#starter: maeko

[woodblxssomcrowned]

Starter for @hatredcurse - Mito

It was so hard to say.

So hard to make her tongue form the words to describe just one of the feelings that had steadily consumed her since her brother had started spending his days at the academy. They were weighing her down, body and soul, and felt heavier and heavier and more unbearable by the day.

She didn't want to pass that weight to anyone else. She tried so hard not to. Not when they already had their own weight to pull for the village. There was so much to do. So much work that her family were so deeply involved with. Important work, that affected so many.

She could not get in the way.

But with her mothers hands running through her hair and asking such a simple question as 'How are you?' Maeko felt herself come apart.

"I'm-" Her voice cracked. Her fingers curled, nails digging into her palms as she fought the painful knot in her throat.

"I'm fine. Just...been feeling a little bit...lonely lately."

[asterism-codex]

The market street was brightly lit by the lamps and lanterns that lined just about every other open stall. The chatter of the bustling crowd was loud but not completely deafening. The strong aroma of seared meats and intense spices inviting each and every guest to try out the various dishes the market had in store.

"I appreciate you coming with me for this." She smiled. Hearing that there would be a night food festival sounded exciting, but being able to have someone go with her made things so much easier for Maeko.

[rosemarylemont-archived]

Lost Recruit (Closed Starter for @the-hunky-fighter)

Due to a Militarial agreement between Japan and America, an influx of weapons, vehicles, and personnel was traded between the two nations. It was a shaky deal that left some skeptical but most of taken their new comrades in arms with warm reception.

Miss Maeko Yoshinaga was one of the new medical technicians stationed in America. Being in a new country was something that left her excited albeit a little nervous. Things there was bound to be different from her home but she didn't expect to get herself lost in the military base so quickly.. The signs she had been coming across were pointing in just about every direction, so she couldn't possibly find her way around..//

[decimcted]

open to: m/f/nb

plot: general fuckery

“What I want to know is if you’d fuck an alien, that’s all.” There was a little pause as she rocked in her seat, her weight rolling from one side to the other as she watched the other person. “Which leads me into my next question, what kind of alien is your favorite alien?”

[bclasaeg]

//  Having joined high school late, it was no surprise she felt a little out of place. All the cliques were already made and eating lunch alone was a common sight. Maeko’s lunch would be interrupted by a commotion though-- bullying in broad daylight. Was this common? Why was no one doing anything?

   She slammed down her chopsticks and stood up, her height tall enough to match the pair daring to do something so childish.   “ Hey! Y’all got real guts picking on a guy twice your size! I’ll kick you all into a trash can if you don’t screw off already! ”

  Intimidated, they simply barked back at her, calling her names before retreating. Satisfied, she sat back down and continued her lunch.

@tximidity�� | ‘ buncha idiots ’

[thexsenjuxheirs-blog]

wolf in sheep’s clothing

@sennokami (If you’re feeling it)

“What is your name?”

“Mei”

“Where is your home”

“I don’t have one, it was destroyed.”

“Why are you here?” 

“I’m looking for work. Any work. So I don’t have to starve.”

“What do you know about the Senju?”

“I’ve heard they don’t actually exist.”

Maeko looked up from the fire as the thunder clapped outside the old inn. The wind was making the wooden structure creak but it, surprisingly, remained standing. 

She had been lost in though, the sound of the rain on the roof soothing and making her mind drift and she pinched her leg through the fabric of the simple kimono she wore.  She’d been away from home for a year, maybe even bit more than that, but she couldn’t allow herself to forget who she was, what she was and why she was there. And what a small slip-up could mean.   She wasn’t Maeko Senju here, she was Mei the war orphan. Polite, shy and hardworking, with a scar on her cheek and hands that had been callused by burns from the fire she tended to. 

There was a cheer from the corner. Two old men from the village were occupying the table there, they always came in after dark to gamle.  And the young woman who quietly sipped her tea a few tables away from Maeko, she liked to listen when Tama, the elderly owner of the inn, sung. Maybe because she couldn’t sing herself, since she had no tongue. 

That evening the two old men and the young woman were the only regulars at the inn, the other five were travelers and merchants. 

But no Uchiha.  Not tonight. 

