WEEK 2

[akudamods]

Saturday passes uneventfully save a little rain. It's on Sunday that you get a little notification of probation for new areas: Neo-Nipponbashi and Chuo. It'd be possible to investigate, to check out some anime, or to worship the defunct Shinkansen. But maybe it's hard to get excited about any of that when Friday’s events suggest that you have simply been provided some additional photogenic places to commit murder. Are you going to bother either overseer after their participation in some mockery of justice? Troll the internet? Get a bat out of Hyper Zone and just take out your frustration on everything?

Those of you who entered the pods will experience fewer “painful bursts of color” as your body is unaffected below the knees, though the same amount of “slight teleportation” glitches. Those of you who abstained from the pods will continue to experience all of the above as well as electric shock sensations occasionally when touching metal objects.

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[inspiritus]

[ When one has been on the battlefield for quite some time, there are some responses people are used to making. Ones that come easily no matter the situation.

Anyway, Sephiroth glances off to the city's buildings that rise above them, taking in the background with largely a disinterested gaze. ]

The dedication of a soldier.

[ But with that dedication, what end will follow if the master the soldier serves is all too ready to throw them aside even after the victory? ]

I suppose it's notable that despite the fact you were in combat you're the only one in the fight who was brought here.

[osssuary]

I am a soldier of the Sound and of Orochimaru-sama. It does not matter where I am.

[It does not matter how he is, what he is, when he is.

The important part is that this is the trajectory he has decided for his life, such as it is. It is something to cleave to in this foreign land with all its foreign and foreigner peoples. The rest is just window dressing.

And so, what becomes of the soldier... is the same.

He's quiet for a moment -- not an uncomfortable silence, but something like a hesitation where it doesn't quite suit him.]

... There were several opponents, but if our captors themselves claim ignorance about the reason for our presence, then I have no guesses at this point.

Given the makeup of our group, I should not be the only one.

[inspiritus]

Unsurprisingly, those terms and names are unfamiliar to me.

[ Sephiroth recalls when he had been that loyal.

Yeah, that sure was a mistake. Truthfully the variance between worlds does not mean that experiences would end up being the same. But soldiers are, ultimately, created to be used and exploited, so he will be rather surprised if this is not the case where Kimimaro is concerned.

Is he still rather vaguely sour over that whole business? Yes. ]

That is precisely it. They should have at least been brought along with you, but they have not been.

I suppose there is accounting for their techniques, presuming that they're adept enough to evade getting caught up in such things. But it matters little since it has likely happened to you in a blink of an eye, hm?

[osssuary]

They seem to be largely unfamiliar to most here, though many are familiar with... shinobi.

[There's a quiet bemusement there, all the same.

How does one divorce what one is from the world where one was born and raised? And then to run into a world parallel enough to know just enough -- not just one world, in fact, but a whole bevy of them. Strange. It's a constant background microwave hum of oddities.

And so, though he is sure in himself and his own existence, moving through the world is where the uncertainty lies. Perhaps it's easier to be a soldier.]

There are those who were brought from the same place. [Medic and Scion come to mind, on a guesstimate] But it seems to be the exception. To be able to bring me here without my noticing...

Perhaps it was my failing.

[He concedes this without any particular change in tone.]

[inspiritus]

Indeed, even I am familiar with the term.

[ The war with Wutai is not something he will become forgetful about; those experiences stay with you, no matter how rapid one's viewpoint changes.

The idea that he has been thrust into a situation where still his name is paraded with a title he's long since discarded is sincerely laughable. Such that part of him has been curious alone where that would lead him. However, those whimsical thoughts have taken leave of the swordsman soon enough.

Now all he desires is to watch this place burn. That aside, he considers Kimimaro's comment with a hint of amusement. ]

Your failing? Maybe so, but even if that was the case...could it have been avoided?

The power behind our relocation is not something so trite or weak that it can be feasibly easily countered by an attentive mind and skilled warrior, even if our captors are not worthy of being considered our equals. A spontaneous teleportation spell isn't easy to avoid as it is, even for those who are looking out for it. In my world, teleporting others from one place to another is difficult enough. To do so from one world to another is something that hardly anyone can fathom.

[ He is saying this not as a reassurance or comfort but because he believes it to be a fact. ]

[osssuary]

[And so it goes, as though he's a lost exhibit from the museum or something.

Being known without being particularly understood; being given a title after losing one altogether; all of these are true -- at the end of the day the entity still named Kimimaro, for better or for worse, has been quite forcibly entered into these murder sweepstakes.

There is no real frame of reference for where he is, who he's meant to be, what he's supposed to be doing. But there's also no real need for him to acknowledge that.]

Some things are inevitable.

[Quiet; he's paused his needle.]

... Teleportation is a feat. Other worlds are only legends or fairy tales, where I come from. There are even those here who claim to travel-- [and who have demonstrated a thing or two by now, what a mess all this is] --and yet... it serves no one to look only at what cannot be done.

[For if that's what's being focused on, they have enough restrictions and inadvisables and shouldn't-dos to last them until actual doomsday in all the worlds here. Ain't nobody got time for that.]

[inspiritus]

Quite, but I believe that there is something interesting in defying the inevitable.

[ Sephiroth allows a smirk to come over him at that, considering this fallible world before him.

The end draws nigh. He can see it.

Who will he deem worthy to see past its climax? When chaos will reign and all will be engulfed in flame? So far, even that is...well, he'll allow the thoughts to shift, considering the other words that have been said. ]

Certainly.

It's also something far easier for one person to use on themselves. [ ... ] In the end, it's part of what our captors are capable of despite attempts to have us be convinced that no one was personally responsible for our appearance here. Whomever that person is, must without a doubt be hiding behind one of those so-called monikers.