playground

indie experimental multi written by flame

[gardenbuds]

Muse list! Subject to change/to be updated at any point. I'm a fickle creature and I love toys

Milgram:

Torch

Yuno Kashiki

Shidou Kirisaki

Kagerou project:

Kido Tsubomi

Witch hat atelier:

Qifrey

Durarara:

Celty?

Black butler:

Ciel Phantomhive

HIRAETH -The End of the Journey:

Hani

EVE music videos:

Tobi Otogiri

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End:

Frieren

[gardenbuds]

Five truffles down, 'just a few more' is an offer so tempting that it probably won't be resisted.

[polycephebi]

Ehhh....

I don't know if you're interested in this, but you're not that fun to talk to...

[gardenbuds]

...

Ancient and now uninteresting. An ever growing list. Trouble-maker was an apt read, it seems.

Entertainment to the youth has never been my goal. ... But I would like to give a reminder as to who approached whom. If you're bored, you can leave. I won't stop you.

[polycephebi]

' A nice opportunity. '

' Let's learn from each other. '

Such peaceful, inviting words -- if only they weren't completely void.

For one, this thing made it plenty clear what they already knew, if not were inches from finding out, through-- what? Sheer osmosis? He couldn't imagine what there was to gain from speaking to him, besides perhaps a vial of time-killing entertainment. You know, the thing others are meant to be for him.

And he certainly had nothing to gain from them.

Ah, what a swell thing it could be, to have a god on your side -- blissful hopes as that were lovely to sing, but the fluttery, detached nature of the beyond was something he understood all too well.

A fond god will be an awe-inspiring friend, an incalculable asset, a promise of a life and death far more fulfilled and beautiful and lovely than one's wildest dreams -- if, and only if, you remain on the right side of their finicky whims.

It's better to not be known. No, to be invisible.

But from the day he was born, it was too late to ever hope for that.

"... Seeeen~ pai~"

He drew it out by force as he thought. Considered. Evaluated.

As it were, their good side was the only place he could possibly aim.

Indeed it was a relief -- If they would really be gone soon, then maybe, just maybe, if he tread carefully now, he could retain a muffled existence on their radar from here out.

But he didn't think he would actually end up that lucky. Call it a gut feeling.

"What is there to learn? You already seem to know a looot~ And you're not telling me much about yourself.."

[gardenbuds]

Ah, finally, a good question.

They could sense your struggle- but you've ask precious few good questions so far. This is something that can be held and pondered.

"Everything."

"I'm on a journey. On the way, I'm paying my respects to gods and their companions. You, being the sentry of one, makes you one of those such peers. So, before I go, I would enjoy getting to know your story. As it is, I know the road, but not the emotions it bought you."

From their robes, they product a small cup. A light briefly fills it- and before long, the scent of alcohol floats through the air.

"I am here until my companions have finished their own business in this town. So, in the meantime, converse with me. Tell me about this life lived in half, Sentry of the Snake." They offer the cup to your lips, a command wrapped with the bow of a gift. Entertainment often started with a good drink.

[polycephebi]

Is he meant to be awed? To be wooed and swept away?

Or is he meant to be left sick with discomfort?

Is he meant to be anything at all? This careless, playful impression left the suggestion of something apathetic -- one of the worst things for a god to be.

Of course that he didn't know -- that this swirling form could really end up taking any shape, and he was given no hints with which to guess and prepare a counter-play. He was left painfully unsteady, and given nothing that didn't seek to burn through his skin all the while.

Bad enough to name him. Sentry. What was it to imply the existence of more !?

He sealed his mouth shut. Beneath furrowed brows his gaze pierced, unmoving, stubbornly unswayed any more than a minuet crease in the corner.

[gardenbuds]

"And now there is only silence between. Oh bother.."

Look at that, your guesses are getting closer. But, isn't it true that no matter what form this god before you took- Apathetic, sentimental, vengeful- this vile feeling would raise in your throat?

They'll flip, turning upside right, remaining close to the poor boy (how often are you the poor one in situations nowadays?)

"I'm under the impression you don't speak with your God often. This could be a nice opportunity for you. Precious few share our connection to the divine. Let us talk and learn from each other. I will only be in this town a short while." Does that finally bring you some relief?

[polycephebi]

So formal...

You really wanted to ask that before a name? Does it matter~? Neither of us are human, isn't that enough?

[gardenbuds]

You were the one who spoke of bonding.

As a means to your ends, but nonetheless. Something interesting could be learned here.

[polycephebi]

His foot slid back.

He hated the expression that stole his face.

Quick as he was to mute it, the guttural reactions poised in the way of fear and awe still swam in his eye, with wind threatening to expose the other's depths. Fingers raised and gripped his hair down, stubborn refusal. His tongue slid over this teeth and clicked with a vague annoyance, deeply unimpressed with the show presented..

You can't know something about me that I don't.

"What do you want?"

[gardenbuds]

Cheerful eyes narrow against your annoyance. They aren't amused at it, rather they pass by it without a blink.

Their form swirls around you. They reach the top of you and linger, turning their head down to look upside down into the only eye you'll allow. In doing so, you're encased by their hair as it cascades around you. A lovely sight and smell, if you weren't on the defense.

