Synopsis: Five different perspectives on Nanami Kento.
Tags: Angst, humour, mystery, character study.
Warnings: canon-typical violence.
"I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful‚
The eye of a little god, four-cornered."
~ The Mirror, Sylvia Plath
Yoshinari remembers that day well. Even now, decades later, his team leader's near-panicked expression stands out with harsh clarity in his mind. Yoshinari had just mentioned that he hadn't finished the analysis due that afternoon because he'd been struck down with a bad bout of flu. Whirling on his heel, the team lead had really let fly with his irritation.
"But we had an agreement! You were to complete the analysis the day before yesterday! There'll be no excuse at all for us walking into that meeting unprepared!"
"But sir ... I had a lot to catch up on that evening. And I - "
"I'm done with this conversation! Come up with something, or explain to the chief why you couldn't finish your basic tasks on time."
Left standing in the empty hallway, Yoshinari had let frustration, anger, self-pity and helplessness wash over him, bitter as a brackish tide. Nobody ever listened to him. Nobody ever understood how the demands of this job couldn't be humanly met unless he practically lived at the office. Nobody cared what his state of health was. Nobody -
"Are you all right?"
Hastily wiping off the corner of his eye, he turned to see none other than Nanami Kento standing in the doorway leading from the hallway to the main office floor. Nanami, whose reports were always turned in on time. Nanami, whose suits were never rumpled, whose clients never complain, whose presentations were always meticulous, who never spilled a drop or wasted a crumb when he ate -
Tamping down the rising envy and resentment for the tall man standing before him, Yoshinari sighed and embraced the inevitable. It isn't Nanami's fault. Nanami is simply doing the job, like the rest of them. He just happened to be a lot more competent at it than most.
"I'm a bit ... under the weather, that's all. There's a meeting this afternoon. I won't be prepared because I haven't had time to get the quarterly analysis done."
Nanami watched him in silence. Yoshinari continued, chest feeling slightly less heavy as he vented to his quiet companion.
"I just wish ... that we were given more value, you know? We're not robots. We're people. And sometimes, we ... I can't get all my tasks done. I just wanted ... some understanding. That's all."
Yoshinari realized just how petulant he sounded the more he spoke. His voice trailed off, and he avoided the other man's gaze. What must Nanami think of someone like him? Did he pity him? Was he annoyed by him and his complaining? Was he indifferent, like everyone else? It was hard to tell.
Nanami never lost his composure, never expressed strong emotion, never seemed anything other than cool and detached. He must think that someone like Yoshinari was worthy of pity and contempt. Nothing more.
Without waiting for Nanami's reply, Yoshinari turned and made his way to the elevators, trying to focus on the client briefing lined up (and not the humiliation and reprimands he'd have to endure later.)
The humiliation never came, though. Walking into the meeting that afternoon, Yoshinari was met with the huffy, slightly startled demeanor of the team leader when he was complimented on his 'sterling work', handed a steaming cup of coffee and patted on the back. He sat through the rest of the meeting in a daze, mind still struggling to grapple with what had occurred.
When he got a chance, he snuck a look at the analysis that supposedly came from him. There, in the phrasing, the layout, the orderly sequences of figures and the in-depth breakdown of each element, he recognises the hand of Nanami Kento.
When the meeting was over, he tried to find Nanami, to thank him for that unexpected favour. A part of him was beginning to take the assistance with a pinch of salt; what did Nanami expect in return for this?
When he eventually spied Nanami, he paused, the report crumpling slightly in his hand. Coat draped over his chair, tie cast over one shoulder, sleeves rolled up and chair reclining, Nanami's hollowed eyes and sharply-defined cheekbones were covered with a white handkerchief, the marks of exhaustion clear in his bearing.
Many years later, watching his grandchildren chase each other around the darkened trunk of a plum tree, a soft, secret smile finds its home on Yoshinari's face as he remembers that day. He glances up at the delicate blossoms, pushing their heads insistently into the fresh bite of a new spring day and wonders if Nanami ever had grandchildren of his own.
Warmth. Kinship. Command.
When Master calls me out, I recognise the tug and relentless pull into another place. This place. This world of scent and colour and sound, where I am given form.
My Master's hands smell of paper, freshly cut apples and grass. They are firm and familiar as their fingers run through my fur. Sometimes, Master brings us out of the other place without urgency, simply to keep us at his side.
Megumi.