Even those who did decide to disguise themselves were fairly easy for her to identify. But most were confident enough in the loyalty of the villagers to come and go freely, proudly displaying the crest on their backs and once they’d had a few cups of sake they had no problem talking a little too loudly of their achievements on their most recent mission or battle.  She prayed they’d drink enough to choke while she smiled and maintained her shy façade.  They rarely choked.  But Maeko almost never saw the same Uchiha twice, and she hoped that was because of her. 

Another clap of thunder shook Maeko to the bone.  Well... the night was still young.  And the Uchiha had a knack for showing up when she wasn’t expecting it. 

[xiomarawinters]

Mummy Dust

@the-hobgoblins

Xiomara’s chest heaved as she leaned on the wall to gasp for air. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force air into her lungs- to fucking breathe. She felt woozy, a side effect of being beat up by two strangers with her former boss standing by with a sneer on his face. Her eye was swollen and weeping, her lip was split, her nose was beaten. She looked like she’d gone in the ring with a fucking Hippogriff. Xi had no idea what to do. Where to go? Who to call? What happened now? She remembered the chilling warning, hissed into her ear:

Don’t show your fucking face here again, or I’ll peel it off.

Groaning, Xiomara clutched her stomach as she forced herself to stand and stumble away from the wall, out of the alley. Not looking where she was going, Xiomara literally ran into something- someone- and she stumbled back, raising a hand and shrinking away, certain that it was Mathis changing his mind. “No please I-”

She opened her eyes, frowning when she saw two oddly-dressed people in front of her. Xiomara squinted, it was difficult to see, but she thought she could make out the outline of two hedge witches who visited the Free Trader Beowulf Safehouse. There was a deep pounding in her head- Xi couldn’t remember their names for the life of her. They’d come with Piper. “I-I know you- Please don’t, I can leave, I’ll go- I just-”

Maeko was lounging on the bed in Oz’s room, puffing on a spliff while Oz hummed and swayed in uncoordinated circles in a pair of Dylan’s pleaser boots. ‘Practicing,’ he said, but Maeko had yet to see any improvement.

After some incident with Loxley that he was less than keen to talk about, he and Piper had gone to Professor Sprout’s farm to lay low for a little bit. Borgin and Burkes was unnervingly quiet without them.

“Mae?” Oz mused suddenly, looking out the window of the second floor bedroom into the empty alleyway below.

“Hm?” Maeko’s black-ringed blue eyes slid to one side to look at him.

“You remember that blonde bird? Looker…mean streak?”

“Who?” Maeko questioned with only mild interest, well used to her half-brother’s half-sensical high ramblings.

“From the safehouse. Tall famous snack of a boyfriend—used to be a gajillionaire.”

“Oh, sure. Xiomara Winters…she used to be in Tu—in Paxton’s house. At Hogwarts.” Maeko took a drag, blew it out, and then added, “…what about her?”

“She’s down in the alleyway, there—some goons givin’ her trouble, looks like…”

“What?!” Maeko stood up and stamped out the spliff, then hopped over to the window and peered down. Sure enough, there was Mathis watching with cruel amusement as Xiomara Winters brawled with two of his nastier-looking associates. “Motherfucking—that lowlife knows not to bring his shit near this building…”

Maeko was already pulling on some jeans and slipping her feet into shoes, and Oz followed suit by pulling off the boots and putting his bare feet into his loose high tops. “Oh goody! Are we rescuing damsels today?” He wrapped a shawl around his bare chest in lieu of a shirt, looking hopeful.

“Looks like it.”

They must have missed Mathis by mere minutes, which irritated Maeko, who had been hoping to give him a piece of her mind. They might have missed Xiomara too if she hadn’t run straight into Oz in her haste to flee the alleyway.

“Hey! Hold on there girlie, we’re not gonna hurt ya…” said Oz.

“Are you alright?” Maeko added, concerned. “Merlin’s balls, you look like shit…did they jump you, or something?”

“At least come inside and get cleaned up, maybe take a few PK’s for the road…us hedges gotta look for each other, don’t ya know?” Oz held out a hand toward Xiomara to help her up.

