shinobu

[preowned]

Comments

[preowned]

[ my rolls were very bad

but he considers... ]

No. I cannot speak for the others for what happened to them when we weren't together though.

[wisterin]

[ she smiles. ]

I will ask them myself, if I wish to hear what happened to them. I would like to hear what happened to you, from you.

[preowned]

It just like putting me in a lot of graves. I did not have to dig myself out, so that was better than last week.

[wisterin]

[ she watches him closely. ]

I don't know your history intimately, but that sounds targeted.

[preowned]

... it may have been. It's kind of disturbing, how well these places know us.

[wisterin]

It is. It's abhorrent. We don't need stalkers on top of everything else.

[ ... ]

Are you all right?

[preowned]

... yes. Or, at least, I will be.

I think I will sleep for a long time.

[wisterin]

I will be glad if you do rest, but what I also meant was this.

[ she taps her own chest, right over where he was impaled. ]

[preowned]

[ he glances down at it. ]

That is from an old master. I did not follow an order.

[wisterin]

[ she frowns. ]

So you were punished by - a sword through the heart?

[preowned]

My punishment for trying to go against history, I guess.

[wisterin]

Is that how it is for all you swords?

[preowned]

... it depends.

I think that to be ordered to be broken would require that you did something very drastic. A lot of swords have tried to change history, but it's a consequence of them having to face the past. They tend to eventually realize they can't and it works out.

[wisterin]

[ shinobu isn't one to want to change what's already happened because she couldn't fathom pretending how she never lost her parents even though she desperately wishes her parents never died. it's a part of what makes her her, and as tragic and heartrending as it is, she'd probably never try to change the past of her world. she rejected having a normal life long ago.

but still, something about hearing how the swords and their missions function... ]

That's a little sad, isn't it? To make something happen again and again even if it's not something you want.

... It sounds tiring.

[ it's not very surprising. ]

[preowned]

Perhaps.

But if you change the past enough, what happens is that something called an abandoned world is eventually created. Imagine it-- a place where all the people in it are now lost, cut off from time.

[wisterin]

It's not something I would like to imagine. I don't think I'd ever try to change my past.

I only think having to see the same thing over and over again is heavy.

[ even only in her nightmares, it was hard to manage. ]

[preowned]

It can be.

But... it also means you get to see the things that make you happy as well.

[wisterin]

Is that so? Then, if you're able to see more happiness than sadness... that'd be ideal.

[ she doesn't think a sword's life is ideal. ]

[preowned]

Mm. I cannot promise that will always be the case... but there are many beautiful things out there in the world, and I remember every one that I come across.

[wisterin]

I'm glad. Name a few for me?

[preowned]

[ he thinks... ]

When a sword meets their master, a lot of the time, they get this sort of... shiny look in their eye. It's rather sweet.

[wisterin]

A reunion after untold years with someone who cherished them.

[ she hopes their masters cherished them. ]

... You aren't allowed to tell them who you are, though, are you?

[preowned]

We aren't.

... there are times where it gets revealed though. Or they figure it out. [ ... ] Admittedly, that's usually when things turn into a gigantic mess.

[wisterin]

[ ... ]

Does it usually end well?

[preowned]

... it depends on the mission, if I'm honest.

Generally, we are meant to preserve history. If someone finds out who we are, a lot of the time it's because some interference with our enemy is what made it eventually happen. They try to change history in different ways, but the most common ones are to kill a prominent figure too early or to make them live past when they were meant to die.