reformedsinner: (mister manners)
Cho Hakkai ([personal profile] reformedsinner) wrote in [community profile] thefarshore2018-01-24 01:23 pm

BBS/Video

From: Li Tieguai
Posted: Oct 7, 2:49 PM


---

[Hakkai's sitting at what looks like his kitchen table, hands folded and phone carefully propped up facing him and the wooden wall behind him. For once, he's not smiling. His expression is very neutral. He sounds slightly rehearsed.]

Good afternoon. Due to certain events, I've come to believe that there is something I need to share with you all, in the interests of honesty and transparency. I'm going to talk about some things that may be frightening or upsetting, so if you are under the age of fifteen, please ask a grown-up who you trust to watch this video first and explain it to you.

[He pauses, his eyes dropping from the camera to the screen for several seconds of silence before he looks back up.]

Still watching? Goten, Nanako, I especially mean you.

[He pauses again, for a few more seconds, and his fingers twitch slightly together.]

I have a serious criminal history. Some years ago, my lover was kidnapped by a clan of youkai known for their brutality towards captives. I pursued and attacked them in an attempt to rescue her, and, in the process, was responsible for the deaths of a majority of the clan, not limited to combatants. She did not survive.

The blood I shed was sufficient to transform me from human into youkai. [He reaches up, freeing each of three small silver cuffs from the curve of his ear in turn. His face shifts, ears lengthening and developing sharp points, green vine patterns spreading across his skin, teeth sharpening, and left eye shifting from green to a slit-pupiled yellow. His nails are long, sharp claws. He sets the jewelry down gently on the table between himself and the phone.]

After recovering from my own injuries, I turned myself in to the appropriate authorities, and received sentencing. I regret my actions, and I do not pose any public danger. However, I understand that my past crimes may cause others to be uncomfortable in my presence, and should you wish to withdraw yourself or any child for whom you are responsible from my classes, I can recommend either Lavi or Kusanagi Izumo as a substitute instructor. I will transfer any records to the instructor of your choice.

If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

[He reaches for the cuffs again and fixes them back in place on his ear, appearance swiftly returning to a simulacrum of humanity, before he reaches out to shut down the video.]
fortunesmiles: (But you'll fight with a passion)

Text

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-24 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow...I hadn't realized you were anything other than human! Although I guess you did start as one, so the fact that you're not one anymore is kind of circumstantial, I guess...

I'm a little surprised by such a confession video, though. Wouldn't most people do what you did, if someone they loved was in danger? Assuming they had the ability, of course. It just doesn't seem very shocking given the circumstances...so even though I imagine the reality of it was a lot more gruesome than it sounds after the fact, why confess as though you're the criminal here?
fortunesmiles: (Or even make a sound)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-24 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[That's putting it mildly, Hakkai.]

Well, whether or not everyone would actually do it, I think everyone can certainly understand that kind of motivation, don't you think? The urge to protect the people who matter to us - it's just basic human impulse! And you wouldn't have hurt anyone if your lover hadn't been kidnapped in the first place, right? So acting as though the crimes you committed trying to rescue someone who should never have been taken, acting as though retaliation is as bad as the assault that provoked it...it's not really accurate, is it? I can understand wanting to take responsibility for it still not being entirely right, or for going overboard by killing those who weren't directly involved in the crime, but for the people who'd kidnap and kill an innocent person...they had it coming, didn't they?

[Komaeda thinks it's very simple. In a way that's a bit terrifying.]

Anyway, you should be proud! For something as awful as kidnapping your lover to happen, for you to kill so many to try and save them, and then for your lover to die anyway...it's hard to imagine a bleaker despair! And yet your hope was so amazing that you overcame it anyway! Your standing here at all is a triumph of hope, not something to feel guilty for!

[kOMAEDA CEASE THIS IMMEDIATELY]
fortunesmiles: (It's like I never made a sound)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
All conflicts boil down to either hope versus despair, or weak hope versus strong hope, right? Whichever gets crushed is jghgthvykjl

[That keysmash is the result of someone landing on him. And their being too frantic (or perhaps too conscientious?) to delete it before sending.]

