers. “I don’t remember seeing you wearing it before.”

"in a frame". au: photographer!ww. oneshot, 9.6k. pg-13.

With every photo Wonwoo takes, Chan finds himself staring into the eye of the lens.

It shouldn’t mean everything, but it does.

OTHER

"waiting in intermission". gyuhao. omegaverse: alpha!mg, omega!mh. oneshot, 2k. nc-17.

Mingyu remembers when he used to ask for it— wanting, aching for the indifference Minghao reeked of. Asked for it until he no longer had to, until Minghao just knew.

"my heart by your side forever". jigyu. omegaverse: alpha!wz, omega!mg. oneshot, 2.6k. pg-13.

mingyu presents. jihoon tries to process this fact in a normal way.

"[baby] i'm just trying to play it cool". wonwoo/dk/dino. college!au. oneshot, 11k. pg-13.

Seokmin makes it his mission to teach his roommate Wonwoo how to flirt.

The plan backfires spectacularly on him.

"find nothing good". seokcheol. fantasy!au: werewolf!sc, hunter!dk. oneshot, 16k. nc-17.

There isn’t an easy answer, no way for Seokmin to explain that yes, he’s attracted to Seungcheol. Yes, he knows Seungcheol is a wolf, a natural born monster that should be eradicated. Seokmin has spent his entire life like this, learning to kill, killing, hands stained black and red and candy blue.

"curse the moon". seoksoon. magic!au: hunter!dk. oneshot, 19k. r.

Darkness is starting to envelope his senses, and he doesn’t know if it’s due to the night getting deeper or to the pain. Stopping in his tracks, he manages to raise his head towards the sky; the branches over his head look like distorted faces, leering at him, reminding him that he’s doomed. There’s a silver smile there, a slice of moon shining a bit of reflected light down on Earth. The snow seems even whiter.

[needcurse]

➥        * 𝙼𝙸𝚈𝙰𝙶𝙰𝚆𝙰 𝙺𝙰𝙴𝙳𝙴   , 🧷 . . . the lady of autumn, she sings the trees red with her presence. a world descending into blood and abundance. what have you buried here in the ground ? what will grow ?

            ▍  note:   kaede's story is primarily set in a meiji era historical fantasy universe but she can easily be adapted into more high fantasy settings or modern verses. i love exploring her in different time periods and genres so if you want to thread please don't feel limited by her primary setting. she is a very adaptable character and i've been writing her for some time so i have ideas Trust!

➥ DOSSIER.

full name: miyagawa kaede aliases / titles: kōyō-onna, aki-hime, inari, lady autumn, the red lady, maiden of the ever-autumn, goddess of bounty, the fox goddess age: appears as mid to late twenties birthplace: kyoto, japan current residence: unknown ( on the run ) gender: female-aligned non-binary / she/they pronouns sexuality: bisexual ethnicity: japanese and korean species: kitsune / gumiho birthday: october 12th occupation: antique shop owner, swordsmith, general crafts woman zodiac: libra sun, gemini moon, aries rising

➥ APPEARANCE.

hair: changes with the seasons; a red-tinged black in the summer until reaching a full crimson in the autumn eyes: usually a honey-brown, can become pure gold in battle height: 5’4” / 162 cm body type: although not much to look at by way of stature kaede is heavily athletic and muscular, somewhat of a gymnast's build she has impressive arm strength do to being a smithy as well as highly skilled swordswoman. notable features: a lack of identity, her facial features constantly shift and change except for a few traits as follows… fox eyes, the worn nature of her hands due to being a craftswoman/blacksmith, the smoky impression of tails in her wake (only to those with heightened perception)

➥ ASSOCIATED MOTIFS.

the autumn season, persimmon trees, foxes, the harvest moon, crimson flames, kitsune no yomeiri, first frost of fall, golden coins, rice/grain, forest fires

➥ HISTORY.

