WEEK 6

[lockdownmods]

[Week six comes like an ominous wave. If anything, the wall is more threatening that it's ever been. That sign from last week? Looks aged-- like it's far more than just a week old. But more than that, it feels like something is waiting to snap this week. What could possibly go wrong, after last week?

Said no one ever, at this point.

But still, if you look around this week, you might find out something. It's like someone has started leaving clues in places old and new. Take a look around.]

LOCATIONS | PROFILES | HAN OFFICE HOURS | MEGUMI OFFICE HOURS

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

Comments

[swordsinternally]

[ He finds himself frowning a little bit when he sees Akira doing that-- maybe he's a little jealous? of himself?? it's weird -- but when Akira leans against him, he can't help but relax his shoulders a bit. ]

You think?

[covertizer]

[ Look, he has no tattoos to finger trace right now? Calm down, Tsukasa. ]

Yeah. It looks good.

[swordsinternally]

I'll remember that. Just don't admire the tattoos too much, though.

[covertizer]

It's hard not to? You really weren't kidding about them being over your whole body.

[ Like. He's looking. They're all down the simulation's legs? Over his feet? This is extensive. ]

[swordsinternally]

Don't worry, though. There's one place that they didn't carve those on.

[ TSUKASA???? ]

[covertizer]

[ Well that's that unanswered question answered. ]

That might have been overkill if they had.

[swordsinternally]

They probably thought "oh, that place is already a sin, we don't need to carve it on there" and just left it alone.

[covertizer]

[ He just.

He just buries his face in Tsukasa's shoulder. It may become apparent it's because he's laughing rather than doing this in despair. ]

If they're going to be so thorough, that seems kinda hypocritical though. "We'll tattoo everything else, including your face, but god forbid we go anywhere near there."

[swordsinternally]

[ It's okay, he's laughing as well. ]

Yeah, yeah-- that's good. That makes me feel so much better about how shitty the meaning behind them are.

[covertizer]

[ He shifts to wrap his arms around Tsukasa's waist and lets the last of his laughter drain out. ]

Do you want to talk about what they mean, or would you rather leave it be?

[swordsinternally]

I...

[...]

They're the sins and curses of people, carved onto the skin.

[covertizer]

[ ... ]

What?

[swordsinternally]

The people who made me into Angra Mainyu-- into "all the evil the world" did so by carving their sins onto my body.

[ He shakes his head and decides to keep himself close to Akira, burying his head into ]

They thought that if they did that, they would be able to get rid of their sins. Like they were tossing them all aside onto one person.

[covertizer]

[ That just sends a bolt of cold anger through him. All those tattoos representing someone else's sins that they thought they could just brush off on someone else and live without the weight of them. As if it were that easy. ]

That's not how it works. You can't just-- push all your sins on someone else and forget about them? They don't vanish just because you pretend you gave them to someone else?

[ His hand rises to curl into Tsukasa's hair, brushing through it when he tucks himself closer. ]

... People who hide away their sins and let them fester - whether it's because they're scared of them, or don't know what to do with them anymore, or have convinced themselves they can't escape them... or because they just don't care, and think they're above them somehow. Those people are the kinds of people who have Palaces.

[swordsinternally]

That's how those people thought, back then.

[ He says those words as if it were a long time ago-- and he's not lying; it did happen a long time ago. He's an old soul, after all. A young used to be human that had everything stripped away from him. His name, his identity, and even his emotions. ]

But you're right, Akira. Throwing those sins onto someone else doesn't change that they've done it. It's honestly all bullshit. That's why... I did many horrible things after I died like that. After being made a demon that only existed to take in everyone else's sins.

[covertizer]

[ He exhales, slow and heavy, and strokes his fingers through Tsukasa's hair in what is hopefully a soothing motion. He can't help but glance to the side, at the simulated figure just stood there - smothered in tattoos that to Akira just looked like ink, but to some idiots, had been a way to take all their regrets and pile them one single person. ]

Just because someone draws on you and tells you you're carrying their poor decisions, regrets and sins, doesn't make you cursed. Sins aren't absolved that way. Only the person who committed the sin can make amends for it.

[ And hang any magecraft bullshit that says otherwise. ]

[swordsinternally]

[ It definitely is nice, having Akira run fingers through his hair. To be honest, it relaxes him more than anything else possibly could. ]

Maybe not. But my life ended like that. Of course, I had done nothing wrong when I was alive.

[...]

You remember what happened a few weeks ago, when I was hallucinating? Those voices were a part of me. It was... them.

[covertizer]

[ ......... ]

Wait, those things that were scaring you so much were... representations of what happened to you?

[ That's... what it sounds like he's saying. Which is disturbing as heck, in so many ways. ]

[swordsinternally]

Yeah. They're manifestations of the curses... as Angra Mainyu, I created them in the manufactured Fuyuki at the end of the cycle, where they would swallow everything whole and return it all to nothing.

[covertizer]

[ Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. ]

...

But you don't see them now, do you? Those hallucinations have been and gone. Here, at least...

[swordsinternally]

Yeah. They probably shouldn't show up again, anyway.... until I go back home. But that's something that I won't have to deal with. Since there's only one thing I have to do back home.

[covertizer]

[ ... The hair gets a tug this time. Not painful, but firm. ]

And if you went back to Tokyo, rather than where you're from initially?

[swordsinternally]

[ He frowns a little at that tug, just a little bit. ]

Well, I've never been to the big city, so I guess I'd have a lot of things to do. But... I do have to go home first, otherwise that woman won't cut the contract with me and live her life out like she's supposed to.

[covertizer]

[ Hmmm. Actually, he feels kinda proud there. That he's still willing to go back to his home to break a contract and free someone, before moving on himself. ]

I'm going with you. When you go back -- I'm not exactly willing to risk the chance of you disappearing because you broke your contract.

[swordsinternally]

.....

[ He's rather surprised at that response. ]

You're stubborn. It's true that I would disappear if I did break my contract. The world I created would disappear after all, and I would naturally go back to being nothing. I'll try to bring you with me. You'll probably be an anomaly in that place, since it's meant to be a recreation of people that only existed during the fourth War, but I'm sure I can mange to get you to slip by. Since, after all, you'll be the one making a contract with me as my new Master.

Ah, but don't get too surprised if I don't look like that when you see me. Since I'll probably look like something else. Do you want me to show you?