Considering how approving and encouraging Miranda was at the prospect of Andy writing the book about her, imagine a fic where they went all “The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo.”
They’d sit down together, Miranda would give all the juicy details of her life, her job, the industry, her marriages, her enemies, her lovers and Andy would write it all down in order to write the book.
Miranda would drop vague hints about being in love with someone she shouldn’t have been decades ago, how inappropriate it was and how it could never have been.
Obviously because Andy can’t leave it be, she’d dig into that.
Through it Andy would realise that Miranda had actually been in love with her the whole time they’d worked together and even afterwords, which is why she pretended to not know who she was despite still thinking of her often.
And then once she’d figured it out, Miranda would be all
“You took your time.”
God I wish I had the time to write a full fic like this 🤣
Having plenty of other unfinished projects that I could be working on as a leisure activity while taking it easy and resting, I instead decided that the most important thing I could draw as today's little doodle is drunk-ass Gandalf passed out face down on his own big naturals.
A/N Ok, so back in AO3 I got prompted with writing these two being jealous and then life happened so I'm fulfilling this prompt about a month later xD Anyway, back to my bs. Hey @allbutwrong remember when I re-prompted you some jealousy? My answer to that ;) Love ya'
Do let me inside A03 Version
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Red Crane Inn was packed; the feeling of warmth from bodies enjoying sake and conversations as the cold roared outside one that Atsu could feel against her own skin, as if a weight quietly applying pressure to her body.
It was weird still. Sometimes. To be so surrounded.
She had gotten used to solitude in a way that kept the figment of Death as part of her for long enough so her revenge could be achieved. Whilst haunting there was very little time to spend amidst the living after all.
It did not matter much now, however, as she had been sitting in front of her own drink for a while now: soaking herself with the echoes of conversation that swam around her, back muscles settled and locked in place as much as the ones on her upper legs. Comfortable but not enough for her mind to fall into the lull the promise of warmth kept on roaring towards her. Enough, however, for her drink to have gotten lukewarm, she noticed, filtering the liquid through slightly parted teeth.
She noticed Ran coming into her space a little just as she settled the drink back to the table, eyes fixated forward. The no-nonsense woman spotted her and maneuvered through those that had already sought refuge from, the bowyer informed Atsu, plopping next to her, quite the nasty storm. One still growing in strength. Not a weird thing to happen in Teshio Ridge, Atsu was sure of it, but slightly earlier in the year than might have been expected.
Still focused, still paying little to no attention to the world outside beyond the details she considered important enough to notice -such was the picking up howling wind that began to rattle outside, muffled groans from a far too full wind scattering on the surface of the inn's walls. Never mind that, Atsu considered Ram as the other woman nodded to herself once before seemingly coming to a decision of her own, falling silent but smug with the expression of one finding a place to sit at in a far too full inn whilst others envied her position.
Not like Atsu wanted to pay her more time than the one she had already given her: lowering her eyes to her hands, adjusting the center of gravity of her body once again, taking inventory of the way her muscles settled and moved, protesting from the tense nerve coiled within her but not enough to cause her any worry, Atsu allowed for her face to give out fully to the one in front of all that had decided to make a stop at the inn for the night.
Oyuki.
Oyuki did not sit at the very center of the room: her voice would have gotten trapped below the stairs that lead to the second level of the inn (And she had replied and informed as much to the innkeeper when the man had offered her the warmest, most comfortable spot inside the whole place a few hours ago, when they had arrived to the place with a story about needing a bodyguard on this sometimes meandering paths Teshio Ridge had.) The older woman sat slightly off-centered, shamisen angled, fingers restless and eyes lost as melody rose from her. Beautiful, gorgeous.
Atsu watched while Ran commented on the performance in a way that she considered good enough to warrant an appreciative grunt from Atsu herself. Not like it mattered much, of course. Not while Oyuki played.
Because she knew what others saw when Oyuki played: the softness of her movements, the way she brandished music as if calling forth the wind and nature Atsu wished to repossess, each note a snowflake that divided endlessly while calling forth emotions Atsu found herself on the precipice of falling if she dared to listen for long enough.
