epidemiology | EVENT ▸ HANABIRA FINALE

EVENT ▸ HANABIRA FINALE

HANABIRA FINALE

A week passes after the summit at Doro's castle, during which some members of Guild Ophelia presented arguments in favor of Youmi and Nama joining together in marriage. They are now left to their own devices as the empresses and their aides presumably negotiate behind closed doors; there's not much to do around Doro's property beyond relaxation, so if you're looking for a little more action, you might want to continue patrolling the Flowerlands for clan conflicts while you wait. The Sea Clan capital is open to visitors, while the Mountain Clan capital remains under lockdown as the guards search for the remaining rebels.

Finally, news circulates that the empresses have an announcement to share, and ask for their citizens' attendance the following night. The empresses emerge together on the balcony of Doro's castle, a large crowd in the garden below hanging on their every word. There is, of course, heavy security keeping the rowdy at bay, which turns out to be necessary after the announcement is made.

Nama speaks first. Those standing close may notice her hands shaking ever so slightly.

❝We have caused you all to be summoned here today so that we may acquaint you with our resolution in the matter of imperial claim over the lands of the Crashing Wave and Celestial Mountains, which have caused the people much distress over the months. We have determined that, due to forces unknown and out of our control, neither side shall be faulted for laying claim to land they truly believed belonged to their clan.

We find that the clans will remain at an impasse as long as the public believes an empress is deprived of land that is rightfully hers. Therefore, in the interest of public welfare, it is my intention to ally myself with Her Imperial Majesty Youmi in the bond of marriage.

The crowd murmurs among themselves in shock. A couple people shout, angry, before guards from both clans roughly escort them out. Nama seems a bit dismayed even by the small outburst, so Youmi steps up to speak next.

❝I am deeply affected by the gravity of this engagement. Neither I nor my future wife have come to this decision without strong contemplation and assurance that the other will care for all people, not just her clan, as her own. A marriage between us shall mean a marriage between the empires.

The benefits to the people will be great. Unfettered access to natural resources across our unified empire will improve trade, and will the end of skirmishes in Lord Doro's lands. And I assure you, the bloodshed ends today. Guards from both empires will be stationed in the Flowerlands and will be aided by a foreign mercenary group who have proven themselves formidable allies. Those who do not heed this warning will pay dearly, as to threaten members of any clan is to threaten both of us. Those who wish to live in harmony need not worry, as our soldiers are even more powerful together than they are apart.

None need worry about the change that is to come. We shall maintain both capitals, and we do not ask that either clan change their traditions. Above all, our union is one born of love for you, the people.

Youmi squeezes Nama's shaking hand for a moment, urging her on. Nama speaks once more, finishing up the announcement.

❝We have thought fit to make our intentions known to you at the earliest time, so that you may be informed of a matter so important to the empires. The wedding shall take place in two days' time, but I promise you, Empress Youmi and her subjects are under my protection as of this moment. A move against them is a move against me, and shall be treated as what it is -- treason.

I trust this will be most acceptable to all. ...And if it is not, I suggest you persuade yourself otherwise.

Nama and Youmi leave the balcony. Most of the crowd talks among themselves, more bewildered than angry, although a small number of people do begin to swing insults -- "I'll never be one with Sea Clan scum!" "Scum? Better than Mountain Clan filth!" -- and are forcibly removed.

▸ THE WEDDING

The wedding of Empress Youmi and Empress Nama takes place at Doro's castle, the neutral ground between each empire chosen so as not to show favoritism to either clan. The ceremony is held at night, as is Hanabiran tradition; the cherry and plum trees are strung up with electric lights that softly illuminate the castle grounds, lending a certain romance to the atmosphere.

Hanabirans from all walks of life are invited to the wedding and the banquet after, from farmers to merchants to soldiers, in celebration of the promising future for the merged empires. Only the nobility is allowed inside Doro's castle, however -- the exception being the honored guests of Guild Ophelia, of course -- to view the elaborately laid out gifts from one empress to the other: lacquer boxes, mirrors, decorative combs, tea chests, and more are laid out on beautiful silk cloth, heirlooms from each empress's family and the empresses before them.

