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tampered2013-05-04 01:42 pm
monochrome_mirror) wrote in tampered2013-05-04 01:42 pm
A Journey Into the City
When; Thursday, May 2
Rating; PG
Characters; Shikieiki Yamaxanadu and Subway Master Nobori
Summary; Nobori and Shikieiki try to figure out what non-terrible things exist in the city to deal with.
Log;
The fountain is gentle in the evening light, the water splashing softly as Shikieiki approaches its edge. The plinth where she was brought into the city is still nearby, and she lays a hand on it as she watches the water ripple. The City is beautiful in its own way...it may be chaotic, but right now it has settled into quiet, and as the occasional passersby shuffles along, she looks first at the streets and their people and then down at the water. It glistens orange and yellow and red, sparkling in the sun.
Nobori isn't here yet; she got to the fountain faster than she expected. Sitting against the plinth, peering at the water, she unhooks the mirror from her belt and holds it for a few seconds, running her fingers along its edge.
What is she even doing here? Being an advisor is all well and good, and being a judge is her work...but this being a companion...what does this mean for her? Though she is a godlike being, she still has a physical body, and so she has a pulse and it can rise...which it does, just a bit, as she turns the mirror outward and holds it over the water.
The committee of ten Yama who judge all of the Earth and its nearby residents (the Lunarians included) have a set of protocol so tangled, old, and complex that it takes an incredible memory to recall it. She has it all in the back of her mind, a sort of magical eidetic memory for her work, and one of these rules is that no Yama can use the Cleansed Crystal Mirror on another. It is forbidden to see the sins of another of her kin, and for them to see hers, for while none of them are perfect, they are not included in the final judgment. Even so, Shikieiki has a perfect record of her wrongdoings in mind, and she has done all she can to make amends for each one.
These interactions with Nobori, though...it is possible that she hasn't been thinking this through as much as she considers her usual actions. Being a real friend is out of her league, and she does not think it is wise...but she will look nonetheless.
Peering over the side of the fountain, she looks at the reflection of the mirror. She could look into it herself, just turn it to face her, but she wants to see what he saw. The spirits don't talk back, and Gensokyo's residents hold a certain reverent silence -- or snappish sullennness -- in her presence, but Nobori's comments stay with her a little. Humiliated and exposed.
It's not the same, she knows, but at least now she can see the ice-on-cobalt eyes and the gleam of her own reflection in the mirror. Her own actions burn into her mind again, like little drips of fire tracing out an image that will never depart. She can remember a spirit's entire list of lifelong sins, for youkai of thousand-year lives...as a result, she doesn't forget so easily.
I shouldn't do this.
But he is alone, torn from his family forever. He needs someone.
Not me.
Why not?
I must be impartial. I cannot know mortals.
And immortals?
I cannot eat the proverbial apple, or so the Western legend goes. I cannot teach myself what desires are, what loneliness is, what the mortals feel when they describe the holes in their spirits.
And she is that weak?
No. But time wears on all, and this is not what I was created to do. I must be in the optimal state to do my work.
Then be confident. She has iron will.
Yes. Then, be confident, and meet Nobori as the comrade he wishes to have.
She is still holding the mirror when he nears the fountain.
(And here's some Touhou music I was thinking of while writing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMTPsrHEqXs )
Rating; PG
Characters; Shikieiki Yamaxanadu and Subway Master Nobori
Summary; Nobori and Shikieiki try to figure out what non-terrible things exist in the city to deal with.
Log;
The fountain is gentle in the evening light, the water splashing softly as Shikieiki approaches its edge. The plinth where she was brought into the city is still nearby, and she lays a hand on it as she watches the water ripple. The City is beautiful in its own way...it may be chaotic, but right now it has settled into quiet, and as the occasional passersby shuffles along, she looks first at the streets and their people and then down at the water. It glistens orange and yellow and red, sparkling in the sun.
Nobori isn't here yet; she got to the fountain faster than she expected. Sitting against the plinth, peering at the water, she unhooks the mirror from her belt and holds it for a few seconds, running her fingers along its edge.
What is she even doing here? Being an advisor is all well and good, and being a judge is her work...but this being a companion...what does this mean for her? Though she is a godlike being, she still has a physical body, and so she has a pulse and it can rise...which it does, just a bit, as she turns the mirror outward and holds it over the water.
The committee of ten Yama who judge all of the Earth and its nearby residents (the Lunarians included) have a set of protocol so tangled, old, and complex that it takes an incredible memory to recall it. She has it all in the back of her mind, a sort of magical eidetic memory for her work, and one of these rules is that no Yama can use the Cleansed Crystal Mirror on another. It is forbidden to see the sins of another of her kin, and for them to see hers, for while none of them are perfect, they are not included in the final judgment. Even so, Shikieiki has a perfect record of her wrongdoings in mind, and she has done all she can to make amends for each one.
These interactions with Nobori, though...it is possible that she hasn't been thinking this through as much as she considers her usual actions. Being a real friend is out of her league, and she does not think it is wise...but she will look nonetheless.
Peering over the side of the fountain, she looks at the reflection of the mirror. She could look into it herself, just turn it to face her, but she wants to see what he saw. The spirits don't talk back, and Gensokyo's residents hold a certain reverent silence -- or snappish sullennness -- in her presence, but Nobori's comments stay with her a little. Humiliated and exposed.
It's not the same, she knows, but at least now she can see the ice-on-cobalt eyes and the gleam of her own reflection in the mirror. Her own actions burn into her mind again, like little drips of fire tracing out an image that will never depart. She can remember a spirit's entire list of lifelong sins, for youkai of thousand-year lives...as a result, she doesn't forget so easily.
I shouldn't do this.
But he is alone, torn from his family forever. He needs someone.
Not me.
Why not?
I must be impartial. I cannot know mortals.
And immortals?
I cannot eat the proverbial apple, or so the Western legend goes. I cannot teach myself what desires are, what loneliness is, what the mortals feel when they describe the holes in their spirits.
And she is that weak?
No. But time wears on all, and this is not what I was created to do. I must be in the optimal state to do my work.
Then be confident. She has iron will.
Yes. Then, be confident, and meet Nobori as the comrade he wishes to have.
She is still holding the mirror when he nears the fountain.
(And here's some Touhou music I was thinking of while writing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMTPsrHEqXs )