I go by Sythe on fanfiction.net and AO3. My birthday is June 1st 1988 I'm a Vietnamese journalist and published author. I started out writing English fanfiction when I was a teenager as a way of exercising my English. These days I write for fun and stress relief when I have the time. I'm currently in the MDZS fandom (the Chinese side) and learning Mandarin Chinese (HSK4) because of it.
Omg ?! Its you! There's no way the fanfic author i was such a fan of in 2012/13 for the fic Book Air (still the goat) in my little lok amorra corner is also in my ioriita corner 13 years later!!! *cue the Arianna what are you doing here meme
It's so great to come across you again!! I hope you're doing well!
Oh hey!!!
Yes yes! Tis I, Sythe! The nomad enjoyer of oddball couples!
It's good to hear from an old reader! It's like getting a good pat on the back for writerrs to know they wrote something that people still remember from years ago!
I'm doing... uh... well... it could be worse!
I'm a published author and career writer in the age of AI proliferation! The bad thing is... exactly what you think. The good thing is, people are slowly starting to wise up to the fact that you really get what you pay for (or not pay for), so I have been getting contracts and publication projects again.
My health is... uh... not great... but that's been the story of my life since 20 years or so ago. The AO3 author curse hit me some 2 months back. I had a miscarriage. But I'm recovering now.
You know what's cool about it? I'm the type of writer who cope with stress and health issue by entertaining herself with made up stories in her mind. Guess who wrote a ton of IoriIta storylines and porn while coping with health issues?😁
Jokes aside, I'm really excited to start putting out some proper stories though. As rough as this year has been, last year for me was worse. I could not write anything for myself last year at all because I was going through a roller coaster of health issues and IVF failures. It was so bad it cratered by writing urge even if my head was still working on story ideas if only to self soothe.
This year... feels a lot better, even when it sometimes feels like the world is in a troubled state. At least I have been very creatively fertile this year. I came up with so many draft ideas and plots I'm starting to forget the ones I came up at the start of this year. Somehow, I fell into the Ioriita hole. I think it was in February that it started. I jsut felt so incredulous Gege introduced this character with a background that sounded more fitting for some heavy BL novel than a mainstream Shonen series. My brain just could not resist the cat nip! I wanted to play with this character Iori Okkotsu and his relationship with Yuji. I was already a mama fan of Yuji anyway.
So I've just been having fun coming up with storylines for the last few months. Albeit my fingers just can't keep up so most of those end up as draft notes or briefs for art commissions at the moment. I really hope I get more time soon to write them out.
It's a scenario of either dubious consent (one is completely unconscious) or straight up the product of fantasy for the yearning, madly in love other person. Take your pick.
From this WIP oneshot. Sorry it rough. I still haven't the time to write it properly yet 😢. Just want to put it here because any longer and I will probably forget I ever wrote this at all 🫤. I have the memory of a gold fish:
💬 0 🔁 2 ❤️ 17 · Drafted a Romcom for IoriIta. Named it How a Wolf Cub hunts the Tiger King. · Yes that new dark horse ship that came out o
With the green light blazing this brightly, any man who refused to drive wouldn't be a man at all! No eighteen-year-old boy bursting with youthful vigor could possibly resist such a blatant, seductive invitation from the person he had secretly pined for so long.
Moving with the maximum speed of a Grade 1 sorcerer, Iori snatched the box of condoms from the nightstand, ripping the wrapper open. Clumsily and frantically, he tried to slip a "raincoat" onto his lower half.
Reality rarely went so smoothly though. His hands shook so violently that with just a slight, harsh tug, the fragile latex tore completely into a shredded mess, fluttering down onto the bed sheets. He cursed internally. What kind of F-grade quality is this?!
The moment he got home, he was phoning the CEO of Okamoto for a custom line of quality raincoats! There was no way he was subjecting uncle Yuji to this shoddy quality stuff again!
He hurriedly grabbed another condom from the box. Damn it, this one was too small; it wouldn't fit at all as he tried to pull it up, squeezing him to the point of sharp pain. Sweating buckets, a panicked Iori frantically rummaged through the courtesy basket to find an XXXL size.
But the person beneath him seemed to be growing impatient. Uncle Yuji let out a few low, whimpering complaints from the back of his throat, and then his legs, which were draped over Iori’s waist, suddenly tightened, pulling the boy back down. That sudden motion brought their lower bodies flush against each other. Yuji spread his legs wide. His soft, intimate warmth parting slightly in invitation. Iori’s little Iori, already weeping pre-cum, followed the shifting momentum and the pull of their bodies and slid right into that sweet, scorching heat.
