The flower of evil pitifully scatters with brilliant color...

[desperateprayer]

[ After everyone leaves the Rose Ceremony, Clarith gets to work. With Nari's help, there's a few snacks set up, and then she delivers a message beneath everyone's doors. ]

Please meet up at the first floor rest area. I don't think people should be alone right now.

- Clarith

[ Takumi's includes a bit extra: "Especially you." Sure enough, there's a few snacks set up in the rest area, but otherwise just. Blankets and pillows set up so that people can pile in as they please. She's waiting, seeming a fair bit tired in more than one way, but... She doesn't want to leave people alone. ]

Comments

[buddyoldpal]

We'll atone when we're dead.

[ Grim words, but he says them full-well knowing he picked a life where death was a very real possibility. He doesn't stay too serious for long, though. ]

Should I be offerin' ya a drink if yer gonna lose it? Fightin' ya drunk ain't gonna no fun if it ain't gonna be you, ya know.

[ "Fighting" he says... ]

[honoraryembryon]

Hahahah, I need to do it before that, Nishitani. I fucked up to a lot of people I owe some apologies to. I've got a kid, remember?

[ He takes a sip of his coffee. Long. Thoughtful. ]

Not gonna lose anything, except maybe my patience with people like what happened earlier. I... can't stand people like her. I really can't. I'm TRYING not to be an angry mess right now. I'm trying very hard, because people get afraid when the demon man gets angry.

[buddyoldpal]

No worries, no worries, ain't gonna die here if we can help it, eh?

[ That's the goal, anyway. He shrugs. ]

That might be true but it's real hot when ya do, y'know.

[ Now he knows he's attempting humor, but he's also not kidding about the hotness thing, either. ]

[honoraryembryon]

[ A laugh. Oh, you would say that. ]

If it can be helped, yeah. You really have a thing for violence, don't you? You'd love the shit I deal with on the daily.

[buddyoldpal]

Mm-hmm, oh yeah.

[ He smirks. Don't get him started, Roland... ]

Ain't nothin' better than a good fight! 's the kinda action that gets my juices flowin' just thinkin' about it sometimes.

[ Most times. ]

[honoraryembryon]

[ The most thin of smiles. ]

... You'd make a good Atma user. People like us... we have to either enjoy fighting or be people that are accepting of it. If I'm being honest, I wasn't the sort of man who began life fighting, per se. It just sort of ended up... something that happened.

I imagine you've got a lot of experience over me. I'm just a writer.

[buddyoldpal]

Yeah, takes all kinds in the yakuza, too. Though I bet it ain't much like yer fuckin' Atma thing, huh?

[ He chuckles. He can respect Roland's reasons Not everyone joins the yakuza because they're already awful, either. ]

Ya got that right, I been fightin' since I was a brat. Probably born fightin', ya know? 's just how I am.

[honoraryembryon]

Well, some people are... like that. My friends, the Embryon... they're like that too. They were... created to fight. It's all they know. I poured Argilla a glass of alcohol and she choked and asked me what it was. They'd literally only ever had rations and water, and nothing else.

[ A small laugh; that seems so long ago now. ]

I'm honestly kind of surprised they took someone like you. I mean, I at least make sense. But if their goal here is to make us kill each other for no reason... you strike me as the type of guy who needs a really good reason for that.

[buddyoldpal]

Sounds fuckin' awful. Shit might be nuts in Sotenbori sometimes, but it ain't nothin' like the zombies an' shit I keep hearin' about. Some places are real fucked up.

[ Like, he's actually the weird one back home-- not like here, where there's robots and immortal kings to make Nishitani look like an average joe with a boner for violence. ]

Ya'd be surprised. It don't really take that much ta get me ta kill, I'd just rather fuckin' do it fer someone else than off somebody and fuck over the rest. [ He might be rude... but he's still a Family man. ] Us yakuza believe in the common good, even if we do it with bribes, beatin' and smugglin'. We're a necessary evil-- this fuckin' house has that covered with PAL, don't need me for that shit. People're sufferin' enough.

[honoraryembryon]

I kind of envy your home. Sounds normal. Not messed up, like the Junkyard, or like what I live in...

[ He is a little envious. ]

But... I think I prefer that raw subset of people over humans who try to act like they're clean and polished, and more perfect than everyone else in the world. Covering up all their flaws with a coat of paint and acting like they're superior while murdering others... it's a little nauseating.

I might be a monster, but I'd rather acknowledge the lives I'm taking.

[buddyoldpal]

It's pretty fuckin' sweet. Osaka's the best city in the world if ya ask me.

[ he's proud ok, he loves his city. ]

Oof, yeah, that shit ain't my scene at all. There's guys like that everywhere; politicians, policemen, fuck, even the Omi Alliance's got 'em. They don't last too long when power's what really matters with us, but every now an' then there's a bastard who thinks they're better than everyone else 'cause they talk nice an' play nice but they're just as fuckin' rotten as the rest of 'em.

[ Nishitani nods, even smiles a bit. He can definitely agree with that. ]

Damn right. There's some jobs only monsters can do, yeah?

[honoraryembryon]

I bet you know the city well, too. It'd be a lot more to see than the Underground City, that's for sure.

[ ... Yeah. He... likes Nishitani's honesty. It's important as a value to Roland--that people not be artificial and fake and sterile. ]

People like that... they're the kind of people who think they're above those of us who live in the dirtier parts of the world. I don't like people like that... it's hard to anger me, but that tends to do it. Where I live, there's no place for dishonesty.

[ There's a small scowl on his face. ... He... might be thinking about Lee. ]

[buddyoldpal]

Like the back o' my hand, pal.

[ You have to, when you're a mob boss.... But hey, the fact that this is winning him points is A+ ]

Guess that don't change whether yer in a place like yers or a place like mine. Folks who think they're too good ta get dirty with the rest? Fuck 'em. And liars too, that shit don't fly with me.

[ Please do get angry Roland, Nishitani would find that super hot. ]

Sounds like we'd bother rather an honest dirtbag to a pretty face on a liar, huh?

[ Yeah, he means Lee, too. ]

[honoraryembryon]

[ A shake of his head and a sigh. ]

... Yeah. Is that weird? I guess I'm asking the wrong guy if it's weird, but... I know some people have told me my values are a little skewed compared to "normal" people.

[buddyoldpal]

[ That really makes Nishitani grin. ]

Normal people are fuckin' overrated, Roland-san. Maybe if we were in some normal house where a TV robot ain't gunnin' fer us ta kill each other, that'd be a real fuckin' weird thing ta say. But considerin' the circumstances, I'd say normal fuckin' sucks.

[ Yep, he is a 100% not normal. ]