#Yasu Threads

[acupunkature]

𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬

[moontrope]

moontrope ... a low / sporadic activity animanga multimuse. mutuals only. penned by … chai. rules + tentative roster under the cut. pinterest. memes. blogroll … a11sunday , ambitiouslyher.

affiliations … candidaluna, eleutheriya.

rules + general information.

no explicit sexual material, infidelity threads, or holiday-centric threads will be written here.

suggestive content will ultimately fade to black.

force shipping ≠ asking if i ship our muses / wanting to discuss the potential for a ship. feel free to be forthright with your intentions since i generally prefer to have some discussion and chemistry testing before jumping into romantic shipping. as for all other types of dynamics, i'm always down and encourage it!

trigger warnings will be tagged " trigger // ". please tag your usfw, jumpscares, and any media or material involving infidelity.

plots preferred , but will use memes as ice breakers and will continue them whenever possible. i try to send memes to new mutuals to get interactions going, but please don't feel pressured to respond right away.

i get duplicate anxiety from time to time, and while that doesn't mean that i won't interact with duplicates at all, that means i might limit how many of the same muse i follow that are duplicates of someone i write. it's no remark on you or your muse, it's for my own comfort. of course, that doesn't mean my mutuals are prohibited from interacting with duplicates of any muses i have!

* as noted in some of my ocs’ lore / blurbs, i’ve written them with connections to canon characters. so, i will be referencing them as people they know in interactions unless you write said characters themselves. if you write any of these characters themselves and you are uncomfortable with pre establishing connections, then we can plot around it / discuss it further. i’ll approach you about it before i write anything that would assume they know one another.

roster. --- tentative list, subject to change. click on links for portrayal notes and muse info.

bleach (anime + manga): abarai renji, hayato tendou (oc), hirako shinji, ichimaru gin, inoue orihime, ise nanao, nelliel tu odelschwanck, ootori seto (oc), shiba kaien, ulquiorra cifer (test), unohana retsu, urahara kisuke (test).

nana ( anime + manga ): osaki nana, takagi yasu.

spy x family ( anime ): anya forger.

secret menu muses: son hak (yona of the dawn), tomoe (kamisama kiss), kozume kenma (haikyuu).

[knoxs2nd]

some thoughts on rules vs. choices

george and shannon's interactions have "rules" laid down, like george telling shannon they have to call each other george-san and sayo when they're alone, or george ordering her when he proposes. george thinks this rule-setting is cute and unique to them - but for shannon, it's another way she must navigate the world. disregarding the outsider pov on whether this constitutes a healthy relationship, from a yasu pov, it's not outright a "bad" thing.

yasu has had to navigate hierarchy and rules her entire life. she's had her own choices taken away from her forever, from her place in life (being taken to rokkenjima and made to be a servant), her friends, her fate after she learns about the truth. everyone's always made her choices for her. it's why it's such a huge revelation with battler when he asks her to make a choice: whether she wants to leave the island and be with him, and seems to want to respect her decision then.

george asks her to call him george-san, but that was him asking her to make a choice! but...the thing is, yasu is not used to making choices. she's uncomfortable. so then he orders her, instead, and, per the acting direction decisions in the ep2 stageplay, shannon seems really happy to be given a "rule".

yasu understands rules. she loves mystery novels and views the world through the lens of life-being-a-mystery-novel. mystery novels have rules, commandments, etc. that you have to follow, or else it's not "real" or "legitimate." there's no point in engaging in a mystery novel (or life) if there's not a common foundation, ruleset, and understanding that both writer and reader agree on. that's the basis of communication and building a relationship.

in her own witch worldbuilding, yasu lays down so many specific rules of how the magic system works. she navigated life in a way that had to adhere to real life rules, but also found enjoyment in working around them (by perpetrating the legend of the witch). a true witch/culprit!

as much as yasu craves freedom, a life without rules and complete freedom isn't worthwhile. all-powerful witches die of boredom and loneliness. they can only stave off the boredom with games, where they agree to follow a set of rules so they could interact with other people. you need rules (a common foundation) to interact with other people. so, george laying down rules for shannon, is, in one way, a very easy ask of yasu. if she follows all these rules, she can continue maintaining a relationship and interacting with george. it's comfortable.

going back to battler asking shannon to make a choice on whether she wants to leave the island.....in yasu's warped, instinctual pov of this whole scenario, she had made the choice that she wants to leave, but in the end, the choice didn't matter. the relationship disintegrated. that promise was supposed to be another rule that they had both agreed on. shannon would make up her mind, and battler would come take her away. but battler forgot. there was no common understanding between the two of them after all.....

however, this is not saying that "rules" are purely a good thing. as always in this series, it's complicated. they're necessary in interacting with other people and building mutually agreeable relationships, but also, they can get so restrictive that you lose yourself and give up.

this mutual set of rules that george and shannon had agreed on extended to their future. they both want to marry, to have their own family, etc. however, due to obvious reasons, this greatly distressed yasu! she can't follow these rules of being part of a cishet "ideal" family.

