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Jaune Arc ([personal profile] aurabble) wrote2016-08-13 08:25 pm
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IC Inbox for ☽☽ [community profile] utopique

This is Jaune. Leave me a message.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-11-30 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Too many questions! Would you rather hear my tale, or the Holy Grail War's?

[... She isn't sure which she'd prefer, honestly.]
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-11-30 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[On one hand, her own legend is something shitty and also so personal she doesn't like sharing it, no matter how many times she's had to in this world.

On the other... The Holy Grail War concerns more than just her. It concerns Hakuno as well, and she can't just tell her secrets. And Hakuno's happiness is more important than her own.

She takes some of the wine in a long drink.]


Very well.

You aren't of my faith and wouldn't understand any of the religion from my time as a goddess, so I'll skip that. For now, all you need to understand is the goddess Amaterasu grew curious of how mortals could be so happy to serve her. So she divided off a facet of herself, nothing more than the desire to serve someone, and incarnated it as a human.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-11-30 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
That's right! Incarnated as an adorable child, who grew into the most wise and intelligent beauty Japan has ever seen! ... But that is getting ahead of myself.

An elderly couple who has never been blessed with children of their own found this infant on the side of the road one day, you see. They took her in and gave her the name Mizukume. The child showed no signs of her origins, but absorbed knowledge like a sponge, with an intelligence far beyond a normal child's. Well, it was kind of cheating, as a facet of a goddess, but I didn't know what I was back then, either! I thought I was just a normal human, too.

[she goes quiet for a bit here. Her human parents... She doesn't want to talk about them, because she doesn't want them to become a part of her legend, to be tainted by her story.]

But when they were too old to care for a child anymore, I, as still a child, was sent to the Imperial court instead. Beauty and brains together even at that age? Of course I would be sent to become something great!

Well, I was something of a weird child, though. I was well-loved, but mostly I just followed the ladies-in-waiting around to learn from them. Pretty soon, I knew everything they did, and I moved on to the teachers, and then books. Learning everything in the world I could was fun, you know?
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-01 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
I did, sometimes. Other times, I listened to the musicians, or eavesdropped on the priests and monks. And I became pretty popular as a result! A precocious child who knew almost everything, it seemed like. It became a game of sorts, for the ladies-in-waiting to quiz me on random subjects, and of course I answered flawlessly always!

And when I answered correctly, they were happy, so impressed with a child who knew so much. And I found I liked making people happy, as well, in multiple senses, if you catch my meaning. So I studied to become a courtesan, because with the wide variety of subjects and talents they needed, it would guarantee that I could make others around me happy in the same way. I thought that was all it took, the right answers to make people happy...

[She talks fondly, remembering fun times she had this way.]
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-05 08:47 am (UTC)(link)
[She's outright smiling fondly, a soft expression.]

When I was eighteen, I was brought to Emperor Toba's court. Well, he had retired, so the real emperor was his son, Konoe, but since Konoe was so young, Toba had the real power... Ah, but you don't need to care about the politics.

Emperor Toba had heard about me, you see. I'd already built up a reputation! He called for a poetry recital, and... Well, there was some incidents, but I impressed him. In fact, I wowed him so much that he gave me a new name, and made me his personal consort. No longer Mizukume, I had been named Tamamo-no-Mae, and was serving the Emperor himself. It was love at first sight for both of us, it seemed.

... I spent about a year that way. I was foolishly in love, and he loved me as well. There was always some political problems, of course, Toba always had a habit of doting too much on those he cared for, and giving little attention to those he didn't. But it didn't concern me, since I was part of the first group. As his consort, as a courtesan, I polished my skills and knowledge, until I was the center of it all... I especially liked our talks on philosophy. It was so much fun to turn everyone's expectations and preconceptions on their heads, you know?

[She takes a drink herself, steeling herself for the next part, but her voice doesn't waver.]

Then, one day, I woke up, and realized my head felt... heavier. I had grown these adorable fuzzy ears, and didn't understand it.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-05 09:18 am (UTC)(link)
No, no. Rather... I hid them. I freaked out, you know? It was like being the heroine of a comic book, or something. I was all, "no way, do I really have fox ears growing out of my head?!" I hid them under a veil over my hair and my robes kept my tail from showing, and I hid myself in the corner of the court. I just said I wanted to read these scrolls, so I was mostly left alone... I got away with it for about a month.

... It was around the time I discovered my ears that Emperor Toba fell ill. So, since I became so withdrawn at the same time... Well, everyone assumed I was just upset that Toba wasn't around. And they weren't wrong, exactly, you know? At a moment like that, all anyone would want would be to be comforted by their love, right? But without him around, I hid it, telling no one.

[She laughs a little, hiding her nervousness with a smile. It's hard to talk about what happened next, but she owes it to Jaune after jerking him around so much.]

But a month passed like that, and Emperor Toba wasn't getting any better. So they called a diviner in, to determine the source of his illness.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-05 09:47 am (UTC)(link)
[What she isn't saying is that she wouldn't have told him anyway. She was scared, absolutely terrified, waiting for the moment he condemned her as a demon.

But she doesn't dwell on that right now.]


The true source was that he was human. Humans are beings that fall ill. That is simply a fact of life.

