#tw shared blood

[grimalkinmessor]

Fairy + afofa please?

I'm differentiating between my AFOs now so works closer to Absolute Power will refer to him as Takashi, while works closer to canon will refer to him as Hiro :3

AFOFA/Fairy

———

When Hiro comes upon the clearing, he doesn't think much of it. There are belongings scattered about in the grass in the center; a black bag full of silky clothes and shiny trinkets, a still smoldering fire over which an iron pan is sizzling something delectable smelling in, a soft cotton bedroll, and a lone ferret skin laid out to dry on a stump.

Things abandoned are things freely given to those who want them. Hiro doesn't hesitate in going forward and quickly gathering up all the items he's found, peering over into the pan last to eye the fragrant food greedily. Three hunks of chicken gleam up at him, covered in sesame oil and savory spices, a whole pile of vegetables pushed off to the side, already cooked to perfection. His concave stomach growls.

Hiro reaches a hand into the pan with no concern for the heat of it, pulling out the smallest piece of chicken for himself. He swallows it down in the fewest bites possible, licking his lips and grabbing the rest of the pan to lift it from the fire. He left Yoichi back somewhere beyond the treeline, near a small creek. Neither of them have eaten in days, but Yoichi is always so thin. Hiro can't keep any weight on his brother—Yoichi needs the food.

Sometimes, Yoichi gets so starved that he feels sick. Like he can't eat, or he'll just waste it by throwing it all back up.

Hiro eyes the chicken. He might have to shred it. Forcing food in Yoichi's whining mouth tends to go better when the portions are small. Plus it reduces the risk that he'll choke.

But before he can do any of that—before he can even take another step forward to leave the clearing—the entire forest goes quiet.

Hiro whips his head up, eyes wide.

The clearing is different than it was before.

The trees in the distance have changed. Where there was once browning grass there is now a field of brightly colored wildflowers. The previous buzz of insects and shuffling animals has been replaced by a low, constant hum. It sounds the same as one of those cups Hiro had once stolen; a clear ring pinging out from Yoichi's tapping fingertip.

("It's crystal.")

It seems to be summer here, wherever he is. Maybe spring, given the flowers.

Hiro steps back from the new surroundings, baring his teeth instinctively as he clutches his spoils close to his chest. He doesn't know how to get back to where he was. He doesn't know how to get back to Yoichi. He can't smell him anymore.

For a brief, annoying moment, Hiro wishes he'd brought Yoichi scouting with him. Yoichi has a prey's instinct, able to sense traps and predators long before they themselves are spotted. Always grabbing Hiro's arm, holding him in place as his eyes go wide behind his hair and he listens for things even Hiro's superior hearing can't detect.

"Wait," he always says. "Don't move. Wait."

And then Hunters will pass by with their white suits and wire sticks, or a stray animal will trip a metal jaw Hiro would've slammed his foot in had Yoichi not asked him to pause.

Being a predator has its own disadvantages. Low observance.

Hiro's head snaps around when a shadowy figure steps out from behind a tree, white eyes gleaming beneath the shade of the foliage. A white smile splits their face like the moon in the night, and a soft, melodic voice whispers, "Well, what do we have here?"

Despite Hiro's superior vision, he can't make out any other features beneath that heavy shadow. He narrows his eyes.

Before he can demand that the figure show itself, it steps forward and the shadows shielding it fall away. It's ever so slightly taller than him, dressed in strange clothing that twinkles and shimmers, pale skin and pink lips. Gold cuffs its fingers and wrists, a few more on its upper arms and neck, gleaming.

Long white hair is tied up in a braided bun, matching the shade of its ghost white eyes, but—

Hiro stares.

It looks... just like Yoichi.

Sharp jaw, soft cheeks, even dark lashes where Hiro's own are white—it smiles wider, and it's as blinding as Yoichi's, infinitely brighter even, because Yoichi has never been so freely amused.

It's older than Yoichi too; as if this is what Yoichi would look like were he fully grown.

The face-thief's expression flickers when it scans his face, smile falling into something more surprised. Curious.

