002 [Video/Public]

[otakuro]

[The screen flickers on to a boy wearing an amused grin.]

Everyone!

I've got good news!  You're forgiven!  The angel I summoned said so himself; God would definitely forgive you in a heartbeat because man's heart is weak, as is his mind, and we're all, uh, susceptible to the workings of the Evil One, and even as we wallow in our filth and sin, we -- You know what, forget God; I forgive you.

Seriously, no one could possibly blame you for what happened last week even if some of us were lucky enough to be scorpion magnets.  Misery has it right - the important thing is to make sure that it doesn't happen again.  If you all missed the announcements from the higher-ups, the people who were affected most severely were Scorpios.  ...If you don't know what that means, in modern times on Earth - that's the 2000s - they were born when the Sun was in the sector of the sky dominated by the constellation Scorpio.  This makes no sense if you were born outside Earth or in a time when we didn't go in for ridiculous things like pretending arbitrary sky-pictures meant anything about our lives, but the important thing is that the sun transitions into Scorpio beginning on October 23rd.

Guess what last week was.

The next sign is Sagittarius.  The sun will shift into its sector on November 22nd.

So let's clear a few things out of the way - Everyone who was afraid, can you report in with your sign?  Same thing if you were a scorpion magnet, though maybe that's more of a subjective thing.  And everyone who's a Sagittarius, do you mind if we tie you to your beds from November, oh, 18th-ish to the 23rd?  Your choices are (Yes/Of course/Definitely).  If your name is Jun, (That's kinda kinky) works, too.  If you don't know your sign, Sagittarius goes from late November into late December - so the end of a harvest season into winter in the Northern hemisphere, and the end of spring into summer in the South.

I'll keep track of the data.  It's kinda my thing.

Oh -- this has nothing to do with anything, but I'm working in the computer labs of the university now.  Drop by if you ever need anything fixed or if you just want to say hi.

Comments

[otakuro]

Aye, aye, cap'n. Giant brain forging full speed ahead into the depths of the gossip rags!

...I mean, uh, the highly academic discussions of why Capricorns sleep later when Pluto is at the far end of its orbit.

[A brief pause.]

Seriously, though... Here's hoping it's not coming around every month.

[otakuro]

Ohh. Right.

...They never really seem to take an interest in what goes on with us. I still feel a little like we're intruding.

[otakuro]

Ten-to-one all it's got are trashy magazines and horoscopes.

[Sigh.]

I wish we had access to the Internet here.

[otakuro]

Yeah, I think that's the part where they start making things up off the top of their head. Mine always says 'bad luck', anyway.

[otakuro]

...That's all?

Sheesh, I thought you were talking along the lines of draining souls. So Kazuya as a demon doesn't have any ungodly superpowers? Nothing's going to burst out of anyone's chest a la Belzaboul?

video

[hetried]

Uh... I'm a Leo, and I was scared out of my wits when that was happening... It's kind of embarrassing...

On the plus side, I don't think you'll have to tie me down to anything at least a few months.

text

[notifwhen]

He'll be fine! He just needs some rest.

I don't think Brainstorm would be willing to tell you, and the others don't check the network much (well, Orpheus does, but I think he might still be a bit sore about us putting him on time-out), so I can give you their information.

Ciel - Virgo
Minerva - Libra
Q - Pisces
Brainstorm - Gemini
Ideo - Cancer
Orpheus - Scorpio (though you already knew those two)
Reiko - Pisces

Orpheus was acting strange and Ideo was swarmed by Scorpions, but other than that, the rest of us weren't affected by whatever was happening.

[all_wound_up]

I'll be counting on you, then!

[She smiles and bows her head briefly.]

[greatseal]

Mm... It would be a good start to finding a way to stop it. If we could block whatever technique is being broadcast to cause personality changes...

[not_that_sasuke]

...

[Well then. Yeah, there's basically no way to make even the thought (and it's not a very welcome one at that) any less... bizarre. But he does manage to keep his expression mostly composed at the very least.]

I definitely haven't heard of any stories about anything like... that. But I haven't read that much about astrological signs, either.

[otakuro]

Thanks, Daichi.

I think the most significant piece of data I've collected so far is that half the town is Leo, apparently. I'm not looking forward to your turn if it ever comes.

[otakuro]

I don't think they'd put this kind of thing into the books even if it were accurate.

Anyway, I was just making a joke. There's probably not much connection between that thing and whatever the constellation of Scorpio is about.

[otakuro]

Thanks, Reiko. You and your brother are really the only ones helping us out on a day-to-day basis, huh? I appreciate it.

Let's see... That all fits in with what I've heard so far. You sure Orpheus was a Scorpio? I thought he was acting more like he was afraid.

[otakuro]

Heh, same here. I realized a while ago that it doesn't matter how strong you hit if there's no one to help you back up.

[otakuro]

Tin-foil hats!

[...]

Uh. Barring that, do you think broadcasting is a possibility? A certain frequency that modulates brain waves... I don't know if that's scientifically sound, but it's better than 'And Then Magic Happened'.

[pastalishe]

You could stand to be a little more considerate. [Wow, Cloche, way to be demanding of a stranger over the Network.] "Afraid" would have been perfectly acceptable.

[themortalhalf]

Shinjiro Aragaki.

[Also from one of the many Japans, though his name alone probably makes that obvious enough.]

What part of Japan?

[greatseal]

It makes enough sense in in theory. Some Shadows could affect people's thoughts, too.... though not really this badly. [Well, maybe the creepy sexual harassment from the Scorpios was a little bit like the Lovers Shadow....] We'd have to find someone who knows more about demon science to figure out what actually happened here, though.

[meaningdies]

Well I don't know exactly what sort of powers he's absorbed from the Bels in terms of their unique abilities, but as far as I've seen, no. I'll let you know if I see any alien chestbursting.

[maybe_a_king]

You never know. From what I remember in school, astrology used to be seen as a serious academic art in ancient times. If nothing else, we'll likely find something out about that time period if we look.

[not_that_sasuke]

Even if it's not completely accurate, I'd be interested in seeing if anything else lines up. If we can narrow things down even a little, it could help us out a lot in just preparations.

[electricyousei]

Well, she's open to visitors if that wasn't completely laced with sarcasm.

[all_wound_up]

I promise I'll work very hard to support everyone, then, Atsuro-san.

[hetried]

I guess it would explain why no one knew what was going on. Aside from the normal mass confusion and panic, of course.

[Although thinking about it...half a city of crazy people...Not a pleasant mental image.]

Heh... think we could figure out how to stop this stuff before we have to deal with entire districts of crazy people?

[notifwhen]

Don't mention it! Q and Minerva don't usually care to check the network, and Ciel's always busy working with Brainstorm. Orpheus will sometimes, but he's even more of an oddball than Ideo and I. (°◇°;)

It's odd, isn't it? Originally I thought he must have been a Leo or something too, but his records say he's a Scorpio. Though maybe that was just Orpheus' own brand of crazy. (。ヘ°)