The ceremony itself is short and takes place on the balcony for all to see. Youmi and Nama, both dressed in black furisodes with motifs representing their clans, share sips of sake from elaborate lacquer cups to symbolize the joining of their families -- and thus, their empires.

The banquet afterwards is opulent, with traditional food from both clans prepared. The Sea Clan has brought various fish dishes, most notably all kinds of sushi! They've also prepared tuna and cuttlefish sashimi. For those who don't care for fish, the Mountain Clan has prepared sukiyaki, a thinly-sliced beef dish simmering in a pot with vegetables, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. There's also skewered chicken and pork cutlets. For the crowd who doesn't like meat -- or just wants some variety! -- there's soba, udon, and plenty of fresh vegetables.

Beyond food, there are entertainers who have been hired to perform music and to socialize with guests, and contests of skill for the guests to partake in themselves: hanetsuki, tea-guessing, and Go. Owing to the romantic theme of the gathering, prizes for winning any of these contests will be a plum or sweet rice cake intended to be shared with a loved one.

But the wedding isn't all fun and games -- before the ceremony, Doro asks any interested members of Ophelia to volunteer to play guard and ensure nothing is interrupted by displeased citizens of either clan. Volunteers are recommended to guard in shifts so as to keep fresh eyes on the situation at all times.

Throughout the festivities, there are a number of attempts at disruption: the Mountain Clan inventor who scales the walls with a grappling hook, worrying that the new competition from the Sea Clan will put her out of business; a group of Sea Clan teenagers who start a riot at the gates simply because they want to riot; a Flowerlands farmer who becomes a bit too inebriated for his own good; and finally, a dangerous plot about which one of Doro's guards alerts the volunteers:

Mountain Clan rebels have escaped the lockdown of their city and have slipped into the wedding party with the intent to poison Nama due to her betrayal of siding with the "enemy." It'll take the best investigators of Ophelia to figure out who the rebels are and to stop them before they kill Nama and destroy the burgeoning peace everyone has worked so hard to secure. All they know is that it's likely the rebels will be slipping the poison into her drink via a poison ring or will have a moment alone with her food to slip the poison into it.

(Mod note: Players are welcome to NPC their Mountain Clan rebels and can make them however they wish as long as it doesn't contradict game canon! Their motivations, personalities, and backgrounds can vary, and they can work alone or in groups. Whether they can be persuaded out of it or will have to be taken down is also up to player discretion. This is your chance to get as creative as you want. Keep in mind that if your character accosts the wrong person or gets too rowdy themselves, they'll be kicked out! Please let us know if your character destroys anything in Doro's castle during a fight... he'd like to know himself, as he'll be expecting reimbursement.)

▸ THE AFTERMATH

As the festivities wind down, the guests are invited to stay the night at Doro's castle (or camp outside, depending on their social standing) instead of heading out in the middle of the night. When the morning comes, most guests sleep in, worn out by the revelry the night before, so Ophelia will have some privacy to talk amongst each other freely.

In the later morning, while guests begin to depart Doro's land, the empresses send word that they wish to speak with the foreigners; Ophelia is invited to meet them in the garden, where they are seated and holding hands. Youmi says that the future of their people is bright now that they are together, and that they couldn't have done it without Ophelia's assistance. Nama thanks them for their strength in military matters -- and immediately blushes when she realizes how blunt she sounds when compared to her wife, though Youmi only smiles and doesn't seem to mind.

Several hours later, Ophelia's magitek suddenly projects words in front of their eyes that only they can see:

Guild Ophelia:

Hathaway mission analysts have observed you to have successfully completed your mission. You'll be pleased to know that on your success, timeline analysts have also found continued peace in the Hanabiran region to be a 99.8% certainty for the foreseeable future.

Please prepare for return to Headquarters. You will be rifted in exactly 36 hours, so do make sure you're not visible to any natives at that time.

- Guild Master Imogen

With that, Ophelia has their orders. Finish up your business, buy whatever souvenirs you want, and get ready to return to Hathaway Headquarters.

