#x iiiiis a self-insert bUT

[west-tokyo-incidents]

Hi you now have more context for X as a character!

---

Uta hesitated before riveting the final piece onto the mask before him.

Normally he handled his commissions in his own vision of the person who came in. But this one was different.

He hadn't even heard the door open, much less smell the ghoul that entered his studio a few minutes after he'd closed. That alone was enough to make him suspicious when he turned to see the figure in is doorway. Though its face held innocence enough, its sclera were pitch and a long blood red tail moved slowly behind it; a simple Bikaku. And as for a gender… he couldn't tell; flat chested with a simple tank top, as well as long, ill fitting pants. Its hair was long and wavy, but nappy and not well taken care of. Its face had sharp lines, but was as androgynous as the rest of it. He wondered, briefly, if they were homeless.

"Sorry but the studio is closed." His posture stayed neutral. He'd dealt with cannibals in his studio many times before, this wasn't a concern. But the ghoul pulled a tattered sketchbook from its jacket and laid it on the counter, keeping its distance as it slid the well-worn book towards him. Just as cautious as he was, apparently.

It was open to a specific page of a mask concept sketch. It was simple, but odd. The face was blue and plain, save for four eyeholes covered with a fine black mesh for visibility outwards, but not inwards. A swift glance up at the ghoul, standing so still at the end of the counter, showed a lack of said extra eyes. But he looked back to the drawing, his eyes drawn to the most prominent feature. Two long, onyx horns curled off of either side of it, like ram's horns.

Simple enough... Too simple, really.

"I can do it." He sighed, "Though I wish you'd come earlier. I closed a little while ago."

The ghoul looked down at its feet and nodded. Their arms moved behind their back; apologetic. Uta felt a wave of exasperation, but motioned the ghoul over, "Alright, come over here and let me take some measurements."

He posed a couple of questions, but the ghoul stayed silent, shaking its head when he asked it simple yes or no questions. To others, it simply pointed at its throat.

Mute? Perfect. Yet he kept his demeanor cool. He even offered a notebook for them to write in, but they simply denied it. Once he had everything he needed, the ghoul tore out the mask's page in the sketchbook, leaving that page on the counter before slipping out the door as silently as it came in.

In short, he knew nothing about the person that would be behind this mask. He'd had difficult customers before but this one almost felt impersonal. Sure, he'd made the face more angular and gave it more dimension than just a flat mask. The horns were his favorite part, but the face looked so... empty. No mouth, no detail. He leaned back after finally putting the piece on and crossed his arms with a huff. He was not happy with this work at all, but he'd been glared at when he suggested small changes to the design. He knew he'd do a better one just to satisfy his need to elaborate on the design. Leave it as a display piece in his studio. As it was, he stood and draped cloth over the mask.

He picked up the yellowed page of the sketchbook and looked it over again, the paper covered with notes of his own around the design. The ghoul had talent in sketching, he would admit, but their visions seemed to be on opposite ends of a spectrum. He turned back to the covered piece and shook his head before shoving the paper behind his counter.

The ghoul who'd commissioned it likely wouldn't be back for a few days.

---

It wasn't long before the ghoul came back. And again it managed to slip by him. Now he turned at the sound of fabric rustling and a voiceless gasp. The ghoul was already at the mask, having uncovered it. Thin, pale hands drifted over the edges of it, as if cupping a loved one's face. Its eyes widened and an expression like joy swept over its face.

Uta couldn't help but smile to himself. Even if he hadn't liked making it, he'd made something come to life for this ghoul and it looked about ready to cry. Its Bikaku curled around itself as its fingers danced across the horns.

Fingertips curled beneath the edges of the mask and slowly lifted up, sliding it free of the mannequin. It held it to its chest and hugged it before looking to Uta with a grin. They slipped on the mask immediately afterwards, and Uta slid over to help them fasten the back of it. As it turned to look up at him, the mask brought an almost unnerving stoic feel to the ghoul's face.

Money was happily passed from commissioner to artisan, but Uta laid a hand on the ghoul's shoulder before it dashed out the door, effectively stopping it.

"Forgive me for asking, but why this design in particular?" He motioned to the mask. Its body language brought the mask to life in a way he hadn't considered. Like a part of it had been made whole. It dug out the sketch book again and held up a new picture; this time of a creature. Ram-horned, with the exact same face as the mask. It was tall and thin with four spindly arms and long legs like a deer. A long tail like the commissioner's Bikaku trailed behind it. Its skin was a pale sky blue with four eyes staring at him. Watching him, it seemed. The ghoul tapped the picture, and then it pointed to itself.

