Yeah, but if you... man, we're getting into weird analogy territory, like if you disintegrated Superman's arms he wouldn't be able to go "fool! Little did you know that my arms and I are one and can be remade from me!" and will his arms back into being from pure nothingness. - Pendaran
Arx Inosaan
"Hmph."
With that settled, Sarada ate and paid attention to Brutus. It sounded like he had invaluable information about Battersea's fighting style that she needed to know if she was going to beat him at the tournament.
So far, it sounded like he had long range attacks. "You mean like ki blasts and that sort?"
"True, I can understand a skeptic...especially one that was been through as much as yourself. But I can assure you you've not likely brought her to the people I know. You have nothing to lose from the venture in any case.....I'll personally cover the transportation there and back again. If we fail, she'll get a small vacation out of it at least....if we succeed.....you'll not have to worry about where she'll get her next fix of ki." Etrina nodded. "We still have dinner of course, so think it over."
Asha'rah stirred at last. She was not whole, not yet. Perhaps she would never be again. But she remembered so much more now, and the experience left her invigorated. She had grown in the absence of memory, living as a wandering pathseeker. Now that she had found who she used to be, she had to reconcile that with who she was in the now. It was a thrilling prospect.
She turned her attention outwards. She was in the library, Meagan by her side. Right, Meagan had shown her Arthur's journal here, leading to the rush of memory. And Meagan had apparently waited by her side all this time while she recovered.
"Thank you, Meagan. I feel better now."
More than better.
"I wasn't that... whatever," Jack grumbled. Not gonna lie.
The rest of what she was saying, however.
"I come from poor frost farmers," he frowned at the memories.
"Your daughter took my strength, so I want yours," Jack cracked his neck, "I need to beat Battersea, so teach me what you know."
"Help me do this and we'll call it square."
"That's also sad." Midori answered, frowning slightly as she heard that.
Midori looked down at her body as she replied "Dr. Nijimoto just said that he created this way so that we wouldn't suffer from low self-esteem and self-consciousness and attempt to take over the world. But what exactly do you mean by 'mating practices' and why is it something that you could make a profession out of performing it in front of people according to your wording?""You are unaware? Odd, considering your creator endowed you with sexual characteristics that are within .001% accuracy of human females. Most sapient species engage in mating practices for pleasure, rather than purely for procreation. It is my understanding that there are some who do it as a performance, professionally."
Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.
- C.S. Lewis
The memory. Battling Indar'en, her once trusted friend. It had been a painful time, but a necessary one. All rebellions pitted brother against brother, and Asha'rah had judged it worth the cost, as had Arthur. But for now, she had a question to answer, one which called to mind all that her rebellion had cost her, and all that she had experienced since. She let out a chuckle, shaking her head.
"Not anymore. Perhaps never again. But you have helped me on my path, and I remember now what I once was."
She now knew her body for what it was intended: a prison. It was her punishment, perhaps it was her penance. All Asha'rah regretted was that she had lost, and the universe was now condemned to the consequences of her early obedience. Bit by bit, she had chiseled away at her prison, until now, she could at last see the outside. She could stick out a finger and feel the wind of freely moving air. Asha'rah had no idea how far she could go, but she had no intention of stopping.
"Thank you," replied Totoma. He knew the condolences were genuine--Ochazuke wasn't one to offer hollow niceties. "As for what I'll find..."
He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts.
"Many things. Redemption, vengeance... yeah. Reliving that moment... no, I've been doing that every night for ten years. I've fought that battle, in my dreams, well over three-thousand times. I've engraved his movements and techniques into the core of my being. Yes, he's doubtlessly improved, but... it's better than going in completely blind," said Totoma, clenching his right hand in front of him. "But, above all, I seek..."
Another pause.
"...closure. Killing Jagam won't bring my mother or father back, it won't undo the past ten years, and it probably won't even stop the nightmares, but... at least, without that bastard's shadow hanging over me, I can put my past behind me."
Scratching the back of his head, he sighed. "And that's why I asked you to... teach me, though perhaps that was the wrong way to put it. After all, you yourself said you couldn't sort out my life for me, but... I was looking for a more technical lesson."
