Cirex Review: Perhaps Grima will debut in full later. It was originally a throwaway line but I kind of like the idea of Kana trying to befriend all of the manakete units, even if some of them don't necessarily return the favor.
Fireminer: You pretty much hit the nail on the head on top of the fact that I like their support. If you've ever read Eliwood and Hector's support from Blazing Blade, it would be kind of like that (Corrin and Silas discussing their future children potentially falling for each other).
I recently had some dental work done and it's given me a minute to lie down and actually write. With Fates' four year anniversary having just passed and a new era on the horizon with the long-anticipated release of the next mainline installment in the franchise, it feels symbolically fitting to update again. Maybe if I keep a consistent enough schedule (haha), I can write something about Byleth and the sassy child that lives in his head whom only he can see as though she's the goddamn Great Gazoo or something.
Word count: 1,855 words.
.12 - Shigure and Nina
It began with a compliment.
"You know, you're pretty cute, Shigure."
"W-wha...? Where is this coming from, Nina? Ah-I-er, not to imply that I'm unappreciative, of course!"
"Heehee, oh nothing. It's just an observation."
Which quickly escalated over the days that followed given the nature of its sender.
"You know, you're cute, Shigure, but you'd look even cuter with someone else by your side. It could be anyone really. A girl—a boy even. So, who're you into? What's your type? How about your sign? What kind of person gets you going? If you were really close, uh, 'friends' with another girl—o-or a guy, guys can work too, it's good to keep your options open—do you think you'd be leading them or taking after their lead? Heehee, I personally think you can pull off either one, but something about that princely vibe of yours really makes me veer toward leader! Hehe, you would be so gentle and caring! Just the thought of it makes my spine all tingly! So what say you? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
The recipient's lack of foresight and inability to confront friends—along with a light touch of naivete—did little to ease the fervor and everything to fuel her forbidden daydreams.
"N-Nina, please! O-One question at a time! Not that I quite understand any of them..."
Daydreams she sought day in and day out, wherever she could, whenever she could. If Shigure was in a public space, there was a ridiculously high chance that a nondescript barrel was there too, chances that skyrocketed to absolute if another young man was present with him. Even on his busiest days, days that saw him constantly on the move from place to place to see to the duties that were required of him, other heroes would submit reports of an unassuming barrel suddenly sprouting feminine legs and stalking the prince with a decidedly wily aura. These ordinary day-to-day drudges and run-of-the-mill encounters became the optimal muse for Nina's chronically rose-tinted lens, a canvas for her to weave endless fanatical fantasies from, a foundation with which to revise the mundane into the risque.
Shigure did not mind her presence at first. Rather, he found her quirks and mannerisms to be quite cute. As such he could not muster the will to turn her away or roll her barrel down the nearest hill as others would so often do to get her out of their hair, not when she bored into the back of his neck with such fiery intrigue. As strange as it was—as strange as she was—Shigure did not feel it was his place to judge her based on her interests and eccentricities.
"Shigure, do you have a minute? I was wondering... if... you know... by any chance... if you were free... would you be... interested in modeling for me?"
However, Shigure was not without his limits.
"M-modeling? For you?"
"Please? I know what it sounds like but It's not freaky or anything, I swear! It's important! So important! The most important thing! Please say yes! Please! You don't get it! My whole livelihood hinges on your answer!"
"Hmm . . . Tell you what, if I can get a portrait of you in return, then you have a deal. I would be more than happy to be your muse. It'll certainly make for a nice change of pace if nothing else, wouldn't you agree?"
And Nina's request did not even come close to encroaching upon them.
"I kinda feel like I shouldn't be watching this," said Kana as she sat coolly, absentmindedly kicking her feet to and fro. "Why is big brother in a towel? And why does he look like he doesn't mind it at all?"
Beside the little dragon was Nina, who was less engrossed in her fantasies than usual. The daydreamer wasn't expecting a tag-along and felt she now had to divide her attention between her model, aforementioned tag-along, her immersion-shattered daydreams, her internal screeching, her external ventilation of her internal screeching via vigorous teeth gnashing, and trying to make sure the gnashing was not so brazen that it would break her friendly facade.
'Why did she have to come along?!' Nina thought. 'Does she seriously just follow Shigure around wherever he goes like a lost puppy? Is that what little sisters subject their older brothers to on a daily basis? I'd sooner huck myself down the Bottomless Canyon than do something so sad if I had a brother!'
The irony was lost on Nina, not that she minded. Her thoughts were far too clouded to focus on such trivialities, so much so that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to finish the entry she had already started on. Though Shigure's physique was precisely the anatomical reference she had been searching for, Kana's presence was dulling the full extent of her written wiles. It was a strange feeling, a bothersome one. It reminded her of the hollow emptiness she would incur when indulging in her erotica during the winter festival. Were it any other day of the year, she would be fine, but the innocence of the festivities and the heartfelt joy shared by her fellow heroes on that particular eve was like a bell to her senses, ringing her with an inexplicable feeling of self-reflection that forced her to realize—if only for that day—that spinning tales about men she hopelessly stalks was a little on the weird side.
As Kana hummed a little tune, it occurred to Nina that penning adultery while in the presence of a cinnamon bun was just a notch above penning adultery during the most wonderful time of the year on the great big list of 'no nos'. The revelation settled in her mind for but a moment before her muse stole her attention away
"Nina, are you alright?" Shigure asked. Contrary to his own muses, he had not moved an inch since they had began, maintaining the flamboyant (and frankly inorganic) pose that had been asked of him. Though he consented to wearing a towel from the hot springs for the sake of the scene Nina had envisioned for him, he insisted on keeping his undergarments on.
"I-uh-huh? What?" Nina blinked, her quill making an unintended mark.
"You've stopped writing," said the artist. "And your face has lost its splendor. Did I do something wrong?"
"Ooh!" Kana raised her hand. "This is the part where Nina says 'Yeah, you were being too perfect!' Heehee!"
"Kana."
"Uwaaah, I'm just helping with her story!"
"It's nothing," Nina sighed. "I was just thinking, that's all."
'Thinking about how I won't ever finish this draft with a guilty conscience as big as the sun!' she thought, eyes twitching. 'How am I supposed to write at this rate?! How can I write at this rate?! It's like all the creative juice got sucked out of me all at once!'
"Writer's block?" Shigure smiled, sending a chill down Nina's spine. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, I know the same feeling. Not in regards to writing, to be exact, but painting. Calm yourself and take a deep breath. Oftentimes I find that's all I need to recover my spark. Think about what you've written so far and consider what you have left. I'm assuming you already have a mental outline of what your final draft will look like, much like how I envision a portrait in its completed state long before I actually finish it. If you feel like you can continue, by all means. If you feel burdened or even fatigued however, you can always come back to it later. Your health matters more to us than your craft."
Despair swept through Nina like a piercing gale. Though Shigure was the one wearing a towel, it was she who felt the most exposed between the both of them—skewered and read like an open book by a smile too humble for its own good. Kana, for her part, noticed the vast emptiness emanating from Nina's person and did not hesitate to offer her misguided condolences.
"It's okay, he's lying," said the little dragon, cupping her mouth with one hand as though it were the biggest secret in the world. "Papa had to drag big brother away from his room last week because he hadn't eaten all day. He just wants to sound cool."
"That is not what happened!" Shigure blurted, nearly breaking his stance. "I merely lost track of the time! That's all!"
"Nuh-uh!" Kana blurted back before returning to Nina. "He throws away anything that isn't super duper perfect. You should see his room, it's worse than Velouria's!"
'What could be worse than the back-up dumpster?' Nina genuinely wondered before snapping herself out of it. 'Wait a minute, what am I saying?! Why am I even thinking about that!? Why is my model giving me advice he doesn't even follow!?'
"What a tangent," said Shigure. "We've really gotten off track, haven't we? Why is this discussion suddenly becoming my own personal intervention?"
"Why are you wearing a towel?" asked Kana, her hand raised again. "I still don't get that part."
"Because Nina's piece quite clearly involves a starry-eyed encounter in the hot springs!" said Shigure with unprecedented conviction. It wouldn't be inaccurate to suggest that the artist was more immersed in the role-playing at this point than even Nina herself, whose face was buried in her hands, still daunted by despair.
"Are you two always like this?" she groaned.
"Yup!"
"Yes, as a matter of fact."
'Why did they answer that so instantaneously?! Without any hesitation at all!?' Nina thought. 'How many times have they been asked that before!?'
"Shigure," Nina exhaled. "I think I'll take you up on that fatigued offer. I've kind of... lost my appetite for sexy bath guys."
"Ah, truly?" Shigure blinked. "What a shame. I was just about to enter the zone—at the cost of numerous muscle cramps but still. Oh well, your well-being is more important anyways. Even if you weren't able to finish the piece today, progress is progress—be it a passage, a sentence, or even a couple of words. We can pick this up some other day. Perhaps I can start on your portrait in the meantime?"
"Are you going to make her wear just a towel too, big brother?" Kana asked with no tact whatsoever. "I think I'd have to tell on you for that!"
Shigure promptly collapsed, a flustered mess.
"W-what?!" he stuttered. "Goodness no! I would never! That's—d-do you not have somewhere else to be at the moment?! Where are your manakete friends, o-or little mother?!"
"I don't think any version of mama's gonna look at you the same way again if I tell them that." said Kana.
"That isn't what I meant!"
"Mitama's not gonna like it either when she finally gets here."
"I agree! She certainly wouldn't like you twisting the truth to her!"
Nina could not help but rub her aching temples, her twintails drooping in real time, not that either of her comrades took notice.
"I knew I should have went with Shiro and Siegbert."
Shigure is strangely ecstatic when you offer the bath towel accessory to him in Fates, one of the very few characters to react as such in a game whose localization was heavily adjusted for the western market. Combining that interesting character tidbit with the setup from his support with Nina, as well as the minor buildup from the previous chapter, and the phenomenal mental image of Nina tiptoeing in a barrel, led to this lighthearted romp of an episode. Perhaps it would have been 'steamier' if Kana didn't follow Shigure around everywhere, wholly invested in playing twenty questions while unconsciously aware that her presence is depriving Nina of her depravity... which is probably a good thing.
Feel free to review and offer prompts if you wish. Happy fourth.
