dollmaxing | Inbox & In-person meetups

Azathoth shifted in response — slowly, silkily. Its massive limbs undulated with the same rhythm as a cat arching beneath praise, vertebrae cracking outward as though it was unfolding from within itself. One tendril — the same that had healed her — coiled closer, touching and curling like a snake. A half-circle, protective and poised. Its spines retracted, glowing still. Its eye-like core between its human-like digits pulsed in a steady rhythm, brighter now, as though basking in her gratitude.

That alone was enough.

Takuto’s voice returned — warm, but quieter now, as though humbled by what he had just seen.

“…There’s no need to thank me,” he said gently. “I’m here for you, Kuon. That’s all.”

He hesitated for a moment before continuing, words chosen with more care this time.

“I’ll have coffee arranged for you and Zenkichi-san,” he added. “But—probably not a good idea for you two to be in the same room. At least... not right now. Swear I had a heart attack when I saw both of you enter that elevator.”

Edited (WROTE SNACK INSTEAD OF SNAKE LOL) 2025-07-01 16:21 (UTC)

“...Should I be in the IT room, too?” he asked, almost cautiously. “If things are going to be like this, I mean.”

The sputtering did have Kuon jumping and sitting upright, just in case a very drunk Takuto was about to throw up - but laughed in pleasant surprise when he held out the soda, grimacing at it and the flavor.

Mint choco...

"Oh no, I hate chocolate sodas! Hahaha! They're vile."

Still giggling, she turned and rummaged through her takeaway bag and pulled out the last melonpan, tearing open the packaging.

"Melonpan to the rescue!"

"I didn't think he would actually follow me into the elevator, either. Since I'm supposedly so dangerous."

But he had, and she should've realized how much he was barely containing his rage from the way the door's metal had warped under his grip. Should've sensed the danger immediately and left. But he hadn't done anything after that, he'd just... bantered, normal, even let her scold him over making a mess of the kitchen.

She thought maybe she was overreacting, being hyperbolic like the two kept insisting she was. Figured no one would react to a simple little push to the arm, no firmer than one would give a child.

But her distrust and assumptions were proven right. Why did she ever doubt herself?

"I think for today, at least. I don't think he can behave himself."

Takuto had been watching through the eyes of the cognitions when he was pulling both Kuon and Zenkichi away from each other. That glimpse of raw panic flickering when Wolf's rage had shown, causing his mask to glitch out of existence, was something to be noted.

"I think he's just...well, he's paranoid with you. Not your fault, of course, but I have met jumpy individuals here," he sighs. "Then the things I have heard from his future and then his daughter..."

Doc.

Maruki clicked his tongue. "All the more reason for me to be there then. You and the Hasegawas have a temporary truce, which is why I don't want it to get worse for you." His voice shuffled in the background with the slightest sigh of a coat being worn.

"I will get your coffee for now. The usual?"

Edited 2025-07-01 21:44 (UTC)

"I'll take extra sugar and an extra expresso shot, if you'll indulge me," Kuon sighed, slowly settling into relief and looking at her wrist, flexing her fingers. It felt much, much better... there was a little pinprick of green, but it was far less noticeable than the bruise had been. As she stood, she found the pain from a slightly dislocated shoulder had been soothed, too.

While getting more injured was not appealing given how much things were still painful, she did feel a bit more confident that any injury wouldn't be terribly permanent. She really did find the right man to have in her corner...

"Alright. I think the adrenaline's worn off enough, I'll make my way back. I'll have a clear head by the time I get there."

A pitiful little whine slipped out of Maruki as he stared down at the can in betrayal, grimacing once more at the mint-choco label. Of course, it had to be mint-choco soda. Because the universe, clearly, had a sense of humor.

"Chocolate sodas... seriously? Nothing's going according to plan tonight, is it?" he muttered, shaking his head as he leaned down and set the cursed drink aside with dramatic care.

He perked up almost instantly at the sight of the melonpan in her hands. "Hurray for melonpan! You really can't go wrong with that."

Finally, finally, he settled next to her—less flustered and fidgety, more still.

Felt pretty healing, honestly.

A nostalgic sigh passed through him as he looked out toward the streetlights blinking through the muggy air. "Still... I doubt anything can live up to Shujin's melonpan. I used to grab them all the time back then. They sort of became my emergency breakfast on busy mornings. Just... rushing, always rushing, never time for anything proper."

