thefarshore | [Video]

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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!]]

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Agreed on both parts.

I appreciate your righteous anger. I haven't had the energy for it.

[Had to pencil in crushing depression, you know, couldn't miss that appointment.]

How would this policing be enforced? [And can he submit a god for review preemptively?]

[Izuku doesn't do murderous, but he can certainly understand why Hijikata would be.]

It seems unfortunately likely. It was even during the time people usually arrived. I don't know where they found that many people or that many corpses.

I would like to be part of the shinki defense effort.

[Sharak approves of your righteous, murderous anger, Hijikata. She didn't see anyone she knew that day, but when she thinks about what could have happened to Kainé and the other shinki being exposed to all that...]

Like shinki but with their memories intact. It was dangerous in more ways than the obvious one.

[Yes, yes, zombies trying to eat them, but a lot of the shinki had people recognising them.]

I'd be interested in being involved in any effort you put together.

I trust I'll have your support in these matters, then?

[Hijikata's a multitasker. Crushing depression can always run in the background, for him.]

First, establish guidelines for how to treat one's shinki, in cooperation particularly with shinki who are unsatisfied with their situation. In order to maintain the credibility necessary for shinki to trust that we're acting in their interest, all members of the group are to be held strictly to those standards.

Establish safe methods for the reporting of potential abuses of power. When a situation is reported, either directly by a shinki or by an observer, work with the shinki in abusive situations to see what they want to do. Help them get the support they need, whether that's help working things out with their god, backup so they can safely demand to be released, a new place to go, physical shelter, more aggressive intervention... It will depend on the case.

[Hijikata's done murderous over far less than putting his shinki in danger from potential exposure to people they used to know, forcing him to put down someone who already gave their life in his service, and forcing him to kill the best friend he spent the last year of his own life mourning. Whoever's behind all this had better hope he never, ever finds out who they are.]

I met some people that day who'd arrived the same day, now that you mention it. How frequent is it, in general? About every 10 days?

I'll be glad to have your help with it.

[Hijikata suspects from some of the feelings that Souji had when they were separated that someone recognized him that day. He still hasn't had the nerve to try and figure out who -- any possible option makes him a little sick to his stomach.]

I wonder if putting them into corpses was intentional, or an accident when trying to make gods or shinki. If it was on purpose, maybe whoever's been stirring things up was trying to make themselves an army...

I'll be grateful for your help. Your name?

[He's lucky that neither he nor Todoroki knew anybody who died at home. If he had to put down All Might... he's not sure how together he'd be for weeks.]

That's right. It's about every ten days, sometimes 11. I kept notes since the middle of March.

Let me know whatever you need.

Are there any exceptions that you're aware of to that pattern? And have you been able to keep any records on disappearances?

[Link!]

This is what I had before. I need to write up the most recent event.

I don't have information on disappearances specifically, but I've seen people note when they're god or shinki disappear. There doesn't seem to be a pattern when it comes to that.

A shame we don't have any means of predicting those, but they do seem to be more randomly timed than the arrivals. I'll be interested to see the new additions to report when you get to them. This is a more thorough timeline than I've seen before.

Have you been briefed on the creature that came out of that circle on May the 5th, late into the night? Haven't read through all of the comments yet, but I'll do so this evening.

I heard about that, but I don't know what exactly that was. I couldn't stay in the Near Shore for very long that day.

Did you see it?

My shinki and I fought against it for a while. It was... thoroughly unlike a typical ayakashi.

What made it so different? How many standard ayakashi have you seen?

you really think whoever caused the zombies to all attack everyone at the parade was someone's doing? i thought it had to do with something about the day of the dead. something upset all those souls and they got angry. if someone caused that all on purpose that's bad news...

and i would like to help with what you're planning, hijikata, if i can. i've had problems with this before. if i can help stop that from ever happening again, i want in.

[He won't be specific about the details of his shinki being taken, because he knows that god is here on the network sometimes. If Hijikata wants more information he'll go private.]

Mr. Hijikata... [She trails off; she knows he's not doing this whole Shinki Defense Squad just because of her or anything, but she's sure her whole situation hadn't helped any.

She's in no place to tell him not to or anything, but he can probably feel her concern for him.] Please be careful.

If there's anything I can do, please let me know.

Of course. I do think, however, there should be a way to determine if a shinki genuinely didn't want the name or if they're just trying to start a smear campaign.

The lost souls might have been an accident in the process of creating gods and shinki.. but putting them in corpses was intentional. They didn't seem very interested in fighting us when they weren't. It worked well enough for an afternoon of chaos, though if they were looking to build a more permanent army they didn't think it through.

[Corpses decay and the souls made a run for it almost as soon as their vessels were destroyed.]

I am the 28th of Arhat, Sharak Sanzo. [It says Aditi on the network, but that's not her name.] Can I ask what ideas you've had so far?

Enough of them to know that they're typically not humanoid in shape, or capable of coherent speech the way that thing was.

It was far stronger than any ayakashi I've encountered, including the ones during Susano'o's rebellion. It seemed to be able to make parts of its body that were under attack intangible, though not reliably enough to be impossible to land a hit on.

Didn't bleed, though. Let out this dark cloud that hung in the air, smelling like death. And even that didn't seem to bother it all that much.

[That tension in Psyche's head keeps her from thinking too much about the implications of other taken souls seemingly knowing them. However, other implications were too strong to ignore.]

If those souls were brought here and bound to someone, I'm not quite sure it's the same being that might've brought us here. Shinki and gods have been brought here on a regular basis, while being mostly in-tact. The undead during the festival were not only shambling corpses but were also mostly incoherent or outright begging for death.

As for self policing, someone said there was a welfare office for shinki but it couldn't help to have other policies in place.

Naturally, some degree of investigation will be necessary.

How would we ensure that it's as thorough as possible, though, while also being unbiased?

An afternoon of chaos... that's starting to look like a pattern. Brief strikes, sudden enough that by the time we've dealt with the problems, there's little trace left behind of the perpetrator.

[There's a slight pause, and the soft chhk of a lighter.]

So far, the plan looks like this:

Gather gods willing to act on shinki's behalves. Shinki are welcome to participate, but certain types of direct involvement should be limited, since they're at risk of being forcibly named. Work with shinki to establish standards of conduct to hold ourselves to, and ideas of the kind of help they'd like to see available for themselves and others. Work together to keep an eye out for abuses of power, and establish protocols for others to safely contact us when they have something to report.

When a report is made, investigate to verify it, as secretly as possible. Contact the shinki involved if the situation allows, work with them to figure out what they need. The exact action taken from that point will depend on the specific scenario.

There are always ways.

It might be worth having a few people who aren't too publicly linked to the group who could go about talking with a god or shinki's known associates to see if anyone can corroborate what we've been told. Certain powers or shinki forms could come in handy if more direct spying is necessary, as well.

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