That is my Master's given name. He is dark in spirit, light of foot, and his mouth seldom curves, like the other humans. But when we are all together, pack, bodies curled up and sharing warmth, Master's eyes are like a distant lamp, flickering softly.
The white-veined one names my Master as Megumi. He is the one with power like a great summer storm, sweeping with acrid sharpness across the senses and scorching the unseen world in his wake. His hair is white too, his spirit leaping from one focus to the next, lightning and laughter.
The white-veined one is trustworthy. He is pack, but even though Master trusts him completely, he makes others nervous.
And then, there is the Blademaster. This one is almost familiar. He is like Master in many ways. He smells of good food, old leather and the sharp tang of polished metal. His power is an underground river, swift and subtle, rising to a well-controlled roar when he calls upon it.
The Blademaster avoids pack. He likes to sit alone on the benches at sunset, sometimes, with his food in an oval box at his side. He stares a lot into the sky. Only he knows what he sees there.
The sky doesn't hold much interest for me, but the smells from the Blademaster's box always call for attention. He has meat in there. And cheese. Sometimes, if I press my nose into his hand, he shares his food. It is good food. It tastes better when he offers it out of his own palm.
The Blademaster's hand is bigger, rougher around the fingers than Master's. He is an experienced warrior, and he has been in many fights. The scent of it is on him, in ways that cannot be disguised. He carries the smell of old wounds, of battles that etched away at the parts of him than leave no visible scars.
Sometimes, his pain is great. Those times, he needs pack, even if he doesn't know it. I find him, at his bench. Even though he has no food, I sit with him. His fingers in my fur are different, but warm, like Master's.
We watch the sky together.
It's the bustle of the lunch rush that brings him suddenly into her mind; tall, broad-shouldered, imposing in his dark, pinstripe suit. She's seen many, many salarymen enter her establishment over the years, but none quite like him.
He'd seemed hard, humourless, exacting, a man of substance and character, whittled away bit by bit by the hundred inconveniences and troubles of everyday life. Her attempts to cheer him up always fell flat. Her jokes landed like stale bread on a food critic's plate.
"Hey, Nanami! Good to see you! Decided to loaf around on your lunch break again?"
"How am I loafing?"
"Ah, that was just a pun. You know. Because you come here to buy sandwiches."
"Do you charge extra for the puns? Because I'm not paying for that."
"Wow. So cold ... "
And on another occasion:
"Hey Nanami! Knock knock."
" ... "
"You're supposed to say 'who's there?'"
"Who's there."
"As a question, not a statement!"
"Does it matter?"
"Fine. It's doughnut."
"Doughnut who?"
"Dough nut enter the shop without checking out the specials!"
"Please just give me the sandwich."
Ah, those were good times. Maybe he did appreciate her silly attempts at humour on some level. She'd never know.
Sometimes, she wonders if she shouldn't have asked him for help. Maybe she should have just kept her mouth shut about that pesky stiffness and pain in her shoulder joint. There was no way she could have known what would happen next.
She recalls, with perfect clarity, the sudden change in his demeanour. The subtle straightening of his posture, the focus of that intense honey-brown stare, the way he'd looked at and past her, as if glancing through some secret window into an unknown she could never fathom. And then, he'd raised his arm, swung it in that swift, decisive motion, and her pain disappeared in a matter of seconds.
She still wonders how exactly he'd accomplished that. Was he a spiritual healer of some kind? She couldn't think of an occupation less suited to someone like him. All the same, she was thankful. She'd even packed a free almond croissant and coffee with his sandwich the next day, kept aside for the lunch rush.
Except, he'd never shown up. Not that day, or the next, or the day after that. Nanami simply disappeared from the normal routine of his life altogether.
Of course, she made some enqueries. She was somewhat concerned, considering how sudden his absence had been. What if he'd overworked himself enough to end up in hospital? It wasn't unheard of.
His work colleagues, some of whom also frequented the bakery, told her that he'd suddenly up and left. Handed in his resignation and promptly disappeared.
She'd never heard from him, ever again. It wasn't that she was upset or offended. Customers changed their whims daily. But with him ... something about it concerned her. What would prompt a creature of habit, like Nanami, to suddenly change his routine? There was probably a perfectly sound explanation for it, but it worried her all the same.
After all these years, even now, as manager of her own small dessert shop, not far from the original bakery she'd served at, she'd never taken the casse-croûte off the menu.
It would remain there, for the day he might come through the door once again, and she'd say it, just like she'd rehearsed in her mind so many times.