(of course, the entire idea of what socially acceptable happiness is and how much complex, complicated human beings trying to navigate fitting into these boxes and how it makes everyone suffer is its whole other thread.)

in the fantasy layer, the "rules" of life are given through the red text and, later, knox's commandments. what happens when characters are bombarded with so many they can't work with or think their way out of? they give up. just keel over, stop thinking, accept whatever, die. in ep2, battler gives up and becomes beatrice's "furniture." he accepts whatever happens to him then, no matter how humiliating it is. it's like he's no longer human. in ep5, the metaphor is even more pronounced. battler stops engaging and "dies". in ep6, the idea that when you yourself feel like you've outright violated the "rules", this becomes a logic error. the absolute worst, nightmareish thing that could happen to you! you're trapped within your own mind and can no longer interact with the outside world.

when there's too many rules, it's suffocating. you lose yourself as a person. but you need rules, because when it works out just right, when you can start engaging with the other person, throwing out your own blue text, communicating with them on a level that both of you understand. mutually trusting each other...

that's love, baby! and love's a choice!

[ruiination]

Original Characters!

These are all wip. I plan on making more uniform profiles with pictures later. Be warned that some of these characters do have triggering backstories. The ones listed so far, Zerah and Hlynur are upsetting. Especially Zerah.

FEATURED: Roi Coello (about. Based in Final Fantasy XIV originally est at brightbledded in nov 2019)

Primary, regular activity! Open to all!

Violette Roux (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Hlynur Thisbe (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Finn Atoel (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

E'vett Tia (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Hana Ueda (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Jayden Earle (About. Multi-fandom. Originally based in Saints Row 2.)

Secondary! Lower-activity. Open to all!

Z'jeht Tia (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Zerah Aria (About. Based in Final Fantasy XIV)

Sasaki Yasu (About. Based in Danganronpa)

Tertiary! Low activity. Open to all!

Kawaguchi Osamu (About. Based in Danganronpa)

Sasaki Rio (About. Based in Danganronpa)

Request/Private! (Only for certain partners or plotted threads)

Kiiro (About. Based in Danganronpa)

Nageku Kyo (About. Based in Danganronpa)

Takematsu Hitomi (About. Based in Persona 5.)

[knightrope]

knightrope : a low activity and private iconless mixed media multimuse, narrated by chai, she/her, 25+. operating on sporadic activity / semi-hiatus. character roster + rules are under the cut. memes.

rules.

all headcanons / original characters stories are mine. however, the media in which they may be inspired from are not.

i will not write or participate in writing explicitly sexual material, holiday specific threads or ships based on infidelity.

if you feature infidelity heavily on your blog (regardless of it being tagged), i most likely will not be following back.

suggestive content may appear but will ultimately fade to black.

force shipping ≠ asking if i ship our muses / wanting to discuss the potential for a ship. i generally prefer to have some discussion romantic shipping before jumping into things to check for chemistry! and, i’m always always down for all other kinds of ships!

i have a preference for plotted threads. but, i do believe in memes as ice breakers + will continue them as threads whenever possible.

notes for plotting: when i say plotting, i don't mean plotting out every interaction between our characters or building a world from top to bottom in one go, this usually means i'd like to discuss how we might proceed with a dynamic / get a general feel of ideas we may have for threads, and build from there on. so, no pressure to have it all figured out!

plotting is also a two way street, please don't leave it all up to me to come up with ideas. this makes me feel uncomfortable and i may softblock if this persists.

trigger warnings will be tagged as 'trigger //'. i ask that you please tag your usfw, jumpscares, and anything involving infidelity.

roster.

original characters ;

ferris caine. "the cleaner". fandomless. zane holtz. affiliated with whitelace.

friday lukas. stormchaser. xmen. rory culkin.

hayato tendou. bleach / modern verse available.

otorobashi akai. pirate captain. fandomless / modern verses available.

takagi seto. bleach / modern verse available. kawaguchi haruna.

ricardo de la fe. private investigator. hancock-inspired. oscar isaac.

canon.

animanga ;

abarai renji. bleach. anime + manga.

hirako shinji. bleach. anime + manga.

ichimaru gin. bleach. anime + manga.

inoue orihime. bleach. anime + manga.

ise nanao. bleach. anime + manga.

shiba kaien. bleach. anime + manga.

unohana yachiru / retsu. bleach. anime + manga.

osaki nana. nana. anime + manga.

takagi yasu. nana. anime + manga.

anya forger. spy x family. anime.

literature;

ellington feint. atwq series. natasha liu bordizzo (older).

kit snicket. atwq / asoue series. amita suman.

movies ;

morticia addams. the addams family / family values. angelica huston.

tv shows ;

connell waldron. normal people. paul mescal.

marianne sheridan. normal people. daisy edgar jones.

REQUEST MUSES ( written privately/highly selective -- feel free to ask ) ; dallas winston, chrissy cunningham, gerry keay, kozume kenma, matthew murdock, max mayfield, nyota uhura, son hak, sylvia sherwood, tomoe.

