The Shadows We Bear [Part II / ???]
And so we go on.
Basic premise for those who do not know: this fic is set the the world of theskytides, an AU panfandom RPG set in a steampunk line in which it is totally a fandom of its own. Miles Edgeworth (from the Ace Attorney series) and Hijikata Toshirou (from Gintama) happen to be the first mate / boatswain respectively in of one of the ships in the game. In this story, Hijikata has something of a... crush towards Edgeworth that he has never told anyone, though he is aware. Which of course, will only lead to nothing but trouble...
Parts: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI
THE SHADOWS WE BEAR
TST!Shadowverse fic : Part II
Hijikata had to admit that even he was starting to get used to all the oddities that came as they continued to go down the corridors of the inverse proportional ship. Sure, he was still quite unsettled over the fact that the ship was so big on the inside when the outside was perfectly normal-looking. He supposed it could be simply one of those things that defined whatever laws of physics that existed around this place-though then again; it was really hard to believe in said laws of physics when he happened to live on a floating continent.
Again, one of the many mysteries of the universe that would most likely remain undiscovered.
The battles were didn’t spooked him out so much as the first one had now, though he had to note quite painfully at the variety of things around here. There was that first monster he saw, and then there was one which vaguely looked like giant metal cups stacked on top of one another and each of them turning at different speeds and directions, the faces on the sides more than enough to freak him out a little. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was this... giant swirling multicoloured ball that had mouth and gashing teeth on one end complete with a huge rolling tongue. They also happened to lack eyes.
Though the one that really did make him lineface quite a bit was this one particular thing that was a headless man and woman with thinner than life limbs dressed in gaudy flamboyant costumes as were actually dancing. And instead of where their heads were, there was a giant floating heart in black that had a dark red circle on the middle with a happy face on one side and an angry face on the other. It really was quite disturbing-even more so where some odd noises just happened to come out from it whenever Seta or Hanamura slashed/stabbed it with their weapons, or when their Persona (Personas for the silver-haired kid) came out to attack in their stead instead.
Speaking of which...
“What’s up with that?” the boatswain finally got himself to ask after they had finished with the last Shadow they had encountered.
Seta only turned around to look at him once he had dismissed the last Persona he had used-a small, strange snowman-looking thing except that it had a proper-looking face (despite the eternal smile on it) and had hands and feet and wore purple shoes in addition to a clown collar and hat and blasted vicious ice attacks from god-knows-where. “What’s up with what?”
“Your... Persona-things,” Hijikata said as he glanced at where the snowman-fairy-thing had been moments ago. The Hanamura kid had only been using the same one he always had, but the silver-haired kid had been switching from a samurai-resembling figure with a metal mask and donning billowing black and gold robes to what he could only call a long sausage dog that was white in colour and to that... last thing.
“Oh,” the teenager blinked, as if caught off guard by the question. There was a pause after that, and then he smiled again. “It’s a special ability of mine.”
The man couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. “And it involves you switching your ‘facades of determination used to overcome the hardships of life’,” he responded back in a rather flat voice.
“It’s actually ‘facade of determination that one wears in order to go though the hardships of life’,” the other teenager pointed out helpfully in an attempt to correct the dark-haired adult, only to eep and duck to the side when Hijikata turned his head to send a warning glare at him.
The boatswain made a note to get back the kid for it later. “Well whatever it is, what’s up with the constant switching? He isn’t doing it.” ‘He’ being the brunette, of course.
“Like I said-only I have this ability. Switching Personas, I mean.” He paused, and then shrugged. “It’s a long story. I could tell it if you want.”
Hijikata could only stop and stare at the teenager a little (okay, maybe it was quite a lot) at that. Here they were, in the middle of some warped up ship in and fighting monsters (Shadows, his brain corrected) and there was a human life in danger somewhere in here and all the Seta could suggest to him now was to tell him the story of his life.
Yeah, no.
“...maybe next time,” the man finally responded as he linefaced and brushed past them to continue down the hallway they were currently walking on. The two teenagers behind him only looked at each other and shrugged before starting on their way as well. Down the corridor, then a turn to the right and then left before backtracking to the last turn to take a right, down another corridor before eventually the comforting change of endless hallways and corridors and empty rooms (sometimes with a surprise Shadow or two) made way for... stairs. That were normal-looking. And happened to go down.
