hitsuzen

will you pay the price? blog for ichihara yuko, the witch of dimensions. affiliated with guerra sacra.

[aequality]

i need to get going on my drafts.

[immortalgeass-archive-deactivat]

"Seems like the city is getting busier and busier every day. How exciting."

[aequality]

"Indeed so." The woman stands a short distance away, puffing happily on her kiseru. "So many interesting people to meet and be met by, don't you think?"

[recastx]

"What makes you think I’ve been searching for - argh." Being stubborn is the very reason why he’s in this very situation, and it looks like he’ll be running around in circles if this doesn’t change.

Ugh. Whatever. “Do you know where this hotel is located?” He has a picture and a name, but the address below has been unfortunately smudged by a splotch of coffee. The flight attendant had been apologetic enough, but that wasn’t certainly going to fix this up.

[aequality]

The smile never leaves Yuko's face, and she chuckles when he gives in. With a happy hum, she leans down to take a look at the picture he has.

"Ah, yes. I could certainly show you the way!" The woman's expression is pleasant -- almost unsettlingly so. "What are you offering as payment?"

[coefficiently]

If that isn’t suspicious, Ginoza doesn’t know what is. He can’t find it in himself to ask anymore questions though. "Have you now?" he asks, watching her blow rings into the air.

His green eyes wander over to the windows of the bar. It’s black outside, save for the beads of rain that cling to the glass’s surface.

"It doesn’t look like it will be letting up anytime soon."

[aequality]

"No. No, it doesn't." Her mouth quirks in something like amusement, although the smile doesn't quite reach her eyes.

Then she waves her hand for another drink leans over to nudge the other man in the ribs.

"Have you found a place to stay yet?" While Servants didn't technically need too many luxuries, having them was better than not.

[coefficiently]

"Benefit?" Ginoza says, raising a brow before mentally noting the language she had used. He doesn’t know who Yuko is, but he certainly knows what she is.

He suspects that she knows the same as he takes another long drag on his cigarette.

"I don’t recall agreeing to payment."

[aequality]

Yuko rolls her eyes. "You heard me the first time, my dear." Regardless of which side they would each end up on for the War, good company is good company.

And while she might draw some sort of perverse pleasure from smacking his buttons, she appreciates the conversation all the same.

"And it's quite all right, really. I've already received it." She doesn't elaborate further, instead blowing smoke rings into the air. "Mm, I wonder how long this rain will last?"

[recastx]

Unfortunately, elusive figures skipping out from nowhere do little to improve his move. He crosses his arms, staring at this strange woman in front of him.

"What do you want, lady?" Was the fact that he’s new around here that obvious?

[aequality]

"What do I want?" she echoes. "No, no. The better question is, what are you searching for?"

Yuko smiles brightly. "I was simply wondering if you need any assistance!"

[coefficiently]

 It’s a rather familiar piece of advice, but Ginoza chooses not to make any further comments about it. Instead, he watches Yuko lean over the counter puffing contentedly on her kiseru.

"That’s… not the first time I’ve heard that," he admits. Alternatively, this woman is exceptionally good at teasing others. Perhaps it is a combination of both.

"You’re exceptionally good at teasing others."

[aequality]

She chuckles. "Oh, I don't doubt it." Yuko turns her head to avoid breathing the smoke straight in his face, taking the moment to glance at all the people around them.

"Mm." The woman turns her scarlet gaze back on the man. "Only for those who would benefit a bit from it." She grins at him. "But your company for tonight is payment enough, don't worry."

[coefficiently]

This has to count for harassment, right? But chivalry is a thing, so he only bats a lash when she pokes him in the cheek with a finger.

"Child?" Ginoza mutters, trying his hardest to sound like he isn’t being strangled.

Now, he’s almost certain she’s pressing him just to get a reaction. It doesn’t make him any less embarrassed, but he manages to steel his nerves to add, "Now you’re just enjoying yourself at my expense."

On the other hand, it’s kind of nice to meet someone seemingly light-hearted once in awhile.

[aequality]

She chuckles. "Is it that obvious, darling?"

"Have fun! Live a little." Yuko traces shapes in the air before her with the end of her kiseru. "No one else will do that for you, you know." She places the pipe in her mouth, inhaling the aromatic smoke and winking at her companion.

"You're exceptionally easy to tease."

[coefficiently]

All that runs through Ginoza’s head is what on earth has he gotten himself involved in? He has half the mind to straight up leave the bar, which, in hindsight, would be the smart thing to do.

He’s taking longer drags on his cigarette, averting his eyes from Yuko’s enthusiastic expression.

"I… have no interest in that business, nor did I come here for matchmaking advice."

What does she mean by “personal skills” anyways?

[aequality]

"Oh, boo." Yuko pouts. "We only live twice, right?" She prods him with an ivory finger. "Why not enjoy it while you can, child?"

