Wherever 45 be, Shinobu is just somehow there, too? Shinobu can be anywhere even if it's raining outside. She has her customary smile, so everything is more or less back to normal, discounting how her hands are even more bandaged now. ]
Hello, 45-san. I—
[ Have a memory. Shinobu finds her sister dying at dawn, and she's overcome with grief and a sense of vengeance. It's something that persists when she meets the demon who killed her sister.
Her anger and her hatred for this demon is all-consuming, especially after she tries to save someone and fails. ]
[ they're probably indoors, and 45 is in the middle of raising a hand to greet shinobu back, when, well.
i'm crying ara because you going so hard has made me shuffle the memory i'm giving shinobu.
so now it's this one. (until 18:51) it's a broken memory, fragmented and staticky- details flickering every now and then as if corrupted somehow, but the most important portions vividly intact. your sister and yourself in the middle of a ruined factory, smoke in the air and blood on the walls, signs and sounds of recent fighting obvious both in the near vicinity and in the distance, after one final duel she forced you into, a duel you never wanted.
and yet... you're completely unharmed. you realize this is the ending she intended from the beginning. the virus affecting both of you, that would erode away at your being until there was nothing of you left, she took that entirely on herself, just to give you the chance to live.
you didn't know anything. you didn't know any of this until it was too late. too late to do anything but grant the final thing she asked for, to die as herself and not as some red-eyed (her eyes were gold) hollow shell, here in this damned building that's already become the final resting place of so many others.
your sister steadies your gun for you. the memory cuts off abruptly into static after you fire. it picks up again, just as staticky, with this. (until 0:40)
you realize that no one sent on that mission was intended to survive, least of all you. you will. you have to. this will be swept under the rug, they'll cover it up. it will never have happened, be written down as a tragic accident at best when it was anything but.
you have to find out who was responsible for this, and see that they get exactly what they deserve.
so it turns out grief and vengeance is a mood today. ]
We did, and yes, it was the storage room. [ unpacked baggage, haha! ] None that will likely be useful for tomorrow, though, unless the culprit tries to flee or if we absolutely need to fix something.
[ ... ]
I need to see what the definition of 'fix' means, anyway.
[ listen after 45 said she had to kill her sister in the break in, i had to give this memory.
Ah. These feelings are so familiar it's hard to distinguish them from her own at first. There is one distinct difference, and that's what makes her come back to herself.
She considers herself fortunate that she didn't have to mercy kill her own sister, but there is no real luck in having to see your sister die no matter how it's done. It's heart-wrenching, what 45 had to do, but she understands those feelings. Deeply.
It's why she smiles. ]
Did you take down whoever it was that did that to you and your sister?
[ it takes her a moment to shake off the sympathetic feelings she's also experiencing, near-twin to her own save for the fact that shinobu can put a face to what it is she needs to destroy.
but when she does, she smiles thinly. ]
Not yet, but that's a problem I'm actively working on.
The problem, it turns out, is that they're hiding behind some very powerful people. Luring them out won't work when there's nothing I can offer them they'd be interested in, so.
Instead, I'm left with following the trail of corruption and conspiracy as far as it'll take me.
Is it just inorganic items, can it be used on injuries...
[ hmmm. anyway, talking business is easy. unpacking feelings is not, especially when emotions are simply something that arise from conflicts in a doll's programming anyway. ]
Right, though. The paper from before ... were there other things that you found?
[ there's nothing but the same sort of certainty reflected in her tone. dolls might not have the same concept of family, but all models of UMP understand.
... ]
Ah, but before I forget. What was it you were looking for me for, today?
[ that's what it is to a person, maybe, but she's a doll. their emotions aren't real in the first place. ]
It was asking about details and edge cases that allowed several monsters to be purified in the mansion when we thought them lost. I don't expect anything of the same scale, but it's worth asking.
[ worst thing that can happen is that it's just "no, it only repairs things." ]
[ can't believe shinobu is out here committing murder with her words. ]
My, are there those of us around here who are really that bad? Perhaps they could learn by example...
[ rip giyuu. ]
I didn't really have much in the way of free time before all this, though. As team leader, my downtime was mostly spent on logistics and upkeep between missions.
[ it's the type of her murder she condones the most. ]
There are a few who don't know how to talk. Some are a little more talkative than others but don't know how to use their words or don't know when not to use their words.
[ What other fool is she slamming? Haha! Who knows?