▸ OOC NOTES

If you have questions about this log or the overall mission, please ask them on the dossier. Questions about Futurology in general should be directed to the FAQ.

▸ Up now:

Activity Check is due 5 March 23:59 UTC. Please note: we do not accept late activity and we do not post warning lists.
Voting for Guild Ophelia's uniform is now open! Voting will close on 10 March, after which finalist voting will be held.

▸ Coming next:

Post-mission assessment goes up on 11 March. Finalist uniform voting will also go up.
Mandatory How's My Driving meme goes up on 25 March. Participation is required to pass March AC.

▸ Bounty Board ▸ Items Page ▸ March Calendar

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you think me so petty that I will not "work with you" now?

[At least she has body language to use, despite how disturbing it is to not be able to connect it with an actual face.]

Until Hathaway gives me what they have promised me, I will suffer any indignity you people wish to heap upon me. I will kill who they ask, and obey your precious "majority", and keep you from dying.

[Only now does she lean down to be more even with Simon's height, to look him in his "eyes". Unfamiliar with friendship, bound to a culture of duty and rank, she takes public support of a person to mean a bond quite deep, and can only assume that Veronica has somehow obtained vassals like this one willing to put their reputations on the line for her.]

I would even save that woman's life you value so much, if she required it. Because unlike some of you, I know what a warrior's duty is.

[Words said, she stays where she is, glaring at the lights in his "face". Waiting for response.]

[ oh god, this took a fucking turn. Simon’s bewilderment is easier to guess at, by the way he stiffens at the vitriol in her words and takes a small step back, eyes shifting over her face, searchingly. The idea of self-sacrifice isn’t that alien, but the Hathaway she describes is utterly foreign-sounding in its bleakness, and its cruelty. To say nothing of the fact that dying for people is what Hayame considers ‘working with’ them. ]

Okay, that’s— thanks, but I don’t want you to die. Or anybody else. It doesn’t have to come to that.

[ He just feels guiltier now, hearing in her words this palpable, hopeless sense of... persecution? that he apparently contributed to. This is... way more complicated on Hayame’s end than he expected, and he’s just kind of hoping she doesn’t storm off before it gets a chance to make a bit of sense. ] We argued about one thing. I know you and Veronica don’t like each other, but I’m not part of some... conspiracy against you just because she’s my friend and I defended her. It’s not— I don’t hate you, Hayame.

[ This can’t all have come from that one day. ]

[He definitely isn't wrong to think that it's complicated, and also long-standing... because for better or worse, Simon has found himself involved in something that for Hayame is merely the latest indignity in nearly half a year of suffering.]

Do not be naive. With the missions we are sent on, that ALASTAIR sent us on before this, death is a real possibility for any one of us. If you are not prepared to die, then you are not truly committed to this cause.

[Because why would anyone sign up for this service for anything less than something they were willing to die for? He's stepped back, but she doesn't budge, no movement at all beyond the disdainful curl of her lip and her long black hair slipping over her kimono-clad shoulder thanks to her dip downward.]

You may not hate me, but you do not need to in order to think like the rest. I am done with it.

[Done with thinking that this place might be somewhere she could experience what it might be like. To be equal to humans.]

I know that. I was prepared to die before I got here. I was —

[ He stops himself, but if he seems bristly at that in particular — well, if there’s something Simon is not about to concede to being naive about, it’s dying. He spent the last months of his human life aware of death, and every second of whatever the hell this horrible sequel is certain he was about to die again.

But she’s right in the sense that he was never prepared for it.

He closes the distance between them, now that she’s showed she isn’t going anywhere. Or, well, so far, at least. ] I don’t know what you’re talking about. Think what? What do you think makes me like ‘the rest’?

Then do not tell me it "doesn't need to come to that".

[Because sometimes it did. Sometimes, there was no choice at all, and sometimes, death was the preferable option. Like it had been for her, months ago aboard the Asterion prison ship, stopped only by the command of the one she had sworn to serve.

But he's gone now, and she remained, robbed of her warrior's death and even now... still looking to die.]

