#like it doesn’t even matter if it’s majima or if it was someone else tbh kiryu just realistically wouldn’t do that to Anyone helping him

[designernishiki]

just got to that part in kiwami where majima gets shot and falls into the fucking ocean and kiryu just. goes. eh he’ll be fine. and leaves him to fucking bleed out and/or drown. and oh man. that sure was Bad and Out Of Character. like that was so out of character it was actually jarring

[majimasleftasscheek]

YES OF COURSE AND TY!! also sorry I had to put this on a new post instead of answering directly. the format totally broke so it worked better here kjdfkljfd

note! if anything seems particularly gender™, my hcs for Majima are genderfluid so just speaking from my own experiences/feelings! peeps are more than welcome to hc things as they like 💖

long post ahead because Goromi makes me FEEL

ooey gooey lore stuff

Majima's interest in fem ideations began at an early age, somewhere in the teens - a passing intrigue in fashion and feminine looks. it was something different compared to the more or less samey, conservative fits men would have (not that women weren’t also the same but there’s certainly a difference between a salary worker and a hostess)

did girly shit with Yasuko that Saejima didn't have any interest in - putting on makeup, painting nails, etc and even tho her personal supply was limited, he enjoyed doing that sorta thing with her when he’d spend days at their place just hanging out. something about that clicked for Majima. something about the work and craft was fun tho not something he'd readily admit even if it was obvious to everyone else. 

he never really thought any of it made him pretty. thought it made him very unattractive really but it made him something else, something not "him" and he really liked that part about it. it’s transformative

Majima never wholly felt comfortable around only men due to his smaller, slender frame and traits like his curvier waist. in a time where being a manly man was the thing™ and tbh still is, he felt excluded and bullied often, especially if he hung around a brick wall like Saejima. he'd often act out aggressively to overcompensate and try to play the brodude with other guys around 

Majima's first explorations into Goromi often made him feel like the things other guys would gossip about him were right all along (”oh he’s a lil sissy,” “why you walking around with a body like that in the yakuza,” “you’d look good in a dress (derogatory)”) so much of his interest in drag was very much suppressed and felt shameful 

during his Sotenbori stint, his interest in femininity really started to take a more serious turn after hanging around cabaret girls - seeing all the glitz and glamour seemed fun and the idea he could just pretend to be someone else for a time was a nice escape especially since it was a place where he was more or less unknown to old associates. not that Goromi is literally a different person, but it meant something certainly, that he would be treated different, for better or worse

as such, his Goromi persona was shaped by this treatment. catty, non subservient, and bitchy was a response to give herself confidence and bite back. early Goromi however was more quiet and reserved due to the circumstances at the time but modern Goromi is loud and proud

80s Goromi was more of a private thing she did in secret, not really ready or confident enough to be public about except with those she really trusted which wasn't many at the time. hostesses would notice Majima took unusual interest in what they were doing during work prep and friends like Yuki would be those he confided in. the girls appreciated his help with hair and makeup, something that gave him fond memories of simpler days with the Saejimas. 

his concerns were often not being passable enough no matter how feminine he'd try to look but he took solace in that his long hair was good enough to hide much of his face

conversely modern Goromi doesn't care how passable she is and her stereotypical look is meant to be obnoxiously feminine. she's a lady and doesn't give a shit if she’s not ”good enough.” that's not to say she doesn't still hold reservations about it. for all her confidence, it's still somewhat of a façade when she knows that the more excessively fem she looks, the more she feels satirical and it’s a battle to keep up her confidence but she has more loved ones around to remind her she’s fine the way she is

I will acknowledge the in game canon that modern Goromi was used as a way to rile Kiryu up for the sake of haha man in dress butttttt in my own spin, Goromi did that because every other man in her life treated her the same way - where the idea of a man in a dress is laughable. figuring Kiryu as one of the guys™ she expected the same but got the opposite, Kiryu totally going along with it. tho they fought at the end to her insistence, it was one of the few times where she genuinely felt validated for being herself, even if it was under the guise of tricking him. she thought, huh, maybe it could be different with him. maybe I could do this unironically. he’s a dumbass but he’s an honest dumbass. it certainly activated something in Kiryu for sure 

my own dealio: I draw Goromi with very obvious cis male features cuz for me, being cis is part of my own genderfluid experience. so I try not to make her lose too much of her masc traits like her muscles, square jaw, facial hair, etc. it’s very important to me that she’s gnc, no matter how passable she looks

general stuff

fav colors to wear are black, red and pink. white is for special occasions

has numerous blonde wigs but the default Goromi one is her favorite with the typical messy tied back style. rarely goes without a wig but more likely to with trusted friends

likes to be pampered and waited on, big on date nights and gift giving (for herself and treating her booboobear)

very proud of her legs so always happy to wear something short and revealing. will do so when it’s cold out and does not want to hear your advice against it (will complain loudly about having sniffles later)