Pure bliss! An insanely ecstatic, numbing sensation shot straight up his spine, defying any description. Iori felt as though he might pass out right then and there. His lower body sank deeper instinctively, driving his oversized length deep, deep into the depths of his uncle's body.
Uncle Yuji let out a sobbing sigh, his breath exhaling as sweet as peach nectar. Those malt-candy-colored eyes fluttered open, gazing hazily yet intently at Iori’s flushed face. His lips parted, weakly murmuring his name: "Iori...?"
Iori’s entire world exploded. At this point, screw the condoms! He tossed the basket of love hotel complimentary protection over his shoulder, pinned Yuji down with all his might, and buried himself completely to the hilt. Immediately, a sharp, lewd, and utterly satisfied gasp echoed in his ears.
To hesitate or hold back now would mean he wasn't a man at all!
Sex was an instinct that requires no teaching. The eighteen-year-old's body, brimming with youthful vitality, automatically moved in a familiar primal rhythm. Thrusting in and pulling out, in and out... each driving, pounding motion grew faster and faster, heavy, deep.
Beneath Iori, Uncle Yuji trembled violently. He locked his legs tightly around the boy's hips, actively arching his waist to meet him, like a withered tree lifting its head to welcome a late spring rain, devoutly accepting everything from his nephew. Panting heavily, Uncle Yuji choked out his name once more: "Iori..."
While driving into him wildly without pause, the boy leaned down and whispered into his uncle's ear, his voice thick with infatuation and possessiveness: "Uncle Yuji... I'm right here."
Shipping rare pairs really does take a lot of work
I finally found an artist who might be willing to take NSFW commission for IoriIta! Ahhhhhh..... 😭
It really is hard finding artists with reasonable anatomy skill that are willing to take NSFW commissions! Ahhhh.... I hope they accept this commission.
Shipping rare pairs really does take a lot of work sometimes. You usually have to make your own 'food.' But it's not my first rodeo (look at ObeRitsuka tag and DaybitRitsuka tag full of my stuff)
I ran across a Japanese GoYuu / IoriIta fic on pixiv the other day...
It has a really interesting premise... well... less a premise and more the world building aspect that really reeled me in.
The setting is about 20-30 years after JJK ending. Yuji was in a semi formal relationship with Satoru Gojo during JJK. They even had an official engagement on paper, with the promise of holding the ceremony when Satoru came back after Sukuna... and... well....
What's interesting is the fall out. Yuji becomes Satoru Gojo's widow... in truth (and not just in his behavior in canon Modulo). But the circumstances around his becoming Gojo's widow is very... not ideal.
He becomes such not because he himself wants that title (whatever for??!) but because of political expediency... not for Yuji... but for the Gojo clan and Yuta and Maki later on.
The story goes into the political reality of 2 of the 3 great clans that were foundational to keeping stability of the Jujutsu world being wiped out and what that meant for greater Japan and the surviving, but Satoru-less Gojo clan.
To summarize, Gojo clan officially inducts Yuji into their clan as Satoru Gojo's legal wife. They do this to tie the sorcerer who exorcised Ryomen Sukuna at 6 months into the jujutsu world to their clan. It's a move that strengthens them and allows them the leverage to gradually absorb the remnants of Kamo and Zenin.
Yuji... is not happy about this, but also does not want to watch sensei's home clan fall into weakness and be preyed on by some other factions. The relationship between him and the clan is... difficult to say the least. Yuji is well aware he's being used, but he doesn't have the heart to just leave the Gojo to their own device. The Gojo clanners are also ruthless. By using the things left over by Satoru, they gradually tie Yuji tighter to their clan, forcing him to get involved in big clan decisions that might have an impact on the memories of Satoru Gojo.
With Yuji's reputation, especially when he eventually becomes a full grown adult and slowly acknowledged as the Strongest of a new era, the Gojo would use his 'name' as the Great Lady, the Dai Fujin of the Gojo Clan, now and then to push their own agenda.
When Yuta and Maki assume generational leadership as the next head of the Gojo clan, the situation becomes even more complex and intertwined. Great clans have internal politics of their own. Yuta's strength is respected.... but he is politically an outsider. Maki is worse. She's a pariah. So Yuji has even more reason to stay because it's often that he's Yuta and Maki's support to push new policies to reform the clan itself.
It's really a fascinating scenario to read about.
Yuji is seen from the eyes of the new, younger generation as 2 separate entities: the Yuji Itadori... and the mysterious Dai Fujin of the Gojo clan.
Then... there is the second part of this fic that got me so chuffed. Because within the internal hierarchy of the clan, Yuji is the previous clan head Satoru Gojo's wife, in terms of generational hierarchy, he ranks above both Yuta and Maki... and can technically be considered... Iori Okkotsu's grandmother....