And, at the same time, Atsu saw and knew that beyond the music, Oyuki listened. Intently. Listened to the men, the bandits, rather, that had sat at her left; the ones that had arrived a little before the sun had begun its descent and had moved some smaller group away so they were able to sit closer to the 'Songbird of Ezo'. Listened to their comments, the ones directed at her -and for which Atsu wished her own hearing was worse than what it was-, and the ones muttered rather than shouted.
Mutters about empty roads and poor travelers, about the best spot to trap some girls trying to bring water from the calmer side of the river, of kids running with throats full of information. One that they could be scared out of. All of it.
Oyuki listened, quietly anchoring herself onto Atsu's eyes as she did so. 'Do not let go of me' She had made Atsu promise and Atsu had agreed to the request, sensing the anger bubbling within Oyuki from having yet again to keep the place that had transformed into her own refuge, safe again, recognizable, to those that considered it Home.
They had not truly spoken of the anger that the promise hold, the worry for violence about to burst, but Atsu had needed little information when it came to protectiveness, when it came to death itself. She had agreed, had remained trained on Oyuki: feigning herself while tightening her own tendons, refusing to let go until Oyuki signaled her so.
(She owe it to them all after all. Some old woman had left a letter and a request atop one of the forgotten shrines that had already been left unused for some time already. She had not necessarily called for the Onryō -the one that many had begun to mention as shadow-made revenge who had gotten back to the realm of those that did not breathe after Saito had been fed his own heart. She had not called forth for the spirit that no longer seemed to haunt Ezo but, she signed off, for anyone that cared enough. Oyuki had brought the letter to Atsu: face guarded but eyes bleeding as she had known that Atsu would indeed care. As much as Atsu had known herself unable to deny a direct request from Oyuki)
So, bandits.
When Oyuki had told her her plan, back at the homestead, Atsu had considered time. Time spent. Time that had shaped around the one passed since Saito. Since Jubei. She was not out of practice, she reasoned, hating how open her own wording left her, but out of touch.
What if, she had pointed out, as Oyuki explained how she would become center and bait so Atsu could cover the exit strategies, she failed. Oyuki had smiled in response, moving withing Atsu's space and fixed some errand strand of hair out of Atsu's view while locking eyes with hers. "I'm sure you will know what to do." Atsu had felt tongue-tied then, a splattering of red siting on her cheeks by the time she had registered the cackling of Kiku at her back. The kid, as always, getting to understand more than Atsu felt she did herself.
Oyuki had smirked then, moving away just as Atsu had gone for her waist, fingers slipping when they had tried to grab the cloth that covered her and Atsu had cursed her hands more than she had been ready to admit.
Now, as she watched while the men leered at Oyuki, her mind racing back to the assuredness Oyuki had gifted her back at the homestead, she willed her face to remain inscrutable while waiting for the signal, eyes zero-ing on Oyuki, nodding in soft and slight acceptance when the older woman's eyes sought hers.
Impatience was an easy trap to fall onto. A grounding presence was what Oyuki most desired. What Atsu would always allow herself to be after everything that had transpired.
So focused she was, so utterly fixated, that when she saw movement on the corner of her eyes, she did not register the hand outstretched towards her general vicinity as Ran's.
It was instinctual. She stopped herself before using one of her katanas but her posture changed, shoulders angling so she had more of her front covered and safe hd the hand that was fast approaching was armed. A gesture that, while turning, broke the life-line created by her eyes onto Oyuki's.
It had been some time since she had reacted this way but Atsu's mind sensed the movement in a far too quick succession to the tension settling on her muscles; on the need for her katanas to be used, on the increasing heat around her, on the laughter and the noise that created a blanket, trapping her thoughts and chaining them to her to the point of asphyxiation. And so, before she was able to recognize the movement for what it was, someone reaching for the abandoned carafe, the corner where she was grew colder, darker. To Ran's credit, the other woman merely sat back on the balls of her feet and rose both of her hands in quiet acceptance of the space requested.
"I only wanted some of that" Posture lazy but slight tension around her shoulders betraying her words, Ran pointed to the forgotten sake. "No need to murder me for it."
And, had Atsu been paying attention, she would have sensed the lie. The way Ran looked at her and lingered. She, however, did not. She could only feel the uncomfortable heat, the way her body wished for space as she halted far too close, closer than before, and Atsu felt her jaw tigthening, the words easing the tension whilst the hsape of the shadow of the wolf she had felt growling within her stilled once more again. Muttering a quick response, one that could very well have been understood as 'Suit yourself' she moved slightly off, allowing for space to grow between them and leaving a feather-thin space between their arms as she did so. Turning back to Oyuki her brain caught the rising of a note, one that must have been hold for slightly longer than it should have been, her conscious part of her brain informed her as she looked for irises and anchors and calmness.
