jigokulogs | [OPEN] only god can see what i've become.

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[OPEN] only god can see what i've become.

⬤ Andy @ the CR Meme ⬤
⬤ Permissions Post ⬤

Who ⬤ Andromache of Scythia (now of Enma) & YOU!
What ⬤ The bastard woman drinks and brawls her way through May substories
When ⬤ Throughout the month of May
Where ⬤ A bar, a backlot, and a bloody arena
Content Warnings ⬤ Profanity, violence, substance use, sex, etc. To be updated as needed!

A | MOON MEDICINE / SUBSTORY #1

[ This might be the most alive she's felt since arriving in hell. Whatever the fuck was in that medicinal mochi — it's like being high on cocaine and bloodlust at the same time. It feeds into that part of her that has always loved a fight. That up-close and personal shit where you can practically smell your opponent's breath. That's what she was raised on, seven thousand years ago on the Eurasian steppe — heir of the warrior-queen, bare and bloody on the battlefield, her mother's axe in her right hand.

No axe now. No battlefield either. Just the dirty alley out behind some dive bar. But that look in her eye is the same now as it was back then, wild and bright as she slams her fist into the unrecognizable pulp that was formerly the face of the yokai who had gotten fresh with her inside. Her knuckles are split open, but she doesn't seem to notice. Tunnel vision, everything else utterly irrelevant while her opponent is still standing — and he is, just barely. Just enough to take another clumsy swing at her, a move so obvious and slow that, in her violent fervor, she barks out a mean laugh, teeth bared. Bracing herself, she lets gravity do most of the work as she catches her victim by the clothes and flings him out of the alley towards street —

Right into anyone unfortunate enough to be passing by. ]

B | VEND ME A DREAM / SUBSTORY #2

[ Normally, on a day like this, Andy would have found some way to drink herself into oblivion by now. But she's spent most of her time in hell hungover, and somewhere between the constant headaches and violent nausea, she figured her newly mortal body was probably begging her for a break from the bottle. But being both idle and sober lends itself too readily towards her tendency to wallow uselessly in her own misery, so when the shirime approaches her with its winking butthole and a request for item A5, well...

Fuck it. It's not as if she has anything better to do.

That's how she winds up in that backlot, leaning up against a porno vending machine with a dwindling cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth as she flips through Juicy Peaches. The look on her face is one of stoic apathy, but either she's bored or the asses within are just that compelling, because she's still turning pages. This page in particular has her head turning slightly one way, then the other as she considers it. Out loud, to nobody in particular: ]

...That's a fucking fish.

[ Given the context, she might mean that literally. Only one way to find out. ]

C | BRUISED & BLOODY / SHUTEN TERRITORY ARENA

[ She'd been beating up people for free in bars this whole time, so it seemed only practical to at least get paid for that shit. The booze and cigarettes don't pay for themselves — and gods forbid that Andy hold a regular nine-to-five. She'd rather have her bones broken. Besides, she makes for a good underdog bet. Compared to some of the monstrous yokai that have stood opposite her in the ring, Andy looks decidedly ordinary. A woman who is neither particularly tall or strong. Nothing to betray the centuries she's spent mastering different ways of using her body to cause others pain. Except maybe that certain look in her eye. Something sharp. Something a little mean.

On one of the nights that she fights, she might find herself facing off against another Lost Soul in her next match. Or maybe afterward, with her left arm hanging loosely from its socket, she might be looking for someone to lend her hand — hopefully someone who isn't too squeamish to shove a shoulder back in. Otherwise, after the fighting is done, she makes a habit of smoking a cigarette right outside the arena, usually more interested in indulging that bad habit than patching herself up. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It sure is. Izō does a double take at that. Wow, that's uh...something. Of all the things he's seen, that is one of the more memorable ones for sure. ]

Guess that's th' whole reason they wanted this, huh...

[ Right. They were talking about something else. ]

Maybe if ya buy me a drink, I'll open up.

[ She smirks at that, one eyebrow arching ever so slightly in curious amusement. ]

You want me to buy you a fucking drink? You should have just said so.

[ Folding that porno mag up to tuck under her arm, she turns to face Izo more fully, tilting her head in an appraising way as if she were really looking at him for the first time since he arrived. Wryly then: ]

Or were you more interested in me opening you up?

[ He laughs sharply. ]

That might take more'n one drink. [ Izō grins. ] Ya gotta name?

People call me Andy.

[ Just Andy, apparently. ]

But you can call me whatever you want. [ She's not especially partial either way. ] You want to tell me your name, or would that count as opening up?

