#airisu — Public Fediverse posts

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Himeji Castle (Airisu POV): Post 64
#Wss366 #Pat #ScribesAndMakers ~8 Gauge #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever

Indeed, there were lights ahead, blue flickering incandescence like gas flames.

Sumika stopped, watching. When the glow remained stationary, she spoke. “Sorry, I have a hard time #gauging what will offend you. I didn’t mean anything bad when I said you sounded more human. It’s as if your human and crow intellects have blended. You’re still very much a crow, but not so alien.”

She raised her hand, stopping a mealy worm’s width from my head.

“Sorry,” she repeated. “You told me not to touch you without permission. It’s a habit. My mother always patted me when I was upset.”

“You may scratch my head,” I cawed after a moment. I had been thinking about it ever since the mountain shaman petted me, and I’d decided to trust Sumiak. My Glitter Glinda could be insensitive, but except for shutting me in the car that one time, she’d done nothing threatening. “But I’ll bite your hand off if you’re too rough.”

“Okay.”

Her fingers moved the last bit of the way and ruffled my feathers with a slow, gentle motion.

“Pats, pats,” I crooned. “Pats, pats.”

“Friends?” she asked softly.

“Sure, friends,” I cawed. It was so unfair to ask that while she was scratching my head.

A minute passed, and then she stopped. “Ready to find out what those lights are?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s time.”

#TootFic #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #TimeTravel #Serial #SlowBurn #Sapphic #Folklore

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Himeji Castle (Airisu POV): Post 63
#Wss366 Treble #TimeTravelAuthors 9/4 Whatever

Inside the passage hung a feline odor, strong enough to wilt feathers, and paw prints littered the dusty floor. We turned left in the direction most of them led.

“It’s walking on its hind feet,” Sumika said after a few meters and pointed to where the marks of the forepaws ceased, leaving only the rear ones.

“Indeed, that’s because it’s a nekomata. Be glad this passage is wood, not stone,” I replied.

“Why?”

“Because your ‘cute’ kitty can spit fireballs. I doubt it wants to burn its mistress’s home down.”

“Oh!”

“It could be worse. We might have run into a gotokuneko. They’re about #treble the strength.”

“Treble? What kind of word is that? Just say three times.”

“It’s a perfectly good word.”

“Whatever. And what about ‘gotokuneko?’ You’re not making that stuff up, are you?” Mistress asked.

“Moi? Me? Make stuff up? I’m wounded. No, I studied this kind of thing when I was a woman.”

“You know you’re a lot more human-like than when we first met. You almost talk normally, barring words like ‘treble.’”

“Awk, chicka, cawa! Pay attention, there are lights ahead,” I cawed, irratated.

“How could Glinda-chan say such a thing? Hmph! Just when I was thinking she had more than one brain cell, she says utter rubbish. But no, she’s nothing more than a three-toed sloth.”

#TootFic #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #TimeTravel #Serial #SlowBurn #Sapphic #Folklore

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Himeji Castle (Airisu POV): Post 62
#Wss366 Mole #TimeTravelAuthors 9/2 Whatever

More seriously, we rounded the screen in time to see the cat cross the space beyond and disappear behind a triptych. An image painted on the edge panel caught my eye. It depicted a woman summoning a giant skeleton, with a dog-sized frog at her feet. “Takiyasha-hime,” I thought.

The portrait’s most interesting detail was the large, yellow tear-#mole below one of her eyes. That was no coincidence. The mark was an inauspicious one, and I suspected the painter had intended the figure to be recognized as ill-fated before the viewer ever noticed the skeleton.

It was easy to see how a place like this might acquire a sinister reputation, even becoming considered cursed. That would make it an ideal location to hide a secret entrance.

My supposition proved correct. When we slipped around the partition, we found an alcove draped with drab, dusty wall hangings, and concealed behind one of them was an opening to a narrow passageway.

#TootFic #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #TimeTravel #Serial #SlowBurn #Sapphic #Folklore

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Himeji Castle (Airisu POV): Post 58
#Wss366 Bun #ScribesAndMakers Salient #TimeTravelAuthors 23. Animals in your story

“What?” Sumika stopped in her tracks at the top of the stairs, panic written on her face as she scanned the room. Unlike the utilitarian expanses of the lower floors, the space before us was filled with fine-quality furniture, tapestries, screens, and accoutrema, items made by Japanese craftspeople and Chinese artisans. Even a Persian carpet adorned the area in front of us.

My cry couldn’t have been more ill-timed. A frightened servant carrying a tray of #buns looked for the source of my cry.

Sumika froze, waiting for the maid to scurry out of sight behind a fine screen showing a willow tree, and then presumably she fled as far from the ghostly voices as possible.

Rather than watching the woman, my gaze rested on a luxurious, sleek, gray cat lying on a Chinese bureau. The #salient feature from my point of view was not its pampered condition, but its violet eyes, which watched our every move.

#TootFic #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #TimeTravel #Serial #SlowBurn #Sapphic #Folklore

#Airisu: The Crow and the Witch

Okiku Part II (Airisu POV): Post 47
#Wss366 Rank #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever

“From the fourth floor,” the shaman said, “you’ll need to climb to the top of the fortress. Find your way into the walls as soon as you can. The princess of Himeji Castle is known as the Lady of the Walls for a reason: she is to be found there, not in the open. She’ll try to drive you off with #rank odors of the grave, corpse orbs, and fearful specters. Ignore them all. Know your sutras and repeat them; then fear of death will have no hold on you.”

Sumika shifted uncomfortably under me. I would need to teach her some basic mantras.

“If a young woman in a jūnihitoe kimono approaches you, make your request, but if a crone accosts you, show her this.” The shaman withdrew a bow-shaped catalpa wood talisman from her robes. “Tell her, ‘As you have failed to protect what your mistress Seirei-tsukai holds dear, she commands you to help us.’”

Mistress’s hand shook as she took the charm. “What if she refuses?”

“She won’t, but if she does, you are undone. You have yet to reach your full power and still lack the skill to bind her. One last warning: Lady Osakabe is cunning. She will find your desires and use them. Deal with her honorably, but don’t agree to anything unless you understand exactly what it is.”

#TootFic #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #TimeTravel #Serial #SlowBurn #Sapphic #Folklore