lumberlady | Prismatica IC Contact

[Despite the misfortune that had dogged her birth, the hard living and the scars of war... Konoha was still able to smile. And knowing that it was hard for others, for those who'd had it worse than her... She'd always striven to smile even more. When her husband had told her that her presence was like the sun to him, calming and warm, bright and illuminating...

That's all she'd ever hoped to be. So if she could do the same for her friends, for Tanjiro...]

She showed me her sword, when she came over for dinner with Tomioka-san... She sat right there.

[She motions to one of the cushions around the sunken hearth, the same one Tanjiro has likely sat upon before.]

I thought it was a really weird shape... like a hornet stinger instead of a sword. She seemed a bit angry with Tomioka-san for telling me about the Demon Slayer Corps, so she didn't tell me much, but... I guess that explains that, huh?

[He laughs, scrunching his nose up a little as he does.]

Like a hornet's stinger... That's pretty on the nose. She and Giyuu-san argued a lot, but I think it was mostly friendly? It was sort of hard to tell.

[He spends a good while looking at the cushion Konoha points to, taking a moment to visualize Shinobu sitting there, heckling Giyu to her right in her usual pleasant tone of voice. He closes his eyes, smiling, and falls silent to just imagine it.]

Mmm... It was really hard to tell... I tried to help, but. I didn't know her well enough to give any useful advice, I don't think...

[Their problems seemed to have been born... potentially years ago? Over some sort of misunderstanding? ... And now they'd never be able to set it right with each other, would they? It's a sad thought, and she tries to turn it just a bit lighter, smiling at a different memory.]

Actually, when I first met her I accidentally called her "Miss Tomioka", because when I first met Tomioka-san it was during this time when some of the Moonblessed had been spirited away... and when I said my husband was missing he seemed to know how I felt...

[A slightly embarrassed laugh slips out, and she raps a few knuckles against her temple.]

That was my mistake for assuming, but... I think I made her really mad!

[Tanjiro laughs pretty honestly at that-- God, what a thing to call her. Miss Tomioka, he can only imagine the way her eyes would widen and she'd just smile, correcting the statement with that light, sweet tone she used when someone was in trouble. He quiets down after a while, still smiling and eventually setting a hand over his heart.]

...Giyuu-san has lost a lot of people, but I don't think he's ever been married.

[He tilts his head and looks at Konoha sidelong, smiling softly.] That's the thing about Shinobu-san... She's always a little angry. I think it's what kept her going for so long.

[Tanjiro is imagining Shinobu's reaction... pretty much exactly right, and even though she'd been mortified at the time... now he's smiling, and even though the words he says are a bit stark...]

... Then I'm glad there's no need for her to be angry any longer.

[Her hatred of demons, her words about what they took from people... that had been clear to Konoha back then. And if the demons were gone, now that Tanjiro had succeeded in his mission...

Konoha smiles back.]

Say- Do you know what kind of food she liked?

Edited 2020-09-02 14:44 (UTC)

[He's a little startled by the way "there's no need for her to be angry" hits him, and he sucks in a startled little breath when his eyes well up for a minute. He presses the back of his good hand to his mouth and holds his breath, scrunching his eyes closed for a few seconds before setting his hand back down and smiling with a wobbly little affirmative sound.]

We really couldn't have succeeded without her.

[He mulls over the question as a distraction, and winds up turning to her with a sort of confused expression.]

I..., you know, I'm not sure. How awful is that? She housed us and looked after us so many times.

[Through it all Konoha just waits, gives him the space to work through that moment while she just radiates warmth beside him. Maybe it had been presumptuous of her to say, but... if the other woman had helped the mission she devoted herself to succeed, if the demons she despised so bitterly were gone, if her revenge was complete...

Then surely she could rest peacefully. Konoha had to believe in such things.

Had to reach forward and carefully rearrange the egg shell fragments on the altar.]

I don’t think it’s awful... some people are private. And not everyone talks about food as much as we do...

[A little joke, at their “expense”, with a small smile.]

How about I make what we had last time they visited me, then? She liked that well enough.

