ukimiya | week 6

Week 6

Sunday - Thursday

Another week of misfortune has passed by and while the end result is that there won't be any issues to anyone's existence being altered for the worst, it doesn't mean anyone's celebrating. If anything, the stressful machinations of the recent trial would require some of you to have someone champion some sort of recuperation amongst you in an attempt to relieve the strain. Whether or not its entirely successful in doing so is up to each individual. After all, there are some of you who are naturally able to endure more than others.

There's not even much time for that before the dawn of the next week is upon the castle. As it comes, everything seems quiet, which is understandable, considering that five lives were lost in the previous week.

Of course, the next best thing to focus on would be what's been newly revealed within the castle. It'll help most of you get your mind off of the current situation to an extent—distractions have a way of making that possible. Presuming, by chance, you do find yourself taking a peek at the sakura tree, you'll notice that the buds have started to finally open up. Is it time for spring at last? If so, you might find yourself wishing that the season would suddenly find itself on hold.

SURVIVING WARRIORS: 14

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

(OOC: Welcome to Week 6 of Ukimiya! Feel free to comment to the weekly top levels and thread as you like, and redeem coins at the wishing pool.

You can contact the sage with your pendants here, and the teishu here.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

. . . I'm not certain, frankly. The one mystery I never managed to solve. I was killed at home, but it wasn't a proper death. My-- all of me, my body and mind, and I suppose my soul too, if you believe in such things, were scattered among worlds. I became something both dead and alive all at once, able to slip in and out of worlds at will.

So. I don't know about souls, truly. But I think death is a state of being that can be subverted easily, if one knows how to go about it.

[She contemplates this in silence for a moment. She recalls Kizakura's frustrated outburst from a couple weeks ago about being an ordinary man from an ordinary world and to this day she hasn't heard anything that comes close to beating that in terms of its relatability. But she's at least come to just take all of it in stride.]

I suppose anything could be easy if you knew how to go about it.

[Including the murdercastle situation really.]

Too bad these things don't come with a set of instructions.

Hah.

[It's not quite bitter, but certainly commiserating.]

It certainly makes things easier when they do. But I suppose there'd be little point in doing anything if you already knew how it all works.

[Well, Ros is a scientist, so of course she'd have that view. Misora isn't, however, and doesn't share this exact sensibility. What she does see quite clearly is that there's little value in debating the point.

She steps away from the sink, but... notably doesn't un-plug it to let the water drain out. Apparently she hasn't quite given up on this yet.]

What do you think the purpose of keeping their souls here is, Madam Lutece? According to what Nishitani-san has learned from this "Emperor," they don't stay here permanently and it seems... strange to think that a soul can have an expiry date, so to speak.

[There's another pause.]

I suppose if we accept the thought of a soul as a separate and solid entity . . . bodies have expiration dates as well. Organs do too, and they expire quickly when they're torn from the body. So let's assume souls are the same way. That they can linger for a time, but not forever. And the Sage . . . the Sage or someone else here, but let's assume the Sage, needs to keep them.

Perhaps it's to try and keep the corruption at bay. Perhaps it's to serve as backup for if the remaining nine don't do the job properly. Or perhaps it's because there's some . . . profit to him.

That would make sense, yes...

[But she still doesn't look satisfied here.]

I know there isn't any particular reason to think this, but what if... from the start what they were really after was the souls of twenty one people with strong grudges? It'd explain why they were ready to kill over minor transgressions even though the whole point od this was to supposedly leave behind nine people who'd "proven" themselves.

That's certainly a theory, isn't it . . .?

[One she's intrigued by, if the sudden spark in her gaze is any indication.]

And the experiment repeated at least twice before us . . .

[Rosalind glances down, mulling over this for a long few seconds.]

Then the question becomes: what are we all fueling?

I don't know.

[It's been tough man - on the one hand, knowing nothing about the supernatural meant that she wasn't married to any particular view of what was or wasn't possible, but on the other hand that left too many possibilities.]

My instinct is that it has to do with the ritual. Perhaps they need the souls either as a catalyst or as an offering.

Mm.

[It's vague agreement.]

We haven't much evidence to go on either way, unfortunately.

[A beat, and then she adds:]

By the by . . . I've something of yours. At least: I assume it's yours. An FBI badge?

I'll have to speak to the Teishu again.

[Listen to what he's saying between the lines, that sort of thing. But her expression turns to mild surprise when her badge is mentioned.]

I'd assume that it's mine, yes. [Not like anyone else here works for the bureau after all.] I had it on me just before I woke up here, but by now I'd given up on getting that back. [She smiles a little faintly.] I guess this'll save me a little paperwork before I turned it in again.

Come along, then.

[She nods and takes a step forward, leading them towards the bedroom wing. Her room holds any number of little items, figurines and coins and false gems-- and amid all the nonsense, there's her badge, neatly placed next to a packet of cigarettes.]

[Misora lingers for a half a second as she tries to decide whether to unplug the sink or not. In the end, she leaves it at "not" and follows behind Ros. She's never been to Ros's room and the various knick-knacks she keeps in there surprise her. Then again, they've all accumulated odds and ends courtesy of the pond. She picks up her badge and turns it over in her hands, frowning a little before she pockets it,]

Thank you. I really appreciate this.

[A beat.] Looks like you were able to wrangle some cigarettes out of the Sage as well? Or was that the pond?

[

The pond. I've long since given up on asking the Sage for anything. The Teishu, on the other hand, is more amiable towards trade.

But no, the pond gave me an entire carton of them.

[A beat. All of that is easier to say than to give into any kind of emotion, but--]

You're welcome. It's good to have something from home, isn't it?

week 6

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject