shinobu

[preowned]

meme

Comments

[preowned]

Are you in a condition to?

[ ... admittedly, tsuru is pretty injured from the weekly effect, but he does not care too much about that.

he's more concerned if it's fine for her. ]

[wisterin]

I am.

[ She was stabbed thee time in the chest for her fatal injury and has multiple wrapped injuries besides but it's pain Lite, so she can withstand it. ]

If you don't mind your injuries, I don't mind mine.

[ There's a pause. ]

My other offer still stands, too.

[preowned]

[ he actually offers her a smile at that. it's not like his usual ones, but at least it's there. ]

Talking, was it? [ he gently taps against the hilt of his sword. ] I'm not actually sure if I have the right to be upset at this point.

[wisterin]

[ She smiles in return; hers is also not like her usual one. What happens tomorrow will also decide what else she should remind him of. ]

Why wouldn't you have the right to be? You care about Ookurikara-san. That gives you as much right as anyone else.

[preowned]

... I've mostly just been disappointing him since we got here.

[ since the village, if he's honest, but he won't be. ]

[wisterin]

[ She doesn't know his circumstances. She doesn't know he also died the first week back in the village, but that doesn't change what she thinks. ]

Whatever you have or haven't done, that doesn't mean you can't care. Having regrets doesn't mean you have to stop. Sometimes, it means the opposite.

[preowned]

I don't think I'll ever stop caring.

[ he... wonders how to say this. ]

I don't usually get too attached to people. I have lived a long time, and unlike some other swords, I don't have strong feelings towards one particular master. I've been passed through too many hands for that.

[ he can't say he has ever really had a place he could call home. ]

But every now and then, someone will pop up, and I think that... yes. This is probably what people mean when they talk about love.

[wisterin]

[ There's something very sad about that. Swords aren't human. She knows that they view things differently just by virtue of being what they are. She can't say if she'll ever fully understand, but that doesn't mean she can't try. ]

That's Ookurikara-san for you. Do you feel like you failed him by dying?

[ It's always hardest disappointing someone you love. ]

[preowned]

[ it's more than ookurikara, really, but he's his closest connection to home. in his citadel, tonbokiri and yasusada aren't even there, so he doesn't have the same camaraderie with them as humans that he does with ookurikara. ]

He may have an easier time if I were there.

[ tsuru is, at least, good at smoothing things over. ]

[wisterin]

You'd help balance out his brusqueness.

[ His rudeness and tactlessness. ]

And for all his harsh words, I know he'd like to see you as much as you'd like to see him.

[preowned]

... we'll see about that.

[ there's a chance he might just make him angrier, but.

you never know. ]

[wisterin]

You're well-equipped to handle his personality.

[ She smiles. ]

I don't see you as the type to get easily offended by him.

[preowned]

You just have to know how to handle him.

[ ... ]

Admittedly, he seems to be more difficult than he normally is at the moment.

[wisterin]

Things became very tense at the end of the trial. Most of them were more difficult than they normally are.

[ Her smile is faint. ]

... That trial did no one any favors.

[preowned]

... no.

[ although tsuru already noticed that kara was being more argumentative than usual even before that. it might be that it seems like there are more people he doesn't get along with here than there was at the village.

but it's hard to know for sure when all you're doing is watching. ]

Somehow, it's more cruel that you're allowed to fight back.

[wisterin]

It is. This entire system is set up to force us to make worse and worse choices. Any way someone takes a life leaves someone suffering.

[ Whether it's someone on Thursday night or whether it's someone by the bonfire on Sunday. ]

People have to choose who they consider more important.

[ And that writes a certain narrative. ]

[preowned]

... it makes sense, considering what this place wants from us. If you simply killed whoever was voted for, everyone will eventually move on without blaming the person who had to do it.

But if there is a chance they can fight back? It changes things. You may suddenly resent whoever walks away, because you know they might not have. [ ... ] It really did choose the rules carefully.

[wisterin]

[ She breathes out to calm herself because he's not wrong. She knows and agrees, but it doesn't make her any less angry. ]

The rules were crafted to create as much pain as possible. Objectively, I can recognize the effectiveness.

[ She can push away her feelings enough for that. ]

And it's not like the wrongly accused don't deserve a chance.

[ It just doesn't make anything easier for anyone. ]

[preowned]

They deserve one, but...

[ he sighs. ]

The people doing the execution aren't volunteers. They may not have even voted for the person up there. There really isn't anything just about just switching from one innocent life to another.

[wisterin]

There is no fairness in this. I know that as well as anyone else. With the items they're given, too—

[ Anything can be turned into a weapon, but those lower numbers on the die can't even be called a joke. ]

It's not even laughable.

[preowned]

The executions at the village were... much more straightforward. The one executed never had a chance to make it out.

[ they were kind of held against their will, so it's not like they could fight back. ]

[wisterin]

The first execution at the island was straightforward like that, too.

[ She can't really bring herself to smile even in an obviously fake as a coping mechanism way. ]

It makes me sick to wish for something like that again.

[preowned]

I won't lie and say that killing isn't something I'm not accustomed to. I am a weapon, after all.

[ it's what he was literally forged for. ]

But... there really is no point in forcing us all to do these games.

[wisterin]

[ Shinobu's job is to slay. She can't say she doesn't think some killing isn't justified, but for her, circumstances matter. Reasons matter. ]

The point is to try to break us.

[preowned]

Mm...

Do you think it's succeeding?