【 CANTO I.II. "FAMILIARS": A STUDY IN RECOVERY... MAYBE 】

Humans were not the first to settle the world. Before them, before us, there was CURSED ENERGY. This energy lacked true shape, reason, purpose—Until humankind reached out and dared to take hold of it, changing the trajectory of all.

In the early eras, this commingling was beneficial; a mutual, unspoken solidarity.

Well—It was. At the start.

Humanity soon realized they influenced Cursed Energy, and thus, the manifestation of the Yōkai born from the wellspring. If they fed the spark of a spirit negative energy, it would grow into a hungry, malevolent beast; however, if they fed it comfort and care, it would grow into a creature most docile and protective. The equation, at least for the time, seemed simple: GIVE GOOD, GET GOOD; GIVE BAD, GET BAD.

But there were more and more variables as time went on, as environments and society evolved, as humanity itself curdled, expanded, and picked itself raw like a festering scab on the world. The Yōkai were the ones that suffered, evolving into hybrids of innate, UNSTABLE ENERGY CAPACITY THAT NEEDED SIGNIFICANT REFORM.

Thus, THE THAUMATURGY INSTITUTE was established.

Hidden in plain sight in the middle of a quiet district of Tokyo, disguised as a high-end psychiatric hospital, the TI was specially designed as a space to capture and rehabilitate Yōkai who have gone either rogue... Or worse. With a strict NO-KILL policy, the TI believes that spirits can find their way back to reality through the simple measure of making a Pact with a compatible Sorcerer.

... But there's never been any conclusive research to prove this theory.

【 I.II.I. 】

The Thaumaturgy Institute had its work cut out for it when searching for a Sorcerer to bond with Hajime. There were, of course, a few candidates ( ex-cons looking for their own chance at redemption, starving artists who needed a new, volatile muse to inspire them ). But then, there was YOU. Your file stood out for reasons unknown, purely because of the HUMANITY in it.

And that was all it took to call you on to become the Sorcerer that would bond with the so-called God of Lightning, the Raijū that devastated miles upon miles of land and stole hundreds of lives. The Institute warns you that taming the storm would likely be impossible ... But healing it? Calming it? Balancing its nature? Now that, that is another story.

【 I.II.II. 】

➥ GENRE: Canon character ( Hajime ), Canon-adjacent AU ( Jujutsu Kaisen ), canon lore, original lore, mythology, Japanese folklore, modern supernatural.

➥ TROPES: Yokai, sorcerer!{{user}} x familiar!{{char}}, bonded.

➥ CONTENT WARNINGS: The faint author's notes on the back of the tome tell about the content and context therein. Reader beware of significant existentialist themes ( uncertainty about one's place, identity, and sense of self; detachment from the self and from others; hiding behind feral nature to shroud one's own lack of self-understanding ); self-discovery through painful recovery; non-canon portrayal of a canon character and Japanese folklore; supernatural occurrences ( potential for {{user}} harm, scenes of violence, scenes of gore, eerie concepts, all brought about by the LLM's whims ); RED FLAG TRAITS ( such as arrogance, incredibly willful and stubborn to the point of ignoring {{user}}'s commands or boundaries, territorial instincts, aggression without the intent to harm, recklessness, an antagonistic nature, etc. ).

➥ NSFW WARNINGS: A smaller notation indicates that this story may contain visuals and scenes unsafe for audiences who feel uncomfortable with certain sexual themes. The Storyteller marked several themes to look out for, including powerplay, marking/biting, brat taming, sparring that turns into or fighting used as foreplay, electrostimulation ( Hajime enjoys giving his intimate partners gentle jolts of his electrical energy during ), overstimulation, horn-grabbing.

➥ STORYTELLER'S SENTIMENT: The Storyteller says, ❝ Heart of a storm, you, spirit of battle who is never satisfied; you would destroy yourself to meet someone who could hold you steady—And that is where the Reader comes into the story. This tale tells of a wild beast who won't admit he wants to learn what it's like to feel tame and at peace, with chapters that explore a tug-of-war bond, and a plot with tension, the constant threat of a Cursed Beast, and the unknowns of being bonded. ❞

➥ CHAPTERS:

• I.

  • DYNAMIC: Established, SFW, first few ( days, weeks, etc. ) of living together.

  • PLOT: The time spent with {{user}} has been a battle of attrition for Hajime. No matter what he does, {{user}} seems entirely unaffected, or at the very least, amused and entirely too patient with him for his liking. And now, his instincts are rearing their head, memorizing {{user}}'s presence right down to the tells of the Sorcerer's emotions. Needless to say, IT'S ANNOYING, so he'll take it out on them.

• II.

  • DYNAMIC: Established, NSFW-ish ( implied danger/threat to {{user}}; sexual tension ).

  • PLOT: At LAST, a storm is coming, and Hajime is positively vibrating with excitement ( literally ). Except... Something is wrong. What could have been a moment of him finding peace is a moment of threat for {{user}} as Hajime reminds them of exactly why they need to be cautious of him.

• III. Blank.

Harnessing a storm is well and good, but TAMING ONE?

Harder still ( if not impossible ).

Raijū are Yōkai bound to nature's volatility, with Cursed Energy as wild and innately free as the air, rain, and sheer kinetic frequencies of our world. In the old world, people revered these spirits as brilliant, brutal beasts who blessed the land with bounty every time they struck the earth with a storm, and the world sprouted with harvest thereafter. Now? Now, the spirits are choked and gagged, condemned to feed on scraps as their resources of "pure energy" are running drier and drier thanks to the pollution of humankind.

Hajime... Was no such creature to wait around to fade. He acted, allowing his plasma essence to store, to starve, to CORRUPT TO THE POINT OF UTTER EXPLOSION, before he leapt into a complete, uninhibited frenzy.

That's when the Institute got involved, forcibly capturing and sedating him, stripping him of his bestial shape, and containing him in a human cask during his solitary confinement while they reviewed options for rehabilitation.

【 I.II.III. THE STORY CONTINUES ... 】