#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

Dōken-sha (Airisu POV) Post 19
#Wss366 gauntlet #MastoPrompt Disposable #TimeTravelAuthors Whatever #Edo

He bowed with formal grace, though not as deeply as Sumika. “Welcome, I’m Arakawa Dōken.” He stopped and studied my mistress, who remained silent, bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

“I-I-I…” She finally responded, but couldn’t get anything further out.

“And you were one who wore bells at your waist and spoke the names of spirits without bowing,” the spirit said.

He paused again, waiting. But when there was only silence, he resumed. “Now you are soft, tainted with foreign magic. Still, you are the tool that is handy—you may rise samayō miko. Let me have your name.” Despite the disrespect embodied in his words, his tone was hypnotic.

Sumika straightened, and I struggled again not to topple over. Otherwise, I would have warned her not to give her name. Names have power.

“Yeung Su-sumika.”

That was an odd combination, but it explained why she used her given name. It can be quite the #gauntlet surviving in a Japanese school with a Chinese surname.

“Yeung-san, I see you bear my gift,” Arakawa-sama said.

“Gift?” Sumika said, swaying. Her voice fluttered.

“Not good,” I thought. “He is a hawk, and she is a dove.”

“The book. The book you gave me in times gone by, I have returned it to you.”

“What book?” I asked myself. I would have to ask about that later.

Arakawa continued. His voice was soothing. Not a hawk but a serpent weaving its hypnotic spell.

          Lo, seeker
          Mountain sought
          Before you the path

He paused, waiting for an answer. When none came, he recited his own response to the #renga.

          Owl call
          Stem the tides
          Stones smooth

The word "owl" hit me like an arrow, breaking the spell Arakawa-sama had woven, leaving me itching as if I had fleas.

Having escaped the weave of his voice, I thought about what he was saying. It’s an offer. The upper verse says my mistress had found what she sought, and the lower verse offers to change what has passed. How fitting that Arakawa-sama calls himself “owl,” a hunter in the night, and robber of nests in the dark. The tides he wishes to stem are those that have caught him up; those of a forgotten #disposable kami, not Sumika’s.

“Come, bind yourself to me.” He had now switched to prose. “Remember, Ban Zhao says, ‘Let a woman modestly yield to others.’ Yet, I will deliver all you dream of.”

“Pig,” I almost blurted out.

Then he returned to verse.

          Twaining weed
          Moon and Hawk fly
          Wild herb open

He held out his hand, and Sumika reached for it.

#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #Crows #Otherkin #Fantasy #UrbanFantasy #Serial