[troofless]

yo i finished umineko and here is my tierlist on how much i enjoyed the characters. thoughts further below.

overall i would not recommend to anyone else because the plot thread is so hard to follow for a minimal payoff 6 chapters later (everything is revealed in chapter 7 and chapter 8 is a fucking nightmare of a tying up loose ends that was fucking painful to go through), EVEN CONSIDERING that it is a ‘murder mystery’ meant to be reread several times. would rate it i don’t understand why people call it iconic/10.

my main thoughts/grudges with the story:

let me preface by saying that battler is amazing. meta battler, piece battler, whatever, he stayed a consistent sunny force throughout the entire novel and is always a delight to watch his journey and thoughts throughout the game. he stays consistently empathetic, forgiving, despite his growth into a hardened warrior of a intelligent mystery solver on the ruthless gameboard of the likes of bern, beatrice, and lambda. this is why i thoroughly dislike when the game diverts away from his POV to someone else’s, mainly ange’s and later on, will’s.

about ange: i hate ange. her whole arc was about her struggling with being forgiving and not forgiving everything, shown with the scenes of imaginary maria and her journey to rokkenjima. i really liked the scene when she commanded the seven stakes to kill her classmates but they couldn’t, causing her to shun then, which has a huge payoff later on when she is told later how that keys into the basis of magic, where as long as no one else knows how things happen, magic can hide human crimes as magic. but then ange takes up so much time away from battler and the mystery just for her own angst filled journey that eventually ends in an anticlimatic end - battler in chapter 8 coaxes her to believe that magic and love can be an encouraging force, and she shuns that completely, opening the diary - up until here, that’s ok because i too wanted to know the truth, but then when she opens the diary she shuns the truth??? and suddenly she runs back to battler like a wounded animal saying that she should have trusted battler all along like a proverbial son. and it’s done so abruptly that i hate it. at the end of it all i just wanted her journey to be over and go back to battler, the obviously better protagonist of the two. i get that ange is supposed to be a flawed human being in contrast with bitterness and hatred and jadedness, but it is also because of those same flaws that make her so boring because she’s just so predictable.

also let me say here, that i fucking hate sakutaro. sakutaro was okay as a lion, but the moment they made him a human avatar with that annoying ass uryu tick i fucking hated it. maria was already ticking me off by taking so much screen time with her scene with her and rosa, MARIA convincing ange ‘magic is real!!’ and the whole sequence where ange imagines her being friends with the seven stakes. it was pulling time away from the mystery with beatrice and battler to set up something that could be explained in fewer scenes - that you need love to believe and twist the truth or some other theme relating to that - and it was utter torture going through all of ange’s moments because of this.

about beatrice: so sayo/yasu was basically three-timing battler (by holding onto feelings for him), jessica, and george. which is just. why. the twist is classic for a murder mystery - i particularly like the clue that kanon’s body is never found after he’s murdered, shannon and kanon are never seen together by other people, shannon is the only one who knows natsuhi’s favourite season is autumn, when beatrice marks them with a butterfly burn so they know them meeting her is real the marks are identical on their hands to show they share the same body - so it’s fine. but the whole business with her manipulating other people’s feelings is just so weird and fucked up that i (battler) can’t condone. plus, who is she really? at the end she meets up with battler as beatrice and jumps into the ocean, which means that she has settled on beatrice being the dominant personality but that’s just cruel to the other two personalities that suddenly feel a lot ‘lesser’ because of this. also, the possibilities for incest with the reveal (triple incest with battler jessica and george, lmao) makes it so funny. 

my dislike for the narrative: throughout the entire game, it’s basically a given that narrative lies to you; about shannon/kanon, about the fantasy stuff that happens in the mystery sections not being real but a lie told by someone’s POV, the sprites of beatrice, shannon and kanon, being wholly different even though there’s no way they don’t look similar in reality, even the meta sections or the sequences where ange is in the real world don’t actually occur. it confused the hell out of me and made me so frustrated because they never explain the lies either; the solution to the mysteries for all the games are never explained but vaguely alluded to, meaning i have to pick up a wiki or reddit section to get explanations for those. heck, i didn’t even know or theorise that kanon was one of yasu’s personas until i pulled up a reddit section after the end of the game! i hate that the game doesn’t give you the answers, i get that they’re supposed to make you think, but that’s just bad mystery writing. explain all the tricks fairly by the end of the book.

the epitaph: the fact that someone solved it as soon as chapter 5 was amazing, but i hate that they didn’t give the taiwan hint until chapter 7. insert something about a detective rule that all hints should be given at the start of the game bla bla. i do like the quadrillion hints from as far as chapter 2 (battler offhandedly mentioning it when he visits the chapel?) and chapter 4 (photo from kumasawa’s family visit?) though.

THE FUCKING JEBAIT IN THE NAMES OF THE GAME. ANSWER ARC IS NOT ANSWER ARC. YOU ONLY GET ANSWERS IN CHAPTER 7. chapter 5 and 6 are a fucking pain in the ass to get through because of this, ESPECIALLY WHEN they tease battler understanding beatrice but never explaining what it is at all. (and yes i didn’t know how to solve chapter 6 logic error at all after chapter 6 ended.) and the fact that chapter 7 has the nerve to start with WILL as the protagonist and battler never appears... is so infuriating. tldr i spent 4 chapters of the question arcs having so many questions, making theories, enduring all the shitty fantasy sequence bullshit because i thought everything would be answered in the ANSWER ARC and have a huge payoff only to be sorely disappointed by the shitty answers that were chapter 5 and 6. i truly believe that if chapter 2, 4 and 5 didn’t exist, the game would have been better. 