"Welcome back, Nanami. The usual?"
Pain. This is all that she thinks, all that she feels. It is all-consuming. It isn't like the time she broke her finger after a particularly bad fall when she was ten years old. Not even like the wound left when her mother died; gaping, raw around the edges, on display for all that looked her way.
This pain was, somehow, even worse than that. Pain that twisted and tore through the fabric of her, agony piled on agony, neverending. It stretched beyond her, into a night of unknown horrors that she had no means of comprehending.
Something was very, very wrong with her body. This much she could tell, even as she wove in and out of consciousness. The sense of change to her own form, of being maimed in some fundamental sense, was so strong that she wondered how she was still alive.
His hands. So cold. Pain beyond imagining. She doesn't want to enter that forbidden entryway in her thoughts. Someone did this to her. Someone made her helpless, controlled her. Turned her into this grotesque travesty of a living thing. She should feel furious, that this had been done to her. But she doesn't have the capacity for anything but pleading, begging for a swift release from this torment.
Something is shifting around her now. She cannot even brace for the agony, because there are no known muscles for her to do so. Her body feels like a shapeless, amorphous mass that changes according to the unknown puppeteer's will.
Now, she feels the brush of fetid air on her flesh, the dank, mossy wall of some subterranean feature, a dizzying sense of being propelled at high speed through a narrow space.
Someone is moving alongside her, dodging, weaving. Not the puppeteer. Another. Their movements are swift, strong, filled with a measured grace that dances around her striking, flailing limbs (if they can still be called such) with dexterity. She tries to fight back against the overpowering will, to stop any harm coming to that person. It is futile.
Another shift, her body stretched in another direction. And - oh! Air! Damp and rank in scent, something like a sewer, but never more welcome. Her senses had been cloaked, due to the current nature of her body, but now, she was aware of eyes, ears, nose, a budding mouth that opened in a soundless cry for help.
He heard her.
He was standing over her, feet braced on her alien form. A man in dark glasses and a suit, a strangely patterned sword at his side. The sensation of the strangely blunt blade cleaving her flesh as she hurtles at him is weighted, some kind of energy behind it.
He can cause damage to her in this form! He can ...
But her mouth doesn't work the way it's supposed to. She can't beg him, can't plead with him to end this abysmal existence that only serves as torture. The terror, anger, frustration and hopelessness have no channel by which to reach the outside world any longer.
No! Please! Help me!
Wrung from dregs of her despair, a single tear forms at the corner of her existing eye, rolling down the distended, distorted skin.
Is this it? Is this all she can summon?
But he sees it. His hand is reaching down, towards where she lies, helpless beneath his feet, helpless to the whim of another. His thumb is warm, so warm, as he strokes beneath her eye, dashing away the trace of the tear.
In the moments that follow, before her consciousness finally descends into blessed, blessed darkness, she memorizes the feel of that touch, the last thing on this earthly plane that she'll ever know.
For all her suffering, let it never be said that she hasn't known true kindness.
Gojo and Namamin. Side by side, they're day and night. Yuuji can see that, and often delights in it. He thinks about it now, as he brushes his teeth, one hand carding absently through the tangles in his hair.
Gojo operated on a certain wavelength Yuuji had been attuned to since the very beginning. Nanamin, less so.
When Yuuji really thinks about it, it reminds him somewhat of the recipes his grandfather taught him. Gramps's house was one run on self-sufficiency. There was never an excuse for slacking off.
Gojo was like the spicy miso ramen he'd learned to make, the one with the specially crafted chilli oil and the perfect ramen egg for topping. A wash of heat, scorching the tongue and throat, a burst of flavour that somehow lingered long after it had rushed past your teeth like a flashflood. It entertained, it sustained, it left you feeling warm and energized.
Nanamin was like bread.
Now, Yuuji wasn't crazy about bread. He was more of a rice-bowl kinda guy. But the baking of bread was something he'd never quite managed to get the hang of, to begin with. His grandfather eyeballed ingredients, kneaded with rapid, dexterous fists, added an extra pinch of salt here, or a splash of milk there, depending on the type and texture of bread he wanted. It was as if Gramps could envision an end product that Yuuji had no concept of at all.
Namamin had been just as difficult to gauge in the mixing bowl of Yuuji's experience. Practical, rule-following, collected and proper. Spontaneity could take a hike, as far as Nanamin was concerned. Not the kind of man to pretend to be dead and then hop out of a box when you least expect it.