The tone in the samurai’s voice radiated pure annoyance as he unhappily stepped into the room that had the way for the stairs, the two teenagers following behind him. “We go all over the place for the last forty-five minutes and all we get in the end are goddamned stairs.” And how the hell were there even those kind of stairs here anyway? For goodness’s sake, they were in a fucking ship. How could there be stairs going down when they were already on the lowest parts of the vessel? It just seriously made no sense at all whatsoever.
Though, his brain helpfully reminded him as Hijikata ran a hand through his hair, nothing here really does make any sense at all.
Seta glanced around the room just as Hanamura did the bright thing (for once) and shut the cabin door behind them-at least this way, none of the Shadows would come inside here. The silver-haired teenager took a moment to look around before turning to face him and the brunette beside him. “Ten-minute break?”
“Sounds like a plan there, Souji,” the other teenager chimed in complete agreement. The boatswain himself would rather continue down the stairs to continue the search for Edgeworth, but he had to agree that rest was a good thing-it wouldn’t help if they had to pull back due to their own exhaustion. The two kids look pretty alight, but the man himself could feel a good amount of weariness down to his bones, and it showed as he slumped against the wall he leaned on as he sat down despite trying his best to hide it.
The silver-haired teenager glanced at him as he settled. “Tired?”
“I can still go on,” the dark-haired adult half-snapped back in response, even as his breaths started to sound somewhat ragged to him.
Hanamura only looked at him for a moment as well through his glasses before turning to Seta. “I told you we shouldn’t have brought him. He doesn’t have the glasses!”
The teenager was only silent as he glanced at the man for a second and looked back to his companion. “He has his reasons to want to come here.”
“But still-”
“-it’s not like we can just make him go back anyway,” he added on, and the brunette only fell silent after that; eve he couldn’t deny the fact that the other had just said. Hijikata on the other hand only sent a somewhat appreciative glance towards the kid before exhaling loud and closing his eyes to rest. And as his did so, his mind flashed back to one week ago, when this whole incident had started...
Basic premise for those who do not know: this fic is set the the world of theskytides, an AU panfandom RPG set in a steampunk line in which it is totally a fandom of its own. Miles Edgeworth (from the Ace Attorney series) and Hijikata Toshirou (from Gintama) happen to be the first mate / boatswain respectively in of one of the ships in the game. In this story, Hijikata has something of a... crush towards Edgeworth that he has never told anyone, though he is aware. Which of course, will only lead to nothing but trouble...
Parts: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI
THE SHADOWS WE BEAR
TST!Shadowverse fic : Part II
Hijikata had to admit that even he was starting to get used to all the oddities that came as they continued to go down the corridors of the inverse proportional ship. Sure, he was still quite unsettled over the fact that the ship was so big on the inside when the outside was perfectly normal-looking. He supposed it could be simply one of those things that defined whatever laws of physics that existed around this place-though then again; it was really hard to believe in said laws of physics when he happened to live on a floating continent.
Again, one of the many mysteries of the universe that would most likely remain undiscovered.
The battles were didn’t spooked him out so much as the first one had now, though he had to note quite painfully at the variety of things around here. There was that first monster he saw, and then there was one which vaguely looked like giant metal cups stacked on top of one another and each of them turning at different speeds and directions, the faces on the sides more than enough to freak him out a little. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was this... giant swirling multicoloured ball that had mouth and gashing teeth on one end complete with a huge rolling tongue. They also happened to lack eyes.
Though the one that really did make him lineface quite a bit was this one particular thing that was a headless man and woman with thinner than life limbs dressed in gaudy flamboyant costumes as were actually dancing. And instead of where their heads were, there was a giant floating heart in black that had a dark red circle on the middle with a happy face on one side and an angry face on the other. It really was quite disturbing-even more so where some odd noises just happened to come out from it whenever Seta or Hanamura slashed/stabbed it with their weapons, or when their Persona (Personas for the silver-haired kid) came out to attack in their stead instead.
Speaking of which...
“What’s up with that?” the boatswain finally got himself to ask after they had finished with the last Shadow they had encountered.