He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck—then paused when he noticed the way she was holding the melonpan out to him.

"For...me?" he asked, blinking.

Then: a soft, earnest smile. "My hero," he said with a kind of playful reverence. "No, literally—you’re saving me from my tragically bad impulse purchases. I swear, I’m working on it. But between the soda and the, uh, alcohol... the memo clearly got lost somewhere."

Edited 2025-07-02 00:01 (UTC)

Despite the joke, there was nothing but warmth in his eyes as he accepted the melonpan. Instead of diving in immediately, he turned the pastry in its wrapper with surprising care. Carefully, almost ceremonially, he folded it in half—custard peeking slightly from the top portion—before gently peeling the wrapper down around the still-intact lower half.

Then, with a little grin and childlike brightness, he held that second half out to Kuon.

"Share?"

"Hah! That's the school the Thieves are from, isn't it? Say, there's not much saying we can't sneak in and grab a few sometime," she snickered, delighting in taking the offered half of the treat.

She got a 'my hero', too... heh heh. With how much lighter Takuto looked, messy from crying but like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, she did kind of feel like one.

"We make a perfect little best friends duo. Perfectly planktonic."

"A nostalgia trip...I will show you around in the nurse's office then. That's where I counselled most of them, save for Kitagawa-kun. His was...more impromptu." And does he know exactly how he was confronted.

It's a little funny thinking over how Yusuke had tried to poke holes into his plans. Guiding others rather then letting them heal...now that he really thinks about it, he was one of the first few who pointed that out in his logic.

Still, that wasn't his worry right now.

He continues to nibble away on his melonpan.

The planktonic term makes him blush a little. A little out of sheer fondness, the other out of embarrassment.

"I am sensing a pattern with how you talk about things. There's this...endearing aspect to it." He comments. "And it feels right somehow...talking to you about things I wouldn't talk about otherwise."

With his other clean hand, he reaches behind her and runs his fingers through her hair before settling on her shoulder. "Stay with me," he says. "Let's work through this together so I can support you and look after you too. If you would allow me."

"I am nothing if not a creature of habit!" Kuon cheerfully replied to Takuto's comment about sensing a pattern in her. She can't help it, she can only spare so much thought to modulating and adjusting the way she talks - at least he finds it endearing. That's a load off her shoulders.

She didn't flinch or balk at the second attempt at combing fingers through her hair.

Stay with me.

He wants her. He wants her around, and not even for her technical abilities. Though that probably sweetens the pot, this is different from how they first met.

She wants him too. Finally someone she fits with, who isn't disturbed by her. The first time since her parents died. The first time someone wanted to look after her well-being since EMMA.

"Let's do it. Let's look after each other. No taking it back when you're sober!"

"Just slap me back to sense if I spout nonsense," he chuckles, joking clearly, but his hand lowers anyway, cradling her arm in his own. Fingers tracing the area around her wrist, specifically the green smudge that had started to fade.
His pinky, the point where most of Azathoth's powers that helped him recover from his injuries were concentrated, glowed the slightest shade of gold when it traced that skin.

His mouth tasted sweet. His mind buzzed pleasantly, and his insides felt warm.

"I wouldn't take this back for the world anyway."

Those minutes had slowly turned into an hour. In the quiet of the night, with the easy buzzing of the cicadas. It didn't take long until Takuto reached for her hand again and they both decided to walk home again. A home that others would call the lab of sorrow but it was where they found their solace.

Takuto left Kuon's washroom, face cold with water, while droplets collected and collapsed in a quiet rhythm from the tips of his bangs. The heat was...really something, even against his own palace that had a built-in air-conditioner. Maybe it was the alcohol's effect, still lingering in his system as he yawned into his hand before scratching his forehead.

Stretching his arms over his head, his shirt scooted up a bit as he adjusted it.

He unbuttons the first two buttons that practically hugged his neck in the heat.

The summer heat, the cognitive expectation of summer heat, alcohol and a long walk... all of that definitely compounded to the AC being a massive relief, but not an instant cool-down. But Kuon knew the route to take for that.