It wasn't until Xiomara heard their voices that she made the connection to their names- Maeko and Oz. Maeko she knew less about, but Oz? Fucking hell. They kept meeting. She reached up to wipe under her nose with her wrist to stop the bleeding. Xi flicked her gaze up to Maeko as she sniffed, trying to steady her breathing. "Old friends." Was the only explanation she gave, partly because she couldn't think of anything else- partly because she truly didn't know if or what curses Mathis had added while he'd stood there, watching her with a curled lip.

She shook her head at the offer, but did let Oz help her up. "If Mathis sees you let me in…" Xi warned, but she didn't have much of a choice, needing to lean on the hedge witch just to stand. 

They hobbled into Borgin & Burke's, Xiomara felt more and more ill with every step until she was helped onto a couch of some description. She slumped, leaning forward to rest her head in her hands to stop the pounding. Her head was pounding, she felt hot, sick, overwhelmed, like a fire was burning in her chest- not unlike the sensation just before she'd burst the door off its hinges with Loxley.

Trying to remember Howell's warnings, and her Healer's pleading to breathe, Xi tried, in her broken, bloody nose, then out her mouth, past her split lip. She shook.

Xi looked up at the two of them, blinking drearily. "Please don't tell Nate. Don't tell any of them. If Mathis finds the safehouse, he'll-"

Xiomara jumped when there was a sudden knock at the door and she leaned back on the couch, wincing.

Maeko arched a brow at Xi as if to say, you need some better friends, mate, but otherwise didn’t comment; people from Knockturn Alley never pried into other peoples’ business as a rule. When the woman stumbled against Oz Maeko reached out to steady her, too; if she couldn’t even stand on her own there was no way she was gonna make it out of here without some help. “…then he can shove off,” Maeko finished for Xi, dismissing any lingering question of them helping her, “His lot know better than to fuck with a Burke.”

It was a group effort getting Xiomara inside, and after she’d been sat down Maeko flitted around silently gathering a few things—some clean towels, some ice, a large glass of water. Oz gave her a worried look when she rejoined the pair of them in the parlor and Maeko knew he saw what she was seeing: this girl looked really fucked up. Like—more than just a scrap kind of fucked up. Maeko gathered some ice into a hand towel to form an ice pack and held it out toward Xi.

“Can I tell him a few other things, then…?” Oz murmured suggestively, and Maeko kicked his shin; not the time.

There was a knock at the door and Xiomara looked about ready to jump out of her skin. Maeko handed the ice pack to Oz, who offered it to Xi, while Maeko walked over and put a hand on the closed door and closed her eyes, feeling the disturbance in the old building’s intricate wards that were powered by the same blood that ran through her veins. After just a moment, she said nonchalantly, “Cops…” and then walked back toward the other two. One look at Xiomara’s face and she added, “…bloody hell, relax. It’s not like they can get in here.”

Oz, who was kneeling in front of Xi and filling another towel with ice, waggled his brows and added proudly, “We’re what the au-thor-i-ties like to call infamous…”

Xiomara took the makeshift ice pack and held it over the bruised eye, which was what hurt the most. She managed to shift the towel with her other hand to squeeze her nose to try and stop that bleeding, as well. From behind her towel-face Xi narrowed her eyes at Oz- if this was another fucking joke about him genuinely thinking she was a sex worker…

She was on edge at the knock to the door, terrified Mathis had seen Maeko and Oz let her in and despite Maeko’s reassurances… Xi was not very reassured. She’d seen what he could do. Felt it. Xi swallowed, wondering if she’d prefer Magical Law Enforcement or Mathis’s goons- neither, frankly. “I’m on probation,” She said lowly, explaining. “There’s no way they saw, though, right? Mathis had that place warded up like-” She winced, “Like crazy.”

Xi looked down at Oz, wincing and shifting how she held the ice pack. It was a bit like using a spray bottle to put out a wildfire- everything hurt. She still jumped when there was another sharp knock at the door, hated herself for it. The blonde squinted at the hedge witch in front of her, imagining him getting into any sort of trouble with relative ease. “Oh yeah? What’d you do?” She had to keep the conversation going to stop the fear that ran rampant through her veins. He’d found her, he’d found her. You’ll. Explode.

Maeko and Oz both nodded at Xi in unison, commiserating, looking unnervingly related. Maeko glanced at the door when there was a second knock, but otherwise didn’t respond at all, instead taking out and lighting a cigarette with an aloof air. 