Saejima doesn’t have any particular feelings about Goromi, like with most things he’s like yeah whatever do whatchu want. as far as he’s concerned, Goromi is still the same prickly ass Majima and she appreciates that greatly

Kiryu does treat her differently since he has his naïve, googoo ass traditional ways of behaving around women and it does annoy her because she wants him to know she’s still Majima regardless of how she acts or looks. he’s mad simpo mode for her and it does blind him to some of her grievances when he tries to be helpful. he does mean well but it’s still a learning process

very much loves Haruka and turns into a puddle when called auntie. is a bit more knowledgeable on girl™ things from what she’s learned from Yasuko and the cabaret girls so she’s often the one to help with things like that. her pseudo confidence helps a lot when she has zero idea what to do and it’s more important to Haruka that someone tries and fails than never trying at all. Goromi knows she’s not a traditional stand in for a woman in this case but Haruka’s kindness and acceptance means the world

does her own nails but has Minami do more complex designs. occasionally Daigo helps but you didn’t hear it from me. getting custom dresses is done thru Nishida who is very very tired of early morning rush orders

big into roleplay and especially likes to rope Kiryu into her bullshit. catch me watching from the bushes when she finds him as Suzuki in y5 and goes along with it by constantly languishing about her ex-BF while shaking her ass like “oh woe is me, if only someone depressed and hunky were to comfort me in my time of need” 😪

Ishin Goromi because I’m ill

VIOLENCE

night life as a murderous courtesan, dresses up in traditional oiran fashion except for the loud, blonde wig. I know it’s not really something you’d see people wearing but Ryuji is blonde and Joon-gi is “silver ash” so I can have this okay kljdfskljdfkl. carries an extra pair of sandals so she can ditch her geta (tall sandals) if she needs a quick gettaway

friends with the working ladies in town so if there’s any *problems,* they go to her. she’s got multiple hideouts in various brothels with changes of clothes and other disguises

I like my Majima hcs to be more murdery than canon and Okita is especially murdery so ishin Goromi bumps it up a notch ☝ very thrill of the kill vibes and I just think being covered in viscera is kinda hot 👉👈

Nagakura (Saejima) helps her put on her makeup. he complains about it every time, mostly because she doesn’t stop squirming while he works

traditional makeup at the time was made outta harmful shit so I’m just gonna say hers is made from rice powder and whatnot because I said so lol

usually wears a hannya mask with a flower strapped to the left eye. often a peony or spider lily. very keen on making sure no one knows who she is. will lift her mask just enough to give Ryoma a smooch tho

something I’m still developing in my fic is that she feels a big sense of guilt for having to hide who she is, not really guilt for killing people lol but rather that she does so knowing it makes her life harder and that parts of her life are always going to have to be secret to protect herself and those around her. it makes getting closer to people more difficult but she’s stubborn in the way she doesn’t want to change for someone else

[lightlorn]

ship bias for nev, shizuka, and mercy!

i have the worst takes. ll accepting.

gwynevere:

artovere: fuck my ass, mal really got to me with this one. i always thought there was an interesting dynamic to explore in giving the princess and the knight a shipping dynamic, but mal looked me in my stupid little face and said ‘we’re going to take over your entire brain now,’ AND BOY DID IT WORK. the dynamic of the healing and all-loving and all-loved princess with this revered and honored knight who is slowly losing his grip on his self, his sanity, his goals, nev looking at artorias losing these battles and knowing she cannot heal him, it really adds a deeper layer to thinks. throw in that they started out hopeful and young and both end up the villain of their own story, corrupted by their own aims. damn. damn i love this ship. thank u @abysstaken for my life.

flannevere: the one truly canon nev ship. perhaps my only canon nev ship. in item descriptions, nev left anor londo with this guy, becoming his wife and having at least a daughter with him. what kind of man must he have been to seduce the princess from her tower and legacy in canon? well, i figure he must have been a swell guy, especially on this page’s lore. between the poles of artorias’ fatal fall from grace and oceiros’ partnership rather than love, flann was the sweet spot and her hope. if she had stayed with him, her life might have been a happy one, but alas. duty comes first to my girl.

