[open] waiting for it gets so boring

[no_kyouken]

Who ⬤ Goromi (Majima)
What ⬤ Post-curse, mainly Goromi going out for fun and other open general stuff.
Content Warnings ⬤ Cross-dress, alcohol, fighting, possibly some mental illness stuff or smut.

Prompts in comments, wildcard me with anything else you want. You can catch me in the discord or DM me at itsabee#1072.

Feel free to double up prompts, I will tag you however many times you want.

goromi 🎶

Comments

post big meeting.

[medicative]

He said what?

[it takes a lot to push Emily into the direction of truly, genuinely irritated. stressed, yes, peeved, yes, but her anger is something that needs to be dredged up from the sea in order to function. and what Goro just told her does so - in light of the fact that she had just been standing there, in that hospital, willing to bow her head and accept more responsibility. so the look on her face, quickly headed towards fuming, is something.]

He does realize what he's just done to us all?

[no_kyouken]

[ Majima ducks his head down to light his cigarette, leaning back on the windowsill. He had said before he went that Ryouma was a fucking idiot. Obviously his opinion has not changed now. ]

Does he?

[ Majima drawls disdainfully. ]

[medicative]

He does not.

[the last word is a hiss, and she paces, unable to settle herself now.]

I doubt he thought before the words truly left his mouth that he was dragging every Alliance member along with him. Betting with stakes he doesn't have in his hand to offer.

[on her neck and her lower arms, spots of black begin to emerge and form, growing the more wound up she gets. feathers, coming forth from how much boils under her skin.]

No one asked us how we felt about such a plan. What we were willing to give our resources to. Our situation in the city is tenuous at best - we're outsiders. Him included.

[no_kyouken]

It sure ain't what I told him t'do.

[ Majima shrugs lazily but Ryouma felt the need to prove himself, without being willing to make the meaningful changes required to be successful. How unsurprising and familiar. ]

Honestly, Em. When it all comes rainin' down ya can probably scrape outta th'war they're promisin' by lettin' 'em string up Sakamoto an' offerin' them each some cash for th'inconvenience.

[medicative]

I doubt we'll have the resources required to properly pay them both off. One, perhaps, but not both. We'd have to be making payments for quite some time.

[what with how things fell to pieces after the boss's "death". exhaling harshly, she keeps moving, ]

It just...I could have handled that better myself, if I knew even half of the circumstances he did! [breathe.] No, that's incorrect. I have no experience with negotiating matters like that.

[she has to be realistic, even if she's angered. katagi, she remembers the word being. that was her life before this, utterly.]

...They'll come for me, if they're not satisfied with him. And then what's going to happen to us? To the clinic? To everyone else in the Alliance?

[no_kyouken]

[ He exhales. She may be right, there may be nothing for the Sutoku to do but simply cease to exist, pressured out by the impatience of the other clans. Unless someone in the organized crime division decided to intervene and for their own reasons. But then how does the Daitengu's assassination fit into all that? Sigh. This is exactly the kind of bullshit he didn't want them involved with. What he's been warning everyone about since the moment they arrived and he took in the landscape. ]

Honestly, Em, ya probably could have. He needed t'come in with humility an' he couldn't do it. He pissed off Toraguma an' Tenkohime knows she can use that.

[ He closes his good eye tiredly. ]

If they come for ya then ya need to have somethin' clever and deferential to give to 'em. I can... I can vouch a little but if I look too eager t'not get Shuten's slice that ain't gonna go well for me.

[medicative]

[she takes a deep breath, and raises her hands to her neck, smoothing dow the feathers that sprouted. calm. she needs to calm down and not panic. she's scared, under this anger, and she knows Goro doesn't need her to say it for him to know it.]

...I have my skills, for whatever they're worth.

[it wasn't a secret, what she'd done to help counter the curse. there's nothing saying she couldn't pull off another miracle if pressed into a corner. but that's not enough - that's just intelligence laid at someone's feet.

coming over to sit near him, she keeps smoothing down the feathers, helping them vanish beneath her skin.]