.... Hahahahahahahaahahahahahaha!!!
The scene in which this topic was broached was when a mob character (a gardener who befriended Yuji without knowing he's the Yuji Itadori and the Dai Fujin of the Gojo) had a conversation with Iori (or rather Iori started a tense conversation with him when Iori saw this stranger having a pleasant conversation with Yuji and Yuji smiled at him! Smiled at him!). The gardener ofhandedly commented that the Dai Fujin would be Iori-sama's grand mother, wouldn't it? Even a subtly hostile-to-the-gardener Iori was caught off guard by this observation.
I just... hahahahahahahaha
I can't help it. Oh man. Iori has it even worse in this sort of scenario. This boy just does not have an easy time with love, huh?
In terms of internal generational hierarchy, gardener-kun is not wrong though. It will be like Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu of Return of the Condor Heroes (disciple and master relationship, which is considered pseudo incestuous in the cultural context). A relationship between Iori and Yuji in that context would be comparable to grandson pursuing his own grand mother. Legally it's not a problem but, within the clan itself, there would be... waves... to say the least.
It is kinda a fascinating situation to unpack though. The story doesn't really go deep into it since it's only a oneshot, but I thought that might be the premise of a deeper storyline heavily involved in internal clan politics.
We need an AU where Yuuji give birth to both Iori's children
I do so think Yuji should be swarmed in a small army of little children. He's the type who will wither and collapse into himself if left alone. So somebody really should knock him up pronto.
Don't worry about the biology part. It's in a universe with curses AND his mom is Kenjaku. There will always be a way to knock Yuji Itadori up.
That said, I actually really like Tsurugi and Yuka as characters though. A big part of their characters is grounded in their being clan children and their diffficult relationship with both parents. A lot of their character stories can be told as a 'the children pay the price for the parent/grandparets' kind of story.
So I kinda hesitate to take that part away from them. Instead, I like story ideas that allow for exploration of out of the ordinary family structure.
I like the idea of telling stories inspired by the often messy internal affairs of rich, old Asian clans like in C and K dramas, and then flipping well-used scripts on its head.
The story branch 'Happy, strange family Okkotsu' I drafted (but haven't gotten around to writing proper) is one where I explore a scenario in which Yuji is cornered into staying with the Okkotsu following Iori's attempted suicide (instead of abandoning his family and running away from home to follow Yuji as per canon Modulo), and is then continuously guilt tripped, gas lit, and emotionally manipulated into entangling himself in an actual relationship with Iori... and then the next thing he knows, he has pink haired kids hanging off of both hands while running a bizarre household where the clan members called him Elder Itadori to his face and Second Madame behind his back.
I just think it's really funny, man. That sort of unusual circumstance and setting can be a lot of fun to play with. Here are some rough draft snippets I wrote for that particular story branches. Excuse the roughness! These are just completely self indulgent rough drafts that I wrote because I didn't have the time to actually sit down and write them proper yet:
...
When it came to Yuji, right from the start of this whole ordeal, he was hesitant and utterly flustered, completely at a loss. The little nephew he used to carry on his back, running all over the clan estate back in the day, was suddenly confessing his love and wanting to cling to him for the rest of his life. Put anyone else in his shoes and they would have sprinted in the opposite direction. Yuji wanted to do the exact same thing. But who could have guessed that Iori would be so dangerously determined that he'd try to commit suicide? Then, before Yuji even had a chance to slip away, Yuta-senpai stabbed his sword right through the hem of Yuji's clothes, pinning him to the ground (like father, like son, seriously! How can they demand someone stay while being this aggressively overbearing?!! One threatens suicide! The other literally pins your clothes down with a sword so you can't leave! What kind of madness is this??!! Yuji felt so incredibly wronged), and then bowed deeply to beg him to stay and help them with Iori's treatment.
His senpai was already well into his seventies at the time. His hair was entirely white. Yet, for his son's sake, he had to bow his head. It was heartbreaking. So, despite the anxious fluttering in his chest, Yuji felt he had no choice but to stay.
Afterwards, he was relentlessly clung on by an officially-declared-mentally-disturbed Iori day in and day out. They were practically attached at the hip. Anyone else would have probably gone completely mad and run away. But Yuji felt… that it wasn't all that bad. He had survived Sukuna, after all. Comparing the two, Sukuna was without a doubt the harder roommate to live with.
As time passed, he gradually let his guard down against his nephew's small, pushy advances, excusing them as the actions of a patient who needed help and understanding. To some extent, it made Yuji feel a little less isolated and lonely.
And then, that first drunken incident happened.
It was absolutely mortifying. Uncle and nephew making love right on the wooden floor with the door and windows both opened. And to top it off, he was the one on the bottom.