i might as well put it in now that i remember that i spent the first half of chapter 2 groaning at how shitty it was that they had to divert from the interesting mystery - especially after the wonderful hook of chapter 1 tea party - to tell about the love story of george/shannon and jessica/kanon that i was wholly uninterested in, and it only got interesting once the mystery section came into play. and yes, all things considered, i still think that whole section should be cut out, or at least in later sections, slashed in size because yes we need to hear that shannon destroyed the mirror like five different times in five different points of the story, stop recapping pointless things!!!! (yes i know it’s supposed to key into the mystery that shannon is sus and later in the reveal that beatrice blew it up with dynamite cements that she is shannon)

also i hate the fight scenes like bern having to go the extra length to hold a single truth book party which has to lead to a fight scene with lambda that ends with the storyteller god killing lambda because 1. they are so obviously fantasy and the narrative blatantly tells you that they are using this to misguide you and 2. exactly as above. they are all skippable because of that in my mind.

oh yeah. and kyrie shooting eva but not checking to see that eva is dead is so completely bullshit, especially since it happens TWICE with beatrice, and then A THIRD TIME with eva again. like i hate the author for making her look incompetent as hell without giving a satisfactory explanation like she was rushing for time or rudolf chased her out of the room or smth.

welp, i’m just glad that now i can look for cool fanart know what they mean and browse through the wiki and ao3 to soothe my enraged heart from the shitty storytelling of umineko.

anyway, here are some fun screenshots i got from reddit while i was post-reading the wiki and reddit for answers even as basic as HOW TO SOLVE BATTLER’S LOGIC ERROR IN CHAPTER 6:

[swallowtail-ageha]

I remember seeing on twt this thread re the rose bride archetype which imo while not being a deep dive at first was interesting for someone new to it as a way to know the general character beats/thematics and the way it evolved from anthy to characters like kohaku or yasu but i think it really fumbled at the end by doing shit like calling ophelia a rose bride. Ah yes ophelia from unknown obscure modern playwright william shakespeare, who got inspired from the hit renaissance anime revolutionary girl utena

[anetaen]

THE HARBINGER . INUMAKI NO SUKEYASU ⁽ 狗巻 祐保 ⁾ .

⁽ ¹ ⁾ HARBINGER, A COUNTABLE NOUN. A PERSON OR THING THAT ANNOUNCES OR INDICATES THE APPROACH OF SOMETHING. A FORERUNNER. TO COME BEFORE, TO EXIST AFTERWARD.

bearer of cursed speech during the heian period, skilled yari user. they/them. 5ft 8inches. is killed in battle at age thirty - four in the war waged against the king of curses, ryōmen sukuna.

general note that i'm aware the inumaki clan are not part of the big three, but i've chosen to name them nobility in their own right as holders of the cursed speech technique. in the modern day they are the last known holders and so i thought it only appropriate to date it far back to nobility in this period. another note: sukeyasu is a cis male and in threads can be referred to as such. i use they/them pronouns as within their own clan and the surrounding lands, as the inumaki clan have closed their doors to society for some time, sukeyasu as the holder of the cursed speech technique is revered as god - like to their people, and as such experiences detachment to themselves and their body as being seen as something more than human. sukeyasu has a rather feminine beauty that is not to be confused for lesser male presentation, this is just how i choose to refer to them and their detachment to their existence as a human being, instead seeing themselves as a weapon and higher figure.

INU ⁽ 狗 ⁾ “dog”. MAKI ⁽ 巻 ⁾ “to roll up”.

SUKE ⁽ 祐 ⁾ “help from god and buddha”. YASU ⁽ 保 ⁾ “to keep. to protect. to help”.

inumaki no sukeyasu is the second - born child to the head of the inumaki clan and his wife, twin alongside a brother, sukenobu, older sibling to a younger brother, sukehiro - 3 years difference.

as the bearer of cursed speech sukeyasu was born with the snake eyes and fangs seal on their mouth, to which all three siblings until almost the end of their teenage years wore half - veils that covered their mouths from sight and did not speak in public so as not to distinguish which child had inherited the technique. ( sukehiro was once targeted in an assassination attempt because of this, recovered well though slept in sukeyasu's room for 4 months as a result. ) once the technique had been coveted to a level skilled enough the veils were removed. outside of the inumaki clan residence and the presence of other jujutsushi, sukeyasu continues to wear the half - veil when exposed to non sorcerers, to shield the seal present on their skin.

personality - wise, sukeyasu is good in nature and likes the company of others, reserved as a teen but not shy. inwardly opinionated, easily irritated when things do not go their way, user of physical touch to convey emotion when expression does not suffice. will use cursed speech to their advantage when necessary.

coveting the technique means that sukeyasu cannot communicate like most people. their predecessors were mainly selective mutes to protect themselves and others, choosing not to speak unless using the technique for its intended purpose, though two generations before it was discovered that the bearer could lean on words that carry no cursed energy to communicate in absence of full sentences. as the heian period was a time that bred powerful jujutsushi with power that vastly combats those of the modern era, sukeyasu possesses the ability speak in short sentences that require a moment of thought ( they can control their cursed energy output to a tremendous extent so as to speak using verbs and not command their conversational partners, this is reserved for friends as it can be tiring if prolonged. ) sukeyasu, much like the descendants of the inumaki bloodline, relies sometimes on a small array of chosen words that do not carry cursed energy, but unlike inumaki toge, these are not commonly linked.***                 ▍ SUKEYASU'S CHOSEN WORDS : these are words they namely relied on in their childhood, before they coveted their technique and were able to push past the limitations surrounding cursed speech being imbued into words without will. they also tend to revert to these if tired, or have used their technique within a certain timeframe ( these are written in modern japanese as it is difficult to find translations from this period, you get the idea ). soot ( 煤 : susu, used to waive concern ) - the name of their cat. ginger ( 生姜 : shōga, used as an affirmation ) - something they carry with them to soothe their throat. magnolia (  朴の木 : hōnoki, used to show concern, a way of saying i have it from here ) - plant native to the minakami area, where the inumaki clan residence resides. pheasant ( 雉  : kiji, expletive ) - a favourite meat. + others that will be added to in time. sukeyasu can also use friend's names, yes + no quite easily to answer questions and/or grab attentions.