While Takuto excused himself to wash his face, Kuon had stepped out and done a little walk to one of the staff rooms with convenient vending machines to get them both some water and, after getting caught up chatting a shadow (wherein she was the one that caught the shadow, since they were usually milling about and not quite social), she even got a bag of mixed veggies for them to snack on since they'd already snacked so much on rich foods and sugary snacks.

And what did she see once she was back? Why, Takuto sitting and unbuttoning his shirt, looked like - and there was something on his neck.

"Wait a minute-- you have a tattoo?"

He didn't seem the type! Curiously, Kuon approached and tugged down his collar to look at it. Huh... "An eye...?"

Ah, she's back. Takuto is just about to make himself comfortable on a corner of Kuon's bed- looking still at his phone and groggily checking his chats for any updates and activities, mostly through blurred eyes since his glasses were on his lap, water lining the lenses.

"Hey, hey- you don't mind if I sit here, do-" he cuts himself off when he suddenly senses her coming close. His eyes flicker gold as he drops his phone on the bed, "Ah-! Wha-"

The exposed air on his neck made his shoulders jerk. "Kuon, hey- what are you doing? What are you seeing-?"

"A tattoo of an eye... it's really intricate... it looks a little like Azathoth's eye," she mused, tugging the collar down a bit more and gently running her finger around the oblong shape of the eye.

Huh?

Maruki's eyes widen in sheer horror, shoulders hunching together in tension as he wants to move and check for himself but Kuon clearly decided to take matters into her own hands, literally if he could add as he feels the slightest prick of pins when he feels her finger hovering close.

She's not even touching him and yet-

~~Use me...however you like.~~

The eye beneath his skin shuddered.

A glowing pupil cracked open in a web of luminous blue, like light breaking through a frozen lake. It split across his upper back and shoulder, illuminating delicate fault-lines through skin like stained glass. A strange, cosmic fractal that writhed softly under Kuon’s finger.

"Ah—ah~!"

A sound escaped him—shocked, breathy, unfiltered. His body jolted as pleasure surged through his spine in a ripple. His head tipped back involuntarily, a low, strangled moan spilling from his throat. It wasn’t pain. It wasn’t even fear. It was so goddamn overwhelming.

Like the veins that threatened to snake up front.

His left hand shot out to brace himself, fingers sinking into the bed beside him, trembling. Water from his damp hair clung to his cheek, strands falling over his face as he leaned forward—half curling around the sensation like he couldn’t decide whether to flee or chase it.

"What—what is this...?" he gasped, voice hoarse, disoriented. "It feels... I-I don’t know why it feels like that—"

His shirt clung to him, now slightly hiked up from where he’d been stretching, just enough to conceal the glowing lines before they slowly faded again—veins receding like ink drawn back into a pen.

Takuto panted softly, stunned, his chest rising and falling as he tried to process what had just happened.

And somewhere deep inside, nestled in the edge of his consciousness, something ancient stirred. Watching. Waiting.

Azathoth smiled.

Of all of the possible reactions or overreactions, this would have never been what Kuon would expect from Takuto getting a marking touched. She removed her finger and held onto Takuto's shoulders, keeping him steady and watching what was still showing of the mark.

It moved. The eye - it had opened. That was... a sign of Azathoth, directly.

"It spread. I think this is a mark from Azathoth, Takuto," she said gently, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I'll take a photo to show you, just catch your breath."

Takuto had sounded... well. She'd only heard a few men make that sort of noise. ...She'll keep that to herself for a few minutes.

Edited 2025-07-03 00:03 (UTC)

"What?"

The hand on his shoulder was something he didn't even realize he needed until now- shaking in disbelief as he felt her presence crowding him from behind.

"Why would I have...?" He screwed his eyes shut with his other hand flew to his back- something like horror showing on his bare face as he patted his neck.

Okay. Calm down.

"I don't really feel anything???" Panic threatened to break through as he tried to remain still under her squeeze.

Right. She will get her phone out.

Azathoth had remained quiet, the veins around the eye only subtly glowing.

He unbuttoned his shirt a little more, holding up the front with his left to conceal his chest- straightening up a little bit to let her get a better view while his shirt only sunk further to his elbows.

"Okay, here. Get a good angle, please."

As Kuon shifted, testing the motion of her fingers, Azathoth moved again.

