#( kenny vc: be quiet gayboy. mommy's got work to do )

[saiakv]

❛  out of all the people here, why do i have to be stuck with you?  ❜ // stuck in their domain time !

dialogue sentence starters : accepting

ACCOMPANIED BY THE HUM OF A SINGING BOWL AND the climactic rattle of bronze cymbals, a thousand arms splay on the Bodhisattva's statue and barriers open like a bloom awakening at the dawn of a new world. From the bowels of Todai-ji temple, the timeless call of faithful bellows and with it, the gargantuan statue's eyes open and illuminate a trail of white light amidst the infinite darkness that surrounds them — this light and the barriers, the only beacons illustrating a digestible concept for what The Womb Realm may look like.

With legs folded in the lotus pose under Kannon's unyielding glare ( an alarming expression sits on her lacquered visage, far from what one may envision for a being immortalized for her compassion ) the onmyoji lets interlocked fingers slip free again, instead cracking a wry eye open to peer through their surroundings — with her light, a myriad red threads appear, each tying her headdress to one of many faces protruding from the barrier-walls. Some wear an agonized expression, some a serene smile; others none at all. And amidst this sea of stolen lives, one headless dragonfly still quivers with unmatched resolve.

The soul of Suguru Geto. Tethered to the wall alongside all these others, as the vessel that has become of his body falls dormant. And a cruel reflection of his own visage stares back at him now, through piercing eyes that have assumed a cooler shade of violet; Kenjaku's true visage has been lost somewhere along a thousand-year-journey, but, much akin to legends of angels or devils guarding the pockets of time between each reincarnation, they assume the features of the one visiting their realm. It's an uncanny immitation of the liminal space between death and rebirth, but one glimpse of the scenery would suffice to confess the true fate these souls endured; abducted, from their natural cycles and trapped here perpetually, in the Domain of a thousand year curse.

Their deliberate silence allows Suguru Geto to have that realization for himself; and Kenjaku will wait until it has begun to sink into his skin, before raising a flat palm, covered in ritual ink and incantations lost to the ages.

❝ Let's keep the conversation civil, shall we? ❞ Like a wall, he lets the animosity in his captive's tone hit and bounce back at him, echoing in the hollow darkness between them. He sits at the top of a stairway leading to the statue's bare feet with a serenity that reflects the impossible distance placed between them. ❝ I don't like wasting time, so I'm going to be straightforward. ❞

He may have wanted to cut in there, but between the joined resonance of their voices ( both velvety smooth, albeit Kenjaku's flat intonation soothing it to a dull edge ) the echo of the Domain holder's own, reigned.

❝ You are dead and in limbo. ❞ They explain, simply — a half-truth meant to throw dust in his eyes. That same palm raised between them aims to silence any premature protest. ❝ And, until your soul passes on, I suppose it is accurate to say — that you are stuck with me. However; it does not have to be unpleasant. I believe you have some unfinished business in the world of the living, correct? ❞

Suddenly, their frame becomes animated, a lean forth that reveals the horizontal stitch running from one greying temple to another — Geto's own face staring back at him with a blooming smirk. A palm folds under their chin, the other hand resting on a creased knee as they leer over the stairway.

❝ I could help you with that. ❞