To think you are better. You, with your two legs, and your educations and your cultures that are always more correct than mine own.

[She points angrily, out at the celebration, at the Hathaway members mingling, and the locals dancing and cheering. A lovely scene that made her sick.]

Do us both the service of not feigning ignorance of what looking like them brings you.

[He may not have a face... but he walked like them, and he talked like them. And they seemed to like that.]

You think—

[ The idea that someone could envy how well Simon fits in in human company feels ridiculous. The entire picture she’s painting is like a punch in the gut, though he can’t pinpoint why. The self-assuredness of belonging to humanity, enough to feel superior, is so easy for her to assume of him, but it sounds ludicrous, impossible. Of course, it’s from the biased perspective of someone who does know what being accepted as human is like. Not someone who has memories of two existences to compare.

When he speaks again, it’s with hands curled into fists at his sides to make the shaking less noticeable, but it’s not out of violent impulse. ]

That had nothing to do with it. You don’t know what I think. You have no idea how I feel about not being human.

No, I most certainly do not.

[And, in her mind, she hasn't said such a thing at all. Would never speculate on his personal feelings on the matter, as many seemed to assume her own.

But for a brief second, when she sees that fist, she hopes he will swing it, and give her an excuse to do something to vent the anger that has been roiling impotently in her gut for days.]

But it seems you are human enough for them.

[And she despises that she feels jealous of such a thing.]

You don’t know that, either. You don’t know what they think of me. And you don’t know what I think of you.

[ His voice veers into tired frustration. How do you even untangle this many assumptions? Simon didn’t even have any idea she had so many so solidly locked down about people she doesn’t even know, and sure, he made assumptions about Hayame at first, but then he tried not to. She’s not budging. And his head is swimming trying to make sense of it all — still stuck on what she said earlier, about dying for people she doesn’t even like, who she’s already decided see her as an inferior species, and that might be a lot of why he’s still even standing here.

Because the muzzle thing? This is kind of his muzzle thing. But it’s not just she’s being an asshole. It’s something weird he can’t figure out yet. And it’s something real, to her, a completely relatable feeling even though she doesn’t think he could possibly know it. ]

My eyes work just like they did when I was human — like my brain remembers what’s supposed to be there. I know what... it’s supposed to look like when you’re talking to somebody who looks at your face and sees a human. But you think that if somebody doesn’t like how you act, it’s because of how many legs you have? You think everybody on this whole team cares about that? I’m looking at your face, and I see something pretty human. [ he searches her eyes, motors and processors clicking with the movement, but it doesn’t look quite like it’s supposed to, and sometimes he still forgets that, that when it feels like eye contact to him it sort of isn’t. Now he’s acutely aware of it. ] Do you?

Edited 2018-03-08 16:27 (UTC)

[Did she not? Hayame rarely involves herself directly with the other members of Hathaway, both because she felt no need to and because her occasional attempts to... usually did not end well. But she did watch them. And he walked among them. Talked with them. Apparently, made "friends" with them.

He says things that don't make sense to her. About being human before, and his brain, and his eyes. But she cannot stop to try and make sense of them, or she will expose herself again in ignorance.

If she changes the focus on her own eyes, she can almost see her own reflection in his... whatever they were. A reflection of teeth too sharp to belong to a human or even a horse, bared when her lip curls in distaste.]

Do you muzzle humans, in your world? Do you ride them? Do you collar them like beasts, or keep them outside so as not to dirty your home? Do you spit upon their culture? Do you dismiss them as primitive?

[So she throws the things she has heard in his face, not just the one he had been involved in, but insults she has born since her recruitment what seemed an eternity ago. Each one remembered with rage nursed in preparation for the chance to reclaim her honor when the time came. If it ever came.]

There are humans from countless worlds here, from countless cultures, and countless times.

[And as much as that in itself is difficult for her to acknowledge...]

So you tell me, then. What else sets me apart.