Its limbs didn't twitch this time — they flowed. One long tendril unfurled with a deliberate slowness, arching toward her like an eclipse reaching down to touch the earth. It didn’t speak, didn’t pulse with power, didn’t demand attention. It merely hovered near — the way a hand might reach to catch someone not for falling, but for reassurance. For presence.

A wordless gesture: You are not alone.

The tendril curved toward her back, just brushing close enough for its warmth to be felt — not touching, just letting its presence say what it couldn't. That it saw her pain. That it knew the toll.

And that it approved of her being grateful. To be relied on. To be praised.

From the overhead speaker, Takuto’s voice returned, softened now by a gentle smile Kuon couldn’t see — but could feel in the timbre of his tone.

"You don’t have to pretend in front of the Hasegawas," he said. "They weren’t exactly polite to us. And I believe in you, Kuon."

There was a quiet rhythm of footsteps — not echoing, but existing, like he was walking somewhere just outside her view. Adjusting his outfit, maybe?

Then, a low click. The mic opened again.

"I’ll meet you there," Takuto said simply. "See you."

Azathoth lingered for a moment longer — tendrils rising slightly as if debating whether to remain. But something in the doctor's voice, that parting note of trust, seemed to satisfy it.

With one last ripple — almost like the slow exhale of a great creature settling — Azathoth retracted its limbs, folding back into itself. One tendril curled last, hesitating before drawing away like a loyal hound called to heel.

"You'll be okay, Takuto," Kuon reassured. After all, if this was Azathoth, then this was a part of him. She'd never heard of traits of a Persona manifesting, but... Azathoth certainly was more powerful. And special.

Without touching the mark again, Kuon kept her hand steady on his shoulder as she got out her not-bugged phone, getting the camera in focus before taking a picture of the subtly glowing mark.

Once checking that it came out properly in the image, she passed the phone over Takuto's shoulder to him so he could put on his glasses and see the picture himself.

Giving the lingering tentacle a fond wave with her fingers, Kuon calmed and opened the door.

Unfortunately, she would have to keep pretending in front of the Hasegawas. They were still on a hair trigger, eager for her to 'prove them right', to come off as the horrible villain they want her to be.

Still - she'd demand an apology. She deserved one.

Gradually she made her way back, taking her time on the walk there to clear her head. Upon re-entering the IT room, she gave Takuto a grateful smile and returned to her desk, dropping into her chair and scooping up the mug of coffee made just for her. Mmm... tasty as always.

The touch felt cold- especially since his skin was bare. Just how much skin contact they were going to have in a span of a night was only a question that still didn't seem to have an answer, given that this marking on his neck was much much important to keep an eye on.

He picks up his glasses from the side and wipes them with the bunched-up shirt before placing them on his nose. "Thank you," he says as he accepts her phone and takes a glance at the picture taken.

Then double-takes as he blinks in shock, head dipping down physically with actual genuine shock on his face.

"Wha- for how long did I have this...?" He looks down at his own chest, his clavicle and runs his fingers through what he should find to be a myriad of veins interconnecting with this one point behind his neck. "I don't-" He stops to find some light flickering of dark lines on the upper half of his arm.

"I...it should have started to hurt by now, right? If it was looking like that?"The azathoth's eye shuts close when Takuto's hand flies to that exact spot and well- he doesn't feel anything strange.

"Can you...touch that again?"

Great decision there.

"Of course. Relax your shoulders, take a deep breath," Kuon advised, figuring she had an idea what the feeling might be like for him - at least, if she touches it.

Gently, she ran the pad of her thumb along the lines, following them to the eye again, circling the pattern slowly and watching the involuntary little responses, feeling his pulse heighten, goosebumps prickling along his skin...

Okay. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath.

That's what he does, heaving a deep breath in the process as he sets her phone down for her to take.

"..!"

He shudders as his body feels like it has grown taut from a massage that seems to be running all over his body somehow. Like whatever aspect of that eye Kuon touches, the place responds almost pleasantly.

Panting lightly, he conceals the sounds by covering his mouth with the back of his hand. The one that he had made earlier was...so much worse-! "Is- hh how does it feel to you?" Just a bump? Something live shimmering inside him? "Of course Azathoth doesn't tell me about this, I...oh, it feels so..." Overwhelming has to be the right word. Wih his insides becoming mush like that.

Edited (pfp forgor change) 2025-07-04 00:28 (UTC)

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