homeland

a bridge from our bones / cross ✖ affiliated with isola

[eidyllon]

It never occurred to Maru that there was a variable he never considered in his efforts to transplant his people into an entirely different ecosystem. The country of Japan seemed a suitable place to settle for its scenery, its culture, and above all, its unique attribution to Kalyan creation. For all the research he undertook, he failed to consider an epidemic could erase his people.

As these thoughts assailed his mind, several more flowers slowly bloomed from underneath his collar. His robes began to rumble from the flowers protruding rapidly upon his chest. His brows furrowed, and he gently pushed on the flowers, feeling the petals collapsed under his touch, and yet were resilient.

Without considering his brother's feelings, he took it upon himself to test the structural integrity of the first flower upon his crown. He ripped it off in a quick motion, stared at it, and suddenly felt the tingling sensation he recalled upon its first bloom. He dropped the flower.

"You are not infected. Perhaps, you have some agency to ward against this disease. If there are others like you, Cross, then we only have to worry about the rest of us," he spoke with golden trims of hope.

[eidyllic]

Cross' budding fears flowered manifest on his brother's body, his widening eyes caught in the trance of the rippling disease pushing at Maru's robes. The growth transfixed him in its sudden severity, which Maru then woke him from in a violent sundering of roots and flesh.

Fibers and blood vessels popped, the coiled plant matter trapping epidermal chunks within its whorls and weighing its collision with floor to a damp splatter. His fear slackening to dull disbelief, Cross stared at his brother, the void of emotion where his horror once lingered a reprimand conveyed in withheld care.

「Why would you do that?」 Years of apprehension toward his brother's behavior soured his question, but even he winced at the way he delivered those words, pricked by their acrid bite. Yet he pressed on, not wanting to stall long enough to hear an answer. 「... Regardless, that wouldn't make sense. We should assume I'm infected, too.」 Biologically, nothing differentiated them enough to immunize Cross but infect Maru; he considered it a certainty that foreign invaders brushed his cells, slower but just as potent.

He drew a steadying breath. 「Either we figure out how to cure this, or we ensure it ends with us.」

[promcsis]

@eidyllic

While she had become more settled into this world as a whole, the world also seemed to settle into her, in more ways than one.

Such a way was how this small group of sparrows decided to use her as a perch. No matter how she moved, they only clinged on, or fluttered off for a moment then landed right back onto her.

As much as she tried to get them to leave her for an actual tree, they remained. "Oh. Why won't you go?"

She didn't want to harshly shoo them, even if the gentle approach wasn't working.

"I am not a perch.."

[eidyllic]

Aside from the creatures which bore resemblance to the gods of his homeland, Cross hadn't paid much mind to the wildlife of this realm. The rules of nature and evolution, it seemed, only deviated so far, for many animals appeared familiar to the biological systems he knew. So, too, did their behaviors remain consistent across planetary distances.

Passing by, the flock of birds perched on something grey caught his eye, and he paused his trek to catch the woman's voice quietly bemoaning her unwanted company. The scene reminded him of the headaches Simuria's birds gave the herders for swarming their livestock's feed, but instead of finding a way to keep them away from food, encouraging them to follow it instead seemed like too simple a solution to ignore.

Glancing at the ground around him, he spied a bushy seed head growing from a tuft of grass near his feet, plucked it off, and massaged the grains apart in his palm. Then, his steps soft underfoot, he approached the woman, his arm slightly outstretched to proffer the seeds to the birds. One noticed immediately, fluttering off the woman and onto Cross' hand. Like pinpricks on his skin, its beak tapped the grains off him.

His eyes cast down at the sparrow in his palm, he slowly lowered himself onto his haunches and tipped both the seeds and the bird onto the ground. With patience, the rest would follow.

[gabbyp09]

[daxned]

Soft Elk watches the other closely. One of its eyes remains also on that third eye.

Dam-bi looks up at the creature a moment before looking back at the teenage boy. She slides her hands into her large sleeves. "I do not know. I suppose I imagine you would be all-seeing. A immense power of infinite knowledge." For now, there was nothing.

She's sure Oliver would think something else.