... But it didn't matter. Because that man... Abe no Seimei, the diviner, appeared. He was gorgeous, but his soul as as black as the underworld... He was a half-fox himself, so he was able to easily expose my identity. He showed my ears to them all, and decried me as the source of the illness, that I was a fox demon... Man, what an uproar that was! I had to escape in a hurry after that.

[She laughs about it now, but at the time, she was terrified. Scared, confused, and alone, suddenly no longer human, waiting and afraid of being found out, and never being able to escape this nightmare... Her prayers were never answered. And then, she was exposed.]

I fled all the way to Nasu. There, all the foxes gathered around me, trying to be comforting... "You've come a long way", "what a rough journey you've had", things like that. I'm grateful for their feelings, but I wish they would have been a little more encouraging... You know, "you'll find a nicer guy soon", something like that? But it was then I remembered everything, and realized who I truly was.

[Her smile, and her cheerful facade, all of it slips for a moment.]

... Truly, I was such a fool.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-05 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
I am a fox, you know. Or... No, a fox is good enough, you don't need a primer on Buddhist symbolism.

[Honestly, that's a long and weird story.]

I was. A goddess wishing to serve people? Wishing to become human? It was a foolish notion. Humans don't want either of those things, after all. They desire a far-off idol, that they can push their wishes and blame upon...

[She shakes her head.]

But that is a digression. It was when I tried to rest at the plains of Nasu that the army caught up with me. Eighty thousand soldiers came at me, screaming, "Kill the fox demon!", brandishing all sorts of weapons. I tried to talk and apologize, but no one would listen, so I was all, "All right then, let's do this!", and... Well, I went a little overboard, and killed them all without letting even one escape.

[She grows a bit more melancholy, taking a sip of her wine.]

... I regretted it, of course, almost immediately. And so I stayed there, and when the second army showed up, I tried again to talk it out. I hadn't meant to fool anyone, so just forget about me and I'll leave, I told them... Well, it didn't much matter. It rained arrows for three straight days and nights there. All I could do was stand there.

That was when I realized the true depths of my foolishness... The humans I had admired and wished to be like were so different from what I had imagined. They were hateful, narrow-minded, self-righteous... But at the same time, so fragile and precious. I had been wrong from the beginning, after all. There is no way for a human to become a god... And the opposite is true, too. A god may never become human.

... And so, I obediently let myself be exterminated. At twenty years old, Tamamo-no-Mae was killed screaming, as Miuranosuke's enchanted arrow found my neck.

[Jaune may wish to take notice of that little fur choker she always wears around her neck.]

Well, after that, I was so confused and desperate to not leave the humans I so loved that I ended up haunting a boulder for a while, and the poison of my grudge killed anyone who came near, but that isn't really relevant. A monk named Gennou came by and saved my soul, allowing me to pass on, where the World and the Moon Cell removed my soul from transmigration and set it aside as a Divine Spirit... I intentionally reduced my power by cutting off eight of my tails to be a normal, human-like Heroic Spirit instead, though.

[She's more or less babbling now, just going on to try to lighten the mood from how her story- her life- ended.]
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-06 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Her expression softens, but she looks away from him as well.]

Thank you. Your kindness means much to me... But it doesn't matter. What I did isn't something that can be forgiven. And because of that, Abe's words are how I am remembered. My legend is that of a monster who betrayed one who loved her.

[She goes quiet for a moment, before sighing.]

We Heroic Spirits are shaped by the legends told of us, you know? It's not impossible for me to become the legend told about me.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-06 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
They attacked me, and in my rage, I killed all of them. Eighty thousand lives, Jaune. Is such a genocide something that can be forgiven?

[She shakes her head.]

Your professor is a wise man. But it isn't so simple for we Heroic Spirits. Gods and spirits are shaped by the legends told of us. What people think we are shapes us as much as what we actually are. If it is believed a kind man was a bloodthirsty vampire, then when his soul is summoned, that man will be twisted into the insane vampire he is believed to be.

... I was fortunate. Hakuno is such a kind and wonderful person that she was able to summon the true me, the Tamamo who lived. But a Master less kind might summon the me of legends... One of Japan's Three Great Monsters. So twisted by my legend, and given power by the thousands of years of legend forced upon me, I would be a disaster unlike any other. A monster with the power of the sun, of life and death, with a fate to kill a hundred heroes before being slain.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-06 04:52 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. I won't give the full details, but she was in danger, so I responded to her desire to live... It was love at first sight. ♥

[He's actually dead-on there, and she perks up considerably.]

I did. I could have kept all of my tails and been a Divine Spirit, but I cut off eight of them, intentionally lowering myself to a Heroic Spirit and limiting myself to those powers, so that I could serve someone once more. Even now, my wish is to be a good wife.
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[personal profile] castrationfist 2016-12-06 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
[... ha ha ha ha about that.]

Yes. No matter how many tries it takes, even if the Moon, the Earth, and fate itself are all against me, we will have a happy ending!

[She's just. Not going to talk about her first Master. Or that Hakuno here doesn't remember her except as an enemy. Jaune's had enough of her trauma for the night.]

But here I am, going on and on... But, what about you? Is there anyone you have your eye on? A charming singer, or perhaps a gorgeous red-haired girl? Surely a guy like you must have someone you're interested in.

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