"Oh, you look... Hm," it hums, venturing closer. Hiro is frozen in place. It circles him, and it even smells like Yoichi, like flora and ozone and snake mint. "...A changeling? I didn't think he'd sired any, but you could be twins." It stops in front of him again, head cocked. "May I have your name, little one?"

"No," Hiro spits automatically, bristling. He crowds his spoils closer to him, inching back. Thief recognizing thief. "My brother gave it to me. You can't have it."

It blinks—and then it grins, sharp and delighted. "Pure instinct. Maybe you are one of us, after all."

It circles him again, this time trailing a light hand across his shoulders, and gives a musical hum.

"I think we can help each other, little changeling."

Hiro doesn't respond, so it peers around his own shoulder at him, still smiling sweetly. It smells...so nice. Hiro blinks rapidly, disoriented.

"You seem to have a taste for things that aren't yours," it purrs, tracing a finger down his sternum, dipping under his ragged shirt. Its breath is hot in his ear. "As do I. I'd like you to be my husband, little changeling. I've been looking for one."

"Hus...band?" Hiro doesn't understand; he's never heard that word before.

The hand on his shoulder cups his neck, sliding up to press long, soft fingers into his cheek, thumb brushing beneath his eye. The scent wafting off its skin grows stronger. Sweeter.

"Yes," he purrs. "You'd want for nothing. All the food you could ever eat, all the luxuries you could ever want. A soft bed and a warm body to share it."

Hiro sways forward, eyes hooding. Something in his gut is pulling, tugging him gently towards the being in front of him. "And...people would look at me? People would see me?"

A light, tinkling laugh again, and the being presses its mouth against his. Bliss floods his mind, and his eyes flutter shut. The warm pressure is so nice, the smell so familiar, the shine of hair so—

"Yoichi," Hiro sighs, drugged on the intoxicating feeling.

Yoichi pauses, and then his smile widens against Hiro's lips. He says, whispering against him, "Everyone would look at you. I'd place you on a throne beside me, and I'd put a crown upon your head. No one would be able to take their eyes off of you, love."

Love.

Is that what this is? Love? Is this what their books spoke about when they went on about the power of love, about the beauty of romance?

'Yes,' Hiro thinks. 'Yes, this must be love. I love Yoichi. There isn't anybody else I could ever love, so this must be it.'

"Will you marry me?" Yoichi asks, so sweet, so familiar, so beautiful.

"Yes," Hiro breathes, his grip loosening on the things he's holding. They clang to the ground as he grabs onto Yoichi, grip tight enough to bruise. The only thing he's ever wanted, the only thing he's ever needed. "Yes."

A wide, bright, wild grin.

"Excellent."

•°•

Hiro isn't sure how much time passes. Only that the flowers never wither here, the warmth of summer never fades, and his stomach is never empty. The light here is dim and blinding all at once, golden and sparkling. He feels perpetually, pleasantly dizzy.

Yoichi, dressed in intricate white clothing and golden jewellery, watches with interest as Hiro grows rapidly, the only tell of the passing of time.

He adjusts Hiro's crown of golden thorns, white rainflowers braided between. His other hand tucks a strand of hair behind Hiro's ear, which Hiro nuzzles into, teeth flashing as he tastes. Yoichi merely smiles. "What troubles you, Love?"

Hiro flashes his tongue across the bitemark, tasting blood, and huffs irritably. It doesn't taste quite right. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."

"Ah, I'm sorry. That feeling will fade," Yoichi soothes. He leans forward to scrub his cheek across Hiro's in a similar animalistic display. "When we return to our chambers tonight, I will help you."

Hiro sinks into Yoichi's touch, eyes intent. Skin hunger, in a new way than before. Ways he'd never thought to try.

Ways another being, older than him, taller than him, full of death and winter and wearing Hiro's face, now envies him for. Hates him for.

Hiro doesn't much care.

(You seem to have a taste for things that aren't yours...

As do I.)

