[any of the new locations besides hot springs is fine!! or the void - either way buzen will be lightly jogging around and. every now and then he will almost seem to lose balance and barely catch himself before he falls over? ok,
though he'll blink when he notices kazuma]
Oh! Zuma-san... You're Ryu-san's best friend, right? We haven't gotten to meet yet!
anyway buzen will also go and join, immediately moving to kneel next to him. he doesn't look at him, but straight ahead. this is what samurai do, probably]
.... I'm not very good at that sort of thing. Solving murders. I tried to do what Ryu-san wanted, and I think you were also trying to guide us well enough... sort of.
[he was also so misleading. well, they'll get to that. buzen doesn't seem angry at all, at least.]
[ ryu would be proud of buzen, kazuma thinks. kazuma, on the other hand.... that is much more cloudy. he can't even say for sure what was running through his head. ]
Resigned, I suppose. I'll be meeting a fitting end soon enough.
Could you change your mind? About - execution. That's part of what I disagree with you on.
[a beat]
Even if you don't want to use your own sword - I could use mine, if you wanted assistance.
[every sword thought that kazuma was going to choose seppuku. it startled them when he didn't. so buzen thought that at the very least he should offer, in case he is in need of a second]
... I disagree. You could ask anything of me, and I would understand it. That's what I was forged for. I won't go against your wishes, but I want you to know that I think you deserve more than this. Ryu-san told me about you—I believe you are a good man. And I don't mind being the one dispatch good men.
[he speaks with certainty, like he's showing finally showing some of his 800 years.]
I know you feel that you have disgraced your beloved sword - but... speaking as a weapon who has never been accredited to any one master...
I want you to know that I believe that he - Karuma - would still want to be by your side until the very end.
[ as much as he's come to accept the absurd, the alien, the unknown, being in this place, kazuma truly can't fathom what it means to be a sword spirit, living for hundreds years, changing from master to master, and what that must feel like ]
[ he thinks he gets a glimpse now, listening to buzen's words. it's not often that kazuma asogi feels truly humbled, but this is one of those times ]
[ the kneel becomes more of a bow ]
....
I'm truly honored by your words, Gou-san.
[ karuma... would want to be by his side? after he's disgraced the asogi clan and used it for a cruel murder, staining karuma with innocent blood? that sword is the soul of the asogi clan, and he... ]
There was a time where I was separated from Ryunosuke, and from Karuma. I had no memory of who I was, just a small voice in my head guiding me to my mission.... the whole time, Ryunosuke had Karuma. He kept it safe for me, until we could be reunited.
[the bow surprises him, making both eyebrows arch in confusion - but he can't think of how to respond in return. it takes a long second, and him processing kazuma's words before he decides on his own response.
he bows back, so deeply that his nose brushes against the ground, before righting himself.]
... if that is what you believe.
But if Karuma is truly your treasured family heirloom, know that what you have done is imprinted upon him. That includes both the difficult things that you have endured, but also every happiness you and your family has ever felt. Your sword is tied to you in a way that I struggle to put into words - and will always long for you until you are reunited.
content warning for the Shimabara Rebellion: historical religious oppression, war crimes, samurai-typical violence, interrupted suicide
[ “In the time of your highness Taikou, Christians had much more freedom, didn’t they?” A man - you know him as Emosaku - in clothes tattered from battle parades around a town - among them farmers, peasants, civilians. Disgruntled from the life that they’ve been living, struggling for food, water, just the basic means to survive. You see it in their haggard faces, the way that they seem to perk up and listen at the idea of something better.
You turn to your companion, Hyuuga Masamune - after all, the two of you have been given this task together. Grow the numbers of the army, the Christians who are seeking to defy the rule of the Shogunate. Still, something feels off. You ask, “Was that really the case?”
Shaking his head, he says, “I don’t think so!”
Despite this, the crowd only grows. They’re drawn in by Emosaku’s words. The Christians are gathering to rise against their oppression. Your companion is painted as the grandson of Hideyoshi Toyotomi - the last great leader, in the eyes of these people. All their resentment, all their anger, gathers. Festers.
Hyuuga steps forward when asked to speak, and you see the way that his throat works over the emotion. This is history. You need to be convincing. An army must be raised - that’s all you know. Raising his voice, he announces to those gathered: “Paraiso! Our rallying cry is Paraiso. Our freedom - our rallying cry is Paraiso. Let us go and take it together. Let us go to Paraiso!”
