"You're losing my interest and that's very dangerous." Usami to Ogata
interest came in many forms.
for the privates of the 7th division, interest could only be defined by the free-fall act of rebellion coiling in the guts of their infantry, the belly of it all. a less prominent interest, but existing altogether within the rows and rows of hungry men looking for recognition was, undoubtedly, the merciful caress of their first lieutenant’s hand.
like a kid searching for their father’s approval, soldiers lined up for morning call expecting to hear or witness first lieutenant tsurumi’s fanfare, the speeches that could go on for hours on end, basking in the sound of his own voice. ogata could almost see it, had wanted it for a while before he’d found something else - amber eyes, the asymmetry of a war-scarred face - to keep his rapt attention and stomach well-fed.
usami doesn’t seem the type who’d rather look anywhere else. their gazes meet, locked in place by the silent feeling of recognition: he saw in usami’s expression a familiar sort of necessity, the kind he’d found himself stepping back into every time he brought a dead bird back home, in ibaraki. whether tsurumi glanced back and gave usami the attention he sought for, that’s entirely up for debate. he doubted it would be any more different than appraisal, the kind that officers perform routinely with every new stock of mosin-nagants.
it’s only then that be becomes aware of the thickening smell of antiseptic, gunpowder and death. an amused smirk tugs at his lips, voice falling a few octaves, words slurred by the remnants of anaesthesia lingering in his system. “dangerous, for who?”
“prey animals don’t turn their backs to their predators. it's in their best interest, don't you agree?”
@muddsludge
Geto look alike competition in my place tomorrow night
“It is just an illusion here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone, it is gone forever.”
— Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
while re-reading Tokyo ghoul manga to wipe dust off my yomo muse I remembered how much I loved this series 😭😭 honestly miss writing Tsukiyama too... That was forever ago, so I'm not sure if his muse is still alive but we'll see.
watch link click, we got the hat man
✨HE IS SO PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL✨
i'll only hurt you if you let me . / Uta @ Yomo
hurt, by definition, comes together with pain.
pain is familiar. pain is something that ghouls as species have known for longer than they’d remembered each other’s faces, what little they saw of them, when the masks were cast off. renji observes more than he speaks, notices the wounds and torn skin already patching itself together in a gruesome display of rank: back then, they’d been considered a dangerous threat to the CCG, or to the general public.
humans. ordinary humans whose bodies broke and didn’t mend.
bodies that did nothing similar to what uta’s system is beginning to try, under the influence of whatever it is that kept that clownish smile plastered on his face. excitement? seems likely.
he waits until the open tissue is all healed, black ink molten across a pale canvas. there’s a revelation in the way uta’s eyes reflect the dim moonlight. fluorescent signs sprout from the tall buildings, further narrowing the already reduced space in this back alley, cascading them in bright hues and deep contrasts, their shapes a pair of protruding anachronisms in the urban landscape.
this privacy - the pause that follows feels loud enough to drown everything else: noise of artillery, debris moved around and across the asphalt, disaster and what comes with chaos. even the rattling heartbeat in his ribcage which hadn’t ceased to plague him since they first laid their fists onto each other sinks deep into oblivion. he picks up where uta left off, his voice returning to its usual listless baritone, “it won’t be pleasant, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
there’s childish amusement in this, in the thrills uta seeks. he’s never understood it, always drawing a blank when he tried to sympathize with it. what he knows, however, is rage. he’d tasted it on the roof of his mouth, even now, if he searched long for it. on the cusp of an old era, only uta and, perhaps itori, were unburdened by it, his baggage, his vengeful appetite.
they’d cannibalized, and they’d probably done so much worse, sins that follow them each to the grave - but it’s not all there is to it. not all there is to uta and him. perhaps he simply wants to drain it all dry: his options, the reasoning, any word that can keep his friend from self-immolation. renji paces closer.
“aren’t you cold?” he doesn’t know if uta misses him. renji’s never asked. part of him, a shallow part, believes that uta’s unselfconsciousness is indicator enough that he’d do well no matter renji’s stance in his circle. another part - a more selfish, boyish part that hadn’t entirely died out since their rooftoof talks, had mistaken these jabs and mockery for fondness, of a kind. so it often went. he exhales through his nostrils, sharp breeze cutting through loose strands of white hair. the scent of rain, drying blood, this; it’s all a grim reminder that anything could’ve gone wrong, had he not been sincere from the start.