Yuji buried the whole thing deep down, fully intending to never let it happen again. But man proposes, God disposes. Yuji was almost seventy himself. Because he was terrified of his half-cursed spirit physiology, he had, embarassingly, never been intimate with anyone. His blood was toxic. Even a Grade 1 sorcerer splashed with his blood would be knocked out cold. He constantly worried whether his other bodily fluids were just as dangerous not to mention what else mommy dearest might have stuffed in his body that he was yet unaware of. So he strictly enforced absolute celibacy upon himself. The consequence of living like a monk in a temple for decades was that… his body was genuinely, desperately starved.
Maybe it was inevitable. He was only human after all, not made of stone, so how could his heart not soften? As with every thing, once there was a first time, the second and subsequent times came about far more easily. The physical relationship between him and his nephew sparked like a flame catching dry straw, suddenly exploding into a roaring wildfire. Before he even had time to process what was happening, he… was fucking pregnant already???!!!!
...
...
...
And so, shifting into the mindset of a fiercely protective elder looking after the kids, which included both the giant, overgrown toddler named Iori Okkotsu and the actual tiny babies, two of which he was in fact responsible for creating as crazy as that sounded, Yuji forced himself to adapt to the suffocating realities of clan life.
He began taking on heavy burdens that no one else could handle, slowly building and fortifying this highly unconventional, utterly bizarre little nest of theirs from the ground up. From completely shutting down and terrifying the useless, troublesome elders into submission to taking poor Mifuyu under his wing, and pulling in the two kids, Tsurugi and Yuka, he poured his entire soul into teaching and raising them. He wanted to make sure the rest of the clan saw their worth and growth, hopefully curing those snobs of their nasty, deep-seated urge to shun the poor children.
As for Iori, Yuji understood his anxious, deeply insecure state of mind inside and out, that constant, frantic panic of holding onto something while terrified it will slip through his fingers. The reason the man always gripped him so tightly, refusing to loosen his hold for even a single second, was rooted in a profound, terrifying dread of abandonment. To be entirely fair, some of that guilt lay on Yuji himself. Before Yuri came into this world, Yuji had occasionally dropped clear, wistful hints that he deeply missed the absolute freedom he used to enjoy, long before he was cornered and pinned down in the Gojo mansion by the tag-team efforts of Iori and Yuta-senpai.
Alas, it really goes to show that when someone falls in love, they truly are willing to reshape their entire existence for the one they love, aren't they?
Yuji had to dedicate an immense amount of time, years of consecutive, unending patience, just to pamper and comply with Iori's whims. He willingly let the man unleash his suffocating possessiveness over his body, all for the sole purpose of soothing that agonizing dread of being left behind that lived deep within Iori's soul. More often than not, their intense lovemaking sessions would catch him completely off guard. One moment, Yuji would be softly petting Iori's hair, sweetly praising him for being such a good, capable clan head, then, not even a few minutes later, that absolute grenade of a nephew would suddenly flip a switch, pinning Yuji ruthlessly against a wooden house pillar and thrusting so fiercely that Yuji's tongue would tie completely. He could barely let out a coherent whimper, let alone actual words. In the heavy, quiet atmosphere, the only sounds left were their thick, wet breathing, his own breathless gasps, and the rhythmic, protesting creak of the old wood. On other days, Iori would drag him straight out into the garden, spinning Yuji around to face a massive tree trunk before burying himself entirely inside him from behind. He would slam Yuji's body so hard against the rough bark that Yuji's feet couldn't even graze the ground, leaving him dangling and trembling violently, looking exactly like a helpless fish skewered completely through.
This was just too much! The men in this Okkotsu family were seriously too much! Even as Yuji cursed them out like that, his whole body was shaking, sweat pouring down to drench his clothes and hair, completely helpless as he let that good-for-nothing nephew fill his belly to the brim.
It's just the intro part of a IoriIta oneshot I haven't gotten around to completing. It's meant to function as both a character study piece on Iori Okkotsu as well as a timeline of events and the relationship between Yuji and Iori leading to pre-Modulo timeline.
I started this oneshot with the intention of using it as the foundation piece for other IoriIta story ideas branching off its ending (or branches that reverses it entirely).
The art above is a WIP commission piece I placed with 'Can't Go on Without Gayporn' (that's her artist's name. I didn't make that name ok!)
...
This tale doesn't have a happy ending.
In the beginning, there was a man and a woman, broken, mending each other, and between the two of them, wanting to mend the world around them. This was a noble thing to want to do. Nobody could have gainsaid it. In support for their grand undertaking, many came forward to tip their hands in help.