"Nothing. Just a chat. ... Not all sentries are this unwilling to talk. It's a good way to pass the time."

[polycephebi]

Ah? You got to that conclusion so quickly...

I just thought it could be a bonding moment.

[gardenbuds]

Bonding... yet not even our names have been exchanged yet.

If you wish to bond, we could start by you telling me what manner of being you are. I can tell you are not human.

[polycephebi]

So you can die? Good to know, good to know...

How'd you like to share your ancient wisdom with him?

[gardenbuds]

My, you've made note of that.

You seem the trouble-making type. Is there some good that will come out of my sharing? Not that she appreciates being called ancient, anyway. What thin ice you've created...

[polycephebi]

" ... "

"That's wrong. "

Another useless god.

But something about it felt to grind him to the bone. He spoke more sharply than intended, and the look in his eye painted a clear picture of displeasure, inarguable, for one so often content to mask in any direction he pleased.

A useless, flighty, meddling creature like this had no right to scan his inhibited self -- He didn't know how they found the pieces, water plus snake -- but he took great comfort in that their math was kept simple, inaccurate.

"Can I help you, anyway? Do you have nothing better to do?"

[gardenbuds]

Wrong? How strange. Were you unaware?

The look in your eye burns neither concern nor notice. A quiet consideration, if anything at all. It's a speck, really. A bead of water as they move between rain drops. They stand from their seat upon this rail- or rather, float with the nightly breeze that holds them both.

A blink of those opposing eyes and you will find them before you. Closer, face mere inches away. But all the more you will find long, flowing hair meeting the wind around you. Their hair now long is adored with petals and horns, their light clothes traded for ropes just as delicate, but far less casual. Water lilies mix with your scent quite well.

"You were born upon that beautiful lake. Did you not know, little snake?"

[gardenbuds]

polycephebi: being immortal is fine being a god is 🔪.... dont know more than him though wtf

She holds no claims of immortality... But that is something you know about? Interesting. Knows sooo much dude haha you wish

[gardenbuds]

polycephebi: puts the frieren directly in dri's house

Local snake is finally haunted for his crimes by two ancient white haired powerful beings that know So Much more than him

[gardenbuds]

[polycephebi]

The idea struck him a little-- the idea of being named by [ THAT ] god, or humans -- these wildly different ends of the spectrum, both equally disgusting. If he were to accept a name from anyone, it would be one of [ those two ].

Or, dad. Technically. Hm...

He heaved these irritations out with a sigh, masked, yet thoroughly reshaping his lungs. But if you give no more information -- then he doesn't want to, either. Isn't that reasonable? This isn't a novel he cares to read.

.. Although, they said something weird just now.

"... Why do you~? I took a shower this morning. Could it be that?" A joke, or - an attempt to dupe himself into writing the comment off. It feels like a small hint, though-- a domain in water..? Hm.

[gardenbuds]

A point missed, but a point earned. Domain in water isn't wrong... but your guess is silent and their eyes lock behind you instead of to their past, blurry as it can be. The look beyond you is brief, unremarkable to most. For they don't wish to dig-- This game of pulling the spider's thread to and fro delights them enough to not wish a simple end. Less than a game, more than watching the crowd. You're interesting. Did you ever think that threat would be turned your way?

"I see..."

"A water snake. That explains the scent."

[gardenbuds]

[noisyhajimari]

@gardenbuds Cont.

Is that right, though?

Mirrors?

The 'shock', for one -- granted -- may well parrot each other in this moment ; but on Es's face sits a frail slurring of notions much more akin to horror, dread. Something mortifying sat before their feet, and something much, much worse rose and looked them in the eye.

SHOCK is a downplay. SHOCK is an extremely useless word.

Their foot slides back. Their face, paled, rivals that of a [ ghost ].

" Shi.... dou... "

Has this name, upon your ears, ever trembled so woefully?

[gardenbuds]

Strange, how thoroughly this state has not processed in his mind. A great lesson in the human psyche, if you wish to view it as a study. No matter how much death and decay surround your day to day, you can never truly understand it's every angle. Especially when the sharp edges of fate finally shine in your own blood.

Even when you can still feel the ache that sharpness left behind-

It's hard to tell if he's simply not noticed the state of his body, or if his mind is simply unable to wrap itself around. In either case, form is easily tossed aside in front of an expression like that. In accordance to a whisper like that. Even if his mind races into a blur of questions. Attention is best spent elsewhere. Will that thought linger forever?

"Es... kun-" Don't be scared. How can that request ever truly be reassuring? Will he ever be able to soothe a child's woes again-

Ah-

"How is Amane-chan?"

[gardenbuds]

placing es upon shidou. ghost shidou even. if you dare.

Ah, isn't that a touch cruel..? To fade, to succumb- with the hope and promise of reunion... only to open his eyes to a different child?

The shock on their representative faces surely mirrors each other. Perhaps his eases quicker. Can it truly be called ease, though? His face twists with a newfound understanding of his reality as his head drops.

"Ah.. Of course- That would have been too light a sentence..."