"Am I correct?"

[eidyllic]

Her explanation echoed that of the like-minded Earthlings he encountered before, her assumptions an expression her--and their--culture. Beneath his flat expression, he began to consider that the idea of enlightenment permeated amongst this realm's people on a scale wider than he thought and that the presence of this concept may affect future Rumelian settlers. If his people were targeted for their biology to any degree, their ideals of peace would naturally come under jeopardy; no matter the reasoning, prejudice isolates and differentiates.

He concluded he could no longer afford to entertain these peoples' misconceptions.

「No. You based your assumption only on the the most obvious thing you observed. In doing so, you failed to consider that someone all-seeing wouldn't allow themselves to be caught between you and your familiar to begin with.」

[eidyllon]

Maru swayed his head and watched his shadow's flower bounce left and right. He barely registered his brother's question, but it merited his attention, and he looked at his brother. All his brother received was a simple, nonchalant shrug.

"I don't know. My head began to itch, and there it was already fully bloomed. I noticed some other people who were covered in flowers to varying degrees. I thought everyone got a flower."

Maru tilted his head, and his flower followed in suit, both questioning Cross.

"Why don't you have one?"

[eidyllic]

Cross considered the scant information offered to him earnestly, wondering that, if Maru observed others in bloom, the flower signaled the presence of an endemic disease mutant to this realm. The thought turned his lips down in a deep scowl; his mind fixated upon the fact that he had not yet future-proofed his hopes for Rumel's settlement against their people's natural susceptibility to foreign diseases.

He rubbed the skin between his brows, recentering himself, then coaxed his mind back to Maru specifically. Reaching up, he gently pinched the stem and, just as cautiously, tugged it up to test its roots. It resisted him, remaining firmly planted in his brother's scalp.

「I don't know any more than you do,」 he reminded Maru as he withdrew his hand. Upon his fingers, a greenish-yellow coating of pollen dusted his skin, which he studied as he continued speaking.

「But it could be some kind of disease.」 Discomfort distantly shuddered his brain, warning him against appearing unsure and vulnerable to his brother by confessing his concern. But his ability to heed it felt deadened, his stability of self unreachable and dreaming in his thought-stream. 「I hadn't considered how illness might spread among our people here. Whatever this is, it could be a problem for us. If Rumel's children fall ill, we won't know how to treat them.」

[eidyllon]

The flower wobbled with every step Maru took in his approach. The unnatural position of the flower atop his head did not bother Maru; rather, he enjoyed the experience of becoming a pot for a plant. He beamed at his brother.

"Look at what I got," he grinned and posed, "pretty cool, huh?" He reached up to the spot where the stem protruded and scratched, "did you get one?"

@eidyllic

[eidyllic]

「What?」 He hadn't seen what Maru referred to at first, but upon turning to direct his gaze toward his brother's head, a paralysis of uneasiness stilled him. Although Cross knew Maru to be capable of immense feats, sowing sudden and unnatural springtides of flora included, he sensed no Rolloluca flowering from stem or intent.

「... No, I didn't,」 he answered stiffly, stepping closer to inspect the wobbling plant. 「What happened?」

[eidyllon]

"MARULU TRIPLE SPIN DIVE KICK!"

He launched off Cross' kitchen counter, revolved three times in the air and extended his foot to collide into Cross's couch seat, piercing through the fabric and spilling out the stuffing.

"Oh."

[eidyllic]

Stiff and unmoving, Cross watched the scene unfold, the time between Maru's boisterous declaration and the action to follow elapsing too quickly to be stopped. Side-eyeing the destruction wrought to the couch he shared with the others in the townhome, Cross remained silent for an elongated, tense moment, all the while flatly staring at Maru from the corner of his eye.

「... I'm going out,」 he announced plainly. He then left without another word.

[dangoronin]

" I see... So it is not. "

Lacking the skill to mask his emotions the disappointment on Masa's face is obvious. As this stranger is no enlightened he knows no more than he does. He even sighs, quite audibly at that.

" Then you behold no secret knowledge. "

It is too bad, although no fault of this individual--

" Hm? No? " he asks now blinking with curiosity in his eyes.

