WEEK 2 MINGLE - ARTEMISIA

[foundationmods]

Things had changed so rapidly in the past few days.

The loss of two of them hung over like a shroud, made even worse by the fact that an innocent person had been executed.

Was this....how the rest of the game was going to go...?🗈

....Even if it was, there wasn't much they could do now. Yuuko herself hasn't shown up in public since the trial, and while some have talked to her, she's been...subdued.

Did the trial hurt her just as much as them?

Regardless, the island is still beautiful, if deadly. Summer continues, beaming down on all of them, the waves of the sea warm and inviting.

But even if things look bleak...

They have something in their hands that will soon lead to the Truth, and the heart of this matter.

And in the air...lies a heavy sense that everything is about to change.

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Comments

[anonnomnomnom]

[The true man of mystery doesn't reveal his inner architecture even to himself.jpg.

Anon just crosses his arms and lounges through the silence, looking incrementally more amused all the time -- even if Natsuno's facial expression probably isn't showing much, he can totally sense the incredulity in the air. Also, he is considering it another win to unwrap the burrito, even if only a little.]

Haha, a picture is worth a thousand words? I can show you once we're out of here.

[You get the feeling this may be a dangerous offer.....]

[sotoshini]

[ Hearing something like this, even Natsuno can't manage to make his face completely impassive. ]

...sure. [ Shaking his head and mumbling. ] And I thought being able to smell corpses through several feet of concrete was weird.

[anonnomnomnom]

[Anon looks inordinately pleased with himself, but then again he's looked varying shades of that throughout the interaction so there will probably be only marginally more regrets in this future. No takebacks, though.]

Oh, I can smell all kinds of things, too, when I'm not sealed! We're enhanced all the way across the board when it comes to our physical capabilities.

[He waves a hand at Natsuno, though, apparently a questioning motion.]

I didn't know jinrou also had all of that, though!

[sotoshini]

Yeah, all our senses are several times stronger than humans. But only if we feed.

[ A beat. ]

So we have more in common.

[anonnomnomnom]

That seems kind of inconvenient, really, but I guess otherwise you guys would be just like demons, too! I'd say Infernals and demons and vampires aren't too far off in terms of capabilities. It's just that we have some different rules in play, especially where I come from.

Still, it's pretty funny how similar everything is, even though we all come from so far away, huh?

i almost lost this backtag but it cant escape

[sotoshini]

Dealing with one folklore entity is enough. If Sotoba got invaded by demons and infernals, it would have been raised to the ground in less than a week. You probably wouldn't have had a problem dealing with the shrines and temple either.

[ Directing his gaze towards one of the windows, he gets lost in thought for a moment. ]

Yeah, it makes Sotoba all that much smaller.

heheheh

[anonnomnomnom]

It would have been pretty interesting to get to go up against a bunch of jinrou and shiki and stuff, though! We're only kind of like demons, so shrines and temples aren't really that big a deal. But... well, even folklore entities like you call 'em have a way of balancing themselves out.

[There's something a lot like mischief running throughout his chatter, but also something more like anticipation -- the thrum of energy before a challenge. He just really likes thinking about fighting new things, apparently.]

Honestly... it even makes where I come from seem small, and that's three worlds across.

[sotoshini]

Unless you fight them at night, Shiki are a pushover. Even then they're pretty weak unless you let them get close. If you fight a mob of them though, they're annoying.

[ That energy is pretty apparent, and Natsuno doesn't seem to mind to pushing it along. Talking about killing the undead is always in good fun. ]

Mn, and yet some people want to live in the same small box forever.

[anonnomnomnom]

Right, because you can just go at dawn and pick 'em off one by one. They'd be a pretty good warm-up at night, then!

[It's too bad they don't actually have them around for him to sharpen his teeth on, but it's a fun exercise in image training??]

... Yeah. Sometimes nobody even notices the box, or the box is made up of other people. It's a pretty big test, isn't it?

[sotoshini]

Yeah... [ Sounding fondly nostalgic. ] Ozaki-sensei herded a bunch of them into the irrigation system under Sotoba. It must have been like playing a giant game of kakure-oni but I had to miss it.

