video; @unchained

[hedonistic]

[There video opens to a beautiful scene of a sunset at the Fishing District, sky painted in magnificent pinks and oranges that reflect against the pristine ice. A few moments later, a young man's voice accompanies it, tinged with the telltale slurring of someone who's rather drunk.]

Hey, question.

[A pause hangs in the air for a minute, almost long enough that one might wonder if he's gotten distracted or forgotten.]

Did you like your life, before the Storm? [. . .] If the Natha gave you a chance to go back, would any of you stay here?

[Kagari doesn't miss Japan. He doesn't feel homesick. He misses his friends, sure, but he's had more in the past nine months than he did in the twenty-one years before it. But he's starting to feel like the only one.]

Comments

text | un: troyard

[terrantrash]

_{[It's an easy answer, at least in Slaine's eyes.]}

My life was terrible so no, especially since the only person who matters to me from back home is here with me now. Things aren't anywhere near perfect living here but it's better than anything I've had leading up to it.

text | un: nightray [1/2]

[yelliot]

I hate this stupid planet so yes, I'd leave. I did like my life before the Storm.

However, I'd only leave if I knew those I care about could come back home with me.

_{[And then, a sudden thought strikes him that makes him second guess everything he'd just typed...]}

text | un: nightray [2/2]

[yelliot]

Actually...I don't think I'd be able to go back, even if I wanted to.

_{[Since apparently he's dead, according to his brother. Hm, that definitely puts a damper on the what if scenario.]}

[maipokerface]

You're not that ignorant of all the stuff that's happened, right? I'm not talking about just the dragon. Before that it was the Shamans and the kidnappings and before that it was Olympia and Wyver fighting.

[conqueredhearts]

Like a beach only more magnificent! Though, I suppose I have little room to judge since I have not yet witnessed one of these either.

[idealisme]

Perhaps... it is easier to recognise how important certain thing are when they are not present.

[ENJOLRAS PEOPLE LITERALLY LEARN THIS WHEN THEY'RE CHILDREN DON'T SAY IT LIKE IT'S DEEP AND MEANINGFUL]

[poolhall_killer]

[This is the first time someone's actually liked his name. He's quite surprised.]

A pleasure, Kagari. Normally people find my name odd or unappealing. The compliment is appreciated.

[kikoku]

[Hmm. He has to think about that. His crew is a bunch of oddballs, a good half of which technically owe him their lives one way or another.]
Some of them definitely have their own goals that they probably can't achieve here, but...

[He's glad, suddenly, that he's doing this over audio instead of in person. Because he has to pause a moment to grapple with the fact that he knows that this next thing is 100% true;]
I'm sure every one of them would give them up or change them as long as our crew could stay together.

[They're all so.... so much more earnest than he's ever felt like he deserved. Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin have been by his side for literally half of his life. He's just glad he was able to see them all again before getting dragged all the way across time and space.]

[hedonistic]

[He hadn't expected the certainty in Law's voice to hurt as much as it does. There's a temptation to be nasty, to call into question that certainty. He'd been so convinced that none of the other Enforcers could want to go back to that life, after all, and yet Masaoka hadn't been sure. Maybe this guy was wrong about his friends, too.

...

It's funny; when Kagari tries to lean into that pettiness, the urge to lash out to ease his own pain, the words don't come. He really is getting fucking soft, huh? How pathetic.]

Lucky you.

[It's not sarcastic. He's not happy for Law, either--Kagari's too selfish for that--but he does mean it. His voice carries that particular miserable note that suggests something like envy.]

[hedonistic]

wellllll
pOEPL R BOring
i mean come on
you hear that kidna name and u jsut kno
dont fuck with that guy

[hedonistic]

I know, right? Some people don't even know what a privilege it is to get to walk around outside. It's a pretty intense revelation, I gotta say.

[what was that about not engaging revolution-kun on freedom again. whoops.]

[hedonistic]

Well uh...good luck finding your special beach, I guess.

[hedonistic]

Eh. Bad shit's always happening everywhere. This place isn't anything special.

[hedonistic]

thats why i saud IF
hypopteitical

[ten second pause before he just gives up on trying to fix that word entirely]

whatif question here budy
wud ur friends go back to do yiu think

[hedonistic]

yoooo
wlecom to the shity boat
whats that western xpresion
high five?

[hedonistic]

Heh. It's fuckin' weird, right? Getting treated like a person? I'm still not used to it, and it's been close to a year.

[hedonistic]

[appreciated tbh]

Yup, sure am. Tokyo, Japan, 2112. You?

[It's not that he minds saying where he's from, really. It's more the specific circumstances related to being from Japan in 2112 that only other Japanese people from 2112 would understand. Luckily, aside from one he knows personally, he hasn't met any of those yet.]

I'm pretty hype about the whole multiple universes thing, honestly. It's like something outta a movie.

[hedonistic]

Nah. People go back to sleep, sometimes, but I've never heard of anyone leaving.

[He shrugs, like it doesn't really matter to him either way. Which--in honesty, it doesn't. You know how there's that saying, home is where the heart is? While Kagari would never admit something so openly sentimental, it rings true for him, too. Which ... is related to this bender, tbh, given one of his friends woke up and it didn't exactly go as he'd wanted.]

Don't get me wrong, dude, I'm not trying to feed you some false hope bullshit or whatever. But a month ago, if someone told you your universe was gonna implode and you'd wake up on a space station with dozens of people from other imploded universes, would you have believed 'em?

[He winks, obnoxiously.]

See, you never know.

[hedonistic]

[oh, it's like that, is it. kagari actually grins a little, maybe for the first time since making this post.]

oh no
hiw will i evr live without ur aproval, anon-kun????

[hedonistic]

So it's not really a perk of being here, just a consolation prize, eh?

audio

[hedonistic]

[wELP this guy's weird. Kagari can't help but have the morbid sort of thought of wondering what this guy's crime coefficient would look like. Paralyzer range, or Eliminator? Kagari's not sure. After all, he'd found being an Enforcer pretty fun, despite his own circumstances.]

Not really. I never want to go back.

[but maybe one of his makeshift lil family isn't so sure, and we're here having a crisis over it, no big.]

[thedarkbond]

I don't know, I feel like losing my approval would be a pretty terrible blow.

[kikoku]

[At first, Law's just surprised, because lucky is the last thing he'd consider himself with Everything Else he's ever had to deal with. He does have a good, loyal crew. It's been so easy to forget that between having been away from them for a while at home, and then being here.

But then his pessimism kicks in, and he laughs sharply.]

Not much luck when I've been thrown across the universe with no way of knowing if they've been saved, too.
[The Natha may have promised him they'd be saved if he worked for them, but he doesn't have it in him to 100% believe it was a genuine promise.]

[givingback]

Holy shit, you're from....144 years in my future. It's 1968 where I'm from.

[ It's not that she hasn't met people from what she's sure is far beyond 1968, but no one's actually put a year to their futuristic timelines. ]

Oh, and uh, I'm from the US. Boston. All of this is crazy and feels impossible, but obviously, it isn't? It's incredible but as someone who only just witnessed a man go to the moon and never thought it'd go beyond that, it's a lot.

[ Not necessarily in a bad way, though. ]

[poolhall_killer]

[Give Venom a moment as he reads over the text. He must mean "people are boring". Well the guy's not wrong...]

I suppose my name does strike some level of fear in people. Or confusion.