Oz laughed, and stretched in his position on the floor until he was lounging half on the couch where Xiomara was sat and his legs were sprawled across the wood floor. He put his arms back, his head in his hands. “Morrigan’s Three Tits, what haven’t I done?” he began with a grin. “…bastard child whose mere existence was an offense worth keepin’ decades-old secrets, for starters…wasn’t allowed to learn magic like the lot of ya—but you know all about that, now, don’t ya? Well let me tell you somethin’—the safehouses on the Irish rounds aren’t so accommodatin’ as your Putney Palace with Mister Nathaniel Pinnock. You gotta do more than prove you can perform…if you want magic there, you gotta earn your keep. I did a lot of, ah…disreputable things, in exchange for spells. Turned tricks, traded drugs…lied, and stole, and cheated, and scrapped, and worse…” Oz sighed, and it was an odd combination of sad and wistful. Then he added cheekily, “…not to mention I spat in the face of a cunt at your Ministry not too long ago.”

Here, Oz looked expectantly at Maeko, who just shrugged and said wryly, “I’m…Maeko Burke.”—as if this explained absolutely everything. Which, to her, it did. But after about a minute of being fixed with Oz’s go on… eyes, Maeko gave a sigh of her own, and then continued in a slow, dreamy tone—as if recounting a past life—“What is there to say? You come from Knockturn Alley, with a name like mine, and it doesn’t matter what you done—people expect you to be a bad seed and somehow, they always turn out right. I snuck out of school in fifth year to go to a protest, turned into a riot. My wand at the time was a family heirloom, or some shit, and when I did some dark magic with it to protect myself it—turned against me. Fucked with my head, took over…made me almost kill my best friend before I snapped it in half. In sixth year my parents were involved in a plot to assassinate the Hogwarts Headmistress, and I was nearly forced into being their accomplice. And when they were shipped off to Azkaban, instead of leaving it all behind like I always swore I’d do, starting over, I came back here to live in this shithole—my grand fuckin’ inheritance—and those bastards out there are just waiting for me to do something really nasty, so they can justify what they’ve thought about me all along. As if I’d ever give ‘em the satisfaction…so look, just because your family, or the Ministry, or the entire fuckin world, or you your own damn self have backed you into a corner? You don’t have to be what they’ve written you off to be. It’s your choice. And keeping people constantly guessing about just what it is you’ll do next? It’s fun. Now…” Toward the end of this speech, Maeko had moved to stand in front of Oz and Xi; she handed Oz her cigarette and then pulled out her wand and pointed it at Xiomara’s face. “…hold still. Episkey.” Xiomara’s broken nose healed just as there was another knock at the door.

Xiomara frowned lightly, listening to the stories of each of the hedge witches in front of her. She overheard them at the flat sometimes- most hedges came with a story, most magic bloomed in adversity. While Maeko and Oz were unique, like every other hedge witch, their stories were uncomfortably familiar. All intertwined. And Oz’s former affiliations explained a lot about why they’d run in the same circles so often. She thought about bothering to explain to Oz that the hedge circle wasn’t hers or Nate’s, she wanted to explain the Free Traders as best she could, pieced together from Nate’s nonsensical rambling-- or maybe even ask more about Maeko’s story, dig in, ask why she’d never heard of it-- but Xi was still just…. Coping with what had happened. She could listen and that was about it. 

The ice was melting in the summer heat, Xiomara moved the ice pack just as Maeko approached her and pointed a wand at her fucking face. Her eyes widened and Xi froze, even if the witch hadn’t instructed her to stay still she would’ve been frozen on the spot out of pure fear. The sensation of her nose being fixed was painful and she groaned, leaning forward to clutch it and swearing. She eyed the door with a glower and then picked up a fresh handful of ice, wrapped it in the towel then put it against her eye. “Thanks.” She commented. Their stories had done remarkably well at distracting her from the current, shitty situation. 

Her phone vibrated against her thigh and she squinted, looking down at it, genuinely surprised it hadn’t short circuited because of the magic in the- a blip, and the phone screen went black. Well. Spoken too soon. She put the phone back in her pocket, against the pack of cards she’d bought for Nate that morning, and then leaned back in the couch, her hand moving up to dangle over her newly-fixed nose. Xi trembled, giving a shaky breath out. “... Any chance I could borrow a cigarette?”