Shinobu nods. ]
I understand. I don't have too much free time with my duties as a Pillar either. I have to look after everyone who comes to the Butterfly Manor and its upkeep.
If there were, there wouldn't be so many frustrating people, don't you think?
[ She'd namedrop them, if asked. She has no compunctions about calling out stupid people. ]
Pillars are considered the strongest in the Demon Slayer Corps. There are only nine at a time, but you can only become one after you've slayed enough demons or if you've slayed one of the twelve strongest demons. The responsibilities are varied, but we all have our own region that we oversee.
Don't we know it ... but perhaps some would rather stubbornly cling to the way they are rather than try to change, and stumble while doing so.
[ She's met her fair share of wounded prides and blustering egos who would be more prone to this sort of thing, anyway. Not to say that they're the only type to act as such, but. ]
I see. So you're both an elite, in terms of being an asset, but also responsible for administration as well. I take it then that the Butterfly Manor was the heart of your region?
My, but I'm surprised you ever had free time at all in that case.
A squad shrouded in mystery. ▓▓▓▓▒ has met them once, and others can only guess at the members' identities from rumors. Members of the squad all have advanced AI and high capacity for independent operation. Rumor has it that Squad 404 usually deals with ░▓▒▓▓▓▒▓▓▒▒▒░░
no subject
Date: 2020-06-29 03:05 am (UTC)[ But Shinobu will drop it after this. ]
I take it, you were in the new storage room? Letting us clean on our own is more than nothing. Did you end up with any items?
TUESDAY, w3
Date: 2020-06-30 03:34 am (UTC)Wherever 45 be, Shinobu is just somehow there, too? Shinobu can be anywhere even if it's raining outside. She has her customary smile, so everything is more or less back to normal, discounting how her hands are even more bandaged now. ]
Hello, 45-san. I—
[ Have a memory. Shinobu finds her sister dying at dawn, and she's overcome with grief and a sense of vengeance. It's something that persists when she meets the demon who killed her sister.
Her anger and her hatred for this demon is all-consuming, especially after she tries to save someone and fails. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-06-30 11:37 pm (UTC)i'm crying ara because you going so hard has made me shuffle the memory i'm giving shinobu.
so now it's this one. (until 18:51) it's a broken memory, fragmented and staticky- details flickering every now and then as if corrupted somehow, but the most important portions vividly intact. your sister and yourself in the middle of a ruined factory, smoke in the air and blood on the walls, signs and sounds of recent fighting obvious both in the near vicinity and in the distance, after one final duel she forced you into, a duel you never wanted.
and yet... you're completely unharmed. you realize this is the ending she intended from the beginning. the virus affecting both of you, that would erode away at your being until there was nothing of you left, she took that entirely on herself, just to give you the chance to live.
you didn't know anything. you didn't know any of this until it was too late. too late to do anything but grant the final thing she asked for, to die as herself and not as some red-eyed (her eyes were gold) hollow shell, here in this damned building that's already become the final resting place of so many others.
your sister steadies your gun for you. the memory cuts off abruptly into static after you fire. it picks up again, just as staticky, with this. (until 0:40)
you realize that no one sent on that mission was intended to survive, least of all you. you will. you have to. this will be swept under the rug, they'll cover it up. it will never have happened, be written down as a tragic accident at best when it was anything but.
you have to find out who was responsible for this, and see that they get exactly what they deserve.
so it turns out grief and vengeance is a mood today. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-06-30 11:45 pm (UTC)[ ... ]
I need to see what the definition of 'fix' means, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-30 11:50 pm (UTC)I suppose it could simply be someone sloppy and lazy, who simply doesn't take care of themselves.
[ some adults absolutely behave like children. ]
Hmm. Pardon me a moment, but...
[ she's going to rummage through her bag for a second, after which she pulls out-
board game scoreboards and a pencil. ]
If it wouldn't be too much of a problem, could you illustrate the rough layout of the space you were in? Were there any oddities about it?
[ was it too heckin big for the building it was in, etc etc. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 05:44 am (UTC)Ah. These feelings are so familiar it's hard to distinguish them from her own at first. There is one distinct difference, and that's what makes her come back to herself.
She considers herself fortunate that she didn't have to mercy kill her own sister, but there is no real luck in having to see your sister die no matter how it's done. It's heart-wrenching, what 45 had to do, but she understands those feelings. Deeply.