Still, something unsettles him. He feels something churning beneath his skin, an itch he can't quite scratch. Something has been stolen from him. Something he can't steal back for himself. He has no idea where to even begin looking for it, let alone what it is. The lights and music and food and glory dim the feeling considerably, but he's never rid of it. Yoichi soothes it best, but even he can't snuff it completely.

The music changes from ambiance to song, and the wild, brilliant beings on the floor begin to dance along to it with laughs and hollers. Several others, however, wait by the walls or hug the heavy tables. Once they start, they don't stop until Hiro wants them to. He likes to watch them dance for hours, likes the mesmerizing way their jewellery swings and their hair flies and their clothes swish. He could watch it forever if Yoichi didn't call his attention when too much blood ran the floor.

Tonight though, Hiro feels restless. He doesn't touch the control he has over the dancers' feet, standing and rounding the golden table in front of him. Yoichi starts, grabbing his wrist with a ringed hand, and Hiro pauses. "Love?"

"I want to dance," Hiro says, though he's not sure if he really does. He doesn't know how to dance.

Yoichi tilts his head, standing himself to lean over the table and cup Hiro's cheek. Hiro grabs his hand unthinkingly, holding it close. "Not with the commoners, Love. I will dance with you."

He leans closer, intending to close the gaps between their mouths. Hiro's eyes hood, expectant, anticipatory—

Blood.

Yoichi rears back and screams, his grip on Hiro falling away to clutch at the quiver now jutting out of his face, black blood spurting from his pierced eye and soaking his face. His expression turns beastly, snarling in pain and outrage at something behind Hiro.

Hiro snaps out of his trance at once, whipping around to see—

He freezes.

The magic dies in an instant.

Yoichi crouches on the far window sill, bow still pressed against his cheek.

His eyes are a bright and beautiful green.

Hiro can't breathe. How could he have forgotten? How could his very reason for living have been stolen from him? How could he have been so thoroughly deceived—so thoroughly tricked!? How could he not know what he was missing?

Little brother.

First gift.

Atae.

"You have something of mine," Yoichi calls, quiet but clear over the sudden silence. His voice is different, aged, and he is taller, his face sharper—

How long has it been? How much has he missed? How, how, his brother—

Yoichi slips off the sill and down onto the floor, one hand smoothly taking another arrow and notching it in the bowstring, bringing it back up to aim at the doppelganger. In stark contrast to the other Yoichi's sparkling, white clothing, his Yoichi is clothed in all black. He's covered in dirt, his hair down and tangled, a leaf or two stuck between the strands. His hands don't shake, and Hiro feels suddenly incandescent, the desire to know where he's been and when and who he learned those skills from consuming him like a match thrown onto dry grass.

You grew? You learned? Without me?

"You steal something from me," Yoichi tells his double, the crowd parting for him rapidly as he steps into the middle of the room. His gaze is unyeilding. "I steal something from you."

"My eye," the Yoichi creature hisses, incensed.

"And I'll take the other one!" Yoichi suddenly shouts, baring his teeth and stamping his foot, hand tightening the bowstring. His eyes are narrow, blazing green slits. "It would be pennies to what you took from me. And if you try to stop me from taking back what I'm owed, I'll put the third arrow through your throat."

Silence reigns over the courtyard for a long, long moment, thick with tension. Hiro finds himself holding his breath.

Not because he's worried about the outcome; on the contrary, if the doppelganger says no he will simply walk away anyway. No one has ever stopped him from doing exactly what it is he wants to do, and he won't let some fake start now. No, something else has Hiro's attention now.

He has never seen his brother look so beautifully vicious before.

When the other Yoichi doesn't answer, Hiro's own sinks into a nastier glare. "I saw you with him. I've been watching you for a while, trying to figure out your strengths, your weaknesses, your reasons. And I've come to the conclusion that you're petty. You have your own, but you took mine because you knew it would make yours angry. You thought it'd be the best option; a human boy is easier to control than another King, right?" he bites out, tone crackling with derision. Hiro feels hot, burning beneath the frills of his clothes. Yoichi hisses, "So you either give me back my brother... or I go give myself to yours."