Then, the man and the woman had together a child.
This child is our cannibal.
But he was not born a cannibal. He was born loved.
The boy had everything and more growing up. His father was the strongest of the time. His mother the woman who tore down the rot of the old blood by her lone hands. It was certain, before he even came into this world, that he was destined for great things, or so they said.
Such expectations.
That was why they gave him a name that meant… Trust Weaver.
They too had great hopes for him, as the old blood that heralded his birth had their expectations.
But life was often not as wished. The man and the woman weren't the kind of parents they wished they could be. This was not their fault. They too bore scars that hadn't yet completely disappeared. The woman extinguished her own blood. The man forsook his own family. Whether they intended to or not, some of their own pain was once more relayed into their love for him. And beside, the lofty goal of mending their world, broken after the calamity, was one that demanded all of their time, and all of their attention.
Between his parent's pain and their noble goal, the boy, who lacked for nothing material in truth, was often left in want anyway.
But that was okay. Because someone else stepped in to fill the vacuum that his parents often left in their quest.
The one and only.
He was different, the boy could tell. Because he had no expectation at all for the boy, saved that he have the childhood that any child that was loved should have, and have more joy than he could have ever asked for. When he called the boy's name, he did not call for the Trust Weaver that the boy's parents hoped he would become, nor the combination of his parent's strength that the old blood expected. He merely called for…
"…Iori…"
The one had eyes like sunlight in the bottom of an autumn lake. The boy called him uncle. They had no blood relation in truth, saved for the tenuous connection of the man's sharing the same teacher and savior as the one.
Throughout his quiet childhood, uncle was often the noise, the chatter, and the laugh. On the ornate dining table filled with regimented Kaiseki Ryori, each richly lacquered plate of Zensai, Osuimono, Yakimono, and Takiawase measured down to the individual nutrient tailored to the boy's exact dietary needs, he was the popcorn, soda, and sloppy burgers with cheap melted cheese that would have the boy's personal chef screeching in rage. In between the boy's rigorous education and training, he was the 'let's ditch those boring, old tutors, Iori! Human Worm 9 just came out! I'm taking you to watch it! You are going to love it, I'm sure!'
Just like that, the one took him from the great big house of the old blood, where a place with the boy's exact shape was already decided for him before he was even born.
Out of that house of the old blood, the one told him. You can be anything you want to be, so long as you are happy. And don't worry about a thing. I'm here. I'll protect you.
And protect him the one did. He was strong. Stronger even than father, thought the boy, for all that everyone around him always told him father was the strongest of his generation.
The one was strong and beautiful. He was a shining sun in human form. His every motion was poetry. His being was carved art. He captivated the boy effortlessly, in between his easy laugh and his freely offered, unconditional affection.
With such contrast, between the man and the woman, whose love for him was warped by their own pain, and the old blood, whose adoration for him was laden with expectations , it is no surprise then that the one became the boy's world.
Not an illustration for any particular drafts or story ideas. I just want to commission a piece that showcases a bit of the dynamic between them (and the fact that these two live in different genres entirely).
I just want to try out a certain pose reference material is all. In the unlikely event that Iori gets the gut to cop a feel on uncle Yuji, would Yuji respond by breaking his jaw? Or would Yuji refrain because he can't possibly hurt Yuta and Maki-senpai's only child?
What a troublesome opponent huh, Yuji? He won't listen to your 'no.' You also cannot go all out and thrash his ass. So what else can you do but run and hide? The strongest sorcerer of tomorrow, reduced down to running and hiding from this particular 'threat.' It's the stuff of tabloids!
I wonder if that's why Yuji ran and hid in Modulo and didn't return for years.
Illustration for a draft story idea of mine titled: "The Spider says I Love You"
The plot boils down to a young 18 years old Iori waking up with the memories of an alternate life where he lived to old age, languishing and going mad in heartbreak. Young Iori promptly decides that if it's his fate to go mad for love, then he will go mad... right now. No need to wait and endure decades of torment and a broken performance marriage just so uncle will think of his as a good nephew. He's going to go mad right now, for uncle. It's uncle's fault. He should take responsibility.
Iori then promptly hatches a plot to trick and entrap an unsuspecting Yuji. It's a plot line featuring the usual dark romance cocktail of dubious consent, entrapment, mpreg, political intrigue, the works.
.... I don't know when I will have the time to actually sit down and write it out... 😅
I love the IoriIta writing you have going on right now. Fully admit I haven’t touched JJK Modulo, but I’ve seen stuff about Iori. You make him more compelling from what little we have about him.
I also saw you had some writing on Yuji as being an Otome Game Protagonist with routes and Yuta as end game? How do you view Yuta x Yuji/Yuji x Yuta in a relationship or getting there?