Ha. Anyway.
Bread. That's the analogy he was going with, and the one he was finding increasingly appropriate.
Pulling on his uniform jacket, Yuuji felt the familiar tug and rumble of hunger ascend from his stomach. He tied the laces on his signature red sneakers and grabbed his backpack, heading for the Tech cafeteria for breakfast.
Thinking over it further, bread was ... a staple. It was not to everyone's taste. It was simple, filling, a great companion piece for more flavourful ingredients. And hellishly difficult to bake correctly. For Yuuji, at least.
Yeah. Bread. It was a good comparison.
Turning the corner, Yuuji nearly ran right into the current occupant of his thoughts.
"Ah ... Nanamin! You're here early today!"
"Good morning, Yuuji. Please be careful. I have a cup of hot coffee here."
Falling into step beside the stoic sorcerer (uninvited) Yuuji decided to share some of his thoughts, an uncharacteristically serious expression adorning his face.
"Nanamin, there's something I've been thinking about."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. If I had to compare you to a food, it'd be bread."
A silence meets this statement. Nanami takes a sip of his coffee. Undeterred, Yuuji continues.
"Like, I love a good katsudon, but when it's midnight and I've been training hard, and I wake up all tired and my body's all sore ... I just go make a sandwich, ya know? Even when Gramps was in hospital and I used to get back from school, and oh, yeah, I sometimes forgot to buy groceries ... there was still bread. Just a loaf, there on the counter. And it didn't matter if there were no other ingredients to cook with, or anything, because you can't go wrong with a fried egg on some fresh, crispy toast. Ahh, yeah. The best."
Nanami adjusted his glasses slightly.
"Itadori ... is this your way of informing me that you find me reliable?"
"Huh? Oh ... I mean, yeah. But that's not all."
"It isn't?"
"Nah. 'Cos I baked bread with my Gramps, see? And it was hard to get right. But I did, at some point. And it felt ... great. And I never got it wrong again. And Gramps is gone now, I know. But when I miss him, kinda, baking bread helps me remember what it was like having him around."
Having said his piece, Yuuji folded his arms behind his head, marching peaceably alongside Nanami, lightly humming the theme song to the latest show he'd been watching. Nanami was now looking down, into his coffee. He didn't take another sip. His voice, when he spoke, was quieter than usual.
"I like sandwiches. Trying different fillings is something of a hobby of mine."
Yuuji nods, a light grin forming on his face.
"I can tell."
"Having said that ... I'm partial to fried chicken and beer on a Tuesday afternoon. It ... reminds me of when I was younger."
"Whoa. For real?"
"Yes."
"But Nanamin ... isn't fried chicken and beer the kind of thing you share with others?"
"It is."
"Hmmm."
Yuuji appears to give this some serious thought, before slapping his fist into his palm as an epiphany strikes.
"But wait! Let's get it together next time! I won't drink the beer, don't worry. I can get a soda or something."
"What - "
"And we can order the MegaBox deal that also comes with a medium pizza and cheese croquettes!"
"Yuuji - "
"Oooh, I'm so excited! I wonder what their pizza base is like? But hey, Nanamin, I've gotta run ahead. Maki-senpai's training with me today and she'll kick my ass if I'm late. See ya on Tuesday!"
All thoughts of bread firmly shelved for the present, Yuuji trotted further up the corridor and through the sliding doors of the cafeteria, pausing to wave at Nanami as he left his line of vision.
Yuuji doesn't get to see the small smile that temporarily eases the harsh lines of the sorcerer's face. It is fleeting, gentle, an echo of a smile he'd worn for another, long ago.
Dividers by: @sister-lucifer
61 notes
·
View notes
A romantic concept *or* alphabet for Annalise (Bloodborne), please?
🕊️ anon
Sure! I'll try my best ^^; The lore took me a few tries but I hope I got it! Felt am Alphabet would be better length-wise.
Yandere Alphabet - Annalise
Pairing: Romantic
Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Blood drinking, Blood, Subtle possessive behavior, Isolation, Dark themes, Dubious/Forced relationship.
Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?
Annalise has been in isolation a long time, an immortal vileblood vampire in a ruined castle without subjects. She's locked away in her throne room... hidden by illusions. When she meets someone like you, she deems you worthy of her presence.
Especially if she invited you here herself, knowing you're a hunter.
Annalise acts graceful and calm. At first she doesn't want to show any attachment or affection. However... She'd be the type to beckon you closer, softly touching your cheek and chin as she praises you.
