(no subject)

[payback]

I...







[There's a long pause here, where she fidgits with her hands and looks down at her knees, at her fingers and her fingernails, avoiding eye contact. This is painful to start even a few years removed from the original event - getting stronger every day, but still raw and oozing and wet under where it's scabbed over. Nothing's hurting right now, of course, but there are... these little flutters of sensation that could so easily become pain. Later. Soon. Once they start digging around.]

So. [She swallows.] How... exactly... did you want me to start?

Comments

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to confirm what your body language was conveying.

[he relaxes in his seat a bit more, paying close attention.]

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Doesn't relax a bit. Just barrels determinedly onwards.] So Anotsu came in with a bunch of guys, and killed my dad and - [Brief catch, lying here, sort of, and then - adelante.] my mom. So I decided I'd kill them for that, only I couldn't really do it on my own, I spent a couple years wandering around looking for Itto-ryu but they were the best, it's not like I would have been able to do anything really. And then I found Manji and started making progress, and went to Kaga, and met Doa and Isaku, and things went crazy with the bakufu, which brings us to the last thing I remember.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

I get the distinct impression you're leaving things out. After all, years cannot be summed up as "I met some people and things were crazy."

What did he do to your mother?

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Rolls her eyes, very theatrically teenage for a moment, and folds her arms.]

He didn't do anything. Exactly.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Who and what, then?

[payback.livejournal.com]

...He let his guys hurt her.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

My condolences.

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Glare.]

So I wandered around for a couple years after that. I'd decided I would kill all of them. Except then I realized I'd need help to do it, someone to back me up, and that was sort of how I ended up finding Manji.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

One teenaged girl on a death mission, turning to whoever she can find to help. Why did Manji agree to follow along?

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Calming again. Relaxing the slightest bit. Ow it hurts.]

He said I looked like his little sister.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

And such a thing would spur him to becoming your personal hitman?

[payback.livejournal.com]

...She's dead. [Shrugs a bit.] The whole thing... it's more his story then mine. So... I think he maybe wanted to look after me the way he couldn't look after her.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Steeples her fingers and considers the next bit for a second, glancing over at him.]

I needed someone who was the best, because the Itto-ryu... those men who destroyed so many dojo... they were the best too. And Manji was definitely the best. [An awkward sort of shrug.] He's immortal.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Interesting. [And it is.] How?

[payback.livejournal.com]

Creatures called kessen-chu. Bloodworms. If he gets hurt, limbs can be reattached... just stick 'em back on. Spiked through the head... it'll be repaired. It's a good thing, too. If he hadn't had that immortality, we'd both have died right away.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Interesting. If he ever comes to Paradisa, I'd like a sample.

[payback.livejournal.com]

You could take a sample, I guess. You can't detain him.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

If I chose to detain him, I wouldn't ask your permission, Rin.

[payback.livejournal.com]

I busted - I'm on my way on busting - him out of one prison already. All right?

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Go on. That sounds like an interesting story.

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Pauses slightly, but hey. If he wants to skip around, that's all right.]

That's how I met Doa and Isaku actually. Sort of. Anyway, it's mostly because you're not the only person who wanted to know more about what made Manji immortal... although these people were mostly trying to work out how to transfer it. I think.

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Immortality is useful to the individual, but if giving it to more people can be avoided, it should be. Immortality is a crime.

[payback.livejournal.com]

[Distracted -] A crime? How so?

[illusionist.livejournal.com]

Imagine an immortal society. Progress, as a whole, would stop. Imagine the same people maintaining positions of power for centuries without change. The dregs would be dregs for eternity. There would be no reason to reproduce, no reason to change power... an immortal in the presence of mortals, in uncivilized cultures, would be revered as a god and ruin everything.