Only, she found, for Oyuki's eyes to be already trained on her. On Ran, as the woman mumbled something and went for the drink. On them both with frightening sharpness.
Atsu frowned as Oyuki's eyes hold hers for a too long of a moment before they moved slightly away, pretending once more to not be waiting for her as the sound of voices reached them all once again: the sky seemed to have begun to pour outside, the wind engulfed by the sound of rain. Cold transforming, licking her wrists where she angled them away from the katanas once more, Atsu sought Oyuki, a weird sensation on her chest, as the face of the older woman did not hold the contemplation from before. fingers danced through her note with prickly quickness. Movements Atsu was able to pick not quite understand.
Plucking, stabbing. Warning.
Face lowered, Atsu angled her body forward, trying to see if she, perhaps, had missed the opening Oyuki and her had been tried to get: if the bandits they had been tailing had moved at all, if any warning had needed an answer of. Nothing. The men, she saw, remained seated with ever-growing bolder comments but not necessarily ready yet. The second of distraction that Ran had created had been brief, inconsequential.
And yet.
Atsu felt the uneasiness, tempo picking up as she settled back on her previous posture with knees slightly apart beneath her, hands still close to where her midsection was.
The men had been the problem, she considered while mentally cursing how deep she must have been on her thoughts for Ran to startle her: itchy, the tension she had felt coiling had reached a point in where it flt like a jagged mouth ready to bite down. Ready to devour and swallow those that kept on looking at Oyuki as something to possess.
The men had definitely been the problem. Hers. Oyuki, however, kept her own face darkened, the music growing hauntingly beautiful to the point where the wind outside bean to taper in the form of echoes and voices that began to grow into murmurs as some of the patrons within' the inn started to halt their own conversations, hushes growing stronger.
The bandits from the table did as much: smilees turning tense, mumbles about the ight frowing long, difficult to traverse and maybe plans that ought to be postponed. Ran moved closer once more when Atsu positioned herself, about to jump, fingers brushing hers in a second Atsu herself barely her the time for: She had been called here by Oyuki, she had been requested help. She needed to act. Fast.
So the two of them, her mind supplied, could go back to the homestead. Maybe take a quick batch on the Hot Springs at the Inn, perhaps take some of the scenery, some of Oyuki's old lessons to try their hearing again, see for how much they would be able to remain hidden from the other, testing...
Music stopped. Blinking out of existence and forcing her back to reality as it merged when Oyuki stood and bowed to the entirety of the Inn, hands clasped in front of her, shamisen already tightly fastened at her back. Her eyes were still dark and cutting, with a slight smile that felt just on the right angle of pleasant but holding tense the longer she hold her place as patrons realized that she, indeed, had stopped playing.
Some did politely clap. Some did ask for seconds. Some. Not all.
Oyuki did not answer to any of them all. Not really. She was already moving away from where she had been by the time her voice reached out, tempered and clear like ice.
"I feel rather indisposed. Must be the cold that is attacking us tonight with such strength. I shall come back after but I feel I must rest for a time."
She left barely the smallest of seconds for anyone to protest, which was enough for Atsu herself to stand and consider moving, worry erasing everything else: no signal, no warning, Oyuki already moving forward, head down-cast.
Plan had changed and Atsu did not understand why. Listening herself mention her own need to move, she left the Bowyer to her own devices, not registering the reply she got back from her while standing, katanas clutched, hand frozen in an angle that should have been smoother, softer, as she tried to intercept Oyuki.
(She saw some of the bandits, heard their comments, wished for their beheading, moved along as Oyuki slipped outside, the rain and the cold clinging to Atsu long enough for her to register the sudden change of lighting, the nighttime sky opening itself while she called forth Oyuki's name with urgency.)
What could have happened. What could have been so worrying that Oyuki, former Kitsune, had decided to halt mid-performance, about to stop those that were bleeding those on Teshio Ridge just to get up and...