" I have not properly met all that many people yet but no? Why? "

[eidyllic]

By posing that question, he intended to gauge whether this man had encountered anyone else from Simuria; and with this seeming to not be the case, Cross adjusted his response accordingly, instead focusing on whence this stranger's assumptions derived.

「It's apparent that to you and the others belonging to your culture, the presence of a third eye fundamentally indicates enlightenment. That implies you have seen it before in some capacity. Is this not the case?」

[theridian]

@eidyllic ♡'d for a starter!

          rocky was... not on fire. this was, to anyone familiar with eridian biology, very confusing. because as far as he could tell, those were humans—or, at least, a species similar—walking all around him. gentle bouncing back and forth from claw to claw told him that this was the same weaker gravity that humans preferred, and the lack of pressure against his carapace informed him that the atmosphere was, as well. this was, as previously stated, very confusing. because surrounded by oxygen and temperatures so far below his own, rocky should be on fire. and yet.

     the faint clicking of his fingers tapping against each other could be heard as rocky thought, trying to understand just what in the world ( his or otherwise ) could have been happening to prevent the untimely combustion of his body. but he wasn't, as all those years of orbiting tau ceti alone had proven, a scientist. and he certainly didn't have enough information to even try to guess, even if he was.

     well. he could at least try to fix that.

     ❝ Hello! Hello human! ❞ at least, he hoped the person he'd tilted his carapace up at was. the impression he was hearing resembled grace's form enough that rocky felt about 92.3% certain. ❝ You know where we are, question? ❞ the translation overlaying his own without grace's computer was another mystery, but he decided to take things one at a time.

[eidyllic]

As time gave way to routine and Cross adapted his traditional upbringings to the modern era, he spent his days involved in increasingly specific fieldwork. The habits that began as desperate comforts--remaking his people's traditional pottery, lacing waterproof baskets out of seagrasses--turned to hobbies, then to inspirations. In the context of the settlement he hoped to establish in this realm, he took a step back to regard his own actions as scaffolding for what the future settlers from Rumel would need to feel comfort, for without the protective halls of the mothership Naunax, their lives felt stripped, vulnerable as birth. And so with future on his mind, he ventured into the city, toting a few seagrass bags to carry the supplies he hoped to find.

Through the crowd of bustling people, the small, crab-like creature scuttling around on the ground caught his eye as soon as it entered his field of vision. He paused, first watching its uncertain movements, then noticing how the city-goers hardly paid it any mind, so distracted they were between their own worries and the urgencies contained in their phones. A few times, the rock-crab seemed to miss being stepped on by a hair's breadth, and so Cross continued forward, placing himself between the creature and the flow of foot-traffic to effectively shield it.

Despite his action, he did not expect the hear its voice greet him, and he looked down to regard the shell-like surface pointed up at him. Distantly, he felt his Harmony attempting to decipher the unfamiliar song undulating beneath this realm's translation-stream, but with aspects of his Rolloluca yet severed from him, he could only vaguely make out the creature's melodic tongue.

「No, I don't,」 he answered honestly--a truth without grace. 「But what I do know is that this realm is far from any place you may be familiar with... including Earth.」 He made a point to mention the blue planet, testing the rock-crab's familiarity with it.

[silvadour]

Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo Volume 3 PV Original Creator/Writer: Gege Akutami (芥見下々) Artist: Yuji Iwasaki (岩崎優次) Director/Storyboard: @shunmiyakawa (宮川駿, 宮川俊) Studio: MAPPA

[runabout-river]

Last volume cover for Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo.

[hanartiia]

An altruistic pride swelled in her chest when Cross recollected fond memories of the culture exchange she and Maru arranged together. It warmed her soul to witness the sowed seeds of unity. She wondered if the absence of communication from Maru gave a dreadful warning that the seeds did not take root in his heart. Anxiety rocked her brain with a tumultuous storm, flaring up a migraine she had long thought subdued since her arrival. She recalled her doctor's recommendations to reduce complex thinking, especially over-thinking, to manage symptoms until her time arrived. So, she took a big breath through her nose, masking her pain by engulfing wafts of steamy, delicious smells that filled the cart's vicinity.