that being said, sukeyasu often communicates most emotion through their facial expressions. it is noted that they would likely be very outspoken and diplomatically inclined if they were able to communicate freely in full sentences, and are very naturally expressive in hums, clicks of their tongue against the roof of their mouth, sighs - so on and so forth.

the inumaki clan residence during this period is located in what is now modern day minakami and resides atop a channel of canyons that act as echoing amplifiers for cursed speech when used as an offensive tactic against intruders. in open space, sukeyasu will expel further cursed energy to amplify the reach of their voice. though this is usually not necessary as their reach is fairly powerful without. with the nature of the inherited technique passed down through the bloodline, the inumaki clan often chose to be uninvolved in most happenings, but this changed with sukeyasu's forebearer, who took a step forward into the world and sought to do what they could for the people.

labelled the harbinger, sukeyasu's presence in battle, in general, can be seen as an ill omen. ( think: inumaki toge is seen as a nusaince wherever he is for those opposing him. ) none are exempt from the effects of cursed speech - though those with higher cursed energy will perhaps not be compelled to the same level. cursed speech can be a very useful tool in interrogation, as the receiver of the words could be compelled to tell the truth, and sukeyasu does not need to physically touch in order wound. sukeyasu has to be quite specific with their chosen wording, and cursed speech users tend to keep their commands short so as to avoid injury and fatigue to themselves.

sukeyasu is well versed in martial arts and is a skilled yari wielder and uses one as their chosen cursed tool to aid in close proximity fighting, they are agile and light on their feet, evasive and defensive fighting techniques are paramount to their need for proximity and yet to keep themselves out of reaching distance of most enemies. they are leanly built though muscular and toned from years of training.

as with those who came before and those who inherit the technique after sukeyasu's time, they carry medicinal herbs and tonics to soothe their throat after usage of cursed speech. if travelling, they will stop to top up their store in nearby villages, or by foraging themselves. they have an educational knowledge of what will work and what to look for.

their father passes when sukenobu and sukeyasu are twenty - two. with sukeyasu being the second - born, naturally sukenobu takes over as the head of the inumaki clan and sukeyasu continues their aid of ridding the surrounding lands of cursed spirits, curse users alike in order to hone their technique, sometimes at the behest of the emperor. they take an active role in the efforts to subdue curses, notably sukuna, and play a part in strategizing and commanding sorcerers either offensively or defensively depending on the situation.

they die at age thirty - four during the war waged against ryōmen sukuna and other curses, a particularly brutal death. sukeyasu puts up a valiant effort but in the end is slain after having their tongue removed so they cannot use cursed speech, choking on their own blood before their body is burned to avoid resurrection or aid from a reversed curse technique.

[blackrder]

@swordrisen​ asked: ❛❛ Ara ara , how cute. ❜❜ She squishes their cheeks tenderly, with the tonality of a mother. A sweet press of lips to forehead as gaze softens before she suddenly pulls them into the tightest of bear hugs. ❛❛ So cute ! So cute ! ❜❜ / from koto !

                                    𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐛𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐤𝐨𝐭𝐨’𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐬. inexorable celestial warmth surges alongside the soft croon of shy euphoria that overtakes them. as simply as though they were breathing, they give themselves up to the scintillant immediacy of existence and languish in the generous heaps of praise which she offers them with such disarming sincernity and strength of feeling. inadvertently, they release a high-pitched embarrassed giggle, their pale soft cheeks dusted over with a sweep of blush. more often than not, they beg and ask shamelessly for compliments, for words of encouragement, for anything that could fill them up with the comfort of affirmation—but, oh, they are so startled once they have been heard and their demands fulfilled! already, they are dazzled and dizzy, their vibrant amethyst eyes glassing over from the bashful pleasure of being 𝐬𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 . what a sweet marvelous necessity this is! they could travel the world a hundred times over and it would still not compare to the intoxicating heady joy that koto has so munificently accorded them. so, with all the alacrity and tenderness they could summon, astolfo returns koto’s embrace, stretching out their arms and pulling her closer to them, their face buried in her fragrant yukata, partly to hide away the redness of their cheeks and party to breathe deeply into her calming scent that is redolent of night’s splendour and safe familiarity. she feels so much like the mother they have always prayed they had had, but, no! none of these thorny pesky thoughts! this moment, here, feels like a sealed orchard of peace that only koto and they can enter. a dreamspace that belongs solely to them! 

                                    ❝   𝑡ℎ𝑎—𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟,   ❞   they stutter, still a touch shy, their voice muffled and a little dulcet, tears springing into their eyes unbidden.   ❝   you know, you really should, um, give me more hugs and forehead kisses and praise! i deserve it the most, right? and! i’ll make sure to brush your hair in the morning and listen to your stories and train with you to the best of my abilities! oh, and i’ll totally gather flowers in the early morning so you can put them in the vases.   ❞   the flush has spread to the tips of their ears, but they keep going.   ❝   your hugs are the best. and i know because i’ve hugged a lot of people! so this isn’t an empty compliment, okay!   ❞  

[quamxmulti]

@sorrowfilledexistence started following you

💉 ─ “Hmmm” Yasu looked up from the papers in front of her to focus on her visitor. “How can I help you today?” it wasn’t that unusual that people came by to get information here or request them to gather or find something after all.