---

Xiomara didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep. It had to have been the early hours of the morning. Mae fell asleep long before she and Oz had drifted off. Oz and Xi spoke quietly, she could see him itching to touch her, to cuddle, but he kept his hands firmly to himself, even sat on them at one point. They traded war stories. Hummed songs. Smoked. Smoked a lot. 

It seemed that she’d only just fallen asleep when her phone buzzed to life again and she started, blinking rapidly and reaching for her phone, studying the screen. Nate. Merlin, he was probably laying a fucking egg by now… Xi reached up to rub her eyes and then hissed at the painful sensation. She put her phone on mirror mode- fuck, it looked bad. She locked her phone immediately and put it in her pocket, then pushed herself to stand. She was wobbly, all limps and sighs just to get to the front door. She had to get to Nate before he did something stupid out of worry.

Xiomara had barely opened the front door a crack before two wix in green robes pushed into the home. She stumbled back, tripping over some sort of metallic artefact that fell to the ground with a spectacular bang. “You- You need a warrant to be in here!” She thought she was talking evenly, calmly, but it sounded more like a shriek.

“No. We don’t. There are two and a half criminals in this property, you were seen fleeing a crime scene, and you two-” The wizard looked up, finding Maeko and Oz now standing, “Aided a person fleeing said crime scene. So, we have due cause not only to enter the property, but given you’re on parole, we can search you at will. As well.”

Xi folded her arms, stepping back from the Aurors. “You can fuck off.”

“Here I am, conducting a search.” The second auror said loudly, patting over his own pockets with a hum. He spoke through the contents of his pockets- a packet of gum, a quill, a train ticket- and then, he pulled out a small plastic baggie, with what looked like vacuum cleaner lint inside. “And- oh, dear. Xiomara, is this Mummy Dust?”

Xiomara was stunned. Genuinely, actually in fucking shock. She blinked stupidly, looking back at Maeko and Oz with her mouth half open. “... Are you… Is this a joke?”

“Xiomara Winters, you’re under arrest for breaching the terms of your parole, and being found with a prohibited substance.” She put her hands up, stepping back and away from them.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Are you- Are you for real?” Xi still could not comprehend it. He held up the bag, waving it a little, and then stepped forward, removing his wand from his sleeve. She barely had time to register what the fuck was going on over Maeko and Oz’s loud protests, before her arms were pinned behind her back with a swish of the Auror’s wand. Maeko stepped forward, bless her, but then the wand was pointed at her-

Xiomara blinked uncomprehendingly, mouth still popped open in shock before she was being spun, and apparated out of Borgin & Burkes. 

Maeko had fallen asleep curled up like a cat in a tiny fetal-position ball on an armchair, while Oz had dozed sitting up, with his head resting on a cushion of the loveseat on which Xiomara was curled with her legs up and bent at an angle. It was a peaceful scene—for half an hour, maybe. An hour tops. 

And then Maeko let out a cry of pain as she felt someone force entry through the wards on her home, without her explicit invitation; a loophole. She jumped to her feet, clutching her side, and Oz startled to the noise and scrambled up, protectively. The pair of them looked at each other and then heard voices in the entryway; Xiomara. Maeko shook off the pain and scowled, grabbing her wand and marching into the room where the commotion was, with Oz trailing close behind her.

Maeko came in on the offensive, with her wand raised threateningly. “Oi—you fuckin’ pigs have no right to—”

“I’d hold your tongue if I were you, Miss Burke…” one of the robed wizards cut her off dismissively, “…you’re a person of particular interest in this precinct, and my partner and I would just love to be the ones to finally bring you in—they’d probably give us a medal ’n everything.”

That did shut Maeko up for the moment, but she didn’t lower her wand at all, and continued to glare at the clearly corrupt officers as they performed their ‘search’ on Xi. She glanced over at Oz and saw him looking on wide-eyed and helpless, wringing his hands. There were specks of dust swirling around him in an unnatural way, and when he met Maeko’s gaze she shook her head at him and mouthed silently, no… Oz’s magic tended to be unstable and unpredictable, and now was definitely not the time for any kind of erratic outburst. 