"MMMmmMMMmmm," she hummed and released a happy sigh. Somehow, engaging her other senses managed to quell her anxiety, and she was able to shift her attention back to the present. She locked eyes with Cross and grinned.

"Another Kansai specialty," she used her best Kansai accent to emphasize the unique dish. She proudly ducked underneath the cart's cloth awning to claim two bar stools at the chef's open stovetop. She ordered more than what she intended. First, two Japanese sodas; then, a takoyaki order; an order of pan fried dumplings; finally, the main event: okonomiyaki.

The chef distributed the food at their pace, starting with the takoyaki and gyoza, halving the order for equal proportion between the two. "This," she pointed to the gyoza, "it's originally from China, the neighboring country to Japan. It arrived to Japan a long time ago." She smiled and paused. She attempted to process her middle school education, and then grinned after a while, "I forgot when, but sometime in the period of cavemen or something." She waved her hand dismissively over the historical details and continued.

"One thing I heard from other chefs back home," she continued, "Japanese people like them pan fried with flour to give it a little crust. Someone a long time ago made it, after the big war, I think." She laughed again over forgetting the small details. "Try it!"

[eidyllic]

Her slight medical episode flared manifest in a cascade of minute contractions across her face, each tight muscle together rendering her pain magnified. He watched her carefully, alert to what she felt and mindful of his responsibility to her should she collapse, but ultimately relaxed to see that she recovered on her own. Saying nothing on her turbulent state, he followed her into the stall and took the seat next to her.

Although she colored her merry explanations of the foods with embellishments to gloss over the holes in her knowledge, Cross accepted the information given to him as-is, holding the more reliable details in his mind while quietly brushing away the exaggerated comment about cavemen. But despite her apparent lack of uniform know-how, he took humble enjoyment from learning what he could by word of mouth, as he understood these opportunities to peacefully converse to be transient in nature.

Snapping a pair of wooden chopsticks apart, he methodically placed his hand around the utensils to pick up the gyoza and try it. As she mentioned, the shell met his teeth with a slight crunch that otherwise coated the soft, spongy encasing, and the fillings which spilled out complimented the mild flour-taste. He nodded, affirming its quality.

「Food has as much to do with a nation's geographical proximity to other cultures as it does with the local ingredients,」 he acknowledged in response to her explanations, speaking up only once he finished chewing. 「When our trade routes were open, our food became richer. The spices we imported came with knowledge on how they're used. And at times, traders from our distant neighbor, Shaama, would bring whole recipes with them. I didn't give it any thought it back then, but I understand what it meant now.」 A melancholic smile lifted his lips as he recalled Rumel's golden days. Having only been a boy at the time, he didn't yet know how to cherish peace, leaving him now to hold onto the pieces he happened to remember.

「... It was a sign of coexistence.」

[eidyllon]

An extraordinary gleam seared his unconscious, vacant realm. The Okkotsu ring, enlarged to inhuman proportions, oscillated in the darkness. The silver ring remarkably reflected an imperceivable light, illuminating the emptiness, and highlighted the immeasurable confusion surrounding the wonderfully terrible object of Maru's attention. It swung towards him and its size finally comprehensible! It was as tall as the Naunax, minimizing his self-worth until he felt he was nothing compared to its brilliance.

It dropped upon him, crushing him in its immensity; his body squashed underneath its weight, his essence spurted from every pore until he was thin as a blanket.

Maru shot awake from shock, reaching aimlessly upon his chest and stomach to assure his brain that he lived. He heard his call, head swiveling as his fingers prodded his body, and he saw his twin. Recent recollections flooded into his mind as the rush of the tide collided with his subconscious. His nostrils and eyes burned from the remnants of saltwater, reminding him of the terror that occurred.

"What?" he looked at his brother, betrayed by his question. "He had the ring," he replied, sitting up as much as his body allowed him. "Tsurugi's ring," he clarified, "he must have stolen it," he argued his case, "how else could he had it? It belongs to him--to her-- she's here, isn't she?" He winced, now feeling he had been wronged by and had wronged all Earthlings. His face tightened from the vivid and horrid kaleidoscope of emotions that plagued him.