  ♡ historical context, the meiji restoration period; the meiji era or sometimes referred to as the meiji revolution was founded in the wake of the edo period. it marked the end of feudal rule in japan and re-established the government under the  imperial rule of the emperor. some key markers of the meiji era were the rapid industrialization of the country as well as the beginnings of westernization starting to bleed into japanese culture. this draw towards modernization was founded on the principle of replacing the traditional confucian hierarchical order that had persisted previously with that of rapid progress. this time period also marks a critical time for immigration into and out of japan that before was not possible due to closed borders.

         housed in the former capital, kyoto. miyagawa kaede was born in secret to the current fox-god avatar noriko, and kang ga-eul a korean immigrant who attempted to keep his gumiho identity secret when he relocated to japan. both noriko and ga-eul were unable to raise their daughter themselves for fear of exposing their relationship to the public. noriko being from a wealthy family held in high esteem due to their bloodline being tied to the kami and ga-eul who was seen as ill-fit match for the miyagawas eldest daughter. 

         kaede is thus left in the care of a phoenix spirit, lady akari . like most yōkai and nature spirits she has taken on a more human form to further blend in with mortals. this is an attempt to avoid prejudice under the rise of anti-spirit sentiment which has become prevalent within kyoto. the embracing of modernization has directly impacted the livelihood of the yōkai and they begin to live in enclaves within the less savory parts of the city. 

lady akari raises kaede as her own and is tasked with keeping the kitsune child's ancestry a secret. under her care kaede is taught the craft of swordsmithing. an art which is regarded now as an endangered practice as firearms begin to become the dominant form of weaponry in the nation's military. while kaede shows a great talent with her forging not many are willing to buy blades from yōkai despite the superior artisanship. 

         the yokai enclaves are home to the city's red light district and there are certain pleasure houses that offer the company of yōkai lovers to humans both foreign and local alike. it is within one of these establishments that kaede finds employment as an entertainer. she herself does not tend to the customer's carnal delights but rather gives them a show for the imagination. her performance is a traditional geommu dance which is carried out with a twin set of swords. many are enchanted by what they deem a foreign display of a kisaeng, which is further heightened by the allure of her demonic heritage. 

         dancing and singing alike are only a front for what her actual responsibility in the pleasure house is; which is to protect the yōkai from more violent customers. one night she walks in on a man holding a yuki-onna's hand to an open flame and he loses his own hand to the swift cut of kaede's blade in the process. the woman she saved, wakana, soon becomes a close confidant of kaede's and with time the two enter into a romantic entanglement. 

         as their bond deepens, kaede's sealed power begins to awaken in small ways. her facial features, which were always in a state of flux, begin to induce vertigo in those that look too closely at her. she begins to don a kitsune mask to hide her shifting face from view. it is one night when the two women are laying together that wakana makes an attempt on kaede's life. in doing so, she reveals that she is a servant of one her long lost brothers, hideki. this is how the mystery of her lineage unravels entirely while hideki's faction of spirits begin to invade the pleasure house kaede's is forced to leave kyoto and live a life akin to a fugitive. 

         taking refuge in the rural mountain regions, kaede starts a pilgrimage to shrines across the land under the guise of a miko. she seeks wisdom as well as her missing tails which have been spread across, not only japan,  but the world in the form of nine sacred blades. eventually she starts to venture overseas peddling wares and rare artifacts of her own. this draws her further into the black market trade in which her store, aki no mori, becomes a front for seeking out what has been taken from the goddess. 

➥ ABILTIES.

embodiment of autumn: inari is an interesting deity as she has taken on many forms and aspects since her conception. it is said each kitsune who houses her highlights a different shade of her godly sovereignty. for kaede inari is a renewal goddess, a harvest goddess, a lady of abundance. for her mother, noriko, she was a god of commerce and ruled by precious metals.

ecological empathy: kaede is directly tied to the land. depending on how long she inhabits a wood her connection only gets stronger with that particular forest/environment. this means she can sense all the wild life and coax the natural environment how she sees fit.

zoolinguism: this goes hand in hand with her eco-empathy. she can communicate directly with animals considering many spirits take on the appearance of beasts and mythic creatures alike.

