It tugs, sometimes. Curious and foolish.
That traitorous heart mana of his, reaching out, drawing in, seeking connection in the way that's in their blood, their soul, their nature. Synchronicity.
Rei's not known it, before.
Where other demons might be attuned to family, Rei has no one to claim the spot. So, his heart mana sings, unblemished, its lonely little sonata, the song of his homeland. All there is to him, granted by air and earth and starlight.
He has so much to give, and yet, it isn't good enough. Discordant, they say. Human, they snarl, disgust evident in their tones.
Thus, growing up Rei learns to compose himself. Pushes himself to the brink in order to rewrite his heartbeat's melody. Puts himself out there, gets stronger, richer in experience, whenever he draws back. Over and over and over again.
Until one day, pushing himself past reason, he almost doesn't return.
But while he hasn't been looking, a new melody has taken residence by his side. Soft and steady high notes, barely perceptible.
Morofushi Hiromitsu, faded, yet giving himself so generously.
Rei hears him, takes him in and amplifies the notes he's given, until others may do so, too. Until Hiro may do it himself.
Their hearts mana, separate but inseparable, resonating in response.
And Rei's called back home.
.
Rye is low notes, a deep bass, slow and steady.
He could enrich their harmony, if only he wasn't so gratingly offbeat.
Rye's unrefined and ever-contradicting himself. Cold and uncaring, yet bleeding red like the rest of them. A long-ranged combatant, always too close. The smartest fool Rei ever has had the displeasure of meeting.
He takes Rei's heart mana greedily, gives it back tenfold.
Then he takes Scotch's, and their tentative song, not yet given voice, dissolves into dissonant whispers.
.
When they meet again, Rei doesn't want to feel Akai's heart mana for the longest time.
It's too painfully familiar, echoes of the past still trapped reverberating within. Misery-in-resonance almost dusts Rei.
It's his duty to be here, and so he stays, but there's others to preoccupy himself with.
So, he remains a careful distance away from Akai. Doesn't see the muted melancholy wrapped around him until it's too late, until Akai's almost gone dark and quiet.
When he heals Akai, he pours all of his heart mana into him. Their hearts still sing the same tune, after all these years, discordant notes and all.
.
The journey is too perilous to allow them senseless grudges. Their lives are one. If either falls, the story ends.
They rely on each other's mana like air, sharing desperate breaths like drowning men in a land that wants to drag them under.
What even is left of their individual songs? It doesn't matter, anymore. They've shared so much it really is one and the same, disjointed notes smoothed out through time and touch and trial, into an elegy for Scotch.
.
As they finally reach tentative harmony, they rip themselves apart.
.
There is dissonance in Demon Lord Furuya’s heart. A furious ache that even Hiro's return can't soothe.
But he has a duty, to his land and his people. He can't stop to rest. Besides, the one to replenish his heart mana, he who's grown so good at it over the years, has left, exiled by Rei's own hand.
Akai is a fool, but so is Rei.
He clings to the thrum of Akai's low warm notes, barely an echo within himself.
.
Da capo al coda, the cyclical rhythm of life remains the same.
Rei's still not good enough.
He's bested their best. He's saved the realms. And all that matters, in the end, is that they see his heart mana, and find it lacking.
But he's no longer the lonely manaspawn he once was. His song no longer just his own.
He's holding the position through skill and strategy, through force of personality. With the help of friends and allies gathered on his journey.
They'll have to listen to his tune, this time.
.
The key, of course, is an argument.
Their feverish crescendo crashes into mellow adagio - along with their lips.
Rei knows, then: if no one else accepted him, the boundless love in Akai's heart would be enough to supply his heart mana for as long as he lives.
It's exhilarating, to share every last bit of himself, to accept all of Shuuichi in turn. Synchronized in full, for now and as long as they live.
Pulsating, between them, the potential to compose a new melody, together. Point and counterpoint. Bright and warm and vibrant and home.
.
When he takes Akai's hand, leads him to the dancefloor, the festive joy of friends and family soaking the ambient mana with joyous ringing, it's enough to put pressure even on Rei's heart mana.
He can't help thinking that this should've been so much easier. But theirs has never been the easy way.
And it's not the conclusion, but the overture to their new life, together.
The waltz of their future, a thunderous symphony.
.
@floofiestboy's Demon King Furuya AkAm AU is giving me too many feelings. Go read it here.
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Read an old post of yours about "what if the Beatles were androids built by Brian" and just wanted to share the thought that it sparked! Please consider:
First Brian builds John, not to revolutionize music but to be the perfect boy (by Brian's standards, you know, which is why John is rough and mean on the outside and soft and sensitive on the inside). The musical subroutine was an accident! Brian thought he deleted that chunk of code! And at first it's all fine, but soon John gets lonely being a musical android all by himself, so Brian builds him Paul, to be his ideal friend. (This time the musical programming isn't an accident. That's why Paul is Like That.) And of course android John and android Paul get on like a house on fire, as they were meant to, and get so into making music together that they decide they need to form a band…and every band needs a proper good lead guitarist, right, so they gang up on Brian to cajole him into building them George. Only it turns out that they're rather volatile as a trio, so by the time the three of them demand a drummer Brian can tell they need someone to provide stability! So finally he builds them Ringo, to be their Beatle glue.