"How could I not try to get it back for them? I have to show them that we are capable of coexistence."

[eidyllic]

His brows knitted with a storm surge of frustrations roiled by Maru's explanation. For how little Cross knew about the familial dynamics surrounding the Okkotsu family ring, he also knew enough to recognize that Maru excused his indignant recklessness by accusing that Earthling of dealing the same pains which had hurt him the most unto others. And, when pointing blame wasn't enough, he dared go further -- in justifying this personal duty to correct the wrongs inflicted by those who steal, he trespassed into a prejudiced fantasy where purging a singular evil would cleanse the disease proliferating his suffering, and to this obvious bias Cross cursed his brother's carelessness, 「Dammit, Maru.」

「You would go so far as to risk not only that Earthling's life, but the lives of everyone living nearby, based on an assumption?」 Fatigue forgotten, Cross took a step forward, then stopped. In his hands, the urge to grab Maru by the collar and wake sense into him coiled. 「Has it even occurred to you that it would be impossible for that boy to have stolen it? You said it yourself: the ring belongs to Okkotsu Tsurugi. How could he steal from someone who's not here?」

He released a tight breath through clenched teeth in an attempt to steady himself, to regather the logic necessary to remind Maru of the goal they shared, but the frustration--the fear that irreparable damage had been dealt to their chances of settling in this realm--remained thick in his tone: 「If you're unwilling to listen to the people of this world, we can't hope to coexist with anybody, including Okkotsu Yuuka.」

[daxned]

@eidyllic

"...What power do you hold in your third eye?"

No 'hello, my name is. Nice to meet yous'?

Or better yet, maybe it would have been better if there wasn't some three-headed-skull tree monster-like creature that stood about 8 ft, towering over this boy.

[eidyllic]

The tree-creature's amorphous shape snagged on the outermost edge of his periphery, its three heads an arboreal irregularity atop a body otherwise camouflaged in the forest. In the infinitesimally small moment Cross halted to regard that tall, wooden body creaking toward him, a girl emerged upon the path he tread, shadow-silent, and hailed his attention by questioning the secrets of his biology in a voice soft as lilac. He passed a glance between the two now blocking his path, and, after a moment of consideration, chose to direct his focus at the child. His expression flattening, his eyes remained fixed upon her even as the tree-creature staked its roots in the ground next to him and peered down his body.

「You tell me. What power do you think it must have for you to confront me in the middle of the woods?」

[eidyllic]

@eidyllon / continued from here.

Trembling from the fatigue of weathering the tsunami and expelling saltwater from his lungs in racking, full-body coughs, Cross lugged his brother inland. What began as a steady retreat from the beach tarried into a sluggish plodding that dragged Maru's feet through the sand then dirt, Cross' own footsteps smearing into wobbly, tired lines in the ground as he stopped to cough, breathe, then carry on. By the time he crested the protective boundary of a forest out of sight of the Earthling, Cross considered heeding the alarms of his body and resting to collect his willpower, but Maru's gradual stirring unilaterally forced him to stop.

Easing Maru down against a tree, Cross backed up a few steps, at first intending to rest against a trunk standing opposite but finding his legs numb and unwilling to move. The screaming in his muscles blared loud, but his wariness deafened in comparison -- rooted, he watched his brother wake, and when he appeared conscious enough to respond, Cross hoarsely uttered his name. 「Maru...」

「What were you thinking?」

[eidyllon]

The smooth, almost motionless, rides brought an unusual exuberance to Maru's soul. He decided that these rides must have been built by children, as only children's dreams could imagine fantastical rides that buoyed Earthlings' souls out of the chaos created by their counterparts. Maru laughed and cheered with every ride, resonating with the vast youth surrounding him, and at times, led the charge in their wave of excitement. Unforgettable memories were made with his twin which could not have been possible without the visionary efforts of children who founded this imaginary, dreamlike amusement park.

Maru wanted to spread this joy with his people, and he promised himself that one day, he would.

