Nero Turner | 2♦️ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
perfectdistance) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
jigokulogs2022-09-16 03:34 pm
perfectdistance) wrote in jigokulogs2022-09-16 03:34 pm
Open/Closed Prompts
Who ⬤ Nero and you
What ⬤ Open and closed starters
When ⬤ September
Where ⬤ Various
Content Warnings ⬤ Sex in at least one thread
I. Substory #3 Drifter Grifter
[He looks tiredly at the list of crimes of this grifter and for a moment he wonders if Bradley's out there stealing again? He's probably stealing, but is this specifically Bradley or just some idiot he doesn't have to care about?]
Okay, so what did this guy look like? Did he even have any information or was he just dining and dashing?
[Are there, for some reason, giant windows in your bathrooms? How is this guy getting out so easily?]
II. City of Rain, before hours
[Now more than Ever Nero's grateful to have his shop. An oasis of calm in the middle of the din of Jigokuchou. Of course, the quiet rule doesn't come into effect until the shop actually opens. Sometimes it is nice to be able to talk to his employees without having to write everything down on paper.
He has been cooking a little earlier than usual, but that might be because of the new hire. Bradley? Just somebody from home. At least it's very normal for Nero not to say much about himself.
He does send out a text to everyone who works there.]
Breakfast on Friday at 10 if you want to come early.
Tell me what you want.
III. Wildcard
[Give me another prompt or contact me via discord or PM.]
What ⬤ Open and closed starters
When ⬤ September
Where ⬤ Various
Content Warnings ⬤ Sex in at least one thread
I. Substory #3 Drifter Grifter
[He looks tiredly at the list of crimes of this grifter and for a moment he wonders if Bradley's out there stealing again? He's probably stealing, but is this specifically Bradley or just some idiot he doesn't have to care about?]
Okay, so what did this guy look like? Did he even have any information or was he just dining and dashing?
[Are there, for some reason, giant windows in your bathrooms? How is this guy getting out so easily?]
II. City of Rain, before hours
[Now more than Ever Nero's grateful to have his shop. An oasis of calm in the middle of the din of Jigokuchou. Of course, the quiet rule doesn't come into effect until the shop actually opens. Sometimes it is nice to be able to talk to his employees without having to write everything down on paper.
He has been cooking a little earlier than usual, but that might be because of the new hire. Bradley? Just somebody from home. At least it's very normal for Nero not to say much about himself.
He does send out a text to everyone who works there.]
Breakfast on Friday at 10 if you want to come early.
Tell me what you want.
III. Wildcard
[Give me another prompt or contact me via discord or PM.]
no subject
[Matoba's eye reaches Nero's, although his amusement is smothered by his delight at the sweets. He could certainly guess that one as old as this would have a lot of time to hone his skills. It just seemed so... innocuous. Surely, he would get bored with such mortal hobbies?]
[But he is here to taste test, so before he decides to fill up on all of this brulee, he moves on to taking a chunk out of the lemon pie. The sour contrast to the brulee struck him right away.] This would pair very well with a fruit tea, wouldn't it? [Licking his fork, Matoba considers.] A dense filling with a light cream top. I prefer things which are light and sweet such as cream, but in the springtime, a lemon tart or pie really makes you anticipate the coming summer.
It must be difficult, [Matoba comments as he tugs over one of the macarons,] For one as old as yourself to even note the passing of time anymore.
no subject
I'll have to get some teas in for people who come in just for dessert.
I don't know what you're talking about. [Because he has always been able to feel the changing of the seasons, even when he lived in the harsh tundra of the north. The change has always been clearer in the lower countries, a little less rain, a little more heat.
If he wants to accuse Nero of something, it's much easier to do it plainly, instead of whatever happened back at the festival.
The macaron is perfect, with no cracks, the texture as perfect as any person could hope to achieve. The flavor of the raspberry tart and delicious.]
no subject
[Matoba gives him a withering look, like a disappointed mother, and bites into the macaron. Ah, a perfect crunch on the outside, and a fruity burst from the cream. Excellent- he stuffs the rest into his mouth.] If it is teas you are after, there are quite a few shops within your clan. May I suggest the teahouse Boukakuan for greens? Black teas to my liking have been a little harder to find, but I know that Shylock-san has managed to procure an excellent Earl Grey which he has served me.
...That one uses magic in the pursuit of his brews, doesn't he? [Matoba picks up another macaron.] These are perfect for tea time, by the way. You could offer it as a set.
Do you prefer the analog craft?
no subject
There were six perfect macarons out on the table, five now.]
Yeah, Shylock does. [Potion making is just a different way of saying brewmaster, isn't it? Besides, he's sure Shylock hasn't hidden anything about himself if Matoba's here saying something about it.
But Nero gives a shrug of his shoulders.]
It's more satisfying cooking with your hands.
no subject
[Matoba picks up the fork again, and roams over the selections. The tiramisu, then- Matoba did prefer tea, but the bitter taste of coffee paired well with sweetness once in a while, just in a different way that the bitterness of matcha did. It was quite similar to the contrast in that man, wasn't it? Shylock seemed to relish in setting himself boldly apart from humans, while this man seemed to desire only to go unnoticed by them.]