The doppelganger makes an immediate, enraged hissing sound, like the rattle of a snake. His white, remaining eye flares gold, mouth twisted in a snarl. Then, in jerky movements, he takes his seat on his throne again. He wrenches the arrow out of his eye and tosses it onto the marble floor at Yoichi's feet.

"Take him then," the fake sneers, paying no mind to the fresh wave of blackened blood pouring down his cheek like dark tears. "Little thorn. And be aware that there are no returns."

Yoichi, the real one, quickly approaches the dias, un-notching his arrow to take Hiro's wrist in his hand. Hiro lets out the breath he'd been holding, feeling a brilliant spark of rightness at the touch. It soothes away that prevailing sense of wrongness that's been plaguing him for...

Well, he doesn't even know how long anymore.

"Your debt has been righted," Yoichi says primly, disdainfully, and Hiro feels the sudden urge to bite him, to taste him and make sure he's real.

Yoichi begins to drag him towards the steps, but before he can get there, his alter snakes a hand out a grabs his hand like a viper. Hiro growls in instinctive anger, incensed—but Yoichi merely turns to look over his shoulder, prey-cautious and predator-sure.

His double looks down his nose at him. Solemn. Seething.

"I have lived for far longer than you have or ever will. I know things that are yet beyond you. Be careful you don't live to regret freeing him from me."

"I'll take my chances," Yoichi answers quietly, resolute as stone, and snatches his hand back.

Who is this new creature?

But of course, Hiro knows. This is still his Yoichi. He smells like himself, sounds like himself, moves like himself, even if he's grown.

He tows Hiro out of the courtyard, out of the hall, out of the castle and into the forest beyond, and only then do his hands begin to shake. Hiro watches his straightened spine begin bend, watches tears begin to bead like crystals along dark lashes, and breathes in the feral scent of him like a drug when Yoichi finally turns and clings to him, the donned bow digging into his chest.

"You were gone for so long," Yoichi gasps, hands clawing into his back. "Two years, two years I spent looking for you. I missed you so much, big brother," he sobs, scrubbing his dirty face into Hiro's tunic.

"I thought it was you," Hiro rasps, clinging back just as tightly. "I wouldn't have gone if—I only went because he convinced me he was you. He made me forget. Replaced you in my head."

Yoichi digs his nails in, lips pursed as he lays his head on Hiro's chest, listening to his heartbeat. "You didn't give him your name?"

"No," Hiro answers, blinking. He tilts his head in befuddlement. "It was a gift from you. Why would I give it to anyone? It's mine."

Yoichi smiles then, laughing a little helplessly into Hiro's chest as a few more tears slip out of his eyes. He hugs Hiro tighter. "Good. I'm glad. I don't think I could've gotten you back otherwise, no matter what I said."

Words are Yoichi's weapons, Hiro realizes then. Words and feelings. A rabbit baiting a fox into a bear trap.

Not quite so helpless after all...

"Let's get out of here," Yoichi murmurs, pulling back and scrubbing at his face. He laces their fingers together and starts off again, occasionally looking back as if to make sure that Hiro is still there.

Hiro hungrily takes in the sight of him, of his leaf-strewn hair, his pinkened nose and cheeks, his wet lashes, the set of his jaw, the sharp, cunning green of his eyes. The black is new, the weapon is new, but not at all a deterrent for the same old starving flame that Hiro has always carried in place of his heart for his brother. He thinks that, if nothing else, that fake might have shown him how to slake it.

He can't wait to show Yoichi everything he's learned.

-------

This took forever sorry I went insane a little :D

[garliicgun]

this game breaks my heart…..! 💔

[thedoodlebuggo]

hey guys guess who's back

[acetier]

"Be a good mongrel and stay. Down."

