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

[drakenguard]

[This was true - if anything, Yamato could see himself being pulled into a long conversation with Remiel about blood sacrifices in general if he had enough time to. It had been a while since he flexed his brain on such a fascinating subject...]

Good. I, too, will keep you informed on any information I unearth. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of this before it occurs again.

[Aaaaaaaand then the conversation is over as far as Yamato's concerned. He still needs to learn how to say goodbye]

[otakuro]

...

[When Atsuro glances back up into the camera, his usual smile is back in place.]

Hah, don't worry about it. You've got enough to deal with without listening to me complaining - it won't change any of what happened, either.

Naoya... knows what he's done.

[otakuro]

That's rough. ...But I guess it makes sense. If all of us are fighters, there's no one around to be the white mage of the team.

[meaningdies]

You did find out what was fueling the summoning process in your version of events, didn't you?

[Come on, Atsuro.]

[otakuro]

But that was all for the summoning ritual... the Internet as a conglomeration of human thoughts and the power of Haru's song.

Are you saying Kazuya needs to... eat emotion just to survive now?!

[meaningdies]

For now it's not a necessity.

However, as his body adapts to the demonic power and becomes more demonic itself, yes. It's very likely he will.

[otakuro]

That can't be right...! The requirement for the ritual was just to bring them under the control of the summoner into our world, wasn't it? Kaido couldn't have been furious the whole time he had Pazuzu...

And Kazuya doesn't have a summoner - He's already from our world!

[not_that_sasuke]

...If it's linked to astrological signs, we should probably pay more attention to the stories behind each one. If we're going to find hints on what will come next, that's probably our best bet.

[He never really paid them much mind before, but now that things have come to this... he'll have to do some research.]

[meaningdies]

I wouldn't put it past him, honestly.

This is true. But it sustains him nonetheless. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure of all the changes that might happen. A human ascending to the Throne of Bel has never happened before.

[a_pirate_meant_to_be]

Assuming I remember it anyway. When's the whole Leo crossover time again?

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Leo is to lion as Scorpio is to scorpion, I assume?

...suddenly I'm glad this happened this month, and not in summer.

[ineedthemforanalyzing]

Why would that be? Shouldn't only the Scorpios have been affected?

[maybe_a_king]

There's also the possibility it could be a pattern, but it would not happen in every month. We should not let our guard down if this does turn out to be a premeditated and not a, for lack of a better word, "fluke."

[otakuro]

The stories behind the constellations? They're mostly based on Greek mythology and that kind of thing, right? I know Gemini is supposed to be Castor and Pollux...

[Atsuro trails off for a few moments.]

You know, whatever the story behind Scorpio is, I don't think it involves ten-breasted, thousand-eye monstrosities.

[otakuro]

[Atsuro would write out a little noise of anger, but it was probably evident at this point that the news was upsetting to him. The text message comes a few minutes later...]

I can't believe you wanted this for him. Losing what it means to be human... That's no better than being a slave to an uncaring God.

[The virtue of the law or the freedom of chaos... Neither path could bring humanity the salvation it needed. If they sought salvation, they need only look within themselves...!]

Never mind. That's not the problem right now. What happens to people if he eats their emotions?

[otakuro]

Uh... Sometime in the summer. August, I think. You don't have much to worry about right now.

[otakuro]

As Capricorn is to sea-goat. ...I don't even know what a sea-goat is.

[Atsuro shrugs slightly.]

Yeah, we might even have saved the city from whatever was threatening it by then. But in the meantime... there's Sagittarius and Capricorn coming up soon.

[otakuro]

No idea.

...Actually, not entirely true. Someone came up with a suggestion that I haven't had a chance to look into yet - do you know anything about astrological compatibility?

[otakuro]

[Atsuro frowns slightly at this thought.]

...So we're playing the Who Gets to Go Crazy Roulette, huh? That's a pain. At least if it were consistent, we'd all be ready for it instead of sitting around hoping that it's not going to happen.

[maybe_a_king]

Consistency would be much too convenient unless there was a greater purpose behind it. If the attacks are regular then that would mean someone is likely behind it, and if someone is then they would expect us to be prepared to do battle against these creatures.

[otakuro]

...

That's too logical. The designers of a game aren't clever enough to think of something like that.

[Siiigh. She was probably right, though.]

...Too bad this isn't a game. There must be something behind it - it might not be something we'd recognize as 'intelligent', but it's not some unlucky one-time thing, either.

[maybe_a_king]

I was thinking more along the lines of some sort of ritual would be involved if such were the case. A ritual in which we would be meant to defeat beings like that. It's not outside the realm of possibility at this point.

[ineedthemforanalyzing]

Of all the 'grown-up' things people have tried to explain to me, that was one of the few I didn't understand...

[echo_of_a_jedi]

Well, I guess for Capricorn we can all just stay inland?

[otakuro]

A ritual?... I was thinking we could use some sort of ritual to uncurse the zodiac or something.

[Atsuro briefly considers this for a moment.]

So you're saying, someone wants us to defeat the monsters of the zodiac - when all twelve of them are gone, the city will be saved. Something along those lines?