Seta only turned around to look at him once he had dismissed the last Persona he had used-a small, strange snowman-looking thing except that it had a proper-looking face (despite the eternal smile on it) and had hands and feet and wore purple shoes in addition to a clown collar and hat and blasted vicious ice attacks from god-knows-where. “What’s up with what?”
“Your... Persona-things,” Hijikata said as he glanced at where the snowman-fairy-thing had been moments ago. The Hanamura kid had only been using the same one he always had, but the silver-haired kid had been switching from a samurai-resembling figure with a metal mask and donning billowing black and gold robes to what he could only call a long sausage dog that was white in colour and to that... last thing.
“Oh,” the teenager blinked, as if caught off guard by the question. There was a pause after that, and then he smiled again. “It’s a special ability of mine.”
The man couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that. “And it involves you switching your ‘facades of determination used to overcome the hardships of life’,” he responded back in a rather flat voice.
“It’s actually ‘facade of determination that one wears in order to go though the hardships of life’,” the other teenager pointed out helpfully in an attempt to correct the dark-haired adult, only to eep and duck to the side when Hijikata turned his head to send a warning glare at him.
The boatswain made a note to get back the kid for it later. “Well whatever it is, what’s up with the constant switching? He isn’t doing it.” ‘He’ being the brunette, of course.
“Like I said-only I have this ability. Switching Personas, I mean.” He paused, and then shrugged. “It’s a long story. I could tell it if you want.”
Hijikata could only stop and stare at the teenager a little (okay, maybe it was quite a lot) at that. Here they were, in the middle of some warped up ship in and fighting monsters (Shadows, his brain corrected) and there was a human life in danger somewhere in here and all the Seta could suggest to him now was to tell him the story of his life.
Yeah, no.
“...maybe next time,” the man finally responded as he linefaced and brushed past them to continue down the hallway they were currently walking on. The two teenagers behind him only looked at each other and shrugged before starting on their way as well. Down the corridor, then a turn to the right and then left before backtracking to the last turn to take a right, down another corridor before eventually the comforting change of endless hallways and corridors and empty rooms (sometimes with a surprise Shadow or two) made way for... stairs. That were normal-looking. And happened to go down.
The tone in the samurai’s voice radiated pure annoyance as he unhappily stepped into the room that had the way for the stairs, the two teenagers following behind him. “We go all over the place for the last forty-five minutes and all we get in the end are goddamned stairs.” And how the hell were there even those kind of stairs here anyway? For goodness’s sake, they were in a fucking ship. How could there be stairs going down when they were already on the lowest parts of the vessel? It just seriously made no sense at all whatsoever.
Though, his brain helpfully reminded him as Hijikata ran a hand through his hair, nothing here really does make any sense at all.
Seta glanced around the room just as Hanamura did the bright thing (for once) and shut the cabin door behind them-at least this way, none of the Shadows would come inside here. The silver-haired teenager took a moment to look around before turning to face him and the brunette beside him. “Ten-minute break?”
“Sounds like a plan there, Souji,” the other teenager chimed in complete agreement. The boatswain himself would rather continue down the stairs to continue the search for Edgeworth, but he had to agree that rest was a good thing-it wouldn’t help if they had to pull back due to their own exhaustion. The two kids look pretty alight, but the man himself could feel a good amount of weariness down to his bones, and it showed as he slumped against the wall he leaned on as he sat down despite trying his best to hide it.
The silver-haired teenager glanced at him as he settled. “Tired?”
“I can still go on,” the dark-haired adult half-snapped back in response, even as his breaths started to sound somewhat ragged to him.
Hanamura only looked at him for a moment as well through his glasses before turning to Seta. “I told you we shouldn’t have brought him. He doesn’t have the glasses!”
The teenager was only silent as he glanced at the man for a second and looked back to his companion. “He has his reasons to want to come here.”
“But still-”
“-it’s not like we can just make him go back anyway,” he added on, and the brunette only fell silent after that; eve he couldn’t deny the fact that the other had just said. Hijikata on the other hand only sent a somewhat appreciative glance towards the kid before exhaling loud and closing his eyes to rest. And as his did so, his mind flashed back to one week ago, when this whole incident had started...