Paraiso. Paradise. A salvation that will welcome them even if they fall.
“Hey, Emo-san.” You find yourself stomping over to the man who stirred this all up to begin with - the only one of you that belongs in this era. “Somehow, this all feels like a load of bogus. After all, this is just a downright lie.”
“It’s not a lie!” He argues back so fiercely the words sting. Looking back over the group - grown men kneeling, pleading for guidance, as though having met their savior, he speaks again, haunted: “This is our light… People long for the light!”
Human flesh cuts differently.
You know in your heart that this is the mission of what it means to be a Touken Danshi - a sword warrior. To ensure history as it already happened. However you’d always known your enemy as Historical Revisionists - ghostly, monstrous beings that can put up just as much of a fight against you, strong as they are. Everyone had thought the same thing–to protect history, you defeat the enemy.
Today, to protect history, you have to slaughter the humans who were fated to die.
Some of these faces are familiar. As they contort in pain when your blade slices across their skin, you think of how desperately they longed for the light. When their blood coats your sword, splatters against your clothes, you recognize that this is Christian blood you are spilling. These men are not trained soldiers - they are people desperate for a better life.
You recruited them into this war, and now you have to kill them.
That’s history. Though it’s not your history - lost blade that you are. All of this is familiar to you only in theory, an awareness of a time that you never truly belonged to. But you’re here for another reason besides protecting history. Where is it? Where is he?
Dozens fall to your blade, blood dyeing the dirt you run upon. The splatter and stench of death clings to you, stains you. This terrible new heart of yours twists, but you ignore it. This isn’t about you.
Further ahead in the clearing, you see him - Matsui Gou. Matsu. In this moment, he is surrounded. This is his battle, a history in which he was always so loath to face. He’d cut all these men before, wielded by the general leading the massacre, but now he’s forced to do it again. The weight of his sins seems to very nearly break him. You are swords who have strength to outmatch any human and yet -
His hand drops. One of the humans rises to kill him. The resignation on Matsui’s face is clear - he’ll let them. He’ll let them break him if it means atonement. He’s also looking for the light.
You can’t let him do it like this. Running as fast as the limits of your body will let you, you dash forward - you cut down the humans, doused in their blood, before they can cut the one dearest to you. The other humans flee, and something inside of your heart aches when you realize that Matsu is looking at you with surprise.
“Buzen, I…” he begins, voice shaking.
“You don’t have to say it.” You interrupt him, stern. When he looks at you, bewildered, you can only say, “Everyone has one or two things they can’t tell anyone about, right? You don’t have to force yourself to tell me.”
Already you begin to walk away, intent on finishing this battle - but you look back to him and decide you have to finish the sentiment. “But if it’s so heavy you can’t bear it yourself…. Tell me anytime. Here, my arms are wide open.”
Matsu isn’t at peace - you can tell from the way that he continues to stare at you, but he repeats your name one more time like he’s holding onto it as a lifeline. “Buzen…”
This is why you’re here. The two of you run ahead to the rest of the battlefield - because your work isn’t over. You’re not a blade meant for saving people. To protect the course of events, you know in your heart how this has to end. Of the 37,000 people recruited into this war, you have to help kill every last one. Men, women, children, civilians. Matsu had already done this once, and it haunts him.
Now it’ll haunt you too. But this was a hell you chose. A promise you made: I’ll stain myself the same red as you. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 1, monday
though he'll blink when he notices kazuma]
Oh! Zuma-san... You're Ryu-san's best friend, right? We haven't gotten to meet yet!
no subject
[ kazuma is training with karuma (his katana!!) bc he's a giant sword nerd, but he stops and cants his head at buzen's tripping ]
I am, yes.
[ he's pretty fond that ryunosuke is making all these frens... it's what he deserves. ]
.... Are you alright?
no subject
I'm fine. Seems like this place is playing a little trick on me... or maybe this body is failing.
I wanted to meet you properly. I'm Buzen Gou - Ryu-san and I share a room, and he's told me a bit about you.
no subject
.... That's right. He's mentioned you, as well.
[ a lil bow ]
It's an honor.
week 1, friday
[ he's kneeling in the medbay, around where ryunosuke was reportedly found. his eyes be a little red. ]
no subject
anyway buzen will also go and join, immediately moving to kneel next to him. he doesn't look at him, but straight ahead. this is what samurai do, probably]
... what do you need, Zuma-san?
