[Video | Week 13 Day 6] 死を賭して - Bet on Death

[kannagara_npc]

[Midnight, the very beginning of the sixth day in the thirteenth week, every Hitomi begins to broadcast. Those who are sleeping will find themselves jolted suddenly from sleep; those who are distracted will suddenly find their attention drawn to the device

Comments

[Reaction]

[guerrilla_morph]

[Oh, shit.

Marco doesn't like this.

He doesn't like it at all.

Suddenly, the Hork-Bajir became the second important thing right now.]

[Audio]

[guerrilla_morph]

[It takes Marco a good few hours to gather his courage and it's probably a bad idea. But he hasn't got a chance to talk to any god. The one he sent a message to, the woman who told everyone not to kill others (yeah, too bad she didn't sent that memo earlier to certain people) had never replied. He assumed that he missed his chance when he was busy being, well, dead.]

Who are you?

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

Good morning, Marco.

I am Ogetsuhime-no-kami.

You may call me Ukemochi, if you prefer.

[Audio]

[guerrilla_morph]

[Yeah, Marco is not trusting his face at this moment. Already he can feel the sweat.]

So I take it that you're not the ones who brought us here.

So what's in it for you?

[ voice ]

[sakurabito]

[How strange. He didn't expect this. Or the girl who seems to be addressing them.

Then again, it really doesn't matter, does it? Be wary, question carefully and move on. He really doesn't have much business with them outside of that.]

Who are you? [Byakuya is not among the 'call me impressed' at the moment.]

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

Kuchiki Byakuya. Good morning.

Perhaps I should have introduced myself earlier?

You may call me Ukemochi.

[ voice ]

[sakurabito]

Ukemochi.

... What do you want?

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

I used to throw lots of parties around this time of year. But one day I had to stop. They said I didn't do it properly.

You understand, don't you.

About what's proper.

[Reaction]

[whitenighting]

[That... that is a god? Part of those keeping them all captive here?

It makes his mouth run dry. That is a god like Road claims the Noah serve the true god - that's the devil.

He doesn't need the special sight of his eye to elicit a queasy twinge; a creeping like cold fingers playing at the short hairs of the neck. But that's nothing - there's anger at her words said in cloying serenity like that. What was this? Trying to rile them?

It works.

But she reminds him of Noah. Certainly no deity. But... she doesn't look human, either - at least not alive... And this - they really did use the Hitomi? What deity communicates over something hardly different than a golem?

---A deity referring to... another? Ame-? She was the one Lavi had mentioned, right? When he had died? Is that what the festival had been about? These beings - they fought with each other?

How petty.

Not really caring if she plans to respond or not, this is something he has to say anyway. You're there and listening to him? Alright. He has a lot to say. Finally.]

[Video]

[whitenighting]

Ukemochi, is it? [Flatly.] I think you presume too much.

We haven't forgotten our free will. [It's said tightly, with anger but restraint.] What point is there in getting angry and shouting about it? Everyone does what they have to in order to get by. It's not like any of you - since there seem to be several - have given us any options or even tried to really talk to us.

[A faint scoff.] The 'tribute' hardly counts. What is it that all of you want, anyway?

[And to this 'party' of yours...

He doesn't mention it, but the very idea leaves a bit of a pit in his stomach.]

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

Yes. Allen Walker. I'm happy to see you again. It's been a little while, hasn't it.

I didn't bring you here, you know. I'm not one of them. I'm not eligible anymore.

[Video]

[whitenighting]

[The mention of his full name like that is a little unnerving, but his expression stays set.]

'Again'? [Did she mean the time he had died? That's a little bothersome.] Yes, I suppose it has.

[But - a little surprise. Eligibility? And certainly, even if she had seemed to point towards that other being as being responsible for taking them... it's a bit of a revelation to think there's an actual divide.]

Eligible? To be what - a 'god'?

[ video ]

[kakipiii]

[She does look like a corpse. But death and Chikusa are not strangers - indeed, he has done all sorts of things with death involved, all of them except for dying himself - and for that reason, the black eyes and the way she speaks don't faze him.

If anything, he is curious; a vague prickling in the part of his mind still open to intrigue. He's never talked to a god before, if that is what's happening here - he's been told, there are gods here, and he accepts it. This broadcast helps.

When he replies with video, it's simply because he knows which button that is and it makes sense to be consistent.]

Hello. [....'How are you?' No-] A party?

[ video ]

[kannagara_npc]

And I suppose I shall call you Chikusa?

There was a party before you came. I'm going to throw another one.

You're invited.

[ video ]

[kakipiii]

If you want.

[He pauses, then, to consider. It would be useful, most likely, to ask the occasion. But it doesn't seem like there really is one.]

Thank you. What was the first party for?

[ video ]

[kannagara_npc]

It was so that you wouldn't mind being kidnapped.

There was lots of food. I'm sure it was delicious.

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

Sawada Tsunayoshi. And Kyoko, good morning.

I want it to be a surprise.

[Video]

[kannagara_npc]

That's okay. I'm sorry if I disturbed your rest.

Sleep well.