This is Tsumiki! I'm so sorry, Hakkai-san, Komaeda-san gets a little excited about things like this. I've restrained him though, so no need to worry! Komaeda-san just gets like this sometimes, he doesn't mean any harm, honest! So please forgive him!
discerp: (Would you like to blur the lines)

from komaeda's phone

[personal profile] discerp 2018-01-25 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
The place where we're from Hope and Despair are something always warring with each other. Komaeda-san is deeply invested in the side of hope. He means well, honest.

For him, it really was a big compliment! Even if it might seem backhanded or cruel, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that.

But I do think you are strong too.
discerp: (I asked to see his balls)

[personal profile] discerp 2018-01-25 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
It's the ultimate sort of question, I suppose. Which is stronger? In the end, what will win? They feed into each other.

Anyway, please don't worry. I'll make sure Komaeda-san will behave himself! At least for this conversation. I'll make sure he says sorry too!


[She'll eventually climb her way off the poor boy and hand the phone back to him after this.]
outsideinsight: (surprised)

[personal profile] outsideinsight 2018-01-25 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
My lady, is this really something you should be associating with?

[Like a reasonable person, he’d never planned on commenting on something like this, but Mikan is kind of freaking him out here. Why is his goddess’s friend crazy? Why is she talking to a mass murderer? Why all of this? ]
discerp: (he's like a baby bird with a broken wing)

from her own phone now

[personal profile] discerp 2018-01-25 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
[Whoops hi Hisoka.]

I'm sorry if I worried you!

Komaeda-san is a precious classmate from where I was from before. We're the only ones here from our place, so someone has to look out for him!


[SINCE CLEARLY HE ISN'T CAPABLE HIMSELF. Look what happens when he's left to his own devices. LOOK, HISOKA.]
outsideinsight: (serious)

[personal profile] outsideinsight 2018-01-25 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
I’m not worried. I’m just saying you should think carefully about how you get involved.

[ Maybe he doesn’t mean stop talking to the actual murderer and this could just be a general criticism of her approach to stopping her friend, but, no, he definitely does. ]
discerp: (then you gave the doctors and nurses)

[personal profile] discerp 2018-01-25 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
I'm careful! Komaeda-san is harmless! And I trust Hakkai-san well enough too. I think I'll be okay!

And I know all the pressure points to knock someone out if it comes down to it.

(∩`ω´)⊃))
fortunesmiles: (And you'll never stop 'cause you know)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
[KOMAEDA'S PHONE HAS BEEN RESTORED TO ITS PROPER OWNER, the question of whether this was wise has yet to be answered.]

Tsumiki-san says I should apologize for saying strange things...I suppose I'm not a very good judge of what's strange.

She also told me to tell you that I'm sorry for what happened to you and your lover, and to not talk about hope this time! Which seems strange to me...but it's not like I'm lying about it, so I don't mind saying it if it's helpful?
fortunesmiles: (Before I even turn the key)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! If they're any good to you, I'm glad.

It's just always been my experience that looking to the hope that any despair-filled situation brings is what helps the most. Nothing could be worse than having something terrible happen, and feeling as though it was completely meaningless and nothing good came from it at all...so I always focus on hope!

But Tsumiki-san says not everyone thinks of it that way...
fortunesmiles: (There were days when each hour)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
To overcome the despair of something terrible and meaningless and to keep moving forward, to walk through the bleakness of the present toward the potential of something better over the horizon in the future...that's hope too, isn't it?
Edited 2018-01-25 03:14 (UTC)
fortunesmiles: (If you keep getting burned)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, no, hope is definitely stronger. I've survived without pride, but living without hope...that would kill me.
fortunesmiles: (And we'll watch the sky)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
Is pride actually worth living for, or is it just that it makes the thought of dying too distasteful?
fortunesmiles: (Step out step out of the sun)

[personal profile] fortunesmiles 2018-01-25 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
I had a feeling.

To consider death so distasteful...it's rather strange to think you're too good for something you've inflicted on so many others. Does that mean you look down on those who've died?

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