[and how can buzen help him get it?]
no subject
[ yeah this is a normal samurai thing. ]
Nothing you can help me get.
[ what does he want? revenge? justice? the truth? ]
[ he doesn't even know. his whole mind is clouded. ]
no subject
... well, I'd like to at least try.
week 1, post-trial
of course buzen is going to the realm to see kazuma]
... Zuma-san.
Are you willing to accept visitors?
no subject
... I don't believe I deserve any, but if you wish to speak with me.... I won't deny you.
no subject
I do.
Because I also disagree with you on what you deserve. Though I'll say I didn't come here to pick a fight or anything.
no subject
.... Thank you.
[ as dimitri-adjacent as he is right now, he can at least appreciate buzen's kindness in face of his crimes and manpain. ]
And thank you for what you did today.
no subject
[he was also so misleading. well, they'll get to that. buzen doesn't seem angry at all, at least.]
How are you feeling?
no subject
[ ryu would be proud of buzen, kazuma thinks. kazuma, on the other hand.... that is much more cloudy. he can't even say for sure what was running through his head. ]
Resigned, I suppose. I'll be meeting a fitting end soon enough.
no subject
Could you change your mind? About - execution. That's part of what I disagree with you on.
[a beat]
Even if you don't want to use your own sword - I could use mine, if you wanted assistance.
[every sword thought that kazuma was going to choose seppuku. it startled them when he didn't. so buzen thought that at the very least he should offer, in case he is in need of a second]
no subject
I am grateful for the offer, but... that is more than I could ask of you, Buzen-san.
[ enough blood has been shed because of him. he wouldn't want to stain buzen's hands, too. ]
I don't believe I can change my mind. But.... I wouldn't, even if I could. I'm sure I will meet a fitting end.
no subject
... I disagree. You could ask anything of me, and I would understand it. That's what I was forged for. I won't go against your wishes, but I want you to know that I think you deserve more than this. Ryu-san told me about you—I believe you are a good man. And I don't mind being the one dispatch good men.
[he speaks with certainty, like he's showing finally showing some of his 800 years.]
I know you feel that you have disgraced your beloved sword - but... speaking as a weapon who has never been accredited to any one master...
I want you to know that I believe that he - Karuma - would still want to be by your side until the very end.
gaa spoilers!
[ he thinks he gets a glimpse now, listening to buzen's words. it's not often that kazuma asogi feels truly humbled, but this is one of those times ]
[ the kneel becomes more of a bow ]
....
I'm truly honored by your words, Gou-san.
[ karuma... would want to be by his side? after he's disgraced the asogi clan and used it for a cruel murder, staining karuma with innocent blood? that sword is the soul of the asogi clan, and he... ]
There was a time where I was separated from Ryunosuke, and from Karuma. I had no memory of who I was, just a small voice in my head guiding me to my mission.... the whole time, Ryunosuke had Karuma. He kept it safe for me, until we could be reunited.
I believe Karuma belongs with him, not me.
no subject
he bows back, so deeply that his nose brushes against the ground, before righting himself.]
... if that is what you believe.
But if Karuma is truly your treasured family heirloom, know that what you have done is imprinted upon him. That includes both the difficult things that you have endured, but also every happiness you and your family has ever felt. Your sword is tied to you in a way that I struggle to put into words - and will always long for you until you are reunited.
I hope that reunion does not take long.
For you, Karuma, and Ryu-san.
week 3, monday(?)
but buzen will be wandering over to kazuma at some point!! there are probably those bubbles lurking around - ]
Zuma-san! Hey! What're you up to today?
I EXIST
Nothing in particular. I was thinking of having a look around, later....
Do you have any plans, Gou-san?
WELCOME BACK [1/2]
I don't know if I have any plans in particular... I want to be helpful, but normally I have a bit more direction than this.
[which is... when a bubble comes!
it envelops them in a deep, bloody scarlet.]
no subject
[ “In the time of your highness Taikou, Christians had much more freedom, didn’t they?” A man - you know him as Emosaku - in clothes tattered from battle parades around a town - among them farmers, peasants, civilians. Disgruntled from the life that they’ve been living, struggling for food, water, just the basic means to survive. You see it in their haggard faces, the way that they seem to perk up and listen at the idea of something better.