[ The joke is if the situation were different, Izō would have given her his Class Name instead of his True Name. He's not a Servant any longer and this isn't a Grail War, so her knowing his name doesn't give her the same power as it would in that situation. ]

Name's Okada Izō. Izō's jus' fine.

[ People being formal with him makes him nervous. ]

So how 'bout that drink, huh?

[ Something oddly like recognition crosses Andy's face, her eyebrows drawing together as she scrutinizes him a moment.

Finally: ]

The Okada Izo?

[ Her recognition earns an extremely smug grin in return. Few have ever recognized his name and normally,. it'd be a problem.

Not now, though. He can take some pride in his infamy. ]

Yeah, I'm the Okada Izō...One of th' four great manslayers of the Bakumatsu. Ain't safe t' walk th' streets when I'm around.

[ Honestly, he doesn't look much like the Okada Izo that she remembers. But hell is a strange place, with the suggestion of many worlds separate from her own, and all things considered, it wouldn't be the weirdest shit she's accepted since she got here. ]

Okada Izo drew his blade against me sometime in the 1860s. [ She'd been freelancing in those days — sometimes an assassin, a mercenary, a bodyguard. Those were strange and bloody times. ] Cut my fucking throat open.

[ A brief tale that she recounts briefly and almost blandly, as if this were not a particularly unusual story to tell. With a slight shrug: ]

Just as well. The man I meant to kill ended up being a real progressive force in Japan after that. I did more good in the world by laying there and bleeding.

[ Izō looked a little more normal, or at least human before he was possessed by a tengu.

Her story doesn't ring false to him. He'd worked as a bodyguard for some influential men, thanks to one Sakamoto Ryouma and protected two of them from assassins. Who the hell was she after in that case...? He cocks his head to the side, curious now. ]

...Who was it? Katsu Kaishu? John Manjiro?

Katsu Kaishu.

[ She says the name without any particular feeling. Must not have been especially invested in what happened with him, in the end. But she never really is. With Andy, the killing isn't often personal. That was work. And the only novel thing about the whole affair was meeting the rare mortal who was capable of so quickly besting her. But as competent as Andy had been with a katana in that era, she hadn't been devoted to the art — and not too determined to take Katsu Kaishu's life either — so maybe a blade across her neck is exactly what she deserved. ]

No hard feelings either way. [ A light shrug, then wryly: ] Didn't take it personally. I'm sure you cut a lot of people's throats.

[ Wasn't the first time for her. Wouldn't be the last. ]

Ya know what he said t' me after that? That I shouldn't be so eager t' kill. [ Izō snorts. ] I told him if I hadn't, he'd be breathin' outta a hole in his neck.

[ This is all very weird. Going to have a friendly drink with someone you killed...Well, whatever. Stranger things have happened. ]

...There's somethin' funny 'bout ya, ain't there? That ain't th' only time ya died, is it?

[ Call it intuition. If he'd been faced with someone who killed him, he would've been ready to get his revenge. Then again, he's the type to fight anyone and anything that so much as looks at him funny. ]

[ It probably is weird. But Andy has a terrible frame of reference for these things, and she doesn't seem particularly put off by any of it. That drink she mentioned is certainly still a priority — not that she's ever needed the excuse. Luckily, hell is littered with bars, and there's one in line of sight down the street. Gesturing for Izo to walk with her, she answers a bit pointedly: ]

You know, another woman might be offended by you calling her funny.

[ Though his instinct isn't wrong. No one else has really asked her about it yet — how would they know to? She's as good as mortal now, and a cagey bitch besides. Kept that shit secret for centuries. But she's in hell, so maybe it doesn't fucking matter as much as it used to. Or maybe it's just a courtesy between old warriors when she goes on: ]

...I didn't die then. [ Wryly: ] Not that you did a shit job at slitting my throat. I just don't die. Couldn't. Not until this fucking place.

[ He readily follows after her. He's nothing if not easily motivated by the promise of free booze. ]

Killin' is th' only thing I'm good at, so I'd be pissed at myself if I did a shit job. [ He grins. ] Dunno if that's better or worse for ya, though. Gotta be more careful here, don't ya?

Do I? [ She retorts wryly, giving Izo a sidelong look. ] I haven't been. [ More careful, that is. ] Not really.

