usedfeatherdance | Feather 17 [Video]

[ The video clicks on to a view of the ceiling in one of the rooms of the Blackthorn Inn. The fan is slowly circling, and the only other thing visible in the frame is an arm reaching straight up from slightly off screen, holding up a Rising Badge. ]

We've already figured out that collecting a whole set of badges doesn't actually get you anything of value, right? Or did that finally change while I wasn't looking?

[ Joshua sighs, and the arm lowers out of the feed. There's the sound of it hitting the bed, and the camera shakes just the slightest. ]

You'd think that after I spent this long collecting them, I'd feel prouder at finally winning the last one. Mmm, perhaps this isn't really for me after all.

[ After a pause, he giggles. Then he rolls over and leans over the Gear, his face finally entering the camera's view. ]

How about this? Tell me about the worst thing that happened to you at home that you're still willing to talk about. Even if it doesn't seem to compare to what others have been through. Tragedy is quite relative, after all.

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What did you do? Or fail to do, I suppose.

We fought against someone too strong for us, for one thing. I wouldn't block with him because I was afraid he would get hurt, then he just ended up covering me anyway.

[Basically it was just a completely hopeless situation regardless of what she did.]

... You know, you come from a very odd-sounding world.

[ "block with him" isn't something Joshua exactly hears often. ]

...I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself again.

[Give her a moment, she pulls up a broadcast she did before and sends it to him.]

That's a basic summary of how things work in my world.

...

[ uh ]

You know, you come from a very odd world.

[ Statement revised! ]

In comparison to everyone else, yes, I'm seeing that more and more.

Was that the only time he's gotten hurt, or simply the time when it was the worst?

The only time. [She shrugs; it was incredibly shocking to her at the time because (besides the obvious of seeing something like that happen to a friend) Weapons just don't do things to incur serious injuries like that. It was unusual and very, very stupid (but she probably would have done the same if their positions were reversed).

That, and what she won't mention, is that she swore to herself that Soul would never have to carry a scar like that again.]

But, that was also the first time I was fighting against something sharp enough to nick him in Weapon form too. So I couldn't block with him at all if I didn't want him to get hurt.

Did you try to run away?

Yes, when I realized that we wouldn't get out alive if we didn't. The doors were a bit tricky, though, so I got trapped in there.

[As in they opened inward and she was trying to back out as an escape method while being stricken at. Not a good set of circumstances.]

What made you engage them in the first place?

As a student at the Academy, it was my responsibility to investigate what made a sudden group of souls disappear. I'm assuming in that case, the person killed the group of people and fed their souls to their Weapon.

Is that rare?

[ Asking about any part of the situation, really. ]

Yes.

[Ambiguous what part she's referring to, until--]

Anybody being able to kill and absorb the souls of a person in an instant must be absurdly powerful, and the fact that it was regular human souls, well...marks them as a person someone from the Academy must confront. Sort of like putting out a warrant for their arrest.

So you had ample warning they'd be both strong and dangerous going into the fight.

Ample warning in that I was the only Academy student in Italy at the time and sensed them first? Yes.

[She already knows it was foolish, but duty is duty.]

Was it so important to stop them immediately that it was worth throwing your life away over? Because otherwise, it seems to me like waiting for backup would have been a much better plan.

[This was probably a long time coming, but she

rolls her eyes.]

I already know that it was stupid and a mistake. [But she had to do it or else character development wouldn't have happened.] That's why it's the worst thing that happened, right? Because it was my fault my friend was injured so badly.

Not necessarily. You could have looked at it as being completely deserved, and instead answered with something that was inflicted upon you without prompting. "The worst thing that happened to you" instead of "the worst thing you caused", as it were.

So we're arguing semantics. Then maybe I'm spoiled, because that is definitely the worst thing that's happened to me in my life.

[Or she just doesn't want to tell him anything else., which she doesn't, not exactly. It's rude to just dump all of your personal life on someone you don't even know, whose motivations you don't even know at that.]

Why do you want to know about things that were inflicted upon others anyway?

[ But Josh likes semantics! ]

Curiosity, of course, hee hee.

[ /totally innocent what are you talking about. ]

Feather 17 [Video]

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