You turn to your companion, Hyuuga Masamune - after all, the two of you have been given this task together. Grow the numbers of the army, the Christians who are seeking to defy the rule of the Shogunate. Still, something feels off. You ask, “Was that really the case?”
Shaking his head, he says, “I don’t think so!”
Despite this, the crowd only grows. They’re drawn in by Emosaku’s words. The Christians are gathering to rise against their oppression. Your companion is painted as the grandson of Hideyoshi Toyotomi - the last great leader, in the eyes of these people. All their resentment, all their anger, gathers. Festers.
Hyuuga steps forward when asked to speak, and you see the way that his throat works over the emotion. This is history. You need to be convincing. An army must be raised - that’s all you know. Raising his voice, he announces to those gathered: “Paraiso! Our rallying cry is Paraiso. Our freedom - our rallying cry is Paraiso. Let us go and take it together. Let us go to Paraiso!”
Paraiso. Paradise. A salvation that will welcome them even if they fall.
“Hey, Emo-san.” You find yourself stomping over to the man who stirred this all up to begin with - the only one of you that belongs in this era. “Somehow, this all feels like a load of bogus. After all, this is just a downright lie.”
“It’s not a lie!” He argues back so fiercely the words sting. Looking back over the group - grown men kneeling, pleading for guidance, as though having met their savior, he speaks again, haunted: “This is our light… People long for the light!”
Human flesh cuts differently.
You know in your heart that this is the mission of what it means to be a Touken Danshi - a sword warrior. To ensure history as it already happened. However you’d always known your enemy as Historical Revisionists - ghostly, monstrous beings that can put up just as much of a fight against you, strong as they are. Everyone had thought the same thing–to protect history, you defeat the enemy.
Today, to protect history, you have to slaughter the humans who were fated to die.
Some of these faces are familiar. As they contort in pain when your blade slices across their skin, you think of how desperately they longed for the light. When their blood coats your sword, splatters against your clothes, you recognize that this is Christian blood you are spilling. These men are not trained soldiers - they are people desperate for a better life.
You recruited them into this war, and now you have to kill them.
That’s history. Though it’s not your history - lost blade that you are. All of this is familiar to you only in theory, an awareness of a time that you never truly belonged to. But you’re here for another reason besides protecting history. Where is it? Where is he?
Dozens fall to your blade, blood dyeing the dirt you run upon. The splatter and stench of death clings to you, stains you. This terrible new heart of yours twists, but you ignore it. This isn’t about you.
Further ahead in the clearing, you see him - Matsui Gou. Matsu. In this moment, he is surrounded. This is his battle, a history in which he was always so loath to face. He’d cut all these men before, wielded by the general leading the massacre, but now he’s forced to do it again. The weight of his sins seems to very nearly break him. You are swords who have strength to outmatch any human and yet -
His hand drops. One of the humans rises to kill him. The resignation on Matsui’s face is clear - he’ll let them. He’ll let them break him if it means atonement. He’s also looking for the light.
You can’t let him do it like this. Running as fast as the limits of your body will let you, you dash forward - you cut down the humans, doused in their blood, before they can cut the one dearest to you. The other humans flee, and something inside of your heart aches when you realize that Matsu is looking at you with surprise.
“Buzen, I…” he begins, voice shaking.
“You don’t have to say it.” You interrupt him, stern. When he looks at you, bewildered, you can only say, “Everyone has one or two things they can’t tell anyone about, right? You don’t have to force yourself to tell me.”
Already you begin to walk away, intent on finishing this battle - but you look back to him and decide you have to finish the sentiment. “But if it’s so heavy you can’t bear it yourself…. Tell me anytime. Here, my arms are wide open.”
Matsu isn’t at peace - you can tell from the way that he continues to stare at you, but he repeats your name one more time like he’s holding onto it as a lifeline. “Buzen…”
This is why you’re here. The two of you run ahead to the rest of the battlefield - because your work isn’t over. You’re not a blade meant for saving people. To protect the course of events, you know in your heart how this has to end. Of the 37,000 people recruited into this war, you have to help kill every last one. Men, women, children, civilians. Matsu had already done this once, and it haunts him.
Now it’ll haunt you too. But this was a hell you chose. A promise you made: I’ll stain myself the same red as you. ]