#guidingmirror

-- a closed thread with @guidingmirror

                                               MARCH 1635                                                EDO CASTLE                                         MUSASHI PROVINCE

    William Adams is fighting for his life not on a pirate ship or bloodstained battlefield, but in an audience hall. The sword at his hip has claimed countless lives. It won't be used today. His only weapon is words.

    How can they escape the chokehold in his throat? Picking at his robes in the moon-shaped mirror, William tries and fails to moderate his breath, prevent his brows from knitting in anger. A mantra repeats in his head: you can't, you can't.

    Last time he wore this kataginu was for the shogun's grandfather. The conniving bastard had to pull one last trick before he died. Ieyasu couldn't have foreseen the chaos it'd cause. The hell brought to earth. Not after all his talk about peace. Unless something changed on his deathbed. Something whispered in his ear.

    Not him. The other. He shall rule.

    William doesn't know. Can't know. But on his next death, when he sinks through the gray into the black, if he sees Ieyasu laughing through the ichor, he'll...he'll...

    Do nothing. Can't kill a dead man.

    Gods, Iemitsu's trying.

    A door slides open. Hanzo Hattori stands on the other side. He too looks troubled, eyes narrowed in that way when he scours his ninja knowledge to solve a problem. He's worn it a lot recently. "This way," he says, and steps aside.

    William resists the urge to reach for him. Grip his shoulder, brush against his hand. Hanzo's already toeing the line of this mess. Last thing Adams wants to do is drag him in.

    No. This isn't Hanzo's battle. This castle must be conquered alone.

    William walks within, feeling like the ground will fall out from under him like an amrita bridge once did all those years ago. There are no shouted encouragements behind him. No rain, no serpents.

- Taiyou

Zora couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at the question. Although it was probably not meant to be funny, there was something about the phrasing that still kind of provoked a little bit of good humor within them.

They had been busy, and they had been dealing with some heavier works in their creations as they are pulling up some images to share with Taiyou since they had ran into each other once more.

Taiyou and John's supernatural verse

(rubbing hands)

morning after

Their limbs were comfortably tangled together as they lay opposite to one another. It was a gentle movement that woke John. He didn't open his eyes just yet, he wanted for the moment to last.

"Maybe," he finally murmured. "I was hoping you'd let me pretend a little longer."

He opened his eyes slowly, the bright sunlight greeted him rather harshly. John blinked the tiredness away before turning his head towards @guidingmirror's way. John's gaze traced the details he'd memorized in fragments last night but could only appreciate now: the curve of Taiyou's cheekbone, the faint crease at the corner of his mouth, the small space between them.

"...Were you watching me sleep?"

Taiyou is already drunk but Dante's night is just getting started, baby!!!

Second shot of the night in hand, Dante's making his way to a nice looking hightop table when he's suddenly accosted in Japanese by a very grouchy man standing at the billiards table he just walked by.

Confused, Dante glances around him to confirm he's the one being shouted at, looks back at Taiyou, then uses his free hand to point inward at his sternum, the universal language for 'me?'

Akihiro :)

Trouble-maker prompts ; @guidingmirror

"You really ought to be more grateful I showed up. Leaving you to fend for yourself in a ditch like this? It would have been a stain on my reputation," Akihiko remarked.

Even with the crowds nearby, the cursed beings were growing bold, their presence a cold prickle against the skin. He looked on with practiced indifference as a pale arm slithered from the tree’s bark to take his polearm—a temporary storage for a job well done.

It becomes very obvious, very quickly to Zora that they probably poked at something sore. Something that he wasn't likely to want to talk about. It's enough to inspire an embarrassed glance away from them, regretting that they even posed the question towards him.

They had a strong sense of the answer already and they feel foolish for bringing it up.

Not every one lowkey wants to talk about their oddities, you fucking weirdo.

The nagging voice of shame blares loud in the back of Zora's head before they finally managed to look back at Taiyou, at the painting.

"Understandable." They mutter quietly, still feeling uncertain if they should leave him alone entirely. Perhaps it's best to leave him be.

When he speaks of the what it did to his soul, they could feel the heaviness just taking up within them - making them glance at him with more concern than anything else.

Surviving something like that had to be harrowing. Why would anyone want to talk about that? Another nagging voice, beating them over the head internally to get their fucking shit together.

John tilted his head, studying the stranger before him. The younger man’s clothes, the careless ponytail, the casual way he vaped in a place that felt anything but casual. It didn't add up. John's eyes followed the smoke before he returned his attention back to the man.

''Oh, I know where we are,'' he replied with a nod. Darkened eyes briefly followed the gesture towards the infamous Kiyotaki tunnel. The tunnel behind the younger man seemed as though it hummed with a kind of stillness John didn't trust. The stillness felt occupied, even when nothing moved. John's eyes once again returned to Taiyou. He shifted slightly, enough to keep both the stranger and the tunnel in view.