![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Sometimes they are five. Sometimes they are three.
We do not merely destroy our enemies;
we change them.
WELCOME TO THE END OF TIME.
The Regency has its spies and its cloaks and daggers. You may have even brushed shoulders with one and not have known it. There is a place for such tactics. You are not in that place any longer.
On missions like these, the Regency prefers to keep its base close, in a intradimensional time pocket. You're apart from Gallipoli, no longer technically on Earth or in the 1910s. There are multiple segments to this complex base of Regency operations, but you can only really see two places...
THE BRIG
This is your holding cell, a constantly shifting room of indesctructable grey squares. It folds and bends to hold you and your seven companions as you await... something.
There are no guards in this place. There are no bars to look through, or sounds to listen for. You are simply in the box, left to your own devices.
Occasionally, holes will open in the ceiling, and packaged, processed rations will fall from them before immediately closing. This is the only way to measure time. There are always exactly eight bags, each with the name of one captive written on the side in their native language.
Holes will occasionally open in the walls, and they always bring with them a searingly bright light. Sleeping and sitting is difficult on the ever-shifting floors, and when you try, it always seems like a pinhole of light opens right on your eyes. Even leaning on the walls has mixed results.
DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT
The windows of light that open always stay very small, making it difficult to look through, and always pour radiantly bright, hot light. If you're feeling particularly self-punishing, you might be able to peek at an odd angle and see something of the world outside without being completely flashblinded. The world outside the Brig looks rather like the interior of a Dyson sphere. In the center, a great, bright, hot energy radiates out like a sun, and it reflects off the exterior globe the pocket dimension functions within, illuminating everything from every angle. The Brig floats around it in a slow orbit, as do many other similar looking box-rooms made of similar material, connected by constantly moving tubes and chutes. Some boxes have more chutes going toward them than others. No chutes connect to the Brig, unless someone is about to disappear into the floor...
Getting this view will be difficult, but not impossible; it will just take characters willing to blind themselves with an overabundance of light multiple times until they get the correct angle, allowing them to see outside for roughly a half second before the room shifts to redirect the light back into their eyes.
not so solitary confinement
Occasionally, the cube will split into smaller segments, throwing characters together with others at random in close confinement. This is unpredictable and fast, splitting you off from the whole for what feels like hours at a time, often with only one companion as the cube shifts and squirms around you.
technical malfunction
The power nullification is still in full effect. No magic or special abilities rule this place. Your only master are the walls, undulating with no discernible pattern, always moving.
The Regency has also attempted to break the BCE's translation capabilities, but due to the fact that COST-jailbroken BCEs work on a different system than Regency ones, this is an intermittent problem that occurs sporadically. (ie, have the translation capabilities blink in and out at your discretion.)
THE OTHER PLACE
And then, suddenly, the floor drops out from underneath you. The shifting walls make a hole perfectly your shape and size, and sucks you through. The hole closes neatly, immediately, and you slide along in a world of boxes pressing close to your skin as you are moved from one holding area to another.
When you emerge, you do so in total darkness. Power nullification is still in effect, but even if you can naturally see in the dark, it doesn't matter. All you can see is an endless blackness, and walking doesn't help. You can keep walking for however long; there is nothing to walk to. The floor is perfectly level, but you'll never reach a wall.
Finally, there's light in the distance. A spotlight from nowhere shines down on a person with the head of a jackal. Looking closer, you'll find it's some kind of highly technical mask. They are wearing armor that obscures their exact shape-- no skin shows, no hint of identity or personality, just the cold eyes of the mask. They turn to you, and speak in a voice clear and soothing, almost gentle.
"I am Kebechet. I have been looking forward to speaking with you."
no subject
no subject
Such conceptions were merely intrinsic to the relatively simple life he'd led before - he might not have ever thought that would be the case, what with killing gods and acquiring mortal curses, but joining COST had changed so much of his perception of things.
"And what would this truth be?"
His tone is still guarded.
no subject
no subject
He believes he understands what they mean, though. The empty space they had previously been allowed them to be here now, in the past as they were in any other circumstance, though there was the one big distinction. "So we can merely watch, then?"
It's not that this bothers Ashitaka. From his own understanding, that is how any interaction with the past is supposed to go (though it probably should not happen at all).
"How does that interest you? I thought I understood that you seek to change the past." Despite how his words might have been chosen, his tone of voice is decidedly neutral.
no subject
Kebechet doesn't look at Ashitaka while they speak. It's a statement of fact, without weight or intent, at least in tone.
"We wish to preserve peace. We have changed history, yes. We take out what is harmful and cruel, when we can."
no subject
"If you seek understanding, then we are of a similar mind."
Though he does become wary of what they are leading towards, what point they could possibly try to make. Was this to sway him or to break him? He decides to be prepared for any eventuality.
"I have heard about this peace." And he can't even argue with how Kebechet sees it. Oftentimes it had felt as though COST was asking them to ensure something terrible happening. The execution of the royal family (which, after having been with them for several weeks, he could only think were guilty of thoughtlessness and vapidity but not anything worse than that), the tipping of France into civil war, the maintenance of the Great War progressing along schedule. Ashitaka only did what he was told under the promise that it saved from a worse fate, that history was an accumulation of horrors but that's what was necessary to preserve free will and the freedom to make a choice.
But... if men always made such terrible decisions, giving into anger and envy and greed and pride, did they deserve to make such choices?
He discards the thought out of hand.
