Heaven's BBS | Text | This is Probably a Bad Idea

[justclaws]

From: Chiyou
Date: June 14

I do not think this is the time for beach parties. Half of us cannot remember who we are. Those of us who know a shinki's past could kill them with a single word, without ever meaning for them to come to harm. This should not be accepted as normal without so much as an explanation as to why it is necessary.

What reason could there possibly be to strip someone of all memory?

Why does nobody seem to know what is going on?

Comments

[justclaws]

Almost.

I understand the risk to shinki that memory poses. What I cannot understand is why memories should pose such a risk. I do not understand what justification there is to strip a person of something so vital, and leave them afraid to so much as contemplate what they might be missing.

[adventurology]

Simply, there isn't a reason you may accept.

However some cultures, this one included, have concepts of taint associated with death. Here, as we've come to discover the hard way, that taint is no myth. We see that through Stinging, and we see the ultimate expression of that in the Ayakashi.

Ayakashi are like monsters out of a nightmare, and it's no wonder that people fear them. Perhaps it's true that if they learn about their past, they'll become one. Are you willing to risk it? Or ask a shinki to risk it?

[justclaws]

A friend of mine was blighted. I have heard tell that another man fell entirely on being told of his past. I know more than enough already. I would never wish another to risk such a thing merely to satisfy my own curiosity.

I simply cannot understand the need for it. If we are here to fight ayakashi, so be it, and if the only way to fight is through the power of one's shinki then that too I must accept. What I cannot understand is why, if our task is so important and the risks to some of our number so high, we should not have been provided with a better explanation as to why we are here and how we can protect one another. This is not normal, and we should not be sitting on beaches pretending that it is.

[adventurology]

I agree.

I suspect it isn't out of malice, but simply out of an inability to truly empathize. The rulers of Heaven here do not seem cruel, they just seem to think that we'll help them, regardless. And while they aren't wrong in that we can and will help them, I don't know if they understand that concern in a relate able way. They aren't human, after all.

[justclaws]

I do not see that they have given us a lot of choice. We have been brought here, regardless of what we may have been before; we have been called into service understanding nothing of the reasons for the call. I have no objection to servitude, but I would be far happier knowing what kind of a master I am serving.

I must say that it is considerably easier, when one serves their own country's Gods.

[adventurology]

If my country had gods of it's own, I'd probably agree.

For now though, I'm just going to keep fighting for the normal people of this world. The prayers come for a reason, and that's what matters, at least until more opportunities present themselves.

[justclaws]

I suppose that is all we can do.

It is hard, though, not to worry about what might have happened to my friends to make them forget everything they once knew. I wish I could remember what that felt like.