Heaven's BBS | Video

[tadanokusuriuri]

From: The Medicine Seller
Posted: June 19th

[The camera shows a view of what appears to be one of the old, abandoned shrines that litter certain areas of the Far Shore. The post comes in the evening, as shown by the golden, slanting quality of the light filtering in through the trees.]

[The Medicine Seller is sitting on the roots of an old tree near an abandoned torii gate, with his legs politely crossed and his hands folded in his lap. His expression betrays nothing at all -- there's no hint of his usual small, secretive smile, but there's no fear, either, or sadness, or anger. There's just... nothing.]

I am afraid it would seem... that Hyacinthus, known to some as "Donut", no longer walks among us.

[One slim hand rises to brush against his sternum through the layers of clothes that he wears, against the spot where his name was before.]

And I am without a name.

[Which does put him in a position he hasn't been in before, until this point:]

[He has a choice, perhaps.]

I wish, if possible, to serve a god who hunts often for Ayakashi. If any such god should wish to name me before the Heavens choose on my behalf... the matter can be discussed.

[He bows politely to the camera, before the feed cuts out.]

Comments

[alittleglow]

Our natures are hard to explain without memories.

[Her voice sounds as close to soft as it will ever be for a moment, not really in compassion as much as a rare moment of introspection.]

I have this vague sense that I'm- I'm supposed to help humans. I do not know why, and I don't exactly feel any greater attachment to them, but... yes, I want to be useful too, for that reason.

[tadanokusuriuri]

Helping them is... incidental.

Ayakashi have their ways, and humans have theirs. Mixing the two, allowing the ayakashi to grow too close to human attachments, is... dangerous.

[He can't really explain it too much better than that. It's just a sense he has. Cutting off those dangerous entanglements benefits humans, but helping them isn't really the goal, not exactly.]

[alittleglow]

I suppose to me, killing the wretched things is the incidental part.

[You can practically hear her grimace of distaste.]

Besides which, they are troublesome and not to be reasoned with.

[tadanokusuriuri]

[He's quiet for a moment, and then there's the soft sound of fabric moving as he shakes his head.]

Killing is... also incidental.

That which is corrupted must be purified.

[alittleglow]

So if there was another way to... purify them other than kill them, would you prefer it?

Or would you simply do whichever is more practical?

[tadanokusuriuri]

It would... depend, I suppose, on the situation.

[He'd err on the side of practical, but perhaps there are some who don't deserve punishment, precisely. It feels important to him to understand why these things happen, too.]

[alittleglow]

On the Ayakashi, you mean?

[She sounds rather surprised.]

They're usually rather insensible. Would you really care about their fates one way or another, as long as your duty is fulfilled?

[tadanokusuriuri]

The thoughts of people and the thoughts of ayakashi... can't be compared.

[They're not insensible, not completely. Just... different. Difficult, at times, to grasp.]

But my task takes the highest precedence.