"From what I have heard, it comes at a cost."
no subject
Perhaps it is a trick of the light, but it seems as though the expressionless masks' empty eyes linger on Ashitaka's arm.
"Some say the cost is too much. But these are cowards who fear to do what is right, and would prefer to stew long in the mess of their own making, for their are comfortable with disorder and pain."
no subject
He does know. He is cautious of what he reads from the figure, thinking it might be a bad idea to attribute too much to one who gives away so little, but he does sense some of the attention. That, in addition to knowing exactly where "home" was for him, gives him some dread. Wasn't his identity supposed to be hidden? Was that already lost to him?
Regardless he has a bit of a distinction on that.
"But there is a difference between a cost that you accept for your own actions and one that you inflict upon others, who might not have been complicit otherwise."
The curse was something he accepted, as a consequences for his actions. But the curse was also the consequence of what Eboshi had done, bearing weapons against the gods. They shared this, though, to her, it was something of the latter he had described.
"How would you describe what is right in this scenario?"
no subject
In the distance, deep beyond the line of trees, shouting can be heard echoing through bitter branches.
no subject
But he can see how they might see it otherwise.
And still: "You would not know the reason for the siege. Perhaps its people have broken a treaty for their own selfish gain. It is always best to gather information first, though, yes, sometimes circumstances might force one to act as their instincts might lead them. They are still culpable for their actions afterward."
There is no simple answer it, no broad brush that would capture every situation.
They continue forward, and he hears the shouting, distantly and then more and more pressing. He continues alongside Kubechet, though the feeling of apprehension he had been feeling has developed into an outright dread.
no subject
no subject
The discordant shouting from afar was disconcerting, breaking him from the peace that the forest usually instilled him with.
"That is the argument that I have heard." Ashitaka has to agree; though he would admit to liking the idea of a peaceful future, he isn't sure it's worth it if it's not a decision that people come to themselves.
"What has elevated you to this position, that you can make these decisions for everyone else? What granted you this wisdom?"
no subject
An inhuman roar echoes in the trees, shaking the leaves and causing Yakul to mewl in concern. Kebechet ignores it.
"I started low, a simple cadet with no duties but to fight. My abilities were recorded, and I was promoted. I chose to work in information gathering and research. I was promoted further and further from there. Nothing glamorous but my own dedication and refusal to sit still."
no subject
"I see."
He says it after a moment's wariness.
"What are you to the Empire, then? I wonder who I am speaking to, apart from your name." He delves into his memory, trying to remember the bits and pieces of vital information he'd learned from Xici when speaking to her. "And who are you to Tal-Viero?"
He is the Empire, she had said to him. He had always wondered if her reverence towards him was universal.
no subject
no subject
"I spoke with someone else who had a similar opinion."
And he must truly be something to demand so much devotion from his subjects. Ashitaka should like to learn more, though he isn't sure this is the time.
"So," he says it with a huff of breath, "What is the truth you wish for me to see?"
no subject
Said just as the howling mass of blood and pain steers through the forest: the boar, Nago, covered with the hate that killed him, red eyes flashing. Yakul screams. The trees crack and shake. Kebechet does not move at all.
no subject
He immediately moves closer to Yakul's side, the hand resting on his neck reaching up to a point of better leverage along the curve of his neck, trying to steady him as best he can. The animal is terrified, of course, instinctually knowing better than a person how what they faced was wrong and dangerous. He is trained well, however, and dips his head towards Ashitaka; the young man reaches out for one of the curving horns, ready to use it to get himself up upon the elk's back -
Ashitaka has noticed Kebechet, motionless.
"This place," Ashitaka's voice is louder now, over the sound of the forest groaning around them, the cacophony of the rushing demon. "You said that we can watch but not interfere, correct? Is this something to fear?"
He feels as though the mark should be hurting him, but it is silent, just as it had been within the confines of the Regency's prison. That is an additional factor, something which returns him to that day when he had faced Nago, drawing his bow so that he could save the people of his village - and, in the same action, condemn them. It makes him painfully aware that here and now, he is devoid both his blade and bow.
no subject
Nago howls, writhing with pain and anger, and slithers right past them.
"In two days time, the creature will be at your village. It will slaughter a hunting party and a group of peasant girls out fishing in the meanwhile. Or, I should say, it already has. What we see now is an echo of truth, a sliver of what was and is."
no subject
He shifts his hand from Yakul's horn to his neck, keeping him steady and stable as Nago barrels past, leaving the forest torn and corrupted in its path.
It's odd, how silence fills in the space where the demon's howls had occupied so quickly once its moved on.
"I ask again, then," he says, turning to face the masked entity once more. "What do you mean to say? That these conflicts, everything that you can see in this place, from this past to where they converge in my future, are pointless? That they could have been avoided through your own oversight?"
He grows quiet for a moment, reigning in his tone. Anger had started to color his words.
Largely because it snags at questions, lingering uncertainties. Ashitaka doesn't allow himself regret. There's no time for it, no point. What has happened has happened, and there was no changing that. He had believed it so perfectly, only for things like this to happen. Time travel. The opportunity to rewrite it all.
His jaw clenches, and he shakes his head. "I would argue that such a peace is pointless unless it is a decision of those involved."
The same reason he had not struck Eboshi down, as much as the demon mark had wished to. It would only sow the seeds of more strife. To make lasting peace, one must seek understanding and teach it to others. This is what he is looking for in his quest, he is certain of it. He must be certain of it.