(And of course as soon as the band is complete they go and get runaway famous, which Brian didn't code them to be able to cope with! Because he wasn't expecting it! He wasn't actually trying to make history's greatest band, you see, he just kept building more androids to make the ones he already had happy.)
Oh anon! Yes yes. Yes. Like maybe he initially made John to help out at NEMS, and he only gave him a basic musical subroutine so that he'd know what he was talking about enough to help people in the music section, but working there he absorbed everything he heard and fell in love with music and Brian was all soft on him and couldn't make him work when all John wanted to do was play music and paint and be Ridiculously Cool, but then he couldn't leave him home on his own all day either. So then you have Paul - and ksjdofiwjefsd I love that it makes sense for him to be the way he is, because the music had to be hard wired into him <333. (Also beautiful android John seeing the blue prints and being like '... maybe just a little bit like Elvis?' and Brian sighing but agreeing to try.) And then I love the idea that he makes them a George, who is absolutely 100% going to grow up feeling like 'so you made them to be soulmates basically and I was just an ADD ON AFTERTHOUGHT????' Like I can't even imagine the brilliance of the chip on his shoulder if he was literally built just to support them. I love it. And all that time, Brian's watching them with hearts in his eyes because they're his boys and they're so beautiful and young and bright... but he comes home from work and they've set fire to stuff, and stolen records, and reinvented rock and roll, and spearheaded a british invasion, and the neighbours are furious because they play nine hour sets in the backgarden, and crowds gather in the street to listen to them, and they're just playing until their chips overheat and they get louder and more obnoxious until eventually they start fighting and throwing things at the crowds. And at first he'd be like 'no the neighbours will kill me if I build you a drummer' but they threaten to kidnap a real live boy if he doesn't, so he's like 'fine just a little one then'. And you're so right because by then he's had lots of practise, so it makes sense that he could finally programme in things like calm and ease, but he can't offer the others any upgrades to their own emotional disaster areas because it sounds like criticism and obviously it's wrong to pretend any one of them isn't already PERFECT.
(Also love the idea that John at some point sort of realises he's an android, or more than that, suddenly understands that not everyone else is - maybe when he meets Stuart and realises how different they are and decides that he can never be as ~real as Stuart - and he'd get all angsty and melo about it, and probably blame Brian for making him, and then decide it means nobody could ever really love him. All while Paul is just watching him confused, because he knew he wasn't real from day one, so he doesn't know why it matters, because he's like John and John's like him, so that's the best way to be. And George feels like he can very easily be an android and still be real, so he's fine too. And Ringo's okay so long as he's drumming and doesn't have to think about any of it or what it means, so John is all hidden pain and lonely confusion while he pretends to be Just Fine. I love how much themselves they are no matter what you do to them.)
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https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/715079132382380032/beatingheart-bride-theheadlessgroom
@beatingheart-bride
There was something inhumanly beautiful about her, the more he gazed upon her: The way her scales glittered iridescently, even in the dim light of the room; the way her eyes seemed to glow, a pirate’s treasure in the bottom of a sunny bay; the way her blonde curls hung so elegantly, framing her face. She may not look the way the way all the old paintings and illustrations portrayed sirens, but Randall couldn’t deny that she was beautiful nonetheless, in her own way.
Seeing she was watching him (and was no doubt getting nervous), he tried to break the tension by gesturing to himself, saying, “My name is Randall.” To emphasize it, he repeated the gesture, saying, “Randall. I am Randall.” They hadn’t exactly been properly introduced yet, so it seemed only right to him that he try to amend that, hoping that, if she got to know him a little better, she might not be so nervous around him.
A light went off in Randall’s head, and he darted from the room, only to return with a small blackboard and a piece of chalk, tools his mother used to teach him when he was a boy. In spidery scrawl, he jotted down “R A N D A L L” and held it out for her to read (could she even read?), before pointing to himself again, just to hammer the point home. When he noticed his parents peering in shyly from the door, he coaxed them in (at least to stand beside him, so as not to crowd her), introducing, “This is my mother, June...”
He then scrawled out “J U N E” on the board, pointing between it and his mother, before doing the same with his father, writing down “W I L H E L M” and introducing, “And this is my father, Wilhelm!” Perhaps, if she knew the names of the people around her, it would help her settle down-maybe, if he was lucky, she’d be able to help him put a name to her face too...
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Once again turning the Three Frat Houses Extended Universe over in my head. Conclusion: I am obligated to incorporate Shadows of Valentia in somehow, despite the timeline complications it creates by going parallel to Shadow Dragon when I already have the Awakening characters in Ylisse. I'll figure that out later.
The important thing about Shadows of Valentia in this universe is not necessarily Alm and friends trying to overthrow the government, or Celica and friends going on god's weirdest road trip, but the presence of the Duma Faithful. I think it would be very funny to have every single secret evil cult led by a crusty old guy all existing at one time.