But then Xiomara was being roughly restrained, and both Maeko and Oz’s attention returned to her; Oz said loudly, “Get your fuckin’ hands off of her—” while Maeko, at the same time, growled, “Oh like fucking hell you think we’re just gonna let you—”

Maeko stepped forward, and was about to fire off the first spell that came to mind, when in a blip the intruders were gone, along with Xiomara. Oz emitted a pained, defeated sort of sound, while Maeko shook with rage, before forcing herself to slowly lower her wand. 

She turned to face Oz, and he said, “What now?”

Maeko shook her head, not seeing anything they could do. But then, after a moment, she had a thought; “We…we should go to Putney…” Oz cocked his head at her, and Maeko added, “…we should go to Xiomara’s safehouse and talk to that prick, Nathaniel Pinnock. About what went down.”

[the-hobgoblins]

✸ one short day [in the emerald city] ✸

Who: Ozymandias Pryce

Where: Ministry of Magic, London

When: 22 May 2020

When Oz came to, he was in a dark and unfamiliar room, blinking drearily into the sinister greenish haze. His head was throbbing and his wrists felt sore—which upon further investigation might’ve had something to do with the fact that he was sitting upright in a stiff wooden chair with his hands restrained behind his back by faintly buzzing cuffs of magic, which heated up and zapped when he pulled on them too hard. “Ow, fuck me sideways…” he groaned, trying to remember how he’d gotten here.

The trouble must have started that morning, when Oz ran out of rolling tobacco. 

Wait, no—that’s not quite right, is it? Let’s back up a bit…

Actually, the real trouble started when a daunting envelope stamped with an M arrived on the doorstep of Borgin and Burkes. A census questionnaire from the Magicky Government in England, and it sent everyone into a real tizzy—especially Piper.

They’d all just agreed to not send it back; after all, what were they gonna do, really? “The feds are always trying to stir up shit in Knockturn Alley…” Maeko had said, tossing the papers into a rubbish bin definitively. “…but any of ‘em who know anything won’t be stupid enough to get near this building.”

And that was true enough—the house wards and general reputation did prevent anyone wearing government robes from approaching the building. Staking it out from down the alley, though? That only got worse as time passed and the census documents from 13B remained unreturned, until the household were practically self-imposed hostages in their own home, apparating straight to and from the property interior, the windows and shutters and blinds all firmly closed.

And then Oz had run out of rolling tobacco. 

The sun was just starting to come up (not that you could ever tell very well in the perpetual shadowy gloom of Knockturn), but it was definitely too early still to really be considered morning. Oz groaned irritably, restless, and high, and hungover. He peeked out from behind the closed curtained window in his room down the empty alleyway. Five minutes, he’d be gone, tops. No life-or-death crises ever happened in five minutes, at five in the morning. 

Out and back, no problem.

Except, of course, for the increased patrols that had been ordered all along the alley for the past two weeks—which none of the Borgin and Burkes crew knew about, not having physically walked up or down Knockturn Alley in roughly a month. Oz emerged from the smoke shop to the sight of a literal kid—must have been affiliated with one of the local gangs that struggled for underground dominance in the area—pointing at Oz, and then two big robed thugs pulled out wands and started toward him with threatening intent.

And that’s when Oz bolted down the alley in the direction of Borgin and Burkes, all the way at the end. He didn’t get far before a spell hit him in the back and he fell, and when his head hit the cobblestone he was out like a light. 

And that, ladies and gents, brings us up to speed on the knee-slapping nonstop jokefest that brought Oz to this current moment—detained inside the infamous Ministry of Magic. 

They must have had some way to detect when he woke up, because not a minute after he’d opened his eyes, a heavy metal door opened and in strolled the two beefy brutes who’d shot him down in the street like a…pheasant, or something? Whatever, Oz didn’t know a lick about hunting for sport, and was that a bad thing? The English were barbaric creatures, honestly. 

After the men came a woman with coiffed grey hair that didn’t match the age of the rest of her, wearing a wide-belted trench coat and a cravat and a very outlandish hat. Her thin matte red lips were absolutely predatory. 

Under other circumstances, Oz thought he would have liked her. 