Hey! Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
My writing on Yuji as being an Otome Game Protagonist? You mean the draft for 'Shocking News! Itadori-kun has flowered' I posted in the A/N section of my other JJK fic Etalon? Huh.... did I mentione that on Tumblr?
This one (copy pasted from my AO3):
In other news, in my continued effort to cope with incessant health issues (I am very good at coping. That's why I'm a professional writer see), I came up with yet more story ideas. Not mentioning the slew of flash written smutty IoriIta snippets, and a new story branch titled God and his Most Devout (so born because I grew tired of writing the same kind of relationship dynamic through different lends and genres so I wanted to see if I could write a completely different character dynamic), I came up with… another rom com story idea!!!
It's titled: "Shocking News: Itadori-kun has flowered!" In short, it's a story in which Yuji has the power of Otome-game protagonist!!!! Ah, but he doesn't know it. It all starts with Gojo's first lesson to Yuji in canon where he said Yuji had no cursed technique at all. But here, in this story, Gojo's Six Eyes picks up something but he doesn't know what exactly. It seems to evade the Six Eyes as it is. Meanwhile, Yuji thinks of his little harmless secret. Ever since he was a young child, he has had a little sprout on his head, hidden underneath his pink hair.
Yes! A sprout!
In any case, it seems Yuji really did awaken some technique after swallowing Sukuna's finger. He thinks it's a kind of support technique where he can cast passive, continuous and powerful active trigger, short term buffs on himself and his friends the more time he spends with them or the deeper their bonds become. Hahahahahahahaha. In truth, it's the otome game system at work. The system itself is inspired by the support and pair-up systems from Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates (I'm a big fan!!), as well as a few other popular otome game features (like the whole self improvement / beautifying system that is so prevalent in dating sims heavy otome game). Because Yuji has no idea that his technique literally requires / encourages him to romance people to buff the both of them (ah, the power of love and youth! The buffs are very powerful) and only thinks he is helping out his peers and seniors, our innocent boy happily goes around 'flirting' with everyone at Jujutsu High, both the Tokyo and Kyoto branches.
He can level up himself and his relationship with individual people. The higher the level, the more the sprout on his head grows, and eventually flowers!!!! He literally walks around with a pink flower crown on his head! Looking like the spirit of a sakura tree!
Ergo the name: Shocking News! Itadori-kun has flowered!
I think, because of the nature of such a system, he will probably have an innate sense of dual combat with any one he even just starts to get closed to too. You know like that mythical battle couple trance state that you sometimes see in romance stories with a combat focus (or that final gun fight scene in Mr and Mrs. Smiths movie). Because canon keeps prattling on about the strongest ones of each era always being lonely that it makes me want to chuck otome-game-powered!Yuji at it while hollering: "Behold! The power of love and friendship! Nyahahahahahaha!"
I'm not really sure which ship is end-game for this story yet. I'm oscilating between Goyuu (hey, mister I'm so lonely I can only fight alone even against Jujutsu Satan! I wanna do something about it! Don't dare me! It makes me want to do it even more) and OkkoIta / YuuYu (because I have never written this ship and I'm curious if I could pull it off. Also because the other weeks I stumbled across a bunch of well written OkkoIta Chinese fics and they sorta kinda convinced me).
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If it is, somebody did ask me how I would write the OkkoIta route. This is my answer to them:
Yeah. OkkoIta is definitely a certain kind of vibe.
I was thinking, if I write 'Flowered' with OkkoIta as the end game in mind, I would start them out as Yuji reaching out to Yuta via text messages first months before they meet in canon.
I think that would be sometimes before Yuji dies for the firs time. With the first stage of his support ability fairly well understood (he can bestow buffs regardless of distance so long as he makes contact of some kind with the person and they have neutral to positive view of each other. This passive buffs can improve over time as their bond deepens. When in close proximity, Yuji can trigger powerful active buffs that come with the effect of increases synergy between him and the recipient of his buffs), he's encouraged to spread his buffs around as much as possible on his schoolmates and school personnels.
Yuji of course happily does this. Around this time Yuta is in Africa. Knowing there's a senpai that's missing out, Yuji starts sending him texts introducing himself.
I think, Yuta probably stays silent because he doesn't know how to reply to this new cheerful kohai. Yuji, because of the nature of his power, gets an innate sense of a person and their view of him, so he takes this as this senpai being the shy, quiet type. So he does most of the talking because he doesn't mind. He would check in with Yuta every morning when he wakes up and every night before he goes to sleep and would share all kinds of daily tidbits, photos of his food and class and friends and what the senpais are up to and random missions he takes.