Mind grew blank, however, as Oyuki turned, face darkened, eyes hungry, rain beginning to seep through her clothes before she snuck towards one of the smaller buildings the inn had, the ones in where, normally, workers waited at but were empty now.
Following, Atsu called once more, eyes adjusting, cold on her skin and raindrops on her hair. She saw the glint of Oyuki's shape before the older woman took advantage of her own momentum, grasping on her wrists and pulling her close.
Close enough for their clothes to bunch between each other, for Oyuki's fingers to bit onto her skin, breathing halted as she just filled her lungs to call once more.
Oyuki felt feverish against her as she rose her wrist to her lips, the side of her body, Atsu realized belatedly, that had twisted and turned away when Ran had reached for the carafe.
No. She had been mistaken, not for the drink, her mind supplied, final piece falling into place. For her.
Nostrils flared, the songbird of Ezo kept her gaze trained on Atsu while she kissed her pulse point, possessively. A promise, maybe, of a longer conversation to have. A 'mine' that had never quite been voiced but had been accepted into the normalcy of a place that rested away from any other prying eyes.
And now, Atsu realized, the ice that kept the two of them away from the outside world had been tested and fragmented into thinner pieces, into more easily removable ones.
She herself was not free from the same need, was she not? She had felt the call for possession not out of wish for protection but something far much more selfish.
More human, perhaps.
"Onryō are a myth, you are still flesh and blood"
Oyuki had said as much once, confidence and worry radiating from her in a way that Atsu had not fully been able to study it back then. It had gotten stuck, however, against her rib-cage with worrying precision very similar to how Oyuki's eyes had sought hers back and back again. Recognition. Yes. And want.
Atsu had allowed the ghost persona to disperse but she still had trouble recognizing want when it nibbled at her heart, when she was expected to understand clues from a society she had purposely kept herself away from. She, however, was able to read through the lines laid by Oyuki in perfect synchronicity with what she herself wished for.
Flesh and blood. A name, recognition.
Jealousy. The very thought one that almost made her laugh as she uncovered yet another emotion she had thought herself unable to beyond the envy of wishing for a life she had thought she would never get to live, not after everything, not after so much death. Not like it mattered much now as she kept on staring with enough strength that Oyuki's own voice turned outwards, rather than silent.
"You are staring."
"So did you."
And Oyuki did not have much defense for that. Not when Atsu now knew what the heat she had felt meant. Pressing fingers against lips, she imagined them red with want and use before she took a step backwards -inside of her, the wolf whimpered-.
"You stared." She whispered and Oyuki's eyes narrowed, cat-like in how she moved now. "You thought you saw something, you were wrong."
It was intoxicating, Atsu considered, having Oyuki this close under the pretense of something, of what? with the rain and the cold and the world far enough for them to pretend to be alone, for them to be away, tucked from any other glare. They needed to move, though, they knew as much.
"Was I?" Oyuki's eyes sought hers, proud, and she felt undone in a way Atsu wished to be able to capture, lines darkened in shadows and need. "Show me then."
On the makeshift roof above, the storm turned to sleet. Luckily for them the poor visibility ensured the bandits would not try to move any time soon but it was only a matter of time before anyone came looking for them. And Atsu wished for that knowledge to be able to be forgotten for a moment long enough for her brain to catch up on what her hands rendered themselves to: grasping for Oyuki, needing her close.
"Later." She promised instead, meaning every coda, every syllable. "I..."
And they had not truly done this before, had they not? Not like this. But it mattered not. Oyuki cupped her face and kissed her, a nibble on her bottom lip that made her yelp as, finally, the undercurrent of something finally disappeared from her eyes.
"It's a deal" the older woman chuckled, flirtatious, sated for the time being. "Let's go back inside. Let's finish the job."
Atsu nodded along, not quite knowing how aware she truly was of her surroundings as her mind swam with the warmth Oyuki left behind. Dumb enough, she realized, for the older woman to turn and lead her away with quick steps and a whisper against her right ear, sticky breath claiming her senses. "And don't you dare to look away."
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A/N Ok so... sliiiiightly possessive Oyuki anybody? No? I had so many options for this but somehow a slightly angry Oyuki for not necessarily something actually happening but the idea of not being stared by Atsu kept coming back to me. And yes, yes, Oyuki tends to be the calmer one but I tend to adore getting those characters into situations I can prod them with little ideas appropriately sharpened for this.
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
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