“Well, good morning to both of you very capable stalkers! And my gentle lady…” Oz said amiably, shifting as much as was possible into a lounging position given the way he was being restrained. “…or should I say afternoon? Evening? Gute Nacht?” He had no clue how much time had passed since he’d stupidly left Borgin and Burkes that morning, how long he’d been in here. He looked between the men, who just stood in front of the closed door with muscly arms folded in surly silence, while the woman pulled out a chair and sat down in it; it gave a screech as the legs scratched the floor, the kind that made your skin crawl, and her red lips got even thinner as she smirked. Not very forthcoming, then, it seemed. Lovely. 

Oz, not thrown in the least by the silent treatment, said, “So what can I do ya for?”

The woman pulled some papers out of a briefcase, straightened them by tapping the bottom edge on the table, examined them a moment. Then: “Ozymandias Pryce, is it?”

“In the flesh, as they say…” Oz replied, all cheek and ease. 

“I thought so…” the woman said, and her smugness was sinister. She lit a cigarette at the end of a long, old-fashioned cigarette holder and leaned back in her chair. The smell of smoke immediately made Oz itch with craving. The woman smoked for a moment, her eyes never leaving Oz. Then she added, “…I must say, Mister Pryce, that your reputation precedes you…”

“Does it?” said Oz. “Well I’m tickled pink to hear it, truly. In fact, if you undid these very, ah—zappy cuffs, here, I’d be more than happy to—”

“—I think not,” she cut him off, smirk widening, flipping a page. “You’re the Squib brother of Maeko Burke, is that correct?”

Oz laughed. “Is that what my file there says? I suppose the Very Official Documents always know best…”

“And are you aware, Mister Pryce, that performing magic with a wand that has not been licensed to you is a fineable—sometimes even punishable offense?”

Here Oz really cackled. “Are you lot cracked? You think poor little un-magical me was so desperate to be a Manly Wizard Man that I stole someone’s little Spelly-Stick to wave around when your suits refused to license me one?” His tone was thick with mocking.

“I’m not alleging that…” the woman said, shifting, unfazed. “…I’m merely pointing out the fact that it’s considered unusual—highly unusual, for someone with your handicap—”

“My what?”

“—to take up residence in a strictly magical area of commerce. And that one, in particular. Makes one wonder…”

“So you’re saying it’s a crime to live with my sister? My only relative who isn’t currently servin’ a life’s sentence—and oh wait, whose fault is that again?”

“And you’re saying we don’t have just cause to be suspicious of the children of known felons, living amongst the highest density of criminal activity in the entire country—”

“My sister an’ I aren’t fuckin’ criminals, you intolerant twot—” Oz spat back, straining against the restraints despite the stinging buzz the dissenting effort shot up his arms. 

The woman leaned across the table like a cat taunting its prey, breathing smoke into Oz’s face. She grinned, as if riling him up were some kind of victory. “Not yet, maybe. But keep it up, mister—you and Miss Burke will be joining your beloved parents in the company of Dementors in no time.”

Oz shrank back into his seat, admittedly just a little bit shaken in the face of an actual, overt threat. After a moment, deflated, he said, “Whadda you want, then, reely? I’m not fuckin’ touched, I know I’m not shit to you ’n yours…let’s just get this bit over ’n done with, shall we? So we can all go home?”

“I’m happy to hear you’re willing to be so cooperative…” the woman said, pleased as punch. “…for starters, the 13B Knockturn Alley residence has failed to return the mandatory census questionnaire, and has exhibited suspicious behavior—not just in the past month, but for years that we’ve sent patrols to maintain peace in the area. If you confess what you’re hiding to me, now, I’d be willing to consider advocating for leniency for you…”

“And Maeko?” asked Oz warily. This wasn’t just about Piper, then—that was just the tip of the iceberg. 

“Miss Burke’s case would be separately considered, in relation to the severity of her crimes—if she has nothing to hide, then she should have nothing to worry about…”

Oz narrowed his eyes and kept quiet, not taking the bait. After a minute, the woman prompted, “One more question, Mister Pryce—what can you tell me about your involvement with the underground insurgency group who’ve been spreading violent, anti-regulatory propaganda under the guise of rock music?”

This question did, genuinely, confuse Oz. “The—the who?”

“I believe they refer to themselves as ��The Band Cthulhu?’”

