locked to meridian + ota

[warmare]

[Hayame had plenty to say about this disgraceful farce the moment she had regained consciousness... But she waited. She waited, so that her emotions would be as locked down and as under control as she could manage. Until only harsh anger and the burn of judgement come through- at least, for now.

First, she addresses only Meridian.]

I hope you are proud of yourself.

Those of you who have been too weak to commit properly to this cause, content to let those with drive and will do the winning of Oracles on your and your world's behalf.

Those of you who claim allegiance to Meridian but have been content to play "neutral" and hide like a weak little bug in the shadow of those more powerful than you.

Those of you who could not draw a single line in the sand and loved playing friend or whore too much to break off relations with people working to ensure that the lives of everyone in your world are snuffed out permanently.

Those of you who have refused to shatter the shards of our enemies, whining about the sanctity of a soul, even though that is the only way to kill someone properly in this twisted world.

Mourn that sun goddess for the power she possessed that our faction has lost. Mourn the kindness she showed you, if you so wish. But I will impart a lesson unto you- If someone is kind to everyone, then their kindness means absolutely nothing. That empty-headed fool of a woman had her shard shattered by the very man whose shard she protected, after I and another killed him in the labyrinth of the Harbinger Oracle trial. If she had given that foul thing back to us so that I might crush it beneath my hoof, then she would be alive today.

That is what kindness of that nature will reap you. A disgraceful public execution at the hands of a wizened, corpse-gnawing gaki barely managing the veneer of a man.

If you wish to dedicate yourself further to the actual cause you claim to serve, or if you wish to train and empower yourself, I will gladly help you. It would be my honor.

But if your plan is to continue living the sort of shameful existence that helped allow for the assassination of Springstar's Tribune at his own godsdamned home, then either purge yourself of that treacherous weakness... or I will try to find the time in my days to do it for you.

[Maybe this is where she could stop, take a breath... But she does not. The rest, cold and hateful and roiling with anger, is said to everyone, Zenite and Unharmonized alike.]

To all those who still claim allegiance to Zenith... I will not waste breath trying to convince you of anything at all, let alone now, after what your faction has wrought upon countless innocents. Whether you are a poor thing who would abandon every life in your world simply because you were treated badly, whether you are a pathetic thing who cannot muster the will to hope for anything but that sacred bitch on high and a committee of degenerates making a new world for you to exist in, or whether you are a sick thing who delights in watching worlds burn and people die... I, Hayame of Echigo, do not care, and I will not show mercy to one any more than the other.

Unlike, it seems, the many dishonorable among you, I say this to you plainly and clearly.

I will disable you if I see you step foot in Springstar.

I will hunt down your cornerstones and smash them to pieces.

And I will kill you if you put yourself between me and the possibility of returning to my world and my duty.




... Ah, yes. To those of you who have still not chosen a side, even after seeing what has occurred this moon... My advice to you is to stay Unharmonized, to pick up a hoe, and to go tend crops in Alenroux. You obviously lack the determination required for this conflict... and the people require food. Go on.

If you need a recommendation for a farmer looking for labor, I know plenty. Do you fancy turnips, or buckwheat?

Comments

cw: promotion of honor suicide

[warmare]

[Even though she knows that the knowledge he gleaned any time he was in Springstar had to have been factored in to things, had to have aided him at least in generalities...

She does not consider him to be lying, even now.

At least he had not been scheming to murder the leader of the faction she had chosen while she was holding his hand and thinking "ah... finally... finally, someone understands--"]

You will have to speak to the people who built it.

[Hayame did not know anything about where the gun came from. It was not her idea, not a device she understood in anyway, and though she had supported the concept of a weapon that could be used to strike back...]

But no, it surely did not come from nowhere.

And it is not as if such a powerful thing could just have been magically finished immediately after you decided to play assassin.

It must have been done and capable before. And yet, it was not fired. Not until we were attacked.

So perhaps you owe Highstorm an apology.

You have that dagger still, do you not? That was a very fitting weapon for slitting open one's belly in shame.

cw encouraging suicide

[baltimores]

[ And finally, she gets something other than the zen impassivity he's offered her in the midst of her near-palpable rage — and it's a derisive laugh, harsh and sharp. ]

It would've been fired regardless. Somebody has a twitchy trigger finger, I'm sure. Killed him while he was cavorting around after.

[ Set. He was interrupted before he could crush his shard, but he'd held it in his fist. He was ready to finally put an end to him.

Oh, well. ]

I don't got shit to apologize for.

You think a lot about killing yourself though, don't you? Fuckin' weird, trying to project that on to others when you could be sorting your own shit out first. Maybe you should focus on that.

[warmare]

It seems we will never know that, Amos. Because of you. All that remains in history is that we had a weapon... and once attacked, we attacked in turn.

[It does not surprise her, in one way, that Set had been killed. Because... he did that on purpose, making himself a target, crowing responsibility for the firing of that weapon so that the uncritical among Zenith would focus their hatred on him and think of little else. Just like he told her he would- he made himself the evil god that all could despise.

... She wished he would not. He could be so glorious, he could shine so brightly as a god of war if he were not so obsessed with the dark side of himself. ... But it seemed he would never heed her on that matter, as much as it hurt her, no matter whether she debased herself as a woman to beg, if she fought with him as a friend wounded by perceived betrayal, or if she bowed down as a warrior and submitted a plea for her god to listen.

As a Meridian, she thinks... at least they did not lose both their gods from their forces in one godsdamned blow. As whatever else she was, to both of them, she thinks at least-]

My affairs are sorted.

[She had promised Set she would try to come up with a strategy to take back to that village or orphans, find some way to save them that did not come at the cost of sacrificing her own life. And she had promised Khalid, on the floor of her home clutching the eye that the demon had forced into her head, that-]

Unfortunately for you, I have promised not to die, no matter what must be done in the process of returning to the duty I must fulfill.

[She cannot trust the rest of Meridian to fulfill their mission if she is gone, anyway.]

You will crush my shard for me if you are victorious?

When I am, I will give you the opportunity to take your own life as a warrior, rather than striking your head off like a common criminal.

It is far more respect than you gave to the Tribune. Be grateful.

[baltimores]

[ There's the sensation of him rolling his eyes; like he gives a fuck what history will say, the past irrelevant. He's left his behind more than once, and when there's a new world he'll leave it behind again. Just the way the world works.

But as Hayame continues that roll shifts into a narrowing, his focus very much on her. There's a forceful exhale at her last two words, angry and dismissive all at once. ]

Told you that honour shit was going to get you killed, didn't I? [ Why would he have given Cyrus any kind of advantage to begin with? He was doing a job, and wasn't looking to die himself in the middle of it. ] If you got a new lease on life now you might want to watch out for that.

But hey, thanks. Your consideration for me is noted, and also unnecessary.

[ Because she will not be victorious, and he isn't going to die. ]

[warmare]

[The past is supposed to stay. Because if it was not... Why has she not been able to outrun hers, yet?]

You did. Didn't you.

[When she had disgraced herself to ask she be given the dignity of the choice to take her own life if need be, and he had thrown it in her face. She will not deny it. But though those words are usually said as a question... she says it as a dismissal.

Because he will not be victorious, and she isn't going to die (again). She can't. ... Not yet.]