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>>@ENTERTHEDRAGON | @ALL
Looks like Sergeant Gramps is gettin' a little finicky that some stuff hasn't gone down. I got an idea on how to introduce the king to the guillotine. Anyone wanna start a riot with me to kick it off?
Basically, I got this list of VIPs who frequent the bar I work at, right? Turns out, a few of these boneheads are some serious players. All we gotta do is get into a fight of king supporters vs revolutionaries and inspire 'em to start writing some charges up. Who's in?
Basically, I got this list of VIPs who frequent the bar I work at, right? Turns out, a few of these boneheads are some serious players. All we gotta do is get into a fight of king supporters vs revolutionaries and inspire 'em to start writing some charges up. Who's in?
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Maybe he should be judged for what he did, but he knows what they were doing was messed up. And he could live with that guilt.]
It sure as hell ain't a god.
Look, I'm not gonna lie. I've done some sketchy shit too, stuff that if the police knew about me woulda gotten me thrown in juvie and jail for the rest of my life.
So I'm not innocent of it either. I'm a messed up person, too.
But when you can't sit around watchin' people do things just for the sake of hurting others, and you watch as the rest of society ain't gonna do shit to help them, I'd rather be a vigilante than a bystander. I'd do it all over again in a goddamn heartbeat.
[So, Ashitaka.
Would you do it all over again?]
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But it was a question he was plagued with. He feels a difference between the gods as Ryuji understands them and the ones that he had seen. The minor gods, beast lords of the forest, had been manifestations of the nobility and savagery of the wilds. He need only remember his conversations with Noro on the peak that acted as the wolf clan's den to think of that. The gods were not like men. Their actions, whether in mercy or devastation, were unrestrained by earthly morality. They were like a storm. The storm did not sin in sinking a ship at sea, leaving scores to drown. The river did not sin when the raging waters rose suddenly and swept an entire village away. Nature simply was, it simply did. So did the gods, living fragments of that essence.
The Great Forest Spirit was, of course, different. Ashitaka had been transfixed the first time he had glimpsed it, knowing intrinsically that it would be tied up in the mess that he had found himself in. It was a being of deep and profound power. He had already subjected himself to its judgment, albeit unwittingly, as San had offered him on the banks of the innermost forest. The Spirit had healed his mortal gunshot wound, but it had left him with Nago's curse. What, then, did that mean?
He still didn't understand.]
We must merely make sure we do more good than bad in this world, regardless of what time or place we find ourselves.
Anything beyond that does not seem to be within our power.
[With the mystery to lifting his curse still up in the air, he still doesn't know the answer to that question.]
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Point aside, it still brings into question who determines whether or not what they're doing is right or wrong. For Ryuji, that person is himself- and deference to anything else would be contingent upon the circumstances of what he wants out of life. Friends, trust, approval and recognition. He agrees with Ashitaka. There's not much he can do to determine whether or not he's a good person, but he wants to believe he is by the merits of his actions.
And if told the story of his curse, he'd believe, too, with some sort of mysticism, that his life was saved for a reason. Nothing happens that's not connected.]
Yo, don't say "merely." Doin' good's a lot of work, yeah? You know how many tables I've cleaned since I got here?
Tch, what I'd give for a nice, soft bed. Sleeping on crates sucks.
Unless of course...
That's my curse.
Guess we're both doomed, buddy.
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He would most likely agree. The morality of man was a tenuous thing, but there was no greater judge for it than themselves. Though some might become twisted and bring it into question, the compass that was shared between the vast majority of humans would provide enough guidance without resorting to relying in higher powers that could very well end up being capricious in their own intentions.
Wait, what... what kind of life are you living right now, Ryuji...]
Are you not able to find a room with a bed?
[Suddenly concerned... Ashitaka had been given lodging with the other guards, so that had never been an issue for him. For someone used to sleeping on the ground (or on a mattress so thin he might as well be sleeping on the ground), the fairly plain cot was very nice.]
Well, you are probably right.
But we can at least hope the next place we go has beds for everyone.
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Listen, it put him exactly where he wanted to be: in the middle of a bunch of rough, down to earth people who cursed when they spoke and liked to get rowdy.]
I struck a deal with the owner. Kinda burly old dude, but pretty nice. I guess I kinda got that young, out on the street thug look about me or somethin'. Took me in and let me work here for food and a place to put my head at night. I guess it could be worse.
And blankets.
Oh man.
[Don't make him homesick, Ashitaka :(]
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But I guess... if that's you wanted all along...]
I suppose it is preferable to the street.
[(unsure)]
I would appreciate a better change in the food.
And the clothing.
[too late he's already thinking about how much French cuisine and fashion of this time upset him]
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Dude. I miss rice so much.
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I agree, I would really just like to be able to eat rice again.
The bread still makes me feel ill occasionally.
[i mean what the fuck even is it anyway. Ashitaka doesn't trust it.]
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But... rice...
You're killin' me here.
And, uh, sorry you're gettin' ill from eating that crap.
[Would they both fight over the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot?]
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I would have never expected a place completely without rice, though.
[It's... a cultural dietary staple...
And yes, of course.]
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And sashimi.
People cook all their fish here. I like some grilled stuff too, but man, sinking my teeth into a juicy piece of the raw stuff would be heaven right now.
[AND DON'T EVEN MENTION ONIGIRI TO HIM RIGHT NOW.
A wave of homesickness is starting to ebb over him.]
I dunno. Rice feels like... the symbol of our nation kinda.
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He had tried not to think too often about the atrocities that the French people performed upon fish. Usually he was too hungry to care, but... when reminiscing like this, it was far more difficult to stave off thoughts of home.]
Yes, I suppose so.
[He didn't really have a very global view of nations, considering the fact that his mental map extended purely from the Emishi village to Irontown, but —
ugh.]
Maybe we should talk of something else. I am hungry enough.
[he could probably go get a heel of bread or something but what was the fucking point......]
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Oh shit, dude. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to activate your homesickness too.
[Earnest as ever, he guesses by the way Ashitaka changes direction in the conversation that it wasn't pleasant to talk about. And since he knows how he feels about the subject, he just assumes it naturally extends to those he talks with. Emotional empathy, or something like that. Sometimes it pays off, other times it gets him in a shitload of trouble.]
Yeah. Bread and fish don't really belong in the same sentence anyway.
Get some food in ya, it'll do you good.
[🍞🐟]
i can't believe what im writing
It is strange. I had never experienced something like "homesickness" until very recently, and since that point I have felt it in two distinct ways.
The one here is a bit worse, though.
[Probably because the culture shock here was more like being flung into a frigid ocean versus the splash of cool water to the face that other villages in Japan had been in his own time.
He is right, though; bread and fish did not deserve to remain within together within the same thought.]
Be sure to do the same.
[As he now has concerns with you sleeping on boxes and barrels and the like.]