[shepscapades]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Don’t Let it Reach the Heart]

Most of the words written here are again lyrics from Joywave’s Destruction, but throughout lyrics here and there, I plan to incorporate a little bit of dialogue! I’ve been playing around a lot with lighting and fun poses and stuff, so this has genuinely been a blast to work on :] Expressions have always been my favorite thing to draw but uh. There’s something particularly special about getting to draw chill/stoic characters like doc and etho um. Going Through It >:3 (Same with X but we’ll get there later)

Still don’t know how many parts this will be, but I’ll be updating each part as everything comes out! :]

[ruporas]

feast (ID in alt)

[sirlanval]

Swan Song: An illustrated poetry zine about Law and Doflamingo (by me!)

[mybrknhrtt]

- does a hunt that has no violence feed anyone? ✸

[taiturner]

#what if you held a knife to my throat to kill me and months later i used that same knife to sacrifice my blood to save your life

@yellowjacketsnetwork event 01: dynamics SHAUNA SHIPMAN & TRAVIS MARTINEZ

[lulushuu]

Aren't you a sight for sore eyes, bride of mine?

[grimalkinmessor]

Twins separated at birth anon here! I was actually thinking about an AU where the father shows up and is willing to take in one of the babies because he needs a male heir to help retain dynastic control of the family business. His choice falls onto AFO obviously, he only needs one child, and quite frankly the sickly younger twin doesn't look like he'd make it to adulthood. Alternatively the paternity test reveals that he only fathered one of the twins. (In rare cases, a woman can give birth to twins with different fathers. This might be the case for Mrs Shigaraki whose job requires her to have sex with multiple men.) Though he isn't a total asshole and pays Mrs Shigaraki enough money to give birth in a hospital and raise Yoichi for the first few years of his life. Unfortunately she still dies young and the other women working in the red light district have pity on her boy and take turns looking after him. With a pretty face and no education Yoichi eventually ends up becoming a sex worker just like his mom, wheras AFO is groomed to be the perfect successor for one of Japan's oldest family-run businesses. There is still a mark where AFO has grabbed his wrist and the nurses had to separate them by force. I imagine misunderstandings ensure when AFO who cannot forget his other half, has finally found Yoichi.

Not a bad premise 👀

I think that Yoichi would have to be in more unfortunate circumstances to have his ONLY option be sex work, even with no education. Either that or he just enjoys it and wants to do it—though that's less an unfortunate circumstance for him, because I see him capitalizing on it fairly easily, especially if he's surrounded by people who are in the Know™ about the shoulds and should-nots of sex work. So AFO would either come across a desolate sex worker Yoichi in desperate need of rescue, or a relatively well-off experienced sex worker Yoichi....whom AFO would also see as someone in need of rescuing.

Either way, that first meeting should be fun >:3 Yoichi probably assumes all the "little brother" talk is a kink (and would he be WRONG?), and AFO probably takes Yoichi's flirtations not as part of his job, but as a sign that his poor destitute twin has fallen into a terrible sex addiction away from his loving hand and guidance 😔

And then of course they have sex lmao

Nepo Baby AFO then spirits Yoichi away from the red light district, which depending on the route you've taken he could be very happy or very alarmed about, and then sequesters him away in one of his many property houses ^^ Yoichi won't ever have to lift a finger to get food or shelter or love or sex ever again, don't worry, AFO is taking care of everything 💕

[elderwisp]

find your faith

[dunderella]

"my days as a firebrand are long behind me" "cid the vicious, was it?"

thinkin about cid in his prime... using both swords... ahhhh

[rainbow-beanie]

OH FUCK YOU OF COURSE BRANDON WROTE THIS EPISODE. NO WONDER HE WAS SO EXCITED 😆

[bonkalore]

This is actually one of my earlier pics I've ever drawn for the AU, but it took a while for me to finish the pattern on the back and I put off posting it bc it's rather dark ffff

But basically have that Jayce actually was killed when he first got the Dread by Viktor Albright, his former mentor, and was brought back by the Dread, which changed him gradually into a demon. He escaped from Viktor for a while and was gonna open the coffer still, but then got arrested and eventually found by Viktor and his alchemists and was put into a soul box, which he was in for 5 years.

Still a tragic betrayal that neither parties took lightly.

[4suitedplayingcard]

Wanted to test out a doinky lil brush I made

Refs under cut: