🦋 | TEN OF SWORDS.

ind. priv. sel. read hub rules before following.

[lnsectbreathing]

"...I ONCE BELIEVED that the road of happiness continued forever and ever into the distance. when it was destroyed, i realized for the first time that happiness lies atop a thin sheet of glass. and just as we were saved, there are those whose happiness hasn't yet been destroyed. so I wanted to get stronger and protect them."

#lnsectbreathing (previously #lurkingpoisons): a private shinobu kochō roleplay blog, written by maggie. read the rules on @rabbitprose before interacting. gif credit.

[lnsectbreathing]

"I hope this hurts."

lines from various media. / accepting!

and large eyes blink in surprise — it was rare she came along someone who was so brutish in personality. most would cringe at the thought of pain, but it seemed inosuke didn't only brush it off — but welcomed it.

"…you're not afraid?" a question asked in a small, non-intrusive way — as if she was trying to dissect an insect without tearing off its wings, "i'm... not sure if i can understand that, hashibira-san."

[lnsectbreathing]

🦋 | open.

"...do you believe in divine retribution?" a pause, "sometimes it feels like we suffer unnecessarily."

[noctilin]

i drew this because i got so excited about getting a copy of the latest movie but it was apparently also her birthday the same night i drew this and i wasn't even aware LMAO happy birthday to my girlfriend

[lnsectbreathing]

@whirling-fangs / sc.

"hashibira-san," perhaps there was a small fracture in her fractureless facade. after losing kyōjurō to the violence of upper moon three, it left her with memories dug up once more. over the following days (leading into months) if he'd seen her in the right light — perhaps he would see a glossiness to her eyes, only to be blinked away.

then came his hard-earned recovery. naturally, it was up to her to declare that he was fit to be dismissed.

"i think you'll be alright to leave now," her smile still seems very fake; faker than usual, "you'll take care of yourself, right?"

[rabbitprose]

starter call for shinobu or muzan. ✨

[pathologising]

if YOU die because I poisoned you...how is that MY fault like I'm sorry you aren't immune to my poisons I think that's genuinely something you need to work on. Fix yourself before blaming others.

[lnsectbreathing]

"...haven't i told you to stop bullying others?" kanae, @pilumurale

unprompted. / always accepting!

"what? i'm not—" ah, kanae was so intimidating! "i just enjoy seeing people's limits, medically speaking."

[lnsectbreathing]

hi. demon shinobu be upon ye.

[lnsectbreathing]

@tsukkiakarii / closed starter.

and slowly, she peels herself from murky webs inside a corner of the temple. a clawed hand combing away pale strands — like a butterfly gracefully emerging from a cocoon. beautiful violet eyes look upon her as she stays glued to the roof, before a light clicking noise rumbles from deep in her throat; approval of the other's presence.

"hello~!" crawling along the wall, before she emerges on the floor, "dōma-sama said i could come into the temple, is that alright?"

[tenthousandmusesmaybemore]

"Aah, so it's like that, huh! I understand everything now!"

^ doesn't get it at all

[lnsectbreathing]

"ah, your tone gives it all away hashibira-san!" more giggling, "have you never wrestled with an animal before to establish dominance? it's kind of like that!" that's a horrible comparison, shinobu.

[tenthousandmusesmaybemore]

"Is that... something you do with brothers?" Suddenly, knowing how many siblings Tanjiro had is kind of scary.

[lnsectbreathing]

"no, no!" she laughs at his tone, "i just need to remind him of where he stands. tomioka-san is someone who needs to be humbled, every now and again."

"...with a heel-knife!" she's joking. or is she?

[lnsectbreathing]

shinobu's just "i care about giyu so much and i will stop at nothing to make fun of his smile" and also "he's really important to me but i will reduce him to a mere atom if he gets in my way"

[lnsectbreathing]

open.

"i view him like an older brother," speaking about giyū, "i tried to put a heel-knife in his skull, once."

[tsukkiakarii]

alas, she is far too old to rise to shinobu's bait: her eyes haven't left her goal. it were true, any other time and she would have let claws rend this hashira apart--a shame that wisteria coursing through her means she would be all but inedible. a waste of food, but one silenced merely for the principal of the matter.

but kokushibō cannot gain information from cold corpse, and so shinobu is allowed to breathe still.

"it seems the corps lacks knowledge of that which they hunt--quite the error to admit to."

not that she'd accept it quietly either. as she continues, kokushibō shakes her head minutely.

"he once did--however, my curse were fractured," no other information given, nothing that could give away true identity; she seems haunted instead, past memories nightmarish.

but were it true, or more of an act? "he destroys memories of humanity, not those we possess afterwards--yet, those memories are the ones my darling loses...until those switches in his mannerisms occur. sometimes he seems as if different people, sharing a body."

how ironic: she were so close, yet so unaware.

"i long believed he were merely running from something, but that no longer seems the case: the more i see, the more i watch, the less it seems he runs from anything--he's simply so much, all at once."

disassociation...the term is committed to memory, something to research upon her return.

[lnsectbreathing]

"now wait a moment!" she holds up a hand, "you're expressing something practically medically unheard of. i cannot help but wonder, are either of you to be trusted? if you are — i might know what is the case."

"but again, i must express — can you trust yourselves? can you trust your minds?" she continues, "because while i can hazard a guess — it has not been documented in as many people as say, the common cold or flu."

and then, lowering her hand — there was a rare moment of seriousness overcoming her expression, "before i go farther, excuse me for lowering myself to this level — but i need to be able to have your word."

"your word that you won't kill me, the moment i give you what you want," and sure, demons could lie — but shinobu needed at least the comfort of hearing such words, true or not, "if you show that i can trust you, i will give you the name of the disorder."

"you see, i have a demon who i must destroy," and then, "and if this meeting goes awry, i won't be able to do that."

a hand is extended, "do we have a deal?"

[timestruuck]

her demeanor is more than enough to put him on edge . not just the bug eyes, or the unnerving smile . it's the familiarity . something giyuu can't quite place, blurry in the back of his mind, everything meaning something-- yet he just can't grasp it . and how she stares at him like she recognizes him,, only to curtly deny it .

yet still, he doesn't tend to bother much with with those in uniforms, (and he had intended to brush her off just the same)- to kill them just the same as the fishermen and the hunters and the merchants as they make their merry way through the woods,, with no more nor less dignity that a drowning could offer . but she champions what could only be considered fodder,, and gives him more of a headache than he'd like to admit .

" some .. they aren't creepy like you, though ." and they don't tend to keep the expression for long . but there's no point in saying it . corpses write their eulogies better than he could .

her commentary only eats a little ways more at his temperance, tail flicking in frustrated confusion for a lingering, dull moment .

" are you .. making fun of me ??"

[lnsectbreathing]

"creepy? that's a new one," she'd been called many insults over the years — but to imply something like creepiness was different. she takes pride in her ability to intimidate demons, and if she was invoking a lesser fear in the other —

that was a good thing, right?

she takes a step forward, hand comfortably rested on the hilt of her sword, "and no, i'm not making fun of you."

for a moment, a flicker of sadness makes itself known in both expression and tone.

"you remind me of someone i used to make fun of, but — you're different."

"call it wishful thinking," she continues, "maybe i keep thinking by talking to a demon, he'll hear me and come back home."

[lnsectbreathing]

open.

kicks the other in the shin, "teehee, whoops!"