“do you remember” renji asks, “the first time we met? it wasn’t much different than how we are now.” normally, teens outgrow their fixations. renji doesn’t think uta has dropped it entirely, but it’s still difficult to figure him out in a way that won’t piss renji off. even now, he feels annoyed. there’s time for the two of them to try and hurt the other. that entirely depends on how well uta fares from here on. a creature of terrible potential. renji lowers his knees until they’re touching the ground, hooks uta’s arm around his shoulder, working as an achor, and eases him back to his feet, eye to eye, just like it’d been a decade or so ago.
“it was like this, too.” his lip twitches, the birth of a smile, one that he’d thought long lost. “you can walk, let’s go.”
@antinomos
he said, with bad intentions
‘ no particular reason, just curiosity. ’
on the unlikely scenario that she might’ve been afraid of something, maybe the conversation could’ve led them elsewhere, a place emptied of walls and labyrinths. that was a possibility that the childish part of him wanted to test, a dive into uncharted territory, though the rewards were little in comparison to what had been stirred now, as her soul burned with curiosity and he wondered if it was born from the same star as his. two specks of the same stardust, finally facing each other in the expanse of nothingness.
satoru muses for a moment, voice rumbling in his throat as he leans back in thought. perhaps he ought to give an honest answer. a truth for a truth. ‘ never thought about it, actually. ever watched Shutter? pretty scary if you ask me. i couldn’t sleep that night. ’
not a lie.
nightmares carved out of memories, the unholy mixture of reality and the imaginary specters born from night’s belly, their unchanging shapes stalking about satoru’s dark room. the ache in the back of his eyelids remained until dawn, most nights. others, he simply let the mud engulf him, falling into quicksand, and it felt more comforting than to fight it, because its weight and density was familiar by now. seeing it reflected in a film caught him by surprise — though the graphics were nothing to write home about, the idea of death and regret and all the ugly things clawing their way into the very soul frightened him. more than strange panic, anger seeped through the cracks, the carefully maintained mask of imperturbable capacity.
that is how the head of a clan should be.
well, if suguru ever came back to haunt him, wouldn’t that be petty? it’s a hard scenario to conjure, but the idea amuses him briefly. satoru sips idly at his drink, suddenly too aware of his own surroundings. propping his head up on a fist, elbow atop his knee, he takes notice of her change in positions, now closer, side by side.
‘ hm. you’ve never been curious about me, though. what made you change your mind? want to be besties? i’m sure that would give the old farts real fright. no need to ask them. ’
@einshi's gojo satoru & the fate
𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 getting rid of all the humans & sorcerers who fought against him, not afraid of the greatest curse user since gods only know when. not afraid of the strongest sorcerer by her side, not afraid of the old small - minded people who stand behind the whole grand scheme of jujutsu society things.
like she's playing a game of her own ; like all this doesn't revolve around her, too. like her life is not on the line, like she's not literally in the middle of it all — an upcoming war that threatens her in her restless dreams. puzzle pieces she cannot yet fully put together, so she doesn't say much about what she sees.
neither can she see the smile gojo so generously offers.
sadly.
she would really like to.
❝ oh, i can pay you, ❞ unmei muses, getting up from her spot beside him ; looking at all the snacks in the vending machine. all the lights blocked by the blindfold, all the shades blocked by color blindness. in a way, they both see too much and not enough. ❝ sweet treat? ❞
that usually works, stimulates the brain — sugar turns into energy their brain consumes in milliseconds ; fuels the endless amount of information processed. besides, satoru has a sweet tooth, and more than likely won't see her spitting onto said free little gift.
pun intended. height, prosopagnosia, blindfold. depth of what he says, so many levels of it. seemingly, every conversation they have means something else ; subtext, context, all of it combined to create a different meaning. as she sits back beside satoru, mei wonders : is the infinity of his shielding him from the outside world, or shielding the outside world from him? won't ask out loud. will find out herself.
❝ now i want to know what are you afraid of, senpai. ❞
she assumes there is something. there must be.
❝ and why did you ask me about that in the first place. ❞