oceirovere: mmmm ok here’s where we get in shaky territory. i don’t really ship it, and i don’t think it was a romantic relationship. it was a business partnership, where nev could rule while oceiros dedicated himself to his studies so long as he served the divine family. in their final days together, it was an absolute shitshow. mal puts it as ‘oceiros the cucked king.’ but. the dynamic is so narratively rich building off of this, and the fact they had one another’s backs and shared interests up to the point nev fled. it’s a relationship, though not romantic and only once sexual, that i am very interested in working through and fleshing out.

finavere: gwynevere is bisexual and fina was her long term on and off. love and light, what better f/f dynamic is there among the divine? though they were not always together, and gwynevere practiced polyamory behind closed doors, keeping artorias as her secretive main partner... they had a deep affection and respect for one another. where most simply saw a deep and positive friendship, the pair were devoted to one another behind closed doors, in every way that matters in a relationship. cry about it, lautrec.

ciaranevere: listen. they both miss artorias. they both loved him in their own ways. i hc that ciaran mentored artorias and gwynevere’s daughter. why can’t lydia have two mommies since her daddy ran off and got his ass lost to the darkness?

shizuka:

shimaj: oh we hit it out the park w this one. the identity issues, the trauma and the need to defend, the bad person and the one so convinced of their own badness... it’s a delight, lucky. you blessed me with this. there’s a lot of layers to them both under their bombastic, unconventional lifestyles that they’re still trying so hard to shield from the other’s notice. the fact they might actually get one another on some level, the way no one else understands. it doesn’t even have to be romantic -- they’re still ride or die, still repaying loyalty with loyalty. especially once they are at points where they don’t owe it to one another, when majima is no longer their patron and they no longer have an obligation to protect him as an honorable man. i think you once joked that one day when they’re both old as hell and retired, they’re just going to get married because they have nothing else to do, and i think that’s a good summation of the dynamic. slowly working through things together, and getting closer to one another almost against their will.

gensaiyama: shizuka’s gay for kaoru. that’s it, that’s the post. i feel like if there was ever a wlw answer to the buddy cop dynamic, this would be it: law abiding hard ass lady cop who eats yakuza for breakfast juxtaposed off of the convention defying chaos loving defense attorney who has been openly accused of being yakuza otaku in the past. both are in the same game, but on opposing teams. and yet, shizuka has loads of respect for kaoru and what she knows of her department, and thinks a woman like that deserves the finer things. they’re both dfab in a man’s world, after all, chasing the shadows cast by the underworld. if kaoru ever ends up in kamuro again, shizuka’s gonna go out of their way to ensure at least one dinner with this indomitable woman.

yukizuka: shizuka’s gay for yuki. but then, who isn’t gay for yuki? they’re both legendary in the cabaret game, though shizuka operated under a different identity entirely. really they just want yuki to step on them and prove why she deserves to be the alpha host(ess) in the relationship. this is a nightmare that any majima who acted as shizuka’s patron in the host days is having. shizuka showing up in their old host garb is a nightmare that yuki is having, because the ponytail and vintage cut suit is bringing back flashbacks to the grand. and yet, shizuka’s hope springs eternal that osaka’s queen notice them and give into their endless charms.

shizuka/anyone who will treat them right tbh. someone who can convince them the opinions of others and the scorn they faced in the past for their identity and beliefs do not define them. that their heart is in the right place and they’re fighting against an institution they find unjust, and that this is a show of strength and care for others. someone who makes them slow down without making them stop entirely, someone who supports both their career and their own needs outside of ambition. one day someone’s going to love this mess right and i will cry.

mercy:

merhog.

that’s it. i never got on the genji/mercy express, fareeha and mercy fandom intimidated the hell out of me, i kind of called 76 was gay that and the age difference coupled with their dynamic squicked me out, and i don’t know a lot about the new characters.

but the concept of two characters who lost their family to war and made some bad decisions in the years after? the idea of a take no shit woman on the side of the angels staggering the big bad don’t fuck with me type that has never been challenged in his life? i’m really digging it, guys. beauty and the beast. hope vs survival. the healer with the sick. there's so much dichotomy that i want to take a solid bite out of. no, i want to devour it.