[ The muzzle thing, yeah. It was clear that turned out to be an incredibly deep-cutting slight, and nerves don’t get that raw out of nowhere. It doesn’t take much more extrapolation to hear what she says as being borne from related personal experience, and his voice loses its edge, supplanted by perturbed sympathy. ]

Is that what they do to you in your world? That’s— crazy. That isn’t right. You’re not an animal.

[ Okay, it’s... starting to make a little more sense, maybe. Horrible sense, but that’s almost the only kind Simon encounters these days. He’s losing ground in terms of keeping up with her, but that was too appalling not to comment on, for whatever little it might be worth to her — there’s no way she hasn’t been told that before. ] And— look, I never meant to make it worse. I know what it’s like to feel out of place. I know you don’t believe me, but I get it.

[ She probably doesn’t buy any of this, but if that’s how this ends, at least he’ll have said it. ]

[Hayame almost laughs, bitter and dismissive, but she holds it back, pointing angrily in the direction of the wedding crowd with a loud slam of a front hoof on the ground, pawing at the dirt.]

That is just what the humans of this team say should be done. My world was-

[Much worse. She had been a “good horse”, and served with her life, but she had still seen the things that went on, still seen the young ones having their arms flensed off for sale if they wouldn’t be broken, seen the way they were used by men in the foulest ways, seen the bonds and saddles and muzzles for herself. But that...]

Is none of anyone’s business!

[But even she knows it wouldn’t be hard to parce out. To know that in order to be so offended by such comments... there had to be a base for them. But even knowing that she cannot day it. Cannot acknowledge even to herself quite what she’d been, and what she had lost. (It’s easier to be enraged, and to drive off most anyone who might ask. Or might “get it”.)]

If your goal here was to apologize, then it is heard. But what transpired in there is not so easily forgotten.

[ Simon follows her gesture to look out at the crowd, bewildered. He can’t imagine most of the teammates he’s met saying any of those things. Well, except the muzzle thing, but that was just thoughtless. It wasn’t intended to bring up bad memories. He doesn’t know what to even say.

He’s not exactly surprised that she seems to be shutting down about the whole thing, and if even a fraction of what he suspects about Hayame’s world is true, prodding her about it is definitely going to make things worse. Instead, to her final statement he steps back — not leaving just yet, but showing he’ll make the distance she seems to want — and says, resigned, ] Fine. [ and after a long moment — ] I came from a bad place, too. Glad you got out of it.

[ It’s sincere, if not exactly exuberant. No one deserves... whatever she was subjected to to make her react like that, though if she’s happy to be here instead, she does a good job of hiding it. ]

[It doesn’t make sense to her- the things he says. The way he says them like he believes them. But what doesn’t make sense to her the most... is why she hasn’t stopped feeling angry and disappointed each time, even as she derided her compatriots for their hopes and naive outlooks.

What a hypocrite she was.]

If you think any of us have gotten out... you are surely mistaken.

[There was no “getting out”. Not for people who came from worlds like hers, or worlds like... maybe his, she didn’t know. Couldn’t know. There was service, and danger, and perhaps the release of an honorable death. ... But she’s sure despite, even as she angrily turns her back on him to go.]

Wait. [ The idea that missions bring a risk of death, sure, but this? He can’t exactly let a comment like that go, especially when it comes from someone who’s been in Hathaway’s service since before it was Hathaway, and holds out a hand to her turned back, but stops short of touching her. ] What does that mean? We’re dimensions away from where we came from. We got out.

[ It’s not as if he hasn’t thought about it — the idea that he might have to go back to PATHOS-II, but what if there’s something else? There must be something else. If Hathaway can launch the ARK, he isn’t needed on Earth, and they can’t force him to go back there. Can they? ]

[What does it mean?

Hayame stops, turning to look over her shoulder as her oiled tail nearly flicks him in the "face", the bestial sort of instincts she had that her more human brain (sometimes barely) controlled urging her to kick out her back legs at anything that close to her rear.]

... if you prefer the illusion of freedom, then that is your business.

[She'd thought it something possible for her, once. Thought that things could be different in her world, thought perhaps that they could even be different here.

She wouldn't be that naive again.]

You’re not making any sense.