She's surprisingly gentle, as though her touch will corrupt you if she isn't careful. She isn't an intense yandere. In fact... She may just captivate her obsession before they know what's going on.
Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?
Ironically for a being that consumes blood, she doesn't typically get her hands messy. Maybe a long time ago before her war's stalemate... but not much now. The only blood that coats her hands is her own vile blood and... maybe yours if you let her have a taste.
Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?
Annalise no doubt makes you a vileblood like her. She originally held back from it, deciding it would only hurt you. However... eventually her fondness for you wins over.
Annalise would not mock you and would probably keep you in her throne room with you, ignoring her better judgement. She hasn't had a companion in so long since the war. Her guilty pleasure would be having you by her side.
She has no reason to mock you... you are the best company she could ever ask for... she's glad to have found you...
Now you are hers to keep, the blood now within you proves so.
Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?
Not much except keep you in Cainhurst Castle within the throne room. You have some freedom to roam...
But you ultimately belong with her.
Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?
At first, she doesn't want to be attached and corrupt you. Yet once she makes you a vileblood, she's more vulnerable with you. She's fond of you which makes her vulnerable with you.
She hasn't behaved such a way in a long time.
Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?
Disappointed yet expects it. She should've known you wouldn't take too well to her claiming you. Of course you'd want your freedom...
But hopefully she can convince you to stay, after all... you'll begin to crave her blood.
It's a sweet taste... a taste that creates sinful desire... fight all you want...
You'll come back for more of her.
Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?
No and she doesn't enjoy you trying to escape. However, she may let you go...
Only because she knows you'll come back once the withdrawal hits.
Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?
I can't think of many but maybe the realization that, after consuming her blood, you crave her? The moment you pledge to her bloodline... you can't leave, even if you tried. Annalise knows this... and she isn't worried.
You'll soon come to terms with the fact you're hers... and you'll accept your place at her side in her throne room.
Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?
Not much except keeping you beside her as long as possible. She hasn't had good company to talk to in what feels like decades. Let alone someone to love since the war.
Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?
Not really, but if she did, she'd find a way to cope. She has you in ways no one else could, anyways.
Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?
Soft-spoken, affectionate, even if she hesitates at first. She starts by being unsure how to address you or speak to you. It's... been a long time since she spoke to someone properly.
In a way you can consider her a subtle yet possessive yandere, taking great joy in making you consume her blood. After all... such an act makes you addicted... reliant on her like a drug.
For the same reasons, you could consider her controlling, yet she hides such desires well.
Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?
How you meet her is through a mysterious invitation to come to her castle, like in the game. Due to the supernatural ways of how her and her bloodline works, maybe she knew about you before she properly met you?
Then, after she met you and you kneeled before her, she decides you're a valuable asset to her covenant. Another soldier for her army... with enough charisma, she may even push you to listen to her every word.
At first she plans to just use you as a useful soldier... yet as she observes you...
She realizes how lonely she really is.
Her courting is really just manipulation, even though she hesitates on going through with it for the sake of caring about you... eventually you'll drink her blood.
That's about how her courting goes.
She's an easy yandere to avoid, yet when she's attached, it isn't easy to leave.
Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?
Not entirely. Although she doesn't interact with many others.
Naughty: How would they punish their darling?
I assume restraints, but she doubts she needs punishment. You're already quite attached to her blood-wise now... metal cuffs just reinforce such ties.
Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?
You may not realize it but... quite a lot once she has control over you.
Patience: How patient are they with their darling?
Very patient... She's been around for a long time as a vileblood vampire... Naturally she's patient.
Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?
She most likely will... although her mental state is already pretty fragile. She hopes she'll never have to... but she knows the world is cruel. She hopes to prevent losing you altogether.
Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?
Yes and it's possible... but you may just end up crawling back.
Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?
Hard to say. Probably her past and the fact she's been in isolation a long time.
Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?
She'll comfort you the best she can, however, she knows it's best to let you cope. She understands she's asking a lot. She's sorry about it.
She may just leave you be until you're ready for her.
Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?
SKIPPED
Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?
You could easily just not accept her invitation. That, or, not drink her blood. Yet, after you consume her blood, you've already resigned to your fate.
Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?
Not intentionally.
Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?
Not a worship yandere. In fact, your dependency on her blood may make you worship her.
Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?
There's barely any pining. At minimum, maybe a few days? Depends on how often you come back to her.
Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?
Unintentionally.
28 notes
·
View notes