And then Oz burst into loud, hysterical laughter. He rocked in his chair with the force of it and then spat—literally—at the woman across the table. He propped up his dirty sneakers, his legging-clad legs, and grinned. “Up yours, ya loony bitch. Your lot’ve got fuck all on me.”

He was still laughing when the woman stormed out of the interrogation room, enraged, wiping her spat-upon face with her cravat. And even when her muscle came and roughed him up a little for his insolence, Oz kept laughing.

And several hours later, when Maeko and a portly gentlemen claiming to be Oz’s legal council showed up and facilitated his release, Oz walked out of the Ministry of Magic laughing.

[aeternxm]

a petite hand reaches up, knuckles softly tapping against the window to maeko’s room until finally, finally tiburon spots a figure walking towards the window. there’s a soft smile as she steps back, watching the window open and maeko’s face comes into view looking like she’s just rolled out of bed which, considering the time, is quite probably true.

“ m-maeko-chan! you have to get r-ready now! we’re going out a-and i won’t take no for an answer! “

starter | @bclasaeg​

[tempusxvernum-moved]

Starter for @kittenxmulti

~~~

Maeko felt like she had been fighting for hours.

It had initially started as a brief training session, Maeko wanting to keep her skills decently sharpened just in case anything were to happen.

And happen they did.

She had just been about to finish up when she felt the first tinge of darkness creeping up the back of her neck. Heartless began pouring their way out of the nearby tree line, and since she was practically the only one there with a keyblade and therefore the only one capable of defending, she got to work.

But there were too many, and Maeko had nearly been overrun a dozen times by that point, and she was getting worried, her lungs burning as she tried to catch her breath, and her hands aching from how tightly she was gripping onto her keyblade.

[woodblxssomcrowned]

Starter for @sealedfist

"Tsuna. My darling. Please, listen to me carefully; just because your grandfather did it, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Ever."

"In fact, next time you're about to do something he did, please stop, and carefully reconsider."

[traitor-angel-16-5]

Starter for @ask-winglessarcher (Pit and Dark Pit)

The space between the three of them was empty. Just Pit, his darker counterpart, Maeko and the sky above them. The grass beneath was quite soft, it could lull anyone to sleep. The stars were nothing but glimmering white dots scattered across the endless cobalt that was the night. Looking down, colorful city lights littered the dusk setting.

"If we were to turn off the power for one night," Maeko said to herself. "Do you think there would be more stars?"

Her halo was a dimmed aquamarine with curious strands of light dancing around it.

[decimcted]

starter for: @trashxrps​

She was trying to explain herself. Once again, Maeko ran her mouth when she should have shut it and went and said too much. To those that knew it, it wasn’t anything new. But when she was behind the bar, speaking to the clientele with little to no filter was bad for business. Or so she was told.

“Ignore that I said that.” No one really needed to know about the mating habits of manatees, but you know. “What can I get you?”

[bclasaeg]

//  How does one measure obligation? How far does it exactly stretch? The answer to the question differed from person to person but Maeko was never satisfied enough with any answer. She thought the frigid air would possibly calm her down but it was doing nothing but making her shiver. Damn... she should’ve brought her wallet at least.

     I gave birth to you so you should listen to me. We put a roof under your head.              Why can’t you be like your brother? Why can’t you be grateful?

  Oh no. The tears were coming. She pressed her thumb even more firmly against her forehead, trying to halt the waterworks. This was a public place. 

         “ Just shut up already... I get it... ” She muttered.

@onlooked​ liked for a starter! | ‘ i want to run away again ’

[thexsenjuxheirs-blog]

@konohas-kitsune-queen liked for a starter

“Do you think I made the right choice?” Maeko only glanced up at her mother, who had her back turned.  Mito’s hair was down, cascading down her back and over her shoulders, Maeko had always envied that hair. 

She quickly looked back down at the scroll in front of her, pursing her lips.  “By leaving the academy I mean...” It had been years since Maeko had begged her parents to not have her go to the academy anymore, that she didn’t want to be a ninja.  It hadn’t been strictly true, and they must have known that.  What had been impossible for her to learn back then, she was now starting to. Which was making her doubt her choices. 

[kinokami]

[teenie tiny starter for @thexsenjuxheirs]

“Maeko. About your...condition.”