[ And she’s walking away, sort of, right when she’s being cryptic about something Simon would really like to know. Not just for his own sake — if anything, her “explanation” makes it sound less relevant to him, because freedom isn’t really one of the qualities he necessarily feels like his life is lacking in these days — but because of the grim picture she’s painted of her own world and Hathaway at the same time.

I will suffer any indignity... I will kill who they ask.

This is way above his pay grade, but he’s not about to back out just because he doesn’t know what the hell he just got himself into. He dives into things in that condition all the time. ]

Did Hathaway do something to you? [ He steps around to her side, frustrated; behind her human half, but away from her... potential kicking end. ] Can you just talk to me, please?

[It's at least a better place to stand... and it offers a wonderful view of the darkening anger on her face- the only thing she had, really, strong enough to mask the fears beneath, the memories of the insanity she has seen with ALASTAIR.]

You're the one not making any sense.

[And it wasn't just an insult- she truly means it. She doesn't understand how he thinks, or half of what he has said.]

Ask directly what it is you want to know so badly!

[Whether she'd answer was a different issue.]

[ Simon thinks his question was perfectly clear, and that Hayame is obviously the one being cryptic and confusing here. And yet when he’s asked to re-articulate what he’s trying to say, he can hardly put it into words, or describe the feeling she’s giving off, but he’s too far into this to be deterred by the black look on her face. ]

What do you mean, ‘freedom’? Freedom from what? What did Hathaway, or ALASTAIR, or whoever— do they— [ What did they do? Why does she talk like she’s a slave, even here, even to her own teammates, no matter how little she thinks of them as a team? ]

Are you afraid of them?

[Hayame does not like to admit to such weakness. To fear. She was a warrior, all she had ever put her efforts into was to being a paragon of such virtues... and fear did not belong there.

But she has seen the vastness of space, the charred corpses left in the wake of dragonfire, the hordes of Zymandis' army, the lumbering metallic and flesh horror of the prison planet labyrinth... things that she would never have imagined possible in her wildest nightmares.]

You were not there. Hathaway may claim to give choice where their predecessors did not, may have yet sent us on a mission of death, but they were still born of ALASTAIR. Still born of the group that waged war across the stars with those who had not asked to be there.

[She hadn't asked for it. All she had wanted to do was remain in the only world she'd ever known to die with some semblance of honor for the sin she had committed. And yet now she is bound to this impossible place by the promise of their interference, forced to believe it could be possible for fear it was not.

So maybe she was. Afraid.]

Only a fool would not dread such service.

[ Simon stops, at a loss for words. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, even if freedom and survival are practically moot points for him— except that if he dies in Hathaway’s service, no one can launch the ARK. And he told Catherine he would help her.

It’s clear that Hayame’s mindset — the society she grew up in is entirely foreign to his experiences. Sure, he may be displaced from humanity, without a home, now, but for most of his life he was human, and he had a pretty easy time of it. He wasn’t raised in a world that thought he was inferior. ]

I’m sorry. It didn’t seem right that their... merging... technology caused messes like this, but— I didn’t know. All of that. To me, they— they saved me.

[ He gestures out at the party, much like Hayame did, but with an entirely different intent behind it. ] But we just stopped a war. Hathaway doesn’t have to be like ALASTAIR. We can make it better. To the worlds we go to. And to you.

[ at least, if he hears any anti-centaur sentiment, he’ll know to say something. ]

They have caused all of this.

[Sure, they had claimed that it was necessary, that their impossible "Timeline Machine" had known the ultimate truth of what was the "correct" path for the universe... But whether someone believed that true or not... their actions had still created this. That didn't change.]

And before the end, they will cause even more death. We will, on their orders. I have killed three not days ago, and the heads of Hathaway's enemies will continue to grace my blade.

[Rebels who had seized Nama's castle. Dead, with arrows in their chests, guts, and eyes. Deaths she had not had time to actually honor, to cut the heads from the bodies and bury them properly, as warriors deserved. Deaths she knew well could easily be her own.]

Rest easy under the belief that you have done some good here... but do not stand there in such ignorance and tell me that we will somehow change how Hathaway operates. That anything at all will get better.

