Waraningyo - （웃）。

wara ningyō are a popular kind of katashiro made of straw [ ... ] wara ningyō are used extensively as wards against evil. they are combined with something from the recipient of the curse, such as a piece of hair. this transforms the doll into a substitute for the intended target. long nails are pushed through the wara ningyō, harming the subject as well as the doll.

#waraningyo is an independent, privately selective, mutuals only, headcanon and lore-heavy rendition of kugisaki nobara from akutami gege's 呪術廻戦. delicately crafted by nine and re-est. dec 2023.

glitter for scars

I uploaded this painting to my print store here!

I also made a phone wallpaper version (1440x3200). Feel free to DM me if you'd like me to send it to you!

The bitter taste of defeat, Megumi remembered that. A belly full of blood and guilt. A heart which wanted to tear itself apart upon seeing Yuuji die with a hollow chest cavity, Megumi remembered every detail. What he could not recall however, was carrying the limp and macabre body of their fallen friend to their driver nor the gruesome drive back to Tokyo's Jujutsu Technical campus . . nor the couple of days proceeding the death — a mess of regrets and mourning which could not take full shape. Was Nobara as broken up about it as he? Megumi suffered on three levels having lost Orochi, Shiro, and, most grievous, failing to protect Yuuji.

With gloom clinging into every pore of his body, the onyx haired teenager emerged from the hermit-like dormancy of his room and attempted to move through the shared living area as stealthily as a shadow. Reclusive plans were shattered the instant eye contact was accidentally initiated from across the room. He didn't know how to feel, he didn't know how to react; he always guarded his feelings from the outside world and even from his own self. Gaze dropped to the wooden floor, and the teenager shuffled his feet with uncomfortable energy. ❛ How are . . you . . Kugisaki? ❜

just how long had it been since she allowed herself to feel so utterly saddened by something well out of her control? only twice: this was one time, a bygone happening in her past ... when saori's parents saw it fit to move her out of the village and away from nobara because of all the harrassment received due to them not being from there, them being gossipped about, them sticking out as much as she in their little non-jujutsushi way. them being outsiders.

she had been age seven then and at age seven, saori and her family were gone.

at an age that young, being the jujutsushi child that she was, emotional regulation was something that she was taught with a more refined finesse. it'd had spell disastrous if she ended up cursing the villagers for their act of transgession against her childhood friend, so she did what all children did when their hearts were broken and she cried in front of saori's abandoned home instead, hand holding fumi's.

the seat she reserved for saori became empty, vacant, and the pain twisting her heart like a knife stab turned into resolve over the years. sure, fumi was still seated at her table but it wasn't the same. it wasn't like saori died or anything, and she promised to meet up with both her and fumi when she got to tōkyō, but still — —

it's been near a week or so following itadori's demise and sleep doesn't find nobara any easier than it did a few days ago. put out early in their mission, she had to learn of its aftermath through a visit from fushiguro while recovering in the hospital from injuries sustained on their mission in eishu.

just how long had it been since she allowed herself to feel so utterly saddened by something well out of her control? only twice: this was the one other time. only more recent and the stakes raised were higher, the probability of meeting again lesser because death was always hot on your heels.

itadori had died and left their group down to just them two, only her and fushiguro. but the seat itadori dragged to her table of his own volition was one decidedly bolted to the floor by none other than nobara herself. she puts up a good front, attends classes with as straight a face she could manage, but at night instead of scrolling social media she'd sometimes find herself poring over the text thread in the groupchat she shared with fushiguro and itadori.

instead of reading messages over and over that equally made you cry or laugh, any sane person would have just left, however nobara is crazy and honestly? it'd feel a little wrong leaving. kinda like an unspoken betrayal, so no: she wouldn't. still groggy with sleep and emerged from her room, palms knead her eyes in an attempt to further wake herself up. a pick-me-up was so needed and she moves, a young woman with purpose, only to pause when:

she sees that familiar dark haired mop of spikes. fushiguro, he'd been there when itadori had ... they both felt his loss, were kindred in that. isn't it tragicomic how history repeats itself? fushiguro's more visibly shaken up about it than she is and she doesn't blame him. after all, he witnessed the ordeal and it'd been the first time he'd lost a classmate in the way he did. the way they both did.

“ i'm ... okay, but jeez, you look like you haven't slept a wink. wanna go get coffee with me? it'll be my treat just this one time. ”

wara ningyō are a popular kind of katashiro made of straw [ ... ] wara ningyō are used extensively as wards against evil. they are combined with something from the recipient of the curse, such as a piece of hair. this transforms the doll into a substitute for the intended target. long nails are pushed through the wara ningyō, harming the subject as well as the doll.

#waraningyo is an independent, privately selective, mutuals only, headcanon and lore-heavy rendition of kugisaki nobara from akutami gege's 呪術廻戦. delicately crafted by nine and re-est. dec 2023.

