Arimura Ryuutarou vocals & guitar, Plastic Tree, Neji status: married contact: (AIM) morpho zen [this is an RP-only blog, no affiliation with the real Arimura Ryuutarou or Plastic Tree. May contain NSFW postings.]
The tour finale tonight was really a lot of fun. It warms my heart to see the male Kurage are growing in number, even if it is slowly. Pura is a visual band, we always have been, and we’ve always known that brings a certain bias with it. Still, we would like to be known as a band who writes music anyone can relate to, be they man, woman, or other.
I hear someone’s truck was seen at the pride parade today. Sneaky, old man, very sneaky~ ww
It would happen sometimes in the middle of dinner, or perhaps just after lunch, or even sometimes with that last cup of tea before bed. A flicker out of the corner of his eye and for an instant, Ryuutarou would swear his master was not entirely human. Something in his eyes, or a flicker that looked a little too much like horns. Ridiculous, of course, and Ryuutarou told himself exactly that every time it happened. He was just imagining things, surely. And yet....
And yet there was still the fact that his master knew both who and what he was: Arimura Ryuutarou, vocalist of Plastic Tree and secret bakeneko. And then there was this house, what had obviously once been a rich man's estate, though his master had indeed done well to mask some of it. But no matter how he looked at it, Ryuutarou had a hard time believing that the estate had been so cursed, so abandoned that Isshi had been able to buy it for a song ... which begged the question of just how he had managed the purchase. He had already asked once, and though he couldn't quite believe the answer he had been given, he wouldn't ask again.
Arms abruptly slid around him, a chin resting on his shoulder, and he very nearly bolted. And then a soft chuckle sounded in his ear.
“Someone's deep in thought tonight.”
“I'm sorry, Master,” he mumbled, heat rising in his cheeks. “Did I –?”
“It's all right, pet. Come, a last cup of tea befo–.”
Isshi's words cut off sharply at the sound of a loud crash in front of the house, as of a car breaking through the wooden gate.
“Stay here,” his master said, all teasing gone from his tone. Ryuutarou nodded, though he couldn't resist tiptoeing to the front window and twitching aside one curtain just enough to steal a peak. Not that he could see much in the darkness of almost midnight. A dark hulk of a car had indeed punched through the gate, but he couldn't see who it was or hear a word of the conversation Isshi was having with their uninvited guest. He didn't think the gate was all that far from the house, and yet not even a rumble reached his ears. Frowning, he slipped down into cat form and hopped up into the window sill. And that's when he saw why the silence. With bakeneko eyes, he could see the thin silencing shield that stood like a bubble around his master and their strange glowing guest. Obakemono of some sort, he was certain of that much, and probably a fire type with the way he was glowing, but more than that he couldn't say.
And then it happened. A flickering and the energy about Isshi changed dramatically, his true form suddenly unmasked. Ryuutarou couldn't contain a terrified squeak, falling backwards out of the window and scurrying under the couch. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't, and yet he could think of no other explanation for what he had just seen. But why? Why would a creature like that even want to make a home among humans? And how could something so beautiful see anything of value in something as degraded and useless as him? He shuddered and curled himself up into a tighter ball, purring raggedly in a vain attempt to make himself feel better. Maybe he could purr himself to sleep and forget all about what he had just seen. Doubtful, but a kitty could hope, right? At least that was what he kept telling himself as he tried to make himself pass out and forget.
Mindfulness is a state wherein one is totally aware in any situation and so always able to respond appropriately. Yet one is aware of being aware. Mindlessness, on the other hand, or “no-mindness” as it has been called, is a condition of such complete absorption that there is not vestige of self-awareness.
Roshi Philip Kapleau (1912 - 2004), American Zen Master
広島・灯籠流し by Yuichi Yoshimoto
Via Flickr:
Tōrō nagashi is a Japanese ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns (chōchin) down a river; tōrō is traditionally another word for lantern, while nagashi means “cruise, flow”. This is primarily done on the last evening of the Bon Festival based on the belief that this guides the spirits of the departed back to the other world.