"That's… you?"

It nodded before putting the book away again.

"That's… interesting." He'd heard of such things as 'otherkin' or some such from his human interactions, but he'd never truly met such an individual. How curious. It gave him a little bow as thanks and to excuse itself before turning to slip back out the door. He really ought to add a bell to that.

A light laugh left Uta's lips and he scratched his head for a moment as he looked at the now-empty mannequin.

He returned to his workstation, walking up to a mask he'd been working on back there in his spare time. The remake of the commissioner's. But now, looking at it, it seemed uncanny; too complex. Now that he knew what it was, he sat down to take it apart; he can use those parts for other masks in the future.

[waythroughtheice]

8 and 22~

Alright!

8. How many WIP do you currently have?

Uh-oh. This'll be a list since I have a stack of WIP. I divide this into categories of "will eventually publish" and "just for me".

In the "will eventually publish", I have:

All is Quiet Chp. 17

Synthesis Reaction Chp. 6

But there is a friend (Zero's PoV of the century X was away)

The crossover stuff with Legends Reborn

Experience is the Cain of the Blind (the next part of the Robot Masters went back in time saga)

Those One Piece one shots I actually have finished but wouldn't mind publishing. Maybe.

"In the bleak midwinter", a Legend of Zelda au. Only one chapter so far, though, and I actually want to finish it before publishing it.

In the "Just for me" category we have:

A lot of Pokemon fics, like a self-insert that I have like three chapters on (I'm not publishing this because I don't think I'll ever finish it)

Stuff based on Straight Elf's Traveler, some I do publish for that discord server, others I don't. The stuff I won't publish comprises of multiple one shots based off of an au of that awesome fic. Also a crossover with One Piece, because why not.

That one Demon Slayer and MHA crossover. Some one shots are finished, others are not. The finished ones I won't publish because, again, I'll never actually finish the rest of them and I consider it unfair to do something and not commit to the end.

An AU of Linked Universe that's mixed with manwha and fire emblem sensibilities; all the Links are brothers and princes. Most are only half-brothers because their bio dad (the king) is awful. Ganondorf takes over when Time is like nine years old; this causes....issues. Ganondorf and Time have an interesting dynamic in this au since Ganondorf holds all the power, and quite a few hostages since Time's little brothers are very young. Eventually he does get kicked out when Time is 16, and more things ensue from there.

A Dark End of Hyrule, wherein Spirit (who didn't travel with the Chain) travels to a Dark Hyrule and uhhhh it doesn't go well.

A few One Piece one shots wherein Law travels back in time to Roger's time thanks to Straw Hat Shenanigans, changes somethings. Roger--who got healed by Law--ends up adopting all the D. kids, it's hilarious.

The Trenchcoat AU, wherein it's a lot of AU's masquerading as one big AU. It's a One Piece AU, wherein Garp dies when Ace and Luffy are young, so Sengoku takes 'em in. The Five Elders interfere, though, and it ends up with Luffy in a wheelchair thanks to an "illness" that only the Navy has the cure to. Ace works as a Vice Admiral to get the medicine for Luffy. There are a lot of complicated feelings with the Sengoku-Ace relationship. Luffy is Luffy and has the entirety of Marineford wrapped around his rubbery fingers.

A self-insert to One Piece, but like Roger's time. Rouge gets a whole pirate crew, and builds a city in the New World.

Iiiii think that's it?

22. Care to share any future WIP ideas you have lined up?

Uhhhhh.....this is again split into the two categories. For the publishing side of things (which is the only side I'll share)...Experience is the Cain of the Blind technically doesn't have anything written in it yet, so I think it counts.

Basically, the premise--set up from the first fic--is that Duo (the robot who sent the Robot Masters back in time) told Blues that he'd send all his family back in time, right?

And he did! It's just that what Blues didn't consider at the time--since he didn't know about X is that.....

All means all.

Cue X waking up in the pod by Dr. Cain 100 years later, completely disoriented, and after looking around at this new, strange time proceeds to go what.

(The Robot Masters didn't find the paper will, oops. Well, they will eventually but at that point Dr. Cain's already absconded with X.)

Zero and Axl are eventually found through shenanigans, and Dr. Cain is here for the ride. The Robot Masters do eventually catch up, which is even more shenanigans.

Did I mention that it's from Dr. Cain's PoV? Yeah, this entire thing will be from Dr. Cain's PoV.

Thanks for the asks!