scawy » cloud

[naginota]

Comments

weekend 0 saturday

[naginota]

[ hello he is immediately distracted by cloud's sword! he also has his naginata and normal clothes btw but this ain't about him ]

Oh! I've never seen a sword quite like that. [ IT'S HUGE. JUST LIKE IWATOOSHI. ] What is it? Does it have a name?

[ is this sword a friend ]

[residentmerc]

[ the sword is important it's fine. he is looking at his naginata even if it aint about him ]

Buster Sword. [ it's. look at least it has a name even if it is not a good one. ] It's a broadsword. [ just like. very, very broad. he'll remove it from his back to show it off sure ] You're into swords?

[ he doesn't know..... ]

[naginota]

Ohh! More of a Western style, then. Your Buster Sword looks very powerful. [ a nod of respect to the sword! and then he laughs. ] I am, I am! It must be my former master's influence. He once collected nine-hundred and ninety-nine swords from warriors he'd defeated, after all.

[ a beat. ]

And it is always good to meet other weapons. I'd like to see how you fight with it someday.

[residentmerc]

Nine hundred and ninety nine...?

[ HELLO? THAT'S A LOT OF SWORDS. he is kind of impressed and weirded out both ]

Well, place like this, there's a good chance you'll see it in action sooner than later.

week 0, monday

[residentmerc]

[ we didn't tag sunday i get to be lazy: ]

What d'you think of those robbed guys yesterday?

[ greet people normally, cloud ]

[naginota]

[ nah he's fine. iwatooshi does take a moment to bow his head, though! hello, hello. ]

They're inclined to help us, but it seems like they're a little lost on how to do so. I'd like to believe they were telling the truth about our situation.

[residentmerc]

Right. We don't really have any other choice but to believe what they say, but... I don't know that they're telling us everything they know.

[ no trust!!!! ]

week 0, sunday

[residentmerc]

[ we are in the void idc. anyway wow look at this updated rulebook ]

... Sounds like it'll happen again.

[ he doesn't sound surprised, but also, bleh ]

[naginota]

Mm. We were expecting it might, but to have it confirmed...

[ bad. ]

The problem is that we don't know how to counteract it just yet, or if we can at all.

[residentmerc]

Our only solution to it right now is whatever they did today. [ which was. idk. giving a man a chainsaw and summon zombies. ] And that's not exactly an option we want to keep using.

week 2, monday

[naginota]

[ damn we really missed each other all last week huh. what a way to get back to it. anyway have a memory:

the heike and genji armies have come to a stalemate, kogitsunemaru announces. it's a needless conversation - you both have working eyes. so you shift the naginata under your arm to move away, planning to occupy yourself elsewhere, away from the distraction, only for your comrade to call out after you, "Iwatooshi, what are you thinking about?"

you look back on reflex, but turn away without answering.

"Is it Imanotsurugi? Are you worried about him?"

of course you are. how could you not be? but you simply breathe out a sigh and rest your free arm on the wrist of the hand holding the naginata before you, standing tall. dutiful, as you should be. you're on a mission, after all.

"If something is bother you, please tell me," kogitsunemaru pleads, stepping closer. "It could help to ease your mind."

you glance over at him, but quickly turn away. tempting as it is to ask for guidance, you've already spent too much time thinking about it. it's better to focus, you think, so you remain silent.

"...I see. You don't trust me," he says with a sniff. alarmed, you immediately turn to deny it - he's your comrade, why wouldn't you trust him?

"That's not--"

"Found your tongue at last?" he turns to you with that sly smile that says you've been played for a fool. but... you weren't hiding your thoughts well in the first place, were you? he's won this round, so you relent. and maybe he's right. maybe it will help you feel better, even if it hurts to acknowledge the problem at all.

"Kogitsunemaru. Have you ever thought about your existence?"

"My existence?"

am important clarification: "Have you ever questioned your own existence?" when he doesn't have an immediate answer, you continue on, letting out the things you've been trying to ignore - the worry, confusion... even a bit of anger. "Why did Master send us here? Why did they let those two near him?"

"You mean Higekiri and Hizamaru?" kogitsunemaru asks.

frustrated and ashamed for being found so easily, you turn away without answering. higekiri and hizamaru: the genji swords, claiming to be the treasured swords of imanotsurugi's former master, yoshitsune, and his elder brother. but in all your time of serving at musashibou benkei's side as he supported yoshitsune, you hadn't met either of them even once. you and imanotsurugi remember them if you'd met before - of this, you have no doubt.

but if that were really true, then why wasn't your former master using you when you'd met him on your last mission? if you really weren't there when you were supposed to be, then... were you ever? was imanotsurugi?