[Because she had struggled all she could for something better, in her own world... and look what it had brought her.

Nothing.]

Yeah, ignorance. I know. You said that already. For hating assumptions so much, you sure make a lot of them. Maybe coming from the apocalypse just gave me a different perspective on when things can’t get better.

[ His voice starts to twist with irritation at this refrain of ‘ignorance’, even if it’s technically true — he doesn’t know this organization as well as she does, or at least the organization that came before it. But she still can’t see the future, and to say that nothing at all can get better is an excuse. One she doesn’t even need, because she’s still putting in the work. What’s with that? ]

If you really believed that, you wouldn’t still be here. You have to have some hope left, just like the rest of us.

[ As a human, Simon rarely had viewpoints to fight this hard. Some small part of him isn’t even sure which of them he’s doing it for, arguing in favor of optimism for — Hayame, because no matter how abrasive she’s a suffering teammate, to whose suffering he’s contributed and whose abrasiveness has what sound like they might be devastating roots? Himself, who woke up on an Earth where nearly everything is dead, who was still on a wild goose chase to save the digital ghosts of the last fifty-odd humans, studiously avoiding acknowledging the possibility that an eternity at the bottom of the sea was the only thing awaiting him at the end of it all — that even now, however many worlds they visit, he will always be a confused simulation, a program that thinks it’s a man who died a hundred years ago, in a grotesque, foreign cyborg body?

Maybe both. ]

[Had he not just admitted to not knowing anything of ALASTAIR? Was that not ignorance? Hayame certainly thinks she has not said anything to cause that twist, and responds with an angry curl of lip she cannot quite suppress.

To be told that she had hope... that she would be so weak and foolish as to have hope, when she ought already have ended her life, when she knew better...]

My hope is only to earn what Hathaway has sworn they will provide. I will stay here, and die, and they will do for me what I cannot!

[Her fingers curl, eyes brighten, wanting to grab him, shake him, do anything to make him somehow understand... make any of these people understand. But they didn't. They didn't understand honor, nor shame, nor death, nor the ways of the world as she knew it...

Nor anything about her at all, really. Because she didn't tell them. Because she didn't want to. Because she couldn't bear the shame, even if she had the words.

Because she'd hoped once. Just begun to hope that the world Matsukaze had showed her might welcome her. That she might live free, with something like dignity, with something like a family...

Before ALASTAIR. Before Hathaway.]

That is your hope, if you wish for it so badly!

[ The recurring theme of death in her words is so strong, seems so much like something that should be easy to grab onto and figure out, that it’s frustrating that it isn’t, and Simon draws closer to her, gesturing with harried, upturned palms. ]

Why do you keep saying you’re going to die? I know the missions are dangerous, and you think we all— [ No, that’ll just get her defensive again. All of this probably will, but, welp. ] Look, I know you’re a warrior, but don’t you want to survive after coming this far?

[ He’s kind of just spitballing here — for all he knows she simply feels so alienated that she thinks they all want her to sacrifice her life for the people on the team she finds most irritating, but all he knows is that Hayame’s not wrong about one thing — her culture is one of the most foreign on the team to most of them, and it’s hard to tell what’s just her and what’s centaur samurai stuff. ]

I would have slit my belly open and died honorably months ago, if my lord had not forbade it!

[She didn't.

She didn't want to survive- not really. (At least... she didn't think she did.) Survive for what? To go back to a world where she had done nothing but fail and hurt the few people she had actually cared about when instead she could have Hathaway do there what she couldn't and save them? To stay in service with Hathaway, suffering like this, feeling alienated and forced to reside in the deep black?]

But he has returned to his world, and I remain-

[And again, just like that night... she's getting incensed, defensive, hackles and tail raising, hocks quivering.]

And I will die in service. Whether you think it right or not!

[Like she should have, long ago.]

EVENT ▸ HANABIRA FINALE

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it's called hope hayame listen to the robot man

hope (that you don’t kill robot man and then yourself)

there's always hope for a good murder suicide

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