[He's a little embarrassed, but only a little-- he's never been the sort to think crying was shameful. He mostly just feels bad that he's cycled in and out of tears so many times in Konoha's house just today (honestly, Tanjiro, how many cues to you need to take it upon yourself to watch a good tearjerker movie and cry it out, damn).]

[He leans into her shoulder again and nods, looking down at his knees.]

I know... Giyu-san likes cold soba? Or at least well enough that he let me talk him into an eating contest with it. [A quiet laugh.] How ridiculous of me, really.

Miss Kocho told me he liked salmon, so I made ishikari nabe... she seemed to like the tofu and vegetables a lot...

[If Konoha has her way... Tanjiro will be letting out at least a few more tears before she lets him go. It would be better that way. Just get it out.

So for a moment, she puts aside the idea of standing up to cook and instead lays her head atop his.]

So who won the contest?

[He can't just say that and then not tell her?]

Salmon daikon, I think is his favorite. I could see Shinobu-san really liking both tofu and vegetables... She probably likes complex flavors.

[A beat, and he kind of chokes up a little because he has to correct himself again.]

Liked. I'm really bad at this.

[But then he laughs, even if he's smudging his hand over his eyes.] I think I did, but I also don't think he's ever tried speed-eating before, and I was sixteen and also a bottomless pit. So it felt sort of like he let me win.

[He says he's bad at it, but. Konoha just shakes her head and nuzzles against him.]

Give it time.

[Sometimes that's what people needed, whether it was for mourning, remembering, or using the right tense when talking. With a last little squeeze of his shoulder, she does start to rise, a new mission in mind. A farewell meal.]

When you get back home, then... you can challenge him again, and see who wins this time.

[... They both only had use of one arm, so it was still a fair fight.]

[They are both one-armed wonders, it's true. Though he cheated a little and at least still has an arm, even if it's beef jerky.]

[He leans back against her nuzzling, and turns to watch her as she stands, shifting like he's considering following suit. He's not sure what she's getting up for, so he's sort of questioning her without saying anything.]

[As tempting as it is to try and convince him to just stay put and let her do the work while he's mourning... Well, she can't imagine Tanjiro would allow it. And if she were in his place... She'd want someone to keep her busy.

So she smiles, gesturing for him to follow her up.]

Come on... I need your help in the kitchen to whip up some complicated flavors.

[He's gotten too used to mourning on the go, as it were. He's never really had the time to sit and properly grieve so he's... admittedly pretty terrible at it now that he does. So he's a touch confused when he follows her to his feet, wandering after her until it clicks what she's meaning when she says complicated flavors.]

[Ah.]

[He's fine for a while, until he abruptly stops being fine and probably winds up sinking to crouch on the floor in Konoha's kitchen and sob into his kneecaps, likely apologizing the entire time. But at least they eventually have food they can eat.]

[In Konoha's experience, it was better to let an emotion out than to bottle it up. Sure, there were times when you couldn't, times when you just had to keep fighting, keep moving, keep going... But this is somewhere safe. Somewhere without judgement. And so honestly... she was hoping he'd cry.

So she lets him cry as long as he needs, quietly accepting (but not requiring) his apologies and letting the sounds of chopping on the cutting board and hooves on the wooden floors serve as accompaniment to tears.

When he's ready, she's there with a smile and helpful tasks that can be accomplished with one arm, with a meal they've made and can enjoy in the same seats that had once been occupied by two other demon slayers.

One small serving of which is placed reverently on the altar in front of Shinobu's bromide.

But even with as much as she supports tears when the occasion calls for them... She won't let him go home until she sees a smile.]

[He wears himself out with them, but with the small serving placed before Shinobu's altar he sits curled around his own, smiling at it in a tired way, but it's a smile nonetheless.]

[The one-armed helpful tasks helped, even if he's pretty sure he sat folded in on himself on the floor for a solid twenty minutes in some degree of leaking from his face. He turns the smile to Konoha, still tired but definitely there.]

...sorry for getting all soggy on you. Thank you.

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omg sorry I lost this...

mood tbh, no worries <3

i think we can wrap it soon anyway! much cooking and crying to be had

👍

<3

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