aki no mori ( the forest of ever-autumn): this is like… a stage 5 skill and is not a feat possible for her right after awakening her godly aspect BUT aki no mori is the inari's domain. it is a liminal space, a pocket dimension if you will that is a way station for spirits and yōkai under the inari's domain. this is where the fox goes to heal and recharge after battle. it is space between life and death and the border is not breached unless the kami allows it. also not so coincidentally the name of her shop as well as the two are deeply entwined and conencted.

famine: what the goddess gives the goddess can also take away. this ability is typically classified as a curse but she can make a land barren. this is not an ability she takes lightly and is usually only employed to punish spirits that have wronged her. many spirits are directly tied to a physical coil, be it a lake, or a mountain. kaede can poison the very essence of these places and in many ways this is more excruciating death than a mortal wound.

swordmandship: in her lifetime kaede will wield nine different blades which are representative of her nine-tails. she will endure a trial for each and some will even be forged by her own hand. the inari is the guardian of swordsmiths and that is why they are her weapon of choice. not every sword will be a katana some may even be tantou or daggers and she takes a fondness to a korean jikado sword at some point.

shapeshifting: becoming a full fox is a rarity. both gumiho and kitsune are very protective of their true forms. seeing their actual face is associated with stealing their power. they also will wear thousands of different human faces throughout their lifetime and seldom are seen in the same form twice by mortals. in kaede's case she is more grounded in humanity and does have a human face she is partial to… but it is unsure if it is her "true" face.

obfuscation: related to this lack of a "true" face it is difficult to look directly in the face of the goddess. kaede's features are constantly shifting and are always changing to the slightest degree that can cause a sense of vertigo if one stares for too long. she will wear a kitsune mask at times for ease when she doesn't want to focus her energy on keeping her face from shifting.

yeowoo guseul (the fox marble/bead): the fox marble… is a kiss of death in a way. the fox marble is said to house a gumiho's divine knowledge. they can gift this knowledge to mortals through a kiss, they exchange the marble back and forth and if it human swallows it they absorb some of the gumiho's essence. legends have said if a fox bead is housed in a mortal long enough the gumiho will become human. since kaede is no regular gumiho and comes from a kitsune lineage she will not become human even if she gives her marble away. instead her wellbeing will be directly tied to the marble's new host… and that host does not necessarily have to be human.

divine allure: the fox is a charmer. a seducer, and an excellent manipulator of emotion. extremely convincing liars it is almost impossible to know when the truth is being told or not when in her presence. kaede herself does not employ tactics of seduction often but whether or not flirting is her intention, foxes have a supernatural allure to them. they draw you in, they are captivating creatures because it is impossible to ignore their vulpine features even when they are playing at human. there is something off about them and this entices rather than repels.

➥ VERSES.

urban fantasy: original flavor kaede for those that have been here from the start! to the uninitiated this verse is essentially the same canon i have established above but in a more contemporary setting. kaede is somewhat of a big wig in the international art world as she makes moves to seek out her tails. very much a jet-setter in this verse and never in the same place for very long. her shop has a very howl's moving castle vibe of moving to whatever city she finds herself in.

cyberpunk / dystopian: not tied to any pre-established cyberpunk canon strictly but i'm borrowing a lot from the genre staples like blade runner, ghost in the shell, and altered carbon. kaede runs a cybernetics mechanic shop and is heavily involved in researching... a "new humanity". this study is born out of the mystery surrounding her own nuclear core heart which was her mother's final project before her untimely death. supposedly this heart is the key to restoring the earth back to its more hospitable climate but kaede is unsure how to harness it's power without essentially self-destructing herself and everyone around her.

shadowhunters: this verse is for havi no lie i will iron out the details soon for broader interactions but it is set in the infernal devices timeline. kaede's shop is run out of london's shadowmarket and she is seen as a demon at this point despite her divine lineage. she has lost her fox marble to her brother kirito who had a vendetta against the nephilim after losing his wife, a vampire, who was unjustly accused of killing a shadowhunter and executed for her crimes.

castlevania: TBA

dark academia: TBA