[Video]

[koukai_kirai]

Posted: June 4th
From: Hachiman

[The video feed shows a rather spartan room in what appears to be a simple, old-fashioned Japanese building -- dark-stained wood framing, tatami with a hint of green left in the grass, a shoji screen that's been pushed open to reveal part of the gardens. Hijikata sits in the middle of the screen, dressed in a plain black yukata with a simple crest embroidered into the shoulders. Those familiar with Shinto mythology might recognize it as Hachiman's, though it's common enough to have been used for a number of different groups and households, including Hijikata's own in life.]

This is Hijikata Toshizou, the current incarnation of Hachiman. I apologize if any of this has already been said on the BBS. I'm still not as accustomed to this sort of technology as I'd like to be, so I'm sure I've missed a number of previous discussions. That said, I have a couple of open announcements.

Regarding the recent incident at a festival on the Near Shore:

It strikes me that the creatures we fought there were, in a sense, not unlike many of us. Souls taken from their proper time and place, and brought here. It doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility, or even likelihood, that the incident had a connection to whatever force disposed of our predecessors and has been bringing us here to replace them.

[His expression, already serious, hardens into something outright murderous for a moment.]

If that's true, then on the off-chance that whoever is behind it monitors this network, I want them aware that my opposition to them is now a personal matter.

[He pauses, calming himself a little.]

I'd also like to discuss more generally the concerns that have come up in recent weeks and months about the treatment of shinki. If a shinki has no power to reject an unwanted bond with a god they never chose, then it seems to me that gods are going to need to be responsible for policing each other's behavior towards their shinki. Anyone interested in being part of such an effort should discuss the matter with me. I'm especially interested in hearing from shinki about what sort of systems it would be helpful for them to have in place.

That will be all, for the time being.

[[OOC: tl;dr of what's behind the cut: Hijikata is pissed about his theory about the zombie incident, and interested in brainstorming about forming some kind of Shinki Defense Squad with any other gods who think the shinki situation is pretty BS, hit him up!]]

Comments

[koukai_kirai]

Ms. Croft.

[He inclines his head, as polite as he ever gets without extenuating circumstances.]

I had... some similar experiences that day as well. And I have no intention of granting any mercy to whoever is responsible for bringing harm to those people, much less for forcing me to raise my weapon against them.

[If history's remembered enough of who he is that Lara recognized his name, he's sure she can make some educated guesses there. At any rate, a publicly visible conversation isn't the place for going into the details, not with Souji around.]

Some people are too quick to forget that, if shinki are objects that can be theirs. There are always going to be petty tyrants out there, demanding respect without earning it, and they're never to be tolerated.

[adventurology]

[She doesn't need to make educated guesses. She knows who he's seen, if it's anything like with Alex. And while Lara doesn't ordinarily condone violence, fucking with her friends is enough to make her a vicious killer. But that's not a face she wants to wear here. Not publicly, anyway.]

And it's up to those of us with the capacity to stand up for the voiceless to do so. If you're collecting voices, add mine to the din. I'll not stand by and allow colleagues to treat humans as property. I've seen too much of that already, back home. Turns my stomach thinking of it, truth be told.

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata just smiles. It's still a little unpleasantly sharp, so close to the memory of his friends' suffering.]

Sounds like you and I are on the same page, then. Good.

[adventurology]

[Lara's return smile is sharp, a little pained by the thought of Alex, but...]

Yeah. I'd say so. Keep me in the loop, alright? If there's something you need to make it happen, just say the word.

[koukai_kirai]

I'll keep you informed.

That unpleasantness aside, how have you been settling in?

[adventurology]

[Lara chuckles, looking around the room and away from the camera. Gesturing at the books, she can't help but sound a little happy. Just a bit.]

Well, I can't say I like being cut off from my work at home like this, but I'm adjusting. My...ah...predecessor left quite the collection to sort through and I'm still sorting. Honestly, I never was much of one for cataloging but it needs doing.

And I've answered a prayer or two. I think I'm getting the hang of things.

[koukai_kirai]

It's a lot to adjust to, certainly.

...I've found myself enjoying the prayers, honestly. It's satisfying, being able to do something help the people who believe in you.

[Maybe he's not giving himself enough credit for doing that when he was alive, but when has Hijikata ever actually given himself enough credit?]

[adventurology]

It is. Helping people is satisfying. Belief or no.

[She's never really liked the idea of being someone's guardian angel, but doing it just to do it? That was fine.]

Ayakashi are...interesting, to say the least.

[koukai_kirai]

Mm. I suppose I feel like I would have liked to do more for the people who put their faith in me before, that's all.

I don't mind the ayakashi. Cutting them down is... easier than what I'm accustomed to.

[It's easier emotionally, compared to killing humans. He never had trouble dealing with the heat of battle, even when he had to do some pretty monstrous things to give his side the advantage, but his conscience can come back to bite him in a big way when he has the time to think about the humanity of the people he's killed.]

[Fighting something essentially more or less mindless, purely to protect people who are helpless against it? That doesn't wear on his soul the way the war did. It's work he can actually like himself at the end of, and that's a welcome change for him at this point.]

[adventurology]

Monsters. Things that shouldn't exist. I guess it is easier than being a soldier.

[Lara's voice is lower now, rough, uncomfortable memories floating to the surface unbidden. The Stormguard, that thing on the mountaintop. At the time the adrenaline had been flowing, but it came back to mind often enough. The ayakashi in the hospital had been different from the oni, but no less malicious.

Shivering involuntarily, she looks down at her hands, and finding them shaking she immediately clamps them down on her knees. Probably not something he'd notice given the angle, at least, and she thanks the stars for it. The last thing she wants to do is freak out on camera.]

I imagine that it gets easier, the more you grow accustomed to it. Have you fought many?

[koukai_kirai]

Everything gets easier, the more used to it you get.

[Or the weight of it builds up until it slowly crushes you... but mostly it gets easier, whether or not you're even sure you want it to.]

I've fought a handful. My shinki is a sword, so Rending them is a straightforward enough matter.

[adventurology]

I've just found the one, so far. Some sort of spider-demon that looked like it crawled out of a ghost story.

[Another shudder, remembering how the thing had screamed...]

Rending it isn't a problem. The shinki I was assigned is an ax. And conventional methods still seem to slow them down.

[koukai_kirai]

Conventional approaches can slow them down, certainly -- you just need a shinki to actually get rid of them.

I won't say most of them aren't unsettling, but it does sound like you had remarkably bad luck the first time around.

[adventurology]

Can't say I'm used to having good luck. But it died all all the same.

Still weird to me that most humans barely pay me any attention, even if I'm walking through the hospital with a battleax.