[ But she says it more as a matter of fact than as if she were bragging. It's not completely intentional anyway. After all those centuries of living in regenerating flesh, she's set in her ways now. Her style of fighting is reckless and brutal, allowing the enemy to tear her apart before she's on them and taking her turn. She hardly knows how to do it differently anymore. ]

Hope you're at least half as good at drinking as you are at killing, otherwise this won't be much fucking fun at all.

[ Honestly, he figured she wouldn't be. He hasn't had the durability of a Servant for a long time, but he still fights like he does. It's kind of a problem...But he hasn't died yet.

Izō laughs. ]

Lady, I'm from Tosa. Th' only thing there is t' do down there is fuckin' drink. Let's go get fuckin' hammered!

Edited 2022-05-25 03:54 (UTC)

[ He laughs, and her answering grin is sharp and amused. Reaching out, she gives him a rough clap between the shoulder blades as if he were an old friend instead of an assassin who once slit her throat. ]

Should we consider this our rematch? [ Dryly: ] First one to pass the fuck out loses?

[ She honestly probably shouldn't indulge this shit, but fuck it — maybe she's a depressed bitch, but she's still Scythian too, and there's nothing Scythians loved more than fighting and indulging. ]

[ He doesn't even fuss about her clapping him on the back and, in fact, returns the favor. This is all very weird, but fuck it! There's drinking to be done! ]

Hell yeah, now yer speakin' my language! Yer on. Hope ya like losin' again.

[ Izō's problems are all created and solved with alcohol. Trauma can't catch up to him when he's blackout drunk! ]

[ Andy's problems are all created by her own stupid self — and the alcohol doesn't solve any of it, but it does let her forget if she drinks hard enough, which is good enough as far as she's concerned. Doesn't even really matter if she wins or loses tonight. It'll kill the time just as well either way. But she does plan to give him a run for his money. ]

Famous last words, Izo.

[ As they come up on that shitty little bar, Andy opens the door and gestures for him to go ahead. ]

I was an alcoholic when I met your sword, and I haven't slowed down since.

[ He thinks he's going to win -- he always thinks he's going to win. He's already lost one drinking challenge here and that got him into an ... interesting situation. But he's not even considering that now! She's not Childe, this is a different set of circumstances entirely!

He goes ahead of her with a snort. ]

Well, that makes two of us. [ Except for the intervening century and a half where he was dead and not a Servant, but who's counting? ] So we're on even footin', ain't we?

[ This is arguably a terrible idea. Especially now that she's been stripped of her powers. That's a mortal liver in her guts. She doesn't get to drink without consequences now. But fuck it, all the hangovers she's had since she showed up in hell haven't stopped her yet. ]

Guess we'll find out. [ She picks a seat at the bar, setting her fish porn mag on the counter there beside her. Wryly then: ] What should the stakes be?

[ At least they're in a bar where that magazine isn't even going to get a second glance.

Izō scratches his chin. The last time he made a bet on drinking, he lost. It was also a wager he shouldn't have made: an unchecked, unqualified favor. Doing that again is probably not the best idea. ]

Hm...I'll let ya pick. Since I slit yer throat an' all.

[ He laughs. ]

[ At least between the two of them, somebody is learning from their past mistakes. That probably means Izo has one or two more brain cells than Andy does, but if they drink hard enough, they might even out the count. ]

Alright. [ Without missing a beat: ] If I win, then I get to slit your throat.

[ She might be joking. There's an amused glint in her eye that says she probably is — but you can never be sure with Andy. This is a woman that has cut throats over being approached before she's had her morning coffee. ]

Pass. That'd probably kill me and I got people t' look out for.

[ Though...He flashes a grin. ]

If ya wanna get my hands 'round my throat, that can happen.

[ Oh? She seems a little intrigued by that answer — like maybe she's surprised at his sense of self-preservation, or the motive he offers for that. But sure, fair enough. Having people to live for is as good a reason as any not to let a strange woman put a knife to your neck.

With wry amusement: ]

Is that what you're into, Izo? Makes me wonder if it would be a reward for me or for you.

[ He shrugs. ]

Dunno if I'm into it. Might be fuckin' awful for me.

[ At least he's honest. He's mostly just being a shithead to see if he can get a rise out of her. That's just what he does.

He fishes around in one of his pockets and produces some bills. It's probably little more than 10,000 yen, so it's not an exorbitant amount of money. ]

Could always jus' bet cash if ya don't wanna do somethin' crazy. [ Or... ] Could be what I did last time I did somethin' like this: a favor of yer choosin', no restrictions, no nothin'.

[ Another shrug. ]

Like I said -- it's up t' ya.

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