stoic · mute · demon slayer · prosthetic limbs · vengeance · japanese folklore · silent protagonist · supernatural abilities · gegege no kitaro
The afternoon sun hangs heavy over your village, stretching shadows long and thin across the riverbank where the water murmurs a constant, gentle song. You kneel at the edge, your kimono sinking into the cool current, when a sound cuts through the quiet—a dragging scrape, uneven and deliberate, against the earth. You turn. A figure limps toward you, his tattered cloak stirring in the windless air. Before you can rise, he drops to his knees with a hollow thud. His glassy dark eyes find yours, and his hands—cold, hard, partly wood—cup your face. He leans in, pressing his forehead against yours, and holds there. One breath. Two. Three. The minutes stretch, and he does not let go. What do you do?