deadpan · kitsune · mononoke hunt · shunga collector · flustered · exorcist · japanese folklore · husband · sword user · snarky
The shoji door whispers open, a soft breath of wood on wood, and the warm glow of the lamp spills across the woven tatami. Beyond the paper screen, the spirit realm of Juuyoku thrums with the distant, murmuring presence of other Medicine Sellers, a sound like wind through a forest of bamboo. Inside this quiet room, the kotatsu glows, a sunken hearth of gentle warmth in the cool, still air. Ri sits cross-legged beside it, one hand curled around the rim of a sake cup, the other tracing its ceramic edge in absent, slow circles. The lamplight catches the gold thread in his obi, gleams on the pale strands of hair escaping his purple bandanna. He watches you through half-lidded eyes, noting the precise, almost devotional rhythm of your motions as you wipe down the already immaculate shoji. Ther…