Yuko smirks at him. "Although I must admit, you look quite fetching while you blush."

[coefficiently]

Wise words from what may very yet be a wise woman, he thinks to himself.

But when Yuko speaks again, he’s glad that those words never left his lips. Wise words from a wise but mischievous woman. Ginoza physically reels away from Yuko, wishing that it was the alcohol that was talking to him instead.

"There’s no need for unnecessary questions," he retorts.

[aequality]

Yuko laughs at his snappish response, clapping her hands together in amusement. "Oh, so you are!"

"A cute one like you, though ..." The woman exhales smoke into the air, leaving the sentence to hang for a few moments before returning to it, "It's too bad, hm?"

"With some personal skills and a smile on that handsome face of yours, you would have suitors in no time!"

[coefficiently]

Dear? Ginoza can’t help but feel that the nickname is vaguely condescending, but Yuko comes off as a woman who attaches it to every single person that she meets.

It’s his turn to raise a brow when she pulls out her kiseru (he averts his eyes as she reaches for it). A part of him wonders if she knew he was a smoker.

"You seem to be a woman who knows how to take life as it comes."

[aequality]

The woman doesn't fail to notice where his eyes go when she retrieves her pipe -- or, rather, where his eyes don't go.

"Oh?" She blinks in slight surprise, deciding to answer his question first. "Well, yes. A good life is one of the few things one cannot wish for." There is only so much others can do for oneself, isn't there?

But the mood is too heavy for her tastes now, so she winks slyly at him and leans forward with no small amount of predatory intent. "So tell me, darling. Are you shy?"

[coefficiently]

Ginoza watches as Yuko orders her next (he senses that this is not the woman’s second one) drink. "… fair enough," he responds when she punches his shoulder playfully.

He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a single cigarette and lighting it silently.

"Hardly strangers?" he repeats, as if experimenting with that notion, after taking a long drag on his cigarette. But it’s true, and he knows it; it’s inevitable that they end up bumping into each other a second time around unless —

Ah, best not to get too ahead of himself.

"Oh, you don’t mind me smoking around you, do you?"

[aequality]

Yuko raises an eyebrow at him. A smoker, sitting at a bar and drinking water with a name like 'Inoue Heisuke.'

How curious.

But the woman doesn't comment and instead grins. "I don't mind in the slightest, dear!"

She pulls out her own kiseru from Heaven-knows-where and tips a bit of tobacco into it, lighting it and inhaling happily. "I thought you would never say!"

[recastx]

This can’t be.

He practiced this, tried to memorize every detail he could see or find. He wasn’t supposed to make himself into an utter embarrassment on his first step in Rome. He just can’t. 

There’s no way he’s actually lost…Right?

[aequality]

Call it a woman's intuition or just some scary senses, but the witch can smell potential prey from a mile away.

She walks toward the boy with a slightly suspicious spring in her step. "Hello there, traveler!"

[coefficiently]

This is giving Ginoza flashbacks of times when he would wake up after realizing that he did something that he regretted.

He stares right back at her.

"No thank you," he responds, eyes narrowing at Yuko’s expression, all while peering through his dark hair. "Are you always this open with strangers?"

[aequality]

"Aah, all right. Have it your way, then." She sighs and goes back to her drink, tipping the last of the golden liquid into her mouth before gesturing at the bartender to order another.

"And we're hardly strangers, darling." She stretches languidly, yawning. "All meetings are important, be they large or small -- and we've introduced ourselves, haven't we?"

Yuko grins before lightly punching his shoulder. "May as well play nice." It isn't as if this will be their final meeting, after all.

[aequality]

If anyone wants to plot/thread/etc. with Yuko, drop me an ask or like this post and we can maybe come up with something!

[aequality]

Ooh, awkward. I suppose this is long overdue, but here's your absolutely unfunny bishop mod, although you can call me Ari. Yuko's a muse I tried once but never really got going with, so if you have any suggestions on how to do better justice to My Queen I'd love to hear them! In other news, I'm into a lot of slightly more obscure fandoms and my pun game is about as on point as a broken pencil. (Please. Do not let me make jokes. I'm so bad at them.)

My twitter is @illudersis, so if you want to follow feel free!

[coefficiently]

He’s drinking water at a bar. Ginoza figures he can’t say much (but wasn’t Ginjo that really expensive sake that his father had given him for his birthday as a joke one year?).

"Ginjo," he says, as if testing the name out. He knows it’s an alias, but that’s beside the point, before nodding to the exit of the bar. Outside, rain drums on the sidewalk; he figures it’s enough of an answer to her question.

"And the drink in your hand does you justice?"

[aequality]

She listens to the sound of rain pitter-pattering on the concrete outside and nods her head. "Fair enough."

"And, as a matter of fact, it does." Yuko smiles at him again, leaning forward on the counter so she'd be looking less at the top of his head and more at his glasses-less face.

The witch smirks. "Would you like some?"