[silentglow88]

They're... Evolving!! (╬⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾ Д ⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾)

Actually, it felt more like...

From: Yu Yu Hakusho

Or

... is it just me because he has one eye????

..... moving on

[knoxs2nd]

i was pondering the question of why yasu didn't commit suicide on her own instead of the massacre, so - here's a thread on yasu & suicide

yasu frames death as freeing, a place where nothing and everything happens, and as a choice people can make to break free of their chains. but! i also think she's terrified by the aftermath of death for two reasons: being forgotten, and also the aftermath of her death and the grief/trauma it’d cause.

for reason 1: being forgotten: the “secret” of bice, kuwatrice, and yasu – the three “beatrices” are now known only to genji, kumasawa, & nanjo. If yasu dies, those 3 would still carry her secret, and no one would know her real self, just like no one remembers bice or kuwatrice. that’s such a slap in the face for yasu, who already feels like she leads a cursed existence and was never meant to be born. dying and being forgotten by everyone is just “proof” that her life was an anomaly from the beginning.

(i know in the confession manga, she also talks about how she doesn’t want battler, specifically, to forget her and move on, but it’s the same deal. it's anger at the idea of resigning herself to her fate, or what she believes is her “true” fate – that she isn’t allowed to exist.)

of course, yasu finds a “solution” to this dilemma - through writing the message bottles. those messages bottles are the work of a writer in an existential crisis of how they would live on after their death, and turning to the timelessness of fiction to achieve that. yasu likens reading mysteries to playing a game with the writer, whether those writers are alive. the idea of continuing to “play games” with readers long after she was gone brought her comfort (in addition to all the other feelings of catharsis writing the bottles did for her).

even if what she really wanted was battler to play the game with her, yasu’s life would, at the very least, retroactively be given meaning by people she’d never meet. anyway, in conclusion, there’s no suicide without any message bottles, and no message bottles without a suicide.

as for reason 2: yasu was afraid of the ripple effects of her own death. bice and kuwatrice’s deaths only caused pain and suffering for others: kinzo went off the deep end and poor young rosa was traumatized and blamed herself for kuwatrice’s death for decades after the fact.

now, who would this relate to for yasu? how about her two love interests: george and jessica? george already has ALL THE kinzo parallels, so, what happens when george loses shannon? he already said he’d go mad like kinzo, and we can look at the ep4 test to guess how that'd go.

in the test, george was willing to kill everyone else for shannon’s sake. so, if shannon is taken away…then george doesn’t care about everyone else anymore. george post-shannon could turn from a doting lover into someone who hurts and abuses others without care, just like kinzo...

as for jessica, in the ep4 test, she picked kanon and everyone over herself. so if kanon dies, then instead of hating and hurting others like george, jessica would turn that grief inwards and blame and hate herself. this isn’t to be taken lightly, if we take rosa’s trauma from kuwatrice’s death as any indication, and how that self-blame and hatred was also a factor in rosa's abusive behavior toward maria.

so, even if yasu really does want to die, she can see that she might be a factor in pushing two people she loves into this cycle of abuse. so, solution to this dilemma – take george and jessica with her in death. And then you know [insert time lapse here] why not extend that to the whole family!

anyway, that's all i have, but i just want to conclude this thread with: yasu became a writer because she resolved herself to committing suicide, while ange became a writer because she resolved herself to live :)

[golden-witch]

So, how many other people have Umineko character daydreams?? Can we get a thread going where y'all describe how you tormet/nurture ur blorbos?? Do you think abt George Ushiromiya's cram school?? Do u wonder if Rudolf is a Gucci or Versace man?? Does someone have an AU where Yasu is the zodiac killer?? I must know abt ur blorbo worlds.

[dear-mrs-otome]

IkeGen Sampler #4 - Tamamo

Tamamo: “Don’t look at me, MC!”

I thought we’d try some Tamamo today - and this scene specifically is one of many that made me cry in his route. The whole thing is very bittersweet, and goes from high highs to low lows...I don’t rave about it enough but it’s a very solid, excellent story.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

(From Chapter 23)

When the men possessed by Yasuchika's clay dolls move to attack again, Tamamo freezes them all in place with a single heavy word, his kotodama. Yasuchika is agog, gaping at Tamamo's attempt to overwrite the possession with his own words of power - an ability that's new to MC as well, who looks on in shock.

He commands the struggling men again, with another Word, to go back where they came from...and one by one, lumps of black mud begin emerge from the men's mouths and fall free. She wonders if that broke the spell, as Tamamo sags a bit, pale and clearly exhausted by the effort. Still though, he orders them once again, more forcefully - and the soldiers writhe but spit out more, until they seem to regain themselves.

Tamamo urges them to hurry and rejoin the others - then he turns to Yasuchika and draws his sword, the blade glowing blue as he strikes. Yasuchika is able to just barely bring his own sword out and up in time to block the attack, but the force of the hit sends Yasuchika flying backwards.