Probably during his time in the underground room where he's supposed to be dead, he still keeps up his contact with Yuta sincce Yuta is out of the loop and not in danger of leaking info that Yuji is still alive to the higher-ups. His texts to Yuta changes to all kinds of comments on movies he watches and how Gojo sensei has been that day.
Then canon happens. The first time they meet is when Yuta chases Yuji down to carry out his 'fake' execution. Instead of the desparate, chaotic battle we had in canon, due to the effect of Yuji's active buff and combat synergy, this running fight between them becomes more like... playfighting, like flirting, like a violent dance.
I take inspiration from the song 'Assassin's Tango' by John Powell for the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The slow, seductive tango music that builds into explosive action at 3:20 minute mark!
Yes! A fight like a tango! Action and drama!
Unlike in canon where he was clueless and believed Yuta to be out to really kill him, here because of his innate ability to sense his opponent / partner (like that old anime trope of understanding someone deeply through very high level combat with them!), he senses that Yuta... is not really serious about killing Yuji. There's a playfulness to Senpai's deadly grace. Deciding to trust his guts on this, Yuji... starts to play right back too.
So in essence they both put on a performance.
Here, in the climax of the fight, Yuji offers up himself willingly for the 'killing blow' without needing Rika's intervention.
If you have seen Revolutionary Girl Utena, the scene is basically that iconic scene of Utena pulling the holy sword from Anthy's chest, except here it happens in reverse, Yuta pushing his sword into Yuji's chest in almost that exact pose.
Yessss!! The imagery! The visual suggestion of Yuji being pierced! Hehehehehe.
Iori Okkotsu x Yuji Itadori
WIP fanart. Commissioned with NDP. Haaa... I'm excited to see how this one turns out. My intention is to maybe use this as pre illustration for an IoriIta story idea I have. The name of that story idea is...
... drums roll!!!
Iori-kun's Tiger Catching Diary
Yuji and Choso's day at the aquarium!
Commissioned art with Mao.
I love their relationship in canon. Wish they actually had more time to enjoy a mundane life with each other instead of what happened. Damn you, Gege!
Preliminary sketch for a commission I placed with Nguyen Dong Phan. Illustration for a Ioriita story idea in which Iori entraps his uncle and uses political pressure to force the clan to allow a sham marriage. Hahh... I do think this piece will illustrate the depth of the madness Iori is willing to jump down just to be able to keep uncle to himself.
Yes, Iori is squezing uncle Yuji's 🍑. It's right in his strike zone. Of course he's not going to let that sort of opportunity slip by.
Commissioned art with Nga Phuong.
Illustration for a story branch I drafted but haven't even started writing yet. Strange Happy Family Okkotsu, which is a story about how an old soldier got roped into being nanny of the whole Okkotsu family. Yep, all of them, the green tea bitch pro max nephew who gaslit and emotionally manipulated his way into knocking up uncle Yuji (who didn't even know his body was capable of pulling that sort of stunts! But he really should have known better considering who his mom is!), the aging, guilty senpai Yuta, the bastard nephew's poor innocent wife Mifuyu and her 2 super cute kids that deserve better. Yuji Itadori starts out thinking it will just be a temporary thing. He just needs to stick around until they manage to stabilize Iori Okkotsu's mental issues. And then before he knows it, he's handling two pink-haired toddlers while running a bizarre family situation out of some dog-blooded American telenovela while the servants and clanners in the Gojo estate are all calling him Second Madam behind his back and elder Itadori to his face. Damn those scamming Okkotsus!!
WIP Iori Okkotsu x Yuji Itadori . IoriIta
Preliminary sketch illustration for a oneshot (A Cannibal's Love Song) I'm cooking.
Commissioned with Hai Czi.
It's still only a prelim sketch at the moment. There are lots to tweak here. The distance between Yuji and Iori is too close. Yuji should stand just close enough to create the illusion that if Iori just reaches out, he will be able to touch Yuji. But the truth is that he's standing just barely out of reach. I'm not too fond of the shapless silhouette of Yuji's jacket either, so gotta find some ref materials to improve that. Iori's silhouette also needs tweaking. Shorter hair. He should be wearing Montsuki Haori and not this fairly casual kimono type. And the neckline has to be higher. Neckline that shows collarbone is a bit too improper for that sort of character type.
The color palette is working though. So does the layout.
The illustrated scene is: the spring of Iori's genpuku ceremony. The 16 years old Gojo heir stares in awe at uncle's inhuman beauty. In the hail of flying peach blossoms, uncle is like the spirit of the peach tree that got lost and fell into the mortal realm. In this moment, the boy can finally put to name the feeling that has been growing in his heart for a long time. Its name is...
... hunger....