A very rich cream. It offsets the coffee nicely.
I will ask you this: why do you wish so badly to assimilate amongst humans? [He asks, licking a bit of cream off the fork.] You are not like us. You can never understand us. And in the end, you will only cause harm.
Surely, it isn't any prettier from your end, hm?
no subject
He lets out a long, tired sigh. It's not a topic he cares to speak of most days.]
So what? [He doesn't need to understand people to serve them a meal. There doesn't have to be a drop of understanding there. Only the trust that he won't poison them.] There's no wizard that understands another wizard's point of view. [So many of them are solitary and independent. They can only barely build societies together, and after a few centuries, those dissolve.] I just want a quiet life. [And that's always been easier around people who didn't know him.]
Why are you so certain I'll cause harm? [What he's endured every day of living in East country was people shit talking wizards straight to his face. But that was fine, because at least they were leaving him alone, even if it did annoy him sometimes. That was a very small price to pay.]
no subject
[Such troublesome ones, weren't they? Those Western wizards. But also prone to the sorts of fancies that Matoba could make use of. No one liked to deal with something unpredictable. It was only but for the chance that the coinflip would go your way.]
[Matoba hums to himself as he considers Nero's words. No, it isn't as if ayakashi understood one another well either, from the observations he had made all his life. Spirits, too, were cursed to lead lives that could only be spent in a cycle of loneliness and longing.]
But humans are different. [He takes up another bite of the tiramisu, happily devouring.] We are mortal creatures which will die without the support of one another. Whether it be the elements, predators, or simply madness. We cannot stand to be alone for long.
So you see, when humans meet another, we immediately try and find common ground in an attempt to create social harmony. It is a trait of ours. But there is no common ground to be found amongst those who cannot even understand fragile mortality.
Even if you do not mean for harm to come, you spirits will never be able to understand the hearts of humans. Inevitably, some calamity will be caused by that proximity... That is why it is foolish to try and mix with us.
[And yet here he is, eating Nero's cake.]
no subject
Humans die quickly, but they don't always try to find common ground, the way Matoba says they do. There's tension between them, well aware of the power the other group might hold. Humans see each other and sometimes they just decide they're enemies. They send each other out on wars they're too cowardly to fight themselves.
And what of humans anyway? They don't attempt to understand the hearts of wizards. The only one that has is the sage, and they're not even of that world they found themselves stuck in. A wizard's power is so terrifying, but they're the ones who burn up wizard corpses for fuel.]
I don't need to understand anyone in order to serve them food. [The man known as Nero doesn't really understand himself either. Somebody relies on him and he wants to push them away, somebody pushes him away and he feels hurt. It's easy to live a life where his only responsibility is to run a restaurant. That's the perfect distance, useful but not necessary.]
If that's how you feel, why are you here? Why did you allow yourself to eat my food? Should I take it away?
no subject
[Beings that want to be close to humans, yet hate them. The shadows of humanity; ayakashi were all the same, one way or another.]
[Matoba pauses with his fork in the ends of the tiramisu, considering Nero's shattering mask. And why had he chosen this craft above all others? It's why he asks, juxtaposed against Shylock, and yet the way in which he does so couldn't be more different.]
I am an exorcist, one who stands between humans and spirits. My clan was formed over many centuries by humans who all faced the same threat of extinction, [He scoops up another bite of the cake, swabbing it through cream, and bites down on it to relish in the taste. A small happiness.] --from the grudges of violent spirits who would never forget the transgressions of our ancestors. My existence as head of my clan is a shield to those who cannot escape that hatred.
So long as I exist, there will be humans who will never know that danger. And so, since I am already tainted with Sight, why not take my cakes where I can take them?
[Omf. He stuffs the last bit of tiramisu into his face. Nero was an interesting one; he thinks what Bradley had told him about Eastern wizards was perhaps a touch underselling it.] They are delicious.
no subject
Those people had their reasons to hate wizards. But they also had the very attractive proposition of "talking to strangers in public is outlawed", or rather, so many different laws that people gave up and just didn't talk to strangers.
Not nearly so many laws in hell.]
I don't know what your ancestors have done and I'm not really interested it. [Live and let live. Keep a safe distance. It has nothing to do with him, so he doesn't feel like he wants to know.] You're free to come back for dessert when you like. Keep quiet when it's operating hours. [Everyone is held to the same odd little silence rule, no matter who they are.]
no subject
[A being who tries at all costs to suppress who he is. It was a pitiful yet long-lived existence, the meaning of which he wanted to know. And in what was said and what was not, that was enough.]
[The cowardice, as Bradley had put it, was infuriatingly familiar.]
Oh, I didn't try the tres leches yet. [Matoba sticks his fork into it, and scoops away a piece. Matoba hums appreciatively over the bite.] Spongy and soft. It wouldn't do to let any of this go to waste, now would it?
no subject
With whatever that was out of the way,]
I'd hate to have to throw any of it out.
[So Matoba should properly eat everything he's made for this occasion.]