soul_campaign | [25 // video // 13 September]

Entry tags:

[25 // video // 13 September]

[Mello hardly ever uses video, but he's rather proud that he came out of a battle with a Witch with only minor injuries to show for it: the bandages on both his forearms are the extent of the damage.

Near was slightly more worse for the wear, but he is the one who had to consume a Witch soul. Now he's awake and on the mend, and though Mello hasn't yet left his clinic bedside (the IV stand and bed railing, but not Near, are clearly visible behind Mello), there are public service announcements to be got out of the way.]

Yesterday, my partner and I defeated the Witch Isabella, and became the newest Death Scythe pair.

[He permits himself the closest to a real smile most people are ever likely to see from him, which skews slightly wicked before he speaks again.]

We might have broken the Grand Canyon a bit in the process. Sorry.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Yes, she's aware of that although she still doesn't like it.]

A score to settle? What did she do to y'all?

We'd been to the Grand Canyon before. The Witches kidnapped both of us, back in February. Isabella put me in a machine that fucked with my brain. Made me want to be on their side. Near was one of the people the Witches grabbed to have victims to hand for us.

[He saw Lily's recent post.]

I don't fight them because I'm afraid of what I don't understand. I fight them because I understand them perfectly.

[She'd heard about kidnappings before but didn't recall a machine.] A form of hypnosis? [And there's something else she's not clear on.] Victims for what?

Still, even if she committed crimes, isn't killing her a bit drastic?

Victims for those of us who went into the machine. I came out of that thing ready to feed my partner to some kishin.

It's not as though she was going to come quietly if we just asked nicely; she sent her familiars to kill us.

It made you want to sacrifice your partner to a demon? [Okay, so she might sound a tad appalled at that thought.]

Still, couldn't you have subdued and captured her instead?

That's what it was for. It was called the Moral Manipulation Machine, but it only manipulated in one direction: towards evil.

I don't go into a battle looking to capture any more than I would fire my gun looking to wound. Either would be a damn good way to end up dead myself.

You were able to regain your senses somehow other than having it reversed?

The thought of killing another human being doesn't bother you? Even if it's a murderer, I doubt I could think that way.

I got shocked out of it, yes. [By Sollux using his real name, but that detail would require far too much explanation.]

I'd killed people by the time I was sixteen. My world was at war, too. I take it yours wasn't.

[Well, she supposed that was why he seemed desensitized to the idea. Even if people in her hometown had died because of her when she hadn't been much older than that, it hadn't been intentional. She shook her head.]

Not as there is here. There were conflicts in other regions of the world but most folks could go about their lives without being directly impacted.

Must have been nice.

I wouldn't have made it as long as I did if I hadn't got over any squeamishness about killing very quickly.

It was nice compared to this world but still not always a friendly place for someone like me.

What sort of world did you come from that was so troubled?

We didn't have witches. We had shinigami, though they were different from the ones here.

Thanks to one not being able to keep track of his things, we also had a spoilt child playing at being a god. My partner and I stopped him. Eventually.

If the witches in this world were more like you, Shibusen wouldn't need us.

Playing god? I take it he was killing folks then.

But you mentioned your world was at war. Surely there was more to it than just this one person. Unless those shinigami were also your enemies.

My powers came from a continuum of good and evil. So while a few might choose to use their powers for ill, it certainly wasn't all of us. [Which is part of why she's bothered by the war on witches here.]

That's exactly what he was doing. He started with criminals, but when you stumble into that much power, your whole life eventually becomes about keeping it. I was one of the few people trying to stop him. Most of the others were too stupid to realize a war was even happening, much less that if he won, they'd all be little more than his slaves.

[It still makes him angry, always will, even though the good guys won and he's left that world forever.]

The witches here are more of a united front. I've only heard of one being willing to help humans and Shibusen.

That's exactly the type of thing my grandmother warned me against, believing you're in charge because of your powers. [Graciela had called it "god syndrome."] And even with criminals, it's not right.

But this doesn't exactly sound like a typical war if it was going unnoticed by most folks. Just how many people did he kill?

I reckon most wouldn't want to if their kind was always being hunted down. That would encourage them to hide rather than help.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[25 // video // 13 September]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video]

[Video] I'm sooo slow, sorry!

[Video]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]