Like. You've got Jedah and the Duma Faithful, proclaiming that the whole world must bend the knee to Duma; you've got Validar and the Grimleal, who believe that Grima should return and destroy the world and that Jedah should shut the fuck up about Duma already. Hell, bring in Manfroy and the Loptr Church, who want to bring back Loptous and rule the world, and fuck those other gods and their sects trying the same thing. Then there's Thales at Shambhala, who was personally offended by one dragon goddess but honestly is probably down for killing all the gods and so doesn't like any of Jedah, Validar, or Manfroy either.
None of them get all too far in their evil plans because they're all busy hating and sabotaging each other.
Also I think Sonya could be friends with Robin's little goth mage collective of herself, Hubert, Leo, and Soren. I think that would be funny. Robin's trying to be a better person than her father and rise above him and Sonya's like "fuck that, if I see that bastard it's on sight."
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You meet god and she's mostly dead fish. You ask her why and she says most of the world is dead fish, and she's made herself to appeal to the most common denominator, the everyman funnyman comedy show that runs for eleven seasons but with the entire universe in mind. You ask her how much of the dead fish is your fault, she says it's far less than you'd think, in the grand scheme of things. You ask her if you matter at all. If you can do anything. She shrugs her rotting shoulders and says mattering is a made-up concept, like life, but sure, you can matter if you want to, on some scale. She has many scales. She doesn't know what you mean by 'anything', but you can do everything you can. You ask her if it's enough. She says there's no base requirement for deserving to exist. She's smoking a joint and the smoke filtering out of her gills gathers and forms gas giants and red dwarfs. You ask her if there's any hidden secrets of the universe you should know and she says it's not a secret if she tells, plus it's fun to let you figure it out yourself. You ask her if any of your questions were right questions and she says you worry about being right so much it might keep you from fucking around, which is as close to meaning of life as she ever bothered to make. You don't ask but she says she loves your hair, also your whole being, also your planet. She says she figured out what love is yesterday and is trying it out, which explains the ten thousand rainbows and sudden influx in rains of fish. She offers you a drag of her joint and you wake up half past midnight behind a chain restaurant clutching a smoked salmon. The new stars are winking like they're in on some joke and you're sure if you try hard enough you'll remember what it is.
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For the first time in many years, Lucifer's back was pressed against the wall, a soft groan leaving his vocals as it connected. "Oh ho! Did I hit a nerve?" As he'd hoped.
He wouldn't lie. This was getting exciting. All others simply bowed their heads, doing anything and everything demanded by their king. Convenient, yes, but oh, so boring. But Alastor? He was defiant, honest, and quite entertaining. A refreshing change.
But he would still know his place.
Despite his size, Lucifer was terrifyingly powerful. With a swift lash of his whip-like tail, it wrapped around Alastor's leg, yanking it forward. The king took this moment to shove the demon back onto the floor, where he planted claws on either side of the demon's head, seating himself in the other's lap. He lowered his head, their lips but inches apart.
"You think me weak because I'm small, don't you? Go ahead and try overpowering me, my dear. I welcome you to try..." he purred, leaning up to bring his lips to the demon's fluffy ear.
"Show me what you're capable of, sinner~"
--- shit, shit, SHIT!
Oh, so RARELY does it slip his mind that, while he is feared for the power he possesses and the REPUTATION he has built from it, he is still somewhere in the upper middle part of the food chain... and Lucifer?
Lucifer is at the very top.
With a swiftness even Alastor cannot register, he's seized of his balance and left DEFENSELESS on the castle floor, barely biting back a groan as his back hits the ground and Lucifer takes up residence atop him. He half expected the king to take him out right then and there... to FINISH HIM OFF for such unheard of defiance, yet moments go by and his head is still on his shoulders. How much, he distantly wonders, WOULD it take for Lucifer to dispose of him? How much pushing, how much insubordination? Really, what masochistic FOOL besides Alastor would even CONSIDER playing a game like that?
" Who said I thought you weak? No, no, no, my liege... " Heated breath brushes against a crimson ear, and Alastor internally CURSES himself at the way it, so swiftly, brings a faint, albeit dizzying heat to his own body. If anybody looks weak, in this moment, it's Alastor, much to his own, self caused chagrin, " I do this because I know you are all powerful. Because I like to see what it takes to make you... explode. You are very small, dainty, delicate... "
Beautiful...
" ... but what more is there to our... fair and just king, I wonder? What makes him tick, what gets those sunshine strands ruffled, what makes those pretty eyes darken with ire? Hm? I want to see every single side of you... for reasons you couldn't get out of me now matter how much you play the power card. " A hand dares to raise, slithering its way up Lucifer's body -- tauntingly, teasingly -- against lithe waist and backside, until he can feel and play in those aforementioned sunshine strands. The pieces on the board have shifted... shrouded in shadow, Alastor's own, but unlike MOST of his opponents, he's quite enjoying THIS one, " You haven't killed me yet. Haven't tried. Clearly, I've not pushed ENOUGH buttons yet... "
@the-nexus ;;
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