Go For It, Novice Sister Itadori!!
A cute chibi styled art commissioned with Nekobeep, illustrating a female nun!Yuji
This came from this story idea I came up with one day, of a battle nun Yuji with blessed rosaries made from the remains of a holy martyr socking Sukuna in the face and breaking his jaws! Or punching her way through JJK in her cute nun outfit!
The title is: "Go For It, Novice Sister Itadori!"
The premise begin with Yuji being born a baby girl instead of a boy. A girl growing up elicits different worries from gramps Wasuke. Worried about her once he has passed on from this world, Wasuke enrolls her in a catholic school and makes sure her education is paid for all the way to college.
So there we have the first big change. In canon, a male Yuji would have become a firefighter if jjk didn't happen. This is out of his not knowing yet what to do with his life, having no big desires to work towards, and his one desire is to help people as much as he can. Ergo, a firefighter.
But here, girl Yu is raised in a catholic school with a long tradition of some of the girls joining convents during and after schooling for a varity of reasons. Fem Yu having the same wish to help people but with a different channel, becomes a novice sister instead. She wants to travel the world and helps people! She can do that under the awning of the church!
And then, a boy with 2 dogs and errant cursed finger placed near the schoolground happen.
I want to build an expanded world for this draft. Looking at cursed energy purely as a human phenomenon happening mostly but not exclusively in Japan (either for Watsonian or Doylist reasons, take your pick), there are definitely other ways of framing and understanding the same phenomenon, as with most things having to do with human beliefs and as of yet not fully and conclusively explained metaphysics (especially when you consider the historical and cultural framing of cursed energy. We already see the Simurians having a completely different cultural framing for what is almost the same thing).
The Church has a loooong history of exorcism.
The church has also preserved many remains of saints and martyred followers over thousands of years. According to JJK rules, even ordinary people release cursed energy when they die. The remains of high monks and sorcerers can easily become high-grade cursed tools. If that is the case, the Vatican is guaranteed to possess a massive amount of formidable, high-grade cursed tools. Therefore, it is highly possible that in the eyes of the jujutsu world, the Vatican is an organization where most members are ordinary people but can still stand as solid as a rock because of their deep pockets, huge follower base, and a massive armory of cursed tools that allows even ordinary people to beat curses to smithereens.
Ahh, I want to see Battle Nun Yuji in a 1v1 against Sukuna in that final battle, livestreamed to the whole world! A battle nun swinging her rosary-covered fist in furious close quarter combat against Sukuna who is double her size at the very least!
Because of Japan's own history with Catholicism and real-life martyred saints (including samurai and nobles), a group of jujutsu sorcerers has formed that is completely separate from the traditional Japanese sorcerer mold. They basically became their own faction, like the New Shadow Style in canon, while simultaneously reinforcing the power of the Vatican and things like that. Roughly speaking, they hold a countervailing power against the Jujutsu Society higher-ups, and even though they cooperate, they also fiercely clash behind the scenes as the church keeps trying to draw more sorcerers to their side. The thought that this human-based force has only one single dogma or a single cultural or religious approach is just ridiculous.
I am thinking about the behind-the-scenes political struggle between the Church and the Jujutsu higher-ups, who have very different perspectives on jujutsu and curses. Neither side is truly completely good, but within the ranks of both sides, there are good and bad people.
Yuji here is just too perfect to be a pawn in their war, so the church has to "show its teeth and claws" too. I think many of their relics can only be used if the user pays a certain price. The price of faith and devotion and whatnot.
I want to write a scene where Yuji makes a binding vow like that after witnessing the brutal lives of jujutsu sorcerers, born from a desire to have the strength to protect at least one or two people if she trades away her life or her faith.
I think that is even more likely to happen as we head toward the final battle. I want Gojo to survive. This story will be GoYuu because I find the idea and imagery of Gojo, an adult teacher in an extremely "problematic" relationship with a minor student, who is also a novice nun... it is incredibly thrilling. A shocking love scandal!!!
So I want to write the scene at the end of the battle, where Sister Itadori is immensely relieved to see that her plan and the holy relic worked, so she can no longer hold back her emotions, and she bursts into tears and tightly hugs the newly resurrected Gojo. There is even a kiss, right on live television, where Gojo comes back to life, sees the novice nun Yuji crying her eyes out while hugging her 'teacher', so on a whim, he pulls the young nun in and gives her a French kiss right then and there without thinking twice.
Just blame it on Gojo being in a momentary, crazy "awakened" state, just like when he was young and got killed by Toji then figured out Reverse Cursed Technique. In general, when you have just returned from the dead, who gives a damn about anything else, you have to hug your beloved first. Any scandal can be dealt with later.
