me holding a gun to a mushroom: tell me the name of god you fungal piece of shit
mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters
me cocking the gun, tears streaming down my face: I’M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU
When looking at Harumasa's demo, it looks like he gets a lot of nightmares, right? I'm debating the type of nightmare person he is.
Is he the type to regulate his breathing then fall back asleep quickly? Or is he the type who is now awake for several hours.
Like nightmares that interrupt your sleep cycle constantly can definitely make you exhausted and his sleeping during the day makes sense.
Or he's the type who wakes from the nightmare and now is just awake for at least 30-40 minutes afterward. Maybe even 3 hours. With how existential his nightmares are? I could definitely imagine him ruminating on them or needing to distract himself. Which could explain the struggle to fall back asleep.
I was thinking about Harumasa and Ether Aptitude Syndrome. After some very short research, it looks like Ether Aptitude Syndrome gives someone high Ether Aptitude until like their sickness gets worse, or something?
So I wanted to think of an AU where Harumasa can't go into Hollows for very long, but I think I would have to make his illness worse lol. But I don't want him to die. And according to canon his sickness already effects his heart and lungs. So how could I feasibly make it not possible for him to go in a hollow hmmm.
Hilariously all this thought is for a section 6 secretary!Harumasa AU.
So I did Harumasa's story quest and needed a bit of a pick me up.
AO3
Who like who, but Asaba Harumasa was used to waking up in hospitals. He spent most of his life in hospitals. He was used to them and to waking up at best to a nurse or a doctor checking on him. He was used to leaving alone. He was used to arriving in his apartment alone. Lately, though, he had to contact someone about his hospital visits, seeing as he picked up a stray kitten.
He chose to ask his favourite junior. Seth Lowell. Not that he expected him to agree but shockingly he did agree to have the backup key and feed the cat when Harumasa couldn't make it home. But that was it. Just about the cat, nothing more. They didn't even have to talk outside Harumasa's occasional texts.
So why? Why was one Seth Lowell by his bedside when he woke up after confronting his Master turned a Hollow and nearly died? He was in his uniform but a normal PubSec officer wouldn't be handling him if he was in trouble. Chief Miyabi was more likely. Did he come here straight from work? More possible. "Seth?" No use overthinking it, so he might as well let others know he's awake so things can move. Why were Seth's eyes so red? He wondered as the other looked up from the apple he was peeling.
Seth's face scrounged something dancing in his eyes that Harumasa dared call worry. "How about you quit worrying me you moron?" the officer asked, his voice shaking with held-back tears.
Now that had Harumasa feeling slightly bad. "Come on, I lived," Harumasa tried to force a smile. But in all honesty, he felt like shit. Especially his lungs and heart.
"Barely..." Seth huffed as he finished peeling and cutting the apple. "Doctor's said it's fine for you to eat," he informed before offering a small bite-sized piece to Harumasa. "And before you ask, I did feed your cat and maybe picked your apartment up a bit. It was a mess," he huffed as Harumasa slowly chewed the apple. It was nice to eat something solid after slipping in and out of consciousness over the past few days.
"Thank you, but you didn't have to clean or come here," Harumasa smiled, feeling his face heat up a bit. He wasn't developing a fewer was he?
"It wasn't that bad," Seth rolled his eyes before passing him the next piece of the fruit. "And you can pay me back by buying me noodles or something," he shrugged.
"That's a date then," Harumasa smiled before he managed to bite his tongue. He and his hopeless crush didn't need to see Seth so soon after waking up. Especially when dressed in a hospital gown, without his choker on. Likely paler than normal and... He can always turn this into a joke, no?
"That better not be a joke," Seth mumbled and Harumasa blinked. Did he hear him right? There was no way Seth was... Not ever and especially not now... Right? Harumasa was a lazy mess, why would a diligent and talented and nice guy like Seth be interested in him? "It better not be you picking on me again. I'll never forgive you if it is." His pretty purple eyes looked up from the floor. Harumasa Asaba was so dead.
"Of course not... I just... never thought you'd be interested in me," Harumasa had no capacity to look away or lie anymore. He was tired, hungry, had just recovered from almost dying and Seth was pretty, okay. "And you better believe the first thing I do once I'm out, after assuring everyone I'll not drop dead on the spot, is go out with you wherever you'd like," he promised, even raising an arm with an extended pinky.
"You better," Seth huffed. "We should probably tell the doctor you're awake and stuff," he added and passed the plate of the peeled apple to Harumasa and left to find the doctor in charge of him.
His ears were red Harumasa noticed as he ate another piece of apple. It tasted better with Seth feeding it to him...
you're so right about the death flags but I am DEARLY HOPING that if that ends up happening, you are also right about it being mac's turn for a death fake out, and after the jttw parallel we get a parallel to mk refusing to abandon mei to the samadhi fire with wukong refusing to abandon macaque to the chaos magic
you're right, i should've clarified this, i don't think Macaque would stay dead. he's cheated death once and he would definitely do it again.
also, i should mention, they've vaguely brought up Wukong taking his own name out of the HOLD ON WAIT I JUST HAD A REALIZATION THAT WOULD BE SO NUTS OF THEM
okay so they've vaguely brought up Wukong removing his name from the Book of the Dead twice now. this is for SURE foreshadowing. hear me out.
who's the only person. who's location is unaccounted for between eps 4 - 6 of season 5.
Wukong.
this is the first opportunity he could've had to leave the group. and what happened, probably only a day or two before this?
Macaque getting himself trapped in the Pagoda so the others could escape, MK saying "He always gets away, right?", and the Underworld Kings bringing up the book of the dead right in front of him.
guys. what if Wukong is unaccounted for during that time frame because he snuck back into the Underworld, and REMOVED MACAQUE'S NAME FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.
