soul_campaign | 2. May 21

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2. May 21 | audio

[Private to Minako Arisato]

Hey, how've you been? Said I'd come check up on you sometime. Everything okay so far?

[Public]

Seems like some people use these communicators more for whining instead of actually getting useful information.

I'm looking for someone who'd be willing to spar with me using swords.

And if it's about this then you can forget it. I won't be responding to any complaints regarding that post of hers.

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You think?

Okay then. How's the weather today? What's a Hara Kiri rock? Am I asking enough questions yet? It's not going to work that way. Sometimes, asking questions will only end in negative results. It depends on who you're talking to.

Yeah, I've chosen my reason for fighting. It's exactly what you said earlier. To protect those who want to live a normal life. They have something that we'll never be able to go back to and that's why I fight here.

That's your opinion.

It's just how it looks on papers. A soldier still goes out on the fields to kill. It's not much different. Just worded differently to give off a different feel. One that has meaning behind it.

You're probably right. I'm not claiming to be the most mentally stable person out there.

No one sees anything unless it's front of them and spelt out. They don't care about reason.

Is that another meme?

You need to know to ask the right questions, Jack. Following without question, that's what makes a person into a tool.

Still fighting for those sort of reasons. You don't want another Jack the Ripper. I hope that they don't end up having to have the young ones fight. But one never knows what will come. We'll try to push the boundaries of this war back, but ... [ An audible shrug. ]

It needs meaning behind it. Otherwise we're just feasting on the insides of our enemies. We're just monsters. Monsters hunting monsters, Jack. That's all that we'll be if we let ourselves think differently than being killers. We're not. We're just soldiers. Good ones. That's what we're raised and so we shall always live upon the battlefield.

And that's why I repeat you need to ask the right questions. Once you stop questioning, we're just killers.

It's the meme of nature.

You're being reasonable about shit for once. What the hell is that? My original mission was to halt activities from the Winds of Destruction.

Instead, here I am arguing with a bunch of kids who think they understand what war is about after being here for a few months. They shouldn't even be in war. They'd be better off in college, doing whatever they need to. They can do just about anything else but war.

For us, it's different. A lot different.

Does a good soldier enjoy killing their enemies and slicing them up to bits? What's the difference between that and being a monster?

You've not spoken to me before now, but I will say that I am always reasonable. The Winds of Destruction are not here, and so I have no ties to them. If others from my group arrive, that wouldn't change that they are not here. The Winds only exist in the world we come from, Jack. I'm not planning to cling to the titles and past of that time, because we must live here first and foremost.

They're going to get themselves hurt or worse. There's nothing that can be done about that. That's the choice that they made. This war isn't as cruel as it could be, and maybe it will never get to be. So let them believe what they like, because if they saw the truth... they'd end up like us. Something you don't want, I know that for sure. But as for me, I couldn't care less as it was their choice to see, to experience, to accept the meme of war.

The difference is we have our orders. I live upon the battlefield and find great pleasure in it, because that is where I belong. It's different for us because its where we're most at home. It makes us monsters to them, because they cannot understand that thought process, true. But we're not monsters. We're just carrying out what nature made us, and doing what we're good at. An artist feels joy when they paint. A musician when they create, when they play. A solider when they kill.

I'm starting to think that maybe you're just like me. Not that that's a good thing. Yeah, you've already made yourself clear on that. You won't see me chasing after you for being a national threat. That's all in the past.

It's not so bad here. No, I'll try to stop people from becoming killing freaks. That's why my sword of justice exists. It might not be that cruel here, but it's still war. The psychological effects it has on people and the violence. Those still exist here.

I once thought that I could leave the battlefield and enter into a normal life, but it's as you say. That kind of world isn't for us. We're meant to be on the battlefield.

Is it possible to defy your nature?

I told you the same when we first met. You took it as an insult. But I'm thinking that you're starting to see that it isn't... it just is the truth between us.

War is the cruelest parent, but it has its purpose. [ All he really has to say on that subject. ]

There's nothing wrong with that, though. There is always gonna be battles, always going to be wars. We leave one war and battle to face this one. It's the same everywhere. The violence won't stop, and so there needs to be men who can live forever on the battlefield so others can sleep at night. I wouldn't say that those others are that great, though, since they consider themselves privileged and consider those who have to live here something to pity rather than something to feel humility towards. Because if it wasn't us, it'd be them. No need to pity your shield, your sword.

It isn't. We're made up of the memes of nature, and only the ones that are the strongest will live on within us. To defy those that survived this long would be no better than denying that they exist, because they're always there. Always present, and can never be removed. So no, it is not possible. All you can do is lie to yourself.

Don't get me wrong, I still think you're fucking batshit.

There's just some facts that I can't exactly bring myself to deny now that the Winds are gone.

You could almost say that war is part of our nature. Are memes all you ever talk about?

I wouldn't dream of it. As for the state of my mind, well, there's no reason to go into it.

I can talk about other things, but it felt like this was the piece of information, of chatter that is the most important for the here and now.

You're just messed up. How about that?

Perhaps. Going straight to the most important pieces of information helps save me waste my time from listening to pointless chatter.

If you need to put a name to it.

And so we've achieved the goal of avoiding pointless chatter.

Sounds about right.

I'm done talking to you. Got better things to do than to sit around chatting with an EX member of Desperado all day. [Hangs up.]

[ Well, he expected that. It happened a lot later than he thought that it would have, though. ]

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2. May 21 | audio

voice; puts head down

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