audience: shess

[cyclists]

Comments

[cyclists]

Thank you, thank you.

[WAS THAT A COMPLIMENT]

It would be concerning if steel were to bend so easily. What good is a weapon without integrity?

[nonbelligerent]

Well, when you put it that way...

[cyclists]

So you understand.

[he had a feeling that shess would!]

Then you have my thanks for taking my request into consideration. I suppose lately I have merely been entertaining the idea of what it might be like to seek more than what my steel was originally forged for.

[nonbelligerent]

If you could, what would you want to do?

[cyclists]

Hmm...

I wonder.

I do not have a charge as you do... perhaps I would simply like to spend my days at my master’s side until he no longer sees a need for me.

[though he hadn’t mentioned him before this either...]

Or perhaps I will enjoy the chance to take a walk and admire the blooming flowers.

Or... pay respects and visits to old friends.

[nonbelligerent]

Those sound nice.

[cyclists]

Don’t they?

[he turns to shess curiously]

If you truly have the ability to shape a universe that you desire, is there anything you would wish for yourself?

[nonbelligerent]

... Sol asked me the same thing.

[cyclists]

[a soft laugh]

In truth, it is a question that I would like to pose to all of you.

Even if it is not meant to be, I like to know what worlds you would all dream of, if you got the chance to shape them to your will.

[nonbelligerent]

Well... to give the answer I gave him, I don't really know.

[cyclists]

Oh?

[well that sounds like a fun philosophical thing to talk about]

Is there nothing more that you want out of your life?

[nonbelligerent]

[what happened to no philosophy]

I guess I have trouble imagining a feasible wish.

[cyclists]

[mikazuki never gives a fuck what dana wants or else shess/lune would be real]

Oh...? Then do you have an infeasible wish in mind?

Or does something bind you from dreaming of what you desire without limit?

[nonbelligerent]

Hm... a bit of both? It's difficult to think of something that doesn't come with potential consequences...

[cyclists]

Ah... You still have much to do in your own world, and must think very far ahead to ensure that others are not harmed from your choice?

[if mikazuki had to hazard a guess about what might be making it harder for shess]

Could you not give yourself a simple temporary reprieve?

[nonbelligerent]

It's a little more complicated than that.

[it's not fighting for the world that's the hard part.]

[cyclists]

Oh?

May I ask where the difficulties lie?

[he’s always here to lend shess an ear okay

with the time they have left anyway]

[nonbelligerent]

Anything I might instinctively want—undoing experiences, reviving the dead—I know would probably be a bad idea.

[altering history, taking back a soul that's potentially been recycled already... not exactly things he should touch carelessly.]

And for anything long-term... given what I've been dealt and the cards I have to play, there isn't really anything tangible I could wish to change.

[what could he wish for? for his mother to not be abusive? for his clanmates to not be dicks sometimes? for sura society as a whole to be different?

he would've had a far happier life had airavata lived, but it's too late to think about that now.]

My place is with the Kinnara clan. I've learned to make do with both the good and the bad of it.

[cyclists]

[haha well]

.... timelines are rather fickle things. To determine who truly earns a spot in the place of history, who is allowed to live and die... it’s not as clean as one might think. Circumstances may change to allow for different parties to live and for different events to happen -

But I suppose that would be something that you would have trouble orchestrating for the first time without prior experience. It is true that you may lose some part of what you have now as well.

[especially changing something so far back in the past - that’s a bit trickier in terms of how history can turn out

but it’s mikazuki, and it would be remiss of him to simply say that it’s impossible because it theoretically shouldn’t be done. the rules of should and shouldn’t are rarely in his considerations.]

It is good of you to be able to adjust with the times... but the power to adjust the times yourself is in your hand.

And yet... I cannot help but recall a conversation I had in the very beginning - that perhaps those who are best suited for these tasks are the ones who lack an agenda when exercising it.

[nonbelligerent]

... Again, it's a bit more complicated than that. And besides, I'm not so arrogant to infringe on the territory of the Primeval Gods.

[everything about his world is just. complicated.]

Perhaps.

[cyclists]

Ah, there is nothing about it that is simple - there are too many consequences that may be unforeseen, where even the slightest ripple might cause an unexpected result that could throw everything off course.

All beings can be so... fickle.

[thoughtfully, like he’s thinking back on his own life experiences]

Do you not think that you would possess even more power than your Primeval Gods? Do you truly not want it?

[nonbelligerent]

Of course I want power.

[he says that easily.]

But I've had more than enough experience dealing with gods to know that I have no desire to end up like them.

[cyclists]

Do you consider it an inevitability that you will?

[perhaps it’s just lune’s abundance of faith speaking but - ]

I do not know if I would agree with that.

[nonbelligerent]

Humans and suras are the way they are because, unlike the gods, their knowledge of the universe is limited.

Why ask for more than what I need?

[cyclists]

Novelty. Curiosity. In worse cases, for other people, arrogance in the ability to create a more perfect world.

[not a case that mikazuki thinks that applies to shess but.]

It’s a perfectly safe choice.

In truth - I am pleased with any choice that brings you happiness, and most pleased with the choice that brings you the most happiness.