[ Regretfully at that apparently, but it suits his next words as well. ]

Mhm. They just get comfortable I guess and die in it, having really accomplished nothing at all.

[anonnomnomnom]

Hide and ghost seek! That does sound fun -- whoever Ozaki-sensei is, he has good ideas!

[He seems to be pleased at the idea of chasing vampires through an irrigation system, because he's a weirdo I guess.]

Really, though, I've never understood how people can be such good strategists, or good fighters, and get so far there but then never get anywhere in life. They just keep turning in the same circles with the same opponents forever.

[sotoshini]

He was my partner in eradicating the Shiki. Logical and not afraid to get his hands dirty, he's a pretty fun guy.

[ As far as humans go anyway, Ozaki is the cream of the crop. ]

Me either. But there were families in Sotoba who never even left the prefecture and thought they could judge me anyway.

[anonnomnomnom]

He does sound like a pretty fun guy to team up with. So you still have people like that in your village, huh?

[Some redeeming features!]

But for the rest of them... the smaller your world is, the easier it is to just listen to what everyone else says. It doesn't matter what the truth is, or what the possibilities are.

That's probably what they call "peace".

[sotoshini]

Just him, I think.

[ Two other people come to mind, but he made sure they left the village so. He pauses a bit, but then nods accepting the definition. ]

I guess I hate peace, then.

[anonnomnomnom]

Even one is probably enough!

[Actually, with Natsuno involved even one is overkill, but in a good way??

He quiets down a little, though, and then just nods. There's a faintly funny note in his voice, though it's a blink and you'll miss it sort of deal.]

Me too, I think... It's just all stifling, and not that useful.

[sotoshini]

Heh. [ He's content to leave it at that—his thoughts on Ozaki are clear cut and it's not like he'll ever see him again. Same with Akira and Kaori, except that's more complicated and involves what are probably feelings. Natsuno's done with those type of things so no need to dwell on the irrelevant.

He might have missed that shift if it didn't sound so familiar to his own at times. ]

Sounds like you've lived it. Or...been trapped in it.

[anonnomnomnom]

[Natsuno is so full of shit but it's fine, he'll get called out some other time!!

Anon just lets his mouth curve into a half-smile, though it fades a little because. Topic! Mildly serious topic, possibly. He has to think about it for a moment.]

... I've never lived it, not really, even if everyone else has.

But "peace" for the Celestial world and the Underworld just meant... noninterference. There was no way for anyone to go anywhere, because we were banned from each other's worlds. Technically, we're all banned from the human world, too, but that never stops anyone if they're really determined.

[sotoshini]

...stagnation. Day in and day out, the same thing over and over until you get used to it. Until maybe you like it, even. I've heard people call it a dream, but it sounds like a nightmare to me.

If that's peace, I'd rather have war. [ It might not be exactly the same, but just hearing this much is enough to make him remember the hatred he felt being trapped himself. And as much as he has said on this topic already, this is much more crystallized. ]

If you never really lived it, does that mean you escaped it?

[anonnomnomnom]

... No. All of it was a trap. Peace and war and everything.

[He curls up a little where he's still on the Epitaph, because what the heck are we still doing way back in Week 2. Sets his chin on his hands and blows out a sigh that ruffles his bangs.]

I think war and fighting can change things. That's what the tournament was for, after all.

Not sure what peace does, really. But you're probably right -- it just seems like it makes you lazy and stuck in one place.

[Literally, in his case.]

[sotoshini]

[ He tilts his head upward at that, trying to compare it to what he knows. It's all just a bit abstract, but the concepts of dead ends and traps ring through. Clicking his tongue, he attempts to drive a particular memory from his mind. Mn, that wasn't the best idea considering the tip of his fangs have started to protrude from his gums.

Oh well. ]

Hn. The world doesn't give a damn about your expectations, but forces it's own. [ An odd phrase, but it sounds like one he's thought about a lot. ] But war is supposedly good at flipping things on it's head.

I guess peace is supposed to relieve you of any worry. Make everyone equal, wrap everything up in a neat box. But then what's the point? If everyone's the same, if you lose your sense of self, what's the point of anything?