Sunlight scorched every corner of the amusement park and corrupted the eyes, limiting visibility and threatening the crowds with her immense, final heat. However, the Sun's power was resolved to quit as she gradually lowered to sleep. The world grew quieter as she lulled, respecting her nightly routine, and the Earth lit the landscape with electrical lamps that substituted her beauty, if only for a short while, until she returned.

The people were drained and drifted in the direction of home or into the themed restaurants. Unsurprisingly, Maru dragged his brother to a space-themed restaurant with cartoonish space ships from children's imagination, and plump, round planets that resembled pocked cheese wheels. The photographic representations for each meal warranted an involuntary drool line from Maru's mouth, and he excitedly pointed at every picture, exclaiming he wanted that one, and that one, oh no, that one, wait that one, hold on, lemme think -- until he was redirected to find a table away from the expanding queue behind them.

Maru had picked a two-seater amongst the sea of tables occupied by couples, friends, and families. Maru's head swiveled, scanning the satisfied and worn faces who tiredly enjoyed their dinner. His eyes fell upon a table one over from him with a family of three, the mother and her twin adolescent boys. They played with one another, joking and laughing as they bided their time for food. Maru's brows furrowed as he watched them and wondered if he and his brother were truly abnormal if they were not this close. He had a festering desire to be united with his twin. The wall constructed over time felt impenetrable by now. Maru sank low to the table, chin in his arms as he spied the thing that he did not own.

The father arrived with their food, and with the help of his spouse, they divided the meal. A singular ice cream sundae was placed amongst them, and the twins paused their antics and stared longingly. Something inaudible was communicated from the mother, and without warning, the boys fought. They tugged and pulled at each other's shirts and hair, competing for unwarranted dominance. Maru sat up in disbelief; the love they gracefully, responsibly wielded deteriorated instantaneously. He observed all parts at the table and realized that the single dessert tore the fabric of their relationship. Greed and gluttony birthed unwelcome rivalry. Maru turned his attention away as the parents began their discipline, and he realized from this chance encounter that sibling relationships were undefined, erratic, and ultimately, unbreakable.

His eyes flickered up when Cross came into view with their meals. Maru almost crumbled before his brother, aware now that this imagined wall was not impenetrable but temporary sand bags fixated until the storm passed. Maru meekly smiled at his brother as he sat; he still had time to reach his brother, to save them from themselves.

"Thank you, Cross, for today," Maru's whispered voice barely became audible underneath the lively conversations around them. He took his burger in hand and devoured it in consecutive bites.

[sinscythe]

Knives had only seen places like this in old movies he'd watched as a child, a remnant of mankind of the past. Forests that continued further than the eye could see, filled with old trees and hundreds of different plants and flowers, all living together to sustain each other. Even the ground below feels alive, unlike the unforgiving, scorching sands of the desert planet he had wandered for a century.

Back then, this would have been a dream come true, an endless source of childlike wonder and curiosity. Thousands of questions would have arisen in his mind in a matter of seconds. Now, it only seems like a place to be surrounded by peaceful stillness in. Maybe he has grown callous. Of course, that wouldn't be a surprising statement to make to anyone he had known in the past.

He surprises himself by starting a conversation with the unexpected stranger.

" It's better than the city, " Knives turns his head, running a hand along the bark of the large tree, following the shape of it up to the swaying leaves.

Something arises in his mind. Perhaps few of the questions he'd thought of back then still remain.

" All this truly grows here without any outside help? "

[eidyllic]

The sincerity of that question softened Cross' gaze, and although he had no context of this stranger's history, he empathized closely with the wonderment inspired by the verdant forest surrounding them. Until the canal project tamed Rumel's dry plains and arid deserts into a livable, bountiful expanse of water, willow, and tamarisk, Cross had not beheld the world so intricately and colorfully alive before. Thoughtful, he gazed ahead at the thick canopy weaving into the unseen distance, all at once aware of the green air he knew to be grateful to breathe.

「Yes. It appears to grow on its own,」 he replied, his tone light in sharing brief kinship through this natural wonder. 「There are waterways here that feed the forests. If this all grew as a result of human intervention, no sign of it remains.」