It's why she smiles. ]
Did you take down whoever it was that did that to you and your sister?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 06:24 am (UTC)but when she does, she smiles thinly. ]
Not yet, but that's a problem I'm actively working on.
The problem, it turns out, is that they're hiding behind some very powerful people. Luring them out won't work when there's nothing I can offer them they'd be interested in, so.
Instead, I'm left with following the trail of corruption and conspiracy as far as it'll take me.
[ to whatever end that will be. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 06:26 am (UTC)[ But 45 has a good point. What does "fix" mean in this scenario? ]
That's much more helpful than what we found, in terms of items.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-01 03:01 pm (UTC)[ hmmm. anyway, talking business is easy. unpacking feelings is not, especially when emotions are simply something that arise from conflicts in a doll's programming anyway. ]
Right, though. The paper from before ... were there other things that you found?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 12:43 am (UTC)Hopefully, you're sweeping it clean as you go.
[ At least, it seems like 45 is that type in her own way. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 03:28 am (UTC)[ dolls aren't people, and they're ghosts to all but a very select few. ]
... What about you?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 04:50 am (UTC)[ Shinobu says that with a deadly certainty. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 06:42 am (UTC)[ Those emotions aren't going to go anywhere, if they aren't unpacked. ]
I found a syringe full of poison.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 04:29 pm (UTC)[ emotions can be dismissed until they vanish out of active memory. but hmmm. ]
Ah. There always seems to be something like that, huh. Were they all like that?
[ decidedly offensive in use. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-02 04:33 pm (UTC)[ there's nothing but the same sort of certainty reflected in her tone. dolls might not have the same concept of family, but all models of UMP understand.
... ]
Ah, but before I forget. What was it you were looking for me for, today?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 04:54 am (UTC)[ That's called repression, 45. ]
It was the only one.
[ That Shinobu retrieved anyway. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 06:02 pm (UTC)[ It's true, and fulfilling the task is a bonus, if 45 agrees, but hm, that memory certainly helped with that, didn't it?
Her smile is a touch rueful. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 07:08 pm (UTC)[ She smiles, but there's a tinge of genuine surprise in her expression that remains briefly before it smooths itself out. ]
I'm simply afraid I might not necessarily make for very good company. But, if that's all right, then I'd be happy to spend the day with you.
[ A pity about their weather, but... ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 07:17 pm (UTC)It was asking about details and edge cases that allowed several monsters to be purified in the mansion when we thought them lost. I don't expect anything of the same scale, but it's worth asking.
[ worst thing that can happen is that it's just "no, it only repairs things." ]
In any case. Is it a poison you recognize?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-03 08:27 pm (UTC)[ Is she making a jab at anyone in particular? Probably her usual bully target. ]
Will you tell me what you like to do in your free time?
[ Rain or shine, they can do something. Not everything. But something. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-05 06:50 pm (UTC)My, are there those of us around here who are really that bad? Perhaps they could learn by example...
[ rip giyuu. ]
I didn't really have much in the way of free time before all this, though. As team leader, my downtime was mostly spent on logistics and upkeep between missions.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-06 05:18 am (UTC)There are a few who don't know how to talk. Some are a little more talkative than others but don't know how to use their words or don't know when not to use their words.
[ What other fool is she slamming? Haha! Who knows?
Shinobu nods. ]
I understand. I don't have too much free time with my duties as a Pillar either. I have to look after everyone who comes to the Butterfly Manor and its upkeep.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-06 07:32 am (UTC)That sounds dreadfully unfortunate, but there's not quite a quick fix for conditions like that, is there?
[ shinobu vagueposts about varying people here and 45 just nods along. ]
Hm, that said. What exactly does the title of Pillar entail?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-06 08:46 pm (UTC)Shinobu smiles. ]
If there were, there wouldn't be so many frustrating people, don't you think?
[ She'd namedrop them, if asked. She has no compunctions about calling out stupid people. ]
Pillars are considered the strongest in the Demon Slayer Corps. There are only nine at a time, but you can only become one after you've slayed enough demons or if you've slayed one of the twelve strongest demons. The responsibilities are varied, but we all have our own region that we oversee.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-07 11:26 pm (UTC)[ She's met her fair share of wounded prides and blustering egos who would be more prone to this sort of thing, anyway. Not to say that they're the only type to act as such, but. ]
I see. So you're both an elite, in terms of being an asset, but also responsible for administration as well. I take it then that the Butterfly Manor was the heart of your region?
My, but I'm surprised you ever had free time at all in that case.