All the soldiers are gaping at the insane blow, as Tamamo tries to hustle them to run away. Yasuchika picks himself up off the ground, groaning, but with grudging admiration for Tamamo's strength. She can see that he's both struggling to breathe and bleeding heavily.

"Well, you have to be a little exhausted, don't you Tamamo?" Yasuchika asks. "Breaking that curse with your kotodama...especially when undoing curses is not your forte."

Aya realizes how difficult it must have been for Tamamo to force his powers to do the opposite of what they're used to, and how it's a testament to how hard he struggled to free his men.

"Enough talk. Yasuchika, I'm going to hand you over to Yoritomo personally," Tamamo promises.

To which Yasuchika says thanks but no thanks. He smears his own blood all over his hands and draws a complicated sigil, before slapping his palms on the ground.

A mysterious purple glow springs up, sending gasps through all the people collected, and Tamamo grunts as the light coalesces into threads that wrap around and bind him tightly, forcing him to his knees. She yells his name as Yasuchika keeps building his spell, holding his bleeding side and screaming incantations, until Tamamo is bound helplessly, unable to so much as budge.

Tamamo seems startled to see this technique, and Yasu says he perfected it testing on Byakuran - and she realizes he IS the culprit behind Byakuran going mad all along. He admits it's a doozy though, he couldn't have done it without using his own blood, and she starts begging him to leave Tamamo alone, asking what he's trying to accomplish here. Yasu says honestly it's HER he's really interested in, the Kitsunetsuki Princess....what made HER so special??

And she's thinking...this guy is crazy. He is certifiable, and terrifying, as he stares at her malevolently.

From his place on the ground, Tamamo's telling her to run, glaring murderously at Yasuchika. Still struggling against his bindings and trying to stand. Yasuchika is impressed he can still move at all, but tells him if he stays quiet he won't touch MC - deal??

She's pissed about being used as a sort of hostage and calls Yasu a coward again, but Tamamo falls silent finally, biting his lip in frustration. Yasuchika begins rambling, musing on how Tamamo was able to be caught at all because he stayed to help all these people, going so far as to exhaust himself for their sake - when did he get to be such a softie??

"Shut up," Tamamo tells him furiously.

"No matter how hard you try...you can never be human!" Yasuchika accuses.

She gasps and shouts at Yasuchika, because the soldiers don't know that Tamamo is an ayakashi...and all around her the men start murmuring in confusion, asking her what Yasuchika is talking about. She stumbles over trying to come up with some answer, but can't say anything that isn't a lie and she falls silent.

"It's just cruel to keep it from them," Yasuchika says. "All this time, they've been in the dark, blind to the fact that they had such a horrifying creature at their sides! Trusting their lives to one....risking their own lives for it."

Yasuchika's poisonous words keep flowing, and she interrupts him to shout that Tamamo is their friend.

"Friends??" he scoffs. "Isn't it about time that pathetic dream ended?" He takes out a fresh seal of paper and tosses it onto Tamamo. "Show them exactly how much of a beast you are, Tamamo!"

Tamamo's body begins to contort, as if enduring some great agony, setting him grunting with pain. She shouts at him to resist, and he gasps out her name. And then in a flash of light, his ears and tails appear. The soldiers all begin clamoring at once in fear, as MC tries telling them all to remain calm, when...

She's interrupted by Tamamo's sorrowful scream.

"Don't look at me, MC!"

Power flares up around him in an inferno, his hair whipping in an invisible wind as he collapses to the ground. Fearsome claws grow from the tips of his fingers, as his hands and feet contort into inhuman angles, and she can only look on in disbelief.

A beast. He's transforming into a beast, she realizes.

The soldiers begin screaming in horror at the monster, at the deception, and Tamamo is wordless as foxfires begin to flare up uncontrollably around them all - just like Byakuran, she recognizes. He's lost control of his power entirely.

"...Run....Run away..." Tamamo tries to gasp.

The fires flare higher, threatening some of the soldiers, who scramble and scatter as fast as they can. Panic reigning supreme.

All she can think about is trying to help Tamamo, racing towards him as fast as she can. But her legs falter as she sees the eye that lifts to meet hers is slitted and animalistic, his name falling from her brokenly. She stares at that beastly gaze, blood from wounded soldiers all around as she trembles with fear - the hand she's been reaching towards him with stopping out of instinct.

Tamamo make a small wounded sound...and then darkness overtakes his eyes. And as if in response, the rest of his body transforms completely into that of a horrific beast. Before her stands a gigantic white fox, with a roar that could be either rage or suffering shaking the very air around them.

"Good, good. There you go, Tamamo," Yasuchika croons. "And just like I promised, I won't be the one to harm your friends. So let's start by having you destroy them all - shogunate and rebels alike."

She's standing there in just...a mute numb sort of horror, as Tamamo's massive forepaw slams into the ground, shaking it. Staring as it lifts again, coming closer....

When Shigehira appears, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her to safety, yelling at her for being a ninny and not running away

"But... Tamamo..." she protests.

"Yeah, but what about you??" Shigehira retorts. He drags her up on his horse, her thoughts still a total muddle, and says they have to get out as fast as they can, it’s not safe here now.

And they gallop off...chased by the sorrowful howls of the great beast behind them.