👥👥👥

when nobara was called in to study at tokyo tech and her grandma was against it, akari travelled all the way to their village to talk with them and find a compromise. she's not sure it helped at all but she's glad nobara managed to attend school

just like she does with arata, akari takes nobara out once a month for brunch and shopping for various necessities. she's very aware that the younger sorcerer shopping habits continue even after that but let's say in that one specific day she's usually off duty and can approach the situation more as a friend than the person who has to make sure nothing bad happens on the field

after shibuya, nobara is lowkey one of the family to both akari and arata. they've spent so much time together during the convalescence period that it would just feel weird not to think of her as such

kugisaki nobara.⠀⠀웃⠀⠀a glimpse into her instagram.

some to-knows:

maki, fushiguro, and itadori were among the first people she followed from tōkyō jujutsu tech. family members⠀⠀(⠀⠀some of those of her clan residing outside of japan included⠀⠀)⠀⠀and her favorite fashion brands, designers, + celebrities were among her first followings.

someway, somehow, she makes the time to be a brand ambassador for one of her favorite makeup brands.

she's somewhat slow at following people back⠀⠀(⠀⠀if she even chooses to⠀⠀) and extremely selective. between in-class jujutsu lectures, classwork, personal time to herself, and fieldwork on top of that:⠀⠀nobara is extremely in-demand!

whenever she goes live it's usually when she's sightseeing or trying new foods, or visiting her favorite, more popular stores and malls. sometimes, she'll stumble upon the most simplistic nook-and-crannied little spot in tōkyō ( like that one non-descript coffee shop that she's claimed for her own for studying, because she loves their coffee, and it's hers because she says so ).

she has profile reels that have become popular, and that've went viral, of her constructing wara ningyō 「 藁人形, lit. " straw dolls " 」: of her showing step-by-step how they're made. these videos have not only become a hit in her native japan, but outside as well, particularly in the west: her following is accredited to this, largely. before they were ever thought of to be used as a clever device in exorcising curses, before they were ever thought of to be ever-useful proxies by the women in the kugisaki clan, they were apart of her culture. nobara takes immense pride in that.

she has a select, private groupchat on nearly every social media app and instagram is not exempt. members obviously consist of itadori, fushiguro, and herself.

makes it a point to block mai everywhere. it works for the most part, but nobara soon learned she has ample burner accounts one day. luckily, she isn't at all afraid to run blockchains through third-party apps.

FOUND family??? you think i just found them like this??? babes this is FORGED family. Me & the bros were scrap metal in a junkyard (very valuable, very sharp, very dangerous, uncared for) and we GOT IN THE FUCKING FIRE TOGETHER. WE did this. we said I AM NOT LEAVING YOU and melted into each other for better or for worse (it’s for better) and we are A FUNCTIONAL UNIT now. DO NOT SEPARATE. BATTERIES FUCKING INCLUDED. FOUND family my ass, we built this non-nuclear family unit from the ground up, don’t devalue this!!! it was is and will be a labour of love!!!

Rilakkuma store in Tokyo, Japan 【2007年5月】 ･ﾟﾟ･｡ᡣ𐭩

a curse stake-out with gojo-sensei!⠀웃⠀semi-plotted starter.

ginza, ginza, she was in ginza!  nobara had heard great things about ginza, mainly from magazines acquired from her local konbini back home, and what's more is that now? now she's experiencing first-hand what people find so great about ginza since her move to the city from the boonies of tōhoku.

that doe-eyed, amazed child-to-tween reading through said magazines was now reflected in her eyes as she took in the sights,  reflected in her nose as she took in the smells,  reflected in her ears as she took in the hustle and bustle of the famed shopping district with a penchant for attracting tourists and those native alike, joined only together in the allure that has enchanted them to come in the first place. 

put simply: nobara has found herself in shopping paradise. 

quite frankly, though?  she should be enjoying herself, enjoying the chillness that's seeping into the day as it gradually turns to night, since she's off-duty, after all. she should be decked out for the weather, dressed to the nines, and enjoying herself as teenage girls do! 

she's off-duty, technically, but technically? she's never off-duty.  

so sure, it was an off-day technically, but what's that to a student-sorcerer whose enemies are spawned around the clock: birthed by the negativity found in humanity? where her hands would be holding any number of shopping bags on a night like tonight, they're empty on a saturday night. she can't be too put off, though, it comes with the job. she isn't alone, anyway: her sensei, as eccentric and jovial as he is, is accompanying her on what is a stake-out in the deeper part of the district.

her targets for tonight? a gaggle of upper grade 2s in a residential area: they boast the kind of intellect that makes it easy for them to pick off unsuspecting targets, and what's more is that they'd been in the area for quite some time, coming out of dormancy every now and again to terrorize. it was no wonder why they weren't exorcised sooner, but nobara supposes they'd had been kept alive just for this.

part of her should be annoyed that she isn't shopping, but there's a flounce in her step that's a touch too giddy. she's been practicing on optimizing the maximum damage of hairpin once triggered, the usage of the one binding vow she can't be bothered to properly place the name of right now: she just knows that she's elated to try it out, showcase her ever-budding strength to her sensei —-

because she had been practicing: because that's the point of attending tōkyō jujutsu tech in the first place, you hone your cursed technique against curses, you fight curses with curses. it's a battle of cursing, but it isn't something trivial, in hindsight it isn't something inherently moralistic. it just is, and that's how it's been for a long while: probably how it'll always be.

a job's a job, a cycle's a cycle, a machine's a machine until it's not. until it inevitably breaks down due to rusted old parts that interfere with its functioning, until it has no choice but to replace those old parts with new parts or until it's replaced with something new entirely.

“ since this is cutting into my me time, sensei, you wouldn't mind making sure a couple extra yen gets deposited into my student bank account, right? ”