Razing Babel

O merciful one… O merciful one… O Mercy… O Mercy… OM… OM… OM…

Agnipadma

ehhhh let’s just wrap up this part we’re losing stamina here. agnipadma, caught off guard, doesn’t notice that there’s an attacker on a roof that launches a flying dagger toward Iboshi, who turns in time to see Agnipadma utterly failing to protect her from it. hell, the dagger even passes right by the finial of his staff. rather than getting her right in the throat, the fact that she turns means it grazes her cheek instead. (analogous to other assassination attempts whomst?) agnipadma looks up, slow-mo-like, in time to see this and the fury that crosses iboshi’s face. he composes himself long enough to knock the vajra-bearer back from attacking the palanquin. something breaks up the fight, idk, maybe deus ex explosiona and the procession just fuckin carries on through the fire that begins to consume the bazaar.

sketching out beats of scene—sometimes this is what my writing looks like

“And I know saying this won’t make you feel any shred of horror. I know saying this will only make you feel that twisted, cruel, fucked-up delight that you feel whenever you wield power over others, whenever you lord your dominance over others. I say this not for you, but for me. No longer do I ignore the sheer fucking rage that you cause me every time you violate me, big and small. I say this because I need to say it for myself, to know that I didn’t simply accept this as I have in the past. I say this so that I know it’s wrong, and so that, even if you feel no remorse, at least I have given you the opportunity to respond—at least I have made myself clear, because how you respond now will not be filtered by your ignorance. You cannot say you didn’t know that you’ve hurt me. How you respond now is true.”

Sokoh to Iboshi

IDK HOW DO KIDS WORK note to self: research developmental milestones for children to figure out how old this kid is

Perhaps others would find the carnality of this ritual most enticing—and in that, there is no shame. Blessèd is the Land, filled with beauty and delights; blessèd are we to experience the pleasures of this life, the reminders that the blood, hot and red within us all, is part of the same divinity, shared by all under Heaven. For fire is life, burning within all that consumes energy, creates energy; and the flame that pleasure kindles within sustains life: cleanses away the overgrown, the dead; awakens buried seeds; makes room for the germination of new growth.

Agnipadma

“Hey,” you say. You pause, your gaze lowered, your lashes a dark veil as you take a deep breath, then continue. “I… I am so often the protector that no one ever thinks to protect me. Everyone assumes I’m invulnerable, that I can fend for myself. So… thank you. Truly. For thinking of me.”

This time, I take the lead, kissing you gently, tenderly, pressing my forehead to yours, touching my nose to yours as we breathe together, hold each other, ground each other. The crescent rims of your eyes water. As one tear rolls down your cheek, then another, I kiss them away, salt telling truth on my tongue.

“As if I could ever not think of you,” I murmur.

You chuckle, ruefully, your lashes glimmering as you blink away any lingering tears.

“Don’t let the Empress know your devotion is divided, beloved.”

Amardeep to Agnipadma

“Auricle’s ass, it’s damper than a fat woman’s panties out here,” Javier curses. Water beads on his hair, his eyelashes, the velvet of his antlers, as he tugs the collar of his jacket up.

“Javier,” I say, but more in a tone of amused exasperation at an old man’s lack of filter than in any kind of warning.

[…]

“If only I were buried between a pair of luscious thighs instead of out here chasing critters,” Javier mutters. “C’mon, Ahosabai. Sooner we can track down those buggers, sooner we can get someplace warm and dry.”

“I dunno, I think your wit is plenty dry to keep me from getting wet,” I say, grinning as Javier flashes me a glare.

“Ha ha. Don’t piss me off,” he growls.

Ahosabai and Javier surveying