"Not even formal instruction. We fight, I learn."
Wait, what? Was Mister Ochazuke giving him... relationship advice? Okay, that was... yeah, unexpected.Ah, there it was again. The two of them, Totoma and Karine, were ever inseparable.
With her pallid contitution - Ochazuke'd since learned it was a trait of her people, but it did little to stymie that eerie quality - and his eagerness to speak to matters of the Saiyan Warrior Race - when Sarada missed an opening - with what transpired on the Geofront arena, Ochazuke's initial impression was that it was he who bore her up on this mixed-up journey they fell into.
Just the opposite, he considered. Entrust your burden to another, and one will bear the weight of both. How nostalgic.
"You are here, now, and here you have chosen to remain. So has she. If that is the rationality of idiot children, then there is little matter to consider. Is that so?"
A sharp exhale between a grunt and a chuckle escaped Ochazuke. He'd struck out on his own to avoid this kind of sentimental nonsense.
"Your focus has been so put upon what she is to you."
Unburdened by intrusions, his path was wholly his own. Yet such a simple, human problem still captivated his attention. Some things, eyes on the outside could see plainly.
"Have you considered asking Karine what you are to her?"
For a split second, Totoma's expression betrayed his surprise at the advice, before his usual mask returned. "...gotta say, I didn't expect this."
Yet another pause. "Yes, I've considered asking her, but I..." He trailed off.
"...I'll take it into consideration," said Totoma, after a long pause. He hadn't been able to figure out a legitimate reason not to.
Crossing his arms, he turned to Ochazuke fully. "Still, you surprise me, Mister Ochazuke. I... did not expect you to have any interest in this... this sentimental nonsense."
The poster formerly known as Daiyoukai Ramza.
Shiro sighed as she walked through Kami's Lookout, her plan to investigate the memory chip given to her by the Silver Lady having hit a dead end that she couldn't pass until the group who took the transport returned with it. And having taken a bit of a headcount and realizing that both Sasheem and Chou had went with it, the question wasn't only when it returned, but if it returned.
Thus without the distraction the chip provided her, and without a spar to occupy her, Shiro found herself going over the revelations she'd received today. The revelations that Dr. Nijimoto, her creator and the man she looked to as practically her father, had planned to deactivate both her sister and her so he could work on their minds. He claimed that he was going to do it so that they wouldn't remember their actions during the war, but how could she be sure of that?
'No, he was doing it for our own good!' Shiro thought, but the doubt argued 'How can you be sure of that? He was essentially going to reprogram the both of you, so he could do anything and you would never know. In fact,' the doubt continued, 'how do you know he hasn't already done so before, and you can't remember because of he erased everything that would let you know, or even suspect something like that?'
'He loves us! He said so himself!' Shiro countered, but that same doubt remarked 'Sure, he loves you. Loves you like someone loves a car, or a computer, or a phone. He loves you like property, not people.'
'Shut up! That's a lie, because he's said he loves us like daughters!' Shiro thought, and the doubt commented 'Loves you like daughters he planned on deactivating and reprogramming. Because that's what you do when property has a problem: you go in and fix what's broken in them.'
"SHUT UP!" Shiro screamed, swinging her fist into the wall, punching a large crater into it, sending bits of stone and dust into the air. A second punch, a second crater and more bits of stone and dust filling the air. Shiro screamed at the doubt in her mind again and again to shut up, punching the wall with each cry. As she punched and yelled, her words devolved into wordless screams, tears flowing down her face as she took her emotions out on the wall, each strike of her fist creating another crater in the surface.
After several minutes of screaming and punching, Shiro's screaming subsided into nearly silent sobbing as she finally slumped face-first against the damaged wall before sliding down into a kneeling position, still banging her hand weakly against the wall as she cried.
Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.
- C.S. Lewis
"'Follow the path of light and you shall never know darkness', that's a saying my people learn from a young age." Meagan then smiled, "My people are full of sayings, like this one, 'The Powerful and the Powerless share the same footprint and see the heavens through the same eyes.'"
"I've always liked those two." then fidgeting for a moment, "And I'm very glad you are feeling better."
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.
- C.S. Lewis