The Daitengu promoted me for that work, actually. [meaning now, it's more critical that she figures out how to play this game, live this life that's been handed to her.] I can't make it look like they made the wrong choice. Even if our reputation's hung by a thread.

[there. now her skin is her own again.]

It makes me think of before I met you. What you wore, what you said, who you associated with...there was this tangle of manners to navigate.

[no_kyouken]

[ Yeah, he knows. He extends his arm out for her, letting his cigarette burn in the other hand away from her. ]

There's public performance an' then there's behind closed doors. Ya can be someone they'll respect, but there's rules an' there's manners.

[ He looks down at his shoes, wearied. ]

If I could just get ya out of it, I would. But we all got our bills t'pay, huh?

[ So they may as well be diligent to what is expected of them. ]

[medicative]

[she doesn't care about the cigarette - she's dead. he can smoke as he pleases, and she leans into his side.]

Unfortunately there's no simple guidebook I can study. I'll have to find a few kind souls in the clan to play teacher.

[if only so she's not an embarrassment.]

[no_kyouken]

Well, luckily ya can practice with me. I'll show ya th'Shuten playbook and they'll never take ya off guard.

[ Majima is a little more vicious even than Toraguma chooses to be, but sometimes that is the role he is being asked for. So that Toraguma's decrees look thoughtful in comparison to what could be. ]

[medicative]

You already do a thousand things. You don't have to add tutoring me in the life to your list.

[she says it out of fondness - it'd be safe, to practice with him, to reshape herself a little. wrap herself in a kimono to hide vulnerability. but he also has her tendencies to overwork, and she knows it well.]

[no_kyouken]

Or ya could just consider it spendin' time together.

[ He smiles at her lazily. What? He absolutely wants to hang out with her and her cute little kimono. He loves it. ]

[medicative]

Well, I can't exactly argue with that logic.

[a smile is better than the stress that had been creasing his forehead.]

But, promise me something. If things start looking like they'll go south sooner than expected, tell me, so I know what to do.

[no_kyouken]

He's got two months to pull it out. Toraguma will give him all of it, but if he's not ready by then: it's over.

[ That's already a very imminent deadline. ]

You're gonna know if Sakamoto is choking before I do.

[medicative]

I suppose I should go to him and play the part of a concerned subordinate who wants to aid him in his goals. It'll be practice in holding my tongue when I truly wish to say something untoward.

[you know, instead of cursing him for going into the meeting alone. it'd give her an firsthand look at how things were going as well. as much as she dearly wants it to be his problem, it's better for the Alliance if she pitches in to a degree and they find that they have a chance.]

[no_kyouken]

Nah.

[ He objects softly. ]

Ya should go to him as Doctor Dyer, an' ya should real pointedly chew his ass out for jeopardizin' your enterprises. Ya'll help him cuz ya do your part for th'Alliance but ya ain't playin' subordinate for him no more.

[ It's a very different vision, he knows. But that's ambition. ]

[medicative]

My enterprises. Like the clinic?

[the man did say he felt like he owed her. using that as leverage to come into whatever he's doing, for the Alliance's sake...]

[no_kyouken]

Lotta time an' effort goes into th'place, he'd really be steppin' on yer toes if his actions cost ya anythin'. Hold it against him.

[ That's what yakuza do, it's a game of obligations. ]

An' ya have a vested interest in those trade lines he's playin' with, who does he think he is, huh?

[ Her indignation has merits, it's just about fitting them in as pieces to the game board. ]

[medicative]

[she nods, considering his words, fitting them against the vision in her mind. there's a world of difference in approaching him panicked, worried for their future, and coming to him cool and collected and with certainty. it's obvious enough the wheels are turning in her head.]

...One can always point out as well that what I utilize helps a good number of people in this city.

[by design. she can't take too much arrogant pride in it - she bears the scars to remind her to stay humble - but her goal had always been to help all clans. people first, instead of their affiliation.]

[no_kyouken]

[ He holds her hands loosely in his. He never, ever wanted this lifestyle for anyone else, but if she wants to stare it right in the face... ]

Ya can do it, Em.

[ And she'll still be as beautiful to him as she ever was. ]