"I'm afraid I don't have the answers you're looking for, Iwatooshi," kogitsunemaru continues, interrupting your thoughts. "But I'm sure Master had their reasons."

you cut him off with a snarl. "So I just have to watch him get hurt?"

"That's right," he answers, and your heart sinks, knowing what comes next. because it's true, because you agree, even if, right now, it's the worst thing you could hear. "That's our duty. We are..."

"...Touken danshi," you finish after a second, thoroughly defeated. "It appears I need more practice."

you walk away quickly, before kogitsunemaru can call you out again. best to busy yourself with training while you wait for history to move along, instead of wasting more time on things you can't change.

iwatooshi's expression is twisted with distaste by the time the memory fades out, grip tight on the staff of his weapon. what's he supposed to say to that. ]

[residentmerc]

[ what IS he supposed to say to that! cloud stares at him a little after it happens, like he's trying to gauge something. ]

... So your master used... Other swords? Is that what that was?

[ he's trying to understand the significance of it, or if he was witnessing iwa witnessing history being messed with ]

[naginota]

[ iwatooshi takes a deep breath, calming the nerves that memory brought bubbling back to the surface. ]

Imanotsurugi's master and his brother both used tachis in battle. Hizamaru-sama and Higekiri-sama were those tachis. My own master used a naginata.

[ glances down at the weapon in his hand with a frown. ]

But it wasn't me that he was using, on either of our missions into history. And Yoshitsune-kou... he wasn't carrying Imanotsurugi, either, but a different tantou. The only logical explanation is that... we weren't there at all.

week 3, sunday

[residentmerc]

[ here we are in the ... in the silent hill idk i haven't thought of a prompt 0 brain cells are going here but he hasn't gotten to check in on iwa since thursday because of the concept of time so. that's literally how he greets him: ]

About Thursday. ... Sorry.

[ for like. killing your friend in your arms while he was stabbing you even if it wasnt real or whatever ]

[naginota]

[ help they really haven't talked much since then time is fake. anyway it takes a second for iwatooshi to realize what he even means by this, but when he does... ]

They were just illusions, Cloud-dono, and aggressive ones at that. There's no need to apologize.

[residentmerc]

Still, then I...

[ also kind of ditched him (let them ditch them?) because he was busy being insane and heterosexual, but he doesn't... want ... to put that into words so: ]

Either way. Just because it's not real doesn't make it easier.

[ he, uh. would know. ]

week 4, thursday

[naginota]

[ i hate it here but iwatooshi will come find him later! are you alive!! ]

[residentmerc]

[ he's alive! he's awake! he's. resting somewhere. idk where. it doesn't matter all his wounds are even closed, because i'm nice.

his stare is a little vacant and his eyes are a little too bright, but he's awwake!! ]

...Hey.

[naginota]

[ well that is a relief after all that blood. ]

Hello, Cloud-dono. You look a little better than before. How do you feel?

week 5, monday

[naginota]

[ throws them into radio shack where he sees a camera and just points excitedly. ]

Ah! It's the black box! Cloud-dono, say hello!

[ he waves! at the camera! ]

[residentmerc]

[ on the one hand, it looks like iwa knows what a camera is, sort of. that's good.

on the other hand he's not sure he knows how they work. the emotion here is just vague amusement ]

Don't think it's turned on.

[naginota]

Hm? It's not?

[ confusion, because he's never heard of them being "on" in the first place. ]

Do we have to do something, then? No one will be able to see us otherwise.

week 6, saturday

[naginota]

[ the good thing about waiting for today is that cloud is free of cat puns. the bad thing is everything about this trial what the fuck ]

Every time I think I know what to expect from these trial rituals, they find another way to surprise me.

[ massages temple. ]

At least it's over, until tomorrow.

[residentmerc]

[ IT SURE WENT. CRAZY. IT SURE WENT CRAZY!!

cloud also looks tired and annoyed ]

... Tomorrow's going to be a different kind of mess, but at least no one should...

[ suddenly kill an npc hes too tired ]

[naginota]

[ softly, ] Laudna-dono should be the last remaining of the afflicted. As long as her execution goes as planned, they should be a little safer.

...But you're right. It will still be messy, for the orphaned partners.

[ kind of dreading that part honestly. ]