The sky grows dark as they're riding back towards camp, her clinging to the saddle behind Shige in a daze. Running over the events that just happened in her mind. The look in Tamamo's eyes when he'd seen her fear, and how hard it still is for her to wrap her brain around the idea that that was Tamamo. And she's crying now, just clinging onto Shige's back as they ride. Blaming herself.

Thinking...that if only she'd been able to take his hand, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

[mcralcompas]

trialcmplx​:

open » yasu sonada, ultimate architect

“Please do not touch that.” Her voice, though quiet, soft-spoken in volume, holds hidden authority. She does not need to make threats but her things will not be touched. She does not even have to turn to face the offending party; she can hear the footsteps, knows the model building on the table is eye catching enough to warrant curiosity.

“The glue is not dry yet,” the architect continues, voice gentle if not monotonous. “If you destroy my project before it has a chance to dry…I shall be quite…cross.”

“ Ah ! “ His hand immediately returns to his side. His posture at attention now that he knows he’s being observed. “ I’m very sorry ! “ He exclaims, even taking a step back from the table the work is displayed on for good measure.

“ I was simply passing by and - this all looks incredibly impressive . “ He explains himself, then turns to face her. “ This must be your ultimate talent , then ? “ He asks, his tone doesn’t sound quite as enthusiastic anymore as he says that. “ Very extraordinary . You have permission to display this here , I hope ? “

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Showtime at Otsuru’s Okobore Teahouse

🎵 “A desert road, from Vegas to nowhere, but someplace better than where I’ve been... 🎵

Spider’s Cafe, where the Baroque Works Officers meet in Alabasta, was inspired by a 1988 film pictured above. Bagdad Cafe. We know this from the Vol.20 SBS. At the time, Oda laments it really isn’t the type of story that jives with manga so he kept it to a more simple design homage. Captured a little of the magic with their cover serial’s finale and the initial scene of the officer agents trickling in. His particular note was the “austere elegance” and tone. Having seen the movie, and being no stranger to the Southwestern US, I get what he means. Imagine you’re flying somehwere alone. You have to change planes, the layover turns into a delay. For the near future...you’re nobody. There’s a certain freedom in that, isn’t there? Especially when you’re not in a good place, moments like that can really lay things bare. That’s the point of this movie, how much that pause can change you. 

My pitch here is going to be that by the time we got to Wano, he figured out a way to capture this and did so through Tsuru’s Teahouse. Mind you, going in I was looking for other little nods for our 12 Days of Miss Merrychristmas spectacular. Somewhere along the way I realized where I was recognizing the vibe from. This will be a bit of a long one, but I hope you give it a shot. Oda’s always been a big film buff who slips a lot of homages in. He gushed about this movie in the SBS question. For good reason.

Here’s one of those little shared motifs that make me think I have something. I’m not just randomly using a still from the film, this shit with the binoculars is exactly the same as it is in the movie. That guy’s Sal, one of the main women’s husband. He spends the bulk of the movie observing from afar, commenting through his binoculars like some Greek chorus. Just like the Heart Pirates here. One of those cool bits about Okobore/Bakura is that fate like, forces that story to go unimpeded. 

Then take that idea we’ve touched on with the Tsuru/Kiku/Tama trio, the notion they're kinda the same woman at different stages of life. It's filtered through being part of a larger work than the self-contained focus, but that’s a core thread of Bagdad Cafe. Now add the fact all three are introduced fleeing a man trying to take advantage of them. The movie is all about two women breaking from their husband and finding a certain magic in leaning on each other, trying to make something more of the desolate truck stop. A lot of the driving force was the German tourist Yasmin appreciating the temporary break. Ultimately in the end she comes back, establishing the Bagdad Cafe as one of the swinginest lil spots in the Mojave.

This is how the movie ends. The journey and tone matter more anyways. Yasmin is back to stay for good, the rundown cafe is an oasis in the desert (hi Yuba!). A swinging show, everyone’s using their talents and so much happier. It’s not like a whole lot is better, it’s still a rather poor and desolate town. But that cheery cafe makes all the difference. Brings people together and makes the community feel a little more special. And it makes me think of that “pillars of the community” theme we had all Wano. Yasu in Ebisu, Tsuru/Kiku in Okobore, Toki in the past, & Marco on Sphinx. But also like...I love this idea that Okobore/Bakura are this micro-show before we get into the giant sweeping samurai epic. One that has some themes that weave in and out of the rest, but others that won’t flare up until after. For some reason, we start by introducing a couple of core characters coming out of this kind of environment. Being called to play their part.

I’ve said this about Kiku before, it feels like her story is out of order. Okobore sorta suits her as a nice reprieve. She seemed like one of the few people genuinely at ease in the “outsider” towns. Just by being her earnest, quirky self. So to take that, mix it in with this neat film reference, and use it as an intro to the arc? It makes me think about the narrative reason for stripping Luffy of all the buildup to this arc. Fate forced him to stumble into this side story, only picking up Zoro along the way who’d need to repeat with it spelled out more. Meanwhile Luffy’s story will blaze ahead into a big unanticipated victory with these new girls as the rest of the crew catches up by building their own connections.

I know it’s a small ripple, but I’m over here geeking out about it! The movie is adorable and yeah, even when I wasn’t really looking for it I saw major Teahouse Trio vibes. So, way to go Oda! You cracked the code, it did work as a way of introducing someone. Just like Baroque Works, but here it feels like it helps me understand the intention. An intention that tracks with how I was already wondering.